So You Think You Can Link?

Blog Stage says what I've been meaning to say about Rotten Tomatoe's Career-O-Matic. Why are so many websites praising it for charting actor's careers. It does no such thing!
In Contention Guy Lodge boards the Christopher Plummer Best Supporting Actor nomination train that I suspect more people will find themselves on soon. The film will need to expand and catch on more to get said train out of the station though.
Movie|Line honors 12 of Helena Bonham-Carter's craziest looks in honor of her new job as the face of Marc Jacobs.
Towleroad a few notes on Magneto's confusing sexuality and a new (singing!) Hugh Jackman film.
Go Fug Yourself Nicole Kidman at the CMAs wearing the craziest thing I've ever seen her wear.

Off Screen
Fox News --Normally I wouldn't link to them but I think this story involving BYU (my alma mater) and So You Think You Can Dance is just SO ridiculous. BYU has not loosened up at all in the past 15 years. If anything it was actually a more liberal place when I was there ... which is a frightening thought.

Mimi Rogers Would Like To Remind You...

... that The Rapture isn't all its cracked up to be. It's kind of a letdown, actually.

* This obscure joke is brought to you by 1991, twenty years prior to the "end of the world". Yes, Yes, 1991 was a ridiculously strong Best Actress year but Mimi Rogers still rocked that part, people. She really did.

Earth's Linkiest Heroes

Whedonesque okay so supposedly Joss Whedon started shooting The Avengers today. I've long said this movie will never happen so if cameras are actually rolling (do people still say that anymore with digital cameras?) and they don't stop production at some point unexpectaly I'll be totes wrong. And I'll be happy to be wrong (so long as the movie is good.)
Pajiba the ten movies people most lie about having seen when they haven't.
Movie|Line Stephanie Zacharek reveals the summer movies she's most looking forward to... even though she hates writing about trailers.
Acidemic remembered Jesus, via Franco Zefferilli, for Easter. I did such a bad job with Easter at the blog. I didn't even post a bunny picture. What's wrong with me? I'm normally such a holiday-friendly guy. Do you have a favorite Jesus portrayal from film or television?
Gold Derby looks at the possible Best Comedy Actress lineup at the Emmys. Did you know that The Lovely Laura Linney has never been defeated when nominated?
Coming Soon Johnny Depp to cameo in the 21 Jump Street movie.
FourFour writes about Lance Loud, now famous again post-humously due to HBO's Cinema Verite.
Us Magazine congratulations to TFE darling Toni Collette! She had a baby boy.

Just For Fun
My High School Boyfriend Was Gay have you seen this new humor site? Prom photos are the best for unintentional comedy. You woudn't believe mine but, no, I won't ever be sharing it.
The Awl on friendships with the unemployed.
Omaha I'm sharing this link about a tattoo artist just because of his following quote from the tattoo artist to your right on the rise of intricate realistic tattoos.

“You can put beautiful art on the body just as you can put beautiful art on the wall. I spent nine hours putting a tattoo of Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman on one guy.

Nobody loves La Pfeiffer more than me but I couldn't wear her face on my body for the rest of my days. Do any of you have tattoos? I'm squeamish about them but I'm always curious as to what motivates others to get them.

Stage and Screen: "Facing East" and "Priscilla"

I'm still trying to work up to a weekly Theater series (as related to cinema as it can be) as I know that many readers are interested in Broadway, too... but we'll see. It's difficult to branch out onto those invite lists.

To most people the news that Broadway star Will Swenson, who was so sensational as "Berger" in Hair  is going to direct a film called "Facing East" about a Mormon family dealing with their gay son's suicide is just regular pre-production movie news. To me it's college nostalgia gone wild. The universe is just refusing to let me live in the present this past month or so. So many things keep throwing me backwards in time. See, Swenson went to BYU in the 90s when I was there and he's the second alum to make me feel completely unproductive. What have I been doing with my life? First there was Aaron Eckhart, who preceded us, becoming a movie star and now Swenson, directing on top of being an amazing musical theater performer? 

I have to thank Towleroad for sharing the news but it's more than news to me; it's personal.

The writer of the play Carol Lynn Pearson was kind of a heroine for me and my friends in college because she was a (controversial) Mormon celebrity who was speaking out within the Mormon community about the LGBT struggle when people just didn't talk about it. Or talked about it in horrific ways. (I could tell you horror stories.) We all read her memoir "Goodbye I Love You" (her ex-husband, a closeted gay man, died of AIDS) and went to see her one woman monologue show "Mother Wove the Morning." I haven't seen this play "Facing East" but if anyone is familiar do share.

While it seems odd for a Broadway star to get a movie directing gig, it's not an entirely random decision. Swenson was a headline star of that brief media-blip wave of Mormon cinema in the early Aughts. He knows the subject matter and he has one directorial feature under his belt already: Sons of Provo, 2004. I only ever saw one of those "Mollywood" (teehee) features, a murder mystery called Brigham City (2001) which was okay.

Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving in PRISCILLA (1994)

Currently Swenson is headlining Priscilla on Broadway. Yes, it's based on the 1994 Oscar winner. Swenson has the Hugo Weaving role of "Mitzi", who drives the narrative with her performing gig in the outback, taken for secretive personal reasons. Nick Adams is playing the showy Guy Pearce "Felicia" part and Tony Sheldon has the best role "Bernadette" previously played by Terence Stamp to Oscar nomination worthy effect. Damn you AMPAS.

(It's weird that Broadway is colliding with Mormonism right now, huh? The Book of Mormon is all anybody wants to talk about.)

OFFSCREEN 
For what it's worth Swenson is dating the one & only Audra McDonald. McDonald has been wasting her musical talents for some years now on television in Private Practice (unless that show has become a musical against my knowledge). Then again if she's not on TV she's not going to win the EGOT and she's only an Emmy and an Oscar away. She's already got two Grammys and four Tonys!

While I'm sure her bank account thanks her for the series regular decision, voices like hers (straight up magnificent) don't come around very often. If you are anywhere near the Boston area, try to get a ticket to the reimagining of Porgy and Bess that's coming in August with McDonald headlining. It'll most likely be a true event.

The Short Films: Part III

Michael C from Serious Film here to wrap up our look at the short film categories with a tour of the Documentary shorts.

In this field we have that rarest of specimens: the genuine five-way race. I'd go so far as to put it right up there with Lead Actress as the most quality stacked category of the night. Since they are such uniformly strong contenders I'll skip the for/against format I've been using thus far and instead try to pinpoint what edge each film might have to push it ahead of the competition.

the nominees are...

KILLING IN THE NAME - USA, 39 Minutes, Dir: Jed Rothstein

Issue: Terrorism, specifically the killing of Muslims by Muslims

In 2005 Alshraf al-Khaled's wedding was interrupted by a suicide bomber who killed 27 guests including the fathers of both the bride and groom. Since then al-Khaled has devoted himself to confronting the sources of such terrorism and breaking the Muslim world's code of silence concerning Muslim on Muslim violence.

Killing in the Name makes for a powerful viewing experience. The astonishing footage it compiles includes a wrenching meeting with the father of a man responsible for one of the deadliest suicide attacks ever, an interview with an al-Queada recruiter, and, most disturbingly, al-Khaled's confrontation with a classroom full of young people indoctrinated to view these mass-murderers as heroes. Killing might be too impressive a feat of documentary filmmaking to refuse the prize.

Secret Weapon: In Alshraf al-Khaled the filmmakers have found a bona fide hero. His mission, at no small risk to himself, is equal parts inspiring and horrifying. He is the answer to every TV blowhard who seeks to paint the whole Muslim world with a single brush.

SUN COMES UP - USA, Papa New Guinea, 38 Minutes, Dir: Jennifer Redfearn

Issue: Global Warming 

Rising sea levels are slowly but surely sinking the Pacific Island paradise of Carteret. The village sends out a group of young people to the nearby war-torn island of Bougainville to see if they can find a new home for the hundreds of soon-to-be-displaced families.

Carteret Island is portrayed as a place just short of the Garden of Eden and it is heartbreaking to watch the Islanders as their worst-case scenario gradually becomes a reality. The filmmakers choose their moments well to convey the complex series of obstacles the Islanders face in their diaspora. The film is not without a few glimmers of hope at the end, but they are hard-earned and bittersweet. 

Secret Weapon: Even though all the shorts are extremely emotional (watching them back-to-back was a bit overwhelming) Sun Comes Up might just be the most touching of the lot. It is impossible not to be moved watching its inhabitants' sadness and bravery in the face of their loss. Who would have the heart to deny them the Oscar win?

THE WARRIORS OF QIUGANG - USA, 39 Minutes, Dir: Ruby Yang

Issue: Pollution, Government Corruption

The most conventional of the documentary short subjects, Warriors is the portrait of a village of simple Chinese farmers whose community is decimated by the pollution from a new factory. Their fight for change comes up against such obstacles as government corruption and threats of violence. The central figure emerges as one villager with a middle school education who becomes the reluctant leader of the cause. Teaching himself the intricacies of the law, he finds - to his own surprise as much as anyone else - that he is a formidable foe for the forces who seek to crush dissent. There are echoes of the Oscar-winning The Cove in the fight against a government aggressively trying to ignore a problem.

Secret Weapon: Scope. The familiarity of the subject matter shouldn't detract from the achievement of the filmmakers here. Not content to just point the cameras at ruined crops and hulking gray factories, they stuck with this story for years getting the full picture of the story and the society that produced it.

POSTER GIRL - USA, 38 Minutes, Dir: Sara Nesson

Issue: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the Iraq War, The Treatment of Veterans

Poster Girl looks at all its big issues through the portrait of Iraq War veteran Robynn Murray who at the age of 19 went from all-American cheerleader to hard boiled machine gunner roaming the streets of Baghdad. Now, years later, she suffers from crippling anxiety attacks, has trouble coping the memories of war time, and has to navigate a labyrinth of red tape in order to claim her disability checks.

More than any of the other entries of this field Poster Girl leaps off the screen with a burn through intensity, largely due to the riveting presence of Sgt. Robynn Murray. You seriously can't take your eyes off her as she boils with anger, crumbles in pain, and rages articulately with feelings of betrayal at the institutions she trusted. Poster Girl is a tough film to shake.

Secret Weapon:  As much as Academy members can sympathize with the plights facing poor foreigners Poster Girl is going to hit closer to home. For British and American Academy it is going to reopen a lot of wounds.

STRANGERS NO MORE - USA, 40 Minutes, Dir: Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon

Issue: Prejudice

Although the horrors of war exist constantly around the edges of Strangers No More, this is the most hopeful of the documentary shorts. Strangers tells the story of the Bailik-Rogozin school in the heart of Tel-Aviv bringing together displaced children from dozens of countries around the world many who have arrived in Israel fleeing for the lives.

Strangers is perhaps the least impressive nominee from a filmmaking standpoint. Its straight forward account of one school year unfolds pretty much how you would expect. At feature length I would say this doc needed to dig deeper into how this school came to be, but at forty minutes I think they were correct to focus on the children and their harrowing stories. It is a simple film, well executed.

Secret Weapon: All those great kids! It's difficult to overstate the emotional impact of watch a kid go in the space of a year from a wide-eyed refugee completely lost in his surroundings to a student speaking fluent Hebrew and cracking jokes with his friends. I have no doubt that will be enough to get a lot of voters to mark their ballots right then and there. 

Marking Your Oscar Pool: Since all the films can lay claim to social significance - and since there is no World War II focused doc to break the tie - the usual Oscar method of choosing the most important-seeming film won't work here. I could easily see any of the five shorts taking the prize, but forced to predict I'm going to go with the film that would be getting my vote and say Poster Girl is going to barely edge out Strangers No More and Killing in the Name and take the Oscar. All the shorts make an impression but Poster Girl is the one that really gets your heart pumping. 

Part I - Animation

Part II - Live Action