The Drama, Tragicomedy and Mystery of This Year's Oscars.

Over at Tribeca Film in my weekly Oscar column I'm examining where we are now Post-SAG with ballots out and just two precursors left (BAFTA & The Spirit Awards) which aren't really precursors in the classical sense (they don't deal with the same pool of films, exactly). My personal feeling is that this year's season is headed toward tragicomedy in its final lap as The King's Speech takes off its underdog disguise.

Read it

Are you laughing, crying, or scratching your head over the recent awards season developments?

P.S. for a lighter take on this post SAG climatemy friend Katey has an amusing rundown of "likelihood to win"

Contest: Warren Beatty "STAR"

Had a few difficulties with contests last year, but 2011 is a new year, new site, new beginning. We start anew. Here's contest #1. More to come.

I have three copies of Peter Biskind's book "Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America", recently released in paperback, to give away. With Warren Beatty escorting The Bening to all these awards shows, I figure it's a good time to expand her current spotlight to include him, "The Most Promising Newcomer of 1962." 

I'd already read the hard copy of this book being a long time Beatty fan and it's rich in Hollywood lore and makes an interesting companion piece to the great Pictures at a Revolution once you get around to Bonnie & Clyde. Though Biskind claims he wanted to write the book to promote a reevalutaion of Beatty's important career as a renaissance man in Hollywood the book is awfully salacious. They must know this is a selling point as the cover even uses this blurb:

Totally Entertaining. Giddily Salacious.

So expect lots of inside Hollywood politics, lots of sex (it's not for the prudish) and cameos or lengthy visits by numerous storied actresses like Leslie Caron, Joan Collins, Natalie Wood, and Julie Christie (who is a completely fascinating character in this book) among others.

TO ENTER...

• Send an email to filmexperience (at) gmail (dot) com with "BEATTY" in the subject line.
• Name your favorite Warren Beatty film (here's a list) and tell us in a few sentences why you love it.
• Full name and mailing address in case ya win.

Send me those e-mails by Monday, February 7th.
I may quote your descriptions of the films so be forewarned.

Year of the Rabbit

Happy Chinese New Year!  卯

It's the Year of the Rabbit.  How will you celebrate?

TV @ The Movies: "Meryl Streep Realness"

TV @ The Movies is a series that came to life because we always perk up when movies or movie actors are name-checked on the small screen. Who and what fillters into pop culture? And in what form?

Are any of you watching RuPaul's Drag Race Season 3? In the latest episode The Supermodel of The World gave her competing "gurls" scripts to film a movie trailer "Drag Queens in Outer Space: Return to Uranus". The acting in the final trailers was so hideous I didn't even remotely wish the fake movie was real and given that it was called "Drag Queens in Outer Space: Return to Uranus,"  that's a fail.

Shangela & Mimi discuss their upcoming performances

Shangela and Mimi Imfurst already hate each other and have become immediate rivals. This is because they're both crafty disingenuous camera hogs and nothing drives people crazier than seeing their unflattering traits reflected in other people. They're both continually making trouble (Shangela) or breaking down (Mimi) so as to log more camera time. Essentially, this is a fail safe ploy in the reality TV format: I already know their names and faces and the other queens are still bleeding together after two regular episodes. Mimi brags about her acting experience and on the read-through of the script, they have this exchange:

Shangela: You better get that Oscar, bitch.
Mimi Imfurst: I'm bringing Meryl Streep Realness. You gotta get ugly to win the gold.

As quotes go it's no "I was giving Michelle Pfeiffer bitch" uttered magnificently in season 2 by Raven (It's all downhill from Raven. Sigh). Meryl Streep Realness and the tried and trued De-Glam Oscar trick both make sense on their own but putting them together is like talking in gibberish. Streep has never had to downplay her beauty for Oscar's attention. In fact, her Best Actress Oscar went to arguably one of her most glamorous performances in Sophie's Choice. Yes, yes, she also deglams within the same film in flashbacks. But that's Meryl; she does it all. Except for maybe camp.

Okay, okay. That's not exactly true.

Mimi ended up going for full Leigh Bowery Artifice, Meryl Streep Realness never entering the picture.

But the queens weren't done paying homage/defaming the prestige screen divas. Later Stacy Lane Matthew's performance as "Lady Tata" in the sci-fi trailers prompted comparisons to none other than Dame Judi Dench.

Stacy: Honey, I don't know who in the hell I was.
Shangela: Girl, you were some British bitch.
Mimi: You were Judi Dench giving us Shakespeare.
Shangela: Where in the hell did you get that accent Miss Back Swamp North Carolina? Next thing you turn around you're a British bitch.
Stacy: Bitch, I was thinking Julia Child.

[Ahem]. Speaking of Streep Realness/Camp.

For reasons that are still unclear Lily Tomlin was a guest judge. (Sci-fi plus Lily? Why?) Strangely, she didn't say much and only made one funny.

If you were starring in "Drag Queens From Outer Space," which legendary actress would you be using for inspiration? Would you be okay with Lily Tomlin judging you?

RuPaul's Drag Race is available to watch online. If you dare.

Sweet Bird of Link

Zimbio The 50 Most Beautiful Women Over 50
Towleroad Conflicting reports about how gay Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar Hoover biopic is going to be.
Cinemablographer Canada's Genie nominations. Incendies, also nominated for the Foreign Language Film Oscar (see here) is big stuff.
Hero Complex Hugh Jackman now bulking up for Darren Aronofsky's Wolverine. The director wants him thicker and more feral.
Socialite's Life Nicole Kidman in Marie Claire magazine.
Awards Daily Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris to open Cannes Film Festival
Arts Beat James Franco to join Nicole Kidman in Broadway's revival of Sweet Bird of Youth. I hate my poverty that prevents me from seeing the big ticket star outings on stage. So hard to find good discounts for those short term plays.
IndieWire I hadn't heard of this Gambit project, a remake of a Michael Caine movie scripted by the Coen Bros, though they're not directing. Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz will star.

In Contention "Relatability" interesting AMPAS voter quote regarding The King's Speech.
Pajiba names today "Joseph Gordon-Levitt" day since he's joining the cast of the next Batman flick The Dark Knight Rises. The rumor is ... well, I'm sure there's a billion of them but the role is unknown.
Cinema Blend Rupert Everett thrilled for Colin Firth's current success. Nice to hear him compliment someone for a change.
The Atlantic reviews the American version of Being Human, now airing on SyFy with a second eye on the original British version. For what it's worth, I'm not crazy about either show but I think the American version shows a better understanding of how series television flourishes... at least at this early stage.