Links. And Not *Just* Oscar Post-Mortems

The Playlist Jessica Chastain joins the increasingly star-studded cast of The Huntsman - pretty soon no one will remember this started as a Snow White franchise (which is probably why they keep adding big stars).
Vanity Fair Katey wonders if Netflix can stay in the original programming business when its obsessed with nostalgia 
Empire Calista Flockhart and Laura Benanti join TV's Supergirl for the fall as boss and mom respectively (sigh). Benanti is so mega-talented and freaking hilarious. Doesn't anyone want to build a series around her?
US Weekly AHS's "Meep" actor Ben Woolf has died after being hit by a car 
My New Plaid Pants you're probably giving Bryan Singer some side eye for casting yet another super twink beauty in X-Men: Apocalypse. Meet Ben Hardy.
i09 looks at the troubled comics history of Aquaman and the challenges Warner Bros faces in resurrecting him
i09 Something hilarious you've never thought of. The designers on Guardians of the Galaxy spent a lot of time worrying about Groot's crotch. 

Oscar Oscar
Slate on Graham Moore's problematic but well intentioned acceptance speech for Best Adapted Screenplay
IndieWire why the Spirit Awards need to stop mimicking the Oscars 
LA Times was Boyhood, an unusually quiet unfolding drama, undone by the usual outsize Oscar campaigning? 
The Carpetbagger bids the season "adieu" 
Awards Daily I'm with Sasha on this one. Patricia Arquette has been treated horribly after her speech with people willfully misunderstanding. Our outrage culture is doing no one, least of all the progressives (who are so easily outraged and willing to turn on their own) any good. A real pity since Patty has been a wonderful activist over the years. The people leading the hate brigade would do well to step back for a little perspective: guarantee you she was fighting for trans awareness and other social causes before they were.  
In Contention sings the praises of Fox Searchlight and New Regency. They've got two back to back Best Picture winners now. And that aint easy to do.  
The Dissolve just two days after the Oscars, the American Sniper trial ended with a guilty verdict for the man who killed Chris Kyle  
Vulture Michael Keaton stashing his acceptance speech when his name isn't called *sniffle*  
Variety Iñárritu on his own Oscar wins 

And this just in...
The stunt-casting veers away from Oscar winning/nominated beauties of a certain age to...

Make your reservation now. #GagaAHSHotel https://t.co/o9ixi5TaFy

— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 25, 2015

Apparently they are promising a major renovation to the American Horror Story brand this October. I hope said renovation is giving up that infinitely tired and kinda misogynistic in its relentlessness storyline about the faded vain beauty who wishes she was still in her prime. Is this Gaga peak, Is that enough for you to make reservations after this season's expected downward spiral?  

On Birdman and Suicide

by Sebastian Nebel

(Spoilers.)

What do we talk about when we talk about Birdman?

I guess people latch onto things they can relate to, things they recognize. For a lot of professional reviewers I follow online and elsewhere, that would be how the film portraits their line of work, notably in the form of the theater critic and talk of Twitter, social media, and things 'going viral.'

Others – including, I'm assuming, the filmmakers themselves – see the main focus of the film in the struggle of the artist, the search for meaning and relevance, the divide between supposedly empty blockbuster entertainment and high, respectable art.

I am neither artist nor critic, as much as I like to pretend to be either at times. So while I recognize that Birdman has something to say on these subjects, it's not saying it to me, at least not directly.

We latch onto the things we relate to, we recognize. What I saw in Birdman was a deeply troubled man who finds himself so tortured by depression – in his case personified by a long gone superhero alter ego that serves as constant reminder of the fame, the power, the endless possibilities that the march of time has taken from him – that he desperately clings to a last-ditch effort to revive some of the past's glory, only to find that this, too, does not liberate him from his mental anguish.

During the course of the film, Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) engages in a variety of self-harming acts and tries or gets close to trying to take his own life three times, finally achieving the desired result.

We hear of another, possibly first failed suicide attempt in a story he tells his ex-wife (Amy Ryan). It's one of his many cries for help, some cryptic, some explicit, all unheard.

Suicide attempts on screen are not rare, but what I found remarkable was that in Birdman, unlike most films I can think of, trying to kill yourself isn't the turning point, the traumatic abyss you climb your way out of to start the healing process, now with concerned loved ones at your side and no longer inflicted with the wish to end it all.

Riggan's on-stage bullet to the face is greeted with many things, actual concern for his mental state being least among them. His family and friends quickly dismiss looking for a deeper motivation behind the incident, highlighting instead all the ways he finally got what he wanted all along: the play is a hit, he himself has gone viral. The people love him, the critics respect him. Everything worked out fine. It's a happy ending that most movies would gladly indulge in.

But it's a false one, as we and Riggan are reminded of by the reappearance of Birdman in the actor's hospital room.

Because Birdman isn't Riggan's depression. Birdman is the shape that Riggan gives his anxiety, the costume he puts on it, trying to give form to something that's entirely beyond his grasp.

He's not depressed because he's not as famous as he was, because he's grown older, or because he feels unloved and unadmired. These are just the things his depression claims as reasons because they are easy targets.

Real depression has no inherent focus, no singular triggers. Like one of those plasma globes it stretches out its feelers in all directions until it finds a surface to land and concentrate on. Easy targets, usually: feelings of loneliness, of heartbreak and loss, of insecurity and insignificance. But take those away and it will just look for other ones.

This is what Riggan learns in that hospital bathroom. The love of his family, his newly acquired flood of Twitter followers, the positive review in the Times. None of it matters. None of it solves anything.

The only solution Riggan can see is the one he has been coming back to over and over again. And while some or all of his prior attempts may have been deliberately botched because they were intended as cries for help more than definite, final acts, there is no ambiguity this time. He is done with life and done with clinging to the Birdman fantasy he used to disguise his depression with to make it seem like a slightly lesser and therefore possibly solvable problem.

Michael Keaton is not in every single scene of Birdman, but I do believe that we are experiencing things from Riggan's perspective even when he's not present. Scenes between Emma Stone and Edward Norton are at the same time projections of Riggan's fears (his daughter getting involved with the actor) and hopes (her being brought to the realization that maybe he wasn't such a bad father, after all).

Similarly, the scene between Naomi Watts and Andrea Riseborough is all about their characters needing to define themselves through his approval. It's his vision of how a conversation between them might play out - big kiss at the end and everything - just like many of the film's fantastical scenes are clearly his version of events, not what is actually happening.

And so the last shot of the movie is not the filmmakers telling us that Riggan Thomson really was Birdman all along, flying away into a happy ending.

Instead, we see what Riggan would have wanted to see: his daughter, finally appreciating the pain her father was in, and taking comfort, joy even, in the fact that he found a way out of it.

And that's the real tragedy.

---

Asking for help is never easy, and it can be devastating when even the people closest to you don't recognize how much pain you are in. Depression is a serious and complicated issue, and thankfully there are trained professionals who know how to recognize and approach it in ways friends and family just can't be expected to.

There is no shame in being depressed or suicidal.

There is no shame in seeking help.

"a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it"

Click to read more ...

Curio: Keaton and Moore's Vintage Features

Alexa here with some pre-Oscar nostalgia. As many of you know, I have quite the magazine stash in my basement: stacks of old issues that allow me to trace my various pop culture obsessions through the years. In 1989, 16-year-old me was crushing hard on Michael Keaton and was very excited about his upcoming turn as Batman. And then, in 2002, I was excitedly anticipating the adaptation of one of my favorite books, The Shipping News, starring Julianne Moore.  Hence these issues of Rolling Stone and Movieline were found in the piles.

I thought a little interview nostalgia was in order for these two arguable (yes, Redmayne) Best Actor and Best Actress frontrunners. After the jump, some excerpts...

Click to read more ...

Bradley, Benedict, Eddie, Michael and Steve. OR...

The Best Actor chart is revised for your perusal with our usual game of 'how'd they get nominated' -- especially relevant in this stacked category (sniffle goodbye Timothy Jake Fiennes-Oyelowo) -- and the readers poll of who you think is actually best.

So check that out and vote, would you?

Though I've already expressed my disappointment in the Acdemy's shortlist given the wide variety of strong performances they didn't love enough, one thing that is satisfying about it is how many first timers we have. Indeed, had they not nominated Bradley Cooper and chosen, say, Oyelowo or Spall we could have had an all virgin Best Actor lineup.

Trivia Break: there's been a lot of talk about Cooper's 3 consecutive nominations (2012-2014 for Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and American Sniper). If you're curious, no, it's not an acting record. The all time consecutive record holders for men are Marlon Brando (51-54) and Al Pacino (72-75) each with four. Neverthless Bradley is the first to accomplish it since Russell Crowe (99-01) and if he is nominated again for this new year of film we're entering he'll be tied for #1 in the male division. Greer Garson (41-45) and Bette Davis (38-42) are the all time record holders with five consecutive acting nominations each. You can wish Cooper good luck if you're a fan but four consecutive is extremely rare; the last person to do it male or female was Al Pacino in the 1970s and even Meryl Streep hasn't managed it.

Enough trivia. I hope you haven't forgotten my own kudos. Here is my ballot for Best Actor as we continue the Film Bitch Awards (nominations have now been announced for Picture, Director, Screenplays, Animated Feature, and Actor)

For what it's worth I made my selections before Oscar votes and didn't expect the final list to be so contrary to mine so this is not to be misunderstood as a pointed corrective but actual opinion. The further we get away from the heat of nomination day the more sad I am that the wondrous "Gustave H", one of the best character conjurings in years, was not selected. In fact, I think it's Ralph Fiennes most Oscar-worthy work since Schindler's List.