11•11•11

To mark this historic occassion at 11:11 am of 11/11/11 and to continue procrastinating review writing (ugh writer's block) 11 lists of 11 things. Just because. Comment party: Please state your favorite 11 things of today in the comments!

11 Favorite Movies of the Year That Have Already Come Out On DVD (no particular order). 
Beginners, Poetry, Heartbeats (Les Amours Imaginaires), Bridesmaids, Jane Eyre, Rango, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, The Tree of Life, Captain America: The First Avenger, ...and is Certified Copy on DVD yet? I mean other than in the UK?

11 Favorite Colours
Purple, Silver, Turquoise, Green, Almodóvar Red, Blue, Black, Burgundy, White, Platinum Blonde, and any color by Krzysztof Kieslowski

11 Prettiest Male Movie Stars of All Time (no particular order off top of head)
Gene Kelly, Jude Law, Keanu Reeves, Paul Newman, Montgomery Clift, Brad Pitt, Alain Deloin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Gary Cooper, Warren Beatty, Oh and Marlon Brando for a teeny tiny window of time.

11 Young Actresses I'm Currently Most Excited About (off the top of my head: NON-BINDING!)
Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, Carey Mulligan, Elizabeth Olsen, Kim Ok-Bin, Saoirse Ronan, Ellen Page, Jurnee Smollet, Mia Wasikowska, and Dakota & Elle. THIS LIST IS NON-BINDING. I'm sure I forgot someone truly amazing.

11 Favorite Edibles
Coffee, Cheese, Ice Cream, Pizza, Pad Thai, Flavored Vodka, sun dried tomatoes, sushi, enchiladas, cake, and a tall glass of water

11 Books That Are Closest To Me As I Type
"Made to Stick", "Inside Oscar", "What You See in the Dark", "Three Stooges FAQ" (what the hell?), "Hollywood Madonna: Loretta Young", "The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael" "Anonymous William Shakespeare", "Swanson", "Eyewear: A Visual History", "Steve McQueen", and "Monsters in the Movies" (by John Landis... more on this one soon)

11 Favorite Animals
cats, elephants, racoons, ladyhawke, snakes, birds, panthers, butterflies, tigers, Monty and mermaids.

11 Things I Have Done This Morning That I Already Regret
not writing a review, typing up all these lists.... and running out of time to actually finish them. I only finished 7 of them. I ruined the 11 mania.

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Snow White & the Huntsman"

Once upon a time there lived a blogger named Nathaniel R who feared all fairy tale reinventions after the gaudiest of poison apples that was Eyesore in Wonderland left him for dead, comatose. But then on the magical day of November the 10th, this trailer for Snow White & The Huntsmen arrived and woke him with something like true love's kiss.

Or is it another trap? Is this another gaudy brain-dead horror malevolently enchanted with a Prince Charming disguise? Dare Nathaniel dream of a happy ending?

YES

• It's never a bad idea to remind us of Madonna's "Frozen" (♥) and that raven form explosion did the trick for an opening and closing gambit.
• Though the title name checks only Snow White (Kristen Stewart) and The Huntsmen (Chris Hemsworth), the trailer promises that this is totally The Evil Queen Show. And we can live with that since Charlize Theron is delicious.
• "Beauty is my power" ...that creepy yet restrained image of the queen bathed in milk (?) rather than something more cliché like a pool of blood after her opening kill... is so "pop" (think Annie Leibovitz photoshoots) but also has a mysteriously disturbing simplicity. Is the whole movie going to be this visually smart? 
• My god this movie looks so beautiful. Let's see... [IMDb check] ZOMG, it's Greig Fraser on DP duty. No wonder. Remember what he did for Bright Star? He's our new favorite. And... oh... Colleen Atwood on costumes? Really? They look amazing but atypically less than alarmingly busy and fussed over (thank god) than what she concocts lately for Tim Burton.
• Did we mention that we love Charlize Theron?
• Did we mention that we love Charlize best when she embraces her inner outer beauty? When she does she's monstrously good.

No & Maybe So AFTER THE JUMP...

Click to read more ...

Well, That Was Fast... Billy Crystal To Host the Oscars

Strike while the iron is... short-circuiting? The Brett Ratner (producer) / Eddie Murphy (host) Oscar telecast resignations have been the talk of the town... make that both towns and February's Oscar night was starting to seem like an impending disaster. 

Despite a fun-to-think-about Muppets Oscar campaign*, many AMPAS voters and Oscar fans will get their wish and see the return of Billy Crystal. He's had the gig eight times in the past (1990-1993, 1997-1998, 2000 and  2004) but apparently eight is not enough. Billy is a good host but we just hope this doesn't mean yet more changes to the show. The last time Billy Crystal spoke about hosting he said he'd return only if they made certain (unspecified) changes to the broadcast. (Sigh) The Oscar ceremony is not broke. It just always thinks itself to be. It's like a beautiful girl who looks in the mirror and only sees her flaws. The only "fixing" the ceremony needs is some good old fashioned self-esteem. 

* I was just about to say that we'll still see Muppets on Oscar night, never fear -- I mean they've done the show several times before -- when I saw this tweet.

So now I don't need to. Perhaps this is the best of both worlds! 

Open Thread

What's on your (cinematic) mind?

Do tell.