http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404802/

The Notorious Bettie Page

Scheduled for release mid March, 2006. Not much in the way of very early buzz, but I've got the castm which is incredibly strong and full of well-known actors.

Gretchen Mol .... Bettie Page
Lili Taylor .... Paula Klaw
Jonathan M. Woodward .... Marvin
David Strathairn .... Estes Kefauver

Hard to tell why there are ten votes already in on imdb, but its a whopping 9.2/10 over there.





The director, Mary Harron, is a Canadian director who has a surprisingly long resume considering I'd not yet heard of her. Most of her work is televsion based, but she directed and did screenwriting for The Late Show, Oz, and Six Feet under.

She has done some pretty well known movies, including American Psycho, which I never saw, and I Shot Andy Warhol, which I've heard alot about but have not seen either. She also helped produce The Weather Underground, which came out in 2002. I see Notorious Betty Page being a huge breakthrough, and I'm very excited to see more from the cast, and to learn more about the director.

Opening in two weeks, I can't wait!





This will make Inside Deep Throat seem like yesterday's news. I'm actually really happy its going to be a drama/biography and not a documentary though. I don't know, I think sometimes they can be more effective when the idea of the brunette pin-up gets digested through a directors vision first.

First few reviews have started filtering in as well:

7 Reviews in over at RT, but sadly, the two rotten ones are CreamoftheCrop. Though the critiques are exactly what I don't always love about docs. Basically, that it gets its fact checking and aesthetic right, but fails to really have a vision or character of its own.

Wow - I've been really out of touch with things lately. I didn't even realize this release was already here. Love Betty, so I am very excited to see this.

This is a real test to see if Gretchen Mol can really act. That aside, I actually want to see this film. With Starthairn and (the underused) Taylor in the mix, it should be interesting at the least.

Advanced screening, for anyone who is interested.

http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/screenin ... enings.php

Welcome jeynu1! Christian, you should come round here more often. ;-)

I am actually interested in the film. It looks like Mol might pull off a good performance.

Film opens here next week.

25 image flipbook available: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/notorio ... 09914&page

I'm a big Mary Harron fan (American Psycho = brill), and this film has a great trailer. I'm excited.

I visit here and there, hehe, I just don't post here as much as I want to.

But that will change...

God, YES!

Well, I rushed right out and saw it opening day. I was a little bit dissappointed. It really was kind of bland, though I still enjoyed watching it. I enjoyed it for the "feel" and for what no seems like tame, highly stylized poses. I enjoyed all the get-ups and Mol was very cute as Bettie Page. But afterwards I just left thinking "that's it?" It feels a bit like all the musician biopics that have been coming out lately (of which I was also dissappointed) except for its a bit funner looking. Strathairn was criminally underused, but its because the smut wars were not the focus of the film at all.

I've never seen American Psycho or I Shot Andy Warhol, which Harron is known for. I'm interested now, however.

Saw the trailer tonight before, of all things Basic Instinct 2. It looks...interesting, I might have to check it out though. Definately not a "rush-out-and-see-it" type for me though.

I really, really liked it, actually.

The direction is nearly flawless. Seriously, Mary Harron is an uber-genius. The stylistic choices were perfect. I loved the use of Super 16. And the way the stock would change to color every time she went to Miami... loved it.

Gretchen Mol is superb. I think people are kind of selling her performance short because she's not asked to display a huge range, but it's the nuances in the performance that make it what it is. When she's posing in front of the cameras as Page, she's absolutely brilliant.

The screenplay is pretty much spot on. There are some great moments of humor (more then you might expect, actually), and I felt it delved just enough into Bettie's life without becoming too heavy and cumbersome. I really feel like people are unfairly criticizing this film because they're expecting it to be some sort of bloated, pretentious heavyweight that we've all come to expect from your average biopic, and it's not. It's about capturing a moment in someone's life. It's not interested in telling you every sordid detal and minute event that made up Bettie Page. It's giving you Bettie at the height of her stardom, and that's it. And frankly, I wish more biopics would do the same.

So, yeah... it's hugely entertaining, and pretty much masterful in all techincal aspects. I loved it. I gave it an A- in the movies of 2006 thread, but I meant to be put A.

I think it looks quite good. I'd like to see it when I go to New York City in a few weeks, I'm not sure if I'll be able to though because I'd like to check out HARD CANDY and WASSUP ROCKERS.