The Link is Not Enough

Thompson on Hollywood 5 things you won't learn about the making of Psycho from Hitchcock
Animation Mag GKids, that indie distributor who is bringing us great foreign animated Oscar contenders has even better news for 2013: A 25th anniversary rerelease of Grave of the Fireflies. You MUST see this movie.
I Need My Fix the motion poster for Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Fancy.
Variety ohmygod Pedro Almodovar wants to make a sci-fi movie. I'm living for this. Please do. 

The Playlist seems as if Sam Mendes might do another Bond picture post Skyfall
NY Post on exciting BluRay news for Gypsy, and many other classics
Anna Kendrick proves to her fans that she's tweeting 
Pajiba is very unhappy with Barbara Walters '10 Most Fascinating People' list. Particularly with the selection of our new Oscar host and this memorable bit on EL James of "Fifty Shades of Grey" fame:

I am sick of the way that criticism about this book has somehow morphed into derisively calling it mommy porn... My problem is the same problem I have with Twilight: the national obsession with terrible fucking writing interspersed with a cursory at best and hungrily timid notion of sex.

BadAss Digest the Marvel Studios "Phase One" box set has new features. I read through them and there's no full length documentary of Chris Evans training shirtless to get Captain America's body so there's no way I'm paying $220!
NY Post Watchmen -- you haven't heard that title in awhile, have you -- is getting a collector's edition with a super long cut and more Dr. Manhattan nudity. Too bad the movie is so stiff.
Vanity Fair Amanda Seyfried in couture... and on her relationship with Hugh Jackman in Les Miz and Dominic Cooper's eight-pack. No really.

 Off Cinema
Huffington Post Fiona Apple cancels the South American leg of her tour due to her dying dog. This is so incredibly sad and Fiona Apple is so awesome. Fact.
Gawker Anderson Cooper gets catty with a obnoxious twitter follower 

Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and big Oscar contenders are celebrating with connections both very real and carved (haha) out of thin air. Here's a Happy Thanksgiving from Dreamworks Lincoln 

...and one from Fox Searchlight's Hitchcock which you can e-mail to friends and family here.

I'm really disappointed that in this day and age of abundant web animations -- I mean even I can make little animated gifs of my drawings! -- this card didn't have movement. Hitch actually stabbing the turkey would have been sickening.

Actress a Day: Amanda Seyfried

It occurred to me yesterday that no one ever speaks of Amanda Seyfried when they speak of Les Misérables, it's always 'Hugh this' and 'Hathaway that' and 'can Barks act for the big screen?' and so on. So for today's "Actress A Day" here's a little Seyfried, she of the flaxen hair, wide spread eyes and vaguely inexplicable career choices.

Gone... Really?

I can't say I fully get Amanda's career but I can tell you that she is super difficult to draw. I went through so many sketches and she always ended up looking more like Goldie or Reese or Lindsay until I finally gave up because this project is meant to be quick sketches and if I'm going to do it I can't be a perfectionist! 

What's your favorite Amanda Seyfriend performance.  I'm still most fond of the early ones: Mean Girls and Big Love. Will Lovelace or Les Mis finally make good on all that endearing early promise?

Red Carpet Convo: Frock of (All) Ages & the Prometheus Crew

Red Carpet Convos is back!

Nathaniel:  ‪Hi Joanna! ‬We haven't talked in ages. 

Joanna:  ‪I know.  And I've had so many things to say!‬

Nathaniel: ‪Try to squeeze them all in rightnow. Since the Red Carpet Convo series has been pretty much dormant since Oscar night, we'll reboot with a prequel of sorts. We're going WAY back to the Tonys (very briefly) and the Prometheus premiere. In Internet time that's like, what, three years ago?‬ 

Joanna:  ‪In a galaxy far far away.  And are you starting me back with Prometheus because you know of my Fassbender obsession?‬

Noomi, Lisbeth, Salma, Fassy & Charlize

Nathaniel: Listen, at this point it's safe to assume that everyone has the Fassbender obsession. But I don't mind sharing.‬

Joanna:  ‪Very generous of you.  Then let's discuss my favorite accessory of the red carpet this year.  The Ginger Beard.‬

Nathaniel:  ‪It's everywhere!‬ 

Ginger Beards, Appliqué Madness & Synthetic Starlets After the Jump...

Click to read more ...

Overheard @ Box Office: "You can't go wrong with Dr. Seuss"

Overheard on Friday:

Woman#1: (Defeated sounding) I have to take my son to see The Lorax. 
Cheerful Female Friend: Ohhh, you can't go wrong with Dr. Seuss!"  

Cheerful Female Friend has clearly not registered the atrocities Hollywood has often made from the good doctor's work. And when one thinks of the colorful wit and profound whimsy of Dr. Seuss surely mainstream heartthrobs like Zac Efron and Taylor Swift pop immediately to mind! What a, uhhhh, perfect vocal match.

But Cheerful Female Friend speaks for all of America. So testifies the box office!

BAKERS DOZEN (Estimates)
01 THE LORAX  $70.7 new  
02 PROJECT X  $20.7 new  
03 ACT OF VALOR $13.7 (cum. $45.2)
04 SAFE HOUSE  $7.2 (cum. $108.2)
05 TYLER PERRY'S GOOD DEEDS $7 (cum. $25.7)
06 JOURNEY 2 THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND $6.9 (cum. $85.6)
07 THE VOW  $6.1 ($111.7)
08 THIS MEANS WAR  $5.6  (cum. $41.6)
09 GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE $4.7 (cum. $44.8)
10 THE ARTIST $3.9 (cum. $37)

11 WANDERLUST  $3.8 (cum. $12.4)
12 GONE $3 (cum. $8.9)
13 CHRONICLE  $1.9 (60.8)

Talking Points

Reese, Amanda, and Jen have seen better box office days

• BLONDE BUT BANKABLE? Reese Witherspoon's movies are generally expensive to make but that return on investment these days. Yikes. This Means War is still a long way from recouping its budget. Jennifer Aniston movies have always had schizophrenic box office performance but Wanderlust is definitely on the weak side of her ticket-selling. How on earth was that sperm-switching comedy more attractive to moviegoers than this one? Meanwhile Amanda Seyfried hasn't been able to scare up crowds from Gone which is weirder. It's a genre flick and can't those usually open even without a name? $8 million for a serial killer picture after two weeks? Ouch. I'm sure it doesn't help that the ads totally make it seem like something Ashley Judd was making in the early 90s.

• EXCUSE ME, BUT WHO IS PAYING TO SEE GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE? I mean, besides our masochistic Michael C. It's already made more money than 2011's "Best Picture"... which had a big uptick post Oscar of course (The Artist's co-nominees took falls but Hugo fell only 14% despite also debuting on DVD so maybe its constant name-checking on Sunday night convinced some holdouts?)

• A SEPARATION more than doubled its screen count and had its first million dollar weekend, bringing its total to $3.7 million at the US box office. That there is a big big number for a non-genre subtitled picture.

What did you see this weekend? Was it worth the money? I was having an offline recuperation weekend so I went to see a Norwegian band at The Bitter End that one of my friends recommended called Mhoo. They're so good. Have a listen! 

They told me they're going to SXSW so if you're heading to that festival check them out.

Even when I'm at non-film events I can't stop thinking of movies. While the girls were singing I kept thinking "Kiki Dunst and Leelee Sobieski should play them in a movie!" 

Randomness: Oscars, Silents, Women Helmers, Loser Gifs

Salon on the reinvention of Brad Pitt. Good history piece / career overview
Vulture Best Pictures as infographics
Pajiba "interviews" Amanda Seyfried about her latest hacktress movie Gone.
NPR Monkey See smart provocative piece on the politics of Warrior (2011)
New York 100 pictures of Meryl Streep through the years. She ages backwards in this gallery
IMDb a gallery of your acting nominees in and out of character

My New Plaid Pants has my favorite "which is hotter?" of all time featuring (American Psycho)
Low Resolution's top ten films of 2011. Not your average top 10 list.
Some Came Running objects to the frequent comparisons of Singin' in the Rain and The Artist
Sunset Gun, now married to Guy Maddin -- is this the first time a film critic has married a director? trivia experts? -- explains his latest project, seances if you will to remake lost silent films.
Booby Finger How To Watch The Oscars a very snarky guide if you're into that sorta thing

Film Festivals Are Infinite
With Skyfall just around the corner I find myself thinking of 007 James Bond quite often and then Pierce Brosnan popped up in my inbox. Have you ever heard of Cinemagic? It's a film festival / workshop type thing for young people interested in filmmaking. (I'm reasonably confident that someone starts a new film festival every day of each year in the 21st century; they are infinite). It's Irish born but it's been expanding and Pierce Brosnan is a celebrity supporter.

Should I revisit all the Bond films this year. I'm torn on how to honor the 50th anniversary.

Our Apologies To 50% of the World's Population
Between the still pervasive global problems of sexist, patriarchal and theocratic governments and cultures and religions that love to treat women like shit, and the latest hypocrisies of the ever sick-making US Republican party ("we believe in small government except when it comes to war-making and your personal morality so hold still while we insert this probe into your vagina without your consent!") women just can't catch a break lately. So why not share this video from IndieWire's Women in Hollywood blog about the female directed movies Oscar didn't love.

It's interesting how many quality female-helmed films there were this past year and I absolutely support the notion that we need more female directors. But I also think it's worth being realistic and saying that none of these films would have won Oscar attention even if their directors had penises. Not that kind of movie(s).

Sally Kirkland when Cher wins. Love ya, SallyWhat you still need more Oscarable links? Jesus!
24 Frames interesting bit about Alfre Woodard's activism within AMPAS
Vulture Best Pictures as infographics
In Contention Guy defends The Artist ... and has money on it.
Gawker on Netflix user reviews of Best Pictures
Slate Acceptance Speeches! Yes, I linked / wrote it but wheeee interactive

Finally... fourfour has a "how they lost" an animated gif wall of Oscar name-reading and the instant smiling that follows. I don't know what caused it but I kind of think nominees are better at hiding their feelings in today's Oscar world which makes it less fun.

Naturally I love this gif wall though my favorite isn't listed. So here it is again for you because it's my preferred method of self-flagellation.

I love you Kathleen!

I'm aware that this post is extremely scattered but it's the day before the Oscars. I'm all over the place with anxiety!