Links

Salon "Dear serial tweet-favoriter: you are a coward" lol. a must read for anyone with a Twitter account
The Uncool Cameron Crowe's agonizing search for a title for Almost Famous (2000)... in notepad form
Film School Rejects two members of the staff watched "the 50 best movies of all time" and here are their takeaways from that two year process
Antagony & Ecstasy on King Vidor's The Crowd (1928) at the great end of silent filmmaking
Kenneth in the (212) shares a pretty great X-Men related Graham Norton wherein Fassy & McAvoy see gay fan art of themselves

MNPP tries to rekindle his love for George Clooney with his three favorite Clooneys. Good choices
Variety asks where the kids movies are this summer in the absence of Pixar
The Wire "Zac Efron hits bottom by accepting life advice from Tom Cruise" haha. I'm linking that for the title alone 
i09 see what your favorite webcomics would look like animated 
Cinesnark terrific examination of why Captain America films are what Superman films have failed to be 

news bits
Empire the ever employed Liam Neeson joins A Monster Calls... the new feature from the director of The Impossible. I can't wait until it's retitled something dull like "Dark River"
Cinema Blend The Flintstones getting a new animated feature because no franchise is allowed to ever die
In Contention The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby will be released in three different versions. It's a neat experiment but it fills me with horror. Goodbye final cut and "definitive" versions. That's a thing of the past (Malick, Lucas, and Scott have been trying to force that on us for years with their "oh, i'm sorry did i say i was finished i wasn't finished" tinkering so I'm sure they're thrilled.)
Guardian Andrea Arnold to direct first US film, a road trip called American Honey. I hope she casts professional actors this time. 

Burning Questions: Who Is Your Cinematic Avatar?

Hey everybody. Michael C. here. Recently I told my girlfriend she reminds me of Holly Hunter's character in Broadcast News. The comparison was meant as a compliment. To my mind Jane Craig embodies the same qualities of intelligence and moxie that I admire in her. Hopefully, when we she finally watches the movie she will keep that in my mind during the scenes where Hunter's self-described "basket case" is sobbing for no reason and generally making a shambles of her personal life.

In any case it got me to thinking. It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while you meet a film character that makes you think, my God, the filmmakers must have had me in mind when they made this movie. Now in any quality film we can relate to characters with which we have nothing in common, at least on the surface. I couldn't be further away from the charcter of Clarice Starling, for example, but I relate to her every step of the way. But beyond that level, sometimes we meet fictional creations that reflect ourselves back at us in ways that reverberate and linger.

Characters like this could remind us of ourselves physically or in their jobs or in personality tics we frequently find ourselves guilty of. These may even be characters we catch ourselves consciously – or unconsciously – trying to emulate. Like the way a generation of young romantics set out to mimic the laid back, jaded cool of Marcello Mastroianni in La Dolce Vita, or how many young women in the late 70’s attempted to reproduce Annie Hall’s devastating mix of flighty neurosis and sexiness.

So I guess what I’m asking this week is...

Who is that character for you? Who is your big screen avatar? I can answer for myself easily...

Click to read more ...

Yes, No, Maybe So: "We Bought A Zoo"

Perhaps it's my childhood calling but I've been looking forward to We Bought A Zoo all year on account of me likey the wild animals. I even initially thought it might be in the Oscar race on account of inspirational film and comeback possibilities for its director. But that was then... We finally have a trailer for Cameron Crowe's first movie since everybody decided to shun him (Elizabethtown) just a few short years after everyone decided that they worshipped him (Almost Famous). In the new film Matt Damon plays a widower (I think? It's unclear) struggling to raise his kids from central casting: let's call them Quippy Cute Moppet and Mopey Teenager In Need Of Fathering. The family is sad and needs a fresh start. They buy... wait for it... A ZOO!

Now, let's break it down with our patented Yes, No, Maybe So system. Does the trailer make us eager, eager to avoid or leave us somewhere inbetween? 

YES

• Matt Damon is aging gracefully, still handsome and still a belieavable everyman type. He'll undoubtedly be sympathetic as a widower with needy kids. 
• Wild Animals! Wild animals that don't dream of hanging out at TGIF with Kevin James. If you couldn't picture yourself jumping up and down with glee (ages 8 and under) when you heard that your new house is a zoo just like Quippy Cute Moppet you have grown way too cynical.
• Damon + Thomas Haden Church +  Elle Fanning +  Scarlett Johansson = solid starry blonde cast.
• Wait... is Scarlett Johansson playing a real person this time? Like not an idealized muse but an ordinary woman? 

NO

• Ugh. Turns out that Quippy Cute Moppet is a signatory to Hollywood's Mandatory Dissing of Bald Men Act. Haters gon' hate. 
• Ugh. Turns out that it's yet another movie that buys into America's dullard hatred of Elitist Education and Actual Job Training in favor of Blind Worship of Chutzpah. Just Do It!  "You don't need any special knowledge to run a zoo, just a lot of heart"... uhhhhh, don't you need some specialized knowledge of how to care for LIVING WILD ANIMALS ?! I'm guessing: yes. Heart won't help you if the animals have a toothache or a pregnancy!
• The music chosen for the trailer (bonus point to the first person who names it in the comments) is shorthand for Inspirational Underscore. 
• So too is the golden hue and pensive sunlight shorthand for Inspirational Film. 
• So too are the constant inspirational pep talks shorthand for Inspirational Pep Ta... uh, well.
• Will there be any single beat in this movie that isn't flat and processed and predictably shaped like a slice of American cheese?
• Is that moment that Matt Damon is all "whoa" with his body when he hears the lion roar, straight out of Amateur Slapstick 101 or is this trailer's editing just completely unforgiving? 
• "I want them to have an authentic American experience." I hope Matt isn't talking about raising his kids within a zoo because I've never met anyone who grew up in a non-figurative one. 
• Let me guess, Mopey Teenager In Need of Fathering falls in love with Elle Fanning? Is this going to be a distracting subplot in order to have something for everyone ala that high school crush thread in Crazy Stupid Love? 

Little Known Fact: Excessive Exposure to Bathetic Platitudes and Inspirational Media Causes MigrainesMAYBE SO

• Though it looks insufferably like a Generic Inspirational Family Film with wild animals as merely decorative distraction, who knows. Trailers are meant to appeal to the widest possible audience.
• Maybe the bear eats Quippy Cute Moppet?

The "No" column is awfully robust, I fear.

Where do you fall with this one? Or on Cameron Crowe in general actually? Tell me you at least love wild animals.