Link Hunters

The Guardian Ken Russell was nearly finished with a new screenplay adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, to be made as a risque musical. Will it still be made with a new director?
Nullco Preorder The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo soundtrack and download a sampler
Rope of Silicon first look at Sam Worthington in Wrath of the Titans and a curious plot synopsis
Thompson on Hollywood talks to one or our favorite craftsmen, production designer Jack Fisk (of Terrence Malick and Mr Sissy Spacek fame.)
24 Frames Hugo steps up as a powerful Oscar contender.

Empire wonders if paranormal romance Smoke and Bone about an angel and a demon that fall in love will be the next big movie franchise? Have any of you read it?
Inside Movies Deliverance actor Bill McKinney has passed away. 
Wipe Your Feet "Watching Melancholia is like..." I love the movie but this is totally LOL. 
Pop Watch tries to imagine Buffy alum Michelle Trachtenberg as Bella Swan. Supposedly, it could have happened.
Hollywood News talks to Will Reiser about 50/50 and the power of Anjelica Huston. 
IndieWire Mike Leigh will head the jury at February's Berlinale. (This year's jury picked Oscar buzzing Iranian film A Separation as the best of the fest. Good luck topping that one!)

Finally, EW has released the first photo of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

I don't want to be bitchy about it since we've seen so little -- the trailer hits next week -- but doesn't it seem like revisionist fairy tale revisions and dark leathery bad-ass costuming are getting a little, shall we say, generic these days? How will this distinguish itself?

And when will Jeremy Renner star in a drama again after all this time spent Bourne Avenging Impossible Missions With Witch Hunters ? Does he want to be Samuel L Jackson that badly? Seems like a waster after his dramatic brilliance in The Hurt Locker.

Jeremy Renner Would Like You To Stop Staring At Him On the Set of "The Avengers"

So stop it!

more after the jump

Click to read more ...

Links

Rain Perry interesting and fun article comparing Crazy, Stupid, Love. with... Biutiful. (via AD)
Tom Shone on the elitism of magic and power in modern entertainment. It's a curious question really.
THR Nobody can quite let go of Sex and the City Movie 3. It still might happen.
Corduroy (via JJ) talks to Josh Hartnett about his career (post acting hiatus). I thought I'd share this since we were just talking in that Taylor Lautner post -- I realize they're not exactly interchangeable ;)  -- about the limited shelf life of young male actors who get hired for a lot of big roles and big projects before they've truly proven themselves. Isn't that essentially what happened to Hartnett?  

Hartnett photographed by Peter Ash Lee for Corduroy

When you first start really young and you have some success, they want to take away your edges and make you into this proto-typical movie star... people don’t like to be boxed in and actors are no different.”

He also says:

I started when I was 17 and when you’re that age, you’re a bag full of nerves. I was a little bit freaked out by the whole industry. But now I’m actively looking for things that scare me; things that push me outside my comfort zone. As an actor, that’s the only way you grow and the only way you create something truly interesting for yourself and the audience as well.”

...which is code for rebuilding his once bright career through the indie film circuit, isn't it?

"Would you like one of my flowers" (Illustration by Scott C)The Great Showdowns simple concept movie illustration tumblr that yields very cute results. I love that the references are from several decades, not just the overplayed 80s ...though there's quite a lot of that as there always is online. Check it out.
ioncinema talks about the next project from I Am Love's brilliant director Luca Guadagnino which looks like it may star the ubiquitous duo of Mia Wasikowska and Jeremy Renner who plan to be in every movie of the next 5 years (along with Fassbender & Mulligan)

The Awl asks "what makes a great critic?" 
IndieWire Michael Fassbender offered the lead role in Prisoners. But his docket is so full now, who knows. 

"Avengers Assemble" at D23

God, I hope people didn't wait in line hours and hours for this. So short.  It's cute how Jeremy Renner bounces out at 1:05ish though. 

I guess they only really showed a teensy tiny clip between Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury and Tom Hiddleston's Loki which i09 loved. I'd hoped to post a counter opinion from someone who was not at all impressed (it's important to maintain some balance in our fanboy ruled world) but have misplaced the link. Drat.

P.S. Totally eager to see how Tom Hiddleston's career develops. He was great to look at as F Scott Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris and I suspect he did about as fine a job as anyone could have done making sense of his confusingly written character in Thor. Eager to see what's next for him?

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol"

The titles within this franchise always surprise with the punctuation. This one opts for one colon and a dash. A dash, huh? It must feel the need, the need for speed. This is the first time they've used a dash unless you prefer your Mission: Impossible 2 in its funkier weirdly abbreviated decapitalized M:i-2 format. Anyway.... the point is that Tom Cruise is back as agent Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol or M:I-GP Vol. 4 if you'd like to complicate it. Let's accept the mission to break down the trailer with our Yes, No, Maybe So protocol.

Tom Cruise Does His Own Stunt Running

YES You wouldn't know it from the trailer which focuses on reminding you of the stunttacular nature of this franchise and the familiar but arguably still special effect of Tom Cruise running-jumping-glaring (say what you will about Tom Cruise -- and we all have -- but there are few movie stars as committed/believable in action sequences) but Brad Bird directed this. BRAD BIRD. If it has the teensiest sliver of The Iron Giant's humanity and if the action scenes are anywhere close to as good as the ones in The Incredibles, it's going to be straight up awesome. The big question is: can Brad Bird work directing wonders with flesh & blood actors the way he can with animators?

NO -Did we really need a fourth picture? My biggest beef with this franchise, continued here with the title card insistence that only Tom Cruise is starring in the picture, is that the Mission: Impossible series would be so much better if it were more team-oriented. Ethan pulls too much focus and the team maneuvering and chemistry is the real spark it needs to generate fireworks.

Mission: Impossible - Team 4: Pegg, Renner, Cruise and Patton

MAYBE SO -On the other hand, even if they aren't given enough to do the cast is exciting: Simon Pegg, the always welcome until he gets too ubiquitous (any second now) Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Michael Nykqvist, Paula Patton, Lea Seydoux, and Tom Wilkinson doing what he does best (that distinctive voice: authoritative but always suspect with hints of possible certifiable whack-a-doo pulsating underneath)

The Trailer... 

Do you think Tom Cruise will have the comeback he's looking for over?
Will Brad Bird work well with actors who can talk back?
If you were an action star would you do your own stunts?
Are you a Yes, No or Maybe So?

Related Post from the Archive:
Directors of the Decade: Brad Bird "Mr Complexity" 

'it's linking men, hallelujah, it's linking men... Amen!'

The Film Experience likes the ladies best -- actresses forevah -- but today's links are curious phallocentric, hence the title.

Observations on Film Art one more piece on Sidney Lumet, something to fill out the "constrained" picture of the general mass of obituaries.
Tom Shone, in a wonderful concise piece, knows we're all more Brad Pitt than Terrence Malick in this Tree of Life.
Cinema Blend Katey worries that Hollywood is going to make us sick of Jeremy Renner. He's doing as many franchises as Samuel L Jackson adding The Bourne Legacy (lead role - taking over for Matt Damon) to the line-up. Ruh-roh.
The Wrap organized-crime-drama alert. There's always a few in production. Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, so memorably at odds in Milk, may be enemies again in Gangster Squad
Jezebel has a hilarious reel of men faking orgasm onscreen (in non-pornographic films). It's even a little bit interesting in a non-pervy way.
Movie|Line Joseph Gordon-Levitt trashes the Conan set for a Hesher promo.
Movie Morlocks RIP on the 1970s star Michael Sarrazin (They Shoot Horses Don't They, For Pete's Sake) who passed away last week. So many major goodbyes in showbiz lately. Sigh.
TVLine Strange Emmy development, ladies division: January Jones is still campaigning as a lead for Mad Men despite her screen time being at least halved this past season. Bad move? This puts her up against Elisabeth Moss, who is back to lead.

GayGayGay
Stale Popcorn Yay. Another convert to writer/director/actor/producer Xavier Dolan. I'll  have more on Heartbeats once it hits DVD... whenever that is.
Towleroad this weeks column by moi. I would have reviewed Water For Elephants but I was in Nashville. Is it wrong that I'm super excited to see it?
Out Magazine Thomas Dekker (Kaboom, Cinema Verite) is sending out all sorts of mixed signals about his sexuality. I guess we're still a couple years away from (male) movie actors coming out.