Tall Glass of Marsden

by Jason Adams

Things that are hot right now: Stephen King adaptations. Things that are hot always: James Marsden. And finally the twain are meeting with In the Tall Grass, the just-announced adaptation of King's novella (co-authored with his son Joe Hill). The story's about "a sister and brother who venture into a vast field of grass in Kansas after hearing a boy's cries for help" which turns out to have been a bad plan of action. Then again "doing anything" inside a Stephen King story usually turns out to have been a bad plan of action...

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Soundtracking: "Mommy"

by Chris Feil

Notable among the complaints lobbed at Xavier Dolan are his music video stylings and his pop-heavy song choices. Say what you will about the auteur’s self-seriousness, but when his musical instincts work, they truly work. Nowhere does this musical instinct shine as brightly as Mommy.

The film’s psuedo-scifi premise (a fictional law allows parents to institutionalize their children) sets the film in the immediate future but the film musically shows its family unit as stuck in the past. Teenage Scott is christened with Counting Crows and Eiffel 65’s brainworm “Blue”, and he’s grafted with a dated whiteboy swagger. His mother Die is adorned in former hits from Dido and Sarah McLachlan, and we see the classy adult contempo hopes in her tacky bargain bin compilation CD package...

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Cannes begins. Is this the most stylish jury ever?

This blog post's title is rhetorical. We all know it is.

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Doc Corner: The Notorious 'RBG'

By Glenn Dunks

There is little denying that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a great woman. Sadly, however, she has not been granted a documentary of equal merit. The new documentary RBGrushes through many of her life’s accomplishments without any of the attentive analysis deserving of somebody who has been so instrumental to the shaping of society. Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West (producer of The Lavender Scare which you may have seen on the queer festival circuit), RBG is never less than full of effusive praise, but sloppy directorial choices make the film less than totally involving. It's light on the force and scope that one ought to expect.

RBG covers most of what you're expecting: her early life studying law and meeting her future husband, her efforts to fight for equality in the courts, her confirmation to the Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, her discenting vote in Bush v Gore and so on. The film, eager one supposes to present her as somebody of mere blood and bones, also covers her extra-curricular fun: the opera predominantly, but also her efforts to stay fit in her 80s, her late-in-life ascension as an internet meme, and her unlikely friendship with Antonin Scalia...

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Why aren't poster photos taken on set? The eternal mystery.

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again has a new eye sore poster. Every single cast member has been photographed separately and then composited together like some Ensemble Frankenstein Monster. The poor beast is then tasked with imitating pure joy before it has learned to control its facial muscles.

It's easy to imagine some photoshop artist creating their own mini-narratives to keep them interested while hunched over their computer jamming all the stars together. Do I spot a romantic comedy between Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård whose eyelines are matching up?

Why does this type of poster keeps happening? Why aren't poster images and promotional photoshoots done on sets on the days when busy actors are already all assembled together? If you want to see the full poster just click on Cher's sassiness to your left. I didn't want to sully up the front page.

Oh and go ahead and tag yourself in the comments. I am Lily James' left foot that's eager to jump into the water.