Lists, 8/21.

"Move over Hollywood. Step aside Pinewood. Foreign films are moving into the mainstream and attracting cinemagoers as never before." Okay. Almost as if it were timed to coincide with Edward Copeland's foreign film poll, Rob Sharp gets all bullish on foreign-language movies and, further down that same page, Robert Hanks lists his top ten.

"Like some monstrous regiment hell bent on celebrity and the perfect Caesar salad, chefs have marched out of the kitchen and on to the big and small screen in unprecedented number," notes Jan Moir, an award-winning chef himself, in the Financial Times.

Related, and via Bookforum: Victorino Matus in the Weekly Standard: "How did we get from Julia Child and Jacques Pépin to the more than 30 celebchefs now featured at the local bookstore? What was the turning point and who caused it? What of the impact of this celebrity chef culture on future generations of culinary school students? Won't they all want to skip restaurant work and demand their own shows? In short, have we gone completely and irrevocably insane over food and the people who make it?"

At Cinematical, Jeffrey M Anderson offers a list of seven "Great Directors Working as Actors for Other Directors." Related: Matt Singer and Alison Willmore's IFC News podcast.

For PopMatters, Bill Gibron lists ten directors who once "had success branded on their backside, and nothing could stop them from achieving their place among the savants of cinema - nothing except a single horrendous film."

"Favorite Pacino performances? Pacino or Nicholson? Show all work." Carrie Rickey draws in a string of comments.

Posted by dwhudson at August 21, 2007 2:53 PM