100 Years of Vincent

Andreas here. Today marks the centenary of horror icon Vincent Price, whose prolific seven-decade career also included forays into comedy, film noir, and historical drama. Price holds a special place in many a film fan's heart, whether for his spine-chilling voice— put to excellent legendary use by Quincy Jones for Michael Jackson's Thriller— or the aristocratic aura he brought to countless cheap William Castle and Roger Corman horror movies. Price could even elevate a project as inherently undignified as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine with his camp greatness.

He could capably play science-minded everymen, as he did in The Tingler and The Last Man on Earth (taking on the mantle later carried by Will Smith in I Am Legend), but the really fun Price parts are his hammy madmen. He sought gruesome vengeance in the 3-D House of Wax, twice in the '70s as the scarred Dr. Phibes, and most delightfully as a pissed-off thespian in Theatre of Blood.

There, he systematically murders all the theater critics in London by reenacting Shakespeare, and occasionally altering the texts to suit his own whims. (In his version of Titus Andronicus, for example, Queen Tamora is Robert Morley, getting fed his own poodles.) While filming Theatre of Blood, Price also met his second wife, Coral Browne. In the film itself, he electrocutes her while pretending to be a hairstylist wearing a giant afro wig.

Price never really slowed down: he was in his seventies when he voiced one of the greatest Disney villains of all time, The Great Mouse Detective's Ratigan. In 1982, he was the subject of Tim Burton's Vincent, a stop-motion animated tribute to his cinematic legacy. "For a boy his age, he's considerate and nice," says the short film's voiceover, read by Price himself, "but he wants to be just like Vincent Price." Truth be told, who doesn't?

What's your favorite Vincent Price memory?

Cinema de Gym: 'Bandits'

Kurt here from Your Movie Buddy. In my attempt to tone up and shed a few (as I feared, the life of a writer can be waistline-hazardous), I've found new inspiration. The gym I attend has a theater in the back where, instead of watching The View with headphones, you can do your cardio in the dark with a daily film that plays on a loop. It's surely not the place to go if you're looking to catch up on your Bergman or Powell & Pressburger, but, by god, at least it's something. Even with a trainer who kicks my ass and drafts a new routine each month, I'll take all the incentives I can get.

On that note, I've opted to use this extra motivator as a writing opportunity – a chance to chime in on the gym's staff picks and voice the opinions that brew while I'm huffing it on the elliptical. Fitness and film writing – it's my kind of win-win.

For the inaugural "Cinema de Gym" post, we have Barry Levinson's Bandits, a 2001 love-triangle crime comedy I'd never seen. In this setting, catching things for the first time is fun in that I'm forced to draw as much as I can from a 20-30 minute snippet (okay, sometimes it's 15). Besides, I dare say a lot of these flicks are not of the must-see-it-from-end-to-end sort. With Bandits, I entered during a barroom scene where a red-headed Cate Blanchett is consoling the bar's only other patron, a characteristically un-dashing Billy Bob Thornton, who's suffering from some fatiguing ailment. Rather than whiskey, Cate wants to get some warm milk for this milquetoast, who, it turns out, is lactose intolerant.

Bandits: Bruce, Billy Bob and Blanchett

Enter Bruce Willis, all smirks and hubris, who breaks up the excessive appropriateness of Grover Washington Jr.'s "Just the Two of Us" playing on the soundtrack (err, in the bar). From the interactions (and, hell, from the casting), it's clear Bruce is the leader of the Bruce-Billy Bob criminal duo, and that Cate is the third wheel whose affections they're fighting over. Cate and Billy Bob hit the dance floor, a brotherly brawl ensues, and Bruce and Billy Bob crash through a glass window onto the ground outside. "I can't do this anymore," a desperate Cate says, peering down at them. "Together, you're the perfect man."

Well, to each her own, Ms. Blanchett. 

Garity squares off with JonesCut to: January Jones? The soon-to-be X-villain plays some type of accomplice to our lead quarrelers, along with Troy Garity, Soldier's Girl star and son of Jane Fonda. The crew is gearing up for their One Last Job, which, naturally, still attracts Cate for some reluctant involvement.

Where the film goes from here is, well, to its end, and I'll spare you the spoilers even though I don't recommend. Let's just say there's a haphazard bank heist, but Dog Day Afternoon this is not.

Conclusions?

1. Seeing early Blanchett is fun.
2. Billy Bob really needs to get back to work.
3. Bruce Willis has never tired of playing Bruce Willis (shocker).
4. Barry Levinson is a hugely recognizable name, but hardly one that guarantees quality.
5. You've seen Bandits before, even if, you know, you haven't seen it before.

Have you seen it before?

Links: Vampire Tears, Akira Troubles, Beach Sex Showstoppers

IGN Sarah Buffy Michelle Buffy Gellar (she has four names okay?) talks about her new TV series Ringer
Joblo the first image from David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis. Just two actors in a car. Woooo
Tyler Shields envision rising stars Juno Temple and Emma Roberts crying. Vampire and unicorn tears fall.

poll by twiigs.com

Twitch ah, the ongoing saga of the ill fated live action version of Akira. The troubled project just lost its director. Honestly, any director who signs on in his stead and is okay with the white-washing (with the retention of the Japanese character names, which makes the whole white-washing grossly confrontational and proud of itself. Ewww) deserves the mess he inherits.
Pajiba invites everyone into the pool to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend (at the movies)
Towleroad The Hangover Part II reenergizes the misunderstood topic of male nudity in film. See, Hollywood only believes in the penis as a comedy prop. Thus, this is hardly a groundbreaking film in the nudity department ;)
Johnny Wander check out these amusing Batman illustrations. Excuse me, "Batmen".
Lemonwade Barbra Streisand's version of Gypsy wants Hugh Jackman for Bernie. How about them eggrolls? My oh my what a strange film this will end up being no matter what occurs.
Natasha VC Did Darren Aronofsky trick us with The Wrestler?

How on earth will they mic the actors in the famous beach scene?Stage Door
I know I've been terrible about keeping up my theater column. But theater awaits tonight -- seeing The Normal Heart with friends -- and the Tony Awards are not far off. Here's a few theater bits to tide you over.

Broadway World The famous lyricist Tim Rice (Evita, The Lion King, Chess, etcetera) is doing a musical version of Oscar winner From Here To Eternity. He's aiming for a 2012 West End production
American Theater Wing offers up noteworthy advice to Broadway stars heading to new TV Series this fall.
Playbill Sandra Bernhard's new show, just a couple days after her birthday (I know because we share one), is called I Love Being Me, Don't You? Hee. Special guests include Rufus Wainwright, Liza F****** Minnelli and Mx Justin Vivian Bond so I'm there four times over. Although it would be silly to buy four tickets.

Yes, No, Maybe So: "The Descendants"

Robert (author of Distant Relatives) here, taking a look at the trailer for the new Alexander Payne film The Descendants, and pondeing Yes, No, Maybe So.

Do you remember what you were doing in 2004? Perhaps sometime around when Massachusetts was performing its first legal gay marriage, Friends was going off the air for good, and George W. Bush was being elected to his second term as President you watched Sideways and thought that this Alexander Payne fellow was really hitting his stride as a director of intelligent comedies. If you, like me, were a fan, you didn't expect to have to wait seven years for another dose.

While Payne has been out of the director's chair for that long time, his influence has been undeniable. Darkly comedic slice-of-life films about men living lives of quiet desperation, while always present in the cinematic landscape, are starting to feel more and more like Payne knockoffs. Films like The Weather Man, Dan in Real Life, Lars and the Real Girl, or Smart People have attempted to capture some of that magic with varying results.

Now that we have our first look at the trailer for his latest, which teams the director with George Clooney as a man who must spread the word about his wife's recent accident, reconnect with his daughters, and come to terms with a revelation of infidelity.

YES. Alexander Payne's name was always going to be selling point enough for me. But there's also something here about George Clooney that's intriguing. Maybe it's the constant sadness behind those eyes, or that head full of gray hair. The knock against him has alway been that he only plays variations on the same character (an acting style I've never minded, if it's good enough for Bogart and Cary Grant). But comedically Clooney has always been in the realm of over the top. Here, he's doing something more subtle and my immediate sense from this trailer is that I'm watching what could be a very good, very awarded performance.

NO. Then again, Alexander Payne's name is one of the few things in the trailer that suggests you're not watching one of those many Payne copy cats. All the standard genre tropes are here. Single parent (sort of). Check. Mid-life crisis mode. Check. Relationship with kids he doesn't understand. check. There doesn't seem to be much new ground. What this could be is a good but minor work from Payne, expelling some leftover ideas, and cleansing his palate for the future. Unfortunately that's the sort of artisic luxury we only allow directors who are a bit more prolific. If you're waiting seven years between pictures, sorry we're going to demand another masterpiece.

MAYBE SO. Removed from any preconcieved expectations, there are some really nice moments here. While Robert Forster (it's always great to see him) punching an annoying kid in the face is guaranteed to please an audience, my favorite human moment is Clooney's inability to audibly say that his wife was sleeping with someone, quickly morphing the word "sleeping" into "seeing." It's small things like that which separate Payne's films from the pack, and the presence of even one in this trailer suggests that at least he hasn't forgotten it.

Your Turn: Yes, No or Maybe So? I sense that this isn't the type of trailer that sets the web ablaze with buzz. How do you feel? If you're not a Payne/Clooney fan is there anything here to stoke your interest? If you are does the trailer whet your appetite?

Introducing... Princess Merida

For what seemed like 17 weeks, I kept receiving 'character intro' emails introducing each new set of wheels for Pixar's Cars 2. That's Junk Mail! Even if you're one of those peculiar people who really loved Cars, could you possibly care enough to need weeks upon weeks of rollout images of sad descendants of Herbie the Love Bug (I'm sorry but Herbie > Cars) prior to release? I keep trying to pretend that Cars and its sequel don't exist so that I can enjoy the happy mass delusion that Pixar has never made a dud. Why do they have to make it so hard with the constant marketing. Don't make me think about Cars 2!

Here's a character worth getting a first good look at as seen at the Daily What. It's Princess Merida from BRAVE which will open on June 22nd, 2012.

Yay! She looks a bit like Lil' Orphan Annie but with pupils and warrior skills. And Sandy the dog is a big black horse.

Okay, they don't look a thing alike but we love the gingers at the movies. They're like one big feisty sorority with Julianne Moore as the head sister. Nicole Kidman is constantly having to go through initation and hazing all over again since she can't commit to the red.