The Linky City

Two bits from Chicago
Roger Ebert the eclectic international and intergenerational cast list of the new Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies. Congratulations to all! This can only be a gazillion times smarter than the previous short run with the Bens.
Wall Street Journal saddest movie news of the day: a classic cinema shut down in Chicago.

General Linkage
Cinematical Matt Damon's "abs double." A funny quirk of crediting.
Show Tracker What are Mad Men cast members up to between seasons?
The Social Network's official site overfloweth.
Ferdy on Films announces her favorites of the year. It's almost exclusively a festival list but she considers going by theatrical release like we do a hegemonic. Ouch!

Confession/Question
Weird reader question coming, so bear with me. Before you interview a star, the publicists almost always say "no personal questions!" and I'm always like "uh, why would I ask one of those?". I am so tied up in the celluloid that it honestly never occurs to me to say something like "so tell me who you're screwing." The only time this interests me is when it has curio above/below the line value -- for instance, I love knowing which costume designer or art director is married to which actor or actress -- or when its part of the overarching Hollywood Mythology (superstar couples like Brad & Angie, Newman & Woodward, Matt & Ben, Liz & Dick, Warren & Annette, etcetera). But sometimes my lack of interest in offscreen celebrity dating shocks even myself. I was reading on PopBytes that Macauley Culkin and Mila Kunis just broke up and I didn't even know they were a couple. Or if I knew it, I never committed it to memory. And they've been together for 8 years! I blame this ignorance on having next-to-no Mila familiarity until she started working on the big screen regularly a couple of years ago. (I have only seen, like, 2 episodes of That 70s Show.) Whenever a TV star is suddenly in demand in the movies, I have that damn info-lag.

So my question is this: Which specific aspect of celebrity life or the movie industry or whatnot do you have almost zero interest in, despite your interest in everything else???

Chicago Critics: Collegiate Men and Serious Little Girls Dominate.

The Chicago Film Critics are the latest critics association to announce their awards and they've gone, like virtually everyone else, with The Social Network.

 These 52 critics love Sorkin & Fincher's warring young entrepeneurs. They also like their actresses real young and their prizes spread out.




Best Picture The Social Network
Best Director David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor  Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Supporting Actress Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), the captain of True Grit's ship.

• If you assume that Helena Bonham-Carter, and The Fighter girls are safe in the Supporting Actress race, does this rush of Hailee Steinfeld wins prophecy that she'll be stealing Jacki Weaver's spot? If so how will we ever forgive these (and other critics) who inexplicably ruled in Hailee's favor? Or will Hailee take Mila Kunis's spot? Or does it signify only that True Grit was the last film to screen for critics groups and they tend to love Coen Bros movies more than just about anybody? Your verdict please in the comments.

Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter

• Since I was taken to task for only bitching about Hailee's category fraud I should note here again that I think this is a lead role too. More bitching! Wheeee. (still and all... Hailee's is the single most fraudulent categorization this year with Bale & Rush doing the Jeff Bridges co-lead thing in their movies. Notice how no one thinks Jeff Bridges is "supporting" in True Grit.)

Best Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop
Best Foreign Film A Prophet
Best Animated Film Toy Story 3
Best Cinematography Wally Pfister, Inception
Best Original Score Clint Mansell, Black Swan
Most Promising Performer Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Most Promising Filmmaker Derek Cianfrance, Blue Valentine

The Blue Valentine trio.

A few observations...

• The median age of the female actress winners is 21. (The median personality is humorless. Seriously... Hailee, Natalie and Jennifer are allergic to smiling in those movies.) Those Chicago critics sure do like 'em young. At least they have for the past four years (each year the youngest nominee has won). For what it's worth, I do promise to stop talking about age biases for at least a couple of weeks but there's one more comprehensive Oscar trivia post about it coming tonight which covers the men, too so it's stuck in me brain.
• Hmmm. How is Jennifer Lawrence "more promising" than Hailee Steinfeld but can't defeat her in direct battle? Maybe Jennifer slipped like Sugar Ray Leonard in the ring with Christian Bale? Oh no wait, that's right... they demoted Hailee to supporting. Argh. I honestly keep forgetting because it's so ridonculous.
• Chicago tends to stick with presumed Oscar categories, even if it looks ridiculous; they also named Kate Winslet "Best Supporting Actress" for The Reader.
• Happy to see an honor for Derek Cianfrance for Blue Valentine. The first step in getting great performances is to cast great actors but you do still have to direct them afterwards. That he did with a confident hand.



Can Rapunzel fend off challengers?

• Toy Story 3 has all but won the animated Oscar even before nominations are announced, but it's getting hard to suss out what it's ostensible competition will be isn't it? How To Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist and Tangled all have devoted fans so which of those three films gets the snub? It becomes really hard to say when one film dominates the discussion to such a degree that you hear of little else.

 And finally, thanks to In Contention for pointing this out but it's so brilliant.

Gleeful Gwyneth

Last night's Glee. Do we need to discuss? Stunt casting, so flagrantly used on television and stage to yield press & ratings dividends is a completley unreliable tool for producing quality entertainment. Last night was a happy example of the times when it works. "The Substitute" reminded us how joyful Comedic Gwyneth Paltrow can be.

Somewhere after her Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, she started seeming super morose onscreen as if depressive gloopy drama was her true calling. And then she went yet GOOPier. But last night she glided through her role as "Holly Holiday", Spanish speaking catchphrase wielding Cee Lo loving totally irresponsible teacher with such relaxed shimmer, that it only reminded how radiant she was 12 years ago before she won the Oscar.

It's quite possible, if her subsequent career is any indication,  that she doesn't take her acting career too seriously but if so, why not move in that direction; funny, tossed off, 'I'm only here to have fun' treats for her starved fans? We've got plenty of actresses who can handle heavy dramatics... and some can do it with more pizzazz or more varied nuance than Paltrow. We've got too few who can get all sparkly while joking, singing and dancing. Oops, scratch the last part. Paltrow's dancing was even more clubfooted than Zeéeee's was doing the same number, Chicago's wondrous "Hot Honey Rag" finale. Well, at least Gwynnie sparkles when she sings!

Santana: What would you know about Cee Lo? You're like...40.
Gwynnie: Top 40, sweet cheeks.

Towards the end of the show there was a spot for Gwynnie's new movie Country Strong. I recently got a major thumbs down on the movie from a trusted industry source but I enjoyed hearing Gwyneth sing so much last night that I might be up for it anyway. I love the singing actresses, I do. It's just too bad that she's playing an alcoholic. No more crying Gwynnie, make it sparklier!  'It's kind of your thing.'

Here's Gwyneth singing "Country Song" at the CMA Awards last week.



You like? Maybe Best Original Song attention?

Related Posts

• Shakespeare in Love BPFTOI
• Best Actress 1998
• Gwyneth Loves Actresses in GOOP