Some Recent Writing

On why Matthias Schoenaerts and Michael Shannon are so irrresistable on screen.

My review of Cpatain Fantastic.

Celebrating Cate Blanchett's history at Cannes.

On casting Kenneth's Remake of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express 

On Rachel Weisz very busy 2016 and 2017

Top Ten Movies of 2015

1- Carol

Palpable emotions dripping from every single frame. And what beautiful meticously constructed frames they are. Carol gives us the best acting duet of this year, maybe this decade, in Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

2- Girlhood

3- 45 Years

4- Sicario

....for puting me in the thick of things and getting me as perplexed and scared as its lead character Kate Macer (Emily Blunt).

5- Brooklyn

... for the copious tears I shed and for translating the ache of homesicknes into film.

6- Tangerine

7- About Elly

The best emotional thriller of the year.
8- Macbeth

Shakespeare has never been this sexy.

9 -Diary of a Teenage Girl

........ and

10- Slow West

Introducing new confident filmmaking voices in Marielle Heller and John McLean.

Golden Globe Predictions and Wishes

Happy Golden Globes day! I will love this year's edition no matter what because it gave us the headline "Carol Leads Golden Globes Nominations". As it should be.


Cate has three but I'm hoping for a fourth

My biggest wish - apart from couture, couture, couture - is that we get a lot of surprises. Hey Globes just embrace your inner star fuckery and vote for Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Lawrence and throw this awards season unto more disarray.

Here are my predictions and wishes.

Best Motion Picture Drama
Winner: Spotlight
Alternate: Mad Max: Fury Road
My Wish: Carol

Best Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical)
Winner: The Big Short
Alternate: The Martian
My Wish : Spy.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama)
Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Alternate: Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
My Wish : None

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical)
Winner: Matt Damon, The Martian
Alternate: Christian Bale, The Big Short
My Wish : I guess Damon... I don't really care.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama)
Winner: Brie Larson, Room
Alternate: Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
My Wish : A tie between Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara for Carol

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical)
Winner: Amy Schumer, Trainwreck
Alternate: Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
My Wish : Lily Tomlin, Grandma

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Winner: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Alternate: Sylvester Stallone, Creed
My Wish : Paul Dano, Love and Mercy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Winner: Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Alternate: Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
My Wish : Winslet or Jane Fonda (Youth). I want surprises, dammit!

Best Director
Winner: Ridley Scott, The Martian
Alternate: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
My Wish : Todd Haynes, Carol. Duh!

Best Screenplay
Winner: Spotlight
Alternate: The Big Short
My Wish : Carol is not nominated so whatever. Just not Quentin Tarantino, please.

Best Animated Feature Film
Winner: Inside Out
Alternate: Anomalisa
My Wish : Inside Out ie. the only nominated film I saw.

Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: Son of Saul
Alternate: Mustang
My Wish : Mustang.

Best Original Score
Winner: Carol
Alternate: The Hateful Eight
My Wish : Carol

Best Original Song
Winner: One Kind of Love, Love and Mercy
Alternate: Writing's On the Wall, Spectre
My Wish : Any really as long as it's not the dreadful Spectre theme. How did that get nominated?

A gushing fan moment with Cate Blanchett

Everybody I know knows how much I love Cate Blanchett. They have also heard me babble incessantly about Carol for more than 3 years now. Still I thought I was a functioning human being who can get up and ask a simple question at a festival screening. Turns out that’s not the case.

My long weekend of Carol events at the New York Film Festival started Wednesday night with a talk with Ed Lachman. He was articulate and eloquent. The most interesting tidbit to me however was that he mentioned that in addition to the screenplay, Todd Haynes presents his cast and crew with a “lookbook” that illustrates how he envisions almost every frame in the movie. A storyboard of sorts I guessed.

The anecdote was on my mind all through the standby line for Friday’s premiere, even as I waited in the soaking rain. I thought about it while I watched Todd Haynes being interviewed Saturday morning. It stayed vivid in my mind because every frame of the movie drips with meticulous beauty. By the time I got to seeing the movie for the second time in less than 24 hours it was crystallized into a question for Cate about the beautiful way she posed and was framed in the movie and if these lookbooks helped her performance.

So when the time came for the Q and A, I asked her. I thought going on about Lachman and lookbooks would be too much so I decided to edit. Or maybe I just got lost in the moment and completely lost my train of thought. Here is what I think I said:

My question is for Cate. The performance is emotional and moving. Just everything. But I wanted to ask about the look and the pose. In every frame, it’s  just perfection. How did you manage that?

The moderator Amy Taubin paraphrased it as “how did you manage to be perfect in every frame?” Which let’s face it, is probably what I meant anyway. Taubin knows a fan when she sees one.

The moment became hilarious. The Alice Tully Hall audience erupted into laughter and applause. Even Haynes almost fell out of his seat laughing. Cate, I think, was a bit embarrassed by my effusing love for her performance. Still she managed to be as generous as she always is and deferred the credit to her fellow actor saying “It was all in the gaze, looking into Rooney’s eyes”. And after a beat said a very sweet and short “but thank you” to me.

If you’ve seen the movie you probably got what I meant. And look at the way she's posing in these photos. She is perfect. And that moment of utterly embarrassing myself is one I will treasure.

Busy away with Marion Cotillard, Eddie Redmayne and Robert Pattinson

The last month has been busy but off this blog. Like Tootsie with two personalities. One here. And One at The Film Experience.

I talked about Cate, Nicole & Keira doing stage all over the globe.

Welcomed Emily Watson away from the frumpy mothers she's played recently.

Worried about the release plans of Macbeth. Wondered what auteurs see in Robert Paatinson.

Waxed poetic about Elizabeth Debicki's costumes in U.N.C.L.E. And Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's in La La Land.


Analyzed the posters and release plans of Beasts of No Nation. The first picture from A Bigger Splash and Eddie Redmayne's big fall Oscar campaign.

I've been busy. Read all of it here.

Swoon Time with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara

No words needed. Just watch and swoon.

Cate Blanchett in a couple of new stills

It's Always Carol

I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to Carol: The Most Anticipated Movie in History of Cinema.

The lovely Miss Belivet has created the swooniest Gifs ever. For those anticipating, enjoy!

These images are better than I ever imagined. Looks like the movie will have the romantic scope, lush visuals (not just the actresses but also costumes and design) that I had hoped for. Swooning.

GIF

The Baby Jane of Our Times

I was watching Notes on a Scandal (2006) again the other day with a friend. We were both enjoying the performances, the highly quotable dialogue and of course the marvelous actresses. When it occurred to me, this movie is the Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) of our times. It is destined to be a "hagxploitation" or "Grande Dame/Guignol" classic. Baby gays everywhere will discover it, fall in love with the "over the top" aspects and start quoting in their everyday lives. Oh how glorious.

If we look closely there are similarities between both movies. Both are about a complex lonely woman who is presented as a villain (Barbara in Notes played by Judi Dench and Jane in Baby Jane played by Bette Davis). However as we get to know this villain we find ourselves empathetic to her plight and understanding of how she got to where she did. Both movies' other woman (Sheba in Notes played by Cate Blanchett and Blanche in Baby Jane played by Joan Crawford) is presented as a victim of our villain but as we get to know her she shows herself as selfish and someone who is willing to let others suffer for her desires.

There is also the dodgy politics. Yes both movies present women front and center but they are about a predatory Lesbian and a delusional crazy has-been. A stereotype and a cliche. While a lot of good dramas are about anti-heroes, the tone of both these movies is not flattering to their protagonists. But they are still fun to watch.

Another major similarity comes in terms of Oscar. Both Davis as Jane and Dench as Barbara were nominated for Best Actress. They lost to Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker and Helen Mirren in The Queen respectively. But they should've won. Both performances are classics. And of course all 4 fantastic actresses are Oscar Winners with careers that will stand the test of time.

Let's relive some of the most delicious moments from both classics.

"You are not young. I say this to help you"

"But you are, Blanche. You are in that chair"

"I gave you EXACTLY what you wanted"

"I didn't bring you breakfast, because you didn't eat your din-din!"

" You think this is a love affair? A relationship? What, sticky gold stars, and - and a strand of my hair? A sticker from Pizza Express? It's a flat in the Archway Road and you think you're Virginia frigging Woolf!"

"Oh really, did she like it." "Oh really did she like it"

" Do you want to fuck me, Barbara".

"Here come the local pubescent proles. The future plumbers, shop assistants, and doubtless the odd terrorist too. In the old days, we confiscated cigarettes and wank mags. Now it's knives and crack cocaine. And they call it progress".

"People like Sheba think they know what it is to be lonely. But of the drip, drip of the long-haul, no-end-in-sight solitude, they know nothing. What it's like to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the launderette. Or to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor's hand sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin. Of this, Sheba and her like have no clue"

"You could've been better than all of 'em. But they didn't want that. They just didn't love you enough. Do you know that? They just didn't love you enough"

I'll leave you with a couple of indelible images from both movies. Sheba's memorable "Here I am" outburst and Jane slapping Blanche. Of course there is a corresponding slap in Notes (Sheba slaps Barbara to start their big climactic confrontation) but couldn't find a picture of it.

What are some of your favorite quotes? Did I miss any? What other "hagxploitation" classics do you like?

Cate and Amy

Cate and Amy earlier this year on Golden Globes weekend

Tonight Amy Adams will present Cate Blanchett with Women in Film's Crystal award. I'm in love with the friendship between these two actresses at the top of their game. Remember after being nominees together at this year's Oscars Cate and Amy went on an excursion to tattoo parlour to celebrate Cate's win. Not sure if both got mementos but Cate definitely did. At the time I thought it was something in honor of their mutual friend and collaborator Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It seems though their friendship continues to blossom and I love it.

Cate named Amy, alongside producer Kathleen Kennedy as her industry idols;

"because they are brilliant at what they do - blending genius with practical application. But they are genuinely nurturing and enthusiastic about the work of others. They have subtle enduring panache".


Ladies I'm expecting Viola/Meryl levels of love and admiration from you tonight. Gimme.

Update: Alas the report from Variety must have been wrong because it was Laura Dern and not Amy that presented Cate with her award. Dern is rather lovely and heart breaking in the currently playing The Fault in Our Stars.

Dern & Blanchett at the WIF Crystal Award presentation

Most Anticipated : Carol

Blanchett as Carol

When reading The Price of Salt, the Patricia Highsmith novel on which this film is based, I imagined Carol as Marlene Dietrich if she were a 50s New York housewife. That is to say Cate Blanchett is perfect casting.

Pedigree

Todd Haynes re-teams with his I'm Not There star Cate Blanchett and enlists Lisabeth Salander herself, Rooney Mara, to film Highsmith's cult lesbian romance. TV stars turned prestige supporting players Sarah Paulson and Kyle Chandler lend support. Behind the camera it's a full on Far From Heaven reunion with lenser Ed Lachman and costume designer Sandy Powell. 

What's It About

Set in New York in the early 1950s the movie will tell the story of Therese Belivet (Mara) a department store assistant and her infatuation and eventual romance with the mysterious and beautiful Carol Aird (Blanchett). We can also think of it as a love quartet since the story involves Carol's husband (Chandler) who she's trying to divorce while keeping custody of their daughter, and her best friend and ex (Paulson). 

Why I'm Excited

Any movie with Blanchett is a most anticipated event around these parts. That she is working with Haynes again for which she gave one of her most astonishing performances is reason to cheer. That Haynes is working again in the 1950s milieu that he explored so well before in Far From Heaven raises the anticipation to fever pitch. That it is an adaptation of Highsmith's beautiful and moving novel, which defied conventions and stereotypes about LGBT stories and characters early on, raises our expectations to pure joy and giddiness.

Really?

Nothing. This might be my most anticipated movie EVER!

First Pictures of Cate as Carol

My most anticipated film in a long time is Carol; based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, directed by Todd Haynes and starring Cate the Great. It's a gay man's heaven : ACTRESS, queer writer and director, an impossible forbidden love story. It also has a killer supporting cast with Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson and Kyle Chandler. All the ingredients that make me giddy and excited.

Here are the first pictures from the first day of shooting. And we will give the movie the "most anticipated" treatment soon.

Cate

Sandy Powell is serving some 50s coat realness

Even her back looks alluring.......

Mara and Paulson

Final Oscar Predictions

Last predictions.... I'm hoping for a fun night and for a great speech from my favorite Cate. If she somehow doesn't win I'll be accepting condolences starting tomorrow.

Best Picture
12 Years A Slave

Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Also hoping for a few choice moments from her on the red carpet like one below with Jessica Chastain at Golden Globes.

Best Actor
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years A Slave

Best Supporting Actor
Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

Best Original Screenplay
American Hustle

Best Adapted Screenplay
12 Years A Slave

Best Animated Feature
Frozen

Best Foreign Film
The Great Beauty

Best Documentary
20 Feet From Stardom

Best Production design
The Great Gatsby

Best Costume Design
The Great Gatsby

Best Cinematography
Gravity

Best Editing
Gravity

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club

Best Score
Gravity

Best Song
Let It Go - Frozen

Best Sound Editing
Gravity

Best Sound Mixing
Gravity

Best Animated Short
Get a Horse

Best Live Action Short
Aquel No Era Yo

Best Documentary Short
The Lady in Number 6