Fingertips: Anonymous; Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson; The Fantastic Mr. Star Fox; Woody Allen and Ethan Coen; Tom Waits; U2; Sara Zarr

Are you excited about Anonymous, the movie that’s going to shock the world by revealing the shocking truth? No, me either. Check this out, from a New York Times take-down of the film:

The most troubling thing about Anonymous is not that it turns Shakespeare into an illiterate money-grubber. It’s not even that England’s virgin Queen Elizabeth is turned into a wantonly promiscuous woman who is revealed to be both the lover and mother of de Vere. Rather, it’s that in making the case for de Vere, the film turns great plays into propaganda.

…

By bringing this unsubstantiated version of history to the screen, a lot of facts — theatrical and political — are trampled.

(Thanks to Gregory Wolfe for sending that link along.)

Here are a bunch of other links worth checking out…

• Somebody should give Robert Downey Jr. an award for Best Award Acceptance Speech.
• The Fantastic Mr. Star Fox: In an ideal world, this would be a feature film.
• Elaine May interviews Woody Allen and Ethan Coen. Hilarity ensues.
• American Songwriter reviews the new Tom Waits album Bad as Me.
• Bono and the Edge perform a short set for the Clintons… including their first-ever live performance of one of my favorite U2 songs: “A Man and a Woman.”
• My favorite YA novelist Sara Zarr discusses the themes of her new book How to Save a Life. I can’t wait to read this.