You're A Shining Star

Smile Everyone, Smiles
Anne Hathaway

With her latest movie The Hustle co-starring Rebel Wilson opening today, Anne Hathaway received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday, naturally.

The Oscar Winning actress for Les Miserables, certainly has a great body of work that has earned her the honor. 

But in all honesty what compelled me to do a post on this today was the infectious smile she had while being immortalized on Hollywood Blvd. 

"Yes" her smile is what's making me happy this morning, Friday May 10th 2019. It's the most sincere thing I have seen all week. 

Thanks Anne for a lovely kick off to the day ahead, your mega watt smile is one of the many reasons you're a shining star. So bend it like Anne today minions, like I know you can.

Go get em'!!!

Anne on IMDb -
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004266/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1

Saturday Sinema: Behind THE COVE

Little fish, big fish swimming in the water...

YAGI Film Inc. announces the U.S. premiere of Behind THE COVE, a documentary film rebuttal to the Oscar-winning film The Cove with week-long screenings in New York and Los Angeles, in late November (11/25/16 – 12/1/16) and early December (12/2/16 – 12/8/16), respectively.

Behind THE COVE, the 105-minute Japanese film by first time director Keiko Yagi, includes interviews with people on both sides of the international whaling dispute, including the director and antagonist from 2009’s The Cove, the Academy Award-winning film which negatively portrays the practices of fishermen in the small, remote town of Taiji in Japan. 

This is the first film to respond to anti-whaling The Cove from the Japanese perspective. While generally highly regarded, The Cove has also been lambasted by some critics for being one-sided propaganda, Japan-bashing, for lacking a basic understanding of related cultural issues, and for using deceptive filmmaking strategies. The depiction of Japanese people in the film has also been controversial.

What started out as a personal investigation, triggered by childhood memories of whale dishes, led first-time Japanese documentary filmmaker Keiko Yagi to the town of Taiji, the center of the whaling debate and the stage of The Cove. With no budget, limited experience in filmmaking, no fluency in English, but armed with a video camera and a strong desire to find out the truth of the matter on whaling, Yagi discovered a much bigger story than she had initially imagined.

In Behind THE COVE, Yagi attempts to present a comprehensive picture of the dolphin and whale hunting issues in Japan, which includes interviews with people on both sides of the whaling dispute, its sinister political side, what The Cove did not offer, and a unique take on the topic. Throughout filming, Yagi got to know the anti-whaling activists, who set-up camp in Taiji every year during the dolphin-hunting season. In her film, Yagi also presents the ‘voices’ of the Japanese, who usually consider silence to be a virtue. To get a balanced and greater understanding of the story, she also interviewed experts in the whaling world from Japan and overseas, including representatives from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), scientists, and researchers. As Yagi delved into the topic, specific issues with The Cove became apparent.

“Before Western environmental and animal activist concerns persecuted the animal agriculture and fishing practices of the East in such a highly publicized and critical way, you’d think they’d first take a serious look at the situation at home prior to using Japan, a quiet country, as a scapegoat, ” says Yagi. “In the U.S. alone, billions and billions of land and marine animals are subjected to deplorable conditions before they are brutally killed for food each year to satisfy the heavy meat-eating habits of Americans…. the relatively small fishing village of Taiji, in rural Japan, accounts for marine animal deaths in the thousands, not billions. To demonize such a relatively small industry abroad, when compared to the magnitude of what’s happening in – and is relatively ignored in – the U.S., seems a bit misguided and, perhaps, even racist.”

Yagi is not alone in these sentiments. David Cox of The Guardian Film Blog called The Cove a “piece of evangelism,” and subsumed that from a neutral point of view “Westerners.... kill and eat cows. Easterners eat dolphins. What's the difference?” Academic Ilan Kapoor, echoing the famous phrase by Gayatri Spivak, argues that “It's a case of (mostly) 'white men saving cute dolphins from yellow men.’”

Hirotaka Akamatsu, Japanese Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, said “It is regrettable that this movie is made as a message that brutal Japanese are killing cute dolphins.” According to Michelle Orange, of Movieline, “As a piece of propaganda, The Cove is brilliant; as a story of ingenuity and triumph over what seems like senseless brutality, it is exceptionally well-told; but as a conscientious overview of a complex and deeply fraught, layered issue, it invokes the same phrase as even the most well-intentioned, impassioned activist docs: Buyer beware.”

Yagi further explains, “In Japan, some fishermen, particularly in remote rural areas, see dolphins and whales as just fish, consumed for centuries as part of local cultural traditions…. in China, dog meat from man’s best friend is acceptable to some as a food source…. in the bacon-loving U.S., highly intelligent and social pigs are widely considered suitable for cruel slaughterhouse practices and the dinner table. There are cultural differences as to which animals are deemed acceptable as food sources and which are not. One of the key questions our film poses is: Who gets to choose which animals are okay to eat?”

Yagi will be in attendance at a selection of screenings in both New York (Cinema Village) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Music Hall), during the film’s U.S. debut. For additional information, please visit http://www.behindthecove.com/index_en.html.

Behind THE COVE (2015, Documentary, Japan, 105 min.) –

New York Screenings:Friday, November 25 - Thursday, December 1, 2016

Cinema Village22 East 12th StreetNew York, NY 10003212-924-3364https://www.cinemavillage.com/Now-Playing/behind-the-cove.html

NYC Q&A Sessions with the Director (after the screening):• Fri. 11/25 at 7:10pm• Sat. 11/26 at 7:10pm• Sun. 11/27 at 5:10pm

Los Angeles Screenings:Friday, December 2 - Thursday, December 8, 2016

Laemmle Music Hall9036 Wilshire Blvd.Beverly Hills, CA 90211310-478-3836http://www.laemmle.com/films/40990 

Charlize Theron, and She's In Leather!

Bad Ass! Charlize Theron

Actress and Seducer of Living Things Charlize Theron, did this hotter than Hell photo featured in W Magazine.

There is also an interview to go with it, no I didn't read it I was too distracted by this image to care what was said honestly. Although I am willing to bet it had something to do with her upcoming movie the awesome looking Mad Max Fury Road.

Sorry Charlize I know there is more to you than beauty but....WOW!

I used to work at United Talent Agency the house that represented Ms. Theron when here career first started. Even then there was a buzz about her. Her then agent the late and wonderful J.J. Harris sent out an excited E-mail announcing her arrival. Even then everyone knew she would be a star.

She has it all, beauty, talent & brains.

While I love Charlize in all that she does, I must cite my two favorite performances by her. Of course there is the obvious her Oscar winning turn as Aileen Wuornos is Monster. She also played the wickedest Queen seen outside of RuPaul's Drag Race in Snow White and the Huntsman.

Mad Max Fury Road looks kick ass, I can't wait to take the ride with Charlize and the rest of the cast on May 15th! Check out the awesome trailer below...Varooooooooooom!

Charlize on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000234/?ref_=fn_nm_nm_1

Meryl Streep "Listen, I Want You To Know, I Got You This F - - king Part"

The Woods Are Alive With The Sound of Music: Meryl Streep & Bill Magnussen

Meryl Streep really isn't an evil witch, she just plays one in Into The Woods. The Oscar winning screen legend played a part in landing her costar Bill Magnussen the lead role of Rapunzel's Prince in the film which opens Christmas day.

"I remember the first day coming into rehearsal," Magnussen told the New York Post, laughing. "Meryl was like, ‘Listen, I want you to know, I got you this f - - king part.'"

This is the kind of story that show biz dreams are made of. It just so happens that Meryl had seen the Broadway actor in Tony winning play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike in 2013 and then lobbied producers for him to land the part in Into the Woods. 

Magnussen has been in the biz for several years, Into The Woods will be his first major movie role.

That's a pretty amazing Holiday gift, wonder what Bill is getting Meryl in return?

Take A Walk Into The Woods at: http://movies.disney.com/into-the-woods/