Thoughts On "Shame"

This time of year I am inundated with awards screeners. Studios send them out to awards voters hoping their films will be considered "Best". The disc for SHAME, a haunting NYC-set sexual addiction drama which opened yesterday in select theaters came in a minimalist pure white sleeve with only the title and a barely visible "for your consideration" adorning it. It's as naked as Michael Fassbender's star turn. Though I'd seen the film just two months ago, I popped it in the player hoping to let its riveting images and mesmerizing rhythms wash over me as I wrote a review. Instead the screen stayed black. The depressing message "Skipping Over Damaged Area" was all my DVD player would show me.

If one were to skip past the damaged, in a figurative sense, one would have to skip the entire film...

READ THE REST @ TOWLEROAD

Other things to read about "Shame" today...

Aint it Cool has a review which spends one whole paragraph on the "magnificence" of Fassbender's cock (from a straight man -lol) and contains a funny smackdown of the MPAA.
MUBI Ignatiy doesn't much care fo Shame's vagueness about the details.
In Contention lets us know that it won't be eligible for the WGA Screenplay prizes.
Next Movie, in honor of Fassy, looks at the best penis moments in movies. 

P.S. I've written so piecemeal about Shame -- see past posts -- that it's amounted to all of these brief bits without one big substantial review. I'm realizing that this is my habit in general, the dangers of blogging daily with ADD I suppose. I feel I need to build Frankenstein monster parts of all my brief impressions of any given movie into a series of hulking reanimated pieces. Now to wait for the right stormy opportunity and the bolt of inspirational lightning. 

P.P.S. Here's the French poster, airbrushing and shining up one of the film's most haunting images. It's like a motion capture animated version of Shame. Imagine it. Hee.

Are you seeing Shame this weekend? If you've already see it, what did you make of it?

Link Hunters

The Guardian Ken Russell was nearly finished with a new screenplay adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, to be made as a risque musical. Will it still be made with a new director?
Nullco Preorder The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo soundtrack and download a sampler
Rope of Silicon first look at Sam Worthington in Wrath of the Titans and a curious plot synopsis
Thompson on Hollywood talks to one or our favorite craftsmen, production designer Jack Fisk (of Terrence Malick and Mr Sissy Spacek fame.)
24 Frames Hugo steps up as a powerful Oscar contender.

Empire wonders if paranormal romance Smoke and Bone about an angel and a demon that fall in love will be the next big movie franchise? Have any of you read it?
Inside Movies Deliverance actor Bill McKinney has passed away. 
Wipe Your Feet "Watching Melancholia is like..." I love the movie but this is totally LOL. 
Pop Watch tries to imagine Buffy alum Michelle Trachtenberg as Bella Swan. Supposedly, it could have happened.
Hollywood News talks to Will Reiser about 50/50 and the power of Anjelica Huston. 
IndieWire Mike Leigh will head the jury at February's Berlinale. (This year's jury picked Oscar buzzing Iranian film A Separation as the best of the fest. Good luck topping that one!)

Finally, EW has released the first photo of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

I don't want to be bitchy about it since we've seen so little -- the trailer hits next week -- but doesn't it seem like revisionist fairy tale revisions and dark leathery bad-ass costuming are getting a little, shall we say, generic these days? How will this distinguish itself?

And when will Jeremy Renner star in a drama again after all this time spent Bourne Avenging Impossible Missions With Witch Hunters ? Does he want to be Samuel L Jackson that badly? Seems like a waster after his dramatic brilliance in The Hurt Locker.

Open Thread

What's on your cinematic mind this Friday night / Saturday morning?

"even the orchestra is beautiful..."

♪ Leave your troubles outside.
So life is disappointing? forget it. 

In here life is beautiful...

The girls are beautiful...

EVEN THE ORCHESTRA IS BEAUTIFUL...

Click to read more ...

Win a 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray of "West Side Story"

I've been meaning to celebrate the 50th anniversary of West Side Story (1961) for two months now. I've shirked my duties as a fan.

When you're a fan, you're a fan all the way, from your first sing-along to your last dying day. ♫

But no more! In addition to December being the kick off for our year in review festivities let's celebrate the greatest musical ever written here and there with posts about the 1961 multiple Oscar winner. 

I have two copies of the 50th anniversary Blu-Ray to give away. To enter simply send me an e-mail [filmexperience(at)gmail(dot)com] with "WSS" in the subject line by Sunday night, December 4th with the following information.

1. Your full name and mailing address 
(this will be kept private unless you win in which case the studio gets your info to send you the prize!)

2. An anecdote about your personal relationship to this movie, be it a favorite song, first time you saw it, moment you love, favorite character, line from a song you have used in public or WHATEVER...  (This second part may not be kept private. I might quote you in a future post!)

Enter the contest TONIGHT!

tonight, tonight
the world is wild and bright
going mad
shooting sparks into space