Slate a lovely positive post-mortem of the Harry Potter series with a well reasoned argument for the indispensability of one Alfonso Cuarón and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as the lynchpin of the series's enviable franchise longevity.
Movie|Line "nine milestones in the evolution of Ralph Fiennes." Damnit. Why no Strange Days (1995)?
Boy Culture first behind the scenes stills from Sal, that James Franco directed Sal Mineo biopic starring Val Lauren
Boy Culture also discovers that the actor Frederick Weller (remember him? I always liked him) has the world's greatest memory.
The Other Paper a fascinating history of that "You and Me" song in Blue Valentine (hat tip)
Natasha VC "so much hope" or... (my title) What can happen when the Oscars all go to still-young performers who you think you'll love forever. Oops!
Awards Daily lists their reader determined first half of the year nominations
Pajiba is way angry about the film adaptation of the novel One Shot. I don't know the source material but apparently the lead is supposed to be a towering figure, like 6'5" towering; so naturally, 5'7" Tom Cruise is your man!
Scott Feinberg falls for "blank slate" French girls Melanie Laurent (Beginners) and Marion Cotillard (Midnight in Paris)
The Wrap picks the MVP actors of the summer
Boing Boing contributor Rob Beschizza decided to reedit and abbreviate David Lynch's much-derided Dune without its problematic script. It's much shorter and the imagery takes over. Interesting. Here's a sample.
Finally, in my ongoing tiny and useless campaign to win Connie Britton a Best Actress Emmy for Friday Night Lights, I present Grantland's fine Oral History of Friday Night Lights. The section on the casting of Connie Britton as Tami Taylor is A-MAZ-ING because it makes clear everything I'm always saying about how lame the "supportive spouse" role always is and how much more capable the nation's actresses are than the lame sleepwalking shit they're always given to do in these roles. Here's a sample.
Berg: [In the original Friday Night Lights movie], Connie Britton's role was sort of Pretty Wife Clapping in the Stands, which is about the shittiest job an actress can have...
Connie Britton (Tami Taylor): ... I was like, "No way!" The only thing worse than playing a nothing part in a movie is [playing it] for years and years on TV.
Berg: She said, "Are you fucking kidding me? You think I'm going to spend 10 years sitting on a hard-wood bleacher getting splinters in my ass and cheering on Kyle Chandler? You're out of your mind." I said, "I promise. We'll create a character. We'll give you a job. We'll give you dimension. We'll give you a real voice."
Britton: It really was a leap of faith, initially, because I only had three scenes in the pilot script. So I remember even going into the pilot and saying, "OK, Pete, just so we're clear: What's here on the page in the pilot, that's not what we're talking about, right?"
Heh. Television needs more Tami Taylors. And so, too, does the cinema.