Beauty vs Beast: Super Cat Scratch Fever

Jason from MNPP here with today's new "Beauty vs Beast" -- I finally got my boyfriend to watch Wonder Woman this weekend (it's finally out on VOD) and he was as surprised as I was by how much he enjoyed it (I was skeptical given DC's lousy track-record and he was skeptical because he doesn't like superhero movies). But he had one complaint that I very much got - there are a couple of full-body CG shots where Diana's hopping around where the effects look pretty goony, or as my boyfriend put it, "That looked like Catwoman." 

Which got me thinking about Catwoman. The Halle Berry one, I mean. Which isn't as dire for me as it is for most - I actually enjoy the 2004 dud, albeit for camp value. But you kind of get the feeling that the film's director Pitof (whose career was, probably rightly, murdered by the film) intended the camp value, which then got me thinking about what a blessing it is that Patty Jenkins was able to give us a female superhero and take her (and her girly love for love) seriously - there's a long history of female superheroes being treated as less than serious by male directors, from Supergirl to Showgirls. 

Of course Tim Burton took Catwoman seriously once, and from that we got the Greatest Superhero Performance of All Time. And he also proved that taking something "seriously" doesn't mean you have to drain all the fun, or even the camp, from it - a lesson every DC movie not named Wonder Woman could stand to learn. So I hope we get a proper Catwoman movie some day, but until then, I'll make due with the camp of Halle Berry smashing the beauty magnate villanness Sharon Stone's cement face in. Which leads me to this week's purrfect poll...

PREVIOUSLY When I was out of town last week Nathaniel took y'all back to Disney's film Hercules (which sidenote I have never seen, whoopsie) and faced off its hero and hell-ward villain, and in a squeaker the titular ginger took the crown with just over 51% of your votes. Always bet on ginger. Said Emma:

"I consider Hercules the second dishiest Disney character (second only to Nick from ZOOTOPIA... don't judge me!), so had to vote for the eye candy."

The Furniture: Brazil's Pungent Pot of Duct Soup

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Hi there! I want to talk to you about ducts.

I mean that quite seriously, though I’m also quoting the opening lines of Terry Gilliam’s wacky and wonderful Brazil. It’s a film with a lot of unique production design, for which art director Norman Garwood and set decorator Maggie Gray received an Oscar nomination. They lost to Out of Africa, but I find it helpful to pretend that didn’t happen.

It’s nearly impossible to choose a single element to feature. I’ve half a mind to simply post all of the bleakly hilarious propaganda posters that clutter the walls of the film’s dystopian metropolis. Another option would be the design of the dream sequences, which become increasingly majestic as Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) loses touch with reality.

But I still want to talk to you about ducts...

Click to read more ...

Difficult People S3 E3-4: John Cho, Rabbits, and A Dybbuk

Chris and Spencer are dishing this season of Difficult People!

In “Code Change”, Julie uses AA to fight her addiction to her mother, Arthur fails valiantly to satisfy Julie in bed, and Billy comes to the separate rescue of his brother and sister-in-law.

SPENCER: Why had I never thought of a church as a place to charge my phone, first of all? Let alone a Synagogue!

CHRIS: And there’s free coffee. I feel like we spoke too soon last time about the show's guest actors only being asked to just play wacky because Rosie O'Donnell was maybe the show's most straight-faced character ever.

S: I know, right? It was almost jarring — but definitely in a good way. Her reference to Billy being gay… she’s totally in on the joke.

Click to read more ...

1985 is on. Start watching and voting!

The 1985 Supporting Actress Smackdown is on October 1st. Which means you have one month to watch or rewatch the movies and vote. 

• Margaret Avery, The Color Purple available for rent on iTunes
• Anjelica Huston, Prizzi's Honor
• Amy Madigan, Twice in a Lifetime available for rent on Amazon
• Meg Tilley, Agnes of God available for rent on iTunes
• Oprah Winfrey, The Color Purple 

We'll be announcing the panelists in a couple of weeks but you, the readers (collectively) are the final panelists. Your votes count towards the results. So get to rewatching or finally catching up with these four movies and send in your votes (from 1 to 5 hearts for each lady - only the performances you've seen please) with 1985 Smackdown in the subject line. You have until Friday September 29th to vote. 

OTD: Madonna Mania and a Dangerous Release Date

On this day (Sept 2nd) in showbiz-related history...

31 BC Cleopatra loses the Battle of Actium to Octavian's troops in the final war of the Roman Republic. Liz is very upset but it turns out Dick is still alive and he leaves his men to drown to catch up with her and work on his thigh tan! Not great, Bob.

Madonna mania, September 1st movie releases and more after the jump...

Click to read more ...