Looks Like Rain! Aronofksy's "Noah" is Coming

The publicity for Darren Aronofsky's Noah (2014) -- the first big name biblical epic since, what, The Passion of the Christ? -- is a light drizzle now. Here's the first photo from the set tweeted Wednesday by Darren Aronofsky himself who writes:

I dreamt about this since I was 13. And now it's a reality. Genesis 6:14

So that scripture in case you don't have a Bible (no judgments) is along these lines 'Make yourself an arc with ribs of cypress: cover it with reeds and coat it inside and out with pitch.'

Jennifer Connelly wearing one of her Noah's Ark co-starsMore Noah news
Anthony Hopkins was recently announced in the role of super-ancient Methusaleh who (SPOILER ALERT) dies right before the Flood. Maybe he can borrow Guy Pearce or Cate Blanchett's impossibly old old-age makeup from Prometheus or Benjamin Button.

Russell Crowe plays Noah and Jennifer Connelly as his wife (making this a double reunion for her with her A Beautiful Mind co-star and her Requiem for a Dream director). The cast also includes Emma Watson (zzz), Logan Lerman, two animals of every kind and Ray Winstone as the "villain". Does this mean Winstone plays God? Cause, let's be real, isn't God the villain in the Noah's Ark scenario? 

The publicity drizzle will presumably soon be a flood. It gets like that for filmmakers after they have their first smash crossover hit. In Aronofsky's case that was Black Swan. And what better way to follow up a hallucinatory fucked up ballerina nightmare and Best Picture nominee than with a biblical epic involving mad prophets, animals, and Oscar winning actors?

If you were filling Aronofsky's ark which two animals (or actors) would you start with?

Lifeboat of Pi

Despite having not read "Life of Pi" in its previsual form -- I know I know --  I found myself unduly excited this morning seeing this image from the Ang Lee adaptation. Is it because I love cats? Unfilmable books? Ang Lee? All about the above? ☑

24 Frames has an article about it involving a Scorsese/Lee conversation about Lee's 3D learning curve. Here's the image.

Despite his belief in the format, Lee was open about his struggle to adapt to the technology. While filming "Life of Pi," he said, the 3-D cameras were cumbersome, and he compared working with them to "operating a refrigerator." 

I gotta be honest with you. I love Marty Scorsese almost as much as any random film buff but his current incarnation as "Mr. 3D" may lead to divorce. Irreconciliable Differences. I preferred Marty when his cause was film preservation. 3D just takes me out of movies, ironically flattening their visual interest for me. It feels like a straight jacket to me or rather, a toothpick propping my eyes open, forcing me to see things I don't want to see. Maybe I need to use my own imagination to add the depth, I don't know. I just hate it. I keep trying to love it because powerful and great filmmakers like Scorsese and James Cameron (a hero of young me and I still love his movies) will never give up till all movies require glasses.

But 3D just makes the movies less magical for me. Sniffle. I adore Titanic and seeing it in 3D just made it... smaller. It no longer felt like THE MOVIEST OF MOVIES but just "a movie".

I'm only tolerating 3D because I have to. 

Someone toss me a Lifeboat. Life of Pi needs less 3D and more Tallulah! Can I get an amen?

Alfred Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT OF PI

Have any of you read the book? I understand that young "Pi", an Indian boy, finds himself on a boat after a shipwrech with only a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Bengal tiger. Since only Pi and Shere Khan are in the official image I'm assuming the tiger ate the other animals already?

If I were to be shipwrecked on a boat with four animals those maybe aren't the four animals I'd choose. I'd think I'd go straight herbivore across the board. Not that you can choose in a shipwreck.

But if I had to go with famous movie animals...

Life of NathanielR

Someone to entertain, someone to protect, and someone who might rescue me and look great doing it.

And there's no way it'd be anything but a 2-D picture.

Don't leave me floating in this ocean all alone... Which movie animals could you handle a shipwreck with and have you resigned yourself to movie glasses forever?

Linkers Assemble!

The Guardian Loki himself Tom Hiddleston wrote a piece defending the superhero movie genre which he thinks ought to be taken more seriously. Well written and impassioned but let's play devil's advocate for a moment. Isn't the money enough? Wouldn't it be nice if people could respond to dramas about the human condition without the comforting distance of genre?
Slant 15 famous movie monkeys in honor of the just released Chimpanzee
Ultra Culture makes a funny re: "exclusive image" of Katy Perry. Honestly I rarely open emails with the word "exclusive" in the header. They'll have to drop it from Websters soon since it lost its meaning somewhere at the tail end of the 20th century.

Pajiba screw context. Just appreciate the Jennifer Lawrenceness of it all
IndieWire somehow in the midst of my manic schedule, I missed the news that Eytan Fox had made a sequel to the wonderful Yossi & Jagger (2003) called simply Yossi with Ohad Knoller reprising his role as the closeted gay soldier (this time back in civilian life) 
Insanely Gaming popular websites as dresses. This is quite awesome. I vote Facebook 'best dressed'
IndieWire the controversies surrounding HBO's Girls. I liked the debut episode but it really did feel like Tiny Furniture Redux (without the fun visuals that came with the title territory) 
Low Resolution did you ever read Joe's awards for the film year? Yes, I know I still have to finish mine. Ugh.
Monkey See terrific piece on Zac Efron's transition (possibly) to full grown adult movie actor  

Finally... Odin's Boys Loki (Tom Hiddleson) & Thor (Chris Hemsworth) are having some serious giggles at one of many premieres for The Avengers. 

poll by twiigs.com

 

Or maybe they're laughing about Joss Whedon's evil robot from the future sketch for Equality Now?

A Link is a Blog's Best Friend

Stale Popcorn Popcorn Glenn is a Scream (1996) fanatic and he almost got to correct that little problem of "never seen it on the big screen".Sympathies!
Film Doctor has a spoileriffic analysis of a crucial late scene in Cabin in the Woods
Basket of Kisses has an insightful guest post on misogyny, goal-post moving and blistering reactions to Megan on Mad Men who is "too" everything.
La Daily Musto today's arguments about Judy Garland's legacy. Are young gays still 'Friends of Dorothy'? 

Pulitzer Prizes congratulations to this years winners, particularly to the Boston Globe's Wesley Morris (pictured above) who is easily one of the best film critics working. If you aren't reading him, you're missing out.
Tom Shone, another of my favorites, on box office and spiritual pain. Don't let the "pre-sold" suck your soul.
Go Fug Yourself Lindsay Lohan three times... and behind a transparent umbrella!

 The ULTIMATE in wanting to be seen not wanting to be seen.

i09 I can haz nostalgia? "Even in the 1870s humans were obsessed with ridiculous photos of cats"
The Awl interesting interview on gothic horror with Hemlock Grove author and screenwrither Brian McGreevy
Boy Culture "i want you to hold me like you hold your money" ('Love Spent' is totally Madonna's best new song) 

Finally... perhaps it's time for another Cute Hierarchy.
I'll take your suggestions for recent Cute Achievements in the comments but until then, this pressing question inspired by Too Fab's story about Josh Hutcherson adopting a special needs puppy "Driver" who is missing some toes and just had surgery on his femur.

poll by twiigs.com

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: "Ladyhawke"

Time for Season 3 of Hit Me With Your Best Shot. Wednesday evenings.

from left to right: Goliath, Navarre (Rutger Hauer) and Isabeau (Michelle Pfeiffer's stunt double)

I thought we'd kick off this season with a personal favorite from the 80s. I use the word favorite emphatically because in many ways, Ladyhawke (1985) is a movie with a confusing relationship to objective quality. It's both great and bad, the score arguing that it's a feature that absolutely should not exist outside of 1985 while the mythic story fights for timelessness. The sound (Oscar-nominated) has wonderful details, maximizing the earthly details of fluttering wings, wolf howls and horse hooves while also embracing the transcendently romantic voices (Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer) but it's marred by jarring score cues that take you out of the action and weird post-production "comedy" vocal work from extras. It feels, at least for its first half, like it's a movie with several authors and endless studio interference from people who didn't believe in a romantic fantasy epic in a time long before fairy tales were hot commodities and sword and sorcery epics were the furthest thing from bankable. So, would you laugh at me if I claimed I thought it was thisclose to being a classic? People are always reediting the Star Wars prequels to try to make them into the movies they should have been but the fantasy with the easiest fix to nudge it from punchline to greatness is Ladyhawke.

The one area where Ladyhawke can lay legitimate claim to greatness without lengthy conditional explanations is in the cinematography of three-time Oscar winner Vittorio Storaro (most famous for Apocalypse Now and various Warren Beatty epics). Many films throughout history have used sunsets and sunrises for their sheer beauty but Ladyhawke's reliance on light is more than vanity; it's storytelling.

Pfeiffer's beauty and Hauer's pain after the jump

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