Philip Seymour Hoffman Continues To Get Great Tail

As long as I live I'll be haunting by the opening shots of Before The Devil Knows You're Dead in which 'sex angel' Marisa Tomei is on all fours getting nailed by ... Philip Seymour Hoffman? This is the part in the accompanying score where the lovely romantic music deflates to a comic halt, throwing ice water on the "mood"

What?

This image came flashing back to me with the announcement that delicious honey AMY ADAMS will play his wife in The Master, a film that's supposedly about Scientology (however veiled) from the genius Paul Thomas Anderson.

The cast for that movie is looking topnotch: Laura Dern, Lena Endre, Adams, Joaquin Phoenix (and *just announced* Breaking Dawn's Rami Malek as the son-in-law of Adams and Hoffman. No word yet on who is playing his teenage wife.) 

But even geniuses like P.T. Anderson make inexplicable decisions somehow, since Hoffman will be playing a "charismatic leader", the kind of man people flock to, sex up, idolize or obey for reasons that will maybe defy human logic. [See also: Synecdoche New York.] Hoffman can conjure "charisma" onscreen as well as any confident actor -- if not the sexual kind -- but the ladies he snags on celluloid... Yeesh.

A sampling of beauties that PSH has sexed up onscreen (sometimes literally but usually just implied):

• Annie Morgan
• Anna Paquin
• Michelle Williams
• Marisa Tomei
• Catherine Keener
• Samantha Morton
• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Minnie Driver

I'm sure I forgot someone. Their numbers grow every film!

Synecdoche New York was the worst offender as PSH's miserably depressed "Caden", with his boils and bloody stool, the kind of man who would have a hard time finding even one woman in real life, was able to bed Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, and Michelle Williams all in the space of one film!

Women are just hot for him, okay?! Deal with it.

It wasn't always this way with PSH. In the beginning of his career, none of the hotties that he wanted to sleep with onscreen wanted him back: in Boogie Nights he pursued Mark Wahlberg to no avail and in Happiness he really wanted Lara Flynn Boyle but ended up in bed with Camryn Mannheim instead.

But then...  Was it State and Main where he managed to bed Sarah Jessica Parker as a bitchy starlet that changed it? Was it those gargantuan displays of actor/character ego in The Talented Mr Ripley or Cold Mountain? Somewhere along the line great filmmakers decided he was a ladykiller!

I realize that complaining about the looks of a revered actor wins me no friends, but please trust that I wouldn't say a word if they would only cast his wives and girlfriends differently. I can only suspend disbelief so far. By this coupling logic I should have slept with Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and Uma Thurman by now, you know? JUST SAYIN'.

P.S. End of rant. I'm still excited for The Master, no matter what. P.T. Anderson is a wondrous gift to the movies.

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Green With Envy"

Most of the time the lack of trailers at critic screenings is a wondrous blessing. I used to love watching trailers before movies but now that they show 7 to 8 of them before a feature and do so after commercials it feels like every movie is 3 hours long now. Still I really wish I'd seen the trailer to Green With Envy in front of Pirates of the Caribbean (review) this weekend...

I am crazy in love with the bait & switch here. Get to looking right now if you haven't yet seen it.

Regarding Green With Envy... just for fun as it doesn't actually exist... are you a Yes, No or a Maybe So?

• I'd love to say Yes given the warm (felt) fuzzies coming off this trailer but it looks so generic. Yes, I  know that's part of the joke. But still... the world needs no more generic romcoms.The genre needs another Annie Hall level game changer, right?

Regarding The Muppets... Yes, No or Maybe So?

• I feel nothing but eternal affirmatives whenever Miss Piggy is near. I purchased a ticket for this in perpetuity when I was 5.

Gotta Rant! Men (and Women) in Tights.

Gotta Sing....
A few days ago I read over at A Socialite's Life that Hugh Jackman is talking to Bollywood producers about work. You know... I like Bollywood just fine, sometimes quite a lot more than that, and I don't mean this as a slight but Hollywood is a crappy crappy please if one of its biggest stars has to actually leave our movie industry for another to show off his skillset. Grrrr. And, also: grrrl. (I'm fuming). I guess Hollywood only wants him to Wolverine but he has so much more in him.

Where is his big screen musical? If ever a modern male star could be a big deal singing and dancing on the screen it's him. He was amazement in The Boy From Oz on Broadway and he was thisbig. I saw him from the last row of the house with my head touching the wall in the far left corner (truth), the worst seat I've ever had for a show, and I was totally mesmerized. I think seeing him blown up on the big screen doing that same thing might kill me. But I'd die happy.

Amy Adams is another huge bankable star whose musical talent is in danger of being wasted. Lois Lane? Really? A role that any feisty actress could do in her sleep and also another "girlfriend" part to the true star. You'd think after hit movies and multiple Oscar nominations, she could get another good leading role.

The only way I want to see Amy Adams, who is so dynamite in comedy (Enchanted) and dramedy (Junebug) and in the right dramatic role (The Fighter), in a superhero movie is if she's the superhero.

The rest of the negativity must be confined to the jump. Click ahead for more on superheroes, Batman's eventual reboot and that weary-limbed Natalie Portman dancing controversy.

Click to read more ...

Supporting Actress Finale: Fashion, Speech and Reader's Choice.

I have displayed the talented women above in the order of Readers Choice voting. Jacki Weaver (25%)  just barely won your virtual Oscar over Amy Adams (24%) . Of course the Oscar went to Melissa Leo (21%), who memorably hammed it up with Kirk Douglas before bringing the crazy that we've come to expect and dropping a rare Oscar night F Bomb on the Kodak. Film Experience readers didn't wish the win on Hailee Steinfeld (15%) or Helena Bonham Carter (11%) in big numbers though I noticed that Hailee trounced her competition in Awards Daily's balloting of readers. Different crowd with some overlap. Like AMPAS & BAFTA ;)

It's all over but the memories... and the fallout... and the statistics... and the gowns. Oscar night has a way of bleeding over. Certain competitions remain in the popular memory, or at least the blog memory for long periods of time. Consider how often people still talk about Annette Bening vs. Hilary Swank (1999, 2004) as opposed to say, Marion vs. Julie (2007) ?  or especially Reese vs. No One (2005). I sense that Supporting Actress 2010 will be one of those categories we come back to time and again, not only for the real sense of "it could go to any one!" drama that sprung up in the hive mind of Oscar watchers, but for the way that Kirk Douglas almost psychically seemed to understand that dragging out the envelope opening to ridiculous but funny lengths as the women laughed nervously.

Melissa's Speech

Oh my god. oh wow. really really really really really really  truly wow. I know a lot of people said a lot of nice things to me for several months now but i'm just shaking in my boots here. ok all right. thank you David O. Russell. I wanna thank the actors Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy My Sweet Sister Amy, Jack, our lovely daughters. ok yeah I am kind of speechless. [Looks up] Golly sakes there's people up there, too.

When i watched Kate two years ago it looks so fuc [BLEEPED OUT] Alice Ward. Your beautiful family that opened your hearts. I saw Mick here earlier. Dick? all right Dick's not in the room. Thank you so much opening your hearts to all of us to make this film. I thank David. I'll thank him again. My family, my beautiful son who is traveling right now who couldn't join me. It's okay I'm okay Jeff. My mom and my dad and my brother and my friends and my family. And I want to thank the very most of all the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences [sic] the Board of Governors and all their members and many of you are here today. This has been an extraordinary journey getting to know what the academy is about. And first and foremost thank you Academy [suddenly shouting] because it's about selling motion pictures and respecting the work! Thank you so much.

And then she stole Kirk Douglas cane. She brought the kooky and Oscar needs moments like that.

Three Questions
1. Best dressed of the category?
2. Who will be back the quickest to the nominee pool?
3. Who owes Melissa $200 dollars?

Podcast: Return Engagements, 2010 Memories

It's part 2 of the last pre-Oscar podcast. Nick, Nathaniel, Katey and Joe complete their role swap conversation. Other features include.

• "Range" does Jesse Eisenberg have it?
• Melissa Leo's filmography
• Sofia Coppola, John Cameron Mitchell, Nicole Holofcener
• Matt Reeves and other directors to watch
• What directors learn from success or failure
• Mark Harris' GQ piece on Inception's box office
• Tilda & Luca
• Christian Bale and Oscar nominees in superhero films
• Statistics about 2nd nominations
• When does Amy Adams become "overdue"?

Join in the conversations in the comments. Which young directors will one day be occupying the Aronofsky/Fincher spots of "finally breaking through" with Oscar? Which of this year's newbies will come back for second nominations?

Podcast: 2010 Memories, Return Engagements