Anne Hathaway Wardrobe Malfunction at New York Premier of 'Les Misérables'

At the Los Angeles Times, "Anne Hathaway gets revealing at NYC premiere of 'Les Miserables'."

And London's Daily Mail, "'They saw everything!': Anne Hathaway left 'devastated' after she's embarrassingly pictured without underwear."

Well, she should probably wear some undies to cover up those private parts.

Added: "'Les Miserables' | New York premiere," and "Did Matt Lauer go too far with Anne Hathaway upskirt quip?"

Plus, "Anne Hathaway strikes a blow for an underwear-free America."

'Zero Dark Thirty' Aims for Authenticity and History

Hey, "Hurt Locker" was very good. I'm looking forward to this one.

At LAT, "'Zero Dark Thirty' hunts for Bin Laden -- and more."

In 2008, the screenwriter Mark Boal sought an appointment with a retired special-forces operator. Boal was researching a movie about the fruitless search for Osama bin Laden in the caves of Tora Bora six years before, and he wanted insight into how U.S. forces gathered intelligence.

The agent agreed to meet, but under strict conditions. Boal would be kept in the dark about where the encounter would take place until just before, when he'd be given directions, via GPS, to what turned out to be a gas station. The meeting would be brief, and there would be no guarantee of an information exchange.

"I showed up and there's this guy by the pump wearing sunglasses," Boal recalled in an interview. "And the first thing he said was, 'Give me a good reason why I should talk to you.' And I'm like, 'Well, nice to meet you too, sir.'" Boal eventually cultivated other sources, acknowledging that as a Hollywood screenwriter it isn't always easy emulating Bob Woodward.'

The zigzag-y process that began at the gas station culminates in the groundbreaking "Zero Dark Thirty," Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow's searing dramatization of a different U.S. mission to target Bin Laden that ended successfully last year in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

When Sony Pictures releases the tense, dense movie on Dec. 19, "Zero Dark Thirty" likely will take its place alongside classics of war cinema such as "The Dirty Dozen," "Apocalypse Now" and "Saving Private Ryan" while simultaneously redefining the form. Few Hollywood action thrillers have contained so many documentary-style aspirations to truth and urgency — and so quickly after an epochal event, to boot.

And never before has a stone-cold-serious American war drama featured a woman both behind the camera and at its center.

"Zero Dark Thirty," in other words, could well stand at the vanguard of a new genre: the viscerally human but post-feminist (and post-political) war film.

Continue reading.

Hitchcock's Blondes

Here's MoDo, at NYT, "Spellbound by Blondes, Hot and Icy":

Certainly, the master of the dark side had “a murderous fascination with blondes,” as the British Film Institute once noted in a tribute.

And now comes Hollywood’s murderous fascination with Hitchcock’s murderous fascination.

HBO’s “The Girl” depicts the making of “The Birds” and “Marnie,” with Toby Jones playing Hitch and Sienna Miller playing Tippi Hedren, fighting off rapacious birds and rapacious director at the same time.

In theaters, “Hitchcock,” with Anthony Hopkins as the auteur and Helen Mirren as his wife and collaborator, Alma Reville, depicts the making of “Psycho,” with Scarlett Johansson taking Janet Leigh’s place in the shower to be stabbed by that crazed mama’s boy Norman Bates. (The long-suffering Alma at one point erupts at her husband about his glittering fixation, snapping that she is “not one of the contract blondes you badger and torment with your oh-so specific direction.”)

Next spring, A&E will run “Bates Motel,” a prequel series to “Psycho,” featuring a young, creepy Norman, with Vera Farmiga as his (blond) mother.

Why the fresh fascination with the man with the famous profile? Perhaps the more Hollywood churns out rancid movies, the more it appreciates Hitch, who never got an Oscar. (“They take sadistic pleasure in denying me that one little moment,” Hopkins’s Hitchcock says.)

When he was asked about plot construction, the martini-dry director would echo the advice of the 19th-century playwright Victorien Sardou: “Torture the women!” And the Brit would slyly observe: “Blondes make the best victims.”

Well, it's a nice start at the essay, but collapses after that in some post-modern cultural psycho-babble that's not very well related to Alfred Hitchcock. Keep reading at that top link if you're not bothered by Ms. Dowd.

What the heck? A good chance to post the video trailer. The movie looks good, in any case.

Jamie Lee Curtis Shows Off Her Lovely Figure at the Premiere of 'Hitchcock' in Los Angeles

She's having fun.

At London's Daily Mail, "Foxy in her 50s! Jamie Lee Curtis honours her mother Janet Leigh as she attends the Hitchcock premiere in off-the-shoulder white dress."

Fabulous Naomi Watts in Stunning Black Gown for London Premier of 'The Impossible'

She looks great.

At London's Daily Mail, "Pulling off The Impossible: Smiling Naomi Watts looks every inch the Hollywood superstar in daring gown at film premiere."

Stacy Peralta's 'Bones Brigade' Marketing Campaign

A fascinating interview with the skateboarding pioneer, at the Los Angeles Times, "Bones Brigade's wheeler dealer":

Pro skateboarder turned filmmaker Stacy Peralta takes a suitably maverick approach to the marketing of his new 'Bones Brigade: An Autobiography.'

Read it all.

PREVIOUSLY: "Stacy Peralta's 'Bones Brigade'."

Stacy Peralta's 'Bones Brigade'

Peralta's new documentary is in theaters.

And here's the review at the Los Angeles Times, "Review: 'Bones Brigade' rides a skateboard back to the '80s."

Kenneth Turan Reviews 'Lincoln'

At the Los Angeles Times, "Review: Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' a towering achievement":

Hollywood's most successful director turns on a dime and delivers his most restrained, interior film. A celebrated playwright shines an illuminating light on no more than a sliver of a great man's life. A brilliant actor surpasses even himself and makes us see a celebrated figure in ways we hadn't anticipated. This is the power and the surprise of "Lincoln."

Directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Tony Kushner and starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president of the United States, "Lincoln" unfolds during the final four months of the chief executive's life as he focuses his energies on a dramatic struggle that has not previously loomed large in political mythology: his determination to get the House of Representatives to pass the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery.

This narrow focus has paradoxically enabled us to see Lincoln whole in a way a more broad-ranging film might have been unable to match. It has also made for a movie whose pleasures are subtle ones, that knows how to reveal the considerable drama inherent in the overarching battle of big ideas over the amendment as well as the small-bore skirmishes of political strategy and the nitty-gritty scramble for congressional votes.

Continue reading.

Harvey Weinstein's 'SEAL Team Six' Boosts Obama Footage in Shameless 'Gutsy Call' Promotion

Well, it's not like it's a surprise or anything.

At London's Daily Mail, "GOP's outrage after Harvey Weinstein's SEAL Team Six film on bin Laden take down was 're-cut to add MORE Obama footage'."

And see Vanity Fair, "Why Mitt Romney Was Cut from a Harvey Weinstein Movie":

Disappointing news for anyone hoping that Mitt Romney would abandon his political career, pack his worldly belongings into a beat-up VW, and move to Hollywood: a scene featuring the presidential candidate was cut from a forthcoming action film produced by heavyweight Hollywood Harvey Weinstein. The film—which could have been his big breakthrough—was slated to premiere merely two days before the election.

The movie is SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden, a 90-minute drama that will premiere on November 4 on the National Geographic Channel. Directed by John Stockwell (Crazy/Beautiful and Blue Crush), the film will include President Obama at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner and taking a lonesome stroll “thanks to the magic of editing,” as The New York Times puts it. The Romney scene was removed at the behest of the National Geographic Channel, on the grounds that it gave the impression that the former governor had opposed the plan to apprehend Osama bin Laden. According to the channel’s chief executive, Howard T. Owens, “We wouldn’t air this if it were propaganda.”

Shoot, probably better Romney was edited out.

It's airing November 4th? No political favoritism there, no sir. And hey, Weinstein's in the tank. He's been hosting Hollywood fundraisers for the president. I doubt Weinstein will be making a film on the Libya debacle, however. That wouldn't fit the "gutsy call" narrative so well.

Hot Momma! Natalie Portman Smokin' Film Set Photos From New Terrence Malick Movie

Another round of pre-debate Rule 5, via London's Daily Mail, "Hot momma! Natalie Portman sizzles on the set of her latest film as she cozies up to Michael Fassbender."

And recall that Ms. Portman was my original Rule 5 hottie, "Natalie Portman Gets Results!"

Even Robert Stacy McCain was impressed, "Natalie Portman on a slim pretext."

And speaking of the Other McCain, from yesterday, "Rule 5 Sunday: Pulchritudinous Power Hour."

I'll have some post-debate analysis later...

Huffington Post's Ryan Clayton 'Escorted' From D.C. Screening of 'Hating Breitbart'

At Instapundit, "Even from beyond, Andrew Breitbart is driving his ideological enemies into apoplexy."

And from Gateway Pundit, "BREAKING: FOX News Contributor & HuffPo Loon Ryan Clayton Frogmarched From “Hating Breitbart” Premier."

He's getting hammered on Twitter as well:

NOW SHOWING: The Haunting of Ryan Clayton - In the parking lot, no one can hear you scream RATED R #RyanClaytonGoesToTheMovies
— D.W.Robinson (@_DWRobinson) October 20, 2012

He's denying he was "frog-marched" out of the theater and is offering $1000 to the first person who provides video proof. I'll bet the dude's going to be $1000 poorer real soon.

Check the loon's Twitter feed.

UPDATE: This story's taking off.

See The Other McCain, "Left Celebrates ‘Hating Breitbart’ Opening by Acting Like the A–holes They Are." Via Memeorandum.

Is Atlas Shrugging?

Via Glenn Reynolds, an interview with Harmon Kaslow, the producer of the film 'Atlas Shrugged, Part II', "Job Creators Are Giving Up on the U.S."

Bérénice Marlohe

Oh boy, she's something else.

And at American Perspective, "Skyfall Trailer - Who can resist a James Bond film?"

How Lincoln Emerged in the Stratosphere of Greatness

From Conrad Black, at the New York Sun, "As Daniel Day Lewis’ Portrayal of the 16th President Is About To Hit the Silver Screen, Our Columnist Offers an Assessment of the Original" (via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit):

The mighty American star system has elevated and demoted thousands of people over the 236 years since the propagandistic arts were first torqued up in the Declaration of Independence. But the supreme champion of the American personality cult has been Abraham Lincoln. Given the hyperbole which frequently attaches to much-admired Americans, there is a temptation to assume that Lincoln could not possibly deserve the stratospheric elevation he has received. But he does.

Lincoln was born on the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809, received only about a year of formal education, and moved with his family to the frontier country of Indiana, and then, at 21, to Illinois. He largely educated himself as a voracious reader, worked at a variety of jobs, had his first, disturbing, look at slavery on a trip down the Mississippi in 1831, and toiled in a law office until he became a member of the Illinois Bar in 1836.

His mother died when he was young and he had little rapport with his father. But he got on, was a tall and rugged man, companionable, and a fine raconteur with a good sense of humor, who gradually built up his legal practice and became a leading attorney.

He was troubled by slavery as fundamentally wrong: “I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our Republican example of its just influence in the world.” This seems an obvious position to hold now, but America was largely founded and built by slave-holders. Although Lincoln did not at first consider African Americans to be equal in talent and intelligence to Caucasians, he eventually amended that view, when he came to know more of them.

Lincoln came gradually to believe that the incongruity to proclaimed American values, and the outright evil of slavery, were so profound that the nation could not survive. He was for, above all, the preservation of the Union, and favored various methods of curtailing and gradually eliminating slavery. These included support for the original idea of paying for the emancipation of slaves and their voluntary return to Africa, to the purpose-created country of Liberia.

Continue reading.

I haven't been this excited about a new movie in a long time. Abraham Lincoln is my favorite president. The more I read about him the more fascinated I become. And I love sharing things like the Gettysburg Address with my students, especially because they too are fascinated by him, and of the sacrifice that he eventually made for the preservation of American democracy.

The trailer is in theaters. My oldest boy and I saw "Taken 2" over the weekend and we watched it. Daniel Day Lewis, when viewed at some angles, looks like he's Lincoln himself. It's an amazing likeness. I'm excited.

'Skyfall' Review

The trailer is great.

And at Telegraph UK, "Skyfall, James Bond, review":

When is a Bond film not a Bond film? It’s a question likely to prey on the minds of the very many cinema goers who will see this 23rd official 007 adventure. Skyfall shakes together familiar elements of the Ian Fleming canon – the cars, the guns, the exotic locales with the dames to match – into a blistering comic book escapade that the old Bond, and one suspects Fleming too, would find altogether alien.

Sam Mendes’s frequently dazzling, utterly audacious entry in the franchise has less in common with its much-loved predecessors than Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. After its release in 2008 (when it left Quantum of Solace, the 22nd Bond film, trailing in its wake), Nolan’s pathbreaking superhero picture almost single-handedly reconfigured the modern blockbuster template. Like a wise old dog, 007 has studied it carefully, and learned some new tricks.

Here, Bond (Daniel Craig) faces a foe almost as inscrutable as the Joker himself: Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), an ex-MI6 agent who worked with M (Judi Dench) in her pre-Handover Hong Kong days who has returned, unhinged by a perceived betrayal, as a master computer hacker bent on vengeance.

Bardem’s lip-lickingly camp turn makes him the oddest Bond villain since the Roger Moore era, and his nicotine hair flops queasily over his forehead in a way that calls to mind Julian Assange. By acknowledging the rise of cyberterrorism in the same way Nolan played on the West’s new vulnerability in the wake of 9/11, Skyfall is a Bond film for the Anonymous generation.

Continue reading.

Daniel Craig is an awesome bond. I'm sure "Skyfall" will be spectacular.

Lindsay Lohan Endorses Mitt Romney

No surprise, but Robert Stacy McCain got right on that story.

See, "Further Proof That Chicks Dig Mitt UPDATE: @Tawny_Kitaen, Too? OMG!" (Via Memeorandum.)

More at Business Insider, "Lindsay Lohan Endorses Romney, And It's Actually a Really Big Deal."