Yes, No, Maybe So: "Larry Crowne"

This isn't a trailer but let's make an exception for two of the most recognizable faces on the planet.

Do we want to see Tom Hanks & Julia Roberts round two in Larry Crowne? The clip starts at about the one minute mark.

yes... well Julia is singing Gilbert & Sullivan in the clip. Plus, there aren't enough romantic comedies about adults and by adults I mean adults with functioning brain cells.

no...

maybe so... Tom is trying his damndest to sell it and admitting how awkward it is to sell your wares... though maybe he's pushing that a little too hard. It's not like you can be as cool as you wanna be by pretending not to be cool. It's too transparent. But I liked That Thing You Do! kinda, didn't you? I dunno. Both Julia and Tom both have similar weaknesses as massive stars go: the charm offensive. They have to walk a very fine line between barely selling it and letting their natural charisma do the work, barely selling it to the point that they just look like lazy/overconfident about their charisma which doesn't work, and overselling it because of the charm offensive.

It must be complicated to be a superstar.

Red Carpet: Jane Eyre... and Sebastian Stan?

Fassy, Mia and Cary Fukunaga at the NYC premiere

I MUST get to this movie this weekend. If Michael Fassbender as Mr Rochester and Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre weren't enough impetus, there are the fine reviews to consider, and Cary Fukunaga in the director's chair. (About that expression: How often do directors actually sit down? I always picture them walking around shouting orders and talking with their hands.) His debut feature Sin Nombre suggested that he was one to watch and he'd also have to go on the imaginary Calendar of Hottest Movie Directors ...though that's neither here nor there.

Did you see Jane Eyre (2011) last night or do you have to wait it out a bit? If not, what did you see / are you going to see this weekend?

These celebrities were also at the premiere to soak in the 29th film version of Charlotte Brontë's classic.

I always wonder why certain celebrities show up at certain things. What's the connection here? None of these people were in Cary Fukunaga's movie or this one. But here's what we imagine as connections: Alan Cumming is also, like Fassy, an X-Man, albeit not in the same installment; Debra Winger and Glenn Close came out to present themselves as cautionary tales for Mia, saying 'Gargantuan talent isn't everything. Win your Oscar* early early early or it never comes"; Rose Byrne is Fassbender's co-star in X-Men: First Class and she goes everywhere Glenn Close goes (at least in the public imagination now thanks to Damages); Sebastian Stan just came out to confuse us since he looks like so many other people.

About Sebs, I know it's probably not the role I'm supposed to associate with him but I have fondness because of his amusing Hathaway-Hate in Rachel Getting Married (2008).

Sebastian Stan, Roslyn Ruff and Hathaway in the great "Rachel Getting Married" (2008)

"Walter" just couldn't play nice with others!

His bit in Black Swan was also incisively wrought. Loved that tetchy 'I can't be bothered to disguise my boredom. It's ballet! I'm just here to get laid' look when the ballerina's day jobs came up. Maybe he's a great actor disguised as an interchangeably good-looking up-and-comer? He is from Romania and they do make good cinema. Yeah, yeah, I know he's also on TV but I can't watch everything.

Captain America and Bucky

Is he good on his TV shows? You tell me. We'll see him next as "Bucky" Robin to Captain America: The First Avenger's Batman as it were.

*I've said this before but it's always worth repeating: The Eighties were BRUTAL for great actresses. Isn't it the single decade (post silent films obvs) with the most never-won-the-Oscar important female stars?

First and Last, 5.9

the first and last images from motion pictures.

Can you guess the movie?

check your work or give up with the answer after the jump...

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Carey On

Andreas from Pussy Goes Grrr here, to celebrate an oft-forgotten cult figure. Friday marked the 82nd birthday of Timothy Agoglia Carey (1929-1994), one of Hollywood's consummate weirdos. Carey worked for four decades as a character actor, generally playing villains or oddballs. Whatever the size or significance of the role, he tackled it with sleazy gusto, complete with verbal tics and a grotesque snarl. His eccentric presence added considerably to movies like the psychedelic Head and two of the Frankie-and-Annette beach party movies, where he played the nefarious, scenery-chomping South Dakota Slim.

However, Carey's most memorable roles came with two renowned directors...

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Request: Tyrone Power in "The Black Swan"

Reader Appreciation Month
Several people requested this during the TCM Contest, most of them mentioning the modern Black Swan (2010, not a remake) so I thought I'd give it a go. Methinks people will be disappointed if Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara don't see themselves in mirrors or have hallucinatory mental breakdowns scored to Tchaikovsky.

Maureen O'Hara and Tyrone Power in "The Black Swan" (1942)

Sometimes I feel like I'm hallucinating when I look at Tyrone Power or Maureen O'Hara in Technicolor so maybe I'll be the one breaking down?

As the movie begins we see a pirate ship called "Black Swan" and a super saturated matte painting of a blue sky (no one speaks of matte paintings anymore) and the following campy text.

This is a story of the Spanish Main -- when Villainy wore a Sash, and the only political creed in the world was --- Love, Gold, and Adventure.

The last time I remember villainy wearing a sash was the X-Men Dark Phoenix saga -- Villainy wore a gold lame sash to be precise. But back to the beginning of the movie. A town crier is shouting "All is well". Oh foolish extra, that's the kind of thing you only shout at the end of a story. Otherwise, you're basically asking for trouble!

(I'm waiting to see what color Villainy's sash is.)

Turns out sashes aren't that much of a focal point of the costumes, mostly because Tyrone is always out of his. I present the evidence...

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