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Monday, January 4, 2010
Body Painting – Ethiopian African Style
A sexy body painted model with the Ethiopian National colors, the AfroSonic (sponsor) logo and body painted bling.
More body painted photos of Ethiopian African Style - AfroSonic by AirBrushToronto
More body painted photos of Ethiopian African Style - AfroSonic by AirBrushToronto
Body Painting – Ethiopian African Style
A sexy body painted model with the Ethiopian National colors, the AfroSonic (sponsor) logo and body painted bling.
More body painted photos of Ethiopian African Style - AfroSonic by AirBrushToronto
More body painted photos of Ethiopian African Style - AfroSonic by AirBrushToronto
She and Him. The Cuteness of Zjoooey
It occurs to me that The Cute Hierarchy must be adjusted yet again to honor the most adorable screen couple of 2009: Zjoooey. I hereby dedicate this week of blogging to them!
"Why do you let me stay here?"
The summer gem (500) Days of Summer wasn't quite enough to unsettle the top tiers of cute. But once combined with the force of their dance moves in the She and Him video (above), small animals with ginormous eyes everywhere were quaking in fear in 2009. So Much Cuteness. Who can compete?
The other big shakeup: After decades in the top ten, chipmunks finally fall off the list altogether, their plump cheeked reputation forever tarnished by Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel [shudder]
1. baby kittens
holding down the top position since 1938 when Shirley Temple was vanquished
2. dolphins (+8)
they're all the rage again
holding down the top position since 1938 when Shirley Temple was vanquished
2. dolphins (+8)
they're all the rage again
3. puppies
4. baby seals
5. babies
6. otters (-4)
7. cupcakes
8. bunnies
9. WALL•E's Hello Dolly obsession (+5)
10. Hugh Dancy (new entry)
11. dimples
12. baby ducks in a line following their mama (-3)
13. Zjooey
14. unexpected gifts from loved ones
15. Australian accents
16. rainbows
17. Carey Mulligan (especially in the rain) (+6)
18. "The Lonely Goatherd" (+12)
what? Sound of Music was on the tube the other day
19. Natalie Wood in Miracle on 34th Street (+30 ...typical holiday spike)
20. screwball comedy
21. pomeranians
22. bunny slippers
23. Meryl Streep and Steve Martin smoking weed (new entry)
24. Amy Adams (-11)
25. ice cream cones
Yes, No, Maybe So: Inception and Knight and Day
Rather than ignore trailers in 2010, The Film Experience is joining the conversation. But we're not falling for that OMG! IT'LL BE AWESOME trap. It's all about managing expectations since any film could be great or terrible and most are somewhere inbetween.
Inception, opening July 16th, is Chris Nolan's follow up to The Dark Knight starring Leonardo DiCaprio as some sort of idea thief, Ellen Page as some sort of telep -- well, her mind or her imagination is involved somehow (it's confusing. Yay!). When I met Joseph Gordon-Levitt last month I asked him who most of his scenes were with and he wouldn't say a word. Not a word. They're hiding details. Good for them.
Yes. The city curving up on itself is an interesting image but if I have to pick the one moment in the trailer that gets to me in a charged "I want to see this!"way is that backwards seated dive into a bathtub with the incongruous overlay of all that girlie "WAKE ME UP!" shrieking. Chills.
That and Leo drowning brings back happy memories.
No. Why are 78% of all action movies filmed with minor variations on the steel blue palette. For decades now. Filters come in all colors.
Maybe So. I love my mind to be blown as much as the next person, but that's harder and harder for filmmakers to do in this age of give-the-whole-movie-away pre-release buildup. I love that this trailer doesn't over explain (or even explain) the movie. But it's only the second teaser. I suspect there'll be at least 3 more, each more expository than the last. Can they keep the mystery intact enough to blow our minds? The trailer is skillfully tipping and turning its images in the promise that the movie will be dizzying.
Knight and Day, which opens in time for the 4th of July box office party stars Tom Cruise as a dangerously glib killing machine and Cameron Diaz as a confused woman who doesn't seem to know him but is continually thrust into his comic action messes.
Yes*. Seeing Cameron Diaz screaming in a dangerously swerving car within a trailer for a Tom Cruise movie reminds me of the only thing I liked about the disastrous Vanilla Sky (2000): Cameron Diaz screaming while dangerously swerving her car right off the road... with Tom Cruise in it. I think her histrionics in that earlier movie were skillfully modulated.
*I'm stretching. This trailer. Yikes.
No. Ambidextrous gun slinging is as tired a movie cliche as "cool guys don't look at explosions" both are "this is kickass!" shortcuts. And I, for one, ain't having it no mo'. Where is the filmmaker willing to think up a new "this is kickass!" action movie trope? Loved Avatar but a thrilling leaping off a cliff onto the back of a flying dragon isn't going to transfer so well to other movies.
Maybe So. Four or five years ago if Peter Sarsgaard invited me to jump in a car, I'd totally be all "SHOTGUN!" Now, I'm hesitant since he only plays creepy guys. On the other hand, Carey Mulligan just took him up on it and look what she got: a trip to Paris and mucho Oscar buzz.
So...
What's your verdict?
*
Inception, opening July 16th, is Chris Nolan's follow up to The Dark Knight starring Leonardo DiCaprio as some sort of idea thief, Ellen Page as some sort of telep -- well, her mind or her imagination is involved somehow (it's confusing. Yay!). When I met Joseph Gordon-Levitt last month I asked him who most of his scenes were with and he wouldn't say a word. Not a word. They're hiding details. Good for them.
Yes. The city curving up on itself is an interesting image but if I have to pick the one moment in the trailer that gets to me in a charged "I want to see this!"way is that backwards seated dive into a bathtub with the incongruous overlay of all that girlie "WAKE ME UP!" shrieking. Chills.
That and Leo drowning brings back happy memories.
No. Why are 78% of all action movies filmed with minor variations on the steel blue palette. For decades now. Filters come in all colors.
Maybe So. I love my mind to be blown as much as the next person, but that's harder and harder for filmmakers to do in this age of give-the-whole-movie-away pre-release buildup. I love that this trailer doesn't over explain (or even explain) the movie. But it's only the second teaser. I suspect there'll be at least 3 more, each more expository than the last. Can they keep the mystery intact enough to blow our minds? The trailer is skillfully tipping and turning its images in the promise that the movie will be dizzying.
Knight and Day, which opens in time for the 4th of July box office party stars Tom Cruise as a dangerously glib killing machine and Cameron Diaz as a confused woman who doesn't seem to know him but is continually thrust into his comic action messes.
Yes*. Seeing Cameron Diaz screaming in a dangerously swerving car within a trailer for a Tom Cruise movie reminds me of the only thing I liked about the disastrous Vanilla Sky (2000): Cameron Diaz screaming while dangerously swerving her car right off the road... with Tom Cruise in it. I think her histrionics in that earlier movie were skillfully modulated.
*I'm stretching. This trailer. Yikes.
No. Ambidextrous gun slinging is as tired a movie cliche as "cool guys don't look at explosions" both are "this is kickass!" shortcuts. And I, for one, ain't having it no mo'. Where is the filmmaker willing to think up a new "this is kickass!" action movie trope? Loved Avatar but a thrilling leaping off a cliff onto the back of a flying dragon isn't going to transfer so well to other movies.
Maybe So. Four or five years ago if Peter Sarsgaard invited me to jump in a car, I'd totally be all "SHOTGUN!" Now, I'm hesitant since he only plays creepy guys. On the other hand, Carey Mulligan just took him up on it and look what she got: a trip to Paris and mucho Oscar buzz.
So...
...jump in the car?
What's your verdict?
*
Sunday, January 3, 2010
NSFC: Painters, Bomb Squads and Foxholes
The National Society of Film Critics, typically the last critics group to announce, have finally done the deed. They've gone with the following...
Picture & Director: The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Actress: Yolande Moreau, Seraphine
Actor: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious
Supporting Actor (tie): Paul Schneider, Bright Star and Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
winners from California, Minnesota, North Carolina and Maryland
Foreign Film: Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas)
Cinematography: The White Ribbon (Christian Bergen)
Production Design: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Nelson Lowry)
Screenplay: A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Documentary: The Beaches of Agnes (Agnes Varda)
The acclaim for certain pictures and performances continues. I knew about the Cesar award but it's strange that I remember hearing nothing from the critical community about Yolande Moreau until her two big awards (LAFCA and NSFC). But it's nice to see Bright Star getting a smidgeon of last minute acting attention. It's not so strange that Whishaw's pensive sensitivity was overlooked (that's not what voters go for in male actors, no matter how skilled they are at delivering it) but it was a mildly strange development that Abbie Cornish couldn't generate awards season traction at any point... though she did come in third with the NSFC.
Do you think Fantastic Mr. Fox could be the first animated film to win an Art Direction Oscar nomination or is that a pipe dream?
*
Picture & Director: The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Actress: Yolande Moreau, Seraphine
Actor: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious
Supporting Actor (tie): Paul Schneider, Bright Star and Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
winners from California, Minnesota, North Carolina and MarylandForeign Film: Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas)
Cinematography: The White Ribbon (Christian Bergen)
Production Design: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Nelson Lowry)
Screenplay: A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Documentary: The Beaches of Agnes (Agnes Varda)
The acclaim for certain pictures and performances continues. I knew about the Cesar award but it's strange that I remember hearing nothing from the critical community about Yolande Moreau until her two big awards (LAFCA and NSFC). But it's nice to see Bright Star getting a smidgeon of last minute acting attention. It's not so strange that Whishaw's pensive sensitivity was overlooked (that's not what voters go for in male actors, no matter how skilled they are at delivering it) but it was a mildly strange development that Abbie Cornish couldn't generate awards season traction at any point... though she did come in third with the NSFC.
Do you think Fantastic Mr. Fox could be the first animated film to win an Art Direction Oscar nomination or is that a pipe dream?
*
Michael Haneke, Supreme Confounder
A mssg received from my friend 'txt critic' today.Lincoln Plaza is the WORST! Half of my audience was literally snoring through "The White Ribbon" -- in unison! -- and one half-deaf woman bellowed an hour in, 'I THOUGHT THIS HAD TO DO WITH THE HOLOCAUST.'I wasn't there but I can attest to this phenomenon. You will always get a perturbed earful when you see a Haneke picture on the Upper West Side. Should we presume the AMPAS members on the foreign film nominating committee will feel just as impatient with its mysteries and its implicitly projected "25 years later..." horror? AO Scott certainly didn't boost this Cannes Winner's Oscar cause with his recent review either.
I swear UWS seniors ruin more movies than anyone.
But then I'm not currently speaking to AO anyway. He disses Haneke's always provocative direction just two weeks after raving about Clint Eastwood's work on Invictus??? What a world... what a world... [argh] don't make me talk about Invictus, AO. don't make me. I can't. I can't. It's just so ham-fistedly unworthy of discussion... [argh!]
*
What Next?
Off to a late start today. My top ten list and the 10th Annual FB Awards begin this week. As usual, I'm arguing with myself when it comes to just about every category and just about every rank (especially the dread "fifth spot". My point is this: more coffee required.
Talk amongst yourselves. Here's a conversation starter:
Talk amongst yourselves. Here's a conversation starter:- Who are you absolutely obsessed with at the moment? I'm going through a Zooey & Joey phase. Hugh Dancy and Julie Andrews are also fighting for my brain space.
- Do you find yourself resenting/rooting-against movies that don't open in your town when it comes to the Oscars?
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