Swag Watch: Lincoln Cooks, Brave Looks

Two yummy gifts arrived, courtesy no doubt of my BFCA membership. But I always pretend the gifts are bribes (don't judge) since I am CLOTHED IN IMMENSE POWERS OF FOR YOUR CONSIDERATIONING. I thought you might enjoy peeks at these.

Lincoln has been going all out. They have an elegant info-heavy free download app for everyone who wants to learn more about the movie and this week a cookbook arrived. The cookbook isn't new -- it existed before the movie -- but why not?

Lincoln isn't really a foodie movie but the recipes are from the Presidential Library -- some of them from Lincoln's own lifetime and family. The subtitle is "a cookbook of epic portions" but really I can't see Honest Abe eating all that much. So lanky.

The very first recipe in for caramel ice cream so I have no choice but to approve.

Brave gifted us with "The Art of Disney Pixar BRAVE" which is a book filled with info about the development of the movie and amazing artwork along the way. I've barely made it through the preface and forward but the moody paintings thus far are awesome.

I'll leave you with  two images, one that delighted me and one that grabbed my attention.

This pencil sketch is by Director Brenda Chapman's own daughter, six years before the film as we know it was released. The indelible pairing of feisty ginger Merida and mama bear were already a part of their lives. Emma Rose was Brenda's inspiration for the movie after all. She writes:

When I came up with the idea of Brave, my predominant inspiration was the bundle of passion, stubbornness, determination and strength of character that is my daughter. Having been a shy and submissive child myself (wink), I was completely unprepared for the impact she had on my life. We locked horns, we butted heads, and we control-freaked each other to distraction. And this was when she was only five! I wondered what she was going to be like as a teenager.

And here's two early sketches of Merida by the artist Steve Purcell back when he envisioned her much younger than she ended up being in the final version of the story. I love that her hair grew and grew and grew until the final version of the character. Hair so big it's full of secrets.

First & Last: What'll I Do?

the first and last image from a motion picture (after the title sequence and before the end credits scroll)

Another clue?
The opening title sequence is underscored by the standard "What'll I Do?"
And that last image leading to the credit scroll is scored with "Ain't We Got Fun" 

Can you guess the movie?

The Bipolar Silver Linings Playbook

Hey lovelies. Beau here with a recent trip to the David O. Russell multiverse, which has gotten tamer than I once remembered it.

I understood Pat Solitano, Jr. and Sr., their individual and collective struggles in life. Which isn’t to imply that both are readily and consistently sympathetic characters, far from it. But as I made a pitstop at the Landmark Cinemas in Los Angeles on Saturday, on my way home from a quick rendezvous with old friends, I made it a point to sneak in while I could to catch this film. All things considered, the talent involved was what intrigued me. Who better to direct a film about one individual’s struggle with his anger than David O. Russell, who experienced a nice bout of controversy years ago when videos of him and Lily Tomlin getting into it on the set of I ❤ Huckabees rose from the ashes? Who better to take on the role of a young man suffering an identity crisis and highs and lows than Cooper; he's been stuffed and compartmentalized into so many boxes in the industry that by this point the dude should be dead from paper cuts alone? 

It’s only too ironic then, that Silver Linings Playbook is a bipolar affair...

Click to read more ...

Isn't it Bromantic? Gossbender & Hutcherflin

I am, like all sane citizens of the interwebs, living for the Michael Fassbender & Ryan Gosling PDA photos surfacing as they hang out on the set of Terrence Malick's latest. Gosling's cup runneth over: ever growing stardom, unique charisma, versatile talent, ... and now a backrub from Fassy!

In bromantic news 20something division... Jennifer Lawrence  is telling MTV News that Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin, her co-stars in 2013's Hunger Games: Catching Fire are totes in love. Video after the jump....

Click to read more ...

The Link is Not Enough

Thompson on Hollywood 5 things you won't learn about the making of Psycho from Hitchcock
Animation Mag GKids, that indie distributor who is bringing us great foreign animated Oscar contenders has even better news for 2013: A 25th anniversary rerelease of Grave of the Fireflies. You MUST see this movie.
I Need My Fix the motion poster for Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Fancy.
Variety ohmygod Pedro Almodovar wants to make a sci-fi movie. I'm living for this. Please do. 

The Playlist seems as if Sam Mendes might do another Bond picture post Skyfall
NY Post on exciting BluRay news for Gypsy, and many other classics
Anna Kendrick proves to her fans that she's tweeting 
Pajiba is very unhappy with Barbara Walters '10 Most Fascinating People' list. Particularly with the selection of our new Oscar host and this memorable bit on EL James of "Fifty Shades of Grey" fame:

I am sick of the way that criticism about this book has somehow morphed into derisively calling it mommy porn... My problem is the same problem I have with Twilight: the national obsession with terrible fucking writing interspersed with a cursory at best and hungrily timid notion of sex.

BadAss Digest the Marvel Studios "Phase One" box set has new features. I read through them and there's no full length documentary of Chris Evans training shirtless to get Captain America's body so there's no way I'm paying $220!
NY Post Watchmen -- you haven't heard that title in awhile, have you -- is getting a collector's edition with a super long cut and more Dr. Manhattan nudity. Too bad the movie is so stiff.
Vanity Fair Amanda Seyfried in couture... and on her relationship with Hugh Jackman in Les Miz and Dominic Cooper's eight-pack. No really.

 Off Cinema
Huffington Post Fiona Apple cancels the South American leg of her tour due to her dying dog. This is so incredibly sad and Fiona Apple is so awesome. Fact.
Gawker Anderson Cooper gets catty with a obnoxious twitter follower 

Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and big Oscar contenders are celebrating with connections both very real and carved (haha) out of thin air. Here's a Happy Thanksgiving from Dreamworks Lincoln 

...and one from Fox Searchlight's Hitchcock which you can e-mail to friends and family here.

I'm really disappointed that in this day and age of abundant web animations -- I mean even I can make little animated gifs of my drawings! -- this card didn't have movement. Hitch actually stabbing the turkey would have been sickening.