UPDATE : 01/21/2013
I jumped the frickin' gun again. This time trusting a supposed certified reviewer. Received an e-mail confirming Imogen Poots isn't nude in the movie.
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Great news, guys. 23-years old Imogen Poots did her first nude scene in The Look Of Love (2013)
Sundance 2013 Movie Review: Look of Love
Award winning director Michael Winterbottom re-teams up with Steve Coogan to tell the story of Paul Raymond the man formally known as “The Richest Man in Britain” for his gentlemen clubs and work in the adult entertainment industry. The story shows us the obstacles he faced along the way to his frowned upon empire in Look of Love. And though Coogan’s name leads the way, be sure to note that this is NOT a comedy. It’s a drama with a number of witty lines and comedic moments, that ultimately tells the story of charismatic man’s climb to the top and what he lost on the way…
This film could use a little trimming and sprucing up around the edges, and hopefully it will before it gets released. It’s a fun ride, but by no means something that will blow you away.
Winterbottom will hope British sensibilities haven’t changed that much, because this film has mounds of flesh in it – almost entirely female, and a lot of it cupped in the hands of Steve Coogan, who plays Raymond. The girls, however fare better, with Anna Friel giving a feisty spark to Raymond’s first wife, while Tamsin Egerton upgrades effortlessly from St Trinian’s posh totty to his long-term lover, Fiona Richmond.
UPDATE : 01/22/2013
Slate
There’s a lot to look at in the movie, including an achingly sexy turn by Tamsin Egerton as stripper/writer/paramour Fiona Richmond.
UPDATE : 01/22/2013
Moss indeed does her first nude scene ever on camera.........Appreciation goes to my original source who told me - back in 2012 - about Moss accepting a role requiring full-frontal nudity (not sure if she goes that far in the series though) and another reliable source for pointing out the Vulture article. Mr. Skin should provide the details soon.
Vulture
As for Moss, this is the performance that could set a very promising tone for her post-Mad Men career. She’s stripped bare, both emotionally raw and literally. The actress initially balked at being naked, she told me after the screening, “You don’t want to be put in any position—pun intended—that’s not good.” But then she figured that “Jane Campion is the most feminist woman on earth; she’s going to be the last person to take advantage of you. She just made me feel safe. Most importantly, too, she was like, ‘You’re gonna look great!’”
UPDATE : 01/21/2013
The latest info on Moss is bit slow coming in no thanks to butt-killing running time of six hours. Many of the reviewers are sleeping it off before posting their proper take on the series.
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The East
Sam Adams @SamuelAAdams
Today's critical challenge: Write about AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS without using the words "Terence Malick." #Sundance
Alex Billington @firstshowing
Ain't Them Bodies Saints - Wow. Chills. Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara fantastic, chilling score. Reminded me of Malick's Badlands. #Sundance
Jordan Raup @jpraup
Ain't Them Bodies Saints: subdued, lyrical examination of the mistakes one must live with. Fantastic performances, great movie.
erickohn @erickohn
AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS; Unsurprisingly, very involving, gorgeous outlaw western (of sorts) w/1st-rate performances all around. #Sundance
ThePlaylist @ThePlaylist
Aint Them Bodies Saints impresses with searing and intense love story. Gorgeously shot and scored.
Jeff Goldsmith @yogoldsmith
Script for Ain't These Bodies Saints is essentially a love story where silence and yearning play a big part. Solid traditional narrative. #fb
Hollywood Elsewhere @wellshwood
"Ain't Them Bodies Saints" makes Rooney Mara's gun-toting rural girl into a pure-as-driven-snow Madonna figure. Gauzy, adoring, melting.
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WE ARE WHAT WE ARE
Film Threat
In terms of performance, Childers and Garner are real finds, delivering the kind of engaging turns that ground a film like this one in something worth caring about. Childers perfectly conveys the world weariness of a teenage girl who knows that her youth is over and a nightmarish life is about to begin. And Garner really mesmerizes as she somehow displays both childlike vulnerability and the strength to fight back against a practice that she knows is wrong.
Q: Doesn’t your character know that anyone who has sex in a horror movie is destined to be killed?
Wyatt Russell: Absolutely. But not while he’s having sex! (laughter) That is what attracted me to the script.
Flixist
The two teenage daughters, Iris and Rose, are mature beyond their years. Rose has the blank stare of a fish, without soul or in search of one. Older sister Iris looks like she wants to scream but can never find the opportunity. Rose is played by Julia Garner (Martha Marcy May Marlene) who gives the best performance of the film; who is a growing force to be reckoned with (see: Electrick Children); and who is also a sister of a (Facebook) friend -- so there's your disclaimer, dear reader. While I'm giving shout-outs -- here's a shout-out for her on-screen papa played by Bill Sage (who is not my Facebook friend nor would I ever want him to be [he creeps me the hell out.])
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Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska Show Off the New Sundance Equation: Indie = Crazy
With the opening weekend of Sundance 2013 concluded, festival-goers in Park City have been sounding a sad refrain: Where are all the great movies, the breakout hits, this year's "Precious" or "Beasts of the Southern Wild?"
The great movies may not have arrived yet, but the weird ones have.
Plenty of Sundance films have premiered to enthusiastic audiences and good notices, from the Jerusha Hess comedy "Austenland" to James Ponsoldt's "The Spectacular Now" to Liz Garcia's "The Lifeguard."
But there haven't been any major sales yet (terms for A24's acquisition of "The Spectacular Now" haven't been revealed), and the enthusiasm has been tempered by the fact that the year has yet to see a true Sundance Sensation.
People want one of those, badly. When the Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan wrote admiringly of the mountain-climbing documentary "The Summit," dozens of passholders were turned away from a press-and-industry screening of the film the next morning. When "The Spectacular Now" had a splashy premiere on Friday, its Saturday morning P-and-I screening became similarly overbooked.
But over the first four days of Sundance '13, one thing that has become clear: If the next sensational, fresh, game-changing indie film isn't in Park City this year, it's not for lack on trying on the part of the directors who've brought their films here.
This has been a Sundance for bold, kinky subject matter, for lots of sex (onscreen), for indie directors ramping up the excess and melodrama in a way that would have seemed completely out of place back in the days when the phrase "a Sundance movie" usually meant something restrained and naturalistic like "Frozen River" or "In the Bedroom."
Case in point: Drake Doremus, whose low-key comedy "Douchebag" and romance "Like Crazy" debuted at Sundance in 2010 and 2011, respectively, returned to the festival with "Breathe In." The film has a far bigger budget than his previous films, with Guy Pearce and Amy Ryan playing a longtime married couple whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a British exchange student, played by "Like Crazy" star Felicity Jones.
Doremus shot the film using his typical style -- a script that outlines the action but allows the actors to improvise their dialogue -- in the service of a story that veers into near-operatic melodrama and left the audience sharply divided.
Another Sundance vet known for quintessentially low-key dramas, Lynn Shelton, came back to Sundance with "Touchy Feely" a year after "Your Sister's Sister" debuted in Park City. Her new film isn't as overamped as Doremus', but it settles into such a quiet, moody, elliptical vibe that it almost qualifies as Shelton's take on Terrence Malick.
Meanwhile, one of the boldest and craziest Sundance entries came Sunday night at the Eccles, when Korean director Park Chan-wook ("Oldboy") unveiled his Mia Wasikowska-Nicole Kidman drama "Stoker," which already has U.S. distribution via Fox Searchlight.
"Just like any other movie I have made, the world where this story takes place is a world very much of its own," said Park (through a translator) when he introduced his film on Sunday.
He's right: "Stoker," which follows a young woman (Wasikowska) whose life changes dramatically when her father dies in a car accident and the uncle she didn't know she had arrives to stay, is an otherwordly, moody, stylized melodrama of sex, blood and family. It hits something of a fever-dream peak around the time Wasikowska masturbates in the shower while thinking back on a murder, but things hardly calm down from there. The film is gorgeous and kinky and bold and silly; it's one of several films at this year's Sundance ("Breathe In" and "Two Mothers" among them) that have drawn chuckles during scenes that aren't necessarily supposed to be funny.
Then again, "Stoker" is a model of restraint when compared to "Escape From Tomorrow," which debuted on Friday night and had three other screenings over the weekend.
It may be the biggest WTF? movie at a festival that has showed more than a few of those, a surreal drama about a family man whose life unravels during a day spent at Disney World.
The feverish black-and-white film is part erotic drama -- the dad fixates on a pair of French teenage girls and has an interlude with a witchy woman -- and part hallucination; by the phony "intermission" that arrives after an hour or so of increasing strangeness, most viewers will have no idea what to believe, except that the Happiest Place on Earth often looks like a nightmare from which there is no escape.
One of the weirdest and boldest touches is that much of the film appears to have been shot without permission inside Disney World, using cameras that Disney security probably figured were shooting the family vacation.
Extensive footage from actual Disney World rides is used in the film, with the Disney music stripped out (no sense even asking for the rights) and faux-Disney music dropped in. A long sequence set on "It's a Small World" is particularly strange, since everybody knows exactly what song is being sung, regardless of what you hear on the soundtrack.
First-time director Randy Moore was also cautious with the use of the Disney name -- the one time the film's lead character utters the word, it is bleeped out. But you have to wonder whether Disney's lawyers will try to throw some roadblocks in the way of a film that was to some degree filmed surreptitiously on its premises.
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29-years old Maggie Grace in Californication [S06E02]
Maggie Grace first truly 'risque' scene. Safe to say Miss America have finally grown up. Yes. You can right breast in typical low-lighting crap (tasteful the way Maggie wanted) but her first nude scene albeit the butt kind comes next week. We have to wait until the seduction scene with David and riding Minchin to orgasm to see her tits and more of the made-in-Ohio ass. My source claimed Maggie was so nervous she was swigging down a glass or two of giggle juice to perform the racy scenes that by the time she did her Jesus segment with Tim Minchin, all her inhibition was gone thanks to being partly drunk.
(word of caution : editing plays a major part in snipping away the nudity to keep up with the guidelines. The Showtime execs - lucky bastards - got to watch rough cut of Maggie Grace scenes and still wasn't impressed enough to approve a spin-off)
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Could Britain's Kaya Scodelario be one of this year’s breakouts?
The 20-year-old actor stars in “Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes,” a tale of a suburban American high school girl who develops an unusual relationship with a single mother (Jessica Biel) who moves in next door.
Scodelario plays Emanuel, who is haunted by strange dreams involving water and the fact that her mother died giving birth. An only child, she lives with her father (Alfred Molina) and a struggling stepmother (Frances O'Connor). When Linda (Biel) arrives in town, Emanuel is entranced by her new neighbor’s exotic looks, which remind her of her late mother, and Linda’s curious relationship to her newborn daughter, Chloe. Emanuel soon volunteers to babysit, drawing her into an unusual bond with Linda.
Writer-director Francesca Gregorini originally intended that the part would be played by Rooney Mara (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”), who starred in the filmmaker’s “Tanner Hall” four years ago. But it took so long to finance “Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes” that by the time cameras were ready to roll, the 27-year-old Mara was too old to play a teenager. So Gregorini cast Scodelario, a model who had a recurring role on the British television series “Skins” and acted in 2009’s “Moon” and 2011’s “Wuthering Heights.”
The film has attracted mixed early reviews, but some critics have singled out Scodelario’s lead performance for praise.
“Being here is obviously been the top so far,” said Scodelario, who grew up outside of London and is not professionally trained. “It has been a wonderful experience but absolutely terrifying. It’s going to take me a long time not to be terrified of this whole thing. Where I’ve grown up and where I come from, this doesn’t really happen to people like me.”
Scodelario has yet to decide what her next movie will be or whether she will move to the United States, but for right now anything and everything seems possible.
When Scodelario on Saturday walked down Park City’s Main Street with some of her “Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes” cast members, the paparazzi mobbed Biel, completely ignoring Scodelario. In a couple of years, she was told, she might be the object of the photographers’ attention. “That,” she said, “would be interesting.”
* The thing with Kaya is that she is from a working-class background and still caught in the mentality of I-can't-believe-this-is-happening-to-me. The humbleness is actually attractive to me but the lack of assertiveness doesn't. Kaya potential career trajectory is comparable to one Hillary Swank who also is from similar background but with one huge difference. Kaya - reportedly a victim of childhood bullying - doesn't possess the tenacity and ambition of Swank. She went after the Brandon Teena role despite the nudity involved and the rest is history. Kaya still have time on her side and if she was a hard-worker like Hayley Atwell, it'll be a while before we finally see her again on an American production.
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How will the CW's The Carrie Diaries, a prequel to a series based almost entirely on having and talking about sex, handle the topic in a way that both honors Sex and the City and follows the rules of network television?
On the series premiere, a young Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb) returned to high school after a summer of grieving the death of her mother. On the first day, she "meets" the new guy in school, Sebastian Kydd (Austin Butler), who was actually Carrie's first kiss the summer before. But now that the pair is together, how long will it be before the 16-year-old virgin starts down the path to becoming the Carrie viewers fell in love with on the HBO series? Executive producer Amy B. Harris is OK taking her time.
"We're not yet to a place where they're 'doing it' yet," Harris tells TVGuide.com. "We're taking it very slowly and then sometimes speeding it up the way your first relationships often are. What I love about Carrie and Sebastian is that we are really delving into that first relationship that inspires the potential to say, 'I love you' for the first time."
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Amanda Holden has revealed plans to launch her acting career in the US.
The Britain's Got Talent judge, who has had presenting gigs on CBS, wants a role in Showtime's Californication, alongside David Duchovny.
"I've been watching the box set of Californication for a while and I'm completely hooked. I don't know how I didn't start watching it earlier," Holden told the Daily Star Sunday.
The students, all between 18- and 22-years-old argued that the media is sexualizing women to a degree that men believe them to be objects for their every desire.
“So we are going to give them that, to the fullest of our ability. If they want to see a naked woman, let’s do it, but at the same time we will promote an honest debate over the role of women and sex in the region,” said Anya Xi Liu, who told Bikyanews.com that “we will have lesbian scenes, sex toy scenes. But it will also have specific messages of ending sexual violence.”
They argue that with the rise in anti-women media across the region and the increasing pornographic industry, “there needs to be a change in perception of women. If we want to show them sex, they better understand that they have to ask before touching.”
And that’s the tentative title of their calendar, which will include 24 photos of the young girls, completely nude.
“We want to make it clear that women are strong. We can be naked and still don’t want to be raped or assaulted,” interjected Claire, a British student who is joining the campaign.
Although they haven’t set a date for the calendar to be released, they admit it will likely only be on the black market at first.
“It will be too edgy for many people, who will view it as porn, but that is the point. To get people aware that we are not objects that can be pushed around. If we want to get naked, show our bodies and push a message, that is our goal,” added Liu.
It is all part of the ongoing battle against female perception vis-a-vis the pornographic industry and their use of women without considering the impact it has on the role of women and their bodies in society.
“I think this is a unique campaign and one that will shock many people, but it is needed to create a message that we are not just bodies to poke and prod,” added Liu.
Ironically, their inspiration comes from China’s Wang Li Danna, who was outed earlier this fall as a woman in a porn film. The Singapore students say that it showed them that even if a woman uses her body for her own private and business interests, they are shunned and condemned.
“But men who perform in sex tapes and porn films are praised as macho. This is wrong,” Claire argued.
Do I need to spell out the obvious. Full-frontal nudity by 24-years old English actress Jemma Dallender.
Scarce info on Jemma. She is from musical theater background just like Heléne Yorke of Masters of Sex. And just like Ms.Yorke, this will be Jemma first all out nudity on-cam.
I jumped the frickin' gun again. This time trusting a supposed certified reviewer. Received an e-mail confirming Imogen Poots isn't nude in the movie.
Sundance 2013 Movie Review: Look of Love
Posted by sabrinahodjati
Award winning director Michael Winterbottom re-teams up with Steve Coogan to tell the story of Paul Raymond the man formally known as “The Richest Man in Britain” for his gentlemen clubs and work in the adult entertainment industry. The story shows us the obstacles he faced along the way to his frowned upon empire in Look of Love. And though Coogan’s name leads the way, be sure to note that this is NOT a comedy. It’s a drama with a number of witty lines and comedic moments, that ultimately tells the story of charismatic man’s climb to the top and what he lost on the way…
The Players:
- Director: Michael Winterbottom
- Screenwriter: Matt Greenhalgh
- Cinematographer: Hubert Taczanowski
- Starring: Steve Coogan, Anna Friel, Imogen Poots, Tamsin Egerton
Synopsis:
Paul Raymond, known as the “King of Soho”, decides to revamp London’s 1950’s adult entertainment industry with a chain of classier gentleman’s clubs and magazines. His shoot to fame leads to a failed marriage, troubled children, and negative press, along with one very personal tragedy.The Good:
- The Ladies: In a film all about a charismatic, rich, lecherous highly successful business man, surrounded by topless women, it was lovely to see so many strong female performances. Anna Firel, Imogen Poots ann Tamsin Egerton, all did more than just look good naked, they created strong, interesting, dynamic characters that really made this film so strong.
- The Topic: Aside from all the naked women, covering someones life is always tricky and can be tiring for an audience. They tackled the topic in a very balanced way, and did a great job at showing numerous vast moments in his life, and hinting at where it all comes from without spelling it out. Which in turn allowed for them to cover far more than a normal bio-picture and let the audience do some of the work on their own.
- Coogan/Winterbottom: The two are equally as unpredictable in their film choices and both create characters that few filmmakers would table. It was lovely to see them together again and giving this story life.
The Bad:
- No Heart: It’s hard to watch a character, who while entertaining, really does nothing good with his life. He spends his time getting laid and never really taking care of anyone else, and the one big devastation in his life, it’s hard not to see coming. Paul Raymond is a strong character, and though it was clear what drove him and what we wanted in life, I never cared about him or for him on any level and therefore couldn’t really feel much for the film.
Overall:
I left this film feeling moderately entertained but not really effected. This was one of those films that was just fine, but other that all the nudity (which can only take one so far), there wasn’t much about it that was outside of the box.This film could use a little trimming and sprucing up around the edges, and hopefully it will before it gets released. It’s a fun ride, but by no means something that will blow you away.
Rating: 6.5/10
IndependentWinterbottom will hope British sensibilities haven’t changed that much, because this film has mounds of flesh in it – almost entirely female, and a lot of it cupped in the hands of Steve Coogan, who plays Raymond. The girls, however fare better, with Anna Friel giving a feisty spark to Raymond’s first wife, while Tamsin Egerton upgrades effortlessly from St Trinian’s posh totty to his long-term lover, Fiona Richmond.
UPDATE : 01/22/2013
Slate
There’s a lot to look at in the movie, including an achingly sexy turn by Tamsin Egerton as stripper/writer/paramour Fiona Richmond.
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UPDATE : 01/22/2013
Moss indeed does her first nude scene ever on camera.........Appreciation goes to my original source who told me - back in 2012 - about Moss accepting a role requiring full-frontal nudity (not sure if she goes that far in the series though) and another reliable source for pointing out the Vulture article. Mr. Skin should provide the details soon.
Vulture
As for Moss, this is the performance that could set a very promising tone for her post-Mad Men career. She’s stripped bare, both emotionally raw and literally. The actress initially balked at being naked, she told me after the screening, “You don’t want to be put in any position—pun intended—that’s not good.” But then she figured that “Jane Campion is the most feminist woman on earth; she’s going to be the last person to take advantage of you. She just made me feel safe. Most importantly, too, she was like, ‘You’re gonna look great!’”
UPDATE : 01/21/2013
The latest info on Moss is bit slow coming in no thanks to butt-killing running time of six hours. Many of the reviewers are sleeping it off before posting their proper take on the series.
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And I think Elisabeth Moss did her first nude scene as well in Top of the Lake
Top of the Lake
Hollywood Reporter
As the series progresses, this idiosyncratic commune serves as much for offbeat comic relief as it does for any serious purpose, as the women of all shapes and sizes are often seen frolicking or just hanging around in various states of undress and having discussions that touch on all manner of neuroses (one of these women is played by Genevieve Lemon, the star of Sweetie).
The show gets very raunchy at times and is also startling, even shocking in its spasms of sudden violence. Moss, sporting what one character derisively describes as a Sydney accent, is quietly and observantly superb, and Hunter, sporting straight long white hair and a caustic, cutting attitude toward her gatherings’s problems, is a hoot.
Kate Aurthur @KateAurthur
"Top of the Lake" is a goddamn masterpiece. Seeing it all at once was a privilege. Elisabeth Moss gives an incredible performance. #Sundance
Kate Aurthur @KateAurthur
Moss read "Lucky" by Alice Sebold to prepare for the sexual assault aspects of 'Top of the Lake."#Sundance
Variety
Moss, a long way from "Mad Men," brings a gripping combination of pluck, vulnerability and intense anger to the complicated role of a woman who fights for every inch of ground and at one point drives a broken bottle into a man's chest. Campion's films have long gone against the grain with their strong, embattled distaff protagonists and daring portrayals of female sexuality, and if "Top of the Lake" isn't in quite the same neighborhood as "In the Cut," it nonetheless calls on Moss and others to bare themselves physically and emotionally in a story located at the juncture of sex and violence.
Top of the Lake Hollywood Reporter
As the series progresses, this idiosyncratic commune serves as much for offbeat comic relief as it does for any serious purpose, as the women of all shapes and sizes are often seen frolicking or just hanging around in various states of undress and having discussions that touch on all manner of neuroses (one of these women is played by Genevieve Lemon, the star of Sweetie).
The show gets very raunchy at times and is also startling, even shocking in its spasms of sudden violence. Moss, sporting what one character derisively describes as a Sydney accent, is quietly and observantly superb, and Hunter, sporting straight long white hair and a caustic, cutting attitude toward her gatherings’s problems, is a hoot.
Kate Aurthur @KateAurthur
"Top of the Lake" is a goddamn masterpiece. Seeing it all at once was a privilege. Elisabeth Moss gives an incredible performance. #Sundance
Kate Aurthur @KateAurthur
Moss read "Lucky" by Alice Sebold to prepare for the sexual assault aspects of 'Top of the Lake."
Variety
Moss, a long way from "Mad Men," brings a gripping combination of pluck, vulnerability and intense anger to the complicated role of a woman who fights for every inch of ground and at one point drives a broken bottle into a man's chest. Campion's films have long gone against the grain with their strong, embattled distaff protagonists and daring portrayals of female sexuality, and if "Top of the Lake" isn't in quite the same neighborhood as "In the Cut," it nonetheless calls on Moss and others to bare themselves physically and emotionally in a story located at the juncture of sex and violence.
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Stoker
UPDATE : 01/22/2013
Slash Film
Potentially another first-time entry into cinema hall of nudity fame : Mia Wasikowska
StokerUPDATE : 01/22/2013
Slash Film
A relatively explicit solo adventure for India, cross-cut with a bit of violence, should be the point where her development into a proper Stoker family monster is finalized. Instead of being awed or seduced by her adult emergence, I just laughed. Wasikowska’s physical performance is quite good, but the film doesn’t seem to care.* Looking forward to Mia's solo-mast but also cautious about use of body-double.
_________________________
Twitch Film
One particularly heated scene will really get people buzzing about an all-grown-up Wasikowska.
Indiewire
It doesn't take long to establish Charlie's morbid tendencies with a series of violent incidents that the lunatic doesn't bother hiding from India. As the body count rises, she's drawn to the transgressive nature of murder, an impulse at first implied and then later writ large in a memorable bit that finds India sexually after witnessing a gruesome act up close.
Indiewire 2
Alden Ehrenreich's good guy character inexplicably becomes Lucas Till's asshole character and tries to rape her seemingly because the script couldn't figure out how to place Till's character at the scene. Magically, Charlie appears to rescue her and the brutal killing of the teenager is the point-of-no-return moment where the film goes from bad to downright terrible (we won't totally spoil it, but after this sequence there's the most unintentionally hysterically funny masturbation scene involving India that's plain ludicrous).
Hitfix
What's interesting about Chan-wook Park's visual approach (he brought his long-time collaborator Chung-hon Chung with him as cinematographer) is how he works overtime to imply rather than be explicit, and it's not because he had to do it that way.Once the film starts to reveal its secrets, it moves quickly, and my biggest issue with the film is that I think they got really close to the great version of this movie. There is a scene where Wasikowska takes a shower that is disturbing and personal and bold, and I wanted more of that. I wanted the craziest stuff in the film to matter more. I wanted to be as rattled by this as I was by "Old Boy" or "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance." The film flirts with that degree of transgression, but pulls back and plays conventional in the end.
Variety
Led by a brilliant Mia Wasikowska as an introverted teenager whose personal and sexual awakening arrives with the unraveling of a macabre family mystery, this exquisitely designed and scored pic will bewilder as many viewers as it bewitches, making ancillary immortality a safer bet than "Black Swan"-style crossover biz for Fox Searchlight's marvelously mad March hare.
Earmarking future cult items is a fool's errand, but Park's film nonetheless stands to be treasured not just by his existing band of devotees, who should recognize enough of the "Oldboy" and "Thirst" director's loopy eroticism and singular mise-en-scene amid the studio gloss, but by epicurean horror buffs, camp aficionados and even a small, hip sect of post-"Twilight" youths. It's Wasikowska's film, and she shoulders it with witty aplomb: equal parts Alice in Wonderland and Wednesday Addams, her India is in constant, silent argument with the world around her.
_________________________
Twitch Film
One particularly heated scene will really get people buzzing about an all-grown-up Wasikowska.
Indiewire
It doesn't take long to establish Charlie's morbid tendencies with a series of violent incidents that the lunatic doesn't bother hiding from India. As the body count rises, she's drawn to the transgressive nature of murder, an impulse at first implied and then later writ large in a memorable bit that finds India sexually after witnessing a gruesome act up close.
Indiewire 2
Alden Ehrenreich's good guy character inexplicably becomes Lucas Till's asshole character and tries to rape her seemingly because the script couldn't figure out how to place Till's character at the scene. Magically, Charlie appears to rescue her and the brutal killing of the teenager is the point-of-no-return moment where the film goes from bad to downright terrible (we won't totally spoil it, but after this sequence there's the most unintentionally hysterically funny masturbation scene involving India that's plain ludicrous).
Hitfix
What's interesting about Chan-wook Park's visual approach (he brought his long-time collaborator Chung-hon Chung with him as cinematographer) is how he works overtime to imply rather than be explicit, and it's not because he had to do it that way.Once the film starts to reveal its secrets, it moves quickly, and my biggest issue with the film is that I think they got really close to the great version of this movie. There is a scene where Wasikowska takes a shower that is disturbing and personal and bold, and I wanted more of that. I wanted the craziest stuff in the film to matter more. I wanted to be as rattled by this as I was by "Old Boy" or "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance." The film flirts with that degree of transgression, but pulls back and plays conventional in the end.
Variety
Led by a brilliant Mia Wasikowska as an introverted teenager whose personal and sexual awakening arrives with the unraveling of a macabre family mystery, this exquisitely designed and scored pic will bewilder as many viewers as it bewitches, making ancillary immortality a safer bet than "Black Swan"-style crossover biz for Fox Searchlight's marvelously mad March hare.
Earmarking future cult items is a fool's errand, but Park's film nonetheless stands to be treasured not just by his existing band of devotees, who should recognize enough of the "Oldboy" and "Thirst" director's loopy eroticism and singular mise-en-scene amid the studio gloss, but by epicurean horror buffs, camp aficionados and even a small, hip sect of post-"Twilight" youths. It's Wasikowska's film, and she shoulders it with witty aplomb: equal parts Alice in Wonderland and Wednesday Addams, her India is in constant, silent argument with the world around her.
ThePlaylist @ThePlaylist
Stoker wins the early unintentionally funny masturbation scene of 2013. Silly and then just brutal. #Sundance
Eugene Wei @eugenewei
Chan Wook Park's Stoker is a lot of fun, a high key allegory of a young girl's sexual awakening.
Russ Fischer @russfischer
STOKER: Visually lush, startlingly perverse, but wholly ridiculous and, as a story or character piece, just plain bad. #sundance
Jordan Horowitz @jehorowitz
I think I might have maybe loved STOKER? A lot of Giallo and Hitchcock and that style of funky stuff.
Jeff Goldsmith @yogoldsmith
Stoker was a moody, dark character driven thriller. Wook's visual style was beautifully engaging and creepy all at once. Cool genre flick. #fb
ErikDavis @ErikDavis
Stoker is both nuts and gorgeous, and then gorgeous and nuts #Sundance
kateyrich @kateyrich
Stoker!!!!! Holy shit!
Hermano Spreewell @NHLwithHermano
Just saw the world premiere of "Stoker" w/ Mia something and Nicole Kidman. Let me save you 2 hours and $$$: It's fucking terrible.
erickohn @erickohn
Chan-wook's STOKER: It's SHADOW OF A DOUBT meets HEATHERS! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) #Sundance
Belcourt Theatre @Belcourt
STOKER and de Palma's PASSION for the new double feature of the utterly ridonkulous
The Film Stage @TheFilmStage
Despite a shaky start, Stoker evolves into a twisted, violent, fun, impressionistic tale only Park Chan-wook could make. #Sundance
David Fear @davidlfear
Stoker: Like a late '60s Hammer film, very lurid and go-for-baroque. Hoping the sequel is called Stoker Ace. #Sundance
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Stoker wins the early unintentionally funny masturbation scene of 2013. Silly and then just brutal. #Sundance
Eugene Wei @eugenewei
Chan Wook Park's Stoker is a lot of fun, a high key allegory of a young girl's sexual awakening.
Russ Fischer @russfischer
STOKER: Visually lush, startlingly perverse, but wholly ridiculous and, as a story or character piece, just plain bad. #sundance
Jordan Horowitz @jehorowitz
I think I might have maybe loved STOKER? A lot of Giallo and Hitchcock and that style of funky stuff.
Jeff Goldsmith @yogoldsmith
Stoker was a moody, dark character driven thriller. Wook's visual style was beautifully engaging and creepy all at once. Cool genre flick. #fb
ErikDavis @ErikDavis
Stoker is both nuts and gorgeous, and then gorgeous and nuts #Sundance
kateyrich @kateyrich
Stoker!!!!! Holy shit!
Hermano Spreewell @NHLwithHermano
Just saw the world premiere of "Stoker" w/ Mia something and Nicole Kidman. Let me save you 2 hours and $$$: It's fucking terrible.
erickohn @erickohn
Chan-wook's STOKER: It's SHADOW OF A DOUBT meets HEATHERS! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) #Sundance
Belcourt Theatre @Belcourt
STOKER and de Palma's PASSION for the new double feature of the utterly ridonkulous
The Film Stage @TheFilmStage
Despite a shaky start, Stoker evolves into a twisted, violent, fun, impressionistic tale only Park Chan-wook could make. #Sundance
David Fear @davidlfear
Stoker: Like a late '60s Hammer film, very lurid and go-for-baroque. Hoping the sequel is called Stoker Ace. #Sundance
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The East Indiewire
Marling is blindfolded and led into the woods where she comes face to face with The East. After being treated for wounds she incurred during the fight, she is told to put on a straightjacket and join them for dinner. When she arrives she meets Benji (Alexander Skarsgård) who gives her a test: eat first and the others will follow. After struggling for a minute to bring the food to her mouth without the use of her arms, she eventually succeeds, pushing the spoon out of the way. But when the others join in, they do so in concert, passing the food to the next person with the utensils clenched between their teeth. The lesson here, is obvious. The group must work together as one unit. And while Izzy (Page) is skeptical about this new arrival to The East, Benji decides to keep her on.
Variety
After some harrowing detective work that establishes her confidence and quick reflexes in the field, Sarah makes her roundabout way to the East's rundown headquarters, where, passing herself off as a like-minded runaway outlaw, she soon gets a taste of their radical beliefs and vaguely New Age collective habits. Regarded warily by Izzy (Ellen Page), the most fanatical of these young activists, Sarah finds herself especially intrigued by Benji (Alexander Skarsgard), the handsome, soft-spoken leader of the group, who eventually invites her to participate in one of their operations.Another important moment finds Sarah and the other members bonding over, of all things, a game of spin-the-bottle, which has the effect of simultaneously confusing and clarifying the lines of trust and intimacy among the group.
Marling is blindfolded and led into the woods where she comes face to face with The East. After being treated for wounds she incurred during the fight, she is told to put on a straightjacket and join them for dinner. When she arrives she meets Benji (Alexander Skarsgård) who gives her a test: eat first and the others will follow. After struggling for a minute to bring the food to her mouth without the use of her arms, she eventually succeeds, pushing the spoon out of the way. But when the others join in, they do so in concert, passing the food to the next person with the utensils clenched between their teeth. The lesson here, is obvious. The group must work together as one unit. And while Izzy (Page) is skeptical about this new arrival to The East, Benji decides to keep her on.
Variety
After some harrowing detective work that establishes her confidence and quick reflexes in the field, Sarah makes her roundabout way to the East's rundown headquarters, where, passing herself off as a like-minded runaway outlaw, she soon gets a taste of their radical beliefs and vaguely New Age collective habits. Regarded warily by Izzy (Ellen Page), the most fanatical of these young activists, Sarah finds herself especially intrigued by Benji (Alexander Skarsgard), the handsome, soft-spoken leader of the group, who eventually invites her to participate in one of their operations.Another important moment finds Sarah and the other members bonding over, of all things, a game of spin-the-bottle, which has the effect of simultaneously confusing and clarifying the lines of trust and intimacy among the group.
Even more problematically, Sarah's second thoughts are largely catalyzed by her growing attraction to Benji, a perfunctory thread that generates little heat between Marling and Skarsgard. One wishes that Sarah, for
all her talent and resilience, were a bit more cold-blooded and less naive as her world comes crashing down.
Marling, who delivered ace support in "Arbitrage" and "Sound of My Voice" (as well as toplining the little-seen "Another Earth"), carries the picture effortlessly, signaling Sarah's emotions to the viewer while
shielding them from the group, and handling the occasional physical smackdown with aplomb.
Cory Everett @modage
The East (B-) Silly at times but nonetheless completely enjoyable companion piece to Sound Of My Voice. Brit Marling is beautiful. #Sundance
Russ Fischer @russfischer
THE EAST: Effective, very well-crafted, socially conscious thriller. Not unlike a FIGHT CLUB for the #sundance crowd.
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Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Hollywood Reporter
all her talent and resilience, were a bit more cold-blooded and less naive as her world comes crashing down.
Marling, who delivered ace support in "Arbitrage" and "Sound of My Voice" (as well as toplining the little-seen "Another Earth"), carries the picture effortlessly, signaling Sarah's emotions to the viewer while
shielding them from the group, and handling the occasional physical smackdown with aplomb.
Cory Everett @modage
The East (B-) Silly at times but nonetheless completely enjoyable companion piece to Sound Of My Voice. Brit Marling is beautiful. #Sundance
Russ Fischer @russfischer
THE EAST: Effective, very well-crafted, socially conscious thriller. Not unlike a FIGHT CLUB for the #sundance crowd.
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Ain't Them Bodies SaintsHollywood Reporter
This poetically told Texas crime saga is deeply and, to be honest, naively sentimental at its core, which creates something of a drain on its seriousness. But it’s a constant pleasure to watch and listen to and stars Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck both have some rewarding strong scenes. To be sure, this is an out-and-out art film, one that looks to enjoy a measure of success on the festival circuit and in specialized release.
This deadly dull film has nothing going for it except impressively understated work by Mara, who effortlessly holds the screen. Doing a passable backwoods accent that sounds like Sissy Spacek’s in “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” she invests the character with a sense of weary loss that gives “Saints” its only emotional entry point but can’t make up for the fact that there are only five pages of story in this roughly 100-minute film.
Indiewire
Mara and Affleck's brief romantic sequences are moving, and the entire cast delivers pitch-perfect turns such that there's not a false note within.
Jordan Hoffman @JHoffman6
AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS is gorgeous and has a marvelous score. It isn't for the impatient, though. #sundance
Indiewire
Mara and Affleck's brief romantic sequences are moving, and the entire cast delivers pitch-perfect turns such that there's not a false note within.
Jordan Hoffman @JHoffman6
AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS is gorgeous and has a marvelous score. It isn't for the impatient, though. #sundance
Sam Adams @SamuelAAdams
Today's critical challenge: Write about AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS without using the words "Terence Malick." #Sundance
Alex Billington @firstshowing
Ain't Them Bodies Saints - Wow. Chills. Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara fantastic, chilling score. Reminded me of Malick's Badlands. #Sundance
Jordan Raup @jpraup
Ain't Them Bodies Saints: subdued, lyrical examination of the mistakes one must live with. Fantastic performances, great movie.
erickohn @erickohn
AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS; Unsurprisingly, very involving, gorgeous outlaw western (of sorts) w/1st-rate performances all around. #Sundance
ThePlaylist @ThePlaylist
Aint Them Bodies Saints impresses with searing and intense love story. Gorgeously shot and scored.
Jeff Goldsmith @yogoldsmith
Script for Ain't These Bodies Saints is essentially a love story where silence and yearning play a big part. Solid traditional narrative. #fb
Hollywood Elsewhere @wellshwood
"Ain't Them Bodies Saints" makes Rooney Mara's gun-toting rural girl into a pure-as-driven-snow Madonna figure. Gauzy, adoring, melting.
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WE ARE WHAT WE AREFilm Threat
In terms of performance, Childers and Garner are real finds, delivering the kind of engaging turns that ground a film like this one in something worth caring about. Childers perfectly conveys the world weariness of a teenage girl who knows that her youth is over and a nightmarish life is about to begin. And Garner really mesmerizes as she somehow displays both childlike vulnerability and the strength to fight back against a practice that she knows is wrong.
Q: Doesn’t your character know that anyone who has sex in a horror movie is destined to be killed?
Wyatt Russell: Absolutely. But not while he’s having sex! (laughter) That is what attracted me to the script.
Flixist
The two teenage daughters, Iris and Rose, are mature beyond their years. Rose has the blank stare of a fish, without soul or in search of one. Older sister Iris looks like she wants to scream but can never find the opportunity. Rose is played by Julia Garner (Martha Marcy May Marlene) who gives the best performance of the film; who is a growing force to be reckoned with (see: Electrick Children); and who is also a sister of a (Facebook) friend -- so there's your disclaimer, dear reader. While I'm giving shout-outs -- here's a shout-out for her on-screen papa played by Bill Sage (who is not my Facebook friend nor would I ever want him to be [he creeps me the hell out.])
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Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska Show Off the New Sundance Equation: Indie = Crazy
With the opening weekend of Sundance 2013 concluded, festival-goers in Park City have been sounding a sad refrain: Where are all the great movies, the breakout hits, this year's "Precious" or "Beasts of the Southern Wild?"
The great movies may not have arrived yet, but the weird ones have.
But there haven't been any major sales yet (terms for A24's acquisition of "The Spectacular Now" haven't been revealed), and the enthusiasm has been tempered by the fact that the year has yet to see a true Sundance Sensation.
People want one of those, badly. When the Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan wrote admiringly of the mountain-climbing documentary "The Summit," dozens of passholders were turned away from a press-and-industry screening of the film the next morning. When "The Spectacular Now" had a splashy premiere on Friday, its Saturday morning P-and-I screening became similarly overbooked.
But over the first four days of Sundance '13, one thing that has become clear: If the next sensational, fresh, game-changing indie film isn't in Park City this year, it's not for lack on trying on the part of the directors who've brought their films here.
This has been a Sundance for bold, kinky subject matter, for lots of sex (onscreen), for indie directors ramping up the excess and melodrama in a way that would have seemed completely out of place back in the days when the phrase "a Sundance movie" usually meant something restrained and naturalistic like "Frozen River" or "In the Bedroom."
Case in point: Drake Doremus, whose low-key comedy "Douchebag" and romance "Like Crazy" debuted at Sundance in 2010 and 2011, respectively, returned to the festival with "Breathe In." The film has a far bigger budget than his previous films, with Guy Pearce and Amy Ryan playing a longtime married couple whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a British exchange student, played by "Like Crazy" star Felicity Jones.
Another Sundance vet known for quintessentially low-key dramas, Lynn Shelton, came back to Sundance with "Touchy Feely" a year after "Your Sister's Sister" debuted in Park City. Her new film isn't as overamped as Doremus', but it settles into such a quiet, moody, elliptical vibe that it almost qualifies as Shelton's take on Terrence Malick.
Meanwhile, one of the boldest and craziest Sundance entries came Sunday night at the Eccles, when Korean director Park Chan-wook ("Oldboy") unveiled his Mia Wasikowska-Nicole Kidman drama "Stoker," which already has U.S. distribution via Fox Searchlight.
"Just like any other movie I have made, the world where this story takes place is a world very much of its own," said Park (through a translator) when he introduced his film on Sunday.
Macall Polay
Then again, "Stoker" is a model of restraint when compared to "Escape From Tomorrow," which debuted on Friday night and had three other screenings over the weekend.
It may be the biggest WTF? movie at a festival that has showed more than a few of those, a surreal drama about a family man whose life unravels during a day spent at Disney World.
One of the weirdest and boldest touches is that much of the film appears to have been shot without permission inside Disney World, using cameras that Disney security probably figured were shooting the family vacation.
Extensive footage from actual Disney World rides is used in the film, with the Disney music stripped out (no sense even asking for the rights) and faux-Disney music dropped in. A long sequence set on "It's a Small World" is particularly strange, since everybody knows exactly what song is being sung, regardless of what you hear on the soundtrack.
First-time director Randy Moore was also cautious with the use of the Disney name -- the one time the film's lead character utters the word, it is bleeped out. But you have to wonder whether Disney's lawyers will try to throw some roadblocks in the way of a film that was to some degree filmed surreptitiously on its premises.
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29-years old Maggie Grace in Californication [S06E02]
Maggie Grace first truly 'risque' scene. Safe to say Miss America have finally grown up. Yes. You can right breast in typical low-lighting crap (tasteful the way Maggie wanted) but her first nude scene albeit the butt kind comes next week. We have to wait until the seduction scene with David and riding Minchin to orgasm to see her tits and more of the made-in-Ohio ass. My source claimed Maggie was so nervous she was swigging down a glass or two of giggle juice to perform the racy scenes that by the time she did her Jesus segment with Tim Minchin, all her inhibition was gone thanks to being partly drunk.
(word of caution : editing plays a major part in snipping away the nudity to keep up with the guidelines. The Showtime execs - lucky bastards - got to watch rough cut of Maggie Grace scenes and still wasn't impressed enough to approve a spin-off)
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Sundance 2013: Discoveries include actress Kaya Scodelario
The 20-year-old actor stars in “Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes,” a tale of a suburban American high school girl who develops an unusual relationship with a single mother (Jessica Biel) who moves in next door.
Scodelario plays Emanuel, who is haunted by strange dreams involving water and the fact that her mother died giving birth. An only child, she lives with her father (Alfred Molina) and a struggling stepmother (Frances O'Connor). When Linda (Biel) arrives in town, Emanuel is entranced by her new neighbor’s exotic looks, which remind her of her late mother, and Linda’s curious relationship to her newborn daughter, Chloe. Emanuel soon volunteers to babysit, drawing her into an unusual bond with Linda.
Writer-director Francesca Gregorini originally intended that the part would be played by Rooney Mara (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”), who starred in the filmmaker’s “Tanner Hall” four years ago. But it took so long to finance “Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes” that by the time cameras were ready to roll, the 27-year-old Mara was too old to play a teenager. So Gregorini cast Scodelario, a model who had a recurring role on the British television series “Skins” and acted in 2009’s “Moon” and 2011’s “Wuthering Heights.”
The film has attracted mixed early reviews, but some critics have singled out Scodelario’s lead performance for praise.
“Being here is obviously been the top so far,” said Scodelario, who grew up outside of London and is not professionally trained. “It has been a wonderful experience but absolutely terrifying. It’s going to take me a long time not to be terrified of this whole thing. Where I’ve grown up and where I come from, this doesn’t really happen to people like me.”
Scodelario has yet to decide what her next movie will be or whether she will move to the United States, but for right now anything and everything seems possible.
When Scodelario on Saturday walked down Park City’s Main Street with some of her “Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes” cast members, the paparazzi mobbed Biel, completely ignoring Scodelario. In a couple of years, she was told, she might be the object of the photographers’ attention. “That,” she said, “would be interesting.”
* The thing with Kaya is that she is from a working-class background and still caught in the mentality of I-can't-believe-this-is-happening-to-me. The humbleness is actually attractive to me but the lack of assertiveness doesn't. Kaya potential career trajectory is comparable to one Hillary Swank who also is from similar background but with one huge difference. Kaya - reportedly a victim of childhood bullying - doesn't possess the tenacity and ambition of Swank. She went after the Brandon Teena role despite the nudity involved and the rest is history. Kaya still have time on her side and if she was a hard-worker like Hayley Atwell, it'll be a while before we finally see her again on an American production.
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How Sex-y Will Carrie Diaries Be? "We're Fighting For It," Showrunner Says
by Robyn Ross
 |
| Austin Butler, AnnaSophia Robb |
On the series premiere, a young Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb) returned to high school after a summer of grieving the death of her mother. On the first day, she "meets" the new guy in school, Sebastian Kydd (Austin Butler), who was actually Carrie's first kiss the summer before. But now that the pair is together, how long will it be before the 16-year-old virgin starts down the path to becoming the Carrie viewers fell in love with on the HBO series? Executive producer Amy B. Harris is OK taking her time.
"We're not yet to a place where they're 'doing it' yet," Harris tells TVGuide.com. "We're taking it very slowly and then sometimes speeding it up the way your first relationships often are. What I love about Carrie and Sebastian is that we are really delving into that first relationship that inspires the potential to say, 'I love you' for the first time."
But that doesn't mean the new show will be completely sex-less. "We've been fighting the good fight with the network," Harris says. "We have Standards and Practices, so there are certain things we can't show. But you saw [on the premiere] that [Carrie's best friend] Maggie was trying to give Walt a bl-- j--. [The network] fought for that to be in the show."
So what can and can't be shown? "Apparently you're not allowed to thrust, so you're basically lying on top of each other," Butler says, before hinting that a Carrie-Sebastian romp is still a ways off. "But I haven't filmed a sex scene yet, and we're going into Episode 9."
Just as the older Carrie's relationships were complex and complicated, younger Carrie's relationship with Sebastian won't be all high school dances, flowers and rainbows. On the third episode, Carrie discovers something alarming about Sebastian's past that leads Carrie's dad (Matt Letscher) to forbid her to see him.
"Through her own curiosity, she makes a lot of mistakes with how she approaches the subject [with Sebastian], which is very Carrie Bradshaw," Harris says. "A lot of people would've kept that information to themselves, but she could not. In a strange way, the father also becomes a part of the triangle. These two men are the most important to her, and one of them doesn't want the other around. So that'll play a big part of this season."
With bumps ahead for Carrie and Sebastian, and the fact that it's unlikely a high school relationship could last the length of the series, how will the show keep Sebastian at the forefront of the series? For Harris, it's about making him the "Mr. Big" of the show. "Similar to Big [Chris Noth], he will be around even when he's not a part of her life in a couple kind of way," she says. "But they're drawn to each other. For me, the way we told stories on Sex and the City about those smaller, but very relatable aspects of relationships is a lot of what we'll be chasing in this one."
The Carrie Diaries airs on Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.
Just as the older Carrie's relationships were complex and complicated, younger Carrie's relationship with Sebastian won't be all high school dances, flowers and rainbows. On the third episode, Carrie discovers something alarming about Sebastian's past that leads Carrie's dad (Matt Letscher) to forbid her to see him.
"Through her own curiosity, she makes a lot of mistakes with how she approaches the subject [with Sebastian], which is very Carrie Bradshaw," Harris says. "A lot of people would've kept that information to themselves, but she could not. In a strange way, the father also becomes a part of the triangle. These two men are the most important to her, and one of them doesn't want the other around. So that'll play a big part of this season."
With bumps ahead for Carrie and Sebastian, and the fact that it's unlikely a high school relationship could last the length of the series, how will the show keep Sebastian at the forefront of the series? For Harris, it's about making him the "Mr. Big" of the show. "Similar to Big [Chris Noth], he will be around even when he's not a part of her life in a couple kind of way," she says. "But they're drawn to each other. For me, the way we told stories on Sex and the City about those smaller, but very relatable aspects of relationships is a lot of what we'll be chasing in this one."
The Carrie Diaries airs on Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.
* I been hearing interesting stuff about 20-years old AnnaSophia Robb. I'll be praying very hard for Carrie Diaries to flop and taken off the air as quickly as possible. Rest assured I'm not being a party pooper. Ms. Robb going to surprise lots of folks soon if TCD stint doesn't work out.
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Amanda Holden has revealed plans to launch her acting career in the US.
The Britain's Got Talent judge, who has had presenting gigs on CBS, wants a role in Showtime's Californication, alongside David Duchovny.
"I'd love to do that show if the opportunity came up. Something along the lines of Desperate Housewives would be perfect for me. I'd have a lot of fun.
"Most of the shows I want to be part of are American ones. I'm already out there a lot as it is, so hopefully it will happen."
Holden, who is currently filming the new series of Britain's Got Talent, also expressed an interest in a role on Coronation Street.
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When will The Borgias return? Has The Big C been cancelled? What season of Californication is this? How many episodes of Shameless are there?
Below, you’ll find a list of Starz and Showtime’s recent/current/upcoming scripted TV shows and their current status. To see a series’ ratings and how many episodes have aired (if any), click the links in the middle column (where available).
Click here to see if there’s a more recent list or, to view past lists.
Here are cancelled/renewed listings for other networks:
ABC | CBS | The CW | FOX | HBO and Cinemax
"Most of the shows I want to be part of are American ones. I'm already out there a lot as it is, so hopefully it will happen."
Holden, who is currently filming the new series of Britain's Got Talent, also expressed an interest in a role on Coronation Street.
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Cancelled or Renewed? Showtime and Starz TV Shows Status [1/20/13]
When will The Borgias return? Has The Big C been cancelled? What season of Californication is this? How many episodes of Shameless are there?Below, you’ll find a list of Starz and Showtime’s recent/current/upcoming scripted TV shows and their current status. To see a series’ ratings and how many episodes have aired (if any), click the links in the middle column (where available).
Click here to see if there’s a more recent list or, to view past lists.
Here are cancelled/renewed listings for other networks:
ABC | CBS | The CW | FOX | HBO and Cinemax
| Showtime TV shows | Current season | Status | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Big C | 4 (4 eps) | final season debuts 4/29/13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Borgias | 3 (10 eps) | season debuts 4/14/13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Californication | 6 (12 eps) | airing, not cancelled or renewed yet | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dexter | 8 (12 eps) | season debuts 6/30/13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Episodes | 3 (9 eps) | season debuts TBD 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Homeland | 3 (12 eps) | season debuts 9/29/13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| House of Lies | 2 (12 eps) | airing, not cancelled or renewed yet | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Masters of Sex | 1 (12 eps) | series debuts 9/29/13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Next Stop for Charlie | 2 (9 eps) | airing, not cancelled or renewed yet | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nurse Jackie | 5 (10 eps) | season debuts 4/14/13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Penny Dreadful | 1 (?? eps) | series debuts TBD 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Ray Donovan | 1 (12 eps) | series debuts 6/30/13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Shameless | 3 (12 eps) | airing, not cancelled or renewed yet | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Web Therapy | 3 (10 eps) | season debuts Summer 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weeds | 8 (13 eps, aired) | cancelled, finale aired 9/16/12 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Starz TV shows | Current season | Status | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Black Sails | 1 (8 eps) | series premieres TBD 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Boss | 2 (10 eps, aired) | cancelled, finale aired 10/19/12 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Da Vinci’s Demons | 1 (8 eps) | series debuts 4/12/13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Magic City | 2 (10 eps) | season debuts Summer 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Marco Polo | 1 (?? eps) | series debuts TBD | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Spartacus | 3 (10 eps) | final season debuts 1/25/13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The White Queen | 1 (10 eps) | series premieres TBD 2013 |
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Using nudity to battle sexual violence in Singapore
SINGAPORE: A group of Singapore female university students told Bikyanews.com in December they are planning to organize what they describe as an “explicit” nude calendar to battle against sexual violence in the Southeast Asian city-state.
The students, all between 18- and 22-years-old argued that the media is sexualizing women to a degree that men believe them to be objects for their every desire.
“So we are going to give them that, to the fullest of our ability. If they want to see a naked woman, let’s do it, but at the same time we will promote an honest debate over the role of women and sex in the region,” said Anya Xi Liu, who told Bikyanews.com that “we will have lesbian scenes, sex toy scenes. But it will also have specific messages of ending sexual violence.”
They argue that with the rise in anti-women media across the region and the increasing pornographic industry, “there needs to be a change in perception of women. If we want to show them sex, they better understand that they have to ask before touching.”
And that’s the tentative title of their calendar, which will include 24 photos of the young girls, completely nude.
“We want to make it clear that women are strong. We can be naked and still don’t want to be raped or assaulted,” interjected Claire, a British student who is joining the campaign.
Although they haven’t set a date for the calendar to be released, they admit it will likely only be on the black market at first.
“It will be too edgy for many people, who will view it as porn, but that is the point. To get people aware that we are not objects that can be pushed around. If we want to get naked, show our bodies and push a message, that is our goal,” added Liu.
It is all part of the ongoing battle against female perception vis-a-vis the pornographic industry and their use of women without considering the impact it has on the role of women and their bodies in society.
“I think this is a unique campaign and one that will shock many people, but it is needed to create a message that we are not just bodies to poke and prod,” added Liu.
Ironically, their inspiration comes from China’s Wang Li Danna, who was outed earlier this fall as a woman in a porn film. The Singapore students say that it showed them that even if a woman uses her body for her own private and business interests, they are shunned and condemned.
“But men who perform in sex tapes and porn films are praised as macho. This is wrong,” Claire argued.
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Chatting with porn’s ‘it’ boy, James Deen
For porn’s “it” boy James Deen, 26, it’s been a whirlwind year. There was a profile in GQ, a photo shoot for Rolling Stone and a mainstream acting role opposite Lindsay Lohan in The Canyons. He has an award-winning line of signature sex toys designed in his likeness, and a loyal following of teenage “fan girls.” He’s been described as “porn’s boy next door,” a sex symbol for the Facebook generation. He’s like the Robert Pattinson of porn: he is handsome and affable, someone you’d like to have a beer with, but also take home and cuddle ... and stuff.
There is a common perception that porn actors and actresses use porn as a stepping stone to mainstream film. You knew from an early age that you wanted to work in porn. It seems like you’ve always embraced porn as a viable career option.
I get so offended when people congratulate me on crossing over. I tweeted and wrote a blog about it. When people say, “Congratulations on crossing over and doing more than just porn,” or “You must feel so lucky to be able to do mainstream.” F*ck you. Seriously, go f*ck yourself. Do you think mainstream is better than porn? Porn is so much more professional, well rounded and good. It is what I want to do. I embrace and love my job. This is what I have aspired to do my entire life. It is so insulting when people act like mainstream is some giant accomplishment. It should be, “Congratulations on exploring your options and doing more.” It’s just a different entertainment field. Porn is not a degrading or subservient entertainment form in comparison to mainstream movies.
As far as I see it, mainstream movies are this unprofessional, egotistical, pathetic, weak world full of people ... like Lindsay Lohan [my costar in The Canyons.] She is a perfect example. Hollywood made her. They made this monster. There is nothing wrong with her; she just cannot communicate. It is not because she is not a good person. She just doesn’t have the tools. She’s been acting since she was a kid. She says the words, “I am thirsty,” and before she even gets up to get a glass of water, people make her sit down so they can bring it to her. Now she is an adult and she doesn’t know how to say, “Excuse me, please hand me a glass of water.” She just says, “I am thirsty,” and then gets confused about why a glass of water doesn’t appear in front of her. She doesn’t have the tools. She is a product of the Hollywood system. She has no bad intentions. She just doesn’t have the tools to live in the real world.
People who read the recent article in the New York Times Magazine about the behind-the-scenes drama on the set of The Canyons have told me that you came across as the most likable and professional of the bunch. People didn’t expect that the porn star would behave the most professionally.
I take an extreme amount of pride in my professional behavior. I pride myself on my business and professional ethic. If I am supposed to show at 10 am, I try to show at 9:45. In that article it mentioned something about, “James seems lonely and he doesn’t seem to have any friends. He is the only person who didn’t have anyone show up to set.” Who brings people to work with them? To me that is unprofessional and asinine. It would be like working at McDonald’s and asking someone to come and watch you flip burgers. It makes no sense. The level of professional courtesy that is given on adult films sets is so different, because people are naked and you want to make sure that everyone is comfortable, so people are overly-professional. You don’t invite your friends to porn sets.
More here
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One one hand I'm happy the sequel to I Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013) is now in post-productions stage after filming for more than a month in both New York and Bulgaria but on the other hand can't say I'm not disappointed to see an unknown English actress playing the protagonist instead of an American. I was cheeky enough to submit the name of Alyssa Campanella to one of the writer when they were looking to cast the role of Holly/Jessica/Katie.
Chatting with porn’s ‘it’ boy, James Deen
For porn’s “it” boy James Deen, 26, it’s been a whirlwind year. There was a profile in GQ, a photo shoot for Rolling Stone and a mainstream acting role opposite Lindsay Lohan in The Canyons. He has an award-winning line of signature sex toys designed in his likeness, and a loyal following of teenage “fan girls.” He’s been described as “porn’s boy next door,” a sex symbol for the Facebook generation. He’s like the Robert Pattinson of porn: he is handsome and affable, someone you’d like to have a beer with, but also take home and cuddle ... and stuff.
There is a common perception that porn actors and actresses use porn as a stepping stone to mainstream film. You knew from an early age that you wanted to work in porn. It seems like you’ve always embraced porn as a viable career option.
I get so offended when people congratulate me on crossing over. I tweeted and wrote a blog about it. When people say, “Congratulations on crossing over and doing more than just porn,” or “You must feel so lucky to be able to do mainstream.” F*ck you. Seriously, go f*ck yourself. Do you think mainstream is better than porn? Porn is so much more professional, well rounded and good. It is what I want to do. I embrace and love my job. This is what I have aspired to do my entire life. It is so insulting when people act like mainstream is some giant accomplishment. It should be, “Congratulations on exploring your options and doing more.” It’s just a different entertainment field. Porn is not a degrading or subservient entertainment form in comparison to mainstream movies.
As far as I see it, mainstream movies are this unprofessional, egotistical, pathetic, weak world full of people ... like Lindsay Lohan [my costar in The Canyons.] She is a perfect example. Hollywood made her. They made this monster. There is nothing wrong with her; she just cannot communicate. It is not because she is not a good person. She just doesn’t have the tools. She’s been acting since she was a kid. She says the words, “I am thirsty,” and before she even gets up to get a glass of water, people make her sit down so they can bring it to her. Now she is an adult and she doesn’t know how to say, “Excuse me, please hand me a glass of water.” She just says, “I am thirsty,” and then gets confused about why a glass of water doesn’t appear in front of her. She doesn’t have the tools. She is a product of the Hollywood system. She has no bad intentions. She just doesn’t have the tools to live in the real world.
People who read the recent article in the New York Times Magazine about the behind-the-scenes drama on the set of The Canyons have told me that you came across as the most likable and professional of the bunch. People didn’t expect that the porn star would behave the most professionally.
I take an extreme amount of pride in my professional behavior. I pride myself on my business and professional ethic. If I am supposed to show at 10 am, I try to show at 9:45. In that article it mentioned something about, “James seems lonely and he doesn’t seem to have any friends. He is the only person who didn’t have anyone show up to set.” Who brings people to work with them? To me that is unprofessional and asinine. It would be like working at McDonald’s and asking someone to come and watch you flip burgers. It makes no sense. The level of professional courtesy that is given on adult films sets is so different, because people are naked and you want to make sure that everyone is comfortable, so people are overly-professional. You don’t invite your friends to porn sets.
More here
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One one hand I'm happy the sequel to I Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013) is now in post-productions stage after filming for more than a month in both New York and Bulgaria but on the other hand can't say I'm not disappointed to see an unknown English actress playing the protagonist instead of an American. I was cheeky enough to submit the name of Alyssa Campanella to one of the writer when they were looking to cast the role of Holly/Jessica/Katie.
Patch or no patch, that is the question?!
— Jemma Dallender (@JemmaDallender) November 30, 2012
@jemmadallender what? Xx
— Scarlett Drew Davies (@ScarlettDrew) November 30, 2012
@scarlettdrew it's to cover ur modesty. I went with no patch as I don't have anyIn this lol x
— Jemma Dallender (@JemmaDallender) November 30, 2012
Do I need to spell out the obvious. Full-frontal nudity by 24-years old English actress Jemma Dallender.
Scarce info on Jemma. She is from musical theater background just like Heléne Yorke of Masters of Sex. And just like Ms.Yorke, this will be Jemma first all out nudity on-cam.
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Kevin Spacey has paid tribute to his "dynamic" House Of Cards co-star Kate Mara.
Spacey: Mara is so interesting
Monday, 21 January 2013
Kevin Spacey has paid tribute to his "dynamic" House Of Cards co-star Kate Mara.The actress - sister of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo's Rooney - plays a young reporter in the new political TV drama, in which Kevin stars as the scheming Majority Whip of the US House of Representatives.
"I think she's just dynamic. She's sexy and she's interesting and she's complex," he said of Kate.
"It's a very interesting relationship, you have a woman who is starting out her career with no power, meeting a man who is at the peak of a kind of power and it's interesting to see how that dynamic's going to evolve."
House Of Cards has been adapted by Kevin, The Social Network's David Fincher and writer Beau Willimon from the BBC miniseries of the same name.
When asked how the show differed from other political TV shows, Kevin said: "It's not Homeland, it's not Veep, it is its own thing.
"I think Homeland's brilliant, I love Veep, it's very funny. I think people have always been interested in politics and it's always been great fodder for examining in film and television."
* Kate Mara plays a journalist but Spacey describes her character as sexy. Put two and two together and we're going to get titties show straight from New York.
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"I think she's just dynamic. She's sexy and she's interesting and she's complex," he said of Kate.
"It's a very interesting relationship, you have a woman who is starting out her career with no power, meeting a man who is at the peak of a kind of power and it's interesting to see how that dynamic's going to evolve."
House Of Cards has been adapted by Kevin, The Social Network's David Fincher and writer Beau Willimon from the BBC miniseries of the same name.
When asked how the show differed from other political TV shows, Kevin said: "It's not Homeland, it's not Veep, it is its own thing.
"I think Homeland's brilliant, I love Veep, it's very funny. I think people have always been interested in politics and it's always been great fodder for examining in film and television."
* Kate Mara plays a journalist but Spacey describes her character as sexy. Put two and two together and we're going to get titties show straight from New York.
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(Long Island, N.Y.) 
DUNHAM: He's surprisingly jaunty about the whole thing. I mean, my Dad sort of takes a perverse pleasure in it. Like people will say to him like, “God, you must be so upset watching Lena get naked and have sex in all these odd positions." And he kind of goes like, "No, I love it, I'm so proud." He like really wants to defy people's expectations. And but Brian is like, Brian’s on the set more than some of our PAs.
