"Knowing Jack, it might be some pretend place"

Intelligent Life effortless performances. Oscar don't like 'em
TV Line Looking gets a second season. The great supporting cast (save Scott Bakula. Hmmm) promoted to "series regular" - this is terrific news. The show isn't necessarily great but it's good and a lot of great shows only finally harness their true potential in Season 2. 
Cinema Blend Netflix & Marvel's Daredevil series is starting production this summer. I've always felt that superheroes belong more on the small screen (it's more episodic like comic books) so I'm totally excited for this. And also because the movie was so dreadful. The only way is up.

In Contention Martin Scorsese and shifts in Oscar for the past decades
krupyeahstephensondheim this hilariously titled tumblr has a surely bootlegged snippet of Meryl Streep singing in Into the Woods
Playbill first look at Disney's Aladdin on Broadway
Hollywood Reporter Sandra Bullock's pay day for Gravity now over $70 million... probably heading towards $100 when all is said and done. Wow.
Yahoo Movies Anna Kendrick says musicals "are f***king hard" and needs a break from them. She's got three of them coming out in the next 12 months or so (a career pivot we've discussed before). 

me me me
Deadline Ava Duvernay of the great Middle of Nowhere will be directing the new Martin Luther King bio Selma starring David Oyelowo. This is all kinds of great news for two talents TFE has been rooting for for the past couple of years. (You may remember I talked to David Oyelow briefly at the Critics Choice Awards and he loves that movie. As well he should)
Multimedia Composition This is one of the nicest compliments I've ever been paid. College students are learning to be better critical thinkers about the movies with my Hit Me With Your Best Shot series as inspiration. Please to note. Details on Season 5 of "Hit Me" are coming this weekend! Any suggestions?
VF Hollywood & Awards Daily Oscar bloggers talk about predicting the big race. Wish I'd been invited but it sounds like they had an interesting conversation even without my genius

finally...
if you haven't yet read about this conversation Anne Hathaway had about Brokeback Mountain you must. She credits that telephone call scene with her entire career. Yes!  That movie is so perfect. Across the board perfect. 

Interlinker

The New Republic Mark Harris interviewed on the politics of movies and Oscar races
Guardian Meryl Streep joins the period drama Suffragette as feminist icon Emmeline Pankhurst. The film stars Carey Mulligan with Helena Bonham-Carter and Romola Garai in the supporting cast (but it sounds like Streep's got a glorified cameo)
Dissolve a graphic designer looks at Her 

Gurus of Gold if you haven't checked out the charts lately, you should. David Poland has posted "if we could sway the Academy and there's not much time left to do so. 
Daily Beast Michael Musto talks to an Oscar voter about how friendliness at luncheons affects his vote and how scandals don't  
MNPP on the bad wigs in Bryan Singer movies. Ugh. Quicksilver, one of my favorite characters, looks just atrocious
Twitter an account sharing Top Gun scene by scene... almost frame by frame. LOL
TFE have you voted on our recent polls? Bette Midler? Beauty vs. Beast: Hustle? Who you want to win the pic & acting Oscars?
Josh Cooley a Pixar artist does really fun cartoons of R rated movies, like this one from Psycho...

Moving Picture Blog classy low-key Oscar campaigning from Jeremy Irons circa 1991. An SNL classic
First Showing talks to Matthew McConaughey about the ambitions of Interstellar 
Slate great piece on that makeover moment at the tale end of Frozen's "Let it Go" -- that's the only part I don't like myself and this is exactly why!

Exit Vids
The Onion nails it again while talking Netflix. This is exactly what I use Netflix for though I pay a lot more than $5 a month! Also the "Kid Oscars"... I think the Captain Phillips one is best because methinks it's funnier when kids adlib rather than read dialogue.

Sundance / Netflix Instant: 'Mitt' Stays on the Surface

Here's a leftover from Sundance that's also playing on Netflix Instant - Michael Cusumano on "Mitt".   

In one scene from Greg Whiteley’s documentary about the two failed presidential runs of the former governor of Massachusetts, Romney complains bitterly about Candy Crowley's interference in the second debate, which led to the infamous “Please proceed, Governor” moment. According to Mitt it was not the moderator’s place to comment or press the candidate for answers.

Click to read more ...

Dr Linkgood

Yahoo attends a Hobbit fan event and discovers that Gandalf has a potty mouth
Movies.com inspired by the return of Chris Hemsworth as "Thor" they must ask "what's the best movie starring a man with long blonde hair?" Duh! It's a tie between the complete filmography of Brad Pitt and The Legolas of the Rings trilogy starring Orlando Bloom's Youth.
Deadline now here's a biopic we weren't expecting: Hair metal band Motley Crue to get the bio (of sorts) from the director of Bad Grandpa.

Atlantic Wire the Emmys weren't enough. Netflix wants an Oscar and scoops up hot documentary The Square (reviewed right here) relabelling it a 'Netflix Original' 
In Contention Nebraska in a double bill with Paper Moon for old timey charm? Yes please. 
AV Club why Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero failed 20 years ago and why it needs to be rediscovered  
Playbill Sadie Sadie Married Lady! Congratulations to the fabulous Megan Hilty (Smash) who just got hitched. 
i09 Benedict Cumberbatch surprises Harrison Ford with a pretty great Chewbacca impression 

Today's Watch
Awesome Greta Gerwig dances her way through this awesome new video "Afterlife" from Arcade Fire, directed by Spike Jonze 

Stop Trying to Make Link Happen

Next Movie can you recite all of Mean Girls in half an hour? This guy in a pink shirt can. 
AV Club Netflix knows you're lying about all those highbrow films you claim you watch!
Pop Matters this is a pretty great interview with Courtney Love about her short but fascinating career as an actress with The People Vs Larry Flynt as its focus
The Playlist Woody Allen needs the right idea for his eventual "shot in Sweden" film -- he's already done his Bergman riff (Interiors) so what could he do? 
Dark Horizons on how they're filming Quicksilver (Evan Peters) super-speed for the new X-Men flick 

Playbill It looks like Clint Eastwood's A Star is Born has been shoved aside for a different musical he's interested in since he's set to start filming his take on Jersey Boys later this month. Several cast members have been plucked from the stage show including Tony winning John Lloyd Young
Empire a new Legolas still from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (I shudder every time I type that title. Such a horrible title) 
Esquire What I've Learned: Woody Allen Edition

YouTube you've heard that 8 year old Nicki Minaj-addict Sophia Rose Grace got the Little Red Riding Hood role in Into the Woods right? This furthers my wariness about the movie.  That's actually kind of a tricky part which is usually cast older since uh... her whole plot is kind of a sexual metaphor
Coming Soon filming began today on Black Sea, the latest from Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) an treasure-hunt thriller starring Jude Law
In Contention reminds that This is Martin Bonner comes out this week. I thought it was already out but no matter. Go see it. It's good.
MovieWeb a television series based on The Exorcist may be on the way. No word on what happened to the previous series based on The Exorcist (from Martha Marcy May Marlene's Sean Durkin) that was supposed to be heading our way.