BAFTA Prep, Open Thread

Have you seen these downloadable e-mags from the British Academy? They have beautiful illustrated covers by Adam Simpson, one for each of the Best Picture nominees. I've included three of them here representing... well you can tell, can't you?

Black Swan continues to inspire graphic artists. I think The King's Speech design might be the best of the five designs. It has great composition, cleverly utilizes the memorable Eve Stewart production design, and that blimp heading towards / pointing at the King tells you the thrust of the story. The True Grit illustration is my least favorite of the five but I include it because it made me chuckle trying to reimagine the Coen Bros western as a Disney musical. You know how they do; the heroes/heroines are always standing on those jutting triangular pointed cliffs, singing their hearts out.

Hailee arrives at a pre BAFTA eventWhat would Mattie Ross's "I Want" Song be like anyway?

♪ ♫ Just You Wait, Tom Chaney, Just You Wait
You'll be sorry but your pleas will be too late.
You killed my father, fled the city.
I will avenge him, I'll be gritty.
Just you wait, Tom Chaney, just you wait.

Is that a movie you'd like to see?

Meanwhile, since BAFTA is on tape delay tonight we'll know the winners before we get a chance to see it. (Unless we turn off our computers, which is not something we often do, damnit). And the Grammys are also on tonight. Big awards night.  I'll probably write about the BAFTAs late tonight or tomorrow morning but if you feel like spoiling the winners in this thread, feel free.

P.S. BAFTA promises various footages today, such as red carpet and the like at their official site.

Love Scenes: Light me Up.

Jose here. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, Nathaniel asked us to share our favorite love scenes. I'm not really big on V-Day itself. I just don't get it. So I tried to think of the feeling in a "bigger" way, something a bit out of the box if you may call it that, so without further ado, here's one of my favorite love scenes of all time.

Be warned...spoilers ahead! 

Double Indemnity is highly regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made. When it premiered a lot was made about the fact that it dealt with sex in such a blunt way, how Walter Neff's (Fred McMurray) passion for married femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson (the fantastic Barbara Stanwyck) leads them to crime and mutual destruction.

The love affair between Phyllis and Walter is volatile and incredibly sexy but my favorite 'love scene' in the film takes place with two guys. Throughout the film we see the fascinating relationship between Walter and his boss Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). They both work for an insurance company. When Walter gets involved with Phyllis, little does Barton suspect that they're double crossing him. In a way then Double Indemnity deals not only with Phyllis' infidelity but also with Walter's.

The entire film, which is told in flashback, contains Walter's confession to the man he, well, loves. In a way this framing device could pair this film quite nicely with Brief Encounter (I'll leave for you to decide which one's more tragic).

In the film's final scene, a gunshot wounded Walter has finished his confession and he plans to escape. given the fact that he's practically dead by then, this escape is more symbolic; an atonement of sorts. A running gag during the film has Walter lighting up Barton's cigars (the man never seems to have a match on him). In one of these moments an angry Barton looks for a match desperately while discussing a case with Walter. He then proceeds to light him up, Barton gives him a wondrous eye and Walter simply tells him "I love you, too".

In the last scene Walter falls, about to die, and of course decides to smoke a cigarette (don't you love how much actors smoked in classic films?) He weakly looks for a match and it's only at this moment that the roles are exchanged. Barton kneels next to him and lights up his cigarette looking at him with a combination of pity, disappointment and honest to god love.

Then, the following exchange:

Walter: Know why you couldn't figure this one, Keyes? I'll tell ya. 'Cause the guy you were looking for was too close. Right across the desk from ya. 

Barton: Closer than that Walter...

Walter: I love you too. 

It makes no difference that Stanwyck's character is long gone by this scene. The finale makes you reevaluate everything you saw. You realize that Double Indemnity is about love just as much as it's about lust.

Hollywood makes such a big deal about romantic love that we often forget fraternal, familial and other kinds of love in the movies. I might be reading too much into the moment but if this scene isn't as romantic and perfect as anything in Casablanca or West Side Story, then I don't know what love is.

Anyone else has any "alternative" fave movie scenes they wanna share? Light us up!

Mix Tape: "Panic in Detroit" in The Kids Are All Right

Andreas from Pussy Goes Grrr here, with my first guest contribution to The Film Experience. We're kicking off a new series called "Mix Tape," all about musical choices in film, with a look at some mood music that adds considerably to one of last year's Oscar-nominated supporting performances.

Creative song selections are scattered throughout The Kids Are All Right, but the one that really stands out for me—even though it only plays for ten seconds in a disjointed form—is David Bowie's "Panic in Detroit." It accompanies a sex scene between Paul (Mark Ruffalo) and Tanya (Yaya DaCosta) which, through the magic of jump cuts, also serves as an introduction to the wildness and fertility that make Paul an ideal sperm donor... and a not-so-ideal interloper into Nic and Jules' domestic status quo.

Right before the sex scene, we get our first look at Paul: carting around vegetables, flirting with Tanya (his business partner and friend-with-benefits), and generally being earthy. He also gets the troubling phone call informing him that somewhere out there, he has a biological daughter. He pauses, presses his hand to his mouth, and suddenly we're jolted away with the sound of Bowie's voice singing "He looked a lot like Che Guevara!" as Ruffalo and DaCosta bounce naked across a living room.

After the jump, more on Ruffalo and Bowie. [Warning: slightly NSFW images.]

Click to read more ...

Review: The Eagle

The Eagle is the latest of the many sword & sandal ripples that Gladiator set in motion 11 years ago. Channing Tatum is this year's brave soul, stepping into the Arena of Undefeated Russell Crowe Memories. Channing plays Marcus Aquila, a young centurion getting his first command in Britain. His faither soiled the family name by vanishing in the North of Britain and losing his legion's gold standard, The Eagle. Though Rome at large has moved on, Marcus is obsessed with retreiving the shiny bird.

Marcus is very serious about his command but he's also good at it. In fact, he's practically clairvoyant in his first test as a leader, sensing danger coming well before it arrives. Though he saves his men, a serious injury sidelines him from battle, and the film threatens to stop dead in its tracks just as its begun. Thankfully the movie picks up considerably when Jamie Bell enters as Esca.

Esca is purchased as a body slave for Marcus. Waste of money, that. Purchasing a body slave for Channning Tatum? Surely there were volunteers at the ready?

Read the rest at Towleroad

What are you seeing this weekend?

Baby, I Was Linked This Way

Pop Sugar gets a first look at Leonardo DiCaprio, Judi Dench and Armie Hammer suited up for Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar (pictured left). I'd embed it here but it's one of those annoying videos that starts itself and that won't do. Computers must be silent until they are asked to speak. Don't you agree?

Nicole's Magic explains the reason Nicole Kidman isn't in Just Go With It's marketing campaign (spoilery).
Gallery of the Absurd "commemorates" Lindsay Lohan's latest criminal activity.
The New York Times' dance critic reviews Black Swan. I'm so burnt out on Black Swan right now but this is a good read. Like this

It goes out of its way to contradict the old escapist idea that “everything’s beautiful at the ballet.” Instead it takes energy from the aspects of ballet that are cruel and unfair. Let’s not pretend, however, that those aspects don’t exist.

The Browser Speaking of... Here's a different type of article, Darren Aronofsky talking about his 5 favorite filmmaking books.
Movie|Line regarding that time Anne Heche turned down Speed. WHAAAA? Sorry I l-o-v-e Anne Heche and she does not have the career I long for her to have despite being a unique screen presence and fine actress. Damn you Hollywood, damn you!

Black Voices shares a recent controversial statement about black women and Oscars and extrapolates on that. I find this type of discussion fascinating but whenever people use Oscar nominations and wins to paint broad strokes I always want to school them a little on Oscar history in general. I know I paint with broad strokes sometimes, too, so I sympathize. But take this note for example.

Sure, Halle Berry and Monique won their awards because they played roles that Hollywood is incredibly comfortable with: black women yelling, screaming and suffering without makeup. But, it's not just white Hollywood. We're all incredibly comfortable with miserable black women. I call it pain porn.

I 100% agree that Oscar rewards things they are comfortable with.

But one could make an argument that it's not that Oscar loves seeing black women in pain, it's that Oscar loves seeing women in pain. Dramatic suffering has always been the easiest way to an Oscar. Look at your entire Best Actress lineup this year. They're all white, sure. They're also all suffering. The least tearful woman in the lineup (Jennifer Lawrence) is a tough one, but she also gets beat up and shunned by her own kin. And when she's not in pain porn, she's in poverty porn. (Poverty porn, like pain porn, is not about race with Oscar.) Was Annette Bening nominated this year because she ably conveyed boredom and confusion about her marriage and hilarious cluelessness about what emotions her children were logging? No. I bet you anything she was nominated because when tears welled up in her eyes and she asked her lying wife "did you take a nap, too?" you could feel the sting of betrayal and the disorienting fresh magnitude of her pain. Ever notice how many Oscar clips are people screaming, yelling and suffering? The bulk of them! The same is true for the men (albeit to a lesser degree)

Is that my daughter in theerrrrrrrrrrre?!!!???

But mostly I wanted to say something about this because to disparage Mo'Nique's win is to shun one of the best performances of the modern era. The last time I saw someone dig that deep and find that much humanity inside someone doing monstrous things was... um... I'm not sure that I have. I bow down to Mo'Nique's actressing. If someone doesn't give her another meaty movie role soon, we are all the poorer for it.

Off Cinema Break
Do you like Lady Gaga's new song "Born This Way?"

I'm not sure that I do. I have no doubt it'll work for the dancefloor but as a stand-alone pop melody? Sorry for my gay heresy. You can have the toaster back.