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Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 10:50AM Being sick would be awesome if one didn't feel like crap whilst staying in bed all day watching movies, reading blogs, playing iPhone games, and snuggling with the cat.
IndieWire has an interesting chart of which Toronto People's Choice Winners scored big at the box office after the fest. Adjusted for inflation American Beauty (1999) is still the champ. Or Slumdog Millionaire (2008) without any fancy maths. But those People's Choice winners sure do have a good track record at winning Oscar attention.
Parade has an interview excerpts piece up about Brad Pitt. I don't want to get too sentimental about it but I consider it a huge blessing when very famous and very rich celebrities actually reveals themselves to be good souls, too. The things he has to say about religion and federal government and affordable housing and adoption and all of these things... they are so spot on. I really don't get the bad rap that charitable celebrities often get -- is it just self-loathing turned outward when people realize they wouldn't be even a tenth as altruistic if they were wealthy? Is it jealousy of good fortune? I don't know. But my point is Brad & Angie: love 'em.
Just Jared Bizarre contest alert. Seems you can enter/audition to be a voice in the animated musical Dorothy of Oz starring Lea Michele (first photos of characters are also present). The closer all these Oz movies get to theaters (I keep losing track of how many there are), the more naive the producers of the celluloid transfer of Broadway's Wicked look. How on earth do you sit on that golden goose property (which has already outgrossed most of the biggest blockbuster films ever) long enough to let an animated film --they take forever!-- beat you to theaters and live off, profit from and burn out the renewed Wizard of Oz fever that you yourselves stoked? Sometimes the Hare and not the Tortoise wins.
Speaking of Brad Pitt, somewhere in this past week I missed the Oscar Fever rise of his candidacy for Moneyball. It would be so weird if the Best Actor race was all hunky across the board: DiCaprio, Gosling, Fassbender, Pitt, DuJardin, and Clooney?
Awards Daily snapped photos of Julianne Moore and Ed Harris in a Game Change preview. Disturbing it was (I saw the same one) with Julianne being so spitting image of that one celebritician
Ultra Culture opens the PR package for The Change-Up. Big LOLS ensue.
Nicks Flick Picks starts his beloved "Fifties" column, i.e. best of the year thus far. As always his choices and writeups make you rethink the work... which is what great critics do.
Empire Colin Firth, whose career is still giant-sized post A Single King Man's Speech, will next star in The Railway Man, a POW drama. That is after Tinker Tailor.
Towleroad my latest movie column in which I order people around. Go see Drive.
Stale Popcorn remembers the character actress Frances Bay (RIP) from The Golden Girls to Twin Peaks
October News and Request For Reader Input
When I was reading this article on Everything I Know... in which Mr. Caggiano who teaches courses in musical theater history and the neuropsychology of music (?!?) asks his incoming students to name the best musical of all time, I remembered that next month marks the 50th anniversary of my personal favorite (WEST SIDE STORY). The film version of West Side Story, which first hit the big screen on October 18th, 1961 went on to become a huge hit and one of the biggest Oscar champs of all time (11 noms, 10 wins losing only its screenplay nomination as musicals tend to.). On the classic movies note, I wondered, for younger readers especially (and please do speak up if you have feelings about this), if I use too much of a shotgun approach when discussing old movies here? I sometimes suspect you have too many titles flying at you all the time to really decide what to get familiar with (like in those huge "all time" lists). So perhaps we should focus more going forward? Maybe we should try Classic of the Month style loose themes? It would be boring to talk about the same movie -- any movie -- for an entire month but perhaps a loose theme could include all sorts of detours that tie in but aren't too much of the same thing (Oscar competitions, influences, actor careers.
Sound off in the comments... I guess I'm interested to know if you liked the previous theme weeks like Aliens or the films of Tennessee Williams or Moulin Rouge! this summer or if you had to already know and love the movies to enjoy those?
Reader Comments (10)
Frances Bay shocked me with her use of the F word, uttering it just once in Wild at Heart.
Oh, how I love West Side Story. I remember seeing it for the first time in Junior High (as a companion to us studying Romeo and Juliet) and it absolutely WRECKING me. It alternates with Sound of Music (don't judge!) as my favorite movie musical, depending on my mood and when you ask me :-) I hope you do a piece on it.
I personally enjoy the theme weeks you have done in the past. A definite you have to see this/these select movies is a good approach as opposed to overwhelming with a giant list.
As I'm writing a PhD on Classical Hollywood Cinema, I'm all for Classic of the Month! Loved the previous write-ups immensely.
How about tying it in with promoting Classical Hollywood actresses? I.e., 'If you want to be introduced to Barbara Stanwyck, you should start with (insert movie).'; then discuss it and suggest further films?
And I share your love for Brad'n'Angie. If Angie would only take on another film project worthy of her talents instead of hollow star vehicles... *sigh*
Don't share your love for Brad and Angelina as celebrities. I don't hate them either, but I don't get what's to love. And no matter who does it, advertising your charitable actions is self-promotion. Well, yes now I recall a pet-peeve I have about Pitt. Some years ago (Benjamin Button?) he said in one of those roundtables he has nothing to prove as an actor, while in my opinion he has a lot (every actor has) to prove, but it wasn't the remark itself as much as the I don't give a shit about this or all of you air that bothered me, and now when I see them both I'm convinced neither of them cares much about movies anymore or about the rest of mortals.So, why should I?
Somehow I wish I hadn't seen that picture of Moore as Sarah Palin. Politicians like her, George W. Bush (yes, I saw W. ;( ) or Thatcher should be only a Funny or Die video. The movie treatment is much more than they deserve. Oblivion, yes that word would make such a nice movie title...
I think that classic movie reviews are great when you've seen the film, but should be avoided if you haven't-- they usually review too many wonderful points of the film. Perhaps giving a heads-up a week or two before (like you did with the "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series earlier this year) would help people to get caught up if they were interested in discussing the film and hadn't yet seen it. It'd be a TFE book club of sorts. :)
I love reading about films that other people are passionate about. I don't always get around to participating in the Hit Me's...for example, but I do read through to find out what people like about those films. Then again, I pick up film criticism books for leisure reading, so I'm sure I don't have the typical perspective.
I love the classic of the month ideas and Hit Me with your best shot is such a cool thing (especially cause I can use netflix).
I would suggest maybe a modern classics series or comparing old movies to their modern counterpart or something like that. This way you can talk about classic movies and new ones at the same time :)
Terence -- we already do that with Distant Relatives but i am definitely going to do something more with classics to make it less random. hence your input.
I think the theme weeks are fun.
BTW - are you still going to cover The Others for HMWYBS?
FYI, Colin Firth left the cast of Stoker a while back; he's been replaced by the much-younger Matthew Goode. (Which still breaks my heart - I loved the idea of La Kidman and Firth onscreen together.)
BTW - I thought that was a photo of Palin at first (aka "She Who Must Not Be Named, 2.0"); when I realized it was Moore I was really frightened. I don't want to associate Julianne with that woman.