5 Off My Head: Siri Says 2017

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Sorry our "Siri Says" series (say that five times fast) has been a bit off the past couple of weeks - today is not the day we usually do this (they normally fall on a Tuesday) but we were busy with other things yesterday, and I wasn't planning on having the time today but on a whim I asked Siri for a number and she gave me something too interesting to pass up - she gave me 17. Now I'm not even going to go near picking movies for 1917 because that's a lost cause, but what about picking my favorite Movies of 2017 so far? 

I can do that! And since I'm always so bad about getting my awards out on time, this might actually stanch that bleeding. And we're talking the calendar year here, anything I have seen between January 1st through the present, or thereabouts - so nevermind the lopsided Oscar season, and a few listed below haven't actually come out yet (one is out on Friday!) but I saw them at festivals (several from Tribeca) or early screenings.

My 5 Favorite Movies of 2017, So Far

A Ghost Story

(dir. David Lowery)

-- released on July 7th, 2017 --

Beatriz at Dinner

(dir. Miguel Arteta)

-- released on June 9th, 2017 --

Good Time

(dir. The Safdie Brothers)

-- released on August 11th, 2017 --

The Lovers

(dir. Azazel Jacobs)

-- released on May 5th, 2017 --

Get Out

(dir. Jordan Peele)

-- released on February 24th, 2017 --

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Runners-up: Lady Macbeth (dir. William Oldroyd), Thirst Street (dir. Nathan Silver), Permission (dir. Brian Crano), My Friend Dahmer (dir. Marc Myers), Nobody's Watching (dir. Julia Solomonoff), Hounds of Love (dir. Ben Young), A Quiet Passion (dir. Terrence Davies)...

... Raw (dir. Julia Ducournau), Personal Shopper (dir. Olivier Assayas), Frantz (dir. Ozon), The Belko Experiment (dir. Greg McLean), Colossal (dir. Nacho Vigalondo), Free Fire (dir. Ben Wheatley), Sleight (dir. JD Dillard), Prevenge (dir. Alice Lowe)...

... Wonder Woman (dir. Patty Jenkins), It Comes at Night (dir. Trey Edward Shults), Beach Rats (dir. Eliza Hittman), The Beguiled (dir. Sofia Coppola), Okja (dir. Bong Joon-ho), The Little Hours (dir. Jeff Baena), Atomic Blonde (dir. David Leitch) 

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Haven't seen: T2: Trainspotting (dir. Danny Boyle), My Cousin Rachel (dir. Roger Michell), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (dir. Luc Besson), Girl's Trip (dir. Malcom D. Lee), Detroit (dir. Kathryn Bigelow), Columbus (dir. Kogonada)

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What have been your favorites of 2017 so far?

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Never Been Kaiju'd

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Colossal is as tonally tricky as anything writer-director Nacho Vigalando (who is basically an experimental filmmaker who takes big budget Hollywood concepts and mashes them up in his hands like Play-Doh) has attempted before - for much of its run-time it plays like a failed, unfunny rom-com. It plays as broad as any bad Jennifer Aniston movie at times - the only thing is the punchline keeps being "Jeez this woman is a sad drunk," which isn't a punchline at all. 

It takes an adjustment, watching the film - a rearrangement of your audience member particles, of how you've been trained to watch movies like this, to see how Vigalando is subverting those habits. Around halfway through the film there's no going back - I even noticed a change in the theater around me as the movie went on and people began to understand what they were watching. People loosened up - the jokes started revealing themselves not in the punchline but in the moment after the punchline, which is where the movie's true interest lies.

I have a feeling Vigalando is a movie-maker whose time will come like that too - we'll only realize a beat after we should have that this is a master at work.  So now, basically? We should have already realized this, is my point. Every single one of his movies, from the smashing debut of Timecrimes in 2007 up through the strange twists and turns of Extraterrestrial and Open Windows, they need time to bake in your mind, and only now can they maybe be seen as a body of work is it all really coming into focus - his sharp obsessions as a movie-maker, and man are they a fascinating bunch.

Anne Hathaway was a smart choice casting-wise because, well, she's a terrific actress for one. But the baggage she brings with her carries both something like Bride Wars and something like Rachel Getting Married; the latter I think is the key to her work in Colossal - what if in place of Rachel's depressing familial histrionics (no I am not a fan of that movie still) we put those ideas into something far stranger and more fascinating to watch? A genre goof with real emotional stakes plopped down onto it? It makes for a captivating watch; one that has you cheering for the most bizarre things by the end. But cheer you will.
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Portrait of a Lady Kaiju

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Howdy, folks! Sorry that today's been a bit of a wash due to some personal time extracurriculars (a doctor's appointment, and now some more Tribeca Fest press screenings) but yeah, a wash it's been... although any day starring Jamie Dornan's pubic hair can't be written off as a total loss. Anyway as we head out the door, recommendation-wise, well, the only movie coming out this weekend that I have already seen is The Transfiguration, which I reviewed right here and which is worth seeing for sure. But since that is being released in just one single solitary theater here in New York City I guess I can't really tell you what to do with your time this weekend. Harumph!

But let's all go see Colossal together! I've got a ton of Tribeca screenings but I'm carving out a couple hours for Nacho Vigolando's "Anne Hathaway is Kaiju" movie, and if I can you can. No excuses! I haven't bothered watching any trailers for it because who the hell needs a trailer to convince them they want to watch such a thing as this, but here's a trailer for you if you're that weird:

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I Am Link

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--- Hot Nachos - Anne Hathaway was my second favorite dressed at the Met Gala and seeing her there made me miss her (she was wise to step away post-Oscar win though) so this news is exciting - she's going to star in the new movie Colossal from Timecrimes director Nacho Vigalondo! Yeah okay I'm still using Timecrimes as his calling card even though he's made two movies since then; Extraterrestrial and Open Windows were both... okay.  Oh but his segment in the last V/H/S movie was my favorite part of that movie. This new movie sounds bizarre though, in a great way. It sort of sounds like he's re-using his idea from Extraterrestrial actually, which was an on-the-ground romance set during an alien invasion that kept the alien invasion entirely in the background, only this time around it'll be a Godzilla type attack.

--- Foul A Saurus - Since this summer is the first time that a Jurassic Park movie is coming out while this blog exists you're forgiven for not knowing how excited I would normally be about such a thing versus how much enthusiasm I've been displaying, so let me spell it out: my enthusiasm should be higher for Jurassic World than it is. I should be hollering about it left right and center. But the CG in the trailers, man... it is a lousy downer.

So basically I've just been keeping my fingers crossed that they've been working on it as time's progressed and by the time the movie comes out, it'll look right. I shouldn't have to work this hard to have hope, is just the thing. Anyway this piece at Cracked about the problem with modern-day CG is on point, and expresses all the problems in depth, go read it. Loved this from the end:

"The CGI is powerful, but the people who made it clearly don't have enough respect for that power. I know I'm just quoting Malcolm at this point ... but shit. They really were so preoccupied with whether or not they could have 88 dinosaurs throwing exploding helicopters at each other that they didn't stop to think if they should."

--- Who For Hardy - I guess I forgot to link to this earlier this week, even though I was even all up in Tom Hardy's ass previously (sigh), but in that long interview he gave to Collider he apparently says he and DC are working on a secret project, which is a mixture of Ocean's 11 and Batman, among things. And it might be more than just a movie, it might be TV too. I have no idea what it could be, but sure, why not. More Tom Hardy for everybody! Anybody have any guesses though?

--- Down With Dolan - I still haven't liked a Xavier Dolan film one hundred percent without reservations, although Tom at the Farm and Mommy have come the closest. I think he's clearly improving. But there's been plenty to appreciate about everything he's done, even if it's just his deep affection for cinema that's pouring off the screen, so I don't really get the point of this article about his "Hipster Dystopia" -- they're pretty much saying what I just said but using that to rail against the clueless Cannes sycophants that propped him up in the first place? It just reads like mistaking the forest for the trees to me. Who cares who likes what when - there's good stuff in there! Just like it! You sound more posturing than anybody here.

--- But Speaking of Hipster Cannes, Natalie Portman's full-bulged babydaddy Benjamin Millepied is going to be putting on a ballet thing at the French fest's opening tomorrow set to the music of Vertigo by Bernard Hermann. (thanks Mac) I am forced to imagine judges Xavier and Jake Gyllenhaal sneaking off as the music swells and their eye-fucking becomes too much to bear to make sweet passionate love on the sand. I'm just forced to picture that!

--- Hard Cover - I really really reeeeeally want the fancy new collector's edition of Daniel Clowes' Eightball comics that is about to be released, it looks so so pretty. If every single one of you goes and buys yourself a copy on Amazon then maybe I can make enough residuals from your clicks to buy myself a copy, so go do that, is my point. Anyway Clowes talked to BoingBoing about how he and Fantagraphics worked together to make such a pretty pretty object.

--- A Man To Love - We've glared on our own at Karl Glusman, the hot new actor on the scene, right here and right here - he's starring in Gaspar Noé's porny new movie Love as well as Roland Emmerich's Stonewall movie as well as Nicolas Winding Refn's Neon Demon. Up and comer! Anyway over at The Film Experience Nathaniel went even further with a great bunch of gratuitous-ish stuff to ogle. Love the quote from Noé, calling Glusman "the ultimate 3D babymaker." Oh and that shot to the right there is the first image from Love, which you can see in all its NSFW-ness over here.

--- And Finally earlier today I posted three trailers to upcoming horror TV shows but as one commenter pointed out the only horror TV show worth actually being excited about is Hannibal's third season return on June 4th, and oh my god have you seen the Gillian Anderson poster and have you watched this crazy Korean promo for the show yet?
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I Am Link

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--- Mini Cooper - The first pair of pictures from Need For Speed are online, and obviously I only give a shit about this movie because it stars Dominic Cooper, let's not pretend otherwise. It's an adaptation of that video game of the same name, blah blah, cars, blah, show your ass, Dom!

--- Lost For 10 - We posted about yesterday being the 10th anniversary of Lost in Translation already, but here's an interview with Sofia Coppola reflecting back upon the making of it. Some great stories in there. She adores Bill Murray.

--- Pfamily Matters - We do love Michelle Pfeiffer, but not nearly enough to go see that DeNiro movie she's got opening this weekend. But at least its release prompted Joe Reid to write up a list of her roles according to order of terrifying beauty. If there was only number one, there would be everything.
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--- Super Stars - Didja see the first picture from David Cronenberg's new movie Map to the Stars? Over at The Film Experience Nathaniel listed off some thoughts he had while looking at Julianne Moore and Sarah Gadon doing their touchy feely thing and each one's awesomer than the one before it. I can't even tell you how excited I am about Juli working was DC. 

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--- Kaleidoscope Eyes - If you've seen Corman's World, the doc on legendary B-movie maker Roger Corman, then you know he's lived a life and a half and the thought of a fictional bio-pic makes your head spin with the possibilities of who could play the characters in his life - like who the hell do you get to play a young Pam Grier? Anyway Gremlins director Joe Dante is going to try to make one, it'll be called The Man With the Kaleidoscope Eyes, and Corman himself is cameoing in it as himself? I don't know.

--- Meta Mortimer - Ooh we love Emily Mortimer, and we love Brian DePalma, and they are making a movie together! And even more exciting if you ask me, he's making a meta movie about making movies. It will be about a director making a movie out of Emile Zola's book Therese Raquin, and how the people making the movie start to live out the book in their lives. The book's about slutting it up and murder, so a million times yes. Maybe Emily's husband can get a part in it! (Cue excuse to post a picture of Alessandro Nivola here.)

--- Lil' Creeper - Elijah Wood has teamed up with Timecrimes director Nacho Vigalondo for Open Windows, a cyber-thriller with Elijah once again tapping into his creepiness to play a dude who's stalking a chick (played by porn star Sasha Grey) via the internet, and you can watch the trailer right here. Or below! I didn't like Vigalondo's last movie, the sci-fi comedy-of-sorts Extraterrestrial, so let's hope this offers some redemption.
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I Am Link

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--- Maniac Mania - This might be the coolest sentence I'll write all month - Drive director Nicholas Winding Refn is teaming up with writer-producer Larry fucking Cohen and director William fucking Lustig to produce a prequel to Maniac Cop. I could replace every word in that sentence with a slap across the face and it would be less dramatic. Holy shit, you guys! I doubt there's any way to cram Bruce Campbell into this but if they could figure that out I might just turn into a pile of ecstatic goo. I mean, not that Bruce looks like he did in Maniac Cop anymore, but still...

--- Rubble Ripper - The AV Club got to chat with Mr. Busy, Joss Whedon, and there's a whole lot of talk about horror what with The Cabin in the Woods being the major topic of conversation, and therefore I pronounce this interview golden. I could listen to Joss talk about horror all my forever. They also get him to kind of say that his one-time-rumored BBC series with Anthony Stewart Head called Ripper, based on his Buffy character, is sort of dead, but Joss doesn't really commit to that - he says he never knows when an idea's really dead and when it's just gestating, waiting for the right moment.

--- Spook Chatter - Talking about the state of horror today in the wake of Cabin in the Woods is a big thing right now; over at The Film Experience Michael brings up the role of irony, and ironic detachment, and humor, in where we stand on the spooky things these days.

--- And speaking of, BD points out that there are a couple of Cabin related books that came out this week - there's a novelization of the story here, and then there's this Official Visual Companion, which I need on my shelf like yesterday.

--- Rough 'Rents - The writers of The Descendants (including Community dean and Angie-leg-aper Jim Rash) are already making an action-comedy with Kristen Wiig, and now they've sold a second script - it's called The Way Way Back and it's about a teenage kid on Summer vacation who goes through some shit. Said shit will now involve a boozing stepdad played by Steve Carell and a mother played by Toni Collette. I'm so happy Toni keeps getting work, y'all.

--- Alien Invasion - Slash has word that Nacho Vigalondo's second film Extraterrestrial is getting a release here in the US in June. They really liked the movie, a lot of people did - I wasn't all that crazy about it myself, to my disappointment. But hey the lead guy Julián Villagrán spends the first ten minutes in very tiny underpants so it's not all a wash.

--- And speaking of underwhelming movies getting a release, Amy Heckerling's laugh-free scare-free horror comedy Vamps got picked up by Anchor Bay and will be out around Halloween. Boo.

--- Fire Balls - Add two more names to that list of possible Catching Fire directors - Moneyball's Bennett Miller and Francis Lawrence, who gave us Constantine and I Am Legend. I'm not really a fan of either so I'm still on Team Impossible Cuarón.

--- Prez Accounted For - Darren Aronofsky's getting ready to direct Noah but his next project's already being talked up - he wants to do something called The General, about George Washington. They say it will be "deconstructionist," like Unforgiven. Seeing as how we're talking about Darren Aronofsky I doubt anybody was thinking it was gonna be a straightforward anything.

--- The Hitchcock Kid - I was just watching some of The Karate Kid on TV the other day and wondering why Ralph Macchio had just up and vanished and here we are, today he gets cast in the Hitchcock movie about Psycho (the one with ScarJo and Anthony Hopkins) as the film's screen-writer Joey Stefano. Too cool.

--- Tina, Bring Me - Park Chan-wook has opened up about a couple of things via here, sharing some details on his English-language debut Stoker, which stars Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, which is filming now. And he's planning on making The Ax next, which he almost did before - it's a remake of a French film about a murderous chemist. That might be in English as well.
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Good Morning, World

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That's Spanish actor and purposeful underwear-filler Julián Villagrán in director Nacho Vigalondo's second film (after the spectacular Timecrimes) called Extraterrestrial, which I saw in the Fall and was sadly underwhelmed by. Except for the whole "Hey, let's have Julián Villagrán spend the first ten minutes of the movie in his underwear!" part, that much was entirely satisfying. I was going through 2011's gratuities for our awards and realized I'd never posted anything from this lovely scene - if I had access to the movie itself we'd see more; as is all I've got is what they show in a trailer. But hey, that they gave this much in their trailer proves they knew what their best footage was. After the jump you can see a couple of caps and this well-beefcaked trailer of which I speak.

I Am Link

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--- A Pinch of Fincher - Didja hear The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is coming out a day early? That means it's out today, by the way. I just heard this, which makes my "early" screening of the film last night seem slightly less exciting. But the film is good! I will try and review it later today, if I get the chance. (So so busy.) But because that movie's out David Fincher's been making the press rounds, and you can read several stories of interest over at Slash - Here's what he would have done if he'd ultimately gotten to make a Spider-Man movie like he almost did! Here's an update on several things he's working on, including his long-gestating adaptation of Charles Burns' brilliant graphic novel Black Hole! And here's Tattoo's screenwriter Steven Zaillan talking about how he wants to do the remake of Timecrimes really badly!

--- Pretty Pretty - I hope y'all have been keeping up with Club Silencio's Obscure Beauty series, because it's exceedingly pleasurable. Adam seems to be on a giallo slash Bava kick and there be great wads of prettiness to gawk at.

--- Cine-manna - Twitch gives us word of several exciting classics that'll be screening at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in January and February, including ones by Fassbinder and Herzog, so this is heaven for me, and that is what matters.

--- Woody's Women - This is super fun - EW got a list from Woody Allen of the five classic film actresses that he'd have loved to work with. Just close your eyes and picture Bette Davis doing a Woody Allen movie, and find nirvana there.

--- Knight Writer - I feel ridiculous for not having written anything much on the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, but time really has been too scarce this week. Thankfully Nat did it for me slash everyone with his Yes No maybe So take on it over at The Film Experience. Also, io9 goes through it via screencaps. I mean... is there anybody who isn't going to see this movie? I ask that genuinely - even though I think The Dark Knight is far from perfect, and even though I couldn't understand half the word coming out of Tom Hardy's face, and even though it seems like there are way way too many characters, I simply cannot imagine missing the movie, it's unfathomable to me, and I know this means I've been brainwashed, but there it is.

--- Miss Three Hundred - Eva Greensleeves (her name has become that in my head permanently because my boyfriend's obsessed with the fact that she's always wearing long sleeves, which makes her a better person, natch) is going to play the villainess Artemisia in the sequel to 300, probably. She sounds like a female version of the gold-spackled Xerxes. Mmm Rodrgio Santoro in his golden underpants...

--- Turn of the Century Killer - A writer's been hired to adapt the terrific book The Devil in the White City into a movie for Leonardo Dicaprio to play the serial killer H.H. Holmes. I very much enjoyed this book and would very much like to see it adapted into a movie, if only to see the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 recreated. 

--- Enter Elevenses - Rumors be swirling that the trailer or the teaser trailer or perhaps a trailer for the teaser trailer or who knows for The Hobbit Part Uno will show up somewhere someplace today. And here I forgot to bring my hairy hobbitses feet to work just in case!

--- Just Jessica - First it happened with David O. Russell's Nailed, but that got swallowed up into nothingness, but here's the second time I find myself amazed to be really anticipating a movie starring Jessica Biel. She does absolutely nothing for me as an actress, but this being French director Pascal Laugier's follow-up to  the horror masterpiece Martyrs, I don't really have a choice. It's called The Tall Man (I've spoken of it before), and BD has a couple new Biel-riffic pics from it.

--- Winter Is Here - If you're as anxious as I am for something anything Song of Ice and Fire related now that you've read all the books and the show's not back on HBO for a few months, then you could find no better outlet than a podcast starring friend and ASOIAF obsessive Sean T. Collins.

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Extra Extraterrestrial

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Timecrimes was good enough that I should've been expecting a curve-ball when director Nacho Vigalondo started making a movie called Extraterrestrial about an alien invasion as his sophmore effort, but I still didn't see this coming. From Slash's review:

"Buying a ticket to see a film called Extraterrestrial brings with it a lofty set of expectations. You expect sci-fi, you expect action and most of all you expect to see aliens. Nacho Vigalondo‘s second feature film says screw that. His Extraterrestrial has an alien invasion in it but it’s there only to put a new spin on the romantic comedy, a spin only the man behind Timecrimes could create. Incredibly, Extraterrestrial feels almost as layered as that film, but instead of multiple levels of time-travel, this features multiple levels of lies, laughs and love. It’s a wonderful, almost screwball, comedy that does pretty much everything right."

Well, cool. Very cool! Hopefully we'll get a chance to see for ourselves someday soon.

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I Am Link

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--- Absduction - Glenn got paid to watch Abduction so we don't have to, but after hearing his take on it I'm almost tempted to see it sometime because it sounds completely ludicrous. That Facebook friends line, oh my god! I'm just afraid to see too much of Sigourney slumming it, I wouldn't want to have my adoration tarnished in any way, ever. I hope she makes a great movie again soon. Maybe Red Lights? It's got a good director but Robert DeNiro is not an indicator of quality that's for sure. Come on, Siggy! I want an Oscar in your hands, woman!

--- Leatherface Lovefest - Adam finished up his long-running "Something Rank" countdown - where he listed from bottom to top his favorite Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th films - this week with the precisely correct choice. Yay Adam! Great stuff.

--- Something Queer - I've got to write up my thoughts on lil' gay indie Weekend soon, but for now you should check out fourfour's take, splendidly expressed as it always is over there. And the NYT has a chat with the film's director Andrew Haigh, as well. 

--- We're All Next - Speaking of movies I need to review, I just watched A Horrible Way To Die this past week, and its director Adam Wingard just sold his new movie, called You're Next, which was a big hit with audiences in Toronto. It's about a family reunion that gets attacked by animal-masked murderers, which yes I will eat that right up, thank you.

--- Go Games - In theory I'm all "Hells yeah!" towards this rant at io9 on why The Hunger Games series is far superior to the Twilight books/movies franchise, but I can't profess true knowledge since I have yet to even watch even a scene from a single Twilight movie, much less read the books. Still, people I trust say it is so! And The Hunger Games are so good. So yeah! Yeah!

--- Kiki Forever - I haven't read the whole thing yet but it's lovely to see an admiring piece on Kirsten Dunst in the world at the New York Times no less, since we love her so much and grew weary of all the dislike we'd seen aimed her way for such a long while. (Okay when she dated Jake even I did that some, but let's forget that... stop glaring at me, Reese Witherspoon!) I'm dying to see Melancholia, is the point. Just about two weeks til NYFF!

--- Robo Talk - Slash has a quote from the unknown-to-me Brazilian director Jose Padilha, the dude who got handed the remake-duties for Robocop once Darren Aronofsky moved on, and it sounds like he's interested in the body-horror aspects of merging with a robot more than Verhoeven's film was, which, okay.

--- Tattoo Time - I myself haven't watched the new Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trailer yet so maybe you haven't and will appreciate my pointing you in that direction. Maybe? Anyway if there's any shirtless Daniel Craig to be had expect another post once I get to it. That new poster seen there though is hot business.

--- Eyes Spy - There's forward momentum on Timecrimes director Nacho Vigilando's next movie (he's already got one in the can, called Extraterrestrial that we're waiting on), his first in the English language, called Windows, which is being described as a "Rear Window for the internet age." Timecrimes is so amazing and rewatchable that that description only makes me cringe a little bit.

--- Bit Parts - This piece on character actors in the NYT gets credit for giving love to some of the current greats - hey Judy Greer, girlfriend - but I thought it got especially interesting at the end when it talked about pretty movie stars like Brad Pitt that are actually character actors buried down in their gooey centers.

--- Avenge Me - The scope of "who cares about this news" is probably pretty small, but since I am amongst those excited I don't care I'm sharing - there will be an Avengers panel at New York Comic Con, and they will show never-before-seen footage, and there will be "surprise guests" which oh my god I just want Joss!!!

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I Am Link

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--- Great Scott - Sometimes I think to myself, Self, hello. Adam Scott really couldn't be any more awesome and deserving of the crush the world has on him, could he?" And then I reajavascript:void(0)d an interview with him like say today's in TimeOut and I realize that I've been such a dreary fool, of course he can be, and of course he will, time over and time again, he is incapable of being anything but the most awesome and adorable lollipop-headed man ever. He also says the Party Down movie is at like a 90% going-to-happen, which yay! I keep seeing all these mentions of there being a cult for that show now and it just pisses me off, though. I would like to enter into evidence all my posts on the show, even from before it even started airing back when we thought Paul Rudd would be on it. Fuck y'all people that didn't support it from Day 1! You're why it's not on anymore, I hate you!

--- Hillbilly Handfishin' - Speaking of adorable men who you fall back in love with every time you read an interview with them (or see them in a red speedo, for that matter) STYD chatted up Alan Tudyk whose supposedly-hysterical horror-comedy Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil is out in limited release and on VOD today.

--- Pro Frills - Glenn made sweet love to some images from the BluRay of Kelly Reichardt's gorgeously-shot Meek's Cutoff over at Stale Popcorn and reminded me how much I loved that shot of Zoe Kazan's costume blowing around her head like the frill on a dilophosaurus Frill-necked lizard.

--- D Is For Decapitation - Been hearing about The ABCs of Death for awhile now - it's an anthology horror movie where 26 different horror directors will each be assigned a word about death from a letter of the alphabet (A is for Asphyxiation!) to make a horror short about. These things are always hit or miss and it's often the directors you're most excited to see within that are doing the missing but looking at the just-finalized list of directors I'm still excited all the same. Ti West, Simon Rumley, Angela Bettis, Xavier Gens, Andrew Traucki and Nacho Vigalondo to name just a few!

--- Jewel of the Defile - Why is this still being mentioned, as if it might happen? Don't they know that if they try to remake Romancing the Stone with Gerry Butler and Katherine Heigl the people will rise up and burn Hollywood to the ground? Why don't they know that? We need to let them know this. There's only so far we can be pushed before we start pushing back!

--- Milk Made - I didn't really like the baby-horror movie Grace that much as a whole but I can't honestly say that I don't think of the movie whenever breast-feeding comes up in conversation (which obviously happens all the time) so it left a mark, at least. It's director Paul Solet is lining up his next movie and STYD's got the info. It sounds kind of stupid, like The Strangers meets Hostel.

--- All That Spazz - At first I didn't think I'd have much interest in the gimmicky movie The Artist - a black-and-white silent film made in 2011 - but I'm actually starting to come around to the idea. At least, like Nat says in his take on the just-released trailer, it seems to be a genuine love-letter to movie-making, even if singing and dancing has never been my cuppa. I'm probably gonna check it out at NYFF so we'll see. It doesn't hurt that it stars ?, who we've already lusted over here before. Looker!

--- Hey Coop - According to Michael Ian Black everybody but his boning-partner Bradley Cooper have made it known that they would totally do a Wet Hot American Summer sequel. Black also talks about that gay sex scene exactly the way I wish every actor would talk about such things.

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I Am Link

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--- Super Doll - Oh my god, Enver Gjokaj is in The Avengers! (via, via) Why hasn't this been huge news? Why aren't all the copies of US Weekly and People and Entertainment Weekly touting this awesomeness?!? Oh right, this world sucks. Well it sucks a little less with Enver in The Avengers. Maybe somebody besides Joss will even cast him in something next! Do I dare dream?

--- Topless Trio - Matthew McConaughey has joined Steven Soderbergh's male stripper movie about Channing Tatum's real-life teenage times yanking on his g-string, already starring Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer. This movie could go really porny really easily and I would be fine with that.

--- Ghost House - BD has got a big gallery of around forty new pictures from Dream House, that horror flick with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts, but you're gonna release that many and not a single one has Danny with his top off? Shame on all of you. We know he strips down thanks to the trailer! Cough it up!

--- Two Timer - Slash has got the first four pictures from Timecrimes director Nacho Vigalondo's follow-up called Extraterrestrial that's about aliens and shit. I briefly wrote about this movie here. I adore Timecrimes, and so should you.

--- Dick Central - I mentioned this a couple of weeks back but there's a Richard Kelly blogathon going on over here that started on Monday and it's already got plenty to peruse, so check it out. It keeps going through Saturday. I do hope to get something up myself before the end of the week, so stay tuned...

--- Nic On A Roll - Nicolas Winding Refn, the man seen kissing Ryan Gosling there to the left, the man who gave Tom Hardy (and Tom Hardy's penis) a career with his movie Bronson, the man whose movie Drive with Gosling is out in a month from yesterday and looks like it will give my eyes too giant enormous boners, that man is working on a remake of Logan's Run right now and he says that if this project goes well then there's a very good chance that he'll try his hand at making a Wonder Woman movie after that. And he wants Christina Hendricks to play her! God I can so see that.

--- And finally, I gave you some pictures from Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights this morning from TIFF"s website; they also uploaded a few shots from a movie called Hysteria that stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy as Victorian peoples inventing the first vibrator. I take this as a chance to stare at Dancy, who I don't get to stare at enough.

I Am Link

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--- A New ET - Via Slash comes a pair of posters, seen above, for Extraterrestrial, the new movie from Nacho Vigalondo, the man who made the wonderful 2007 movie Timecrimes. It's about, you guessed it, an alien invasion. So many science fiction movies these days, doesn't it seem like? Not that I'm complaining. Sounds good to me. Especially one with Vigalondo at the helm; love Timecrimes a whole bunch. And those posters are great. The movie's out sometime next year. Tick tock I ain't getting younger.

--- To Tall - The new movie from Pascal Laugier, the director of Martyrs- which with time and distance I'm more and more convinced of as a true masterpiece - will star Jessica Biel (via). This does not inspire enthusiasm, Pascal. It's called The Tall Man and is described as "a suspenseful thriller in the vein of the early films of M. Night Shyamalan, said an early statement. Biel plays a woman who must grapple with and track the mysterious figure of The Tall Man who has kidnapped her child." That creepy little girl in the Silent Hill movie, now grown up, is also in the film.

--- Beep Beep - I never got around to reviewing TiMER, that sci-fi rom-com with my beloved Emma Caulfield, did I? A search tells me no, I did not. I remember the movie more fondly than I think it actually deserves, but Emma's just so adorable you can't help but remember her fondly no matter what. I think the movie felt a little flat, from what I remember. But this review at io9 is making me feel like watching it again. Oh Emma, work more!

--- Of My Domain - In case the post I did whining here at MNPP about the demise of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master wasn't enough for you, I took my whining over to The Film Experience and did a whole post of it there as well.

--- The Sound of Source - The dude who scored Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain and Moon is reteaming with the director of the latter for his new movie with Jake Gyllenhaal. That is, Clint Mansell's scoring The Source Code by Duncan Jones, if we're gonna do the name thing. Whee, so many pluses!

--- Ass Later - As much as I didn't like Kick Ass, I would probably go to a sequel just to see Aaron Johnson bopping around in that snug little costume of his again. What can I say. Anyway Johnson admits that a sequel's at least a year from happening since director Matthew Vaughn's in the middle of making the new X-Man Muppet Babies movie.

--- Jew Fro - I haven't heard much about Sarah Polley's new movie, Take This Waltz, since here, but bless Sarah Silverman for giving it a little press push by telling the world she's gone totally naked for it. Not that I much want to see that. But still, it got the movie some headlines. Polley's editing it now, I guess. It stars Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen.

--- Weak Offerings - There are usually several movies I'm dying to see in each of Low Resolution's Movie Previews for the next few weeks, but there's not much in this batch that's tooting my horn. Although the trailer for Monsters totally gave me a semi so that's high priority.

--- Cartoon Owls - I couldn't have less inclination towards seeing Legend of the Guardians, but since Zach Snyder also talks about Sucker Punch in this interview I'll link to it. Sucker Punch is still so far away yet the trailer already seems like a distant memory. Not sure about their timing there.
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