Carpet Convo: New Years Eve & War Horse

Nathaniel: R‪eaders. Welcome back to red carpet convos... It's been forever since we did one which you may interpret as Nathaniel tripping on his heels or stars not bringing it to events or, more accurately, time management issues. But I was actually on a red carpet this week so I figured it was time to reboot the series. Let's start with the glitziest red carpet which was for New Year's Ev‬e. A carpet I was not on. 

Jose: But you should've been! At least to congratulate Lea Michele for not doing one of her obnoxious red carpet faces.

Nathaniel: ‪She seems to be going for some World Record for most photographed (2010-2011). Every time you see events like this the photographers seem to snap 100 photos of her to every 4 of anyone els‬‬e. You'd think she was the star of a TV phenom or something.

Lea, Hilary, Abby, Zac, 'chelle

I love ...but I have a thing for Broadway Babies. Always have. Other things I have a thing for: plunging necklines and champagne dresses on brunettes.

Jose: ‪I find her obnoxious but LOVE the dress and the hair. I think it's the first time where i have no objection whatsoever to how she looks. She often ‪looks too severe and constipated, this is perfect though. Makes me want to go drink with ‬her.

Nathaniel: Hilary wants to go with you guys. "Pick me!"

Jose: She's not invited. The two of them together would be too annoying. 

Nathaniel: But, awwww, she seems so... eager.

Jose: Well she should. Isn't she doing her "forgive me for loving dictators" tour right now?

Nathaniel: I must have the concert tee!

Jose: I'm surprised she didn't show up in a Captain America costume.

Nathaniel: That makes me want to put her in a Wonder Woman outfit. Photoshop Attack! If you wrap a golden lasso around Hilary Swank think of all the truths that would spill out. "I did not deserve my second Oscar" ... "I thought Amelia was boring, too!"... "____complete the sentence in the comments_____"...

Jose: OMG Is that Abigal Breslin? When did she start looking like Nia Vardalos?  I hate that she's all old now.

Nathaniel: What are you? a Hollywood executive? "Get her to a nursing home!" Jesus. She's only 15. Don't feel old, Jose. Young starlets grow up fast.

Jose: I'll want to tear my eyes out when she kisses someone in that movie! She's my Little Miss Sunshine. She shouldn't be kissing boys. I just want cute child stars to retire when they hit puberty. Unless they're Jodie Foster.

Pfeiffer, Tori Amos Tangent and War Horses of different colors (actually just one) after the jump. 

Click to read more ...

The Linkers Grimm

MUBI James Benning is experimenting with John Cassavetes Faces (1968) for a "remake" installation.
Antenna has valid thoughtful concerns about both of the new fantasy series on TV, Grimm and Once Upon a Time. Many good points are raised but I can't take them completely seriously since Once Upon a Time is one of the single gawdiest and most ham-fisted things mine eyes have ever witnessed whereas Grimm was surprisingly rich in potential and beautifully made (yummy production design) and they imply that Once has more potential? Yikes.

"greens greens and nothing but greens..." Grimm's are alive. Once but dead props.

Towleroad cutest thing Zac Efron has ever done? He did Halloween as a Reno 911 officer
Go Fug Yourself Heidi Klum went as a cadaver! Heidi Klum is the most awesome Halloween party ever. Every single year she turns it out.

Dark Eye Socket this is really cool: 5 Scary Movie Masks in Non-Scary Movies
Ultra Culture the shortest review you will ever read of Tower Heist and also probably the best one; it's a Venn Diagram!
Movie|Line Naomi Watts to star in the most depressing movie indie ever. I guess she didn't read our Red Carpet Convo with Guy Lodge when we worried for the perpetual worry lines of her career.

‪Nathaniel: Naomi most certainly needs to shake off all the dour miserabilism. People have been filming her with grimy 'THIS IS DEPRESSING!' lighting for so long that I have no idea what she'd look like if she was having fun‬!
‪Guy: Well, at least Watts is coming up in J. Edgar. A Clint Eastwood movie is just the kind of fun frisky change of pace she needs.

Socialite Life Leonardo DiCaprio looking dapper on the set of The Great Gatsby. This will possibly be just what he needs after all the aging prosthetics of J. Edgar.
Hollywood Reporter interviews Michael Fassbender about his very sexual year with Cronenberg and McQueen
Cinema Blend Hilary Swank has fired most of her management team over the scandal that erupted when she attended (paid) that birthday party for the Chechnyan President.
South Asian Film Festival, about to kick off here in New York, will open with the  Oscar submission Abu, Son of Adam.
Broadway World Julie Andrews honored tonight in NYC
Threadless "one cookie to rule them all" [see pic below] LOL. I had to share since we were just talking about The Lord of the Rings here.

"cookie ringwraith" © rnlynam

Oscar in Brief
Today is the due date for all Animated Feature contenders to submit their paperwork for the Academy. So soon we'll know just how many nominees we'll get in this category which can range anywhere from 2 to 5 nominees depending on the number of submission. Meanwhile, The Wrap and In Contention both have new pieces up on the Academy's Best Foreign Language Film category. More from us here soon as we screen more entries ourselves.

Finally...  This commerical for The Immortals which I've never seen --and I've seen plenty of advertising for it -- it can't be real can it?

If so, hats off. Tellin' it like it is. I agree with everything Rich at FourFour says "Fucking Poetry"
 

This & That: Ryder, Swank, Clooney, Allen

Buzzfeed has "20 celebrities who used to be hot" which is mildly amusing but at least a couple of the choices are people who still definitely have it goin' on -- hi, Helen Mirren! -- so deduct points for ageism.
MovieCityNews asked you to rank all of Woody Allen's films
New York Times Glowing Sutton Foster profile. Love her. Is Tony #2 coming in June? Anything Goes.

Vulture this brief piece on Winona Ryder's co-starring role with James Franco in The Stare is almost amusingly vague with a capital V. It tells you nothing. Neither will Noni!
Art of the Title Sequence YAY. I've been hoping for this. They've interviewed Angus Wall (who TFE interviewed round Oscar time) on the opening credits to HBO's Game of Thrones.

Ultimate Addict wonders which George Clooney effort will hit with Oscar: The Ides of March or The Descendants. If you're curious my next Oscar chart update will be directly after Cannes. No time for it this week. Busy busy.
Anne Thompson briefly checks in with Hilary Swank on her new role as a producer (Something Borrowed). Sayeth La Swank:

I don't read reviews.

Girl, maybe you should. You know, if you're going to be on the filmmaking side of the equation. Just a thought (It's a pet peeve of mine when stars act like they're above reviews. You can a learn a lot from film criticism, provided that the critic is a good one.)

Linkboy

Guardian an "intimate" Q & A with the one and only Hilary Swank. Admit it: you want to know how often she has sex and what her most embarrassing moment was.
<--- ExpressUK talks to Lucy Punch whose career has apparently been reheated by playing that golddigging bimbo in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger last year.
Movie|Line offers up suggestions for replacing Darren Aronofsky on The Wolverine. I do vaguely like the Andy and Lana Wachowski suggestion. The others, not so much.
The Playlist Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play The Holiday Killer in The Dark Knight Rises (2012). That'll mean something to some of you but for me it's the first Bat villain from a movie that I'd never heard of prior to the movie.
Every Film in 2011 Just like it sounds. Hats off (but maybe straightjacket on?) to this UK guy Neil White who is going to review every film released in the calendar year. Insanity! He's already to #105 (The Adjustment Bureau).
Orlando Sentinel here's a charitable movie promotion: Disney is encourage potential young Tangled customers to get their hair cut. The locks go to making hairpieces for those suffering from medical hair loss.

One of my friends asked if I wanted to see [lists four movies] yesterday. I say 'I'll see any of those but Paul.' My friend is all "oh, right. You hate geek things." Total misconception! So many people think this about me so I feel defensive. Not true. loves geeky things. I just have a weird ambivalence about fanboy culture because it's too narrow/noisy. I love superheroes and sci-fi and such but how you gonna live on only one to three genres? Why limit yourself? If you're not also taking in classic cinema, Almodóvar, serious actressing, arthouse, silent film, talky dramas, and other genres you're going to die of artistic malnutrition! So I say "Ugh, stop it. I do so love geek things. But Paul? Seth Rogen voicing a CGI alien?"

[Diesel Sweeties]

For what it's worth I ended up at Rango finally. Y'all were right to push me in that direction. In case you aren't aware, the "Reviews" on the banner will take you to an index of movies seen and screening log and when I've reviewed something the link itself. I'm behind so I'll need to do capsules soon.

Off Cinema Diversions
Towleroad photos of last night's super moon. It was just blinding and beautiful here in NYC. Were any of you killed by werewolves?
Warren Ellis issued a challenge to his readers to remake/remodel The Fantastic Four. Super fun illustrations followed. They don't mention it in the thread but 2011 (November to be precise) marks the 50th anniversary of the cosmic ray mutated superfamily. Too bad the film version was so terrible.
Spiegel Knut the famous polar bear has died.
The Awl answers the question "What is a Rebecca Black?" in case you noticed that name clogging up your twitter feed and facebook wall this past week.
Vulture has a funny "dos and don'ts" for making your own Friday style viral hit. Warning: Disturbingly homogeneous Teen Girl emerges! I haven't been a teenager in a long time but I remember there being more than one kind. I mean there's even several different types on Glee each week.
Antenna offers an informative primer on all sorts of things going down with Netflix, Google, MPAA, NPR if you, like Nathaniel, find the behind the scenes of  media-internet-showbiz occassionally confusing / disorienting.