Linktivia

An endless series of links. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm seriously going to go cold turkey. But let's start with "Boba Fett's Invoice" designed by Brock Davis because it's just making me giggle. [Discovered via]

Self Styled Siren great piece on being drawn to older movies and why it's incorrect to reductively label that "nostalgia."
Guardian Snarky (but funny) "Can Nicole Kidman pull an Oscar out of a Rabbit Hole?"
Serious Film writes up five overlooked horror film scenes worth remembering. Zoinks I love that moment in The Host.
OMG Blog absolutely destroys the new D&G / Matthew McConaughey advertisement. Ha.
TOH the European Film Academy nominates three documentaries for its Prix Arte prize. One of those is the Finnish Oscar submission "Steam of Life"
In Contention Guy Lodge thinks Sofia Coppola's Somewhere is a familial beauty, more than a Hollywood retread.
CHUD "Hollywood Needs a Handjob" Aubrey Plaza (who is hilarious) and an unproduced screenplay causing some buzz

/Film Noomi Rapace top choice for Alien prequel. I think this is SUCH a terrible idea (I don't think you cast a tough older-reading brunette to compete with memories of the tough older-reading brunette. I think, if you're smart, you try to carve out a new identity for the franchise to breathe new life into it. Sigourney Weaver cannot be replaced.
All Things Fangirl has an AMAZING idea for a Halloween costume although I wouldn't call it a "last minute costume" as she does. Seems like the prep work would be intense but it's still a great idea.
The Big Picture doesn't like the idea of James Cameron 'reducing himself' to a sequel maker (via Avatar). Uhhhh... Terminator 2 and Aliens suggest that if anyone in Hollywood should waste their time with sequels, it's Jimmy C.
24 Frames Avatar 2 arriving in less than three years. Yeah, right. I'll believe that when I see it. Why does everyone believe these things just because filmmakers say them? I'm guessing 2016... or ...never.
Scanners fine piece on Mad Men in case you've been missing it "The Ladies and the Boxes"
Flick Filosopher has a new series called "The Female Gaze" and her latest subject to ogle is Rupert Graves. Having once worked worked on a not published article about him, I can assure you that she is correct that there aren't many great photos of him online. This dearth of images happened to a lot of 80s and 90s beauties. I blame it on their chronological positioning between "classic thus nostalgic i.e. 70s and earlier" and "became hot after the internet was hi-res image friendly i.e. late 90s and the Aughts"

Finally, if you don't mind a little corporate ranting, I must complain about Dannon's "Cups of Hope." I start each morning with a cup of Activia yogurt. I had no choice. "The power of Curtis compels you!"  Yes, celebrity endorsements do work on we, the feeble minded. I was having a cup each morning for awhile before I realized that I actually had to enter codes on line to donate to the breast cancer charity I saw on the package. See, I had seen the advertisement on the package and I'm all, 'I'm a good person. I'm maintaining Jamie Lee Curtis's lifetstyle AND I'm donating money to women's health." Only to find out I wasn't! Many dimes I spent were not forked over to this charity. Now, I don't object to going online to enter codes per se if it's something for myself like a sweepstakes; if we want to be greedy, we should have to do a little work. But in this case, I highly doubt anyone is doing it even though they would be happy to see some of the proceeds go to charity. Consider that you have to remember to lick off the yogurt from the seal once you open each cannister (that'd be gross except you are meant to eat the yogurt so whatever). But then you have to hold up the messy seal  to read the code and then type it in online in order for this 10¢ to be donated. If you're not already logged into the computer while spooning out your yogurt are you really going to do this? And what if your fingers touch the yogurt on the seal while you're typing? And worse yet: if you have an overdeveloped sense of guilt, like uh, my friend, you're going to have to find a way to save up the gooey lids until you remember to enter all the codes once a week or something. YUCK. Just give 10¢ for every yogurt sold to charity, Dannon. Don't be misleading and cheap!

By: Unknown On 07.20

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You eat that watermelon, Juliette...

Just eat it!

I'm totally not crazy about watermelons myself. I don't like anything where I have to spit out seeds. You?

This entirely random post has been brought to you by a recent screening of What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993) in which just about everyone is excellent even though people only talk about it today in terms of Leonardo DiCaprio's first entirely deserved Oscar nomination. I meant to watch just one scene from it the other day and ended up sitting through the whole thing. Addictive, I tell ya. There's so many choice scenes but one moment I fell hard for all over again is when Johnny Depp's enormously obese mother (played by Darlene Cates), embarrassed to meet her son's new girl (Juliette), introducers herself with a shameful "I wasn't always like this." Juliette merely repeats her phrase "I wasn't always like this" and then a barely visible shrug. It's this unlikely mix of total empathy, unsentimental observation (we're always changing), and 'whatever -- nice to meet'cha' nonchalance. I love Juliette.

Pssst. Interview with Juliette Lewis is coming early next week... I'm behind in transcribing.

By: Unknown On 17.30

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Unsung Heroes: The Chefs of Ratatouille

Hi everybody. Michael C from Serious Film back again with another unsung contribution to cinematic brilliance. This week it's an achievement I'm sure most of you will recognize -- just don't read it on an empty stomach.

I have always been a little taken aback by the depth of Brad Bird and Jim Capobianco's screenplay for Ratatouille. I mean, here is a big-budget family film starring a talking rat and it is about nothing less than what it means to be an artist. I was reading W. Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence, the story of a man who drops out of society in order to follow his passion to paint, and I couldn't help but think, "This reminds me of Remy." It should come as no surprise that the filmmakers behind such an ambitious project went the extra mile and sought out the help of real master chefs in order to do their material justice.

Organic objects are traditionally the hardest to render in computer animation (It's no accident Pixar's first film was a love letter to the textures of plastic) so a major challenge for Ratatouille was food that not only looked delicious but was also convincing gourmet cooking. Luckily, they had Michael Warch, who in addition to being set and layout manager for the film was also a Sous Chef who could prepare dishes on command for the designers to study. Adapting and expanding the sub-surface lighting technique developed for better skin tones in The Incredibles, they were so successful with the food design that Ratatouille is often mentioned with Big Night and Eat Drink Man Woman as one of the most appetizing food movies ever made.

And this being a Pixar film, they didn't stop there. Not content for Remy to merely be a credible cook they endeavored to show him as a great artist. The production turned for advice to Thomas Keller, one of America's great chefs.  Keller opened up his restaurant to the Pixar artists so that they could get a feel for the energy of a professional kitchen. The backstage knowledge shows. Gusteau's is more than a stock movie restaurant with waiters jostling each other out of the way. It has a dynamic that has been thought through down to the smallest details, from the constant movement of the chefs, to the shorthand communication, to the way they hold the utensils.

Perhaps Keller's greatest contribution to the movie is his creation of the title dish served to the critic at the film's climax. The thinly sliced version of ratatouille is a Keller specialty, and when he learned of the context in which it was to be used he improvised that graceful little mound of food in the center of the plate, an artistic flourish reproduced faithfully in the film. Keller's dramatic instincts were correct. The dish is as memorable to look at as it is supposed to be to taste.

It is notoriously difficult to portray an artist at work cinematically. In the case of Ratatouille, the final product is so entertaining that is easy to miss the fact that they conquered the dilemma. Besides being named among the great food movies Ratatouille could also be listed beside films like Amadeus and Scorsese's Life Lessons as a great depiction of an artist.

By: Unknown On 13.24

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