DVDs. Which Will It Be?

Now that we've caught up with the last Reader Request (Beauty & The Beast) and we're finally done with 2010 movies (Jesus, that took forever!), it's time to really dig into 2011. The earliest releases of 2011 are already on DVD and the summer movie is in full swing. Here is a list of newish movies from either the past couple of weeks or today's DVD batch. It's time to bring back the Reader Request.

• GNOMEO & JULIET -garden gnomes do Shakespeare in this animated film.
• I AM NUMBER FOUR- alex pettyfer shoots stuff from his hands in sci-fi/romance.
• THE MECHANIC - jason statham teaches ben foster how to kill people.
• NO STRINGS ATTACHED - natalie portman and ashton kutcher are f***buddies.
• THE OTHER WOMAN -natalie portman marries another woman's man.
• THE RITE -studying exorcism with scary-eyed anthony hopkins.
• THE ROOMMATE -leighton & minka rip off "single white female" in college thriller.

Which of those 2011 feature releases would you like Nathaniel to write-up about? Your vote is my command.

poll by twiigs.com

"at the ballet-ayyyyyyyyyy"I'll write up the winning choice for next Monday. UPDATE: HERE IS THE WRITE UP ON THE OTHER WOMAN.

There are two documentaries also hitting DVD that I've already written about, the orangutan in captivity meditation known as Nenette (brief thoughts) and the Broadway doc Every Little Step (review) which is worth seeing if you have any emotional investment in "A Chorus Line" or any intellectual curiousity about the casting process on big Broadway shows.

20:10 The Patriarch's Wishes.

The 11th annual Film Bitch Awards have wrapped... finally. Just for fun and a bit of retro nodding, here's the image from the 20th minute and 10th second of 2010's Gold Medalist,  I AM LOVE.

It's that fateful dinner time scene when the Rechhi patriarch makes a shocking announcement that will begin to tear at the fabric of the wealthy clan, eventually weakening their solidarity and collective grip on their prized exotic possession, Emma (Tilda Swinton). Ugh, I love that movie so much!

He picked me, mommy. Did you hear me?

Black Swan was the leader with 16 nominations and 13 medals all told spread out on every awards page: major nods, acting, visuals, sound, line readings, character & extras, and scene work but it was The Social Network which took home the most gold (8). The South Korean marvel Mother managed the best nomination tally without any accompanying medals (4) and Rabbit Hole, which just missed the year's top ten list, had a strangely not-so strong showing with only 2 nominations and one gold (Nicole Kidman, Best Actress) ...

But awards are never a 100% accurate reflection of one's love.

Links: Descendants By Poster, Friends With Benefits, Uma in Blue

Lookie. It's the first poster for The Descendants starring George Clooney in which a man in Hawaii tries to reconnect with his young daughters. Will it be an Oscar player? It sure looks good on paper with Clooney leading and Alexander Payne (Sideways) in the director's chair but time will tell. I'll update the current Oscar predictions this weekend.

Brandon Ney looks at the famous "Hush" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from a Zen Buddhist perspective.
Stale Popcorn on the different posters for Friends With Benefits. Australians do do it dirtier.
In Contention chooses the top ten performances in Terrence Malick films. The director tends to hog the accolades for his film but that doesn't mean the performances aren't top notch.

Off Cinema Time Out
Drawn! "Where do ideas come from?" This is true. They are elusive little buggers.
Loldwell.com A true story about coffee (I can't quit!).
Critical Condition Lady Gaga and her "Dark Idealism" -good piece on the new record.

Finally...
Go Fug Yourself investigates Uma's Blue Period at Cannes. Love this quote on the dress to your right.

It's the type of thing you can't wear unless you are SUPREMELY sure that you are smoking hot, because basically the only design element to the dress is: your boobs, your abs, your bum. Fortunately, Uma appears to be architecturally sound there.

Plus: Uma suddenly has new film projects lined up.... although I'll believe Kill Bill Vol. 3 when I see it.

And if you feel you just didn't get enough Cannes coverage, IndieWire has a huge index of writings and interviews, Cineuropa has links to film trailers and awards reactions and Sasha tries to keep an open mind about Oscar and Cannes over at Awards Daily.

May Flowers: Beauty & The Beast (1991)

may flowers

Under the heading of Better Late Than Never, let's take a look at Disney's classic Beauty & The Beast (1991). We ... or I should say you... covered it previously in the Hit Me With Your Best Shot series. I stumbled and fell down its gothic mansion steps, completely missing that spinning gala ball. (You know the one: Angela Lansbury sang the theme song in the background.) The related truth of the matter is that Belle isn't so punctual herself. She arrives at basically the last possible moment to rescue The Beast from the ancient curse. If he doesn't find true requited love before his magic flower loses its last petal, he remains a beast forever.

Halfway through the movie, Belle, against her captor's wishes, heads into the forbidden West Wing where she sees two distorted images. The first is her own face fractured into a half a dozen pieces in a broken mirror. The second is a portrait of The Beast, in his original form as the Handsome Prince Not-So Charming; hence, the curse.

 
In these two closely related nearly consecutive images, her beauty is momentarily as ravaged as his. It's a smart visual foreshadowing that they're actually soul mates, though neither of them know that yet. Belle does not jump in fear when she sees her own face splintered as many people do when surprised by a discomfiting reflection. Her curiousity is always engaged, proving a far more defining character trait of this particular heroine than fear. (She's not, as we realize fairly in the narrative, your garden variety damsel in distress.)

Moments later, distracted by a glow behind her, she finds the Beast's magical flower. In this riveting shot, my choice for the film's best as its gorgeously composed and marries color, character and narrative,  he leaps in to shield the flower from her curiousity. Curiousity may kill the cat, but the Beast is no feline; sure he's lion-like but this species is Hocusus Pocusus.

Do you realize what you could have done?

...he bellows, but are magical flowers, really that delicate? We're guessing no.

What he's really protecting is his own heart. It's the Beast and not the Beauty who is emotionally fragile. It's The Beast and not the Beauty who is emotionally rather than intellectually or physically driven, making Beauty & The Beast a wonderful twist on the traditional gender roles that Disney fairy tales spring from.

Pleasurable as that twist alone would be, the film is yet richer.

Allowing yourself to love and to be loved in return, something The Beast has yet to master, is neither a feminine nor a masculine challenge, but a human struggle. Beauty and The Beast has one of the best scores in animated musical history, but a Madonna song thrums in the background for me as the alternate and most descriptive soundtrack of The Beast's emotional journey.

You're so consumed with how much you get
You waste your time on hate and regret,
You're broken...
when you're hearts not open

Love is a bird, she needs to fly
Let all the hurt inside of you die
You're frozen...
when your hearts not open

Mmmm, if Belle can melt his heart. Mmmm, they'll never be apart.

BE OUR GUEST... AGAIN
If you missed the delicious group celebration, please visit these fine blogs which all sounded off on their favorite shots within the first animated feature to ever be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. The next episode of Hit Me With Your Best Shot will be on June 1st @ 9 PM EST when we celebrate the tenth anniversary of MOULIN ROUGE!

• Antagony & Ecstasy Belle and the Beast, who are rich opposites.
• The Red Headed Invasion The Beast, who is alarmingly expressive.
• Ahora 'The Provincial Life', which is most luscious.
• A Blog Next Door Belle, who wants. She wants more than she can tell.
• Film Actually Gaston, who is also a beast.
• Okinawa Assault Beauty & The Beast, which is suspiciously colourful.
• LS2GH Belle and the Beast, who see themselves as the other.
• Animation Revelation The Great Wide Somewhere, the forest to be more precise.
• Amiresque The Beast, who loves architecture. He loves it more than he can tell.
• Victim of the Time The crying or the dying, which are beautiful.
• Movies and Other Things Belle, who is no 'little wife'.
• Dial P For Popcorn Belle, who becomes an explorer.
• missemmamm Gaston, who uses antlers in all of his decorating.
• Against the Hype The Great Wide Somewhere, which has moved locales.
• Sorta That Guy Belle and the Beast, who could have danced all night.
• Cinephilia & Sass Belle and the Beast, who cozy up.
• The Entertainment Junkie The Beast, who is not as he once was.
• Serious Film The Beast, who is Prince Charming Character.
• Movies Kick Ass The crane shot, which is sweeping and magical.
• musicinephiles Belle, who moonlights as a nurse.
• Awards Nazi The Beast, who is too aggressive even in kindness

Curio: Monster Gallery

Alexa here. Monster Gallery is the one-man show of Joseph, or JoE (as he is known), an artist from Singapore specializing in pop culture-inspired prints.  Monster Gallery might be a bit of a misnomer, since I've seen only a few monsters in his collection (although his Godzilla design is pretty nice). JoE is responsible for many of the indie film posters I've been coveting lately, and right now his shop is having a sale, so I thought I'd spread the love.  His typographic posters are especially strong, and he has utilized the recent craze of Penguin Classic-inspired designs in the service of a few of his film posters.  You can buy prints here. Everything is 20% off for the next two weeks if you use the coupon code MONSTER20.

Blade Runner, Run Lola Run, Fantastic Mr Fox and more after the jump.

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