Never Mind Pop Film lists "rules of the cinematic universe" and they're really so true Tom and Lorenzo Sharon Stone is still a star The Oregonian theories as to why festival hits do such middling box office EmpireThe Hobbit Parts 1 & 2 have finished filming. / Film How ridiculous is this? A new Aliens related video game won't include any playable female characters? Fans are up in arms. This is after all the franchise that starred Lt. Ellen Ripley and now Dr. Elizabeth Shaw.
The Film Doctor on Wes Anderson's miniaturized world in Moonrise Kingdom Handmade this is so cool Moonrise Kingdom Cross Stitch. This movie is aging well in my brain... and heart. Interiors Film Journal maps out the great elevator scene in Drive Burbanked on the trailer to Here Comes the Boom. I would only add: why is no one complaining that the plot is like a grotesque parody of Warrior (2011)? In Contention Tapley asks a smart question "Could Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's divorce make The Master this year's zeitgeist movie?" Hollywood.com ohmygod. with headlines like this "Could Dark Knight Rises win Best Picture?" all I can say is 'Here we go again. Gird your loins!'
Off Cinema 4 Fun Abtruse Goose "arithmetic for beginners" Twaggies this website illustrates funny tweets. This one has a movie connection sort of
Today's Must Read Listen, I know I link to Tom Shone way too much. I have a massive mancritic crush, I freely admit. I just love his writing. His new column for the Guardian"Magic Mike turned me gay!" is great... Like Mr. Shone, I am bisexual at the movie theater so I appreciate the confession. The article even veers towards the difference and sameness of the "male and female gaze," a topic we just happened to be on while discussing Kim Novak in Picnic (1955).
Main Course Pajiba attempts to show that Pixar has more than one female character with its '15 most badass female Pixar characters Serious Film joins the legion of Beasts of the Southern Wild fans with bullet points of his amazement Kenneth in the (212) Remembers a traumatic experience when Hollywood first launched Making Love (1982) starring Kate Jackson, the first mainstream Hollywood picture on the gay experience. Daily Mail is Barbra Streisand really going to get in the director's chair again. She's rumored to be prepping Skinny & Cat a biopic romance starring Colin Firth and Cate Blanchett. What accounts for Barbra's sudden burst of activity?
Towleroad where are the new gay classics? Too many straight movies opening for gay pride weekend ;) The Guardian terrific piece on the Tom Cruise "comeback" and what the word now means The Guardian also has a profile of wondrous character actress Miriam Margolyes Movie|Line actor Aaron Johnson (Kick Ass, Albert Nobbs) has wed longtime girlfriend/director Sam Taylor-Wood. Google celebrates the centennial of Alan Turing, a fascinating gay man who changed the world. Why isn't there a biopic on him?
Ear Candy The Broadway Blog sneak peek of a song from Cyndi Lauper's stage musical adaptation of Kinky Boots
Eye Candy Super PunchThe Shining Sculptures. I am so creeped out looking at these. redrum Old Hollywood Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Suddenly Last Summer Queerty Cheyenne Jackson *new photoshoot alert* He does too few! Slash FilmThe Dark Knight Rises outdoes itself with this bit of promotional art. Wow. My New Plaid Pants The Amazing Spider-Bum
Finally I can't even do a Yes No Maybe So on this Andy Samberg Celeste and Jesse Forever type trailer thing -- even though Ari Graynor! -- because I'll never top James St. James quip at the Wow Report
Damn, Andy. Celeste & Jessie Forever looks absolutely, heartbreakingly wonderful. And yet I can’t help but feel it’s this year’s (500) Days of Summer, where everybody loves it to death then turns on it in six months..
It's our practice to break trailers down to their components which make us eager / annoyed / unsure. But for this sort of event we're aware we're supposed to be all YES, already in the (bat) tank. But let's break this down anyway. Batman would surely appreciate the importance of rituals and this is how we do.
The Greatest Logo in the History of Super Logos
YES
That friction between Anne Hathaway's menacing whispers and that young choirboy's national anthem is perfect. But then Chris Nolan movies are always good with the sound.
The chanting at the end is also hot: Best Sound Editing #2 here we come.
Oooh Escher-like staircases inside. Where are we? Let's go to there.
The brief glimpses of Inception players Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard are welcome. Because movie trailers are future movies invading our dreams, right? Come on in.
Anne Hathaway's Hepburn hat. This is so girly for a Nolan movie. They better bring it with Catwoman. That's sacred ground!
I'm fond of the trailer's and possibly the movies interest in vertical points of view rather than horizontal spaces. Batman should be vertiginious. He is Gotham City.
It also makes me happy that he is fighting during light snow flurries for some reason.
That collapsing football field is sick. Also reminds me of Sunnydale as sinkhole at the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And anything that reminds of Buffy...
"Ward" the quarterback, eh? I hope that's a Dick Grayson/Robin injoke because these movies need a few jokes.
NO
Football? for a second I thought I was watching the wrong trailer.
Ugh where is Aaron Eckhart?! I feel cheated.
Um... Anne Hathaway doing Catwoman at a masked ball? Is this a Batman Returns homage? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this. I love me some Hathaway but #PfeifferPforever. Don't risk direct comparison!
MAYBE SO
Christian Bale looks so haggard. Is this an intriguing aestethic choice or is he just bone tired from all the weight loss muscle gain flip-flopping of the past ten years?
Speaking of weight loss/gain. Can someone give Tom Hardy a role where he is forced to lose the steroid look and the alien trapezius. He looks so much better human.
Speaking of... what kind of voice is he doing? And will I be able to decipher the words under that mask. Covering up the best pair of male lips in the movies is such a crime!
More politics with the Mayor and such zzz
I'm not sure I trust Chris Nolan with political plotlines/metaphors. As I recall The Dark Knight was quite muddled in the messenging arena. And we REALLY don't need martyr heroes made of the 1% in the movies nor the 99% as angry crime mobs and that's kind of what the visuals and Catwoman's speech suggest, right? Is this Iron Lady 2: Right Wing Harder !?
Are you a Yes, No or Maybe So? This tweet from Matt Patches is a perfect joke about how wild people go for every glimpse of future event movies, particular movies by the blogosphere's favorite human person director Chris Nolan.
Hee.
So perhaps for this one we should just ask how much of a "Yes" you are?
And since we've got Oscar on the brain (tis the season) why don't we go there, too, in the comments. Batman Begins received one nomination (Cinematography) and The Dark Knight eight bids with two wins (Supporting Actor and Sound Editing). What's the ceiling for this one without the elevating force of Heath Ledger (RIP) but with the momentum of this franchise's epic epicness and ever expanding Nolan mania ?
You may have noticed that I don't post every "exclusive" new photo!video!thingamajig! the second it's released. I figure you can get them in 760,000 other places and if I post too many of them there will be no room for the words which is why we do this thing they call blogging.And this: I'd prefer to get paid advertising on the site than give free advertising. That said, I'm thinking we should include more so maybe roundups like this?
Here we go...
• I want that tie. I want it windsored up in my business immediately. Would it be unprofessional to beg Deborah Hopper for it first chance I get to interview her? • Despite the Oscar friendly nature of the bulk of Clint Eastwood's modern filmography, none of his movies have ever been nominated for costume design. Could this be the first? * Armie Hammer is very handsome.
to see more click on this photo
• Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne looks just like Patrick Bateman which... well, may the costume designer never put him in a transparent splatter protection jacket. • Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a cop suit does nothing for me. I prefer him in Slim Jim Joe Inception suits. • Those extras in the background are really given it their all! You know they were so excited to get the gig. "I'm going to be in a Batman movie!!!!!"
Hunger Games and The Place Beyond the Pinesafter the jump
As you know if you're paying attention (there will be a quiz) I've been offline for 72 hours. GASP! So if some of the following links are GASP 72 hours old, you will forgive. For the record I highly recommend spending 72 hours in a cabin in the woods without internet, tv or cel phones (provided there are no serial killers nearby). Highly relaxing!
Let's catch up with pieces/stories you (by which I mean "I") might have missed!
The Film Doctor on Contagion and the "die-off" scenario. Go Fug Yourself succinct funny snappy boring Brangelina Blog Stage will Broadway actress Mary Farber be a new SNL cast member? Towleroad the continuing antics of James Franco. This time painted pink for Woooo mag. My New Plaid Pants Kate Winslet... and Elizabeth Taylor Natasha VC remember a time via Pauline Kael when Nicolas Cage was sorta wonderful. I saw Moonstruck again recently and it was just ♥♥♥♥... well that's amore!
Empire Online Hugh Grant joins the already gargantuan name cast of Cloud Atlas which, if you'll recall, already has three directors. It sounds like a mess but Empire is feeling hopeful. Awards Daily on Oscar and sex. Do they really take issue with explicit films? (in short: yes) IndieWire Remember when I made that brief Oscar prediction about Shailene Woodley in The Descendants and people made fun? Well, her buzz isn't boiling or anything but it is simmering ever since Telluride. WSJ Asia Scene Deanie Ip (A Simple Life) who just won the Venice Volpi Cup for Best Actress on why she took a long break from acting...
I think nobody wants me, because I’m very difficult.
Towleroad Clint Eastwood kicks off the UnOfficial (but not for long) Armie Hammer Best Supporting Actor campaign for J. Edgar while Hammer boasts of his own chest hair The Telegraph interviews the ascendant Ryan Gosling
If I'm still acting at 46, I'll be surprised.
Say it ain't so. Of course it isn't. I wish I had kept a spreadsheet of all the alarmist things celebrities have said over the years because no one ever remembers... including me. As I typed this sentence I was about to share this anecdote about what Matt Damon said this one time in a magazine about making ridiculous amounts of money and how that would mean he would... but I've already forgotten what he said he wouldn't do anymore. It was something about quitting or not doing any press. Something silly. Because of course he went on to make gazillions and still works in front of the camera and plays to it in interviews.
Today's Must See Video Madonna on the whole silly Venice Film Festival loathing hydranges "story"
There really is nothing better than Madonna with a sense of humor about herself. It's always been her saving grace and if she doesn't locate it as often as she once did, at least it's still there! And it's great timing since she's hitting the publicity circuit with such gusto. Two of my friends/acquaintances, fraquaintances? even interviewed her: Peter and Scott. I can't imagine how either got through it. Honestly, I can't.
Finally... if you're as interested in editing as I am, you might enjoy this very thorough analysis of a key action sequence in The Dark Knight (2008).
I highlight it because, like Jim Emerson, I have always been thrown by that film's editing (the Oscar nomination is baffling to me) as it doesn't make coherent sense, spatially or time-wise. (If you don't share this pet peeve -- I realize many people enjoy contemporary cinema's rule-free freneticism of editing -- you might not enjoy this video. This is actually the #2 most prominent reason as to why I have never been a Christopher Nolan convert. I prefer action filmmakers like James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow who never (or very very rarely) sacrifice coherency for thrills.
Saturday, July 7, 2012 at 11:40AM 
Today's Must Read
