30 September 2007

Matthew Goode is Kind of a Big Deal




(He gets bigger if you click him just right)

Just thought you should know.

29 September 2007

Yeah...It Might be Time to Retire


There's only so many times you can play the kindly black man helping white people with their personal lives....

And BY THE WAY, is that little foamy heart on the top of that coffee REALLY necessary? Isn't that a little bit too corny? Am I wrong Robert Benton? Am I? Because I don't remember the poster for Kramer vs. Kramer hitting us over the head with cloying imagery about divorce on the top of caffeinated beverages.

Who is Adelina Poerio?

So, anyone who has happened upon this and DOESN'T want the ending for Nicholas Roeg's 1973 film Don't Look Now spoiled for them should just scroll on down and enjoy some trailers featuring a drop dead gorgeous Norah Jones.





Still here....?


Don't Look Now is a very effective-if dated-thriller that is not easily described. Much of it deals with the relationship between a married couple (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie) living in Venice after their daughter drowns. Both grieve in different ways as a blind woman and her sister enter their lives, appearing to know more than they are letting on. Into this domestic drama, however, Roeg slowly but deliberately introduces a string of killings and a mysterious figure in a red cloak that catches the attention of Sutherland's character. The red cloak he continues to see fleeting glimpses of disappearing around corners reminds him of the one his daughter was wearing the day that she died, leading him to rush after the figure wearing it as the film draws to a close.

He comes upon the figure huddled in a corner and speaks to it, telling it he is there to help.


The small figure turns around and....


...needless to say, that's not quite the frightened daughter he was searching for.



The dwarf approaches him and, after pulling out a knife, drives it into the side of Sutherland's neck. As he's dying, Sutherland's mind flashes back through events of the film, particularly focusing on the face of his wife as his life spills out on the floor.

Even having known that it was coming from the very beginning, that scene worked on every level and sent a chill up my spine. It's a strong ending to an effective thriller that has rightly become iconic. Donald Sutherland is one of the most underrated actors there's ever been, and his performance here (essentially a one man show for a good portion of the last third of the film) stands among his best.

But the person I'm most interested in here is Adelina Poerio, the woman who played the dwarf and went on to do nothing else. There's essentially no information anywhere about her, but there's just something so fascinating about her to me. Her appearance is truly frightening and, as it draws all the plot threads together, puts the finishing touches on Roeg's classic.

28 September 2007

Emissandro

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to present the next great hybrid celebrity couple name: Emissandro!


Cinemaniac and I have decided that Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola are too amazing and adorable a couple to toil in semi-obscurity. I mean, just LOOK at them. It's like a basket full of newborn puppies. Spread the word, Brangelina and TomKat have been made redundant.

My Blueberry Nights

I couldn't care less about it's critical reception at Cannes. My Blueberry Nights looks like an incredibly beautiful movie, and every time I watch one of these character trailers my excitement builds anew. Why is there no US release date yet?! WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?!





EDIT: By the way, how amazing is that last shot of Rachel Weisz standing in the middle of an empty street in the early morning with tosseled hair blowing in the wind? You can practically feel the heat of the sun on your face and the light breeze flowing over you.

EDIT #2: Norah Jones looks spectacular, truly spectacular. WKW knows how to make a girl look good. I mean, her long black hair under that green knit cap.......

Bad Idea Jeans

Via Slash/Film:

How have I not heard of this before? How have I not heard that The Day the Earth Stood Still is being remade with Keanu Reeves as Klaatu? Who greenlit this crap?

AT LEAST make Keanu play the robot...it's the role he's been working towards his entire life.



The resemblance is uncanny.

Honestly, my memory of this movie is very fuzzy, but I remember it being quite good. I saw it in a 7th grade Texas History Class for no other reason than the teacher was convinced he had seen aliens numerous times in his life. Of course, the little green men he described didn't really resemble Michael Rennie.


His description made them sound a little bit more like this:


Good times.