Girl from Dawson's Creek and annoying skinny guy from Breaker High get together and it's hot.



/via W Magazine

A couple of Canadians

/via GQ, December 2007

Somewhere - thoughts on a trailer

It's been four years since Sofia Coppola's last film, Marie Antoinette. (I've been digging the soundtrack for that movie, which I recently bought for 50 cents - value!).

Earlier today, the trailer was released for Somewhere (in theatres December 2010). It's entirely possible that Coppola recycled her Oscar-nominated script for Lost in Translation: the story begins in a luxury hotel, where an older actor (Bill Murray/Stephen Dorff) is regularly reminded of the loneliness that dominates his life, and the emptiness of his career. A surprise encounter with a much younger blonde (Scarlett Johansson/Ellie Fanning) prompts new excitement in life, punctuated with small moments--"real" and simple. They exchange knowing looks, share moments of affection while watching TV in bed and character development happens in a pool. The actor has loving feelings for the young woman and at the end of the movie, must make a decision whether to return to what is easy and familar, or opt for the life he wants. Pastel cinematography is set to the sounds of Phoenix.

The Notebook: Changing Fashion History

A word on Ryan Gosling's beard (and other style moments on film from the decade past) on the T Magazine blog

Where the Wild Things Are [trailer]: The Best Short Film of 2009

The movie was awful. These 2 minutes and 6 seconds are all we needed.

Says Jeff Martin, "The same way a tight little pop song can be more effective and memorable than a lengthy concept album, this trailer captured the spirit of Maurice Sendak’s book in its entirety."

Fall in love again:



commentary on The Millions

Cartoon Families

Tom Elrod on "Pixar's Small-c Conservatism":

"...over the years, Pixar has made a number of films which return again and again to the anxiety of familial dissolution. Monsters, Inc. does this through the small family unit of Scully and Boo; Finding Nemo is about a father's inability to let his son go; in Up, an old man learns to live after his wife's death. In the (unfortunately) much-maligned Cars, the modern world's loss of small communities (exemplified by Radiator Springs) is a tragedy, and the film (despite the restoration of the community at the end) is mostly a lament for lost values. None of these films may be overtly political, but the moral message is innate: The family (or small community) is central, and it is failing, so we must do what we can to preserve it."

This essay is very good.

Merry Christmas

A treat from the Daily What

A Christmas Miracle

NYMag got word from a reviewer at the The Vertex that MacGruber might be the best SNL movie since Wayne's World:

You might not believe me when I tell you this, but there’s no doubt: 'MacGruber' was amazing.

A bold statement but I buy it. After all, could a movie with Bill Hader, Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, and Kristen Wiig possibly bomb? The answer is no. End of story. I'm excited.

Macgruber. April 2010.


The Vertex review

Why Mess with a Good Thing?

I'm not sure how I feel about Where the Wild Things Are anymore. First there was the Dave Eggers incident with the New Yorker, the merch tie-ins with Urban Outfitters (sorry, I just threw up a little in my mouth), and then there was the mediocre second trailer. And now these character posters, which don't make me want to watch the movie at all. Who thought putting scary looking monsters on a poster for a children's movie was a good idea? (Ok, I know, the movie's not made for kids... but then, who is it for? Obviously, there is a lot of confusion at the studio over who the audience for this movie should be)

Poor Spike Jonze, he's losing a lot these days.

In good news, Jonze's ex, Michelle Williams looks fantastic on the pages of Vogue. Too bad the cover photo is shit (see below).



Background reading: We Love You So

with files from Slashfilm. Thanks to Ryan for background reading.

More Fox News

Here's the trailer for Wes Anderson's first animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, featuring the voices of the usual Anderson posse (Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Angelica Huston, Owen Wilson, et al), and starring Meryl Streep and George Clooney. Mario Batali also lends his voice talents (hmmmm).

Thank you, Andy!

!!!!

I am absolutely flabbergasted by concept art and character portraits released yesterday from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Only 269 more sleeps!

Top to Bottom: Alice, Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.




AND THERE'S MORE! Film stills via USA Today

Keats at Cannes

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.

Excerpts from Jane Campion's Cannes entry Bright Star

8 1/2 becomes Nine

Fellini


Marshall

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life

A clip from This American Life's movie/live show: A dark, disturbing, and cheeky cartoon by Chris Ware.

This looks so bad but I'm going to watch it anyways

Lisztomania, meet the 80s brat pack montage

That's right, I just saw Adventureland

Here's some music to set the mood... Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes

Unlike everyone else on the planet, I didn't see Watchmen this weekend (It made a staggering $55,655,000). However, I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and this:

Oscar Stuff

Newsweek produced the best-styled round table of Oscar nominees I've seen this year and the conversation is actually engaging at times. Other times, it's very self-congratulating but then I thought, these folks are actually really talented, maybe they deserve some congratulations. The magazine's website has an hour of these conversations which you can watch here.

Well, if you're going to reissue a book because the movie adaptation came out, this is how you do it.