Linkrise Blogdom

Rex Pickett, the author of Sideways, writes an open letter to Virginia Madsen. As a writer I get why he's pissed but I do think he's undervaluing the depth of her contribution to that movie.
Playbill Peter O'Toole is retiring from acting, on both stage and screen. 
Ginger Haze awesome Spider-Man vs. Lizard cartoon
Variety Chris Cooper has joined the August: Osage County. It's an Adaptation reunion... let's just pray that Mr. Cage doesn't show up. 

Movie|Line Robert Pattinson talks bullshit about playing James Bond. Wouldn't it be so weird if your every wandering train of thought spread all over the internet? 
The Cooler beautiful essay on Wes Anderson's Noah Ark motif in Moonrise Kingdom 
The Film Stage a preview Nathan Johnson's futuristic Looper score.  
Encore Entertainment Clothes Horse. Can you guess where these costumes are from?
Shock Til You Drop displays the Carrie (2013) banner from San Diego's Comic Con. The hashtag the P&A team is pushing is #WhatHappenedToCarrie ... um, well... She got pointlessly dug up from her grave for starters. To be played by the least meek least shy least awkward teenager on the planet.

Oh and yes, I heard about all the Catching Fire casting news and the splitting Mockingjay into two movies and all of that but I do not care.  I was mildly interested in the Hunger Games franchise until today. I mean, I definitely didn't hate it like that other YA franchise. Now I think I'm done. Now it proves, like too many franchises before it, that it has no interest in storytelling, only an interest in feeding Hollywood's gaping maw. I think, no exaggeration, that this split up final books into two movies to make an extra billion even if it means barely anything happens in the movie is the worst thing that's happened to mainstream cinema in the past five years. Even worse than 3D!

Tweet o' the Day: This Games of Thrones funny is from Scott

Take Three: Chris Cooper

Craig here with this week’s Take Three. Today: Chris Cooper

Take One: Adaptation. (2002)
Cooper was up against a quartet of big names in the 2003 Best Supporting Actor Oscar race: Christopher Walken (Catch Me if You Can), Ed Harris (The Hours), John C. Reilly (Chicago) and Paul Newman (Road to Perdition). As the then least weighty name, his nomination didn’t necessarily guarantee success. But, conversely, his fifteen prior award wins and a further 5 nominations for the role spoke volumes. He emerged victorious, yet, inexplicably, Adaptation remains his only nod to date.

Spike Jonze’s very meta, self-referencing Adaptation was unique and playful in equal measure. It mulled over plenty of original ideas with its life-fiction overlap. Cooper, as orchid thief John Laroche, a real-life figure, stole the film away from actors as lively as Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Tilda Swinton. He played the wry humour and the tragedy of Laroche with equal skill. The event that haunts him (the death of his wife in a car accident) has plot repercussions that Cooper almost invisibly folds into his performance. He uses Laroche’s dry, off-kilter amiability as a subtle yet defining trait. And in the driving scenes featuring with Streep he can be glimpsed looking cautiously for each road turn, knowing danger can arrive out of anywhere, any day. Such moments reveal how immersed Cooper is in the role. But, further than that, he navigates the increasingly bizarre and intentionally conventional plot swerve into thriller territory with ease. It’s a cranky, clever piece of acting both oddly knowing and incredibly moving.

Thanks to his Oscar win here, his career since has been a plethora of top-drawer performances, not least his largely under-appreciated role in Take Two’s film...

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