O Canada, we stand on link for thee!

Pajiba celebrates the hottest Canadian celebrities for Canada day. I didn't even know that Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Helo  (Tamhoh Penikett) were Canadian.
Movie|Line opts for "badass Canadians" like Carrie-Anne Moss and Nathan Fillion. 
unexamined / essentials Lovely review of Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. (I hadn't considered Gil's insomnia before.) Hey maybe when Woody is done with Rome he should continue his world tour in Canada. Maybe Montreal? Winnipeg?
Guardian a new book of private candids of Elizabeth Taylor and famous friends. Fun fact: Liz married Richard Burton (the first time at least) in Canada. The second time they were married in Botswona. Obviously.

Brando & Liz, so candid its almost demystifying.

Rants of a Diva Halfway Report: best rentals, hot boys, best films, and more...
CHUD Why there's no sequel to Spike Lee's Inside Man and what might be next for him. 
Awards Daily They're now calling The Invention of Hugo Cabret, "Hugo" only. Gah, DULL. Audiences are so dumb. Or Hollywood thinks they are. It amounts to the same thing.

Telegraph Whoa. Tim Robey kinda likes Transformers Dark of the Moon. I love this bit especially...

If you wonder why it had to take a spirit-taxing two and a half hours about this, it’s because Bay’s ego clearly considers it logically irrefutable that the longer one of his films is, the better it must be.

You can say the same, unfortunately, for many far greater auteurs. Length -- one might say dick-measuring --almost always comes with the territory of being a respected auteur, whether you're respected for your art or your money-generating craft... the same thing tends to happen.
My New Plaid Pants meanwhile JA fears he'll go see it this very weekend "like some sort of brain-damaged masochist." hee.

 

Finally, Clothes on Film has a fine piece on Kate Winslet's omnipresent floral housedress in Todd Haynes' remake of Mildred Pierce (which should be cleaning up in the Emmy nominations in a couple of weeks -- I'm most curious to see if/how many supporting actress nods it manages since I suspect Brian F. O'Byrne and Kate Winslet are givens). Ann Roth was the costume designer for that miniseries. You can see an interview with Ann Roth about her designing process (not a Mildred interview) here.

Cinema de Gym: 'I Am Legend'

Hey all. Kurt here with round five of Cinema de Gym. When I walked into my gym's screening of I Am Legend, otherwise known as one of the greatest movies ever made, it was just in time for sole survivor Will Smith's morning workout regimen. Y'know – the one that shows off his especially cut physique, which had a beaming Jada gushing her wifely approval to the press (or was that for Ali?). In any case, it was a good motivator with which to start, my elliptical-bound self facing the day with Will and his treadmilling dog. I do love these morning-routine sequences, which, if done well, can dole out oodles of narrative and character development with nary a spoken word. (My mind goes right to a particular season premiere of Lost, wherein we woke up with a character, partook in his a.m. ritual, then flew up, up, up a laddered pipe only to gasp, “He's in the hatch!”)

After tending to some ill-tempered rats in his basement lab (he's testing cures for that apocalyptic zombie rage virus, you'll remember), Will grabs some rifles from a locked cabinet, whistles for his pooch (Sam) and leaves the house. Outside, it's revealed that he lives within spitting distance of the Washington Square Arch, and in this moment it hits me that I walked by this very address just a couple weeks ago. Honestly, I don't know how you New York film lovers don't just completely lose your s**t on a daily basis. Maybe you do. It's crazy. You live inside the movies. Anyway...

Last man's best friend

Will and Sam take the SUV to the video store, presumably a regular errand that offers a sliver of normalcy and some much-needed sweet escape (so long as they don't rent Life After People). This, I believe, is the first scene that truly introduces us to the film's keen ability to apply considerable weight to inanimate and/or nonhuman things, be them Sam or the mannequins Will regards as everyday people. In the video store, he calls the cashier mannequin by name, and all but blushes while pretending the nearby female mannequin is giving him the eye. The film finds both comic relief and an oft-profound sense of loneliness in such scenes, and Will knows just how to play them: straight, but with bubbling pain. It's a similar pain to that of Tom Hanks's Wilson-loving cast away, and it's the same pain that hurts so good (dramatically, I mean) when – SPOILER ALERT – Sam goes viral and has to be put down.

But I'm getting way ahead of myself here, as things were nowhere near that dire moment during the little slice I watched. Not long after the video store, Will is golfing on a pier, broadcasting that call for survivors that was ubiquitous during the film's marketing campaign (“You are not alone...”). Broadcast finished, Will and Sam spot a deer amidst an ocean of abandoned cars and begin the hunt. Rounding a corner, Sam gets ahead of Will and follows his prey into the movie's no-no place of shadow, which I suppose we can now consider a bit of foreshadowing...

Conclusions?

1. Watching scenes of people working out while working out actually makes you want to work out!
2. I'm really looking forward to moving to New York, so I can live in the movies, too.
3. Will could've really used a little Kim Cattrall in that big lonely city.

And the question we all want answered: What movies would you rent if you were the last person alive?

Hey, it's Ellen Page. What About "Freeheld"?

Is Zimbio trying to tell us something with that headline? I don't know why the actresses are hanging out in Montreal together but it's adorbs that they have matching pants and shoes. Clea's mostly been doing TV guest spots lately (The Event, CSI: Miami). Meanwhile Ellen Page heads off to Rome soon to join the huge ensemble of Woody Allen's Bop DeCameron (2012). 

But hey... FREEHELD. That previously announced movie popped right into my head.

Unfortunately there's been very little word on what's happening with Ellen's most-promising sounding future film. Freeheld would be the story of New Jersey mechanic Stacie Andree's (Page) and her girlfriend Laurel Hester's (as yet uncast) legal battle to save pension benefits when Laurel was diagnosed with a terminal illness. It sounds like such a promising direction for Ellen (Oscar nom #2?) who should challenge herself as an actress real soon; It's not like expository roles in green screen epics are pushing her gift.

Freeheld (2007), Best Documentary Short WinnerThe documentary short Freeheld, which first told this story, won an Oscar three years ago. And given the hot topic of gay marriage (just passed in New York but New Jersey's Republican governor vows to fight against it.) the time seems ripe for more social dramas that passionately deal with contemporary fights. I don't know about you but I firmly believe that the reason the whole subgenre of films dealing with social issues, civil rights, and prejudice have such a middlebrow rep and always feel safe and weaksauce is because, generally speaking, they set them so far back in the past that they're all cushioned from the world as we know it. Hollywood needs to deliver more Do The Right Things and less Driving Miss Daisys, is the point even though that reference itself is itself cushioned with rosy nostalgia. Oops!

The starry gay dramas that do get made (Milk, Brokeback Mountain) are also set in the past. Not that we don't need the reminders but contemporary balance would be great. Catherine Hardwicke (Red Riding Hood) was originally attached to Freeheld but it doesn't have to be her. Actually, and though it pains me to say this since I was a huge fan of her debut thirteen (2003), it might be better if it wasn't her. Somebody needs to is the point. 

Say What? Nicole

I asked you to amuse us by putting a caption or dialogue to this paparazzi photo of Nicole Kidman shopping in Sydney in the comments. 

The winner is JOHN T. who wrote...

Shopping for Lars is so hard."

LOL. Lars von Trier... maybe he is a closet "Zoe" fan. He's full of surprises. [Off Topic: If you've never read this ancient interview between Lars von Trier and P.T. Anderson around the time of Dogville, have at it. Thanks to Emmanuel for pointing it out. They love Nicole, hate Burt Reynolds (?), and talk about the director/actor relationship a lot.]

Honorable mention goes to Abstew and Derreck with the following:

hmmm, is the world ready for a reimagining of 'FUR'..."

Caption: Nicole Kidman, after being cast in the reboot of Sesame Street as Oscar's mother and the reason he became a grouch, was caught in a local toy store doing research for the role.

And y'all are right. The photo does remind one of the last scene in Eyes Wide Shut. 



Secret Messages: Eiffel Tower

secret messages from the movies: new puzzle series!

Ht: 300 meter Windspeed...

Can you guess the movie?

Check your answer after the jump.

Click to read more ...