Posters Should Be Seen and Not Heard. And Other Grievances.

So Annoying! Let it be known: I'm not going to post the leaked teaser to The Amazing Spider-Man. I didn't even watch it despite it popping up everywhere. I don't understand the internet fascination with getting everything before you're supposed to even if that means crappy quality fuzziness. Why spoil a first view with a bad copy of something? 

So Annoying Part 2! That Hunger Games motion poster that everyone is posting. I opted to just screengrab it for y'all because it's so NOISY. At one point with all the windows I open up when I'm working it sounded like my whole apartment was on fire and it's already hot enough up in here.

In addition to setting your computer aflame virtually -- thus denying you marshmallows to make up for it --  the poster counts down the days until the movie opens which will unfortunately NOT put an end to the constant publicity and internet jabbering about it since it's going to be a quadrilogy or something and if Harry Potter taught us anything it's that the world likes television more than the movies and would like the movies to just become television series with new seasons lasting 2 1/2 hours opening for as many years in a row as possible. The minute that Season One of The Hunger Games opens people will just start speculating about Season Two of the Hunger Games. 

Y'all know I love the movie posters and anything Hollywood can do to liven them up is appreciated. Only please do so very quietly. Like you're in the library. Or a church. The Holy Church of The Cinema.

The movies aren't silent anymore but posters still should be. 

"The Grand Masters" Teases

The teaser trailer for Wong Kar Wai's 代宗師 (The Grand Masters), a biopic of sorts about Ip Man, a famous martial arts teacher who taught Bruce Lee among others has arrived renewing interest in the movie.  It's been an easy movie to forget about since the gestation period has been so long. (And, yes, there's already been a competitive movie on the same topic that's already opened and closed.) I can't remember when they started filming but you may recall that one of our favorite movie stars on the entire planet, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai broke his arm early on in the production and we sent lustful sympathies. Here he is in training again after recovery.

Several websites are speculating about when this will be finished and open (late 2011 fest circuit? cannes 2012?) but we're guessing not until 2012. Since it reunites the acclaimed and very long-absent director with his longtime muse, we're excited no matter how long we have to wait. So long as we can remember it exists that is. (Tony broke his arm two whole years ago!). 

 

The teaser isn't much to go on -- your typical battle scene -- and people have been stealing WKW's style for so long that this tiny tease even looks quite derivative but WKW's films are so stylish that there's every reason to hope this will be yummy eye candy. And with Leung at the center, it could be a new classic. They've already made so many great films together: Chungking Express, Happy Together, In the Mood For Love, etcetera.

Bonus Points: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon's young lovers Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen co-star, though they don't appear in this teaser.

Confusion: This title is printed differently everywhere you read about it: sometimes singular, sometimes plural, sometimes with spaces and sometimes as one long word "Grandmasters"

Curio: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Painter

Alexa here. I was lucky enough to vacation in Hawaii a few weeks ago. While walking down a particularly touristy street, a video projected in one of the shops caught my eye: there was Anthony Hopkins, standing in an artist's studio, talking about painting. Suddenly I was thinking of Surviving Picasso and how frustrating I found it that Picasso's paintings were only partially visible. Yet here was Hopkins, standing in front of a full canvas. Of course, this wasn't Guernica, but one of the actor's own alternately brooding and peaceful works. 

Hopkins has said that looking at his paintings, "what you're observing is my state of mind." He has also attributed himself a Van Gogh-type personality, especially during his drinking days.  Certainly something about his artwork mirrors his acting roles: alternating the garish (Instinct, Freejack) with the understated (84 Charing Cross Road, Howard's End). Here's a sampling. You can see more here.

More samples follow.

Click to read more ...

First and Last, "Moooo"

Can you guess the movie from these two audio clues?

(the answer is in the comment chain if you want to see if your guess is correct.) 

First and Last: Mooooo

Face Huggers Forever!

Today is the actual 25th anniversary of James Cameron's Aliens (1986) which we happen to have been celebrating all week. (Theme Weeks! Do you love or do you love?)

We meant to do a little more about the actual series surrounding this one film but our Netflix queue was beset by weird problems --  "game over, man, game over!" -- The Alien Quadrilogy is arguably the most fascinating big money franchise that Hollywood ever threw money at, functioning such as it does as Auteur Training Wheels; each film was given to a different major director near what the world presumed was the beginning of their huge career: Ridley Scott (2nd narrative feature of 19), James Cameron (3rd of 8), David Fincher (1st of 9) and Jean Pierre-Jeunet (3rd of 6)

Instead we just focused on our favorite of the Quad. Just in case you missed any, here are the four bloggy monsters we hatched for this historic day.

• Hit Me With Your Best Shot
  In which 10 blogs select what they think of as this epic's best shot.
• My Magnificent Aliens Obsession
  In which Kurt shares a surprising childhood memoir.
• Take Three: Michael Biehn
  In which Craig celebrates Cameron's go-to wrecked hero. 
• Podcast: 1986 Highlights, Oscar & Cannes 
  In which Nick and I sing the movie's praises and revisit other favorites from the year.

I'll let the paid subscribers and donors (see sidebar) choose the next theme week. If you've contributed this past month to keep the site with something approaching a shoestring operating budget (i.e. roof over head) expect soon.

Did you enjoy the Ripley action this week?