Showbiz History: Dunne born, Dick Tracy begins, Scream opens

10 random things that happened on this day, December 20th, in showbiz history

1945 Seventy-five years ago today the first feature film based on the comic strip Dick Tracy arrived. The syndicated newspaper hero had been a popular character in film serials since the mid 1930s. He'd get three more features  (the last arriving in 1947) before being revived again for Warren Beatty's Oscar-winning spectacle in 1990. 

1946 It's a Wonderful Life has ts world premiere in NYC. Why a Christmas classic opened in January for most of the nation is a mystery whose answer is surely lost in 1940s era moviegoing / holiday habits...

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Links: An Amy Adams Double, Nolan Rankings, and Homosexual Erasure

Must Reads
• Vulture Rachel Handler hilariously ranks Christopher Nolan's movies by how willing she would be to die for the privilege of seeing them in movie theaters.
• The Hollywood Report looks back at the making of X-Men (2000) and how it created a monster with young director Bryan Singer

More after the jump including Amy Adams-centric news, "Do You Have the Antibodies?" a hit waiting to happen, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof's failures, a new Brad Pitt project and more...

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Best of the "Whodunnit?" Genre (Part Three)

Part One Gosford Park, etcetera
Part Two The Maltese Falcon, etcetera
...and now we conclude the countdown of the best whodunnits in honor of the impending release of the all star mystery Knives Out.

by Eurocheese

2. Memento
I know Christopher Nolan isn’t everyone’s cup of tea – fair enough. Whodunnits are essentially excuses to get inside the head of a killer. To start with a murder, realize the killer can’t trust his own thoughts , and try to put together who is pulling the strings in his mind… what an impressive conceit to thrill die hard mystery fans. Disorienting the audience in every scene while cutting in clips of a paranoid, trapped man trying to piece together his memories, without giving anything away? I have to believe Agatha Christie herself would applaud the finale...

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Happy Parker Posey Day! Her 10 Best...

by Nathaniel R

Happy 50th birthday today to the one and only Parker Posey. The 'Queen of Indies' of the 1990s isn't as celebrated these days and, frankly, we could use a lot more of her. So we're eager to read her hilariously titled memoir (pictured left) which was published this summer. Hollywood has always been a bit confused about her but we're relieved that she didn't just vanish after that first decade of fame (it girl status, indie or otherwise, is by its nature, transitory) but instead forged a patchwork kind of career mixing supporting roles in indies, tv movies, the occasional mainstream feature, and guest starring and recurring characters on TV. She's currently starring in Netflix's reboot of Lost in Space (where she plays the shady Dr Smith) and she's also recently completed filming a new indie called Elsewhere.

For her birthday we thought we'd share a list of her greatest performances.  Posey is such a curiousity that we're sure everyone's top ten will vary immensely, so have at it in the comments!

Disclaimer: I should note that the three most acclaimed performances I haven't seen from her filmography are the indies Fay Grim (2006) and Broken English (2007) and the TV film for which she was Globe nominated Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay (2002).

Ready for the list? Let's go!

Honorable Mentions: hell, just about everything but wanted to specifically note the following: Rhonda in Adam and Steve (2006), Miami in Kicking and Screaming (1995), Debbie in Drunks (1995), Kitty Kowalski in Superman Returns (2006), and Sissy Knox in A Mighty Wind (2003)

TEN BEST OF PARKER POSEY

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Blueprints: "Scream"

In this Halloween edition of Blueprints, Jorge Molina looks at one of the most iconic opening sequences in horror film history. Do not hang up...

Creating and building tension is one of the most important things a successful horror movie has to accomplish. It’s done, among other tools, through a combination of music, camera angles, and juxtaposition of light and shadow; that is to say, it’s done almost entirely audio-visually.

But every successful horror movie was first a successful horror script.  How does a writer project escalating tension, that dreadful atmosphere so vital in horror, in the page, with nothing but words as a weapon? Let’s take a look at our favorite scary movie to find out.

 

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