Day of Rest

shhhhhhhhhh. Daniel Craig needs his beauty sleep. (Aren't you excited that he's coming back for a third round at Bond, James Bond?)

We'll be back tomorrow. Go see a movie! 

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30 Seconds To Link

Time Warner Do you want to be an indie film icon? Time Warner is hosting a short film competition on their YouTube channel. The prize is a trip to Sundance and presumably the festivities there.
Spangle the slippery slope of the new MPAA ratings. Yes, they're now warning you if a movie shows male nudity. Female nudity is the regular kind, see. No funny stuff!
Self Styled Siren great rangey entertaining review of the Romanian drama Tuesday After Christmas. Though I have to disagree on one major point: I thought the oaf at center was hot in the ways one can be if one happens to be oafish...
/Film Daniel Craig on the set of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

TCM Fredric March is the star of the month. Yay. Make sure to watch The Best Years of Our Lives... since we just discussed it (in case you haven't). I'm DVRing One Foot in Heaven tonight because it's never been able for home viewing.
Mind of a Suspicious Kind on Canadian Oscar submission Incendies
This Recording Molly Lambert wrote a zingy personal runaway train piece on Aaron Sorkin. Loved it but for that "artistic meritocracy" detour sent me spinning. I don't believe in any true meritocracy anywhere. I think believing it it only leads to unhappiness. Success is always about a combo of things including luck, getting to the right places first, knowing the right people, looking the right way, saying the right thing at the exact right time, being in the right mood at the right times, noticing opportunities when they whiz by,  and then... then and only then (and maybe even further down the list) merit. Sorry! There's just too many wildly successful people / things that are indifferently executed, lazily created, or unspecial to believe in merit. Personal button: Pushed! Beep Beep. But Molly is astute...

The internet has taught me that people are radically transparent even when they try not to be. It is a way to channel your id directly, sometimes dangerously, and everyone's id is going "I'M THE BEST LOOK AT ME I'M THE BEST" and then also simultaneously "OH GOD FUCK I AM THE WORST" as an extension of the same thing. Namely that people are fucking fragile, even the accomplished ones.

Dead on. Which is why I try to be transparent. Iwish I was more successful! I'mthebestlookat-ohfuckI....

Antagony & Ecstasy "Beating a Dead Horse" I almost don't want to see Secretariat now. I've been enjoying the merciless reviews too much. The movie might spoil the reviews!
Coming Soon Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back to the Future. What could have been as DVD extras. (Though I'm surprised that contractually, studios can do this?)
MTV Rhys Ifans will play Spider-Man's villain. No word on which villain but if they're going with the canonic Gwen Stacy story it'd be The Green Goblin again.
OUT Cheyenne Jackson's career continues to blossom on television. I'm so embarrassed that the movies are still so hung up about out actors but TV is getting over it already. Oh, movies. Catch up!NY Times Courtroom sketch of Woody Allen & Mia Farrow circa 1993. Ohhhhh...


Refinery and Boy Culture have new Terry Richardson shots of Jared Leto. And speaking of...
Cineboobs Katey drew our attention yesterday to this incredible Jared Leto transformation.



Wow.

Oprah and Mariah Live (A Weekend Name-Dropping Frenzy)

What kind of a blog host would I be if I didn't share my unusually star-packed weekend story with you? I'd already tweeted about it but there's only so much detail one can pack into 140 character clips with service interruptions.

Friday Morning
I was up at the crack of dawn for Oprah Fridays Live two days back as they were broadcasting from Central Park. One of my closest friend's best friend works on the show, thus the invite. It's not like Oprah Winfrey knows who I am. I knew Mariah Carey would appear as guest but otherwise I went in to the event blind. I feared leaving deaf, memories of Mariah's ear-shattering top notes vaguely worrying me. I've never understood the appeal of that girlwoman and her butterfly / charm bracelet /sweet sweet fantasy / glitter world (is she 12? seriously) but the excitement about attending a live televised event was plenty to get me going and mimicking fandom during the "applaud now" moments. I ended up four rows back on the left side of the stage, with a great view of the Great Machine-like proceedings. Let's just say that Oprah's show is exceedingly well oiled.


Turns out going to a live taping is a long process: arrived at 6:45 AM, queued up, waited, ushered into holding area at 7:45, waited, seated by 8:30, waited, waited, at 9:30 came the crowd warm-up which largely consisted of a very chipper woman barking jovial orders at us. The live broadcast began at 10 AM. The highlight of the pre-show was a song and dance performance from a pack of four guys ("Mariah's BIGGEST fans") from Missouri who had been flown in by fairy godmother Oprah to see their idol. If you saw Oprah on Friday, two of the boys were invited up on the stage during the actual show when Oprah dropped yet more fairy dust on them: they would be appearing in Mariah's next video (understandably, they went berserk) and Oprah would also be flying them to Vegas for a concert. The Big O doesn't fool around with the gift-giving once she's become aware of your existence.

The highlight for me?

The show had just begun and Oprah was relaying the wonders of New York City: Central Park, shopping, Broadway. Suddenly there's orgiastic crowd squeals to my left and my head spins to see DANIEL CRAIG and HUGH JACKMAN --or as Oprah would say "Huu-ooOOO-oo JahckmnN'!" Yes, her voice is just as affected in real life -- who are mere yards away from me. They were walking swiftly together towards the stage. It was a total mindfuck blur of starpower. I'm sure I swallowed flies my jaw was so loose. Only four or five women blocked my ability to leap at the dream duo. For that I thank and curse them.

Other guests on the show were Mayor Bloomberg, Nick Cannon (who seemed more like Mariah's hyper fan than her husband although that's kind of cool. Maybe he's as trapped in his tween years as Mariah herself?) and Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. In the audience, receiving much love from the stage, were Lee Daniels (the writer/director of Precious), the author of Oprah's new book club selection "Say You're One Of Them" and Oprah's gal Gayle King.

Oscar watchers should note that during the show I experienced a film-experience-familiar horror as Oprah raved about Mariah's "glammed down performance" in Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire. Mariah, already campaigning for a supporting actress nomination, delusionally suggested that the makeup people were adding bags and dark circles under her eyes and even gave her a moustache. In no way shape or form does she look like that (!) was the gist of her self promotion. Methinks the woman has been famous too long.

Which is the realest Mariah?

I ask you with all sincerity, which is more real:

• a 40 year old woman without glamour makeup under flourescent lighting or...
• a woman surrounded 24/7 by a team of makeup artists, wardrobe personnel, key lights and photoshop airbrush expert whose job it is to make her look 18?
  

Though we were close to the stage we could barely see Mariah during commercial breaks as the makeup artists surrounded her completely for touchups each time. Despite my cynicism regarding the praise that's inevitably heaped upon every 'deglam' performance, I do think Mariah appears to be doing good work in Precious and she was surprisingly funny/charming on the show. That said, I needn't have worried about my ears. She was so heavily corseted that she was definitely having problems breathing and her voice came out a whispery falsetto. I'm sure it sounded better on television.

Mariah doing the foreigner hit "I Wanna Know What Love Is"

There's more to say but I could ramble for hours...

Once we were off air, Oprah thanked the crowd quite graciously before we filed out. Her final exit, waving to the crowd with her arm literally and awkwardly raised up behind her, never turning back around to look at us, made me laugh. It totally reminded of that choice revealing bit in Madonna's Truth or Dare where her childhood friend says "I love you Madonna" as they part. Madonna, slipping around the corner and out of the camera shot, never looks back. Her offscreen voice dismisses the woman with a rote "I love you, too."

The rich and famous have no time for you!

Friday Night
Attended the Lance Horne show at Joe's Pub. The singer/songwriter is well loved by the Broadway crowd and Cheyenne Jackson, comedienne Lea Delaria (beautiful jazz voice. Get her CDs) and Michael Urie (Ugly Betty), among several others, were on hand to sing his songs. Alan Cumming (left, with Lance) was on stage the most singing about his recent marriage to his boyfriend as well as doing a funny duet with Cheyenne about condoms. The singer/actor/writer/cologne salesman / Nightcrawler will add recording artist to his resume next week when his CD is released.

The semi-famous were all on stage, except for N'Syncer Lance Bass, who was just a member of the audience. He walked right by us, some new arm candy hanging about him, to take a seat at a reserved table.

Jonny Lee Miller and Sienna Miller (no relation) and their ex-lovers

Saturday
Watched Sienna Miller (G.I. Joe) and Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting's "Sick Boy" and television's Eli Stone) perform After Miss Julie on Broadway. For what it's worth Sienna plays sexually charged unravelling sanity woman fairly well. Who knew?

But their celebrity kept getting in the way for me. During every slow moment in the Strindbergh inspired production (and there were a few... it's curiously paced) I kept thinking that Jude Law, Sienna's on again/off again ex, was performing Hamlet in a nearby theater and I wanted to be there. At one point in the climax of the production, Jonny's face was smeared with blood. I could only think of Angelina Jolie and how she used to write his name on her shirt in blood back in the mid-90s. Don't you miss crazy goth Angie?

<--- Finally, all I could think of was Jonny and Jude snogging and I began wondering if they're still close? Sometimes it seems like the famous are so inbred, everyone dating, befriending and otherwise smearing their DNA on everyone else who happens to be famous.

Sunday
I'm paying for all of this excitement. Totally sick... again (I hate you, flu!) so I guess I'm staying in to watch the EMMYS.

How was your weekend? Which celebs were involved in your activities be it on tv, screen or live?
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Linksicle

up
In Contention on Up's "Russell" and his voice actor Jordan Nagai
Wired Science wonders if you really can lift a house with balloons
/Film details inside jokes within Pixar's UP
Pixar the first teaser for Toy Story 3

down... all around
Stale Popcorn I love this "Movies in Movies" series, don't you? Wish I'd thought of it!
Just Jared Nicole Kidman on Rabbit Hole set. Also refuting baby rumors
NY Post French Oscar nominee Betty Blue is getting a rerelease with 65 additional racy minutes of Jean-Hugues Anglade & Beatrice Dalle thrown in. Mon dieu
Rants of a Diva names the 25 best performances of the TV season
My New Plaid Pants somewhat echoes my feelings about the new Verhoeven with Halle Berry (!?) in the starring role
Cinema Blend Lucy Punch replacing Nicole Kidman in the next Woody Allen film. I like Punch so it's good to hear she's catching a break. We still know nothing of the role, though
The Big Picture on the orgasmic (?) Drag Me to Hell poster
Daily Mail and Pop Hangover - Lick Daniel Craig! He's only 100 calories


Just in time for summer!
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This, That and The Other Link

Thompson on Hollywood really cohesive Cannes roundup on buzz winners and losers
EW funny stretch of a followup to yesterday's Buffy reboot news. What does Whedon think of it?
<--- Pixar an interview with Tim Hauser on The Art of UP
Lazy Eye Theater "don't terminate until you can see the whites of their teeth"
My New Plaid Pants a pearl of wisdom from The Others
Risky Biz Blog the 2009 Oscar race. It's not off to any kind of real start
The Evening Class on Latino images in film and Turner Classic Movies

These three go out to you Californians!
Movie|Line on California's Prop 8 Disaster "J.J. Abrams to Revitalize Supreme Court Franchise" ... a stress release laugh
Socialite's Life Colin Farrell to be best man at his gay brothers wedding. Awww. No wonder he was so sincere in that A Home at the End of the World movie.
The Post Game Show "The Movement to Protect Singing"

yes please

And finally, a most unexpected but exciting news bit to brighten your morning: Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig to co-star on Broadway this fall !!!

Steaming Hot

Too darn hot. They're having a heatwave. Et cetera.

I meant to toss this out on Wednesday but here are my choices for sexiest of the year. Yes, I'm back to the FB Awards. Gotta wrap these up. Medalists in every category have to be announced a week from today!

I decided to give Daniel Craig a vacation this year (no blue speedo. no nomination!) even though he's already a double medalist in this category. Who I really wanted to include was Haaz Sleiman from The Visitor. That was a good film but while we're wading into shallow waters, wouldn't it have been a better film if he had drummed in his underwear in every scene. Haaz doesn't make the nominee shortlist because carnality seemed to be the last thing on his mind in the film (legal troubles will kill the sex drive). The choices might seem a bit more obvious than in past years, but sometimes obviousness hits the spot.

Read on...
Strip with Marisa Tomei. Kill for Angelina Jolie. Put your fists up for Hugh Jackman.
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Licensed To... Complete these Sentences

I _______ Quantum of Solace because _________ . Daniel Craig is ___________.

Ladies (Put a Link on it)

Low Resolution writes letters to Twilight cast members. ~signed with snark
Gelf puts blurbs back in context
Victim of the Time "Scott. Joe Scott." Daniel Craig's other role
Lazy Eye Theatre James Bond 'thon begins
The Big Picture corrects some rumors about what's going on with Baz Luhrmann's Australia
Out has published its annual "Out 100" list. Gus Van Sant & Cheyenne Jackson get cover honors
Filmmaker Jim McKay (director of underappreciated gem Our Song) really loves Rachel Getting Married
In Contention wonders why the Academy so rarely gets on board with controversial films
Save Daisies updates the Pushing Daisies possible cancellation drama. That shut down I referred to wasn't a cancellation so much as a quitting early. Season 2 will be short. Season 3 ???
Screen Rant Star Trek character sheets
Country Fair will the Oscars honor bigger box office this year?

FWIW: Quantum of Solace Buzz

Text received from friend who caught a Quantum of Solace screening this week:

A worthy follow-up to "Casino Royale" that shouldnt really disappoint anyone. Craig is still awesome, a LOT of action & minimal pathos -for better or worse. It's fun, short, kind of confusing, and doesn't ever really get stupid -- though the explosion-filled climax comes close

Good to hear but I'm still saddened by the news that there were no more happy on-set "accidents" to give us shots of Daniel Craig in speedos.

< -- in lieu of light blue swim trunks please enjoy icy blue eyes

All that celluloid + All that man ≠ more beefcake? This math is all wrong.

Taking the Express. Got the Munchies?

<-- James Franco at the premiere of Pineapple Express on Tuesday.

The big movie news today is that James Franco is hiking up his pants and trying once again to be a big star. Headlining Pineapple Express (trailer) with Seth Rogen might do the trick if early ecstatic reviews are honestly come by and not being typed within swirling puffing cannabis clouds.

JAMD has a bunch of photos from the star-studded premiere which I found amusing. Looking at photos of the stars who attended the NYC premiere I'm instantly judging their experiences with the mowie wowie and occassionally wishing that Mary Louise Parker and the cast of Weeds had all attended in character --love my entertaiment all mashedup and incongruously mingling as you know.

Not a potsmoker myself but I did inhale once ...okay, twice. And the second time I had the whole endless giggling, "shut up, I'm not high", munchy craving experience. And you?

But more importantly: Alicia Silverstone? Daniel Craig? Emile Hirsch?


How often does Clueless Alicia roll one?
Are James Bond's sunglasses covering tell-tale glassy eyes?
And Emile Hirsch... what munchies is he craving right this very second?

Your guesswork in the comments please.
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Quantum of Derivation Solace

It's the Quantum of Solace trailer. We'll call it a teaser since it stars Daniel Craig... even if it is 2 full minutes long.



It's clear that for Craig's second outing as 007 the filmmaking team hasn't once been discouraged by the notion that they've been heavily influenced by the Bourne franchise. In November's performance, the role of "dead girl who must be avenged" normally played by Franka Potente will be played by Eva Green. The role normally played by Joan Allen will be played by Judi Dench. The role normally played by Matt Damon will be played by Daniel Craig. Watch out Daniel! Judi is not as frail as she appears. Have you seen Notes on a Scandal or Shakespeare in Love? She will cut you! With an imperious stare maybe but still... it'll hurt.

BYOB (Bring Yer Own Blurb)

John Maybury (pictured left, director of the upcoming Edge of Love) is mocking me. He's one-upped my "blurb whore" joke, taking it to new extremes. See how he's positioned himself and rock legend Siouxsie Sioux (Y) directly under their own pullquote?! "absolutely sensational"

Clever bastard.

Then news comes that he convinced Keira Knightley to go topless for that new movie. Big deal. This is the same man who got Daniel Craig naked in that bathtub for Love is the Devil (1998), surely one of the great achievements in nineties cinema.

Definitely a clever bastard.

If you haven't seen the trailer to Edge of Love yet, it's been out for awhile and it's here. (Can you tell the summer movies are boring me?)

Daniel Craig at 18 ?

<--- Is this what Daniel Craig, 40, looked like as a teenager?

This young man to your left is Harry Eden, 18, who is playing the teen version of Daniel Craig in the new drama Flashbacks of a Fool. The film is about a famous actor whose past comes back to haunt him in some way (hence the title). Eden has a pretty strong resume already, with frequent TV and film work since he was ten years old. He's even won a couple of acting prizes, both of them for the film Pure which co-starred Keira Knightley. He doesn't have any sort of a profile in the states but you might have seen him as Nibs in the recent Peter Pan (2003) or in the classic role of Artful Dodger for Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist (2005).

One thing that will help Eden pull it off: We have little concept of a young Craig. The new Bond didn't get internationally well-known until he was in his 30s, kicked off largely by being the rough trade object of Francis Bacon's obsession in the art biopic Love is the Devil (1998) which I heartily recommend to all people who enjoy themselves some Daniel Craig ---and not just in the nude in the bathtub way. (The great Tilda Swinton is also in the movie if you need more incentive)

Will Eden one day be tortured by Geoffrey Rush, seduce a grandmother, cheat on Gwyneth Paltrow or be licensed to kill on her majesty's secret service? Will be grow up to be anything like one Daniel Craig? Stay tuned...

Harry at 15ish in Oliver (2005). Daniel at 27ish in Our Friends in the North (1996)

I've always found the casting of actors as younger versions of famous stars to be an interesting if mostly frustrating exercize. Often it's hard to see it. Sometimes little kids just become the go to person for everyone. Remember that Dakota Fanning has already played Calista Flockhart Jr, Ellen DeGeneres Jr. and Reese Witherspoon Jr. [previous cheeky fun w' that here]

My favorite casting of a star as a kid is still probably Mayim Bialik as the young Bette Midler in Beaches, such a find!

Here's the trailer to Flashbacks of a Fool. Notice that they totally know what they're selling here: it only takes 12 seconds before Daniel Craig gets naked.



No word yet on when the film is coming to the States but it opens next week in the UK.
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Ubiquitous in 2008 (Pt 1)

Last year we investigated actors who might dominate 2007, hard working SAG card holders with 3 or more movies arriving. Oddly many didn't have a "big" year. Will the casting director pets of 2008 fare better? You might want to buy stock in the following careers...

Ubiquitous Actors
Part 1 ~ A-K scroll down
for Part 2 ~ L-Z (click here)

If you're the type of moviegoer who regularly asks "who's in it?" than you're going to love the new year of movies or hate it depending on how you feel about these thesps, who might be all over your screens. This year is tougher to guess about since the ripples of the now ended writer's strike might be felt and actors themselves could go on strike soon. You'll be surprised to note that Cate Blanchett is not on this list. But be warned: she will be just as ubiquitous as ever on magazine covers, red carpets and screens this year since her two '08 projects will both be inescapable: it doesn't get much more high profile than Indiana Jones and the Place of the Thing or the reunion of Se7en's director and star David Fincher & Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Both films are already in post-production so there's plenty of time for her to squeeze in something else. She doesn't sleep.

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Amy Adams has just woken up from her nap in a nearby meadow and hollow tree. Everyone's favorite new princess is ready for more close-ups. None of her upcoming films are as blockbuster-friendly as Enchanted but it's a safe assumption that she'll continue to sparkle in them. First up is Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, a period comedy in which she hires Frances McDormand as her personal assistant. Later she'll be cleaning crime scenes with another rapidly rising beauty (Emily Blunt) in Sunshine Cleaning, before putting on the nun's habit for the adaptation of the Pulitzer winning stage play Doubt (with Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour-Hoffman). A lot of people will be predicting Doubt for a swath of Oscar nominations. It's an exciting water-cooler type experience as a stage play but as a film? We'll see.

Jennifer Aniston. Proclaiming that the ex Mrs. Pitt will be "ubiquitous" in a calendar year is a little like claiming that Michelle Pfeiffer will be beautiful, Tom Cruise crazy and Britney Spears tragic. But, let's say so anyway. Could be a bigger year that usual. She's part of the all star ensemble in the dramatization of the best-seller He's Just Not That Into You, she has the lead role in the romantic comedy Management and she's filming Traveling , a drama with Aaron Eckhart. Three more films are lined up beyond that to so she'll stay spotlit well into 2009.

Eric Bana The former Incredible Hulk won't go green this year (that gamma curse has now fallen on Ed Norton) but he's definitely earning some. Things get hot and heavy quickly. This month bring us the Australian drama Romulus, My Father with German wonder Franka Potente (Run Lola Run, The Bourne Identity) as his co-star as well as the already-in-theaters The Other Boleyn Girl (pictured right) in which he muscles Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson into his bed, poor things. He'll follow that by freaking Rachel McAdams out in The Time Traveler's Wife and he was supposed to cap the year off with some sort of glorified cameo in Star Trek as "Nero" but the movie is now pushed back to summer 2009. When tent-poles are delayed its often a bad sign.

Elizabeth Banks is F***ing Seth Rogen (offkey!) on YouTube

Elizabeth Banks, that naughty nozzle-loving comic delight from The 40 Year Old Virgin, is gracing the Vanity Fair fold-out for a reason. She's got a passel of movies coming out. The romantic Definitely, Maybe (Ryan Reynolds is a lonely dad and Abigail Breslin his matchmaking daughter) is already out. Later in the year she'll appear in the horror thriller A Tale of Two Sisters but it's a trio of comedies that could bestow A list status by year's end. She has the lead female role in the odd summer film Starship Dave in which a human-looking spaceship (Eddie Murphy) falls for her, displeasing the aliens who live inside him. Later in the year she returns with her Wet Hot American Summer co-horts Paul Rudd and writer/director David Wain for Little Big Men and she's also one of the two title characters in the upcoming comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Zack is Seth Rogen). At Christmas time we might see her in Lovely, Still an elderly romance starring Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn.

Emily Blunt is a tease. She glided down the stairs in just a man's dress shirt and her skivvies in Charlie Wilson's War (yowza) and then *poof* disappeared from the movie, leaving you wanting much more. As the top hat top girl on the new Vanity Fair Hollywood cover the year looks promising. First up is a co-starring gig with another cover girl Amy Adams in Sunshine Cleaning. She also has a supporting role in The Great Buck Howard an indie with John Malkovich as an over the hill entertainer. Most importantly, if Oscar history is any indication, she'll be enjoying an awards run next winter for the biopic The Young Victoria (previously discussed here) in which she plays... well, you've already figured that out. Oscar does love a royal. But... they don't always love younger queens. We'll see.

Jim Broadbent. Fans of this delightful and often inspired character actor have been hankering for another 2001. Remember that? He was right there providing dramatic, moving or hilarious support to 60% of the Best Actress nominees (in Moulin Rouge!, Iris, and Bridget Jones Diary) and he won the Oscar, too. This year could be as big. We hope that the father/son drama And When Did You Last See Your Father? (already completed) makes it to America. Then there are supporting roles in the aforementioned The Young Victoria and and some fantastical probable blockbusters like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Inkheart and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In the latter he has the plum role of potions instructor Horace Slughorn who has crucial information about Lord Voldemort's youth.

Daniel Brühl. Who loves this German actor (most recently seen in The Bourne Ultimatum and Two Days in Paris)? Raise your hands. Oh, so many of you! I keep wishing he'd have more of an international breakthrough... or at least something as big as Goodbye Lenin again to remind people about him. With European stars it's nearly impossible to know whether or not we'll get to see any of their films but he's got several going on so if the distributors are kind we'll see some of the following: In Tranzit (a WW II drama with Vera Farmiga) A Tram in SP (plot unknown) Krabat (a German fantasy about sorcerers), John Rabe (a German biopic about a businessman who saved hundreds of thousands of lives during the Nanjing Massacre in the late 30s). And he's already signed for a few more. Chief among them is Julie Delpy's period epic The Countess about the infamous 16th century noblewoman Erzebet Bathory who bathed in blood and inspired all those vampire stories. The cast is in place so we hope Delpy speeds it through production. Hurry up you crazy multi-talented French wonder!

Bradley Cooper. Was I just imagining it or was he not well liked in those first couple of seasons of Alias? It's years later and he's in demand and delighting audiences. He was laugh out loud funny on Nip/Tuck this year as a narcissistic actor with no boundaries and now he has four motion pictures due. He's part of a strong cast in Peyton Reed's (Bring It On, The Break Up) next comedy Yes Man (Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Terence Stamp also star) which is due this Christmas.


He's part of the huge star-studded ensemble of He's Just Not That Into You but the key to a future A list movie career might be found in what he does with the title role in All About Steve. Sandra Bullock is his stalker in that Fox comedy. As if that comedy triple feature weren't enough he's also got the lead in the summer horror film Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train.

Daniel Craig I saw him first. No seriously. At this point I'm totally annoyed with all his new crazed fans and the entire blogosphere posting any picture of him they can find. Where were you when I was shouting his praises before Bond. Huh? You were complaining when I did saying 'he's weird looking'. Now, will you learn to trust me when I fawn over an actor you haven't heard of? Anyway Bond is back in Quantum of Solace but that's in November. Before then, cross your fingers, we could see him in the memoir-of-a-star drama Flashbacks of a Fool. After Bond, he'll close the year with Defiance which is directed by Edward Zwick. Zwick never gives up chasing that Oscar dragon. So many baity projects on paper (Glory, The Last Samurai, Legends of the Fall, Courage Under Fire, Blood Diamond) but the Academy never completely bites down once they're on screen. The bait this time? Jewish brothers leading a resistance movement in the Belarussian forest against the Nazis during World War II. Will Zwick finally capture gold?

Melonie Diaz. I don't usually do Sundance but I hear that if you bought tickets to anything she was in it. The new indie queen? We'll see. I hold a special place in my heart for anyone who was in Raising Victor Vargas (seriously, put it on your rental queue) and this year she's in the comedy Be Kind Rewind (out right now with Jack Black and Mos Def) I'll Come Running (a romantic drama), American Son (an indie about a Marine on leave) and the comedy/mystery Assassination of a High School President which I can't really recommend but in which she is her usual adorable self... and I'll give her this --she does a fine drunken dance in a hot red dress.

Robert Downey Jr is in one--OK, let me rephrase: the rumor is that Downey Jr will appear in not one but two superhero films this year. Which means he's going to have a very big year. Basically if you're in even one you're as high profile as it gets. Iron Man we're well aware of. But it's rumored that that tin man will have a cameo in The Incredible Hulk too. I think that's a smart move on Marvel Entertainment's part, even if it's not true. He's also got two comedies: he plays the principal to a therapist teen in the high school comedy Charlie Bartlett and he's part of the comedic crowd in Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder about a group of actors becoming soldiers. Finally and with the most trepidation I approach The Soloist . It's directed by the talented rising star Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) but the subject matter sounds terrible on paper: a schizophrenic homeless musician (Jamie Foxx) with big dreams. Doesn't that sound so 90s and Desperately Seeking Oscar? Yikes.

Ralph Fiennes needs to get his calendar in order. It seems like we never see him. And then we see him constantly. And then we never see him. 2008 is Fiennes-full. In Bruges a gangster comedy is the first attack. Bernard and Doris a long delayed never released biopic with Susan Sarandon should be on DVD soon, and a war drama The Hurt Locker which finally brings director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Strange Days) back to the action genre where she made her name. He's also Duke to Keira Knightley's The Duchess and for his last act of 2008, he could be in the Oscar race again (it's been a long time) co-starring with Kate Winslet in Stephen Daldry's (The Hours) adaptation of the novel The Reader. But since the new Harry Potter picture focuses on Voldemort's youth, word is that you won't see him in that one. Still... I wouldn't be surprised if they worked in a cameo somehow.

Colin Firth is a star I don't really get. I'm agnostic about his charms....you might even say atheistic. Yet the abundant love others feel for this everyman Brit is impossible to deny. If you're a Firth lover you'll be happy to hear he's got a whole bunch of celluloid coming your way. Mamma Mia! (he'll play an old paramour of Meryl Streep's), Genova (a new drama with a strong role for him opposite Catherine Keener and Hope Davis), And When Did You Last See Your Father? (if it ever opens in America), The Accidental Husband (an Uma Thurman romantic comedy), St. Trinian's (a girl's school drama with Rupert Everett), Then She Found Me (directed by Helen Hunt) and even more films are on their way --at least three already marked for 2009. Colin Firth = busy.

Gael García Bernal. Unlike Daniel Brühl listed above, Gael is a foreign star who has broken out in America. He turns 30 this year and he's already one of the best actors on the planet. It still feels like the sky is the limit. So why aren't we getting all of his Spanish language films? Grrrrr. And, more to the typical Hollywood point: why isn't he being cast in more English language films when his English is fine? If we're lucky we'll see him this year in Déficit (which Gael directs and stars in), The Past (a romantic breakup drama from Hector Babenco -still best known for helming the Oscar nominated Kiss of the SpiderWoman, 1985), Rudo y Cursi (inside the world of competitive soccer, directed by Carlos Cuarón), Mammoth (the new international film from the controversial Swedish director Lukas Moodyson). But if we don't see any of those we will at least be seeing the diminutive star with giant talent in Oscar hopeful Blindness in which he plays 'King of Ward 3'. A lot more on that film in previous posts.

Anne Hathaway makes me go goo-goo eyed. I just. Well... I just. I'm sorry but I do. I'm happy to report that she has the high profile role of Agent 99 (who I had a huge crush on as a wee boy) in Get Smart . Later she's part of the dramatic ensemble in Passengers and last but definitely not least she headlines Dancing with Shiva about a recovering junkie and ex-model (Hathaway) returning home for her sister's wedding. The reason I'm excited for it --apart from the Hathaway love is that it's a Jonathan Demme original. He's had a rough go of filmmaking this past decade doing a lot of poorly received remakes of superior films. But I'm hoping that we see a burst of his 80s spirit and invention this time out. Demme was once an important director for actresses who were looking to step it up. He directed Melanie Griffith's best work in Something Wild (1986). He gave Michelle Pfeiffer (who he claimed was his favorite actress) one of her best roles in Married to the Mob (1988), and she was never looser or funnier in another comedy. And before he started fumbling his career he won the Oscar directing Jodie Foster to her second statuette for The Silence of the Lambs. Will he work magic with Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger (who plays her mother)?

Angelina Jolie reminded people about her Mighty Talent in 2007 so this year she goes back to just being a diva. You'll hear her as the voice of Master Tigress in Kung Fu Panda and you'll see her in the flesh tossing around a lot of heavy artillery in the politically suspect action movie Wanted in which she and Morgan Freeman convince James McAvoy to be a wolf rather than a sheep. Shoot first, second, third and fourth. Ask questions much later. Most importantly, she'll play the lead in the 20s drama The Changeling for Clint Eastwood. Eastwood pictures lately have a habit of being major Oscar players but who knows. He made a lot of movies that weren't Oscary before he was suddenly the Academy's favorite septugenarian. We'll see.

Catherine Keener, an actor's actor and audience fav', will have five to seven pictures out this year (!) In no particular order there's An American Crime (delayed from last year) in which she abuses Ellen Page in her basement. Strangely it's going to cable instead of the theater. You'd think distributors would want to catch little "Juno" while she's hot. Catch her and tie her up in the basement! Keener will also be featured in Michael Winterbottom's next, Genova which is about a father raising three young girls. I've already written a big post on Synecdoche, New York which is screenwriter Charlie Kauffman's directorial debut. Keener is currently filming the next Joe Wright picture The Soloist where she'll appear with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. Plus: we might get her fourth collaboration with writer/director Nicole Holofcener. That's a director/actor pair worth getting excited about. But that's not all. Catherine was featured in two Sundance ensembles in January. Sometimes Sundance movies take more than 12 months to make it to a theater near you but at some point you'll be able to see the high school theater comedy Hamlet 2 and the inside Hollywood satire What Just Happened? with Robert DeNiro.

Will these 17 actors lead you into the movie theater?

Continue to Part Two

related posts: 2008 Preview "We Can't Wait"

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Icons, Milkshakes, Anagrams... More Insanity!

a must read
Tapley drinks a milkshake. He drinks it up

icons
popbytes celebrates that Backwoods Barbie, Dolly Parton
Boy Culture strains his eyes to look at Madonna's new ones
Boing Boing Steve Martin on being funny

Bond, James Bond
<--- and the new teaser poster for Quantum of Solace. Funny how they announce the title, then release the poster without the title -- maybe they realize it's terrible? Time to rethink, rename but not rebrand obviously. Because I've gone anagram crazy how about Tofu Man's Co-Equal or Locust of Aquamen --they're nonsensical superhero titles but they make as much immediate sense as Quantum of Solace. And then there's ...

Aqua: Ton of Muscle
Clone of Aqua Smut
An Quota of Muscle (sure, it's grammatically incorrect but once you get to the muscle, you don't mind so much, right?)

...but all three of those obviously bring Casino Royale's blue swimsuit scene to mind so those won't do. Some porn appropriate titles can be anagramed from Quantum of Solace, too. But this is not that kind of blog. The best you're going to get here is pics of Daniel Craig in a bathing suit.

other stuff
Flickhead has an interesting read on the DVD of Blind Dating --some racist marketing decisions made right there
Kristen Thompson on the animated short Oscar nominees
Rob Scheer thinks the McConaughey pecs give their best performance ever in Fool's Gold.
Gallery of the Absurd rejected Beckham condom ad. Hilarious
i09 on Christina Ricci's retro girlpower in Speed Racer

P.S. and I mean it, too


Film Experience "portrait of Kiki..." yes I'm linking back to myself. I think this post was just about 10 days too early (so ahead of the curve that I'm lost in the shuffle!) given the news this week that Dunst has checked herself into rehab. Other blogs may snark but I say "good for her" and "LEAVE KIKI ALONE!!!" do I have to make a YouTube video or something?

TTT: James Bond Songs

Today was a crazy DVD day with new releases: Ratatouille, Sicko, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry; complete series like Seinfeld, Gilligans Island and Full House (yes someone somewhere will buy 8... 8! seasons of that); special edition of Chinatown; and collections of Bob Hope and the Coen Bros (not together --what a mindf*** that'd be)... but for reasons I can't quite explain even to myself the only one I've been thinking about is the James Bond Collection. All of them, the official ones at least.

Like most living breathing sentient beings I enjoyed last year's great franchise defribulator Casino Royale. There was so much to enjoy: Daniel Craig in a speedo, Eva Green all bewitching, Daniel Craig in closeup, high energy gritty stuntwork, Daniel Craig naked. But one thing I did not enjoy was the theme song. I'm of the opinion that the perfect opening credit balance to the patented two following hours of Bond's unique machismo is tough chicks doing the theme songs. So since I have Bond on the brain...

Top Ten Bond Songs

10 Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" Not technically girl singers but Nick Rhodes and John Taylor sure were pretty weren't they? Does anyone out there remember Taylor's 9 1/2 Weeks song "I Do What I Do (To Have You)"? num-num
09 Rita Coolidge "All Time High" I loved Octopussy as a kid. Forgive me



08 (to the right above) Tina Turner's "Goldeneye" -I wasn't a huge fan at the time but it stuck. And Tina was an ideal choice for a Bond singer. I always wish that she'd made more movies --loved her in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
07 (to the left above) Madonna's "Die Another Day" She's not kidding. Like an energizer bunny that one.
06 Sheena Easton "For Your Eyes Only" (below, left) cheesy dated power ballads have a treasured place in the Bond world
05 Garbage "The World is Not Enough" (below, right)


04 Paul Mccartney "Live and Let Die" The highest ranking Bond guy song
03 & 02 (to the left below) Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds are Forever" the Bond girl singer
01 (to the right below) Carly Simon's "Nobody Does it Better" To paraphrase Sandra Bernhard --and I don't think she'd mind since given her Carly referencing in other monologues -- 'no one speaks of Carly Simon anymore and that truly saddens me'