Curio: Mitch Frey's Film Typologies

Alexa here. The German photographers Bernard and Hilla Becher pioneered the art of the typology: grids of images of various examples of a single type of object. The technique was to photograph a series of similar objects, usually industrial structures, from similar vantage points to highlight what their differences were. Illustrator Mitch Frey has used this technique to create grids of types from the world of film, including these 70s movie men. He's turned the typology into a fun guessing game of "Name That Movie!"

We'll continue the guessing games after the jump, with 70s ladies, and typologies of Clint Eastwood through the years...

Click to read more ...

Emmanuelle Riva's Oscar Birthday And The 100 Oldest Living Oscar Nominees

Emmanuelle Riva at the NYFCC Awards earlier this weekGuess who has a birthday on Oscar night this year? Emmanuelle Riva! What fortuitous timing.

The legendary French actress of Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) fame, was Oscar-nominated just a few days ago for her haunting downward spiral in Michael Haneke's Amour (2012) and on her 86th birthday she could become the oldest winner of any competitive acting Oscar. Christopher Plummer, who turned 83 last month, currently holds that record for his win last year for Beginners. Riva's abundantly well deserved nomination makes her, at this writing, the 64th oldest living Oscar nominee or winner, just a few days younger than American screen legend Sidney Poitier.

So, as we gear up for Oscar night, I thought it was time to look back with gratitude on our elders. Let's pay homage to the Oscar nominees and winners that are still with us. Investigate these talents with your DVD queues and perhaps they'll feel the vibes of new fans "discovering" their cinematic contributions. That would have to be a sweet (and deserved) sensation. 

I'm posting today, not just due to the discovery that next month's Emmanuelle Riva Birthday Celebration will involve all the biggest stars in the world, but because it's January 12th, on which we always say happy birthday to #1 on this list. I hope you enjoy!

100 OLDEST LIVING OSCAR NOMINEES/WINNERS

Trouble With The House at the End of Watched Curved Street

It was a photo finish this weekend with Clint Eastwood, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jake Gyllenhaal all struggling to land in first place. We won't really know who did until tomorrow. If you ask me that's a poor showing for Jennifer (given that horror is an easy cash grab on opening weekends) and Clint and a redemptive showing for Jakey who pundits always like to claim is over as a bankable leading man if he ever was. But maybe that's my bias spinning it since I have yet to seek treatment for the Gyllenhaalism. (Next up Maggie G in Won't Back Down!)

Box Office Fifteen
[TIE] 01 END OF WATCH  $13 *NEW*
[TIE] 01 HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET $13 *NEW*  
03 TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE $12.7 *NEW* 
04 FINDING NEMO 3-D $9.4 (cum $29.9 this time 'round)
05 RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION $6.7 (cum $33.4)
06 DREDD $6.3 *NEW* 
07 THE MASTER $5 (cum. $6.0)
08 POSSESSION $2.6 (cum. $45.6)
09 LAWLESS $2.3 (cum. $34.5) REVIEW
10 PARANORMAN $2.2 (cum. $52.5) 
11 THE BOURNE LEGACY $1.6 (cum. $110.4) 
12 THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN $1.5 (cum. $48.6) REVIEW
13 THE EXPENDABLES 2 $1.4 (cum. $82.9) Let's cast a female version
14 ARBITRAGE $1.2 (cum. $3.9) 
15 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES $1.2 (cum. $443.1) REVIEW

The Master had the healthiest per screen average among the wide openings (though it's only just barely "wide" now) but P.T. Anderson movies have never made as much by the end of their run as The Odd Life of Timothy Green already has (approaching $50 million) which is totally why we can't have nice things. Adults with taste continue to destroy Hollywood by staying at home and watching their premium channels instead of supporting films made for them at the theaters.  In limited release Perks of Being a Wallflower led the arthouse with a very healthy per screen average and a quarter million gross in its first weekend.

What did you see this weekend? And who is still going to Batman? He hung up his cowl, people!

In more timely news, are you watching the Emmys with us tonight? If so "see" you in the comments section.

Yes, No, Maybe So: "The Trouble With the Curve"

Longtime Clint Eastwood collaborator Robert Lorenz (producer or first assistant director on many Clint features) rousted Clint out of the director's chair and in front of the cameras for a father/daughter baseball scouting drama The Trouble With the Curve. Or is it a comedy? Let's break down the trailer with our usual system.

YES

• Always up for a father/daughter drama... and Eastwood gave that relationship all sorts of interesting edges and nuances and softspots in Million Dollar Baby. Plus in the interest of selling Gran Torino 2 with all those shots of Clint "Get Off My Lawn!" Eastwood maybe we're not seeing some of the meat of the central relationship in the trailer.
• Amy! Just saw her in Into the Woods in Central Park. She got majorly swallowed up in her wig (so big that from my bad seat I could barely notice her face) but I like that even if she might not have limitless range she is able to adapt her screen persona for drama, comedy, and musicals. That's a type of range -- the movie star type of range which is nothing to scoff at.
• Hei John Goodman!

NO and maybe so after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Young Clint, 1956

Clint Eastwood at 26 years of age, lounging in his pool. He was still doing TV guest spots and uncredited teensy tiny roles in movies. Courtesy of NY Mag's Magic Mike inspired gallery of famous shirtless men through the ages. 

In related news: Summer is suddenly unmistakably here. Have such a good one that Clint will want to make a movie about you next year. He can surely cram it in between other projects.