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Entries in books (161)

Monday
Oct122015

Give Me All Your Linkin'

Me Says a gushing fan moment with Cate Blanchett. Adorable
Gold Derby rumor: David O. Russell's Joy will compete as a drama at the Golden Globes. That makes Best Actress Comedy or Musical a race between (if they campaign this way) hmmmm: Lily, Maggie, Blythe, Meryl, Sandy, Bel, Melissa and... wait, is that it? Elizabeth Banks?
Variety Suffragette's director Sarah Gavron will be honored with something called the "Juice Award" at Hamptons Fest. Sounds messy
AV Club Cinemax, perhaps emboldened by its success with The Knick, is clearly aiming for bigger original series now. They've picked up the rights to George R.R. Martin's werewolf noir Skin Trade
Empire yes, somehow there is going to be an Expendables 4. They will never end even though I've yet to meet anyone who thinks they come anywhere close to living up to their potential in concept! 

The Guardian profiles the Welsh foreign language film Oscar contender Under Milk Wood which stars Rhys Ifans. Yes, it's based on the same play that brought us the Liz Taylor movie
Twitter is Michelle Pfeiffer really making a movie with Keifer Sutherland named Kyra? If so, why? She has such weird unfortunate taste in projects/co-stars whenever she deigns to work
Empire so happy to report that Brie Larson is in demand enough at this point (5 plus projects on the way) that she's starting to get Jennifer Lawrence's sloppy seconds. She may take over the part in The Glass Castle which is a Destin Cretton project (Short Term 12 reunion - woot). This is very good news as she's a better actress and people, at least up to now, have not had the urge to cast her in roles for which she isn't well suited
Moviefone asks YA novelists to suggest YA novels they'd like to see on the screen. Have any of you read these?

Finally...
For those of you who are enjoying or soon to enjoy Madonna's Rebel Heart tour you should consider buying Matthew Rettenmund's amazing Encylopedia Madonnica 20th Anniversary Edition. I am trying to read it slowly rather than bingeing it in one sitting (tempting if impossible). When I first met Matthew some years ago one of the first things I said to him is "Why wasn't there a sequel to Encyclopedia Madonnica?" which is one of my fav pop culture books. The 20th anniversary edition puts the original to shame. It is MASSIVE (597 pages in the limited edition) and features loads of rare photos as well as super fan art. One of my favorite things about the book is the nifty one word quotes from nearly 100 celebrities Rettenmund asked to describe Madonna in one word that are superimposed on the edges of pages here and there like colorful graffiti. That's typical of the OCD detail of the book.

Full disclosure: I am in the book as one of the twenty-fiveish (I think?) Mega-Fans who get spotlight profiles. 

A photo posted by Nathaniel R (@nathaniel_tfe) on

 

Friday
Oct022015

nothing gets past the Fiennes gaze.

The eyes of perpetual intensity. 

Oh and also...

Thursday
Sep102015

Michael Snowbender

David here with some festive casting news.

It won't look anything like this.

Variety reports that the ever-present Michael Fassbender is in talks to star in The Snowman. I know what you’re thinking, but no, this isn’t Fassy’s Jack Frost. He’ll star as Harry Hole, in the adaptation of the seventh entry in Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbø’s book series. It’s a chilly series from Scandinavia, which has been owning the crime drama – mainly on TV – for the past half a decade at least, with massive successes like the original The Killing.

You may have heard talk about the series for a few years now – Working Title optioned the rights a while back, with the original intention to create a series akin to the Alex Cross films (Along Came a Spider, etc.), and it even had none other than Martin Scorsese mooted as a director at one point. He’s since moved into an exec producer role, leaving the director’s chair open for a more suitable candidate: Tomas Alfredson, whose next move we’ve been awaiting since Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and whose global breakout Let the Right On In shows exemplary form for bringing the Scandinavian cool to the screen.

Hole (that’s pronounced “Hoola”, according to Nesbø) is standard detective stuff, the “stereotype of the hardboiled, troubled maverick”: abrasive, heavy smoker, alcoholic, and – naturally - an unusually perceptive detective. With Fassbender’s strong, ruminative presence bringing Hole to life, and Alfredson’s detached, observant style, this hopefully makes for a crime drama with all the bracing chill of the books.

What do you reckon? Christmas cheer or a snow-go?

Friday
Sep042015

Location Location Location: Telluride Fest, Hell's Club, White House

Variety Dean Jones, Disney star of the 60s and 70s, dies at 84. RIP
Variety National Medal of Arts recipients this week at the White House include Larry McMurtry, Stephen King and Sally Field! 
This is Not Porn Peter O'Toole playing cricket during The Lion in Winter 
Boston Globe Sienna Miller cut from Black Mass - oh the indignities of how many miniscule roles she gets
Many Rantings of John thinks Game of Thrones will beat Mad Men to the Drama Emmy. Agree? I think I do. I've managed to keep my Mad Men expectations tamped down (but for Jon Hamm who is deserving times a thousand) and four Best Drama trophies for an 8 year series (F*** you F***ing two-part finale TV/movie trend) is nothing to complain about, you know? 
Variety raves Tom McCarthy's Spotlight with the "heftiest roles" belonging to Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo. Move it up your Oscar charts 

AV Club Anne Hathaway on losing roles to early 20somethings-- hey she isn't talking about Silver Linings Playbook is she?
Comics Alliance looks at those unboxed Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys. If you're into that sort of thing 
Pajiba tries to recast Galaxy Quest which is going to become a TV series now. Honestly, in some cases why recast? Missi Pyle needs to be a regular! 
MNPP more new pics from A Bigger Splash with Tilda Swinton. It looks more and more scrumptuous the more we see 
MNPP also believes that Jake Gyllenhaal nudity has been removed from Everest. Boo!
Kenneth in the (212) Henry Cavill apologizes for his boner 
Towleroad Candis Cayne's Curb Your Enthusiasm experience. (I've never told you this but I love Candis Cayne -- since Wigstock in 1995 -- and am so glad she's getting more press via "I Am Cait".) 
Empire I somehow missed the news that Neighbors is getting a sequel (already filming) but maybe I blocked it out since Selena Gomez and Chloe Moretz are the antagonists this time for our hapless marrieds played by Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne?
Variety on a new biography "Can I Go Now?" on outrageous superagent Sue Mengers agent to Barbra Streisand who is having quite a posthumous revival of late
Time Out London Joaquin Phoenix on Irrational Man and why he turned down Doctor Strange 

When I was younger I was probably a bit of a snob about [taking on blockbuster roles]. But they’ve gotten better. I’ve flirted with several of those films, having meetings and getting close, but ultimately it never felt like they’d really be fulfilling. There were too many requirements that went against my instincts for character. I’ve been spoiled. I’ve never had to make those compromises. I’ve not met a director yet with one of those films where we go through the script, they say: ‘You know what, fuck this set-piece, let’s focus on the character!’ I understand, but it’s best I don’t do it.

Video of the Day
Check out this incredible mashup of movie characters in "Hell's Club" starring Al Pacino, Tom Cruise, and John Travolta. I especially like the Collateral on Cocktail staredown and unobtrusive Boogie Nights appearances

Telluride Lineup
The high altitude festival kicks off today with the following 27 film lineup. TFE never attends Telluride because it is against our "deeply held religious beliefs" to pay for the privilege of giving a festival free publicity (unlike most A list festivals you have to pay for a press pass). Titles in red are also playing at TIFF some of which have already played Cannes or Berlinale and some of which will also play NYFF. Titles in blue are playing NYFF but not TIFF which is a roundabout way of saying we'll be seeing most of them within a month, just not this very weekend! They'll also be giving awards/holding tributes to director Danny Boyle (Steve Jobs), Rooney Mara (Carol) -- Nick made a funny -- and documentarian Adam Curtis (Bitter Lake) so Oscar Campaign Season has officially begun. Speaking of Rooney, here's the new poster for Carol. Unimaginative but pretty!

  • CAROL (d. Todd Haynes, U.S., 2015)
  • AMAZING GRACE (d. Sydney Pollack, U.S., 1972/2015)
  • ANOMALISA (d. Charlie Kaufman, U.S., 2015)
  • BEAST OF NO NATION (d. Cary Fukunaga, U.S., 2015)
  • HE NAMED ME MALALA (d. Davis Guggenheim, U.S., 2015)
  • STEVE JOBS (d. Danny Boyle, U.S., 2015)
  • IXCANUL(d. Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala, 2015)
  • BITTER LAKE (d. Adam Curtis, U.K., 2015)
  • ROOM (d. Lenny Abrahamson, England, 2015)
  • BLACK MASS (d. Scott Cooper, U.S., 2015)
    Why anyone would be seeing Black Mass at either fest when it opens on 09/18, I cannot say!  
  • SUFFRAGETTE (d. Sarah Gavron, U.K., 2015)
  • SPOTLIGHT (d. Tom McCarthy, U.S., 2015)
  • RAMS (d. Grímur Hákonarson, Iceland, 2015)
  • MOM AND ME (d. Ken Wardrop, Ireland, 2015)
  • VIVA (d. Paddy Breathnach, Ireland, 2015)
  • TAJ MAJAL (d. Nicolas Saada, France-India, 2015)
  • SITI (d. Eddie Cahyono, Indonesia, 2015)
  • HEART OF THE DOG (d. Laurie Anderson, U.S. 2014)
  • 45 YEARS (d. Andrew Haigh, England, 2015)
  • SON OF SAUL (d. Lázló Nemes, Hungary, 2015)
  • ONLY THE DEAD (d. Michael Ware, Bill Guttentag, U.S.- Australia, 2015)
  • TAXI (d. Jafar Panahi, Iran, 2015)
  • HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT (d. Kent Jones, U.S., 2015)
  • TIME TO CHOOSE (d. Charles Ferguson, U.S., 2015)
  • MARGUERITE (d. Xavier Giannoli, France, 2015)
  • TIKKUN (d. Avishai Sivan, Israel, 2015)
  • WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM (d. Evgeny Afineevsky, Russia-Ukraine, 2015)

Off Screen
Vulture smart negative review of Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz. I like the album quite a lot more than this but salient points made 
Broadway Buzz Kathleen Turner to costar in "Would You Still Love Me..." Off Broadway. It's about gender reassignment surgery. But not her characters (sorry, Friends fans). Her child is considering it in the play.
NYT a profile of a "fit-model". I include this because I had never heard of this job until I became friends some years ago with a girl who is one! (Hi, Jenn!) People get this job not from magazine-beauty but from having ideal/average proporations/measurements for clothes-sizes. It's always neat to realize that each industry has jobs you've never imagined that people can actually earn livings from.
Gothamist on the best non Broadway theater companies in NYC 
i09 novelist Don DeLillo to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Book Awards this fall 

Showtune to Go
Since we were just talking about Lucille Ball here's a comic number "Jitterbug Bite" from Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)

 

 

Monday
Aug242015

Curio: Getting Intimate With Ingrid

Alexa here with a curio in honor of Ingrid Bergman's centennial.  A few years ago, during a stop at Brooklyn thrift shop The Thing for some record shopping, I spied a paperback lying with a small pile of vintage books. There's nothing I love more than a pulpy celebrity biography, so I left the store without any LPs and with Ingrid Bergman: An Intimate Portrait in my bag instead.

It turned out to be perfect summer reading...

Click to read more ...