1. Three from the Times movie section: Dave Kehr's newest DVD column, on Abel Gance's La Roue; Manohla Dargis asks "Is There a Real Woman in This Multiplex?", and A.O. Scott addresses Adam Sandler's arrested development.
["Nobody likes to admit the worst, even when it’s right up there on the screen, particularly women in the industry who clutch at every pitiful short straw, insisting that there are, for instance, more female executives in Hollywood than ever before. As if it’s done the rest of us any good. All you have to do is look at the movies themselves — at the decorative blondes and brunettes smiling and simpering at the edge of the frame — to see just how irrelevant we have become. That’s as true for the dumbest and smartest of comedies as for the most critically revered dramas, from “No Country for Old Men” (but especially for women) to “There Will Be Blood” (but no women). Welcome to the new, post-female American cinema."]
2. News of the moment: "Death toll passes 22,000 in Myanmar cyclone" (from MSNBC); "Somalia forces 'out of control'" (a disturbing report from BBC News); and "'Hazel' creator dies at 95" (from CNN).
["The death toll from a powerful cyclone that slammed into Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta was raised to more than 22,000 people on Tuesday, state media reported. An additional 41,000 people were missing as a result of the cyclone, which triggered a massive storm surge that swept inland and left people with nowhere to run, killing at least 10,000 people in one town alone. "More deaths were caused by the tidal wave than the storm itself," Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe told a news conference in the devastated former capital, Yangon, where food and water supplies are running low. "The wave was up to 12 feet high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," he said, giving the first detailed description of the weekend cyclone. "They did not have anywhere to flee." It is the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh."]
3. At The Screengrab, Scott Von Doviak has set himself an (un)enviable task: watching all 100 films on the IMDb Bottom 100. We'll be checking in with Scott's progress now and again. Three so far and counting: Devil Fish, The Honeymooners, and Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor. (Hattip: Paul Clark)
["For your entertainment and my own detriment, I am going to watch and review them all, starting with #100 and working my way to the top. Of course, the IMDb list is constantly changing based on the whims of the voting public, but I will be sticking with the Bottom 100 I downloaded on the day I decided to tackle this most awe-inspiring task. And on whatever day that was, the #100 ranked movie was Shark: Rosso nell'oceano, or as you may know it: Devil Fish."]
4. "This One’s on Trent Reznor": The New York Times reports that Nine Inch Nails is giving away its latest album, The Slip, for free. Click here to go to the download site.
["In an unusual nod to the popularity of free music online, the rock act Nine Inch Nails is offering its new studio album, “The Slip,” through its Web site, nin.com, for nothing. In a post on the site, the band’s leader, Trent Reznor, said, “Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years — this one’s on me.” The album, which became available for download early Monday morning, seems to be the first time a superstar act has distributed an entire album free, without an option for fans to pay."]
5. "Match point for Scarlett": S. Jo and Van Wilder cordially invite you...
["Only a little over a year after splitting with former fiancee Alanis Morissette, actor Ryan Reynolds has decided to marry Scarlett Johansson. The actress' publicist confirmed the engagement Monday but said the couple has not set a wedding date."]
Quote of the Day: George Bernard Shaw
Image of the Day (click to enlarge): House contributor Rob Humanick sure has a lot to say about Heiress Hilton.
Clip of the Day: I'm in a Care Bear kind of mood this morning...
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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged. Suggestions for links are also welcome. Please send to keithuhlich@gmail.com.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Links for the Day (May 6th, 2008)
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8 comments:
Re: #3
Five of the titles on the list are Turkish. And one, The Hillz, is directed by a Turk (whose folks and mine, incidentally, got along famously at a resort on the Aegean last summer). I feel a bizarre sense of patriotic pride.
By the way, Keith (or anyone who was there), did you get to see My Marlon and Brando at Tribeca this year? I missed it at the Istanbul Film Festival last month, but friends here can't stop singing its praises.
Good god, the memories I have of the Kickboxer series.
And why is the bottom 100 of IMDB nearly all of the films I own or have watched?
From the Manohla Dargis piece:
Ms. Faris — who could be the next Judy Holliday but without the right material will, alas, probably end up the next Brittany Murphy
Sad but true. I love Anna Faris. But Hollywood doesn't seem too crazy about her.
on #1: Is this what we're reduced to, playing the numbers game for male/female roles in film? If it doesn't sell, then it doesn't. Period. Instead, we have people wanting to force it til it breaks if it doesn't fit.
re #5: So, how many people will be congratulating Dane Cook on his new marriage? :P
re: #1
A number of these were among the worst-reviewed movies of the year, including “Premonition” (Sandra Bullock) and “The Reaping” (Hilary Swank), the last of which was released by — ta-da! — Warner Brothers. The days of “Million Dollar Baby,” for which Ms. Swank won an Oscar, and “Speed,” which rocketed Ms. Bullock to stardom in the summer of 1994, feel long gone.
Speed may have catapulted Bullock into stardom, but if it were coming out this summer, Dargis would point to it as yet another male-dominated film starring Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper. That was Reeves's movie, at least as far as marketing was concerned. She was third-billed and barely more than a footnote in the trailer. Marketing and advance word, and actual films often tell very different stories.
Secondly, why pick on Swank and The Reaping while ignoring her commercially successful '07 release P.S. I Love You? That romantic drama made $140 million worldwide.
re: dan
i would like to employ you as my fact checker.
i pay in good intentions and pictures i've taken of vadim while he is passed out on subway trains.
re: John
Heh, I'm always happy to indulge my desire to see only factually accurate statements circulate the world. The trick is to make sure the execution of that desire doesn't turn into dickery. I can only hope I usually pull that off.
Films featuring women as leads have underperformed for quite some time now. So while I, too, am discouraged about the dearth of good female roles in Hollywood, the bottom line is money - and there's no room for wishful thinking. I wouldn't be surprised if the rumors regarding the WB Memo were, in fact, true.
On a semi-related topic, I just found out that the upcoming Anna Faris film, The House Bunny, co-stars former American Idol runner-up, Katherine McPhee and the reigning Miss Golden Globe, Rumer Willis. Now that's a Razzie contender-in-the-making! I swear, Faris was born in the wrong Hollywood era.
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