La Pfeiffer and the Original Song Oscar Race

by Nathaniel R

Here's some rather surprising news: Michelle Pfeiffer sings the closing credits song of Murder on the Orient Express. The song is called "Never Forget" which we never in danger of doing for anything Pfeiffer. Though opinions vary about how well the goddess sings, we personally love it when she croons. Case in point: Grease 2 (1982), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Prince of Egypt (1998), and Hairspray (2007). Listen it's not her fault that her character in Up Close and Personal (1996) was supposed to be a bad singer or that "Miss Baltimore Crabs" is Hairspray's worst song!

"Never Forget" is written by two-time Oscar nominee Patrick Doyle, a regular on Kenneth Branagh films, who also composes the score. La Pfeiffer is, of course, not the sort who would deign to sing in front of the whole world on Oscar night so they will reassign the vocals if the song is nominated.

Regardless the Original Song category is beginning to show its possible contenders so we've updated that chart and still suspect the leader is The Greatest Showman's catchy "This Is Me" - which was recently performed in NYC by Keala Settle & Darren Criss.

We eagerly await the full eligibility list of 80ish songs we've never heard from 40 movies we've heard of and 20 movies we didn't know existed before this always surprising list hits. 

Beauty Break: Michelle Pfeiffer's Cover Girl Comeback

by Nathaniel R

Hollywood's greatest blonde is back after a way-too-long hiatus and she's the covergirl for both Variety for their Women in Hollywood issue and in the "Edit" insert of Net-a-Porter for their "white" issue (the clothing trend not the race!). And with these fine profiles / interviews come photos. So let's share beautiful portraiture and the best quotes after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Podcast: Battle of the Sexes, Beach Rats, and mother!

Nathaniel, Nick, Joe and Chris try and catch up with movies the podcast hasn't covered

Index (42 minutes)
00:01 Battle of the Sexes
12:00 mother!, interpretations, Q & A culture
28:30 Michelle Pfeiffer and Darren Aronofsky
34:00 Beach Rats
39:15 silliness and sign-offs

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

"the sink's not braced yet!"

Tweetweek: Michelle & Miscellania

For this final* edition of Tweetweek, something more focused. Every once in a blue moon (okay, totally frequently) I do a search for "Michelle Pfeiffer" on twitter just to see what people are saying. It probably won't surprise you to hear that in the Off Years of her career, which are most years given how infrequently she works, it tends to be references to Grease 2, Scarface, and her iconic Catwoman with a light seasoning of other famous movies tossed into the mix.

Lately it's been mostly mother! and we're here for the web's enthusiasm about the RePfeiffal. I mean even RuPaul felt the need to chime in. We wish his prediction hadn't felt so quickly like wishful thinking (given the cold slap of audience response to the difficult movie) but it's not for lack of a great performance!

More Pfeiffer and a few random other topics after the jump like the Kingsman  franchise, Jessica Chastain's ubiquity, and Victoria & Abdul's leading man...

Click to read more ...

Review: Darren Aronofsky's "mother!"

This review contains mild spoilers from the first half of the film since everything is essentially a spoiler given the cryptic promotions. The review was previously published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad. 

“Baby?” is the first line spoken in Darren Aronofsky’s new film mother!  but not its first image. The film begins with a defiant girl burning in a house consumed by fire. Javier Bardem collects a gem from the ashes. He places it on a shelf with other less brilliant but similar gems and we watch as the house restores itself from blackened ash. What to make of this rebirth… or is it a timelapse reversal of the destruction? Are we seeing the future or the past?

Cut to Jennifer Lawrence, waking up suddenly in bed. Where is her husband?

Baby?

While Lawrence is the star she’s a cypher-like presence in this particular film (new for her) a mostly passive figure to whom the action happens... We learn very little about her marriage besides the fact that he is a writer and she spends her time restoring their massive home.

Then a knock on the door…

Click to read more ...