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If you, like most of our leading newsmakers, were on vacation this week, or you're just now waking up after a particularly good New Year's party and have no recollection of the last five days, here's everything you need to know:
• Tom Cruise is embroiled in an unfortunate misunderstanding involving Rice-a-Roni and Nazi memorabilia.
• Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture.
• Watchmen will probably never be released.
Yes, yes, you can get away with anything.
The Vivian Girls’ cover of the Beach Boys’ “Girl Don't Tell Me” (which appears, as a B-side, with two new songs on the group's Surf's Up Fun Pack seven-inch) won’t convert anyone who isn’t already in love with the band’s shoegaze Shirelles aesthetic, but their take on Brian Wilson’s bitter tale of sour teenage grapes (gender pronouns intact) will certainly gratify anyone who is. Fans of the Beach Boys, and technically proficient singing in general, however, might have a more difficult time with the track.
Hey, remember those skyrocketing fuel prices earlier this year? Boy, was that a silly time — and so long ago, too. Now that fuel is back at bargain-basement prices that will never rise ever again and we clearly have endless supplies of the stuff, this little animated film Fuel should serve as a whimsical and quaint reminder of those bygone times. Though filmmaker Dale Goodson's short made us laugh out loud several times, what really impressed us was just how damn embittered it seems (the self-vocalized sound effects certainly helped, too). Using the simplest animation possible — frankly, we're not even sure we can call it animation — he nails the energy crisis down into a hilariously nasty four minutes.
Fuel will be screening tomorrow as part of the Iron Mule Film Series at 92YTribeca at 8 p.m., which will feature all sorts of awesome shorts (including work by Signe Baumane, another Picture Palace alumnus). The Iron Mule, which screens the best in short films on the first Saturday of every month, was formerly known as First Sundays and screened at the now-defunct Pioneer Theater. They've been bringing great shorts to New York audiences for quite some time now — come out and show your support. Oh, and there's a party afterward.
Introducing the new Audi Q5: Performance, luxury and functionality meet unmistakable design. With features like piercing LED lighting, a distinctive front grille and quattroŽ all-wheel drive, you no longer have to compromise when it comes to crossovers.
As everyone knows, the hip-hop New Year doesn't officially begin until the previous one has been recapped in song form by Virginia rapper Skillz. As expected, his "2008 Rap-Up" is awesome and, yes, he humorously addresses Kanye's singing voice. [Nah Right]
Tom Cruise just can't catch a break! First he makes a snappy, exciting Hitler-assassination-bungling action movie (which is actually very good!) and gets pilloried by biased critics simply because he's Tom Cruise — and now he's being criticized in the press by the guy who wrote the Rice-a-Roni jingle over Nazi memorabilia.
Amy Arbus's Phoebe Légère Fur Bikini (1987).Photo: Courtesy the artist and Cohen Amador Gallery, New York
With any luck, one of the upsides of the coming economic apocalypse will be the triumphant return of eighties kink to the streets of New York. In this photo — which is on display as part of a group show at the Bronx Museum through January 25 — photographer Amy Arbus remembers when Manhattan women used to wear fur bikinis in the wintertime.
The legal war between Warner Bros. and Fox over Watchmen continues today following a judge's hilarious ruling last week that Fox, in fact, owns the distribution rights to the massively anticipated comic-book movie, which Warner Bros. has already produced and spent millions marketing. The latest squabble is over the admissibility of evidence that Warner Bros. claims unequivocally proves that Warner is the "better" studio and Fox is "underperforming," reports the Times' Michael Cieply. All of this comes after an earlier deposition by a Fox executive in which he declared that his studio is "the very best in the business." Sadly, this idiotic turn of events means that the upcoming Watchmen trial will definitely last for decades and the movie will probably never see theaters — but, man, wouldn't it be awesome if all film-rights disputes really were settled on the basis of which party were "better"? We might never hear from Brett Ratner again!
Warner and Fox Debate: Which Is Better? [ArtsBeat/NYT]
Earlier: Judge’s Ruling Allows Watchmen Windfall to Fill Fox’s Coffers
"We've done some pretty good stuff, but there's something about the year changing to 2010. I'll also be 33 that year, and I always feel that marks a different phase of songwriting. So I just try to keep as busy as possible till then. Most of my heroes did most of their great stuff before they were 33." — Chris Martin [Sun UK]
"People really don't understand [that] I'm just in the band. I don't do shit, I don't run anything. They're just using my name because somebody thinks I had some level of success, which is such fucking total bullshit. No one knows who the fuck I am. That's why they go, 'Bryan Adams?'" — Ryan Adams on why his band is named Ryan Adams and the Cardinals [Spinner ]
"I have friends that are gay and we study the Bible together." —Prince [E!]
Plus: Eva Mendes forgets to read the butt clause in her Spirit contract. »
Photo: Courtesy of AMPAS
Every week between now and February 2, when the nominations are announced, movies and stars will help themselves — or, sometimes, hurt themselves — in the Oscar race. Vulture's Oscar Futures will listen to insider gossip, comb the Oscar blogs, and out-and-out guess when necessary to track who's up, who's down, and who's currently leading the race for a coveted nomination.
| Best Picture |  UP: Slumdog Millionaire. With ballots already in voters' hands, Slumdog has, seemingly, not just the most proponents (and critics' awards) but also the fewest haters of any serious contender. Has this race already been decided? Pretty much, says Nikki Finke. |
 DOWN: Revolutionary Road. Reviews weren't as strong as expected, and now everybody's piling on: Did Paramount wait too long to release it? wonders Anne Thompson; why does Hollywood hate the suburbs so much? asks The Wall Street Journal. |
|---|---|---|
| CURRENT PREDIX: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Wall-E | ||
Healthy-looking singer Courtney Love was evidently supposed to self-release a new album yesterday through her Website, but it's been delayed for a host of perfectly understandable reasons. Fear not, though, as Nobody's Daughter is now scheduled to arrive on February 9 and it'll be sponsored by "a prominent feminine hygiene/menstrual company and a prominent tequila company," according to her ever-intelligible MySpace blog. [MySpace via Idolator]
Introducing the new Audi Q5: Performance, luxury and functionality meet unmistakable design. With features like piercing LED lighting, a distinctive front grille and quattroŽ all-wheel drive, you no longer have to compromise when it comes to crossovers.
So, you didn't make it to the movie theater over the holidays to see any of this season's critically acclaimed, awards-grabbing films? No problem! Nefarious digital pirates are working overtime to make sure you're informed for your office's Oscar pool — tons of "For Your Consideration" DVD screeners have appeared on BitTorrent sites in recent days (joining previously leaked ones like Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Gran Torino), and they include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Defiance, Appaloosa, The Wrestler, Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionaire, Che, Religulous, and Frozen River. If you haven't seen all of 2008's major prestige movies by February 22, the only acceptable excuses will be unshakable ethics or a slow Internet connection.
Remember a couple of years ago when American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson, for the follow-up to her six-times-platinum Breakaway, recorded a bunch of self-penned, not-very-good songs and called it an album? And then Clive Davis tried to get her to do new ones, but she didn't listen, and then her stinky record totally flopped? Clive Davis would never hold a grudge, right? By the way, has anyone seen the cover of Kelly Clarkson's latest single?
We Should Probably Talk About This Kelly Clarkson Cover [Idolator]
Back in June, when we first called on the Academy to do the right thing and nominate Wall-E for Best Picture, plenty of people said we were nuts (and not just because we hadn't yet seen it) — but one of the most passionate quibblers was Hollywood Elsewhere blogger Jeffrey Wells, who argued that, while the film deserves its probable win for Best Animated Feature, it's the opposite of "organic raw-grain realism" and should "stay the fuck out of Reality Nation." And as recently as December 21, he still felt pretty much the same way — not only will Wall-E probably not score a Best Picture nomination, it just shouldn't: "Wall-E, to use a nationalistic metaphor, is a splendid Mexican classic … [but] there is no need for it to cross the Rio Grande and obtain American citizenship."
As you've probably heard, on New Year's Eve, while you were blissfully greeting 2009 with the Jonas Brothers, Viacom and Time Warner Cable resolved their contract dispute, which had threatened a January 1 blackout of MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and sixteen other even less important channels for 14.7 million subscribers in New York, L.A., and other big markets. Viacom had reportedly demanded an additional $39 million per year for the honor of broadcasting its high-quality programming (which they claimed would only cost viewers an extra 25 cents a month), and Time Warner had allegedly balked, since upping subscriber fees even a little during an economic apocalypse would be a total dick move. But now everything's been settled! The terms of the agreement? They're not saying! Will we have to pay more? Almost certainly!
The Weinstein Company has announced an August 21 release date for Quentin Tarantino's massively anticipated, poorly spelled WWII actioner Inglourious Basterds, which will make it the first-ever Tarantino movie to hit theaters during the summer, and very possibly the best-ever film to come out in August. [Box Office Mojo]
Photo: Getty Images
Rejections to Cleo: Blaming "scheduling conflicts," Hugh Jackman has dropped out of discussions to star opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in Steven Soderbergh's Cleo. The totally bizarre film will tell the story of Cleopatra (Zeta-Jones) and Marc Anthony (who Jackman would have played) like an Elvis-style musical, complete with singing, dancing, and a Ray Winstone as Julius Ceaser. Oh and all the songs were written by Guided by Voices, making this the first (and, we're betting, last) low-fi Egyptian indie love musical. For Jackman, this truly was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. [Variety]
Party Like It's 2009: Prince is set for a busy 2009. The Purple One will release three albums this year that will be distributed in physical form by a "major retailer" and on a "highly interactive" Website. This is Prince; he doesn't work with record companies. The trio will allegedly showcase Prince's rediscovery of the guitar, some experimentation with Pro Tools, and at least one duet with Q-Tip. Babies, prepare to be conceived. [Pop & Hiss/LAT]
Crises Averted: With just minutes to go on Wednesday night, Viacom and Time Warner reached a tentative deal to keep MTV Networks' nineteen channels on the cable provider's slate. A disagreement between the two companies had threatened to blackout MTV, Comedy Central, and VH1, among other channels, for the 13.3 million households with Time Warner services on January 1. The dispute centered on Viacom's desire to increase its fee to TWC by $39 million, which seems like a perfectly reasonable price to pay for MTV's top-quality programming. [HR]
michael jackson, quote machine, warner bros., avatar, bruno, daniel radcliffe, justin timberlake, right-click, sacha baron cohen, steven soderbergh, television, toys, twilight, vampires, 3-d, 3d, a steady rain, aaron sorkin, ad wizards, adele, alan ruck, alanis morrissette, alice in wonderland, amc, arctic monkeys
By Bill Wasik, June 11, 2009
Copyright © 2009, New York Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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