By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Sep 14, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
OK, so it’s not Oscar season. Not even close.
But wandering this week through the back alley ways of Italy reminded me of the extraordinary contributions of Italian-Americans to our modern cinema: Scorsese, Coppola, Tarantino, Brando, De Niro, Pacino, Pesci, Travolta, Poppy from Seinfeld (seen at left with Italian-American (?) Cosmo Kramer), yaddio, yaddio, yaddio…
Maybe it’s the Italian air — or my own conspiratorial fantasies — but I’ve concluded that too many of the above greats have something quite compelling in common: the tragedy of losing an Oscar award that they manifestly deserved, to a much inferior, non-Italian-American film/director/actor.
5. 1974: Al Pacino (Godfather, Part II) loses to Art Carney (Harry and Tonto)
Godfather II is my favorite movie, period. Probably because of the entry of politics into the narrative and the focus on the Jewish mafia’s powerful role (via Lee Strassberg’s portrayal of Meyer Lansky stand-in Hyman Roth), Part II ekes out Part I for the greatest movie of all time. And throughout the magnificent duology (I choose to forget the very good, but not closely comparable Part III), Al Pacino is simply sublime as the lead protagonist, Michael Corleone. His oh-so-subtle and delicate embodiment of the young idealist family man who transforms into a furious, violent mobster is to me the greatest acting of his generation. That the Best Actor nod went to Marlon Brando in Part I is forgivable if only due to the legend’s common ancestry. But losing to Art Carney because of the Academy’s sympathy for a long career and a signature role on The Honeymooners (of all shows!) is tragedia of the highest form. The only redemption came in 1992, when Pacino most undeservedly got the same career honorific Academy treatment when won his first Oscar for his strident over-acting in the forgettable Scent of a Woman.
4. 1976: Robert DeNiro (Taxi Driver) succumbs to the late Peter Finch (Network)
While Robert DeNiro did pick up the Best Supporting Actor for his brilliant work in Godfather II (speaking almost entirely in Sicilian-Italian), two years later he was robbed of his first Best Actor statue for the finest acting of his long, incredible career — his portrayal of the deranged Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Deniro’s maniacal energy was palpable in every scene, yet his most indelible work was opposite the young Jodie Foster: DeNiro showed the romantic humanity deep inside a very disturbed man. DeNiro’s method in this movie has inspired a generation of actors — and, unfortunately, John Hinckley as well — but again, the overly-nostalgic Academy selected a guy whose death preceded the award ceremony by only a few months. When I remember this Oscar theft, I become as MAD AS HELL AND I JUST CAN’T TAKE IT ANY MORE! Sorry about that…You talkin’ to me?!? You talkin’ to me?!?
3. 1980: Martin Scorsese’s Oscar for Raging Bull is stolen by Robert Redford (Ordinary People)
While DeNiro finally won the Best Actor nod that was rightfully his a few years earlier, the picture in which he starred, Raging Bull, was outrageously robbed of the Best Picture award by the maudlin, effete, and treacly Ordinary People, and worse: Martin Scorsese’s masterful directing was eclipsed by Robert Redford’s Hallmark special orchestration. I’ve made clear in an earlier post of my self-awareness toward an “anti-pretty boy bias,” but while Redford’s acting was always under-rated, and his film festival hosting and environmental activism are quite admirable; when it comes to direction, he does not belong in the same league as Scorsese. And worst of all, it would be precisely a decade later when another pretty boy with environmental inclinations would steal yet another Best Picture and Best Director nod from the much more deserving Scorsese…
Read the rest of… The RP’s Five Worst Oscar Robberies of Italian-Americans
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Wed Sep 7, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
The Politics of Film
George Lucas has touched the lives of millions with his Star Wars franchise, but he can’t seem to leave the iconic movies well enough alone. Rumor has it that Lucas is making some alterations to the Blu Ray versions of A New Hope, Return of the Jedi, and The Phantom Menace. [The Movie Blog]
As readers of this post surely know, I am really excited about the new marvel film The Avengers. Recently, Marvel talked at length about how the companion films The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2 will fit together with their new project. [IFC]
I went to go see the film Attack The Block yesterday. It was a really fun film to watch. If its showing in your town, you would do well to see it. Young star of the film, John Boyega, has been attached to the HBO series Da Brick, which is to Mike Tyson what Entourage was to Mark Wahlberg. [Film Junk]
Netflix streaming really got booming several years ago when it partnered with Starz, allowing the service to show all of their on-demand films. Recently, however, Starz has decided to forgo the partnership, meaning hundreds of films will be lost to Netflix, including favorites such as The Social Network. [The Guardian]
Juno Temple (Atonement, Greenburg) has been attached to the Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises for several months now. Now, we might know who she will be playing. [/Film]
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Tue Aug 30, 2011 at 3:30 PM ET
The Politics of Film
Hunter S Thompson books have been adapted into films by Johnny Depp before, to great acclaim. Coming soon is The Rum Diary, which was written by Thompson before he went too crazy, and I think this film has a good chance to be really fun and good. Check out the trailer. [The Movie Blog]
Am I too old to love comic books? I really hope not. After watching 3 years of films building up to Marvel’s The Avengers, we now officially have a poster. I’m excited, and you should be too. [IFC]
Now that the Harry Potter series is over and the Twilight films are all in the can, we need a new Young Adult Fiction series to win over our hearts and minds. Hunger Games seeks to do just that. Check out the trailer, featuring Jennifer Lawrence heavily. [Film Junk]
Oldboy is a Korean revenge flick which is incredibly violent and very intense. It is definitely not a movie that everyone can stomach. However, for the people who like those kinds of films, it is a classic. Spike Lee plans on adapting it into English, and has tapped Josh Brolin to play the lead. This is very excited, if you ask me. [The Guardian]
Lars Von Trier managed to get himself kicked out of the Cannes film festival earlier this year because he said he sympathized with Hitler. Even after that, his film, Melancholia, managed to win a few awards. If a film can come back from that, it must be pretty good. Experts say that this film will do for Kirsten Dunst what Brokeback Mountain did for Heath Ledger. Check out the trailer. [/Film]
The film The Artist is a movie set during the silent film era–and pays homage to that era by actually being a silent film. This film has generated a lot of positive buzz, but it remains to be seen if a film without any talking can win awards this year. Check out the trailer to see what you think [LA Times]
By Will Allison, on Thu Aug 18, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
I haven’t watched network TV in many years. I can’t stand pretty much any contemporary music act. I enjoy professional sports, but do not follow them, and always embarrass myself when I pretend that I do. However, I do faithfully watch a handful of cable television programs. Here they are, with some thoughts on each:
5. True Blood
As President Obama would say, let me be clear. This show is as dumb as a bag of hammers. I am dumber after I watch it. All of us are. The pilot episode offered the worst dialogue I had ever heard on a television show. The performances as a rule are unbelievably repetitive. A handful of the characters—including THE LEAD—are unusually annoying. When did Anna Paquin decide that every line should be served with three extra helpings of sass? And Tara, thanks, but if I wanted to be yelled at for an hour, I’d time travel back to Mrs. Phillips’ seventh grade math class.
This scene alone invoked three separate articles of the Geneva Conventions.
And yet…
OK, I confess. The damn show is entertaining. As dumb as it is, dumb also means I get to turn my brain off for an hour and watch vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, witches, whoknowswhathehellelse go at it. In bad Cajun accents. Usually, sans clothing. There are worse ways to spend an evening.
4. Game Of Thrones
This series appeared at first to be a conventional medieval fantasy epic, told in the style of The Lord Of The Rings, pitting good against evil. It slowly revealed itself to be a far more complex piece of storytelling. The “good” guys in this tale often behave stupidly and are far too trusting of their enemies, not to mention the “neutral” parties of whom they assume good faith. The “bad” guys are regularly more successful because they do not slow themselves down with quaint notions of “honor”. They also may have more legitimate grievances than we are initially led to believe. The history of the world in which these people reside is slowly revealed to the audience. It is a world nowhere as simple as that depicted in The Lord Of The Rings, a world much more like our own, where nothing good is accomplished easily–if at all–and what “good” actually is becomes harder to define at each turn.
Exemplifying this outlook is the performance of Peter Dinklage, who has created the most fascinating supporting character on television since…Omar. He is The Imp, a little person living in a chaotic world ruled by “might is right”, and yet The Imp manages to slip through incredible dangers using his mental ingenuity alone. He is neither good nor bad, possessing no innate hostility towards perceived enemies, nor any frivolous notions of “honor” that would too firmly entrench him. The Imp has no problem helping strangers, and bets they’ll never realize how much more he needs them. He has only his wits, and his mouth. In a land where most have lost sight of what matters save some ancient moral code, the man with none may be the most moral of them all.
3. Teen Mom
I generally detest reality television. I believe 99.9% of it is useless, vapid exhibitionism of the lowest order. I think anyone who would put themselves on a reality television program is very likely to have either some kind of severe personality disorder, or simply be un-hirable in any other occupation.
However…
Teen Mom is one of the most gripping and educational shows ever put on the screen. The show is pretty straightforward: let’s film the repercussions of some teenagers who got themselves pregnant. Let’s show what it’s like to be an 18 year-old girl with a 2 year-old boy. What happens when that girl wants to go out with her friends, but doesn’t have any time, because she has a 2 year-old boy, and doesn’t have any money, because she doesn’t have a job, because she can’t get a job, because she has to stay home to take care of the 2 year-old boy. And if she gets a job, it won’t be a good job, because she didn’t finish high school, and even if she did, she didn’t go to college, because she has a 2 year-old boy. And if she tries to go to college, then she’s being a bad mom, because she’s not devoting herself entirely to the 2 year-old boy, and eventually one of her parents will step in and fight for ownership of the 2 year-old boy. And God forbid she go and try to do what got her into this mess in the first place: fall in love. On Teen Mom, nothing is more dangerous than trying to have a life of your own. And that is what makes it truly compelling television, as well as essential life education. I wish it was shown in every middle and high school in America.
By John Johnson, on Wed Aug 17, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
My daughter was born in the spring of 2000. That summer, as many new parents with infants do, we found ourselves around the house quite a bit, learning the ropes of parenthood. As it turned out, lucky for us, Summer 2000 was also the summer that network TV discovered reality TV game shows! With the launch of Survivor and Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, my sleep deprived wife and I could get our nightly Regis Philbin fix and watch the exploits of nude Richard on the island (“the tribe has spoken”) without having to think at all!
Strangely, that summer launched the reality TV genre. More than a decade later—where it seems the majority of TV is reality—I have found my own personal obsession…the bad reality TV game show. Who needs American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, or the Amazing Race? (I can hear some RP readers already saying—aren’t those bad reality TV shows? Not compared to the rest of this list!) Bad imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Or, Rule 1 of Bad Reality TV Game Shows: If it is cheap, and it might draw any summer ratings, rip off the idea!
To that end, I offer my pop culture tribute to 5 worst reality game shows of all time. (A side note for the analytic amongst the RP Nation: “Reality” TV probably has a more precise meaning, but in my world, it is a broad genre encompassing any show where contestants compete as themselves in some less than realistic setting…)
5. 101 Ways to Leave A Game Show. The only one on my list that is still on TV…though not sure how long it will last. How can you beat a show where in one episode, contestants were eliminated by being: 1. dropped off a barge going 30 mph at sea, 2. sent to the bottom of the ocean by an anchor around his leg, 3. dumped into a river with dead fish, and 4. ejected off a 10 story platform from a bed face down into water. Purely sensational…even down to the smarmy host cackling the whole time. I call that must see TV.
4. (tie) the Joe Schmo Show/ Joe Millionaire. Double the Joe for the average Joe. Joe Schmo was a guy from Pittsburgh. They created a fake reality game show for him (The Lap of Luxury). Hire 10 actors to fit every stereotype…the blond bombshell, the gossip queen, the quack doctor, the retired army general. They create a fake world, completely get the guy to buy in for several weeks. After playing with the guys emotions, getting him to embarrass himself repeatedly on TV, they reveal everyone was actors and he was a total mark! But, they justify the whole thing because they gave him the prize money…and play up what a special, trusting person they had to find to make this all work.
What’s worse than that? How about a reality game show where you can find “true love” with a millionaire? But after you think you’ve found the one, you find out he’s not a millionaire. I hate when that happens. Rule 2 of Bad Reality TV Game Shows: Deception is ok as long as you get money in the end.
3. I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here
I think someone should have filed a lawsuit for false advertising…because there were no celebrities here. Unless you think Bruce Jenner, Melissa Rivers, and Robin Leach are celebrities… The premise is simple. Dump a bunch of C-level stars in the jungle. Make them do stupid stuff. Someone leaves every night. Broadcast live every night. Someone wins. Poor mans survivor meets Ed Mcmahons star search. Bad! (Another side note: In checking the web today, I found NBC is actually remaking this show again. Wow. See Rule 1 of Bad Reality TV Shows Above).
Read the rest of… John Johnson: The Five Worst Reality Game Shows
By Jason Atkinson, on Mon Aug 15, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
A first here at The Recovering Politician: Contributing RP Jason Atkinson directed and produced the following short film about a trout-fishing trip he took last week with his son in Montana. Stay tuned to the end for an hilarious, live-action imitation of Big Mouth Billy Bass (You know…the singing fish mounted on the wall):
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Fri Aug 12, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Ben Wyatt, a man much like me.
The guy to the left is Ben Wyatt (played by Adam Scott), a character from my favorite show on television, Parks and Recreation. (Sorry, Community, I think you’ve been unseated). Ben Wyatt arrived on the show at the end of the second season as a hard hearted Indiana state financial auditor. He arrives in the mythical town of Pawnee in order to clean up the city’s financial mess. During most of his second season appearances, he clashes with the lovely Amy Poehler, who plays my perfect mate–Leslie Knope. However, by the end of the show’s third season, he has lightened up quite a bit, and is dating Leslie.
I am a lot like this guy. The character Ben was elected the mayor of a small town in Minnesota when he was 18 years old, and prompted ran the town’s finances into the ground. After being impeached (two months after he took office), he spent the rest of his professional career trying to clean up his name. He became a financial auditor, and the character has helped turn around several towns financially. However, his past always seems to find a way to haunt him–in an episode in the show, he is consistently hounded by Pawnee’s hilariously ridiculous media for his troubled past as a failed mayor.
In the show, Ben dates Leslie Knope. I wish I dated either Leslie Knope or Amy Poehler.
I am like Ben because when I was younger, I made a lot of silly mistakes also. I have always been pretty quick to absorb information, and I have always been very passionate about thing in which I believe. In high school and throughout much of college, I wielded my opinions like a big sword. I would argue until me and the other person were blue in the face, and I would never back down. I took to rhetoric pretty quick: while I fought a lot of arguments to a draw, I very rarely looked foolish or incorrect. I was thoroughly convinced that if I argued with people who thought differently than me that they would be converted to the way in which I think, or at least, that the people who saw us arguing would be swain to “my side.” I fought with feeling–and if the other person had the facts which disproved my arguments, I would just continue to repeat my opinions, just louder, and with more feeling. Ideology trumped everything to me–and anything that was right to my ideological faith was gospel. That was a really crappy thing to do. More than several people have taken me aside to tell me that they were offended by how much I hounded someone in a rhetorical tussle, and others found me to be offensive and thought my tone was overly mocking. They were right.
For the past several years, I have tried to make this right. In my last few years of undergraduate, I worked really hard to learn about different political ideologies and economic schools. I have tried to learn and understand their decision making frameworks, and how they think. When deciding to go to graduate school, I decided to go to policy school. There, I worked really hard to learn how to discover facts and utilize information in order to solve problems and draw conclusions. Like Ben Wyatt, after realizing that the way in which I had lived was flawed, I have tried to make things a bit more right.
In real life, however, Amy Poehler is married to this guy. She has made a huge mistake.
That’s not to say I don’t have a lot of opinions, still. But when I do decided to be vocal about them, I am sure to provide evidence or support for the things which I say. That’s super important. And whenever I am writing about something, I try to do my best to explain the other side of the coin. That’s why in this space, I’ve tried to give Austrians arguments to the debt ceiling crisis, and why I have tried to explain every side of the sustainability/consumption chain as completely as possible. I still screw up–a lot. I let my opinions get in the way when I see something that makes me really angry, but usually I recover pretty quickly and before I say TOO many stupid things, I get back to using data and information to back up my thoughts. To the people who are reading this: feel free to call me out about this. If you think I don’t do a good enough job of ensuring that facts and information are ingrained in what I say, write, and post–feel free to speak up! I want to be as good as I can about this, and help is always appreciate (well…help is usually appreciated :))
Plus, Ben Wyatt and I both part our hair in ridiculous ways, and enjoy wearing plaid shirts entirely too much. And we are typically the only people to laugh at our own jokes.
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Tue Aug 9, 2011 at 3:30 PM ET
Captain America
I’m pretty good at Marvel superhero trivia. I was one of those nerds who was mad when the 2002 Sam Rami Spiderman film did not have mechanical web shooters, and was geekily excited to hear that the reboot would ditch the organic webbing. In the same vein, I was livid at what X-Men 3 did to the continuity of the comic book, and that Iron Man wasn’t really an alcoholic. I’m THAT GUY. But, for whatever reason, I don’t know that much about Captain America 1. I don’t know why, since he is one of the original Marvel heroes, but his story never interested me very much. However, that was a mistake on my part. It’s a pretty awesome story.
These guys are not stylish in the 21st century.
Making this film must have been tough. You have essentially a jingoistic, America is #1 in the world character who is campy and ridiculous–he has wings on his helmet and wears blue tights and has a shield. While during the 1940s, that stuff probably seemed really hip, it’s relevancy has certainly waned as time has worn on. America’s relationship with jingoism has really soured as the 20th century has worn on, and superheroes and tight quit being awesome after the original X-Men series went off the air. So, making a movie about Captain America that was both relevant and also respected the hero’s story could not have been easy. However, Joe Johnson really got it done with this film. They gave us the real story–the one from the comic book–and managed to make it relevant to today by adding several modern sentimentalities to the plot.
Hugo Weaving: The Villain of our Time.
The acting was top-notch, especially by the older guys. Hugo Weaving stole the show, in my opinion. His portrayal of the villain Red Skull captured the evil madman pitch-perfectly2. Not to be outdone, Tommy Lee Jones did great as Col. Phillips. Chris Evan’s portrayal of Cap was good–I think he fulfilled his duty of capturing the essence of Captain America–but it wasn’t as outstanding as Weaving or Jones. Evans is given to overacting and melodrama. The supporting cast did well also, especially Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugger and Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark.
The film was not without its flaws, however. The love story felt shoehorned into the film. It was never very fulfilling or resolved, and the plot could have done without it. As I said earlier in reference to Chris Evans, the film is rife with melodrama–the script really didn’t help Mr. Evans out in this regard. However, the action was still good, and this is a movie a 24 year old superhero aficionado can watch and enjoy.
If you enjoy comic books and superheroes as much as I do, you need to see this movie. Even if you only like superheroes half as much as I do, you should go see this movie. However, if superhero movies have started getting on your nerves and you are starting to wonder why so many of them are getting made, this film will do nothing but frustrate you. When I reviewed Green Lantern several weeks ago, I said that there is still a future for comic book movies–but only as fan service, not as big-blockbuster pictures that merit gigantic media blitzes and multi-million dollar advertising budgets. Captain America may have been pretty ubiquitous in commercials and branding, but it is the type of movie that the future of comic book films need to be–a film for fans of the character. This film did a great job of getting me super excited for The Avengers next year. Joss Wheadon, you are up.
This Movie Is Good.
Beginners
The film Beginners is absolutely fantastic. At its core, its a film about people who have no idea what to make of relationships–a subset of people which absolutely includes me. The film gives a treatment of relationships between lovers and family which is sweet and genuine and which has heart, and I think you should go see the movie, already!
In this film, Ewan McGregor plays Oliver, a man whose elderly father comes out as gay to him after the death of his mother. The ploy is threefold–it includes scenes about his father’s homosexuality and his eventual death from cancer, as well as scenes about his present relationship with a French actress with whom he begins a relationship, and scenes showing Oliver’s youth and his relationship to his mother. The film is able to weave these three time periods together in a way which is focused and meaningful–reveals are made about the past which relate to scenes the audience has already seen which take place in the present which provide us with greater nuance with which to treat the various characters. The skipping between time periods really works for this film.
Ewan McGregor does a fantastic job of portraying Oliver, a man who is obviously damaged by his parents strange relationship, which fiercely loving both of his parents. He and Melanie Laurent (who plays his girlfriend Anna) are also dynamic. We often hear of chemistry between lovers on screen referred to with terms such as “sparks” or “sultry,” but this relationship is very honest. It is hot and sensuous at times, and cold and distant at other times. All of the feelings seem honest and real, and that is a credit to these actors.
However, the heart of this film is in its treatment of LGBT issues. I have a lot of trouble empathizing with LGBT characters in film–probably because their experiences are very different from my own–and have always been frustrated by my lack of sympathy for their character’s unique struggle and the impossibility of me understanding the complexities and motivations of LGBT characters. This film, however, presents a straight man, dealing with LGBT issues. In this movie, I found a person who is grappling with the role which homosexuality plays in the 21st century with whom I could relate, and with whom I could empathize. This is the greatest gay film for a straight audience, in my opinion, and there is a lot of credit due to this film for that.
This film is one of my favorites of the year. I cannot recommend it any more than that. If it is showing in your city, I strongly suggest you make a trip to see it. You won’t regret it.
1However, I have been watching the cartoon The Avengers: Earth’s Greatest Heroes, which has caught me up a lot on Cap’s backstory. Like I said, I am a total nerd. 2The things I would do for a movie with Christoph Waltz and Hugo Weaving as European bad-guys are unspeakable.
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Aug 9, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
Maybe it’s the fact that Mrs. RP and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary this past weekend. Or perhaps I’m just getting a little tired of the hot and muggy weather.
Whatever the cause, my bow to pop culture this week reveals the Top Five Romantic Screen Scenes in the Rain.
I’m not sure of the precise scientific link between romance and precipitation, but it’s real; it’s widespread, and it’s soaking wet. There’s just something in the water…that makes a love scene so powerful and/or tear inducing.
So here goes–the top five screen love scenes that are all wet:
5. Casablanca
The granddaddy of all romantic rain scenes loses a few points because both Bogie and Bergman stay inexplicably dry amidst the gray, foggy drizzle. But aaaahhhhh, the romance…Humphrey Bogart’s cynical Rick risks his own life during WWII and makes the ultimate sacrifice: providing safe passage for the woman he loves and her Resistance hero husband. And as “As Times Go By” plays solemnly in the background, the Kentucky Derby of movie scenes (the most exciting two-minutes in film) packs in three of cinema’s greatest lines: “It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world”; “We’ll always have Paris”; and “Here’s looking at you, Kid.” Watch it here, and then play it again, Sam:
4. Spiderman
As we await the latest reboot of this epic Stan Lee franchise, it’s important to remember that the Tobey Maguire/Kirsten Dunst trilogy stood out less for its supernatural feats of strength and power — C’mon, it was Tobey Maguire, for goodness sake — but rather for the aching, unconsummated three-way romance among the forlorn Peter Parker, his alter ego Spiderman, and the beautiful ingenue, Mary Jane Watson. The climax of their romance comes in a kiss: As Spidey hangs upside down on a building’s edge in a dark, dreary alley in the middle of a rain storm, a dripping wet Mary Jane removes just enough of his mask to reveal his lips, and then plants a sloppy one on him. Watch it here, and just try not to gush.
3. The Notebook
OK, gotta admit: Didn’t care too much for this click-flick schlock. But I had to throw it in here for the RPettes, for this is the scene that will define their generation’s vision of young romance. After seven years of waiting for each other, the two lovers stand in a wholesome field…Rain Pouring…They exchange sorrowful shouts…He lifts her in his arms…Draws her closely to kiss…They lock lips…BLECHHHH!!!. At least it has inspired a fairly funny satire about cell phone use during the previews of pretty much every movie I’ve seen this summer. OK, you young’uns out there in RP Nation, here it is:
Read the rest of… The RP’s Five Most Romantic Screen Scenes in the Rain
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Tue Aug 2, 2011 at 3:30 PM ET
The Politics of Film
Are you one of the lucky few who watches the TV series Friday Night Lights, distraught that the critical darling is finally falling prey to cancellation? Fret not! It appears that a feature length film based on the television series is in the works. Will it be as good as the original film starring Billy Bob Thornton? Probably not, but who knows! [/Film]
It’s a fact of the movie industry nowadays that a big chunk of the revenues coming from a film are earned in foreign markets. This is a great piece by the British newspaper The Guardian about the surprisingly successful fate of the film Captain America in the overseas market. [The Guardian]
Olivia Wilde, star of Cowboys and Aliens, is apparently thinking about playing Linda Lovelace (the star of the pornographic classic Deep Throat). 1. I can’t believe I used the term ‘pornographic classic.’ 2. I will definitely go see this film if Olivia Wilde stars. [Film Junk]
The mobster classic Scarface is returning to theaters for a one day event celebrating the film’s release on Blu-Ray. If you’ve always wanted to see this film on the big screen, here is your chance to do so. If you go, say hello to my little friend for me. [IFC]
Itching for some pictures of The Dark Knight Rises? I know you are. Luckily for you, you can see some pictures at the other end of this link. [The Movie Blog]
4. 1976: Robert DeNiro (Taxi Driver) succumbs to the late Peter Finch (Network) 
3. 1980: Martin Scorsese’s Oscar for Raging Bull is stolen by Robert Redford (Ordinary People)
