-Vanessa Williams is going to be on Desperate Housewives next season! This is such a good choice for her after her 4 years of hilarious meanness on Ugly Betty. I hope she injects some life into Housewives which I still have a soft spot for. She could be a great villain. She'll fit the campy dramedy tone of the show perfectly. Give her some great lines.
-Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling at the Cannes Film Festival with their new movie Blue Valentine. They both look wonderful. I want Ryan Gosling's outfit. I'm itching to see this movie which was shown at the Sundance film festival in January. It is roughly about a young married couple's highs and lows. Gosling and Williams are supposed to be very good in it.
-Woody Allen who will reliably make a movie every year til the end of time will film "Midnight in Paris" in the coming months in the City of Lights. The cast of this movie is fantastically divine. If Woody Allen does this group of people a disservice with a blah script I will be so sad. Here's the cast, are you ready? : Marion Cotillard (who I absolutely adore), Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen (love him even though he's not that funny on 30 Rock), Carla Bruni (yes, the French president's classy, elegant wife), and one of my absolute favorites, Rachel McAdams. Allen hasn't worked with many of these people before. I'm very curious to see the result especially because Allen's films from the first decade of the 00's were pretty hit or miss. Cassandra's Dream and Match Point were good particularly Dream. Scoop was pretty meh and not that funny. I kind of liked Vicky Cristina Barcelona but that was pretty much because of Penelope Cruz (she should do another movie with him). I heard mixed sentiments about Whatever Works, but I just might have to see it because of the splendiferous Patricia Clarkson. And the film he's releasing here in September called You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger recently got a melange of a response at Cannes. Here's the Midnight in Paris plot courtesy of movies.about.com (also thanks to imdb.com for other info):
"The Official Midnight in Paris Synopsis: Midnight in Paris is a romantic comedy that follows a family traveling to the city for business. The party includes a young engaged couple that has their lives transformed throughout the journey. The film celebrates a young man's great love for Paris, and simultaneously explores the illusion people have that a life different from their own is better."
-One of my favorite directors, Spaniard Pedro Almodovar, is planning to make a movie this summer season. It's called La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In) and will star Antonio Banderas. Here's the plot from imdb: "Based on Thierry Jonquet's novel "Mygale", this revenge tale tells the story of a plastic surgeon on the hunt for the men who raped his daughter." Straight from Mr. Almodovar's mouth: "close to the terror genre, but I won't respect any of its rules." and "a terror film without screams or scares" (quotes and info courtesy of imdb.com and empireonline.com). I cannot wait for this. 2009's Broken Embraces was good and moving. I hope he puts some Bad Education-esque camp in this. Plastic surgeon: how can there not be camp.
Since Tuesday was such a rainy and yucky day, I stayed in and watched two movies but the great Spanish director, Pedro Almodovar. The first one I watched was Talk to Her, his 2002 film that won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It's the story of two men (Benigno and Marco) and the women they love (Alicia and Lydia) who are both in comas. The two men become close friends as they care for their loved ones. Benigno is a nurse who works in the hospital where the women are staying and Marco is a journalist. The friendship that blooms between the two men is beautiful and very touching. The movie is very sad and moving particularly the ending. Almodovar throws in some twists, but the viewer never is turned off by them or taken out of the story because we have already become so invested in these characters and their stories. There is an interlude where Benigno describes to Alicia a silent movie he saw about a female scientist and the male lover who shrinks when he drinks her new diet drug. It's a bizarre, funny, and transfixing black and white vignette that mirrors what's to come in the movie. A very memorable Shrinking Man. The other Almodovar movie I watched was 2004's seductive and grim Bad Education. Now this film is utterly fantastic. It's comedy, color, drama, sex, and controversy all rolled into one odd movie. It stars Gael Garcia Bernal as three characters: a tranny named Zahara and two brothers, Ignacio and Juan. The story begins when movie director, Enrique (Fele Martinez) is visited by his Catholic school lover, Ignacio who presents to him a story based on their childhood. Enrique starts to read it later that night, and it all comes back in flashbacks or so we think. It turns out Ignacio was sexually abused by one of the priests at the boys' Catholic school which leads to more flashbacks until everything is flipped on its head and we get the real story. The movie is fascinating, and Almodovar handles all the plot technicalities with skill and grace. Gael Garcia Bernal is wonderful in all the roles he plays especially as Zahara, the tranny. Overall, a wonderful movie. Highly Recommended.