Photo: Getty Images
In Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic, Milk, Josh Brolin and Sean Penn may play personal and political enemies, but at last night's New York Film Critics Circle Awards, it was a regular love-in between the actors. Taking the stage to present Brolin with the trophy for Best Supporting Actor, Penn affectionately referred to his co-star as "this bitter actor who took until he was 40 for anyone to know him." But most of his speech was about Brolin's striking handsomeness: "His hair is very high tonight," said Penn with breathy admiration. “I always just wrote him off, as I do handsome, square-jawed actors. And then bit by bit, as he became very old, he started to be celebrated and I started to see these performances. And truly, in an era that was younger leading boys, suddenly there was a leading man. There’s nobody like him. Nobody as big a nightmare as him. Nobody as square-jawed who’s as talented as him. Nobody has as much endurance at night and as little during the day as him. Truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with another actor is working with Josh Brolin."
Brolin: "He just makes me want to be gay." 
When we wrote about the brewing Category 4 Ben Lyons Hate Storm last week, Vulture took a mildly ambivalent stance on the self-proclaimed "movie dude." While a nation of highbrow critics are calling for his head on a platter (their bloodlust is so strong that they're not even demanding said platter be cast from silver), we kind of took the stance that Lyons isn't worth demonizing because he's pretty genial and, ultimately, not that influential. However, we just stumbled across a shoddily composed essay over at the Huffington Post titled "In Defense of Ben Lyons" that has us reconsidering our stance. Penned by a blogger named Cenk Uygur, the piece's crucial thesis statement reads as follows:
Here is my simple message to all the haters — get off Ben Lyons' ass.
And it gets worse from there.
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn that he doesn't have Roger Ebert's encyclopedic knowledge of film history."
Photo: Getty Images
Yesterday, the world reacted with shock and disappointment when it learned that Andrew Stanton, helmer of Pixar masterpiece Wall-E, could not win an award from the Directors Guild simply because, as a director of animated films, he's not a member of that union, and the DGA's draconian 70-year-old rules prohibit giving its highest prize to non-members. Even so, Stanton is taking it in all stride: "I'm not part of the Directors Guild, because in animation you’re not part of that union," he told us at last night's New York Film Critics Circle Awards (where his movie was honored as 2008's Best Animated Feature). But he was slightly more bullish on Wall-E's shot at Best Picture!
"Certainly as a filmmaker, it's the sort of biggest award there is in that sense."
"We were dangerously venturing into an area where everyone was so fake no one would have given a shit when it ended." —Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence on his show's upcoming finale [Ausiello Files/EW]
"I don't think Chris realized he was in a band until 2001. He all of a sudden woke up one day and realized he was in a band. He thought he was just recording my solo project." —Ben Gibbard on the origins of Death Cab for Cutie [A.V. Club]
"I think [the fact] that so many people are wondering along with me definitely puts pressure on my choices!" —Aubrey O'Day may get pressured into bisexuality [MTV]
Plus: Jim Jones compares self to Hammer.
Photo-illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: istockphoto, Courtesy of Paramount
Feeling increasingly desperate about the way that the combination of high-tech home-entertainment options and the craptastic economy has forced Joe Moviegoer into becoming a home-dwelling hermit addicted to video games and HDTV, movie-theater owners and studios have been working overtime to sell theatergoers on the pants-shitting awesomeness of the in-theater 3-D viewing experience. But just when you were ready to once again shell out $4.50 for a watered-down Diet Coke comes news that the intrepid television makers are working overtime to bring 3-D to your living room, once again thumbing their noses at the multiplex owners. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Panasonic, Samsung, and Texas Instruments are all debuting new sets with technology capable of delivering crisp 3-D images. These sets won't be available to purchase for a few years, but that's not stopping DreamWorks from spending "tens of millions of dollars" (!) to produce and distribute special 3-D glasses as part of an elaborate Super Bowl Sunday promotional scheme for Monsters vs. Aliens.
Plus: the return of the "ultra-hip" SoBe lizards!
Photo: Courtesy of IFC Films
If you're one of those squeamish moviegoers who'd like to spend four and a half hours appreciating Benicio del Toro's mesmerizing performance in Che — Steven Soderbergh's new Spanish-language film on the adventures of Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara — but were wary of doing it all in one sitting, you're in luck! This Friday, IFC films will split the movie into two halves, The Argentine and Guerrilla, and reopen it in New York and Los Angeles. And, on January 21, the entire film will be made available on on-demand cable. Del Toro spoke with Vulture yesterday about Soderbergh's Spanish, acting at long range, and why you need a bigger TV set.
"The problem with asthma is not that you can't get air -- it's that you can't exhale the air that's in your lungs."
When last we checked in on David Fincher's noble quest to win an Oscar, the Benjamin Button director was attempting to silence his critics by hitting them really hard in the chest ("That's for you, for not greenlighting the movie when you had a chance," he reportedly told one smacked studio exec). So what's he been up to since? Well, last night, during a Button-pegged Q&A at Lincoln Center, Fincher regaled an audience with bawdy anecdotes virtually guaranteed to win over any on-the-fence Academy voters ("When we were shooting the newsroom scenes in Zodiac, I remember turning to the first assistant director and saying, 'All the women who work here are stacked.' There weren't that many breast implants in all of California in 1969!").
"I would be less interested in that than I would in having cigarettes put out in my eyes."
Photo: Clockwise from top left: Courtesy of ABC, Fox, HBO, FX
Aside from the surefire pants-shitting spectacle that will be My Bloody Valentine 3-D, the next few weeks promise to be awfully barren at the multiplex. Hollywood has long since ceded the month of January to the NFL, preferring to focus its marketing muscle on promoting prestige films making a run at Oscar glory rather than throwing good money after shoddy product they have little confidence in. However, over on the small screen, January is fast becoming the new September when it comes to launching new shows. Over the course of the next 25 days that make up the month of January, no less than 29 new shows will either be taking their maiden voyage on the airwaves or debuting a fresh season's worth of episodes. With that in mind, here are some of the story lines that will play out over the next few weeks.
Hint: it might be time to invest in a second Snuggie.
Aziz Is Booked: Vulture bro Aziz Ansari has landed a guest spot on Scrubs! The bearded comedian-actor will guest-star in the first few episodes of the show's new season as an intern named Ed. We just hope, for all of our sakes, that he wasn't hired to replace Courteney Cox as Zach Braff's love interest. [Aziz Is Bored]
Hello, Hello Birdie Director Adam Shankman has taken a break from depositing checks from Bedtime Stories to sign on to develop and produce a remake of Bye Bye Birdie for Columbia Pictures. Columbia has been kicking around a remake of the stage classic for years, even reimagining Conrad Birdie as a hip-hop star at one point. Given Shankman's experience producing such urban fare as Step Up 2, going the rapper route might be precisely the right thing to do. Especially if they cast Lil Wayne. [HR]
All in His Head: NBC has nabbed writer Jared Bush's music-themed drama project Soundtrack. The story revolves around a down-on-his-luck guy who loses his job and sees his ex get engaged. Then a song starts to play on repeat in his head until he figures out its significance. Then a new song starts. A prediction: By episode three, he'll be hearing "Another One Bites the Dust." [Variety]
Plus: 'M.A.S.H' sans cross-dressing, Josh Schwartz takes to the Internet.
A Single Man Premiere
The Lovely Bones Screening
Museum of the Moving Image Salutes Clint
IFP Gotham Awards
Me and Orson Welles Screening
Opening Night of Fela!
The Transformation of TV Into an Art Form
The Draw of Dream Worlds in Film
Gosselin, Prince of the Professional Nobodies
A Decade of Defining Moments in Pop-Culture
