Link As We Know It

i09 offers a look at the clockwork man in Scorsese's The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Gold Derby wonders if Oscar winner Estelle Parsons (Bonnie & Clyde) has a Tony Award in her very near future.
In Contention Guy shares his review plans for The Tree of Life in light of its premiere plans. And the new poster. Why yes, reader, here it is. Enjoy.

Gold Derby Academy to honor Sophia Loren in May
Playbill Kristin Chenoweth is coming back to Broadway. Details are unknown but bliss will surely follow.
Self Styled Siren 10 Films that the Siren Should Love But Doesn't. What a fun idea for a list. It's not classics you don't like that everyone else does... it's films you should like, given what you typically respond to, but just don't.

Finally...here's the Onion's vicious but laugh out loud funny Katharine Heigl tragedy "In Freak Accident, 34 Katherine Keigl Films Released At Once." Thanks to Glenn for pointing it out.

In Freak Accident, 34 Katherine Heigl Films Released At Once

So so funny though that Venus & Mars poster / concept reads 100% like a real movie. For a second I thought it was. My favorite bit was the 700% rise in self-blindings and the stressed EMT.

We're doing the best we can out here but the movies are just coming out too fast.

In truth I am one of those rare souls who kind of likes Katharine Heigl. BUT here is how I escaped the hatred: I didn't see all these crappy movies she stars in and I only watched like one season of Grey's Anatomy because it was a shlocky gooey mess. If there is one star in need of saying "no" unless it's a prestige project with A list director next time, it's her. She has enough money. A hiatus until a quality offer shows itself is the only answer to turn this ship around.

"What You See in the Dark," A Must Read

This Wednesday's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" topic is Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). Try to look at it with fresh new eyes somewhen in the next 48 hours and join us for the conversation at 10 PM EST.

In other news, I have three copies of Manuel Muñoz's debut novel "What You See in the Dark" to give away. It's a haunting read that takes place in the small town of Bakersfield in 1959. It focuses on a sudden talk-of-the-town romance between a young couple as well as an older waitress who brushes up against Hollywood in the form of "The Actress" and "The Director" who are scouting locations for a movie (Guess which one? You got it.) I'll have an interview with the author up tomorrow. But if you'd like to enter the contest, here's what you do.

Send Nathaniel and e-mail by Thursday, 9 PM EST containing the following info.

• your name and mailing address
• one thing you love about the movie Psycho (1960)

I'll draw three winners randomly on Friday. This contest is open to all readers but especially recommended for those who like to curl up with literary fiction as much as they like to settle in with a classic movie.

BOB: Sucker Punching Dead Horses

Today's Box Office Blather is short, though hardly sweet. The weekend had only two wide openings which fought it out for two markets: the family and the fanboys. Though girls ruled and boys drooled on Friday when Sucker Punch triumphed, family-market films always grow over opening weekends rather than fade like normal movies.

Carla Gugino, Jena Malone, Abbie Cornish, Emily Browning, Jamie Chung and Vanessa Hudgens at the Sucker Punch premiere

So the weekend went to Wimpy Kids rather than Violent Girls.

01. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules $23.7 new
02. Sucker Punch $19 new
03. Limitless $15 (cumulative: $41.1)
04. The Lincoln Lawyer $10.7 (cumulative: $28.7)
05. Rango $9.7 million (cumulative: $106.3)

Limitless and Lincoln held well in week 2 indicating that people who saw them last week maybe didn't regret their ticket purchases. Rango is now the top grosser of 2011, a title it seems likely to hold until the end of May when Johnny Depp will overthrow himself by way of Pirates #4. (Sigh) Unless Thor gets deified by general audiences or Jane Eyre busts out of her bodice on a record breaking 6,321 screens... all of them sold out for the rest of the summer. (Sorry, fever dream on account of the feverishly Fassbending podcast. But wouldn't it be great if box office were THAT impossible to predict? Hypothetical question. The answer is yes.)

What did you see this weekend? Besides Mildred Pierce, I mean.

Finally, in Shamelessly Beating Dead Horses news: the PG-13 version of The King's Speech opens this Friday. Begone naughty fuck word, you have no power here! The King's Profanity has been redacted. Oscar campaigns don't pay for themselves, people. Although, the $15 million dollar budgeted film has already earned $361 million worldwide so now they're just being greedy fuckers.

"Grass Widow" in Mildred Pierce (2011)

It's time for the Monday Monologue. How many of you caught Mildred Pierce (2011) last night on HBO? Todd Hayne's adaptation of the novel, previously adapted in the 40s, is a five hour affair. We can't say much as to quality yet as we're only ⅓ through (or thereabouts). Let it suffice to say for now that the new version is much different which we're immediately grateful for; no one needs a replacement of the terrific 1945 Joan Crawford noir.

Kate Winslet's Mildred Pierce, broke and forlorn.

My two favorite things about the first hours were the supporting players: Mare Winningham was tart perfection as Ida the head waitress at the diner where Mildred finds work and Melissa Leo adding to her noteworthy run as Mildred's know-it-all neighbor Lucy. Both actressses were deliciously in period; you could shove them right into a 30s movie and gobble them up with delight alongside a slice of Pierce pie.

Early in the first hour, Lucy gets a showcase bit where she schools Mildred on the complexities of dating when your marriage has broken up. She tells Mildred, who is looking anything but red hot with floured hands and apron-covered, that men now view her differently.

continue on to the monologue.

Click to read more ...

"Tangled" Giveaway

Quickie contest. THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED FOR ENTRIES BUT YOU CAN STILL VOTE ON THE POLL BELOW. As you may already know the Tangled Blu-Ray DVD comes out tomorrow. I have one Blu-Ray copy to give away to a lucky reader in the US or Canada. Plus an undetermined bonus prize.

you entry should contain the following.

1. "Tangled DVD" in subject line.
2. Your name & mailing address (The winner's address goes to Disney so they can ship your prize but otherwise they're totes private.)
3. Name the movie character's hair you'd most like to braid and why. It's the girliest question ever but Rapunzel would approve! [Warning: I may quote a collection of these answers right here.]
4. Name anything at all that you learned from the "talent discovery" section of the widget above.

And just so everyone is a winner, please vote on the following poll. The winning films will be written up right here at the Film Experience in April. I've left out films I've extensively written about previously and a few others to make this manageable and randomly paired older with newer. I'll write about the winning pair (probably not together) next month.

poll by twiigs.com