Posterized: Michael Cera

I'm still giggling about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World which I saw this morning. I loved the comic book and I was pleased that Edgar Wright was so skilled at keeping the comedy zippy.

Wallace: The L Word
Scott: Lesbian?
Wallace: The other L Word
Scott: Lesbians ?

My review is coming soon but in the meantime, shall we discuss Michael Cera's movie career. This is it, in posters. Before he came to real fame with Arrested Development, he did have a few movie roles, usually as children such as in the Dennis Quaid /Jim Caviezel time travel piece Frequency (2000). But I'm picking up where the classic sitcom left off.

Arrested Development (tv, 03-06) | Superbad (2007) | Juno (2007)

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (08) | Extreme Movie (08) | Paper Heart (09)

Year One (09) | Youth in Revolt (09) | Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (10)

How many have you seen? And isn't it peculiar that the posters are almost all the full body type? I guess you need both arms and legs for maximum slapstick lolz. I thought he was pretty great in Juno (and thought he made a fine Scott Pilgrim) but I know he has many haters, too. Especially due to that Arrested Development Development Hell.

Ellen Page: Will Inception and Freeheld Allow Her To Shine?

Regular readers may have gleaned that I have a growing fondness for Ellen Page. The fondness isn't overtly displayed but that's basically a matter of caution. Young obviously talented stars can have inexplicably short careers and young obviously untalented stars can have inexplicably long ones and you just never can tell. That's why it's safer to love actresses of a certain age and depth of filmography. If you can survive a good dozen years in the Hollywood rapids with all the tossing about, you're probably in it for as long as you have the stamina for it.

Too often Page is connected with Juno (2007), her starmaking role, and because that film is so divisive, she tends to be. Once the fog of Juno dissipates (let's give it one more year) people will probably wake up to the fact that she isn't that pregnant smartass. She was just very smart about how to walk in her shoes and find her voice.

If more people had seen Whip It (2009) they'd already know that Juno was neither fluke nor prison. Page can carry a film and shift to accommodate a different character without any visible strain. That's the mark of a confident charismatic actor, if not always a sure sign of inevitable A List stardom.

I don't think anyone fully knows Page's screen persona yet... including Ellen Page. That's an exciting thing -- particularly since Ellen herself seems eager to experiment with her image -- provided Hollywood comes through with roles that challenge her and tease that star identity out. As a movie star isn't she still in larva stage?

It's one of the reasons I think about her with caution. I have no idea who advised her to be that spokesperson for Cisco but a ubiquitous endorsement deal near the beginning of your acting career seems like a decision made with only short term goals in mind. Endorsements can raise your profile but they don't do a lot for conceptions about your gifts (if anything they detract) and they definitely don't increase audience affection. Commercials, especially those which air frequently, tend to bring irritation. Will anyone ever look at Justin Long and not think of "I'm a Mac". And isn't it a crying shame that people are far more likely to think of T-Mobile when they think of Catherine Zeta-Jones than they are to think of the Oscar winning role that directly preceded that deal? By all means make money with your celebrity but big noisy endorsement deals aren't a good idea unless you're wrapping up your movie stardom.

Page is one of several members of Young Hollywood's elite that people have held up as a casting possibility for David Fincher's version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2012). Varying reports tell us 'no, he'll go with an unknown' or 'it's definitely Carey Mulligan' or 'Kristen Stewart for the box office!' or what have you. Those rumors will keep rotating until some lucky girl signs the contract. Though I'd love to see Ellen try her hand at action, I doubt that that coveted role will land in her lap.


Next up for Ellen is Chris Nolan's Inception (pictured above). Page's role looks fairly large but I doubt it will be anything like a game changer. The cast is huge, Nolan tends to focus on the men in his movies and her role -- again just judging on promotional materials -- doesn't seem particularly interesting. I suspect she's the audience proxy... i.e. a structural device more than a character. You know the kind. Complicated stories with deeper than usual mythologies or concepts often require an outsider character to help the audience along. You can find countless examples in film or television of this template. The outsider is brought into a world they don't understand and the insiders (everyone else) explain and show the world/situation/plot to them and in so doing explain and show it to the audience watching. Whether or not the film lives up to expectations, what it will do for her career is an entirely different question.

But never mind all that because she's just signed on for Freeheld. That should keep our imaginations about her cinematic future occupied for now.

Freeheld is the true story of Laurel, a veteran detective who died of cancer. After diagnosis and with the knowledge of how little time she had left, she attempted to transfer her earned pension over to her life partner Stacie. Her elected officials wouldn't allow for it. So began a heated contemporary civil rights struggle in New Jersey. Sadly, the story will surely still resonate by the time the film arrives, whenever that will be, because such a vocal conservative portion of Americans still support discriminatory practices against their fellow citizens.

The real Laurel and Stacie in Freeheld (2007)

Page will play Stacie, the mechanic girlfriend. It's an interesting choice for the actress given the rumors that have swirled around her own sexuality. Page's arguably butch energy could be fascinating in this fresh context. She's done thrillers, sports films, scifi and comedies. A dramatic political movie with a romantic anchor sounds, if artistically successful, like a sure bet to help audiences and Hollywood to see her with fresh eyes. It could even be an Oscar film. The Academy loves a good social issues movie and the documentary won the industry's top prize.

Ron Nyswaner is writing the screenplay. While he's most famous for writing Philadelphia (for which he was Oscar nominated) we can only hope that he'll get at something deeper and less two dimensional than an Issue Movie. It's always hard to know if any movie's screenplay has been undermined or abetted by the other elements: acting, directing and executive decisions can significantly alter any screenplay. But I'm hoping that the relationship heart of this film will be a lot closer in quality to another film he wrote, The Painted Veil. That film, roundly ignored in the annual glut of December releases in its year, succeeded in churning up complicated emotions and true depth of feeling.

There's no word yet on which actress will play the Laurel role but one assumes it'll be hotly contested. At the very least she'll need great chemistry with Page. Laurel was nearly 50 years old when she died (Stacie was younger) and there's plentiful 40-50something actresses that'd be wise to start fighting for it. And besides... what woman wouldn't want to wrap her legs around Ellen Page in friendship?

How does Ellen Page strike you as an actress or star? Which older actress would you love to see paired with her? And if you've seen the Freeheld documentary (unfortunately I haven't), please speak up.
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Modern Maestros: Jason Reitman

Robert here, continuing my series on important contemporary directors. Since Up in the Air is up for Oscars this weekend, I thought we'd feature Jason Reitman. I expect he'll be a bit of a controversial choice considering he's only made three movies and I know there are those of you out there who feel lukewarm about all of his critical acclaim. But with two of those three films scoring Best Picture and Director nominations you can't ignore his cinematic success. So let's talk about him.

Maestro: Jason Reitman
Known For: Topical, slice-of-life dramedies that go down easy with hidden complexity.
Influences: Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges, and yes Ivan Reitman.
Masterpieces: No masterpieces yet, but he is promising.
Disasters: None
Better than you remember: Juno and Up in the Air have gotten a lot of dissent, though neither is a bad movie and some of the hate is unwarranted.
Box Office: Juno has grossed 145 mil.
Favorite Actor: J.K. Simmons has appeared and memorably so in all of his films.

What is the current state of quality comedy? Let's look at some examples from this past year. There's the spoof (Zombieland), the indie ((500) Days of Summer), the cerebral indie (A Serious Man) and the "dude" movie (The Hangover). But what happened that that Billy Wilder, James Brooks comedy about people you know; movies that take place not in heightened reality but in reality reality? Jason Reitman is making them. And he's utilizing the self awareness of the spoof, the soundtrack of the indie, the abstract endings of the cerebral indie and the character arcs of the "dude" movie. He's mixing together these universal comedic elements intelligently and ending up with films that seem effortless, but aren't. Then there's that term "topical" which eventually and often unfairly turns into "dated". But all movies (and art) are pieces of history that reflect their time. Times change but people don't and that's why Reitman smartly knows to make films that are essentially about people. And yes of course the films tackle the themes of lobbyist influence in government, teen pregnancy and recession but only in terms of how they affect people.

Confidence.

The people in Reitmans' films start out brash and confident and eventually come to the realization that they lack the intelligence or understanding or safety in the world they thought they had. In two cases the result is to accept though learn from the= defeat (although in Thank You For Smoking, the tobacco lobbyist get's his groove back.) These aren't exactly the happiest endings ever played for a mainstream audience. And that's something really worth celebrating about Jason Reitman's films. They eschew a simplistic explanation of the world in favor of something a bit more resembling reality. And while we're talking about the complexity of his characters' arcs let's not overlook the essential contributions of his actors. Reitman doesn't get enough credit for his ability to work with actors. He helped Aaron Eckhart take a character who should have been a likable bad guy and turned him into a genuine good guy. He worked with unknown Ellen Page making her Juno into someone that had real depth, and he took George Clooney's craft to new heights by highlighting all of his best assets. Not to forget some of the more memorable supporting performances by the likes of J.K. Simmons, Adam Brody, Sam Elliot, Allison Janney, Jennifer Garner, J.K. Simmons, Vera Farmiga, Melanie Lynskey, Danny McBride and of course, J.K. Simmons.

I feel sometimes that Jason Reitman is a victim of internet-fueled overhype. Both Juno and Up in the Air came out of Toronto with far too much ballyhoo to ever live up to. When promoted as the "best film of the year" often there's no place but a film to go but down. And while neither Up in the Air and Juno are flawless (it's taken everything in me not to mention Diablo Cody's script... too late), they're certainly welcome additions to the state of modern comedy. Up next for Reitman is an adaptation of Joyce Maynard's coming-of-age novel Labor Day. It looks like more topical fare for a man who has developed a real sense of the times.

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.

TIFF Day One: Antichrist and Jennifer's Body

Lev Lewis reporting from the Toronto International Film Festival

My first day at the festival yielded two opposing ends of the horror spectrum. On one end: Antichrist, the latest piece of controversy from Danish provocateur Lars von Trier; on the other: Jennifer's Body, the horror-comedy written by Diablo Cody. It's not difficult to say which one I prefer although words such as "prefer" or "enjoy" are not words that one should ever use to describe Antichrist.

Antichrist is everything you have heard and then some. I came into my screening moderately prepared for what von Trier had in store for me. I'd seen his previous work, read numerous articles detailing the controversy surrounding the film, thought I knew what I was in for. But, without trying to sound hyperbolic, nothing can prepare you for this. Perhaps, there will be people out there who will find themselves unaffected by the film, but I simply cannot imagine who they would be. Antichrist is the most audacious, disturbing, gut-wrenching, terrifying film I have ever encountered. At this point I'm still having difficulty applying any sort of critical sensibility to a work this powerful. Honestly, I'm unsure if a film has ever affected me quite as much as von Triers' has. Three quarters through I was literally shaking.

Charlotte in Eden

I need a bit more than an evening's perspective to really dissect the film, but needless to say Lars von Trier, along with Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg (who give astonishing performances as the grieving couple) have created what will likely be one of the seminal works of our time.

Willem Dafoe watched the whole film with us and then did a Q&A. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from him, but he was extremely suave, intelligent and funny.

Megan and Amanda: They know what boys want. They know what boys like.

Jennifer's Body, Diablo Cody's second foray into film, yields dull results. It's difficult to say whether Jennifer's Body feels inferior to Juno* due to a less able director (Karyn Kusama in the place of Jason Reitman), a lesser cast, or whether it is simply due to a poor script on Cody's part. So while it is certainly true that director Kusama is a) unable to combine horror and comedy in any sort of resonant way, and b) build the mood or tension very much needed for horror, blame must also be attributed to Cody who insufficiently blends her already-dated, stylized pop-culture laden dialogue with 80's camp-horror. Sadly, this is the one distinguishing element of Jennifer's Body and the only aspect that separates it from every horror film of late. Like the rest, scares are derived from characters walking slowly through dark spaces until something jumps out, which is of course complimented by appallingly loud thumps on the soundtrack. As well, the numerous flashbacks, which always begin with the obligatory dissolve to white and the contrast pumped to the max, do little to set Jennifer's Body apart from its modern-day peers.

<-- Seyfried & Fox in blood red heels at the premiere.

The film's Midnight Madness premiere was packed and the audience was eating out of the hands of Cody, Kusama, Fox and even Seyfried. However I can't imagine many people getting worked up about Jennifer's Body outside of the late-night festival atmosphere. Or perhaps I'm giving moviegoers too much credit. It is also possible that people will devour the audience-baiting of Jennifer's Body. For instance, at one point Amanda Seyfried, from out of nowhere and with no motivation, sucker-kicks a nurse who has done nothing to warrant such violence. The nurse flies through the air (accompanied by mind-numbing sound editing) and falls bloody and battered into an array of tables. This lurid act of violence received huge rounds of applause from an apparently blood-thirsty audience. Grade: D+

More fun than the film itself were the proceedings. The whole cast and crew were in attendance and up on the stage were: Karyn Kusama, Megan Fox, Johnny Simmons, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman. The rowdy crowd was quite thrilled at the appearance of Fox, and asked numerous questions about the kiss between her and Seyfried. However, Diablo Cody stole the show announcing that her greatest contribution to cinema has been the words "Stick it in".

*Not that I am, by any means, Juno's biggest fan.

related posts: "Places Willem Dafoe's Ass Has Been" / Jennifer's Body trailer

Tues Top Ten: Pregnancies

In honor of Penélope Cruz's recently announced pregnancy and the DVD release of Lindsay Lohan's latest Labor Pains (don't everybody rush out to snatch it up at once. I promise you they'll have enough copies) in which she fakes a pregnancy to keep a job, I thought a top ten list celebrating the miracle of childbirth -- or future childbirth rather -- was called for.

But first a bit more about Ms. Lohan. Rich at fourfour collected the Labor Pain lines that were more applicable to Lindsay the celebrity than the character she happens to be playing.



...not that Lindsay plays characters these days. The Actress wrapped things up with Mean Girls, only The Celebrity lives on.
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Ten Best Pregnant Movie Characters

10 Juno in Juno (2007)
The general three act journey of zeitgeist movies goes like so... Act I: instant hype, audience love and acclaim births a new pop culture babe; Act II: media overkill curdles that hype, attempts to beat holdout audience members into submission spurring rebellions. Backlash turns pop culture darling into punching bag; Act III: Everything settles down until the darling/punching bag is just a movie again, neither the greatest nor the worst ever made. Are we in act three yet with Juno? I hope so because for all the swipes at its forced quirk and too widely adopted quotables, it's a good movie and Juno the character as written, and especially as performed by Ellen Page, should be appreciated as a pretty swell(ing) movie character, hamburger phones be damned.

But how do you think her baby turned out?

09 Demi Moore in...
Vanity Fair Magazine: The Movie. Don't even argue that that wasn't her best role.

08 Holly in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
That's a spoiler if you haven't seen Woody Allen's Oscar nominated classic. I love that Holly begins the movie as a bundle of cocaine snorting sister-dependent directionless neurosis and ends the movie aglow with the promise of new life and yet you never think to worry that she'll be a terrible mother. You're too in love with Holly to be anything but happy for her. Credit Dianne Wiest who is one of the most endearing actresses that the cinema has ever known.


07 Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984)
If you give birth to the future savior of mankind you deserve a place on the list. I chose Sarah over Mary from any Jesus movie or Kee from Children of Men because I don't think they would have survived a robot apocalypse (too demure and too shell shocked, respectively). More on The Terminator and Sarah Connor herself.

06 Dawn Lagarto aka 'Bloody Mama' in Series 7: The Contenders (2001)
It's strange to me that Daniel Minahan's Series 7 never got its due as a prescient satire of the barbaric leanings of reality television and celebrity culture's fame fixation. In the movie, random citizens are selected to star in a show wherein they have to kill the other contestants before they're killed themselves. The final girl (or boy) is the winner. Did the black comedy arrive a year or two too early? Is it not quite as sharp as I remember it being? Either way, Brooke Smith's reluctant but efficient pregnant murderess still lingers in the memory with her big belly, flop sweat and bloody hands.

Is Brooke Smith cursed? Whenever you think her career is going to take off either the film doesn't (Series 7) or she's overshadowed by brilliant co-stars even though she's totally working it too (Vanya on 42nd Street and Silence of the Lambs) or she gets written out of the picture series (Grey's Anatomy, Weeds). If anyone in Hollywood had actually seen Series 7 maybe they wouldn't be so quick to write her off as a contender. Given the right opportunities, she's killer.

05 Ashley in Junebug (2005)
Cuter than a meercat. [Related post: Amy Adams interview]

04 Ruth in Citizen Ruth (1996)
If you've never seen Alexander Payne's satire of America's eternal war between the pro-choice and pro-life forces, you should. The ever brilliant Laura Dern (in one of the best performances of 1996) plays the druggy dimwitted and frequently pregnant Ruth and both sides of the abortion divide seek to co opt her for their cause. It's worth seeing for Dern's amoral comedy alone but the political satire has real bite, too. Here I'll help you. Rent it from Netflix or Blockbuster.

[Related post: Signatures: Laura Dern]

03 Marge Gunderson in Fargo (1996)
Frances McDormand's Oscar win for her seven months pregnant police chief is one of the greatest atypical Oscar moments of all time. A memorably comedic portrayal of a truly original character wins? There is a god. That's as hopeful as Marge's innate goodness, which provides the wintry brutality of Fargo's comedy with its sole warmth.

And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'cha know that?

And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well, I just don't understand it.

Marge is a great cop. You know she's going to be an awesome mom in just "two more months. two more months."

02 Trudy Kockenlocker in The Miracle at Morgan's Creek (1944)
This Preston Sturges comedy about a girl who gets knocked up on a one night stand with the troops should be mandatory viewing in film schools. It's not that it's the greatest comedy of all time or anything that hyperbolic. It's that it does two things superbly that Hollywood has forgotten how to do well at all. First, briskly paced comedic storytelling and second, an endearing good time gal lead who doesn't feel like she's been assembled from pull down menus in a screenwriting program. Betty Hutton is a total dream as Trudy: funny, sexy, radiant and supremely silly. She's just wondrously fruity. And her loins are unexpectedly fruitful, too.

01 Rosemary in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Roman Polanski's enduring chiller is among my personal holy trinity of horror: the father mother (Psycho), the son (Rosemary's Baby), and the unholy ghost (Carrie). Most horror movies play with our loudly admitted phobias: fear of the dark, monsters, death. Rosemary's Baby plays a more masterful game, exposing primal fears about things we're not supposed to admit we're scared of. Fears such as pregnancy, childbirth, unknowable offspring and the dread of identities subsumed by our children's. Mia Farrow's brilliant star turn channels these anxieties which are especially pronounced in new mothers, whether or not they've been knocked up by the devil.

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Here's the part where you horrify me by telling me who I've forgotten...

Diablo Cody Rant/Rave

You really should watch this. Really. You should.




[posted by thombeau]

Indie Spirits ~ Live Blogging

Live Blogging the Indie Spirits? I didn't even watch last year. But maybe I'm trying to warm up for tomorrow nights big event. Yes, that's my excuse for this foolishness. Apparently IFC is advertising their red carpet like so (Brangelina, pictured right) but do people really wear tuxes to the Indie Spirits? Not as I can recall. False advertising!

4:48 Ooh Anne Thompson is onscreen. She's sweet. She's talking about the jury and that their selections are more mainstream this year. The jury selection is one of the more interesting things about the Indie Spirit Awards but it actually makes it hard to get into from year to year, because there is no through line at all. It's impossible to predict and often reads as nonsensical from category to category. Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Savages but not Linney? Matt Singer is the host of this nomination special and he just said the craziest thing 'Philip Seymour Hoffman's roles in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and The Savages are very similar'

That's so true. I've always found that holding up my parents jewelry store while embezzling from my employer brings up the exact same issues of character as writing essays on Brecht and putting my father in a nursing home.

er... Matt? Earth to Matt.

4:53 They're "live! uncut! right now!" only it hasn't started yet. It's still commercials.

4:58 I've been blocking out the fact that Rainn Wilson (Juno) is hosting this show, homeskillet. Else I would never have agreed to live blog it.

5:04 Patty Clarkson (they just showed her) is so pretty. I'm ignoring Rainn so let's just focus on the camera cutaways. Steve Buscemi. Mike White. Philip Seymour Hoffman. Rainn makes a joke that he's the prettiest. Actually Hoffman is. He actually looks pretty good tonight. Cate Blanchett. Sienna Miller. Bruce Greenwood. Ed Begley Jr. Parker Posey [I'm still focusing on the cutaway reaction shots] Let me guest... this Juno table is going to get a lot of shout-outs. I'm not even going to mention how tacky it is to have a host that's in the movie that will win everything. Or how tacky his performance is in the same movie. No matter how many awards Juno wins, that convenience store mess is one fumbled opening that can't be undid.

5:12 Felicity Huffman is bad at reading from a teleprompter. Best Supporting Male: Chiwetel Ejiofor (Talk to Me, I always pretend I'm watching him in Serenity whenever I see him), Marcus Carl Franklin (I'm Not There), Kene Holliday (The Great World of Sound), Irrfan Kahn (The Namesake... he's such a good actor) and Steve Zahn (Rescue Dawn... he looks so cute in his tan blazer). Chiwetel Ejiofor wins. Kasi Lemmon accepts since Chiwi is in London playing Othello.

Eliza Dushku and Parker Posey. Two (indie) girls I love

5:17 Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova singing "When Your Minds Made Up" from Once. I love them very much and the movie but this sounds a little rough. Off key and forced. I'm going to blame it on the acoustics in the room since I will be sad if their performance at the Oscars isn't a lot better tomorrow.

5:20 Kerry Washington is dreamy. Now... what the hell is wrong with Oscar that she isn't presenting there? Seriously, Patrick Dempsey??? Why. It angers me. Kerry Washington! Now, that's somebody AMPAS should get familiar with. Diablo Cody wins screenplay for Juno and Jason Bateman presents it. TACKY! It's like when The Producers won all the TONY Awards with Nathan Lane hosting. Why do awards shows do these things. It just screams complete and utter tastelessness.

5:23 Maria Bello is presenting something. Best First Film I think. I am distracted because I don't want her to keep playing second fiddle to horses, country singers and Alison f'ing Lohman --all of whom she is infinitely superior to. She needs another A History of Violence. Pronto. Is that the Mad Men star presenting with her? I must watch that show. The guy from The Lookout wins (Scott Frank).

5:32 They just cut from Matt Dillon to Don Cheadle. No joke. What is this 2005? I don't need that reminder when I'm watching awards shows. No I do not.

5:34 Supporting Female. Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There), Anna Kendrick (Rocket Science), Tamara Podesnski (name of movie?), Marisa Tomei (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead --yay!), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Margot at the Wedding) they describe her as a "free spirited sister"... huh? Did Matt Singer write this? (Hee. sorry Matt, I couldn't help it). Pauline is not a free spirit. That girl is all locked up in her depression and her sister is one mean warden, that's for damn sure. Cate wins for I'm Not There. Of course. She is very pregnant ---ooh, awesome shoutout to "Todd Haynes's body of work" Hear, hear.

The "F***" count is now at 5. "S***" has only been uttered once. There's no bleeping on this show. Naughty IFC.

5:41 The spoof songs. This one from Diving Bell and Butterfly was actually funny.

5:44 Rainn is doing "spoof" auditions for all the best features. This time it's I'm Not There. Todd Haynes is hot --I'm just sayin' cuz nobody ever says. Rainn keeps calling him "Ted". Hee

5:50 Meg Ryan looks like herself again! This is the second star they've brought out saying "From The Women" -against my better judgment I'm excited for the remake. She and Tom Wilkinson are presenting the John Cassavettes Award which is for the true independent / shoestring budget movies. August Evening wins. Other than this award and a couple of others the whole concept of the Indie Spirits is kinda pointless since you can bet if a big hit or Oscar nominee is nominated, that's the person who wins. Not exactly hard core independence you know?

5:52 Cate Blanchett is so cute pregnant. She no longer looks emaciated. She introduces herself as Marcus Carl Franklin to introduce I'm Not There clip. Hee. Steve Zahn is singing "Like a Rolling Stone" as a spoof for the movie. "to speak in a monotone. like a dylan clone"

5:56 MAGGIE CHEUNG --GODDESS ALERT !!! Foreign Film goes to Once. Maggie seems happy about that. They made Once (one of the year's best) for $100,000. Wow, crazy that it's a gazillion times better than movies that are made for $100 million. But now John Carney needs to shut up. He's giving the complete history of the packaging and making or and distribution. Glen Hansard shuts him up. Thanks Glen!

6:00 I did NOT need to see Rainn Wilson's ass. I really did not. Cut to: Brad Pitt, who looks like he's 30 again. Delicious. Botox is a magical magical thing. It should be free or at least government subsidized.

6: 07 Best Actor. I want Tony Leung Chiu Wai to win for Lust, Caution but of course he won't. The delicate fabric of the universe would tear if something that wonderful happened. Philip Seymour Hoffman wins. Nice speech -- he called Laura Linney "sublime." And how.

6:12 Alison Janney's dress is fresh and kicky and exactly right for this event, casual but still glam. I'm sure it's not easy to dress for any of these events. Anyway, it looks better moving than in this photo here to your right. She's presenting with John Waters who often hosts this very show. This is the part of the show where they give out grants to filmmakers.

6:25 Is this over yet? Raiiin Wilson is not funny.

6:26 The Artist Formerly Known As Keri Russell would like everyone to know that she will lose however many lbs Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett gain while pregnant. She feels it's the least she could do for Hollywood's beauty standards. Tamara Jenkins won screenplay for The Savages.

6:32 You know how some people read romance novels that are all sort of the same and even if they're smart people they keep reading them... even though it maybe doesn't challenge them, this habit. That's me with fantasy novels. Only the books are much better (I would guess) and the sameness is only in the archetypes and general conceits... though the details are much different from author to author. I just finished reading Transformation by Carol Berg and I found it to be quite a page turner. Really enjoyed it. I was excited to discover that there are sequels (I don't know why I feigned shock. Every fantasy book every written is part something of something --they're more franchise focused than Hollywood even.) Part of me is embarassed about this habit of mine but part of me is like 'sorry, that's just what I like.' If you're wondering what this has to do with the Film Independent Spirit Awards, than congratulations: you've actually read this post. But it doesn't. Have anything to do. I'm just bored of watching is all.

6:45 Crazy Love won Best Documentary and Janusz Kaminski (who used to be Mr. Holly Hunter) just won cinematography. And now Patty Clarkson is onscreen with Dennis Quaid (both from the great Far From Heaven) for a brief shout out to Heath Ledger and presenting the Robert Altman Award to I'm Not There. Casting director Laurie Rosenthal is accepting. She's happy that casting directors are finally being acknowledged. And hey, Laura, so am I. And more on Heath Ledger. I am a little embarrassed to say that I didn't know about his directorial efforts at all. Now I'm sad again.

6:53 Javier Bardem just agreed to f*** Rainnn Wilson. Javier is a good sport. Best Director nominees Todd Haynes (I'm Not There), Tamara Jenkins (Savages), Jason Reitman (Juno), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and Butterfy) Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park). Julian Schnabel wins. He is not wearing pajamas. He invited Jason Reitman to share the stage with him. Strange. Even Schnabel likes Juno? This speech is odd. It has so many half sentences and changes of subject... Where is Juliette Welfling when we need her? Edit him! "I want to thank Javier Bardem for being Javier Bardem"

6:58 Best Actress: Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart), Sienna Miller (Interview), Ellen Page (Juno), Parker Posey (Broken English) and Tang Wei (Lust Caution). And the Spirit Award goes to Ellen Page. I know a lot of people say that Ellen Page is playing herself in Juno but I think that's a too-easy dismissal. Nice humble acceptance speech there and no Juno tics. So there.

7:05 Dustin Hoffman:

I did fuck Javier Bardem and Philip Seymour Hoffman is the product of our union.
...I hope you understand I mean that metaphorically.

Dustin Hoffman you crazy crazy two time Oscar winner. He's here to present Best Picture The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, I'm Not There, Juno, A Mighty Heart, Paranoid Park. Gee, I wonder... which movie will win. Juno (duh... it's the Oscar nominee). Love Fest. I'm out.

7:10 I did not turn off the television in time and they showed us Philip Seymour Hoffman's ass as well as he spanked and wrestled with Raain Wilson as credits rolled. I did not make any of this up.*
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2 Days...

custard or cheesecake?
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9 Months Days...

Fo shizz she'll look odd in a ball gown on Sunday 02/24
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You're Invited ~ Day Two of the Symposium

You are cordially invited to read and comment on day two of the Oscar Symposium


We can't be held responsible for how you react to the Juno and Atonement wars therein. Also bear witness to the vice grip of Daniel Plainview (who keeps trying to get back in the mix), odd tangents on girlpower, and the strange continued absence of No Country For Old Men from the meat of the conversation.

start with day one if you're just joining us.
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Best Actress Will Make History

I'm jumping the gun here since Oscar nominations aren't announced until next Tuesday. But barring a shocking snub we know who the three frontrunners for Oscar's Best Actress are.

The Globe wins (Christie/Cotillard) last night didn't clear up the central combative mystery regarding this race. Will Oscar's love of mimicry and biopics bring Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) the win or will AMPAS voters stick with the frontrunner, the legendary Julie Christie (Away From Her), who also has an Oscar friendly hook (alzheimers) and has been winning the lions share of the precursors. The third scenario, given the rising public popularity of Juno is that the battle of these two heavily dramatic star turns makes room for a surprise win for (fictionally) pregnant Ellen Page. In each case, history will be made.

Julie Christie enchanted Oscar voters at that dazzling sunshine girl in 1965's Darling and should Away From Her bring her second win, it'll mark the longest time between acting wins for anyone. The current record holder is Helen Hayes who won Best Actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and then again in the supporting category for Airport (1970). Most dual winners actually win their second within a decade of their first.

If Marion Cotillard wins it'll mark only the second time a foreign language performance has won Best Actress. And that happened even longer ago then Julie Christie's first triumph. The one and only recipient: Sophia Loren for Two Women (1961)

If Ellen Page wins for Juno, she'll become the youngest Best Actress winner ever. She turns 21 three days before the Oscars which will be held (we think [gulp]) on February 24th. That makes her the youngest. Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God, 1986) currently holds the record for youngest lead actress win. She was also 21 but 2/3rds of the way to her 22nd birthday.

...return to more recent blog posts
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Austin Critics Ask Ellen Page To Have Their Babies

Few more critics awards for you...

Austin I wasn't going to do the smaller cities this year (I don't understand why there is more than one critics association in Texas?) but Austin deserves notice because they were the only group that dared to think outside of the box last year, denying Helen Mirren (The Queen) a clean sweep of all 2,171 Best Actress prizes on the planet. Instead they gave their award to Ellen Page in Hard Candy. Guess what? They'll have seconds. Page it is... again. Are they wooing the starlet to relocate to sunny Texas?

Picture There Will Be Blood
Director P.T. Anderson There Will Be Blood
Actress Ellen Page Juno her second consecutive win with Austin. What's she making next year?
Actor Daniel Day-Lewis There Will Be Blood
Supporting Actress Allison Janney, Juno
Joe and I were discussing her last night. Joe described her as "suspended in a vat of awesome" heh. I didn't quite catch Juno fever myself but I loved Janney in it. I've started using her hilarious phrases at home -- "East Jesus Nowhere" being my current favorite.
Supporting Actor Javier Bardem No Country For Old Men
Foreign Language Film Black Book
Animated Feature Ratatouille
Canadian Film Away From Her
Documentary No End in Sight What no Sicko which gave Canada props for its humane health care program?
Best First Feature Ben Affleck for Gone Baby Gone
"Fact" that most of us did not know until the critics organizations taught us: Ben Affleck and Sarah Polley were the only first time filmmakers allowed behind cameras this year. That they both just happen to be famous actors is entirely coincidental!!!
Breakthrough Michael Cera Superbad and Juno
Screenplay, Adapted The Coen Bros No Country For Old Men
Screenplay, Original Diablo Cody Juno
The only two screenplays written this year. All other films were improvised. Hadn't you heard?
Cinematography and Score There Will Be Blood
Austin Film Award Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez Grindhouse

Toronto. I've only been there twice but I love the city and the people were so friendly and the film festival is so good. Oh, Toronto... I've missed you these past few years. Their "best" this year?

Picture No Country For Old Men
Director The Coen Bros No Country For Old Men
Actress (tie) Julie Christie Away From Her and Ellen Page Juno
Toronto's film critics, torn between hometown pride for Away From Her and love for Canadian sprite Ellen Page, threw up their hands and went with both. Oh Canada, you sentimental thing!
Actor Viggo Mortensen Eastern Promises
Another Canadian advantage... he stars in a David Cronenberg film. Not that he isn't deserving. If Austin gets Ellen Page can I have Viggo Mortensen?
Supporting Actress Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Supporting Actor Javier Bardem No Country For Old Men
Foreign Language Film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Animated Feature Ratatouille
Screenplay The Coen Bros No Country For Old Men
Documentary No End in Sight
What no Sicko which gave Canada props?

Best First Feature Sarah Polley for Away From Her
Canadian Film Away From Her
I'm so proud of her. It's like I'm Canada

I basically don't have to even type these posts up anymore. Copy and paste. "Groupthink does have its advantages," he says with a sigh. The gross thing that I didn't mention? Somehow Phillip Seymour Hoffman was in the running for supporting (a runner up) for Charlie Wilson's War. While it's true that I am not a fan I'm not blind when he does deserve accolades. He was great in Magnolia and Capote both. I can see why people like the work in Before the Devil... and The Savages but Charlie Wilson's War? Beyond the look-at-me screaming and cracking of jokes, what is going on in that performance? I wouldn't care, supporting actor being traditionally the least interesting Oscar acting race, but for the great people who'll be snubbed to give him a spot this year for totally serviceable but unremarkable work.

There's also the London Film Critics Association Nominations to peruse if you're so inclined --they're the first to give Zodiac or Laura Linney in the The Savages any love. Good on them. The Phoenix Film Critics also spoke but it's a virtual repeat of almost every other group so only click over if you're absolutely desperate to see what's hot in the (602).

20:07 (Staying Pregnant)

Screenshots from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie
I can't guarantee the same results at home. I use a VLC.

Juno: And she was like 'Oh hi. Babies have fingernails' Fingernails!
Lea: That's gruesome. Do you think the baby could, all like, scratch your vag on the way out...

Did you see Juno last night or are you waiting for the weekend? If you've seen it chime in in the comments: Did you laugh? cry? or just wonder what all the Oscar fuss was about? If it does get a Best Picture nomination, won't it be the most youth-skewing entry in eons... or ever?

Ellen the Monarch Slayer

I first heard about Juno, a comedy about a pregnant teen giving her child up for adoption, a month or two back. But I didn't know what to make of the fetal buzz. After all, buzz from people paid to create it is hit and miss... sometimes the baby is beautiful, sometimes it's something only its mother could love). I was not a fan of writer/director Jason Reitman's last film Thank You For Smoking (I considered its satire too compromised by its emotional content and vice versa).

Reitman's follow up Juno, a comedy about a pregnant teen giving her child up for adoption, has been garnering steam since festival season began. At first this was easy to write off as traditional festivalitis. One of the symptoms of that peculiar ailment is that warm comedies get overpraised because they feel even warmer and funnier surrounded as they are by a huge throng of arty dour types.

Once Juno had Roger Ebert's endorsement (he did help Crash to its Oscar win, may God forgive him) it had to be taken more seriously. But this quote from Salon's Stephanie Zacharek is the kicker. She writes about Juno

...played by the peppery Ellen Page, who gives a performance that's just one eyelash away from being exhausting to watch

Can't most of the crowdpleaser-slot acting nominees be similarly described? Ellen Page and Juno are winning converts regularly now from Telluride to Toronto (the film opens in the US on December 14th)

So I'm starting to feel Page's Oscar nominationschances. She's done the unlikely before, hasn't she, wrestling away the only critical prize last year that didn't go to Queen Helen Mirren ...and for a sexual predator drama no less (Hard Candy). So, that's it: I'm putting her in my Best Actress predictions (now updated) and dumping Queen Cate who is getting a less enthusiastic reception up north following the premiere of that long gestating Elizabeth sequel, The Golden Age.

Cate Blanchett will have the 'been there/done that/hey look at what she does in I'm Not There' factor to contend with during her Oscar campaign since The Golden Age isn't whipping anyone into a frenzy. The Academy does love it when famous actors play famous historical people but even they might be beginning to see that this trick is over rewarded (45% of the last five years of winners --yeeesh) and even if they don't they can still indulge this preference with Blanchett as Bob Dylan.