Quick Links Over Coffee. And "LISTEN!" It's the Critical Decision

Jude Law drinking coffee back in the dayWhoa! Off to such a late start today.
 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE

Here are a few links for you to enjoy while I drink my lunch (aka coffee) and prepare a few posts... posting continues through the holidays so if you're having a Blue Christmas, please know that we're here for you in the comments section / posting form with reviews coming up for Selma & Into the Woods. If you'll be offline for most of the holiday week, collect your belated gifts when you return. The Oscar stuff, year in review collections, chatty interviews and podcast, and silly polls will all still be here when you return. (Just click on that  "pages" thing once you run out of the freshly baked articles at the bottom and you'll get to the day old stuff and so on. Only a few of the articles have expiration dates, you know.

Mic I somehow missed all the hubbub about Shiloh "John" Jolie-Pitt but agree that the Spawn of Our Most Beloved Celebrity-Celebrity Couple On the Planet looks spiffy in a suit.
Vanity Fair David Fincher wants to make a movie about music videos? YES PLEASE. The man for the job obviously.
In Contention Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice) is joining the Jobs biopic... you'd think this movie would scare people away after all those Sony emails
Pajiba chooses the most exhiliarating TV characters of 2014
The Daily Beast Idris Elba wanted for next James Bond maybe.
Mediate I love how upset this is making idiots like Rush Limbaugh. Hee.
Film Stage What would you add to their list of Cinematography bests this year? 
Cut Print Film asked you to reconsider Shia Labeouf. I have been!
Vox 30 best tv shows of year 

Ah, and thanks to Arjan Writes for pointing out Jennifer Hudson doing a playful impromptu take on Beyoncé's "Listen" when she visited a radio station just the other day if you need a dash of Christmas 2006 in your Christmas 2014... and who doesn't?

(Critics List Navel Gazing / Blog Tracking Decisions after Jennifer sings!)

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Stocking Stuffers (of Our Dreams)

Year in Review: Two yummy lists per day. Alexa is off for the holiday so I'm subverting her her arts & crafts "Curio" column for a gift list - Nathaniel

 I can't imagine that the wee moviegoers of the world won't be getting all the Big Hero 6, LEGO and Groot goodies their hearts desire over Christmas but here are ten stocking stuffers we wish we could play with on Thursday morning.

Listen, nobody is ever going to serve the niche within the niche within the niche markets -- I 've accepted that fact that I'll never own Vera Drake action figures or, to quote Waiting for Guffman, a Remains of the Day lunchbox. But that shouldn't stop the dreaming. Some of the following prezzies inspired by 2014 movies, would surely put huge smiles on the face of your cinephile loved ones. Some of these you can actually stuff in stockings. Others do not exist. But we're in the list-making mood. Tis the season.

11 Last Minute Gift Ideas From Real to Imaginary

11. Snowpiercer original graphic novel for sale here
10. Mendl's Bakery Memorabilia all over the place at Etsy 
9. Amazing Amy books for download... or Carrie Coon's "Protect Your Nuts" tee for order but if you're going with any Gone Girl inspired gifts make sure create your own scavenger hunt series of clues for your victim... excuse me, beloved. I meant beloved!

8 more ideas after the jump

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Beauty vs Beast: Beard vs Bumble

JA from MNPP here, ho ho hosting this week's ho ho holiday edition of "Beauty vs Beast" for y'all (okay okay I got all my ho ho's out, I promise) -- a couple of weeks ago TFE's resident animation guru Tim gave good love to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on the occasion of its 50th anniversary and it struck me like a peppermint pick-axe to the brain, what this week's face-off needed to be. Who else but...

poll by twiigs.com

Yukon Cornelius, the standard of bearded beauty for an entire generation, grabs that frightful Beast by the belly and bounces away with our hearts every time, but we've got a special place for the Bumble's passionate bumbling too. So help us choose! You have one week to vote, and please do share your thoughts upon each in the comments.

PREVIOUSLY Spinning off from the frozen tundra of the North Pole to the magnolia swelter of the Deep South, last week we celebrated the 75th anniversary of Gone With the Wind by play-acting Scarlett and choosing our best beau - Ashley put up a decent fight for such a wilting flower but frankly, my dears, we want to be man-handled. Rhett swept 79% of us up in his arms and carried us into that fiery sunset. Said TB:

"Ashley is the biggest cad in the whole movie. He's got Olivia de Havilland at home, and he's stringing along Vivien Leigh the whole time. Nope. NOPE. Rhett's a slut, but at least he's got principles."

Monday Monologue: Henry II's Eulogy

Anne Marie here to celebrate the holiday with a furious monologue from my favorite Christmas movie. "Christmas movie" is a terrible description for Anthony Harvey's 1968 film The Lion in Winter, though it is technically correct. This is a political thriller of one very long Christmas night between Henry II of England (Peter O’Toole), his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn), and their three conniving sons as they battle over who will be the next King of England.

And you thought your family was dysfunctional.

While we've written extensively about Katharine Hepburn's Oscar-winning performance in The Lion in Winter, this Monologue Monday before Christmas I'd like to shine the spotlight on Peter O'Toole's underawarded performance as the manic, magnificent Henry II of England. The movie is filled with great dialog for the Irishman to chew on, but O'Toole's best (or biggest) moment comes midway through the film, after a midnight meeting with the King of France.

A eulogy for a king after the jump...

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Tweets o' the Week: Batman Returns, Last Christmas, and More

Good morning! It's just three days until Christmas. THREE! To note that I am unprepared is to state, shrugging, 'he thinks movies are alright'

I mean we haven't even started the Year in Review! Rectifying. Rectifying.

This is the kind of time frame wherein you need little friendly woodland animals to be doing all your busy work so that you can focus on the important things like Going to the Ball. I illustrate twitter collections with a picture of birds and today Cinderella seemed natural since Into the Woods is soon upon us. I hadn't really thought about this before but Cinderella is supposed to have this miserable indentured servant life but look at that view from her bedroom window!  Talk about a room with a view... that's prime real estate. Shouldn't she be sleeping in the cellar or something? 

Herewith some tweets that amused, edified, or otherwise cocked a brow this past week for a variety of reasons, posted to get this week chirping away quickly, happily. Enjoy.

(SO MUCH POSTING DUE THROUGH NEW YEAR'S. BEAR WITH US... VISIT A LOT, OKAY?)

Fav Tweets Non-Celebrity Division...

"Oh Mommy, Mommy!! Lizzy and Jane are going to the Golden Globes ball!" screamed Kitty. pic.twitter.com/TQ9SM5BipY

— Awya (@awya) December 13, 2014

The Hobbit movies are immensely popular, though no one I know likes them or talks about them. The Hobbit is the NCIS of movie franchises.

— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) December 21, 2014

"What'd you do today?" "Um you know...generally just...monitored opinions on Twitter and, like, interjected." "Did you go out?" [Hangs head]

— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) December 15, 2014

Sadly that tweet describes so many ill advised days o' mine! Moving on with GHOST, BATMAN RETURNS after the jump...

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