The Link of Warrior

<-- Coffee Table Book Alert!
Photographer Tim Palen has immortalized the bodies of Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton for a coffee table book called "The Men of Warrior" that's out on August 9th (available for pre-sale now here or here). The book as we imagine it -- all we've seen is this cover -- is a smart marketing movie for the Warrior film in which the two fine actors play two sparring brothers. Obviously people will see this for the muscle abuse alone, yes? That's why people go to boxing matches, right? I don't know. I'd never go to one -- too bloody/sadistic for me -- but I'd happily look at photos. The book has a foreward by Tom Hardy and (presumably) a ton of pictures of him.

Links in the Ring
Kenneth in the (212) Have you heard about this Faye Dunaway / NYC apartment eviction story.
My New Plaid Pants attends the Wet Hot American Summer anniversary party. We were just celebratin' that.
GLAAD the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ranks the TV networks on their LGBT inclusive. Top marks for CW and... ABC Family? How weird. who'da thunk it? Not that you can always trust GLAAD. They've made some weird suspect calls over the years. Showtime has a smidgeon more gay representation than HBO among premium channels.
Film Dr has some questions for those of you who have seen Cowboys and Aliens
aqui tinha a truth
Empire Steve McQueen's Shame starring Michael Fassbender has a UK release date (Jan 13th) still no word on the American release after its TIFF bow. 

Alt Screen no way! Lost silent Alfred Hitchcock film The White Shadow (1923) discovered/restored. Sort of.
The Critical Condition the ultimate pop song tournament continues into the second round. I like the second round less because I'm sure this is where all of my favorites start losing. Like "Edge of Seventeen" being bested by "Livin' on a Prayer" (thus far). That is so unright.
My New Plaid Pants which is hotter: Dominic Cooper or a Boston Terrier?  

On Oscar's Honorary Statues: Who Gets Them, Who Still Waits?

... mogul OPRAH WINFREY (The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award), actor JAMES EARL JONES (Honorary Oscar) and makeup artist DICK SMITH (Honorary Oscar).

I heard this in the wee hours of the AM this morning but didn't have time to ponder it whilst collapsing from a day spent swooning over Judy Garland (♥♥♥♥) and then Sufjan Stevens at "Celebrate Brooklyn". 

Several hours later after a good night's sleep the news makes much more sense to me because last night I thought they'd given Oprah a regular honorary Oscar -- most of the headlines are saying just that -- and I was pissed. For the record, though a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award looks just like an Oscar, it's actually a statue commemorating your humanitarian endeavors rather than your screen work. And few would argue that Oprah isn't deserving once you make that distinction. I think the Jean Hersholt statue shouldn't look the same as a regular Oscar so it gets confusing.

The Color OprahAnd really a regular Honorary Oscar wouldn't have surprised me. The Academy, much like the rest of the world, tends to think that celebrity = deserve. But really fame should have much less to do with who gets Honorary Oscars than that person's contribution to the cinema. And really what has Oprah ever done to warrant a regular Oscar? If you say The Color Purple I'd have to smack you upside the head with a Margaret Avery (The Color Purple) or an Anjelica Huston (Prizzi's Honor) and then if you're still trying to say "The Color Purple" a mandatory viewing of The Kiss of Spider Woman is in order. Brazil's non-nominated Sonia Braga was AMAZING thrice over (multi-part performance) in that film. Can I get an amen?

The makeup artist Dick Smith already has an Oscar for Amadeus (1984) but maybe they felt he needed an honorary since just maybe he was the one on the makeup team that put cotton balls in Marlon Brando's mouth for The Godfather and he also did fine comic work on Death Becomes Her which we love and which Oscar mostly ignored.

Though really, should a previous winner ever get an honorary? 

Here's why the repeats are problems. In the past 30 years only 4 actresses have won honoraries and one of them, Sophia Loren, already had a competitive statue. The Academy has screwed over a lot of female screen icons over the years so why double reward someone when so many greats are still denied? Oscar's contempt for women -- remember they rarely let them present Best Picture either -- seems to be getting worse. Since the glorious early 90s when Sophia Loren, Deborah Kerr and Myrna Loy won them in quick succession, only Lauren Bacall has been so honored. ONLY ONE ACTRESS SINCE 1994. In that same time span, 1994 to now, 5 actors have been so honored and one of them (Sidney Poitier) already had an Oscar. We complain about this every year but there's a long list of actressy screen icons who never won an Oscar and whose screen contributions and legacies are undeniable. Chief among them I'd argue are Catherine Deneuve and Mia Farrow. They'll both turn 70 soon -tick-tock, tick-tock.

One of the greatest filmographies in the business. Still challenging herself well into her 60s. Deneuve for the Honorary Gold.

But there are also other past nominees with rich Hollywood histories -- names in bold are still alive -- including (Angela Lansbury, Doris Day, Natalie Wood, Ava Gardner, Irene Dunne, Gena Rowlands, Eleanor Parker) and some with rich filmographies who were never so much as nominated (Maureen O'Hara, Marilyn Monroe) and there's the current working aging crop who they're obviously going to pass on competitively (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer ...maybe Glenn Close if it doesn't happen this year) and who are more than deserving of these "thank you for your career" prizes.

Come to think of it, if AMPAS was smart about honoraries they could stop voting for competitive prizes as cumulative honors and just reserve those 'you were never THE best of any particular year' people for the honorary statues. You know Meryl Streep is more likely to get an Honorary than any of these women and she already has two!

Congratulations to this year's recipients! Honestly, I'm not throwing shade on them. Don't misunderstand. It's just the Academy has so many blind spots with their honorary prizes we'd like them to see the eye doctor before they lose their sight entirely.

WHO WOULD YOU GIVE AN HONORARY TO?

70s "Best Actress Character"

Here we go again. We've been voting on the best Best Actress characters of all time. (Results of the 80s, 90s and 00s if you missed any.) These polls are not meant to represent which actress you would have voted for had you been an Oscar member but which characters are the most indelible in the Academy's history. Which of these fictional or fictionalized ladies from the 1970s take up the most mental real estate for you?

You can choose FIVE characters from each poll. The second poll is further down the page.

Ready Set Go

1971-1975

poll by twiigs.com

But wait there's more!

1976-1980

 

poll by twiigs.com

Happy Voting!

 Please tell your 70s mad friends about the poll. What a decade in cinema that was...

Stoke Yourself For Stoker

JA from MNPP here, curious if y’all have been following the delightful casting news that’s been coming out bit by bit day after day for Oldboy director Park Chan-wook’s first English-language film Stoker. I mean just the fact that PCW is making an English-language movie’s exciting enough – not that I have trouble with subtitles, I'm fervently infatuated with every movie he's made, but it means one of my favorite directors is getting to round up some of my favorite Hollywood actors, which he’s doing in spades.

First, some background: Stoker’s script was written (under a pseudonym) by Prison Break actor Wentworth Miller, and is described as “a dramatic thriller about a young woman whose eccentric uncle comes back into her life after the death of her father.”

Attached to the script way back when it was first being talked about were Carey Mulligan and Jodie Foster, which already got us thinking something really good is going on with the script or Park's exciting enough all on his own to snatch up such solid names... hopefully both! Unfortunately scheduling got drawn out and Carey took off to star opposite Michael Fassbender in Steve McQueen’s upcoming film Shame (can’t blame her for wanting to go hang with Fassy for awhile) and Jodie went to work with Roman Polanski on Carnage (also can’t blame that). But Park & Co. managed no downgrade in their replacing – Mia Wasikowska and Nicole Kidman (making up for this) stepped right in. Now them's a two-fer.

The role of the “eccentric uncle” was rumored for awhile to be recent Oscar picker-upper Colin Firth, but somebody apparently decided to age the character down a whole bunch and the role went to the 50 year old Firth’s 33 year old Single Man boyfriend Matthew Goode instead. Even though he might not pack the immediate wallop that Firth does, Goode’s shown a lot of promise in the past – he was mesmerizing in The Lookout.

We don’t have word yet when filming begins, but we're thinking it must be soon since three more names have hopped on board over the past week – Lucas Till, who played Havoc in the recent X-Men movie; Alden Ehrenreich, a cute young thing that caught Steven Spielberg’s eye and can be seen in both of Francis Ford Coppola’s most recent efforts; and most awesomely Jacki Weaver, who shoulda won that Supporting statue last year for her terrifying turn in Animal Kingdom just for the way she arched her eyebrows and smiled that sinister Grinch’s smile. If you’re keeping count, that's three count ‘em three singular Aussie actress sensations for the price of one. Can’t beat that!

When Bad Things Happen To Good Actresses (Part Zillion)

What are the chances that Trespass (2011) in which my beloved Nicole Kidman is soiled by association with hacktor Nicolas Cage is as terrible as Next (2007) in which my beloved Julianne Moore was soiled by association with hacktor Nicolas Cage?

Slim? I mean Next is an atrocious movie... so Trespass would have to be less embarrassing, right? Famous last words?

The only reason I saw Next back in the day was because I'm a masochist/completist with Julianne. Even Julianne herself felt sorry for me when I told her I'd seen nearly all of them.

Really? My god, you've seen some junk then!

I haven't been anywhere close to a completist with Nicki Kidman

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