The man best known for portraying Tony Soprano on HBO's acclaimed gangster drama The Sopranos died in Italy today. The initial reports from Deadline.com attributed cause of death to a stroke, but was later changed to a heart attack. Gandolfini was 51 years old.

Gandolfini is survived by his wife Deborah Lin, their infant daughter Liliana, and a teenage son Michael from his previous marriage.

His filmography includes roles in True Romance, In the Loop, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty, The Mexican, Killing Them Softly, and Where the Wild Things Are, where he voiced Carol. His is the first voice you hear in the following trailer—

—and his face is the last thing audiences saw in the final moments of what has become maybe the most controversial ending in modern television.

I've been squirting Michael Cera OUT THE ASS this week, but you should probably really watch this trailer for his new indie film Crystal Fairy and the Magic Cactus (Just a smidge of NSFW). Here's the very apt description!

On a trip through Chile a boorish American expat named Jamie (Michael Cera) and three Chilean brothers plan to set off in search of the prized San Pedro cactus and its promise of beachy hallucinations. But in the previous night's drunken stupor Jamie invites a free-spirited fellow American (Gaby Hoffmann), whose devil-may-care worldview gives them more of an adventure than any of them had bargained for.

Guys! GABY HOFFMANN! Yes, Field of Dreams' Gaby Hoffman! And her eyebrows are A-MAY-ZING. Oh, and Michael Cera's in it too... so that's pretty cool, I guess. I want to watch this whole thing!!

For this week's film section, I interviewed Nathan Fillion about his performance as the bumbling, self-important lawman Dogberry in the new Joss Whedon-directed adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. He said something great when I asked him what informed his character:

“Stupid people don't know that they are stupid. Stupid people think that they're the smartest guy in the room. So I learned that that's very important, to play smart. The smarter you can play it, the funnier and more stupid you can come off. So I just focused on trying to be smart, and letting vanity play a large role in how Dogberry behaves.”

That brought to mind a fascinating multi-part blog series that Errol Morris did for the New York Times called "The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is." In the first post of the series, Morris introduces something called the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is explained in the article by Cornell professor David Dunning:

[W]hen you’re incompetent, the skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is. In logical reasoning, in parenting, in management, problem solving, the skills you use to produce the right answer are exactly the same skills you use to evaluate the answer.

In other words, "our incompetence masks our ability to recognize our incompetence." This concept has basically haunted me since reading Morris' post; I'm glad, at least, that Fillion was able to apply it to such good comedic use in Much Ado.

(Much Ado is perfectly fine and fun, btw. Don't let people tell you it's the best Shakespeare adaptation ever made—they are only saying that because Joss Whedon touched it—but it is a perfectly charming and enjoyable little movie. My writeup is here, with more of my interview w/Fillion.)

I think we can all agree that this—and I do not offer such praise lightly—is the second-best thing that has ever been set to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'."

Good day.

Though a bit troubling in spots, This is the End is still a pretty damn good bro movie with lots of laffs. AND! As I spent a little too much time on in my review, the most glorious moment of all is when Rihanna slaps the ever-loving shit out of Michael Cera. I called it a "slap for the ages" and you can now see that slap in action in GIF form after the jump. (Note: The lack of sound takes some of the power away... but look at that wind up and follow through! I hope they shot that scene 17 times.)

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Check out this short—seriously, it's only four minutes long—film called Failure written/directed/starring Michael Cera and co-starring Parks and Recreation's Aubrey Plaza. For being only four minutes long, it sure is chock-a-block with tension, atmosphere, confusion, and good-natured creepiness.

I wish I could be this good in four minutes. :(

• WORLD WAR Z "Whoa, a lot of people sure are in a hurry to go see Man of Steel!"

Everyone from Steven Soderbergh to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have been remarking on the current state of Hollywood, with more or less everybody agreeing that things are... ah... less than ideal. Just as a reminder, that Soderbergh thing is seriously fantastic—and the Spielberg 'n' Lucas chat is interesting too, if only to hear two of Hollywood's most powerful creators discussing how powerless they currently feel:

Lucas and Spielberg told USC students that they are learning about the industry at an extraordinary time of upheaval, where even proven talents find it difficult to get movies into theaters. Some ideas from young filmmakers "are too fringe-y for the movies," Spielberg said. "That's the big danger, and there's eventually going to be an implosion—or a big meltdown. There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen megabudget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm."

Lucas lamented the high cost of marketing movies and the urge to make them for the masses while ignoring niche audiences. He called cable television "much more adventurous" than film nowadays. (Via.)

There might be fixes for the problems currently troubling Hollywood, but—if you ask me, WHICH NO ONE EVER DOES—they're probably kind of maybe related to diversifying the kind of films being made (and the filmmakers being hired), going back to making an occasional movie that doesn't need to literally make ONE BILLION DOLLARS to be considered a "success," and also making more action-comedies about me and my talking dog and how we go on space adventures! No one ever listens to that last suggestion :(

Anyway, here's what Paramount's trying out next week, and I bet it will fix everything: They're offering a "mega ticket" at certain Regal theaters showing World War Z, where a mere $50 will get you a ticket to the movie, a digital download of the movie in a few months, "one [1] pair of World War Z collector's custom 3D glasses," a movie poster, and a small popcorn. As Jordan Raup at the Film Stage points out, World War Z is a weird/terrible movie to test this strategy with, considering nobody's really excited for it, and even if people do give World War Z a shot, they might think buying a copy of it before they even see it is... questionable? But Raup also points out that with something like Star Wars or Avengers, this idea would probably sucker in a lot of idiots who have too much money.

In other words, Paramount's trying to milk even more money out of an already super-expensive gamble—which is basically the mentality that got us to a summer like the one we're in, in which massive blockbusters are coming out almost every single week, each needing to make a ton of money to succeed. There just isn't that much money out there, and as we're already seeing with thudding bombs like After Earth and The Internship, I'm guessing we're in for a long summer of wannabe blockbusters face-planting on their heavily marketed faces. And yet studios keep doubling down on the blockbuster bet instead of figuring out what it is about movies like, say, Fast & Furious 6, The Purge, and Frances Ha so successful. (In the case of The Purge, jaw-droppingly so.) Each of those movies has at least one thing that's nearly impossible to find in this summer's blockbusters: A diverse, likeable cast. Someone who doesn't have a penis in the lead role. A clever concept. Unlike mega-expensive blockbusters, there isn't a formula when it comes to these (relatively) smaller pictures, but there is a change in focus, and—even in the case of Fast & Furious 6—an earnestness that goes a long way, both in terms of the films' quality and in audiences' willingness to support them.

Or, you know, they could try to charge people $50 to see World War Z. Whatever.

• MAN OF STEEL The source of General Zod's furious rage: his dumb little goatee

MAN OF STEEL Here's something surprising, considering what a non-fan I am of most Zack Snyder movies: I really dug Man of Steel! Like, way more than most critics, it's looking like? WEIRD.

BEFORE MIDNIGHT Here's something the opposite of surprising: Alison liked Richard Linklater's second remake of Before Sunrise!

THIS IS THE END Steve hates Michael Cera! Michael Cera gets slapped in this movie! STEVE LOVES THIS MOVIE!

THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK Ned says it's okay.

PORTLAND JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL Marjorie: NOT JEWISH! She sure does like movies about Jewish people, though.

There's more, as ever, in Film Shorts, including Ben Coleman's take on The Guillotines, Alex Ross' review of The Wall, and Courtney Ferguson trying to figure out The East.

Next week, we'll have a very exciting piece about Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, plus reviews of The Bling Ring and World War Z. Until then, here are your Movie Times.

• HOLLYWOOD THEATRE Read the tiny text below for a HIDDEN SECRET!

This morning I was raving about the Roseway (and their summer-long 2D-only policy), but one of Portland's other great independent theaters is the Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy). Over the past few years, the not-for-profit Hollywood's been on a streak of massive improvements, spiffing up the historic building and coming up with a daunting amount of varied, inventive programming. Now they're stepping up their game with three digital projectors that'll look significantly better than the ones they have now. Via their Facebook page:

Thanks to grants from several area foundations and funding generated by the theatre and its board, the Hollywood has raised $161,650 to convert to industry compliant HD Digital Cinema Projection systems. It’s perhaps the biggest change in the movie industry since the transition from silent films to talkies.

The Hollywood will remain of the country's few remaining bastions for 35mm—they'll be keeping 35mm projectors in two auditoriums (including the biggest and best auditorium, on the ground floor), as well as adding a 16mm projector to one of the auditoriums. But the really exciting thing is that they'll be upgrading their big auditorium to show 70mm prints.

Right now, the only place in the Pacific Northwest to see 70mm—when it screens, which is exceedingly and increasingly rare—is at Seattle's Cinerama; me and some dumb buddies drove up there to see The Master in 70mm, and while seeing that film in the format it was shot in was totally worth it, it was also a pain in the ass to drive up to Seattle just to see a movie. Programmer Dan Halsted promises a 70mm film series coming to the Hollywood this fall, once they're all set up; I can't wait to see what they line up. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for 2001.

UPDATE: Just got this in an email from Halsted, which I think is interesting, because it involves THIEVING PROJECTIONISTS! So here's some more background on the 70mm business.

Yeah, the Norleco AA11 projectors in the main theater originally ran both 35mm and 70mm. Some of the 70mm parts were stolen by former projectionists over time, since 70mm hasn't been run at the Hollywood for decades. We've been tracking down everything we need, we're almost there. I've been talking with some studios about available 70mm prints, it's going to be pretty awesome.

FUN TRIVIA FACT! In the image above (click to make it bigger), see those two weird little rooms to the far left and far right of the image? Back when the Hollywood was a single-screen theater (the upstairs was the balcony), those creepy little closets housed 35mm projectors so that the Hollywood could play films in the Cinerama format, which used three 35mm projectors running at the same time! Crazy, right! Anyway, that's all. I just think that's neat.

• ROSEWAY THEATER Don't panic. They usually turn the lights off when the movie starts.

In this issue's My, What A Busy Week!, we recommended people check out Man of Steel. But when it came to recommending where people check out Man of Steel, we did something a bit different: Instead of just telling people it was at "various theaters," we pointed them toward one theater in particular, the Roseway (7229 NE Sandy).

There are a few reasons why: The Roseway's picture and sound are top notch, the theater's locally owned, and both concessions and tickets are cheaper than at most first-run theaters. (Day or night, a ticket to see Man of Steel at the Roseway costs $7; elsewhere, you'll be charged significantly more.*) But there was another big reason: The Roseway's only showing the 2D version of Man of Steel, not the unneccessary, post-converted 3D version that's at most of Portland's chain theaters.

That's because all summer long, the Roseway is showing everything in 2D.

The Roseway's owner, Greg Wood, says there were a few reasons he decided to go all 2D this summer, including his customers telling him they preferred 2D and national box office trends "clearly showing 2D outgrossing 3D for some movies." And there was something else, too: "It occurred to me that I haven't watched a movie at my own theater in a long time," he says. "Reason being, I dislike 3D."

"Studios clearly make more money with [3D], so they keep pushing it," Wood says, but he points out that while international audiences prefer 3D, "it's apparent in the numbers" that domestic audiences are tiring of the trend. Still—since studios like being able to make more money by charging more for 3D tickets—switching to all 2D can be difficult for theater owners, who have to negotiate with studios and distributors. "At the Roseway, it was simply our decision [to book 2D], as it's pretty low-profile," he says. But Wood also manages one of Seattle's best theaters, the Cinerama. At a higher-profile theater like that one, it was a bit trickier. "Up there," he says, "we started doing '2D Tuesdays.'"

While the Roseway will me making less money by showing 2D, Wood isn't concerned. "I think the additional amount of people coming will make up for it," he says. "We try to do what is right for our customers rather than trying to do anything for a buck."

Wood says that if ticket sales do well this summer, he'll consider having the Roseway go all 2D indefinitely—with a few exceptions. "Certain movies, such as Avatar, deserve 3D, as they're filmed with 3D cameras," he says. "I would imagine when that rolls around again, we would show it in 3D, as it is a technical achievement. Everything since then... well, not so much, in Hollywood's post-conversion meltdown."

In the meantime, he's stoked to see some moves at his own theater again. "I'm very excited to see Man of Steel," Wood says. "And [even] more so, Elysium in August."

*A matinee ticket for Man of Steel at Regal's Lloyd Center 10 theater costs $8 (or $11.50 for 3D), while a nighttime show costs $10.50 (or $14 for 3D). And if you want to see it on Lloyd Center's not-even-actually-IMAX IMAX screen, you're looking at—jesus—$17 per ticket.

Six months in, Spring Breakers is one of my favorite movies of 2013. (I might be forgetting some stuff, but offhand, the only film I can remember liking more was Sightseers. But I haven't seen Frances Ha yet, which everybody I've spoken to fucking loved.) Anyway, that means I'm intrigued by this tweet by Los Angeles Times entertainment writer Chris Lee:

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Okay! Also: THERE IS NO WAY THAT SPRING BREAKERS CAN GET MORE SIZZURPED. Or is there? If anybody can sizzurp up Spring Breakers even more, I guess it'd be Harmony Korine; I am terrified (and excited?) to see what such a thing might look like. Meanwhile, if you want to see the theatrical cut of Spring Breakers on the big screen—an experience I would highly recommend, assuming you aren't my mother—it's still playing at the Laurelhurst (2735 E Burnside) every night at 9:30, at least through Thursday, June 20. The fact that the Laurelhurst is not offering sizzurp at their concessions counter seems like a grave oversight.

The direct-to-video Magic Magic, featuring MICHAEL CERA AS A SINISTER KILLER?

The 3D, 48-frames-per-second The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, featuring DWARVES IN BARRELS?

Thank you for your time.

If you're not already on the Sarah Polley fan bandwagon, I highly recommend you come aboard. In her early 30s, she's still a young woman, but she's always seemed older than her years—as an actress, but more pointedly as a director. Your average 20-something doesn't make her feature length directorial debut an absolutely devastating drama about Alzheimers, like she did with Away from Her, for example.

Her latest is an autobiographical documentary that focuses on her mother, who died when Polley was just 11. But Stories We Tell is more interesting than it seems at face value. Through unrelenting interviews with family and close family friends, she peels back the layers on a family secret, aided by a wealth of archival footage. Not satisfied to merely tell an affecting, personal story, she also calls into question the methods and purpose of documentaries that draw on the memories of interviewees, elevating the film into an intellectual realm that wouldn't be out of place as the subject of study in a post-graduate film course.

It's currently playing at the Fox Tower, and needless to say, I recommend you see it. (For a longer-form argument in favor of the film, you can check out my official review from a couple weeks back.)

The trailer for Woody Allen's new movie turned up today and... well... without going into too much detail, yuck.

Okay, here's a little more detail: Blue Jasmine stars Cate Blanchett as a rich white person who is sad about stuff—money, or lack of it, judging by the trailer. But we also see her at fancy dinner parties and receiving expensive gifts from Alec Baldwin, so who really knows how poor she is. Blue Jasmine looks like one of Allen's "serious" movies, without a joke or gag or labored one-liner to be found. This is a problem, as the movie also stars the funniest man in the world, Louis CK (who's in the trailer for literally less than one second), and... Andrew Dice Clay? Okay, Diceman in a non-comedic Woody Allen movie is something I can get behind.

But—and I say this as a lover of more Woody Allen films than one can reasonably defend—this just looks whiny, solipsistic, and depressing. Even Blanchett looks irritating in this. The few shafts of light look like they come from the always amazing Sally Hawkins (as Blanchett's sister, I think) and the underrated Bobby Canavale, who I'm guessing plays the blue-collar, down-to-earth guy who turns Blanchett's WASP-y world of privilege on its ear. Expect outdated class jokes, a spectacularly nearsighted worldview, and perhaps about 10 minutes of exceptional filmmaking.

(Other weird things of note: Apparently much of the movie is set in San Francisco, definitely not Allen's milieu—a good sign. And the typeset of the title and cast cards are not in the instantly recognizable Windsor font that has labeled virtually all of Allen's movies, which would be a good sign if it weren't for that awful, washed-blue thing that's going on instead. Oh, and Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg are apparently in this, too, but I didn't spot them in the trailer.)