Here's to the Kendrick Who Lunched

Recent Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) hits the quarter-century mark today. I vow to throw her a massive blog party the next time she does anything this wickedly fun onscreen again.

FiLM BiTCH Award winner 2003, silver medal
"best musical number in a musical"

Fritzi's wicked triumph is still the single best moment of Kendrick's career though it's much more satisfying in context for about 12 reasons. Curse you disjointed YouTube culture!

<-- Kendrick looking dangerously good at the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World premiere in late July.

Up in the Air's Natalie Keener was a solid reminder that Kendrick could well have a very satisfying comically enhanced movie career awaiting her. But for all that movie's talk about Natalie Keener being a rising corporate star and a driven ambitious professional, Camp's "Fritzi" could still crush Natalie as easily as she mangles that martini glass prop. If George Clooney's "Ryan Bingham" had had merciless Fritzi shadowing his every move instead of Natalie, he'd have been more shaken than stirred. It would have been a different movie. She's ruthless!
*

We Can't Wait #10 - SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

Boom! Pow! Snik! It's JA and Dave with the next righteous entry in the "We Can't Wait: Summer and Beyond" countdown...

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, Allison Pill, Jason Schwartzman...

Synopsis: Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy. Boy must defeat her seven evil exes in order to win her heart. Shit gets real. Real awesome!

Brought to you by: Hooded sweatshirts, original console Nintendo fetishism, and true love. Also, giant hammers and flaming swords. But yeah, true love.
Expected release date: August 13th, 2010

.

.

JA: I've had that trailer on my iPod since it came out and have watched it way, way too many times. I could probably recite it shot by shot - "We open on Michael Cera's face, bird-like and trepidatious, slowly moving towards us..." - as if it were a story unto itself. I'm so far into the stratosphere of geeking out over this movie that it's moved past spazzy and obnoxious unto a place where a new word is needed. I hereby deem my anticipation for this movie "spaznoxious."

It didn't start out this way. I hadn't even read Bryan Lee O'Malley's comics until after the pieces started falling into place with the film and got me interested. Well, make that piece-the-singular fell into place: Edgar Wright was there, and wham bam, I was interested. Shaun of the Dead is my happy place.

But from there, more pieces. If there wasn't a Michael Cera in the world then we'd have had to forge one from the mountain of the geek-gods to play Scott. We'll see if his on-the-nose casting pays off in unexpected ways or if it's too on-the-nose, but I still have faith in the myriad pleasures of his stammering behoodied goodness.

And the rest of the cast seems like a blast. And then the test screenings where everybody's eyeballs exploded. And then the trailer showed up and it was just all too much, that we have to wait until August. Too much! I need to find a magic whistle or the secret code (Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right Select Start?) to warp myself into the future where I'm seeing the movie already!

Dave: I suppose it's helpful for this countdown that I come at this movie from a rather different direction - I've never read the comics, I've watched the trailer a mere three times, and, well, that probably makes it clear that I'm less spaznoxious than calm and intrigued - two things that probably don't really need combining into a new word. So, really, I should let you spaznoxiously ramble about this because I'm bound to come across as disengaged in comparison.

But fact is, despite my much less... immersive experience of everything Scott Pilgrim already is, I AM excited. The cast basically seems like a hipster cinephile's wet dream - and Michael Cera is yet to knock himself out of my favour, sorry everyone - and, as you said, Edgar Wright is the creator of the happy place of several thousand people. It should certainly be interesting to see how his lunatic Britishness rubs up against the geek chic Americanness of the comic (well, that's the impression I get, anyway). Although it's certainly my experience that British youth culture has become so Americanized anyway that they're practically melding into one; but nevertheless, this is younger than Wright has skewed before (we'll miss you, Mr. Pegg) so I'm intrigued to know how he handles that.

And I think the part of the trailer - which I've watched ten times, by the way - despite all the "WHIP"ing and "KPOK"ing and the deliciously hammy one-liners from the cast is the way Cera delivers the line "Seven" with such despondency, and then it's undercut by the lovely Anna Kendrick - this isn't man-flu, Anna! That chick had a chain-whip!

JA: Knowing the books, I can tell you that the trailer's def. playing up the big comic-booky aspects - gotta sell them tickets - but you're in for a treat if the interaction between Cera and Kendrick is what's hitting your buttons because these books are really funny, and the characters are all so rich. I wished they would've given some screen-time to Keiran Culkin who has the plum role of Scott's gay roommate Wallace, or to Ellen Wong as Knives, the too-young girl in love with Scott, but I guess we've still got months for that. (Ugh, months!)

Dave: Now, this information about even more characters both excites and worries me. Excites because, well, to be all youthfully enthusiastic about it, they sound awesome! And in addition to those we've already got a preview of that's one load of epic characters.


But there's the worry. Are there too many to handle? The tagline is "An epic of epic epicness" but I don't see anyone letting Wright get away with a three-hour cut. So those evil exes will have to be ousted a cut-throat rate. But that, the unfolding of it in hopefully outlandish directions, is part of the thrill, I suppose, for me and anyone else who doesn't know the story inside-out. The attitude of self-aware geekery it exudes are the key points of interest for me. But you, JA, do you not have any worries about how it might be altered for the movies? I can't remember the last comic-book adaptation that wasn't some kind of vibrantly violent thing, or a superhero. And Scott, well, I sense he's more of a super-geek.

JA: If I didn't have such an epic amount of epic faith in Mr. Wright I'd probably be more worried. Oh sure, we're gonna lose a lot of the little moments in between the battles and the multiple side-stories with multiple side-characters, but that's what I have the books for, and will always have the books for. I have no trouble seeing this as its own two-hour-ish mash-up of O'Malley's world constructed and given life by the hands of Edgar Wright, and that in itself translates to enough awesome all on its own. More than enough!

What about you, dear readers? Is that a joystick
in your pocket, or are you just excited for this movie?
.

"We Can't Wait: Summer and Beyond"
The "orphan" picks Nathaniel (Burlesque), JA (Love and Other Drugs), Jose (You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), Craig (What's Wrong With Virginia?), Robert (True Grit) and Dave (Brighton Rock); Team Film Experience Countdown #12 It's Kind of a Funny Story, #11 Sex & the City 2, #10 Scott Pilgrim vs the World, #9 Somewhere, #8 The Kids Are All Right, #7 The Illusionist, #6 Toy Story 3, #5 Inception, #4 Rabbit Hole, #3 Never Let Me Go, #2 Black Swan and #1 The Tree of Life.

RCL: Bradley, Anna, Geena, Viola

Red Carpet Lineup. Early each week, an assortment of movie peeps who’ve been out and about. Who is where (and what are they wearing)? It’s not really a fashion thing. It’s more like a photographic excuse to mouth off about random celebs.

From left to right: Bradley Cooper was running down 5th avenue, trying to escape Renee Ze… oh, I kid. He was running down 5th avenue (where I’m sitting even as you read this) filming tense scenes for The Dark Fields. Abbie Cornish was also seen running from another actor with villainous intent. The sci-fi tinged medicinal thriller, from Illusionist director Neil Burger is about a former coke addict (Cooper) who takes a drug with rather mysterious enhancing effects.

Do you thinkAnna Kendrick thinks about Up in the Air when she travels? She arrived in Vancouver this week to begin filming Untitled Super Busy Actor Project. Super Busy Actor being Seth Rogen. The comedy is about a young man who gets cancer. Between this and Laura Linney's The C Word how many cancer comedies are we going to get in the next 12 months? Who knew cancer was so hilarious? Do you think Anna will soon start resenting her useless Twilight role given that her star is rising elsewhere?

Geena Davis was at the Paley Center looking like she’d just stepped out of a Nancy Meyers movie. So very beige. Some of you might be old enough to remember that Geena was once known as a crazy fashion risk taker in the early 90s. What happened to her sense of sartorial fun? She was promoting The Geena Davis Institute which focuses on improving gender portrayals in media aimed at children. Wouldn't it be sweet if future generations weren't so programmed with antiquated notions about what girls can be, feel and do? I've been meaning to talk about Geena's new movie Accidents Happen. Soon.

Finally, Viola Davis, who looks so great in bold colors (remember her gold Oscar dress?), was at the Broadway opening of the manic comedy Lend Me a Tenor which has been attracting plentiful celebs. Julianne Moore and Michelle Pfeiffer have already been spotted in the audience and one assumes the third member of TFE’s trinity (Streep) won’t be far behind. The show was directed by La Streep’s pal Stanley Tucci and is getting rave reviews. Speaking of Streep… remember when she won SAG two years back and begged Hollywood to give Viola Davis a big movie to star in? Streep is a charitable force but Hollywood less so. We’ll believe Viola getting the parts she deserves when we see it. Unfortunately in Hollywood deserves (often) got nothing to do with it. Next up for Viola is another one of those “best friend of star” roles in Eat Pray Love... which, however good the movie might be, is probably not what Streep meant. Maybe someone should make a movie of her stage triumph, Intimate Apparel?

If you were writing a movie for Viola, what kind of part would you give her?
*

Supporting Actress Smackdown 2009

I haven't participated in a "Smackdown" over at me pal StinkyLulu's place for ages. What better time to correct that than during Oscar season? It won't surprise you that Mo'Nique has my vote for Precious but see how many hearts (on a scale of five) each nominated performance gets from myself, StinkyLulu, and the rest of the panel and what we had to say about Maggie Gyllenhaal, Penélope Cruz and the Up in the Air girls, too.


Related...
Supporting Actress Reader's Choice Have you voted? Time is running out. I've also spruced up this page to include more details like "how'd they get nominated" and such. Enjoy
FiLM BiTCH Awards It's time for the Medals Ceremony for our nominated supporting stars (male and female). Cue the national themes of Austria and the United States.

Actors and Actresses: Stats, Careers and Trivia

Now that we have our lucky twenty (no double dippers this year) in those twenty most coveted positions for movie actors, let's do a little rundown. We'll go factual and then opinionated.


most frequently honored: Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) with 16 nominations and 2 wins. She's been nominated for 37% of her screen appearances.
least frequently honored: Captain Von Trapp himself, Christopher Plummer (The Last Station). This is his first nomination from 51 years on the silver screen.
widest stretch of honors: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) received the first of his five nominations way back in the 1971 race starring in Best Picture nominee The Last Picture Show, beating Streep to her first Oscar notice by seven years.

youngest: Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), a Leo, is 24. She's also two and a half months younger than Carey Mulligan (An Education), a Gemini.
oldest: Plummer, a Sagittarius, turned 80 this past December.
most represented star sign: rowwwwr, we have five Leos (Woody, Sandra, Helen, Anna and Vera). I guess that's not surprising given Leo's show off nature.
least represented star signs: no Aquarius, Pisces or Aries nominees
shared birthdays: George Clooney (Up in the Air) and Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe (Precious) were both born on May 6th. Best Actress competitors Sandra Bullock and Dame Helen Mirren share July 26th.

tallest: Morgan Freeman (Invictus) is 6' 2½"
shortest: Kendrick is 5' 1½". Teeny-tiny!!!
highest paid?: Bullock and Clooney both command around $15 million a movie last I heard. Streep and Damon are obviously well compensated, too, though exact salaries are hard to come by. What's more they fluctuate from project to project and some stars take less for more of the gross, etcetera.
lowest paid: who knows though I'm willing to bet that someone got scale. Money isn't everything... especially when the role is plum.

number of birth countries: 5. USA (most of them), England (Mirren, Mulligan & Firth) Spain (Cruz), Canada (Plummer) and Austria (Waltz). [see also: Map of the Oscar World]
most likely to appear in a Best Picture Nominee: Meryl Streep has 5 to her credit (The Hours, Out of Africa, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Deer Hunter and Julia). Runners up: (tie) Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby, Shawshank Redemption, Unforgiven and Driving Miss Daisy) and George Clooney (Up in the Air, Michael Clayton, Good Night and Good Luck and The Thin Red Line) have both been in 4.
number of collective offspring: 31. La Streep (4) Freeman (4) Waltz (4) Tucci (3) Bridges (3) Mo'Nique (3) Harrelson (3) Damon (2) Firth (2) Plummer (1) Farmiga (1) Gyllenhaal (1). Clooney, Bullock and Mirren didn't share their remarkable DNA with the world.
most famous of those offspring: "Honey Bunny" herself Amanda Plummer ...and up until this moment I never made the daddy connection. Runner up: rising actress Mamie Gummer, daughter of Meryl & Don.

And some opinions...

most deserving: Mo'Nique is just smashing... and I'm not talking about television sets.
least deserving: Stanley Tucci. He's been Oscar nomination worthy before and even this year (Julie & Julia) but not for this overlabored eeeeeeeeevil turn.
most likely to get a career boost with this nom: Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
most deserving of the plentiful "it's about damn time" nominations that were going on this season: Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
most likely to return again in the next year or two: Meryl Streep. Duh!... although one wonders how many more chances she'll get. She's getting the lion's share of roles for women over 55... but there's not that many of those roles to begin with. You could also make a case for Matt Damon who is almost 40 now and Oscar likes his men with some years on them. And Carey Mulligan may well be the next Oscar Default Girl if her management makes the right moves. [George Clooney & Penélope Cruz are hot-hot-hot Oscar regulars right now but Oscar tends to love movie stars passionately for short blocks of time and then move on. Will we see them again soon or is this the end of the romance for awhile?]
least likely to return: Gabby Sidibe. That's not as much of a knock as it sounds. She's great in the film and I'm so pleased she got nominated. But approximately 67% of acting nominees are never recognized a second time and there aren't that many roles for big girls.

most likely to wear something crazy: Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)
most likely to make best-dressed lists: Penélope Cruz (Nine)
most likely to wear black: Carey Mulligan (An Education)

Can't wait to see what Vera, Maggie, Carey, Penélope and Dame Helen wear!

Want to add to or sound off about the trivia?
You know what to do.

Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress

*

Vanity Fair "Dolls"

It's that time of year again. Vanity Fair refers to these nine actresses as "dolls" and we're certainly not here to dispute their smooth porcelain loveliness (the median age here is 23 and they're all lily white). But when I hear "dolls" now I think of only the Dollhouse, and I'm wondering just what "imprints" we're dealing with here. Which one of these girls is actually a savage killer? Or skilled in all positions of the kama sutra? Or a hostage negotiator? Or a genius computer programmer?


But more importantly, which of them will seem like a big "duh" for the cover treatment seven or eight years from now and which will be like a, "who...what now?". If you click on the Vanity Fair label below you can see past investigations of this Hollywood Issue's covergirls (and boys).

Abbie Cornish. Kristen Stewart. Carey Mulligan. Amanda Seyfried. Rebecca Hall. Mia Wasikowska. Emma Stone. Evan Rachel Wood. Anna Kendrick. Where will they be in 2020: The A-List? In the land of obscurity? headlining a TV series? at the Kodak Theater? Uninsurable has-been? Box Office Queen?

I know I ask too many questions but which doll do you want for your own? And which invisible doll (in this age range) are you angry you can't see on this magazine cover?

TIFF: Up In the Air

Lev Lewis reporting from the Toronto International Film Festival

Lev (third from left) and friends inbetween screenings

Apologies for my absence yesterday. A crowded day of films and fatigue and incoherent thoughts overtook me. Today, I have a few moments, so a few thoughts on a film that everyone is talking about.

Up In the Air
Jason Reitman's mildly diverting corporate comedy, his third stab at directing and second at writing, has moments of inspiration but for the most part feels blandly safe in its assessment of corporate culture. The film has been touted as a departure from Reitman’s earlier, more overly comedic features and this is in a sense true; a malaise of melancholy runs throughout. Thankfully the dramatic overtones rarely interfere with the humour, and this becomes the films strongest asset. For the first hour Reitman pulls off what many attempt, but few can do: the assimilation of drama and comedy. This should come as little surprise to anyone who's kept up with his career. Both Thank You For Smoking and Juno had an emotional core that allowed them to stand slightly apart from other films of the same ilk. Juno, in particular, was able to pull off an emotional denouement that rang true, while rarely losing sight of the simple fact that it was a comedy.

Up In the Air's brand of humour feels more organic than Juno's clever catchphrases, and its drama is filtered more evenly throughout. Too bad then that by the third act Up In the Air squanders most of the goodwill it has elicited. Though the steady evolution of drama builds quite gracefully, Reitman’s handling of George Clooney’s character, and the progression of the story, fall into cliché. Any sense of subtlety goes out the window as the story progresses exactly as one thinks it will. [spoiler] By the time Clooney dramatically races away from his big public speaking event the film has lost most of its grounding in anything truthful or authentic. [/spoiler]

The film’s bland cinematography, voice-over and editing do little to separate the film from numerous other movies. Clooney gives a charming, affable performance but its nothing he hasn’t done before; Michael Clayton, but funny. Anna Kendrick continues to show promise, handling what could have been a cloying character with grace but it’s Vera Farmiga who gets best in show honours. Lesser screen time does nothing to quell Farmiga’s continual acting prowess.

None of this stands to say that Up In the Air won’t play well to audiences or the Academy. In fact, the Oscars seem quite likely at this stage in the game. With Clooney in the lead and the crowd-pleasing nature of the film, Up In the Air should glide through the season with ease but the movie doesn't soar. Final Grade: C+


Next Up: Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime, The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man and Jacques Audiard’s Un Prophète.

Red Carpet Rendezvous

Okay... I know when you mention Twilight you're supposed to be panting exclusively about Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart but at the risk of losing every tween or soccer mom reader i may have *they do nothing for me*. However, it was fun to see Anna Kendrick back in high school again. Remember that choice Camp moment when she belted out "Ladies Who Lunch" Wicked funny that was. Worth a rental just for that scene! Maggie Cheung was coaxed out of retirement for filming on Tarantino's upcoming WW II epic. Hey however we get her back is fine. Even if it's only a cameo it's still something. Madonna attended a Gucci event in this grass skirt. It's the weirdest look for her since that time her eyes were mouths in the Bedtime Stories video


Unfortunately it's not as cool.

TANG WEI! I'm shouting because I was just so excited to see her. I know she's banned in China and all but somebody give this woman a follow up role. Did no one in the movie industry see Lust, Caution. It's like turning your nose up at gourmet food or lighting your money on fire. Do not let her go to waste. Nicole Kidman is tall.

Viola Davis is soon to be an Oscar nominee, thank God. I still smile thinking of how rich she made 2002 cinema even from the sidelines (Remember Antwone Fisher, Far From Heaven, Solaris?). And finally Faith the Vampire Slayer. I have been waiting a long time for her to be in something worthwhile (Tru Calling = awful) but after the cancellation of Pushing Daisies and all the production woes from the set of Dollhouse, I'm thinking it wasn't such a good idea for me to become interested in television again. I knew I should've quit it altogether when Sex & the City or Six Feet Under went off the air.