"So, you're in a happily committed relationship, right? And you're certain that your girlfriend is really into you, right?
Or maybe-just maybe-you're not that certain. Luckily, you can tell a lot about a girl by her movie star crushes. "My girlfriend doesn't have one of those," you might be saying. Uh huh. Just for fun, go take a look through her DVD collection. Do you notice how there are eight films starring James Spader? Connect the dots, dude.
Below, we've provided a handy list of Hollywood studs; why your lady fantasizing about them is a blessing in disguise; and why it might not be, either.Jake Gyllenhaal and/or Heath Ledger Why It Bodes Well: They starred in Brokeback Mountain, which pretty much makes them gay, doesn't it?
Why You're Screwed: Whoops. Nope, it doesn't make them gay at all. It just makes you insensitive and homophobic for thinking it. And now you're probably going to have to make out with some dude just to prove that you're not. On a happier note, this can now be your excuse if your girlfriend catches you making out with some dude". Source: www.cracked.comREESE WITHERSPOON People' Scoop: "Broad and high forehead signifies imagination and creativity. Brows with little arch are typical of a person who thinks things through before acting." (p. 82) The Ugly Truth: Less typical of a person who thinks things through before acting: getting knocked up by Ryan Phillippe. JAKE GYLLENHAAL People' Scoop: "M-shaped hairline means he' attractive to women. Thick eyebrows with little arch is a sign of energy and passion. Narrow jaw means he thinks for himself instead of relying on others' ideas and opinions." (p. 84) The Ugly Truth: Boyish smile means he will not hesitate to make sweet, sweet love to your girlfriend while she's in LA for a bachelorette party. Source: www.cracked.com
"Two years ago, right before the big summer movie onslaught, a small movie from America made the most of a momentary lull in the release schedules. That film was Rian Johnson's Brick, a film noir set in a San Clemente high school that ingeniously turned genre convention on its head. In place of a Sam Spade-style private eye there was a loner called Brendan (played by the underrated Joseph Gordon-Levitt) on the trail of his dead girlfriend's killer or killers, and the femme fatale was a cheerleader with brains, working from a razor-sharp script peppered with rich slang that had to be explained to US cinemagoers before they went in. Followers of Johnson's career will know that this film is The Brothers Bloom, a conman movie-slash-road movie travelling to every corner of the globe, in which the titular brothers – Stephen and Bloom – roam the world carrying out the most elaborate heists, using actors, props and intricate plots crafted by the eldest (Stephen). And though that sounds ominously close to every director's sophomore effort – ever noticed how second movies by Americans focus on travel, cultural differences and hotels? (Pulp Fiction ticks some of those boxes, but Lost In Translation is the daddy) – Johnson's is actually a more ambitious affair, in which the scenery, paradoxically, is almost incidental to the story. And, when you have a cast that includes Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and Babel's Rinko Kikuchi, there's plenty to keep you focused on that.The second time round, I saw it more for what it is: it's a love story. It's also a story about stories, and both these things are laid out in the prologue of the movie, in which magician Ricky Jay, in rhyming couplets, explains how the orphaned brothers became practitioners of their art: as children, Stephen (Ruffalo) would invent elaborate plans that made them a bit of ready cash but, more importantly, would allow the introverted Bloom (Brody) to make friends. After the credits, the film takes us to the present day (well, sort of). The brothers have just pulled off one of their labyrinthine cons, and there's a swinging party in Berlin (look out for a very cool string of Brick cameos, including an unrecognisable Dode and the film's clearly terrified producer, Ram Bergman). It should be a time for celebration, but Bloom is down and wants out – again. Because it seems there's a cycle here, but when Stephen does his usual pep talk, the old magic isn't there any more: Bloom really does want out this time. So Stephen strikes a deal. They'll do one last con, taking on a batty New Jersey millionairess named Penelope (Weisz) and drawing her into a fake world of smugglers, where the goal is to steal a priceless book from a hidden chamber in Prague. As Stephen puts it, “The best con is when everybody gets what they want.” And on this adventure, Bloom gets the girl, the girl gets a life and Stephen gets the money.
To say too much about this film – and, to be honest, the trailer gives quite a lot away already – would be to rob it of its surprises. It's a film that draws you in, and in a funny way it's quite challenging. Just as Brick dared you to get involved in its world of hipster jargon and cool-school cliques, so The Brothers Bloom makes no bones about its eccentricities: the boys in their Popeye Doyle hats, the sudden appearance of a real-life Fagin, and, best of all, the gorgeous Kikuchi as Bang-Bang, the brothers' mute, explosives-obsessed sidekick. Kikuchi seems to have walked straight out of a lost '60s pop-art bubblegum classic, and her presence is likely to divide audiences in the way Brick's patois did. But even if such flourishes seem overly stylised, the film has a card up its sleeve, figuratively and literally. As effortlessly as it seems to be unfurling, The Brothers Bloom is actually exerting a strange influence on the viewer, and at a crucial point in Mexico it becomes clear that these aren't cartoon characters at all but flesh-and-blood humans caught up in their own fakery, never knowing whether the con starts and real life ends, or vice versa.
The version I saw still had some rough edges that Johnson has since ironed out, so it'll be interesting to see the finished version, although I was sad to hear that the dancing dwarf has hit the cutting-room floor. Nevertheless, it was a pretty complete cut, and what struck me as I left the screening was how much I'd enjoyed spending time with this odd quartet, and how soon I'd want to to back to their world. And here I must make special mention of the film's wonderful score, again by Nathan Johnson, the director's talented cousin. The main themes really draw out the flavour of a film that, though it's about artifice and deception, never feels manipulative or calculating.
There's no word yet on a UK distributor, but my spider senses tell me that audiences here may get a glimpse before Christmas (it's out October 24 in the US). Source: www.empireonline.com
"Right smack in the middle of Comic-Con, Summit has decided to release the first trailer for Rian Johnson's second film - The Brothers Bloom". Source: www.firshowing.net
We have a honour here in Weirdland becoming an affiliate with this amazing site devouted to our Jakey G: Jake Gyllenhaal Fan, thank you, Luciana! Jake Weird is on affiliates in Male Actors category.I love to keep adding my humble contribution to the Jake's web family, because Jake will continue to be the most gorgeous actor in the world.
"Finishing up his Dark Knight publicity tour of Europe, Christian Bale was spotted with his daughter Emmeline flying out of London’s Heathrow International Airport earlier today (July 25).
The Batman stud sported a black t-shirt, cargo pants, and a pair of black Adidas sneakers as he boarded the plane with his little one, headed for Tokyo, Japan. As previously reported by Gossip Girls, Bale ran into some legal trouble earlier this week when his mother and sister reported to London police that he had assaulted them in the Dorchester Hotel". Source: www.celebrity-gossip.net
"Heath Ledger is getting a fond tribute from his collaborators on "The Dark Knight."
The end credits of the "Batman Begins" sequel include a farewell note to Ledger, who died in January from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs; and to special-effects technician Conway Wickliffe, who was killed last September in a stunt-car accident.
"In memory of our friends Heath Ledger & Conway Wickliffe," reads the tribute included in the credits, which went up Thursday on the Warner Bros. publicity Web site.
Ledger plays the villainous Joker in "The Dark Knight," who begins a reign of terror on Gotham City that pits him against conflicted hero Batman (Christian Bale).
The movie reteams Bale with director Christopher Nolan and returning co-stars Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman. Joining the cast are Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Beginning months before Ledger's death, his frenetic performance and demented-clown makeup have been a cornerstone of the marketing campaign for the film". Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com
"The season began with “Iron Man” back in May, which anticipated “The Dark Knight” in striking many reviewers as a pleasant surprise and hordes of moviegoers as a must-see. The July Fourth weekend belonged to “Hancock,” which played with the superhero archetype by making him a grouchy, slovenly drunk rather than a brilliant scientist, a dashing billionaire or some combination of the two. In that case, the reviews were mixed, but the money flowed in anyway. Even the lackluster “Incredible Hulk,” back in June, managed a reasonably robust opening, as did “Hellboy II,” a somewhat more esoteric comic-book movie.The commercial strength of the superhero genre is hardly news of course. Ever since Tobey Maguire was bitten by a spider back in 2002, this decade has been something of a golden age for large-scale action movies featuring guys in high-tech bodysuits battling garishly costumed, ruthless criminal masterminds. I don’t want to start any fights with devout fans or besotted critics. I’m willing to grant that “The Dark Knight” is as good as a movie of its kind can be. But that may be damning with faint praise. There is no doubt that Batman, a staple of American popular culture for nearly 70 years, provided Mr. Nolan (and his brother and screenwriting partner Jonathan), with a platform for his artistic ambitions. You can’t set out to make a psychological thriller, or even an urban crime melodrama, and expect to command anything like the $185 million budget Mr. Nolan had at his disposal in “The Dark Knight.” And that money, in addition to paying for some dazzling set pieces and action sequences, allowed Mr. Nolan and his team to create a seamless and evocative visual atmosphere, a Gotham nightscape often experienced from the air.
But to paraphrase something the Joker says to Batman, “The Dark Knight” has rules, and they are the conventions that no movie of this kind can escape. The climax must be a fight with the villain, during which the symbiosis of good guy and bad guy, implicit throughout, must be articulated. The end must point forward to a sequel, and an aura of moral consequence must be sustained even as the killings, explosions and chases multiply. The allegorical stakes in a superhero are raised — it’s not just good guys fighting bad guys, but Righteousness against Evil, Order against Chaos — precisely to authorize a more intense level of violence". Source: www.nytimes.com
"Curious about how he perceived these macabre figures, I asked him to teach me which ones were the heroes and which were the bad guys. Handing him the plastic stack, the six-year-old looked at the first one, paused, and having difficulty deciding, raised his little head and asked, "I don't know. Hero or bad guy?" He repeated this with every guy until we got to good ol' Batman. This time, he confidently informed me, "Batman's a hero, but he's a bad guy too." Those words stuck with me the rest of the day -- We also discussed and were saddened by the "graying" of the superhero from its original black and white parameters as well as its continuing descent from role model to complicated or damaged antihero. Currently, in the world of comics, that image has been embraced thoroughly, with heroes who are beyond corruption practically non-existent -- even Superman killed. And now with The Dark Knight, we get such an incredible, boundary-breaking piece of pulp whose twisted philosophy is so convincing and noir so effective that, en masse, we most likely will see comic books and their relative movie and TV franchises adopt an even darker tone.
So did this knight have to be so dark? In order to create such a magnificent film, yes. But I have to say, I was concerned for all the under-ten kids at the two showings I attended. No, my generation wasn't prone to dropping anvils on people's heads after growing up on Looney Tunes. Still, the bat's out of the bag and it will be interesting to see the cultural ramifications of this new level of dark chic". Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
BARCELONA, Spain — Batman star Christian Bale asked for privacy Thursday in his first comments since allegations he assaulted his mother and sister at a London hotel, saying the incident was personal.
The Welsh-born actor brushed off questions about the alleged family dispute, saying he preferred to focus on the blockbuster movie "The Dark Knight," which had its premiere in Spain on Wednesday.
"It's a deeply personal matter," Bale told The Associated Press at a news conference at a luxury hotel in Barcelona. "I would ask you to respect my privacy in the matter."
The 34-year-old actor spent four hours talking to British police Tuesday following allegations he assaulted his mother and one of his three sisters in his suite at London's Dorchester Hotel two days earlier. He was released on bail, but not charged.
Bale has said through his lawyers that the assault allegations were false. British media reported that Bale's mother and sister told police he assaulted them at the hotel a day before attending the European premiere of "The Dark Knight." The Sun newspaper said the complaint was filed by sister Sharon Bale and mother Jenny Bale.
The drama unfolded even as the movie broke records and was met with critical acclaim. It set a box-office record with $158.4 million during its opening weekend in the U.S. last week, and is expected to do well in Europe.
The film, which stars Bale as Batman and the late Heath Ledger as the superhero's nemesis The Joker, opened in Barcelona at a glittery premiere Wednesday night. Thousands of fans lined the red carpet for a peek at the stars. Bale paid tribute to Ledger, calling his depiction of The Joker one of the film's triumphs.
"It was an iconic portrayal of The Joker," Bale said, adding Ledger's character had embodied "an agent of chaos."
Bale said he tried to add an edge to his portrayal of Batman as well, inspired by the superhero's complex and mysterious character.
"The bat is not an angelic creature," he said, smiling.
The movie is expected to do well in Spain thanks in part to the publicity that Bale's reported arrest and Ledger's untimely death in January had spawned, press reports said.
Bale first made a splash as the child star of Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" in 1987. His screen credits also include "American Psycho," "The Machinist" and "Batman Begins". Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
Do you notice how there are eight films starring James Spader? Connect the dots, dude.
Jake Gyllenhaal and/or Heath Ledger Why It Bodes Well: They starred in Brokeback Mountain, which pretty much makes them gay, doesn't it?
REESE WITHERSPOON
JAKE GYLLENHAAL
