Linksmith

New York Social Diary RIP gossip columnist Liz Smith. I grew up reading her syndicated column *sniffle* This link is a remembrance of her by Denis Ferrara who was a very close friend and collaborator on her column
Esquire the ten best comedies of the year including Ingrid Goes West, Thor Ragnarok, Girls Trip, and Lady Bird
Independent Firing Kevin Spacey from House of Cards might be more difficult than Netflix thought, legally speaking
Awards Daily the case for Michelle Pfeiffer. Give her her damn Oscar already
Variety Zendaya is doing a film about the first African-American woman to graduate from Vassar (who passed as white to do so). It's called A White Lie

Deadline Wonder Woman 2 has moved to a November 1st 2019 release and Gal Gadot, contrary to reports over the weekend, is already locked in to star. Patty Jenkins will direct again. We hope there's no sophomore slump because the first one was so damn enjoyable/inspiring
Variety keeps us updated with what's going on with Martin Scorsese's The Irishman which Netflix will stream. Variety, perhaps for click-bait purposes, acts like the theatrical release is in doubt but it is surely not; Scorsese would never sign a contract that doesn't give him at least some theatrical distribution so expect the usual limited release that no one goes to in theaters because its' also streaming for free on Netflix situation (upcoming with Mudbound)
IndieWire Denis Villeneuve might direct Bond 25 but right now a relaunch of Dune is still his priority
YouTube new trailer for The Greatest Showman. It's basically the old trailer with a couple more dialogue clips thrown in and some less tuneful than "This Is Me" song that Jackman is talk/singing. I'm still dying to see it because musicals for life, don'cha know
/Film Quentin Tarantino's next movie is about the year of 1969 rather than the Charles Manson murders as previously reported. Let's hope it's better than that 1988 film 1969 which starred Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr

Off Screen
Damn Joan a Barbie doll funeral
Vulture every Taylor Swift song ever, ranked. Fun read even though i think it's silly and click-baity to claim "Look What You Made Me Do" is the worst song she ever wrote
Theater Mania 11 Asian-American shows on stages this season across the country
Playbill Lin-Manuel Miranda's ongoing effort to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurrican Maria

Exit Videos
If only more directors could find a way to harness Kate Beckinsale's natural wit in movies. This video made me LOL so much. Watch every second of it, please. Below that is a Justice League if it were made in the 80s "opening credits" sequence. Cute and weirdly plausible which I'm not sure is a compliment to the movie which is about to open.

❤️ @lily_sheen 😘

A post shared by Kate Beckinsale (@katebeckinsale) on Nov 11, 2017 at 9:30pm PST

Link Roundup

NYT Dan Kois profiles 'the loose screw rattling around inside the Marvel machine,' director Taika Waititi as Thor Ragnarok approaches
Film Stage Murtada interviews the director of Senegal's Oscar submission Félicité
TFE ...which you may recall he raved about right here.
Variety Jamie Foxx and Anthony Mackie will star in a Johnny Cochran biopic (Mackie as Cochran) with Taylor Hackford directing
Guardian can Michael Fassbender survive his string of flops?

Coming Soon The Seagull starring The Bening and Saoirse Ronan will be distributed by Sony Pictures Classic next year
ScriptNotes John and Craig welcome female screenwriters Daley Haggar and Dara Resnik to discuss the possible Post-Weinstein era in Hollywood
The New Yorker Harvey Weinstein's cameo in a 2005 animated movie for Mattel
My New Plaid Pants five photos of rising French actor Rabah Nait Oufella
My New Plaid Pants 'do, dump, or marry' on Greg McLean's Jungle with Daniel Radcliffe
Streamline on William Wyler's now-underdiscussed Wuthering Heights (1939)
Awards Daily Still no Best Picture frontrunner this late in season? (I personally love the more unpredictable years)
Tracking Board Netflix trailer for a western series Godless starring Jeff Daniels and Jack O'Connell and a mysterious town of all women
Variety Ben Mendelsohn eyeing the villain role in Marvel's Captain Marvel

LGBT
Towleroad a step-by-step sculpture of Freddie Mercury
Metro John Boyega is still being asked questions about whether Poe and Finn are gay for each other in Star Wars
Gr8er Days There's a documentary coming about the gay actor who starred in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

RIP
EW Actor Robert Guillaume, best known for his classic "Soap" character Benson (so popular he spun off into an even more popular series "Benson") but whose career hit all three acting mediums has died at 90.
Browbeat Legendary musician Fats Domino has died

i know all there is to know about the linking game... 🎵

Your host (c'est moi, Nathaniel) is weeks behind his movie game. So here's part 1 of a massive link roundup to try to catch up. Twenty-five mini stories in this one, let's go...

EW celebrates Idris Elba on their cover
The Vulture a profile of the screenwriter of The Post who was inspired to write it after reading Katherine Graham's memoir "Personal History" Meryl Streep will play Graham in the film (which is not based on that memoir but on one event in Graham's career.)
Awards Daily laments that big box office hits like Get Out and Wonder Woman are not considers shoo-in for Best Picture nominations
Variety Darren Aronofsky tapped as keynote speaker for next spring's SXSW festival
The Hollywood Reporter Disney is not moving forward with its Jack and the Beanstalk animated film named Gigantic
Playbill Glee's Lea Michele finally met Barbra Streisand
People Dan Amboyer who plays the twin of Hilary Duff's deceased fiance on Younger (long story) has come out as gay
Mirror Rob Collier believes his gay under-butler role on Downton Abbey has made it difficult for him to find other roles

More after the jump including  Weinstein harassment fallout, agressive Netflix recommendations, Jonathan Groff's penchant for singing on set, and more...

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Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017)

by Nathaniel R

Jeanne Moreau in BAY OF ANGELS (1963)

The greatest French New Wave icon Jeanne Moreau has passed away at 89 years of age. I didn't immediately understand the fuss over her in my earliest years of cinephila. That's no reflection on the silver screen goddess herself but rather a byproduct of my uncommon disinterest in François Truffaut's classic Jules et Jim (1962) in which Moreau is the object of both titular men's affections. That movie reliably excites almost everyone who shares the affliction of cinephilia so I can't say why it did so little for me!

But one day, nine years ago, my dear friend Vern who had been experiencing back pain and whose wife was off travelling somewhere brought over Bay of Angels (1963) for me to watch...

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Sam Shepard (1943-2017)

by Eric Blume

Sam Shepard in the early days of fame

Although it’s been well over a decade since we’ve had a major contribution from Sam Shepard, his death yesterday at age 73 feels momentous.  He’s our only American playwright to have won a Pulizer Prize as a writer and then gone on to an Oscar nomination for his acting.  He was a symbol of masculinity and a man of great mystery...   

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