Quirky Commentary Around The Clock
Next Saturday is the first day of summer and you know what that
means, don't you? Hollywood's summer movies! Well, er...sort of.
Several of the so-called summer movies have already been released
because in Hollywood summer starts around Memorial Day. But I refuse to
operate on Hollywood's timetable. Megan operates on her own
timetable---and er, BlogHer's---so here's your summer movie preview
based on my own strict movie going standards.
I've always said the only people worse represented throughout
Hollywood history than black people, were Asian people. Just like we
had our share of white actors parading around in blackface, Asians had
to tolerate white actors in yellowface: that is, white actors made up
to look like and play Asian characters. Charlie Chan and Fu Manchu,
to name two. Whenever the discussion about minority representation on
screen came up in the public consciousness, Asians seemed to barely
rate a mention.
Well now you can sample some Asian images throughout Hollywood history, good and bad, by tuning in to Turner Classic Movies every Tuesday and Thursday in June. Their series, "Race and Hollywood: Asian Images In Film," is a film festival showcasing Asian performers from the era of silent films, up until more contemporary movies like "The Joy Luck Club" and "Enter The Dragon."
Last week's program featured a documentary on Hollywood's first Asian film star, Anna May Wong. "Anna May Wong: Frosted Yellow Willows" chronicled the career of the American born Wong who dreamed as a child of being in the movies. Though she found work, first as an extra, and then in larger roles, the choicest roles, even for Asian characters, were reserved for white actresses.
Continue reading "Asians In Hollywood: From Anna May Wong To "Kung Fu Panda"" »
I'm lucky. I've never had to serve in a war or known someone close who's died in one. Even though I learned the facts and figures of war in school, the impact of war I learned from television and the movies. In honor of Memorial Day, this post is about what I've learned about war.
Continue reading "Ten TV Shows And Movies That Taught Me Something About War" »
I seem to be the only woman I know who's not going to strut my stilettos over to see the new "Sex and the City"
movie the minute it opens next week. The buzz, the hype, and the noise
over this movie is so over the top, it's like an orgasmic orgy. Not
that there shouldn't be more movies like this about ordinary women and
their lives, because I think there should be, but Hollywood, could you
come up with something original, please?
I'm not interested in seeing these women again. With all due respect to Sarah Jessica Parker, I was never a huge fan of the TV show since the characters annoyed me more often than they entertained me, and the only thing I liked less than the women were the men. Mr. Big? Really! How is he someone's great catch? Aidan was the only guy I could stomach and what happened to him? Carrie crushed him under her high heeled foot, like one of her many cigarettes.
What was also annoying when the show was on was every New York City woman announcing which "Sex and the City" character she was. "I'm just like Carrie," or "I'm just like Miranda," or "I'm just like Charlotte." And a few even proudly admitted to being just like serial bed hopper Samantha. As if every woman in New York could be distilled down to one of those four characters.
Pul-leeeze!
I've got news for you, I'm proud to say I'm not like any of 'em.
I don't wear stilettos that cost as much as a mortgage payment on my house, I don't bed hop with anything that has a "y" chromosome, and I don't wear goofball outfits from overpriced boutiques downtown. That being said, go see the movie if you feel you must, but for me, "not tonight, honey, I have a headache."
Cross Posted From Video Runway
Need some humor in your life? Have I got some YouTube videos for you!
Recently during one of my regular YouTube forays, I uncovered a stockpile of entertaining movie trailer parodies, or recuts as they're sometimes called. I happen to hate "Mary Poppins." What's that got to do with movie trailer parodies? Read on.
First up, a work of true genius and my favorite clip. Based on the blockbuster 1997 movie, "Titanic." It's called, "Titanic: Two The Surface," and tells the story of Jack Dawson after the sinking.
My next favorite, "Dirty Dancing," turns that harmless little movie about a family's vacation in the Catskills into something much more sinister.
Continue reading "Movie Trailer Parodies: Big YouTube Fun" »
Image details: Premiere Of "Live Free Or Die Hard" served by picapp.com
New York can be great for celeb sightings, but I haven't had a good one since I saw Hugh Laurie last year walking on 7th Avenue and 57th Street.
And then all of a sudden within a space of three weeks, I had three. My first sighting was while I was waiting for Kay and Collin in the theatre district a couple of weeks ago. We were going to see "Gypsy" with Patti LuPone and I was waiting across the street to avoid the crowd in front of our theatre.
Well these two guys strolled slowly by reading the theatre posters next to me. One man was a shortish blond, and the other was taller, with greying, dark hair. The dark haired man struck me as someone I'd seen before and I thought, "Is that...?"
Surreptitiously I watched as they went down the block and then again as they came back in my direction. When the gentleman with dark hair walked within chatting distance, I asked in my most non-celeb stalker voice, "Excuse me sir, but are you Roger Rees?"
The skin around his eyes crinkled when he smiled and he said, "Why, yes."
Now I was stuck. What was I going to say now? Something about one of his roles? What did I see him in last?
Was it:
"I loved you on "The West Wing," oh, six years ago..." Nah.
Or:
You were great in "Nicholas Nickleby," now that was a role!" No, that was no good. Partly because it was a role he played twenty years ago.
So I fell back on the good manners my mother taught me, smiled and said:
"I love your work."
He smiled back and in that lovely British accent said, "Why, thank you."
I got a little tingle. Roger Rees. All British and classy. How neat.
It didn't occur to me until later that I'd last seen him in "The Prestige," an excellent movie by the way.
A few minutes later, Kay and Collin strolled up and were extremely impressed when I told my story. First that I knew what Roger Rees looked like and second that he spoke to me.
Continue reading "What Do Bruce Willis & Roger Rees Have In Common?" »
Cross Posted From BlogHer
As part of BlogHer's focus on Women's History Month, this post is about amazing women in the history of film and television: women who inspired in front of the camera and women who crashed the Hollywood old boy network behind it.
When I sat down and thought about the women I might want to write about, I was overwhelmed with names. Like my fellow Contributing Editor Maria Niles and her post on Women Who Rocked American History, I felt the only way to do the subject justice was with a list. The list I came up with was as long as my arm.
By the time I'd whittled that down to something manageable, I'd immersed myself in the remarkable careers of a group of twenty-seven talented and pioneering women.
They're listed alphabetically and in two categories, movies and television.
Women Of Television
Lucille Ball: Actress, Comedienne, TV Executive.
Though she started out as a Goldwyn Girl and then a serious actress in B movies, Lucille Ball will always be remembered as the star of the classic TV comedy, "I Love Lucy." A comic giant, she was the first woman to own a film studio, Desilu, and with her husband Desi Arnaz, created the three camera sitcom technique that is considered a standard today.
As a kid, I watched the "I Love Lucy" shows over and over so often, my grandmother would beg me to turn to something else just to give her a break.
Gail Berman: TV Executive.
Gail Berman was one of the guiding forces behind one of my favorite TV shows, "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," but that's not the only reason she's on this list. Berman began her career as a producer on Broadway and eventually made her way to Hollywood. Once there she broke into television, eventually becoming executive producer of "Buffy" and its spinoff "Angel." In 2001 she was promoted to President of the Fox Television Network. During her tenure she developed such hits as "24," "House," and "American Idol," consequently presiding over Fox's most successful era since its inception
By 2005 she was President of Paramount Pictures and named one of Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women.
Continue reading "Hollywood's Amazing Women Of Film And TV" »
Angela Bassett got a much deserved star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame last Thursday. The ceremony was attended by her husband Courtney B. Vance and fellow actors Forest Whitaker and Laurence Fishburne.
Bassett was quoted in USA Today when asked about moving to Hollywood: "I meant to stay six months but I stayed. Today my cup runneth over!" Bassett said. "I am crying now, I cried yesterday and the day before. ... This day is so, so special to me.
Congratulations Angela!
Film director Anthony Minghella died unexpectedly yesterday in London from complications related to surgery he had last week. He was 54 years old.
There were several reasons I felt the need to take note of his passing. First off, one of his greatest screen achievements, "The English Patient" is a sprawling epic that wasn't necessarily to everyone's taste---did you see the "EP" Seinfeld episode?---but it was a lovely movie and for me had one of the most romantic scenes I've ever experienced at the movies. Which brings me to my second reason, the scene involved co-stars Naveen Andrews (Kip) of "Lost" and Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche (Hana).
Theirs was the secondary, and I thought, more interesting of the two love stories in the movie. As most people know the primary love story was between Ralph Fiennes (the aforementioned "Patient") and Kristen Scott Thomas.
"The English Patient" was my first glimpse of Naveen Andrews and he was just as incredibly hot then as he is now. I won't give away the scene, but it involved the ruins of an old church that Kip takes Hana to, using a very unique way to show her the beauty hidden within the ruins. The movie's worth renting for that scene alone.
Minghella's other two movies which I loved were "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Cold Mountain." "Cold Mountain" was much too long, but I saw the movie on television, and I have a feeling it was much more tolerable on the small screen than on the big one. Renee Zellweger won a much deserved Oscar for her role as Ruby Thewes and nearly stole the movie right out from under Nicole Kidman. Jude Law co-starred with Kidman which brings me to my third reason, "The Talented Mr. Ripley."
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" had its problems as well, but it was very entertaining and that had a lot to do with Law and star Matt Damon. It's a sumptuous, visually stunning movie where everyone is beautiful, but that beauty hides secrets, blackmail and eventually murder.
From Minghella's NY Times obituary:
With a large, bald head, and a thick frame, Mr. Minghella had the physical affect of dockworker, but when he opened his mouth, it was clear he was an omnivorously literate person.
“I can’t think of a conversation that I had in the last five years that didn’t include a reference about what book he was reading,” said Scott Rudin, who produced a number of films with both Mr. Minghella and Mr. Pollack. “He was the first person to pick up the phone and talk about some amazing play he had seen in North London, and a few days later there would be a script on my desk.”
His last completed work, "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" was produced for the BBC and will air in the United States on HBO.
The man had talent and I, for one will miss his work.
In the world of online video Hulu is the new kid on the internet block. The name Hulu is funky 'cause I keep wanting to say Hula, like the Hawaiian dance. Maybe the domain was taken, but considering this new website that allows visitors to watch full length movies and TV shows is backed by the mucho money of NBC Universal and News Corp., they could have probably bought it at auction.
Anyway, in spite of that, Hulu is pretty cool.
This week the site finished a year of beta testing and launched full on. I just finished registering for and surfing through the site and I was impressed. And that's not just because you can watch episodes of my favorite show "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" there.
Other TV shows available are classic "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" from the fifties to "Arrested Development" from just a couple of years ago. There are episodes of "Bones," "House," and "Chuck." You can watch comedy sketches from "Saturday Night Live," like the very funny one from last week parodying the famous Hillary Clinton "3AM Phone Call" ad.
They've even got NBA basketball, and fashion clips from the Ford Model Agency like "Off The Rack With Jackie."
The selection of movies runs the gamut from "The Usual Suspects," to "The Forty Year Old Virgin" to "The Full Monty." You can browse movies and TV shows by title, by genre or by movie studio or network. How do they provide all this stuff for free? Why, by commercials of course. But the quality of the clips is great and the site has a slick, clean look that is easy to navigate. Jason Kilar, Hulu’s chief executive was quoted in a NY Times article:
“We won’t stop until we have everything in terms of premium content. That is our mission,” he said. “I just think back to the fact that 24 months ago, there wasn’t anything online legally in terms of full TV episodes or films. In just 17 weeks, we have gone from nothing to over 200 premium titles.”
It's no coincidence two TV/movie companies are involved in this little venture, because the networks are beginning to see the writing on the wall about how traditional TV viewers are watching a heck of a lot more videos online, not to mention all the free streaming of shows on network websites.
Take my word for it, this site's gonna be a huge hit. It's the future and it's here.
Cross Posted From Video Runway
Sick of Britney Spears? Done with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan? Check out "How Utterly Cool Is Natalie Portman" on MSNBC.com by Alonso Duralde about actress Natalie Portman. The article describes in witty detail the six ways Natalie is a big cut above the current Hollywood crop of ditzy dilettante dames.
An excerpt:
"In an age of starlets gone wild — and the pursuit of same by the insatiable scandal-sheet press corps — Portman has risen to the top of her profession with smarts and class. Even if all of her film choices weren’t the greatest — anybody remember “Where the Heart Is”? — she’s hit upon a winning formula for playing the fame game, and her peers would do well to follow her lead."
"The Other Boleyn Girl" star is getting a lot of buzz from her latest part as the doomed Anne Boleyn and even though the movie itself has its problems, there's no doubt Portman is part of the reason it rises above the usual cinematic royal romps.
But back to the "saintly starlet brigade." I'd add to that Portman list, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Raven Simone, Julia Stiles, Gabrielle Union, America Ferrera and Amber Tamblyn. You don't hear about any of these ladies running around flashing photogs while not wearing underwear. Though now that I've put them in this post, you can bet at least one of them will get into some kind of trouble in the next twenty four hours.
Until then, they're smart, they're publicity savvy and they're going about their business trying to do good work and stay famous without biting the head off a live chicken on TMZ.
Everyone can rest easy. Gil Cates, executive producer of the Academy Awards, called Whoopi Goldberg and apologized for snubbing her during the 80th anniversary clips on last Sunday's Oscars.
On this morning's "The View" Whoopi said he told her, "It was a mistake, I didn't catch it. And I love you."
Whoopi said, "Because I know him as a great gentleman, I accepted it, so we moved on from that."
So all is right with the celebrity world.
Photo courtesy ABC
During a discussion on yesterday's "The View" about montages of previous Oscar show hosts during Sunday's Academy Awards, the Gabby Girls got vocally indignant that Whoopi Goldberg, who's hosted the show four times, wasn't included in the montage of past hosts. And they were absolutely right. There were plenty of funny clips of Whoopi hosting that could have been included. As The Gabby Girls pointed out, like when she came out dressed as Queen Elizabeth or came down on a wire from the ceiling a la Nicole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge."
Whoopi was included in a montage of Oscar winners, since she won Best Supporting Actress for "Ghost" but it was odd that she wasn't included in the host clips. Even David Letterman, universally hated by Hollywood as an Oscar host was included in the clips, but he was in an airplane that was about to crash, so maybe there's a message there.
After Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the Queen Bee herself Barbara Walters were vocal about Whoopi's exclusion, Whoopi stood up and went around the table kissing each one of them on the cheek. When she got to Barbara, she said something in her ear, and when she sat back down, she appeared visibly moved and somewhat speechless by the Gabby Girls support.
Whoopi said she undoubtedly pissed somebody off during her stints as host and also pointed out that Steve Martin was left out of the montage as well.
I felt truly bad for her because she appeared very sad about it. It's like a few weeks ago on the show when they were talking about award show fashions and Whoopi showed a picture of herself at the Oscars years ago in this truly unflattering gown of fuscia and green and purple. She explained that the style of the gown was an homage to Lucille Ball in "I Love Lucy" and some of those dresses Lucy used to wear. However when she got so many incredibly mean comments about how she looked, she said she would never dress up for an awards show again. She said the most she would wear would be a fancy black dress.
I remember feeling very bad for her and how much all those comments must have hurt. It just reminded me that celebrities are people too, with feelings just like everybody else. So if I hurt anybody with my snarky comments about their fashions at the Oscars, I humbly apologize. But just remember to dress better next time.
The 80th Annual Academy Awards are over and it's time to rip
everyone to shreds. Well, maybe not everyone. Jon Stewart surprised me
and did a half way decent monologue. His best line of the night?
"Normally when you see a black man or woman president, an asteroid is
about to hit the Statue of Liberty." Heh.
He then pretty much disappeared for the rest of the evening and that was just fine with me. Though kudos to him for inviting Best Song winner Marketa Irglova back on stage to give her acceptance speech after the orchestra played her off before the break.
As far as the fashions, all the women got the "red memo." I don't remember the last time I saw so many red dresses on the red carpet. But red's my favorite color and most of them weren't bad.
I started this tradition last year and in this celebratory time after the writers strike, I think it's even more relevant than ever.
For the first time in a long time I haven't seen any of the major nominated movies---what can I say, I've been busy---but that won't stop me from throwing in a couple of copper Lincolns just like everyone else.
Feel free to throw in your own copper Lincolns and we can compare notes tomorrow.
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