Somebody's Little Weasel

gggggg

2009-11-11T07:18:36Z

Julian Casablancas just posted a new tv spot for his newly released solo album.

Top grossing supernatural films of all time

2009-10-20T00:39:25Z

HORROR - SUPERNATURAL
TOTAL GROSSES | OPENING WEEKENDS

Rank	Title (click to view)	Studio	Lifetime Gross / Theaters		Opening / Theaters		Date
1	What Lies Beneath	DW	$155,464,351	2,925	$29,702,959	2,813	7/21/00
2	The Blair Witch Project	Art.	$140,539,099	2,538	$1,512,054	27	7/16/99
3	The Ring	DW	$129,128,133	2,927	$15,015,393	1,981	10/18/02
4	The Grudge	Sony	$110,359,362	3,348	$39,128,715	3,245	10/22/04
5	The Others	Mira.	$96,522,687	2,843	$14,089,952	1,678	8/10/01
6	The Haunting	DW	$91,411,151	2,881	$33,435,140	2,808	7/23/99
7	The Amityville Horror	AIP	$86,432,000	748	$7,843,467	748	7/27/79
8	Poltergeist	MGM	$76,606,280	1,060	$6,896,612	890	6/4/82
9	The Ring Two	DW	$76,231,249	3,341	$35,065,237	3,332	3/18/05
10	The Exorcism of Emily Rose	SGem	$75,072,454	3,045	$30,054,300	2,981	9/9/05
11	1408	MGM/W	$71,985,628	2,733	$20,617,667	2,678	6/22/07
12	The Amityville Horror (2005)	MGM	$65,233,369	3,323	$23,507,007	3,323	4/15/05
13	White Noise	Uni.	$56,386,759	2,279	$24,113,565	2,261	1/7/05
14	The Haunting in Connecticut	LGF	$55,389,516	2,732	$23,004,765	2,732	3/27/09
15	The Omen (2006)	Fox	$54,607,383	2,723	$16,026,496	2,723	6/6/06
16	Final Destination 3	NL	$54,098,051	2,880	$19,173,094	2,880	2/10/06
17	Final Destination	NL	$53,331,147	2,587	$10,015,822	2,587	3/17/00
18	Stigmata	MGM	$50,046,268	2,901	$18,309,666	2,899	9/10/99
19	The Skeleton Key	Uni.	$47,907,715	2,784	$16,057,945	2,771	8/12/05
20	Silent Hill	Sony	$46,982,632	2,932	$20,152,598	2,926	4/21/06
21	Final Destination 2	NL	$46,961,214	2,834	$16,017,141	2,834	1/31/03
22	Boogeyman	SGem	$46,752,382	3,052	$19,020,655	3,052	2/4/05
23	The Unborn (2009)	Uni.	$42,670,410	2,359	$19,810,585	2,357	1/9/09
24	Drag Me to Hell	Uni.	$42,100,625	2,510	$15,825,480	2,508	5/29/09
25	Thirteen Ghosts	WB	$41,867,960	2,781	$15,165,355	2,781	10/26/01
26	Exorcist: The Beginning	WB	$41,821,986	2,813	$18,054,001	2,803	8/20/04
27	Poltergeist II: The Other Side	MGM	$40,996,665	1,599	$12,357,190	1,596	5/23/86
28	House on Haunted Hill	WB	$40,846,082	2,710	$15,946,032	2,710	10/29/99
29	The Grudge 2	Sony	$39,143,839	3,214	$20,825,300	3,211	10/13/06
30	The Messengers	SGem	$35,374,833	2,529	$14,713,321	2,528	2/2/07
31	Paranormal Activity	Par.	$33,171,743	760	$77,873	12	9/25/09
32	Darkness Falls	SonR	$32,551,396	2,865	$12,024,917	2,837	1/24/03
33	The Eye	LGF	$31,418,697	2,470	$12,425,776	2,436	2/1/08
34	Mirrors	Fox	$30,691,439	2,664	$11,161,074	2,664	8/15/08
35	Ghost Ship	WB	$30,113,491	2,787	$11,503,423	2,787	10/25/02
36	The Fog (2005)	SonR	$29,550,869	2,972	$11,752,917	2,972	10/14/05
37	Bless the Child	Par.	$29,381,494	2,524	$9,413,684	2,524	8/11/00
38	The Uninvited	P/DW	$28,596,818	2,344	$10,325,824	2,344	1/30/09
39	One Missed Call	WB	$26,890,041	2,240	$12,511,473	2,240	1/4/08
40	Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2	Art.	$26,437,094	3,320	$13,223,887	3,317	10/27/00
41	The Exorcist III	Fox	$26,098,824	1,414	$9,312,219	1,288	8/17/90
42	Shutter	Fox	$25,928,550	2,756	$10,447,559	2,753	3/21/08
43	Dark Water	BV	$25,473,352	2,657	$9,939,251	2,657	7/8/05
44	Stay Alive	BV	$23,086,480	2,009	$10,726,406	2,009	3/24/06
45	Darkness	Dim.	$22,163,442	1,718	$6,163,306	1,700	12/25/04
46	The Fog	AVCO	$21,378,361	-	n/a	-	2/1/80
47	Demon Knight	Uni.	$21,089,146	1,732	$10,019,555	1,729	1/13/95
48	Pulse	W/Dim.	$20,264,436	2,323	$8,203,822	2,323	8/11/06
49	The Ninth Gate	Art.	$18,661,336	1,694	$6,622,518	1,586	3/10/00
50	Lost Souls	NL	$16,815,253	1,970	$7,954,766	1,970	10/13/00
51	An American Haunting	Free	$16,298,046	1,703	$5,783,508	1,675	5/5/06
52	Poltergeist III	MGM	$14,114,488	1,471	$4,344,308	1,471	6/10/88
53	The Haunting of Molly Hartley	Free	$13,559,812	2,652	$5,423,315	2,652	10/31/08
54	The Gate	NCeV	$13,539,458	1,148	$4,258,063	1,139	5/15/87
55	Wes Craven Presents: They	Dim.	$12,840,842	1,623	$5,144,090	1,615	11/27/02
56	Amityville II: The Possession	Orion	$12,534,817	1,200	$4,104,277	1,200	9/24/82
57	The Return	Rog.	$7,749,851	1,986	$4,479,621	1,986	11/10/06
58	The Orphanage	PicH	$7,161,284	707	$233,323	19	12/28/07
59	Amityville 3-D	Orion	$6,333,135	1,254	$2,366,472	1,254	11/18/83
60	Ghost in the Machine	Fox	$5,086,909	1,031	$1,854,431	1,031	12/31/93
61	Soul Survivors	Art.	$3,111,545	604	$1,140,698	601	9/7/01
62	Gate II	Triu	$2,032,973	350	$1,053,175	350	2/28/92
63	The Abandoned	ADF	$1,331,137	1,000	$782,000	1,000	2/23/07
64	The Eye (2003)	Palm	$512,049	23	$62,062	13	6/6/03
65	Ju-On: The Grudge	Vita.	$325,680	11	$25,446	3	7/23/04
66	Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist	WB	$251,495	110	$140,703	110	5/20/05
67	Pulse (2005)	Magn.	$51,420	5	$7,250	1	11/9/05
TOTAL (All Movies):			$2,648,868,433	-	-	-	-
AVERAGE (All Movies):			$39,535,350	2,090	$11,887,619	2,014	-
TOTAL (Wide Releases Only):			$2,624,316,455	-	-	-	-
AVERAGE (Wide Releases Only):			$43,021,581	2,287	$13,678,597	2,283	-

a href="http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?view=main&id=supernaturalhorror.htm">source

...

2009-10-20T00:26:19Z

Rank	Title (click to view)	Studio	Lifetime Gross / Theaters		Opening / Theaters		Date
1	What Lies Beneath	DW	$155,464,351	2,925	$29,702,959	2,813	7/21/00
2	The Blair Witch Project	Art.	$140,539,099	2,538	$1,512,054	27	7/16/99
3	The Ring	DW	$129,128,133	2,927	$15,015,393	1,981	10/18/02
4	The Grudge	Sony	$110,359,362	3,348	$39,128,715	3,245	10/22/04
5	The Others	Mira.	$96,522,687	2,843	$14,089,952	1,678	8/10/01
6	The Haunting	DW	$91,411,151	2,881	$33,435,140	2,808	7/23/99
7	The Amityville Horror	AIP	$86,432,000	748	$7,843,467	748	7/27/79
8	Poltergeist	MGM	$76,606,280	1,060	$6,896,612	890	6/4/82
9	The Ring Two	DW	$76,231,249	3,341	$35,065,237	3,332	3/18/05
10	The Exorcism of Emily Rose	SGem	$75,072,454	3,045	$30,054,300	2,981	9/9/05
11	1408	MGM/W	$71,985,628	2,733	$20,617,667	2,678	6/22/07
12	The Amityville Horror (2005)	MGM	$65,233,369	3,323	$23,507,007	3,323	4/15/05
13	White Noise	Uni.	$56,386,759	2,279	$24,113,565	2,261	1/7/05
14	The Haunting in Connecticut	LGF	$55,389,516	2,732	$23,004,765	2,732	3/27/09
15	The Omen (2006)	Fox	$54,607,383	2,723	$16,026,496	2,723	6/6/06
16	Final Destination 3	NL	$54,098,051	2,880	$19,173,094	2,880	2/10/06
17	Final Destination	NL	$53,331,147	2,587	$10,015,822	2,587	3/17/00
18	Stigmata	MGM	$50,046,268	2,901	$18,309,666	2,899	9/10/99
19	The Skeleton Key	Uni.	$47,907,715	2,784	$16,057,945	2,771	8/12/05
20	Silent Hill	Sony	$46,982,632	2,932	$20,152,598	2,926	4/21/06
21	Final Destination 2	NL	$46,961,214	2,834	$16,017,141	2,834	1/31/03
22	Boogeyman	SGem	$46,752,382	3,052	$19,020,655	3,052	2/4/05
23	The Unborn (2009)	Uni.	$42,670,410	2,359	$19,810,585	2,357	1/9/09
24	Drag Me to Hell	Uni.	$42,100,625	2,510	$15,825,480	2,508	5/29/09
25	Thirteen Ghosts	WB	$41,867,960	2,781	$15,165,355	2,781	10/26/01
26	Exorcist: The Beginning	WB	$41,821,986	2,813	$18,054,001	2,803	8/20/04
27	Poltergeist II: The Other Side	MGM	$40,996,665	1,599	$12,357,190	1,596	5/23/86
28	House on Haunted Hill	WB	$40,846,082	2,710	$15,946,032	2,710	10/29/99
29	The Grudge 2	Sony	$39,143,839	3,214	$20,825,300	3,211	10/13/06
30	The Messengers	SGem	$35,374,833	2,529	$14,713,321	2,528	2/2/07
31	Paranormal Activity	Par.	$33,171,743	760	$77,873	12	9/25/09
32	Darkness Falls	SonR	$32,551,396	2,865	$12,024,917	2,837	1/24/03
33	The Eye	LGF	$31,418,697	2,470	$12,425,776	2,436	2/1/08
34	Mirrors	Fox	$30,691,439	2,664	$11,161,074	2,664	8/15/08
35	Ghost Ship	WB	$30,113,491	2,787	$11,503,423	2,787	10/25/02
36	The Fog (2005)	SonR	$29,550,869	2,972	$11,752,917	2,972	10/14/05
37	Bless the Child	Par.	$29,381,494	2,524	$9,413,684	2,524	8/11/00
38	The Uninvited	P/DW	$28,596,818	2,344	$10,325,824	2,344	1/30/09
39	One Missed Call	WB	$26,890,041	2,240	$12,511,473	2,240	1/4/08
40	Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2	Art.	$26,437,094	3,320	$13,223,887	3,317	10/27/00
41	The Exorcist III	Fox	$26,098,824	1,414	$9,312,219	1,288	8/17/90
42	Shutter	Fox	$25,928,550	2,756	$10,447,559	2,753	3/21/08
43	Dark Water	BV	$25,473,352	2,657	$9,939,251	2,657	7/8/05
44	Stay Alive	BV	$23,086,480	2,009	$10,726,406	2,009	3/24/06
45	Darkness	Dim.	$22,163,442	1,718	$6,163,306	1,700	12/25/04
46	The Fog	AVCO	$21,378,361	-	n/a	-	2/1/80
47	Demon Knight	Uni.	$21,089,146	1,732	$10,019,555	1,729	1/13/95
48	Pulse	W/Dim.	$20,264,436	2,323	$8,203,822	2,323	8/11/06
49	The Ninth Gate	Art.	$18,661,336	1,694	$6,622,518	1,586	3/10/00
50	Lost Souls	NL	$16,815,253	1,970	$7,954,766	1,970	10/13/00
51	An American Haunting	Free	$16,298,046	1,703	$5,783,508	1,675	5/5/06
52	Poltergeist III	MGM	$14,114,488	1,471	$4,344,308	1,471	6/10/88
53	The Haunting of Molly Hartley	Free	$13,559,812	2,652	$5,423,315	2,652	10/31/08
54	The Gate	NCeV	$13,539,458	1,148	$4,258,063	1,139	5/15/87
55	Wes Craven Presents: They	Dim.	$12,840,842	1,623	$5,144,090	1,615	11/27/02
56	Amityville II: The Possession	Orion	$12,534,817	1,200	$4,104,277	1,200	9/24/82
57	The Return	Rog.	$7,749,851	1,986	$4,479,621	1,986	11/10/06
58	The Orphanage	PicH	$7,161,284	707	$233,323	19	12/28/07
59	Amityville 3-D	Orion	$6,333,135	1,254	$2,366,472	1,254	11/18/83
60	Ghost in the Machine	Fox	$5,086,909	1,031	$1,854,431	1,031	12/31/93
61	Soul Survivors	Art.	$3,111,545	604	$1,140,698	601	9/7/01
62	Gate II	Triu	$2,032,973	350	$1,053,175	350	2/28/92
63	The Abandoned	ADF	$1,331,137	1,000	$782,000	1,000	2/23/07
64	The Eye (2003)	Palm	$512,049	23	$62,062	13	6/6/03
65	Ju-On: The Grudge	Vita.	$325,680	11	$25,446	3	7/23/04
66	Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist	WB	$251,495	110	$140,703	110	5/20/05
67	Pulse (2005)	Magn.	$51,420	5	$7,250	1	11/9/05
TOTAL (All Movies):			$2,648,868,433	-	-	-	-
AVERAGE (All Movies):			$39,535,350	2,090	$11,887,619	2,014	-
TOTAL (Wide Releases Only):			$2,624,316,455	-	-	-	-
AVERAGE (Wide Releases Only):			$43,021,581	2,287	$13,678,597	2,283	-

Karen O. at the "Where The Wild Things Are" premiere in NYC

2009-10-16T06:21:36Z

source & source

LASHISSE

2009-09-24T03:19:24Z

source

Brigitte Bardot: The suicidal sex bomb

2009-09-24T00:07:11Z

As Brigitte Bardot celebrates her 75th birthday, a friend reveals a life lived between bed and bedlam...

At dinner one evening in Paris, at the height of her fame, I accused Brigitte Bardot of living her life between bed and bedlam. She smiled beatifically and crossed herself. 'Please God, let it last for ever and ever,' she said.
Her reaction revealed a kind of absurd faith, since even the most casual reader of newspaper headlines at that time knew that the chances of her sustaining her frantic lifestyle even until her 75th birthday next week were next to zero.
In the Sixties and early Seventies, there was no better known - or more scandalous - movie star on earth.
Her amorous anarchy had become a public entertainment, even a kind of bloodsport: lovers brawled over her outside Paris nightclubs; husbands came and went with provocative proximity.
'I like one to be in sight before the other goes,' she told me, explaining how she deliberately rotated the men in her life. 'Nobody has any security in loving me.'
I admired her bravado - especially because her own sense of security was hardly impregnable. Frequently, in times of crisis, she would try to kill herself.
On one occasion, her grief-stricken fans ransacked the Riviera villa where she had taken an overdose before slashing her wrists, and removed bloodstained curtains, linen and even bathroom tiles for souvenirs.
Not since the death of Valentino had a star aroused such insane devotion in their fans.
'Death was a danger she toyed with often,' said Roger Vadim, Bardot's first husband, and the man many people still regard as her Svengali. 'Death always had a strong fascination for her.'
It was certainly puzzling that a woman who'd had a spoilt, bourgeois childhood developed an apparent fixation on death and suicide. As a child, she'd had ballet classes, a governess and private tuition.
'My mother wanted me to be friends only with children she considered socially suitable,' she once told me, with regret as well as disapproval in her voice.

She had been a plain child. She wore wire-rimmed spectacles, favoured Victorian hair ribbons and wore a brace on her protruding, untidy teeth for so long that it permanently exaggerated her mouth, moulding the look that later inspired Time magazine to call her 'the princess of pout, the countess of come-hither'.

Bewitching: Brigitte Bardot in 1959 transformed from the ugly child she once was

'What is the name when you are not pretty?' she once asked me. 'Ugly? Yes, I knew I was ugly as a child. I said to myself: "Well, I am ugly, so I must at least be bright and funny and have other things to compensate." I knew I had to be the best at something, otherwise I would be nothing. I knew I wanted the world to know about Brigitte Bardot.'
But she was also troubled. 'I never believed she could survive her own passions,' Vadim said of her first suicide bid at the age of 18, when she had attempted to gas herself after her parents refused to let her marry him.
Six years older than Bardot, journalist and aspiring screenwriter Vadim was regarded with deep suspicion by Bardot's strict, Roman Catholic family when he started dating her. When her maternal grandmother met Vadim for the first time, she warned the rest of the family to 'watch the silver'.
Vadim wisely kept his hands off the silver, but found it difficult to keep them off Brigitte. In December 1952, three weeks after her first unsuccessful suicide bid - and her vow that she would go on trying until her parents had a change of heart - they were married in Notre-Dame de Grace, Paris.

But while Bardot had hooked the husband she wanted, Vadim had other ambitions. He planned to make his new wife a star, despite the fact that friends had warned him that she was not filmstar material.

Brigitte Bardot, pictured here in Only For Love in 1961, with director Roger Vadim who has his back to the camera. The pair had wed in 1952 and he vowed to make her a star.

Long before it was fashionable to do so, Bardot had assumed a working class accent and adopted its argot. Some accused her of having the manners of an 'insolent skivvy'.
Vadim was undeterred. 'Her walk is almost aristocratic and almost wanton. She is sex on legs,' he told producers, as he hawked her around Paris and Riviera studios.
'Without Vadim, my career would never have got started,' Bardot told me. 'But if I had not had something within myself, if I hadn't possessed some seed, for all Roger Vadim's wiles I would have disappeared without trace. Now, every day I must be recreated again, renewed by a lover, by me, by life.'
In 1953, a year after he began shopping his young wife around the studios, Vadim changed tactics and took her to the Cannes Film Festival.
She had appeared briefly in only three movies, but in Cannes, her tousled, sun-streaked tresses and air of innocent dishabille enabled her to upstage the Hollywood names of the day, including Lana Turner and Olivia de Havilland.
Posing, pouting, gate-crashing the best parties, she was pursued by photographers looking for new faces to canonise on the Croisette, Cannes' glamorous promenade.

Within days, her photographs began appearing in newspapers and magazines all over the world. The phenomenon did not go unnoticed in London.

Making it big: Brigitte Bardot, pictured here with Sacha Distel, overshadowed the Hollywood stars at the Cannes film festival in 1953

Film producers Betty Box and Ralph Thomas decided that she was just the actress they needed to play a small, sexy role opposite Dirk Bogarde in the comedy Doctor At Sea.

The pair flew to Paris and met Vadim and his protegee in the bar of the Meurice Hotel. 'Brigitte could just about say "Good evening" in English, and "I'd like a whisky, please",' said Box.
Vadim did most of the talking. 'He must have spoken English pretty well,' said Thomas. 'He persuaded Betty to pay Brigitte £1,000 for the picture. We knew she'd never been paid so much money in her life.'
Bogarde, an inscrutable misogynist, was enchanted by Bardot. 'She was incredibly assertive,' he said. 'She taught me never to say: "No, I'm sorry, but . . ." If you don't want to do something, you must always say: "No!" She was positive. She was more in control of her destiny than people imagined.'
To the British film crew, used to the prudish ways of domestic sex symbols, Bardot oozed sex appeal. According to Richard Gordon, author of the Doctor film series, she had a highly magnetic smell, the result of overactive endocrine glands.

'It was the fragrance perfumers have been trying to capture for years without success,' said Box.

Brigitte Bardot, pictured with co-star Alain Delon became a huge sex symbol

Either way, Doctor At Sea - an otherwise pleasant, insignificant comedy - was a turning point in Bardot's life. It gave her a new degree of independence from Vadim, which she was only too happy to explore.

Officially, Bardot stayed at a hotel close to Pinewood Studios. 'But she thoughtfully left plenty of other numbers where we might find her in an overnight emergency,' Box said.
'She would say to me: "What is the matter with British boys? They don't make love." She took it as a personal affront.'
Ralph Thomas corrected her. 'Brigitte didn't say don't make love. She said can't make love,' he said.
Vadim was neither surprised nor hurt by his wife's infidelity. 'I knew what was happening and rather expected it,' he said. 'I would always prefer to have that kind of wife, knowing she is unfaithful to me, rather than possess a woman who just loved me and no one else.
'I wanted a woman with spirit, with joie de vivre . . . a woman with a sense of adventure and sexual curiosity.'
At the end of the production, a publicist asked Bardot what she had learned during her stay in Britain. She said: 'The meaning of infidelity.'

Whether or not Bardot and Vadim spoke of their unfaithfulness to each other doesn't really matter; for each recognised the fact that the marriage was in all seriousness finished.

Enchanting: Brigitte Bardot captured the hearts of many with her looks and her bravado

Many years later, after his marriage to Jane Fonda, when Vadim and I became friends, he recalled that time with a beguiling ingenuousness that defined his style: 'It was clear to me that Brigitte and I would have to split. It was obvious after just one year that the marriage was not for ever.'

But Vadim was an aspiring director and didn't want to end the marriage until he'd made at least one movie with his wife of which they could be proud.
'I felt responsible for her,' he said. 'Because of me she had quit ballet classes, which she loved. She had become an actress against her will.'
And he still believed in her star potential - when no one else did. She had not broken through the way Marilyn Monroe had in the U.S., and while she was getting a lot of publicity - and a few small parts in interesting movies such as the Hollywood epic Helen Of Troy, the distinguished Rene Clair's Les Grande Manoeuvres and Anatole Litvak's Act Of Love, in which she had one line - producers refused to take her seriously.
Then, in 1956, Vadim completed a screenplay he had written for her. And God Created Woman was a bad script and would be an awful film, but it did accurately portray the louche way people lived on the Riviera.

The producer, Raoul Levy, saw its box-office potential and hired Vadim to direct it and Bardot to star. Reminded that it meant directing Bardot in some raunchy love scenes, Vadim said: 'If I don't know how to direct my wife in that department, who the hell can?'

Roger Vadim described her wife as 'sex on legs' and she certainly oozed sex appeal

He cast Jean-Louis Trintignant as Bardot's lover. Inevitably - although Trintignant was married to beautiful French actress Stephane Audran - he and Bardot began a torrid affair.

Often the couple were oblivious to Vadim's cry of 'cut', and continued to embrace long after the camera had stopped rolling. Vadim's pursuit of realism became the talk of Paris.
'I never asked Brigitte to be more passionate. I asked her to be more sincere,' Vadim later told me, his eyes twinkling with wickedness. Nevertheless, despite the publicity the film received, its first run in Paris was a disappointment.
Bardot was distraught. One actor recalled her 'crumbling voice, her little dismal wound of a face.' She believed her movie career was over.
But when the overseas receipts started to come in, it was clear the picture was a smash.
In New York, where it had been booked for ten days, despite heavy censorship, it ran for ten months, and is still among the most successful foreign films ever to play in the U.S.
When the dust had settled, Bardot was the world's Number One sex symbol.
'I am not an actress. I can only play me - on and off the screen,' she said.

Meanwhile, five years after they were wed, Vadim and Bardot divorced by mutual consent. The court found them equally guilty of 'seriously insulting' each other. They, of course, remained good friends.

Brigitte Bardot is now an active animal rights campaigner and is about to celebrate her 75th birthday

After Vadim, the story of her life, career and swell times followed an increasingly familiar pattern of scandalous affairs, suicide bids and turbulent marriages - four, including her present one to former Right-wing politician Bernard d'Ormale.

For a time, she was obsessed with the kind of muscled young men - usually younger, poorer and far less successful than herself - found loitering along Riviera beaches.

In 1960, she had a son, Nicholas, with her second husband, actor Jacques Charrier. When they divorced two years later - again for 'seriously insulting' each other - Charrier took custody of their son.

'I'm not made to be a mother,' Bardot said. 'I don't know why I think this because I adore animals and I adore children, but I'm not adult enough - I know it's horrible to have to admit that, but I'm not adult enough to take care of a child.

'I need somebody to take care of me. I'm sad to have had that baby. What will be his life? People who are making babies and families now are mad. It is such a bad world.'

Meanwhile, political wrangles, racial tussles and animal rights issues have kept her in the headlines since her retirement, just before her 40th birthday in 1973. She has shown no signs of growing meeker with advancing age.

In a farewell salute to her old outrageousness - and her movie career - she celebrated her 40th birthday in 1973 with a nude spread in Playboy.

But her last hurrah did not spell the end of her notoriety - it launched a different kind of notoriety and a new determination to shock. Eschewing face-lifts and Botox, she is content to grow old and cranky before our eyes.

In 2004, she was convicted by a French court and fined £4,000 for 'inciting racial hatred' in her book, A Scream In The Silence, in which she warned of the 'Islamicisation of France'.

Last year, she combined her animal rights and racial concerns in a letter to Nicolas Sarkozy, when he was Interior Minister of France, complaining of the way Muslims were 'trying to take over France and impose their culture, values, lifestyles' on its people by slaughtering sheep without stunning them first. On that occasion, she was fined £12,000.

I am still fond of Bardot. Despite her eccentricities, she has a caring heart. And, as she approaches her 75th birthday, it is clear that Roger Vadim and I got it wrong. Brigitte Bardot has survived her passions spectacularly.

source

Audrey Tautou red carpet interview

2009-09-11T21:23:03Z

source

petite_fouine @ 2009-08-16T15:12:00

2009-08-16T19:27:17Z

John Hughes may have been many things to many people, but there’s just no denying that as a director his career had a hell of a lot more in common with Michael Bay than Jean-Luc Godard. How any film critic who writes for the New York Times could call Hughes our generation’s Godard and get paid for it is beyond my comprehension. And as someone who was a teenager in the ’80s, I also find it deeply sad and frustrating.

I’m unabashedly naive and extremely sentimental when it comes to my childhood in the 1970s, but the 1980s ignites a different kind of nostalgia in me. It’s an unpleasant nostalgia that took shape while my innocence was melting away and my teenage hormones were raging. That teenage rage has carried into adulthood and occasionally manifests into fits of anger like the one you’re about to read.

It’s important to note that I’m not angry at John Hughes the man or the people who enjoy his films. I’m angry at the absurd critical response to the director’s death and I blame a culture that conveniently forgets facts in order to build critical arguments. If the cultural pundits and film critics are to be believed, an entire generation bought what John Hughes was selling them. But the truth is much more complex than that.

Hughes made films for mainstream America that resembled the Gidget movies of the late 1950s and early ‘60s. As a rebellious teenager I absolutely hated Hughes’ films. Hughes’ simplistic, Reagan-fueled, whitewashed, upper middle-class view of the world reflected everything that was loathsome about the ’80s in my mind. Hughes was a conservative baby boomer and a yuppie that spoon-feed my generation - so-called Generation X - the worst kind of ’50s nostalgia imaginable in order to make a buck. His films didn’t speak to me at all since I had much more in common with James Dean than Gidget. And John Hughes was no Nicholas Ray.

I’m told in countless obits written about John Hughes that some segment of ’80s youth culture found comfort in the way that his movies portrayed teenagers as well as outsiders and malcontents. But if you were actually questioning authority during the ’80s it was impossible to identify with any of the faux rebellion found in Hughes’ movies. The man preached conformity over and over again. The so-called “outsiders” in Hughes’ films rejected other teens like themselves so they could date popular jocks or beauty queens. In other words, if you followed the social rules laid out by John Hughes you’d get a “hot date” for the school prom and be “accepted” into Reagan’s America. Reality check; the real teenage rebels and outsiders didn’t go to school proms in the ’80s. They also skipped detention.

The myth of John Hughes giving voice to my generation is much like the myth of the ’80s in general that has been perpetuated by silly television shows like VH1’s I Love the ’80s. But contrary to popular opinion, many of us who came of age in the ’80s didn’t buy what Reagan and the Hollywood machine that marched in boot step behind him were selling us. And John Hughes was a hugely successful part of that Hollywood machine. Those of us who resisted the machine didn’t live in gated communities or spend our days in shopping malls. Some of us actually attended “Rock Against Reagan” protests and after the initial excitement wore off many of us didn’t want our MTV. We watched AIDS destroy entire communities as the homeless spilled out into our streets. We saw the drug wars destroy families and fill our prisons. We spent our time trying to self-publish zines that expressed our anger and frustration as a compassionless and cruel conservatism swept across America threatening to suffocate the country. And last but certainly not least, we watched class warfare and racism take root in our high schools as they crumbled from lack of funding. The ’80s was a scary decade to grow up in unless you conformed to rigid social structures and didn’t question authority. And the films that John Hughes’ made seemed to perpetuate a kind of thoughtless conformism that is is frankly appalling to me and still prevalent today.

Of course many people did buy the American fantasy that John Hughes and the establishment were selling them. Many didn’t see the casual racism and sexism that was occasionally evident in many of Hughes’ most popular films. Some people clearly sympathized with the materialistic nature of many of his characters and I’m glad that so many have found some kind of joy in Hughes’ movies. But the fantasy world featured in John Hughes’ films was not representative of the ’80s youth culture that I came of age in and Hughes did not speak for me.

Shortsighted film critics often overlook how much of Meadows’ movie can be seen as a general critique of the decade it calls into question. And I think that is symptomatic of the increasing ignorance about what youth culture was really like in America during the ’80s. Point of fact; you could easily take Meadow’s terrific script, set it in San Francisco during the ’80s and simply call it This Is America.

In This Is England the main protagonist is haunted by his father’s death in the Falklands War. If you grew up in California during the ‘80s it wasn’t uncommon to know 2 or 3 kids who had lost their fathers in the Vietnam War and you often sat in classrooms with Vietnamese refuges. The Falklands War may have ended in 1982 and the Vietnam War may have ended in 1975, but both wars left my generation with fatherless kids and a whole lot of baggage. Many of the kids I knew also had their families torn apart by divorces or deadbeat dads who just walked out the door one day and never returned. Families were falling apart as fast as the economy. Reagan’s America might have looked financially sound if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but for many Americans it was a decade of increasing job losses, forced early retirements and an all out war against organized labor. College wasn’t an option for myself or most of the kids I knew. It was a luxury that few of us could afford. Without a supportive family and a college fund, the future looked incredibly bleak which often led to an increase in recreational drug use. Like the kids in Meadows’ film, we ended up forming makeshift families simply based on our musical tastes and wardrobes. But our clothing wasn’t just worn for kicks. What we wore often reflected our social class and attitudes. In other words, wearing an anarchy t-shirt wasn’t just a fashion statement. It was a social statement that could get you kicked out of school in the ’80s.

Me in the ’80s (wearing a James Dean t-shirt) and the female cast of This Is England.

You won’t see any of that ‘80s reality represented in the films of John Hughes.

John Hughes never spoke to me, but Shane Meadows does. Meadows is a truly talented filmmaker and if you want to know what the ’80s was really like for those of us on the fringe who were trying to make sense of the world that was left to us watch This Is ~~America~~ England. I should point out that This Is England takes some of its cues from other films about troubled youth such as Truffaut’s classic The 400 Blows and Penelope Spheeris’ Suburbia (which also happens to be a better film about the ’80s than anything made by John Hughes), but Meadows’ packs enough punches and truth into his script to make it a truly original film and one of the best of the decade. This Is England also boasts some terrific performances from it’s two lead actors, Thomas Turgoose and Stephen Graham.

At a time when it has become increasingly clear to me that very few people actually remember what the ’80s were really like I take comfort in a film like This Is England. Shane Meadows obviously remembers the decade well. And although This Is England is a very British film, Americans would be wise to watch the movie with their own country’s history in mind because many of the problems we face today are just remnants of unfinished business from that often misrepresented decade.

source

"You won’t see any of ‘80s reality represented in the films of John Hughes."

2009-08-16T15:18:21Z

As someone who came of age during the ’80s, I’ve become increasingly disturbed by the critical response to director John Hughes’ recent death. Over and over again I’ve been told that he was “the voice” of my generation and that he “defined the ’80s.” And instead of pointing out the crass commercialism that made up the man’s entire film career, The New York Times has let A.O. Scott proclaim that John Hughes was “our Godard.”

John Hughes may have been many things to many people, but there’s just no denying that as a director his career had a hell of a lot more in common with Michael Bay than Jean-Luc Godard. How any film critic who writes for the New York Times could call Hughes our generation’s Godard and get paid for it is beyond my comprehension. And as someone who was a teenager in the ’80s, I also find it deeply sad and frustrating.

I’m unabashedly naive and extremely sentimental when it comes to my childhood in the 1970s, but the 1980s ignites a different kind of nostalgia in me. It’s an unpleasant nostalgia that took shape while my innocence was melting away and my teenage hormones were raging. That teenage rage has carried into adulthood and occasionally manifests into fits of anger like the one you’re about to read.

It’s important to note that I’m not angry at John Hughes the man or the people who enjoy his films. I’m angry at the absurd critical response to the director’s death and I blame a culture that conveniently forgets facts in order to build critical arguments. If the cultural pundits and film critics are to be believed, an entire generation bought what John Hughes was selling them. But the truth is much more complex than that.

Hughes made films for mainstream America that resembled the Gidget movies of the late 1950s and early ‘60s. As a rebellious teenager I absolutely hated Hughes’ films. Hughes’ simplistic, Reagan-fueled, whitewashed, upper middle-class view of the world reflected everything that was loathsome about the ’80s in my mind. Hughes was a conservative baby boomer and a yuppie that spoon-feed my generation - so-called Generation X - the worst kind of ’50s nostalgia imaginable in order to make a buck. His films didn’t speak to me at all since I had much more in common with James Dean than Gidget. And John Hughes was no Nicholas Ray.

I’m told in countless obits written about John Hughes that some segment of ’80s youth culture found comfort in the way that his movies portrayed teenagers as well as outsiders and malcontents. But if you were actually questioning authority during the ’80s it was impossible to identify with any of the faux rebellion found in Hughes’ movies. The man preached conformity over and over again. The so-called “outsiders” in Hughes’ films rejected other teens like themselves so they could date popular jocks or beauty queens. In other words, if you followed the social rules laid out by John Hughes you’d get a “hot date” for the school prom and be “accepted” into Reagan’s America. Reality check; the real teenage rebels and outsiders didn’t go to school proms in the ’80s. They also skipped detention.

The myth of John Hughes giving voice to my generation is much like the myth of the ’80s in general that has been perpetuated by silly television shows like VH1’s I Love the ’80s. But contrary to popular opinion, many of us who came of age in the ’80s didn’t buy what Reagan and the Hollywood machine that marched in boot step behind him were selling us. And John Hughes was a hugely successful part of that Hollywood machine. Those of us who resisted the machine didn’t live in gated communities or spend our days in shopping malls. Some of us actually attended “Rock Against Reagan” protests and after the initial excitement wore off many of us didn’t want our MTV. We watched AIDS destroy entire communities as the homeless spilled out into our streets. We saw the drug wars destroy families and fill our prisons. We spent our time trying to self-publish zines that expressed our anger and frustration as a compassionless and cruel conservatism swept across America threatening to suffocate the country. And last but certainly not least, we watched class warfare and racism take root in our high schools as they crumbled from lack of funding. The ’80s was a scary decade to grow up in unless you conformed to rigid social structures and didn’t question authority. And the films that John Hughes’ made seemed to perpetuate a kind of thoughtless conformism that is is frankly appalling to me and still prevalent today.

Thankfully some directors who actually came of age during the ’80s are now old enough to make films that truly reflect the decade as I remember it. One of those directors is British born Shane Meadows. Meadows’ unforgettable 2006 film This Is England takes place in Britain during the 1980s and attempts to show how the skinhead culture that took root there developed into an angry nationalistic movement. Many of the kids featured in Meadows’ film are fatherless and form a kind of family with other young people who share their taste in music and wear similar clothes. Much like Reagan’s America, Thatcher’s England presented British youth with a very bleak future and Meadows’ film skillfully chronicles the underlying frustration and resentment that so many young people were feeling at the time.

Shortsighted film critics often overlook how much of Meadows’ movie can be seen as a general critique of the decade it calls into question. And I think that is symptomatic of the increasing ignorance about what youth culture was really like in America during the ’80s. Point of fact; you could easily take Meadow’s terrific script, set it in San Francisco during the ’80s and simply call it This Is America.

In This Is England the main protagonist is haunted by his father’s death in the Falklands War. If you grew up in California during the ‘80s it wasn’t uncommon to know 2 or 3 kids who had lost their fathers in the Vietnam War and you often sat in classrooms with Vietnamese refuges. The Falklands War may have ended in 1982 and the Vietnam War may have ended in 1975, but both wars left my generation with fatherless kids and a whole lot of baggage. Many of the kids I knew also had their families torn apart by divorces or deadbeat dads who just walked out the door one day and never returned. Families were falling apart as fast as the economy. Reagan’s America might have looked financially sound if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but for many Americans it was a decade of increasing job losses, forced early retirements and an all out war against organized labor. College wasn’t an option for myself or most of the kids I knew. It was a luxury that few of us could afford. Without a supportive family and a college fund, the future looked incredibly bleak which often led to an increase in recreational drug use. Like the kids in Meadows’ film, we ended up forming makeshift families simply based on our musical tastes and wardrobes. But our clothing wasn’t just worn for kicks. What we wore often reflected our social class and attitudes. In other words, wearing an anarchy t-shirt wasn’t just a fashion statement. It was a social statement that could get you kicked out of school in the ’80s.

Me in the ’80s (wearing a James Dean t-shirt) and the female cast of This Is England.

Many of us who grew up on the West Coast in Reagan’s America also faced our own skinhead crisis thanks to a group who called themselves the American Front. The American Front was an organization loosely based on England’s National Front that is prominently featured in Shane Meadows’ film. Older members of the American Front often preyed on vulnerable and angry young men that they recruited off the streets. A new and deeply disturbing form of Nazism encouraged these young people to engage in violence and proudly sport swastika tattoos. They naively started to believe that immigrants, homosexuals, communists and socialists were destroying the country and they blamed them for the failing economy. The American Front became a dangerous threat to groups of neglected kids who had come together due to lack of family and outside support. As the ’80s progressed music clubs that once represented a small oasis where you could hangout with like-minded individuals began to transform into war zones after these white power obsessed skinheads latched onto the punk and metal scenes. In this kind of environment you were forced to grow up fast and your political identity was often formed before your 18th birthday. You won’t see any of that ‘80s reality represented in the films of John Hughes.

John Hughes never spoke to me, but Shane Meadows does. Meadows is a truly talented filmmaker and if you want to know what the ’80s was really like for those of us on the fringe who were trying to make sense of the world that was left to us watch This Is ~~America~~ England. I should point out that This Is England takes some of its cues from other films about troubled youth such as Truffaut’s classic The 400 Blows and Penelope Spheeris’ Suburbia (which also happens to be a better film about the ’80s than anything made by John Hughes), but Meadows’ packs enough punches and truth into his script to make it a truly original film and one of the best of the decade. This Is England also boasts some terrific performances from it’s two lead actors, Thomas Turgoose and Stephen Graham.

At a time when it has become increasingly clear to me that very few people actually remember what the ’80s were really like I take comfort in a film like This Is England. Shane Meadows obviously remembers the decade well. And although This Is England is a very British film, Americans would be wise to watch the movie with their own country’s history in mind because many of the problems we face today are just remnants of unfinished business from that often misrepresented decade.

source

Natalia Vodianova inspires Guerlain’s Fall Colour Collection

2009-08-14T22:59:38Z

For Guerlain's Fall "Russian Beauty" Colour Collection, Creative Director Olivier Échaudemaison drew inspiration from Natalia Vodianova as the face of the collection and chose to incorporate the fabrics and feel of her native Moscow.

The striking Vodianova has been featured in past campaigns; her unique appearance has become a memorable part of the Guerlain brand. Guerlain's PR Director, Nicole Matusow, says, "The products and colors were definitely inspired by her face and look."

"The deep, rich bohemian palatte of eggplant, burnt orange, and crimson are on trend and in for fall. Échaudemaison drew inspiration from the evocative fabric and embroideries like the rich tapestries and fabrics the princesses wore."

Mutasow envisioned the landscape in combination with natural beauty of the women exposed to the elements: "the way the sun sets makes your cheeks look" and "the atmosphere, the brisk wind of the Russian air when you're walking along the river and the way your cheeks have that pink glow."

Mutasow's favorite product, is the convenient "Volga Princess" Eyes and Lips Palette. The feminine and sophisticated light pink and brown allow the brighter pink and mauve lip colors to stand out, and the compact comes with mini eye shadow and lip applicators and mirror.

The KissKiss Baby Nourishing Lip Balm (with SPF 10, always a plus) in an ice cube-looking mirrored lipstick casing contains wild mango butter and luffa oil for a deliciously smoothing effect. And from a Cristal Nude to brilliant Red Nude shade, your pout will be subtly pretty and kissably soft.

And in case you can't translate French, the Le 2 de Guerlain is a two-brush mascara in a fall-inspired Intense Plum for some serious lengthening and curling. The Ombre Éclat Four Shades Eye Shadow comes in a quad with shiny beige, bronze and two shades of brown for eyes like the autumn leaves.

Guerlain "Russian Beauty" Fall Colour Collection available starting in August at, select Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, and Sephora stores.

source

Stills from Audrey Tautou's new film, "Coco avant Chanel".

2009-01-02T11:46:40Z

Source

Audrey Tautou in French Elle

2008-12-10T13:25:01Z

Source

Stills from Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's new film, "Micmacs à tire-larigot"

2008-12-06T22:58:38Z

Source

Gemma Arterton at the world premiere of "Quantum of Solace"

2008-10-30T02:36:25Z

More at the source

Why did Hopper "Alan Smithee" this amazing shit?!?

2008-09-03T04:08:54Z

Cool Hand Luke gets the deluxe treatment.

2008-09-01T22:00:14Z

The Video:
Sensational. The back of the DVD states that the anamorphically enhanced, 2.35:1 widescreen transfer for Cool Hand Luke has been taken from restored picture and audio elements, and I believe it. Grain inherent in the original elements is present, of course, but greatly reduced, and color values are beautifully subtle here. Master cinematographer Conrad Hall's saturated color palettes have been carefully restored, lending many scenes an almost 3D effect in his deep depth-of-focus, depth-of-field frames. Compression effects are nil, and the picture is agreeably sharp.

The Audio:
Happily, the original mono mix for Cool Hand Luke has been maintained and cleaned up, lending a super-sharp clarity to the big, fat mono field. I know I enjoy new 5.1 mixes whenever classics are "restored" and cleaned-up, but you can't argue with keeping the original mono in lieu of an artificial stereo mix. There's a French mono track, as well, and English subtitles and close-captions, too.

The Extras:
There's a new documentary, A Natural-Born World Shaker: Making Cool Hand Luke, which features interviews with the late Stuart Rosenberg, Frank Pierson, George Kennedy, Lou Antonio, author of the original novel Donn Pearce, Ralph Waite, Anthony Zerbe, Lalo Schifrin, Hank Moonjean, and Eric Lax, a biographer of Paul Newman. It runs 28:44, and it's reasonably comprehensive in discussing what makes Cool Hand Luke so important. Unfortunately, Newman was either unable or unwilling to participate here. There's also a full-length commentary track featuring Eric Lax which is only okay when detailing some of the background of the film's production. Often times, though, Lax merely repeats what was already said in the documentary featurette, or simply repeats lines that an actor just said, and then explains their obvious meaning. The commentary track here is, unfortunately, not up to snuff for the importance of the film. The equally iconic original theatrical trailer is included here, as well.

Final Thoughts:
The original trailer says it all: "the motion picture that simply will not conform." Paul Newman gives his best performance as the Christ-like existentialist "Cool Hand" Luke, outrunning bloodhounds and battling the guards while refusing to ever give up - even when he knows that the fight is, in the long run, futile. An aggressive, muscular drama, soaked in crude, powerful symbolism, Cool Hand Luke can be enjoyed on many levels: existential exploration of a cruel, meaningless world; Christ returned to Earth, still forsaken by his Father; funny, rowdy prison comedy; and accomplished, slick actioner. Timeless in its appeal, the layered, deceptively simple Cool Hand Luke is hands-down one of the best films of the 1960s - and it looks stunning here in its new transfer. I highly, highly recommend Cool Hand Luke - Deluxe Edition.

The dvd will be released on September 9, 2008.

Source

Will you come to my dance party?

2008-08-30T00:31:27Z

YWCA warns: Beauty obsession a danger to American women

2008-08-21T03:06:47Z

By Emili Vesilind, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer:

Hungry fashion models, sexed-up tweens and 50-year-old actresses with baby-plump faces. Today's pursuit of beauty ideals is an all-too-familiar narrative steeped in medical wizardry, sexual objectification and sheer self-deprivation.

And according to a report published Monday by the nonprofit women's organizationYWCA, our ceaseless pursuit of perfection is more toxic to American women and girls than ever.

"Beauty at Any Cost," a brief, punchy lambaste of the beauty and fashion industries, details the emotional and financial dangers of pursuing unrealistic beauty standards. The statistics, compiled from various sources, are worrisome -- if not altogether shocking (we knew things were going downhill when fourth-graders started emulating scantily clad pop stars like Britney Spears).

Some highlights:

* Eighty percent of women say they're unhappy with their appearance, and 67% of women ages 25 to 45 are trying to shed pounds -- though 53% of those women are already at a healthy weight. The report also cited a study in which 69% of the respondents (18 and older) said they were in favor of plastic surgery -- a 7% increase from 2006.

* Forty percent of newly diagnosed cases of eating disorders are in girls 15 to 19 years old, but symptoms can occur as young as kindergarten. Girls who spent the most time and effort on their appearance suffered "the greatest loss of confidence."

* With the media playing a larger role in our daily lives, young girls are more susceptible to low self-esteem -- based on beauty ideals -- than ever before and are subject to greater harassment. "The use of aggressive bullying between girls has been on the rise since the early 1990s, based on issues such as physical attributes and social status," states one study. According to another: "Mean girls . . . often don't grow out of the behavior and they become adult women who exhibit the same behavior." And we thought trash-talking on the basketball court was bad.

* Americans fork over nearly $7 billion a year to cosmetics, beauty supply and perfume stores, and nearly 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed -- an almost 500% increase in such procedures from 1997. One of the many factoids in the report noted that if women put the average amount of money they spent on monthly manicure-pedicures ($50) into an interest-bearing retirement account every year for 10 years, they would have almost $10,000 saved. Easier said than done.

"We felt the problem had reached such a crisis proportion that we needed to speak up and draw a line in the sand that this must stop," said Nancy Loving, director of communications for YWCA U.S.A., who added that the group will use the report as a jumping-off point for educational programs in its 300 locations in the U.S. "If you're constantly made to feel inadequate, you're really quite disabled in terms of being able to achieve in other areas of life -- academic, social and political," she said.

Source

Irons set for 'Impressionism'

2008-08-21T00:55:30Z

"ONE OF my favorite actors, Jeremy Irons, will be arriving in NYC before long to join the wonderful actress Joan Allen in a new Michael Jacobs play titled "Impressionism." This will demand plenty of interest since the director is to be none other than Jack O'Brien. The play tells the story of a relationship between a photo journalist and a gallery owner. I hope theirs is a happy fictional relationship because Jeremy has just come off of a sold-out run at the National Theater in London, where he was doing a play about the life of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan titled "Never So Good." As you may know, Macmillan, mentor to JFK and a man germane to the history of Great Britain after WWII, had a most unhappy private life, having to share his wife with another man. Wish they'd bring this director Howard Davis' work to Broadway too."

I don't know who's with me on this, but I think Jeremy's voice is much sexier than Alan Rickman's.

Source

Christina Ricci walking around hollywood and stuff.

2008-08-16T16:41:28Z

Honestly, let's just hold her hostage at McDonalds or something because she was offered much better roles when she was a "chub". Also, I would have easily posted all the pictures, but they really do look exactly the same.

More at the source.

Who will star opposite Audrey Tautou in the upcoming Coco Chanel biopic?

2008-08-15T06:20:34Z

Alessandro Nivola will star opposite Audrey Tautou in the Coco Chanel biopic "Coco avant Chanel."

Anne Fontaine is directing the French film.

Nivola, who is learning French for the role and likely will be the only American in the feature, will play Chanel's lover Arthur Capel, a dashing polo player who sponsored the fashion designer, helping her open her first store and influencing her masculine suit designs. His death in an auto accident was described as the most devastating event in Chanel's life.

Nivola, whose film credits include "Jurassic Park III" and "Junebug," appears in the upcoming ensemble comedy "Five Dollars a Day" and stars in the music biopic "Chess," both of which will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. He most recently appeared in the horror movie "The Eye."

Source.

Huffington Post's John Farr asks: Where Are All The Classy, Smart Female Stars Today?

2008-08-13T02:58:55Z

A few months back, I was speaking with a New York magazine publisher, and he mentioned that his daughter, in her thirties, was now running his fashion magazine.

Since we were on the subject of timeless film, he volunteered that when his daughter thinks of true class in film fashion, she does not summon up names like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, or even Angelina Jolie. Instead, her icons are Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn.

Purely from a style perspective, this is understandable. But both Hepburn and Kelly, whatever their off-set shenanigans (and there were some), understood how to use fashion and bearing to project an image of innate class. This they both did successfully throughout their careers.

Times change I know, and most of my heart and my footprint clearly lie in that former era. Mind you, not every actress had that same quality even in Hollywood's Golden Age; Katharine Hepburn did intrinsically, though she was quite mannish. Joan Crawford and Mae West lacked it entirely, but made hay out of being different. But then there was also Garbo, Vivien Leigh, and Myrna Loy. They literally oozed the stuff of class.

Personally I still miss this unmistakable quality, and have to ask, where has it gone? We have no shortage of talent and beauty in Hollywood today, but those stars that come across (to men at least) as having true class, style, and by extension, smarts, seem in low supply. I don't see that rare, ethereal quality in Angelina, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, or Halle Berry, capable "actors" all. (Admittedly, Laura Linney comes close, but she has a certain earthbound quality; notwithstanding her obvious acting chops, too often she comes off like everyone's sister, the one you instinctively passed over.)

So who's got that "it" factor today?

It's not a twenty-five year old newcomer; it's not someone (like Paris or Angelina) who makes The National Enquirer every other day; but rather a quiet, steady, pre-possessing performer who combines her all-too-evident God-given skill with an understated style and allure, and also happens to make lots of extremely good pictures...both art-house and otherwise.

What's her name? Joan Allen.

An Illinois native from a working class family, from the outset young Joan strove to excel and was voted "most likely to succeed" in high school. She ended up finding her calling at the prestigious Steppenwolf Theatre. Finally, she could shed her small town inhibitions, and let loose. A whole new world opened up for her.

She proceeded to build her acting credentials steadily during the eighties, both in films (Manhunter, Peggy Sue Got Married, both released in 1986), and on stage, winning a Tony Award for her role in the acclaimed Burn This.

Entering the nineties, she really hit her stride, as some of the titles I'm about to list will demonstrate. But even in three somewhat over-rated commercial films she's done over the past fifteen years, Nixon (1995), The Notebook (2004), and two of the recent Bourne films, each of those titles benefits significantly from her very presence. But putting those aside, she's also done plenty of movies that stand very much on their own, and thus are listed on www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com.

So -- what follows are my favorite films of Joan Allen, this actress who effortlessly hearkens back to a time when it could be an asset for a female star also to be a real lady -- classy, subtle, strong, and intelligent, all at the same time.

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) - Screenwriter Steven Zaillian, who'd won an Oscar for adapting Schindler's List, makes his directorial debut in the true tale of Josh Waitzkin (Max Pomeranc), a normal seven year old in every way but one: he exhibits an incredible aptitude for chess. Father Fred (Joe Mantegna) and mother Bonnie (Allen) want to foster this gift, but must walk a fine line between supporting Josh and pressuring him. Kingsley plays Bruce, a ruthless former chess master who takes the boy on as a pupil. Will Josh become the next Bobby Fischer? This warm, intelligent film boasts a powerhouse cast (including Laurence Fishburne, William H. Macy, Laura Linney, and David Paymer in support). Young Pomeranc is convincing, and both Mantegna and Allen are a joy to watch. Additionally, in this ultra-competitive society our kids face very day, the film sends an important, often unheeded message about handling competition: that the will to excel and win should always be counter-balanced by mellower, more thoughtful interests, in order to cultivate a broader, balanced life perspective. For a touching, involving, and relevant family movie, search no further than Bobby.

The Ice Storm (1997) - Set in 1973, this pungent, disturbing tale of suburban malaise concerns the emotionally frigid relations between two families in the affluent town of New Canaan, Connecticut. Returning from his Manhattan prep school for Thanksgiving, 16-year-old Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) is greeted at the train station by his remote father, Ben (Kevin Kline), and unsmiling mother, Elena (Allen), as well as his Watergate-obsessed younger sister, Wendy (Christina Ricci). Unbeknownst to Elena, Ben is carrying on a torrid affair with neighbor Janey Carver (Sigourney Weaver), while Janey's spacey son Mikey (Elijah Wood) has been targeted for sexual experimentation by Wendy. Paul's got issues of his own, too, including a crush on a priggish socialite (Katie Holmes). Unhappiness and alienation seems to be everyone's lot, at least until the weather breaks... Based on Rick Moody's novel, this perceptive adaptation by Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and screenwriter James Schamus effectively recaptures the bad hangover of the sixties drug-and-sex revolution, most emblematically at a discomfiting spouse-swapping "key party" that ends rather bitterly. Veterans Kline, Allen and Weaver are all first rate, but the young Maguire, Ricci, and Wood also hold their own, touching your heart with a coming-of-age awkwardness that sadly reflects their parents' own disillusionment and inner gloom.

Face/Off (1997) - Deranged criminal mastermind Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), currently in a coma, has planted a biological weapon somewhere in LA and only his equally psychotic brother Pollux (Alessandro Nivola) knows where. Crack FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) has a long, painful history battling the Troys, and undergoes a radical medical procedure transferring Castor's face to his own, in hopes that once he's reunited with Pollux in prison, the ever loyal little brother will talk. But the insensate Castor's got life in him yet, and unfortunately, Archer has left his own face behind. Despite the grotesque, almost preposterous premise, Hong Kong director John Woo's second American-made actioner has all the savage bite, black humor, and balletic fight choreography of his best-known Asian films. Deliberately mythic in concept, Face/Off probes questions of honor, identity, and morality while giving Travolta and Cage plenty of leeway to stretch their archetypal good-and-evil personas. And Allen delivers beautifully in the tricky role of an unhappy wife whose numbness is suddenly dispelled by a dramatic change in her husband's behavior. Ingenious, kinetic and reveling in its choreographed, over-the-top violence, Face/Off is a complex thriller that's also bloody good fun.

Pleasantville (1998) - After an oddball repairman (Don Knotts) comes to their house bearing a new remote control to replace the one they broke, nerdy teen David Wagner (Tobey Maguire) and his MTV-loving twin Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) are teleported into the idealized, black-and-white universe of Pleasantville, a squeaky clean 1950s TV sitcom where they're expected to conform to picture-perfect, all-American values. But Jennifer, a/k/a Mary Sue, stirs up the repressive establishment with her very '90s attitude toward boys and sexuality, quite literally introducing a badly needed dose of color into the old-fashioned, Ozzie and Harriet-like town. Pleasantville is a sparkling, witty, highly original film fantasy that examines the nasty underside of quaint family values as they are embodied in every age, especially as it critiques the social rigidity of black and white (i.e., prejudice) with its thinly veiled conceit of "color" (i.e,. diversity, individuality). William H. Macy and Joan Allen are extremely well cast as the teens' comically sedated and content parents, playing nicely off Maguire's low-key, conformist David/ "Bud" and Witherspoon's wild girl. Enhanced by some charming special effects, Pleasantville is a blissful comic fantasy containing a subtle yet timely message of tolerance for us all.

The Contender (2000) - When Senator Laine Hanson (Allen) is unexpectedly chosen by the President (Jeff Bridges) to fill the spot left by his late vice president, veteran Beltway insider Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman, in heavy makeup), who loathes Hanson for defecting from the Republican side of the aisle, heads up the confirmation committee. Hunting for dirt, Runyon uncovers a scandalous sexcapade from Senator Hanson's college years, throwing her nomination into jeopardy. A gripping political drama that appeared in the aftermath of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, Rod Lurie's The Contender sheds serious light on the presidency and our tainted political process. A star-making (or star-reinforcing) vehicle for the prodigiously talented Allen and a strong platform for Bridges (who delivers a knockout Presidential speech), the film portrays the intense personal scrutiny imposed on those in line for national office--particularly if the candidate is a woman. Contender is a resonant morality play about honor and political ambition. This entry takes the prize as my favorite Joan Allen film to-date.

Off The Map (2003) - Told via an adult daughter's flashback ( creating a small, subtle turn for Amy Brenneman), Campbell Scott's excellent but under-exposed indie concerns IRS auditor William Gibbs (Jim True-Frost) who's forced to travel to remotest New Mexico to check on the filing of a family's back taxes. Arriving on said family's property, he meets Charley (Sam Elliott) who's sunk into a depression and won't speak, his free-spirited wife Arlene (Allen), who actually talks but is less than encouraging about their tax compliance, and precocious daughter Bo (Valentina de Angelis), who's already got plans to be rich and famous. William promptly comes down with a raging fever, and before you know it, has decided to stay in this mystical spot, for reasons he himself can't readily express. Beautifully shot and rich in emotion, Map is a film that quietly gets under your skin. Elliott is a revelation as Charley, a man carrying a nameless despair that's struck him dumb, while Allen is fabulous (no surprise) as philosophical bedrock Arlene. Young de Angelis also shines in a demanding juvenile role. A story about life's infinite possibilities and finding sustenance when and where you least expect it, Scott's movie is a quirky, heartwarming delight. Go off the map to see it.---

**He forgot to include the upcoming masterpiece simply known as Death Race**

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Who's another year older today?

2008-08-10T03:21:10Z

French beauty, Audrey Tautou was born August 9, 1976 or 1978 (I've seen both years listed as accurate) in Beaumont, France.

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Native Korean Rock & The Fishnets (Karen O) pictures & performances from Union Pool last night.

2008-07-22T15:34:14Z

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Charlize Theron picture extravaganza.

2008-06-20T02:42:48Z

Charlize in Glamour, GQ UK, and FILMINK.

Numerous, large, not dial-up friendly pictures this way...

Better than Angelina I tell ya.