“It’s the most relentlessly positive blockbuster in years. The big conflict in the film isn’t between the Avengers and the Chitauri, it’s between the Avengers. It’s a movie about squabbling, disparate people coming together to get things done. No character feels extraneous, and everyone has something to do that only they can accomplish. The film’s money shot isn’t an explosion or a fight scene, it’s a shot of the characters standing together, united.  It’s exactly the fantasy that will appeal to a nation divided drastically along seemingly insurmountable partisan lines. It’s the fantasy of teamwork.”

This is a great article. 

And $42 came from the four times I went to see it in theaters.

NO REGRETS! 

Modestly budgeted indie follows the day-to-day indecisions and nocturnal perambulations of a commitment-phobic New Yorker, played by Birbiglia, who in real life suffers from REM sleep behavior disorder — sleepwalking — which caused him to run out of a second-story motel window while on tour in Walla Walla, Wash., resulting in 33 stitches in his leg.

Lauren Ambrose (“Wanderlust”) co-stars as Birbiglia’s girlfriend, forced to endure not only his nocturnal misadventures, but his passive, noncommittal nature and less-than-aggressive pursuit of a comedy career.

Based on his one-man show, Birbiglia directed and wrote the script with Joe Birbiglia, Seth Barrish and “This American Life” host Ira Glass, who produced with Jacob Jaffke.

I have been such a big fan of Mike Birbigila’s for so long. I am so excited for this. Lauren Ambrose! 

popchange:

(Indiewire)

In a survey of the top 100-grossing movies of 2009 — including “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” — researchers found that 32.8% of the 4,342 speaking characters were female and 67.2% were male, a percentage identical to that of the top-grossing movies of 2008.

To be fair these numbers are from 2009, which was a pre-Bridesmaids year of movies. But one movie with five female leads is not going to make up for a 35% difference in speaking roles for male and female characters. It’s a nice start, but it’s certainly not enough.

Remember all those rumors about Star Trek 2 not being able to make its June 29, 2012 release date? You can pretty much take that to the bank.

Although Paramount Pictures has still not officially scrapped that release date for the sequel to J.J. Abrams’ smash 2009 franchise reboot, writers Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci more or less confirmed that Trek 2 will not be ready for next summer.

In an interview done by Cinepremiere in San Diego last Saturday, on the red carpet for the premiere of Cowboys and Aliens, the screenwriting pair said that they don’t expect the movie to begin shooting until January 2012.

That rules out a summer 2012 release for sure—given the amount of post-production that these movies need—and even puts a December 2012 launch in question.

Epic sadface.