Red Carpet: A Couture Splash at Venice and Meh for TIFF

Diane Kruger wears L-R: Oscar de la Renta, BOSS, Cushnie et Ocs, Prada

Jose here with a very important question: can you imagine deigning to be the film that plays in a theater where Diane Kruger is dressed looking like she always does? Not only does she usually make a case for being the one human being worthy of Best Cinematography awards, she must also distract fellow audience members who can't resist but admire her, rather than see whatever's happening onscreen. The exquisite fashionista has once again been leaving her mark at the Venice Film Festival where she's also serving as a Jury member. First she dazzles in bold Oscar de la Renta, then she's "boss" in BOSS (hardy har-har) and is so confident in the beauty of her dress that she doesn't even bother doing her hair (hats off!), then she lets her hair down in a stunning Cushnie et Ocs jumpsuit, and she finishes off in regal Prada which she wore to the premiere of Everest. Can we now start a campaign to have her be in every Jury for every film festival ever? 

But Diane wasn't the only one giving fashiongasms in Venice! Another Jury member left me speechless. Find out who it is after the jump (and no, it's not Alfonso Cuarón...) 

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3 in One - Pfeiffer, Blanchett , Mara

 Here's Murtada with just released pictures of 3 upcoming projects.

Michelle Pfeiffer as Ruth Madoff
Quick turnaround from the casting announcement, they have already started filming The Wizard of Lies and released the first picture. New cast members have been added to the HBO project including Nathan Darrow (famous for House of Cards' menage a trois with Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey) who will play the Madoff’s younger son Andrew.

Pfeiffer is completely transformed as Ruth Madoff. More...

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"Best Shots" from the Emmy Nominated Series

Andrew here with a special Hit Me With Your Best Shot inspired look at the best looking TV shows (according to Emmy voters).

The Creative Arts Emmy Awards are handed on this Saturday (September 12), the precursor to the main ceremony billed for the next week. So, in anticipation of Saturday's ceremony where all technical and visual prizes will be handed out here's a celebration of the cinematographic side of television.

The cinematography side of TV has been divided into two categories, instead of one, since 2000: Cinematography for a Single Camera Series (most, if not all, dramas on TV right now, and many comedies), Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series (predominantly CBS comedies). (They briefly flirted with dividing the category by episode length in 2008 and 2009 and then returning to this current, which just goes to show how indecisive the Emmy rules committee can be.)

It's easy to see which category Emmy voters consider superior. There are 7 single-camera nominees, and 4 multi-camera nominees, and having watched all eleven episodes we're following their bias and focusing on the single category, too...

CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR A SINGLE CAMERA SERIES NOMINEES

7 nominees across 4 shows to represent the best photograped shows on television. One shot from each show follows to help you decide which to root for on Saturday.

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Women's Pictures - Amy Heckerling's Look Who's Talking

For some as of yet unexplained reason, 1980s American movies experienced a baby boom. Movies about family are always popular, but from about 1983 to 1995, the box office went gaga for babies. Mr. Mom, 3 Men and a Baby, Raising Arizona, and even Junior showed that for a brief period of time, there was nothing funnier or more heartwarming in Hollywood than people who didn't want kids suddenly becoming parents. Amy Heckerling jumped onto this baby buggy bandwagon with her freshman screenwriting effort, Look Who's Talking.

Talking babies are now almost passe as a conceit, thanks to Real Baby Geniuses, Rugrats, and those creepy e*trade Superbowl ads. But in 1989, the idea was new enough for Roger Ebert to point it out in his 3 star review of the film. Still, minus the talking baby (voiced by Bruce Willis and only audible to the audience), the rest of Look Who's Talking is formulaic in the classic romcom way - there's a Meet Cute, then Opposites Attract, an Unlikely Romance starts, which ends in a Romantic Reveal and the requisite Happy Ending, all of which is predictable from the minute Kirstie Alley's water breaks in the back of John Travolta's taxi.

None of this is necessarily a bad thing. Amy Heckerling's talents as a director are of the kind that we don't usually reward with golden statues or the word "auteur." [More after the jump]

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Interview: The Filmmakers Behind 'Goodnight Mommy' on Working with Children, the Horror Genre as a Mirror, and Hopes of Oscar

Jose here. In the terrifying Goodnight Mommy, two angelic twin brothers named Elias and Luke (played by Elias and Luke Schwarz respectively) become convinced that their mother has been replaced by someone else after returning home from a stay at the hospital. And who can blame them? Their mother (Susanne Wuest) returns wrapped in Franju-esque bandages that only show her eyes, and she seems to have lost her good temper, patience and tenderness. Terrified of this unknown person, the twins proceed to torture her in order to get to the bottom of things. Directed and written by the team of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, Goodnight Mommy is the kind of horror film that creeps under your skin because of how committed it is to its aesthetics and points of view.

There is not a single body-horror line Franz and Fiala are unafraid to cross, and the film features torture involving everything from superglued eyes to bondage by bandage; however, there is not a single moment in the film that feels gratuitous, and just like a song would serve a musical, the torture we see onscreen serves the story because it makes sense that these children would be terrified of someone they believe to be a total stranger, and if anything Goodnight Mommy has more in common with Home Alone than with Saw, if not in tone, at least in its intentions. The film has been selected to represent Austria at the Academy Awards and opens in the States on September 11. I had the chance to sit down with the filmmakers to discuss their techniques and tips for working with children, their favorite horror movies and what AMPAS members they wish to scare the most! Read the interview after the jump. 

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