Style Sunday (Rawr edition!)

Emma Roberts is just so cute! She's a vision in this remarkable Marchesa cocktail dress. the whole thing is very Audrey Hepburn by way of Givenchy, no? Gotta love the animal print and the delicate belt that gives her figure more prominence, notice the Tiffany blue color of it too.

Rachel Weisz seems to get more gorgeous by the minute! Look how effortlessly sexy she is in this short Giambatista Valli dress. The print, although similar to Emma's, makes her even more seductive. The pattern in Emma's dress have impressionistic touches, while this Valli just says "grrrr".

Which of these two beautiful creatures is your favorite?

Scream 4 ***

Director: Wes Craven

Cast: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette,

Erik Knudsen, Anna Paquin, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere

Rory Culkin, Mary McDonnell, Kristen Bell, Nico Tortorella

When Scream was released fifteen years ago, a new generation of moviegoers were introduced to the way a horror movie should be made. Drawing inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock, Dario Argento and the entire French New Wave, Wes Craven crafted the first in a series of postmodernist takes on the genre. The film’s constant self-references and winks at other horror movies made it both refreshing and old fashioned, it would remain the definitive slasher movie of the late twentieth century. By the time Scream 3 was released, the genre had once again fallen to victim to overwrought plots and excessive gore, yet Craven’s series remained smart and ahead of its time because of its social commentary and obsession with the media’s effect on our lives. It’s not an accident that Scream still manages to be scarier than Saw in all its incarnations and funnier than the Scary Movies made to poke fun of it.
Fast forward eleven years and we get Scream 4, which is actually more of the same. Whether this means a good or bad thing is strictly up to the viewer. Those looking for gore and excessive amounts of movie blood, will get their fix in limited quantities, while those looking for a lesson in cinephile geekiness, disguised as a genre flick, will go home more than satisfied.
The thing with Scream 4 is actually quite simple: you either like it or you don’t. The film feels like a time capsule which chooses to ignore how much horror sensibilities have changed in the past decade. Instead of turning Ghostface into a serial torturer or a demon, it gives us the same old Scooby-Doo mystery the first ones made us crave: who is the killer?
This time around Ghostface has gone on a killing spree to celebrate the anniversary of Maureen Prescott’s gruesome murder fifteen years before. Maureen’s daughter Sidney (Campbell) has become a successful self-help book author and is back in Woodsboro to promote her book and pay tribute to her mother. Sidney seems to have forgotten that whenever she’s happy, Ghostface will strike.
Lucky for her, she still counts with her friends: Sheriff Dewey Riley (Arquette) and his feisty wife Gale (Cox having more fun than anyone else!) who has reluctantly given up journalism to become a small town wife. There’s also a new group of nubile victims in play, including Sidney’s cousin Jill (a simply delicious Roberts), her friends Kirby (a scene stealing Panettiere) and Olivia (Marielle Jaffe). There’s also her ex-boyfriend Trevor (Nico Tortorella) and high-school movie geeks Charlie (Culkin) and Robbie.
The dynamics of this installment are the same as before (although an appearance from Jamie Kennedy to help us understand the new rules would’ve been great...) and Craven seems to be at his best delivering playful scenes in which Ghostface plays with his victims like a cat would with a mouse he’s about eat.
This dynamic between primal fear and comedy is what makes this film so effective. It might be more of the same, sure, but it still manages to feel fresh even when it makes so much fun of how stale the genre has become. In the opening scene there’s a movie-within-a-movie-within-a-movie-within-a-movie that takes meta out of proportion and turns it into a fascinating look at the Russian doll effect the media has achieved in the last few years.
The movie even comes with a dark message of sorts as Craven deals with the thirst for fame that drives people to do all kinds of crazy things. Scream 4 might be slightly misunderstood because it’s both the joke and the punchline. As much fun as it makes of unnecessary sequels it dignifies itself, in a totally self-aware way, thinking that it’s above them all. To call this film delicate might sound ridiculous, but in a way it is: it tries hard to grasp onto the last remains of a genre it helped refresh and like its scream queens, it seems completely unaware that it’s only a matter of time before they perish as well. As Dewey himself says “one generation's tragedy is the next one's joke.”

Meet Me at the Met.

Guess who's back in da motherfuckin' house!

Exactly one week ago I had a date at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Much to my disappointment the Met was closed (I later found out it's always closed Mondays but still...) however to my surprise, that day they were setting up the red carpet for the Costume Institute Gala: my second favorite red carpet event in the world.

This year the festivities were dedicated to the memory of the late genius Alexander McQueen as the Costume Institute set up an exhibition of his work appropriately called Savage Beauty. People in New York, do yourselves a favor and go see this show. It was one of the most breathtaking art exhibits I've seen in my entire life and since this blog isn't about my life, but about movies, I'll review the red carpet and seam it into a travelogue sort of thing.

The fantastic Stella McCartney wore a design by well, herself and rocked the asymmetrical leg with Alasdhair Willis.

Salma Hayek, as many others, went with a McQueen design which gave her an ethereal aura that neutralized her overcoming erotic sense of fashion. She looked elegant and simple. Notice how she's even subduing the boobs! Well done Hayek!

The statuesque Giselle Bundchen opted for a simple McQueen (if there is such a thing in the designer's oeuvre) that highlighted her height and gave her a regal look.

Madonna, fresh off the time machine, rocked this Stella McCartney that paid homage to great screen sirens like Ava Gardner and Joan Fontaine. the color is absolutely perfect and her Jean Harlow-esque hair is perfect.

Only Beyonce can grab Emilio Pucci and make him seem like he's an understudent at the House of Dereon. This all too tight dress highlights B's gorgeous body in all the wrong ways. She needs to lay off the black and gold for a while.

Even if I'm not a fan of this Alexander McQueen, props should always be given to SJP, who time after time pushes fashion forward.

Blake Lively, who I never ran into despite my best efforts, is a vision in this Chanel Haute Couture. The nude and print paired with the chiffon make her look like a Greek goddess out of a modern orgy.

If something works for you, keep it up, no? Gwyneth Paltrow's state of mind seems to be that since column dresses with sexy high slits have worked for her recently, now's not the time to stop. I would've loved to see her try something new but this Stella McCartney truly defies criticism.

J. Lo chose a McQueen inspired Gucci that highlighted her curves while adding a sense of purely dramatic flair. This reminds me of getting lost on the 6 train (true story).

I, for one, am glad that Taylor Swift gave up her "angelic girl" look for this event. Sure, this J. Mendel dress and severe hairdo make her look like Carolina Herrera but hey, it's about time she embraced womanhood, no?

Oh Diane Kruger. When will this perfection let us down? Your Jason Wu dress is nothing if not simple, yet you wear it with such grace and add this strange sexiness to it that Veronica lake herself would come from the grave to ask for your fashion advice.

Michelle Williams finally smiles for the cameras and looks stunning in this Miu Miu with golden patterns. Speaking of which, I think I finally saw what others see in her acting-wise. She was phenomenal in Meek's Cutoff (that's what I ended up doing after my failed Met date...review coming soon!)

Pé rocks my world, as you all know, but she's been lacking a little something after her pregnancy. This Oscar de la Renta is efficient but looks too much like what she wore for last year's Golden Globes.

Emma Roberts owns Scream 4 and she also gives this Michael Kors design a youthful sexiness not anyone would've achieved.

The awesome Jennifer Hudson highlights her best assets in this lovely Vera Wang dress. The big skirt and see through chocolaty cover make her look good enough to eat.

Amy Adams should stop trying to pull off L'Wrenn Scott. It just doesn't go with her! While the idea of this dress is rather nice, the execution looks cheap and plain dull. It doesn't help that she tried to do her hair in a manner that resembled the gown's pattern.

Wednesday Addams is back! Christina Ricci rocks this strange Zac Posen in a way Helena Bonham Carter only dreams of! The odd skirt and weird patterns are pure runway Posen but the Gothic romantic feel is all Ricci.

The adorable Hailee Steinfeld gives the Fanning sisters (who wore Valentino) a run for their money in the "freaking cute" department. Unlike them however, Hailee is always age appropriate. This Stella McCartney has the edge of the knee length but balances it with a graceful neckline.

Kristen Stewart, really? Let's concentrate on how dreamy the Proenza Schouler guys are instead.

Stella McCartney seems to have been the designer of the night, with apologies to Lee. Kate Hudson looks positively gorgeous in this gold and crystal appliqués design.

Now, out of all the people who donned Alexander McQueen, I think Coco Rocha pulled it off best. Not only did she go with a Lee that's actually wearable in the real world, she also gave it an edge by accessorizing with the dress and not against it.

Kate Winslet was astonishing in this Stella McCartney. People in NYC you must head out to The Museum of Moving Image and see some of the Mildred Pierce costumes they're currently exhibiting. One of my biggest disappointments in coming back home was that I was unable to attend a screening of the entire miniseries at the museum. Can you imagine how awesome that would've been?

Anyway, how have all of you been doing?