This & That (And A Bit More On *That*)

Woodcutting Fool David Lynch carved
Go Fug Yourself on Reese Witherspoon (and child) in France
MUBI's Notebook lists favorite Cannes films of 2012 (the winner being way down the list)
Film School Rejects Why blockbusters need to get their third act together. Heartily agree with much of this.
TV|Line Smash will lose two of its major male characters in Season 2. Does this mean Dennis & Bobby get more screen time? (I know it doesn't but my wishful thinking can be noisy and demand sentences all its own.)

AV Club wins the Best Snarky Headline of the Week (*not a real award) with this beauty... "Malin Akerman is playing Debbie Harry, who is also blonde."
Pajiba Most Versatile Bruce Willis
No Film School Most Fascinating Michael Haneke 
Coming Soon new Les Miserables photos. Apparently the trailer arrives today as well. We'll hear the people sing tonight in a Yes No Maybe So post.
Rope of Silicon Batmobiles  

Splitsider the Joss Whedon Roseann episodes
Playbill free outdoor staging of the hilarious stage adaptation of Xanadu will play Park Slope Brooklyn this summer
Acidemic on reality-warping multiple viewings of three 'comedies of remarriage' The Lady Eve, Bringing Up Baby and Bell Book and Candle 
My New Plaid Pants The Exorcist for TV via Martha Marcy May Marlene director?!?
La Daily Musto international beauties Léa Seydoux and Diane Kruger go sapphic for a  lesbian Marie Antoinette film called Farewell My Queen.

KISS HER! 

The Release Date Shuffle: Michael Haneke's Amour will be opening (and thus Oscar qualifying) on December 19th a bit earlier than Haneke's previous feature White Ribbon which did one of those awful New Year's Eve weekend releases in time for Oscar; G.I. Joe: Retaliation's shocking pushback to 2013 is prompting specalutation about how bad it might be. Last second release shifts for wannabe blockbusters are rare as they're expensive to open... and I promise that's the last time we group G.I. Joe with Michael Haneke in a paragraph; The Life of Pi arrives one month early so you can gobble it up for Thanksgiving instead of unwrapping it at Christmas time which is the inverse of what happened with the new Barbra Streisand picture, The Guilt Trip; And finally yes... yes... Cuaron's Gravity, our most anticipated this year, is now our most anticipated of 2013 (sniffle) which means that we've got to update those Oscar predictions. I know I know. Don't rush me! (This weekend?)

A Personal Note: I thought a link list was in order to get back up to speed (as much as one can in a day)... I generally cull the links through a process of trying to keep up to speed with What's Going On even though "news items" are only like ¼ of the links shared. 

But I couldn't let this return to blogging (glad to be crawling back -- we should be back in full swing by Thursday night) go without a hearty thank you to all of you, the readers, who sent such kind words on facebook, by email or right here on the blog after my father passed away. I spent a week in Utah with my mom and siblings and there were tears and memories and even laughter, too. My mom demanded a correction from my memoir post though. The photo that I love of my parents was taken before they were married. Hey, I wasn't there - honest mistake. She told me an amazing personal story about it and, as it turns out, it's her single favorite picture of the two of them. Now, I ♥ the photo even more.

Contest Winner: "I Know Where I'm Going"

Eeep! I forgot to announce the contest winners for this new Katharine Hepburn "I Know Where I'm Going" bio from Charlotte Chandler. I asked participants to name their favorite performance from "Kate the Great" and I just now pulled the winners randomly from those contest entries.

Which Hepburn performances are favored by our three winners? Read on!

Annie in New York. She writes...

My favorite Katharine Hepburn performance is in Bringing Up Baby (1938). Reasons: The improvised line, "I was born on the side of a hill" when the heel on her shoe broke; the glorious close-up of her smiling face that brings the film to a complete halt just to luxuriate in it; "Did we get to the other side?".  It's her full commitment to every aspect of the funniest movie ever made that makes this my favorite Hepburn performance.

Seisgrados in Spain. He writes...

Leonor of Aquitania in The Lion in Winter (1968). Her character is talked about like a bigger than life figure, strong, conniving, powerful, long before she enters the movie.



It's so hard for an actor to live up to those expectations in any film but when Hepburn shows up in this, she manages to be all that. An irresistible force.

Kimberly in Massachussetts. She writes..

Growing up Katharine Hepburn was the first real "actress" I knew of save my fathers obsession with Vivien Leigh (and all things Gone With The Wind). Living in New England she's considered a treasure. I could easily rattle off a specific reason, scene, or line that make each of these performances my favorite: Stage Door - I long to have a real life dialogue where I can use a few of the gems her and Ginger Rogers spout at one another; Bringing Up Baby for the early scene in the restaurant when her dress is ripped; The Philadephia Story drunk in Jimmy Stewarts arms...

But, my favorite would be in Desk Set (1957). Besides being the most often quoted film between my father & I, the performances are pitch perfect. It makes me sad that so many people haven't seen this film. As a woman this film has always stood out to me because Bunny Watson never tried to dumb herself down for Richard Sumner - he came to love her because she was smart. Hepburn also plays off of Joan Blondell in a fantastic way - Kate was rarely given girlfriends in her films - she was tough and always sparred with the boys, so it's fantastic to see her be a girls girl. This is one of my all time favorite films and I watch it every single time it's on. 

Congratulations to the winners! Your books will be in the mail soon.

Was your favorite Hepburn performance duly noted?

Pssst. Mine is Bringing Up Baby with Alice Adams as runner up but I am far from a completist.