Gemini, Cinephile, Actressexual. Also loves cats. All material herein is written and copyrighted by him, unless otherwise noted.twitter | facebook | pinterest | tumblr | letterboxd
❝Curiously the movie that I have UNDOUBTEDLY watched the most this decade has been The Kids Are All Right. Back in 2010, I was hesitating on whether or not to put it in my top 10 that year...❞ -BVR
❝Even if The Social Network ends up not being the best of the decade, I can't imagine another one capturing the feel for this time better.❞ -Val
❝The Tree of Life aims so high and it connects more often than not. I admire that more than movies that have perfect, but lower, aim.❞ -Cash
As I wait anxiously for the next great TV series to arrive -- where are you? -- I thought we should talk a little about two very different shows and the axis of Concept and Execution. Mad Men gets "A"s in both but most TV shows have to struggle through by leaning on one or the other. Having a good and/or original concept can win you a lot of leeway if your execution is problematic (see: Smash) but what of the inverse? Enter... Southland now in its 4th season. On the surface and at its core Southland is just another police procedural. You've seen it before and you will see it again.
So why the hell is Southland so damn good?
"How to Be Awesome" The answer is all in the Execution. more...
9 Days Until...The 85th Annual Academy Awards 14 Days Until... Reader Appreciation Month kicks off: contests, reader spotlights and more. (read: a shameless begging to convince you to stick around daily once Oscar ends.) 19 Days Until... The 4th Season of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" Begins. 31 Days Until... The Bates Motel premieres on A&E. As a huge fan of Psycho and Vera Farmiga and Psycho-inspired art, I'm curious. 45 Days Until... we make our April Fools Oscar Predictions for 2013 and it all begins again. Noooooooooo (I mean "yes!") 51 Days Until... Mad Men Season Six premieres. Vulture has an interesting schedule for how to get caught up before the premiere but hurry because you're already two days behind. 98 Days Until... Richard Linklater's Before Midnight the sequel to the utterly magical Before Sunrise & Before Sunset hits movie theaters 111 Days Until... my birthday. What are you getting me? How about a subscription to the site (see sidebar) 133 Days Until... Pedro Almodóvar's I'm So Excited hits movie theaters (in the US). I guess I better get cracking on that Pedro retrospective I promised y'all.
Indiewire Robert Redford on whether or not he'd start the Sundance Film Festival again today Gold Derby on Leo DiCaprio's slightly odd Oscar history Los Angeles Times Kathryn Bigelow pens an editorial on torture and her depiction thereof Stale Popcorn on the Hitchcock meets Lynch vibe of the Bates Motel posters Observations on Film Art has a passionated detailed essay for fans of The Hobbit CHUD Trey Parker and Matt Stone have lots of money. And now a movie production company to spend it.
Movie|Line looks at Bradley Cooper's showbiz past including a nude beach humiliation? In Contention wants Argo to win Best Picture Salon wonders what the Golden Globes mean to us, culturally, and to the industry they celebrate Unreality looks at a study of the colorology of movie trailers. Turns out blue and orange are the winners. I could've told you that without the study. Most overused colors ever in the movies. The Advocate has an odd story about anti-gay harassment at a movie theater. At a Barbra Streisand Guilt Trip no less. (Wrong crowd, asshole.) The Envelope Fox Searchlight will rerelease Beasts of the Southern Wild this weekend in about 70 theaters to celebrate its Oscar nominations. If you haven't seen it, go. It deserves the big screen treatment Broadway.com is Miss Julie next for über busy Jessica Chastain? Guardian Shortcuts Les Misérables provoking buckets of tears
Finally... did you hear that the cast of Les Misérables will be singing at the Oscars? Yes, the whole cast! Which either means they're reworking Original Song nominee "Suddenly" as a rousing choral piece or Hugh Jackman gets to take the stage twice. Either way, we win.
Deadline "We own a hotel, Norman Bates" the trailer to spring TV series Bates Motel with commentary from Vera Farmiga as Mrs. Bates. Clothes on Film looks at the subtextual costuming of Cabin in the Woods The Deleted Scene says goodbye to its DVD collection and owning physical copies of films in general LA Times five things to be gleaned from the Globe nods
The Carpetbagger details the dancing and QT craziness of the Django Unchained party in New York. No, I was not invited but I'm happy to read that Uma made a strong showing. CHUD on Quentin Tarantino's recommendation that you see Navajo Joe (1966) before you see Django Guardian In a truly weird piece on Les Misérables, Hannah Betts wonders if US audiences can deal with its bad teeth and... here's the weird part... bromance. Errr... maybe I'm not getting a British joke here but Les Miz never had much of that to play or play down.
List Mania Vulture the ten best SNL sketches of the year from Disney Princesses to Lincoln New York Times Manohla Dargis weirdly makes her own top ten a sort of after-thought post-script to an essay about box office and independent filmmakers. Slant Magazine's top 25 films of the year including Magic Mike, Cosmopolis, Lincoln, Holy Motors and Oslo August 31st
Today's Watch Here's Winona Ryder starring in The Killers new video "Here With Me" with Submarine star Craig Roberts which was directed by Tim Burton of all people. It's surprisingly non-baroque art-direction wise for a Burton production but I kind of love it.
This is not Noni's first time at the rodeo (of music video) given her predilection for rock stars or, well, rock star like actors. Remember her Debbie Gibson in "Deborah Gibson is Pregnant With My Love Child" ?
P.S. Before anyone asks again I plan to have the Nicole Kidman interview up on Monday to celebrate the Oscar ballots going out.
Flavorwire has 20 film books for film lovers to own. Christmas list ideas? Slant Kurt interviews the great Alison Janney who has a 'special knack for spurring films to life' Arts Beat Adele records song for the new James Bond film Skyfall. Can't wait to hear it Slate another perceptive review of Bachelorette Deadline Adorable little Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland) is no longer adorable. He's grown up to become a young Norman Bates in that Psycho prequel TV series "Bates Motel".
HitFix interviews Chris Evans about his Captain America break, puking gym sessions, and the indie flick Iceman which just played at TIFF IndieWire polled critics about the best films and performances at TIFF -- The Master nearly tops every poll its eligible for but fails to win "Most Disappointing" (edged out by To the Wonder) The Advocate a new celebrity photographry book compiling Jack Robinson's 70s portraits. Clint Eastwood somehow looks like Hugh Jackman and Warren Beatty is all in leather Playbill congrats to Leslye Headland again. Her play Assistance (about showbiz assistants) will be developed for a television series Broadway Blog Cheyenne Jackson (yay!) to star in a new Broadway romantic comedy about adult film performers. Alicia Silverstone and Ari Graynor co-star! MNPP attends a star-packed Q&A for 10 Years Towleroad My latest column finds me blathering on about a handful of future Oscar players
Congratulations to Joshua Bergasse for his Best Choreography Win for "SMASH". It's the first time a TV series has claimed the prize in 17 years
Emmy Time - yes, I'll live blog on Sunday Playbill Smash wins Joshua Bergasse an Emmy for Best Choreography for "Wolf" "National Pasttime" and The Film Experience's all-time favorite Smash number "Let's Be Bad". LA Times & Deadline HBO leads the Emmys so far with 17 wins including several for Game of Thrones. And, yes, Mad Men lost costume design AGAIN. It will go down as one of the great awards injustices that that series never wins costume design. Just shameful! Guest Acting Emmys: Kathy Bates (Two and Half Men), Martha Plimpton (The Good Wife), Jeremy Davies (Justified), and Jimmy Fallon (SNL)
Friday, March 22, 2013 at 12:35AM 
