Thoughts I had looking at The Guilt Trip poster

presented without self censorship or editing as they come to me...

• Initially I kept comparing this to Something's Gotta Give (2003) as to its awards chances -- Oscar Best Actress Nominee -- and now I'm embarrassed about that and wish I had compared it to Mother (1996) -- Golden Globe Best Actress Nominee.
• Babs still gets top billing. As it should be but she hasn't made a movie in how many years?
• those Focker movies don't count.
• How much would your typical Barbra Streisand fan(atic) pay to have their cheek pinched by her? I'm guessing thousands because the prices they'll pay to see her in concert. Yeesh!
• People who do not think Barbra is a brilliant actor have not seen Funny Girl or The Way We Were. They have maybe seen Prince of Tides or Meet the Fuckers.
• Who else is in this movie? Wouldn't it be so weird if it was all Sleuth like two-hander?
• My whole life I've loved the tradition of seeing a movie on Christmas day with family & friends. But now every movie opens on Christmas and it's so annoying! I'm buried in prezzies and I'd prefer them metered out a bit.
• Do you think Abbas Kiarostami is totally dying to see this? Road trip!

At the Linkies

Devine Wrath fills out our summer report card with love for Brave and Cosmopolis among others
The Many Rantings of John also shares his summer movie crushes: Charlize's eyes, Jeremy's arms, Channing's everything...
Boy Culture Madonna endorses Obama, wears her politics on her sleeve back
PopWatch a Sex & The City for gays* called Hunting Season. *As if the original wasn't?
Cinema Blend Katey's Operation Kino podcast takes on Bachelorette. They all hated it but the discussion is interesting... the way they're forced to really grapple with their negative feelings.

Movie|Line thinks Rebel Wilson (Bachelorette, Pitch Perfect) is the most interesting person in Hollywood right now
Pajiba "the first five people I'd audition for a film about Amy Poehler & Will Arnett's marriage"
Hollywood Elsewhere Joe Wright calls Anna Karenina "a ballet with words" and claims influence from the great filmmaking team of Powell & Pressburger (The Red Shoes / Black Narcissus)
Playbill interviews Sutton Foster post Bunheads (the show has been renewed. yay!)
Awards Daily a documentary on the life of Roger Ebert by the director of his beloved Hoop Dreams. It could happen!
The Hairpin remembers Montgomery Clift's long suicide and major stardom

And finally here's the poster for David O. Russell's latest comedy (?) Silver Linings Playbook about two crazies in love.

The film is in black and white but Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence's antidepressants have been cut with melange*.

*not really

Posterized: Tony Scott (1944-2012)

As you've undoubtedly heard, director Tony Scott, youngest brother of Ridley, died Sunday after throwing himself off a bridge at the age of 68 just two years after his latest huge hit (Unstoppable). The internet was awash with morbid rumors about why (an inoperable brain cancer diagnosis chief among them) but when it comes to private struggles of the soul, you never can expect to know so we stick to the facts. Facts: A lot of people saw and liked his movies; His feature career as a director spanned from 1971's Loving Memory (not the type of movie you'd associate with his filmmaking persona) through 2010's Unstoppable (exactly the type of you'd associate with his filmmaking persona).

Tony Scott with his preferred leading man Denzel Washington. They made five films together.

Somewhere along the line I decided I wasn't interested in him as a filmmaker but not every filmmaker is for ever moviegoer (nor should they be). My disinterest was partially spurred on by a me-imposed sibling rivalry with his older brother Ridley Scott -- rather silly since Ridley and Tony worked together often and no love was ever lost. But Ridley already had two indisputable classics under his belt (Alien and Blade Runner) by the time Tony Scott was making his Hollywood debut so the die was cast. If Tony had continued making movies like The Hunger chances are I would never have tuned him out but his bread and butter... in fact his entire diet... was the kinetic multiplex-ready A list male-driven shoot em up. Not enough actresses! But looking back through his filmography brought back more memories than I expected.

How many Tony Scott pictures have you seen?

Loving Memory (1971) | The Hunger (1983) | Top Gun (1986)

The Hunger is the Scott films I've seen the most often, a favorite of my best friend's and thus in regular rotation on VHS for the first decade of its life. Bonus Points: Deneuve & Sarandon making sexploitative vampire love long before True Blood repopularized vampires as sex gods....er, devils. It was also impossible to live through the 1980s without absorbing Top Gun into your very pores (my oldest brother loved it).

more posters and memories after the jump

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Curio: Painterly Posters by Aaron Wells

Alexa here. I always enjoy a film poster that is actually painted; the eye tires of seeing only minimal vector graphics. So I love these posters I found on etsy created by freelance illustrator and painter Aaron Wells...

I think his choice of films lends itself to the painterly treatment in different ways, both through caricature and use of imagination. 

Or maybe I just like his taste. You can buy prints at his shop, and all are priced under $20! After the jump a two Darren Aronofsky gems and and The Fifth Element...

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Curio: The Dark Knight Rises, Posterized

Alexa here. It seems like anticipation for The Dark Knight Rises has been going on for years. With it has come an inevitable stream of fan poster designs that recently broke into a flood. (Riding the wave is Mondo, the indie press affiliated with Austin's Alamo Drafthouse, which recently showcased some Dark Knight Rises posters at Comic-con, including this stunner by Olly Moss.) I've been reveling in my own excitement (yes, I have my tickets already) by sifting through the multitudes to choose my favorites. The lack of strong designs featuring Hathaway's Selina Kyle has been disappointing; I'm hoping this will change once the film is released.  Here's what I've culled from the masses.

Design by Paul Shipper.

Pulp version by Shaun Watson.Click for more...

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