We Need To Link About Kevin

Given that many of you are on pins and needles about the new Tilda Swinton tour de force (no, we haven't seen it. But it's getting easier and easier to assume given her recent track record) We Need To Talk About Kevin...

Critics aren't tossing tomatoes but bouquets to Tilda in "We Need To Talk About Kevin"

Given that I have been weirdly unwilling to post the multiplying clips out there (I get in these moods where I don't wanna know see anything for movies I'm especially looking forward to) I should cave enough to link up to the raves. Perhaps you don't share my sudden unwillingness to read anything longer than a twitter length review for movies you can't see yet. Too many critics -- even the best ones! -- no longer worry about spoiling the experience in crucial ways.

Ezra Miller ("Kevin"), Tilda, the incredible Lynne Ramsay and Reilly in CannesMorvern Callar, the last Lynne Ramsay film, was way back in 2002, so add Ramsay to that "slowpokes" list of directors we were discussing. That earlier film with an indelible mysterious performance from Samantha Morton was such a startling and visceral experience that I want to experience We Need To Talk About Kevin in the same way. Which is to say, I'm going in cold!

But if you're less nervous -- MUBI has a collection of the raves. Might we see Tilda Swinton picking up "best actress" but zero Oscar attraction (you know how they ignore her brilliance 95% of the time)? Time will tell. In roughly two weeks and then again in the winter when precursor season kicks in.

Have any of you read the book this film is based on?

Link Man

E! whaaaaa. No way. Natalie Portman doing "Don't Tell Mama" from Cabaret ... as a teenager!
Serious Film Tilda Swinton as "the Anti-Streep"
Inside Movies another look at how Oscar ballot counting works. Every time it's explained it sounds more complicated than the time before. But it's cool that EW staged a mock nomination with readers.

Towleroad me sounding off about the Oscars again. I can't shut up. I'm Unstoppable. I'm nominated for best Sound Editing, bitch.
Cinema Blend Saoirse Ronan joins The Hobbit (but the book supposedly has no female characters. I haven't read it since I was like 11 and it bored the shit out of me. But then, if it didn't have any female characters that's probs why.
Adrian's Film Music listens to Alexander Desplat's The Ghost Writer
Gold Derby more on the Burlesque snubbing in Best Song. I'm still so pissed about this. What I don't understand about the music branch's voting structure is why it's practically an invitation to sabotage potential nominees if you hate them. In what other Oscar category can you vote AGAINST a potential nominee? That voting system needs serious rethinking.

Montreal Gazette has a fairly well reasoned piece on the lack of people of color in this year's Oscar nominations. I was just discussing this on twitter. My basic feeling on this, though I realize it's not a popular one, is that the Academy is unfairly blamed for this year in and year out. Too many people view "The Academy" as interchangeable with "Hollywood". But in truth the Academy is a tiny minority of Hollywood reflecting Hollywood back at itself with some deep filtering (i.e. favoring dramas, message movies, biopics, period pieces,). When actors of any color get good roles in the types of movies that everyone understands Oscar will honor, then they end up fighting it out for nominations.

"It’s the role that wins the Oscar, not the actor."
-several smart people throughout time.

The problem lies in getting the roles in the first place. And that's where things gets complicated and worth arguing about. Too many great actors of color don't get the career opportunities their talent merits. But that's a different discussion than the Oscar nominations.

On a happier note to wrap up ~ the first Oscar Promo!