Smash: "The Workshop"

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Bernadette dreams of stardom for Megan Hilty... sort of.

In last night's episode Eileen (Anjelica Huston) presented her workshop of "Marilyn The Musical" to potential investors but though no one literally broke a leg, things went wrong. The building had major heat problems souring the mood. Ivy (Megan Hilty) was plagued by her insecurity and distracted by her legendary showbiz mother Lee Conroy (very special guest star Bernadette Peters. Yes!), Karen (Katharine McPhee) fell during a big number distracting focus from Ivy. Julia (Debra Messing) and Michael's (Will Chase) affair came to a tearful end after Julia realized her son knew. 

The building heat made the investors uncomfortable and immediately we're smelling blood. Who gets blamed? The show dangled more "star" rivals for Hilty (Uma Thurman will appear in 5 upcoming episodes) including Sutton Foster and Scarlett Johansson. And in a sharply acted gutpunch moment, the episode's most interesting beat, unspoken discomfort with Julia's affair resulted in Michael being blamed for the workshop's failure. Overall an uneven episode that felt more like a pivot point than a peak. What comes next? Besides new love affairs for Eileen and Tom, that is, which are being super-telegraphed in advance for some reason.

Set List: Originals - Medley of all the tunes we've heard thus far (company), "Lexington and 52nd Street" (Chase); Jukebox Tunes - "Brighter than the Sun" (McPhee); Showtunes: "Everything's Coming Up Roses" (Bernadette Peters), 
Best ? Moment: Bernadette's uncomfortable exit. This showbiz mom has trouble with feelings but gives it a go anyway. Someone is gunning for a Best Guest Actress Emmy. 
Gay Gay Gay: The chorus boys total delight watching Bernadette Peters perform. I relate.
Anjelica Awesomeness: "That's enough. I won't pretend this isn't useful information but if I hear that you've repeated this..." Eileen is willing to use sneaky evil Ellis, but she knows when to show him who's boss. 
Curtain Call: I've already forgotten exactly how this episode ended. It petered out? But speaking of curtains... Loved that bit when Sam moved the curtain to show the ensemble that Ivy could hear them. Ouch. 
Grade: B

-Guys you wanna maybe shut up? She can hear you."
-Sorry." 

Previous Episodes
1 Pilot 2-3 The Callback and Enter Joe DiMaggio 4-6 The Cost of Art, Let's Be Bad, and Chemistry 

"A Separation" Wins Big at the Asian Film Awards

Congralutations to Andy Lau (representing Hong Kong's Oscar submission A Simple Life) and Eugene Domingo (the star of The Philippine's Oscar submission Woman in a Septic Tank) who won the People's Choice Award for Actor and Actress at the 6th Annual Asian Film Awards.

They look so happy. The Oscars are long over but somehow it's comforting to know that people hold new trophies every day of the year for something or other and not all of them are dreaming of Oscar. And not all awards bodies are concerned with whether or not Oscar voters are watching.

It was a big night for A Separation (which we were just talking about) which took home the top prize and three others. The craft categories were mostly split between Wu Xia and The Flying Swords of Dragon Gale, neither of which have come to US cinemas.

The acting awards were all over the place both in terms of films and countries.

The Winners
Film A Separation [Iran]
Director Asghar Farhadi, A Separation [Iran]
Actress Deanie Ip, A Simple Life [Hong Kong]
Actor Donny Damara, Lovely Man [Indonesia] 
Newcomer Ni Ni, The Flowers of War [China] 
Supporting Actress Shemaine Buencamino, Nino [The Philippines]
Supporting Actor Lawrence Ko Jump, Ashin! [Taiwan] 

Donny Damara plays a transgendered father in "Lovely Man"

Screenplay Asghar Farhadi, A Separation [Iran]
Cinematography Jake Pollock & Lai Yiu-fai Wu Xia [China | Hong Kong]
Production Design Yee Chung-man, Sun Li, Wu Xia [China | Hong Kong] 
Score Chan Kwong-wing, Peter Kam, Chatchai Pongprapaphan, Wu Xia [China | Hong Kong]
Editor Hayedeh Safiyari, A Separation [Iran]
Visual Effects Wook Kim, Josh Cole, Frankie Chung, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gale [China | Hong Kong ]
Costume Design Yee Chung-man, Lai Hsuan-wu The Flying Swords of Dragon Gale [China | Hong Kong] 

The Flying Swords of Dragon Gale hasn't come to the States yet but since it stars Jet Li and it's action oriented, I suppose we'll get it at some point.

Special Awards Lifetime Achievement for Hong Kong director Ann Hui and The Edward Yang New Talent Awards for Indonesia's Edwin. 

Burning Questions: The New Classic Quotes

Michael C. here to see if I can blow some of the dust of the all time lists to make room for some new blood.  

If you read as much film writing as I do you know one of the most tiresome attitudes one encounters is the rose-colored “they don’t make them like the used to” mindset. This is the Pleasantville way of seeing things that insists cinema attained a sort of perfection in the forties and fifties and has been on a downhill slide towards Transformers sequels ever since. 

One of the most common forms this viewpoint takes is the lament that movies aren’t as quotable as they used to be. "Why, when the American Film Institute released its list of the 100 greatest quotes in 2005" the argument goes, "Casablanca landed six spots on the list alone, while Gone With the Wind and Wizard of Oz landed three apiece." The problem with this argument is that, while I wouldn’t deny those films a single one of their spots, it is meaningless to compare films that have had the better part of a century to secure their place in the cultural pantheon to those that have just been released. More often than not cinematic greatness emerges over time rather than instantly emblazoning itself on the face of the culture.

So if I’m correct and in four or five decades the films of the early part of this century do manage to slide in some lines alongside “You talkin’ to me?” and “Frankly My Dear, I don't give a damn.” what will they be?

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What are the new classic quotes in the making?

Since the most recent quote on the AFI’s top 100 is “My Precious” from 2002’s Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers I think that would be a good jumping off point. In the decade following where the AFI list left off here are, in my best estimation, the ten quotes that have most thoroughly permeated popular culture: 

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Curio: Anticipating The Hunger Games

Alexa here. I have skillfully avoided much of the hysteria surrounding The Hunger Games for quite a while. Like Nathaniel, I've been reluctant to jump on the over-marketed, YA-franchise bandwagon. But loving Jennifer Lawrence's performance in Winter's Bone, I took notice when she was cast as Katniss. And when the first full trailer emerged I felt a tingle down my spine. Yet for months I held steady in my resolve to avoid the marketing cacaphony. But something in me broke down this week: I started the book.  Well done, Lionsgate, you conquered me with your buzz-making machine.  In light of my change of heart, here are some pretty swell creations made in advance of the film.

Limited edition prints by Purple Cow Posters.

Poster prints by Entropy Trading Company.Click for more, including jewelry...

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Link Is My Signature Color

Wired an archery coach examines Hawkeye's form in The Avengers. Is Jeremy Renner the world's worst archer?
The Wrap Will Hunger Games make Lionsgate a major studio player finally?
Cinema Blend Bruce Willis plays the older version of Joseph Gordon Levitt in the time travel drama Looper. How to make JGL look more like Bruce since they look nothing alike?
Company Town Disney expects $200 million loss on John Carter. Ouch. 

Lawsuits R Us
Little White Lies a pub in Southhampton has apparently been going by the name of The Hobbit for two decades. Hollywood is suing for copyright infringement.
LA Times Finally have you been following this dramatic "wrongful termination" lawsuit from Desperate Housewives? I haven't because I keep wishing the show itself would be terminated. Apparently jurors were so deadlocked over Nicolette Sheridan's claims that a mistrial was called after four days of deliberations. Most of the juror's sided with Sheridan who claimed her suicide death on the show was retaliation from the creator. How long till they make a TV movie of the trial? The actresses should play themselves. At least it'll get Sheridan some work. I grew up watching her on Knot's Landing so I have a soft spot for her rather hard beauty.

Steel Magnolias Redux
And have you heard that Lifetime has announced casting for the Steel Magnolias remake for television? Remember when we tried casting that right here? The all black version will star Queen Latifah as M'Lynn, Phylicia Rashad as Clairee, Alfre Woodard as Ouiser, Jill Scott as Truvy, Condola Rashad as Shelby and Adepere Oduye (who we got so excited about in Pariah) as Annelle.

Which of those do-overs excites you most? Or is the very idea sacriligeous to you, replacing Sally, Olympia, Shirley, Dolly, Julia and Daryl?