Please warm up your index finger (for high dexterity clicking).
by Stephanie Spiro
Salutations, LoveCinema. Just logging in for a quick minute to share some Oscar info. I’ll be popping up periodically for Digirazzi-style Oscar dish. And of course, I’ll be doing the digging for you, sending you my love via clickable links to Oscar’s most notable news. I’ll begin my OCD Oscar clip-hoarding here. But first, I must share this Michael Jackson Oscar moment. It’s heartbreaking. Click here.
And for those of you living under a rock (next door to me), click here for a complete list of this year’s noms. You can also print out Oscar ballots. I like to decorate mine with crayons and glitter. I don’t mess around. Discuss the Oscars with LoveCinema here. We welcome you (open arms):
I think the biggest news coming out of the noms this year is TheBlind Side Best Picture nod, the Bigelow-Cameron-ex-loves-battle-it-out-for-best-director showdown (click here to read more), and the ten nominees for Best Pic. If you’re curious, click here to read about the new method for Best Picture voting. Did you click? You are hardcore. I love you. I really love you.
And of course, this brings me back to It Happened One Night, the first film to ever sweep the Oscars. This is a special tribute to the Walls of Jericho:
“I’m the soft morning breeze that caresses your lovely face.” *swoon*
Bathe in these clips, folks, lather your eyeballs in soft black and white Capra-corn. You may never come back from this.
Trailer:
The hitchhiking scene:
Remember when Colbert shows her ‘hose? Elizabeth Perkins does:
I'm giddy over here in LoveCinema-land. The Lost series finale airs on Tuesday (tomorrow!) at 8pm EST and it’ll be a three-hour event. I’ve gathered a few clips and articles for the rabid Lost fan. Personally, I fantasize about riding a wild polar bear through time and space. I’m dying to get back to the tropical wormhole -- home to a happy smoke monster, the Dharma Initiative, numbers, hatches, boxes, giant toes, and the mystery of the two Lockes. Supposedly all of our questions will be answered in this last and final season of the best show ever. Click here to read a Lost re-cap, and click here if you’re dying to watch some [SPOILER] clips from the season premiere. For the die-hard, even more spoiler clips are available here.
And check out the Lost promos:
Trailer 1 - "Destiny"
Trailer 2 - "Reset"
Trailer 3 - "Showdown"
(I’m drooling.)
Second order of business: LoveCinema loves Oscars! The Nominations will be announced tomorrow at 5:30am PST! Any predictions? We’d love to hear from you. Please visit our 2010 Oscars Discussions Club and chat with us about everything Oscar:
This Oscar year is fairly straightforward. I won’t give predictions for every category, but I will redirect you to Roger Ebert’s predictions (a must-read), and the Travers Take. Hit the highlighted titles and you'll be totally clued in two clicks. For extra Oscar info, follow the L.A. Times Awards Insider. Entertainment Weekly posted a fabulous “Oscar Watch” movie awards chart here. It’s a great tool for tracking the faves. There’ll be ten Oscar nominees for best film this year. What will they be?
Kudos to Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman ever to snag the Directors Guild of America award for The Hurt Locker. Is Oscar next?
In the acting categories, I’m rooting for the obvious: Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart, Mo’Nique in Precious (even though my love for Anna Kendrick knows no bounds), and Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds (the best movie of the year – go Basterds!).
Zoe Saldana may be nominated for Best Actress in Avatar and as Ebert points out, “it would be the first nomination for a character presented entirely in CGI.” Ah, the benefits of CGI are boundless – great stems, blue skin, stereophonic soul hair. I’m all for a Zoe nom. She worked her blue butt off.
I found this nifty montage of the Best Actress Oscar winners of the past 70 years:
Who will join the ranks? My personal fave is Carey Mulligan in An Education. I vote Basterds for everything else.
The big surprise for me this year is the walking awards magnet and one-woman sleeper hit, Sandra Bullock in the aptly titled The Blind Side. Click here to read about SB. She may be our modern-day Rosalind Russell:
But please, no remakes.
It’s definitely Bullock’s year. In honor of her imminent nomination for Best Actress, I’ve collected some Sandy clips, old and new.
This is Sandra Bullock's Golden Globe speech:
For a blast from the past, check out Ms. Bullock in A Thing Called Love:
LoveCinema! Avatar is the talk of the town. Let's join the conversation.
by Stephanie Spiro
“Blue pencils, blue noses, blue movies, laws, blue legs and stockings, the language of birds, bees, and flowers as sung by longshoremen, that lead-like look the skin has when affected by cold, contusion, sickness, fear; the rotten rum or gin they call blue ruin and the blue devils of its delirium; Russian cats and oysters, a withheld or imprisoned breath, the blue they say that diamonds have, deep holes in the ocean and the blazers which English athletes earn that gentlemen may wear; afflictions of the spirit- dumps, mopes, Mondays - all that’s dismal – low-down gloomy music, Nova Scotians, cyanosis, hair rinse, bluing, bleach; the rare blue dahlia like that blue moon shrewd things happen only once in… “ -William Gass, Essays On Being Blue
“James Cameron and Mel Gibson are next-door neighbors? Do they have Avatar vs. Braveheart blue makeup parties?” Juno writer, Diablo Cody (@diablocody), tweeting during the Golden Globes
In Avatar, men infiltrate a space forest called Pandora that is filled with nature-loving natives (called the Na'Vi) sporting blue faces and sizzling hair plugs. It’s funny that the absolute only way to ‘get back to nature’ is to plug in to a special tree (read: network) via USB hair. Irony.
On Pandora, the transfer of digital information in (cyber)space is converted into spiritual energy that pulsates through organic roots and veins. "Natural energy" only exists in a mystical outer space Eden with an unlimited supply of Unobtanium and a "soul" that cycles in electric currents through split ends. The forest glows in the black light. It's like a jacked up hippie wonderland for the follicle-ly gifted:
Remember David Cronenberg’s substantially more uncomfortable living “pod” that plugged directly into the nervous system from a (bizarrely titillating) hole in the spinal cord in his very underappreciated film, eXistenZ?
Yeah, I’d much rather have Na’Vi braids to connect with reality’s “soul” and the i-network of spirituality (er, tree godess). I prefer to keep my spinal cord puncture free. Good thing tech has advanced enough to download us entirely into living blue creatures with easy breezy beautiful electric hair (or at the very least, shoot us into a blue screen reality and a vision of "untouched" nature - just don't stick a fork in it).
Got a good angle on the Avatar locks? Visit our AVA-TASTIC?! Club on LoveCinema and share your thoughts! We’d love to hear from you. And we’d sure like these guys to get involved:
It’s amazing that such a “simple” story (that folks love to label as ‘recycled’) could inspire so much passionate debate, so much thought, and a fan flick about how to properly apply blue make-up so that one would appear to be more authentically Na’Vi:
(Actually, there are at least a dozen or more Na'Vi make-up tutorials on YouTube. Take your pick.)
Buildings are even looking for a quicktime Na’Vi makeover:
Avatar already won the major Golden Globe awards for best director and film, and it appears to be a favorite in the Oscar race as well:
Cameron’s blue aliens not only trigger desire. Either people want to be a Na’Vi:
Yes, people are asking for Avatar porn. And let’s face it. X-rated Na’Vi entertainment is a growth industry. It’d probably be holographic, 3D, realer than reality, and pretty freakin’ cool (also beyond creepy). Confusing? Perhaps. But hey! Felicia’s Day’s avatar is available – and G-Rated:
(I know I keep sneaking that clip into my blog. I'm diabolical.)
There are the many inevitable Avatar parodies (c’mon all you Smurf-lovers out there, bring it):
Some are saying that Avatar is a reworked 3D version of Dances With Wolves, or 3D “Pocahontas In Space” (click here for the article). Space cowboys have been fleshed out before. Anyone see Firefly?
Here are a few clips a la Pocahontas, so you can make your own comparisons:
The New World trailer
Pocahontas trailer (Disney)
This is a fantastic fan made Avatar/FernGully mashup:
I was wondering why no one else as of yet has connected Avatar to Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece, Princess Mononoke (an absolute MUST-SEE film):
I also randomly think back to the highly underrated Steve Martin/Eddie Murphy film Bowfinger, when Martin’s ragtag crew of filmmakers try to convince Murphy that he prefers “alien love” while they are secretly filming him. If you've seen the movie, you'll see what I mean. Alien love has been around for years!!
And what about simulated realities (and simulated people) via Bladerunner?
and Battlestar Galactica [SPOILER]:
..or the new TV series and BSG prequel, Caprica (airing January 22 at 9/8c on Syfy)
Remember that wonderful Wim Wenders film, Until the End of the World? Instead of downloading into avatars, the characters become addicted to downloading themselves into their own dreams:
And then there’s the discussion. What is Avatar? Is it the groundbreaker that some seem to think?
There’s the Avatar and religion argument. I've included some articles from around the Web.
Have you set up camp at the local multi-plex, switching to a permanent diet of Milk Duds? Have you been sleeping in your 3D glasses again? Do you paint yourself blue on a daily basis? Do you need a support group? Well, apparently you’re not alone.
Tobias "blue" himself in Arrested Development:
For those of you who avoid the heady conversation and are interested in Avatar’s pure superficial entertainment value, there’s something here for you too.
Avatar behind the scenes:
B Rolls:
..and a great interview with Zoe Saldana about her character Neytiri (scroll down to my previous blog, or click here).
An interview with the king of the world, James Cameron:
An interview with star, Sam Worthington:
And more fun behind the scenes:
Got something to add? Let us know. Visit our AVA-TASTIC?! Club on LoveCinema and share your thoughts! We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment here, or visit my ‘Digirazzi’ Club. And follow us on Twitter.
In Digirazzi-land, mood indigo is contagious. Join me.
Instead of a ‘Top 10’ List, I’ll Just Hurl a Few Recommendations Your Way
I've missed you LoveCinema friends and everyone out there in Digirazzi Land! I’m sorry to say that I've been out of the loop for a bit with a broken elbow. I’m officially on the waiting list to download into an Avatar body and kick it on Pandora with two perfectly lovely ‘bows. Until then, I'll be fantasizing about my new life in an alien bioluminescent forest populated by spiritual jellyfish. Avatar tops my list of the year’s best and I promise to devote a whole blog to the subject. For now, however, I give you a few worthwhile performances and films, in case you may have missed them.
In light of the Golden Globes this weekend – let’s take a closer look at a few great performances. (For a complete list of films competing for a Globe, click here). It’s important to note that Martin Scorsese will nab the Cecil B. DeMille award on Sunday. His new film, Shutter Island, looks like my absolute worst nightmare. I can’t wait. Screen the trailer here:
Girl Power
There were several awesome characters this year, and so many of them were inhabited by young women. In lieu of a ‘best of’ film list, I instead present you with a ’2009 Top 10 Unmissable Young Women in Film’ list (followed next time perhaps by my ‘Top 10 Interpretations for the man on the roof in A Serious Man'): Ready?
1. Carey Mulligan in An Education
This could easily be the best film of 2009 thanks at least in part to Carey Mulligan’s knock your bobby-socks off performance as a schoolgirl being wooed out of her wits. Hers is the most endearing ingénue since Audrey dropped her pants and chopped her locks in Roman Holiday:
And the trailer for An Education:
See the film. Mulligan's performance is so self-assured, you begin to feel utterly transformed by her perspective. I found myself so lost in the error of her ways. I had to feel my way back to my senses (and my imminent existential crisis) by the end of the film.
2. Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
If there’s anyone who deserves an Oscar, it’s Jeff Bridges in a career high as icky (er soulful) aging country singer Bad Blake. The Dude is due. We know this. It’s a subtle and phenomenal performance by Bridges, and a throwback to the great Tender Mercies, starring Robert Duvall (also playing an alcoholic country singer attempting a poetic recovery and a return to love). Duvall even produced Crazy Heart and it’s lovely to see him in a small part, singing in a fishing boat, blissfully adrift.
Still, old Dudes abusing drugs or alcohol, sleeping in their own puke and inexplicably getting a groupie, is nothing new. It’s Gyllenhaal that kills. She harmonizes with her eyes, longing for a Bad Blake who is folding into the shell of a broken alcoholic. She is the material of song, so natural, so completely drawn to the light leaking in through Bad’s cracked soul. We see Bridges through Gyllenhaal’s melancholy eyes. We follow her into the light.
It goes without saying that Clooney is our George Cary Grant. It takes quite a girl to step up to the plate and banter with a dish like Clooney. Kendrick deserves praise, and she's always been phenomenal in every part, even in her pre-Twi days. If you don't believe me, check out Rocket Science:
or Camp:
Please cast Kendrick in absolutely everything. Thanks.
4. Zooey Deschanel in Gigantic and (500) Days of Summer
Okay, I really just want you to see these movies. We all know Zooey is the sparkly boho chick we love to long for. She's the gal that every hipster guy files into his spank bank. Here you have the opportunity to see her in two of 2009’s best films. Add them to your queue. Here's the Gigantic trailer:
And the (500) Days of Summer trailer:
For an interview with Deschanel, click here. And an extra look at Elf:
5. Zoe Saldana in Avatar and Star Trek
Ms. Saldana was stellar in two of the year's biggest blockbusters and best films. She is so versatile. She can even play 10 foot tall and blue with electric soul hair. I give Saldana my award for best sci-fi geek's wet dream. Love her. Check this interview with Saldana about her avatar, Neytiri:
Join our LoveCinema AVA-TASTIC?! club to share your thoughts. We'd love to hear what you have to say.
6. Melanie Laurent in Inglourious Basterds
Laurent is a basterd by association, but she's also a luscious, lipsticked tragic heroine and a throwback to the days of Nastassja Kinksi in dreamy flicks like Coppola's underrated One From The Heart:
I want to frame Melanie Laurent in deep close-up and hang her over the mantle. Basterds was the best film of the year, and Laurent's was the image I couldn't erase from the Tarantino-pelted palette of my mind. Yes Please.
7. Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Sidibe’s was a brave performance in a heartbreaking movie. I believed enough to hope, thanks to her:
If you saw her in Into The Wild a few years back, you know her talent transcends the Twi-franchise (and you believe her as the instigator of dueling Twi- ‘Teams’ and an object of supernatural vamp/wolf-man desire). Plus, the film is definitely worth seeking out. It shouldn’t pale in the vampire Moon:
(And Into The Wild):
9. Ellen Page and Allison Lohman in two movies I didn’t see (Whip It and Drag Her To Hell)
I have Whip It in my DVD player right now, and horror films are not my bag (I had a gag reaction to the ooky prawns in District 9 - I think I'm allergic to shrimp now). Still, I love these gals and my sixth sense won’t allow for me to leave them off the list.
10. Kudos to the animated girlies
Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus in master Hayao Miyazaki’s film Ponyo), Coraline (voiced by uber-tween clone of herself, Dakota Fanning in the film Coraline, Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose in The Princess and the Frog), and KW (voiced by Lauren Ambrose in Where The Wild Things Are).
It’s also worth mentioning that Coraline in particular is a must-see visual wonder about a spunky chick who can’t imagine life on the dark side with buttons sewn into her eyes (worse than botox). That’s one for kiddies, folks:
... And check my quick list of favorite films this year (in no particular order):
Inglourious Basterds
An Education
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Passing Strange.
Up
(500) Days of Summer
Crazy Heart
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Up In The Air
I Love You Man
Moon
Food Inc (wins my award for best horror film of 2009 – eeeks!)
Where The Wild Things Are
A Serious Man (gets honorable mention because I think I got a contact high watching that kid’s bar mitzvah.)
No, I didn’t love The Hangover, but you may have.
My picks of best performances of 2009 (and what I’d like to see win a Globe):
Best Actor: Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan in An Education
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick in Up In The Air (Snaps also to Mo’Nique in Precious. I wouldn’t beat my head against a wall if she snagged the Globe -- and the Oscar -- instead of Kendrick.)
... And if all else fails, give all the awards to Meryl. She is, after all, Queen of the Universe.
Please hit me up on the Lovecinema site, follow us on Twitter, and tell me what I missed. I’m counting on you.
Resisting the pull of Twilight is futile. I must recommend that you instantly give yourself over to the wonderful world of vampires in slick silver Volvos.
After repeatedly digging through the Cullen-esque world of electric gray romanta-vamps, I’ve decided to diss reality in favor of Twilight. And just in time for New Moon. Join me? Here are some trailers:
With less than a week to go before New Moon hits theaters and you lose the Digirazzi to the multiplex black hole for an interminable amount of time, let’s do some digging, get our hands sparkly, share some essential links from the Twilight cybersphere. Hit up our LoveCinema home base to share your thoughts and dish with us. What team are you on? C’mon now. Pick a side. Join a club. Start a club. Get those fingers running through your tousled locks and tapping along the keyboard. Oh it hurts so good:
Let’s recap and consider the pros of vamp-dom - cool hair, bronze eyes, ridic real estate options, yeah yeah and like, total eternal life. I’m sold on the whole vampire forbidden love story. So what if the guy can’t rip your bodice without accidentally killing you? He has impeccable vamp ski-jump hair, a really cool bedless room, the ability to scale trees, and the dude is played by Robert Pattinson?! What’s not to love? Check these lickable outtakes from Pattinson’s Vanity Fair cover shoot. We all crave a little untouchable, broody, masochistic lion in our lives every so often (or every single second – depending on your level of honesty).
Apparently, vamps have universal appeal, or so says Psychology Today Magazine. I realize that sadly I’ve become one of those kooky chicks in big furry slippers, drooling in front of my TV, loving the vamp-infused Twi-sky (and dabbling in True Blood). After multiple viewings of Twilight on DVD, I scoured the city of New York looking for a ‘Team Jacob’ shirt, a Bella wig, Converse, a removable pout, and a life-sized Edward Cullen cardboard cutout to watch me sleep at night. Really? Almost. (And when it comes to Twilight, anything is possible, and dreams really do come true. Click here for cardboard love.)
The whirlwind of Twilight press over the past few weeks has been overwhelmingly rough on the Twi-minded multi-tasker. Never fear. Let’s do it together. We’ll mine the magic meadow for the Sparkly One, TayTay tidbits, Bella’s biting pout, fun links, and that whole wolfy appeal that is New Moon splattered across your computer screen. Let’s sink our teeth into the Twilight Saga.
Now that Robsten is semi-officially out and “Pellan” is not far behind, we can concentrate on all the fun stuff that’s been hitting the stands, the internet, the world of lingerie. Seriously ladies, you can get Rpattz stamped on your undies. Check it here. You can also get a makeover to look like a Cullen. I dare you not to dabble in the world of the pale, panty-wise, or otherwise.
First, let's click through Twilight spoofs, flashbacks, sparkly fun. Remember the days before the screaming mobs, when Rpattz bit Tyra? If not, this is a tidbit for you from the Twi-hard time capsule:
If you missed Taylor Lautner’s alleged better half, Taylor Swift, on SNL last week, you can watch ‘Firelight’ here:
This fan video is quite the slayer mashup. It’s a ‘Buffy-Edward’ stalker gawker throwdown in Sunnydale:
If you’re looking to bother Robert, click here. This one is my favorite:
Even TV is obsessed with Twilight. Click here for the Twilight shout-out on The Vampire Diaries.
Of course, New Moon introduces us to the Volturi:
And the wolf pack:
In honor of the wolves that grace the screen, adding supernatural depth (and a Jacob-Edward-Bella love triangle) to Twilight, let’s click through some quick wolfy links. First, there’s the inevitable link to a Teen Wolf we all know and love:
Hey, remember the Teen Wolf cartoon? Check this:
There are the possessed hyenas from Buffy too, but I won't trouble you with possessed teen dodgeball flashbacks. You can find a great list of the best werewolf movies ever here. With a shout-out to overlooked gem, Ginger Snaps:
Spider monkeys, are you ready to exchange vamp piggy-backs for ‘Team Puppy’ petting? I’m giving you a one-way ticket to link-land and a wicked case of Twi-induced carpal tunnel syndrome. Click away, free associate, vamp coma-style. It’s our own personal brand of heroin. People apparently like this thing called Twilight.
As a devoted member of ‘Team Jacob,’ (or ‘Team Puppy,’ if you’re feeling scrappy), I fully acknowledge the power of the Sparkly-skinned vamp (with the diamond-studded pores). After all, the dog is loyal, but the diamonds are a girl’s best friend:
Oh and if you happen to get lucky with a vamp, click here for vampire condoms, Edward on your shower curtain, or Buffy’s heart in a box (just in case you get yours broken by a vamp in the woods). Afterwards, get inked to show your devotion.
Say it ain’t so.
Feel free to let our many links wash over you in cyber-land and fill your sleepless nights with longing, lovely wolves, and Robert Pattinson galore. It’s on. The countdown to New Moon begins.
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 3:09PM 
by Stephanie Spiro
