You Must Be My Linky Star

In Contention goodbye to the goodcity. In Contention's head honcho leaves NYC for LA. He tried it for a year. (I'd kind of like to do this in reverse as I could never leave NYC for good.)
EOnline Ethan Hawke regrets his marriage to Uma Thurman, thinks men shouldn't marry before 28 years of age
Buzzfeed the ultimate Mean Girls alphabet is made of rainbows and smiles
Buzzfeed 26 reasons why Grease 2 is better than Grease (I do not agree with the thesis but I heart the argument
Mental Floss 11 things you never see in movie theaters anymore
Animation Mag possible sci-tech awards for Oscar this year. But what I wanna know is which actress will host it people. Guess in the comments! 

How Did You Celebrate Madonna's Birthday Yesterday?
I listed my opinion of her best "acting" and I listened to a million songs by the queen. I also read a few blogposts celebrating her special day my favorite of which by far was this one at Flavorwire which stereotypes you by your favorite Madonna song.

I went straight to my two favorites...

“Like a Prayer”
Potentially lapsed Catholics.
“Erotica”
People who have the “vintage” tab on RedTube bookmarked in their browser. 

...which just made me cackle and those aren't even the funniest ones. I especially LOL'ed at  "La Isla Bonita," "Who's That Girl" and "Express Yourself." It's a must read if you love Her Madgesty.

Finally...
Why don't you vote in more of our polls? I see the stats. There are way more of you than are voting in the polls! Insert Gentle Grumbling At You! Rather than polling you about why you're not joining in on the fun (perhaps your fingertips are too sensitive for clicking?) I'll just remind you that we have polls running like these...

 

Click 2 vote!

Bloggy Action: Sea of Linkage

MNPP Gratuitous Douglas Booth, your new Romeo (of the forthcoming Romeo and Juliet)
PopWatch cute comic strips on the making of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
In Contention a new possible awards player this November: The Book Thief, a Holocaust drama with Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush
Natasha VC likes plus size Twilight art
Comic Book Movie even though I'm sick of the X-Men, I keep posting about the new stills. It's a sickness! I blame Hugh Jackman who looks pretty great in 70s pants. 

Pajiba shares a sweet vid of Idina Menzel & Taye Diggs singing a Wicked tune for fans while trying not to wake the baby. I've never liked Idina more!
/Film on the Orca doc Blackfish and the trouble it's causing the Nemo sequel Finding Dory
Towleroad Laverne Cox speaks out about her life as a transactress on Orange is the New Black 

Weekend Must Read
Film School Rejects "But why can't I urinate in my seat at the movies?" Scott Beggs one-ups the Onion with this hilarious self-righteous bit o' satire about the collapsing social etiquette of moviegoing. Everyone I know was tweeting this the past couple of days and with good reason. If by chance you haven't read it, go now.

Broken Record
Cinema Blend on the cast of Expendables 3. I don't understand big movie site headlines anymore. First "exclusive" lost all its meaning. Now "Confirmed". The title reads that Mel Gibson is confirmed and the text says he is "in talks". These are not the same things.

Anyway, I won't be interested in this franchise until they include more women or start mixing it up director-wise like the James Bond films for some extra flair. Many people are quick to say that there just aren't that many female action stars but these manys are just not paying attention. There are plenty who are in the huge age range these movies employ (anywhere between 23 and 67!!!) and who have fuller or more accomplished action roles than, say, Kellan Lutz (who will be in film 3) or Liam Hemsworth (who was in film 2). We did a Cast This once about this and the possibilities are endless: Pam Grier, Carrie-Anne Moss, Uma Thurman, Sandahl Bergman, Daryl Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Linda Hamilton, Brigitte Nielsen, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Liu, Rebecca Romijn. You could go on and on. My dream cast would also include statuesque Sandahl Bergman (Conan The Barbarian, All That Jazz, numerous B movies) since I'm betting you she can still high-kick at 62 (dancers' bodies, y'know) and she hasn't acted in a really long time.

Movies in the Movies

Thanks to reader Pam for pointing on this video. This is one of the best-shaped and edited montages I've ever seen on YouTube. A must see if you love movies about movies...

...and who doesn't that's reading this blog! 

What did I miss?

This is the entry to a kino here in Norway. My friends didn't let me go in *sniffle* Be back to NYC and thus movies tonight. What did I miss these past ten days? Fill me in! What have you been seeing?

The Dirty Secret of Spring Breakers

Hi everyone, Tim here; you may know me from my film review blog Antagony & Ecstasy, from my dogged commitment to the Film Experience’s own Hit Me with Your Best Shot or you may not have the damnedest idea who I am and don’t care. But I’m going to be with you on Thursdays for at least a little while now, with a weekly column, where we’ll talk about… well, that’s the trick, isn’t it? Movie stuff. Whatever seems to be interesting about the new movies poking their heads around that particular week: something particular about the way a movie was put together, or conceived, or, in this case, sold.

The dirty secret of the film industry is that it exists to be profitable. It actually does good to be reminded of that, because even in the case of the costliest, sprawlingest tentpole movies, we tend to act like that the filmmakers are our buddies, or some such; but it’s true of even the most independent-minded, anti-commercial cinema that it’s actually supposed to make some sort of money. Sad as it is to think, even microbudget indies that cost fractions of pennies by movie budget standards are still wildly expensive by actual human being standards, and if they constantly hemorrhage money, then it would be impossible to keep making them.

All of which is to say: I truly don’t begrudge Annapurna Pictures the right to turn a profit on Spring Breakers, more...

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