Blog Posts about Helen Mirren

So you consider yourself more of an early adopter, eh? Whether you've had a Blu-ray player since the great HD DVD wars of 2008 or just got your sweaty little paws on one this Black Friday, this year some absolute classics of skinema (like Gia (1998), left) finally got the HD treatment with lavishly restored, uncut Blu-ray releases.

See Mr. Skin's picks for 2011's top Blu-rays after the jump!

Hollywood owes us some serious skin this week on DVD and Blu-ray, with Jessica Chastain keeping it chaste in The Debt (2010) and CGI cock-blocking Olivia Wilde's can in Cowboys & Aliens (2011). Your saving grace for skin is the mam-tastic Sara Rue baring her holy-cow hooters in For Christ's Sake (2010), nude on DVD.

Also nude on DVD, get into the Christmas spirit by jingling your balls to the yuletide slasher Don't Open 'Til Christmas (1984), newly re-released by Mondo Macabro DVD.

More after the jump!

The British aren't exactly known for their decadent, Baroque sensibilities, but director Ken Russell, who passed away this weekend at the age of 84, spent his life trying to change his country's "stiff upper lip" image.

Russell rose to prominence with 1969's Women in Love, which shocked viewers with its skinny-dipping scenes, homoerotic undertones, and depiction of- horrors!- the female orgasm. At the time British filmmaking was dominated by "kitchen sink realism," which rejected fanciful plots and elaborate sets in favor of grey, dour stories about grey, dour people. Russell's bombastic style flew in the face of all these ideas, as described by Geoff Andrew, head of the British Film Institute:

"He used surrealism, exaggeration, colour, music, costume, to push things beyond realism. No-one was doing that in Britain, and the 'shockingness' of his style was part and parcel of that. He didn't feel he had to restrain himself - he didn't want to be part of this grey world," Andrews told the UK's Channel 4.

Another shocking aspect of Russell's films was their plentiful nudity- Helen Mirren, Kathleen Turner, Joely Richardson, Theresa Russell, and Michelle Phillips (to name a few) have all done nudity in Russell films, and Glenda Jackson was one of the first mainstream actresses to go full frontal in The Music Lovers (1971). That same year, Russell's film The Devils (1971) was widely banned thanks to its depiction of the intersection between sex, violence, and religious ecstasy, a controversy Russell welcomed, as he did with the many outrages his films sparked over the years.

A great lover of classical music, Russell gleefully combined high culture and cheap thrills in films like Lisztomania (1975), Mahler (1974) and Lady Chatterly (1992). But he was equally comfortable in the gutter, as shown by his streetwalking sagas Whore (1991) and Crimes of Passion (1984), and this combination made him the perfect conduit to bring the Who's depraved rock opera Tommy (1975) to the big screen.

Russell had trouble securing funding for his elaborate epics later in his career, but his innovations (and skinnovatons!) in the art of cinema have assured his influence will be felt for many years to come.

Get an eye-opening education in the nude sensibilities of Ken Russell with our Ken Russell Movies: The Very Breast Scenes playlist, right here at MrSkin.com!

Even if you don't like museums, you can appreciate a good work of art. Especially when it's the sheer beauty and artistry that is Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Liv Tyler, and the rest of our Top 10 celebs in nude modeling scenes. They're masterpieces... of ass!

There ain't nothing like a Dame, and Helen Mirren is at the top of Skin Central's list. She's both a Dame of the British Empire and a Mr. Skin Nudity All-Star, and now even gym chain L. A. Fitness is getting on the Mirren bandwagon. People magazine reports that Helen recently beat out distinguished nominudes like Kate Winslet, Pippa Middleton and Jennifer Lopez to win the "Body of the Year" award in a survey sponsored by the fitness company.

Speaking of beating out, Dame Helen also has the singular honor of being the only celeb on Mr. Skin who's been nude in 5 decades on film. She first stripped down in 1969's Age of Consent, and went nude as recently as 2010's Love Ranch, the story of a husband and wife who open Nevada's first legal brothel.

See five decades of funbags from Helen Mirren after the jump!

Today marks the beginning of Upfront Week, where executives at the major broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox) announce their schedules for Fall 2011. NBC & Fox, currently at last and first place respectively, were the first to break the news of who's staying on (Bones' Emily Deschanel and Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski will live to fight (crime) another day), who's getting the axe (Jennifer Beals will have to turn in her badge- The Chicago Code is canceled), and whose TV pilot hopes will take flight....or get crushed underfoot (sorry Adrienne Palicki, you'll have to hang up those jeggings, NBC passed on the new Wonder Woman).

Now that the proverbial trigger has been pulled, let's take a look at some of the fresh faces (and beautiful bodies) that will be lighting up the boob tube on new series this fall.

See sexy network stars nude after the jump!