Guy About Movies

Meryl as Margaret

2011-07-07T21:39:00.002-04:00

Check out this trailer from the forthcoming Margaret Thatcher biopic. I swear, there is no one better than Meryl.

The Tree of Life: A Mixed Bag

2011-07-04T12:52:00.014-04:00

There are moments during Terrance Malick's "The Tree of Life" when an editor's hard hand would be quite welcome. Long stretches where the principal actors in this drama make no appearance. There are volcanoes and even two dinosaurs. And the point of this meandering?Malick's attempt at contemplating the Divine? Our connection to a planet and universe that is in constant states of change, of evolution? Who the hell cares. The truth is if this 40-minute stretch of nothing (God, it felt longer) were removed, "The Tree of Life" would be a much better film.

I suppose every artist struggles with how to fully indulge in his craft while keeping it accessible. For what good is art if people walk away from the viewing or the reading shaking their heads because the only thing they've witnessed is something that comes across as an artist engaged in the act of auto-fellatio?

Don't get me wrong: there are moments of genius in "The Tree of Life." Jessica Chastain and Bratt Pitt are a wonderfully bruised Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien. Most of what she says is expressed in her visage, open and raw. He does most of his talking in hard barks or with his hands, as when he's lunging across the table in a rage to quiet an insulate child. The film, however, belongs to Hunter McCracken, who plays Young Jack (Sean Penn, not doing much in this movie, is Adult Jack).

When the camera swoops into the interior lives of the O'Briens, "The Tree of Life" is hauntingly brilliant, full of truth and vigor. But then Malick too often moves away from the people in favor of silly CGI graphics and screen shots that look like they were taken out of "Nature" or "National Geographic."

NYT doesn't like 'Thor,' but I'll see it anyway.

2011-05-05T23:00:00.008-04:00

The New York Times' review of Thor is so vicious it borders on genius.

Check out these passages:

"Mr. Branagh has not failed to make an interesting, lively, emotionally satisfying superhero movie, because there is no evidence that he (or the gaggle of credited screenwriters, or Paramount, the sponsoring studio) ever intended to make any such thing."

"If you can’t remember what you saw, then there’s no harm in seeing it again. There is no reason to go to this movie, which might be another way of saying there’s no reason not to. Something like that seems to be the logic behind 'Thor,' and as a business plan it’s probably foolproof."

I get the sense this reviewer, A.O. Scott, tends not to like movies like this one, and that a film based on a comic books is rather beneath him. He says in his rebuke of Thor that those who liked Iron Man, for example, thought it was better than it actually was.

I say: Bruh, get over yourself. It's a move based on a comic book! You don't go to see Thor to learn greater truths about the human condition. You watch it to see shit blow up.

Must See: HBO's 'Mildred Pierce'

2011-03-24T22:22:00.007-04:00

I've not written much in this space since the Oscars. Partly because the Oscars were so predictable and boring, but also because there's not been much to say. I've not been to the movies in quite some time and apart from Southland, Big Love, and, well, nothing else, there's not been much in terms of serious drama on television.

Thank God for HBO. The cable network will deliver a powerhouse five-part miniseries starring Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet (The Reader): Mildred Pierce. The miniseries premieres Sunday at 9 p.m.

If the LA Times' review is true, Winslet has bypassed that leading lady Oscar trend of taking a dud role for the paycheck (Halle Berry does Catwoman after winning an Oscar, Charlize Theron does Aeon Flux? WTF!). Excerpt from the review: "Winslet, grim and unsmiling for almost the entire 5½ hours, is determined to create a woman driven by judgmental internal voices so loud you can almost hear them; her only sources of pleasure are the emotionally sadomasochistic relationship with her daughter and occasional bursts of hot but manic sex with men she doesn't much respect."

Winslet never got enough credit for her work in Revolutionary Road. In that film, she showed us the depths she could travel, the way she could carry pain and frustration and desperation on her visage. I imagine she'll take that craft to a new level in Mildred Pierce.

Oscars....

2011-02-27T19:26:00.003-05:00

Perhaps Melissa Leo may not get the Oscar. Perhaps, but I don't believe this.

Colin Firth will win his Oscar. This I know for sure. As will Natalie Portman and Christian Bale.

And, yes, King's Speech will take best picture. No question.

Tonight isn't about surprises of any kind. It's instead about Hollywood and us celebrating a phenominal year of films. A unexpected good year at the movies.

Where a little bit of genre went beyond convention to produce powerful art (Black Swan), and where a familiar face made us forget, for a moment, the name Darcy and appreciate simply the genius of his craft (Firth).

Where story -- narration that reveals the interior lives of complex folk -- seemed to matter more than blockbusters or pretention.

'King's Speech' Leads Oscar Race, Will Likely Take the Prize

2011-01-25T21:11:00.006-05:00

The producers of "The King's Speech" should perhaps begin preparing their speeches for the February 27th Oscar telecast. Their movie is the confirmed front runner in what has been something of a horse race between what was one of the year's other favorite films, "Social Network."

At the end of this morning's announcement of nominations for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, the little British film about stammering King George VI had nabbed 12 nominations, including those for best picture, best director (Tom Hooper), best supporting actress (Helena Bonham Carter), best supporting actor (Geoffrey Rush) and best actor (Colin Firth).

"Social Network" got the Golden Globe and many of the critics awards earlier in the season. But a win for "Speech" at the Producer's Guild last week all but solidified its place as the film to beat come Feb. 27. If history serves as an indicator, however, the likelihood that this British import will be dethroned is slim. In the last 20 years, the Producer's Guild and the Academy have agreed on the best picture selection all but seven times. And since 2007s "No Country for Old Men," they've not wavered.

With that said, I expect not many surprises come Oscar night.

The top prizes will go like this:

Firth should and will win the Oscar for best picture.

Natalie Portman ("Black Swan") should and will win the Oscar for best actress.

Melissa Leo ("The Fighter") will win the Oscar for supporting actress, though this award should perhaps go to her co-star Amy Adams.

And Christian Bale ("The Fighter") should and will win for supporting actor.

The directing award will go to David Fincher for "Social Network."

'King's Speech' on it's way to best picture Oscar?

2011-01-23T10:50:00.002-05:00

"King's Speech" nabbed the top prize at the Producers Guild Awards this weekend, turning the tide in a film season that seemed all but assured to crown "Social Network" on Oscar night.

I'm relieved at this. While I enjoyed "Social Network," it lacked a depth of feeling, real people and heart. And what was up with the Asian fetishism!

I believe firmly that "Black Swan" and "The Fighter" were the year's finest films. But "Speech" is also very good -- brilliant acting, writing, directing, cinematography. A meaty film with the snoot factor to boot.

Natalie Portman Is a Revelation in 'Black Swan'

2010-12-29T22:32:00.009-05:00

In Darren Aronofsky's dark psychological drama Black Swan, Natalie Portman is so fragile in the early scenes she seems on the verge of breaking. The camera follows her close -- the crane of her neck, the sway of her arms, the arch of her feet as she rises en pointe. And when she speaks, the voice is childlike, floating barely above a whisper. She does a lot of her acting in the earliest scenes with her body, so terribly thin, worked mercilessly for her art -- the actor for the demands of a script, for the stage she commands. And as the film careens to its breathtaking finish, the actress transforms into something darker, something fully visceral and sexual and magnificent. "Perfect," is what Portman's Nina says at the close.

Believe the hype: Black Swan and Natalie Portman are as good as they say. She, perhaps, better than she's ever been. Her performance here surpasses her Oscar-nominated work in 2004's Closer.

Portman competes with Annette Benning (The Kids Are All Right), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), and Hilary Swank (Conviction) for the lead actress Screen Actor's Guild award. So far, I've seen the three who've gotten the most buzz this award season, Portman, Benning and Lawrence. Without a doubt, the Actor, and by extension, the Oscar, should go to Portman. And though I enjoyed Inception, True Grit, The Kids Are All Right and Social Network, the film that kept me on the edge from the opening was Black Swan, which is, so far, my favorite film this season.

On "True Grit"

2010-12-25T15:22:00.001-05:00

"True Grit" -- the latest Coen brothers offering -- is funny, packed with action, and a much more satisfying film than "No Country for Old Men." That's partly because "Grit" has a definite ending and "Grit" clearly IDs the good and the bad guys. There is no ambiguity here, and you begin Mattie Ross' adventure in her corner. Which brings me to award season 2010-2011. I wrote in my last post that there were no front-runners in the supporting actress race. Hailee Steinfeld should be competing for lead here, but she's young and she and her studio have her in the lesser category. Which is all good. Her only competition is probably Helena Bohnam Carter who plays Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Consort, in "The King's Speech."

My Notes on the Season

2010-12-21T00:03:00.003-05:00

With the Golden Globe and SAG nods out, the season stands as such:

1. Momentum for best picture stands with 'Social Network.' Though 'The Kings Speech' is still a favorite, Social Network has the momentum of, say, 'Slumdog' and 'Hurt Locker.'

2. Best Actor to beat is Colin Firth. I don't see James Franco pulling an upset in this category.

3. Best Actress; Natalie Portman. Annette Benning could still take this one, but I don't see it happening.

4. Supporting Actor -- Methinks Christian Bale. He's the only actor of note with some serious buzz building around his performance in this category. And with 'The Fighter' doing well with critics and at the box office, a win in this category makes sense.

5. Supporting Actress. Wide open. No talk like the talk for Monique.

6. Animated Film. Toy Story 3.

68th Annual Golden Globe Nods Announced

2010-12-14T09:06:00.008-05:00

There were few surprises today when the Hollywood Foreign Press announced nominations for the 68th Annual Golden Globes.

Perhaps the biggest of the morning was Halle Berry's nomination for the little seen, little discussed "Frankie and Alice." The Emmy, Globe and Oscar champ nabbed the only unexpected nomination for lead actress in a motion picture-drama. She competes with Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine). If Berry can nab a Screen Actor's Guild nomination, she may find herself with another Oscar bid (the win this year is Natalie Portman's to lose).

Everything else -- as expected and, perhaps, as it should be. The films with the most nominations were :

THE KING’S SPEECH 7
THE FIGHTER 6
THE SOCIAL NETWORK 6
BLACK SWAN 4
INCEPTION 4
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT 4
127 HOURS 3

The TV categories saw a wider distribution of nominations:

GLEE 5
30 ROCK 3
BOARDWALK EMPIRE 3
DEXTER 3
THE GOOD WIFE 3
MAD MEN 3
MODERN FAMILY 3
PILLARS OF THE EARTH 3
TEMPLE GRANDIN 3

Upcoming: 'For Colored Girls'

2010-10-12T02:02:00.006-04:00

Tyler Perry seems to have stepped his game up with the forthcoming "For Colored Girls," the screen adaptation of Ntozake Shange's play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf."

The film stars Thandie Newton, Whoopi Goldberg, Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington and Janet Jackson.

The trailer, below, is serious.

New Harry Potter Trailer Released; Looks Awesome

2010-09-24T20:26:00.005-04:00

Seriously, just watch.

Natalie Portman Gets Early Oscar Buzz

2010-09-11T19:16:00.011-04:00

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that actress Natalie Portman is getting serious early buzz for Academy Award contention. Film journo Tim O'Neil says while it's still a bit early in the season, Portman, the lead actress in Darren Aronofsky's dark drama "Black Swan," has a few things on her side:

1) DIVA APPEAL: In "Black Swan," Portman gives in dance what many past winners did in song -- the full-throttle diva performance: Barbra Streisand ("Funny Girl"), Liza Minnelli ("Cabaret") and Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose"). Unfortunately, ballet has played only a minor role at Oscars past, so it's hard to look backward for guidance to what will happen ahead. "The Turning Point" spawned two best actress nominees (who probably canceled each other out in the voting), Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft, but they played dancers past their prime, not bouncing ferociously and constantly on stage.

2) GET PHYSICAL: Throughout the two hours of "Black Swan," Portman gives an even more athletic performance than Hilary Swank did when boxing her way to an Oscar victory for "Million Dollar Baby."

3) THE BABE FACTOR: Those notoriously frisky good ol' boys in the motion picture academy have clearly turned the best actress competition into a beauty contest in recent years: Sandra Bullock ("Blind Side"), Charlize Theron ("Monster"), Nicole Kidman ("The Hours"), Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball"), Julia Roberts ("Erin Brockovich"), Gwyneth Paltrow ("Shakespeare in Love") plus many more examples in between and earlier. Portman is knockout gorgeous in "Black Swan."

4) THE SEX FACTOR: Overt eroticism used to be a turnoff at the Oscars in more prudish times, but nowadays we're seeing those academy gents get excited by sexy roles. Some cynics say Kate Winslet ("The Reader") and Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball") wouldn't have won without their brazen sex scenes. In "Black Swan," Portman has steamy masturbation and lesbian scenes.

Check out the trailer:

'Inception' Is Great Entertainment

2010-07-24T22:23:00.003-04:00

"It's gratifying to experience a summer movie with large visual ambitions and with nothing more or less on its mind than (as Shakespeare said) a dream that hath no bottom." -- Michael Phillips, the Chicago Tribune.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Coming Soon: John Lennon Biopic

2010-07-18T19:57:00.007-04:00

Here's a trailer for Nowhere Boy, a biopic of the early life of John Lennon. Looks good.

Critics Schmitics. Airbender Was Enjoyable

2010-07-14T22:56:00.004-04:00

Yes, there were slow moments. But overall, The Last Airbender stayed true to the spirit of "Book One: Water" of the animated series. Granted, I saw it in 2-D, not 3. And that's probably how it was supposed to be viewed before the scramble for 3-D flourishes brought on by Avatar. But, yes, the movie scored only 8 percent on RottenTomatoes because 1) most of the critics didn't watch the cartoon series on which it was based and 2) they weren't the audience anyway. I'm hoping for a part two. The movie debuted in No. 2 and has since grossed $62.5 million.

Mad Men, Glee Top Emmy Nods

2010-07-08T21:50:00.007-04:00

From the first commercial for the sneak peak way back when, I knew Glee would be damn good TV. And it's place as one of the most affecting and addicting new comedies ever was solidified today when it nabbed 19 Emmy nominations, including acting nods for Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer. Neil Patrick Harris and Kristin Chenoweth are nominated for their guest turns on the series.

Our other favorite show, Mad Men, was nominated 17 times. And this year, January Jones -- who seriously killed it last season as Betty Draper -- is nominated for female lead in a drama. Christina Hendricks and Elisabeth Moss compete in the supporting actress race, John Hamm gets another lead male nod and John Slattery competes for a supporting actor award.

Other standouts:

Showtime's crazy spectacular Nurse Jackie (did you see the last minute of the second season finale!) nominated for best comedy and actress (Edie Falco)
That guiltiest of guilty pleasures, True Blood got a nomination for dramatic series (disappointed there were no acting nods for Anna Paquin who plays Sookie and Nelsan Ellis who plays Lafayette)
You Don't Know Jack, HBO's Dr. Kevorkian bioflic starring Al Pacino (nominated for lead actor) as well as Brenda Vaccaro and Susan Sarandon, who compete in the supporting actress race
Mary Kay Place and Sissy Spacek, both nominated for their work on Big Love

Check out the full list of nominations at The Envelope at the Los Angeles Times.

New Trailer for Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows

2010-06-29T16:15:00.005-04:00

This, my friends, looks like its going to be sick! Part 1 hits theaters Nov. 16.

Coming in October -- 'Red'

2010-06-26T21:14:00.002-04:00

Bruce Willis hasn't been in a movie I've wanted to see in many, many, many years. That changes now with "Red," a new action flick set to hit theaters in October. He stars opposite Helen Mirren, who hasn't appeared in a bad movie in many, many years. Check out the trailer.

Official Trailer: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1

2010-06-06T22:35:00.005-04:00

Whatever my feelings about the last Harry Potter flick, I'm still very much interested in seeing the next movie. And this, the second look I've seen of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1, looks bloody brilliant. Movie comes out Nov. 19.

And they said 'Precious' wouldn't get work

2010-06-06T14:40:00.007-04:00

The Oscar-nominated, Spirit Award-winning actress Gabourey Sidibe took some heavy criticism from the likes of Howard Stern after the Academy Awards. He said she was too big to make it in Hollywood. That she wouldn't get another role. This summer, Gabby will be seen in Laura Linney's new Showtime series, The Big C. In it, she plays the anti-Precious, and the show looks damn good.

HBO's Treme: Thank You Khandi Alexander

2010-05-24T23:50:00.004-04:00

For some weeks, I lamented the lack of tangible story in HBO's Treme. Though the music was kick ass, the stories didn't seem to be going anywhere. There was, however, a character of interest, LaDonna Baptiste-Williams, portrayed on the show by actress Khandi Alexander.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Alexander was excellent in the role. But that's not the half of it. In Sunday's episode, "Smoke Me a Peace Pipe," Alexander delivers a gut-punch of a performance. And most times she's not saying a word.

Weeks after Katrina and LaDonna's brother, Daymo, has not been found. In this episode, she finds him dead and stored in the back of a truck, a stand-in for a county morgue that had been destroyed by Katrina. The scenes that follow are the best that HBO has delivered in years. In them, Alexander gives Treme a reason for being.

Despite its authentic portrayal of a post-Katrina New Orleans, the inside baseball of local bureaucracy, the obvious references to local New Orleans celebrities and the presence of an Oscar-nominated actress (Melissa Leo as attorney Antoinette Bernette), Treme has thus far lacked anything resembling a full soul. It was too clinical. A bit cold despite its setting. And the central characters were never on screen long enough for us to know them beyond general details of their circumstances.

"Smoke Me a Peace Pipe" is a bit of a turning point. Alexander -- "so real, so regular, so extraordinary" says the Washington Post -- softens us a bit to the other narratives coming together around her. If she could reside in this world, perhaps there's something to this show.

Lindsay Lohan in a Trailer...and it Looks Good

2010-05-17T23:10:00.003-04:00

Saw this trailer today for Machete, from directors Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. First, I was surprised that I enjoyed this trailer (Rodriguez's last didn't interest me much). Second, and the reason I'm writing this, is Lindsay Lohan has a small part here ... and I thought her career was dead. It could still be. Only time will tell. Anyway, Machete is due out in September.

Trailer: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

2010-05-01T14:19:00.004-04:00

Arrested Development may have ended four years ago, but that hasn't stopped Michael Cera from playing George-Michael Blooth. This isn't a criticism. George-Michael was a funny kid, and Cera strikes gold whenever he taps into that adolescent awkwardness. Next up for him: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The trailer looks kick-ass, a bit like My Super Ex-Girlfriend on speed.

Al Pacino as Jack Kevorkian

2010-04-27T12:00:00.010-04:00

Al Pacino has never been better. Not in Scent of a Woman, which won him an Oscar (that award should have gone to Denzel Washington for Malcolm X, but that's a conversation for another time). Not in Dick Tracy. or Dog Day Afternoon. Or even The Godfather.

His work in You Don't Know Jack is genius. He doesn't imitate the euthanasia activist (and uber-narcissist) Jack Kevorkian. He channels him. It's eerie how spot-on this performance is. Makes Jamie Foxx's Ray performance look like child's play.

The closest comparison would be Helen Mirren in The Queen. Or Drew Barrymore in Grey Gardens. Performances that ring so true the actor and the individual are fused in my mind.

I foresee an Emmy nod, if not win, for Pacino.

Some Color on 'Masterpiece'

2010-04-25T21:54:00.004-04:00

Masterpiece Theatre has been something of a one-note series for as long as I could remember: screen adaptations of novels about white people in England. Some variety of Dickens or Austen.

The new adaptation of Andrea Levy's Small Island infuses the Sunday night dramatic program with new life. I've watched Masterpiece Theatre since elementary school. It's good to see black folks in principle roles. Let's hope this isn't the last time.

Synopsis from the PBS site: Born into a broken home and an impoverished life in Jamaica, Hortense (Naomie Harris) longs for a fulfilling life in England; one with a fine house and a doorbell. The door of opportunity swings open, and Hortense is married and on her way to the promised land of post-war Britain. Steadfast dreams are soon tested by hard realities as Hortense and her husband Gilbert (David Oyelowo) face racism and poverty. In the small-minded country, their only saving grace is Queenie (Ruth Wilson, Jane Eyre). But Queenie faces her own disillusionment, married to the kind but dull Bernard (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Last Enemy). Bonded by high hopes and broken dreams, these four lives fuse together in a powerful and hopeful story of love and fulfillment. Small Island is based on the award-winning, bestselling novel by Andrea Levy.

First Look: Deathly Hallows

2010-04-23T01:33:00.004-04:00

Because I didn't care much for the the film adaptation, I never bothered removing the cellophane from the Half-Blood Prince DVD I purchased some time ago. So I was surprised to learn while browsing Mugglenet.com that Warner Brothers hid a sneak peak of the Deathly Hallows in the DVD extras. The teaser looks cool. But, as we learned from Half Blood Prince, a good trailer does not a good movie make. Check it out:

Treme: Some Words

2010-04-19T01:05:00.007-04:00

For reasons that may be obvious to some of my friends, I'll reserve the full weight of my opinion when writing about Treme, David Simon's new HBO series.

Simon brought us The Corner and The Wire, the latter being television's most perfect dramatic series -- ever. The Corner was almost as good, each drawing from Simon's time as a beat reporter in Baltimore.

Treme ain't The Corner, and Treme ain't The Wire.

Both of those shows hooked me immediately. The characters were flesh-and-blood, full-bodied people with stories that seemed to matter.

Don't get me wrong: Some of Treme is good. Khandi Alexander (The Corner) is excellent as the bar owner Ladonna Batiste-Williams; same goes for Rob Brown (The Express, Stop-Loss) who plays Delmond Lambreaux, a trumpet player who returns to New Orleans only because his father (a somewhat disappointing Clarke Peters from The Wire) is a loon who's so hell bent on relaunching his defunct Mardi Gras troop he's living in a run-down building that he doesn't own.

I still don't know what to make of Treme. The storylines are connected only by the location. And while I don't think a show based in post-Katrina New Orleans is an impossibility, I think the idea needs to be secondary to the story, to the lives of the people being brought to screen.

Take, for example, Mad Men. The setting is interesting - ad agency in 1960s America. But the show's life-blood are those fractured relationships and raw emotions.

More can be said about this, but I'll leave it there. I'm hoping things start to come together in the next couple of episodes.

Review: Clash of the Titanss

2010-04-04T23:09:00.003-04:00

The critics may have been underwhelmed, but Clash of the Titans kicked major ass. All you gotta know about this movie is this: Gods, monsters, sandals, maidens, swords, Voldemort as Hades and the Kraken!

Plot Problems in Oliver Stone's New Wall Street

2010-04-04T01:36:00.014-04:00

So, I just saw this trailer for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Oliver Stone's much-belated follow-up to the 1987 classic, Wall Street. Michael Douglas is back as Gordon Gekko. This time, the upstart protege who falls victim to the machinations of Mr. Gekko is Shia LeBeouf, playing a guy who is engaged to Gekko's daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan). Funny thing about this plot line: In the original Wall Street, Gordon Gekko didn't have a daughter. He had a son named Rudy (played by Sean Stone). Unless that little boy had a sex change (hell, this is 2010) or Mulligan's playing a bastard child of a mistress (like maybe Daryl Hannah's character Darien), this storyline makes no sense.

Why I Love Reality TV: What Chilli Wants

2010-04-03T16:49:00.002-04:00

Check out this trailer for the new VH1 series, What Chilli Wants. It's celebreality at its finest.

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

Trailer Alert: Robin Hood

2010-03-31T12:00:00.004-04:00

(Russell Crowe as Maximus... or Robin Hood)

It's about time Russell Crowe, an Oscar winner, actually starred in a movie people wanted to watch. I mean Gladiator was 10 years ago!

Robin Hood is due out in May. In it, Crowe plays a character that looks very much like Maximus. We're hoping the script includes the lines -- "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

Trailer Alert: The Last Airbender

2010-03-31T11:49:00.006-04:00

New trailer for the live-action adaptation of the Avatar series, M. Night Shamalan's The Last Airbender, is out. I'm still unconvinced about Dev Patel as Zuko, but this trailer -- the third so far -- looks kinda hot.

Under the Radar: Taraji P. Henson

2010-03-15T17:54:00.006-04:00

Taraji P. Henson got an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button a year ago. But even then, most people didn't take her nomination seriously. They understood it to be some due recognition for a day player who's proven herself time and again in smaller roles -- as the pregnant prostitute in Hustle & Flow, for example. But nothing more.

Another role, however, something that came later than Henson's Oscar-nominated work as Brad Pitt's adoptive mother, proves this actress has some ridiculously serious chops.

Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself gives what is perhaps the most complete study of a black female lead in transition that has ever been filmed. And Henson, giving a superbly rich, thoroughly realized performance, carries the weight of this complicated movie -- a movie, mind you, that deals with family, and past trauma, and spirituality, and redemption with some of the same poetry and -- hell, I'll say it -- Negro Truth that I've found in the novels of Toni Morrison.

I kept asking myself: If this were not a Tyler Perry movie, would there have been more buzz about this performance during the season? A better question -- a much more subversive question (and fitting in a year when the first woman director and first African American screenwriter were honored by the Academy): If Perry's movie were about, say, a poor white woman working through her demons and not an attractive, middle-class black woman, would America give a damn?

Just wondering?

Oscarwatch: Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique

2010-03-05T23:39:00.004-05:00

With her victory at the Indy Spirit Awards Friday night, Mo'Nique has nabbed every single major award for which she was nominated. For her work as Mary Jones, a supporting role in Precious, Mo'Nique has been honored with the Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild awards, in addition to being recognized by every critics association of note in the country. I imagine she's already made space on the mantel for Oscar.

Side note: Congrats to Gabourey "Gabbie" Sidibe for her Indy Spirit win. The likelihood that Gabbie will derail the Sandra Bullock freight train to the Oscars is slim, so I'm happy she got her props before a live, general audience at the Spirit Awards.

Ditto for Lee Daniels, for directing. I don't think he'll get an Oscar, but the Spirit Award is well deserved. If you haven't seen it already, Precious comes out in DVD on Tuesday.

Wolverine 2 On the Horizon

2010-03-05T13:15:00.004-05:00

The Collider.com reports the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine starts shooting in January 2011. Some critics didn't like the first film, but I thought it was kick-ass. What's more, the guy hired to script this adaptation of Claremont and Miller’s Wolverine tale wrote the first X-Men film.

Check out the synopsis at the Collider.com

Oscarwatch: Best Actress -- Sandra Bullock

2010-03-01T02:12:00.004-05:00

Sandra Bullock deserves her Oscar. She's that good in The Blind Side. Her performance is over-the-top when it needs to be, but there's subtle craft at work here. Physically, she's closer to Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich; however the more appropriate comparison would be Helen Mirren in The Queen. Not the look, obviously, but the control that Mirren displayed in that Oscar-winning role. You never quite forget your watching Sandra Bullock. Generally you don't when actors of her fame are on the screen. But she's in rare form, better than she's ever been, essentially carrying the weight of a damn good film on her shoulders.

Trailer Alert: The Last Airbender

2010-02-06T01:34:00.004-05:00

Check out the new trailer for The Last Airbender, due out July 2.

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Eagerly Anticipating 'The Last Airbender'

2010-02-02T23:46:00.011-05:00

I just got through watching the final chapter of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. This is, hands down, one of the best animated series ever.

I hope M. Night Shyamalan doesn't fuck it up royally in his live action version scheduled for release this summer. So as not to be confused with James Cameron's uber-successful Avatar, Shyamalan's movie carries the truncated title The Last Airbender.

The scale of the mythology built into the series is bigger than anything Shyamalan has ever given us, not to mention the special effects necessary for the air, water, fire and earth bending.

So far, we've gotten a single trailer and three images from the set. The casting seems dead on and the trailer was kinda sick. But I've sat through more than my fair share of horrible movies that had awesome trailers.

The final chapter of the animated series is brilliant stuff ... rivaling the "Phoenix Saga" from the X-Men animated series. If you haven't seen it, dude, what are you waiting for. Netflix already!

82nd Annual Academy Award Nominations

2010-02-02T09:48:00.003-05:00

Best Picture
"Avatar"
"The Blind Side"
"District 9"
"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"
"Up in the Air"

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney, "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan, "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"
Meryl Streep, "Julie and Julia"

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, "Invictus"
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, "Nine"
Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"
Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"
Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"
Mo'Nique, "Precious"

Best Director
James Cameron, "Avatar"
Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
Lee Daniels, "Precious"
Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"

Best Animated Feature
"Coraline"
"The Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"The Secret of Kells"
"Up"

Best Foreign Language Film
“Ajami," Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow," Peru
“Un Prophète," France
“The White Ribbon," Germany

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, “The Messenger”
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, “A Serious Man”
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter and story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy, “Up”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, “District 9”
Nick Hornby, “An Education”
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell,Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche,“In the Loop”
Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, “Up in the Air”

Oscarwatch: And the Nominees Are...

2010-02-02T07:34:00.020-05:00

The biggest winner at this morning's Academy Award nomination announcements was the general movie-going public.

Avatar, Up, The Blind Side and Inglourious Basterds -- popular movies viewed and appreciated by more than the snoots who write movie reviews -- were all nominated for the top prize.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the morning was Up's nod for Best Picture.

Everything else seems as expected.

Up competes with Avatar, Up in the Air, District 9, The Blind Side, An Education, Inglorious Basterds, Precious and A Serious Man. Only five of these films have a serious chance at winning -- The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Up in the Air, Basterds and Precious. And with Hurt Locker taking the Director's Guild Award just two days ago, conventional wisdom tells us Kathryn Bigelow's war drama is the film to beat.

The award for Actor in a Lead Role will most likely go to Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), who already picked up Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe wins. He competes against George Clooney (Up in the Air), Collin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman(Invictus) and Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker). (Note to Academy voters, an upset here would be welcome news come award night. Bridges gives horrible speech.)

In the race for Actress in a Lead Role, the award is Sandra Bullock's to lose. Bullock (Blind Side) competes against Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia). Bullock already has a SAG and Globe on her mantel, clear signs as to which way the wind is blowing.

Mo'Nique's Supporting Actress Oscar is in the bag. The comedienne, who won every other major award this season for her work in Precious, "competes" against Penelope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart) and Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air).

And in the Supporting Actor race, Cristophe Waltz (who was genius in Inglourious Basterds), will defend his trophy from Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) and Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones).

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway announced the nominations for 10 of the 24 categories for the 2010 Oscars at 5:30 a.m. this morning.

For a full list, go to Oscar.com.

Men on the Verge... or, in Pursuit of Happiness

2010-01-09T18:36:00.012-05:00

(Julianne Moore is brilliant in Tom Ford's A Single Man, but Colin Firth delivers what The New York Post calls a "moving, career redefining performance.")

It's the men who go through the most dramatic emotional changes in (500) Days of Summer, Up in the Air and A Single Man. They lose love. They struggle professionally. They seek redemption or solace or happiness or quiet from pain, grief, an economy beyond the verge.

And the actors charged with presenting these stories to us -- Joseph Gordon-Levitt, George Clooney and Colin Firth, respectively -- each deliver powerhouse, not-to-be-missed performances that eclipse the presence of the women who share the screen with them.

This, of course, is no easy feat. The women in Summer, Air and Single Man do amazing work. Still, it's the men who make the stories work, who make us care when cliche or familiarity or overwrought sentiment would make us turn away in disbelief.

No surprise, Gordon-Levitt, Clooney and Firth have all reaped their share of award-season buzz. Firth, however, has the greatest chance of seeing his name on an Oscar. The buzz sounds the loudest for Firth and Jeff Bridges, who carries the weight of yet another critically acclaimed film on his shoulders (I've yet to see Crazy Heart; that's why I didn't include it in the intro).

Of the three films, A Single Man was the most surprising. From first-time director Tom Ford, the movie tells the painful story of a bereavement. The camera's lens focuses squarely, and often uncomfortably close, in the face of this grief. Firth - known for his work as a romantic lead in Love Actually, the Bridgette Jones Diary films and Pride & Prejudice - delivers what the New York Post calls a career redefining performance -- one that (finally) overshadows his Mr. Darcy from the BBC miniseries.

There are no surprises in Clooney's performance in Up in the Air. He's still cool, a bit detached, funny -- but the story and the screenplay match him perfectly. It's as if films like Michael Clayton were his dry run for this movie. I don't think he deserves an Oscar - or even an Oscar nomination - for this movie. Still, this clever and timely movie would not work without him at its center.

Gordon-Levitt's mostly moping greeting card writer is sympathetic, assessable, familiar. I map the story's conclusion after the first 20 minutes, but still found it entertaining. Gordon-Levitt appears in almost every scene -- in almost every shot. While I expected I'd get annoyed with him after a time, I instead was able to sympathize, started rooting for the kid who should have known better.

Actors Outshine Melodrama in 'Brothers'

2009-12-27T00:03:00.006-05:00

The three actors who star in director Jim Sheridan's Brothers -- Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal -- give performances worthy of a much better film.

Portman is rather believable as the former cheerleader turned bereaved soldier's wife. And Gyllenhaal sort of one-ups the performance he gave way-back-when in Donnie Darko -- you know, the troubled, bad-boy younger brother.

Maguire does the most work here. His performance is a major departure from everything else he's done thus far (his Golden Globe nod is quite deserved). He's physically transformed, and, emotionally, he's battered, brittle, so on edge.

The raw material of the film could have been spun into something hearty and fulfilling. The last movie I saw that dealt with PTSD, In the Valley of Elah with Charlize Theron, was excellent: superior acting and a screenplay that kept you interested.

What we get in Brothers, however, is melodrama that drips heavy like syrup. If you've seen the trailer for this movie, there will be no twists beyond some zingers delivered by the youngest actors on the screen. The story unfolds predictably, and Maguire's breakdown seems rather sudden. As does the ending.

Trailer Alert: Iron Man 2

2009-12-17T15:44:00.002-05:00

I must admit, I was a bit nervous when I read some months ago about the cast changes on the Iron Man sequel -- you know, Terrance Howard replaced with Don Cheadle. Both great actors, but switching out a central character on the second film? Why mess with chemistry when it worked the first go round.

After seeing the trailer at http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/ I'm confident this movie is going to be hot shit (urban colloquialism for "good").

Out in theaters May 2010.

Screen Actors Guild Awards

2009-12-17T10:06:00.007-05:00

(Diane Kruger is nominated for a SAG award for her work in Inglourious Basterds)

Quentin Tarentino's latest movie, Inglourious Basterds, is violent escapism at its best. Though it did not have history on its side, it is now one of the most honored films of the year.

With the announcement of the Screen Actors Guild nominations this morning, Inglourious Basterds, along with Up in the Air and Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire, became a film-to-beat on the road to Oscar gold.

I'd be surprised if Academy Award nominations don't match-up exactly to the SAG nods this year.

The nominations for the 16th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be announced on TV Jan. 23, are as follows:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for Television

Simon Baker, "The Mentalist"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie, "House M.D."

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for Television (Because there was a tie, there are six nominees instead of the traditional five in this category.)

Patricia Arquette, "Medium"
Glenn Close, "Damages"
Mariska Hargitay, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit"
Holly Hunter, "Saving Grace"
Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Television

"The Closer"
"Dexter"
"The Good Wife"
"Mad Men"
"True Blood"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for Television

Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who?"
Toni Collette, "United States of Tara"
Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine"

Oustanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series for Television

Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"
Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for Television

"30 Rock"
"Curb Your Enthusiasm"
"Glee"
"Modern Family"
"The Office"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Kevin Bacon, "Taking Chance"
Cuba Gooding Jr., "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story"
Jeremy Irons, "Georgia O'Keeffe"
Kevin Kline, "Great Performances: Cyrano de Bergerac"
Tom Wilkinson, "A Number"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Joan Allen, "Georgia O'Keeffe"
Drew Barrymore, "Grey Gardens"
Ruby Dee, "America"
Jessica Lange, "Grey Gardens"
Sigourney Weaver, "Prayers for Bobby"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Matt Damon, "Invictus"
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Penelope Cruz, "Nine"
Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"
Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"
Diane Kruger, "Inglourious Basterds"
Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture

Jeff Bridges - "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney - "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth - "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman - "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner - "The Hurt Locker"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture

Sandra Bullock - "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren - "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan - "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe - "Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire"
Meryl Streep - "Julie and Julia"

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Nine"
"Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire"

The Genius of Tim Burton on Display in 'Alice'

2009-12-16T19:50:00.004-05:00

Check out the newest trailer for the upcoming Alice In Wonderland, from director Tim Burton. Genius.

With Globe Nods Announced, Oscar Match-Ups Become Clearer

2009-12-15T14:03:00.004-05:00

(From Avatar, nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama)

The awards season kicked into high gear this morning when the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. announced the nominations for its Golden Globe Awards.

If you've been paying attention to pundits thus far, you weren't surprised when the nominations were read. Precious, The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Up in the Air and Inglourious Basterds all earned nominations for Best Motion Picture -- Drama. In the Comedy/Musical category, the nominations were, again, no surprise: (500) Days of Summer, The Hangover, It's Complicated, Julie & Julia and Nine.

Here are the rest of the nominees. Once the Screen Actors Guild announces nominations for the Actor awards, I'll begin whittling down my annual list of Must-See-Oscar-Hopeful-Films.

Best Motion Picture - Drama
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious"
"Up in the Air"
"Avatar"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Emily Blunt, "The Young Victoria"
Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan, "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney, "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth, "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"
Tobey Maguire, "Brothers"

Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
"The Hangover"
"It's Complicated"
"Julie & Julia"
"Nine"
"(500) Days of Summer"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
Sandra Bullock, "The Proposal"
Marion Cotillard, "Nine"
Meryl Streep, "It's Complicated"
Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia"
Julia Roberts, "Duplicity"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Nine"
Robert Downey Jr., "Sherlock Holmes"
Michael Stuhlbarg, "A Serious Man"
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "(500) Days of Summer"
Matt Damon, "The Informant!"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Mo'Nique, "Precious"
Julianne Moore, "A Single Man"
Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"
Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"
Penelope Cruz, "Nine"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Matt Damon, "Invictus"
Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"

Best Animated Feature Film
"Coraline"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"Up"

Best Foreign Language Film
"Baaria"
"Broken Embraces"
"The Prophet"
"The White Ribbon"
"The Maid"

Best Director - Motion Picture
Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
James Cameron, "Avatar"
Clint Eastwood, "Invictus"
Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, "District 9"
Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker"
Nancy Meyers, "It's Complicated"
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, "Up in the Air"
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Michael Giacchino, "Up"
Marvin Hamlisch, "The Informant!"
James Horner, "Avatar"
Abel Korzeniowski and Karen O, "A Single Man"
Carter Burwell, "Where the Wild Things Are"

Best Original Song -- Motion Picture
"I See You," "Avatar"
"The Weary Kind," "Crazy Heart"
"Cinema Italiano," "Nine"
"I Want to Come Home," "Everybody's Fine"
"Winter," "Brothers"

Best Television Series - Drama
"Dexter"
"Mad Men"
"House M.D."
"True Blood"
"Big Love"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Glenn Close, "Damages"
January Jones, "Mad Men"
Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"
Anna Paquin, "True Blood"
Kyra Sedgewick, "The Closer"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Simon Baker, "The Mentalist"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie, "House M.D."
Bill Paxton, "Big Love"

Best Television Series - Comedy
"30 Rock"
"Entourage"
"Glee"
"The Office"
"Modern Family"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
David Duchovny, "Californication"
Thomas Jane, "Hung"
Matthew Morrison, "Glee"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical
Toni Collette, "United States of Tara"
Courteney Cox, "Cougar Town"
Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Lea Michele, "Glee"

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
"Georgia O'Keefe"
"Grey Gardens"
"Into the Storm"
"Little Dorrit"
"Taking chance"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Joan Allen, "Georgia O'Keefe"
Drew Barrymore, "Grey Gardens"
Jessica Lange, "Grey Gardens"
Anna Paquin, "The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler"
Sigourney Weaver, "Prayers for Bobby"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kevin Bacon, "Taking Chance"
Kenneth Branagh, "Wallander: One Step Behind"
Chiwetel Ejiofor, "Endgame"
Brendan Gleeson, "Into the Storm"
Jeremy Irons, "Georgia O'Keefe"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jane Adams, "Hung"
Rose Byrne, "Damages"
Jane Lynch, "Glee"
Janet McTeer, "Into the Storm"
Chloe Sevigny, "Big Love"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Michael Emerson, "Lost"
Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
William Hurt, "Damages"
John Lithgow, "Dexter"
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"

Toni Braxton's New Video: Yesterday featuring Trey Songz

2009-11-21T23:09:00.007-05:00

Check out the new video for Toni Braxton's first single off the new album. Toni remains the baddest, sexiest R&B/soul singer in the game. She could sing the A-B-Cs and I'd be ok with that.

If you can't see this video, go to http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid340480126?bctid=51648704001

Critics Agree: New Twilight Sucks

2009-11-21T11:41:00.004-05:00

The new Twilight film isn't something I'd ever pay to see, considering the last one -- which I also didn't pay to see -- was so boring I imagine taking a non-stop flight from LA to Miami without a laptop, earphones or in-flight film would be more interesting.

So, I rely on others to tell me if this one is worth watching or not. And it's not.

My friend Mara reports: "Was bored out of my skull for most of New Moon."

Her assessment is pretty consistent with the critics. The Twilight Saga: New Moon only scores 29 percent on Rottentomatoes.com.

Tom Long of the Detroit News says, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon is a mess."

Stephanie Zacharek over at Salon.com calls it "badly shaped."

David Germain, reporting for the AP, says, "All three lovers are so joyless, it's hard to imagine why any of them would want to spend eternity together."

And, the best, comes from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone: "I can't comment on the acting because I didn't catch Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner doing any. They basically primp and pose through the same humdrum motions they did before."

Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal enter the Oscar Race

2009-11-18T10:53:00.006-05:00

Check out the trailer for the new Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal flick, Crazy Horses. Current buzz is both are serious contenders for Academy Award nods -- and Bridges (with four nods behind him) is considered a front-runner in his category.

Bridges stars as the richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake in the debut feature film Crazy Heart from writer-director Scott Cooper. Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician. As he struggles down the road of redemption, Bad learns the hard way just how tough life can be on one man’s crazy heart.

Bridges has four Academy Award nominations and two Screen Actor's Guild nominations. Gyllenhaal has been nominated twice for the Golden Globe and Indy Spirit, and she should have gotten an Academy Award nod for her work in SherryBaby.

See the trailer at http://www.foxsearchlight.com/crazyheart/

Angie Does Action Again: First Look at Salt

2009-11-16T22:37:00.010-05:00

Angelina Jolie's newest movie, Salt, probably won't compete for major awards like the Oscar or Golden Globe next year. Still, it looks kinda hot. The movie is set for July 23, 2010 release. Check out the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfV5CTyVkwI

Must See - Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire

2009-11-11T23:18:00.008-05:00

(Gabourey Sidebe and a refreshing Paula Patton in Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire)

As Precious opens, the 16-year-old Claireece “Precious” Jones is pregnant for the second time with her father’s baby. She is illiterate, overweight and living with a mother who beats and rapes her. But things begin to change for Precious when she enrolls at an alternative school for young women. Here, with the help of her teacher, Ms. Rain, she begins to learn her value and starts the slow processes of learning to read. She also starts to confront and excise her demons.

Lee Daniels manages something remarkable with his adaptation of PUSH, a 1997 novel by the poet Sapphire. Where the novel is perhaps the bleakest, must unsettling work of fiction I've ever read, the film is sometimes humorous despite the pain, and it ends with the clearest signs of hope. We have Gabourey Sidebe to thank for this.

Sidebe raises Precious above caricature and stereotype by displaying the fullest range of emotions. She’s, at first, understandably withdrawn, tight-lipped and angry. She shouts at her classmates when they cut up in class. She fantasizes about what her life could be if she were wealthy, pretty, skinny, white and living in Westchester or somewhere with the math teacher who smiles at her. In her fantasies, we see a happy Precious, someone effusive and expressive. The contrast is striking and wholly believable.

Then, there is Mo’Nique. And my god, Mo’Nique is brilliant. She’s grotesque in her physical want for her daughter and horrifying in the violence. Mo’Nique digs deep within the soul of this woman and lays bare the pathology that brought her here.

In a 1988 interview for Women’s Review of Books, Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison said no one who’s been hurt or abused tells her story voluntarily, but “when they do say it, and hear it, and look at it, and share it, they are not only one, they’re two, and three, and four, you know? The collective sharing of their information heals the individual – and the collective.”

We witness a sort of collective healing in Precious. The story belongs to the title character; it's her journey. But the healing is also Ms. Rain's, the girls in Precious' class, even the counselor (a convincing Mariah Carey).

It's also ours. Yes, this is a work of fiction. But the circumstances that created Precious -- the fucked-up school system, the cycle of violence in the inner city, parents so downtrodden and wanton they abuse their children -- all of this is part our America, one that resides alongside the pretty picture of Barack and Michelle Obama in the White House.

Some people won't like this movie. They'll say it's too harsh, that what Precious endures isn't realistic, that movies are supposed to entertain. But I think movies -- and stories in general -- are supposed to do much more. They're supposed to inform and uplift. And if they're truly great, enlighten. Monster's Ball, the Lee Daniels-produced movie that won Halle Berry her Oscar, fell short by a few miles. Precious, though not perfect, gets rather close.

Review: This Is It

2009-11-02T00:55:00.008-05:00

This Is It is about Michael Jackson and his music. And through his work we get glimpses of his humanity.

I saw This Is It at a Sunday matinee with my sister, niece and mother. We waited in line to see the film, and by the time the lights dimmed, the theater was full. Children hushed, phones went to silent, and the woman sitting two seats away leaned forward against the rail as if she would be able to more fully experience Michael Jackson this way.

This film is, of course, a final farewell to the King of Pop. But there is no sadness here. Only a celebration of what made Michael Michael.

The film opens with "confessionals" from dancers preparing to rehearse. They're all overcome with just the possibility of performing with him, though they've yet to be selected. This opening vignette offers the films only tears. But these tears are filled with optimism, some hope.

Then we watch what would have been. Michael choreographing dance numbers. Michael singing and dancing in jeans and blazers, and once in sweats. We watch Michael the perfectionist correcting his musical director, at one point telling the man: "I want it the way I wrote it." He's talking about the opening of "The Way You Make Me Feel" here, and the musical director isn't getting it. In another memorable scene, a frustrated Michael takes his ear piece out and complains to the show director that volume is so high "it's like someone's shoving a fist in my ear."

And despite reports that he had lost it (a newspaper claimed he'd lost his voice and could barely dance anymore), Michael does it all. Rewrites melodies to some of his best tunes, goes to church at the end of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," and the dancers and crew members go crazy! And so does the audience at Aventura AMC 24.

Bottom line: If you weren't a fan, this ain't for you. If you were a fan, there's nothing here you won't like. It's a celebration of a body of work that has withstood tabloids, scandal, macabre news reports about autopsy photos and the like. It's about a man who lived, from the time he was five, for music and entertainment. We know based on published reports and a family biopic that the road was never easy. We witnessed a decade of decline in general public image. But here, with this film, we're reminded that despite it all, there was -- there is -- his music.

Undeniably, hands down, the most important pop culture figure of the 20th century.

Later This Year: Heath Ledgers Final Film

2009-10-31T13:04:00.003-04:00

The title of Heath Ledger's final film: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Check out the trailer. Looks like its going to be a fun ride.

Here's a synopsis from David Stratton for At the Movies: The aged Dr Parnassus, CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, is an immortal showman whose ancient caravan, set up by the Thames in London, contains a magic mirror leading to amazing worlds beyond. The sage-like doctor, who is accompanied by his assistants Anton, ANDREW GARFIELD, and the diminutive Percy, VERNE TROYER, is devoted to his beautiful daughter, Valentina, LILY COLE; but in a centuries old pact with the Devil, TOM WAITS, Parnassus must deliver the girl to him when she turns 16, which she’s about to do, unless he can deliver five new souls.

Avoid: Amelia

2009-10-23T11:07:00.006-04:00

There had been some early talk that Hilary Swank could nab her third Oscar nod -- if not win -- from the biopic Amelia. But the reviews have begun trickling in, and if The New York Times has its finger on the pulse of a serious movie-watching public, this film is a dud not worth the $10 admission ticket.

Manohla Dargis writes:

Alas, excesses of any pleasurable kind are absent from this exasperatingly dull production. ... I don’t recall a single dented automobile or a fissure of real feeling etched into a face.

...

The actors (Swank and Richard Gere) don’t make a persuasive fit, despite all their long stares and infernal smiling. (The movie is a more effective testament to the triumphs of American dentistry than to Earhart or aviation.) It’s hard to imagine anyone, other than satirists, doing anything with the puerile, sometimes risible dialogue. The screenwriters, Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan, give Earhart a voice-over even as they forget her voice.

Harsh.

In Two Weeks: Precious

2009-10-22T13:21:00.005-04:00

Precious, the film adaptation of Saphirre's 1996 novel PUSH, will hit theater's Nov. 6. Industry insiders say the film -- directed by Lee Daniels and starring Mo'Nique and Mariah Carey in critically-acclaimed dramatic roles -- promises to pack the same emotional punch as last-year's Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaires. Unlike Slumdog, however, Precious tells a decidedly American story of class, race and sexual struggle. It's central character is an overweight black girl from the ghetto who endures horrific physical and sexual violence from both of her parents. It's a tough story. Though I read through the work in a single sitting more than a month ago, the power of the piece rests with me still. Saphirre's prose is unrelenting. And the film, critics say, is an equally visceral experience.

The New York Times Magazine published an insightful feature titled "The Audacity of Precious." It's an interesting piece, offering the director's vision but also presenting a context in which the film should be viewed. “Precious is so not Obama,” Daniels said. “Precious is so not P.C. What I learned from doing the film is that even though I am black, I’m prejudiced. I’m prejudiced against people who are darker than me. When I was young, I went to a church where the lighter-skinned you were, the closer you sat to the altar. Anybody that’s heavy like Precious — I thought they were dirty and not very smart. Making this movie changed my heart. I’ll never look at a fat girl walking down the street the same way again.”

Read the entire piece at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/magazine/25precious-t.html?ref=movies

Attention Movie Buffs: International Films at Tower Theater

2009-09-18T11:19:00.008-04:00

(Tokyo Sonata screens Sept. 25 - Oct. 1 at Tower Theater in Miami)

A little theater in Miami's Little Havana is serving up a weekly dose of critically acclaimed feature films from around the world.

Tower Theater, at 1508 S.W. Eighth Street in Miami, screens the most diverse range of quality cinema in South Florida. This includes the Oscar-winning Departures (Best Foreign Film) to indy Rudy y Cursi (with Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal), Spanish-dubbed Up and festival darling Lion's Den.

Most of what you find at Tower Theater you can't find on a big screen anywhere else in the county. Besides that, where else can you get a $6 movie ticket?

Next week, the critically hailed Tokyo Sonata will screen at Tower Theater. The drama, about the misfortunes of a Japanese family, scores 92% positive reviews on RottenTomatoes. Critics agree director Kiyoshi Kurosawa brings a "unique perspective to the universal subject of family and identity." The film nabbed the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

For schedules, go to www.mdc.edu/culture/tower.htm

'Mad Men' Returns in One Week

2009-08-09T11:01:00.005-04:00

Only one week left until the new season of Mad Men. AMC's ad campaign reveals almost nothing about the new season (see it here; it's rather awesome) -- but in an interview with the New York Times, show creator Matthew Weiner gave us some clues:

In the new season we see this ultimate self-made man of midcentury America — outwardly confident but hollow at the core — smacked, like the culture he embodies, by the earthquake of the ’60s. “I started off writing the show as a scathing analysis of what happened to the United States,” Mr. Weiner said. “But the more I got into Don, the more I realized this is an amazing place. Something really did change in those years” — the late ’50s and early ’60s. “What would it be like to go to that place?”

He continued: “I’m interested in how people respond to change. Are they excited by the change, or are they terrified that they’ll lose everything that they know? Do people recognize that change is going on? That’s what the show’s about.”

Here's More on Season Three:

Marked for November: Precious - Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire

2009-08-07T00:27:00.004-04:00

I encountered Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire earlier in the year when it screened at Miami International Film Festival. I was proofreading a program schedule and only gave a passing glance to the blurb about the hard-luck life of an overweight girl from the city. The blurb was accompanied by the photo above.

Then there were articles in the New York Times and LA Times. A glowing review in the Hollywood Reporter. And Sundance. The movie, then only called Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, walked away with the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic Film, the Audience Award, and A Special Jury Prize for Acting (awarded to Mo'Nique).

Below is the synopsis in full, pulled directly from the folks at Sundance. But I warn you in advance, it does no justice. Instead, I suggest you simply watch the TRAILER by clicking here or by going to YouTube. And unless you are completely vapid and without soul or intellect, you'll be floored.

With sheer audacity and utter authenticity, director Lee Daniels tackles Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire and creates an unforgettable film that sets a new standard for cinema of its kind. Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) is a high-school girl with nothing working in her favor. She is pregnant with her father’s child—for the second time. She can’t read or write, and her schoolmates tease her for being fat. Her home life is a horror, ruled by a mother (Mo’Nique) who keeps her imprisoned both emotionally and physically. Precious’s instincts tell her one thing: if she’s ever going to break from the chains of ignorance, she will have to dig deeply into her own resources. Don’t be misled—Push is not a film wallowing in the stillness of depression; instead, it vibrates with the kind of energy derived only from anger and hope. The entire cast are amazing; they carry out a firestorm of raw emotion. Daniels has drawn from them inimitable performances that will rivet you to your seat and leave you too shocked to breathe. If you passed Precious on the street, you probably wouldn’t notice her. But when her story is revealed, as Daniels does in this courageous film, you are left with an indelible image of a young woman who—with creativity, humor, and ferocity—finds the strength to turn her life around.

That Glorious Season!

2009-08-06T10:36:00.008-04:00

(Photo: Mo'Nique in Precious)

So, it’s that time of year again. Here's my late summer/early fall list of must-see films.

Julie & Julia: August 7
Synopsis: Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is Julie Powell in writer-director Nora Ephron’s adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Powell’s Julie & Julia and My Life in France, by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme.
(Is there any doubt Meryl Streep and Amy Adams will be nominated… and didn’t you like my play on the word “doubt”?)

District 9: August 14
Synopsis: Genre master Peter Jackson produces this science-fiction film, the directorial debut of Neill Blomkamp. In District 9, South Africa has become a haven for refugees--from outer space. Genre master Peter Jackson produces this science-fiction film, the directorial debut of Neill Blomkamp. In District 9, South Africa has become a haven for refugees--from outer space.
(Won’t get any major acting awards, but it looks interesting. Will probably land effects or some award like that)

Inglourious Basterds: August 21
Synopsis: Inglourious Basterds begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz).
(No awards buzz… just looks like a cool movie)

I Can Be Bad All By Myself: September 11
The Plot: Madea (Perry) delivers three young adults who tried to rob her home to their aunt (Henson), a hard-living nightclub singer who doesn't want the responsibility of parenting the trio. Can Madea's influence, coupled with the arrival a handsome, industrious new tenant (Rodriguez), help April turn a corner in her life?
(It’s a Tyler Perry movie… so far, he hasn’t disappointed his audience)

The Informant: September 18
The Plot: The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, company-man-turned-whistleblower Mark Whitacre (Damon).
(This is directed by Steven Soderbergh)

Coco Before Chanel: September 25:
The Plot: The story of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (Tautou) and her rise from obscure beginnings to the heights of the fashion world..
(This is classic Oscar-bait… Tautou starring in a biopic)

Shutter Island: October 2
The Plot: When a psychotic killer (Mortimer) disappears from a mental institution on Shutter Island, a pair of U.S. Marshals (Ruffalo and DiCaprio) race against the clock in order to track her down.
(More Oscar bait… just look at the cast list. And did I mention Scorcese is the director?)

Where the Wild Things Are: October 16
The Plot: Young, mischievous Max is sent to bed without his supper, but when his bedroom turns in to a magical jungle landscape filled with strange creatures, he embarks on a wild imaginary adventure.
and now here's the trailer!.

The Road: October 16
The Plot: A father (Mortensen) and son (Smit-McPhee) walk for months across a ravaged, post-apocalyptic landscape in search of civilization.

Amelia: October 23
The Plot: A look at the life of Amelia Earhart (Swank), the American pilot who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 on her history-making flight around the world.
(Hilary Swank in serious picture in which her character dies equal Oscar nod if not Oscar win)

Precious - Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: November 6
The Plot: In Harlem, an overweight, illiterate teen (Sidibe) who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.
I’ve heard talk of this since early in the year since film festivals. Mo’Nique is a sure-fire nod (if not win) for Best Supporting Actress

Nine: November 27
The Plot: Famous film director Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) struggles to find harmony in his professional and personal lives, as he engages in dramatic relationships with his wife, his mistress, his muse, his agent, and his mother.
(Dude, three recent Oscar winners - Daniel Day-Lews, Marion Cotillard and Penelope Cruz - in a single movie!)

Brothers: December 4
The Plot: Sam Cahill (Maguire) returns from being held as a prisoner-of-war in Afghanistan to find that his ex-con brother (Gyllenhaal) has become the man, of sorts, of the household where Sam's wife, Grace (Portman) had been living under the assumption that she was a widow.

The Princess and the Frog: December 11
The Plot: A fairy tale centered on a young girl named Princess Tiana who lives in New Orleans French Quarter during the Jazz Age.
(It’s Disney. Animated nod)

The Lovely Bones: December 11
The Plot: Young Susie watches over her family from heaven as they deal with the aftermath of her brutal rape and murder.
(Stars Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Mark Wahlberg, Saoirse Ronan – two Oscar winners and two past nominees. The trailer is awesome)

Sherlock Holmes: December 25
The Plot: Detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) and his stalwart partner Watson (Law) engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

The Book of Eli: January 15
The Plot: In a post-apocalyptic United States, a lone man (Washington) fights his way across the country in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

Why I Did Not Like "Half-Blood" Prince

2009-07-22T15:17:00.005-04:00

I guess I should make this plain: It's not that I think Half-Blood prince was an awful film. It's just that David Yates clearly didn't read the book on which it was based and his screenwriter didn't fully understand which elements of the tome were most important to the story. So we get a movie that is untrue to the book series, that breaks the rules established by the author, and ignores elements that are crucial.

Case in point -- The Dursleys. Harry's aunt, uncle and cousin get no play in this movie. The last time we saw them they were taking Dudley to the hospital because he was attacked by a Dementor. Ok, pause. A hospital? And Petunia says nothing about knowing anything about Azkaban. And this time around, they don't even show up, even though it's important to know Harry is living with them specifically because he remains protected while in the home of his aunt, his mother's only living blood relative. The power of her love protects him until he comes of age. This is key.

Absence of the Order. Um, are we forgetting that Sirius Black died last go 'round. I don't think he was mentioned at all in this movie. What the F? Then, when the Death Eaters arrive at Hogwarts, the Order fails to show up. There's no battle, and Greyback doesn't maim anyone. Oh, and Tonks and Lupin are together when the movie starts? Again, what the F? The battle at Hogwarts, Bill Weasley's injury and Fleur's willingness to have him still are what brings these two together. Again, love, a central theme, emerges at the end of the book because love binds and protects, and will ultimately defeat Voldemort.

These are the major flaws... little things bother, like apperating and disapperating -- NO ONE can do this. And the attack at the Burrough -- DID NOT happen and would not happen because the Weasly's are protected with the same kind of magic that protects Hogwarts. They lose that protection in the final chapter when the Minister of Magic is murdered and the ministry falls. That's when they get the warning that the Death Eaters are coming and Harry, Hermione and Ron go on the run. Speaking of Minister of Magic -- where was he?!

I can't imagine what kind of ridiculous yarn they'll pull together to fill the gaps. I imagine Mr. Yates will give us a story only loosely resembling the novels on which his movies are supposed to be based. It will make tons of money. People who haven't read the books (i.e., all of the film critics) will say they're pleased, and I'll probably be dissatisfied as I've been the last two times.

Mr. Ebert, I beg to differ. Transformers Totally Rocks

2009-06-29T10:09:00.002-04:00

Even when I don't agree fully with Roger Ebert, I can understand his point of view. Not when it comes to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Mr. Ebert and the rest of the film-reviewing world decided they didn't like this latest Michael Bay film. They didn't understand the story, thought there were too many explosions. The comedy, they said, was sub-par, nonsensical.

I and the rest of the film-viewing world beg to differ. The film raked in $201 million this weekend. I saw it on Sunday, and as I was leaving my noon-time screening at the megaplex, hundreds more people were standing in line. Many for a second time.

"I didn't expect to like it," an elderly woman said on her way out. "But it was good, and it had a lot of chuckles."

"That. Was. Awesome," a little boy told his father.

I agree with the kid.

If you ever owned a Hasbro Transformers toy as a kid, were a fan of the cartoon or enjoyed the first Bay film, you'll most definitely enjoy Revenge of the Fallen.

The Last Airbender: Teaser Trailer

2009-06-29T10:02:00.002-04:00

If this trailer is to be believed, M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender is going to be freaking awesome!

The Passing of an Icon -- Reactions

2009-06-26T17:00:00.001-04:00

"It's taken me a moment to grasp this ... I understand life and death are part of the same magnificent cycle. But ...I litterally stopped and broke down When I recieved ' that' text . Mike's music lives in my DNA. It's bigger than tabloids...that music shaped me . The freaquency is real My heart and artistry are truly influenced and forever impacted. ..." -- Erykah Badu on Twitter

"His passing will be grieved far beyond that of any other singer, composer, producer, dancer and choreographer, in the history of the world. Indeed, in my very firmest, personal, belief there will never, ever, be another Michael Jackson!" -- Don Cornelius

"Michael Jackson was my generations most iconic cultural hero. Courageous, unique and incredibly talented. He'll be missed greatly." -- Russell Simmons

"He was a kind, genuine, and wonderful man. He was also one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived. I loved him very much and I will miss him every remaining day of my life." -- Liza Minnelli

"I am so grateful to have worked with the King (and always will be King) of the music industry. He was a gift to the world, he is a bright light and I wouldn't be surprised if the world stopped spinning tomorrow." -- will.i.am

"It is extremely difficult. It's an incredible shock to me. I dont have words to say. I will miss Michael. The world will miss Michael. His greatness was perfection. Michael was one of those people who wojldnt stop until he was perfect. And he kept going. I will miss his light. I will miss his star. He upped the standard." -- Donna Summer

"I hope he's remembered as a great musician, and not for the circus sideshow that has become his life over the last several years." -- Jamie Foxx

"My heart is overcome with sadness for the devastating loss of my true friend Michael. He was an extraordinary friend, artist and contributor to the world. I join his family and his fans in celebrating his incredible life and mourning his untimely passing." -- Brooke Shields

"This loss has deeply saddened me! It is with a heavy heart I composed this statement. May God cover you Michael. We all lift your name up in prayer. I pray for the entire JACKSON family particularly Michael's mother, children and all his fans that loved him so much. I would not be the artist, performer, and philanthropist I am today without the influence of Michael. I have great admiration and respect for Him and I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to meet and perform with such a great entertainer, who in so many ways, transcended the culture. He broke barriers, he changed radio formats! With music, he made it possible for people like Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama to impact the mainstream world. His legacy is unparalleled. Michael Jackson will never be forgotten." -- Usher

Michael Jackson, Music Icon, Dead at 50

2009-06-25T19:30:00.002-04:00

"Like the loss of sunlight
On a cloudy afternoon
Gone too soon"
-Michael Jackson, Gone Too Soon

These lyrics seemed appropriate today, as Jackson's death came hours after Farah Fawcett's.

Grey's Anatomy: Remember when it was good?

2009-05-29T02:05:00.003-04:00

Seriously, remember when Thursday night everything stopped for an episode of Grey's Anatomy? When the drama between Christina and Burke was so thick nothing else seemed to matter? When you actually gave a damn about what happened to Meredith and Derek?

Then, there was the dismantling. The removal of Isaiah Washington and thus, the end of Christina and Burke. Kate Walsh leaving Seattle Grace to launch the insanely pathetic Private Practice spin-off. Ellen Pompeo did something to her face and she was no longer remotely interesting to watch. And Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight got really, really annoying, on and off camera.

As the producers and writers spend the summer months trying to write themselves out of a season finale that left two major characters on the brink of death and the others kind of not doing anything interesting, I propose the following to breath life back into the show:

Bring back Burke. The reintroduction of Washington's character would lend the show some much-needed dramatic gravitas and provide for an interesting set of complications now that Christina has moved on with that guy who was in HBO's Rome.
Kill George and Issie. They spend the last season not doing much, and we hate them and rather Seattle Grace find interns we actually care about.
Fix Ellen Pompeo's face. Okay, that was just mean. But seriously, the Meredith Derek thing is stale. Her family dramas were much more interesting.
Let Bailey get her groove back. Why hasn't this powerhouse actress been given a romantic storyline. She's getting a divorce, so she needs to now have some fun. Give her an intern or two to play with. That might be fun.
Let some patients live. E'rbody been dying this season. Don't they remember that Deny's story was interesting because they gave him room to grow as a character before killing him (ditto with the crazy chick who had to get a new face). Bring some folks on. Let em hang a little bit, then kill 'em in sweeps. We'll appreciate it.

Return of the Slayer?

2009-05-28T00:34:00.004-04:00

So, two of the producers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are talking about rebooting the franchise. This would awesome considering the UPN show and its spin-off Angel were, shall we say, seriously kick ass escapism. The problem, though, is the absence of idea man, Joss Whedon. Now, we admit Whedon's newest series, Dollhouse, was some stupid sh*t, but the Buffyverse he penned was top-notch genre TV with smarts. What has Fran Kazui done since Buffy (and did you even know the name before I asked this question)? Well, she and her husband, Kaz, bank-rolled Angel (also Whedon's idea) and produced nothing else, according to IMDB. If they don't bring Whedon in on this reboot, I pray they get no support and their idea dies where it now stands.

Terminator Salvation

2009-05-25T17:29:00.004-04:00

Terminator Salvation is cold and gray, dusty and loud. People die. Machines reek havoc. And the only hope for mankind is John C ... I mean, a new guy whose name I can't remember.

The only thing that annoyed me about this movie was the presence of this newest character. I won't tell you why he's important, just in case you haven't seen it already. But his presence makes no sense to us.

Everything else about the Terminator mythology remains intact. John Conner is alive. He's morphed from Nick Stahl to Christian Bale and is leading a band of resistance fighters. His wife Kate (Claire Danes in Rise of the Machines, but here, a pregnant Bryce Dallas Howard) is by his side. His mother, Sarah, is present too, but only in voice; he listens to her "chronicles" on cassette tape for inspiration and direction. John's father, Kyle Reece, is present as well, but he's yet to grow into Michael Beihn and is a teenage Anton Yelchin.

Half of mankind believes John is their salvation. The other half think he's full of shit. The machines, though, know better. They've got John and Kyle on the top of a termination list, and they've set about a complicated plot -- which includes some time travel (you knew there would be time travel, for god sakes, this is Terminator), brainwashing, bombs, missiles, explosions, and the California governor, either in a cameo or just some look-alike CGI.

Salvation is not a think film. It doesn't tug at the heart like T2; but it's a decent action flick, enjoyable... much more than, say, the third movie in the series, which blew so desperately hard the negatives should be erased.

Star Trek: Time, money and a sense of humor does an idea good

2009-05-10T00:37:00.011-04:00

I'd never understood the phenomenon. Stories of boys and girls glued to TVs to watch Cap. Kirk and his crew boldly going where no man has gone before. Pointy-eared first mates who subdued enemies by pinching nerves in their shoulders. Scotty beaming folks from point A to B. Hogwash! And that damn theme song. Jesum Petes! It got on my nerves. Gave me reason enough to make the trek across our living room to switch the channel. When I was a kid, watching the news or, lets say, blades of grass growing, was more interesting than watching any a new Star Trek movies or television show. Didn't matter if they added Kunta Kinte to the crew, Woopie Goldberg, or Iman in a major movie. Star Trek, in my estimation, was something I never ever wanted to experience. Ever. (I did, in the interim, see the In Living Color sketch with Jim Carrey. Seriously funny shit.)

Then I saw the trailer.

No cheese there. Familiar, somehow. Explosions like Star Wars. Action like Star Gate and Transformers. A killer cast that includes Zoe Saldana and Zachary Quinto (aka Syler).

The new Star Trek flick benefits from a big budget and the innovations of its successors. This time they got it right. This time they created assessable, entertaining fair. It was funny. It was dangerous. It was sexy in a way its predecessors were not.

The writers even paid homage to that In Living Color sketch. In one scene, Doc Whats-His-Face sounds just like Jim Carrey when he says: "Spock, are you out of your Volcan mind." Check out the scene BEFORE you see the movie (or right now if you've seen it already).

The summer begins: Wolverine kicks butt at box office

2009-05-04T01:20:00.007-04:00

Screw the critics. Since when did you last watch a movie based on Marvel comics for the drama? And when did we say we were interested in Wolverine because his character was so complex? We like the X-Men comics, cartoons and films because things blow up, mutants do bad things, and Wolverine kicks ass. Why do you think X2: X-Men United was more entertaining than the first in the series? It's because of that one scene, when he leaps off the second floor landing to the first, two masked men impaled on his claws.

If you're with me so far, you'll probably enjoy X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The movie pulled $160 million (worldwide) at the box office this weekend despite stupid reviews like this from the Star Ledger: "If it's truly an 'Origins' tale, as advertised -- well, where are the explanations?" Is Stephen Witty seriously that daft? The story isn't so complicated that a college-educated man can't follow. Entertainment Weekly, though, got the point: "Heroes and villains clash, then rise up to clash again, just because that's what X-Men do. The truth is, it doesn't matter Y."

My only critique: Gambit was missing the signature Cajun accent that made his character in the Fox cartoon series.

New Harry Potter Trailer!

2009-04-17T01:00:00.010-04:00

It's been a while since I've had anything to say about the movies. That's because there hasn't been much to say. The spring has been pretty much a season of box office boredom. But as we all know, that's about to change. Wolverine! Star Trek! Harry Potter! Transformers! Terminator! The movies will be simply off-the-chain this summer.

With that said, I present to you the latest trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Go to YouTube or RottenTomatoes and search for the final trailer if you don't see the embeded video below).

MTV gets its reality groove back

2009-03-23T20:01:00.003-04:00

MTV launched the reality TV craze two decades ago with its long-running Real World. Since the first two seasons, the show has strayed from social experiment to girls/guys gone wild, spawning guilty pleasures like The Challenge and The Gauntlet, but not serious television. This changed with Real World: Brooklyn. Iraq War vet Ryan is to Real World: Brooklyn what Pedro Zamora was to Real World: San Francisco. Both put human faces on issues of the day. Not since the start of the war has the American media been able to perfectly articulate what a soldier experiences when he must weigh his personal convictions, service to country and down-right fear of having to return.

Check out the episode below.

Real World: Brooklyn - MTV Shows

LA Times: Bless the 'Big Love' mess

2009-03-23T19:47:00.002-04:00

The third season of the best drama on TV -- aka, HBO's Big Love -- came to an end last night, and I'm already feeling the withdrawal. Part of the issue, I think, is Big Love's third season ended on such a dramatic high, that the season finale felt like the height of sweeps. There were new plot developments, loose ends, raw tension -- hell, TV so damn good I don't think I want to wait another year for the series to pick up again.

(Side note: When is Chloe Sevigny gonna get an Emmy for her work on this show?!)

Here's what the LA Times' Mary McNamara wrote of the show:

HBO's Emmy-free and too long under-appreciated Big Love came out of its yearlong, writers-strike-created hiatus like the buffed-up guy tired of eating sand.

But instead of going for fireballs and kidnappings (OK, there were a few of those, but they were totally incidental), cancer scares and intra-cast murder attempts (well, yes, there were those too, but again, not the point), creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer took their strange and startling American fable to new heights, and depths.

All of which came to a DefCon 1 "conclusion" in the season finale Sunday night. Oh, there were several moments of "closure" in the final minutes, but that was just the writers handing a bit of narrative Xanax to keep viewers from developing unsightly nervous tics while they wait to see what will really happen next season. Read the rest by CLICKING HERE

Rant: Beyonce Knowles and acting. Why?

2009-03-07T11:06:00.004-05:00

I saw THIS TRAILER recently for Beyonce's latest movie, Obsessed. The movie, which is released April 16, is a weak update of Fatal Attraction, with Beyonce playing the devoted housewife, Idris Elba (The Wire) as the suspect husband and Ali Larter (Heroes) as the crazed stalker vixen. We have no plans to watch this movie. If it had any shot of being remotely entertaining in that cheap thrill, guilty pleasure kind of way that Halle Berry's Perfect Stranger satisfied, the director's erased that possibility when they cast Beyonce as the housewife.

This is Beyonce's eighth movie. And while she was able to show some fortitude as an actor in Cadillac Records, she's overall quite bland on the big screen. The ferocious entertainer that you see in her music videos or her stage performances is generally dwarfed by the talent that shares the screen with her in film. In short, she can't act. when you place her with actors who have even minor chops -- let's say Ali Larter, for example -- the outcome is quite painful to watch.

So why does she do it? I doubt she has some innate desire within her to express herself artistically through acting. Nothing about her Dreamgirls performance suggested this to be the case, and that was her biggest role to date. And even though she pulled off that one dramatic scene in Cadillac Records, she was essentially asleep emotionally through the rest of the film.

So why the hell does she insist on embarrassing herself in this way? The answer is quite simple. If you can pull $4 million for simply memorizing lines and walking through a production, why not.

UpComing -- X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-03-06T22:49:00.003-05:00

The newest trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine is awesome. Check it out.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

UpComing: Watchmen

2009-03-02T01:04:00.003-05:00

The highly anticipated film adaptation of the most acclaimed graphic novel, Watchmen, is released March 6 to a wide audience. This film -- from 300 director Zack Snyder -- will either be ridiculously awesome, or it will blow, hard.

Synopsis: A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the Doomsday Clock -- which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union -- moves closer to midnight.

When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the outlawed but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion -- a disbanded group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers -- Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future.

'Slumdog' dominates at the Oscars

2009-02-23T00:25:00.012-05:00

The only surprises at the 81st Academy Awards had nothing to do with who got the awards.

As the Academy promised, the program was retooled. The coolest change was how the acting awards were presented. Instead of a series of clips and the immediate past winner giving out the Oscar, five past winners paid homage to the five nominees, then welcomed the newest winner into their prestigious club.

When it came to actual winners, I was never surprised. I was disappointed, though, in one category: supporting actress. I've seen every nominated role in this category, and Penelope Cruz's performance was the weakest of the five - and in the weakest movie, no less.

Anywho, here's the rundown in the top categories:

BEST ACTOR
Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn, "Milk" (Winner)
Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"
Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"
Penn and Rourke split the awards this season, Penn took home the SAG award, and the race, as I said, was decided. Penn was awesome in this. You forget you're watching him while watching this movie.

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"
Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep, "Doubt"
Kate Winslet, "The Reader" (Winner)
I was happy for Kate when she won, admired her work this year in Revolutionary Road and The Reader. But after watching all of the films nominated in this category, my heart wanted Anne Hathaway to win. She delivered the most devastating performance.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, "Doubt"
Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (Winner)
Viola Davis, "Doubt"
Taraji P. Henson, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler"
Point is, everyone in this category but the winner brought their A game to their nominated performances. Watch Cruz in Volver and you'll see the difference. Her role was borderline cartoonish here, and I never felt connected to her caricature. Davis was on fire, blew Meryl Streep away in the one scene they share. Henson was the heart of her film. Adams was essentially a lead player in the powerhouse Doubt. And Tomei was brilliant in The Wrestler.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, "Milk"
Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"
Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight" (Winner)
Michael Shannon, "Revolutionary Road"
Hands down, the best man won.

BEST PICTURE
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Winner)
Going into this, I knew there was no way Slumdog would not win. It took home every other major prize this year. But Deep down, I was hoping it would get derailed by Benjamin Button, the grandest of the nominees this year. The year's real "best picture" (Dark Knight) wasn't even nominated.

The Oscars: Anne Hathaway

2009-02-21T01:19:00.005-05:00

Watching Rachel Getting Married is like showing up at a friends dinner party and watching his family fall into disarray. Personal grievances get aired. Family secrets spill across the table. Hurt relatives say things to one another that can never be taken back. You witness all of this, an outsider forced to sit uncomfortably as the party disintegrates.

Kym (Anne Hathaway) has come home for her sister Rachel's wedding. Kym's been in rehab for all of eight months. She learns soon after getting home that she won't be her sister's maid of honor -- this from a guy she met and screwed in the garage. Later, at the rehearsal dinner, she snatches a cordless mic to toast her sister, but her toast turns into this rambling atonement (one of the "12 Steps"). She's self-deprecating and open in a way that makes the entire room uncomfortable. You want to turn away from this because it's so damn raw.

But that's not the half of it. There's a scene that comes much later. Rachel is sitting with her father and friends assigning seats for the reception. She's placed Kym with some distant cousins. When Kym arrives, she lounges just outside the circle, lights a cigarette and asks, "Where'd you put me." "With the family," her father answers. "But that would mean there are 13 people at that table and Rachel wanted 12," Rachel's best friend says.

Hathaway offers a devastatingly acute performance as recovering addict Kym haunted by guilt over the death of her brother. Her work here is head-and-shoulders above the sometimes cartoonish Meryl Streep in Doubt and just a cut above the superb Angelina Jolie in Changeling. I'll see Kate Winslet in The Reader this weekend, but if some of the critics are correct in saying Winslet is better in the snubbed Revolutionary Road performance, I won't be disappointed if Hathaway pulls an upset in the lead actress category Sunday night at the Academy Awards.

The Inner Child Waits With Bated Breath

2009-02-19T23:08:00.006-05:00

I just about fell over with joy today.

Trailers for the new Harry Potter flick, the second Transformers movie, GI Joe and Land of the Lost are out.

Let's also not forget The Watchmen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator.

Below, I give you GI Joe: Rise of Cobra and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen!

The Oscars: Angelina Jolie

2009-02-19T22:55:00.005-05:00

Angelina Jolie may not win an Oscar for her work in Changeling, but that shouldn't stop you from seeing this movie.

Directed by Clint Eastwood in a story inspired by true events, Jolie delivers her strongest performance to date. Despite the hype of Brangelina and her ever-present image on every magazine and tabloid cover, she managers the near impossible: She sheds her public persona and fully embodies Christine Collins.

In A Mighty Heart, she shines in one scene (and if you watched A Mighty Heart, you know the scene). In Changeling, she never slips. She's fully devoted, vulnerable in a way we've never seen her before.

As the Star-Ledger put it: "This is one movie where the star really is the star. "

I'm disappointed I waited for the DVD to see this.

The Oscars: Frozen River

2009-02-15T00:36:00.005-05:00

I'll admit this up front: When I put Frozen River at the top of my Netflix queue, I did so reluctantly, only because I promised myself I'd see every film with a major Academy Award nomination. Melissa Leo is up against the likes of Meryl Street (Doubt), Kate Winslet (The Reader), Angelina Jolie (The Changeling) and Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) in the lead actress category.

I had imagined this seasoned but relatively unknown character actor was as boring as, say, her counterpart in the leading man race -- you know, Richard Jenkins in The Visitor, older character actor up against powerhouse actors in major films that people actually saw and/or are talking about: Brad Pitt (Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Sean Penn (Milk), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon). Jenkins work was solid, but it was so subtle as to be boring... kind of like Julie Christie in last year's Oscar-nominated Away From Her performance.

But Frozen River was good ... Gone Baby Gone kind of good. And Leo was phenomenal. There are no moments of typical high drama for her, no wailing and crying, no nudity, no prosthesis. Just the careful work of a craftsman who completely disappears into her work.

Chris Brown beats Rihanna, reports say

2009-02-08T23:57:00.004-05:00

According to news reports, R&B artists is being investigated for beating his superstar girlfriend, Rihanna.

MediaTakeOut.com is reporting this: "One of Rihanna's friends reached out to MediaTakeOut.com. She is bruised and upset, but she did not suffer any SERIOUS injuries."

This is what FoxNews is reporting.

According to a Los Angeles Police Department report, officers arrived on the scene after receiving a 911 call reporting a disturbance. A woman with visible injuries identified Chris Brown as her attacker. The victim said they were arguing in the car, which escalated when they stopped.

Brown had already left the scene when authorities arrived.

Insiders confirm that some kind of incident took place in Hancock Park last night after the couple left the pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton. Same insiders say they are shocked and that "Chris is a good kid, well brought up."

The Oscars: Sean Penn a lock for lead male win

2009-02-04T23:34:00.009-05:00

I can say with some certainty that Sean Penn will walk away with his second Academy Award on Feb. 22 for his critically acclaimed work in Milk.

Before the Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced Jan. 25, I thought the wind was blowing in the direction of Mickey Rourke, who received a Golden Globe for his work in The Wrestler.

A Globe is nice.

But an Actor almost always leads to an Oscar.

Only twice since the Guild began doling out acting awards has it failed to predict the Oscar winner in the leading man category. Both times, the circumstances were a bit peculiar.

In 2001, for example, the Guild gave its top male acting prize to Benicio del Toro for Traffic. Del Toro went on to win an Oscar for the same role, but in the supporting category. The leading male Oscar went to Russell Crowe for Gladiator.

Then in 2004, the Guild gave its top award for a male actor to Johnny Depp for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Movies based on comics, cartoons and theme park rides aren’t generally recognized at the Academy Awards (save for the transcendent performance of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, of course). Penn rightly won the Oscar that year for Mystic River.

Every other year, the Guild has been spot on in this category.

The trend will hold this year.

Penn’s portrayal of Harvey Milk has been universally praised by critics and industry insiders alike. He is a powerhouse film performer. And he’s consistent. He’s been nominated for the Academy Award five times, each time for a leading role. Dead Man Walking. Sweet and Lowdown. I Am Sam. Mystic River. Milk.

With some exception, the Academy seems to expect more than mere transformation from its leading men. It wants a mature body of work, reason to believe the actor receiving the award is more than a flash-in-the-pan, that the performance isn’t a fluke or simply the result of skillful directing and editing. It’s an acknowledgment of skillful craft. Sometimes, a young actor makes his case. Take Adrian Brody in The Pianist or Jamie Foxx in Ray. Those performances were, without question, groundbreaking and deeply felt. Has Rourke shown himself to be that kind of actor?

How hard is it for Rourke to play a down-and-out wrestler (he’s done the boxing thing, right?) with a messed-up face (compare Rourke in 9 ½ Weeks to the man today)? Is he simply playing himself with a Macho Man Randy Savage hairdo and tights? Or is he breaking new ground, moving beyond himself?

Mr. Penn, I say make room on the mantel for that second Oscar.

'Heroes' Gets Its Groove Back

2009-02-02T22:03:00.004-05:00

When the newest chapter of Heroes opens, Tracy Straus is in her New York apartment changing clothes. On the television, her one-time lover and employer U.S. Sen. Nathan Petrelli tells an interviewer his secret meetings with the president had to do with national security. A moment later, masked gun-men surrounded Tracy. They shoot her with tranquilizer darts. She's knocked out cold.

And things spiral from there.

Masked men apprehend Mohinder, Hiro, Matt and Claire and Peter.

They're loaded onto a plane, presumably on their way to some kind of "mutant" quarantine. There's a battle on the carrier.

The plane goes down.

It took some time to get here, but Heroes seems to have finally gotten the kind of umph that has been missing for the past few months.

The set up of this latest chapter -- "Fugitives" -- has all the stuff that made the first season so appealing, that kind of X-Men meets 4400 vibe that speaks to the inner nerd.

What makes this more intriguing is the prospect that the villains and heroes of the last chapter will have to work together if they are to survive.

Stay tuned. Monday nights, 9 p.m. EST, on NBC.

UpComing: Angels & Demons

2009-01-31T15:56:00.008-05:00

The Da Vinci Code was a weak book-to-screen adaptation, but that's not stopping Tom Hanks from reprising his role as Robert Landon in Angels & Demons. Based on Dan Brown's third novel, Angels & Demons tells the story of Langdon's brush with a shadowy secret society, the Illuminati, and his frantic quest for the world's most powerful energy source, in the company of a beautiful Italian physicist whose father, a brilliant physicist, has been murdered.

Also starring Ewan McGregor (Star Wars Episodes I, II and III) and Ayelet Zurer (Vantage Point, Munich)

Avoid: Underworld: Rise of the Lykans

2009-01-31T14:03:00.005-05:00

The first Underworld movie was bearable. I remember laughing out loud when Bill Nighy's head was sliced in half in the last scene. The second was the stupidest thing I'd ever seen. I decided, on a lark, to try out the third. Was smart enough not to pay for this drivel, mind you, but wasted 10 minutes of my life nonetheless. Bill Nighy, you're so much better than this. Are you that hard up for a pay check?!

At the time of this posting, Underworld: Rise of the Lykans is number two at the box office with more than $20 million in ticket sales. In a recession, you'd think folks would be smarter about where they spend their money.

Obama sworn in as the 44th president of the U.S.

2009-01-20T13:45:00.003-05:00

Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and the nation's first African-American president Tuesday. This is a transcript of his prepared speech.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/obama.politics/index.html

Globes belong to Winslet, Rourke and 'Slumdog'

2009-01-11T23:10:00.008-05:00

Kate Winslet took away dual honors at tonight's Golden Globe awards for lead and supporting actress, while Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire was named top film.

Winslet won awards for her dramatic work in Revolutionary Road and The Reader. Slumdog also earned the best director award for Boyle and best screenplay award for Simon Beaufoy.

Mickey Rourke's work in The Wrestler earned him the lead actor award. And Heath Ledger was honor posthumously for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

For musical and comedy prizes, the awards went to Vickey Cristina Barcelona (film), Collin Farrell (actor, In Brughes), and Sally Hawkins (actress, Happy Go Lucky).

In the TV categories, Mad Men was named best drama but failed to nab any acting awards. Those went to Gabriel Bryne for In Treatment, Anna Paquin for True Blood.

Anne Hathaway's Norbit-like problem

2009-01-08T22:10:00.009-05:00

Anne Hathaway is supposedly really good in Rachel Getting Married. The buzz around Hollywood is she's a shoe-in for an Academy Award nomination. Some observers, like the LA Times' Tom O'Neil and Scott Feinberg, say it's her award to lose.

If history serves correct, she probably will ... lose that is.

Flashback to 2006. That year, everybody was talking about the musical Dreamgirls and the two serious actors it bore. One was a fresh face to Hollywood, the other an old hand reborn. We're talking Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy, of course.

Critics expected both to walk away with Academy Awards for their work. For Murphy, it would mean some legitimacy as an actor's actor after years of playing, well, the buffoon. It didn't hurt that Dreamgirls was a critical and box office success -- it raked in $103 million and scored 77 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Hudson and Murphy landed Critics Choice, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for their work. Both landed Academy Award nominations.

On awards night, as expected, Hudson won the Oscar for supporting actress. The supporting actor award, however, went to Allen Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine.

What happened? One word: Norbit.

The Murphy-produced Norbit was released while Academy voters still had ballots in hand. The commercials were everywhere, and everyone with half a brain who saw that mush agreed it was one of the worst of 2007. It's Tomatomeeter score among top critics is an abysmal 4 percent.

The parallel: Hathaway's best-reviewed film thus far is Rachel Getting Married. Her worst: Bride Wars. The latter film, which co-stars an increasingly disappointing Kate Hudson in yet another silly comedy, got an abysmal 0 percent among top critics (no, this is not a typo, zero percent among top critics).

Should it matter?

This is what Newsday says about Bride Wars: "Hathaway and Hudson, both natural charmers, are reduced to female stereotypes in this outdated comedy."

Reviews like that don't win you an Oscar.

Looking Forward: Summer '09

2009-01-05T23:46:00.014-05:00

Okay, a quick break from my annual Oscar obsession.

Here's a preview of the top five to look out for in summer '09:

1. Terminator Salvation

2. The Watchmen

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

4. Star Trek

5. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

'Dark Knight' now serious Oscar contender

2009-01-05T22:58:00.005-05:00

The Dark Knight became a serious contender for a best picture Oscar today when the Producer's Guild of America named it one of five nominees for its top prize.

Just how accurate has the Producer's Guild been in predicting the best picture Oscar? In the last 10 years, the Producer's Guild predicted Oscar gold six times, and the Producer's Guild winners were always Academy Award nominees.

A Producer's Guild nomination doesn't necessarily mean an Oscar nomination, however. Last year, Michael Clayton, the Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Juno and There Will be Blood competed for the Producer's Guild prize, but Diving Bell didn't get an Oscar nomination. That honor went to Atonement.

So, does the Dark Knight get to compete for the Academy Award? A Producer's Guild win on Jan. 22 will almost guarantee a nomination.

Snapshot of Producer's Guild wins in the last 10 years.

2007: No Country for Old Men (won the Oscar)

2006: Little Miss Sunshine
Lost the Oscar to Departed

2005: Brokeback Mountain
Lost the Oscar to Crash

2004: The Aviator
Lost the Oscar to Million Dollar Baby

2003: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (won the Oscar)

2002: Chicago (won the Oscar)

2001: Moulin Rouge!
Lost the Oscar to Beautiful Mind

2000: Gladiator (won the Oscar)

1999: American Beauty (won the Oscar)

1998: Saving Private Ryan
Lost the Oscar to Shakespeare in Love

1997: Titanic (won the Oscar)

Must See: Doubt

2009-01-02T01:24:00.008-05:00

The best stories aren't those that have the most twists or the most action sequences. They affect because they tap into relatable human concerns, plausible conflict, a tangible stirring to which we are all familiar.

This is the power of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, a film that follows catholic school principal Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep), who believes the school's first black pupil, Donald (played with quiet urgency by Joseph Foster), has fallen prey to the the parish priest (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The sister has no proof of this, just her suspicion, made certain by her "experience," as she says, and the minor details of a brief encounter between the boy and the priest that she's culled from the boy's teacher (a magnificent Amy Adams).

We know the priest called the boy to the rectory and that the boy was caught drinking communion wine. But Sister Aloysius believes the boy had been given the wine by the priest. She believes the priest has molested the boy and sets it in her mind to have the priest removed from the parish and its school.

Sister Aloysius' suspicions have less to do with any tangible proof than her dislike for Father Flynn. While she prides herself on being the task-master, he's befriended the community and the children in her charge. His sermons are progressive, he keeps his nails longer than she would think respectable, and he reminds her, even on his first visit to her office, of a church power dynamic of which she is not comfortable.

The urgency of the work isn't in the alleged transgression or the actions Sister Aloysius take to have the priest removed. The urgency -- no, the power -- of the film is in what is not seen. It's in what is implied. Motives of which we can't be certain but of which we have some understanding.

Shanley "invites us to judge, but then carefully lays out reasons why our verdict might be wrong, even tragically so," writes the Toronto Star's Peter Howell. "He wants us to think, something that runs counter to blind devotion."

What we get, is a "mystery tour of human motives and a cautionary tale about the dangers of being sure," says Joe Morgenstern, writing for the Wall Street Journal.

Viola Davis delivers the films strongest performance, a heart-rending portrayal of a mother who wants nothing but success for her son, but who would sacrifice his innocence if his innocence must be sacrificed for the sake of his salvation. Her Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nominations are well-deserved. We anticipate an Oscar nod -- if not Oscar gold -- for her suburb work. She's already received the National Board of Review's Best Breakthrough Performance-Female award.

Must See: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2008-12-29T12:21:00.006-05:00

(Above: Taraji P. Henson and Brad Pitt earned Screen Actors Guild nods for their work)

The film adaptation of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button doesn’t share much with the story by F. Scott Fitzgerald beyond the title and the name of the central character. Still, the film embodies the spirit of that whimsical short story. It contemplates what it means to be young, to age, to lose. And the shock of the title character’s passing – as an infant in the arms of a caretaker – is still palpable.

The movie stars Brad Pitt in the title role, but its soul belongs to Kate Blanchett and Taraji P. Henson. Blanchett is Daisy, “a dancer, bohemian and all-around free spirit who ages gracefully, before our eyes, into a stately modern matron and then into a wasted, breathless old woman.”

Henson plays Queenie, Benjamin’s adopted mother, and she ages from 26 to 71 in the film. Her performance earned accolades, including a Critics’ Choice and Screen Actors Guild nods.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a satisfying epic, held together by powerful performances and a subtly of direction. It doesn’t feel like your standard dramatic fair. There isn’t a huge legal battle, government conspiracy, plot to murder or overtly obvious CGI effects. What you get is what the New Republic’s Christopher Orr called a “a film of mood, not motion.” But David Ansen of Newsweek described it best: “Lyrical, original, misshapen and deeply felt, this is one flawed beauty of a movie.”

Screen Actors Guild Nods Announced

2008-12-19T01:09:00.003-05:00

Nominations for the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® for outstanding performances in 2008 in five film and eight primetime television categories were announced this morning in Los Angeles at the Pacific Design Center’s Silver Screen Theater in West Hollywood.

15th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS® NOMINATIONS

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
RICHARD JENKINS / Walter Vale - "THE VISITOR" (Overture Films)
FRANK LANGELLA / Richard Nixon - "FROST/NIXON" (Universal Pictures)
SEAN PENN / Harvey Milk - "MILK" (Focus Features)
BRAD PITT / Benjamin Button - "THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON" (Paramount Pictures)
MICKEY ROURKE / Randy - "THE WRESTLER" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
ANNE HATHAWAY / Kym - "RACHEL GETTING MARRIED" (Sony Pictures Classics)
ANGELINA JOLIE / Christine Collins - "CHANGELING" (Universal Pictures)
MELISSA LEO / Ray Eddy - "FROZEN RIVER" (Sony Pictures Classics)
MERYL STREEP / Sister Aloysius Beauvier - "DOUBT" (Miramax Films)
KATE WINSLET / April Wheeler - "REVOLUTIONARY ROAD" (Paramount Vantage)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
JOSH BROLIN / Dan White - "MILK" (Focus Features)
ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. / Kirk Lazarus - "TROPIC THUNDER" (Paramount Pictures)
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN / Father Brendan Flynn - "DOUBT" (Miramax Films)
HEATH LEDGER / Joker - "THE DARK KNIGHT" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
DEV PATEL / Older Jamal - "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
AMY ADAMS / Sister James - "DOUBT" (Miramax Flms)
PENÉLOPE CRUZ / Maria Elena - "VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA" (The Weinstein Company)
VIOLA DAVIS / Mrs. Miller - "DOUBT" (Miramax Films)
TARAJI P. HENSON / Queenie - "THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON" (Paramount Pictures)
KATE WINSLET / Hanna Schmitz - "THE READER" (The Weinstein Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Paramount Pictures)
DOUBT (Miramax)
FROST/NIXON (Universal Pictures)
MILK (Focus Features)
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

PRIMETIME TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
RALPH FIENNES / Bernard Lafferty - "BERNARD AND DORIS" (HBO)
PAUL GIAMATTI / John Adams - "JOHN ADAMS" (HBO)
KEVIN SPACEY / Ron Klain - "RECOUNT" (HBO)
KIEFER SUTHERLAND / Jack Bauer - "24: REDEMPTION" (FOX)
TOM WILKINSON / Benjamin Franklin - "JOHN ADAMS" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
LAURA DERN / Katherine Harris - "RECOUNT" (HBO)
LAURA LINNEY / Abigail Adams - "JOHN ADAMS" (HBO)
SHIRLEY MacLAINE / Coco Chanel - "COCO CHANEL" (Lifetime)
PHYLICIA RASHAD / Lena Younger - "A RAISIN IN THE SUN" (ABC)
SUSAN SARANDON / Doris Duke - "BERNARD AND DORIS" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan - "DEXTER" (Showtime)
JON HAMM / Don Draper - "MAD MEN" (AMC)
HUGH LAURIE / Gregory House - "HOUSE" (FOX)
WILLIAM SHATNER / Denny Crane - "BOSTON LEGAL" (ABC)
JAMES SPADER / Alan Shore - "BOSTON LEGAL" (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker - "BROTHERS & SISTERS" (ABC)
MARISKA HARGITAY / Det. Olivia Benson - "LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT" (NBC)
HOLLY HUNTER / Grace Hanadarko - "SAVING GRACE" (TNT)
ELISABETH MOSS / Peggy Olson - "MAD MEN" (AMC)
KYRA SEDGWICK / Dep. Chief Brenda Johnson - "THE CLOSER" (TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy - "30 ROCK" (NBC)
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott - "THE OFFICE" (NBC)
DAVID DUCHOVNY / Hank Moody - "CALIFORNICATION" (Showtime)
JEREMY PIVEN / Ari Gold - "ENTOURAGE" (HBO)
TONY SHALHOUB / Adrian Monk - "MONK" (USA)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE / Samantha Newly - "SAMANTHA WHO?" (ABC)
AMERICA FERRERA / Betty Suarez - "UGLY BETTY" (ABC)
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon - "30 ROCK" (NBC)
MARY-LOUISE PARKER / Nancy Botwin - "WEEDS" (Showtime)
TRACEY ULLMAN / Various Characters - "TRACEY ULLMAN’S STATE OF THE UNION" (Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
BOSTON LEGAL (ABC)
THE CLOSER (TNT)
DEXTER (Showtime)
HOUSE (Fox)
MAD MEN (AMC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 ROCK (NBC)
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
ENTOURAGE (HBO)
THE OFFICE (NBC)
WEEDS (Showtime)

New Trailer: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2008-12-15T19:26:00.014-05:00

If you were a fan of the X-Men comic books or the popular animated Fox series, you'll get a kick out of the trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel to the uber-successful X-Men movies. You'll spot not only Wolverine and Sabertooth but also Gambit and what appears to be a young Storm, among others. The movie hits theaters in May 2009.
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD

TV guilty pleasures return in January '09

2008-12-15T07:01:00.020-05:00

Big Love, Jan. 18, HBO

As if juggling three wives weren't tricky enough, Season Two of Emmy®- and Golden Globe®-nominated 'Big Love' finds modern polygamist Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) tackling problems outside his three-house suburban home. As a failed expansion and a suspicious employee entangle his work at Henrickson Home Plus, Bill races to find the person responsible for outing his wife Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn) as a polygamist at Utah's Mother of the Year ceremony. Meanwhile, back at the fundamentalist Juniper Hill compound, prophet Roman Grant (Harry Dean Stanton) sets his sights on Bill's brother Joey (Shawn Doyle) as leverage to regain a share of the family business. Throw a pregnant Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin) and an overcompensating Nicki (Chloe Sevigny) into the mix, and Bill won't be getting much sleep at any of his houses. Bold, funny and wholly original, Big Love continues to explore the evolving institution of marriage through this typically atypical family. The executive producers of BIG LOVE are Playtone's Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and series creators Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer (writer of HBO's "In the Gloaming"), who produced the independent feature film "Easter."

Damages, Jan. 7, F/X

The series follows the turbulent lives of Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), the nation's most revered and reviled high-stakes litigator and her bright, ambitious young protégé Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). After her unprecedented victory over billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), Patty Hewes has the legal world at her feet. Just as she's pondering her next move, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), a man from Patty's mysterious past, storms back into her life, catapulting Patty into a new legal challenge. What starts as a domestic murder case, escalates into the highest reaches of government as Patty unearths a vast conspiracy. At the same time, Ellen is on a mission to take down Patty. She's agreed to act as an informant for the FBI, assisting them in their criminal investigation of Patty and the firm. As Patty unravels the mystery surrounding Daniel Purcell, she must also negotiate the perilous minefield both inside and outside her office.

Nip/Tuck, Jan. 6, F/X

Earlier this season, Sean and Christian departed Miami for Los Angeles seeking a fresh start for McNamara/Troy in a new city. Convinced that celebrity status can bring them more new patients than their medical reputations, the surgeons became medical consultants for a television drama. Sean was met with early success under the Hollywood spotlight, only to become the victim of a deranged fan. Despite his own attempts to gain notoriety, Christian found himself living in Sean's shadow for the first time in his career. As season five continues, McNamara/Troy faces an unexpected, serious medical crisis. Christian decides to settle down with one woman and Sean discovers a new love in a moment of extreme vulnerability.

With Golden Globe nods announced, Oscar season officially begins

2008-12-14T11:52:00.006-05:00

It's been a quiet film-going year. Think about it: No powerhouses like No Country for Old Men, Crash, American Beauty, Return of the King.

With the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations this week, we at least know the direction in which the wind is blowing.

First, some old familiars will battle for the big prizes: Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn will all receive Oscar nods for their work this year.

Penn, who portrayed 1970s gay rights activist Harvey Milk, will most certainly walk away with his second Academy Award for what is being universally hailed as a "soulful [and] highly ingratiating performance." That is, if come-back story of the year, Mickey Rourke, doesn't pull an upset for The Wrestler.

Winslet is probably the most deserving in the leading lady category. The critics say her work in Revolutionary Road and The Reader is phenomenal. Industry insiders say this will finally be her year.

And the best picture of the year, The Dark Knight, will probably get snubbed in the top category, best film. That prize will probably go to indie sensation Slumdog Millionaire, screen adaptation Revolutionary Road, the epic Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the biopic Milk or the political drama Frost/Nixon.

LA Times film blogger Scott Feinberg warns about not reading too much into the Golden Globe nods. The Globes aren't an Oscar precursor, per se, as the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association "are primarily made up of film journalists, as opposed to filmmakers, who make up the vast majority of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."

Once the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America announce their nominations, we'll be a bit more certain. Still, we know enough now to publish our early predictions.

Here are the top categories.

BEST PICTURE
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Revolutionary Road"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"Doubt"
"Milk"

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire")
David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button")
Ron Howard ("Frost/Nixon")
Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road")
Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight")
Gus Van Sant ("Milk")

BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio ("Revolutionary Road")
Frank Langella ("Frost/Nixon")
Sean Penn ("Milk")
Brad Pitt ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button")
Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler")

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married")
Angelina Jolie ("Changeling")
Meryl Streep ("Doubt")
Kristin Scott Thomas ("I've Loved You So Long")
Kate Winslet ("Revolutionary Road")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ralph Fiennes ("The Duchess")
Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt")
Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight")
Josh Brolin ("Milk")
Michael Shannon ("Revolutionary Road")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams ("Doubt")
Viola Davis ("Doubt")
Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler")
Kate Winslet ("The Reader")
Taraji P. Henson ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button")

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Dustin Lance Black ("Milk")
Jenny Lumet ("Rachel Getting Married")
Nick Schenck ("Gran Torino")

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
"Gomorra" (Italy)
"I've Loved You So Long" (France)

UpComing: Cadillac Records

2008-11-15T22:31:00.006-05:00

I saw the trailer today for the Dec. 5 release Cadillac Records about rock and roll in 1950s Chicago. The movie, which most famously stars R&B/pop diva Beyoncé Knowles, also features a cadre of serious actors: Adrian Brody, who scored an Oscar for the Pianist; Jeffrey Wright, Emmy winner for Angels in America; Mos Def, Emmy nominated for Something the Lord Made; and Gabrielle Union, whose diverse credits include everything from Deliver Us From Eva and Daddy's Little Girls to Something the Lord Made and Ugly Betty.

Cadillac Records is not getting the kind of buzz that brought box office success (and Oscar gold for Jennifer Hudson) in 2006s Dreamgirls; but based on a viewing of the trailer and a read of a recent Los Angeles Times piece on Beyoncé's dramatic aspirations, the film may prove a more textured and satisfying experience.

Obama: 'Change has come to America.'

2008-11-05T08:30:00.001-05:00