Sunday, June 24, 2012 at 10:21AM Amuse us. Caption this photo of Emma Thompson in the comments.
Oh and... yay, she's back in front of cameras where she belongs (It's a scene from Love Punch a new divorced couple comedy with Pierce Brosnan)
Emma Thompson, Love Punch, Say What?, on the set Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 6:00PM Main Course
Pajiba attempts to show that Pixar has more than one female character with its '15 most badass female Pixar characters
Serious Film joins the legion of Beasts of the Southern Wild fans with bullet points of his amazement
Kenneth in the (212) Remembers a traumatic experience when Hollywood first launched Making Love (1982) starring Kate Jackson, the first mainstream Hollywood picture on the gay experience.
Daily Mail is Barbra Streisand really going to get in the director's chair again. She's rumored to be prepping Skinny & Cat a biopic romance starring Colin Firth and Cate Blanchett. What accounts for Barbra's sudden burst of activity?
Towleroad where are the new gay classics? Too many straight movies opening for gay pride weekend ;)
The Guardian terrific piece on the Tom Cruise "comeback" and what the word now means
The Guardian also has a profile of wondrous character actress Miriam Margolyes
Movie|Line actor Aaron Johnson (Kick Ass, Albert Nobbs) has wed longtime girlfriend/director Sam Taylor-Wood.
Google celebrates the centennial of Alan Turing, a fascinating gay man who changed the world. Why isn't there a biopic on him?
Ear Candy
The Broadway Blog sneak peek of a song from Cyndi Lauper's stage musical adaptation of Kinky Boots
Eye Candy
Super Punch The Shining Sculptures. I am so creeped out looking at these. redrum
Old Hollywood Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Suddenly Last Summer
Queerty Cheyenne Jackson *new photoshoot alert* He does too few!
Slash Film The Dark Knight Rises outdoes itself with this bit of promotional art. Wow.
My New Plaid Pants The Amazing Spider-Bum
Finally I can't even do a Yes No Maybe So on this Andy Samberg Celeste and Jesse Forever type trailer thing -- even though Ari Graynor! -- because I'll never top James St. James quip at the Wow Report
Damn, Andy. Celeste & Jessie Forever looks absolutely, heartbreakingly wonderful. And yet I can’t help but feel it’s this year’s (500) Days of Summer, where everybody loves it to death then turns on it in six months..
Word.
Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 9:43AM Ridley Scott's Alien franchise prequel Prometheus should probably be a film I take great objection to. The first reason I ever loved the series (beyond Lt. Ellen Ripley, queen of all action heroines) was how it doubled as an ever evolving adventurous launch pad for young auteurs. It's got the same premise virtually every time so you sit back and immediately see the director's vision in sharp relief against each previous or subsequent film. Even the lesser entries in the series have this to recommend them and in the 90s, even after Alien Ressurection I wanted them to keep making Alien films so we could see it through the different set of rising auteur eyes each time. I didn't really want Ridley Scott to go back for this reason. I especially didn't want him to go back back. Backstory and prequels -- conceptually, they are like safety nets for the imagination. Don't be afraid of wondering... we'll catch you!
Where is the mystery? Or rather, why don't people want more of it. Why do you they want so many answers?
Thankfully, Prometheus doesn't rob the Alien franchise of all of its mystery and magic. It's not midi-chlorian level obnoxious. And given the screenplay and execution, for better and worse, the new film creates its own mysteries. Some or these are intentional and some surely not, some internal some external. What did David⁸ say to The Engineer in the penultimate scene? Is the MPAA's request that Ridley Scott remove the entire abortion sequence -- not so coincidentally the strongest sequence in the film -- the dumbest thing they've done since Blue Valentine's NC17? Or is it just the thousandth priceless example of how aesthetically stupid they remain and or the millionth piece of case evidence that they should never be allowed anywhere near art!
This week since I know I desperately need to update the Oscar predictions I've been thinking of another Prometheus-specific mystery. Will it have an awards future? [Aliens & Oscars after the jump]
Friday, June 22, 2012 at 12:00PM What's the first movie you thought of when you woke up this morning?
Otherwise what's on your (cinematic) mind today? I'm slow to rise this morning but I'm thinking it's a catch up weekend for me -- jamming in as many movies as I can cram in before the HALFWAY MARK BEST OF (yep, it's coming). Moviegoing = Air Conditioning.
getting to know you, moviegoing Friday, June 22, 2012 at 9:00AM I'm not supposed to talk about the movie yet but Pfans rejoice. I can't resist telling you that Michelle Pfeiffer enters the new drama People Like Us with a bracing cold snap. The movie has been racing along rather manically to set up its plotty-plot-plot and suddenly she's there slapping it with a "snap out of it!" move. Settle down, movie, settle down.
Pfeiffer's Confession in PEOPLE LIKE US
She's wonderful in it. Three friends were seen afterwards arguing about how wonderful and no one agreed. Friend A: She's special in it if you haven't seen her seminal performances. Friend B: I thought she was great but there's no part... ugh, there's no part! Friend C: [unintelligble drooling] Pffeifffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffferrrr.
I confess. Friend C was me. (I'm not especially verbal immediately post-screening.) My point: It's easily her best work since Chéri. Not that there's been much work since Chéri. Shut up!
Pfeiffer hits the media circuit (Good Morning America) to promote People Like UsBut as for her current state of work. She promises more now that the empty nest looms in just one year's time. She recently made a rather grandiose statement in a Zap2It interview...
I’m always feeling that my best performance is still in me. And I think all artists feel that whether you’re a painter, actor, a musician — I hope so. I think it’s what keeps me going... I’ve noticed a lot of people who win the Academy Award — Best Actor, Best Actress — they go through a long period where they don’t work for a while and I worry about them. There’s sort of that wanting to achieve that, which keeps you going, and then when you achieve it, it’s like, ‘Well, what now?’ I don’t ever want to lose that fire that I have for it.”
Pfeiffer talking Oscar? Whoa. In a better entertainment world, that'd be leading story everywhere.
If this quote is indication, something has shifted in her headspace. I like to imagine that it was that campaigning for Jeff Bridges' Career Oscar (aka Crazy Heart) a few years ago. Does this mean we'll see her chasing the gold man again in prestige pictures and meatier roles? I've learned not to expect too much face time from the elusive goddess but it sure would be a welcome sight.
Are you planning to see People Like Us? Or are you waiting for a great picture or a great role before welcoming her back.
