Vulture

Gossip Girl Recap Recap: The Backup Dan

Sarah Lawson — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 2:15:00 -0500

This week, Blair's sham wedding to the prince of Monaco, her subsequent sprint to the airport in Vera Wang for a divorce Dominican Republic–style, and her refusal to let Chuck buy her from the Grimaldis had commenters abuzz with talk of implausibility. As usual, a few things have become Swarovski-crystal clear thanks to our commenters: Virtually no one likes Serena right now; Chuck really needs a hair change; and the writers may or may not have mailed in season five from a beach in the Dominican Republic themselves. Pluses were hard to come by this week (though Queen B remains a fave), but the hate rained down on Serena, the royal wedding reception music choices, the sudden lack of doors in UES apartments, Blair’s painful hair extensions, and Serena’s made-for-penguins gown. Forthwith, a return at last of the recap of the recap:

Realer than Offering to Pay a Princess's Dowry to Secure Her Divorce

“Serena and Chuck set out to find Blair and alert Nate of her disappearance. Nate, like the Golden retriever he is, is undeterred and gets distracted by the real version of the girl he used to have a thing for. +5” — iamdorota

“Like any good husband of a completely raging bitch, Georgina's is a doormat. +20
Even strangers mock Dan. + 5. A hoodie and a t-shirt WOULD max out Dan's credit card. +5” —stiletto33

“-100 for Serena being beyond pathetic in her unrequited love for Dan, it’s Dan for F*CK's sake! It's getting ridiculous. -20 for Rufus' continuous pushing of his son to date his stepdaughter. +100 for Chuck to do the gentlemanly thing in attempting to purchase Blair.” —Bookles

“Nate was the most interesting character this episode. +5” —serenaownsme

“I was gobsmacked that Serena managed to make Blair’s disastrous marriage and flight from it all about her. And no one called her out on it. The cleavage rhombus is so mighty, its gravitational pull has now insured that the world does actually revolve around S. +10 for the writers struggling to keep Serena a lead character when she's clearly the least interesting to write for.” —mockingbird

“Tell me you know who Vera Wang is or keep walking."-Blair to a young woman. Plus 20, because even when she's desperate Blair Waldorf still has principles. “She refuses to get botox. Her face is an emoticon."-Blair about her mother. Plus 20, I love that she managed to make that sound like a bad thing.” —ldcluna

“+10 for Darota trying on Blair's shoes, we all know that this is the only real benefits she gets in this job.” —Anunkindravenbass

“Nate, Serena and Chuck all end up at the catering truck when they need to go find Blair. It's a good thing Lola is into the runaway bride story and volunteers to help them, since as far as we know none of them can drive. Plus 3 for the 1% always having had drivers.” —PurpleandGreen

“Did someone explain to us who ‘Philip,’ the guy who lives with Georgina, was? Minus 2” Philip is the guy who needed a “hot trophy wife” to show off to his bosses! Helllooo” —toujoursamour

“Serena: ‘Why did you lie to me?’ Dan:(points to Blair) ‘She told me not to tell anyone’ Blair: ‘I didn't know you talked to her’ Dan: ‘You do realize she falls under the term 'anyone'?’ Serena: ‘I'm not just anyone, I'm her best friend’ +100 for that entire moment” —hatinontheclub

“Nate just did manual labor for a date. These are the darkest of times for Nate. Plus 20 because sometimes we react in weird ways when our cousins attempt to murder us for no reason. I think we've all been there.” —feed_the_ducks

“-Like all couples on the lam, Dan and Blair soon start fighting as the pressure of the outlaw life exposes all the flaws in their relationship. +5
- +25 for showing us how stunning Blair/Leighton is in prole clothes from the airport gift shop. +25 because Leighton is much more beautiful than Blake.
- Eleanor has zero interest in having a drink with the newlyweds after the reception. You can almost see her thinking, "my mother meter ran out 3 hours ago". +2 ...
- In fact, everyone excuses themselves after the reception, except for a few desperate diehards (the Princess and Rufus) who really want to keep partying. Very, very real. +10” —muletta

“Seeing Blair in a t-shirt, hoodie, flats, and with "average" hair was the first time she ever looked her age. +21 (1 for every year!)” —PIECEOFBASS

Faker Than Trying to Use a Tabloid Cover As a Passport on a Dominican Republic Flight

“The airport wasn't the first place where someone would look for a runaway bride, especially a royal runaway princess bride. -1000” —lanadelgay

“Blair allowed "Funky Cold Medina" to be played at the wedding? No. -10” —lisaturtle

“Louis is such an idiot. If he had just kept his mouth shut like Sophie told him to, he could have at least gotten laid on his wedding night. Is the pre-nup still valid if they never consummate the marriage? -50 for ick factor if Blair's lawyer Dad(s) have to sit around and discuss this possibility.” —NurseLuvBass

“Pay phones don’t exist anymore, Lonely Boy. Minus 5.” —caitybeth

“-100 for me not being able to comment at work..
+1000 for us, this comment board is burning!!!
Dorota trying on Blair's shoes...what else would any sane woman do locked in a closet? +100
Chuck's perfect expression when Georgina said.."cross my heart and hope to die.." Bass maybe a new man, but Georgina is our only hope for pulling him back to his Bassass self.+200
Holy Motherchucker! How many times must I suffer watching Chuck and Blair declare their love for one another, only for Blair to walk away, and Chuck once again...sad and alone. -1000000
"Dear Lord, my rosary is worn from my constant praying that some how, somewhere up in heaven, someone will strike down the next stupid story line of keep Chuck and Blair apart..I ask you to save my soul from further suffering." Amen.” —bowtiesandheadbands

“louis is just doomed to be stupid. what did he think, that when he told blair that he was going to make her life suck from this point forward that she WOULDN'T run like hell? just hold it in a little bit longer, dude. i don't know if this should be minus 50 for his idiocy or plus 50 for character consistency.
serena van der woodsen, resident social butterfly who cannot spend 5 minutes in a stranger's company without getting to know them, spends a whole car ride with charlotte rhodes and yet fails to learn that she is charlotte rhodes. no, sorry i don't buy it. minus 100
a girl in a wedding gown and horrible hair-extensions walks into the airport and no one is taking her picture to tweet and blog. they're just staring. said girl has now been reported as a missing person and no one is calling the police. they're just taking her picture to tweet and blog. minus 100
cyrus would NEVER let blair sign a prenup that was obviously written in the medieval ages. dowry? SERIOUSLY? minus 100.” —harumscarum

“-1000 for our former Queen B wearing a hoodie. An actual hoodie.
-250 for Serena & Chuck now being the voices of reason on this show.
- 800 for the character assassination of the aformentioned former Queen B.
- 600 for the simple fact that I can't remember the last time B schemed/plotted...
+ 500 for the above being the accepted norm as a result of the travesty that has been GG's fifth season.
*raises Martini and saunters out*” —Tha Phoenix

“-20 for Georgina walking in on Dorota. Seriously, how can you have major plot points contingent upon a lack of doors anywhere in Manhattan? #doorsareforpoors (credit to Apathyonmyside).” —maggiebex

“Dan and Blair fight like 12 year old girls. I kept waiting for them to bashfully apologize, pop in a DVD of The Notebook and braid each other's hair. -20 for that not happening.” —chuckismypuppy

“-10 for the wedding DJ that was playing Like A Virgin at the wedding. Did the writers already forget that B was pregnant?” —nikole0602

“Minus 20 at how shocked Chuck was that Serena would look on the roof for Blair. If there's any person that would appreciate the theatrics and drama of escaping a wedding from a parachute on the room it would be Chuck. The roof is his favorite place to go for melodrama.” —feed_the_ducks

For next week’s ROTR post, e-mail sarah.lawson[at]nymag.com your favorite non-cat YouTube video for a chance to pick the best comments for the post. Cover letters and general flattery appreciated.

Movie Review: Denzel Washington Swaggers Through Safe House

David Edelstein — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 2:00:00 -0500

Denzel Washington co-produced and stars in the jangly, hyperslick espionage thriller Safe House, which is expertly fashioned to suit his most crowd-pleasing persona: the bad guy who’s so cool that he inspires you even as he poses a threat to the social order. Perhaps he inspires you because he poses a threat to the social order. Perhaps he’s bigger than the social order. He’s certainly less naïve about the supposed good guys, and a lot more candid about going after what he wants: the mother lode.

In Safe House, Washington plays Tobin Frost, a CIA agent who reportedly wrote the book on modern interrogations before becoming the company’s most notorious traitor. Wanted on four continents, he has no allegiances and no relationships outside work. Is there anything he loves? Yes: ’72 Petrus. With his favorite wines, he permits himself to sniff, sip, and, for a moment, get intimate. Then back to business.

As the movie opens, Frost is in South Africa selling especially incendiary intelligence when he’s set upon by unknown assassins, who are prodigious enough to compel him to take refuge at the nearby American consulate, where he knows, at least, he won’t be killed. Promptly arrested, he’s transported to a Cape Town safe house managed by junior agent (and “housesitter”) Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), who’s frustrated by his lack of opportunities for advancement. He’s about to get one. When the safe house is breached and everyone else wiped out, he finds himself on the lam with a handcuffed Frost.

By the middle of Safe House, I’d predicted every cross and double-cross to come but was goggle-eyed anyway. Director Daniel Espinosa is (despite that Spanish surname) a Swede who has obviously studied state-of-the-art Euro thrillers by Luc Besson and above all the Bourne pictures. He packs the film with jump-cuts and fist-fights in which the careening, handheld camera goes tight on the blows and counter-blows and glass- and furniture-smashing, with Reynolds getting blasted around the frame like a pinball. The movie is color-coordinated — fluorescent greens and blues and purples — down to the glossy, tutti-frutti storage units in a Cape Town stadium complex. In one rollicking car chase, Weston evades assorted bullet-spitting baddie vans while grappling with his passenger, who puts him in a choke hold that sends their car swerving all over the highway.

Safe House isn’t all crashed cars and dodged bullets: The quieter scenes have their own punch. (The script is by David Guggenheim.) Frost the infamous turncoat preys on the insecurities of Weston the company man, planting doubts about his superiors (they include Brendan Gleeson, Vera Farmiga, and Sam Shepard) and even his potential for a lasting relationship with his dishy French doctor girlfriend (Nora Arnezeder). What separates Safe House from the standard Cuisinart-cut action picture is that it’s marinated in post-Iraq cynicism, that the bad guy’s way of seeing the world is closer to how the world is than anyone giving the hero his orders. No, that doesn’t let Washington’s Frost off the hook: The film’s morality is too Hollywood-conventional for that. But in the end, he’s the only one of Weston’s mentors who matters. The title has a nice irony: The safe house is the least safe place on Earth.

Madonna Isn’t Pleased With M.I.A.

Kyle Buchanan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 1:30:00 -0500

NBC and the NFL are very disappointed that M.I.A. (so many acronyms already!) made a middle-finger gesture during Madonna's Super Bowl performance, but how does Madge herself feel about the incident? "I was really surprised," Madonna said on Ryan Seacrest's radio show this morning. "I didn’t know anything about it. I wasn’t happy about it. I understand it’s punk rock and everything, but to me there was such a feeling of love and good energy and positivity, it seemed negative. It’s such a teenager, irrelevant thing to do." Added Madonna, who has certainly never done anything obscene in front of a crowd, "What was the point? It was just out of place."

West Wing’s Bradley Whitford Heading to Parks and Rec

Margaret Lyons — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 1:15:00 -0500

Bradley Whitford, a.k.a. Josh Lyman from The West Wing, will be guest-starring on Parks and Recreation this spring. According to HuffPo, Whitford will play the city councilman vacating the seat Leslie's running for, and the episode includes a bunch of West Wing shout-outs — even the title, "Live Ammo," is an allusion to one of Sam Seaborn's lines in the episode "The Lame Duck Congress" (season two, episode 6, B+). Tragically, Whitford will not be sharing any scenes with Rob Lowe, so that Josh/Sam reunion fantasy some completely sane and capable people may harbor so deeply that it feels real will just have to wait for a few more years.

The Star Market: Is This the Year of Channing Tatum?

Kyle Buchanan,Claude Brodesser-Akner — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 1:00:00 -0500

Did the Mayans predict we'd see so much of Channing Tatum in 2012? We're barely into February and Tatum already has Haywire, a Saturday Night Live stint, and this weekend's weepie romance The Vow under his belt; then, over the next few months, we'll see the 31-year-old in 21 Jump Street, Steven Soderbergh's highly anticipated male stripper epic Magic Mike, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation. It's clear that casting directors love the guy — there aren't many young American actors who can toggle so easily between action, comedy, and romance — but do audiences feel the same way? To get a better sense of Tatum's worth in what could be the most important year of his career, we polled industry insiders to ask one simple question: If Channing Tatum were a stock, would you buy, sell, or hold?

Stock History: Famously, Tatum got his start as a stripper at age 19, which he eventually parlayed into somewhat more respectable work as a dancer and model. The latter gig led to commercials — "Forgot my Dew!" — and finally, his entree into film in 2005 with the movie Coach Carter. Success came quickly after that: Just a year later, he broke out with the triple-play of Step Up, She's the Man, and a critically acclaimed role in Dito Montiel's A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. Since then, Tatum's balanced his leading-man gigs in movies like G.I. Joe, Dear John, and The Eagle with a willingness to take a supporting part for a good director, and those instincts have made him the unlikely new muse for Steven Soderbergh, who'll now make The Bitter Pill his third film with Tatum (after Haywire and Magic Mike).

Peers: He’s on that list of interesting actors like Chris Hemsworth (28), Andrew Garfield (28), and Sam Worthington (35) along with the "far more versatile" Joseph Gordon-Levitt (30). One agent tells us that although Tatum’s not as high up on the lists as Ryan Reynolds (35), he is "definitely on the 'B' tier," and, more, "he’s really 'B+': He’s starring in movies above the title. He’s a commercial 'guy’s guy' — and there aren’t too many of them."

Market Value: Hit and miss. Tatum's played the lead in three big hits, the $65 million–grossing dance movie Step Up, franchise-starter G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (which made $150 million), and the romance Dear John ($80 million). And you've gotta say this for the guy: Those are all very, very different movies. Still, two smaller action movies sold on his name, Fighting and The Eagle, both topped out around $20 million, and some of his most finely attuned dramatic work in Dito Montiel's A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and The Son of No One (in the latter, his was the only believable, grounded performance) was seen by few, as neither movie made even a million dollars. This weekend ought to provide a boost, though, as The Vow is currently tracking great.

What Hollywood Thinks: Said one agent we spoke to, "I think he’s getting a lot of opportunities and he’s working with great people, like Rachel [McAdams], who is back in fine form. I think he’s going as well as it possibly could. He’s certainly getting a lot more shots than probably more talented people. I mean, his talent level is above average, but he’s not a Brad Pitt or Joe Gordon-Levitt. He hasn’t shown that ability — yet."

And therein lies the central question of Channing Tatum: Has he gone as far as a former stripper and ex–Ricky Martin backup dancer may be expected to go, or is there something more to him that will surprise us all yet again? Lest we forget, Tatum has been capable of surprisingly strong performances. Even though he’s become well known for popcorn pablum like G.I. Joe, he initially showed promise in smaller movies. "He shined in Coach Carter and Step Up as a kid who was 'street': tough, rugged," says another agent, adding, "But that was all cheesy commercial popcorn. It was only after he did A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints with Shia and Robert Downey Jr. that it became clear: Hey, this guy might be the real deal."

Since then, there have been occasional flashes of interesting roles, but they’ve been in low-grossing projects, like Kimberly Peirce’s underrated Stop Loss or Steven Soderbergh’s equally low-grossing Haywire. Happily for Tatum, neither of those projects' failure to ignite falls at his feet. The public quickly revealed its distaste for Iraq war movies of any stripe, and Tatum is barely in Haywire, which is thought to have failed because it disobeyed Rule No. 1 for female action movies: Cast Angelina Jolie, or abort.

(Speaking of action movies, agents say you shouldn’t make too much of the fact that Tatum returned for another round in Hasbro’s G.I. Joe at Paramount, but don't read on if you're spoiler-averse: "They had an optional picture on him," says a third agent, "he had no choice but to do it. And he asked to be killed off in it, to his credit.")

"He’s got a real moment here," observes one literary agent, "So if you’re a lit agent developing a script with him, you press ahead right now. But the worry is that he doesn’t have 'the magic.' Is he elevated enough to be more than a 'lovable meathead'?"

Another agency talent partner is much higher on him: "I'd sign him if I could, absolutely," says this rep. "He’s a very naturalistic actor. I don’t feel like I'm watching a fraud when I watch him. And I think he has some skill, too. He reminds me a little of Mark Wahlberg, except that Mark started out in life as a fucking punk, and Channing is not; he’s a sweet kid. But there’s something about him that seems … ever-so-lightly-brain-damaged. I mean, he’s clearly not in real life. But there’s a quality to him onscreen as if there’s something going on besides whatever else is going on in the scene; it’s an 'absent' quality. Real filmmakers are intrigued by him. You know how Mark Ruffalo was in You Can Count on Me? He invites your empathy. He really does. You want him to be capable enough to overcome the situation he’s in, but you worry that he’s not going to have it in him to pull it off. That’s where the tension is."

The Analysis: Of course, it’s going to take a few more popcorn movies before we’ll get to see that side of Channing. First up will be 21 Jump Street, in which agents say his co-star Jonah Hill "does the really far-out stuff," but as his straight man, Tatum is "surprisingly funny," which will only broaden his range and chances.

Says our first agent, "If I could, I would make him the Cameron Diaz of men, very commercial: Have him do fun comedy-action, that kind of stuff. I think he can be in a movie every summer; he could be a $15 million guy in action-comedies. With Dear John, he showed he is somewhat romantically gifted, but I’d really like to see him in an action-comedy to see what he could do."

It's a shame that Saturday Night Live gave Tatum so little to work with recently, as he's got a disarming flair for comedy (and we will prove it to you with links!). With that in mind, then, 21 Jump Street could break him out in a big way. "If you look like that and can also do comedy," says our second agent, "The world is your oyster. It’s much easier to build a female audience when you’re a tough guy than it is to move away from being a teeny-bopper, like Zac Efron is trying to do."

The Bottom Line: Ubiquity is a funny thing: When you appear in a zillion movies coming out at once, it can either turbo-charge your career (as it did with Jessica Chastain last year) or cause an audience backlash (Jude Law probably thought he was having a great 2004 until Chris Rock turned his prolific moviemaking into a punch line at the Oscars). Fortunately, though Tatum is in virtually every film coming out this year, they're all very different from one another, which ought to work to his benefit. And if you're going to run the risk that audiences will get sick of your face, it helps to have an awfully handsome one.

Buy/Sell/Hold: Strong Hold. "The guy could just as easily end up working at a filling station," says one agency partner, "But I like him; there’s something slightly broken in him. I don’t see him as a down-the-middle leading man. There’s some tragedy in there somewhere. He’s interesting when people know what to do with him. There are fascinating qualities that seem to be coming to the fore. He’s going to score with The Vow, and then he’ll get lots of other opportunities. And then we’ll see if it’s going to work."

Read more posts by Kyle Buchanan Claude Brodesser-Akner

Filed Under: channing tatum ,the star market ,movies ,the vow

Watch Oh Land’s New Video, ‘Speak Out Now’

Eliot Glazer — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:49:51 -0500

The beautiful Danish weirdo is going through her "lace phase." [ONTD]

‘We Take Care of Our Own’ Video: Sing Along With Bruce Springsteen

Amanda Dobbins — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:30:00 -0500

Are you a little freaked out by all the many spammy lyrics sites on the Internet? With the exception of Rap Genius (which even has pictures!), they can all be pretty scary, the kind of sites that make you hold your breath and pray that you are not clicking on a virus along with the words to Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life." (For the record, that's an underrated karaoke song.) Bruce Springsteen hears you, and for his newest video, he has helpfully circumvented that Googling problem, pasting his "We Take Care of Our Own" lyrics on top of the visuals in very clear, readable font. There's no fancy Cee Lo–style typography here; just words, and pictures of sad overlooked Americans, and Bruce mugging fiercely for the camera on a rooftop. Then he turns the whole world into Technicolor, because he can. Presumably, the Boss will be preforming this song at the Grammys come Sunday, so you have two days to memorize the relevant verses. Study hard!

Watch a Supercut of James Lipton’s Most Absurd Questions

Jake Moore — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:15:00 -0500

James Lipton is well known for his line of questioning on Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio, where he uses an adapted "Proust Questionnaire" to find out his guests' favorite and least favorite word, the noises they love and hate, and, of course, what they'd like to hear God say to them at the Pearly Gates. But ten questions does not fill a TV hour, and Lipton often packs the rest of that time with an array of superlative-filled comments and questions that become a new form of sycophantic poetry when strung together: What do we have to look forward to in Shrek the Third? What attracts you to odd hats? And whither the tattoos? (One of his favorite questions; he poses it to Brad Pitt in tonight's episode.) Click on, and imagine just what it would be like to be interrogated by Lipton: You'd tell him everything ... though very little of it would be interesting.

Watch Gloria Estefan’s Campy New Video, ‘Hotel Nacional’

Eliot Glazer — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:35:00 -0500

Drag queens and Susan Lucci? Have you been reading our Dream Diary, Gloria? [We Are Pop Slags]

Movie Review: The Imagination-Lacking Journey 2: Mysterious Island

Bilge Ebiri — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:30:00 -0500

It’s tough to hate a movie that tries so hard not to take itself seriously, but Journey 2: The Mysterious Island sure makes us come close. This sequel to 2008’s Brendan Fraser–starring Jules Verne palimpsest Journey to the Center of the Earth offers up a predictably de-boned, family-friendly fantasy adventure (this time inspired by Verne’s novel The Mysterious Island, which was actually more of a sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but whatever) but gussies it up with occasionally endearing bits of throwaway humor. The results are sometimes fun, though never enough to mask the movie’s breathtaking lack of imagination.

The strangest gag in the entire thing, of course, is that Fraser’s character is nowhere to be found — he’s been replaced by The Rock, now playing stepdad to intrepid teenage “Verne-ian” Sean Anderson (The Kids Are All Right’s Josh Hutcherson, the only lead returning from the original film). Previous movies have joked with the idea of this outlandish-looking muscleman trying to fit into a domestic setting; here, it’s taken for granted. When The Rock knocks politely on his surly stepson’s door, only to be refused admittance, we half-expect him to tear the door down. But no, he’s a dutiful family man — so dutiful, in fact, that he essentially chaperones the boy on a journey to Palau after the two decode a mysterious radio transmission that Sean is convinced came from his lost explorer grandfather Alexander (Michael Caine, presumably behind on some alimony payments). Even after they crash-land on the supposedly fictional island, The Rock’s main purpose seems to be to just lurk around and make sure the boy doesn’t do anything stupid. They might as well be at the mall.

Actually, the whole movie might as well be taking place at the mall. How ironic is it that the 1961 Mysterious Island, with its painstakingly animated stop-motion monsters (courtesy of the great Ray Harryhausen), did so much more with the possibilities of special effects than this new one, with all that powerful CGI at its disposal. Oh, there are some sights: If you ever wanted to see Michael Caine ride a giant bee, now’s your chance. But more often than not, we’re marveling not at the dazzling imagery on display but at the wasted opportunities. When our heroes see a giant spider, for example, they just note it and move on; never have I felt so deprived of an obligatory giant-spider chase scene.

The film seems more interested in the comic back-and-forth between its characters, and here its report card is mixed. Hutcherson and The Rock do a decent job circling around each other — the boy is insistent, the wrestler stoic (even when he’s showing off his pecs or bragging about the fact that he doesn’t need sunblock). Their easygoing banter works; that almost makes up for the painful ribbing between Caine and The Rock, which feels so forced and unnatural you start to look for wide shots of the two, just to make sure the actors were in the same location together. And let’s not even get started on the facial muggings of poor Luis Guzman, playing a native pilot who, along with fetching daughter Vanessa Hudgens, winds up accompanying our heroes on their journey.

But the movie does have its moments. It tosses in completely devil-may-care bits of humor here and there (a completely random joke about calligraphy paper, a devious sight gag involving the size of some sharks, etc.) almost as if to hint at us that the filmmakers’ minds are elsewhere. That may free us to let our thoughts drift as well — though hopefully not to the honest money we just spent watching this glorified cable fodder.

DreamWorks Is Remaking Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca

Margaret Lyons — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:25:52 -0500

Another day, another remake: DreamWorks is developing a new version of Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 classic Rebecca, Variety reports. Steven Knight, who wrote Eastern Promises and Dirty Pretty Things, among other films, will write the adaptation, which will be based on the original book by Daphne DuMaurier. Rebecca is about a widower (Laurence Olivier), his new bride (Joan Fontaine), the shadow cast by his dead first wife, and all the suspense you can cram into an English manor. It's Hitchcock's only film to win an Oscar for Best Picture, which might make revisiting it seem even less necessary.

Air’s Nicolas Godin on A Trip to the Moon, Working With the Dead, and Space Travel

Bryan Hood — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:00:00 -0500

Because of the dreamy, pristine soundscapes they've been creating since 1998's Moon Safari, it’s not that surprising that Air's Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel were approached to record the score for the remastered, hand-painted print of Georges Méliès’s classic 1902 short film Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon), which showed at Cannes last summer. What's more surprising is just how raw their score — and the album they expanded it into — turned out to be. Yes, it’s still Air, but the exacting — and sometimes antiseptic — production they’ve made their trademark has been ditched in favor of something more loose and free. Vulture got on the phone with Godin ahead of this week’s album release to talk about the project, the benefits of working with the dead, and keeping the dream of space travel alive.

How'd you get involved with the project in the first place?
We got a phone call from the foundation that financed the restoration of the movie. They also told us they had to take it to Cannes in one month. When we saw the movie, it was like, Oh my God, we have three weeks to write eight songs. They have to be very good because it's going to be shown at Cannes and the cinema world is going to be there and if it's not good we'll look ridiculous. We were pretty scared.

What was the writing and recording process like?
We had the movie on the screen and we were testing ideas. You could see if it was good or bad, so we could move on very fast. There was no doubt: If a theme was no good, we'd throw it away; if it was good we'd keep it and make it better. We watched the movie 50 times a day for three weeks.

Were there scenes that were particularly difficult?
The famous scene, with the rocket in the eye of the moon. It was so intimidating. At some point, we were thinking of letting it be silent — for Georges Méliès and his memory. It was working quite well, but then we found this idea of the vocals and it worked even better.

What was it like working on a score for a film where the director has no input?
We were in such a rush that we had a complete blank slate. It was very positive, actually. The movie was finished, the editing was finished, so we could work on a perfect synchronization between sound and image. When you work on a normal movie, you make music for one scene and the next day the scene is longer or shorter, and all your work is gone. It's falling apart, collapsing. With this, it was a unique occasion for us to show people what we can do when there's perfect synchronization with the image. But at some point we felt the magic of Méliès in the studio. We felt his presence a little bit. It was very strange, it was very weird. Even if he's dead, he was there.

When did you decide to expand the project to an album?
At the end of the movie, we had two surprises. The first was, Wow, we have an album. It's completely coherent, it’s great, and works together. And the second was that we were frustrated because it stopped in a very abrupt way. We were frustrated and we wanted to perfect it, so we decided to go on and tell the story in 30 minutes; the movie is 16 minutes.

How are the score and album different?
Some of the songs in the album are not in the movie; some of the songs from the movie are not on the album. Also, the mixes. The first track, “Astronomic Club” — in the movie there’s a lot of reverb on the drums because they are in a big cathedral. We wanted people to feel that. But on the record you don’t see the cathedral, so you don’t need the reverb.

This album feels warmer and more organic than most of your recent work. Why is that?
We wanted to pay tribute to the way Méliès was working and doing everything himself. He was in his own studio, building the sets, writing the script, and playing in it. We wanted to do everything ourselves and do something very raw, something very organic and homemade.

Along with Moon Safari, this is your second album with moon in the title. Does the moon have a special meaning to Air?
I think our generation is obsessed with the moon. When we were children, we were told that in the year 2000 we’d be in spaceships and living on the moon. Nothing like that happened. We felt betrayed. Now people stay home in front of the screen. But when we were kids we were supposed to be out of our home, out in space. So I feel like when I make records, I keep the dream alive.

What’s next?
We’re going to do music for a video game, but we can’t talk about because it’s just beginning. But it’s going to be very cool and very crazy.

Today Is the One-Year Anniversary of Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’

Amanda Dobbins — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:45:00 -0500

On February 10, 2011, which was, a little confusingly, a Thursday, a teenage girl's seemingly cheesy music video was uploaded onto YouTube. And then the Internet went bananas. Yes, we have been living with Rebecca Black's "Friday" for an entire year now, and we (or at least this particular Vulture correspondent) are no closer to knowing which seat to take. We do know, however, that in 2012 it is possible to feel older in terms of viral-video life spans. BuzzFeed has a very long chart-filled history of the "Friday" saga, if you are so inclined, or else you can just spend the day e-mailing "Happy Friday Anniversary" to your friends and seeing who gets the most confused.

Watch a Jeopardy! Contestant Give Alex Trebek Lip

Eliot Glazer — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:40:34 -0500

What is "a smart-ass"? [BuzzFeed]

NBC Postpones The Munsters

Margaret Lyons — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:30:00 -0500

The Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane is out of commission for the fall, Variety reports. Bah, just when we had almost convinced ourselves that it could work. Bryan Fuller's revamp might still be in contention for midseason, but NBC reportedly wanted to give the show some special love and attention as only NBC can, and thus won't send it into production until this summer. Script concerns aside, how do you cast a new Munsters? The old one is so campy and, by contemporary standards, trite-looking; how do you make Frankenstein's monster compelling (and not laughable) for modern TV? One wonders!