Here at Skin Central we have a hard time understanding the logic of casting Scarlett Johansson as the lead in a movie, and then never once showing her gorgeous visage onscreen. But that’s exactly what happens in Spike Jonze ’s Her (2014), where Scarlett supplies just her voice and the only nudity is a few full frontal still photos of a pregnant May Lindstrom . You won’t get much from Jessica Biel in The Truth About Emanuel (2013) either- unless you’re into breastfeeding scenes- in which case you’re in luck because Jessica shows some sideboob while offering up a milk meal. Now on to the good stuff: the female vigilante flick Loves Her Gun (2014) has Josephine Decker , Trieste Kelly Dunn , and Jennymarie Jemison all busting out their double barrels! More after the jump!
Hello Amy Adams ‘ cleavage. I didn’t know that you existed. You know, I’ve done a few post on this ginger, but never noticed that she has some decent sized chestnuts. Anyway, here she is at the Closing Night Gala Presentation of “Her : A Spike Jonze Love Story”, but after wearing that outfit it should have been called “Amy Adams: A Hollywood Tuna Love Story”.
The Film : Being John Malkovich (1999), available today on Blu-ray and DVD via The Criterion Collection Why It’s an Inessential Essential : It’s strange to think that a film with John Malkovich’s name in its title isn’t really considered to be “a John Malkovich movie.” Instead, Being John Malkovich is understandably normally associated with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, both of whom really broke out thanks to BJM ’s success. While Jonze reveals on The Criterion Collection’s new audio commentary track that he and Kaufman were dead-set on getting Malkovich for the film, Being John Malkovich could really be about any celebrity. At the same time, that’s one of the many things that’s funny about Being John Malkovich : It’s a metaphysical black comedy about what people projecting things onto celebrities that don’t necessarily have anything to do with those celebrities. Malkovich just happens to be the guy whose mind Schwartz (John Cusack) and his vampish colleague Maxine (Catherine Keener) invade after they inadvertently discover a miniature portal into his head, and so his comic performance is consequently often overlooked in discussions of the film. He’s the biggest butt of Kaufman and Jonze’s jokes (I love when Maxine casually insults him by saying that he has a “too-prominent brow”), but he also reaffirms his fantastic comic timing, as when he cops a feel after ineffectually cooing to Maxine, “Shall we away to the boudoir?” Malkovich also demonstrates a deceptively subtle knack for physical comedy, like when he gives a buffoonishly perplexed look after being told by a date that he’s “creepy.” In a moment’s time, he scratches his head and tucks his lower lip beneath his teeth. It’s pretty hilarious because it’s done with such sly conviction. How the DVD Makes the Case for the Film : Criterion includes a number of great little behind-the-scenes on its new two-disc DVD set. In an interview with comedian John Hodgman, Malkovich reveals that when he was first given the script, “I saw the title and didn’t really think much about it.” He then initially turned the project down at the behest of his producing partner Russ Smith, who wanted Kaufman and Jonze to make the film “about” someone other than Malkovich. Later, Malkovich was taken aside again by Francis Ford Coppola and introduced directly to Jonze, whom Coppola said “everyone would [eventually] be working for.” According to Malkovich, after he signed onto the project, Kaufman apparently cut “some of the worst jokes about me — meaning the most cruelest ones,” from the screenplay. “I like those jokes,” he tells Hodgman nonchalantly. “I think they’re really funny.” Ironically, while Malkovich says that the film, “isn’t at all about me, it’s about people’s perceptions of me,” he apparently suggested that Charlie Sheen play his character’s best friend in Being John Malkovich . (Kevin Bacon had apparently already turned down that role.) But Malkovich had never met Sheen until that point; he just “struck me as the kind of person I would go to in an existential crisis.” Other Interesting Trivia : There’s a really bizarre and hilariously unfocused audio commentary track on disc one, where Michel Gondry, who was originally supposed to direct the film (he would later work with Kaufman on Human Nature before their Oscar-winning collaboration Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ) talks about everything but the film. At one point, he calls Spike Jonze up and jokingly browbeats him to confess that he fell in love with Keener on set. This is after Gondry wonders aloud if the cameraman got a boner when filming a POV shot from Malkovich’s perspective while he has sex with Keener. Gondry dismisses the idea that Malkovich became aroused by Keener but still insists that the cameraman and the director must have gotten sprung. I wonder what Malkovich thinks… PREVIOUS INESSENTIAL ESSENTIALS The Last Temptation of Christ The Sitter Citizen Ruth The Broken Tower Dogville Night Call Nurses Strange Fruit: The Beatles’ Apple Records Jeremiah Johnson Simon Abrams is a NY-based freelance film critic whose work has been featured in outlets like The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Vulture and Esquire. Additionally, some people like his writing, which he collects at Extended Cut .
The children’s book creator inspired filmmakers and actors through his honesty and imagination. By Fallon Prinzivalli, with reporting by Ryan J. Downey Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze Photo: Theo Wargo/ Getty Images Children’s book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak died Tuesday (May 8) as a result of complications from a stroke. He’s best-known for revolutionizing the children’s book genre with the surprising success of “Where the Wild Things Are.” Far from popular children’s fare like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” or “Green Eggs and Ham,” the dark fantasy focused on Max, a rowdy boy in a wolf suit, and his adventures with the hairy beasts of his imagination. Sendak spread his influence from children’s books to the big screen when filmmaker Spike Jonze took on the ambitious project of turning “Wild Things” into a motion picture. Previously described as “unfilmable,” Jonze was sure to stay true to Sendak’s vision and yet bring his own ideas into the story and reflect how the book affected him. The author had much involvement in the project, acting as a producer and helping to steer Jonze in the right direction. “[Sendak] said from the beginning that you have to make it dangerous — make something that respects kids and doesn’t talk down to them, or if not, it wasn’t worth doing,” Jonze said in a featurette for the film. In an industry where beloved children’s films are routinely turned into money-making machines, Sendak focused on the children. His other credits include creating “Seven Little Monsters,” the children’s television series that followed monsters as they learned about life. He also acted as a co-creator and writer on the Nick Jr. hit show “Little Bear,” which follows a young bear and his adventures with his animal friends. But his classic story of Max and those monsters who “roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth” spans its influence across generations, even inspiring the stars of “Where the Wild Things Are.” Lauren Ambrose, who voiced KW in the film, told MTV News, “I read the book as a kid; it was read to me. I read it to my kid now. One of my best friends from childhood has a giant tattoo of Max with a fork in his hand down her back. It was like a big, big deal, deeply embedded in our collective psyche. And also, on her back.” Forest Whitaker, who voices Ira in the film, echoed this sentiment, saying that he first read it as a kid and began to really appreciate the story as he got older, finally reading it to his own kids. He didn’t realize when he was younger that the popular book was made up of only nine sentences. “It’s weird, because I didn’t really count,” Whitaker laughed. “But I think, as a kid, I knew that the story was more in the pictures.” Following his adaptation of “Where the Wild Things Are,” Jonze co-directed the documentary “Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak.” In a chat about that film — which includes intimate conversations with the author about his life — the director called Sendak an inspiration. “I find his imagination is certainly inspiring. I think that’s what really drew me to him,” Jonze explained. “But what I find deeply inspiring is his ferocious honesty and his fearlessness to be honest both as a person, as a friend and as a mentor in helping us make this movie. And the thing about him is, he has no ability of small talk or chitchat. He wants to engage in something real. He is who he is and he doesn’t have the energy to pretend to be someone else.”
Among the many stream of consciousness topics Kanye West brain-dumped in his epic Twitter session Wednesday night — his professional frustrations, his fashion aspirations, his new design company aimed at picking up where Steve Jobs left off — was a brief mention of one curious film project in particular. “I was just discussing becoming the creative director for the Jetson [sic] movie and…” Wait, WHAT? The Jetsons , as in the long-gestating live-action Jetsons movie? And Kanye would have a hand in making this happen? Mr. West, you’ve got my attention now. If Kanye’s Jetsons project is the one I think he’s talking about, it’s the live-action reboot that’s been kicking around for years, once scripted by Adam Goldberg ( Fanboys ) with Robert Rodriguez attached to direct. Rodriguez went on to make Spy Kids 4 instead and the project hasn’t surfaced much since, so West’s Tweet is the first indication in a while that the thing’s actually back on track. Unfortunately, details on what exactly this “creative director” position would be were lost in West’s Tweet-crazy haze of thoughts on the creative process and the limits celebrity have imposed on his artistic freedom, or whatever. “Being a celebrity has afforded me many opportunities but has also boxed me in creatively,” he wrote, also noting that he hasn’t bought new jewelry in two whole years. See? You don’t know Yeezy! But anyway, those Jetsons plans: I was just discussing becoming the creative director for the Jetson movie and someone on the call yelled out.. you should do a Jetsons tour! This just happened a few hours ago. I was very insulted of course becuase for anyone that’s seen the Watch the Throne Tour… Or Coachella or Glow in the Dark or Runaway.. you know I have real ideas… Not that West seems to be interested in anything but forward momentum, but a Jetsons movie along the aesthetic lines of his space-toony Takashi Murakami-designed Graduation album would be kind of awesome. In the least, it would make the very idea of a Jetsons reboot vaguely palatable. But while that idea would be cool and all, how can West possibly fit that in with the huge world-changing plans he Tweeted out last night, which include:
Watch the throne … Steve Jobs. Kanye West, who has never been accused of thinking small, or having a modest opinion of himself, detailed plans for a new production company on Twitter Wednesday. In a three-hour rant, the 34-year-old rapper / hip-hop mogul outlined his plan for Donda, a brand-new, far-reaching company named after his late mother Donda West. Donda will “pick up where Steve Jobs left off,” West said of the late, visionary Apple CEO / founder. Way to set manageable expectations. How will it do that, exactly, Kanye? With 22 divisions of writers, DJs, publicists, designers, musicians, scientists and SO much more, the company headed by the musician will strive to “make products and experiences that people want and can afford,” West Tweeted . He will “help simplify and aesthetically improve everything we see hear, touch, taste and feel,” and “dream of, create, advertise and produce products driven equally by emotional want and utilitarian need… To marry our wants and needs.” Again, no baby steps for Mr. West. West hinted that Donda is releasing a “semi sci-fi” film in 2012 called “2016 OLYMPICS.” And that’s not all. West told fans he may become creative director of a Jetsons film and wants to “design” the MTV Video Music Awards. Beyond the worlds of design, film, music, technology and product development, the “N*ggas in Paris” rapper also wants to fix America’s schools, he wrote.
SoundCloud has launched a brand new iPad app and it looks spectacular. The Berlin-based company started by Swedish entrepreneur Alexander Ljung now has 8 million creators. That is some rapid growth for the service, which had about a million users last year. Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : GigaOM Discovery Date : 27/10/2011 14:28 Number of articles : 3
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