We Should Read "The Paperboy"

Herewith a few notes on the newly released poster for The Paperboy which looks good enough to... read. The movie is about a reporter (Matthew McConaughey) and his troubled brother (Zac Efron) investigating a death row inmate (John Cusack) who is involved in a steamy correspondence with a femme fatale (Nicole Kidman).

Is Zac Efron sending me a personal message by working with La Pfeiffer & Nic' back to back? 

        [plugs ears] lalalalalalalala ican'thearyou

I was once a paperboy. It's true. For years! Paperboys have gone the way of the milk man but when I was a kid this was a common job for suburban boys and girls to have. Then you'd do your collecting and spend all your hard-earned quarters at the arcade.

Nicole Kidman looks trashy delishusssss. Love the lusty smirk, like she's going to eat Zac right up --  not for his pleasure (!) but just to wield her own sexual power. Billing is always an interesting matter. If you can't be first, be last. Or rather "AND..." last. So Matthew & Nic' win.

Speaking of billing... I find it kind of interesting that the poster preferences the novelist and screenwriter above the Oscar nominated Lee Daniels (Precious) like it's a subliminal reminder of how great Precious was. Implied titles  The Paperboy: Based on the Novel "The Paperboy" by Pete Dexter.

I think the color scheme is really helping. It's like the movie is summertime hot but someone left the paperback on the beach and it got all washed out. The retro craze for teaser posters is really on, isn't it? Just like the retro craze is really on onscreen (at least three of the Best Picture hopefuls). I suppose ANYTHING is better than dread contemporary poster aesthetics: big floating movie star heads or those imagination-prison horizontal stripes. This poster manages to include all the stars (if that's McConaughey out of focus but I can never recognize him with his shirt on) without resorting to the stripes at all. Well, except for that last insert of John Cusack's threatening eyeliner. But even that plays like a fun "to be continued" comic book panel.

If the movie is as good as this poster, I shall write it steamy letters from my apartment prison.

I think we should read the novel while we wait for this because you know Lee Daniels isn't a copy & paste kind of director but someone who likes to play with visuals.  Who is with me? If so, say so... we need lots of blog projects to do it up real big like for 2012 before the apocalypse.

Linker by the Dozen

Philadelphia Weekly offers up 6 family films that would draw the ire of the far right in the wake of Fox's ridiculous Muppets bashing.
Coming Soon Another pic of Daniel Day-Lewis from the set of Lincoln, this time with Steven Spielberg
TOH on Matt Damon vs. Tony Gilroy in GQ, hurt feelings around the Bourne franchise.
Guardian David Thomson's ode to Jeremy Renner 

The Cut chooses 11 surprisingly stylish celebrities of 2011
Monkey See 20 Unhappiest People in the Comments Section of Year End Lists. Teehee
Pajiba thinks the teaser poster to Prometheus looks familiar.
Slant Oscar Prospects: Midnight in Paris
Bernardin Could Netflix revive Firefly? It's wishful thinking but thinking wishfully is fun.
Critical Condition "Hush up and watch the Artist" 
Tom Shone why the Globes are better than the Oscars. 

So the HFPA love their stars! What sinful wretches! To survey the history of the Golden Globes is to enter a fragrant Arcadia where all the great Oscar howlers of the last 30 years simply didn't happen. Where E.T. smushes Gandhi, Brokeback Mountain kicks Crash to the curb, and The Social Network roundly thrashes The King's Speech."

@MarkWassmer posted this fine mashup of the latest superhero posters. I haven't posted either previously because their über seriouness drained all joy from my inner child.

I miss superhero pictures that loved color and fun like the original Spider-Man or the original Superman or even X2. Damn you Chris Nolan! ;) I reallydon't want my superheroes looking like they could just meander over to the set of a Clint Eastwood picture and fit right into the I'm A Serious Movie near black and white aesthetics.

Top Ten o' the Day - Dennis Dermody at Paper Mag
Begins by calling The Tree of Life a "psychedelic turd" and moves on to one of the year's most immature and sloppy pictures (Kaboom) so I don't know how seriously to take it but I like the second sentence on Melancholia a lot.

 I feel slightly guilty enjoying the spoils of Von Trier's ongoing depression."

The Scarlet Linker

Hollywood Reporter on the highlights from the Gotham Awards. Patton Oswalt and Elizabeth Olsen were apparently big hits.
Tom Shone Best Performances of 2011. Love this fluid quick take annual feature.
I Need My Fix Is Christopher Meloni joining True Blood for Season Five? Could that show possibly contain yet more explosive sexiness?
GQ interviews director Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows) and yes he actually talks about Madonna and the divorce.... which...
Lainey Gossip has an interesting take on what he means when he says "I'm glad I made money" in the interview with which I would totally agree if that's what I was sure he meant. But it seems highly interpretable to me. Maybe that's not what he meant at all. 
Stale Popcorn Glenn speaks out on Meryl Streep's anti-auteur tendencies and what's going on with the quest for that third Oscar. Good piece.

Coming Soon Lizard concept art from The Amazing Spider-Man 
Alt Screen get yourself to Film Forum over the next two months and bone up on the silent film masterpieces they're showing.
Liz Smith shares a funny e-mail from showbiz widow Tita Cahn about J. Edgar.

Worst line ever spoken between two men in a movie -  'will you be my number two?' "

Hee. That's just one piece of it.

Telegraph TFE friend Tim Robey pays tribute to the one and only Ken Russell, remembering their last encounter at a screening of The Devils. 
Perez Hilton Wow. Apparently Meryl Streep donated her Iron Lady salary to the National Women's History Museum
Movielicious offers up this poster comparison, Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War (which I'm not hearing good things about) and Angelina Jolie's In the Land of Blood and Honey (which I am).

Hmmmm... 

My New Plaid Pants Have you heard about this reboot of The Munsters. I'm trusting JA to keep me informed as he's knowledgable on all things Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls) one of the best and most idiosyncratic TV minds out there.
MTV Charlize Theron's 2011 Tour of Comedic Movie Star Amazement continues whilst discussing Snow White and the Hunstman.

I haven't really worked with [Kristen]. I've done some small things with her, but we're about to shoot our big showdown, and fingers crossed for me. It's the big battle. I'm just really, really, really hoping I get to kill her. That is how the story ends up, right?"

[For more on her awesome Tour of Tours check out the Actress Roundtable post and the DGA screening of Young Adult.]

Finally...

 Movie|Line has a great interactive Shame map. You can follow Brandon's ritual around the city. It beats an expensive trip to the Museum of Sex here in NYC. 

"Open Up and Say... 'AAAAaaahhhvengers'"

I find these very disturbing all lined up like so...

Shouldn't the letters read Avengers when it's in banner form -- it's the exact right amount of characters -- and  a simple logoriffic "A" when it's not. Otherwise it's all "say AAAAAAaaaaaahhhhh"

Please note that ScarJo is the only player who gets a butt shot. That's part of the whole gender typing superhero sexualization disparity thing as seen here and here.

God of Linkage

A Socialite Life This is not Kate Winslet (to your left). This is Kate Winslet's new wax figure at Madame Tussauds. They went so recent what with the choice of that Emmy dress.
Vulture Stephen Dorff always gives great interview. He's mouthing off about chest hair and nipples on the set of Immortals. He said no to man-breasts for his workout regimen.
IMP Awards as predicted Carnage couldn't keep that brilliantly loud and colorful French poster look. Instead it had to go completely generic and dullsville for American audiences. Do NOT let your movie look like a unique experience; no one will buy tickets! 

The Wrap Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson and Tom Fucking Waits (!) will star in Martin McDonagh's new action comedy Seven Psychopaths. Eeep, love the cast, love McDonagh (Six Shooter, In Bruges). Make it be good! Please make it be good.
Deadline Jake Abel may be the male lead opposite Saoirse Ronan in The Host. They both appeared in The Lovely Bones.
The Playlist Elizabeth Olsen and Glenn Close to team up for Therese Raquin. Wasn't Kate Winslet supposed to do that once onscreen? The first time helmer is Charlie Stratton who will also write the screenplay.
MNPP [NSFW] doubles up on love for Dominic Cooper in The Devil's Double

and Ugh. How cute are these new We Bought a Zoo posters?

They make me want to love the movie muchly even though I pretty much hated the trailer.

small screen
Vulture Glee's Sue Sylvester Problem. Good piece. It's still a wildly inconsistent show three seasons in. 
Tyler Shields shoots the cast of the best new drama on television, Revenge.

I'm so addicted to this show. Are you watching? But I'm mostly addicted for the magnificent throwback performance from Madeleine Stowe (not pictured) rather than the hottish men so don't let this shot fool you. That said I ♥  Gabriel Mann, far left, who I've always liked as an actor but never to quite this extent. Speaking of... I did not see his recent plot twist coming at all.

P.S. I can't get over how Ashton Holmes (not pictured) looks nothing like he did as Viggo's son in A History of Violence. I barely recognize him six years later.