Visual Index ~ The Wonderful Best Shot(s) of Oz

can you believe that no one chose this shot?Do I plug this series too much? "Plug! Plug!"

The next Hit Me With Your Best Shot is Barbarella (1968) on Wednesday March 13th (join us!) but I wasn't quite ready to let The Wizard of Oz go just yet. My review of the 2013 prequel of sorts will be up at Towleroad today and here tomorrow. By Monday we'll undoubtedly be sick of Oz and let it rest... at least until its 75th anniversary (August 25th, 2014!). But in the meantime I thought it might be fun to do a...

visual link round up experiment

After the jump, see all 22 favorite shots from the awesome bloggers who participated.

Narrative! I've arranged in linear order as they happen in the movie. Click on an image you're intrigued by and it'll take you to the corresponding article. Or read them sequentially to experience this movie through 23 different sets of eyes!

Click to read more ...

It's International Women's Day !

I had so many different ideas with which to celebrate today that I didn't manage to get any of them done. It's a typical problem when you have more ideas than time and when indefatigable ambition meets easily exhaustable execution. So herewith... a few off the cuff LISTS celebrating actresses that work primarily outside of the English language that are every bit as good and sometimes a whole lot better than their American/English/Aussie counterparts who get the bulk of attention in the global market.

The gold standard here is always Deneuve. "Catherine Deneuve"... go ahead, sound it out. The name itself just reverberates with glamour but the razzle dazzle of her international celebrity is hardly the reason she's the gold standard. She's also got a filmography that would be the envy of any actor who cares about cinema beyond their own image and though she'll turn 70 this fall, she's still challenging herself. Frankly, if you look at some of the work she did in the past dozen years or so (Dancer in the Dark, Potiche, Pola X, Beloved, 8 Women, A Christmas Tale, etcetera) other actresses her age are slacking...

10 Foreign Film Actresses Most Likely To Get Me in the Movie Theater 

Paprika Steenmultiple actressy lists after the jump!

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Earth's Mightiest Links

Grantland "look, you didn't hear this from George Lucas..." on the upcoming Star Wars Han/Luke/Leia Reunion
i09 Bad Lip Readings take on The Amazing Spider-Man. And things get skanky
Hollywood January Jones not one of the cool girls but the Zeéeeee is? My world is crumbling. 
Comic Book Resources shows  mashup illustrations: superhero album covers 

Movie|Line ranks the indispensability of the actors in The Avengers for sequels but weirdly states that Scarlett Johansson's part in The Avengers left a lot to be desired. I think that's just Iron Man 2 talking. You can trust Whedon with your female heroes and he gave her a lot to do.
DListed Bradley Cooper didn't want that stupid Oscar anyway
Vine Naomi Watts does an excellent David Lynch impersonation 
Boy Culture Jonathan Groff & Zachary Quinto wedding rumors (we live in a whole new better world now - gossip rags now sharing gay marriage rumors instead of "who is secretly gay?!" stupidity)
Guardian "bottled by Jolie-Pitt and Perrin" 
Ultra Culture advertising Disney isn't doing for Oz: The Great and Powerful 

Today's Must Watch
A home-made Iron Man 3 trailer  (no computer fx) alongside the actual one...

I love when creative people meet endless free time on their hands. [via Core 77 and Cinefix]

Posterized: The Land of Oz

With Oz: The Great and Powerful hitting movie theaters today and having just remembered one of the all time greats The Wizard of Oz with the season premiere of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" I thought we'd honor the land of Oz, the now 113 year old creation of L Frank Baum with this week's edition of Posterized.

The Wizard of Oz (1939), Journey Back to Oz (1974), The Wiz (1978)

Under the Rainbow (1981), Return to Oz (1985), Wild at Heart (1990)

Wicked (stage musical, 2004), The Muppets Wizard of Oz (2005), Tin Man (miniseries, 2011)

I'm sure I'm missing some titles that spin heavily from the Oz myth but I came up with nine entertainments, preceding Oz: The Great and Powerful so let's discuss. (If you can think of more like Wild at Heart or Under the Rainbow that trade heavily on Oz imagery or history, without being 'Land of Oz' films, do share.) 

How many have you seen?

 I can't say that I've seen that many of these as I tend to avoid anything I fear might shamelessly rip off one of the greatest films of all time and thereby tarnish its memory. There will most certainly be more grave robbers coming now that Oz has beenin the public domain for awhile. But, my reservations about all new Oz product aside, I'm still dying to see a film version of "Wicked. I couldn't stop thinking of it all through the new picture. (It was like when they made that Les Miz movie in the 90s and it wasn't the musical. Why?)

First & Last Puzzle. It's A Recent Movie.

the first line of dialogue and the last image from a movie.

Again... what happened in that hotel room?

Can you guess the movie?