Link-o-mania

This week has been so relentless that I haven't had a chance to publish any of the links I've been storing up. It's a tidal wave of links for vous. You've lots to read this afternoon and over the weekend. Ready Set... Go...

news bits
David Poland on the binge-viewing model people are talking about post House of Cards. Incidentally I'm not at all for this. If I'm going to spend multiple hours watching something, I can catch up on movies I missed. My favorite thing about TV might be its serialized brevity. Don't ruin that TV gods.
Playlist another new pic from Behind the Candelabra the Liberace biopic - although i almost didn't link because I hate when images are trotted out as "first official" when we've all seen myriad photos already. Splitting hairs for traffic. But since it's a Liberace biopic I shall let it slide this one time. 
Cinema Blend Ryan Gosling uses the casting couch! Girlfriend Eva Mendes joins the cast of How To Catch a Monster, Gosling's directorial debut 
LA Times Wong Kar Wai's The Grand Master opens Berlinale and gets bought up by Weinstein Co. 
Guardian both Ellen Page and Melissa McCarthy are going to direct comedy features soon!
In Contention Good news. ParaNorman did solid enough business that Laika and Focus will reteam for The Boxtrolls (2014) 

star-gazing
Hammer and Thump Nicholas Hoult draws pictures for film bloggers. Ugh. So sad I didn't do Warm Bodies interviews now.
Coming Soon Hoult has also just joined the cast of Young Ones, a sci-fi thriller costarring Elle Fanning
Laughing Squid animated Superman gif throws dozens of iconic characters into the mix 

individualistic takes
A Blog Next Door looks at Django Unchained. Loved the very last observation and not just because I'm tired of people not realizing that this movie is infinitely inferior to Inglourious Basterds
Two Dollar Cinema enjoys Pitch Perfect's organized nerd singing despite his very manly nature
Cinematic Corner 'best of' whoa, someone really likes The Dark Knight Rises.

how very random
L Magazine Ryan Lochte recreates the iconic Nirvana "Nevermind" cover, although the swimsuit kinda kills the effort.
i09 wonders why Batman doesn't return to TV where it could totally thrive again
i09 10 movies that should become TV series right now. #1 is a great punchline
Hark a Vagrant makes an insanely long scrawl joke out of a pop culture moment from 1987 

retro
Film Doctor looks back at Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious -- one of my favorites from his oeuvre. 
Stale Popcorn issues a warning Terence Stamp's crotch will drive you loco in Teorema.

gold-digging
New York Magazine Frank Rich on Oscars in the Obama age. He'd vote Django Unchained and here's why.
LA Times finally finds a way to make those Oscar Luncheon group portraits interesting. Make them interactive. I totally loved clicking around here. You should too.
The Carpetbagger Tony Kushner responds to critiques of Lincoln and the notion of "accuracy" in historical recreations
Awards Daily thinks Supporting Actor is anyone's game 

Second Viewings Playbook

David here. What induces you to give a film a second viewing? Usually, I suspect it comes down to adoration, and the desire to feel that rush of emotion again, whether it was delirious laughter, cathartic sobbing or immobilising terror. The 'Repeaters' are the films that become mainstays of your life, the comfort food, the personal canon. We’ve all got them.

Robert's second viewing face

Rarer, though, are the second viewings induced by curiosity. There are so many movies from every decade and country that there’s really always something new to watch -- why waste time on something you’ve already seen and didn’t even like that much? Movies, especially in Oscar season, don’t exist in a vacuum – there is so much discussion around movies, be it from friends or critics or random people on the internet like me, that sometimes you’re forced to think about films you didn't respond to more often than you would have otherwise. Sometimes you find yourself needing to reevalute.

A case in point after the jump...

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Retro LOL to Usher in the Weekend

My mouth only waters for a nice, juicy, kosher pickle"

LOL. Joan Crawford 4evs.

(I know I know. Thursday night is not the weekend but brutal week! I'm starting early.)

Smash: "On Broadway" & "The Fallout"

If I had to hold a Playbill while waiting for "Smash"'s second season to begin, my hands would have all smudged with the ink from the anticipatory twisting and rolling and general "start already!" fussing. Though "Smash" was never exactly a critical hit in its first season, the idea that it was "hate watch" appointment television was sad (sigh. people and their it's-cool-too-hate-musicals predictability!). Smash was really no worse than your average struggling-to-find-its-voice first season TV show but in its finest moments it was like nothing else on television and pretty thrilling, too. I would hold up last season's early episode "The Cost of Art" up against virtually any episode of any show last season in terms of quality.

American Idol Alumni: Hudson & McPhee duet "On Broadway"

We could definitely see the behind-the-scenes turmoil on the screen in Season 1 as the show went on. But the show must go on... [more after the jump including new characters and songs]

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Cabaret Winners!

"Beedle dee, dee dee dee,
Two winners.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee,
And I'm the only man,
Ja!"

It's time to announce the winners of the Cabaret contest, pulled randomly from your entries which were doubled if you sent along a Cabaret inspired photo along with your note about your favorite moment in the 1972 masterpiece.

I had fun reading all of your opinions and even more fun watching the film again... though the strangest thing about seeing it on the big screen for the first time after a lifetime spent watching it on various sizes of screens at home was that it suddenly seemed to have less musical numbers. Minnelli's peak razzle dazzle and Joel Grey's indeligible emcee suck up all the oxygen in terms of memories of the movie but there is so much more to the movie which is a really brilliant and disturbing drama about a world(s) about to collapse, specifically Weimar Era Germany (and its funhouse mirror in the Kit Kat Club).

Anyway... I asked you to either "like" the film experience facebook page and tell us your favorite bit of Cabaret or do the same thing by email with a "photo" inspired by Cabaret to win yourself an extra contest entry. The winners of the remastered restored and booklet-beautiful 40th anniversary blu-ray, chosen randomly are:

JOSHUA FLOWER who writes:

My favorite moment comes right at the top - the opening shot that pulls back off the reflection of Joel Grey as he turns to the camera/audience and starts singing "Vilkommen." It might be my favorite opening shot, period. The precision and energy of the camerawork, the hall of mirrors distortion of the reflection, in contrast to the reality, which is kind of garish and severe, combined with the music, which is peppy and weirdly melancholy at the same time... That one shot has always felt like a perfect little encapsulation of the movie as a whole, somehow.

KATE IMY who sent a photo of herself performing "Money Money Money" - how cool is that? She writes:

...a too-literal entry into your "inspired" photo challenge. These are from when a friend and I sang the song "Money Money" in our high school Broadway review style show "Knights on Broadway." Thankfully they hide the fact that I was/am an atrocious singer. My friend with the fantastic makeup was actually quite good. So for purely selfish and awkwardly self-promotional reasons "Money Money" has a special place for me in the movie. Especially the "When you haven't any coal in the stove..." bit. So hard to do but so exciting to watch when it's done well (in the movie). 

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOSHUA & KATE!

After the jump, I thought you might enjoy a few more losing but great contest entries from readers. I'm sorry I didn't have dozens of blu-rays to give away but you all won my heart and that has to count for something!

Click to read more ...