The Linking

GQ an oral history of the great sitcom Cheers
/Film first looks inside Darren Aronofsky's Noah's Ark via the great cinematographer Matthew Libatique. They should've filmed this under the pseudonym Snakes on a Boat and surprised us all with a Noah's Ark movie.
Indie Wire talks to the director of Room 237. Is the documentary, a compilation of theories and obsessions surrounding Stanley Kubrick's The Shining a celebration or a critique of film critics? I'm dying to see this even though I'm no expert on The Shining.

NY Post the Self Styled Siren takes on Brian de Palma's Passion, a remake of the french thriller Love Crimes which starred Ludivine Sagnier (interviewed).
Oklahoma is excited about the stars of August: Osage County in their midst (reminder: filming has begun!) There's a few blurry pics of stars (as well as some clear ones) and one of Meryl Streep doesn't look much like her but I'll take their word for it given the blur. 
Hollywood.com wonders if audiences want to be challenged at the movies. A question posed through the film Compliance (which you'll remember I wasn't crazy about though I do love a good movie challenge.)
Now Toronto Rian Johnson talking about his fine Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis 
The Film Doctor notes on The Master
In Contention wonders if Skyfall could land a best picture nomination 
Hollywood Elsewhere Guillermo Del Toro on Ken Russell's great film The Devils 

Finally...
Do you all follow the Vanity Fair tumblr? It's fun. I love this Bruce Handy quote they recently featured:

“PARKER POSEY IS SCARY AND ANGULAR AND LOOKS LIKE SHE COULD SAY SOMETHING MEAN ABOUT YOU IN BED. SHE’S TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY TO CATHERINE KEENER. ZOOEY DESCHANEL, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY TO MY LITTLE PONY.”

and it just begs for a poll...

poll by twiigs.com

Sally Kirkland is "Awakened"!

Sometimes movie publicists are telepathic. Last week I was thinking about The Hamptons and how it's weird that I've never been but I'm so eager to spend every weekend there this fall shivering from the icy cold glares of Victoria Grayson and Emily Thorne (Revenge returns Sunday night ~Holla). Then a friend who had never seen Scarface (1983) sent me a text that was basically like “Steven Bauer ♥ omg!” to which I  responded with a “Queue Thief of Hearts - it's pure Bauer Porn." Last but not least, I was wondering which celebs I should invite as future guest stars and my mind wandered to Sally Kirkland, star of Anna (1986), for which she won the Golden Globe, an Independent Spirit and the Heart of Me. 

All of these things were jostling for attention in my crowded celluloid packed-brain for the past few days when what should arrive in my inbox but the first photos from the set of the thriller Awakened which is... wait for it...

A) now shooting in The Hamptons...

B) co-stars my Sally Kirkland 

and C) also features Steven Bauer in one of the leading roles.

TELEPATHY!

(Well done, publicity team)

More after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Team Experience: The Master

I'm out and about again (finally!) so my greedy eyeballs will be on The Master soon. I challenged Team Experience to describe the film in three words since so many critics can't even settle on what it's even about (I'm avoiding reviews but the non-consensus as to meaning is out there).

Four brave souls took me up on the challenge...

Matt Zurcher writes:

Fevered heart need.
The intensity of The Master is impossible to understate. The style itself is unhinged -- crazy, even. The characters are bloated visions of Freudian extremes. The Master is filmmaking of the highest order, yes. But it's also cinema that works on its own terms, so full of cocky flair and delightful self-indulgence that the audience has no choice but to follow it wherever it wants to go. Anderson's fable can seem alienating or disorganized on first viewing, but a second reveals the director's compassion. Joaquin Phoenix's face is a shattered one, but his tears are so heartbreakingly believable. The passion and need that these two men feel for each other begs to be known. And in all the intellectualization of this film that we're going to see, let us remember that it's really just about two people who need each other and who love each other. It's the best love story I've seen since Punch-Drunk Love.

You can read Matt's full review here.

Beau McCoy writes:

Opaque Rabid Jazz

"The Master" makes "Cosmopolis" look as accessible as a Spielberg film. Purposely distant and muddled; what are we watching and why? Ferocity abounds in its many forms and incarnations. Moves like a jazz solo; we don't know where we're going. Why should it matter? Premature.

Alexa says:

Disappointing Beautiful Molasses
There's a truly great film here waiting to be pulled out of the molasses...

You can read more of her thoughts, here.

Finally, Jose was even more succinct but I suspect it's something of a spoiler so I'm putting it after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Will "The Butler" Do It?

For Oscar I mean? Oscar winner Forest Whitaker was recently snapped on the set of 2013 Oscar hopeful The Butler, from Precious director Lee Daniels.  Given the The Weinstein Co will distribute the film and the subject is a long time White House butler and his relationship to the first families, one expects so.

Forest Whitaker shot on set by Anne Marie Fox

The Paperboy, which is nearly upon us, doesn't look like anyone's idea of a typical Oscar magnet, but neither did Lee Daniels' first film Shadowboxer (yes, that one. The one with Hitwoman Helen Mirren romancing Cuba Gooding Jr.). Perhaps Lee Daniels will be an every other film type Oscar player?

Have you given much thought to the starry cast of The Butler ... or any 2013 film's Oscar chances? It's always a struggle to stay in the now when it's so fun to fantasize about what's ahead of us.

Link Machine

New York Observer Nicole Kidman reborn. On The Paperboy and her upcoming NYFF tribute
The Genteel the great costume designer Jacqueline Durran (Vera Drake, Atonement) on her Anna Karenina work
New York Times "Rian Johnson Builds a better Time Machine" on Looper.

Los Angeles Times Singer Andy Williams ("Moon River") has passed away
Stale Popcorn Glenn is angry with the "100 best gay films" list that was crowd sourced. The gays really do have bad taste! (I'm allowed to say that as a gay.
Broadway Blog congratulates director Jason Moore on his feature film debut (Pitch Perfect) and looks back at other Broadway directors that made the leap.

John August on his contribution to the Frankenweenie soundtrack "Praise Be New Holland"
Vanity Fair a standard post Emmy party or any given day in Betty White's life? Hee
In Contention when to strike with your Oscar campaign when the deck is stacked against you

Finally, for those of you interested in Platoon and the 80s Oscar lore, Oliver Stone optioned his story early on but it didn't get made until he made it and he recently published photos on his own website from his time there.

Oliver Stone in Vietnam.

In 1976 I optioned “Platoon” to a producer, but it was not made. The production manager asked me to entrust him with many of my prints and negatives from Vietnam. He thoughtlessly sent it all in a package from New York to Los Angeles, but it never arrived. I’m sure they’re somewhere in this world—anyone know (reward offered)?

So recently when we were setting up our website, I went hunting thru storage for various materials that are now on the site—or will be. In the back of a home closet was an old shoebox marked ‘classic snaps, 1950s.’ There were many family pictures, but at the very bottom were 7 envelopes of worn-looking negatives in 35mm and the vanished 126 format. They looked vaguely like Vietnam. It is an amazing moment when something lost reappears after more than 40 years...

If only I could find everything I lost in the 80s!