“In one small experiment on sexual response to food scents, vaginal and penile blood flow was measured in 31 men and women who wore masks emitting various food aromas. This was the study that found men susceptible to the scent of doughnuts mingled with licorice. For women, first place for most arousing was a tie between baby powder and the combination of Good & Plenty candy with cucumber. Coming in second was a combination of Good & Plenty and banana nut bread.” — from a 2.9.10 N.Y. Times story by Sara Kershaw.

I’m not saying there hasn’t been another instance in movie history in which the star of a film has looked this similar to the director. I’m asking someone to prove otherwise. Last summer I noticed a striking similarity between Public Enemies director and cowriter Michael Mann and costar Jason Clarke, but that’s a different equation.

Inception director-writer Chris Nolan; star Leonardo DiCaprio.

Vulture editor Claude Brodesser-Akner shares some exclusive details on New Line’s Escape From New York remake, which apparently has no director and no star. Early rumors mentioned Brett Ratner or Jonathan Mostow to helm and Gerard Butler to star. Kurt Russell‘s Plissken was a hoot but the original John Carpenter feature (which I did a Manhattan set story on back in ’79) was, for me, no more than okay. All I could think of when I saw it was “boy, has Carpenter lost it or what?” (He peaked with the original Assault on Precinct 13.)

“It’s not that Valentine’s Day is a chick flick. I’ve seen funny chick flicks. This is a nitwit flick — the movie equivalent of an elaborately wrapped package which turns out to contain only styrofoam peanuts. If you want to see a funny, romantic and touching film for Valentine’s Day, rent Charlie Chaplin‘s City Lights. If you want to see Valentine’s Day, light your money on fire and watch it burn — it will have an equivalent entertainment value and you’ll save on gas, parking and snacks.” — from Marshall Fine‘s just-posted review.

I’ve been keen to read Joel and Ethan Coen‘s True Grit script for a while now. This morning a draft of it (their third, dated 6.12.09) arrived in my inbox. I was dazzled right away by the robust poetic flavor of the Old West dialogue, which I presume is partly taken from the Charles Portis novel. There’s hardly a single line that resembles the English spoken today in the U.S. of Eloi, and it’s pure pleasure. True Grit-speak is as specifically unto itself as the Elizabethan English spoken during William Shakespeare‘s day.

The Coens being the Coens, the story is grittier, more character-rich and funnier (in their usual sardonic oddball way) than the one used for the 1969 Henry Hathaway version with John Wayne, Kim Darby and Glenn Campbell. Jeff Bridges is going to have a field day as Rooster Cogburn, but then we knew that going in.

The Coens are apparently intending to cast an unknown as Mattie Ross, from whose perspective the story unfolds and who supplies the narration. They held an open casting call in Tulsa, Oklahoma about a month ago, and reportedly put out the word that “no acting experience is necessary.” The Oklahoman‘s Brandy McDonnell wrote that Mattie is “to be a simple, tough-as-nails 14-year-old…steely nerves, straightforward manner.” She cautioned that “hopefuls are advised not to make the mistake of trying to appear like or imitate Kim Darby, who played Mattie Ross in the original film.” And “no make-up model types.”

The Rotten Tomato ratings so far for Garry Marshall‘s Valentine’s Day (currently running at 14% positive) are easily the worst of the year. Then again, the year is only five weeks old. An industry friend confides that “even the stars at the premiere were appalled at how bad it is…it starts with the script.” Will this have even a faint effect upon the interest levels of Eloi women?

The green-lighting of Mission Impossible 4 means that Paramount believes that Tom Cruise has moved past his nutter rep and everything’s jake again. But JJ Abrams‘ decision to produce rather than direct means there are intuitions that the potential response may be less than ecstatic. If they get a journeyman to direct, Joe Popcorn will smell “boilerplate” and react accordingly. M:I:4 will be released Memorial Day weekend of 2011.

Here‘s a British-made short (directed by Richard Curtis, starring Bill Nighy) pushing the idea of a Robin Hood banker’s tax. Good thinking, should be enacted here.

A few days ago I linked to the rear-entry Sports Illustrated cover photo of Olympic skiing star Lindsay Vonn. I noted the implication only to be told by several HE responders that I was reading too much into it, etc. Here‘s a photo of Vonn from another issue that’s a bit more explicit.

Mark Adnum, the Australian writer and editor of Outrate, has thoroughly explained why giving a Best Actress Oscar to Meryl Streep for Julie and Julia is a bad idea.

“Putting fandom and loyalty aside,” he writes, “does anyone really think that her performance in Julie and Julia is so great that it needs to be recognized with the same prize given to her work in Sophie’s Choice? Giving Streep an Oscar for a performance that can’t hold a candle to those that she deservedly won for — as Dustin Hoffman‘s unstable young wife in Kramer vs. Kramer and as the undead Auschwitz survivor who makes her ghostly way through a doomed new life in Sophie’s Choice — would only undermine her Oscar legacy.”

I’m sensing that the Streep yacht is taking on water and listing to the side. The sleek Mulligan sailfish, as Tony Curtis once said, is in “ship-ship-shape.” And the Bullock schooner — representing the Best Actress contender favored by hinterland women and their go-along husbands — is catching the big gusts.

Earlier today The Playlist posted a Vimeo rendering of “Che and the Digital Cinema Revolution,” a 33-minute documentary about the RED digital camera that was used to shoot Steven Soderbegh‘s two-part epic and its effect on modern film production.

Che and the Digital Cinema Revolution from high rez on Vimeo.