Last Minute BEST SHOT Schedule Change for the VMAs

For tomorrow night's Best Shot we're moving Todd Haynes [safe] back one week to Wednesday July 29th -- trust that I can't deal with it right now emotionally for reasons I will explain next week

TOMORROW NIGHT INSTEAD...

We're talking MUSIC VIDEOS since the MTV VMA nominations were just announced -- and Nicki Minaj is NOT pleased that her "Anaconda" is not in the top category. If you've always wanted to try Best Shot, this is a simple experimental episode that you can do without renting any movies! Watch each video, choose a "best shot" from each, post it and explain why (on any of your social media outlets), let us know and we'll link up tomorrow night!

THE NOMINEES FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Flying Lotus ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Never Catch Me” (Larkin Sieple)

Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud” (Daniel Pearl)

Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood” (Christopher Probst)

FKA Twigs – “Two Weeks” (Justin Brown)

Alt-J – “Left Hand Free” (Mike Simpson)

THIS WILL BE FUN, DON'T YOU THINK? JOIN THE PART TOMORROW NIGHT BY 10 PM

Curio: Paperback Love

Alexa here with your weekly film curios.  I am an unabashed lover and collector of vintage paperbacks, especially movie tie-in paperbacks. Kayo Books is always a stop when I'm passing through San Francisco (and where I found What's Up, Doc? and King Solomon's Mines tie-in paperbacks).  I have been known to scan some favorite covers from my collection, and then print and frame them for quick wall art.  So the recent trend of movie posters re-imagined as paperbacks is one that I can't resist.  Of course, Penguin Classics are a favorite inspiration, as well as designs of the more pulpy variety like Dell (a hat tip to Pulp Fiction's 90s marketing).

Here is a collection of some favorite designs I've seen out in the wild.  

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Review: Ant-Man

Tim here. Ant-Man is maybe the most typical film yet made in the now 12-picture Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is up to the individual viewer to decide if that's a compliment or a vicious & lacerating criticism. But it's really hard to think of it as anything other than a factory-pressed rebuild of the same basic story beats, character arc, gags, and conflicts that have become locked-in through Marvel's seven-year multifranchise experiment.

The film's distinguishing elements are all at the margins: in the hands of director Peyton Reed (who is much more in Yes Man-style "mercenary hack" mode than Down with Love-style "crafty stylist" mode), this is the most generously comic of all Marvel films to date, with the zippiest, silliest performances; the stakes are refreshingly low, and there's no aerial battle with the fate of nations and worlds at stakes in the final act. The cinematography by Russell Carpenter - an Oscar winner for Titanic - is distinctly more interesting than anything in any Marvel movie so far, with something resembling a thought-out purpose for the muted colors and rough lighting. It strips back some of the polish and gleaming surfaces in the Marvel movies of yore, to make a film that feels like it takes place in an actual world.

More...

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73 Questions w/ Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman does Vogue's "73 Questions" as she gives us very brief peeks at her farm. I didn't know that Vivien Leigh was her favorite actress! Or that she'd just throw out the title "Bewitched" without worrying about bringing up painful memories.

Also she is terrible at doing impressions. 

We can discuss sexism in comic book movies when you get back from the theater.

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