I was 10 years old when my mother took me to the movies to see “Dirty Dancing.” I, like so many women, fell head over heels in love—with the movie, with the soundtrack, and most definitely with Patrick Swayze. I loved that movie so much that when I couldn’t sleep at night I used to recite the movie in my head line by line.

There are certain things that people like Anna Wintour just do not do. Like eat, sleep or go to the bathroom. Waiting in line is one of these things. It just doesn’t happen. Or so we thought. But Wintour was snapped waiting in line to see “The September Issue” [again] over the weekend. And not only was Madame Wintour waiting in line just like a common peasant, she was also wearing jeans, a t-shirt and flats. [Gawker]

Really, there are so many things wrong with this picture that the mind reels. If she weren’t wearing the signature glasses and a bob so severe that it must be intended to dole out paper-cut-esque injuries to those who get too close, we might think that was a clever impersonator. But, apparently, the movie is well worth the wait and it brought in enough viewers to make it the fifth most successful documentary opening, umm, ever. Have you seen it yet!?

For much of my adolescence, I held up Say Anything and its endearing, boombox-wielding protagonist (Lloyd Dobler, sigh) as the pinnacle of what I wanted in relationships. Then I got older and thought about a guy I had just dumped standing outside of window at dawn and playing cheeseball music and suddenly, my dream guy seemed less like an ideal and more like a stalker.

Romantic comedies set unrealistic expectations of relationships and love, but if we look beyond the cinematic surface, what’s revealed are a host of crazy characters whose actions would never fly in real life—or would fly them right into a restraining order. Read more ...

We’ve been hearing bits and pieces about Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” for a while, ever since Heath Ledger died during production and his role had to be recast with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. From the looks of it, this movie will be a feast for the eyes, and I’m not just talking about the special effects.

We were really intrigued by “Good Hair,” Chris Rock‘s documentary that explores the idea of “good hair” in black culture, when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Now that the trailer has been released we’re even more excited, because it delves into an aspect of black culture that isn’t often discussed outside the black community—that is unless someone stands to profit by making products for black hair. Although Chris stays true to his comedic roots, “Good Hair” doesn’t appear to be any less insightful or serious. 

It’s quite obvious Lindsay Lohan thinks of herself as the second coming of Marilyn Monroe. Lindz has donned Marilyn-inspired looks for not one, but two expensive photo shoots. She even has a quote from “Some Like It Hot” tattooed on her wrist. Now she wants to take her obsession to the next level by playing Sugar Kane Kowalczyk in “Some Like It Hot,” a role Marilyn made famous. Director Brett Ratner, however, isn’t having any of that.

Us humans have to blink, and we need to do it often. But while we watch movies, it appears we switch it up. Apparently, when sitting in a movie theater, we slow down our blinking, doing it enough to keep our eyes moist, but not enough to make us miss too much of the action. In the end, during a 150-minute movie, we spend a total of 15 minutes blinking. Even more interesting—we time said blinks strategically. Often, a group of people in a movie theater will blink at the exact same time. Synchronized blinking! That’s pretty sweet, huh? [NewScientist.com]

Breaking: orphaned children are not actually hellbent on killing their adoptive families, like Esther, the 9-year-old in the horror flick, “Orphan.”

Adoption and foster child advocates aren’t happy about how the girl is portrayed in the scary movie, and some have even started a Facebook group called “I Am Boycotting Warner Bros.‘s ‘Orphan’ Movie.” Over one hundred thousand kids are in the foster care system and advocates are worried the Peter Sarsgaard/Vera Farmiga movie will reinforce negative stereotypes about the kids being problem children.

Fair enough point. While we haven’t seen the movie yet, we’re pretty sure, though, that most would-be adoptive parents are smart enough to realize their new little bundle of joy won’t be an actual demon (or whatever Esther’s problem turns out to be).

Next up, zombie advocates protest against the zombie rape scenes in Deadgirl. [NY Daily News]

“Brothers” is the upcoming Natalie Portman-Jake-Gyllenhaal-Tobey Maguire movie about the Iraq war. Sam (Tobey) goes off to fight, leaving Grace (Natalie) and two kids at home, and he dies. Grace and the kids are heartbroken, and Tommy (Jake) steps in to help out (and, apparently, sleep with his dead brother’s wife). But wait! Sam isn’t dead! He comes back home, and things start going back to normal, but then he loses it when he finds out about Grace and Tommy! And his daughter tells him at the dinner table that Mommy would rather sleep with Uncle Tommy than him! And Sam goes apeshit! Looks like a much more intense, much less sappy version of “Pearl Harbor,” with its Ben Affleck-Josh Hartnett-Kate Beckinsdale love triangle, no?

Natalie Portman has been cast as the female lead in “Thor,” an adaptation of the comic book about the Norse god of thunder. In the film, which will begin shooting next year and hit theaters in May 2010, she’ll play Jane Foster, a nurse who became Thor’s first love. Natalie herself has won the hearts of men of all types with her choice of roles over the years. It seems that with every movie, she captivates another man-genre. With “Thor,” it’s comic book nerds. But who else has become enamored with her? Let’s take a look.

A new heroine, Ponyo, will be making her debut on American screens on August 14. The film made a whopping $165 million in Japan, where it was originally produced, and won the Japanese Academy’s award for best animation film and best score.

Celebrating holidays with a family movie night is a great American tradition. There’s basically no better way to spend time with family than to sit in a room, not talking or even looking at them. It really takes the pressure off. Yet, pick the wrong flick, and you may open a can of worms. If you’re contemplating movies to watch with the clan for Father’s Day (or any other future family holiday), you should be sure to blacklist the following…

Don’t want to go the whole blow-‘em-up blockbuster movie route this summer? That makes two of us. Well, word on the street is that there’s a bumper crop of new documentaries hitting the big screen, the festival circuit and DVD aisle examining America’s food system this summer. If you’re looking for this August’s version of “No Reservations,” these movies ain’t it. The filmmakers are more intent on showing us just how disgusting eating has become. Think “Fast Food Nation” and the Humane Society’s debbie-downer cow video. An obvious suggestion would be to eat dinner before heading to the theater, as I’m pretty sure you won’t want to stuff your face after. Here’s the sampler:

Britain’s most famous secret service agent doesn’t prefer blondes. James Bond is way more likely to bed a brunette, according to a group of researchers who set out to determine what traits 007 liked in his women. The researchers assessed the physical traits of 195 female actresses who had spoken or appeared in two or more scenes in each film from “Dr. No” (1962) to “Die Another Day” (2002)—20 films in total. The team contrasted the characteristics of the 98 Bond Girls who ended up in the spy’s arms with the 97 female characters that weren’t so lucky. “Every Bond film has multiple female characters who variously tempt, distract, and assist James in his latest mission,” said team leader Kimberly Neuendorf, a professor at Cleveland University. “At least one ‘Bond girl’ is particularly striking—a woman with an adventurous nature, cunning attributes, strong potential for romantic entanglement with Bond, and a sense of self-assurance, whose name—Pussy Galore, Honey Ryder, or Holly Goodhead, for example—is as provocative as the character she portrays.” Check out the researchers’ unexpected findings after the jump.

“I had to grow the hair down there. But because of years of waxing, as all of us girls know, it doesn’t come back quite the way it used to. They even made me a merkin—a wig—because they were so concerned that I might not be able to grow enough.”

—Kate Winslet to Allure, on the importance of authentic pubic hair for her role in “The Reader” [via AHN]

Allow me to make three outrageous assumptions, so I don’t have to keep saying “Of course, not all women…” and “That being said, some men…” and so forth. Here goes: 1) Women love romantic movies. 2) Men love action movies. 3) Men love women, and women, for some reason, love men.

According to Variety, peroxided songstress Christina Aguilera will be starring in her own version of “Showgirls”: “Burlesque.” Watch out “Striptease”! Aguilera will play an “ambitious small-town girl with a big voice who finds love, family and success in a Los Angeles neo-burlesque club that appears to be right out of Bob Fosse’s ‘Cabaret.’” That’s weird. That’s the story of my life. (Call my lawyer!) The script was written by Steve Antin, brother of Robin Antin, who created the Pussycat Dolls, and Jonathan Antin, who does famous people’s hair. Twenty bucks says Aguilera’s character will work at Forty Deuce, home of that LA neo-burlesque to which they are referring. Luckily, like Demi in “Striptease” before her, Aguilera’s got the knockers for this thong, pasties, and feathers role. Let’s just hope she don’t have a “Glitter” on her hands. [Dlisted]

Chick flicks are generally the lamest of movies, but we still watch them, making them huge blockbusters and giving them the longest of lifespans on Netflix. Of course, part of the reason we keep seeing them despite their high cheese factor is because we all want to believe in the possibility of happy endings, but I think a lot of their popularity has to do with women feeling like they are one of the characters.