Red Carpet Arrivals

I shan't be live-blogging the awards tonight -- I miss too much of the show when I do that but expect some tweets here and there and lots of post-mortem recapping tomorrow ALL DAY. But for now a few arrivals...

Eddie Redmayne's hair defies gravity, logic, and follicular reason #redcarpet twitter.com/nathanielr/sta…

— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) February 24, 2013

LORI SINGER (?) I wonder if Amadeus or Places in the Heart will win tonight? #redcarpet #thatsso80s twitter.com/nathanielr/sta…

— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) February 24, 2013

When Reese hears "Naomi Watts" she does this. Which is exactly what @joereid does when he hears "Reese"! twitter.com/nathanielr/sta…

— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) February 24, 2013

MORE GOWNS & GOODIES AFTER THE JUMP

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Monty Is All In For "Hitchcock"

Monty, the web's original feline Oscar pundit, has been known to ruthlessly ignore Oscar contenders, yawn in their general direction or use them as sedatives. But -- BREAKING!!! -- he has taken an immediate unmistakable liking to Hitchcock.

Swag or screeners have arrived recently for Rise of the Guardians (completely ignored but for the box it came in) Amour (ignored) and various indie contenders (ignored x 3). The second Hitchcock's silver cannister was opened he literally came running.

He circled the container. He smelled everything. He wanted to snuggle with the t-shirt. He was all about Hitchcock. (But then, he is also prone to hang outside shower curtains all silhouetted and staring and it's not hard to imagine Bernard Hermann's ♩ reeeee ♩reeeee ♩reeeeee  accompanying every claw swipe when he gets feisty.)

Will Oscar voters feel as instantaneously curious about and attached to the movie? I'm thinking yes.... at least with the former but can Fox Searchlight turn the curiousity into attachment? (I recently heard from an acting branch member who is totally in for Helen, Anthony and the movie on their ballot.) Will Monty prove prescient again? What's your guess? 

Horror Movies For Pets

Monty, my reluctant feline Oscar pundit, is usually bored by movies but these would absolutely terrify him!

More Horror Movies For Pets at Pleated Jeans. Funny stuff.

007 Favorite 007 Films

Deborah Lipp, the Ultimate James Bond Fan, is listing 007 of her favorite things as we count down to Skyfall

I spent a couple of years compiling lists made by James Bond fans; primarily favorite movies, least-favorites, and  ranked lists of the whole series. The fun thing to discover is, when it comes to James Bond, everyone's an outlier. Every single movie appeared on someone's favorites and someone's least-favorites. Plus, everyone's list had a unique feature, an eyebrow-raiser. I bet if we did a poll here -- should we do a poll here? -- the same thing would happen.

So, eyebrow-raiser and all, here's my top 007 Bond films...

001 From Russia With Love (1963)
To me, the second Bond movie is the greatest of them all. It's the perfect blend of Bond ingredients: Action, adventure, exotic locations, sex, mystery, espionage, music, humor, visual impact, and an outstanding cast. Beyond Sean Connery and the other regulars (including the introduction of Desmond Llewellyn into the series), there's Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya, and Pedro  Armendáriz in his final role.  Eunice Gayson returns from Dr. No: a rare recurring character role. Plus, this is the movie that introduces Blofeld as a hand petting a white cat. Underground catacombs in Istanbul! Gypsy mud wrestling! Daniela Bianchi wearing nothing but a ribbon around her neck! All that and a North by Northwest homage too. It's perfect.

002 Goldeneye (1995)
Restart the series after a six year hiatus, during which the audience went from anticipatory to disinterested. Introduce a new Bond to a new generation. Make Bond modern in a post-Cold War era without throwing away tradition: Goldeneye succeeds on every level. Hey, this is the movie that introduced Judi Dench as M, and wasn't *that* a great idea? The cast is incredible—in addition to being Pierce Brosnan's first outing, we have Sean Bean, Samantha Bond, Famke Janssen, Izabella Scorupco, Robbie Coltraine, and Joe Don Baker. The stunts are mind-blowing (the dam jump? Holy wow!), and the deft mixture of action, drama, humor, and globetrotting is out of this world. I'm happy every time I pop this one into the DVD player.

Daniel Craig, Roger Moore, and... Timothy Dalton (?!?) after the jump.

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Monty, The Reluctant Pundit, Meets "Bernie"

Everyone knows that cats are psychic. Their mysterious moods including strange swerves from autonomy to neediness, and sudden flights of whimsy and imagination at war with narcolepsy suggest as much! Each year as longtime readers know I consult my beloved Monty on the Oscars. Last year he pretended not to care about Bridesmaids, a cryptic response that did little to help us determine the film's Oscar future (it ended the season with two Oscar nominations for Supporting Actress and Screenplay) but in 2010 he was absolutely prescient when it came to Fox Searchlight's 2010 collection: Yes to 127 Hours, Hell No on Conviction and zzzz to Never Let Me Go.

So I couldn't resist presenting him with the season's first tea leaves if you will. The For Your Consideration DVD of Richard Linklater's Bernie arrived on Saturday and straight to my fuzzy boy it went.

Oh no, NOT THIS AGAIN, DADDY.

At first he refused to look. I rearranged the film's FYC postcard and DVD to see if he would deign to comment.

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