Life of Link

Movie Line could The Canyons revive Lindsay Lohan's film career?
The Onion "Area Woman's Baseless Hatred Of Anne Hathaway Reciprocated" LOL
Awards Daily Oscar Post-Mortem. Great 2012 movies that received no Oscar nominations this season. Will you remember them, anyway?  

Wet Dark and Wild what is Jake Gyllenhaal up to? Prisoners
The Carpetbagger explains what's going on with Visual Effects in the wake of that Life of Pi speech so unceremoniously cut off by Jaws music on Oscar night
Vulture a timeline of Oscar weekend parties with appearances from Quvenzhané, Chastain, John Hawkes, a reunion for The Help.  I love this bit on Tommy Lee Jones... I mean who knew:

11:58 p.m. The most romantic moment of the night comes from Tommy Lee Jones, of all people. He's holding up an In-N-Out burger for his wife Dawn to graze on, while looking at her lovingly. She's literally eating out of the palm of his hand right now.

newsy
Coming Soon the new Annie, starring Quvenzhané Wallis will hit movie theaters on Christmas day, 2014 
Hollywood Carrie Fisher hospitalized after bipolar meltdown :(  
i09 Chris Cooper joining The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Norman Osborne. Studios never learn their lessons and this one is getting as crowded as X3!
My New Plaid Pants Annie Wilkes herself, Kathy Bates, is joining the new season of American Horror Story 

Thanksgiving Linkovers

Good afternoon! I only had one piece of pumpkin pie last night so it absolutely cannot be counted as an unqualified success of a Thanksgiving. So, desperate for leftovers (I wasn't even sent home with any spare pie!), I turn to good blogs, the whip cream of this internet pie.

Film Dr. a pictorial primer on Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
MNPP JA's living vicariously through Amanda Seyfried fixation continues unabated
Towleroad homoerotic Skyfall poster 

In Contention the first of countless top ten lists, Cahiers du Cinema finds Holy Motors at the top
DP/30 Jake Gyllenhaal talks End of Watch. Which I still haven't seen. I am a bad Gyllenhaalic this year. (I also missed Won't Back Down) 
Awards Daily Sasha interviews Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
LA Times Tracy Letts says he didn't alter much about August: Osage County for the screen in his screenplay. So... it's three hours long then? 
MovieLine Noomi Rapace does her best Mick Jagger in a new music video. But is it Mick Jaggery enough? 
Empire Marisa Tomei may co-star in a new Hugh Grant romcom. I can see that pairing totally working.

Finally...
Timothy Brayton, easily one of the best (and most completist-friendly) online film critics, has ranked every single Bond film (with each link going to a new review) the Bond Girls and each James Bond. That's a lot of 007. 

Yes yes. I'll post the results of the readers poll here soon -- sorry for the holiday delay -- but before we are totally Bonded out, knock back a martini with Tim's reviews and lists.

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.

because the night belongs to linkers ♩

Serious Film "Masterpiece Down"! Twelve masterpieces that didn't even get a single vote in Sight & Sound's polling of nearly 1,000 critics including (gulp) Network!  
Observations on Film Art takes a long strong look at the praise, criticisms and "innovations" of Christopher Nolan.
Tit for Tat the finalists for Oscar submission from The Philippines. They've yet to be nominated
i09 has a hilarious rundown of this weekend's penultimate True Blood season 5 episode. Yes, I stopped writing about that show immediately after hating the first few episodes... but I haven't quite been able to stop watching it yet. This is why TV is bad for you. 

Movie City News David Poland crunches some numbers on Hollywood's commercially successful directors and what it takes to justify a $200 million budget
Encore's World is doing some sort of bracketed tournament of essential 90s performances. I'm horrified that Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas) lost to Leonardo DiCaprio (What's Eating Gilbert Grape) without a fight. This will not stand! (Actually maybe that's a sophie's choice, both of them being brilliant.) But stand it must. Note to all people, not just Andrew, running polls: leave them open longer! 
Take Out All The Words  has an illuminating piece about approaching tragedies (like The Dark Knight Rises shooting) within a normally "funny" milieu like editorial cartooning
MNPP Jake Gyllenhaal's new role involves gambling like crazy. Gambling addict! Gambling is what actors who aren't boring / predictable do every time they sign on for a movie role, so Jake G probably didn't have to do much research.

Randomness
AV Club Sutton Foster interviewed on her transition from stage to small screen on the delightful Bunheads.
Towleroad Rosie O'Donnell had a heart attack! Get well soon, Rosie.
YouTube The Game of Thrones theme performed by a cat 

Live Music Send-Off
Russell Crowe ♥ Patti Smith. In Iceland no less (on a break from filming Noah perhaps? or burning the candle at both ends?)

Don't Make A Sad Face, Ewan

JA from MNPP here. Have y'all heard the lousy news that HBO has passed on The Corrections? An adaptation of Jonathan Franzen's well-loved 2001 bestseller, the HBO series was going to be produced by the terrifically talented Noah Baumbach and had lined up a truly amazing cast with Chris Cooper and Dianne Wiest as the parents and Ewan McGregor and Maggie Gyllenhaal and Greta Gerwig as their adult children. Ahh! That cast leaves me a little breathless.

They filmed a pilot, which all of us should immediately call our state representatives about enacting legislation which would force the immediate dissemination thereof. There's like a Freedom of Information Act or something right? Bring that up. We can do it!

Anyway HBO passed on it. The plan had been fairly massive - they wanted to make four ten-episode long seasons - so it always seemed a little too good to be true. With a cast like this, ya know? We daren't dream such things. It only leads to madness. I don't know if they can shop the series to other networks at this point - maybe Showtime?

HBO did pick up Cary Fukunaga's series True Detective with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey though, so it's tempting to say there's an HBO executive out there making choices with his bong...