Offline Travels, Michigan.

Just a heads up that I'm officially on vacation and maybe in an airplane as you read this. It's the mellow kind of vacay as I have no pennies to my name, which is good timing because i think my internet/cable is about to be shut off. Oopsie! (hey it was that or the air conditioning and I was melting!) I'll be (mostly) off line reconnecting with old friends and my siblings who I haven't seen in way way too long. Years.

Incidentally, though I will be in Michigan just as it's happening, it's mere coincidence that this is also the week of the Traverse City Film Festival. (I've never been but maybe they'll invite me as a special guest some year. winkwink.)

The festival was founded by Michael Moore and this year it's having its biggest year ever as it received a $20,000 grant from AMPAS which the board used to fly in various actors and filmmakers for a more robust festival experience. The wonderful French actress Sandrine Bonnaire (Rememeber Est-Ouest or Vagabond?) will be an honored guest, Matthew Modine is coming, and there's also going to be a centennial celebration for western stars Roy Rogers & Dale Evans with grandchildren speaking.

"Scout" will speakAnd get this, little "Scout" Academy Award nominee Mary Badham from To Kill a Mockingbird will speak to the festivalgoers after a special tribute screening of To Kill a Mockingbird. Damn, I wish I had known ahead of time. Have any of you midwestern readers ever been to this festival?

If you're in driving distance, why not check it out this week?

But back at home base...

It might be a quiet week at the blog / It might be a noisy one. I've left the TFE team in charge and a few new guests but I've opted out of the control freak position I normally take when I'm (mostly) offline. Whether there'll be 0 posts a day or 5 I could not say... it'll be a surprise to everyone! You like surprises, right?

I'll be back just as July ends and then we'll start gearing up for prestige film season in September. Whoooooo. We have so many plans. If we don't die of heat exhaustion first, we'll try and make them happen this fall.

xoxo, Nathaniel

First and Last, For the Dogs

First and Last now without visual clues and with audio.

Can you guess the movie from these two audio clues?

First and Last Dogs

Red Carpet: Crazy Stupid Pockets, Friends With Penis Dresses

‪Nathaniel: For this episode of Red Carpet Convos, I'm joined by our resident fashion-obsessive Jose and Guy Lodge of In Contention. We begin with a Lineup, culled from the premieres of Friends With Benefits, Horrible Bosses, and Captain America, respectively. This triple feature is now available at your local multiplex.‬

Emma Stone, Jennifer Aniston, Captain & Love Interest, Somebody

Guy: Oh, I see why you got me for this one
Jose: hehe I see Jen again
Nathaniel: Guy, I should admit right up front that I think Jen looks hot here and I mean that both ways.
 Jose: ‬ ‪is that thing made out of leather?‬
Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Right? IN THE SUMMER.‬
 Guy: ‬ ‪Ha! I like that, in playing her first real vamp character, she's committed to the cause off-camera‬
It's like something Angie would have worn back when she was still fun.
 Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Spoken like a totally biased member of Team Aniston. Grrrr! I'm sorry but the news told me that it's over 100˚ outside -- I'm pretending outside doesn't exist (curtains drawn, air conditioning at full blast) -- so i can't even deal looking at this.‬
 ‪Guy: ‬ ‪But it's short! At least her legs are breathing.‬
 ‪
Jose: ‬ ‪speaking of which, both Jen & Angie tend to do the same over and over when it comes to clothes, so I'm actually thrilled that this time Jen gave her standard look (black and mini) a slight twist‬
 ‪Guy: ‬ ‪That's a very good point -- and the hair looks a little choppier and more summery. (Sorry, this is getting stalker-y on my part)‬
 ‪Jose: ‬ ‪I still never will get dress pockets though, especially in such a tiny dress, does she have her whips and feathered handcuffs in there?‬
Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Or mash notes from Guy.‬ And a restraining order.

Guy: ‬ ‪I'm all for dress pockets. Why should guys get all the comfort?‬
 ‪Jose: ‬ ‪because we don't get to have fabulous bags * sad face *‬
 ‪Guy: ‬ ‪I like stars who go a little bit casual (but still chic) for premieres -- save the real glamour for awards season, otherwise we'll never know when it ends.‬
Nathaniel:‬ ‪Point: Guy. But I don't approve of pockets on anything unless they're holding treats inside for pets... or hungry fans.‬
 ‪Guy: ‬ ‪ ‪Anyway, at leat Jen's pockets aren't on the OUTSIDE of her dress. What's going on with Emma Stone?‬
 ‪Jose: ‬ ‪don't mess with Lanvin, Guy!‬
Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Her pockets are big enough to fit other starlets inside. If those are indeed pockets. I feel compelled to tell you that this is my least favorite color combination that has yet been invented.
 

‪Jose: ‬ ‪her dress makes me sad for two reasons‬.‬ ‪it's obviously from the collection where Juli got hers for January and i think they would've been MUCH better if they had switched them, apparently pale redheads dig crazy pink Lanvin? ‪I do think it's a fantastic, bold look though, a bit too old for Emma maybe, but I loooooove it‬

 ‪Guy: ‬ ‪I actually like the red-pink clashing and the mini-Alexis Carrington shoulders... but it'd look so nice and trim without the sewn-on clutch bags. (I realise she's going to see Horrible Bosses, but how many flasks does she need to carry with her?)‬
Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Actually she was at Friends With Benefits so back off. Flasks fully justified.
Guy: ‬ ‪I'm glad she's a redhead again, though, even though she's a natural blonde, and even though I  usually criticise starlets for doing the reverse... it's all very confusing.‬
Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Yes.‬

Nathaniel: Moving on. Every time I try to think about what to say about Captain America and his love interest (Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell) I fall asleep.
 ‪Jose: ‬ ‪LOL‬. I resent that this Chris Evans person is trying to pretend he's all geeky and stuff now, every time I see him all Benjamin Button-ized in the trailer I want to kick his ass

 ‪Guy: ‬ ‪Is that Chris Evans? I didn't recognise him behind his cunning "look, I'm smart" disguise. And without his abs.‬
Nathaniel: Is he going for a Clark Kent thing here or is he ready to let himself go since he's said that those grueling two hour workouts to look like a super soldier made him want to vomit daily?
Jose: ‬ He's just being a drama queen. If I had those abs I would not bother with clothes EVER‬.

THERE'S MORE: Chris Evan abs (in motion), Ryan Gosling's perfection, Vanessa's unfortunate frock, Hayley Atwell's identity crisis and the über sexy cast of Crazy Stupid Love at their premiere AFTER THE JUMP.

Click to read more ...

Cinema de Gym: 'Juno'

Kurt here, back with another installment of Cinema de Gym. Y'all didn't have much to say about the last two episodes, so I'm happy to return with a movie that's more actressy and Oscary, for better or worse. Hopefully it'll get folks talking. Juno is a film that has not sat well in my memory – a hipper-than-thou pin cushion for all my Quirk Cinema complaints. When a post-2007 indie gets under the skin with all its precious, self-negating eccentricities, Diablo Cody usually proves the perfect scapegoat. What hath she wrought with her Millenial-surrealist dialogue, best described as Kevin Williamson by way of the Urban Outfitters library? Well, probably half of what's now in the Urban Outfitters library, for one. Her words are sticky pop contrivance glazed over genuine depth of feeling, a concoction that was wildly validated by everyone from Oscar to Ebert to an army of young adults, who'd found their Clueless – a comedy that shaped their vernacular.

Which, in all fairness, is no small feat, and I tip my hat to Cody for having the wherewithal to tap into the voice of a generation (or, at least, the pseudo-emo white-kid leg of it). But her hyper-stylization is certainly not without its drawbacks, and Juno sees many an honest moment neutralized by an on-cue Codyism. The argument, of course, is that the lingo is what makes the film unique (and, to many, what makes it great). My retort is that its success is hinged on the direction of Jason Reitman (a near-virtuoso among young American filmmakers) and the performances from the cast. Though he operates on the same tonal plane as his screenwriter, Reitman's visualization of Cody's script is what truly shapes the film's identity, speaking to you in a singularly authentic way the words cannot. And the impeccably chosen actors, though no doubt thrilled to have been handed such colorful material, do some astonishing weight-lifting in terms of helping to substantiate the language. Their work, and Reitman's, will make this film watchable in 20 years. Cody's will always live in the "whoa dream big" world of 2007.

I'll admit I rolled my eyes when I saw that Juno was the film of the day at the gym. My retrospective qualms with it tend to blind me of its charms. The segment I caught was highly representative of the film entire: a peaks-and-valleys stretch of time riddled with poignant moments and Codyan pratfalls. I got to see the bit where Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner's relationship ends, the part where Juno tells Jennifer "I'm still in if you are" (excuse me while I freely mix actor and character names), and the part where Juno professes her love for Paulie Bleeker. This, unfortunately, also means I had to hear an in-labor Juno declare that "Thundercats are go!"; a lovely speech undone by the line, "You're golden, man"; and background song lyrics that whisper, "I like amputees with stamp collections" (though I guess I can't blame Cody for that one). That's Juno for you: it giveth and it taketh away.

Before I go, I wanted to say a word or two about Garner, who's never been lovelier or more assured as an actor than she is in this movie. A fine candidate for Michael C.'s Unsung Heroes series, her performance – easily overlooked upon first viewing – is all heart and earnestness, and she's very much the straight gal to everyone else's buzzing one-linerocity. Does that mean she doesn't do as much weight-lifting? Hardly. Garner more or less carries this movie's weight. I was happy to exit during the scene where she enters the delivery room and picks up her son for the first time. "I think he was always hers," says Juno's narration. It's a perfect metaphor for how I feel about this film: Cody may have carried Juno in the womb, but it's surrogates who stepped in and raised it to its full potential.

Conclusions?

1. Movies may often start with the screenwriter, but they certainly don't end with them.
2. Jennifer Garner should have had a much greater presence in the 2007 awards discussion.
3. I am not exactly looking forward to Young Adult, aka Reitman-Cody Partnership, Part Deux.
4. Just for kicks: Google "Paulie Bleeker" and what do you find? Paulie Bleeker Halloween costumes. I am really tempted...

So, how 'bout it? Has my Juno post left you pregnant with responses?

Introducing Nick McCarthy

Hey everyone. I'm leaving for Michigan tomorrow but before I go and I wanted to introduce you to a new member of the team, Nick McCarthy who we see here to the left, obviously royally excited to start contributing. 

Just so you get a feel for him, here is how it goes with Nick. He gets most annoyed when themes are overexplicitly stated in film or literature. He vastly prefers motif and character to plot, and is prone to adore intimate, chatty, and plotless films that frequently elicit the reaction, "Nothing happened." [We know this feeling, too!] In addition to cinema, Nick enjoys pinball, exploring cities, food, and dive bars --which he claims is one of the only places, other than at the cinema, to learn as much about life.

In other Guest Blogger news, I've invited two past Readers of the Day (that series will return soon. I miss it) to fill in since I'm on vacation next week. You've heard from Ester Bloom before who wrote that fun piece on Mia Wasikowska vs. Saoirse Ronan and you'll also hear from Paolo.

Say hello to the newbies! (We're bulking up as we move into the best Oscar season yet. At least we hope so. The movies better deliver.)