Critics will argue over Disney-Pixar’s 11th century Scottish princess adventure Brave, but there’s one thing we can all agree on: That redheaded Merida chick has one fantastic head of hair. And as the Wall Street Journal reports, it wasn’t easy to do the ‘do. “Merida’s hair is made up of 1,500 individually sculpted curves, distinct points in a three-dimensional space, that are programmed to bounce and interact in relation to one another via a new software system, says [Pixar simulation supervisor Claudia Chung]. Another software program was created to make the hair react more realistically to the character’s movements and surroundings.” Not bad for a girl born nine centuries before the invention of Herbal Essences. [WSJ via Movie City News]
Jennifer Saunders will begin scripting a feature version of her classic BBC series Absolutely Fabulous sometime next year, after she finishes work on the Spice Girls stage musical Viva Forever in London. Deadline reports that Ab Fab: The Movie will open with “Patsy and Edina waking up hungover in the empty drifting yacht of an oligarch in the middle of the ocean. Even worse, their cellphones can’t get a signal.” I’m torn — I want to be excited that the movie’s happening, but I can’t shake the paralyzing sadness of Ab Fab’s most recently aborted revival.
Roseanne famously tried to revive Absolutely Fabulous with Carrie Fisher and Barbara Carrera in an American version years ago, but I’m still lamenting the missed opportunity of Kristen Johnston and Kathryn Hahn as Eddy and Patsy in 2009’s aborted stateside TV remake. Look at that beautiful potential. How can you not root for Kristen Johnston? We don’t have many 6’0 character actresses with two Emmys left. Laurie Metcalf is not that tall. Furthermore, don’t you sometimes stop and wonder why the U.S. can’t make Ab Fab-y shows like Kath & Kim successful? Because Kath & Kim was funny, dammit. I saw Molly Shannon on Jimmy Kimmel Live recently, and she’s funnier than the entire ABC lineup right now. For our fix of loopy women, we have to turn to lazy, humdrum sitcoms like 2 Broke Girls, which is pretty much a crime.
Oh well. Let’s enjoy this Ab Fab reel and disappear into the past.
• Jennifer Saunders To Pen ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ Movie [Deadline]
Full Story »James Marsh, the Oscar-winning director of 2008’s Man on Wire, scintillated Sundance with his new documentary Project Nim, which centers on a chimp named Nim who was raised as a human child and taught American Sign Language. The first six minutes are now online, and if they’re any indication, Nim’s human preferences are enough to break a family apart. Watch, gape, and repeat.
The film already opened in Chicago and New York, but it’s expanding to other cities through July. The quaint nature of the interviews and establishing shots seem like a prelude to a pretty insane evaluation of human and animal behavior, no? The breast-feeding scene was just as traumatizing as the one from The Grapes of Wrath, if you ask me.
Check out Michelle Orange’s review of Project Nim here.
· Watch the First Six Minutes of ‘Project Nim’, by ‘Man on Wire’ Director James Marsh [Slashfilm]
Full Story »At the BET Awards last week, Alicia Keys threw her pregnant ass on top of a piano and crawled on that shit like she was Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys. And on Saturday night at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, Alicia busted on her nalgas while performing in heels. Okay, this is a sign that Alicia needs to sit her shit down before she gives her unborn fetus vertigo. That poor fetus is probably dizzy as all fuck! Alicia should at least stick a Dramamine up her cooch before performing.
But seriously, I don’t know why Alicia wants to stand up anyways. Standing is overrated. Being pregnant gives you a good excuse for sitting at all times. When bitches see a baby belly on a crowded train, that’s their cue to stand up and offer their seat. That is a beautiful power. So Alicia should take advantage of that while she still can.
I mean, if I was Alicia, this would be me at all times:
Although, I don’t think Burger King girl above is pregnant with a baby. I think she’s just permanently pregnant with laziness. I should use that one from now on.
via Concrete Loop
