Amir here, bringing you a film from the Hot Docs festival that will surely land on my top ten list come the year’s end.
I'll have the watch till 11 o'clock. Then I'll go down to the saloon and write the meaning of life.”
As a general rule, I try to avoid all films that deal with the ocean. I'm not averse to action adventures but I suffer from intense thalassophobia and cinema is an experience I'd like to enjoy, not endure. Exceptions have to be made every now and then, of course, and a few experiences have been rewarding enough to justify all the shaking and sneaking through fingers. I made one such exception for Expedition to the End of the World, based on strong word of mouth, and I’m happy to say I came away thoroughly satisfied. In fact, I doubt I’ll see a better film at this year’s festival.
Craig here with the last ‘Take Three’. For this final, and slightly differently themed, entry I chose Brad Dourif, perhaps one of the finest character/supporting actors. Next week there will be a special wrap-up post for this third season of Take Three.
Take One: Dourif & Auteurs The sign of a great character actor can often be seen in the directors they work with. Of course not all will be universally lauded names (character actors don’t get to pick and choose like A-list stars), but when they repeatedly work with filmmakers of high regard you know there’s something special about them. Dourif has worked with some of the most visionary and celebrated directors working. The likes of Werner Herzog and David Lynch, whose off-kilter approach perfectly chimes with Dourif’s, have cast him time and again. Herzog first cast him in the mountaineering-themed Scream of Stone (1991) which led to The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) and the 2009 double The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (in the former he had a one-off scene as Nic Cage’s bookie and in the latter he played Michael Shannon’s ostrich-farm-running uncle). But his most mesmerising performance for Herzog was as The Alien in Yonder, where he talked us through documentary footage, ice ages and space missions with oddball charm and an innate ability to unnerve.
He was Lynch’s go-to character actor in a pair of his ‘80s films, Dune and Blue Velvet. [more...]
It's the first official image of Naomi Watts as Princess Diana in Caught in Flight (2013)
I don't think I could survive another British Icon Impersonation Oscar Win just yet. Not after The Queen (06) and The King's Speech (10) and The Iron Lady (11). Imagine four winners in just seven years -- it's not even tough to imagine. Stop the madness! We just celebrated Independence Day but AMPAS wishes we hadn't destroyed all that good British tea in 1773.
Are you looking forward to Naomi becoming Lady Diana? If this one doesn't work out for her she's also attached to another future biopic about Gertrude Bell called Queen of the Desert.That one will be directed by Werner Herzog and thus sounds instantly promising... even if it's still sort of no sure thing.
MTV Tom Hiddleson singing the praise of his new Thor 2 director Patty Jenkins. He just loves Monster (2003) and Kenneth Branagh assigned it to him as prep before Thor 1; how weirdly coincidental. Go Fug Yourself has kind words for Amanda Seyfried and hilarious words for Justin Timberlake. Awards Daily Sasha thinks this has been a weak year for cinema -- I'm guessing because of the lack of consensus on a single masterpiece. I'd say the opposite. I can't get over how good this year is. It's so exciting to be looking at an awards season that might not have a frontrunner. Consensus makes it boring. Bring on the passionate discussion of what is "Best" please!
Acidemic in praise of crazy "chicks of death" dangerous women from Flash Gordon (1936) through Rosemary's Baby (1968) to Trouble Every Day (2001) Reelizer How beautiful is this poster for The Iron Giant by Kevin Tong? Me want.
Movie Morlocks Kimberly from Cinebeats on Werner Herzog's excellent adapation of Nosferatu starring Klaus Kinski. Such a good movie. MNPP JA loves Carey Mulligan and thinks you do, too. Exciting projects she's lining up. /Film taking storyboarding to the next level with Darren Aronofsky's Noah's Arc movie.
Ultra Culture bitches about Rotten Tomatoes in order to praise Terri (which was recently nominated for one of Gotham's prizes) Towleroad Zachary Quinto to play a gay ghost on American Horror Story.
Empire offers up a final We Need To Talk About Kevin poster with "Joker" coloring. I love movie posters but when a movie makes this many and keeps changing it up I start to worry that they don't know what they're selling anymore.
Finally...
The Lost Boy thinks that Viola Davis is going to win the Best Actress Oscar. That seems to be going around. Here she is at the Women in Hollywood Awards.
The imagination is so potent. And that's really why we're actors because it's the power of transformation, the power of not being you, of going into a world that is different but ultimately real. And I always felt I had that I had that power even as a little black girl with the afro and using the crisco for moisturizer for my skin. I always felt that everything was possible. That I always had the power to be anything i wanted to be.
As I was walking the red carpet someone asked "What sets you apart from everyboy in the room?"
"Well... I'm black."
[Laughter] and then she launches into an honest and beautiful speech about Cicely Tyson "throwing her a rope" as a young dreaming girl and the need for stories about women of color in the movies. She is awesome.
The Lost Boy Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams is just a few days away from joining the top gro$$ing documentaries club. JobMob check out what some celebrity acting resumes look like Sociological Images Some off flick backstory on that DDT spray scene in The Tree of Life. I wanted to soak in that scene, didn't you? Tom ShoneTerminator 2 turns 20 years old this week. What a stroke of genius casting Robert Patrick was. Old Hollywood great my-how-time-changes-things quote from Kim Novak on the initial failure of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. Movie|Line Remember those omnibus films celebrating Paris and New York. It's official: Sydney, I Love You plans to move ahead in early 2012 The Wrap looks at the reasons that the superhero crop of 2011 isn't really delivering as expected at the box office.The last sentence, though, is an unintentionally hilarious negation of the 'there's too many of these' thesis statement. It goes like so...
The good news for the box office: New installments of Batman and Spider-Man are due out next summer, with fresh incarnations of Superman and Iron Man following soon after.
off cinema The Daily Beast backstage at Men's Fashion Week Low Resolution ranking the hotness of Wimbledon men Slant reviews Björk's new single "Crystalline". I love this bit:
Bjork's most esoteric album to date, 2004's Medúlla, is also among her best, and so my policy is to indulge Mrs. Matthew Barney in all pretensions so long as the music works.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 4:47PM 
