I am not interested in Emma Watson, so I was debating not to bother posting this pic she posted of herself in a tight shirt, but then I remembered that her fan base, is probably the kind of virgin loser who visits this site, bu more importantly, probably the kind of virgin loser who cums himself when seeing pics of a girl in a tight shirt…especially when that girl is his dream girl he pretends he is married to every night before bed.
She was Saved By the Bell , and then she was shaved on the crotch for Showgirls . She’s curly-maned sex goddess Elizabeth Berkley , and she turns 38 today. Take a trip down mammary lane and celebrate with a raunchy retrospective!
The Real Housewives of New Jersey are headed to Napa…the long way. “Pack Your Baggage” finds the ladies camping in heels. We recap all of the stupidity in our THG +/- review. The show opens with the recap of Caroline commenting that Albie hasn’t had a serious girlfriend in about two year but how he should really be concentrating on work.
Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, the San Sebastian Film Festival unveils its roster of Spanish-language films for its September event. Sex and Sunsets production rounds out its cast; and a look at the coming weekend’s new specialty releases including Killer Joe , Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry , Ruby Sparks and more. Museum of Modern Art to Fete Quentin Tarantino New York’s MoMA will honor the writer/director at its 5th annual Film Benefit December 3rd. Tarantino’s latest film, Django Unchained will be released by The Weinstein Company December 25th. “As a celebrated auteur director, Tarantino has leveraged his deep knowledge of cinema history to engage, entertain, and inform a new generation of movie fans,” said Rajendra Roy, Chief Curator of Film at MoMA. “Honoring him is a small way to pay homage to the important service he has done to propel and promote the art form.” Sara Canning and Catherine O’Hara Join Sex and Sunsets Canning ( Vampire Diaries ) and O’Hara ( Frankenweenie ) will join Ryan Kwanten in in the Serendipity Point Films production. Sex and Sunsets revolves around Leo Palamino (Kwanten), a failed writer-cum-dishwasher made famous for his many flaws and shortcomings in a blog called “Why You Suck,” written by his ex wife. He meets Colette, the girl of his dreams on the day she is marrying the perfect man. And so the ultimate underdog love story begins. Around the ‘net… Harvey Weinstein Wants Summit on Violent Movies The TWC chief told the Huffington Post that Hollywood “can’t shirk our responsibilities” for depicting violence. “I think, as filmmakers, we should sit down – the Marty Scorseses, the Quentin Tarantinos, and hopefully all of us who deal in violence in movies – and discuss our role in that,” he said, Deadline reports . San Sebastian Film Festival Reveals Spanish Film Lineup Among the highlights is new work from Oscar-winner Fernando Trueba with The Artist and the Model , Antonio Bayona’s Thailand-set The Orphanage with Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts based on the 2004 tsunami and Sergio Castellitto’s Twice Born with Penelope Cruz who escapes war-torn Sarajevo with her newborn, but returns to rediscover the father of her child, THR reports . A Preview of New Specialty Releases this Weekend… Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry , Killer Joe , Ruby Sparks , Big Boys Gone Bananas!* will roll out this weekend. LD Entertainment is attempting to make proverbial lemonade out of its NC-17 rating for Killer Joe , which has had audiences clamoring for tickets at festivals and other events, more at Deadline .
Artists from One Direction and the Wanted to Blur and the Spice Girls all have been attached to Olympics-related events in London. By Jocelyn Vena One Direction Photo: Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic
Nowadays the Olympic Games ‘ opening ceremony is masterminded by a big time movie director. Beijing 2008 commenced with the vision of Zhang Yimou ( Ju Dou , Raise the Red Lantern , House of Flying Daggers ) and in London this year the reins — excuse me, the rings — have been handed to Danny Boyle , with a British history theme. But what if the Games themselves took inspiration from Boyle’s filmography — like, say Trainspotting , 28 Days Later , and 127 Hours ? According to the BBC , Boyle’s opener will be a reproduction of the British countryside representing British history with over 10,000 voulunteers and even more costumes and props. It will open with a reading of a passage from Shakespeare’s Tempest and will also include maypoles, a 23 ton bell and a moshpit. (Really!) Color me intrigued enough to actually watch primetime network television for the first time since I got Hulu+ on my iPad. It’s also got me wondering what would happen if the IOC just handed EVERYTHING over to Danny Boyle. Were that the case, perhaps he’d let elements from his filmography influence not just the pomp and circumstance, but the games themselves. Picture this: – Traditional Olympic fanfare is replaced with Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life” – Leonardo DiCaprio, hopped up on party drugs, is unleashed to wander through the “Beach Rave” segment of the Opening Ceremony – Rock climbing has very much been scratched as an Olympic event – To boost times in track events, all runners will be chased by rage virus-infected undead ghouls – The longjump to be made extra poignant by taking place in the cold vacuum of space to the music of John Murphy and Underworld – Living arrangements at the Olympic Village to involve a lot of mocking interviews by other roommates – Athletes will win their gold medals by exploiting a number of coincidentally corresponding life lessons. Poignant flashbacks to play along on jumbotron. Got any Boyle-isms to add? Follow Jordan Hoffman on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The Venice Film Festival released details about its 69th edition Thursday morning, with 17 films debuting in competition, competing for its top Golden Lion award. Among the new features headed to the Italian city are Brian De Palma’s Passion with Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace and Paul Anderson. Harmony Korine’s latest, Spring Breakers with James Franco, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens joined the lineup along with Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder , starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Javier Bardem and Olga Kurylenko. As previously announced , the festival, which runs August 29 – September 8 will open with the world premiere of Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist . Out of competition titles include Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson doc Bad 25 , Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep and Henry-Alex Rubin’s Disconnect with Alexander Skarsgård, Michael Nyqvist, Jason Bateman, Andrea Riseborough. The list is heavy with international auteur including two titles from Amos Gitai and selections from Susanne Bier, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Manoel de Oliveira and Jonathan Demme. Venice 69 Competition and Out of Competition lineups, for other sections visit the festival’s website . International Competition (feature films presented as world premieres) OLIVIER ASSAYAS – APRÈS MAI (SOMETHING IN THE AIR) France, 122′ Clément Métayer, Lola Créton, Félix Armand RAMIN BAHRANI – AT ANY PRICE USA, UK, 100′ Zac Efron, Dennis Quaid, Kim Dickens, Heather Graham MARCO BELLOCCHIO – BELLA ADDORMENTATA Italy, France, 115′ Toni Servillo, Isabelle Huppert, Alba Rohrwacher, Michele Riondino, Maya Sansa, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio PETER BROSENS, JESSICA WOODWORTH – LA CINQUIÈME SAISON Belgium, Netherlands, France, 93′ Aurélia Poirier, Django Schrevens, Sam Louwyck, Gill Vancompernolle RAMA BURSHTEIN – LEMALE ET HA’CHALAL (FILL THE VOID) Israel, 90′ Hadas Yaron, Yiftach Klein, Irit Sheleg, Chaim Sharir DANIELE CIPRÌ – È STATO IL FIGLIO Italy, 90′ Toni Servillo, Giselda Volodi, Alfredo Castro, Fabrizio Falco FRANCESCA COMENCINI – UN GIORNO SPECIALE Italy, 89′ Filippo Scicchitano, Giulia Valentini BRIAN DE PALMA – PASSION France, Germany, 94′ Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Paul Anderson, Karoline Herfurth XAVIER GIANNOLI – SUPERSTAR France, Belgium, 112′ Kad Merad, Cecile De France KI-DUK KIM – PIETA South Korea, 104′ Cho Min-soo, Lee Jung-jin TAKESHI KITANO – OUTRAGE BEYOND Japan, 110′ Tomokazu Miura, Ryo Kase, Fumiyo Kohinata, Toshiyuki Nishida HARMONY KORINE – SPRING BREAKERS USA, 92′ James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Heather Morris TERRENCE MALICK – TO THE WONDER USA, 112′ Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Javier Bardem, Olga Kurylenko BRILLANTE MENDOZA – SINAPUPUNAN (THY WOMB) Philippines, 100′ Nora Aunor, Bembol Rocco VALERIA SARMIENTO – LINHAS DE WELLINGTON Portugal, France, 151 Nuno Lopes, Soraia Chaves, John Malkovich, Marisa Paredes, Melvil Poupaud, Mathieu Amalric ULRICH SEIDL – PARADIES: GLAUBE (PARADISE: FAITH) Austria, France, Germany, 113′ Maria Hofstätter, Nabil Saleh KIRILL SEREBRENNIKOV – IZMENA (BETRAYAL) Russia, 115′ Franziska Petri, Dejan Lilic, Albina Dzhanabaeva, Arturs Skrastins Out of Competition (Work by established directors who have screened in previous editions of the festival) JEAN-PIERRE AMERIS – L’HOMME QUI RIT France, Czech Republic, 95′ Gérard Depardieu, Marc-André Grondin, Christa Theret, Emmanuelle Seigner LYUBOV ARKUS – ANTON TUT RYADOM (ANTON’S RIGHT HERE) [SPECIAL SCREENINGS] Russia, 110′ (documentary) Anton Kharitonov, Rinata Kharitonova, Vladimir Kharitonov
Also in Thursday morning’s round-up of news briefs, following news of today’s Venice Film Festival lineup comes word Ben Affleck’s Argo is heading to another European film event. British independent films score their best numbers in years; and a Weinstein Company veteran returns to head their publicity department. Robert Pattinson to Star in The Rover Guy Pearce is also attached in the project by Animal Kingdom writer-director David Michod. Set in Australia, the story is a futuristic Western about Eric who has “left everything, everyone and every semblance of human kindness behind him, as he’s forced to join an injured gang member, Rey, to hunt down Rey’s gang after they steal the last of Eric’s possessions,” THR reports . Dark Knight Rises Crosses $300M Mark Worldwide The film also had the biggest opening day of the year in France where it took in $2.7 million. The tentpole opened in the U.S. and 17 other markets let weekend, moving into an additional 40 this week, THR reports . Ben Affleck’s Argo Heads to San Sebastian The film will have its world premiere at the Spanish film festival in September, screening out of competition. The film, a hostage thriller set in Tehran in 1979, is Affleck’s third as a director, Variety reports . U.K. Independent Films Have Best Year in a Decade British independent films performed better last year than at any other time in more than a decade with overall box office revenues breaking the £1 billion barrier for the first time, new figures show, The Guardian reports . Dani Weinstein Returns to The Weinstein Company as Publicity Chief She left in 2010 to join ID PR, but is now returning as president of publicity at TWC. She is replacing a position left by Sarah Greenberg Roberts who left earlier this year, Deadline reports .
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei lead ArtReview magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful artists in the world last October. The Beijing-based artist, photographer, documentarian, architect, activist, dissident, avid-Tweeter and charismatic father made a splash on the international scene when he helped Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron design Beijing’s National Stadium – more commonly known as the Bird’s Nest due to its design – which served as both corner stone and bragging material for the Beijing Olympics by the government. While immensely proud of the project, Mr. Ai denounced the regime and famously criticized officials for its treatment of dissenters and its human rights record in the lead-up to the event. Freelance journalist Alison Klayman met the artist through her roommate in 2008 by chance as he prepped an exhibition of photos he took while living in New York in the ’80s and early ’90s. Initially commissioned to do a short video on the fly, Klayman, who lived in China from 2006 – 2010 producing shows for PBS Frontline , National Public Radio and A.P. took on a larger doc about Ai Weiwei. In the film, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry which will be released this weekend via IFC Films, she captured him being assaulted by police, confronting police, promoting his view of human rights and traveling to acclaim overseas. But it’s his political activism that has brought him both fame and danger at home. Authorities have “minders” in unmarked cars outside his home and studio in the Chinese capital as well as cameras pointed at his compound, which is filled with his beloved cats where he lives with his wife. The film also delves into his personal life and reveals the backstory about his very young son and his passion for Twitter and the internet. The latter were surprises for Klayman as she edited the film, which debuted earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival – an event Ai Weiwei did not attend, likely due to restrictions he now lives under following an 81 day detention by authorities. ML spoke with Klayman last week about her film and spending time in the glare of Ai Weiwei’s spotlight. How did it work out that you came into contact with Ai Weiwei in Beijing and get him to work with you on this documentary? Yeah. The the answer to that pretty much answers like a whole host of questions like, ‘how did you hear of him and how did you get a chance and the access and all that stuff.’ I was already living in China. I went there after school and I was there for two years already. My roommate was curating a show for him at a gallery… So you speak Mandarin? By 2008, I did. In 2006 I went with a few sentences that I could use upon arrival. I worked really hard. I had a lot of jobs, which I saw all as vehicles for adventure and also on the job language-learning. By 2008 I was waiting to get a press credential which was coming through and my roommate was working on an exhibition of Ai Weiwei’s for a local gallery. It was his New York photographs – all the black and white. There were 10,000 of them and I would look through them at the kitchen table because she’d bring her work home and she’d tell me about it. So that’s really how I even first heard of him. I didn’t know about him before I went to China or anything like that. And she asked me if I wanted to do a video for the exhibition – just do one of those things that plays in the lobby on loop. I was really excited to try my hand. I wanted to do more video film documentary, and so the first time I met Ai Weiwei it was just like, “Here’s Alison. She’s here to do a video for the show.” So I came with the gallery team and they introduced me. There was never a transition from like being a random person to being the person who films him. It was just ‘this is Alison, she’s here to film you’ and, you know, it really – even in those first few weeks—his personality totally won me over and made me curious. I wanted to know about him. I felt like he could absolutely carry a longer piece than this kind of 20-minute thing. I just felt like to do a character portrait of him would really not only be entertaining but also it would illuminate something about a side of contemporary China that I felt like I was just encountering for the first time through him. Our conversations were already [developing] about his blog and censorship and the upcoming earthquake campaign. All stuff that just wasn’t going to fit in the video about New York photographs. So I was definitely feeling that at least I needed to follow up with this guy and he liked the video that I did for the exhibition. So that was also a good way to keep moving forward. So when you decided to continue going forward, were there any boundaries that you had set as far as what areas of his life you could explore, because you’re following him in his home, not just when he’s out traveling and being the public persona of Ai Weiwei. Totally true. I mean, in terms of my working style, I feel like I push, but I’m not pushy in the sense that he would sometimes chastise me. He’d be like, “Why do you always ask? You’re always so polite. Just do it.” But filming in his home is a really good point. At one point, I [spoke to] his wife about the fact I was coming around a lot and asked her, “I recognize that this is your home and there really aren’t any separations here so please tell me if you ever like – if I’m doing something you don’t like, or if you ever want me to turn off the camera.” And she was really sweet. She was like, “Oh, it’s totally fine. You can film me doing anything, but I don’t want to do it a sit down interview. That really freaks me out.” She has a very different personality than him in terms of media savvy and kind of playing with it. So actually much, much later I asked her for an interview, but on the whole I just felt like with him you certainly should never be embarrassed to ask. And through asking there were usually no boundaries, except his kind of private life in terms of his son. When he was first born, he said, “Oh, you should meet him. He’s the smartest baby in the world.” He was already the proudest dad ever. He said, “You know, so you want to come meet him?” I said, “Yeah, can I bring my camera?” And then he’s like, “Come on, no. That’s a baby.” And really it wasn’t a complicated situation. I found some boundaries, so I guess he had to get a little older before he kind of felt comfortable [with shooting him].” And it was interesting. I mean, we’ll get more into his activism side in a moment, but it was interesting though that the backstory behind his son actually came out while you were filming Ai Weiwei doing separate interviews with various press. There were two. The first one was in Beijing with the New Yorker correspondent, and then the second one was the BBC guy at the Tate Modern. For me to sit down and ask him about something that he knew I already knew the answer to was not really going to work. I feel like he does enough interviews a day that he doesn’t need to talk if he doesn’t want to talk. So I felt like [filming him doing a separate interview about his son] was probably going to be the only way for him to explain it and I think it’s really instructive to see how he deals with different people as well. Ai Weiwei has been called “the most powerful artist in the world today,” and certainly if not the most famous living artist, then definitely in the very top tier. After your time with him, what is your take on his approach to art, political activism and how he connects the two? Well, if there’s a question whether they are related, I would say yes. For me, the artist side is trying to be as relevant and engaged and fostering more conversations. To me, that’s definitely the most interesting. I think how you feel about his artwork and museum [exhibitions] is up to people’s taste. I personally really like so many of his works because I think that they actually don’t say something specific. I think they are kind of really hard to read and complicated and they leave a lot of room for you to say what the meaning possibly is. When he gives an interview or posts a Tweet, he’s pretty direct about his criticisms and what he says he thinks. So it’s all about his artistic practice and it’s kind of in its entirety. And he does have all these different ways of speaking – whether it’s in a populous way or in a fine art way. I think from the beginning I was definitely told that he was a very famous artist, and not being from the art world, I just had to take people’s word for that. When I went to his show in Munich I think that was really the first time when I really appreciated that this guy is really, really famous. He has a very big audience and following in Germany, but I mostly saw him in the context of Beijing. So that was my first exposure to how the art world treats him. Then there’s also the news world. He was one of the few prominent people who would actually tell you what they thought on the record when you needed a more critical voice. In a way, I felt like I was doing something about someone who was kind of over exposed but still room to do something that had more quality and substance. I was so focused on that, that I didn’t know what the movie was like, but I just I needed to be filming as much as possible in all these different parts of his life and stay really open and not draw conclusions on a lot of questions until I was in post-production. For example, I heard him for years talking about the internet, which was always the subject he would turn to in interviews. I feel sometimes I was like rolling my eyes in my head maybe a little bit. I didn’t think I was making a movie about the power of the internet because I hadn’t really examined it that much. When I went back and thought about the meaning of his life’s work and progress, and also what’s going on with the realities of contemporary China, and the world – and all this pre-dated the Arab Spring and WikiLeaks and all this stuff – suddenly I was like, “No, this is totally on point.” I don’t think I got it at first. It was interesting to learn he had lived in New York for ten years. And he had already at least participated in some protests against the regime in China while living here – of course with comparatively much less fanfare than his protests and criticisms since returning to China. But I nevertheless found it curious that he was still asked and participated in the design of the Bird’s Nest stadium for the Beijing Olympics. The thing with the Olympics is it always gets short-handed that he was asked but that wasn’t actually how it happened. I tried as much as I could to make this clear in the film, because the film doesn’t say he was asked but maybe it’s not fully clear enough how it happened. The Swiss architectural firm Herzong & de Meuron wanted to do more projects in China and they were introduced to Weiwei by a former Swiss ambassador and a really big collector.
