Burlesque ~ New Photo!

Here it is, in all its hot honey glory

I wish I liked Christina Aguilera more because I am so thankful that we'll have a musical to enjoy in the movie theaters this year. But still... CHER.

This photo begs the question, though...
The Hand Bra: Who wore it best?

poll by twiigs.com

BARBRA STREISAND

Yes, No, Maybe So: Burlesque

I almost don't have the stamina for this after drooling all over Showgirls (1995) for three or so hours yesterday. But the first trailer for the new musical Burlesque (2010) has arrived and we'll all be comparing the films from now on. Until we're actually watching it at least. Then... who knows? Movie|Line has already memorably mocked the trailer saying

What would happen if Glitter, Showgirls and Nine had a baby — and that baby was raised by Cher and Stanley Tucci’s character from The Devil Wears Prada?

And we can't compete with that. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat.



But we're here for the "Yes, No or Maybe So?" treatment anyway which isn't the same thing as making fun. Are you eager to see it, desperate to avoid or totally on the fence? It's often some mix for me and this is how it breaks down.

Cher in a big starring role insures my ticket purchase. Listen up, I paid for Tea With Mussolini for pete's chaz's sake. I think only 90 people did. I am loyal. From the ebb and flow of this trailer (already disappearing from the web) it looks like she's playing the Velma Kelly or Cristal Connors role only mixed with Mama Morton. It's like she's being the seasoned pro diva but leaving the dirtywork catfighting to minions (like Kristen Bell?). I can totally get behind Cher as wisdom dispenser/diva entrepreneur who delegates her bitchiest moments to others.

Did it have to be Christina Aguilera? Hasn't she been working this burlesque thing for some years now? That big character reveal moment that is supposed to shock everyone where she starts the vocals, preventing the curtain drop? It already feels anti-climactic. Big whoop-dee-doo. Christina can do growly runs. I think this sort of storyline begs for an unknown in the lead or a name that we didn't know could sing like a madwoman. Someone who can shock you with their lion's roar when you assumed they were a pussycat (doll).

On the other hand... the supporting cast looks very fun. We see a lot of reliable ol' Stanley Tucci in Prada mode, Kristen Bell promises great catfight in her blink and you'll miss her kittenish moment, and Alan Cumming, who could outperform most Burlesque divas just by replaying any single moment of his Tony-winning emcee performance from Cabaret , is also glimpsed. How enjoyable the movie is may well rest on how much screen time these supporting players get. Of course it might make me crazy that they're all second fiddle to Xtina but what can you do. Hollywood has never been much of a meritocracy.

You know what to do in the comments. And you'd better do it. Cher is in the (movie) house and she doesn't come around too often. Be ready with a tip for a true show queen.

Falling in Link Again

cinema
Self Styled Siren terrific piece on memorable movie costumes. The Siren writes beautifully. My favorite write-ups are those for Breathless and Strangers on a Train.
Dennis Cozzalio has an amazing piece about the 35th anniversary of Robert Altman's Nashville, one of the best movies ever made.
Boy Culture on the new Burlesque stills and out writer/director Steve Antin. I'm excited for this movie but also fearful that it'll just be the Christina Aguilera show. That would be epically disappointing given the rest of the cast list: Cher, Tucci, Cumming, Bell.
Cinema Blend Viggo & Fassbender on the set of David Cronenberg's Freud/Jung picture Dangerous Method. Can't wait. So excited to see two of today's best actors in character.
Cinematical Neil Gaiman is sick of vampires.

movie stars
I Need My Fix Jude Law in the Czech Republic. Apparently Sadie Frost is writing a book about their marriage. Uh oh.
Old Hollywood Ernest Hemingway to Marlene Dietrich. Awesome quote.
Diva Asia Apparently Gong Li is now divorced. I'm not that concerned with her marriage. I just want her in some incredible movies again. Like something as good as Ju Dou? That's too much to ask, right? I can dream.

a Buffy moment
Flickr Holy Hellmouth, this "Buffy Alphabet" is awesome thus far.
Low Resolution has a three-part incredibly detailed interview with one of the writers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you love Buffy you'll want to read it.

just for fun
pop licks "Best Headline Ever?" Maybe it is. It is pretty vivid.
Chateau Thombeau "Been There" hee x several.

....and because it's just amazing, the video "Big Bag Big Boom" by Blu.

BIG BAG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Lady Gaga's Alejandro: The Fun & Folly of Appropriation

Madonna was once both adored and reviled as "The Great Appropriator" so I suppose it's only fair that Lady Gaga borrows from her. When I first heard "Alejandro" I kept thinking 'Oh, Ok. Gaga has to have her own "La Isla Bonita," too.' And then she went and collaborated with frequent Madonna iconographer Steven Klein for the music video.



So even though Klein is shamelessly borrowing from his own past work here, the wonderful thing about Gaga is that, like her spiritual pop empress predecessor, she's her own artist, too. This makes the appropriation palatable as well as fun... until crazed fans start giving her credit for everything. [But that's another funny subject matter entirely.] I mean even Madonna didn't invent the chameleon approach to pop stardom, though her fans, like Gagas, also tried to give her credit for it at the time.

Doesn't that "what on earth will they wear/look like next?" thing go directly back to Bowie? Or is it earlier than that. Paging pop historians???

Blond helmet bobs and flare pants forevah!

So mark my words. Someday soon -- let's say within the next 3 years -- Gaga is going to have her Madonna "Live to Tell" moment wherein she totally shocks the world, not with a new provocative look but by showing up with a demure, classic one. It'll get everyone talking as much as any diet coke can hair rollers ever did.

The Madonna / Steven Klein collaboration from 2003
One might call the stylings Gaga-esque but for the year in question

So, my point is this: Clumsy homage/ripoff like the kind that Christina Aguilera does in "Not Myself Tonight" when she plagiarizes both Madonna and Gaga *shudder* is not fun at all and should be looked down upon. But riffing on the work of others in a new context or with a fresh twist is totally fun and what many great artists do.

We see this in feature films all the time, too. Both of the best shots in Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces are arguably inspired by other work: There's that white sheet shrouded sex scene (Margritte) and that moving emotional climax with the hands caressing the static image (which I'm hearing is a Godard reference... but it totally works in the Almodóvarian context). A couple weeks ago we chatted briefly about the various A grade riffs on Ingmar Bergman's Persona (Lynch's Mulholland Dr and Altman's Three Women). And everyone knows that the wildly popular Quentin Tarantino is all about referencing other movies. But whether or not we recognize the references --I often don't with Tarantino since the genres he loves most are weak spots for me -- great artists reference past work only in the service of making their own fresh visions.

The only real issue with doing this is when the new artist acts as if it's completely and 100% their invention. Which is why it was a shame that Beyonce's otherwise awesome and awesomely ubiquitous "Single Ladies" video didn't have a "thank you Bob Fosse" attached to it, for example.

Madonna & Gaga. They're both "tops"

So, I can't help but think about Madonna the entire way through"Alejandro" maybe because of the Catholic imagery. I see "Alejandro" like so: Madonna's men in cone bras helping hot blond divas masturbate (Like a Virgin, Blonde Ambition Tour), women topping men suggestively in dance choreography (Express Yourself, Blonde Ambition Tour) and catholic girls obsessing over funerals and death in snowy black and white ("Oh Father") plus a couple choreographed bits from "Human Nature" and "Express Yourself" all get tossed into the Gaga/Klein blender and come out the other end as an angry military puree. Here the woman isn't topping men with a flirtatious feminism but actually appears to be penetrating them rather more subversively like a man would. And instead of just obsessing at the coffin and weeping for her dead loved one, the girl is actually leading the funereal procession. And the cone bras become guns. Bang Bang.

I'm not sure I've ever fully registered the sheer amount of aggression in Gaga's art before. But after the mass murder of "Telephone", the crispy end-gag in "Bad Romance" and the poisoned Skarsgaard in "Paparazzi," and this, it's abundantly clear. Suddenly those silly rumors about Tarantino wanting to work with her that sprung up when she used Kill Bill imagery for "Telephone" make more popcultural sense. Gaga is out for blood!

Unfortunately this new video is too effortfully mounted and grave to be half as fun as her previous outings and it also feels more derivative. Will she ever top the exquisite aesthetic control, hilarious sight gags and awesome choreography of "Bad Romance"? That said, even though I'm unmoved by this new work, I really love Lady Gaga and remain thrilled that someone is taking the music video format so very seriously again and has the fanbase to back up that particular passion. It had been a long while since each music video premiere felt so "NEW SHORT FILM!" headline worthy.

Three final errant thoughts...


On a shallow film referencing note, can I just say that I absolutely hate beautiful men with perfect bodies. It's entirely unfair that anyone can stay "hot like Mexico" while sporting Moe's Three Stooges 'do. Entirely unfair.

How much do you love that lyric "you know that I love you, boy | hot like Mexico"? Well, I love it more than you do. Genius.

This final image is thrilling and for some reason it makes me desperate to shove Lady Gaga into a time machine and make her do a video with James Bidgood or Ken Russell in the 70s, Almodóvar in the 80s or maybe Pierre et Gilles or Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet in the 90s.

Oprah Again

This morning was my second trip to Oprah (phone photos are so... lacking) and once again it was a pop diva taking the stage. Christina Aguilera this time. I can't say I'm crazy about her new single "Not Myself Tonight." And the video is especially frustrating with its bold plagiarisms. Wouldn't it be so cool if Madonna & Lady Gaga joined forces as co-plaintiffs to sue her ass?

This Oprah trip wasn't at thrilling as the First Time! but it's hard to beat your first time at a live taping. Have you ever gone to one?

We Can't Wait: BURLESQUE

It's time to look at the movies that have us salivating with anticipation for this fresh new film year. I asked the whole Film Experience team to give me their "most anticipated" list and then we fused them together for a countdown which kicks off soon.

"We Can't Wait. Summer and Beyond"

Before we get to our dozen most awaited films, I've given everyone the go ahead to chat up their "orphan". That's the film from their List O' Impatience that the rest of us weren't quite as anxious to see. My highest ranking orphan was a musical. I know. I know. Such a shock. I could knock you over with a feather right now... a feathered boa.

Burlesque
Directed by: Steve Antin
Starring: CHER! That's all I needed to know.


Synopsis: Tess (that's CHER!) is a retired dancer and the owner of the struggling title venue. A small town girl named Ali (Not CHER!) arrives with a very big voice and becomes the venue's main attraction. Drama of multiple sorts follows.
Brought to you by: Screen Gems...and probably the popularity of the The Pussycat Dolls. Though they're really the low rent mall version of the hip neo-burlesque movement, if you ask me.
Expected release date: November 24th. Let's hope it's no turkey.

While it's possible that this movie will be terrible, that doesn't mean it won't be highly watchable. If it manages to be good ... oh happy day! Cher is a fine screen actress and we've barely seen her -- apart from that endless "farewell" tour -- in years and years and years. I suppose I'm vaguely curious to see if Christina Aguilera can act but I'm guessing she gets decent reviews even if she's merely adequate. After Britney's Crossroads and Mariah's Glitter debuts, the only way is up right? The supporting cast includes cheeky Alan Cumming, sparkly Kristen Bell, muscley Cam Gigante and streepy Stanley Tucci. And they're all costumed by the great Michael Kaplan, who I've already written about this week.

Finally, I've always found actor-turned-director Steve Antin "curious by association" as well as a little hunky. And that's even before he came out of the closet. I remember him best as the guy that mouthed off about his frenemy Sandra Bernhardt in Without You I'm Nothing and victimized Jodie Foster in The Accused. I know others remember him more from a certain 80s sex comedy [nsfw] or from The Goonies. He wrote Burlesque with underrated screenwriter Susannah Grant (In Her Shoes, Pocahontas, Erin Brockovich) and Keith Merryman.

Will you be buying tickets or hiding once this film struts your way in fishnets?

"We Can't Wait: Summer and Beyond"
The "orphan" picks Nathaniel (Burlesque), JA (Love and Other Drugs), Jose (You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), Craig (What's Wrong With Virginia?), Robert (True Grit) and Dave (Brighton Rock); Team Film Experience Countdown #12 It's Kind of a Funny Story, #11 Sex & the City 2, #10 Scott Pilgrim vs the World, #9 Somewhere, #8 The Kids Are All Right, #7 The Illusionist, #6 Toy Story 3, #5 Inception, #4 Rabbit Hole, #3 Never Let Me Go, #2 Black Swan and #1 The Tree of Life.
*

Carol Beadle, Runaways Style

Revised Post

More and more photos of Kristen Stewart and lil' Dakota Fanning in their Joan Jett / Cherie Currie garb will now be surfacing since The Runaways filming is underway. Just Jared has lots of new snaps of these two costumes pictured left. Most film sites won't tell you this when they get costume shots -- because they don't care? I care. Oh how I care. I have love for you Behind the Scenes People o' Hollywood! -- but the costumes here are by Carol Beadle. She has a very short film resume (most recently, stylist work on Max Payne) but these costumes look great, don't they? Yay.

Obviously trendsetting will occur. Late 70s girl rocker chic coming at'cha on city streets soon. Or at least by the film's release date in 2010, TBA.

Here's a photo of the band below [via]. The cast also features Scout Taylor-Compton as Lita "Kiss Me Deadly" Ford (she has five movies nearly ready for release. Eeep. I guess she's counting on a big year), Stella Maeve as Sandy West, Alessandra Torresani as Jackie Fox (Maybe. There seems to be some confusion. She's not listed on IMDb and was originally rumored to be playing Lita Ford) and Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development!) as Micki Steele who went on to become one of The Bangles. I haven't heard any confirmation on whether less major members of the band like Peggy Foster, Vickie Blue or Laura McAllister are in the movie.

If I were a somebody in Hollywood I'd be thinking about this movie very carefully and I'd be pitching an epic GO-GOs biopic as a chaser for 2012. They were HUGE and their story has a surplus of drama and all the stuff that Hollywood requires for a musical biopic (aka hit songs and cocaine).

Ginnifer Goodwin for Belinda Carlisle? Get up and go Hollywood. She's nearly too old and svelte for it now.

Ginnifer might've made a perfect Belinda in her more cherubic days

Oops. Off topic. Where were we?

You can read more about Carol Beadle at her site. She's worked with Runaways director Floria Sigismondi several times on music videos as well as Sophie Muller, Annie Lennox's bestie, who has made some of the best videos ever. I'll leave you with a famous Sigismondi/Beadle collaboration, Xtina's "Fighter", and a reel of Beadle's work from 2007. Enjoy.

Linky the Blogger Slayer

Self Styled Siren has a fascinating quote from William Wellman on the psychology of actors
<--- THR A relaunch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer without the Scoobies, Gellar or Joss Whedon. Ewww. Remember what happened last time they revived Buffy from the dead? She weren't too happy 'bout it, y'all. Learn from past mistakes or be doomed to repeat them.
Big Picture on Ulmer Scale of Bankability. Re: Nicole Kidman

Even overseas, people see her choice of roles as very erratic. She'll do a studio film, but followed by several films that don't even register overseas. She's just too unpredictable. A French executive I spoke to said, "I find her fascinating, but she's too quirky." That makes her a very risky bet.

Fabulon has some clips from a Bette Davis sitcom The Decorator
Risky Biz on marketing Palme D'Or winner The White Ribbon

---> Elizabeth Banks has fun posts up with personal pics and views from Cannes.

...I just got back from the Festival de Cannes. It was pretty good...

We saw UP in 3-D (adorable) and Precious (the opposite of adorable, but great). So I guess it was better than good.

Hell on Frisco Bay sees a documentary about the Sherman Brothers (Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). I want to see this toot sweet.
DListed Cher & Christina Aguilera as co-stars?
I Need My Fix Heather Graham has some words for the producer of her latest

Corbis has a fun brief article by Fran Lebowitz on this ancient Warhol portrait of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I link to this because the grim box office of Terminator Salvation (less than T3 many years of ticket price inflation later) suggests that without Ahnuld, there is no interest in Terminators. CGI Ahnuld need not apply. If your personal lack of interest involves the lack of a James Cameron behind the wheel, you can click over to Market Saw to whet your appetite for Avatar. The shot they have is supposedly of body armor worn by humans attacking an alien village. It's reminiscent of Ripley in her exoskeleton in Aliens, don'cha think?

Josh & Kate @ the Beach

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JA from MNPP here. While doing research for my post at MNPP this morning in honor of Josh Hartnett's 30th birthday today (research = looking at pretty pictures of a pretty man), I stumbled upon an entire series of promo shots of Mr. Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale for Michael Bay's homage-to-shiny-people-and-the-shiny-bombs-that-blow-them-up Pearl Harbor, and couldn't resist taking my opportunity while at the helm of TFE to dedicate a post to it. I mean... if there's one thing The Film Experience lacks, it's attention paid to Pearl Harbor, otherwise known as "The Thinking-Person's Titanic."

Wow, typing out that sentence made me throw up in my mouth a little.

In all honesty, there have been a few times that I've stumbled across PH on television and found myself drawn into its swirl of pretty commercial surfaces. I find it's more entertaining if you pretend it's really a love story between Hartnett and Ben Affleck. Also, you should be very, very drunk.

Time capsule: I would choose 2001 as the one of these to do, wouldn't I? Well, that happened. In entertainment, at the tail-end of the year Peter Jackson would introduce us to Middle Earth and Chris Columbus would take us inside Hogwarts for the first time. In music, Beyonce & Co. introduced the word "bootylicious" into the vernacular, while Christina Aguilera & Co. dressed like crazed Muppets who'd devoured a cosmetics counter in the "Lady Marmalade" video.
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Psychological Profile by iPod

Is there anything these buggers can't do? Saw this at Johnny A Go Go... You turn on your iPod. Shuffle. Play. The songs that come up answer the following questions in order (You can't change the questions and you can't skip songs. Be honest).

So here goes...

1. How does the world see you?
Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright. Oh no. I guess people find me addictive but bad for them. A little too sweet, fattening, harmful for you. The song ends: "So please be kind if I'm a mess" haaaaaa ha --Um. Maybe I should not go on.

2. Will I have a happy life?
The Promise by When in Rome. Oh, sweet. A song about friendship.

3. What do my friends think of me?
1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. I can't divine a meaning here but I love it.

4. Do people secretly lust after me?
Talula by Tori Amos. Maybe I'm someone's 'little fig newton'. Or maybe I'm worth losing if I'm worth something? Tori loves to play it ambiguous-like. I have to admit: I was kind hoping I'd get some nasty jam like "Drrrty" by XTina. Is this wrong?

5. How can I make myself happy?
Don't Fence Me In by The Talking Heads. Down with restrictions and inhibitions apparently. It looks like free love for all (but only if you can decipher whether or not you secretly lust after me based on the lyrics to Talula)

6. What should I do with my life?
Central Park from the musical See What I Wanna See. This one scares me. Very few of you will know this but the song is about a man who is a successful corporate guy who basically loses his shit, quits his job, becomes homeless and searches for God. True story: I lost my shit. I quit my job. But no way am I doing the homeless routine if I can help it.

7. Will I ever have children?
Heaven by The Eurythmics. Well Annie is whispering "I'd love to" and "just what you need" and "takes a little time" in the background.

8. What is some good advice for me?
Long Time Gone by the Dixie Chicks. Acceptance of change "and it ain't comin' back again" in other words: Let it go! Good advice.

9. How will I be remembered?
Pale Shelter by Tears for Fears. This is not flattering. I'm either the needy control freak singer or the cold and withholding lover that the song is about? If The Boyfriend is reading this and nodding his head in agreement to either one (or both), keep it to yourself. "Don't Speak!"

10. What's my signature dance song?
Juke Box Blues by Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash. I'm a little bit country... who knew?

11. What's my current theme song?
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill. I'm down with this soul searching. Had to stop being what others expected me to be "And I made up my mind to define my own destiny".

12. What do others think my current theme song is?
Sleep to Dream by Fiona Apple. Stubborn, pissed off, and determined. Yep.

13. What shall they play at my funeral?
Say Ahhh... by Deee-Lite. Maybe my funeral will be attended by radical faeries and devolve into a big orgy? "Check my spot. Dig my swirl. I'm a liberated girl"

14. What type of men do I like?
The Origin of Love from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I guess the answer is that I like my men androgynous. Is this about that time when I obsessed on The Velvet Goldmine for an entire year?

15. How's my love life?
Get Up and Go by the Go-Gos. Er...

Now I really must say goodbye and begin performing some sort of holy water exorcism on my iPod which is clearly possessed by dark forces because it knows WAY too much about my inner psyche. It's like a demon therapist without a confidentiality agreement. Yikes.

Anyway, I showed you mine. Now you show me yours. If you have a blog ... tag your it. Tell us what your iPod says about you! Press play and answer those 15 questions with the songs. Feel free to put a link to your post in the comments section.

tags: iPod, music, playlist