Thighs Wide Shut

Frost/Nixon
For Your Interviewing Pleasure
Trailers & Mo | Official Website

Historic as a series of landmark TV broadcasts, then dramatized into a beloved stage play (or so we’ve heard) and now transformed into the phenomenal feature film, Frost/Nixon replays the revealing 1977 interviews, and the fly by the seat of its pants circumstances that made it all happen, between British TV presenter David Frost and our disgraced 37th President Richard Milhous Nixon. Adapted from his own West End/Broadway play, Peter Morgan (also the pen and teller of The Queen, Last King of Scotland and The Other Boleyn Girl) and his Frost (Michael Sheen, also his Tony Blair from The Queen, a performance so incredible that only a Queen could overshadow it) and his Nixon (Frank Langella, a veteran actor whose biggest role may have been as Skeletor in the Masters of The Universe movie) team-up again to give director Ron Howard his finest material to work with and his bestest film to date (well, besides Parenthood). Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfadyen, Toby Jones, and Oliver Platt all add cheerful energy to the affair, but are merely window dressing (as is Vicky Cristina Barcelona‘s hottie Rebecca Hall, who we wish did some window undressing) to the two main felleas divided by the slash

So what’s the big deal with these interviews anywayz, eh? Nixon had been press shy ever since his resignation in August of 1974, and after his pardon by Gerald Ford, many thought he got off the hook for any wrongdoing involved with Watergate. Frost recognized this fact, and knew an exclusive interview would be a good thing for Nixon to try and save face, while it would make Frost a face to be recognized in the US. Both of their reputations were at stake, whatever was left of Nixon’s and Frost really had no reputation in which to speak of over here, but put a lot of his own money on the line to make this all happen. Frost, as others perceived him to be (see his interview w/Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes), was out of his league interviewing someone like Tricky Dick, but when push came to shove, Frost pushed and shoved Nixon to basically apologize for betraying the country. Even as a recreation, in any form, this material is so rich that it’s impossible to nto be spellbound by the spellbinding spells that are cast

The 70s were not only the last golden age of cinema (The Godfather I & II, Star Wars, Jaws, One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Clockwork Orange, and mos app, All The President’s Men), but also the last great decade of crazy-insane-bananas shiz goings on that have been turned into cinematic (or documentary) gold: Nixon himself was a treasure trove (Oliver Stone’s Nixon, Dan Hedaya ruled in Dick), and then there’s Vietnam (name a movie, any movie), Jonestown (The Life and Death of Peoples Temple), the Patty Hearst kidnapping (Guerrilla), Harvey Milk’s assassination (Milk, duh), the Munich Olympics (One Day In September, Munich, duh part II) and the list goes on and on. We hope today’s filmmakers will continue to dig into that deep 70s well, and if they do, there will be plenty o’ Breast In Shows for us to declare

Grin & Jarret: DUDE, Mitch Taylor/Sarah Jessica Parker‘s STILL ACTING!!! DATS RIGHT!! Gabriel Jarret (aka, the real name of that kid who played Mitch from Real Genius!!) plays Ken Khachigian, a Nixon speechwriter. Take a look at him here at the far right, and listen to him gab on the red carpet about his role! HOORAY FOR MITCH!!! PLEASE KEEP HIRING MITCH AND STOP HIRING HIS FAKE SISTER, HORSEFACE!!!

Verdictgo: Breast In Show

Role Models
Role Played Out
Trailers & Mo | Official Website

A cute movie to say the most, Role Models is ultimately purty darn lame, considering it’s supposedly a comedy, which contains a grand total of 3 laffs. Lame be a dang shame cause this is the second straight vanilla offering (after The Ten) from former Statesmen David Wain, who apparently hasn’t been able to top his Citizen Kane, Wet Hot American Summer. Role Models is a predictable tale (with no real tale to tell) about two dudes (Paul Rudd doing his Paul Rudd thing and Seann William Scott going back to his Stifler ways after showing us a lil something else in the little seen Promotion) who get in a spot of trouble and avoid jail by doing a month of community service. They land at Sturdy Wings, a big brother-little brother type place, headed up by an ex-addict (Jane Lynch doing her Jane Lynch thing) who used to eat cocaine for breakfast and lunch (wethinks that joke was intended to be funny). They’re assigned to two oddball kids, who are actually normal cause theys juss kids. One’s a foul-mouth black boy (Bobb’e J. Thompson), who has nothing much to add cept saying ‘boobies’ and other naughty words (guess it’s funny if you still think the South Park kids cussing is funny). The other is a LARPer dork (McLovin, aka Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and we are happy to see him gettin sum mo work) with parents who juss don’t understand. Stifler imparts his cleavage knowledge to the dirty worded kid, while Rudd teaches McLovin that it’s OK to do whatever you want to do, as long as it makes you happy

There’s other stuff goings on, like Rudd trying to win back his lady (Elizabeth Banks, wasting her time), but the majority of our time if filled with way too much LARPing (and way too much Ken Jeong, who’s starting to wear out his welcome with us… even though he juss arrived on the scene). This woulda been a solid flick that you coulda brought your tweens to, considering the humor is well below sophomoric and it is surely sweet, but the pointless nudity and the aforementioned overuse of cuss words prevents this from having any kind of true audience. Feel free to disagree, but we personally like to laff with our comedies, not be mildly amused by em. Also, a small request Hollywurst: can we peas gets us some comedies made by fresh talent and starring people who aren’t from a pool of the same 25 actors?

This Is How We Role: save an hour of yer life and juss re-watch the big brother-little brother Simpsons ep ‘Brother From the Same Planet’ instead

Verdictgo: Sum Merit But No Stinkin Badges

Frost/Nixon, already playing in NY/LA, will hit up many theaters this Friday, where Role Models has been gettin overrated for weeks

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

we at Thighs Wide Shut endorse the following for President: Popeyes, Pinder’s boobs, Cooley’s penis, the latest 50 images posted to Live Journal [usually NSFW, always effin random and funtastic], Tootsie Fruit Rolls, Jimmy Smits on Dexter, the 1972 edition of Clue, HÃ¥kan Loob jobs, Zipporah Films, The Streets’ ‘Heaven For The Weather’, the chocolate malts from Steak n Shake, girls who dress up like Droogs, the Jhoon Rhee ‘Nobody Bother Me’ commercial, a Jewish Ivanka Trump, The Joy of Painting, Gus Frerotte’s headbutt, GoldenFiddleDotCom, Donovan, Mike Donovan, Lib’s Patty Meltâ„¢, this animated gif

and erasing the painful memory that was John Kerry

¡vote or diet!

Happy-Go-Lucky
Lucky Charms
Trailers & Mo

When a Mike Leigh film is released, without question, you should go and see it. The man is incapable of bad filmmaking, and if you’ve seen anything he’s made, we’re sure you’ll agree. If the titles Naked, Vera Drake, All or Nothing, Meantime, Topsy-Turvy or Secrets & Lies don’t sound familiar, then you need to familiarize yo-self with them pronto tonto! They all are rich works that explore the banality of everyday (British working class) life, rife with both heartwarming and heartbreaking moments that are so genuine you’ll have a hard time ever forgetting them. The same is mos definitely true with his latest, Happy-Go-Lucky, although it’s more on the heartwarming than breaking side. Leigh knows how to assemble a top notch ensemble cast (he’s like a British Altman or Woody Allen), and has the magic touch to bring out especially amazing performances from his leading ladies. He’s put brilliant, yet relatively little known (at least stateside) veteran actresses Imelda Staunton, Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste on the map, by guiding them all to their first (and in some cases, maybe last) Best Acting Oscar nomination. It will probably happen a 4th time with Sally Hawkins (a Leigh regular player, and last seen as Colin Farrell’s neurotic lady in Woody’s Cassandra’s Dream), the happy-go-lucky title gal, who has been rightly buzzed about as one of the five possible females gunnin for the top spot at the 2009 Academy Awards. Her performance as the appropriately nick-named Poppy is a pure revelation, even more so than what Anne Hathaway done did in Rachel Getting Married (it’s common knowledge that Hath’s a great actress, but we guess she needed to stop being cast as a princess for everyone to realize it). Nothing can drag the lovely Poppy down, eggcept when she sees bad things happening to the students she teaches (the more tender bits of the film). When her bike gets stolen, she treats the news with a shrug and then carries on with her footloose and fancy free day. Ms Sunshine has run-ins with negative Nancies all over town (including her beyond no-nonsense driving instructor Eddie Marsan, another uber-brills Leigh regular) and she tries her best to raise a smile outta them all. While it doesn’t work 100% with the grumpy Guses onscreen, it will with everyone off-screen. A splendid time is guaranteed for all, and tonight, Mr Kite won’t be topping the bill

Happy-Go Hunting: czech out Leigh’s extensive shooting locations tour that he gave Time Out London. we will, as soon as we complete our life’s goal of visiting the Clockwork Orange locales

Verdictgo: Breast In Show

Body of Lies
Body Ardor
Trailers & Mo

The fictional modern warfare flicks they be puttin in theaters these days that star terrorism as public enemy #1 have been more dud-ly than Dudley Do-Right doing lots of wrong. We’d almos rather be sent to Guantanamo than sit thru Traitor, Rendition, War, Inc. or You Don’t Mess With The Zohan again. And that’s what makes Body of Lies a lot more enjoyable than it actually is. It’s nuttin but a generic espionage thriller that’s elevated to popcorn pleaser-land by Ridley Scott’s usual solid direction (it’s no 1984 Apple commercial, but hey what is?), Leo DiCaprio‘s dedication to his role (he speaks Arabic! yet wanders around the Middle East undercover wearing a baseball cap in land where no one wears baseball caps!), and a heckulva lot of explosions across the globe (although Bret and Jemaine are the true Boom Kings). Russell Crowe‘s the other marquee name, but he doesn’t really add much tat all, considering he’s mostly phoning in his performance. And we don’t juss mean that figuratively, since he’s the pencil pushing CIA guy back in the states calling the shots via his blue-toothed cellphone. His lack of presence is made up by admirable supporting work by Mark Strong (also crazy good in RocknRolla), Simon McBurney (‘that guy’ with ‘that voice’ whom we love oh so much) and Leo’s Muslim Florence Nightingale, Golshifteh Farahani. Yesh, there’s a lil Old/New
world romance between Leo and a nurse, and while it may feel out of place with the rest of what’s going on, it makes a nice diversion to the diversion that we’re already watching. The film reminded us a lot of the Robert Redford-Brad Pitt burner Spy Game, which was not so oddly enuff directed by Ridley’s brother Tony. Come to sphinx of it, this fluffy-nutter movie may have been better off in his brother’s hands. Probably would been a bit mo flashy and fun, like Man On Fire and Domino. Come to sphinx of it part II, we kinda heart Tony more than we do Ridley, and that aint no lies, cause we have a Body of THIGHS!

AKA-47: although named after the book of the same name by David Ignatius, there were some other working titles for the film, including Penetration. wonder why they didn’t run with that one? and what, Going Under Covers wasn’t ever an option?

Verdictgo: Jeepers Worth A Peepers

Go-Lucky opens in limited release today, while Lies and The Duchess expands to play at a theater new jews

until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

Remember that brilliant ad promoting UK’s Channel 4’s Stanley Kubrick Season? Well the 10-day marathon kicked off on the right foot the other night with a brand new delicious doc called Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes. Two years after SK’s death, director Jon Ronson was invited to his estate to sift thru the endless boxes that he collected his film shiz in over the years, before they were moved to their new home at University of the Arts London. While he may not have necessarily found Kubrick’s Rosebud, he did uncover a treasure trove of goodies: props, research for films never made about Napoleon and the Holocaust, letters from fans and ‘cranks’ (all sorted by city!), screen tests, and an infinite amount of photos, including our personal favs: fingering out the most sinister hats for the Droogs (see above photo)! It’s all fascinating and drool-worthy stuff, considering how private Kubes was, and the boxes help us better understand the methods and madness behind one of the greatestistest director’s of balls thyme

watch Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
and click here if those have been taken down

and while yer at it, peep this other hottttttt Channel 4 doc from 2000, The Return of A Clockwork Orange, which takes a well deserved look back at the landmark film that was banned in England until SK’s death!

Viddy well, little brothers. Viddy well

Wees suckers for those AFI top whatever specials that air every year on CBS. Although it appears as if they’re running outta ideas already (as well as talking heads… Amy Madigan? guess she had the most spare time outta anyone), as last night’s affair was the top 10 films for 10 different genres: Animation, Romantic Comedies, Westerns, Sports, Mystery, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Gangster, Courtroom Drama and Epics. While they did a purty decent job with their picks, some of the choices didn’t seem to fit the category they were filed under, like Field of Dreams getting listed under ‘Fantasy’ instead of ‘Sports’, and who ever considered Pulp Fiction to be a ‘Gangster’ film? And whatta bout the absence of Horror films? And why no love for Documentaries, ever (here’s our flavs)? To hells with that shiz, so we decided to come up with a bunch o random lists of our own…

Horror
(not including anything by Stephen King or Hitchcock)

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2. Alien
3. The Exorcist
4. The Wicker Man
5. Jacob’s Ladder
6. The Silence of the Lambs
7. Halloween
8. Rosemary’s Baby
9. The Omen
10. Poltergeist

boo-nus: Time To Leatherface The Music

Stephen King

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Stand By Me
3. The Shining
4. Carrie
5. Misery
6. The Mist
7. The Running Man
8. The Dead Zone
9. The Lawnmower Man
10. Children of the Corn

boo-nus: visit Mansfield, Ohio for the Shawshank Redemption trail tour, which includes a stop at the Ohio State Reformatory

Alfred Hitchcock

1. Psycho
2. Strangers On A Train
3. North By Northwest
4. Rear Window
5. Notorious
6. Rebecca
7. Vertigo
8. Rope
9. The Birds
10. Dial M For Murder

boo-nus: Saul Bass‘ storyboards for the Psycho shower scene

TV Shows Turned Into A Movie
(doesn’t include characters plucked from a show, like Borat or the Blues Brothers)

1. The Untouchables
2. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
3. The Fugitive
4. The Brady Bunch Movie
5. The Addams Family
6. Jackass: The Movie
7. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
8. Star Trek IV
9. Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
10. Dragnet

boo-nus: 30 Upcoming Movie Sequels You Didn’t Know About, including an Untouchables prequel

Drugs

1. Trainspotting
2. Requiem for a Dream
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Midnight Express
5. Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas
6. Boogie Nights
7. Scarface
8. The Big Lebowski
9. Carlito’s Way
10. New Jack City (and no, we aint kidding)

boo-nus: when in Scotland, take the Trainspotting literary tour

Music

1. Pink Floyd The Wall
2. Tommy
3. The Commitments
4. The Devil and Daniel Johnston
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
6. The Filth and the Fury
7. A Hard Days Night
8. Buena Vista Social Club
9. DiG!
10. The Blues Brothers
and this list goes to
11. This Is Spinal Tap

boo-nus: I Need A Dirty Woman, I Need A Dirty Girl

Dystopia

1. A Clockwork Orange
2. Planet of the Apes
3. THX 1138
4. Children of Men
5. Twelve Monkeys
6. Sleeper
7. Starship Troopers
8. A.I.
9. Gattaca
10. 1984

boo-nus: Real Horrorshow

Awful Movies We
Kinda Sorta Vouch For

1. Zardoz
2. Can’t Stop The Music
3. Escape From The Planet of the Apes
4. The Terminal
5. The Apple
6. Ghost Dad
7. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
8. 2 Fast 2 Furious
9. She’s All That
10. Bratz/From Justin To Kelly (tie)

boo-nus: the Zardoz trailer, which may well be the greatestest trailer EVER

previously AFIing it up:

100 Songs Mostly Wrong
& Quothing At The Mouth