Interior. Leather Bar. (2013) – No Stars

Interior. Leather Bar., director Travis Mathews’s mock-doc (co-directed by James Franco) covering the filming of his re-imagining of 40-minutes cut from Billy Friedkin’s Cruising, boils down to this: A faux-intellectual exercise in queer theory that works more in concept than in practice. As it stands, the film feels like a second year film school student’s attempt to make a statement about the biases and prejudices of our hetero-sexist society in the most superficial way.

The film follows actor Val, the story’s literal straight man, as he takes on Al Pacino’s character in Cruising for his buddy James Franco. He is constantly confronting his own discomfort with the gay sex that we see on screen and he sees in production. And this is the film’s fatal flaw. It’s too aware of it’s own mission to make the statement it really wants to make.

Yes, as gay life becomes more normalized it loses some of its queerness. But this movie isn’t going to change that. In fact, the lack of substantial criticism makes this film as benign as Kurt and Blaine’s relationship in Glee. A full remake of Cruising would probably have made the point, better.

As far as James Franco’s participation goes, it’s simply distracting. Franco might have at one time been described as “brave” for making this film with Mathews. However, the actor who has already starred as gay icons James Dean and Allen Ginsberg, as well as gay rights activist Scott Smith in Milk; this just seems like an overreach.

Interior. Leather Bar. was screened at the 37th Cleveland International Film Festival. More info: www.clevelandfilm.org.

But I’ve found myself rewatching Matthew Vaughn’s comic adaptation again and again over the years since its release. So I’m a little (lot) excited about the tragically Vaughn-less sequel. Mostly because of Jim Carrey. You get your first glimpse of Carrey as Colonel Stars and Stripes. Also, there are multiple shots of Aaron Johnson’s abs, which make the hassle of entering your birth date on the video below worth it.

Much Ado About Nothing will play at the SXSW Film Festival.  The film opens for the rest of us on June 7. 

No they’re bringing back one of the best campaigns used to promote the first film: Capitol Couture. The re-launched Tumblr blog currently features a new portrait of Effie Trinkett, but if you head over to Fandango you also get a sneak peak of Caesar Flickerman’s Capitol Couture portrait. You also can expect more portraits to be added to those empty chairs now feature on Instagram and Facebook.

But let me save you a click. Here are the portrait of Effie and Caesar from Capitol Couture:

Just 261 days to go until Catching Fire hits theaters, Hunger Games fans. 261 very long days.

Well, it’s about two hours away from the show and I thought I’d finally post something about the Oscars.

If I were a braver man, I’d go all in for Amour and have Alan Arkin winning his second Oscar while riding the Argo wave. After all, 2012 feels a lot like 2002, when Roman Polanski’s The Pianist won more awards than anyone was expecting. But being this being the most unpredictable Oscar year in my lifetime, it’s always good to remember William Goldman’s famous quote about the industry, “Nobody knows anything.”

Now comes the trailer for Campos’ second feature, Simon Killer, which premiered at Sundance last year. The film hits theaters on April 5 and comes out on VOD a week later.

So as the end of Oscar voting approaches, the Weinstein Company has released a featurette with pretty much every actor in the film saying what we already know: Tarantino wrote one damn fine screenplay.

Check it out:

“The last time Austria and Germany got together and co-produced something it was Hitler, but this is much better..”

Seth MacFarlane on the nomination of Amour for Best Foreign Language Film

The Oscar nominations are early than they have ever been before. And the voting process has completely changed with online voting available for the first time this year. What does that mean? Who knows. With no clear Best Picture front runner this year, for the first time in a very long time, it’s even tougher to gauge Academy sentiment. So, here’s my shot at predicting the nominees in bigger Oscar categories. Let me know who you think is in or out in the comments below. 

Best Picture

1. Argo
2. Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Django Unchained
4. Les Misérables
5. Life of Pi (I still have to see this one!)
6. Lincoln
7. Moonrise Kingdom
8. Silver Linings Playbook
9. Zero Dark Thirty (Out Friday.)

If there’s a 10th nominee, I’m guessing it goes to Skyfall.

Best Directing

• Michael Haneke, Amour
• Ben Affleck, Argo
• Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
• Ang Lee, Life of Pi
• Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty

Tom Hooper (Les Miz) or Quentin Tarantino (Django) could squeak in the Haneke spot. But given the legendary director hasn’t been nominated, it may be his turn.

Best Actor

• Denzel Washington, Flight
• Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
• Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
• John Hawkes, The Sessions

Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) could fill in either the Hawkes or Washington spots.

Best Actress

• Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
• Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
• Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
• Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Naomi Watts could snag a nod for The Impossible and Helen Mirren is a contender for Hitchcock. If either is in, expect Riva or Wallis to drop out.

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin, Argo
• Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
• Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

This is a little more competitive so Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook) or Leonardo DiCaprio (Django) could get in with Dwight Henry as my weakest pick.

Best Supporting Actress

• Ann Dowd, Compliance
• Sally Field, Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
• Amy Adams, The Master
• Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

Kidman may just be wishful thinking. Put Helen Hunt for The Sessions in her place.

Best Original Screenplay

• Amour
• Django Unchained
• The Master
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Zero Dark Thirty

Eh, Flight or Looper in if Amour is out.

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook

Toss Perks of Being a Wallflower in if Beasts misses.

Best Animated Feature

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• Paranorman
• The Painting
• Wreck-it Ralph

Rise of the Guardians if the Academy is lame and leaves out The Painting.

I gave her a pass; this is what I get for being sexist.

Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) on not killing Lydia Rodarte-Quayle when he had the chance.