Link Up
Monday, August 15, 2016 at 12:40PM REMINDER: tomorrow night we're doing the first episode of "The Get Down" (now streaming on Netflix) for Hit Me With Your Best Shot
The Best Picture Project advice for taking your toddler to the movie theater
Los Angeles Times report on a South Korean thriller called Train to Busan that's striking a deep chord with moviegoers there
In Contention Kris Tapley has a new podcast called "Playback" - interviews and the Oscar race
Comics Alliance Flash Season 3 News. I cooled a bit on The Flash with the interminable and convoluted plot of Season 2 but season 3 is sounding like great fun: a musical episode (which we were hoping for since so many of the cast members have musical theater backgrounds) and more Gorilla Grodd for starters
MTV Teo Bugbee celebrates the 10th anniversary of Step Up, the sexiest family-friendly dance movie of the decade
Tracking Board we get the movies we deserve (on the success of Suicide Squad despite everyone agreeing that it's not good)
Coming Soon Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water has assembled quite a stellar cast (including Oscar nominees Richard Jenkins & Sally Hawkins) and production has begun. It's "an other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1963."
Theater Mania Remember Lesley Headland's Bachelorette? It started as a play before it was a movie and now it's coming back to the stage in September (sadly it's the exact dates I'm in TIFF so I won't get to see this production).
/Film Some of the titular characters from Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
Variety Birth of a Nation star Nate Parker responds to new reporting about a rape trial 17 years ago.
Variety Cirque du Soleil is making several changes to its Broadway show "Paramour" after opening night and reviews, which is quite rare.
This is Not Porn Harrison Ford working out for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Coming Soon Patty Jenkins respondes to rumors that Wonder Woman, like other DC superhero productions before it is a mess in post. Calls them "entirely false" with a "transparent agenda"
Theater Mania Fyvush Finkel of Picket Fences and Fiddler on the Roof fame has died at 93 years of age
Tracking Board more discussion of "genderless" acting awards. I maintain that this would be a disaster for actresses because sexist society (and Holllywood) values men so much more and that would only exarcebate the problem of women not getting their deserved kudos in film and television. This particular article seems to think the male acting categories have more range in roles which I think is flat-out crazy. The male acting categories are so much duller and generally only have a few types of genres honored. You get a wider spread with the actresses from all the same genres as men (bios, dramas, dramedies, epics) plus romances, comedies, musicals, etcetera.
Olympic Fever
E!Online best reaction faces from the Olympics
Slate on Kohei Uchimura, "the greatest gymnast of all time"
Slate on why Puerto Rico gets its own Olympic team
Towleroad The IOC has deemed the Daily Beast's awful homophobic article about gay Olympians using apps to hookup "unacceptable" (the article has since been removed from the Daily Beast's website but honestly people should be fired not just 'oh we're sorry') and the straight journalist behind it Nico Hines has been recalled from Rio. Still one has to wonder what damage he's already done given that he basically outed athletes from notoriously anti-gay countries whose lives could not be at stake
Towleroad The Daily Mail has also been on the homophobic attack, labelling hugging between Olympic divers 'unmanly'
Reader Comments (6)
Leslye Headland also has a new play starting performances soon off-Broadway at Second Stage (which debuted Bachelorette): The Layover
Did Patty really have to use one of those ridiculous buzz words "transparent",what's that mean?
I can tell it's mess from the trailer.I am all for women having more leading roles but don't give us rubbish movies that do women no favours,I can just see the reviews now saying how great the ladies look in costumes and little else.
That's too bad about Nate Parker, I always liked his work.
mark: I don't want it to be hot garbage, and if DC had a track record that could allow benefit of the doubt to be a "thing", I'd be hopeful, but this is a track record of three bad movies in a row. I have no idea what the full context of the "sword dress" is going to be, but based on WB right now, it's going to be something stupid.
Beware; if you gaze long enough into the Daily Mail, the Daily Mail will also gaze into you.
Train to Busan was fantastic. Saw it when it was in Seattle a few weeks back, and it is the best zombie movie (or zombie anything) since Zombieland, if not Shaun of the Dead.
The zombies are similar to World War Z, where they zombify quickly, are fast, and they take no barrier or injury for an answer. The story is more concise and pointed than WWZ, so it doesn't seem quite as ridiculous. I found myself concerned for the characters and the unrelenting pace was fantastic and engaging. It also points out the worst of society, making it feel all the more real. Go see it if you get a chance!