Joel McHale parodies True Detective on his show The Soup and it’s pure and fantastic (and you don’t have to have seen True Detective to get the parody)
This looks oddly, bizarrely…perfect
Tag Archives: film
All the Videos You Need Today: Joel McHale, Lea Michele, Annie Trailer, Transformers Age of Extinction Trailer
Creative Job Alert: Communications Assistant
Miss Representation is hiring in San Francisco!
Reports to: Director of Communications
Classification: Non-Exempt
Location: San Francisco, CA
“The Communications Associate augments the story-telling capacity of the organization by designing, creating and maintaining inspiring and relevant content for The Representation Project website, blog, social media and all collateral and branded materials.”
Check out more information and apply here
Share this:
Caffeinated Links: Spiderman 2 Trailer, Time of the Doctor Stills, Narnia Director
The fourth Narnia film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair, has picked “Life of Pi” writer David Magee as its screenwriter. Apparently it’s a boyhood favorite of his and…I’m excited. Silver Chair is one of the better Narnia films, but as with all the Narnia books, there’s such a danger of hyperbole, kitsch, or silliness in the interpretation – it takes a deft and delicate hand and a sense of magic to do it well. RT
Time of the Doctor Promo Stills can be found here. Now that Matt Smith is leaving, I’m realizing all over again my love for him.
There are few things I love more than blistering book reviews, and Nic of Eve’s Alexandria hits all my aces with withering historical criticism and snark about the characters and style of Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian, which I tried to read once and gave up on immediately. RT
Spiderman 2 Trailer
Share this:
Gimme Shelter – Must See of the Year
I didn’t even recognize the well-known actress in this until the very end of the trailer – and I don’t want to give it away so will leave you to watch this. But – glorious. Every bit of this is achingly real and a reflection of so many of the realities of the world we live in, from the brokenness and yet necessity of the foster care system, to how our loved ones fail us over and over sometimes, to how your parents can be your enemy, to the destructive nature of drugs and ongoing poverty, to the flashes of hope that filter through the system sometimes, mostly, always, through individuals.
Yes. I am watching this.
Share this:
Caffeinated Links: YA Dystopia, David Mitchell on Autism, and The Counselor is a Very Bad Film
Joan Aiken‘s website is surely one of the most gorgeously designed author websites I’ve ever seen. Like stepping straight into a fantasy land.
Celeste Ng at The Millions highlights 5 Series You Probably Missed as a Kid (But Should Read as an Adult). I’ve read half of these and HIGHLY recommend them, especially Half Magic, and am adding the other half to my to-read list. RT
Gorgeous, heartbreaking. David Mitchell on translating an autistic Japanese teen’s memoir, and his own son’s autism. “The conclusion is that both emotional poverty and an aversion to company are not symptoms of autism but consequences of autism – its harsh lockdown on self-expression and society’s near-pristine ignorance about what’s happening inside autistic heads.” RT
The ‘verse has been ablaze with the ending of Veronica Roth’s Divergent series (which is a great series, by the way. Veronica Roth speaks out. I think she made a brave choice. But I would have hated her for it had I found out only upon reading the book. RT
More The Millions’ goodness, making me want to re-read Colm Toibin’s The Master, which I read prior to reading Henry James. “He feels love profoundly, for women and men alike, but he can’t act on it in any way that might compromise his freedom as an artist, and instead he pours out his love for them in his novels after they’re dead. That, in this case, his love for Minny Temple gave us The Portrait of a Lady may be enough for some. It isn’t for me. As much as I care about books, I think people matter more in the end.” RT
Surprisingly, according to this roundup of reviews for it via Entertainment Weekly, it appears that the star-laden The Counselor was a very bad film. RT
Share this:
Caffeinated Links: Star Wars VII, History of Bollywood, Hook/Emma Romance
So much goodness on Pajiba today summarizing 2015 films –
Avengers: Age of Ultron — The sequel to the third highest grossing film of all time, built inside one of the most successful cinematic universes of all time is obviously a slam dunk. The fact that James Spader — one of the most wry, deadpan actors in Hollywood — is playing the villain, and will voice Whedon’s ultra-wry dialogue only makes it that much more compelling. The addition of Elisabeth Olson (as the Scarlet Witch) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (as Quicksilver) doesn’t hurt, nor does our expectation that Whedon will likely kill off a character. For maximum devastation, it should be Tony Stark, but I suspect cooler heads (and Marvel’s money bags) will prevail, meaning it’ll be someone like Pepper Potts. Bah!
Star Wars VII — Here’s what we know about Star Wars VII: It will be a continuation of the series that will pick up 20 to 40 years after Return of the Jedi. J.J. Abrams will direct. Simon Kinberg and Lawrence Kasdan are tasked with screenplay duties. Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill will almost certainly return. Chewbacca is probably in it. Saoirse Ronan has auditioned for a role, but according to her, “so has everyone.” John Williams will compose the score. It will be filmed in the UK.
That’s essentially all we know, and the less we know, the more we will anticipate the return of the most successful sci-fi series of all time under the leadership of a director who is bound to improve upon George Lucas’ last trilogy. RT
Film School Rejects covers the new Star Wars writers more in depth – “Kasdan, by contrast, has moved from mere consultant to lead writer, and that should instill great confidence in anyone interested in a return to form for the Star Wars universe. Sure he co-wrote Dreamcatcher, but in addition to it being a fairly shitty source novel do you know who the other co-writer on the screenplay is? William Fucking Goldman. That’s right. The man behind The Princess Bride, Misery, All the President’s Men, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man, and more co-wrote the script for Dreamcatcher.” RT
Really really gorgeous Hook/Emma video starring the couple that has the TV-watching interwebs ablaze.
Brilliant article from Daniel Carlson on modern TV-watching. “I fight every day my desire to have everything be awesome and interesting and delivered on time and flawless and surprising and perfect. (I’m a Willenial.) Everything is go go go, now now now, this must be great and witty and dark or dark-lite or winking and self-reflexive and ready to be chopped into gifs. It has to be totes the best, or I just can’t even. It has to make you feel feels. It has to make you do all sorts of things that look like emotion but are in fact disguised methods of dissection. And God help me, sometimes I fall for it.” RT
And finally, quite a decent introduction to the history and style of Bollywood films from my friends over at LAAF. RT
Share this:
Pop Culture Love Letter: Jane Eyre, Helen Fielding, New Drama from Castle Writer, more
Instead of buying the film rights to Mad About the Boy, Helen Fielding’s just-released final book in the Bridget Jones trilogy, production companies are instead apparently working on Bridget Jones’s Baby, a film based on an original screenplay by Fielding, which will include Colin Firth. Er….wise choice I suppose? RT
Castle head writer Andrew Marlowe and his co-writer wife are working on an hour-long drama for ABC featuring Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe character for ABC. COME TO ME PRECIOUS. RT
The lovely Charity has analyzed every personality type according to a famous fictional character (mostly from sci fi shows, to my great delight). I am Anne of Green Gables (naturally). Who are you? The Doctor? Sherlock? Caroline Forbes from Vampie Diaries? RT
From USA Today’s Happily Ever After, 3 little-known facts about Jane Eyre:
- Royal lovebirds love Jane Eyre. No, not Kate and Will. We’re talking about Victoria and Albert, of course! The queen read the book to her prince over the course of many evenings, even staying up quite late because it was “most interesting.” She noted in her diary that Jane Eyre was “really a wonderful book … powerfully and admirably written.” Perhaps Victoria identified with the diminutive heroine. By all accounts, Victoria was plain like Jane, while Albert was not only as worldly as Edward Rochester, but also quite the heartthrob.
- Not all of Jane Eyre was fiction. Lowood Institution, that horrible charity school that Jane attended, well, gulp, it really did exist. When The Rev. Patrick Brontë’s wife died, leaving him with five young children, he decided to send his four daughters to the Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge. The students at Cowan Bridge were so cold and malnourished that many of them, including Charlotte’s two sisters, became ill and died. But did their headmaster despair? No, he did not! In fact, he rejoiced because he was sending his students “to heaven.” And what exactly did heaven look like to the girls of Cowan Bridge? Since 70 students were forced to share a one-seat outdoor toilet, the Pearly Gates are probably doors to private commodes.
- Jane Eyre‘s Edward continues to inspire. When she wrote Twilight, Stephenie Meyer named Edward Cullen, a vampire, after Edward Rochester, also a slightly creepy hero. Both men are described as depressed and brooding when they arrive on the scene. These tortured heroes frighten the heroines — Bella and Jane, respectively — with their volatility. Both Edwards reject shallow and empty-headed socialites, choosing instead to love two young women who are insecure about their looks. RT
And finally, two exciting trailers. The first is for Lifetime’s high-budget, suave-looking adaptation of Bonnie & Clyde – can’ t be embedded but watch here. The second is for the upcoming and much-anticipated adaptation of John Banville’s The Sea, which stars Ciaran Hinds, Charlotte Rampling, and others in what looks like a story exactly halfway between broodingly literary and grippingly dramatic.
Share this:
Caffeinated Links: Franco, Tolstoy, “Her”
Nothing I love better than a blistering review. Jason Diamond of Flavorwire offers this one – “Franco’s book is exactly what you’d imagine, except maybe a little worse (think: concussed David Foster Wallace fanboy mixes booze and cough syrup before trying to write a novel about how difficult it is to be an actor).” RT
On the other hand, I also love positive, brilliantly written reviews, of which this, of the Joaquin Phoenix film Her -is one – “When Theo asks Amy if he’s a freak for falling into love with Samantha, her response is perfect: “I think anyone who falls in love is a freak. It’s a crazy thing to do. It’s like a socially acceptable form of insanity.” One half of the relationship at the center of Her may lack a physical form, but it is nonetheless a film about the universality of romance: its longing, its intensity, and its transformative power — for the best, and the worst. The outcome of this highly unconventional relationship is warm and funny and tragic, all at once. And so is this very lovely film.” RT
If you had a chance to proofread unreleased Tolstoy works – would you? You know that you would quit your day job. This story from the New Yorker is the stuff of literary daydreams. “That was when they hit on the idea of crowdsourcing, Tolstaya said. “It’s according to Leo Tolstoy’s ideas, to do it with the help of all people around the world—vsem mirom—even the world’s hardest task can be done with the help of everyone.” RT
…and, we’re back to Franco. As much as it pains me to put the man anywhere within rubbing distance of Tolstoy. “Franco offers up less material in that regard than you might think. Hard to make pseudo-intellectual jokes at the expense of a guy who cheerfully made Your Highness. Hard to make dumb-stoner jokes at the expense of a guy who spends so much time pursuing advanced degrees.” RT
Share this:
Caffeinated Links: Andrew Davies and Steven Moffat Shenanigans, Toni Morrison
Flavorwire on why Toni Morrison is the most important living writer – “A handful of us care enough to groan whenever Jonathan Franzen says something about social media, but when Toni Morrison says something about a president, it’s monumental.” RT
Bong Joon Ho is furious about the Weinstein Company’s cuts to Snowpiercer. Guess which person my sympathies are with – the brilliant and revered foreign director or the grab-all money-grubbing film production company? RT
Joanna Robinson is right as always. This time about Agents of Shield. “But the show should not, cannot rest on the shoulders of Skye and Ward. They are two of the blandest leads of all time. They are shiny-haired porridge. Heck, I don’t even mind if Skye’s weekly job is to dress cute and flirt her way through an op. But in order for that kind of premise to be remotely interesting, you need to have charisma. You need to be Sarah Walker or Sydney Bristow. Sydney Bristow she ain’t. And don’t even get me started on that swirling vortex of anti-charisma that is Agent Ward.” RT
Peter Davison, the 5th Doctor Who, says Steven Moffat is coming up with a way to get around the rule that states the Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times. Of course he is. RT
Andrew Davies said that he had meant for Firth to be naked in the hallowed Pride and Prejudice lake scene. “He added he had intended the scene to be one of “social embarrassment”, showing awkwardness between Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.
“In fact it seems to have affected women in wife a different way,” he said. “And who am I to complain?” Indeed. RT
Coffee and Irony 