First and Last, Our Great Nation.

The first image and the last line from a motion picture.

I present this in the hope that our great nations may learn to live in peace.

Can you guess the movie?

check your guess after the jump.

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Curio: Michelle Pfeiffer in Vogue, 1991

Alexa here. Nathaniel's post on stars posing as other stars brought to mind a spread in Vogue that seared my brain when I was a teenager, so much so that I tore it out and saved it.  After a bit of digging in our basement, I found it: a now-famous set of photos of Michelle Pfeiffer by Herb Ritts.  This shoot has her posing as six different characters, which she chose herself. "I had lists and lists compiled, and I did a lot of reading, and it all kind of boiled down to these characters," she said in the accompanying interview.

as Louise Brooks as Lulu

as Laurence from Noël Coward's Private Lives

Another series I remember were the portraits Kevyn Aucoin shot for his books Making Faces and Face Forward (see here for Calista Flockhart as Audrey, Gwyneth as James Dean). I'm no pop culture historian, but I would think that Cindy Sherman's film stills from the 70s and 80s had a heavy influence on this trend well into the 90s and beyond.  But none of these spreads thrilled me as much as these of Michelle. I can only imagine how much fun they were to shoot.

See more of Michelle's characters after the jump, including Maggie the Cat!

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Box Office: The Source of that Insidious Hopping

Fact #1: I love Easter, bunnies, Easter bunnies, chocolate bunnies, coloring eggs.
Fact #2: Seeing Hop would ruin the upcoming holiday entirely for me because nothing makes me gag harder than animated CGI characters doing hip anachronistic things like oh, I don't know dreaming of playing in a rock n roll band. Just typing this out gave me salmonella. Mainstream moviegoers felt otherwise throwing their hardearned cash at the British wabbit. It had the best opening weekend since Rango. Where were these crowds when The Rock was doing Tooth Fairy?

01. HOP $37.5 new
02. SOURCE CODE $14.8 new
03. INSIDIOUS $13.2 new
04. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES $10.0 (cumulative: $38.1)
05. LIMITLESS $9.3 (cumulative: $55.5)

Poor Patrick. Things never end well for him at the movies.

Hop's success frightens me and the only possible joy that can come from it is that maybe someone will give James Marsden another plum comic gig like the one in Enchanted.  I would however totally want to see this week's chart topper if it were about Jake Gyllenhaal and the Easter Bunny ibeing thrust back in time repeatedly until they saved Patrick Wilson from demonic possessions in The Source of That Insidious Hopping. Don't you wish you could sometimes watch three movies at once?

Per Screen Average Which movies were you most likely to find crowds at? I've eliminated all the specialty IMAX stuff and everything that's only at one theater because "come on" and here's what'cha got.

01. HOP $10,000ish
02. IN A BETTER WORLD $8,000ish (The Danish Oscar winner is finally on a few screens. Weird to wait an entire month post Oscar win to debut.)
03. WIN WIN $7,000ish (cumulative $1.9 million. Big jump in screen count this past weekend. I almost went today but my friend shifted plans.)
04. JANE EYRE $6,700ish  (cumulative $3.4 million. Still going strong. Yay)
05. INSIDIOUS $5,500ish (and this type of movie is always better with a crowd)

What did you see over the weekend? I was entertaining so I didn't get out. Although we did watch the SXSW winner Weekend which was fairly strong as indies go. It definitely knew what it wanted to be and didn't get distracted at being that and that's always a huge plus.

Monday Monologue: You Spoiled Little Bastard.

Jose here. With the Arthur remake arriving in theaters this weekend, now's a good opportunity to remember what made the original one of the most beloved movies of the 80s. The answer: John Gielgud.
The legendary British actor set the standards for what would become a subcategory of acting during the following decades: brilliant actors playing wise sidekick to rising stars.

His performance as valet/father figure Hobson, to Dudley Moore's irresponsible title millionaire, won him the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and with reason. He's truly unforgettable. In one of his best scenes, he gives Arthur a life lesson he probably would never forget.  

After Arthur has finished racing his car, he exits the vehicle complaining about his life. The loyal Hobson, asks him to hand over his helmet and goggles.

After this he slaps him while calling him a "spoiled little bastard".

Without giving Arthur a chance to say anything, Hobson begins:

You're a man who has everything, aren't you. But that's not enough!
You feel unloved Arthur? Welcome to the world. Everyone is unloved!  

Now stop feeling sorry for yourself...

Incidentally... I love you. 

Marry Susan, Arthur. Poor drunks do not find love Arthur.  
Poor drunks have very few teeth, they urinate outdoors, they freeze to death in summer.

I can't bear to think of you that way. 

Gielgud's spitfire delivery makes this monologue touching, hilarious and surprising. Best of all is the way in which Moore reacts to Gielgud. He seems to be in awe of this man's capacity.
The camera follows Arthur and Hobson as the latter continues his speech. Arthur just nods in agreement and for the first time in what seems an eternity shuts up completely.

We understand that Hobson's relationship to his employer has transcended any expectations. They have bonded and have learned to love each other.

Just as Arthur begins to speak again, telling his friend how he's fallen in love for the first time, Hobson, who has undoubtedly been devising a plan magically adds, 

Perhaps fate will lend a hand... 

How do you think Dame Helen Mirren will fare playing this iconic role? Do you think anyone will ever live up to Gielgud's beautiful performance?

Will Glenn Close Become a Double Nominee at the Oscars?

Glenn Close has been fighting to get Albert Nobbs, the 19th century drama about a cross-dressing woman in Ireland, made into a film for some time. She starred in the play in the summer of 1982, the same summer that her debut film performance in The World According to Garp arrived in theaters. She was famously Oscar-nominated for that debut.

Not only is she playing the role again 29 years later for the screen but she's co-written the adaptation*. It's her first screenplay credit and it could theoretically win her another "first timer" Oscar nomination. Once I imagined this scenario and narrative (AMPAS does respect a dream project) I couldn't let it go. Sometimes Oscar narratives get stuck in my head for weeks, impervious to all logic**.

A play poster; Mia Wasikowska and Glenn Close in the film.

Oscar obsessing takes up an alarmingly large percentage of my cerebrum and this blog and the charts (SCREENPLAY Predictions are ready for you***) are the results. But sometimes it gets a little out of hand. Neurologists were alarmed to discover that that same gold shiny fixation has now drifted to my brain stem. Studies show that my Oscar obsession is now a completely involuntary function... like breathing. They've asked me to donate my gray-gold matter to science when I'm dead.

*If she accomplishes this it won't be the first time. At least four other actors have written roles that they were Oscar nominated for both writing and performing. Can you name them?

** Logic like this troubling fact: none of Rodrigo García's well meaning but muted films have attracted much awards recognition. My personal theory is that someone needs to jolt him with electric shock on ocassion. I really want to love his films and I suspect he's a kindred spirit given his devotion to actresses but there's something too sleepy about the movies. And I don't mean boring. Does anyone feel me here? I just think they need some filmmaking crackle that's not entirely performance-driven.

*** I felt weird about not excluding Carnage in the predictions but the more I think about it the more I'm unsure of how well it will transfer to the screen.

Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons

P.S. (God shut up already, Nathaniel.) How would you rank Glenn's Oscar nominations? I still don't get what that 1984 bid was about at all -- other than involuntary nominating reflex, blame the AMPAS brain stem-- but fuckyeah on her 1980s run all told, right? She was nearly as Oscar ubiquitous as Streep. if they're both nominated this year for Albert Nobbs and The Iron Lady it'll be their third head-to-head showdown.