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Entries in RIP (235)

Wednesday
Jun192013

James Gandolfini (1961-2013)

Like the rest of the world I was stunned to hear that James Gandolfini died suddenly earlier today of a stroke while vacationing in Italy. He was only 51 and there was every reason to believe that more great work was ahead of him since male character actors of great reknown can work for as long as they'd like really in Hollywood's male-centric world.

My most recent fond memories of the actor were the gentle surprise of his comic timing when we meet him in a frisky scene in In the Loop (2009) in which he flirts with Karen Clark (Mimi Kennedy) by joking about bestiality

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Monday
May272013

R.I.P. "Smash"

Smash, age 2, passed away on Sunday May 26th, 2013 at an undisclosed location at NBC after airing its final two-part episode "The Nominations" and "The Tony Awards". Few were there to mark its passing due to its long and quite unamusing terminal illness. Smash's difficult short life was plagued by self-sabotage, and two unfortunately common showbiz ailments: Actress Dysmorphia Disorder, in which everyone pretends that a gifted actress is NOT awesome so as to place another lesser being on a pedestal, and the no less deadly Audience Prosopagnosia in which a piece of showbiz believes it is performing for a different audience entirely than the one it's got.

Smash, television's first and now only Broadway musical series, was born on February 6th, 2012 to stubborn scarf-aficionado Theresa Rebeck but wrestled away from her and placed in the care of foster parents who, from all filmed evidence, had never set foot inside a Broadway theater, never witnessed a Tony Awards telecast and prefer American Idol Results Shows to Broadway Musicals. 

In its final death rattle on Sunday night, Smash continued to exhibit all of its usual signs of self-loathing and  mental illness: oh look another "Cute" moment about leaving your cel phone on during live theater!; oh look a lame subplot suggesting the show's best actress should chuck aside her showbiz career the second she's earned it; oh look, more encouraging of absolutely unprofessional behavior to get your way in your profession as if everyone working in musical theater is a complete sociopath and everyone else is okay with this!). In its final two hours of life Smash drifted in and out of consciousness and lucidity forgetting it was a musical and then remembering and even breaking the fourth wall (during one bizarre gay flirtation) on the way to its "Big Finish", a cute reminder that McPhee & Hilty did always sound good singing together, despite all the rest.

In the tradition of all self-immolating entertainments, Smash will be buried with the careers of several of its participants though these names are as yet undisclosed and mourners are asked to withhold petitions calling for Katharine McPhee, Jeremy Jordan, and Joshua Safran's entombment. Smash is survived by Megan Hilty (aka "Ivy Lynn"), actress, Christian Borle & Debra Messing (aka "Will & Grace" "Tom & Julia"), actors, and presumably by Anjelica Huston, diva, who survived Jack Nicholson and is rumored to be indestructible.

Thursday
May022013

Link 15 

New York Times Deanna Durbin, juvenile Oscar winner and 30s/40s star, has died
Rope of Silicon the first suggestive poster for Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac ...
Nymphomaniac ...which also now has an official website
Us Weekly Reese Witherspoon talks about her arrest and taking responsibility for the crazy 
People Seth Rogen's mancrush on Zac Efron. I'm wondering what the "expletive" was but FWIW Zac is "very veiny" 
DP/30 David Poland talks to actress Alicia Witt
NPR the music from The Great Gatbsy (2013) 
Empire Logan Lerman joining Brad Pitt in the WW II tank thriller Fury 

All Superheroes All The Time. Must Be Summer
Vulture a practical guide to not hating Gwyneth Paltrow in Iron Man Three. This is amusing but Gwynnie is actually wonderful in the movie. Take that! 
YouTube a teaser for The Wolverine that I like more than that big trailer
The Playlist Quicksilver & The Scarlet Witch confirmed (sort of) for The Avengers 2. I'm confident that Joss Whedon can do right by witches (duh!) so yes, please. 
Movieline A sweded Iron Man Three parody from Thailand 

(Sort of) Off Cinema
The Stranger an excellent and funny piece about professional basketball's first coming out by heterosexual filmmaker Sherman Alexie (Smoke Signals, The Business of FancyDancing
ValleyWag an oblivious startup party from AirBnB themed on The Great Gatsby 
In Contention this is a few days old but fun. President Obama as Daniel Day Lewis as President Obama 

How Had I Never Seen This?
Meryl Streep with Adam Guettel ("Rain") 

As a lifelong Streep fan and also someone who loves Adam Guettel -- some of you may remember I recently saw him do a rare live performance -- how had I never even heard of this collaboration? Or is my memory going already? Thanks to TFE Reader Rene for pointing this out to me in the last Meryl post.

 

Thursday
Apr112013

Annette Funicello (RIP)

Tim Brayton here again. With the cinephile world still reeling from the passing of irreplaceable film critic Roger Ebert a few days before, and The Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher’s death the same day sucking up every available scrap of oxygen in the news cycle, the loss of Annette Funicello on 4 April to the MS that had forced her into retirement over two decades ago was generally reported as a sort of afterthought. A sad thing, but not remotely surprising, and not of particular importance in the grand scheme of things.

While it is true that Funicello’s death doesn’t represent the end of an epoch in quite the same as Ebert’s, it’s still worth stopping and reflecting on her career and what it represents. 

more

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Friday
Apr052013

At the Linkies

It's been ages since I had a moment for a link & news roundup so here you go. If you've already read some of these I apologize for my tardiness. If not, enjoy them.

Big Screen
Huffington Post I have to give Peggy Siegal's Oscar Diary pride of place because if you haven't yet read it -- it debuted a few days ago -- you must. Peggy is fabulous and after which movie stars show at her parties here in NYC the thing I'm always most intrigued to see is what she'll be wearing. 
MovieLine a sequel to The Host is now more than a little unlikely and it won't be the next Twilight. That's OK because we didn't want Saoirse tied up with a franchise for aeons. 
NPR Saoirse Ronan loves Clueless. See, she's just a regular teenager. (as if!)

Encore's World a fun appreciation of Anne Baxter in The Ten Commandments 
In Contention rule changes for the documentaries at the Oscars 
MNPP Gregory Peck Or... His Grandson? 
Deadline Sally Hawkins joins the cast of Godzilla in an apparently big role.
/Film ...reports the same news but oddly calls Sally Hawkins an Oscar Nominee. IF ONLY! 
Cinema Blend and a million other sites are breathlessly excited about the photo of Beast that Bryan Singer tweeted for X-Men Days of Future Past. Everyone is all "which actor is it????" but it seems pretty clear to me that that's a concept drawing and not Kelsey Grammar or Nicolas Hoult.
Nerd Approved Disney Princesses as Sith Lords?
Guardian can Josh Trank (Chronicle) save Fox's Fantastic Four franchise?
Empire Allison Janney may play Melissa McCarthy's mom in the comedy Tammy 

Miscellania
/Film alerted us to this Prada Candy commercial from Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola.

 

It's always nice to see Léa Seydoux -- love the shot of her munching on popcorn so cheekily -- and for directors to have a little fun paying homage to the classics. In this case that's Jules et Jim
i09 the 20 most epic beards and moustaches in the multiverse... a fun list given that hairy Game of Thrones has returned 
Gawker "what the hell is going on with Amanda Bynes: A treatise" 

Small Screen
PopWatch who will replace Matt Lauer and what was his television crime? Great piece by Mark Harris 
Variety TV's Hannibal didn't take much of a bite out of the ratings. But time will tell whether the latest movie to series effort becomes a hit. 
E.T.  Teen Wolf Season 3 Details. No Colton Hayne?
Uproxx Elisabeth Moss plays "fuck, marry, kill" with the men of Sterling Cooper and makes the correct choices with those Mad Men 

Ebert RIPs
Movie City News David Poland remembers his friends hosting passion and group nights out at Ebertfest
Press Play has a video tribute to Siskel & Ebert's sparring chemistry 

Roger's widow Chaz released a statement today which read in part:

I am devastated by the loss of my love, Roger -- my husband, my friend, my confidante and oh-so-brilliant partner of over 20 years. He fought a courageous fight. I've lost the love of my life and the world has lost a visionary and a creative and generous spirit who touched so many people all over the world. We had a lovely, lovely life together, more beautiful and epic than a movie. It had its highs and the lows, but was always experienced with good humor, grace and a deep abiding love for each other."

I love that line "more beautiful and epic than a movie" because I've always been curious what it was like for Chaz to be married to the movies; Roger Ebert had to have been a package deal since he was so synonymous with the cinema.