The Darren Keeny Movie Experience at The Red Room Movie Palace

Some months later....

2007-08-29T21:20:00.000-04:00

The new blog is more or less started. Hope you enjoy.

Darren At the Cinema.

That's all.

2007-03-20T01:49:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been fun. From box office predictions, to pictures of sexy celebs, to speculating to who will be the next big things, to the Nicole posts, the Gyllenhaalism, baking Bluntcakes, and posting pictures of my hubbie, Clive Owen, and award season wrapups, fashion pics, year end reviews and all that jazz...it's been a good time. I had fun doing it. I hope you few out there had fun reading it.

But, alas, to all the people in the blogosphere, I say goodbye.

If I would decide to create another blog, I will post a link on here to it.

"I close my eyes and try to peer into the future. On my left, I saw days upon days of lipstick and ticking clocks, dirty looks and quiet whisperings. And burning secrets that just won't ever die away. And on my right, what could I picture? The blue sky, the desert earth, stretching out into the eerie infinity. A beautiful never-ending nothing."

Bye bye.

Bourne Ultimatum, Evening Posters

2007-03-14T12:23:00.000-04:00

Latino Review has nabbed some early looks at the posters displayed at the recent ShoWest. The Evan Almighty ones are particularly funny, but Bourne Ultimatum is really the best. Though did they have to borrow the tagline from Halloween? Check out all the coolness here.

Best of 2006: Part 2

2007-03-05T11:08:00.000-05:00

Here goes...

Yes, be ready for grammar mistakes, odd references, actor bashing, actress whoring, and me explaining how every film is actually a metaphor for 9/11. Because they all are.

114. THE BENCHWARMERS

One of the worst movies of the decade. I get the feeling Adam Sandler and his friends ask a studio for $40 million, go off somewhere for 3 weeks and make a home movie using the cheapest crew available.

113. FAILURE TO LAUNCH

In this case, the producers ask a studio for $40 million, hire a test audience and ask what they want to see in a film then just randomly slap some shit together: how else do you explain a pairing like Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey, an entire subplot revolving around two characters trying to kill a mockingbird, Terry Bradshaw naked, animals attacking Matthew the Cable Guy, and Transamerica Parker looking the absolute worst she's ever looked?

112. FIREWALL

Harrison Ford - ATTN: This type of film died in the beginning of the 90's. Much like your film career. Either get an indie (not another Indy) or just spend the rest of your days nailing Ally McBeal. And what the hell is with Mary-Lynn Rajkub's character?

111. PULSE

So apparently when the end comes, putting red tape on your windows can save you. Not the metallic kind! The red kind. This movie's washed out look gave me a massive headache. And everyone in it appears to live in a crack house and not bathed for 2 weeks. Yup, that's styple in the J-horror remake field, people.

110. BASIC INSTINCT 2

Here's a chance to make a really awful, campy horrible movie. Instead, they just made a horrible movie. The worst thing a bad movie can be: boring. Sharon Stone is somewhat fun to watch.

109. FEAST

The third project Greenlight movie, produced by Wes Craven, is one of those horror films where at random the movie decides it can't be scary and tries to be funny. Hey, it fails at both.

108. TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY

People: This movie is NOT FUNNY. I'm starting to consider Adam McKay to be the Michael Bay of the comedy genre. Characters walking around talking nonsequitors for 110 minutes was old 4 years ago.

107. THE LAKE HOUSE

This movie is actually #102 for the year. Can this really be happening? Another test audience movie: What do you people like? Love stories. Time travel. And that couple from Speed.

106. THE LAST KISS

Here goes: Zach Braff has NO TALENT outside of Scrubs. When the show ends, his career is over. Poor Jacinda Barret and Blythe Danner - good performances completely wasted.

105. THE OMEN

The best scene in this movie is when Julia Stiles awakes in the middle of the night and goes down to the kitchen to see baby demon making (GASP!) a PB&J sandwich. And she freaks out!!?!?!?

104. CLICK

See #114. But throw in Kate Beckinsale and Christopher Walken. And more product placement.

103. THE GRUDGE 2

I hope this and Pulse may have officially killed off the J-horror remakes?

102. THE DA VINCI CODE

Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks' hair and the screenplay are soooo bad.

101. ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN

I think it took 40 minutes of watching this to remember I was watching a movie? Yawn.

100. THE SENTINEL

I'm pretty sure this movie was made in 1992 only they CGI'd in Eva Longoria.

99. WHEN A STRANGER CALLS

I'm sure this idea could have effectively worked in skilled hands. Alas, this movie has none.

98. THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

This movie is offensive: I can't be the only person who noticed how every minority in the film (except Will and his son) are the most downright despicable stereotypes seen in any film. The message is clear: If you're black, you're only ever going to make it in the world if you act completely white. I can't believe the conservatives didn't cream themselves over this film. I guess there wasn't enough God? You saw it coming - The Pursuit of Crappyness.

97. FLICKA

Why do people love horse movies? They love horse movies as much as they love movies about the mentally challenged and movies where people dance. If you combine the three, I'm pretty sure it would be a huge blockbuster. Throw in Matthew McConaughey and SJP and it would be a huge! And don't forget Adam Sandler as the funny sidekick. This movie gets a particularly low placing for wasting talented actresses like Alison Lohman and Maria Bello.

96. HOSTEL

Eli Roth - your movie isn't scary or funny. Watching people get tortured for 90 minutes may be disturbing, but disturbing doesn't create any tension or fear. Why don't you join Adam Sandler, Adam McKay, SJP & Matthew, Tom Hanks' hair and Tim McGraw's awful song for a movie in which all those people get tortured for creating such awful films this year? Now that's entertainment!

95. AN AMERICAN HAUNTING

I barely remember this film, which I'm guessing is a good thing? Oh, Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek - fire your agents!

94. FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS

War is bad. Young actors are hot. Clint Eastwood recycles almost everything he's done for the past decade with this horrible war film. I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Hilary Swank just so she could be put out of her misery. I mean, that's how I felt while watching this. At this point in my review, I will have a flashback to when I wrote my thoughts on #110. Ok, back to FOOF - it goes poof. Wasn't the scene when the guy pours strawberries over the ice cream the funniest thing in any movie all year? And Adam Beach may be the most embarassingly awful Oscar-baiting scene ever! Hold on - flashback to #101 coming. Oh wait, much like how this movie looks for an ending for the last half an hour, I'm not sure how to end my thoughts on this. So I'll just flashback to 3 seconds ago when I wrote "flashback to #101 coming".

93. 16 BLOCKS

How do movies like these get released when they feel like things that were dumped into the direct to video bin 10 years ago?

92. FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Now this is just a wasted opportunity. It feels like a bunch of deleted scenes from a much better Christopher Guest movie strung together. Catherine O'Hara looks freaky as the plastic surgery'd version of herself.

91. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

This felt like watching 17 hours of nothing but special effects crammed into a 2.5 hour movie.

90. ACCEPTED

Rejected.

89. RUNNING WITH SCISSORS

Hey, much like flashbacks in FOOF, let's just insert a song anywhere! That'll solve all my narrative problems and weaknesses as a director. Though the sight of Gwyneth Paltrow with cornrows was a hoot.

88. STICK IT

Yeah, really. Missy deserves to be a star. Jeff Bridges - call your agent.

87. THE WOODS

Such a disappointment!

86. SILENT HILL

It's really fun watching Sean Bean and Radha Mitchell try to out-badact each other. Ugh, if there ever was great production design wasted an awful script, it's here. I think there are filmmakers out there who could have made this great. Sadly, none of them set their minds anywhere near this film.

85. SCARY MOVIE 4

Has some laughs. Has some long stretches of non-laughs. Anna, baby, time to move on. You deserve better.

84. RV

Forgotten seconds after its over. Completely nonoffensive as its running, which isn't such a bad thing when compared to most comedies of this year.

83. POSEIDON

OMG - this is the most fun bad movie of the year. The dialogue is riotous - "We have to get out of here!" "If we don't get out of here, you'll die!" "We didn't get out of here, and now she's dead!"

82. HAPPY FEET

Why did people think this was any good? Darren takes a nap. If they would have stuck to just dancing penguins, it would have been fine. But no!

81. AMERICAN DREAMZ

Oh, wasted premise! Weitz seems to have no idea what to do with it and everyone is downright unlikeable. Mish-mash of tones doesn't help. I did love Shohreh Aghdashloo as the OC-housewife.

80. DON'T COME KNOCKING

Really, don't. Ugh, reteaming the creators of "Paris, Texas" should have been a dream come true, but this just meanders. What a good cast, though!

79. SHERRYBABY

Maggie Gyllenhaal gets stuck in indie hell. Greatest bad scene #1,542 of the year: Maggie randomly sings "Eternal Flame" at the dinner table.

78. DOWN IN THE VALLEY

Edward Norton as a cowboy and Evan Rachel Wood as a lonely San Fernando Valley teen looking for a way out. This should have worked. It did not.

77. BOBBY

Booby. Hey, Sharon Stone is actually really good here! Emilio can't direct to save his life and trying to cover it up with a well-meaning liberal message and a rather odd cast didn't help.

76. IDIOCRACY

Kinda the opposite of Pirates 2. A funny joke for 5 minutes stretched over 90 minutes. Ugh, I really want Mike Judge to do a character based film, like his show King of the Hill, and not something that's just conceptual.

75. INSIDE MAN

Fun and stylish for about 30 minutes. Then wears out. Then won't end. Thank god Clint Eastwood didn't direct it or we'd have to endure lots of flashbacks. Jodie Foster - a magnificent cunt here. Clive Owen - his face is covered. Therefore, I can't recommend this movie.

74. THE WICKER MAN

Nicolas Cage might have been a big mistake. Neil should have gone with Aaron Eckhart (who has a cameo in this?) and then taken another stab at the script. I don't think this is nearly as bad as some say, but it's nowhere near the original. And, yes, Nic in the bearsuit kicking Leelee Sobieski is a sight for the ages.

73. OPEN SEASON

Hey, more animated mediocrity!

72. THE NIGHT LISTENER

I'm not even sure what this movie was about? Was it a thriller? A character study? An excuse for Toni Collette to act weird next to a subdued Robin Williams?

71. SHE'S THE MAN

Amanda Bynes rules! Channing Tatum is hot and has a weird name. These are the things I thought while watching this film. Alas, I knew them before watching it.

70. JUST MY LUCK

Poor, Lindsay. Get back on track, girl. I'm rooting for you.

69. MANDERLAY

Bryce Dallas Howard proves herself to be no Nicole Kidman in this tedious sequel to Dogville.

68. STRANGERS WITH CANDY

LOL - Sarah Jessica Parker almost redeems herself for Failure to Launch in her small role in this. Amy Sedaris brings the funny, but it works better as a series.

67. SOMETHING NEW

This looked fun, but ended up just being a bunch of cliches.

66. MAN OF THE YEAR

Hey, let's make a movie with a great premise then slowly turn it into a political thriller! Then again, let's not.

65. THE BREAK-UP
Brangelina has more chemistry than Vaghniston. I think there's a good Woody Allen movie in here somewhere, not too far below the surface.

64. NANNY MCPHEE

Cute, but fluffy forgettableness. It's a word in my world.

63. LAST HOLIDAY

Queen Latifah downplays it and is oh so charming! Okay movie.

62. DREAMGIRLS

LOL - the Seabiscuit/Cinderella Man of musicals. A movie made for no other purpose than to win awards. Oh yeah, none of these movies have a soul. Completely hollow. And I think Beyonce is way better here than Jennifer Hudson, who can sing but can't act. In fact, I think everyone in the cast is better than Jennifer. Though no one is particularly bad. It has every element of a good movie except for one thing - it's not a good movie.

61. EIGHT BELOW

Snow doggies are, like, inspirational. As if a poster with a bunch of cute dogs and Paul Walker wouldn't draw people in?

60. CARS

I really love the way I seem to be the only person who notices that Pixar really isn't that great? Or the way they keep recycling common stories, but when you do it with cars or superheroes or toys, no one will care and they'll all think it's clever. I'm that great.

59. LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN

I really thought we were done with the Tarantino knockoffs. Apparently, they are so out they are in. I don't get it? Lucy Liu needs a romantic comedy. Stat. Hey, let's just do whatever tone we feel like doing for any given scene.

58. JACKASS: NUMBER TWO

The Jackass boys continue their shenanigans, but in an age of Borat, couldn't they at least have had a point for their tomfoolery this time?

57. THE PRESTIGE

The Illusionist is better. And it really must be when you consider this movie has Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. How can Darren say no to that?

56. OVER THE HEDGE

Some cute fun, mostly forgettable.

55. MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND

Another movie that had it had the right touch could have been really good. A very funny sex scene and the wicked fun casting of Uma Thurman as "G-girl" can't save the rest.

54. THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

This works for about half an hour. James McAvoy > Forest Whitaker. Whitaker's performance = a page right out of the Oscar Winning Performances for Dummies Books. Eventually, the director (I beleive this is his first non-documentary feature) can't handle the material and it falls back on turning too obviously into a thriller. Kerry Washington was actually good!

53. IMAGINE ME AND YOU

Lesbian romantic comedy that's pretty much just like every other romantic comedy. But this has Piper Perabo with a British accent, quite convincingly a might add! The shock!

52. WORLD TRADE CENTER

It's 9/11 - The Lifetime movie. Some of it works, some of it is lame. I love how Jesus appears with bottled water.

51. MIAMI VICE

I love how some people are defending the fact this movie never lets its audience know what is going on as being part of the point and that "we're in a world so deep they can't bother to explain! Brilliant film! Watch me blow Michael Mann!" Very stylish at times, though.

50. THANK YOU FOR SMOKING

Aaron Eckhart is a great actor and gets a chance to shine. As do most of the actors in this film, but the problem lies in the script not ever being fully realized. Is it defending these people? Is it a satire? Either would be fine, but it can never decide.

49. MONSTER HOUSE

This should have been a live action film. Kinda shrewdly entertaining for youngen-aimed film.

48. SCOOP

Scarjo proves she can do Woody comedy as well as she can do Woody drama as well as she can give audiences a woody. (Oh, Darren!) Surprisingly fun, probably one of his best comedies in a while, which sadly isn't saying much. Hugh Jackman, again. Not that I'm complaining.

47. FLUSHED AWAY

Hugh Jackman! Kate Winslet! And best of all (surprise surprise): SLUGS! I don't know why they showed up, but the slugs rule! SLUGS SLUGS SLUGS.

46. DAVE CHAPPELLE'S BLOCK PARTY

I think more people wanted this to be like his TV show, which is probably why a lot of people didn't care for this. It's very fun nonetheless.

45. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3

Despite being insane, Tom Cruise is still a more reliable movie star than Tom Hanks it appears. Probably the best of the three.

44. THE BLACK DAHLIA

The best uninentional black comedy ever? Okay, so a lot of this film doesn't work. In fact, some of it is quite bad. But I think it's oh so watchable. I love Swank here. Such a fun vamp! As for Fiona Shaw - that may be the most enjoyable bad acting in ages. De Palma was trying to hard to make a movie about the Dahlia instead of making a movie about the Dahlia. (That made sense to me.)

43. LITTLE FISH

Cate Blanchett is a reformed drug dealer trying to lead a normal life. I think I've seen this movie 24 times before, but it's Australian so that makes it original?

42. HARD CANDY

Ellen Page cuts off Patrick Wilson's balls. Or does she? Definitely disturbing, and I love Sandra Oh in her funny cameo.

41. THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED

"Muckracking" doc about the MPAA rating system. Very entertaining and it's great to see some filmmakers step up and say the system needs massive revising.

40. SNAKES ON A PLANE
Only adding musical numbers would have made this film more perfect! Suggestion for a Broadway show: Snakes on a Plane - The Musical.

39. TWELVE AND HOLDING

LIE director examines the lives of three preteens after the one's brother is killed. Zoe Weizenbaum is the most affecting in one of the best and most forgotten performances of the year as the tomboy dealing for the first time with her sexuality. Sadly, the other two stories nowhere near live up to hers. Not an easy watch.

38. THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP

Michel Gondry will never live up to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, so let's get that out of the way. But this is a charmer, and far better than this debut film, Human Nature.

37. THE HILLS HAVE EYES

So here's what this film has over Hostel, Saw 1-3 and whatever other torture-horror film you're going to throw at me: It saves it all for a single scene. When you try to disturb the audience, spreading it out and making every scene try to top the last won't frighten them, it'll just bore them. It's almost like those other horror films are some kind of Jackass version of the slasher genre. So with this film, you have one of the most horrifying and truly disturbing scenes of the year, but it's just one scene. The first half hour builds up to it, and the last hour of the film is spent coming off of it and creating a catharsis from it. It ultimately turns into a revenge film. And that single scene (involving 3 brutal deaths,2 rapes and a kidnapping) has power because we actually care about the characters. It's almost like the filmmakers are laughing at the audience saying "you honestly want these people to be brutaly killed? Well, okay...." On second thought, maybe you should stick with Saw 3. And plus, we all know this film is a parable for 9/11. :-)

36. HOLLYWOODLAND

I like the suggestion brought about at the end of the film, that no single reason can be contributed into the death of George Reeves. Solid work by Brody, Lane and Affleck.

35. THE PROPOSITION

Aussie western written by rocker Nick Cave? Surprisingly cool, and probably something I want to see again. I wasn't as high on it the first time, but I've been thinking about it.

34. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

A little indie crowdpleaser. NOTHING more. Repeat: NOTHING more. You want a better example of a dysfunctional family on the road: Flirting With Disaster. Terrific ensemble work. But again, it's just a little indie crowdpleaser. NOTHING more.

33. THE ILLUSIONIST

Whodathunk this would be better than The Prestige? Far more romantic and classic, though neither are great films.

32. BRICK

A stylish exercise - NOTHING more. (haha) Joseph Gordon Levitt is destined to be a great actor, and Rian Johnson is destined to be a great filmmaker. This is a nice stepping stone.

31. THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE

Delicious biopic almost feeling like the real Bettie Page made it herself. Gretchen Mol is absolutely sublime and proof you can live up to being an It Girl 8 years later. Though the black and white is nice, the color sequences really pop.

30. INVINCIBLE

Surprisingly worthy sports film keeping its characters, not the games they play, first.

29. CATCH A FIRE

Sadly, a box-office dud. Well made dramatic thriller with Derek Luke as an Apartheid-era factory worker in South Africa carrying out terrorist attacks.

28. THE HOLIDAY

As if I wouldn't like this movie? Though NANNNNCY's last film had me worried. Charming, too long, but charming. Let's face it though: I'd watch Kate, Jude and Cameron read the phone book.

27. BABEL

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's followup to 21 Grams doesn't live up to that film because of it's too ambitious, broad storyline. He works better with intimacy, which is why the fairly standalone story of the deaf, Japanase girl works best and would have made a great film on its own terms. Very good, but also very noticably flawed.

26. CHARLOTTE'S WEB

Even though it was an okay-sized hit, it was better than most every family aimed film released in 2006. Dakota Fanning takes a backseat to the pig and his spider friend (voiced perfectly by Julia Roberts.)

25. AKEELAH AND THE BEE

A box office disappointment, how can that be? A winning tearjerker about a South Central LA girl and her desire to be the national spelling bee champion. Great to see Angela Bassett, too!

24. THE PAINTED VEIL

Romance about the conflicted couple in Shanghai with a whole lot of cholera. Terrific turn by Naomi Watts and good, but stilted, work by Edward Norton.

23. INFAMOUS

Proof that there's more than one way to tell a story. Filmed almost at the same time as Capote, I never got why people dogged this film before its released. Seemed very unfair. While Capote is the better film, this is still a very good film examining aspects of Truman's life that the other film passed on, mostly his New York circle of friends. We get a better sense of the period here. There's overlapping details, but both films combined present a fascinating view of the writer's life.

22. BUBBLE

Steven Soderbergh returns to his more risky, low budget era with this film about a bizarre love triangle set in a factory in a small town. Released in theatres and on DVD at the same time, the experiment's results seem still to be up in the air.

21. CASINO ROYALE

Daniel Craig takes over the role of James Bond in what is easily the best of the Bond films that I've seen (not too many.) Throwing in a little Jason Bourne-ish angst, it's a sexy, thrilling espionage adventure.

20. SLITHER

I'm still holding out that this becomes a cult classic. Packed with aliens, bugs, zombies and blobs, it's a gore-happy, shrewdly funny midnight movie about a small town's efforts to battle an invasion of aliens. Sexy combo of Elizabeth Banks (doing a deft, stylized parody of Hitchcock blondes) and Nathan Fillion (the next Bruce Campbell) star, and look for a cameo by the director's wife: The Office's Jenna Fisher playing, surprise!, a secretary.

19. VOLVER

Penelope Cruz is sensational in Pedro Almodovar's study of females (really? from Pedro?) dealing with the return of their dead mother. I still think Talk to Her is his best film, but I'd like to see some of this other stuff. I haven't seen too much. I officially renounce anything bad I've ever sad about Miss Cruz.

18. AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

This film is, like, important. You should see it. Then, you should change your life. But mostly, you should just change your life. Elisabeth Shue's husband directs this documentary following Al Gore in his efforts to teach people about the effects of global warming. Very powerful with a portrait of something quite rare: a politician trying to make the world a better place and actually getting up and doing something about it.

17. V FOR VENDETTA

I'm surprised there was so little controversy about this film upon its release. We've got: people rising against their governments using terrorist attacks, gay holocausts, fascist leaders. Surprisingly deep stuff for a popcorn thriller, and despite it's heavy subject, it is first and foremost a popcorn thriller. A well made one, and a smart one.

16. HALF NELSON

A part time drug dealing student becames an unlikely friend to her drug addicted teacher. Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps are a great pairing with terrific performances from both in this indie, which does what indies should do: take characters that aren't cookie cutter, throw away cute contrivances and formula and allow the characters to live and breathe on screen, ultimately accepting each other for who they are regardless of their flaws. And not what My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Little Miss Sunshine might make you believe indies are.

15. BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN

Isn't it sorta brilliant that you have a completely uneducated character from a third world country who comes to America and meets entitled Americans who have every opportunity given to them and - GASP - they are just as ignorant in some of their beliefs as he is. (Though, in their and Mel Gibson's defense, they were drunk and completely out of control of their mouth holding back how they really feel.) And isn't even more brilliant that in Sacha's film, the ones being put down repeatedly - the blacks, the jews, the gays, the women - are the ones who most embody the American spirit Borat comes to learn about. And isn't it kinda funny how the people in the film who were embarassed because of how the film portrayed them (not by their own actions, mind you) and because they said some things they didn't actually mean (instead of being pissed that they got caught) and because they are now being ostracized where they live (oh, you mean EXACTLY like the people you bashed in the film have been for years) that they did the most American thing of all: They sued. Isn't this film kinda brilliant? Yes, and it's funny. Very very funny.

14. NOTES ON A SCANDAL

Tis a great shame that a grand dame (har har) like Judi Dench finally gives the performance that for once actually deserves the Oscar nomination she seems to get for anything she does, and is then pitted against another great dame (Mirren, that is) in the best performance of the year. Dench is absolutely wicked as a sixty-something lesbian teacher who is an outsider that becomes entangled in the affair between the new art teacher (Cate Blanchett, solid as always) and a much younger student. Patrick Marber (Closer) wrote the acidic screenplay for this absorbing and tense drama.

13. UNITED 93

I'm sure it could be debated till the cows come home what purpose one has in watching the final moments of the lives of the passengers and crew aboard the doomed Flight 93 that crashed outside of Pittsburg. But watching United 93, I was reminded that 9/11 only happened 5 years ago and yet it seemed like we had already forgotten. However, Paul Greengrass brings such skill, the film should be shown in every film directing class. It's painfully real and harrowing and respectful with a you-are-there intensity, exactly how a movie about this day should be.

12. STRANGER THAN FICTION

Think of it as Charlie Kaufman meets Frank Capra. Will Ferrell (proving he can play it straight) plays a completely bored man named Harold Crick who one day suddently starts to hear a woman narrating everything that happens in his life, which leads him to change his life. Emma Thompson is an author struggling to finish her latest book, about a man named Harold Crick who she plans on eventually killing to teach the reader a lesson about life. The line blurs and soon neither can explain how or why it's happening. I'm sure there's many people who will hate the film's ending. I was reminded of how many times I've been watching a film and thought a character should be killed off cause it enhances the moral and creates a balance for the remaining characters. Stranger Than Fiction dares to ask 'What kind of person does that make me?'

11. LITTLE CHILDREN

Is it a necessity now that when doing a suburban satire (American Beauty, Desperate Housewives) you're required to have someone narrate? Little Children has an advantage with it's narrator: the person providing it isn't a character in the film about to die or already dead. And the man's voice adds just the right touch of sarcasm to proceedings. A great ensemble (who you can actually see) is used in Todd Feild's followup to In the Bedroom in which a pedophile moves into a quiet New England neighborhood, an affair begins between a freethinking woman improsined by suburbia and a failed wouldbe lawyer, and a bored former cop trying to oust the pedophile. It's nothing we haven't seen before, yet it's fully involving with just the right human touch by the characters and that sardonic voice of the narrator proving we all need to grow up at some point.

10. SHUT UP AND SING

In between burning flags and Bibles, performing abortions on each other, discussing the merits of communism, smoking pot, plotting the destruction of federal buildings, being witnesses to numerous gay marriages, spitting on soldiers, and spray painting churches, the Dixie Chicks apparently had time to have a movie made about them. In Barbara Kopple and Celia Peck's documentary, we follow Natalie, Emily and Martie from the height of their popularity, to the fallout after Natalie's notorious Bush-bash, to attempting to regain their cred while leaving behind most of their original fanbase with a new album. It's an inside look at the music industry, but most importantly the struggle of three tiny women against the odds. Think a documentary feature that would fit right beside the likes of Silkwood, Erin Brockovich and Norma Rae. And it also happens to be the rarest of rarities: a crowdpleaser of a documentary and a thoroughly American story.

9. SUPERMAN RETURNS

Long before Tim Burton introduced a dark Dark Knight, Bryan Singer (and only him) used mutantism as a metaphor for homosexuality in X-Men and Sam Raimi combined genre love with post-adolescent angst for Spider-Man, there was Superman, arguably the most romantic of the superheroes. I think everyone remembers Superman flying Lois Lane high above Metropolis with the wind slowly blowing hair from their face as the moonlight shined on them and the swelling score of the film was downplayed for a more lush romantic theme. Much the same way, Bryan Singer brings back Superman (Brandon Routh, charasmatic but classy) and lets him sweep the audience off their feet. Superman Returns is as old fashioned as superhero movies get, from its 40's themed production design to the very entertaining bad guys (watch Kevin Spacey get eaten alive by a deadpanning Parker Posey) to its stylized (no method here) acting. (Yes, I'll stick with that theory to explain the passable Miss Bosworth.) As someone who loves the grayness of the modern world where nothing is ever entirely right or wrong, there was something transcendent about a completely black and white superhero movie, something that took me back to childhood when I fully believed a man could fly. And he would save us from the evil in the world.

8. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

Wow - you mean a comedy can be good and not involve pie-humping, Wilson brothers, Ben Stiller, former SNL cast members and bodily fluids? Opting out of exploiting all those (way) overused trends of current comedy, director David Frankel (a Sex and the City veteran) relies more on the women-in-the-workplace comedies of the 1940's, and the fluffy, fabulous New York City set comedies of the 1960's to tell the story of a naive girl (Anne Hathaway, one step closer to officially being the new Julia) who takes a job as the assistant to the dominating editor of a top fashion magazine. As that editor, Meryl Streep is fully human, but still Satan in stilletos. It's amazing to watch an actress having so much fun by looking so bored by her surroundings. Her nuances and delivery can't fully be appreciated till repeat viewings. And equally amazing - a discovery opposite her: Emily Blunt - the finest young British actress since Kate Winslet - who dares to do the most sinful thing of all: completely pull the rug out from under everyones' Mahnolos and run away with the movie in a gorgeous Hermes bag.

7. FRIENDS WITH MONEY

3 of the 4 characters in Friends With Money would have no problem affording any of the costumes in The Devil Wears Prada, and the amazing thing about Nicole Holofcener's third film (following up the gems Lovely and Amazing and Walking and Talking) is that all four - regardless of monetary value - are equally interesting. These aren't just some stereotypical, priveleged fourtysomething white bitches. They are living, breathing women. Jennifer Aniston is the odd woman out, a former school teacher turned maid, and she seems right at home playing dowdy, lost Olivia as she did with as the together Rachel on her long running sitcom Friends. The other three are Catherine Keener as half of a screenwriting husband and wife team who find that she has nothing in common with her spouse - not even work. Joan Cusack is the worryfree one, with enough money to get her through life and then some. And Frances McDormand is the standout, as the bored Jane, who creates conflict just because she doesn't have any. Nicole's films are comforting, and work even better on the small screen.

6. MARIE ANTOINETTE

A delicious cocktail of a biopic. Biographical pictures usually rely on a system of focusing on one historical event, detailing the person's reaction to it, then moving on to the next point. Sofia Coppola throws history out the window, and yet we get every sense of what it was to be Marie Antoinette. Yup, it's all about the emotion, the feeling, the mode of Marie. Embodying her is Kirsten Dunst, who is the perfect pick to play someone who has been under intense public supervision her entire life and a result retracts inward to her own world of girlish glee with cakes, champagne, shoes and shallow friends. Versailles = high school, making this the first film feeling like it's fully set in the Masterpiece Theatre world, but written by John Hughes instead of vice versa.

5. THE DEPARTED

After more Oscar-friendly films like The Aviator and Gangs of New York, Martin Scorsese returns to his old favorite: the cops and criminals genre. That seedy societal underbelly. His third collaboration with Leonardo Dicaprio marks the actor's grittiest work as wouldbe cop Billy Costigan who goes undercover in the Boston mob to keep tabs on the ringleader Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson, now that's how you ham up a performance!) and to get information about a potential rat in the Boston police working - that would be Matt Damon's character, Colin Sullivan. William Monahan's tight screenplay creates brilliant layers that a terrfic cast more that aptly steps up to. And what a cast! Scene-stealers and terrific character actors abound to even the tiniest of parts. Scorsese is fully at home here, creating a movie that exists fully within the frame. Every thrilling, gloriously violent frame. The film pulls out tricky twists in its final act, as the filmmakers walk a tight rope with the audience. It all pays off in the end leading to one of the most satisfying, yet completely fucked endings any movie in recent memory has pulled off. There's something dangerous about this, and it leaves you completely high.

4. CHILDREN OF MEN

The future is bleak. In 2027, no woman has given birth for more than 18 years. A former activist (Clive Owen!!!!!) has lost all hope in the world but finds that changing when he's found by his old love interest (Julianne Moore) to transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a team known as the Human Project, who will safely harbor her and the baby from the outside world. So kicks off a journey with an unlikely hero. I shudder to think what more mainstream filmmakers would do with this material (I somehow picture Harrison Ford in the lead role - UGH!) but thank god studios are giving people like Alfonso Cuaron big bucks (this film cost over $70 million) to create a vision as dreary as this one. The streets and cities are rundown and dirty, the cars aren't futuristic rather just fixed up versions of older models, terrorist attacks occur at random moments, people walk through the streets with no hope and on TV stations there are ads reminding citizens that immigrants need to be turned in. This feels entirely real and there is so much detail to this world that has been created. There's no slick design. Emmanuel Lubezki (The New World) served as the film's cinematographer and uses a grainy film, but his and Cuaron's true victory for the film comes with two sequences: the first a chase sequence in which a car full of people are caught in the middle of a mob weilding guns and fire. There's also a disgusting ping pong ball trick in this scene. It runs a few minutes and is done in a single take - completely inside the moving car. The second of which is the best scene of the year, and one of the few scenes I've ever seen in a theatre where I had to remind myself to breathe. See it for yourself.

3. A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION

During the production of this film, there was a small concensus brewing that this would be Robert Altman's swan song. After accepting his honorary Oscar, it seemed we were wrong. Then, in November, the cinematic world lost one of if not the greatest. But what a way to go out! This bittersweet, fictionalized tale of the last night behind the scenes and on stage of Garrison Keillor's long running radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, is a funny and poignant picture of eccentric performers and harried crew members trying to make the show go on one last time before a big corporation comes and tears the theatre down. They talk and sing a lot, with bluegrass music going hand in hand with dry humor and old stories. As the events of the evening unfold, a woman lurks in the background. An angel of death. In the end, we may not know which character she came for, but we know exactly why she was there. Death is inevitable, but artists and their art never truly die. Altman's last film may have been his least cynical, but it still has the remaining trademarks associated with him (lingering camera, overlapping dialogue, great cast, a deep rooted sense of Americana) and stands among his best.

2. THE DESCENT

Horror fans have it rough. Not only do we see just about everything the genre has to offer - this is often a dreadful task - but we're consistently told that our favorites of the genre don't deserve to stand alongside the genuinely great films of cinema (Citizen Kane, Casablanca, if you will). So it makes it all the more annoying when a truly great horror film like The Descent comes out, gets positive ink from critics, then underperforms at the box office. (More people saw The Grudge 2 than this. Saw 3 made more money in its opening weekend than The Descent.) The one true advantage of a disappointing box office run for a solid horror film is that it almost always finds a following on video. And I hope that more people will see director Neil Marshall's second film (the first being a Scottish werewolf variation on Night of the Living Dead titled Dog Soldiers) which shows what happens when six European women spelunkers go in a cave in the Appalachians, get trapped way below ground, and end up having to battle a high evolved form of cavemen with bat-like characteristics, and perhaps also battle each other. Marshall expertly uses some illustrious genre tactics here that had those who did see it comparing it to Alien. There are also elements of The Shining and a few cleverly placed film references that movie junkies will love. As one of the women, the lead Sarah (Shaua MacDonald), slowly begins to emotionally deteriorate, The Descent moves from being an exhilerating horror ride to a disquieting character study. In other words, it ceases being just a great horror film, and becomes a great film.

1. THE QUEEN

If Marie Antoinette took us behind closed doors for a perspective of royalty that was total eye candy, The Queen is the companion film that is for the intellect. And in the biggest surprise: for the heart as well. Both sympathetic and satiric, loving and vicious, it's a completely hypothetical portrait of the relationship between Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth in the days following the death of Princess Diana. It also happens to be one of the most original, odd films I've seen in ages. Something like a play or a TV movie, but done in such a style all of its own that it absolutely demands the big screen. Something from another era. Helen Mirren deserved every bit of gold and ink that was thrown her way for her portrayal, which blends so seemlessly into Stephen Frears work. Equally as compelling though receiving nowhere near any of the attention he deserved is Michael Sheen as the younger, optimistic Tony Blair. Matching the film's tone is the great composer Alexandre Desplat's ethereal score, which hits every dramatic and comic note the film offers at just the right time. Considering people seemed ready to actually make Miss Mirren the real Queen, I figure I should draw the line and explain what the real star of the film is: Peter Morgan's tight screenplay. Only Charlie Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind screenplay is better when ranked with all of the other genuinely original work that screenwriters have released this decade. As much as I love that aforementioned scene from Children of Men, my second favorite comes from this film, in which The Queen spots the large stag that hunters are about to claim. She looks at it slowly, says "You're a beauty" and gives it a nod. I can't think of a better way to sum up the film.

Regarding ranking...

#1-6 are very close. Like right on top of each other. Like The Queen can actually smell the champagne on Marie's breath. And regarding the entire top 10, HOLY GIRL POWER??? Who said there are no movies for women?

I make no apologies for my own taste.

That's all.

BEST OF 2006: PART 1

2007-03-05T00:06:00.000-05:00

It's far easier to be objective when it comes to listing your "Best of..." in the various categories below. Tomorrow, when I rank all the films I've seen that were released in 2006, it will be a more subjective list. It is hard to compare films overall, and I've found myself switching and mixing various films on the ultimate list I will compile tomorrow. In fact, the list I have right now will probably be switched around by the time I actually publish it here.

Here's a list of 2006 films I missed but will be catching up on in the near future:

Blood Diamond, Curse of the Golden Flower, The Fountain, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, The Good German, The Good Shepherd, Inland Empire, Letters From Iwo Jima, Miss Potter, Pan's Labyrinth, Shortbus and Venus.

In the summer, I may compile a "Best of the Decade Thus Far" list in which I will make any alterations that any of these films would require on my part. Making lists is so arduous and superficial but I love doing it?

Anywho...

Best Art Direction of 2006:
1. Children of Men
2. Marie Antoinette
3. Silent Hill
4. Superman Returns
5. The Black Dahlia

Best Cinematography of 2006:
1. Children of Men
2. The Illusionist
3. Marie Antoinette
4. Miami Vice
5. The Black Dahlia

Best Costume Design of 2006:
1. Marie Antoinette
2. Dreamgirls
3. The Devil Wears Prada
4. Infamous
5. Hollywoodland

Best Film Editing of 2006:
1. The Departed
2. United 93
3. The Queen
4. The Descent
5. Children of Men

Best Film Score of 2006:
1. The Queen - Alexandre Desplat
2. The Illusionist - Phillip Glass
3. Notes on a Scandal - Phillip Glass
4. Charlotte's Web - Danny Elfman
5. The Painted Veil - Alexandra Desplat
(LOL!)

Best Makeup of 2006:
1. The Descent
2. The Hills Have Eyes
3. Marie Antoinette

Best Song From a Film of 2006:
1. "Goodbye to Mama" - A Prairie Home Companion
2. "The Neighbor" - Shut Up and Sing
3. "Ordinary Miracle" - Charlotte's Web
4. "Love You I Do" - Dreamgirls
5. "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" - Snakes on a Plane

Best Sound Mixing of 2006:
1. Children of Men
2. The Descent
3. The Departed
4. United 93
5. V For Vendetta

Best Visual Effects of 2006:
1. Superman Returns
2. Children of Men
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men's Chest

Sexiest Performance - Actor:
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed

Sexiest Performance - Actress:
Gretchen Mol - The Notorious Bettie Page

Breakthrough Performance - Actor:
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat

Breakthrough Performance - Actress:
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada

Debut Filmmaker:
Rian Johnson - Brick

Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy/Musical of 2006:
1. The Ensemble of "A Prairie Home Companion"
2. The Ensemble of "Little Miss Sunshine"
3. The Ensemble of "Friends With Money"
4. The Ensemble of "The Devil Wears Prada"
5. The Ensemble of "Stranger Than Fiction"

Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama of 2006:
1. The Ensemble of "The Departed"
2. The Ensemble of "United 93"
3. The Ensemble of "Little Children"
4. The Ensemble of "Volver"
5. The Ensemble of "The Descent"

Best Original Screenplay of 2006:
1. The Queen
2. Brick
3. Friends With Money
4. Stranger Than Fiction
5. Volver

Best Adapted Screenplay of 2006:
1. The Departed
2. A Prairie Home Companion
3. Notes on a Scandal
4. Little Children
5. Children of Men

Best Actress in a Supporting Role of 2006:
1. Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada" & "A Prairie Home Companion"
2. Frances McDormand in "Friends With Money"
3. Zoe Weizenbaum in "Twelve and Holding"
4. Emily Blunt in "The Devil Wears Prada"
5. Phyllis Sommerville in "Little Children"
6. Rinko Kikuchi in "Babel"
7. Natalie Mendoza in "The Descent"
8. Jill Clayburgh in "Running With Scissors"
9. Virginia Madsen in "A Prairie Home Companion"
10. Jodie Foster in "Inside Man"

Best Actor in a Supporting Role of 2006:
1. Jack Nicholson in "The Departed"
2. Michael Sheen in "The Queen"
3. Kevin Kline in "A Prairie Home Companion"
4. Jackie Earle Haley in "Little Children"
5. Eddie Murphy in "Dreamgirls"
6. Noah Emmerich in "Little Children"
7. Stanley Tucci in "The Devil Wears Prada"
8. Michael Caine in "Children of Men"
9. Mark Wahlberg in "The Departed"
10. Steve Carell in "Little Miss Sunshine"

Best Actor in a Leading Role of 2006:
1. Leonardo Dicaprio in "The Departed"
2. Ryan Gosling in "Half Nelson"
3. Matt Damon in "The Departed"
4. Sacha Baron Cohen in "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"
5. Ray Winstone in "The Proposition"
6. Clive Owen in "Children of Men"
7. Garrison Keillor in "A Prairie Home Companion"
8. Aaron Eckhart in "Thank You For Smoking"
9. Toby Jones in "Infamous"
10. Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale"

Best Actress in a Leading Role of 2006:
1. Helen Mirren in "The Queen"
2. Judi Dench in "Notes on a Scandal"
3. Kirsten Dunst in "Marie Antoinette"
4. Gretchen Mol in "The Notorious Bettie Page"
5. Shareeka Epps in "Half Nelson"
6. Penelope Cruz in "Volver"
7. Jennifer Aniston in "Friends With Money"
8. Naomi Watts in "The Painted Veil
9. Annette Bening in "Running With Scissors"
10. Keke Palmer in "Akeelah and the Bee"

Best Film Directing of 2006:
1. Alfonso Cuaron for "Children of Men"
2. Martin Scorsese for "The Departed"
3. Neil Marshall for "The Descent"
4. Paul Greengrass for "United 93"
5. Sofia Coppola for "Marie Antoinette"
6. Robert Altman for "A Prairie Home Companion"
7. Stephen Frears for "The Queen"
8. Todd Field for "Little Children"
9. Bryan Singer for "Superman Returns"
10. John Hillcoat for "The Proposition"

10 BEST SCENES OF THE YEAR:
(alphabetically)
Children of Men: The war temporarily stops as Theo and Kee carry the crying baby through the crowd of soldiers.
The Departed: Dignam avenges Costigan's death as a rat appears in the background.
The Descent: Sarah emerges from the blood ready to fight.
Little Children: All the children rush out of the pool upon realizing a pedophile is going for a swim.
Little Miss Sunshine: Olive performs at the pageant.
Marie Antoinette: "I Want Candy."
A Prairie Home Companion: Rhonda and Yolanda sing "Goodbye to Mama."
The Queen: The Queen spots the stag after her rover breaks down.
United 93: The passengers storm the cockpit.
V For Vendetta: The 1812 Overture plays in front of masked crowds as the Houses of Parliament are destroyed.

Box Office Predix - March 2 - 4

2007-02-28T22:52:00.000-05:00

1. Wild Hogs - $30m / $30m / $100m
2. Zodiac - $12m / $12m / $33m
3. Ghost Rider - $9.5m / $93m / $114m
4. Bridge to Terabithia - $9m /$58.5m / $82m
5. Black Snake Moan - $7m / $7m / $20m
6. The Number 23 - $6.5m / $25.5m / $38m
7. Norbit - $5m / $81.5m / $92m
8. Reno 911: Miami - $4.5m / $17.5m / $26m
9. Music and Lyrics - $4.5m / $38.5m / $49m
10. Breach - $3.5m / $25.5m / $33m

Complete Oscar Rundown....

2007-02-26T22:11:00.000-05:00

What a nice gift for a lesbian fortune teller: a Barbie doll.

(BLASPHEMY! LOVE THEM BOTH!)

THE GREAT:
+Meryl, Anne and Emily. Probably the funniest non-Ellen moment of the night. The entire costume design presentation was awesome. Although, those Prada and Queen gals looked way too plastic. I loved how the Marie gals softly, demurely applauded.
+Martin Scorsese Finally WINS. And the theatre went nuts. That's probably the happiest I've seen the Kodak ever be for a winner.
+The presentation of all of the technical categories and screenplays was great. In fact, they got more show than the acting nominees. When you think about it, that's a good thing. The first thing they do when they announce the nominees is show baity Oscar clips of all the acting nominees, yet nothing for the writers and designers. Laura Ziskin seems to be the best at doing this.
+Diane Keaton chose not to walk the red carpet, which made her knock my socks off when she walked out to present with Jack. She looked her best in years. Definitely one of the best of the night.
+"It's Goodfellas meets Big Momma's House."
+For the first time in a long time, the best performance of the year won the Oscar. Go Dame Mirren. Though I wish she would've worn her big, I'm-winning-this-shit Emmy dress. Loved that white look! She's bringing sexy back.

THE GOOD:
+Bald Jack.
+The Dreamgirls musical performance was miles better than the actual film.
+The Al Gore love.
+Ellen. I never thought I'd agree with Regis Philbin, but after the show on E! he said they didn't give her enough to do, which was true.
+The Abigail and Jaden thing was surprisingly tolerable. In fact, it was actually enjoyable.
+Smart move having people like Eva Green, Gael Garcia Bernal, James McAvoy and Jessica Biel present with each other. They aren't quite huge stars. However, I'd say that Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman could've presented solo.
+No one looked particularly awful. I applaud everyone for taking risks. For most, it payed off.
+The three amigos. All 6 of them. And yes, they ALL should bow before Scorsese.
+Out of the big 8 categories, 4 of them actually deserved it. That's the most in a while. The Departed is such a great Best Picture win giving it's not at all the typical AMPAS fare. The Queen would have been my ultimate preference, but I love both.

THE BAD:
+The stupid trivia about the nominees as they walked up to the stage.
+Nicole Kidman said "And the winner is..." Eeek.
+The way they always get the person who presents Animated Feature (Cameron Diaz this year) to tell the animated creatures to stay in the audience. Yes, cause your primary audience for the Oscars is actually retarded.
+Yesterday: Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar. Three weeks from now: obscurity. I'm glad Beyonce realized this was not the Grammy's, but Hudson didn't. I don't ever recall an acting winner at the Oscars thanking God.
+What's the point of having people present who are in an upcoming movie together if you aren't going to even bother mentioning they are in that movie together. (Kidman/Craig have two coming out together.)
+Streep looked bad even for her standards. But she's Meryl. She can do anything she wants.
+Children of Men lost cinematography. I bet it was because of that firecrotch doing the ping pong ball thing with my husband.
+Babel won score. I love Gustavo's scores, but for the most part Babel's music sucked. Especially when he just won last year and Alexandre Desplat doesn't have an Oscar.
+Don't have people present categories where the movie they were in was nominated. I'll forgive Blunt/Hathaway presenting Costumes, but Jack presenting Picture again just felt tacky. They should've let stunning Diane do it alone.

All in all, it was a smooth flowing ceremony that I thought was never dull. And had just the right amount of humor, tears and clips. Though they do need to tighten it up in some ways, it stretched at points. But I hate those who bitch about the length of the ceremony: it's once a year.

Ellen was good, she will be great at it someday. I don't like people hosting 2 years in a row. So a suggestion for next year's host. Steve Martin. He's my favorite. If not available, get Emily, Anne and Meryl. What a hoot that would be!

Ziskin and Degeneres - don't let the negative reviews fool you. You did good.

And now: fun with captions...

Eva Green - It's not just an Oscar dress. It also helps her go shrimp fishing. Oh well, she looks better than she did at the BAFTAs.

John Travolta & Kelly Preston - Tomkat in 15 years.

Penelope Cruz - So excited she was at the Oscars, she stopped and peed. I did like her dress and her hair, but she couldn't pull either off. Something about the shape of her head didn't go with the look she was trying to do.

Nicole Kidman & Abigail Breslin - "I shall destroy you."

Are you there, God? It's me, Naomi Watts.

Mark Wahlberg - he's really come into his own. That's not all he can come into. :-)

Kirsten Dunst as Dakota Fanning. I hate this dress. I love this dress. I hate this dress.

Jennifer Lopez - another look I'm mixed on. But this is a diva pose if there ever was one.

Jennifer Hudson came from the future. Because hers is probably gonna suck.

Gael Garcia Bernal & Diego Luna / James McAvoy - oh, look! My poolboys and gardener have arrived. Their uniform: black bikini briefs

Are you there, God? It's me, Cate Blanchett.

Oh, look, it's my chatty, galpal neighbor! Okay, I liked her look, it wasn't great. She probably should've switched this dress and worn it to the SAGs and worn her SAG dress to the Oscars. But I love Anne. She's adorable. And she told the cutest story about how the confetti came down at the end of the show and she grabbed some and put it in her purse to keep to remember the perfect night. I nearly cried. I want to hug her. And maybe get her a better dress. Then we can talk about Jake Gyllenhaal. He wasn't there, and I'm contractually obligated to mention him. (Maggie was, and looked good.)

Jessica Biel - brought to you by Crayola. (Okay dress, needs a different color, though. She definitely stood out. Looked better at the Globes. You could see her nipples though this dress, so I doubt many are complaining.)

Peter Sarsgaard & Sacha Baron Cohen - stubble is hot.

And finally...

My husband.

Okay, 10 BEST DRESSED:

(Oh, worst dressed is Sally Kirkland obviously. If you want to, look up her picture from last night. LOL. You'll get a great laugh.)

#10 - CAMERON DIAZ - She always looks interesting. As someone who sees almost everything Cammie D wears, she looks absolutely the best she's looked in a long time. Dropping your man worked for Reese, and it might just work for Cameron.

#9 - RACHEL WEISZ - so much improved from last year. Looked great the Globes, too. Motherhood does a woman good.

#8 - EMILY BLUNT - "Dear Darren, thank you so much for your constant support since the release of The Devil Wears Prada and all throughout award season. I wholeheartedly believe your belief in me helped me get BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations and a Globe win. I hope you like all the movies I have coming out throughout 2007 and the upcoming movie I'll be doing that Martin Scorsese will be producing. Hopefully, you are right and that I get the Oscar very soon. Love, your Bluntcake. PS, thanks for thinking that my Globe dress and overall look that night was the very best of this award season."

#7 - NAOMI WATTS - "Dear Darren, I fucked Heath Ledger, Liev Schreiber and Nicole Kidman. And you did not. But I look fabulous, don't I? And isn't my bump so cute? Yes, I look like Cate Blanchett the night she won the Oscars, but oh well. Tell Angie I said 'Sup!'"

#6 - DIANE KEATON - Somebody call NAAAAAAAAANNNNCY and tell her how good Diane looks. Perfection! Wish I had more pictures.

#5 - CATE BLANCHETT - Always looks good, but a silver goddess tonight.

#4 - KATE WINSLET - Kate trumps Cate this time. This woman knows how to dress.

#3 - RINKO KIKUCHI - The night's biggest disappointment. Disappointing in how horrid she looked everywhere else this year and how INCREDIBLE she looks here. YOWZA!

#2 - REESE WITHERSPOON - I do miss the more curvy Reese of 1999-2001. Her aura here is just incandescent. The hair and deep purple, ugh, if only she looked this good when she was winning everything last year.

#1 - GWYNETH PALTROW - There's as many people who will say this is one of the best as there are saying it is one of the worst. My love/hate relationship with Gwyn continues. For every night like last night, there's a raccoon/trashbag look like 2002's Oscars. This feels so classic Hollywood, yet totally revisionist. UGH, GWYNETH. You made me love you again!!!! She looks like she should be floating on a seashell like the goddess she is.

Anyway, Hollywood, give yourselves a round of applause (another one) you all took risks and even if you stumbled, I still love you all.

Well, it's been a fun award season. But I'm ready to move on. I'll be putting up my complete ranking of the films I've seen in 2006 on Sunday, and after that I'll probably be taking a break. Hope you all enjoyed the Oscars!

Just one more time...

"That's all."

Oscar Winners

2007-02-26T01:07:00.000-05:00

Best dressed, full show commentary, etc coming tomorrow.

I gotta say though, this is by far one of the best dressed Oscars in memory. I thought no one looked genuinely bad and even the stuff that was not the best was at least a risk and interesting. Ellen did good. They didn't use her enough, though.

One of the best lines: "Without the blacks, the jews and the gays there wouldn't even be an Oscars. Or anyone named Oscar." That and the "Goodfellas meets Big Momma's House."

And regarding the show, people will always bitch: too long, boring, no good winners, but whatever. I thought this was one of the smoothest Oscars in a long time. I wasn't bored, some stuff could have been trimmed, there weren't any really great speeches, and the human shadow puppets could have been saved for one big montage instead of several ones. But whatever. It was fine.

The Winners:

Best Picture - The Departed
Best Director - Martin Scorsese - The Departed (WAHOO)
Best Actor - Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress - Helen Mirren - The Queen (don't hold your Oscar up like that)
Best Supporting Actor - Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Best Original Screenplay - Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay - The Departed
Best Editing - The Departed
Best Original Song - "I Need to Wake Up" - An Inconvenient Truth
Best Original Score - Babel
Best Documentary - An Inconvenient Truth
Best Documentary Short - The Blood of Yingzhou District
Best Foreign Language Film - The Lives of Others
Best Visual Effects - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Best Cinematography - Pan's Labyrinth
Best Costume Design - Marie Antoinette (YOWZA!)
Best Animated Feature - Happy Feet
Best Sound Mixing - Dreamgirls
Best Sound Editing - Letters From Iwo Jima
Best Live Action Short - West Bank Story
Best Animated Short - The Danish Poet
Best Makeup - Pan's Labyrinth
Best Art Direction - Pan's Labyrinth

The next to last award shows: Spirits & Razzies!

2007-02-25T00:34:00.000-05:00

The Independent Spirit Awards:

Film - Little Miss Sunshine
Actor - Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Actress - Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson
Director - Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris - Little Miss Sunshine
Screenplay - Thank You For Smoking
Supporting Actor - Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Supporting Actress - Frances McDormand - Friends With Money (!!!!!)
Documentary - Road to Guantanamo
Cinematography - Pan's Labyrinth
Producer's Award - Shortbus
Foreign Film - The Lives of Others
John Cassavetes Award - Quinceanera
First Feature - Sweet Land
First Screenplay - Little Miss Sunshine

The Razzies:

Worst Picture - Basic Instinct 2
Worst Actress - Sharon Stone - BI2
Worst Actor - Marlon and Shawn Wayans - Little Man
Worst Supporting Actress - Carmen Electra - Date Movie & Scary Movie 4
Worst Supporting Actor - M. Night Shyamalan - Lady in the Water
Worst Director - M. Night Shyamalan - LITW
Worst Screen Couple - Wayans Bros & Kerry Washington - Little Man
Worst Remake or Rip-Off - Little Man
Worst Prequel or Sequel - BI2
Worst Screenplay - BI2
Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment - RV

OSCAH PARTAH!

2007-02-23T23:14:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't love food? Who doesn't love to drink? Who doesn't love award shows? Why, if you show me this person, you'd be showing me someone I don't want to know.

Anywho, here's what you need:

Your pajamas and some pillows and blankets. It's a long show. Be prepared.

Your movie buds.

A ready-for-fun facial expression ---->

Foods & drinks relating to the nominees:

+Marie Antoinette - cake, champagne, French food
+Babel - anything Mexican, Morrocan or Japanese
+Letters From Iwo Jima - Japanese food
+The Devil Wears Prada - The Deviled Eggs Wear Paprika, squares of cheese, bottled water, Starbucks (seering hot)
+Little Miss Sunshine - ice cream ala mode
+United 93 - wings
+The Departed - cranberry juice, anything from Boston, cheese for the rats
+The Queen - tea, deer meat
+The Illusionist & The Prestige - Trix
+Half Nelson - nacho cheese
+Poseidon - water, seafood
+Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - rum
+The Good German - something that's good and German
and maybe some candy for those Little Children and Children of Men.

Also, do anything Spanish or Mexican!

Oscar Ceremony Details

2007-02-23T18:34:00.000-05:00

79th Annual Academy Awards - THE OSCARS

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25th at 8:30PM Eastern on ABC.

Half hour arrival official arrival special "The Road to Oscar" at 8PM Eastern on ABC.

Red Carpet Coverage on E! and TV Guide Channel 6-8PM Eastern.

Host: Ellen Degeneres

Scheduled Presenters:

Ben Affleck, Gael Garcia Bernal, Jessica Biel, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, George Clooney, Francis Ford Coppola, Daniel Craig, Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Robert De Niro, Catherine Deneuve, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo Dicaprio, Robert Downey Jr, Kirsten Dunst, Clint Eastwood, Will Ferrell, Jodie Foster, Al Gore, Eva Green, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tom Hanks, Anne Hathaway, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hugh Jackman, Diane Keaton, Nicole Kidman, Greg Kinnear, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, George Lucas, Tobey Maguire, James McAvoy, Helen Mirren, Jack Nicholson, Clive Owen, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jerry Seinfeld, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, John Travolta, Ken Watanabe, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon.

Not too shabby?

That's seriously the most presenters I can remember for an Oscar show. Plus, as always, there's a few who won't be announced.

(Special thanks to Laura Ziskin for a truly outstanding, original list. 3 of my suggestions made it: Emily, Clive and Anne.)

Fasten Your Seatbelts, It's Going to Be a Bumpy Night!

2007-02-23T01:09:00.000-05:00

I'm in my usual anxious/nervous/excited pre-Oscar night phase. I have dreams: Last night, for instance, I dreamt I got to go to the Kodak at the last minute for the Oscars. I was sitting right in front of some odd television monitors, sitting with friends I have known for some time but haven't hung with in a while, and in walks in front of my very eyes Nicole. She was wearing white, like the dress she wore last year. But her hair was different. And the lips were even more collagen-d than normal. I kind of made a loud nervous sound and shouted Nicole to which she replied with a blush and a smile before taking her seat. Ellen came out, did a joke that killed. Then, I woke up. Wonder what it will be tonight.

I'm curious if Portia De Rossi will be walking the red carpet. I figure she might with Ellen's mom, Betty. I hope so at least.

Among the many things I'm excited for this year is that Laura Ziskin is hosting and her 2002 ceremony was probably the best. It was long. Very long. And according to this article, this year's will be just as long. Probably topping 4 hours. Bring it on. Oh yeah, and the Costume Design Fashion Show is apparently back. BONUS! There's also some kind of secretive, comedic performance with Will Ferrel, John C. Reilly and a few others going to happen. Can't wait.

From TheEnvelope.com

Oscar beat
An inside view of preps and rehearsals at the Kodak Theater.
By Steve Pond, The Envelope
February 20, 2007

The ballots are in, the campaigns have been waged, and the dresses have presumably been chosen. All that's left now is for some accountants to start counting, for the nominees to write speeches, and for a group of people at Hollywood & Highland to put on a show.

The final week has begun inside the Kodak Theater, where the set has been loaded in and the crew assembled for an intense rehearsal process. So far most of the work has been on the technical side, but that'll soon change.

From Tuesday's rehearsals, a few Kodak moments:

The stars have arrived. Not the flesh-and-blood stars, mind you; they won't start showing up for another couple of days. But on Tuesday morning, the seat cards were placed in the orchestra section of the Kodak, indicating just where all the nominees, presenters and performers will be sitting come Sunday night.

In the past, actors and other high-profile nominees got their pictures on their cards, but nominees in the craft categories did not. But show producer Laura Ziskin wants to shine a spotlight on all the nominees, so she's been has been in touch with all 177 off them, asking for personal information, stories and photos.

As a result, virtually every seat card includes a photo this year, from Meryl Streep in the front row to documentary short nominee Nathaniel Kahn way in the back.

Amusingly, two of the only people who warrant seat cards but aren't pictured are the two top academy officials, president Sid Ganis and executive director Bruce Davis.

The seating arrangement is far from haphazard, but it makes for some unusual juxtapositions: Kirsten Dunst next to Queen Latifah, Will Ferrell alongside Ken Watanabe, Naomi Watts at the end of a row otherwise devoted to "Dreamgirls."

On every seat card but one, incidentally, acting nominees and presenters are pictured not as a character they've played, but as themselves. The only exception: Sacha Baron Cohen, whose card sports a huge, smiling photo of his alter ego, Borat.

Just before lunch, writer Bruce Vilanch walked off the Kodak stage in mock exasperation, exclaiming, "They stole my shower curtain!"

Onstage behind him hung a shimmering crystal curtain, a hugely expensive drape supplied to the academy at no charge by the Swarovski crystal company. The curtain, 34 feet high and hung with double strands of crystals, had been fabricated in Austria and then strung in the United States, before it was carefully hung at the Kodak by staffers wearing gloves.

Before making the curtain, which came from an idea that art director Greg Richman had after seeing "Dreamgirls," Swarovski did have a question: how often will it be used during the show? The company agreed to cooperate when Richman assured them that it'd be on display frequently, including many of the show's big moments…

It's still early to make many predictions about the show itself, but a few things are apparent:

The telecast will include lots of film, but most of it won't be the usual Oscar montages.

Ellen DeGeneres will be a very active host.

The order of the awards will not be as predictable as usual. Sure, everybody knows the ones that'll be handed out at the end of the evening-but before that, other key categories will be distributed less predictably than usual.

The dance company Pilobolus will play a significant role in the evening, though not in the way that dance troupes are usually used at the Oscars.

And if the length of the show is a tie-breaker question in your Oscar pool, it'd probably be wise to guess long. Ziskin, always a font of ideas when it comes to the Oscars, has put together an event that staffers are guessing will be considerably longer than the three-and-a-half hour shows of the past two years.

Finally, the Oscar poster, and those billboards around town, aren't the only places where famous movie quotes are being showcased. On the outside of the green room, the backstage sanctuary for the stars that at the moment is still being decorated, a long banner hangs. On the banner is a quote from "All About Eve" that may be a joke, or it may be a prediction.

"FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS," it reads, "IT'S GOING TO BE A BUMPY NIGHT!"

OSCARS: I Pick Who Should Win!

2007-02-22T12:45:00.000-05:00

Rankings:

Best Picture:
1. The Queen
2. The Departed
3. Babel
4. Little Miss Sunshine
Not Seen: Letters From Iwo Jima

Best Directing:
1. Martin Scorsese - The Departed
2. Paul Greengrass - United 93
3. Stephen Frears - The Queen
4. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
NS: Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima

Best Actor:
1. Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
2. Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
3. Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
NS: Leonardo Dicaprio (Blood Diamond) & Peter O'Toole (Venus)

Best Actress:
1. Helen Mirren - The Queen
2. Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
3. Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada (this is supporting, and she should WIN there)
4. Penelope Cruz - Volver
5. Kate Winslet - Little Children

Best Supporting Actor:
1. Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
2. Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
3. Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
4. Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
NS: Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond)
I really don't mind anyone winning here. Arkin is a great actor and he was very fun. Mark Wahlberg has inspired me with the picture above and is quite a good actor sometimes. Eddie Murphy is the best thing about Dreamgirls. But Haley is the best here.

Best Supporting Actress:
(This is a waste of a category. In all honesty, none of them deserve it.)
1. Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
2. Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
3. Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
4. Adriana Barraza - Babel
5. Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Original Screenplay:
1. The Queen
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. Babel
NS: Letters From Iwo Jima & Pan's Labyrinth

Adapted Screenplay:
1. The Departed
2. Notes on a Scandal
3. Children of Men
4. Little Children
5. Borat

Art Direction:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2. The Prestige
3. Dreamgirls
NS: The Good Shepherd & Pan's Labyrinth

Cinematography:
1. Children of Men
2. The Illusionist
3. The Black Dahlia
4. The Prestige
NS: Pan's Labyrinth

Costume Design:
1. Marie Antoinette
2. Dreamgirls
3. The Devil Wears Prada
4. The Queen
NS: Curse of the Golden Flower

Film Editing:
1. The Departed
2. United 93
3. Children of Men
4. Babel
NS: Blood Diamond

Original Score:
1. The Queen
2. Notes on a Scandal
3. Babel
NS: The Good German, Pan's Labyrinth

Original Song:
1. Love You I Do
2. Listen
3. Our Town
4. Patience
5. I Need to Wake Up

Sound Mixing:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2. Dreamgirls
3. Flags of Our Fathers

Visual Effects:
1. Superman Returns
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
3. Poseidon

And who are you rooting for?

OSCAR WINNER PREDICTIONS!!!!

2007-02-22T12:15:00.000-05:00

Here goes....

(The percentages are based on what I think the chances are of winning. The closer the numbers, the tighter the competition.)

BEST PICTURE:
1. The Departed - 25%
2. Little Miss Sunshine - 24%
3. Babel - 22%
4. The Queen - 19%
5. Letters From Iwo Jima - 10%

The Departed won the DGA and the BFCA Best Picture. But if they really loved the film, wouldn't it have also gotten easy nominations for Jack and Leo? Little Miss Sunshine has the most precursors: WGA, SAG & PGA - which would normally equal a victory. But it does not have a director or editing nom, two very important things to getting Best Picture. Driving Miss Daisy is the last film to win Best Picture with no director nod. Ordinary People is the last to win without an editing nom. And let's face it: if Brokeback couldn't win without an editing nomination, will Sunshine do it? (I may have just jinxed myself.) Only two Pic nominees have editing nominations: Departed and Babel. Babel seems very popular in the industry, but along with the Iwo Jima, has horrible box office. The Queen has the BAFTA and Dame Mirren, but some see it as nothing more than a glossy TV movie (to which I say FUCK THEM!) So, in the end, I think they'll finally give Marty an Oscar, and the film. But watch out, 3 films are riding behind, and close.

BEST DIRECTING:
1. Martin Scorsese - 45%
2. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - 20%
3. Stephen Frears - 13%
4. Clint Eastwood - 12%
5. Paul Greengrass - 10%

I'd say Marty has this locked up, but they seem to not like him much. Then again, he's won every major Best Director prize (except BAFTA, of which he already has a few). Let's just say Eastwood getting another award would probably lead to an equally large backlash as last year's Crashlash.

BEST ACTOR:
1. Forest Whitaker - 34%
2. Peter O'Toole - 31%
3. Leonardo Dicaprio - 18%
4. Ryan Gosling - 12%
5. Will Smith - 5%

Nuff said.

BEST ACTRESS:
1. Helen Mirren - 55%
2. Meryl Streep - 17%
3. Judi Dench - 15%
4. Penelope Cruz - 8%
5. Kate Winslet - 4%

Just declare her the actual queen and get it over with. Mirren, next to Scorsese, will be the night's most deserving winner.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
1. Alan Arkin - 30%
2. Eddie Murphy - 29%
3. Jackie Earle Haley - 20%
4. Mark Wahlberg - 19%
5. Djimon Hounsou - 2%

So this is fucked. This has been one of the first categories in the past couple of years, so if Wahlberg does win, I'd say Departed clean sweeps. Arkin winning could be a great sign for Sunshine, but Murphy winning would probably kill its chances. I went with Alan because he's a vet, Eddie has pissed off a lot of people, and it's very hard for a non-Picture nominee to win both supporting categories.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
1. Jennifer Hudson - 40%
2. Abigail Breslin - 17%
3. Rinko Kikuchi - 16%
4. Cate Blanchett - 14%
5. Adriana Barraza - 13%

Breslin or one of the Babel ladies winning would equal a Best Picture win for their film. Hudson still has the edge. This is a shit category by the way.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
1. Little Miss Sunshine - 30%
2. Babel - 28%
3. The Queen - 26%
4. Pan's Labyrinth - 10%
5. Letters From Iwo Jima - 6%

Popularity over quality will lead to Sunshine winning here. Babel could make it in because of those people who think it is important.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
1. The Departed - 45%
2. Borat - 16%
3. Notes on a Scandal - 15%
4. Children of Men - 14%
5. Little Children - 10%

This should be an easy victory for The Departed. I gave Borat runner up status because I get the feeling they love Sacha more than we think. That Globe speech was dynamite.

The rest:
ART DIRECTION: Pan's Labyrinth

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Children of Men

COSTUME DESIGN: Marie Antoinette
(Though I'm not betting against Curse of the Golden Flower)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: An Inconvenient Truth

FILM EDITING: The Departed
(If Babel does win, it wins Best Picture.)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Pan's Labyrinth

MAKEUP: Pan's Labyrinth

ORIGINAL SCORE: The Queen (another tough category)

ORIGINAL SONG: Another toughie - could the Dreamgirls songs cancel each out. Perhaps. The Melissa Etheridge song is one of her worst, but in an important film, but I'll go with Randy Newman's Cars song pulling a surprise victory.

SOUND EDITING: Hmm...umm...Letters From Iwo Jima?

SOUND MIXING: Dreamgirls

VISUAL EFFECTS: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Box Office Predix: Feb. 23 - 25

2007-02-22T00:12:00.000-05:00

Best Picture Nominees:

Babel - $.4m / $33.8m
The Departed - $.24m / $131.84m
Letters From Iwo Jima - $.75m / $12.85m
Little Miss Sunshine - $.014m / $59.8m
The Queen - $1.1m / $52.9m

Top 10:
1. Ghost Rider - $19m / $79m / $120m
2. Reno 911: Miami - $15m / $15m / $42m
3. Bridge to Terabithia - $14.5m / $47.5m / $85m
4. The Number 23 - $14m / $14m / $36m
5. Norbit - $9m / $74m / $95m
6. Music and Lyrics - $8m / $32m / $50m
7. The Astronaut Farmer - $7m / $7m / $22m
8. Breach - $6.5m / $21m / $37m
9. Daddy's Little Girls - $5m / $25.5m / $36m
10. Amazing Grace - $3m / $3m / $10m

Countdown to OSCAR! - The best of the rest of the award shows...

2007-02-20T00:52:00.000-05:00

American Society of Cinematographers:
"Children of Men" - Emmanuel Lubezki
So deserving!

ACE Eddie Awards:
Best Edited Feature Film - Drama: (tie) "Babel" & "The Departed"
Best Edited Feature Film - Comedy/Musical: "Dreamgirls"
Umm, except Departed, are you kidding?

Art Directors Guild:
"Curse of the Golden Flower" - Period Film
"Pan's Labyrinth" - Fantasy Film
"Casino Royale" - Contemporary Film

Costume Designers Guild:
"Curse of the Golden Flower" - Period Film
"Pan's Labyrinth" - Fantasy Film
"The Queen" - Contemporary Film

The Queen over The Devil Wears Prada???

Cinema Audio Society:
"Dreamgirls"

International Online Cinema Awards (INOCAS) - I VOTE FOR THESE!!!

Best Picture: Children of Men
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Best Supporting Actor: Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Best Ensemble: The Departed
Best Non-English Language Film: Pan’s Labyrinth
Best Animated Feature: A Scanner Darkly
Best Original Screenplay: The Queen
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Best Cinematography: Children of Men
Best Editing: United 93
Best Art Direction: Children of Men
Best Costume Design: Marie Antoinette
Best Original Score: The Painted Veil
Best Original Song: “You Know My Name”, Casino Royale
Best Sound Mixing: Children of Men
Best Sound Editing: Children of Men
Best Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Best Makeup: Pan’s Labyrinth

Writers Guild Award:
Original Screenplay - Little Miss Sunshine
Adapted Screenplay - The Departed

BAFTAs:
Best Film: The Queen
Best British Film: The Last King of Scotland
Best Director: Paul Greengrass
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker
Best Actress: Helen Mirren
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Last King of Scotland
Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine (beating The Queen!)
Animated: Happy Feet
Editing: United 93
Visual Effects: Pirates 2
Original Score: Babel
Best Sound: Casino Royale
Best Foreign Film: Pan's Labyrinth
Best Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth
Best Costume: Pan's Labyrinth

Box Office Predix: Feb. 16 - 18

2007-02-13T17:09:00.000-05:00

1. Ghost Rider - $27m / $27m / $68m
2. Norbit - $18m / $61m / $100m
3. Music and Lyrics - $15m / $25m / $55m
4. Bridge To Terabithia - $15m / $15m / $55m
5. Daddy's Little Girls - $12m / $19m / $34m
6. Hannibal Rising - $5.5m / $22.5m / $33m
7. Because I Said So - $5.5m / $34m / $45m
8. The Messengers - $3.5m / $30m / $36m
9. Night at the Museum - $3.5m / $237m / $246m
10. Breach - $3m / $3m / $8m

Box Office Predix: Feb. 9 - 11

2007-02-07T23:13:00.000-05:00

1. Norbit - $25m / $25m / $74m
2. Hannibal Rising - $14m / $14m / $38m
3. Because I Said So - $7.5m / $24.5m / $40m
4. The Messengers - $7m / $25m / $37m
5. Night at the Museum - $4.5m / $231m / $242m
6. Epic Movie - $4m / $35m / $43m
7. Dreamgirls - $3m / $97m / $106m
8. Smokin Aces - $3m / $30m / $36m
9. Pan's Labyrinth - $3m / $26m / $40m
10. Stomp the Yard - $2.5m / $59.5m / $65m

TO: Laura Ziskin. RE: Oscar Presenters

2007-02-05T12:44:00.000-05:00

You did the right thing getting Ellen. Degeneres has stated in an interview that they aren't going to cutting winners off with music (or like last year's debacle: playing music as the winners talk). Smart move #2. The first four presenters have been released in press relesaes:

From the Oscar website:

George Clooney, Cameron Diaz, Eva Green, Hugh Jackman

All good.

There's numerous other people who are rumored to have been added but not yet confirmed: Jennifer Connelly, Daniel Craig, Kirsten Dunst, Jodie Foster, among others. Apparently Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood and Warren Beatty are presenting the award to Ennio Morricone. That would be cool. I've also heard that Monica Belluci will be translating for him, which seems almost too odd to be false? Also, given Laura Ziskin is producing Spider-Man 3, I also expect some more people from that film to show up.

And of course, last year's remaining winners - Hoffman, Witherspoon and Weisz - will no doubt be back.

Anywho, here are my suggestions for people I would love to see present:

Michelle Pfeiffer - first and foremost. My 2nd favorite actress has 3 big movies coming out this year. Get her up on stage.

Anne Hathaway - see SAGs to see what I mean.

Sacha Baron Cohen - as himself. Sexy and funny.

Leonardo Dicaprio & Kate Winslet - you missed the chance two years ago to get the stars of the biggest film of all time to present together the year they were nominated together. Now they are nominated again in the same year. I'm sure it'll happen again, though.

Salma Hayek - after the great emotion she showed announcing the nominees, bring her back.

Oprah Winfrey - you know she's going to be there anyways.

Emily Blunt - as if you didn't see this coming. Looking for the usual hot piece of ass ingenue to do the Sci/Tech ceremony? Here it is.

Clive Owen & Cate Blanchett - stars of The Golden Age. Well, Clive would be fine. Clive is fine. Let him present in his underwear. He doesn't even have to present. He can just stand there. Actually, cancel Blanchett and replace her with Chris Evans. On stage, together, in their briefs.

Jane Fonda & Lindsay Lohan - stars of Georgia Rule. This is a great pairing, and they apparently really like each other. Plus, I want to see Lohan at her first big award show.

Amy Poehler as Dakota Fanning - have her present the Visual Effects category - "I'm not familiar with any of these films" - and then glare at Abigail Breslin for awhile.

Oh, and for the love of god, bring back some of the campy stuff. Not like the past couple of years where Beyonce butchers a French song, or the nominees line up on stage, or people present in the middle of the theatre, or the music in the background. I'm talking Costume Design fashion shows, bears on stage for no reason, and freaky Cirque Du Soleil guys dancing as Jennifer Connelly holds her Oscar trying not to get trampled on. Last year's Zombie-Crash number was close!

SAG & DGA

2007-02-04T11:13:00.000-05:00

Directors Guild of America:

From Variety:
"The Directors Guild of America has selected Martin Scorsese as winner of its top feature trophy for his work on the gangster thriller "The Departed."
It was first victory in seven DGA nominations for Scorsese, who topped Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "Babel," Bill Condon for "Dreamgirls," Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for "Little Miss Sunshine" and Stephen Frears for "The Queen."

The award, announced Saturday night in ceremonies at the Century Plaza Hotel, places Scorsese as a front-runner for the Best Director Oscar. The DGA winner, based on voting by 13,400 Guild members, has matched the Oscar winner in 52 of its 58 awards, including last year when Ang Lee won both for "Brokeback Mountain."

Scorsese now faces Frears and Inarritu for the Oscar along with Clint Eastwood for "Letters From Iwo Jima" and Paul Greengrass for "United 93." It's his sixth Oscar directing nomination along with "Raging Bull," "The Last Temptation of Christ," "Good Fellas" "Gangs of New York" and "The Aviator."

"The Departed" has taken in the highest gross among the nominated films with $127 million domestically and nearly $270 million worldwide. Scorsese won the Golden Globe for Best director three weeks ago; since then, "Little Miss Sunshine" won both the top feature film awards from the PGA and SAG.

Scorsese's previous DGA nominations were for "The Aviator," "Gangs of New York," "The Age of Innocence," "Goodfellas," "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver." He won the DGA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003."

Screen Actors Guild Awards:

Ensemble (Film) - Little Miss Sunshine
Male Actor - Forest Whitaker
Female Actor - Helen Mirren
Supporting Male Actor - Eddie Murphy
Supporting Female Actor - Jennifer Hudson

(Ugh, this is going to be the Worst Oscars ever if that lineup sticks, given none of them can make a great speech and they all seem slightly bored - or far too intimidated - with the awards.)

Ensemble (TV/Drama) - Grey's Anatomy
Ensemble (TV/Comedy) - THE OFFICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Male Actor (TV/Drama) - Hugh Laurie
Female Actor (TV/Drama) - Chandra Wilson (BEST SPEECH OF THE NIGHT!)
Male Actor (TV/Comedy) - Alec Baldwin ("What am I? A farmer?")
Female Actor (TV/Comedy) - America Ferrera (so adorable!)
Male Actor (Minseries/TV Movie) - Jeremy Irons
Female Actor (Miniseries/TV Movie) - Helen Mirren

BEST DRESSED:

#1 - MARISKA HARGITAY - So if you know me, you probably know I don't care much for Mariska. But I love her here. She's wearing Carolina Herrera, cuz Renee couldn't?

#2 - ANNE HATHAWAY - Okay, get her to present an Oscar. Seriously. The girl can speak in public very eloquently and she looks like the best of movie stars here.

#3 - FELICITY HUFFMAN - Apparently lots of people don't like this as they say it makes her look like she's coming from a funeral? But I LOOOVE it. The shoes, too. Such a nice alternate to all the pedestrian white dresses at the Globes. But I love my Huffman!

Oh, and while Rachel McAdams' rather short dress was questionable, she's still one of the most gorgeous women on the planet. And I totally love the pink streaks.

Box Office Predix - Feb. 2 - 4

2007-02-01T21:48:00.000-05:00

1. The Messengers - $14m / $14m / $36m
2. Because I Said So - $10m / $10m / $30m
3. Epic Movie - $8.5m / $30m / $45m
4. Smokin Aces - $7.5m / $26.5m / $40m
5. Night at the Museum - $7m / $225.5m / $242m
6. Stomp the Yard - $5.5m / $57.5m / $69m
7. Dreamgirls - $5m / $93.5m / $110m
8. Catch and Release - $5m / $14m / $24m
9. Pan's Labyrinth - $4m / $22m / $40m
10. The Queen - $3.5m / $46m / $65m

'SUNSHINE' trailer

2007-01-30T11:54:00.000-05:00

It may be a standard concept, but I have no doubt Danny Boyle will pull it off. And WHAT A SEXY CAST!

Go here.

Hoskins, Descent gals join DOOMSDAY

2007-01-30T11:45:00.000-05:00

I didn't think this project was going ahead so soon. It could even be out by the end of year. WOOHOO!

From Comingsoon.net:

Academy Award-nominated actor Bob Hoskins will join Rhona Mitra for writer/director Neil Marshall in Rogue Pictures' action-thriller Doomsday, which begins production February 9th in South Africa and the U.K. Rogue co-presidents Andrew Karpen and Andrew Rona made the announcement today.

Crystal Sky Pictures' Steven Paul and Benedict Carver are producing Doomsday for Rogue in association with Intrepid Pictures. Intrepid principals Trevor Macy and Marc D. Evans are executive-producing Doomsday with Peter McAleese. Creative executive Alex Heineman is overseeing the project for Rogue, which holds worldwide distribution rights to Doomsday.

In Doomsday, a lethal virus spreads throughout a major country and kills hundreds of thousands. To contain the newly identified Reaper, the authorities brutally quarantine the country as it succumbs to fear and chaos. The literal walling-off works for three decades – until Reaper violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists, including Eden Sinclair (Mitra), is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.

Hoskins will play Bill Nelson, a career policeman who nominates Eden for the mission and monitors its progress.

Also joining the production are Alexander Siddig ("24") and Adrian Lester ("Hustle"). Rounding out the cast are several alumni from Marshall's previous films, including Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Emma Cleasby, and Chris Robson, of Dog Soldiers; MyAnna Buring and Nora-Jane Noone of The Descent; and, from both pictures, Leslie Simpson and Craig Conway.

The writer/director is also marking his third consecutive movie with cinematographer Sam McCurdy and production designer Simon Bowles. Paul Hyett will be designing special makeup effects, as he did on The Descent.

Karpen and Rona commented, "'Doomsday' is going to be a true thrill ride for audiences, and we’re delighted to have this fine cast and crew aboard."

Doomsday marks Hoskins' second picture for Rogue, following his memorable villain role opposite Jet Li in Louis Leterrier's popular 2005 film Unleashed. The actor was most recently seen starring in Allen Coulter's Hollywoodland, for Rogue sibling company Focus Features.

In addition to Doomsday, Rogue and Crystal Sky Pictures are partnering on writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson's Castlevania, adapted from the top-selling video game and detailing Dracula's origins. Intrepid has an ongoing multi-year production and co-financing deal with Universal Pictures and Rogue Pictures.

SAG Predix!

2007-01-27T00:19:00.000-05:00

They are Sunday night at 8PM on TNT & TBS!

In TV, I hope Grey's Anatomy wins Drama Ensemble just to see who speaks and how awkward it is.

Anywho...

Actor: I'll stick with Forest Whitaker, but Peter O'Toole is breathing down his neck.

Actress: Helen Mirren. (Streep will not be there as she is doing something IMPORTANT with Al Gore.) Though Streep could win this as Mirren will probably win TV Movie Actress, and her Devil Wears Prada role seems like the type of thing actors love.

Supporting Actor: Ooh here goes. Dicaprio was placed in Supporting for The Departed, and he really deserves to win some award. But Eddie Murphy just won the Globe, but haven't I heard that actors don't like him? Alan Arkin - maybe.
I'll go with Alan Arkin, with Leo being the upset.

Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson. I think Abigail Breslin would be the only possible alternate, as SAG loves its child actors.

ENSEMBLE - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
The Departed being the alternate.

Also, Ryan Gosling is nominated. I hope McAdams is there to support him. Can't wait to see her pink hair again - LOL.

Box Office Predix: January 26 - 28

2007-01-25T22:23:00.000-05:00

1. Epic Movie - $15m / $15m / $35m
2. Smokin Aces - $9m / $9m / $24m
3. Night at the Museum - $8m / $215m / $236m
4. Dreamgirls - $7.5m / $87.5m / $112m
5. Catch and Release - $7m / $7m / $20m
6. Stomp the Yard - $6.5m / $49.5m / $64m
7. The Queen - $4.5m / $42m / $65m
8. The Departed - $4.5m / $126.5m / $142m
9. Pan's Labyrinth - $4m / $16m / $35m
10. The Pursuit of Happyness - $4m / $152m / $164m
Blood and Chocolate - $3.5m / $3.5m / $8m
Babel - $3.5m / $28m / $40m
Letters From Iwo Jima - $2.5m / $6m / $20m
Notes on a Scandal - $2.5m / $9m / $20
Children of Men - $2.5m / $31m / $37m

Well, those were.......interesting?

2007-01-23T09:14:00.000-05:00

LEO for BLOOD DIAMOND?

Seriously?

THE GOOD:
-I went 5/5 in both actress & supporting actress.
-Ryan Gosling is nominated, so Rachel McAdams will work that red carpet.
-Borat and Children of Men for Screenplay.
-Patricia Field's Devil Wears Prada work getting nominated. In case you don't know, present-set films NEVER get nominated for Costuming. Field's name did the trick.
-Paul Greengrass.
-Lots of Mexicans. Salma was so cute when Sid said Penelope's name.
-MARK WAHLBERG!!!

THE BAD:
-No DIXIE CHICKS.
-Dreamgirls fans are so pissed right now.
-Only 5 for The Departed?
-No Jack Nicholson.

THE UGLY:
-Leo for BLOOD DIAMOND????
-Just go away Clint.
-The most nominated film didn't get a Best Picture nomination?
-Dreamgirls' 3 song nominations? I've heard the music in this film, and, well.....

BEST PICTURE:
Babel - The Departed - Letters From Iwo Jima - Little Miss Sunshine - The Queen

DIRECTING:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass - United 93

ACTOR:
Leonardo Dicaprio - Blood Diamond (??????????????)
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Forrest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

ACTRESS:
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children

SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Djimon Honsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Babel - Letters From Iwo Jima - Little Miss Sunshine - Pan's Labyrinth - The Queen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Borat - Children of Men - The Departed - Little Children - Notes on a Scandal

ANIMATED FILM:
Cars - Happy Feet - Monster House

ART DIRECTION:
Dreamgirls - The Good Shepherd - Pan's Labyrinth - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - The Prestige

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
The Black Dahlia - Children of Men - The Illusionist - Pan's Labyrinth - The Prestige

COSTUME DESIGN:
Curse of the Golden Flower - The Devil Wears Prada - Dreamgirls - Marie Antoinette - The Queen

DOCUMENTARY:
Deliver Us From Evil - An Inconvenient Truth - Iraq In Fragments - Jesus Camp - My Country, My Country

FILM EDITING:
Babel - Blood Diamond - Children of Men - The Departed - United 93

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
After the Wedding - Days of Glory - The Lives of Others - Pan's Labyrinth - Water

MAKEUP:
Apocalypto - Click - Pan's Labyrinth

ORIGINAL SCORE:
Babel - The Good German - Notes on a Scandal - Pan's Labyrinth - The Queen

ORIGINAL SONG:
"I Need to Wake Up" - An Inconvenient Truth
"Listen" - Dreamgirls
"Love You I Do" - Dreamgirls
"Our Town" - Cars
"Patience" - Dreamgirls

SOUND EDITING:
Apocalypto - Blodd Diamond - Flags of Our Fathers - Letters From Iwo Jima - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

SOUND MIXING:
Apocalypto - Blood Diamond - Dreamgirls - Flags of Our Fathers - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

VISUAL EFFECTS:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Poseidon - Superman Returns

My Last Minute For Your Consideration...

2007-01-22T13:54:00.000-05:00

Most of these will be forgotten tomorrow, but I'll give them a little push regardless.

BEST PICTURE - THE DESCENT

BEST DIRECTING - ALFONSO CUARON - CHILDREN OF MEN

BEST ACTOR - MATT DAMON - THE DEPARTED

BEST ACTRESS - KIRSTEN DUNST - MARIE ANTOINETTE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - MICHAEL SHEEN - THE QUEEN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - EMILY BLUNT - THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - FRIENDS WITH MONEY

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION

FINAL OSCAR PREDICTIONS

2007-01-21T22:19:00.000-05:00

My goal is to get 80% or higher correct.

They are announced Tuesday morning at 8:30AM Eastern on my major news channels. Salma Hayek will be this year's celeb co-announcer.

And here goes...

BEST PICTURE:

The above 5.

BABEL - THE DEPARTED - DREAMGIRLS - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE - THE QUEEN

I'm not even sure what could break in at this point. There seems to be 3 or 4 movies that could get in. First and foremost would be Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima. But the movie had virtually no support from the guilds and seems to have minimal buzz and isn't doing to swell at the box office. Next up: Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men. They were award season late bloomers, but sadly top 10 lists won't get you to Best Picture. That would leave United 93, which would be the most beneficial of the Academy's preferential style of voting. (You get enough #1 placements, and you're in.) But how many people refused to watch it? And who knows? If people do in fact let their maids fill out their ballots and that explains the Crash victory last year, then why shouldn't we assume they also give it to their stylists? Go The Devil Wears Prada. I guess I'll play it safe and assume Hollywood just loves Eastwood. NEXT IN LINE FOR BEST PICTURE: LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA

BEST DIRECTING:

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - BABEL
Martin Scorsese - THE DEPARTED
Bill Condon - DREAMGIRLS
Clint Eastwood - LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
Stephen Frears - THE QUEEN
NEXT IN LINE: Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

Well, maybe Paul Greengrass. I think Bill Condon might end up being snubbed. The big question is will Clint cancel himself out with Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers? And will one of the remaining Mexican directors - Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo Del Toro - sneak in. Cuaron stands the best shot between the two. But that Sunshine team did get a DGA nod, so that gives them the edge.

BEST ACTOR:

Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Forest Whitaker - The Last King Scotland
NEXT IN LINE: Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

Okay, do I honestly believe Sacha will score here? Yes and no. Yes, because, again, of the way the Academy votes. He has a huge following and last minute voters may have been swayed toward marking his name at #1 with that dynamite Golden Globe speech. I'd say Gosling might actually be the weak link out of that lineup, and Smith in Pursuit of Happyness reeks of an I Am Sam-esque nomination.

BEST ACTRESS:

Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children
NEXT IN LINE: Maggie Gyllenhaal - Sherrybaby

This is pretty much a done deal.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
NEXT IN LINE: Michael Sheen - The Queen

This is the category to watch. Here's a case where any of the above people could be snubbed. I chose Michael Sheen as the alternate because when in doubt always go with someone from a Best Picture nominee. And consider that someone almost always gets in without a Globe or SAG nod. Sheen fits the bill. Other than that, we could see Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Djimon Honsou or even Leo being put in supporting for The Departed. Let's just hope this category doesn't end up being a dud come Tuesday morning.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
NEXT IN LINE: Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada

This was the wide open category for months, but now seems pretty set. Potential surprises include Toni Collette, Shareeka Epps or Catherine O'Hara.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Babel - Little Miss Sunshine - The Queen - Stranger Than Fiction - Volver
NEXT IN LINE: Pan's Labyrinth

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Children of Men - The Departed - The Devil Wears Prada - Little Children - Notes on a Scandal
NEXT IN LINE: Thank You For Smoking

Surprises will more likely occur in Adapted. I don't see Dreamgirls having any chance here. It feels barely in for Director? Even The Illusionist, Last King of Scotland, The Painted Veil, Borat or A Prairie Home Companion could get in here, too.

ANIMATED FEATURE:
Cars - Happy Feet - Monster House
NEXT IN LINE: Flushed Away

ART DIRECTION:
Curse of the Golden Flower - Dreamgirls - Marie Antoinette - Pan's Labyrinth - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
NEXT IN LINE: Children of Men

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
The Black Dahlia - Children of Men - The Illusionist - Letters From Iwo Jima - Pan's Labyrinth
NEXT IN LINE: Apocalypto

COSTUME DESIGN:
Curse of the Golden Flower - The Devil Wears Prada - Dreamgirls - Marie Antoinette - The Painted Veil
NEXT IN LINE: The Illusionist

DOCUMENTARY:
Deliver Us From Evil - An Inconvenient Truth - Jesus Camp - Shut Up and Sing - The War Tapes
NEXT IN LINE: The Ground Truth

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Days of Glory - The Lives of Others - Pan's Labyrinth - Volver - Water
NEXT IN LINE: Black Book

FILM EDITING:
Babel - The Departed - Letters From Iwo Jima - The Queen - United 93
NEXT IN LINE: Dreamgirls

MAKEUP:
Apocalypto - Pan's Labyrinth - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
NEXT IN LINE: The Prestige

ORIGINAL SCORE:
Babel - The Da Vinci Code - The Illusionist - The Painted Veil - The Queen
NEXT IN LINE: The Fountain

ORIGINAL SONG:
"Never Gonna Break My Faith" - Bobby
"Ordinary Miracle" - Charlotte's Web
"Listen" - Dreamgirls
"Song of the Heart" - Happy Feet
"A Father's Way" - The Pursuit of Happyness
NEXT IN LINE: "I Need to Wake Up" - An Inconvenient Truth

SOUND MIXING:
Casino Royale - The Departed - Dreamgirls - Flags of Our Fathers - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
NEXT IN LINE: Children of Men

SOUND EDITING:
Cars - Casino Royale - Happy Feet - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Superman Returns
NEXT IN LINE: Flags of Our Fathers

VISUAL EFFECTS:
Night at the Museum - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Superman Returns
NEXT IN LINE: Poseidon

Tally:
The Departed - 8
Dreamgirls - 8
Babel - 7
The Queen - 6
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - 5 (UGH!)
Little Miss Sunshine - 4
Pan's Labyrinth - 4
The Devil Wears Prada - 3
Happy Feet - 3
Letters From Iwo Jima - 3
Little Children - 3
Notes on a Scandal - 3
Volver - 3
Cars - 2
Casino Royale - 2
Children of Men - 2
Curse of the Golden Flower - 2
The Illusionist - 2
Marie Antoinette - 2
The Painted Veil - 2
Superman Returns - 2
Apocalypto - 1
The Black Dahlia - 1
Blood Diamond - 1
Bobby - 1
Borat - 1
Charlotte's Web - 1
The Da Vinci Code - 1
Days of Glory - 1
Deliver Us From Evil - 1
Flags of Our Fathers - 1
Half Nelson - 1
An Inconvenient Truth - 1
Jesus Camp - 1
The Last King of Scotland - 1
The Lives of Others - 1
Monster House - 1
Night at the Museum - 1
The Pursuit of Happyness - 1
Shut Up and Sing - 1
Stranger Than Fiction - 1
Venus - 1
The War Tapes - 1
Water - 1

"That's all."

Darren's Most Anticipated Movies of 2007!

2007-01-19T21:41:00.000-05:00

Excuse me if this is significantly less in depth as my previous lists.

Felicity, Jane, Lindsay say that GEORGIA will rule 2007

LOOKING FORWARD TO:

Winter/Spring
Now that Alias is over, Jennifer Garner needs a career other than cranking out baby Afflecks. Luckily for her fans (ME!), we get 2 movies with Miss Garner: CATCH AND RELEASE, from screenwriter Susanna Grant (Erin Brockovich, In Her Shoes) and THE KINGDOM from Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights). The first finds Jennifer trying to get over the death of her fiance and coping with the secrets he kept from her. The latter sees her joining Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman in a Saudi Arabia-set action film. ! As dimply cute as Jennifer is Jake Gyllenhaal, who hunts for the legendary ZODIAC killer in David Fincher's latest. Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr and Chloe Sevigny costar. Hilary Swank goes from boxing, to inner cities, to the bayou with the horror film THE REAPING. Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale encounter a horror of their own in VACANCY in which they play a couple staying at a cheap motel who find out they are about to be the stars of a snuff film. Christina Ricci is PENELOPE, a pig-faced woman going on a personal journey. The film is produced by and costars Reese Witherspoon. The reliably hilarious Anna Faris eats some of her roommates brownies and goes about her daily life while, unbeknownst to her, stoned in SMILEY FACE, costarring Jane Lynch and The Office's John Krasinski. If that doesn't have the makings of a cult classic, I don't know what does. And finally, there's 300, the latest from the creator Sin City and the director of the Dawn of the Dead remake. The trailer is delicious eye candy, as is the film's star, Gerald Butler.

SUMMER:

Lindsay Lohan will hopefully be in much better shape than she is now in May when the Garry Marshall-directed GEORGIA RULE hits theatres. In it, Lohan plays an out of control young woman (really stretching those acting skills, aren't we?) who is forced by her mother (Felicity Huffman) to stay with her grandmother (Jane Fonda) till she's a good little girl. Could be very schmaltzy, but that's a terrific cast. The sequel 28 WEEKS LATER picks up some time (perhaps 28 weeks) after the events of 28 Days Later and finds a group of American soldiers attempting to rebuild a destroyed London after a virus wiped most of it out. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a chef who becomes the guardian of her niece (Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin) in NO RESERVATIONS, costarring Patricia Clarkson and Aaron Eckhart and directed by Scott Hicks (Shine). Katherine Heigl gets KNOCKED UP by The 40 Year Old Virgin's Seth Rogen which features several of 40's supporting cast members. Catherine Keener imprisons Ellen Page in the basement for AN AMERICAN CRIME. Winona Ryder educates Simon Baker on SEX AND DEATH 101, from some of the people who brought you Heathers. And Keira Knightley reteams with her Pride and Prejudice director Joe Wright for ATONEMENT, due at the end of the summer. Oh, and at some point this year, another movie with Pirates and some giant green thing will hit screens. I have a feeling you won't here about these movies so I should tell you about them: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END and SHREK THE THIRD.

FALL:
Amy Adams voices and stars in ENCHANTED as an animated princess banished from her fairy tale world into the real world by an evil queen (Susan Sarandon). Once there she has to choose between Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden. Who said animated-turned-three dimensional princesses have it easy? Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly, Mark Ruffalo and Mira Sorvino walk RESERVATION ROAD for director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda). Eric Bana falls for THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL one of which is played by Natalie Portman and the other by Scarlett Johansson. I'm not sure who plays the other Boleyn. Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche and Emily Blunt star in the latest from Peter Hedges (Pieces of April): DAN IN REAL LIFE. Josh Hartnett and Melissa George face vampires in Alaska during 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. Kimberly Pierce finally directs her follow up to Boys Don't Cry: STOP LOSS, starring Ryan Phillippe and Channing Tatum. Cate Blanchett returns to her breakthrough role as The Virgin Queen (quite a stretch for Blanchett, right) in ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE, costarring Clive Owen. It costars Clive Owen. That's Clive Owen. Ben Stiller and Michelle Monaghan stars in the next Farrelly Brothers movie, currently untitled. Charlize Theron's boyfriend Stuart Townsend directs Charlize and Susan Sarandon among many others in THE BATTLE IN SEATTLE, another one of those ensemble films in which a big event takes place in the background. Maria Bello, Emily Blunt and many others are part of THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB in which a group of Austen-ites find their lives mirroring the events of some of Jane's most famed works. Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams star in the thriller THE TOURIST. Renee Zellweger investigages CASE 39 with Ian McShane and Bradley Cooper. Paul Thomas Anderson returns after a 5 year respite to direct Daniel Day Lewis in THERE WILL BE BLOOD, a drama about oil. David Cronenberg's next stars Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen and is called EASTERN PROMISES.

HONORABLE MENTIONS - MOVIES JUST OUTSIDE THE TOP 10:

Nicole Kidman looks to get back on track with a little bit of everything. First, in late summer, she'll star in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake THE INVASION, costarring Daniel Craig. The project has been delayed almost a full year, and that August release date isn't promising. And we all know what happened with Nic's last 2 remakes. But who knows? It's got a talented director, Oliver Hirschbiegel. In October, Kidman will join forces with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Noah Bambauch for the rather amusingly titled MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, a family dramedy costarring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black. Noah has great skill with actors, so this could be what garners her Oscar nomination #3. In December, Nicole will star in Paul Weitz's adaptation of HIS DARK MATERIALS: THE GOLDEN COMPASS which will again unite her with Daniel Craig and he will be rejoined with his Bond girl, Eva Green. Quite a good looking cast. I'm not sure what HDM:TGC is about, but the early production skills are absolutely gorgeous. And I hear it will be very controversial as the novel it's based on has strong atheist content. Neat! Arguably the biggest Oscar contender of the year will be CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams and directed by Mike Nichols. The film is about a Texas congressman's covert dealings in Afghanistan, which has some dangerous consequences. Quite a stellar crew involved. And I haven't mentioned the screenplay is by Aaron Sorkin!! Harvey Weinstein will likely back Anne Hathaway during next year's Oscar race for Best Actress for her performance as the prefame Jane Austen (it really is her year, isn't it?) in BECOMING JANE. The period piece will costar James McAvoy as the young man who steals her heart and leads her to write some of literature's most prized works. Maggie Smith and Julie Walters also appear. Despite that it debuted at Cannes and was scheduled to be released in December AND was expected to garner Ashley Judd an Oscar nomination, Lionsgate made the odd decision to delay BUG till 2007. Let's hope the studio knows what it is doing and doesn't screw it over the way they screwed The Descent this past year. We'll know if they still haven't scheduled on a release date and Saw 4 is in theatres. Stupid Lionsgate! Judd plays a lonely woman who holds up in a hotel with a paranoid Gulf War veteran (Michael Shannon) who sees bugs everywhere. The movie received deafening raves after playing at Cannes. So what's the deal Lionsgate? You know how to market the biggest garbage like the Saw movies and Tyler Perry's movies! You know how to mount aggressive Oscar campaigns like the one you did with Crash! So why do you screw over acclaimed horror films like May, The Descent and now, apparently, Bug? Ah, I digress. One movie that is being marketed exceptionally is BLACK SNAKE MOAN. I must admit I was looking forward to this film because of the film's very talented director Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow). It's about time Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci did great work again. But I was totally blown away by the film's trailer and posters. Word on the street is this is quite a great film, though why it's being released in February is anyone's guess. In it, Jackson plays a southern bluesman who chains a nympomaniac (Ricci) is his house in order to cure her. What a concept! And another delayed film: Danny Boyle's followup to 28 Days Later, SUNSHINE. Starring Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy and Michelle Yeoh, it's about a rescue mission in space to literally revitalize the sun as the earth dies. A silly concept it might be, but in Boyle's hands this could be a miniclassic in the making. The director of the Oscar-nominated Tsotsi makes his followup with the political thriller RENDITION, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Meryl Streep and Reese Witherspoon. Jake is apparently old enough now to play a CIA analyst. And my lovely Rachel McAdams plays Pierce Brosnan's mistress, who would rather murder his wife (Patricia Clarkson) than put her though a divorce in the noirish drama MARRIAGE, set in the 1940's. Chris Cooper costars. Hmm. McAdams as a femme fatale...how many days till we can see this? And how bout this for an honorable mention: A TV Miniseries. That's right. A miniseries. COMANCHE MOON is a prequel to one of the best miniseries ever (Lonesome Dove) and is written for the (small) screen by Oscar-winners Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana, the screenwriters of Brokeback Mountain. Brokeback's Linda Cardellini is just part of the huge ensemble cast that also includes Val Kilmer, Steve Zahn, Karl Urban, Rachel Griffiths, Melanie Lynskey and Adam Beach. The likely Emmy sweeper will air on CBS this spring, and apparently will get a huge push during the Super Bowl, so pay attention during that. Remember those awesome miniseries like The Stand? They just don't do those anymore. :-( Oh well. Sometimes movies suck and we have to depend on the small screen. I digress.

THE TOP 10:

#10 - EVENING

It might as well be called The Hours 2. As her daughters (Natasha Richardson and Toni Collette) prepare for her death, Ann Grant (Vanessa Regrave) reflects on the time in her youth when she first fell in love. Claire Danes will play the young Ann, and Patrick Wilson will be the object of her affection. Rounding out the cast is Hugh Dancy, Eileen Atkins, Glenn Close, Mamie Gummer, and in a cameo appearance, Meryl Streep. The film's screenplay is written by Michael Cunningham (author of The Hours) and the film is directed by Lajos Koltai. It could be really special, as it has some of the best pedigree of any film this year, or could be another How to Make an American Quilt. Due June 15, from Focus Features.

#9 - SPRING BREAKDOWN

Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler and Parker Posey are friends forced to escort their boss's daughter (Amber Tamblyn) to a popular spring break destination where they get a second chance at being young and wild. Dratch wrote the screenplay and I hope she has the razor sharp comedy skills her former Saturday Night Live cohort displayed for Mean Girls. Missi Pyle, Jane Lynch and Seth Meyers round out the cast. April 13.

#8 - THE NANNY DIARIES

Scarlett Johansson plays a college student who gets a job working for an affluent New York City couple (Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney) as a nanny. The dramedy is Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's follow up to American Splendor. The supporting cast includes Chris Evans, Alicia Keys (yes, that Alicia Keys) and Donna Murphy. April 20.

#7 - MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS

Wong Kar Wai's first English-language film also finds Norah Jones in her first film. Jones plays a young woman on a soul-searching journey across America attempting to resolve questions about love, while encountering many memorable characters. Hmm. Trip across America? Soul searching? Did I mention who else is in it? Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz and David Strathairn. SCORE. From the Weinstein Company, Blueberry is currently scheduled for fourth quarter.

#6 - THE SIMPSONS MOVIE

Need I say more? Yes, this: Please. Don't. Suck. (July 27)

#5 - I'M NOT THERE

With all these biopics, it was bound to happen that someone would make a film about Bob Dylan. This one stars Christian Bale as Bob Dylan. It also stars Richard Gere as Bob Dylan. Oh yeah, and Heath Ledger as Bob Dylan. And how bout this: Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan. Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) directs this rather unconvential biopic, with a handful of actors starring as Bob Dylan in various vignettes of the singer's life. As other characters in the film, watch out for Julianne Moore, David Cross and Michelle Williams. Williams will get it on with Blanchett-Dylan. This has the potential to be great. Or really bad. (TBA 2007)

#4 - LUST, CAUTION

Ang Lee follows up Brokeback Mountain in predictable fashion: with something completely unlike his last project. Lee directs this espionage thriller set in World War II era Shanghai. It stars Tony Leung, Tang Wei and Joan Chen. How will it be? As Grace Adler so expertly described all of Ang's films: "A little slow paced, but visually stunning." Either way, it certainly has the most intriguing title of the year. From Focus Features, it hits theatres September 28.

#3 - THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM

Can Jason Bourne still score big after James Bond's comeback? You betcha. Hot off the critical success of United 93, Paul Greengrass returns to direct the third go-round of the acclaimed espionage series. This one will find Bourne trying to find out more informatino about his past, as cops, federal officers and Interpol agents keep him in their crossheirs. Julia Stiles and Joan Allen reprise their roles, and are joined by franchise newcomers Paddy Considine, David Strathairn and Edgar Ramirez. (August 3)

#2 - GRINDHOUSE

What do you get when the minds that brought you Pulp Fiction, Sin City, Kill Bill and From Dusk Till Dawn team up to bring you a double dose of schlocky exploitation cinema? GRINDHOUSE. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez each direct their own 90 minute film, attach some fake trailers in the middle, and us hardcore gorehounds get over 3 hours of carnage candy. Tarantino's segment - titled Death Proof - is a slasher film where the killer is Kurt Russell in a kickass car. Rodriguez directs Planet Terror - a zombie film. In addition to Russell, Grindhouse features Rose McGowan (with one good leg and a machine gun for the other), Marley Shelton, Freddy Rodriguez, Bruce Willis, Naveen Andrews and Rosario Dawson. (April 6)

#1 - SPIDER-MAN 3

Spider-Man was very good. Spider-Man 2 is, in my opinion, the most perfect superhero film ever. And the same screenwriter as the illustrious #2 returns for this segment. So, what's gonna happen with Spider-Man 3? Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) goes to the dark side (hence the new dark suit) and must battle new villains Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Venom (Topher Grace), while trying to win the affection of MJ (Kirsten Dunst) and resisting the temptations of Gwen Stacey (Bryce Dallas Howard, blonde and gorgeous!). It's very soap operatic, on a large epic scale. Sam Raimi returns as director. But you already knew that. (May 4)

HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT 2007 MOVIE YEAR!

And here's hoping Miss Lohan is out of rehab in time to film LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND so that can become my most anticipated movie of 2008. :-)

Box Office Predix: Jan. 19 - 21

2007-01-17T23:35:00.000-05:00

1. The Hitcher - $15m / $15m / $37m
2. Night at the Museum - $12m / $205m / $238m
3. Stomp the Yard - $10m / $38m / $58m
4. Dreamgirls - $8m / $77m / $115m
5. The Pursuit of Happyness - $5.5m / $145m / $165m
6. Freedom Writers - $5m / $26m / $37m
7. Children of Men - $4.5m / $28m / $42m
8. Pan's Labyrinth - $3.5m / $9m / $30m
9. Alpha Dog - $3m / $12m / $17m
10. Arthur and the Invisibiles - $3m / $9m / $15m

Golden Globes: Best Dressed

2007-01-17T15:05:00.000-05:00

Worst Dressed:
Rinko Kikuchi. Maybe Beyonce, too.

Sienna Miller went with the other Swiss Miss look Gwyneth Paltrow rejected last year.

Cameron Diaz & Vanessa Williams, for the shit they are getting, did some questionable things with their looks, but other than each's hair, I thought they looked kinda good? I think most people looked rather bland, so they stood out. Cate Blanchett, however, looks boring in a bad way. Angelina Jolie's look was boring, I thought. There seems to be nothing going on there.

Overall, I don't think anyone looked outstanding.

Best Dressed - Honorable Mentions - No one really great, but they look GOOD:
Teri Hatcher, Drew Barrymore, Rachel Weisz, Renee Zellweger, Sara Ramirez, Chloe Sevigny, Sandra Oh, Courteney Cox, Jessica Biel, Hayden Panetierre

BEST DRESSED:

#10 - Kate Winslet - Loved the makeup, the dress is nice but kinda dull.

#9 - Sarah Paulson - the same thing as Kate, only much better. I love how on E! she admitted how drunk she was.

#8 - Eva Longoria - I originally thought she was best dressed, but I've kind of gone down on this since.

#7 - Reese Witherspoon - FAB SHOES! This might be a bit too casual for the Globes, but she looks like a knockout. Dropping Ryan did girl goood! Best shoes of the night, though.

#6 - Katherine Heigl - Whereas Reese is too casual, this might be a bit too formal. Nevertheless, she's to die for. Her hair is similar to her Emmy look.

#5 - Felicity Huffman - Casual elegance! I actually liked when she had her glasses. The green is a breath of fresh air compared to all the white of the evening.

#4 - Toni Collette - As is the blue! Great hair. She looks great and like she's ready to have fun.

#3 - Sarah Jessica Parker - This woman always looks divine at the Globes. Renee and Reese did well with this look, but SJP brings it home.

#2 - Ali Larter - what a surprise! This is very simple, like most everyone else, but oh so stunning!

#1 - Emily Blunt - Again, the white! However, the overall look here goes great together. Great hair, great tan, great dress, great date, great actress! And I didn't know she had such a rack?

Globe Reaction: Zzzz

2007-01-16T11:33:00.000-05:00

Fairly awful show. The direction of it was horrible. I mean, after 5 hours of the Beatty segment, you think they would've shown Warren kiss Annette, but no. He goes to kiss her. And then they cut to random people. Smart.

Except Ugly Betty, America, Peter Morgan, Scorsese, Meryl, Alec and Sacha. Everyone else was either awful (the whole Tom Hanks-Warren Beatty love fest felt like it was never going to end), completely forgettable (Hudson, Clint) and just awkward (Forest).

But Emily Blunt has a Golden Globe? Yippee! Meryl referred to her as "darling Emily." Right on. I loved Meryl's little dig on Stanley Tucci.

Red carpet coverage: Much improved. Still, E!, get rid of Debbie. At least they panned up the dresses, which is sometimes all I ask for. Everytime I saw someone I didn't know, I figured they were in the supporting cast of Heroes and most of the time they were. :-) And good lord what did Rosanna Arquette do to herself?

Anyways, here's the winners. I'll post 10 Best Dressed List later.

Best Picture (Drama): Babel
Best Picture (Musical/Comedy): Dreamgirls
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Best Actor (Drama): Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress (Drama): Helen Mirren, The Queen
Best Actor (Musical/Comedy): Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat
Best Actress (Musical/Comedy): Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"
Best Screenplay: Peter Morgan, The Queen
Best Foreign Language Film: Letters from Iwo Jima
Best Animated Feature: Cars
Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, The Painted Veil
Best Original Song: "The Song of the Heart" - Happy Feet

Best TV Series (Drama): Grey's Anatomy
Best TV Series (Musical/Comedy): Ugly Betty
Best Actor (TV - Drama): Hugh Laurie, House
Best Actress (TV - Drama): Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Best Actor (TV - Musical/Comedy): Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Best Actress (TV - Musica/Comedy): America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Best Supporting Actor (All Television): Jeremy Irons, Elizabeth I
Best Supporting Actress (All Television): Emily Blunt, Gideon's Daughter
Best Actor (Miniseries/TV Movie): Bill Nighy, Gideon's Daughter
Best Actress (Miniseries/TV Movie): Helen Mirren, Elizabeth I
Best Miniseries/TV Movie: Elizabeth I

GOLDEN GLOBE WINNER PREDICTIONS!

2007-01-13T23:22:00.000-05:00

Prediction:

When they call Rinko Kikuchi's name, the camera will accidentally be on Renee Zellweger. When they call Renee Zellweger's name, the camera will accidentally be on Ellen Pompeo. When they call Ellen Pompeo's name, the camera will accidentally be in a trashbag.

I will only give my opinion in the film categories if I've seen 3/5 or more of the nominees. TV categories - I will give my opinion anyway! :-)

If it is italicized, I've seen it!

You'll notice I have Dreamgirls winning 4, which really doesn't make sense. LOL. I don't think that will happen, but I really don't know what to pick. Though watch them do what they did 2 years ago and give the first two awards to the same movie, then give that movie nothing else: So maybe BABEL's Pitt and Kikuchi???

Picture - Drama:
Babel - Bobby - The Departed - Little Children - The Queen
WILL WIN: The Departed
NEXT IN LINE: The Queen
Many say Babel, but I'm doubting it here. But maybe.
I'D VOTE FOR: The Queen

Picture - Comedy/Musical:
Borat - The Devil Wears Prada - Dreamgirls - Little Miss Sunshine - Thank You For Smoking
WILL WIN: Dreamgirls
NEXT IN LINE: Little Miss Sunshine (though Prada seems their thing)
I'D VOTE FOR: The Devil Wears Prada. Make fun all you want.

Director:
Eastwood - Eastwood - Frears - Inarittu - Scorsese
WILL WIN: Scorsese
NEXT IN LINE: Frears
I'D VOTE FOR: Scorsese

Screenplay:
Babel - The Departed - Little Children - Notes on a Scandal - The Queen
WILL WIN: The Queen
NEXT IN LINE: Babel
I'D VOTE FOR: The Queen

Actress - Drama:
Cruz - Dench - Gyllenhaal - Mirren - Winslet
WILL WIN: Helen Mirren
NEXT IN LINE: Umm..Cruz?
I've seen one of these! I'm going to cry!

Actress - Comedy/Musical
Bening - Collette - Knowles - Streep - Zellweger
WILL WIN: Meryl Streep
NEXT IN LINE: Look TO DA LEFT TO DA LEFT of Streep.
I'D VOTE FOR: Streep

Actor - Drama:
Dicaprio - Dicaprio - O'Toole - Smith - Whitaker
WILL WIN: Forest Whitaker
NEXT IN LINE: Departed Dicaprio
Like last year, if Whitaker takes this, it's smooth sailing toward Oscar. But Dicaprio could spoil?

Actor - Comedy/Musical
Cohen - Depp - Eckhart - Ejiofor - Ferrell
WILL WIN: BORAT!
NEXT IN LINE: Eckhart?
I'D VOTE FOR: The future Mr. Isla Fisher!

Supporting Actor:
Affleck - Murphy - Nicholson - Pitt - Wahlberg
WILL WIN: Eddie Murphy
NEXT IN LINE: Brad Pitt for some stupid reason.
I'D VOTE FOR: Jack Nicholson.

Supporting Actress:
Barazza - Blanchett - Blunt - Hudson - Kikuchi
WILL WIN: Jennifer Hudson
NEXT IN LINE: RINKO!
I'D VOTE FOR: How can I put this BLUNTly.....

Original Score:
The Painted Veil - The Fountain - Babel - Nomad - The DaVinci Code
WILL WIN: Ummm...they didn't give it to Gustavo last year, so Babel is a possibility. BUT - I'll be brave and go with THE FOUNTAIN.
NEXT IN LINE: The Painted Veil

Original Song:
Happyness - Dreamgirls - Bobby - Happy Feet - Home of the Brave
WILL WIN: Dreamgirls?
NEXT IN LINE: Bobby

Foreign Language Film
Apocalypto - Letters From Iwo Jima - Lives of Others - Pan's Labyrinth - Volver
WILL WIN: Pan's
NEXT IN LINE: Iwo Jima

Animated Film
Cars - Happy Feet - Monster House
WILL WIN: Happy Feet
NEXT IN LINE: Cars
I'D VOTE FOR: Monster House LOL.

TV - Drama
24 - Big Love - Grey's Anatomy - Heroes - Lost
WILL WIN: Grey's
NEXT IN LINE: Heroes
I'D VOTE FOR: Grey's

Actress - Drama
Arquette - Falco - Lilly - Pompeo - Sedgwick
WILL WIN: Mrs. Kevin Bacon
NEXT IN LINE: Mrs. Thomas Jane
I'D VOTE FOR: Sedgwick.

Actor - Drama
Dempsey - Hall - Laurie - Paxton - Sutherland
WILL WIN: Sutherland again?
Next in line: Paxton?
I'D VOTE FOR: Hugh Laurie - maybe he'll win again?

TV - Comedy/Musical
Housewives - Entourage - Office - Betty - Weeds
WILL WIN: THE OFFICE! IT BETTER
NEXT IN LINE: BETTY!
I'D VOTE FOR: THE OFFICE!

Actress - Comedy
Cross - Ferrerra - Huffman - Louis-Dreyfus - Parker
WILL WIN: AMERICA!
NEXT IN LINE: Julia!
I'D VOTE FOR: ANYONE WOULD BE DESERVING here. But I'll go with beautiful AMERICA.

Actor - Comedy
Baldwin - Braff - Carell - Lee - Shaloub
WILL WIN: ALEC BALDWIN!
Next in Line: Jason Lee
I'D VOTE FOR: ALEC BALDWIN, though Steve or Jason would be great too.

Mini-Series/TV Movie Shit:
Bleak House - Broken Trail - Elizabeth I - Mrs. Harris - Other Mirren Project
WILL WIN: Elizabeth I
NEXT IN LINE: Bleak House
I'D VOTE FOR: BLEAK HOUSE cuz I've seen nothing here.

Actress - TV movie shit
Anderson - Bening - Mirren - Mirren - Okonedo
WILL WIN: Mirren takes two. I think Gillian or Annette might actually take this?
Eh, who cares?
I'll vote for Dana Scully!

Actor - TV movie shit:
Braugher - Duvall - Ealy - Ejiofor - Kingsley - Nighy - Perry
There's like 7 nominees? So,umm, does it really even matter?

Supporting Actress - TV
Blunt - Collette - Heigl - Paulson - Perksons
WOW GOOD SHIT.
WILL WIN: I'll go out on a ledge here: Sarah Paulson who is hilarious and a lesbian so she rocks!
NEXT IN LINE: Katherine Heigl
I'D VOTE FOR: Blunt baby. Or Paulson

Supporting Actor - TV
Church - Irons - Kirk - Oka - Piven
WILL WIN: Jeremy Piven I guess.
NEXT IN LINE: the other Jeremy?
I'D VOTE FOR: Jeremy Irons. I can't stand Kirk on Weeds and I'm sorry but I think Jeremy Piven is a real asshole.

ACE Noms, BAFTA Noms - GO BLUNT!

2007-01-12T10:01:00.000-05:00

American Cinema Editor Awards -The Eddies:
Drama:
"Babel," Stephen Mirrione, Douglas Crise
"Casino Royale," Stuart Baird
"The Departed," Thelma Schoonmaker
"The Queen," Lucia Zuccheti
"United 93," Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse, Richard Pearson

Comedy/Musical:
"The Devil Wears Prada," Mark Livolsi
"Dreamgirls," Virginia Katz
"Little Miss Sunshine," Pamela Martin
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," Craig Wood, Stephen Rivkin
"Thank You for Smoking," Dan Glauberman

THE BAFTA NOMS!

FILM
BABEL - Alejandro González Iñárritu/Jon Kilik/Steve Golin
THE DEPARTED - Brad Pitt/Brad Grey/Graham King
THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND - Andrea Calderwood/Lisa Bryer/Charles Steel
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE*
THE QUEEN - Tracey Seaward/Christine Langan/Andy Harries

THE ALEXANDER KORDA AWARD for the Outstanding British Film of the Year
CASINO ROYALE - Michael G Wilson/Barbara Broccoli/Martin Campbell/Neal Purvis/Robert Wade/Paul Haggis
THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND - Andrea Calderwood/Lisa Bryer/Charles Steel/Kevin Macdonald/Peter Morgan/Jeremy Brock
NOTES ON A SCANDAL - Scott Rudin/Robert Fox/Richard Eyre/Patrick Marber
THE QUEEN - Tracey Seaward/Christine Langan/Andy Harries/Stephen Frears/Peter Morgan
UNITED 93 - Tim Bevan/Lloyd Levin/Paul Greengrass

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer in their First Feature Film
ANDREA ARNOLD (Director) - Red Road
JULIAN GILBEY (Director) - Rollin' with the Nines
CHRISTINE LANGAN (Producer) - Pierrepoint
GARY TARN (Director) - Black Sun
PAUL ANDREW WILLIAMS (Director) - London to Brighton

THE DAVID LEAN AWARD for Achievement in Direction
BABEL - Alejandro González Iñárritu
THE DEPARTED - Martin Scorsese
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE - Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris
THE QUEEN - Stephen Frears
UNITED 93 - Paul Greengrass

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BABEL - Guillermo Arriaga
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE - Michael Arndt
PAN'S LABYRINTH - Guillermo del Toro
THE QUEEN - Peter Morgan
UNITED 93 - Paul Greengrass

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CASINO ROYALE - Neal Purvis/Robert Wade/Paul Haggis
THE DEPARTED - William Monahan
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA - Aline Brosh McKenna
THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND - Peter Morgan/Jeremy Brock
NOTES ON A SCANDAL - Patrick Marber

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
APOCALYPTO - Mel Gibson/Bruce Davey
BLACK BOOK (ZWARTBOEK) - Teun Hilte/San Fu Maltha/Jens Meurer/Paul Verhoeven
PAN'S LABYRINTH - Alfonso Cuarón/Bertha Navarro/Frida Torresblanco/Guillermo del Toro
RANG DE BASANTI (PAINT IT YELLOW) - Ronnie Screwvala/Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
VOLVER - Agustín Almodóvar/Pedro Almodóvar

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
CARS - John Lasseter
FLUSHED AWAY - David Bowers/Sam Fell
HAPPY FEET - George Miller

ACTOR in a LEADING ROLE
DANIEL CRAIG - Casino Royale
LEONARDO DICAPRIO - The Departed
RICHARD GRIFFITHS - The History Boys
PETER O'TOOLE - Venus
FOREST WHITAKER - The Last King of Scotland

ACTRESS in a LEADING ROLE
PENELOPE CRUZ - Volver
JUDI DENCH - Notes on a Scandal
HELEN MIRREN - The Queen
MERYL STREEP - The Devil Wears Prada
KATE WINSLET - Little Children

ACTOR in a SUPPORTING ROLE
ALAN ARKIN - Little Miss Sunshine
JAMES MCAVOY - The Last King of Scotland
JACK NICHOLSON - The Departed
LESLIE PHILLIPS - Venus
MICHAEL SHEEN - The Queen

ACTRESS in a SUPPORTING ROLE
EMILY BLUNT - The Devil Wears Prada
ABIGAIL BRESLIN - Little Miss Sunshine
TONI COLETTE - Little Miss Sunshine
FRANCES DE LA TOUR - The History Boys
JENNIFER HUDSON - Dreamgirls

THE ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD for Achievement in Film Music
BABEL - Gustavo Santaolalla
CASINO ROYALE - David Arnold
DREAMGIRLS - Henry Krieger
HAPPY FEET - John Powell
THE QUEEN - Alexandre Desplat

CINEMATOGRAPHY
BABEL - Rodrigo Prieto
CASINO ROYALE - Phil Meheux
CHILDREN OF MEN - Emmanuel Lubezki
PAN'S LABYRINTH - Guillermo Navarro
UNITED 93 - Barry Ackroyd

EDITING
BABEL - Stephen Mirrione/Douglas Crise
CASINO ROYALE - Stuart Baird
THE DEPARTED - Thelma Schoonmaker
THE QUEEN - Lucia Zucchetti
UNITED 93 - Clare Douglas/Christopher Rouse/Richard Pearson

PRODUCTION DESIGN
CASINO ROYALE - Peter Lamont/Simon Wakefield
CHILDREN OF MEN - Geoffrey Kirkland/Jim Clay/Jennifer Williams
MARIE ANTOINETTE - K K Barrett/Véronique Melery
PAN'S LABYRINTH - Eugenio Caballero/Pilar Revuelta
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST - Rick Heinrichs/Cheryl A Carasik

COSTUME DESIGN
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA - Patricia Field
MARIE ANTOINETTE - Milena Canonero
PAN'S LABYRINTH - Lala Huete
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST - Penny Rose
THE QUEEN - Consolata Boyle

SOUND
BABEL - José García/Jon Taylor/Chris Minkler/Martín Hernández
CASINO ROYALE - Chris Munro/Eddy Joseph/Mike Prestwood Smith/Martin Cantwell/Mark Taylor
PAN'S LABYRINTH - Martín Hernández/Jamie Bashkt
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST - Christopher Boyes/George Watters II/ Paul Massey/Lee Orloff
UNITED 93 - Chris Munro/Mike Prestwood Smith/Douglas Cooper/Oliver Tarney/Eddy Joseph

ACHIEVEMENT IN SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
CASINO ROYALE - Steve Begg/Chris Corbould
CHILDREN OF MEN - Frazer Churchill/Tim Webber/Michael Eames/Paul Corbould
PAN'S LABYRINTH - Edward Irastorza/Everett Burrell
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST - John Knoll/Hal Hickel/Charles Gibson
SUPERMAN RETURNS - Mark Stetson

MAKE UP & HAIR
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA - Nicki Ledermann/Angel De Angelis
MARIE ANTOINETTE - Jean-Luc Russier/Desiree Corridoni
PAN'S LABYRINTH*
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST - Ve Neill/Martin Samuel
THE QUEEN - Daniel Phillips

SHORT ANIMATION FILM
DREAMS AND DESIRES - FAMILY TIES - Les Mills/Joanna Quinn
GUY 101 - Ian Gouldstone
PETER AND THE WOLF - Hugh Welchman/Alan Dewhurst/Suzie Templeton

SHORT FILM
CARE - Rachel Bailey/Corinna Faith
CUBS - Lisa Williams/Tom Harper
DO NOT ERASE - Asitha Ameresekere
HIKIKOMORI - Karley Duffy/Paul Wright
KISSING, TICKLING AND BEING BORED - David Smith/Jim McRoberts

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD (nominees announced on 8 Jan 2007)
EMILY BLUNT
EVA GREEN
NAOMIE HARRIS
CILLIAN MURPHY
BEN WHISHAW

Aren't Green, Harris and Murphy kinda already established?

Guilds: Costumes, Cinematography, Writing!

2007-01-11T13:27:00.000-05:00

Writers Guild Nominees:
Original Screenplay:
"Babel" - Guillermo Arriaga
"Little Miss Sunshine" - Michael Arndt
"The Queen" - Peter Morgan
"Stranger Than Fiction" - Zach Helm
"United 93" - Paul Greengrass

Adapted Screenplay:
"Borat" - Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer, Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Peter Baynham & Anthony Hines & Todd Phillips. Based on a character created by Sacha Baron Cohen.
"The Departed" - William Monohan. Based on the Motion Picture "Internal Affairs," written by Alan Mak and Felix Chong.
"The Devil Wears Prada" - Aline Brosh McKenna. Based on the Novel by Lauren Weisberger
"Little Children" - Todd Field & Tom Perrotta. Based on the Novel by Perrotta.
"Thank You For Smoking" - Jason Reitman. Based on the Novel by Christopher Buckley.

American Society of Cinematographers:
"Apocalypto" - Dean Semler
"The Black Dahlia" - Vilmos Zsigmond
"Children of Men" - Emmanuel Lubezki
"The Good Shepherd" - Robert Richardson
"The Illusionist" - Dick Pope

Costume Designers Guild:
Period:
"Curse of the Golden Flower" - Chung Man Yee
"Dreamgirls" - Sharen Davis
"The Illusionist" - Ngila Dickson
"Marie Antoinette" - Milena Canonero
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" - Penny Rose

Contemporary:
"Babel" - Michael Wilkinson
"Casino Royale" - TBA
"The Devil Wears Prada" - Patricia Field
"Little Miss Sunshine" - Nancy Steiner
"The Queen" - Consolata Boyle

Fantasy:
"Eragon" - Kym Barrett
"The Fountain" - Renee April
"Pan's Labyrinth" - Lala Huete
"V For Vendetta" - Sammy Sheldon
"X-Men: The Last Stand" - Judianna Makovsky

Hate the Golden Globes? Suck it.

2007-01-10T19:25:00.000-05:00

The Golden Globes will be Monday. They are probably the most fun of award shows. The Oscars are very formal and everyone seems kinda stiff. The Globes do not have a host. But they do have alcohol in front of celebrities. This leads to much amusement. Such as last year when Mary-Louise Parker won for Weeds and the most of the Desperate Housewives cast was shitfaced. And they televise this! Or when Reese Witherspoon won and then-husband Ryan Phillipe pretty much pushed her up to the stage. He was sloshed. And they televise this!

The main thing against the Globes is that they are starfuckers. But consider that they have in the past nominated people like Lauren Graham and Sarah Michelle Gellar for their very deserving TV work when the Emmy's did not. Or last year: A History of Violence got the two nominations it most deserved: For the film and one for Maria Bello. The Oscars gave it nods for William Hurt and the screenplay, neither of which it deserved. Or even last year that they gave Brokeback four awards, one it would go on to lose at the Oscars in a genuine moment of infamy, and the other (for Song) that they didn't even say it was eligible for.

Of course, many will say Pia Zadora winning a Globe would trump all this.

But really, it's a party. And for several of the past years, it's been far more entertaining than the Oscars. Plus, you just know they are going to do some awful music to introduce the show. I'm hoping it's 'Globe-a-licious', set to the lyrics of 'Fergilicious.' Wasn't it "Dontcha?" last year? I still remember "Waiting for the Globes" like it was yesterday. Ah, good times.

I should also mention that Meryl Streep is always hilarious when she wins an award at the Globes, and this year she shall win. And she will be funny. She's even funny when she loses: "Congratulations, Natalie."

My predictions will be up later this week.

Some presenters:

Drew Barrymore, Steve Carell, George Clooney, Geena Davis, Cameron Diaz, Hugh Grant, Adrian Grenier, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Hanks, Salma Hayek, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, Sienna Miller, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Stamos, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz and Reese Witherspoon.

The cast of Heroes will also present, including Adrian Pasdar. Pasdar is married to Natalie Maines. So I'm hoping my Dixie Chickie will be at the Globes. And I hope all three will attend the Oscars in support of their film.

With that in mind, here's who I'm most looking forward to seeing Monday night:

1. Emily Blunt - her big red carpet coming out!
2. Jake Gyllenhaal (man candy alert)
3. Cameron Diaz (someone always fun to watch at the Globes)
4. Sharon Stone (one woman standing ovations for all and two more words: RICHARD GERE!)
5. Reese Witherspoon (let's hope the drunk husband was the reason she never wore a damn good dress last year)
6. Penelope Cruz - I sorta love her now?
7. Kate Winslet - I sorta love her always
8. Rinko Kikuchi - I sorta think she's gonna be worst dressed in the most amusing way

After seeing Children of Men, just one question....

2007-01-10T17:49:00.000-05:00

Why in the world did my husband teach a firecrotch our ping pong ball trick?

Clive, I thought only we could do that?

Directors Guild of America Nominations!

2007-01-09T21:07:00.000-05:00

Bill Condon - Dreamgirls
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris - Little Miss Sunshine
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Yawn.

Box Office Predix: Jan. 12 - 14

2007-01-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

1. Night at the Museum - $17m / $186m / $225m
2. Dreamgirls - $13m / $70m / $125m
3. Stomp the Yard - $10m / $10m / $24m
4. The Pursuit of Happyness - $8m / $135m / $158m
5. Children of Men - $7m / $22m / $45m
6. Freedom Writers - $7m / $18.5m / $34m
7. Arthur and the Invisibles - $6.5m / $6.5m / $20m
8. Charlotte's Web - $5m / $73.5m / $86m
9. Primeval - $5m / $5m / $12m
10. Happily N'Ever After - $4m / $12m / $20m
11. Alpha Dog - $4m / $4m / $11m

More Winners and such!

2007-01-06T22:12:00.000-05:00

USC Scripter Noms:
Children of Men - The Devil Wears Prada - The Illusionist - The Last King of Scotland - Notes on a Scandal

National Society of Film Critics:
Picture - Pan's Labyrinth
Director - Paul Greengrass - United 93
Screenplay - The Queen
Actor - Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Actress - Helen Mirren - The Queen
Supporting Actor - Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
Supporting Actress - Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada & A Prairie Home Companion
Documentary: An Inconvenient Truth
Cinematography - Children of Men
Experimental Film - Inland Empire

Online Film Critics Nominations:
BEST PICTURE
Babel
Children Of Men
The Departed
Pan’s Labyrinth
United 93

BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuaron - Children of Men
Guillermo del Toro - Pan's Labyrinth
Paul Greengrass - United 93
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
Martin Scorsese - The Departed

BEST ACTOR
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Leonardo Di Caprio - The Departed
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole - Venus
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

BEST ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes On A Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Babel
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen
United 93

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
The Prestige
Thank You For Smoking

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Apocalypto
Babel
Children of Men
The Fountain
Pan’s Labyrinth

BEST EDITING
Babel
Children Of Men
The Departed
The Fountain
United 93

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Babel
The Fountain
The Illusionist
Notes On A Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth

BEST DOCUMENTARY
An Inconvenient Truth
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing
Jesus Camp
Neil Young: Heart Of Gold

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Romania)
L'Enfant (Belgium)
Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico)
Volver (Spain)
Water (India)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House
Over the Hedge
A Scanner Darkly

BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris - Little Miss Sunshine
Ryan Fleck - Half Nelson
Rian Johnson - Brick
Neil Marshall - The Descent
Jason Reitman - Thank You for Smoking

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Ellen Page - Hard Candy

Screen Actors Guild Nominees - proof how dumb actors actually are?

2007-01-04T12:32:00.000-05:00

Film Ensemble:
Babel - Bobby - The Departed - Dreamgirls - Little Miss Sunshine

Actor:
Leonardo Dicaprio - Blood Diamond (??????)
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

Actress:
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children

Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed (he was placed here, but WHY THE FUCK!?!?!?!?!)
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
(This category is fucked.)

Supporting Actress:
Adriana Barazza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel

TV:
Actor In a TV Movie/Miniseries:
Thomas Haden Church - Broken Trail
Robert Duvall - Broken Trail
Jeremy Irons - Elizabeth I
William H. Macy - Nightmares & Dreamscapes
Matthew Perry - The Ron Clark Story

Actress In a TV Movie/Miniseries:
Annette Bening - Mrs. Harris
Shirley Jones - Hidden Places
Cloris Leachman - Mrs. Harris
Helen Mirren - Elizabeth I
Greta Scacchi - Broken Trail

Actor - TV - Drama:
James Gandolfini - The Sopranos
Michael C. Hall - Dexter
Hugh Laurie - House
James Spader - Boston Legal
Kiefer Sutherland - 24

Actress - TV - Drama:
Patricia Arquette - Medium
Edie Falco - The Sopranos
Mariska Hargitay - Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer
Chandra Wilson - Grey's Anatomy
(Elijah Wood pronounced it Harti-gay. Hmm. Loved when Sandra Oh said 'Get up, girl!' after Wilson's name was said.)

Actor - TV - Comedy:
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Steve Carell - The Office
Jason Lee - My Name Is Earl
Jeremy Piven - Entourage
Tony Shaloub - Monk

Actress - TV - Comedy:
America Ferrera - Ugly Betty
Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - The New Adventures of Old Christine
Megan Mullally - Will and Grace
Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds
Jamie Pressly - My Name is Earl

Ensemble - TV Drama:
24 - Boston Legal - Deadwood - Grey's Anatomy - The Sopranos

Ensemble - TV Comedy:
Desperate Housewives - Entourage - The Office - Ugly Betty - Weeds

Box Office Predix: January 5 - 7

2007-01-03T21:38:00.000-05:00

1. Night at the Museum - $22m / $162m / $220m
2. The Pursuit of Happyness - $12m / $123m / $154m
3. Dreamgirls - $10m / $55m / $135m
4. Charlotte's Web - $9m / $69m / $100m
5. Children of Men - $8m / $10m / $35m
6. Freedom Writers - $7.5m / $7.5m / $29m
7. Happily Never After - $7m / $7m / $28m
8. The Good Shepherd - $6m / $47.5m / $60m
9. Rocky Balboa - $6m / $60.5m / $74m
10. Code Name: The Cleaner - $5.5m / $5.5m / $14m

Producers Guild of America Nominees

2007-01-03T15:22:00.000-05:00

I went 4/5, but I got the alternate! Go me.

And the nominees are...

FILM
"Babel," (Paramount Vantage) Alejandro González Iñárritu, Steve Golin, Jon Kilik
"The Departed," (Warner Bros.) Graham King
"Dreamgirls," (Dreamworks SKG/Paramount Pictures) Laurence Mark
"Little Miss Sunshine," (Fox Searchlight) Marc Turtletaub, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa
"The Queen," (Miramax Films) Andy Harries, Christine Langan, Tracey Seaward

ANIMATED FILM
"Cars," (Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation) Darla K. Anderson
"Flushed Away," (Dreamworks Animation) Cecil Kramer, Peter Lord
"Happy Feet," (Warner Bros.) Doug Mitchell, George Miller, Bill Miller
"Ice Age: The Meltdown," (20th Century Fox Animation) Lori Forte
"Monster House," (Sony Pictures Animation) Steve Starkey, Jack Rapke

LONG-FORM TELEVISION
"Bleak House," (PBS/BBC), Nigel Stafford-Clark
"Elizabeth I," (HBO) Suzan Harrison, George Faber, Charles Pattinson, Barney Riesz
"Flight 93," (A&E Television) David Gerber, Clara George
"High School Musical," (The Disney Channel) Bill Borden, Barry Rosenbush
"Mrs. Harris," (HBO) Elizabeth Karlsen, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon

EPISODIC TELEVISION DRAMA
"Grey's Anatomy," Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, James Parriott, Peter Horton, Rob Corn
"House," David Shore, Katie Jacobs
"Lost," J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Bryan Burk, Jack Bender, Jean Higgins, Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, Elizabeth Sarnoff
"The Sopranos," David Chase, Brad Grey, Ilene S. Landress, Terence Winter, Matthew Weiner, Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider, Henry Bronchtein, Martin Bruestle, Gianna Smart
"24," Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran, Howard Gordon, Evan Katz, Jon Cassar, Michael Loceff, Michael Klick

EPISODIC TELEVISION COMEDY
"Arrested Development," Ron Howard & Brian Grazer, David Nevins, Mitchell Hurwitz, John Amodeo, Dean Lorey,Jim Vallely,Richard Day,Tom Saunders
"Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Robert B. Weide, Larry Charles, Tim Gibbons, Erin O’Malley
"My Name is Earl," Greg Garcia, Marc Buckland, Henry Lange, Jr.
"The Office," Greg Daniels, Kent Zbornak,
"Weeds," Jenji Kohan, Roberto Benabib, Mark A. Burley

VARIETY TELEVISION
"The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Ellen DeGeneres, Mary Connelly, Ed Glavin, Andy Lassner, Karen Kilgariff
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien," Lorne Michaels, Jeff Ross, Tracy King, Frank Smiley, Daniel Ferguson
"The Late Show with David Letterman," Maria Pope, Barbara Gaines, Rob Burnett, Jude Brennan
"Real Time with Bill Maher," Bill Maher, Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Dean Johnsen
"The XX Olympic Winter Games: Opening Ceremony," Dick Ebersol, David Neal, Molly Solomon

NON-FICTION TELEVISION:
"The Amazing Race 9,"Jerry Bruckheimer, Betram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, Amy Chacon, Hayma "Screech" Washington, Evan Weinstein, Elise Doganieri, Mark Vertullo
"American Idol,"Nigel Lythgoe, Ken Warwick, Simon Fuller, Charles Boyd, Simon Lythgoe, Megan Michaels
"Dancing With the Stars," Conrad Green, Richard Hopkins, Izzie Pick
"Project Runway," Award Eligibility Under Appeal
"60 Minutes," Jeff Fager

Guild Predictions!

2007-01-02T02:18:00.000-05:00

They announce over the course of the next 10 days!

Producers Guild of America:
Borat - The Departed - Dreamgirls - Little Miss Sunshine - The Queen
Alternate - Babel

Directors Guild of America
Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Alejandro Inarritu Gonzalez - Babel
Paul Greengrass - United 93
Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Alternate - Bill Condon - Dreamgirls

Writers Guild of America
Original Screenplay:
Babel - Borat - Letters From Iwo Jima - Little Miss Sunshine - The Queen
Alternate - Volver
Adapted Screenplay:
The Departed - The Devil Wears Prada - Dreamgirls - Little Children - Notes on a Scandal
Alternate: Thank You For Smoking

Screen Actors Guild:
Actor:
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Alternate: Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

Actress:
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Sherrybaby
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Alternate: Kate Winslet - Little Children

Supporting Actor:
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
Brad Pitt - Babel
Michael Sheen - The Queen
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
Alternate: Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children

Supporting Actress:
Adrianna Barazza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration
Alternate: Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine

Ensemble:
Babel - The Departed - Dreamgirls - Letters From Iwo Jima - Little Miss Sunshine
Alternate: A Prairie Home Companion

DKME Entertainers of 2006!

2006-12-29T23:30:00.000-05:00

Here's my selection for the Top Entertainers who made the world of Pop Culture for 2006.

1. Sacha Baron Cohen
2. Meryl Streep
3. "Grey's Anatomy"
4. Nelly Furtado and Timbaland
5. The Dixie Chicks
6. Alec Baldwin
7. Julia Louis-Dreyfus
8. Daniel Craig
9. Kathy Griffin
10. Stephen Colbert

Box Office Predix: Dec. 29 - 31

2006-12-26T13:09:00.000-05:00

1. Night at the Museum - $30m / $107m / $180m
2. The Pursuit of Happyness - $18m / $96m / $150m
3. Dreamgirls - $17.5m / $43m / $115m
4. Rocky Balboa - $12m / $50m / $80m
5. The Good Shepherd - $10.5m / $33m / $58m
6. Charlotte's Web - $10m / $49m / $85m
7. We Are Marshall - $8m / $23m / $45m
8. Eragon - $7.5m / $53m / $72m
9. The Holiday - $6m / $47m / $62m
10. Black Christmas - $4m / $12m / $20m

December Oscar Predix (4 of 5)

2006-12-21T12:56:00.000-05:00

And here we go....

(top 5 in each category are the nominees)

Best Picture:
1. The Departed
2. The Queen
3. Letters From Iwo Jima
4. Dreamgirls
5. Babel
6. United 93
7. Little Miss Sunshine

Best Director:
1. Martin Scorsese - The Departed
2. Stephen Frears - The Queen
3. Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
4. Alejandro Inarritu Gonzalez - Babel
5. Bill Condon - Dreamgirls
6. Paul Greengrass - United 93
7. Clint Eastwood - Flags of Our Fathers

Best Actor:
1. Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
2. Peter O'Toole - Venus
3. Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
4. Ryan Gosling - Half Neslon
5. Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
6. Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
7. Ken Watanabe - Letters From Iwo Jima

Best Actress:
1. Helen Mirren - The Queen
2. Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
3. Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
4. Penelope Cruz - Volver
5. Kate Winslet - Little Children
6. Maggie Gyllenhaal - Sherrybaby
7. Renee Zellweger - Miss Potter

Best Supporting Actor:
1. Jack Nicholson - The Departed
2. Brad Pitt - Babel
3. Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
4. Michael Sheen - The Queen
5. Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
6. Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland
7. Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children

Best Supporting Actress:
1. Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
2. Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
3. Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
4. Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration
5. Adrianna Barazza - Babel
6. Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
7. Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Original Screenplay:
1. The Queen
2. Babel
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. Volver
5. Letters From Iwo Jima
6. Stranger Than Fiction
7. United 93

Best Adapted Screenplay:
1. The Departed
2. Dreamgirls
3. Little Children
4. Notes on a Scandal
5. The Last King of Scotland
6. Children of Men
7. The Devil Wears Prada

Art Direction:
Children of Men - Dreamgirls - Flags of Our Fathers - Marie Antoinette - Pan's Labyrinth

Cinematography:
Children of Men - The Departed - Dreamgirls - Letters From Iwo Jima - The Painted Veil

Costume Design:
The Devil Wears Prada - Dreamgirls - Marie Antoinette - Miss Potter - Pan's Labyrinth

Editing:
Babel - The Departed - Letters From Iwo Jima - The Queen - United 93

Makeup:
Apocalypto - Pan's Labyrinth - Pirates of the Caribbean 2

Original Song:
Bobby - Charlotte's Web - Dreamgirls - Happy Feet - The Pursuit of Happyness

Score:
Babel - Charlotte's Web - Notes on a Scandal - The Painted Veil - The Queen

Sound Mixing:
Casino Royale - The Departed - Dreamgirls - Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Superman Returns

Sound Editing:
Cars - Happy Feet - Pirates of the Caribbean

Visual Effects:
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Poseidon - Superman Returns

Animated Feature:
Cars - Flushed Away - Happy Feet - Monster House - Over the Hedge

Documentary:
Deliver Us From Evil - An Inconvenient Truth - Jesus Camp - Shut Up and Sing - The War Tapes

10 YEARS AGO....

2006-12-20T16:26:00.000-05:00

It opened with $6.3m over its first 3-days, barely enough to make it in the top 5. Costing only $11 million, the film would rely on word of mouth and stellar reviews to keep it in theatres for almost half a year. 10 years later, it and its sequels had made more than half a billion at the worldwide box office. If you want to thank (or perhaps blame) a film for Hollywood's youthquake, the marketing of independent films and the comeback of the horror genre, then this is where it began.

10 years ago today.

OSCAR POSTER!

2006-12-20T01:14:00.000-05:00

I love it.

Box Office Predix: Christmas Weekend

2006-12-19T21:50:00.000-05:00

1. Night at the Museum
3-day: $30m
4-day: $41m
Projected Final: $160m

2. The Pursuit of Happyness
3-day: $17m
4-day: $23m
Projected Final: $140m

3. Rocky Balboa
3-day: $16m
4-day: $21.5m
Projected Final: $75m

4. Eragon
3-day: $11m
4-day: $14m
Projected Final: $74m

5. Charlotte's Web
3-day: $9.5m
4-day: $12.5m
Projected Final: $95m

6. We Are Marshall
3-day: $9m
4-day: $12.5m
Projected Final: $55m

7. The Good Shepherd
3-day: $7m
4-day: $9.5m
Projected Final: $40m

8. The Holiday
3-day: $5.5m
4-day: $7.5m
Projected Final: $64m

9. Happy Feet
3-day: $5m
4-day: $6.5m
Projected Final: $175m

10. The Nativity Story
3-day: $5m
4-day: $6m
Projected Final: $45m

Apocalyptpo
3-day: $4m
4-day: $5m
Projected Final: $52m

Blood Diamond
3-day: $4m
4-day: $5m
Projected Final: $40m

Dreamgirls
Christmas Day: $4m
Projected Final: $95m

Black Christmas
Christmas Day: $3.5m
Projected Final: $20m

More critics awards....

2006-12-19T11:08:00.000-05:00

LAS VEGAS FILM CRITICS:

Picture - The Departed
Actor - Forest Whitaker
Actress - Helen Mirren
Supporting Actor - Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson
Director - Martin Scorsese
Screenplay - Jason Reitman - Thank You For Smoking
Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki - Children of Men
Film Editing - Thelma Schoonmaker - The Departed
Score - Thomas Newman - The Good German
Song - "Ordinary Miracle" - Charlotte's Web
Family Film - Charlotte's Web
Documentary - An Inconvenient Truth
Animated Film - Monster House
Foreign Film - Pan's Labyrinth
Costume Design - Marie Antoinette
Art Direction - Marie Antoinette
Visual Effects - X-Men: The Last Stand
Youth in Film Award: Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Best DVD: Superman Ultimate Collectors Edition
William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award - Peter O'Toole

LVFCS Top 10 Films for 2006
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Departed
Babel
United 93
Dreamgirls
Blood Diamond
Thank You For Smoking
Perfume
The Queen
Flags of Our Fathers

DALLAS-FORT WORTH FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION:
Best Films of 2006:
1. United 93
2. The Departed
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. The Queen
5. Babel
6. Letters From Iwo Jima
7. Dreamgirls
8. Blood Diamond
9. Little Children
10. Flags of Our Fathers

Best Actor:
1. Forest Whitaker
2. Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
3. Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
4. Peter O'Toole - Venus
5. Leonardo Dicaprio - Blood Diamond

Best Actress:
1. Helen Mirren
2. Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
3. Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
4. Kate Winslet - Little Children
5. Penelope Cruz - Volver

Supporting Actor:
1. Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
2. Jack Nicholson - The Departed
3. Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
4. Djimon Honsou - Blood Diamond
5. Michael Sheen - The Queen

Supporting Actress:
1. Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
2. Jennifer Hudson
3. Adriana Barazza - Babel
4. Rinko Kickuchi - Babel
5. Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada

Director:
1. Martin Scorsese
2. Paul Greengrass - United 93
3. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
4. Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
5. Stephen Frears - The Queen

Foreign Language Film:
1. Letters From Iwo Jima
2. Pan's Labyrinth
3. Water
4. Volver
5. Apocalypto

Documentary:
1. An Inconvenient Truth
2. Deliver Us From Evil
3. Shut Up and Sing
4. Neil Young: Heart of Gold
5. This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Animated Film:
1. Happy Feet
2. Monster House

Screenplay:
1. Little Miss Sunshine
2. Babel

Cinematography:
1. Apocalypto
2. Babel
3. Children of Men

Russell Smith Award (for best low-budget or cutting-edge independent film) - Half Nelson

SOUTHEASTERN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

Picture - The Departed
Top 10:
1. The Departed
2. Letters From Iwo Jima
3. The Queen
4. United 93
5. Little Miss Sunshine
6. Babel
7. Pan's Labyrinth
8. Little Children
9. Thank You For Smoking
10. Notes on a Scandal

Best Foreign-Language Film - Pan's Labyrinth
Best Director - Martin Scorsese
Best Actor - Forest Whitaker
Best Actress - Helen Mirren
Best Supporting Actor - Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson
Best Original Screenplay - Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay - The Departed
Best Documentary - An Inconvenient Truth
Best Animated Film - Cars
Wyatt Award - Shut Up and Sing

LONDON FILM CRITICS

British producer
Paul Greengrass, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, "United 93"
Al Clark, Ken Marshall, Rachel Robey, Paul Andrew Williams, "London to Brighton"
Lisa Bryer, Andrea Calderwood, Charles Steel, "The Last King of Scotland"
Rebecca O'Brien, "The Wind that Shakes the Bar-ley"
Graham King, "The Departed"

British newcomer
Andrea Arnold, writer/director, "Red Road"
Paul Andrew Williams, writer/director/producer, "London to Brighton"
Jodie Whittaker, actress, "Venus"
Clare-Hope Ashitey, actress, "Children of Men"
Rebecca Hall, actress, "The Prestige"

British actress in support
Emily Blunt, "The Devil Wears Prada"
Emma Thompson, "Stranger than Fiction"
Juliet Stevenson, "Pierrepoint"
Emily Watson, "The Proposition"
Helen McCrory, "The Queen"

British actor in support
Eddie Marsan, "Pierrepoint"
Michael Caine, "The Prestige"
Bill Nighy, "Notes on a Scandal"
Leslie Phillips, "Venus"
Dominic Cooper, "The History Boys"

British actress
Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"
Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
Kate Winslet, "Little Children"
Loraine Stanley, "London to Brighton"
Kate Dickie, "Red Road"

British actor
Sacha Baron Cohen, "Borat"
Toby Jones, "Infamous"
Timothy Spall, "Pierrepoint"
James McAvoy, "The Last King of Scotland"
Christian Bale, "The Prestige"

British director
Andrea Arnold, "Red Road"
Stephen Frears, "The Queen"
Christopher Nolan, "The Prestige"
Kevin Macdonald, "The Last King of Scotland"
Ken Loach, "The Wind that Shakes the Barley"

Actress
Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
Penelope Cruz, "Volver"
Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"
Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"
Joan Allen, "The Upside of Anger"

Actor
Jeff Daniels, "The Squid and the Whale"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote"
Richard Griffiths, "The History Boys"
David Strathairn, "Good Night, and Good Luck"
Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"

Screenwriter
Peter Morgan, "The Queen"
Noah Baumbach, "The Squid and the Whale"
Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Dan Futterman, "Capote"
Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine"

Director
Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Pedro Almodovar, "Volver"
Paul Greengrass, "United 93"
Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"
Alfonso Cuaron, "Children of Men"

British Film (the Attenborough Award)
"Children of Men"
"The Queen"
"Red Road"
"The Last King of Scotland"
"The Wind that Shakes the Barley"

Film of the Year
"The Departed"
"Little Miss Sunshine"
"Volver"
"United 93"
"The Queen"

PHOENIX FILM CRITICS:
Best Picture
United 93

Top Ten Films (In Alphabetical Order)
Babel
Bobby
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
The Last King of Scotland
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
United 93

Best Director
Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Helen Mirren - The Queen

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Jack Nicholson - The Departed

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Cate Blanchett - Notes On A Scandal

Best Ensemble Acting
Little Miss Sunshine

Best Screenplay written directly for the screen
Little Miss Sunshine

Best Screenplay adapted from another medium
The Departed

Best Live Action Family Film
Charlotte's Web

Overlooked Film of the Year
Hard Candy

Best Animated Film
Flushed Away

Best Foreign Language Film
Letters From Iwo Jima

Best Documentary
An Inconvenient Truth

Best Use of Music
Dreamgirls

Best Cinematography
Apocalypto

Best Film Editing
The Departed

Best Production Design
Marie Antoinette

Best Costume Design
Marie Antoinette

Best Visual Effects
Superman Returns

Best Stunts
Casino Royale

Breakout Performance of the Year - On Screen
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Breakout Performance of the Year - Behind the Camera
Emilio Estevez - Bobby

Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role - Male
Jaden Smith - Pursuit of Happyness

Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role - Female
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine

SAN DIEGO FILM CRITICS SOCIETY AWARDS:
Picture: Letters from Iwo Jima
Director: Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Actor: Ken Takakura, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Supporting Actor: Ray Winstone, The Proposition
Supporting Actress: Lili Taylor, Factotum
Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman, Thank You For Smoking
Original Screenplay: Karen Moncrieff, The Dead Girl
Foreign Language Film: Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
Animated Film: Cars
Documentary: Shut Up and Sing
Cinematography: The Illusionist
Production Design: V for Vendetta
Editing: United 93
Score: Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
Ensemble: Babel
Body of Work in 2006: Edward Norton

Presenting GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEE EMILY BLUNT! WAIT!!! SCRATCH THAT.......PRESENTING DOUBLE GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEE EMILY BLUNT!!!!

2006-12-14T09:22:00.000-05:00

I'm just joyous over that. I'm leading an Emily Blunt Pride Parade in my house at this point. I am banging a drum and chanting EMILY BLUNT. AND HOLY FUCKING SHIT! SHE ACTUALLY HAS TWO NOMINATIONS!!!!

I personally think that the non-AMPAS awards bodies this year are just going to go for whatever, thus keeping us thrown off till Oscar nominations are announced.

Drama:
Babel - Bobby - The Departed - Little Children - The Queen
LOL. Booby.

Actress - Drama:
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Sherrybaby
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Woohoo! 5/5.

Actor - Drama
Leonardo Dicaprio - Blood Diamond
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

NO GOSLING! I'm betting he goes the way of Amy Adams and gets an Oscar nod anyways.

Musical or Comedy
Borat - The Devil Wears Prada - Dreamgirls - Little Miss Sunshine - Thank You For Smoking

Eh, about what I expected.

Actress - Musical or Comedy
Annette Bening - Running With Scissors
Toni Collette - Little Miss Sunshine
Beyonce Knowles - Dreamgirls
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Renee Zellweger - Miss Potter
LOL. Renee can get in for anything. Interesting that Collette is over Breslin and got the film's only acting nod. No O'HARA! :-(

Actor - Musical or Comedy
Sasha Baron Cohen - Borat
Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbea.....don't really care
Aaron Eckhart - Thank You For Smoking
Chiwetel Ejiofor - Kinky Boots
Will Ferrell - Stranger Than Fiction
Chiwetel is a cool nod. Boo on DEPP! Jessica Biel was so cute saying the entire title of Borat this morning.

Foreign-Language Film
Apocalypto - Letters From Iwo Jima - The Lives of Others - Pan's Labyrinth - Volver

Animated Film
Cars - Happy Feet - Monster House

Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
ASLDKFLKASDGJKLJASDKLJHLSJ! BLUNT! BLUNT! BLUNT! BLUNT! BLUNT! BLUNT! BLUNT! Hudson will win.

Supporting Actor
Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Brad Pitt - Babel
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed

This is actually a very cool lineup. I think one of them will get left out and Alan Arkin will get in for Oscar.

Director:
Clint Eastwood - Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
Martin Scorsese - The Departed
LOL. NO BILL CONDON! That is a huge snub. As for Clint Eastwood's double nom, this is how I feel: EMILY BLUNT.

Screenplay
Babel - Little Children - Notes on a Scandal - The Departed - The Queen
That actually rocks? Go Children and Notes.

Original Score
The Painted Veil - The Fountain - Babel - Nomad - The Da Vinci Code

LMAO! I'm guessing Veil or Babel is winning this rather shitty lineup.

Original Song
Pursuit of Happyness - Dreamgirls - Bobby - Happy Feet - Home of the Brave

They skipped on both documentary songs from Dixie Chicks and Melissa Etheridge. Hmm.

TV
Drama
24 - Big Love - Grey's Anatomy - Heroes - Lost

Grey's so WINNING this shit.

Actress - Drama
Patricia Arquette - Medium
Edie Falco - The Sopranos
Evangeline Lilly - Lost
Ellen Pompeo - Grey'a Anatomy
Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer
Evangeline and ELLEN!?!?!?!? LMAO. I'm guessing Krya wins.

Actor - Drama
Patrick Dempsey - Grey's Anatomy
Michael C. Hall - Dexter
Hugh Laurie - House
Bill Paxton - Big Love
Keifer Sutherland - 24

Don't care.

Comedy or Musical
Desperate Housewives - Entourage - The Office - Ugly Betty - Weeds
I think Office will win, but Ugly could be sittin' pretty. Tehehe.

Actress - Comedy or Musical
Marica Cross - Desperate Housewives
America Ferrera - Ugly Betty
Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - The New Adventures of Old Christine
Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds
I've changed my name to Darren-Louis. It's very trendy now. Julia or America gets it.

Actor - Comedy or Musical
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Zach Braff - Scrubs
Steve Carrell - The Office
Jason Lee - My Name Is Earl
Tony Shaloub - Monk
OMG ALEC!!!!

Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
Bleak House - Broken Trail - Elizabeth I - Mrs. Harris - Prime Suspect: The Final Act
Don't have HBO. Don't watch PBS. Don't give a damn.

Actres - Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made For TV
Gillian Anderson - Bleak House
Annette Bening - Mrs. Harris
Helen Mirren - Elizabeth I
Helen Mirren - Prime Suspect: The Final Act
Sophie Okonedo - Tsunami: The Aftermath

Mirren: winning 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Actor - Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made For TV
Andre Braugher - Thief
Robert Duvall - Broken Trail
Michael Ealy - Sleeper Cell: American Terror
Chiwetel Ejiofor - Tsunami: The Aftermath
Ben Kingsley - Mrs. Harris
Bill Nighy - Gideon's Daughter
Matthew Perry - The Ron Clark Story
Yawn.

Supporting Actress - All Television
Emily Blunt - Gideon's Daughter
Toni Collette - Tsunami: The Aftermath
Katherine Heigl - Grey's Anatomy
Sarah Paulson - Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Elizabeth Perkins - Weeds

EMILY!!!! Uh, Katherine or Sarah wins it.

Supporting Actor - All Television
Thomas Haden Church - Broken Trail
Jeremy Irons - Elizabeth I
Justin Kirk - Weeds
Masi Oka - Heroes
Jeremy Piven - Entourage

I hate Justin Kirk's character on Weeds in the first season but haven't seen the second. So I dunno.

Fun morning!

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS????

ELLEN POMPEO AND RENEE ZELLWEGER WILL BE IN THE SAME ROOM. THE EARTH SHALL IMPLODE.

GOLDEN GLOBE PREDICTIONS!

2006-12-12T23:09:00.000-05:00

I tried. They are announced Thursday morning! As always, some categories can have 6 in them, so I added an alternate.

I'd love to see Gretchen Mol, Kirsten Dunst, Matt Damon (for Departed), Emily Blunt and Frances Mcdormand pick up some noms. I doubt much will come for them, though.

Anywho...

Picture - Drama
Babel - The Departed - Notes on a Scandal - The Queen - United 93
Alt: Half Nelson

Picture - Comedy/Musical
Borat - The Devil Wears Prada - Dreamgirls - Little Miss Sunshine - A Prairie Home Companion
Alt: Stranger Than Fiction

Actor - Drama
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Ken Watanabe - Letters From Iwo Jima
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Alt: Will Smith - Pursuit of Happyness

Actor - Comedy/Musical
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Aaron Eckhart - Thank You For Smoking
Will Ferrell - Stranger Than Fiction
Richard Griffiths - The History Boys
Greg Kinnear - Little Miss Sunshine
Alt: Garrison Keillor - A Prairie Home Companion

Actress - Drama
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Sherrybaby
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Alt: Naomi Watts - The Painted Veil

Actress - Comedy/Musical
Annette Bening - Running With Scissors
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Beyonce Knowles - Dreamgirls
Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Alt: Renee Zellweger - Miss Potter

Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
Brad Pitt - Babel
Michael Sheen - The Queen
Alt: Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland

Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Emma Thompson - Stranger Than Fiction
Alt: Meryl Streep - A Prairie Home Companion

Director
Bill Condon - Dreamgirls
Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass - United 93
Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Alt: Robert Altman - A Prairie Home Companion

Screenplay
The Departed - Dreamgirls - Little Miss Sunshine - The Queen - Stranger Than Fiction
Alt: Notes on a Scandal

Foreign Language Film
Curse of the Golden Flower - Letters From Iwo Jima - The Lives of Others - Pan's Labyrinth - Volver
Alt: Apocalypto

Score
Apocalytpo - Charlotte's Web - Letters From Iwo Jima - Notes on a Scandal - The Queen
Alt: The Painted Veil

Song
"You Know My Name" - Casino Royale
"Listen" - Dreamgirls
"Song of the Heart" - Happy Feet
"I Need to Wake Up" - An Inconvenient Truth
"The Neighbor" - Shut Up and Sing
Alt: "Love You I Do" - Dreamgirls

Animated Feature
Cars - Flushed Away - Happy Feet - Monster House - A Scanner Darkly
Alt: Curious George

TV Stuff:
I expect The Office, Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty to score multiple noms. That is that.

Box Office Predix: Dec. 15 - 17

2006-12-12T21:20:00.000-05:00

1. Eragon - $24m / $24m / $70m
2. Charlotte's Web - $22m / $22m / $135m
3. The Pursuit of Happyness - $18m / $18m / $90m
4. Apocalypto - $8m / $29m / $52m
5. The Holiday - $8m / $24.5m / $54m
6. Happy Feet - $7.5m / $148m / $168m
7. Casino Royale - $5m / $136.5m / $154m
8. Blood Diamond - $5m / $17m / $30m
9. The Nativity Story - $4.5m / $22.5m / $35m
10. Unaccompanied Minors - $3.5m / $10m / $18m

BFCA, DC, NYFCC, SFFCCA,

2006-12-12T10:12:00.000-05:00

Broadcast Film Critics Association
12th Annual Critics' Choice Awards:

BEST PICTURE:
Babel
Blood Diamond
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Children
Little Miss Sunshine
Notes on a Scandal
The Queen
United 93

BEST ACTOR:
Leonardo DiCaprio – “Blood Diamond”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “The Departed”
Ryan Gosling – “Half Nelson”
Peter O’Toole – “Venus”
Will Smith – “The Pursuit of Happyness”
Forest Whitaker – “The Last King of Scotland”

BEST ACTRESS:
Penelope Cruz – “Volver”
Judi Dench – “Notes on a Scandal”
Helen Mirren – “The Queen”
Meryl Streep – “The Devil Wears Prada”
Kate Winslet – “Little Children”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Ben Affleck – “Hollywoodland”
Alan Arkin – “Little Miss Sunshine”
Adam Beach – “Flags of Our Fathers”
Djimon Hounsou – “Blood Diamond”
Eddie Murphy – “Dreamgirls”
Jack Nicholson – “The Departed”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Adriana Barraza – “Babel”
Cate Blanchett – “Notes on a Scandal”
Jennifer Hudson – “Dreamgirls”
Rinko Kikuchi – “Babel”
Catherine O’Hara – “For Your Consideration”
Emma Thompson – “Stranger Than Fiction”

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE:
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
A Prairie Home Companion

BEST DIRECTOR:
Bill Condon – “Dreamgirls”
Clint Eastwood – “Letters from Iwo Jima”
Stephen Frears – “The Queen”
Paul Greengrass – “United 93”
Martin Scorsese – “The Departed”

BEST WRITER:
Michael Arndt – “Little Miss Sunshine”
Guillermo Arriaga – “Babel”
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta – “Little Children”
Zach Helm – “Stranger Than Fiction”
William Monahan – “The Departed”
Peter Morgan – “The Queen”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
“Cars”
“Flushed Away”
“Happy Feet”
“Monster House”
“Over the Hedge”

BEST YOUNG ACTOR:
Cameron Bright – “Thank You For Smoking”
Joseph Cross – “Running With Scissors”
Paul Dano – “Little Miss Sunshine”
Freddie Highmore – “A Good Year”
Jaden Christopher Syre Smith – “The Pursuit of Happyness”

BEST YOUNG ACTRESS:
Ivana Baquero – “Pan’s Labyrinth”
Abigail Breslin – “Little Miss Sunshine”
Shareeka Epps – “Half Nelson”
Dakota Fanning – “Charlotte’s Web”
Keke Palmer – “Akeelah and the Bee”

BEST COMEDY MOVIE:
Borat
For Your Consideration
Little Miss Sunshine
The Devil Wears Prada
Thank You For Smoking

BEST FAMILY FILM (LIVE ACTION):
Akeelah and the Bee
Charlotte’s Web
Flicka
Lassie
Pirates of the Caribbean 2

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION:
Elizabeth I
The Librarian
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
The Ron Clark Story
When the Levees Broke

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Apocalypto
Days of Glory
Letters from Iwo Jima
Pan’s Labyrinth
Volver
Water

BEST SONG:
“I Need to Wake Up” – Melissa Etheridge – “An Inconvenient Truth”
“Listen” – Beyonce – “Dreamgirls”
“My Little Girl” – Tim McGraw – “Flicka”
“The Neighbor” – Dixie Chicks – “Shut Up & Sing”
“Never Gonna Break My Faith” – Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige – “Bobby”
“Ordinary Miracle” – Sarah McLachlan – “Charlotte’s Web”

BEST SOUNDTRACK:
Babel
Cars
Dreamgirls
Happy Feet
Marie Antoinette

BEST COMPOSER:
Philip Glass – “The Illusionist”
Clint Mansell – “The Fountain”
Thomas Newman – “The Good German”
Gustavo Santaolalla – “Babel”
Howard Shore – “The Departed”
Hans Zimmer – “The Da Vinci Code”

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
An Inconvenient Truth
Shut Up & Sing
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Wordplay

WASHINGTON DC ARE FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION:
Best Film - United 93
Best Director - Martin Scorsese
Best Actor - Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress - Helen Mirren - Dreamgirls
Best Supp. Actor - Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Best Supp. Actress - Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Best Acting Ensemble - Little Miss Sunshine
Best Original Screenplay - Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay - Thank You For Smoking
Best Animated Feature - Happy Feet
Best Documentary - An Inconvenient Truth
Best Foreign Language Film - Pan's Labyrinth
Best Breakthrough Performance - Jennifer Hudson
Best Art Direction - Marie Antoinette

(They have Art Direction but no other techs?)

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE:
Best Picture - United 93
(Runner-ups: The Queen & The Departed)
Best Director - Martin Scorsese - The Departed
(Stephen Frears - The Queen & Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima)
Best First Film - Half Nelson
(Little Miss Sunshine & A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints)
Best Actress - Helen Mirren - The Queen
(Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal & Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada)
Best Actor - Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
(Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson & Sasha Baron Cohen - Borat)
Best Foreign Film - Army of Shadows
(Volver & The Death of Mr. Lazarescu)
Best Non-Fiction Film - Deliver Us From Evil
(49 Up & Borat & An Inconvenient Truth)
Best Animated Film - Happy Feet
(A Scanner Darkly & Cars)
Best Supporting Actor - Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
(Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls & Steve Carell - Little Miss Sunshine)
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
(Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson & Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration)
Best Screenplay - The Queen
(The Departed & Little Miss Sunshine)
Best Cinematography - Pan's Labyrinth
(Curse of the Golden Flower & Children of Men)

SAN FRANCISCO FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS:
Best Picture - Little Children
Best Director - Paul Greengrass - United 93
Best Original Screenplay - Brick
Best Adapted Screenplay - Little Children
Best Actor - Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Best Actress - Helen Mirren - The Queen
Best Supporting Actor - Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Best Supporting Actress - Adriana Barraza - Babel
Best Foreign Language Film - Pan's Labyrinth
Best Documentary - An Inconvenient Truth
Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community
Stephen Salmons co-founder & artistic director San Francisco Silent Film Festival
Special Citation in honor of Arthur Lazere
"The Death of Mr. Lazarescu"

Boston Film Critics & AFI Top 10 & NYFCO & LAFCA

2006-12-10T17:45:00.000-05:00

Boston Film Critics:

Best Picture - The Departed
(runner-up: United 93)

Best Director - Martin Scorsese - The Departed
(Paul Greengrass - United 93)

Best Actor - Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
(Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson)

Best Actress - Helen Mirren - The Queen
(Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal)

Best Supporting Actor - Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
(Michael Sheen - The Queen AND Alec Baldwin - The Departed / Running With Scissors The Good Shepherd)

Best Supporting Actress - Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson
(Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada)

Best Ensemble Cast - United 93
(The Departed)

Best Screenplay - The Departed
(The Queen)

Best Foreign Language Film - Pan's Labyrinth
(Volver)

Best Documentary - Deliver Us From Evil AND Shut Up and Sing
(51 Birch Street)

Best New Filmmaker - Ryan Fleck - Half Nelson
(Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris - Little Miss Sunshine)

Best Cinematography - Guillermo Navarro - Pan's Labyrinth
(The Painted Veil AND Curse of the Golden Flower)

American Film Institute Movies of the Year - Official Selections:
Babel
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Half Nelson
Happy Feet
Inside Man
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
United 93

New York Film Critics Online:
Picture - The Queen
Actor - Forest Whitaker -The Last King of Scotland
Actress - Helen Mirren - The Queen
Director - Stephen Frears - The Queen
Supporting Actor - Michael Sheen - The Queen
Supporting Actress - (tie) Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls AND Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration
Breakthrough Performer - Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Screenplay - Peter Morgan - The Queen
Documentary Feature - An Inconvenient Truth
Foreign Language Picture - Pan's Labyrinth
Animated Feature - Happy Feet
Cinematography - Dick Pope - The Illusionist
Film Music/Score - Philip Glass - The Illusionist
Humanitarian Award - Deepa Mehta - Water: for taking risks to create films about the difficulties of social change in India especially as it affects women.

Top 10 Films:
Babel (Paramount Vantage)
The Fountain (Warner Bros.)
Inland Empire (Absurda)
Little Children (New Line)
Little Miss Sunshine (Fox Searchlight)
Pan's Labyrinth (Picturehouse)
The Queen (Miramax)
Thank You for Smoking (Fox Searchlight)
Volver (Sony Pictures Classics)
Water (Fox Searchlight

2006 Los Angeles Critics Association winners:

Picture: "Letters From Iwo Jima"
Runner-up: "The Queen"

Director: Paul Greengrass, "United 93"
Runner-up: Clint Eastwood, "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima"

Actor: Sacha Baron Cohen, "Borat" and Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland" (tie) (no runner-up)

Actress: Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
Runner-up: Penelope Cruz, "Volver"

Supporting actor: Michael Sheen, "The Queen"
Runner-up: Sergi Lopez, "Pan's Labyrinth"

Supporting actress: Luminita Gheorghiu, "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu"
Runner-up: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"

Screenplay: Peter Morgan, "The Queen"
Runner-up: Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine"

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, "Children of Men"
Runner-up: Tom Stern, "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima"

Production design: Eugenio Caballero, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Runner-up: Jim Clay and Geoffrey Kirkland, "Children of Men"

Music: Alexandre Desplat, "The Queen" and "The Painted Veil"
Runner-up: Thomas Newman, "The Good German" and "Little Children"

Foreign-language film: "The Lives of Others"
Runner-up: "Volver"

Documentary/non-fiction film: "An Inconvenient Truth"
Runner-up: "Darwin's Nightmare"

Animation: "Happy Feet"
Runner-up: "Cars"

Douglas Edwards experimental/independent film/video award: "Old Joy" (Kelly Reichardt) and "In Between Days" (So Yong Kim)

New generation award: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris (directors) and Michael Arndt (screenwriter), "Little Miss Sunshine"

Career achievement award (previously announced): Robert Mulligan

HAPPY AWARD SEASON!

2006-12-10T17:44:00.000-05:00

The Globes are announced Thursday. Top 10s are coming up fast.

Some of us need validation for not having anything else to offer in life.

Way to Go, Chicks!

2006-12-07T14:51:00.000-05:00

5 Grammy Nominations, an NBR shoutout, and I will FINALLY get to see your movie over the next week! Wahoo!

Album of the Year!
Record of the Year!
Song of the Year!

National Board of Review WINNERS - FUCK YOU EASTWOOD!

2006-12-06T15:15:00.000-05:00

So yesterday, I ALMOST put The Devil Wears Prada into the top 10 and Stranger Than Fiction for Screenplay. DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT.

Nevertheless, go THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, MR. RACHEL MCADAMS, HELEN MIRREN, CATHERINE O'HARA, THE DIXIE CHICKS and THE DEPARTED. I love you all very much.

Best Film: Letters From Iwo Jima
Best Director: MARTIN SCORSESE - The Departed
Best Actor: FOREST WHITAKER - The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress: HELEN MIRREN - The Queen
Best Supporting Actor: DJIMON HOUNSOU - Blood Diamond
Best Supporting Actress: CATHERINE O'HARA - For Your Consideration
Best Foreign Film: VOLVER
Best Documentary: AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Best Animated Feature: CARS
Best Ensemble Cast: THE DEPARTED
Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: RYAN GOSLING - Half Nelson
Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: JENNIFER HUDSON - Dreamgirls & RINKO KIKUCHI - Babel

Best Directorial Debut: JASON REITMAN - Thank You for Smoking
Best Original Screenplay: ZACH HELM - Stranger Than Fiction
Best Adapted Screenplay: RON NYSWANER - The Painted Veil

Top Ten Films:
(and, in alphabetical order)

BABEL
BLOOD DIAMOND
THE DEPARTED
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
THE HISTORY BOYS
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
THE PAINTED VEIL

Top Five Foreign Films:
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
DAYS OF GLORY
PAN'S LABYRINTH
VOLVER
WATER

Top Five Documentary Films
51 BIRCH STREET
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
SHUT UP & SING
WORDPLAY

Top Independent Films
AKEELAH AND THE BEE
BOBBY
CATCH A FIRE
COPYING BEETHOVEN
A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS
HALF NELSON
THE ILLUSIONIST
LONESOME JIM
SHERRYBABY
10 ITEMS OR LESS
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING

Career Achievement - ELI WALLACH
Billy Wilder Award for Excellence in Directing - JONATHAN DEMME
Career Achievement in Producing - IRWIN WINKLER
William K. Everson Film History Award - DONALD KRIM
The BVLGARI Award for NBR Freedom of Expression - WATER and WORLD TRADE CENTER

How does World Trade Center get a Freedom of Expression Award? UGH!

No Dreamgirls or The Queen in the top 10. HOLY SHIT!

Where's United 93 and A Prairie Home Companion?

Box Office Predictions: Dec. 8 - 10

2006-12-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

1. The Holiday - $17m / $17m / $94m
2. Apocalypto - $13m / $13m / $40m
3. Blood Diamond - $12m / $12m / $44m
4. Happy Feet - $10.5m / $135m / $166m
5. Casino Royale - $8.5m / $128.5m / $152m
6. Unaccompanied Minors - $6.5m / $6.5m / $23m
7. Deja Vu - $6m / $53m / $66m
8. The Nativity Story - $5m / $15m / $35m
9. Deck the Halls - $4.5m / $30.5m / $45m
10. Santa Clause 3 - $3m / $71m / $80m

kate does a happy dance after discovering she gets to fuck justin because she switched with cameron

National Board of Review Predictions!

2006-12-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

They announce tomorrow!

Best Film - The Departed

Top 10:
1. The Departed
2. Babel
3. The Queen
4. Dreamgirls
5. Little Miss Sunshine
6. United 93
7. The Painted Veil
8. Little Children
9. A Prairie Home Companion
10. Children of Men

Director - Paul Greengrass - United 93
Actor - Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Actress - Helen Mirren - The Queen
Supporting Actor - Brad Pitt - Babel
Supporting Actress - Meryl Streep - A Prairie Home Companion & The Devil Wears Prada
Ensemble - Little Children
Original Screenplay - Volver
Adapted Screenplay - The Departed
Directorial Debut - Ryan Fleck - Half Nelson
Breakthrough Actor - Joseph Cross - Running With Scissors
Breakthrough Actress - Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

10 Best Posters of 2006!

2006-12-03T18:49:00.000-05:00

A rather uneventful year in inspired one sheets! Ah well...

#10 - Yah! PUNS!

#9 - Pretty!

#8 - This is how you do floating heads.

#7 - The notepad ones for this are great, but sometimes a simple image from the film is the way to go.

#6 - Black & white opposing #1.

#5 - Black & white opposing #2. See, this movie's marketing was perfect!

#4 - Ah, I love me some vintage wannabe.

#3 - Lions Gate can do no wrong in the marketing department.

#2 - Isn't it nice that for once the man is showing the skin?

#1 - Lions Gate can again do no wrong. An eye catcher if there ever was one.

10 Best Trailers of 2006

2006-12-02T22:18:00.000-05:00

That is of movies that were released in 2006. Not trailers that were released in 2006. Just to clarify.

Top 10 Posters Coming Soon

#10
This is probably the only top 10 list you'll ever see this movie near. A perfect example of exactly how a watered down PG-13, crap remake should be marketed.

#9
Generating more laughs than any other trailer this year (and some say the film did the same thing), it holds some of the film's funnier moments out and briefly sets up the story and ends with a very funny scene.

#8
If only every high concept film could be sold as grim and elegantly as this one is. Love the Sigur Ros music!

#7
Watching this film, I realized why the latter trailers really goofed up on selling this: taking some scenes out of context can really give it a campy feel. Only this trailer showed the film for the epic, completely movie'd film it was.

#6
Boy, they really do know how to market horror remakes, don't they? Expertly cut, particular the way it showcases the film's most graphic moment (and probably the year's most disturbing movie scene) by not showing any violence whatsoever.

#5
Here's a beautiful pair! Both teaser and full trailer work excellently and give us that dreamy Coppola aura.

#4
Can you really make a great trailer and give everything in the movie away at the same time? You damn well can. Takes notes, studios. (Fuck you Ashley Judd and your Double Jeopardy!)

#3
A trailer for audiences to hate! Too bad audiences don't appreciate the craft behind a fine trailer and would most likely BOO at this hypnotic and mysterious gem.

#2
And the same goes for this one, which isn't really a trailer at all. An extended clip that still worked as a trailer and was put before many movies before the film's (very successful run), this is exactly how to sell a film without showing any footage after the product's first reel.

#1
Trailer perfection! While the movie was as some put it "an unintentional black comedy", the trailer is sexy, sleek and dangerous recalling the type of Hollywood noir we just don't see much of anymore. That was the trailer. The film was something else entirely. And isn't that what marketing is all about?

SATELLITE NOMINATIONS

2006-12-01T00:14:00.000-05:00

Not Golden Satellites. Just Satellites.

GO GRETCHEN!!!

Motion Picture Drama:
Half Nelson - The Departed - Flags of Our Fathers - The Queen - The Last King of Scotland - Babel - Little Children

Motion Picture Comedy/Musical:
Little Miss Sunshine - Thank You For Smoking - The Devil Wears Prada - Stranger Than Fiction - Venus - Dreamgirls

Motion Picture Foreign Language:
The Lives of Others - Volver - Changing Times - Water - Syrian Bride - Apocalypto

Motion Picture Animated/Mixed Media:
Cars - Ice Age 2 - Happy Feet - Flushed Away - Pan's Labyrinth

Motion Picture Documentary:
Deliver Us From Evil - Jonestown: The Life & Death of Peoples Temple - An Inconvenient Truth - The US Vs John Lennon - Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man - The War Tapes

Director:
Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Clint Eastwood - Flags of Our Fathers
Pedro Almodovar - Volver
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
Bill Condon - Dreamgirls

Screenplay - Original:
Changing Times - House of Sand - Babel - Volver - The Wind That Shakes the Barley - The Queen

Screenplay - Adapted:
Flags of Our Fathers - Thank You For Smoking - The Departed - Little Children - A Prairie Home Companion - Dreamgirls

Ensemble - Motion Picture:
The Departed

Actress - Motion Picture Drama:
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Gretchen Mol - The Notorious Bettie Page
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Sherrybaby
Kate Winslet - Little Children

Actor - Motion Picture Drama:
Derek Luke - Catch a Fire
Joshua Jackson - Aurora Borealis
Forrest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Patrick Wilson - Little Children
Leonardo Dicaprio - Blood Diamond

Actress - Motion Picture Comedy/Musical:
Julie Walters - Driving Lessons
Annette Bening - Running With Scissors
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Toni Collette - Little Miss Sunshine
Jodie Whitaker - Venus
Beyonce Knowles - Dreamgirls

Actor - Motion Picture Comedy/Musical:
Joseph Cross - Running With Scissors
Aaron Eckhart - Thank You For Smoking
Sasha Baron Cohen - Borat
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Ferrell - Stranger Than Fiction

Actress in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture:
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Lily Tomlin - A Prairie Home Companion
Blythe Danner - The Last Kiss
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture:
Donald Sutherland - Aurora Borealis
Adam Beach - Flags of Our Fathers
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Brad Pitt - Babel
Jack Nicholson - The Departed

Original Score:
The Lives of Others - Flags of Our Fathers - Notes on a Scandal - Brick - The Da Vinci Code - Babel

Original Song:
"Upside Down" - Curious George
"You Know My Name" - Casino Royale
"Never Let Go" - The Guardian
"Till the End of Time" - Little Miss Sunshine
"Love You I Do" - Dreamgirls
"Listen" - Dreamgirls

Cinematography:
House of Sand - Flags of Our Fathers - The Black Dahlia - A Good Year - X-Men: The Last Stand - The Fountain - Curse of the Golden Flower

Visual Effects:
Flags of Our Fathers - Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - X-Men: The Last Stand - V For Vendetta - The Fountain - Pan's Labyrinth - The Da Vinci Code

Film Editing:
X-Men: The Last Stand - Flags of Our Fathers - Babel - Miami Vice - Dreamgirls

Sound:
X-Men: The Last Stand - Flags of Our Fathers - Babel - Dreamgirls - The Da Vinci Code

Art Direction & Production Design:
Marie Antoinette - Flags of Our Fathers - Dreamgirls - Pan's Labyrinth - V For Vendetta

Costume Design:
Marie Antoinette - The Black Dahlia - Curse of the Golden Flower - Dreamgirls - The Devil Wears Prada

Box Office Predix: Dec. 1 - 3

2006-11-29T10:04:00.000-05:00

1. Happy Feet - $19m / $123m / $175m
2. The Nativity Story - $18m / $18m / $80m
3. Casino Royale - $17m / $118m / $155m
4. Deja Vu - $10.5m / $43.5m / $65m
5. Deck the Halls - $6.5m / $25m / $42m
6. Turistas - $6m / $6m / $14m
7. Santa Clause 3 - $5.5m / $74m / $90m
8. Borat - $5m / $116.5m / $127m
9. Stranger Than Fiction - $3m / $36.5m / $44m
10. Flushed Away - $3m / $61m / $68m
11. Van Wilder 2 - $2.5m / $2.5m / $6m

First Nominees of the Season: Independent Spirit Award Nominations!

2006-11-28T12:10:00.000-05:00

Best Feature:
American Gun
The Dead Girl
Half Nelson
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth

Best First Feature:
Day Night Day Night
Man Push Cart
The Motel
Sweet Land
Wristcutters: A Love Story

Best Director:
Robert Altman - A Prairie Home Companion
Jonathan Dayton & Valeria Faris - Little Miss Sunshine
Ryan Fleck - Half Nelson
Karen Moncrieff - The Dead Girl
Steven Soderbergh - Bubble

John Cassavetes Award:
Chalk
Four Eyed Monsters
Old Joy
Quinceanera
Twelve and Holding

Best Screenplay:
Friends With Money
The Illusionist
The Painted Veil
Sorry, Haters
Thank You For Smoking

Best First Screenplay:
Conversations With Other Women
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Half Nelson
Little Miss Sunshine
Wristcutters: A Love Story

Best Female Lead:
Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson
Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration
Elizabeth Reaser - Sweet Land
Michelle Williams - Land of Plenty
Robin Wright Penn - Sorry, Haters

Best Male Lead:
Aaron Eckhart - Thank You For Smoking
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Edward Norton - The Painted Veil
Ahman Razvi - Man Push Cart
Forest Whitaker - American Gun

Best Supporting Female:
Melonie Diaz - A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Marcia Gay Harden - American Gun
Mary Beth Hurt - The Dead Girl
Frances McDormand - Friends With Money
Amber Tamblyn - Stephanie Daley

Best Supporting Male:
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Raymond J. Barry - Steel City
Daniel Craig - Infamous
Paul Dano - Little Miss Sunshine
Channing Tatum - A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

Best Cinematography:
Brothers of the Head
Four Eyed Monsters
Man Push Cart
Pan's Labyrinth
Wild Tigers I Have Known

Best Documentary:
A Lion in the House
My Country, My Country
The Road to Guantanamo
The Trials of Darryl Hunt
You're Gonna Miss Me

Best Foreign Film:
12:08 East of Bucharest
The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros
Chronicles of an Escape
Days of Glory
The Lives of Others

Channing Tatum - award nominee!

Snub of the morning: No Maggie Gyllenhaal for Sherrybaby

November Oscar Predix!

2006-11-23T00:17:00.000-05:00

Best Picture:
The Departed - Dreamgirls - Little Miss Sunshine - The Painted Veil - The Queen

Best Director:
Robert Altman - A Prairie Home Companion
Bill Condon - Dreamgirls
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass - United 93
Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Best Actor:
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress:
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Naomi Watts - The Painted Veil

Best Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Matt Damon - The Departed
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
Michael Sheen - The Queen

Best Supporting Actress:
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Carmen Maura - Volver
Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration

Best Original Screenplay:
Babel
Breaking and Entering
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Volver

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Children of Men
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Notes on a Scandal
The Painted Veil

Art Direction:
Children of Men - Dreamgirls - Flags of Our Fathers - The Good German - Marie Antoinette

Costume Design:
Dreamgirls - The Good German - Marie Antoinette - Miss Potter - The Painted Veil

Cinematography:
Children of Men - The Departed - Dreamgirls - The Good German - The Painted Veil

Editing:
Children of Men - The Departed - Dreamgirls - The Queen - United 93

Makeup:
Apocalypto - Pirates of the Caribbean 2

Original Song:
Bobby - Dreamgirls - An Inconvenient Truth - Happy Feet - Shut Up and Sing

Score:
The Good German - Miss Potter - Notes on a Scandal - The Queen - The Painted Veil

Sound:
Casino Royale - The Departed - Dreamgirls - Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Superman Returns

Sound Editing:
Cars - Happy Feet - Pirates of the Caribbean 2

Visual Effects:
Night at the Museum - Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Superman Returns

Animated Feature:
Cars - Flushed Away - Happy Feet - Monster House - Over the Hedge

Documentary:
Deliver Us From Evil - An Inconvenient Truth - Jesus Camp - Shut Up and Sing - The War Tapes

Box Office Predix: Nov. 24 - 26

2006-11-21T22:51:00.000-05:00

1. Happy Feet - $30m / $90m / $150m
2. Casino Royale - $25m / $88m / $138m
3. Deva Ju - $22m / $31m / $72m
4. Deck the Halls - $16m / $23m / $64m
5. Borat - $8m / $107m / $124m
6. Bobby - $7.5m / $9.5m / $26m
7. Santa Clause 3 - $7m / $62.5m / $80m
8. Flushed Away - $6m / $57m / $69m
9. The Fountain - $5.5m / $8m / $17m
10. Stranger Than Fiction - $5m / $31m / $40m
11. Tenacious D - $5m / $8.5m / $17m
12. The Queen - $2m / $20.5m / $50m
13. For Your Consideration - $2m / $2.5m / $10m

Goodbye, Robert Altman.

2006-11-21T12:59:00.000-05:00

If you're a movie lover, this is probably the worst news in a very long time.

I'm happy they rewarded him the honorary Oscar early this year. I'm happy A Praire Home Companion was an acclaimed minihit. And I think he'd be happy that it was his last film when you consider who is in it and, of course, what the film is about.

3 Women is one of my favorite films. It was sort a 70's version of Lynch's recent Mulholland Drive, a film about our dreams and the power they have over us. Robert was one of the few filmmakers who could fully utilize the one of a kind talent that was Shelley Duvall. And only a few days after this year's Oscars did I see Nashville for the first time. Robert Altman was a once in a lifetime filmmaker, a man who took big ensemble casts and had them come in and out of a film as the camera just roamed and explored. He threw plot out the window, and focused on the people. His most famous trademark was probably the overlapping dialogue. You know, the way real people talk. He also happened to be a diehard liberal. When you look over his long list of films and all of the people in Hollywood he's worked with, well, any of us would be lucky to ever get 1% of that.

Now, back to A Prairie Home Companion. I was going to write a post a month or so back debating the ending of the film. The film's scene - before the musical finish - will now be bittersweet. Unfortunately, it seems Virginia Madsen's Angel of Death, Azfadel, wasn't coming for whom we think. But the message of the film is ultimately this: forget death, and remember what we did in life.

Thanks, Bob, for the memories. You will be missed.

AP ARTICLE:

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Robert Altman, the caustic and irreverent satirist behind "M-A-S-H,""Nashville" and "The Player" who made a career out of bucking Hollywood management and story conventions, died at a Los Angeles Hospital, his Sandcastle 5 Productions Company said Tuesday. He was 81.

The director died Monday night, Joshua Astrachan, a producer at Altman's Sandcastle 5 Productions in New York City, told The Associated Press.

The cause of death wasn't disclosed. A news release was expected later in the day, Astrachan said.

A five-time Academy Award nominee for best director, most recently for 2001's "Gosford Park," he finally won a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2006.

(AP) Director Robert Altman poses Oct. 3, 2006, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Altman, the caustic and...
Full Image

"No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have," Altman said while accepting the award. "I'm very fortunate in my career. I've never had to direct a film I didn't choose or develop. My love for filmmaking has given me an entree to the world and to the human condition."

Altman had one of the most distinctive styles among modern filmmakers. He often employed huge ensemble casts, encouraged improvisation and overlapping dialogue and filmed scenes in long tracking shots that would flit from character to character.

Perpetually in and out of favor with audiences and critics, Altman worked ceaselessly since his anti-war black comedy "M-A-S-H" established his reputation in 1970, but he would go for years at a time directing obscure movies before roaring back with a hit.

After a string of commercial duds including "The Gingerbread Man" in 1998, "Cookie's Fortune" in 1999 and "Dr. T & the Women" in 2000, Altman took his all-American cynicism to Britain for 2001's "Gosford Park."

A combination murder-mystery and class-war satire set among snobbish socialites and their servants on an English estate in the 1930s, "Gosford Park" was Altman's biggest box-office success since "M-A-S-H."

Besides best-director, "Gosford Park" earned six other Oscar nominations, including best picture and best supporting actress for both Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith. It won the original-screenplay Oscar, and Altman took the best-director prize at the Golden Globes for "Gosford Park."

Altman's other best-director Oscar nominations came for "M-A-S-H," the country-music saga "Nashville" from 1975, the movie-business satire "The Player" from 1992 and the ensemble character study "Short Cuts" from 1993. He also earned a best-picture nomination as producer of "Nashville."

No director ever got more best-director nominations without winning a regular Oscar, though four other men - Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Clarence Brown and King Vidor - tied with Altman at five.

In May, Altman brought out "A Prairie Home Companion," with Garrison Keillor starring as the announcer of a folksy musical show - with the same name as Keillor's own long-running show - about to be shut down by new owners. Among those in the cast were Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones.

"This film is about death," Altman said at a May 3 news conference in St. Paul, Minn., also attended by Keillor and many of the movie's stars.

He often took on Hollywood genres with a revisionist's eye, de-romanticizing the Western hero in 1971's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and 1976's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson," the film-noir gumshoe in 1973's "The Long Goodbye" and outlaw gangsters in "Thieves Like Us."

"M-A-S-H" was Altman's first big success after years of directing television, commercials, industrial films and generally unremarkable feature films. The film starring Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould was set during the Korean War but was Altman's thinly veiled attack on U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

"That was my intention entirely. If you look at that film, there's no mention of what war it is," Altman said in an Associated Press interview in 2001, adding that the studio made him put a disclaimer at the beginning to identify the setting as Korea.

"Our mandate was bad taste. If anybody had a joke in the worst taste, it had a better chance of getting into the film, because nothing was in worse taste than that war itself," Altman said.

The film spawned the long-running TV sitcom starring Alan Alda, a show Altman would refer to with distaste as "that series." Unlike the social message of the film, the series was prompted by greed, Altman said.

"They made millions and millions of dollars by bringing an Asian war into Americans' homes every Sunday night," Altman said in 2001. "I thought that was the worst taste."

Altman never minced words about reproaching Hollywood. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he said Hollywood served as a source of inspiration for the terrorists by making violent action movies that amounted to training films for such attacks.

"Nobody would have thought to commit an atrocity like that unless they'd seen it in a movie," Altman said.

Altman was written off repeatedly by the Hollywood establishment, and his reputation for arrogance and hard drinking - a habit he eventually gave up - hindered his efforts to raise money for his idiosyncratic films.

While critical of studio executives, Altman held actors in the highest esteem. He joked that on "Gosford Park," he was there mainly to turn the lights on and off for the performers.

The respect was mutual. Top-name actors would clamor for even bit parts in his films. Altman generally worked on shoestring budgets, yet he continually landed marquee performers who signed on for a fraction of their normal salaries.

After the mid-1970s, the quality of Altman's films became increasingly erratic. His 1980 musical "Popeye," with Robin Williams, was trashed by critics, and Altman took some time off from film.

He directed the Broadway production of "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean," following it with a movie adaptation in 1982. Altman went back and forth from TV to theatrical films over the next decade, but even when his films earned critical praise, such as 1990's "Vincent & Theo," they remained largely unseen.

"The Player" and "Short Cuts" re-established Altman's reputation and commercial viability. But other 1990s films - including his fashion-industry farce "Ready to Wear" and "Kansas City," his reverie on the 1930s jazz and gangster scene of his hometown - fell flat.

Born Feb. 20, 1925, Altman hung out in his teen years at the jazz clubs of Kansas City, Mo., where his father was an insurance salesman.

Altman was a bomber pilot in World War II and studied engineering at the University of Missouri in Columbia before taking a job making industrial films in Kansas City. He moved into feature films with "The Delinquents" in 1957, then worked largely in television through the mid 1960s, directing episodes of such series as "Bonanza" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

Altman and his wife, Kathryn, had two sons, Robert and Matthew, and he had a daughter, Christine, and two other sons, Michael and Stephen, from two previous marriages.

When he received his honorary Oscar in 2006, Altman revealed he had a heart transplant a decade earlier.

"I didn't make a big secret out of it, but I thought nobody would hire me again," he said after the ceremony. "You know, there's such a stigma about heart transplants, and there's a lot of us out there."

IMDB Filmography

"The death of an old man is not a sad thing." - A Prairie Home Companion

"Descent" director Neil Marshall's next film will be.....

2006-11-16T23:15:00.000-05:00

DOOMSDAY! I'm hyped!

From Zap2it:

Rhona Mitra is set to topline "Doomsday," Neil Marshall's follow-up to the critically admired gore-fest "The Descent."

Marshall's new film, which will begin production in early 2007, will come from Rogue Pictures, the genre arm of Focus.

"Doomsday" focuses on the aftermath of a lethal virus that kills hundreds of thousands and leads to a major national containment, the construction of a literal wall. Well, 30 years later, the virus returns. Stupid virus. It's up to a group of specialists, including Mitra's Eden Sinclair to do something or other.

"Neil's intense filmmaking style will keep audiences on the edge of their seats throughout 'Doomsday,'" promise Rogue Co-Presidents Andrew Karpen and Andrew Rona. "Rhona is a stunning actress, and we're currently lining up a strong cast for the other lead roles."

Mitra is best known for her regular TV roles, which have included stints on "The Practice," "Boston Legal" and "Nip/Tuck." Her big credits include "The Life of David Gale" and the upcoming "Shooter" and "The Number 23."

Box Office Predix: Bond & The Penguins

2006-11-15T19:04:00.000-05:00

1. Casino Royale - $44m / $44m / $155m
2. Happy Feet - $36m / $36m / $170m
3. Borat - $16.5m / $93.5m / $130m
4. Santa Clause 3 - $10m / $54m / $82m
5. Flushed Away - $9m / $51.5m / $74m
6. Stranger Than Fiction - $8m / $24.5m / $44m
7. Let's Go To Prison - $4m / $4m / $10m
8. Babel - $3.5m / $13m / $30m
9. Saw 3 - $3.5m / $75.5m / $83m
10. The Departed - $3m / $114m / $140m

he's thinking of judi dench when he does that....so is she

Box Office Predix: Nov. 10 - 12

2006-11-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

1. Borat - $23m / $62m / $120m
2. Stranger Than Fiction - $16m / $16m / $55m
3. Flushed Away - $14m / $36m / $72m
4. Santa Clause 3 - $13.5m / $37m / $80m
5. A Good Year - $9m / $9m / $27m
6. Saw 3 - $7m / $70.5m $85m
7. The Return - $6.5m / $6.5m / $15m
8. Babel - $6.5m / $8.5m / $34m
9. The Departed - $5.5m / $110m / $145m
10. The Prestige - $5m / $46m / $58m
11. Harsh Times - $3.5m / $3.5m / $8.5m
12. The Queen - $3m / $14m / $50m

GET. BENT. TAX. MAN.

Box Office Predix: Nov. 3 - 5

2006-11-01T12:45:00.000-05:00

1. The Santa Clause 3 - $22m / $22m / $85m
2. Happy Feet - $18m / $18m / $70m
3. Saw 3 - $14m / $59m / $82m
4. Borat - $10m / $10m / $50m
5. The Departed - $7m / $101m / $140m
6. The Prestige - $6m / $37m / $52m
7. Flags of Our Fathers - $4m / $26m / $38m
8. Open Season - $3m / $81m / $87m
9. Man of the Year - $2.5m / $32.5m / $38m
10. Flicka - $2.5m / $17.5m / $23m

DARREN'S 40 FAVORITE "SCARY MOVIES" EVER!

2006-10-30T16:13:00.000-05:00

Well, instead of a Best Horror Films or Scariest Horror Films, I've made this list. I have to be broad, don't I? Enjoy one of these tomorrow and have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

40. MIMIC (1997)
Mira Sorvino battles human-bugs in the creepy subways of New York City. Grimy and stylish. Not for those who dislike bugs.

39. THE FLY (1986)
Speaking of bugs, David Cronenberg's remake features Jeff Goldblum transforming into a fly. Some great gore, and Geena Davis as the woman who dares love a fly.

38. JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001)
A brother and sister take a road trip home and get caught in a small town where a very hungry monster has come out of hibernation to feed. The Creeper s effectively done, but a gimmicky plot point involving a psychic is just a little too silly.

37. THE RING (2002)
Far more of a chilling mindfuck than a horror film (that is until its heart-stopping final moments), Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) crafts a very aesthetically pleasing (some of the genre's best cinematography and music can be found here) film featuring Naomi Watts as a mother battling the sinister effect a videotape has on whoever views it.

36. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1997)
Four teens dispose of a body after a car accident and come to regret it a year later. Feels straight out of 80's slasher, which ends up not being such a bad thing. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar star.

35. DOG SOLDIERS (2002)
A group of Scottish soldiers hold up Night of the Living Dead-style in a house in the woods as a group of werewolves try to infiltrate from outside. Neil Marshall's debut effort makes up in genre bending what it lacks in budget.

34. DEAD CALM (1989)
Nicole Kidman, in one of her first major roles, plays a vulnerable woman stranded on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a killer (Billy Zane) as her husband (Sam Neil) watches from afar. The constant bobbing of the boat is enough to make the viewer seasick, which is a nice distraction from the thick tension.

33. SEVEN (1995)
How many people actually knew the seven deadly sins before David Fincher's highly influential film? Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are the cops tracking down the killer with a gimmick. Gwyneth Paltrow gets her breakthrough as Pitt's wife, meeting a gruesome and infamous demise.

32. MISERY (1990)
Kathy Bates won an Oscar for her portrayal of a psychotically obsessed fan of a writer (James Caan) who holds him captive in her secluded home. One of cinema's greatest female villains.

31. FREAKS (1932)
Tod Browning's film is still banned in several countries, an odd bit of trivia especially once you see it and realize there isn't much worthy of banning as far as content. It's the tale of group of circus sideshow freaks (all of them 100% genuine) and the woman who attempts to marry one for the sole purpose of getting his inheritance. The freaks eventually catch on and plan their revenge. You'll be surprised how much you're rooting for them in the end. One of us, indeed.

30. WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE (1994)
Wes Craven's solution to 5 mostly forgettable sequels to his original classic is a reality bending film that has Freddy crossing over to the real world and stalking Heather Langenkamp (as herself!) and the crew of a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel. The shrewd, cunning premise is fully realized and shows the impacts movies have on their makers.

29. SCREAM 2 (1997)
Easily the best slasher sequel ever made (not that its competition is all that great), Wes Craven's 2nd installment had the daunting task of opening just one year after the megahit, highly acclaimed original. Picking up 2 years after the events of the first film, Sydney (Neve Campbell, firmly establishing herself as the next generation's Jamie Lee Curtis) is now at college as a copycat killer goes on a rampage. Bloodier, with more of a fun and playful tone than the first.

28. MAY (2003)
If Carrie had survived prom night and lived to her mid 20's, she'd be a lot like May (Angela Bettis), Lucky McKee's creepy anti-heroine. As May desperately searches for a friend in a world that has branded her a freak, she discovers people only have great parts and that no one is a perfect whole. Her solution: combine the parts to make a perfect friend. Like the best of indie films focusing on lost twenty-somethings crossed with Frankenstein, May also features another invaluable turn by Anna Faris (Scary Movie) as a lesbian vixen.

27. ALIENS (1986)
James Cameron takes over the reigns from Ridley Scott and helms this action packed sequel which finds Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, earning the Oscar nomination that Linda Hamilton and Uma Thurman wouldn't!) battling a group of aliens. The action is virtually nonstop, and yet always exhilarating and terrifying.

26. SUSPIRIA (1977)
Dario Argento's horror films have been described as the Douglas Sirk of the genre. Never so is that more true than with Suspiria, a beautifully violent film about a ballet student (Jessica Harper) in a European school where students start dying and the teachers are up to something. Even some of the most lush production design and visuals can't distract from the horror on screen including the opening death, which will probably be the only time I ever declare an onscreen murder both graphic and gorgeous.

25. THE OTHERS (2001)
Nicole Kidman delivers her best dramatic work battling ghosts - and perhaps God - in auteur Alejandro Amenabar's haunted house drama. Set during World War II, Kidman stars as a woman with sunlight intolerant children who must maintain her composure while her husband is off at war. As new housekeepers (led by the superb Fionnula Flanagan) come to work in the eerie, dark mansion, they aren't the only arrival in the house. Opening almost 2 years after The Sixth Sense, this film is a far better example of the twisted ghost story than M. Night Shyamalan's.

24. THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
Long before Sam Raimi ignited life in the comic book movie world with his Spider-Man movies, he directed this deliciously schlocky B-movie about a group of young people unleashing evil in a cabin in the woods. Fan favorite Bruce Campbell kicked off his career here, reprising his role in a few sequels. The virtually non existent budget only enhances the film's funny/scary feel.

23. JOY RIDE (2001)
Before JJ Abrams created the cult hits Lost and Alias, he wrote this edge of your seat thriller about a deranged trucker (CB handle: Rusty Nail) stalking 2 brothers and a girl as they drive across the mid west. Paul Walker, Leelee Sobieski and Steve Zahn deliver their best work. The Hitcher and Duel went here before, but neither succeeded the way director John Dahl's nearly flawless genre film does. The last 20 minutes, even though most was revealed in the trailer, are the perfect example of heart stopping.

22. TREMORS (1990)
Though being able to connect Reba McEntire to Kevin Bacon in a round of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon will no doubt impress your friends, it's not the only reason to see this grade A B-movie. Large, carnivorous underground worms wreak havoc in a small, desert community leading to big laughs and bigger thrills in this gloriously campy homage to monster movies of the past.

21. GREMLINS (1984)
One of the rare Christmas horror classics, this PG-rated Steven Spielberg produced film actually led to the installation of the PG-13 rating after parents complained about the film's violent content. A childhood staple, the mayhem will inspire more fun than scares for an adult audience.

20. THE EXORCIST (1973)
This typically ranks first among greatest horror film lists, but I do think it is somewhat overrated. One of the first genuine blockbusters (and probably the only to involve religion on the other side of The Passion of the Christ), Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair deliver first rate performances in what is still a terrifying and shocking ride.

19. ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)
Mia Farrow stars as the mother to be, who begins to learn that the child she is about to birth is the devil. The creepy New York City apartments and neighbors add kick to Roman Polanski's gothic drama. Farrow's illustrious work is some of the genre's best. And Ruth Gordon proves that nosey neighbors are always not to be trusted.

18. THE HAUNTING (1963)
Forget the effects laden remake and go for this classic psychological haunted house film. A group of people agree to spend a weekend at Hill House, a supposedly haunted mansion. Their days are filled with well developed character insight, and nights with things that go bump and all sorts of ghostly occurrences. Both are equally riveting. The best of the old fashioned haunted house stories.

17. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)
After he directed the 70's shockers The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes, Wes Craven turned his attention to our nightmares and the impact they have on us. Creating one of cinema's most memorable villains, Freddy Krueger, Craven tells the story of Nancy, a teenager afraid to go to sleep as Freddy lurks in her nightmares waiting to kill her there, thus killing her in reality. Check out Johnny Depp in his early work and in one of slasher cinema's most bloody moments.

16. THE FOG (1980)
It begins very appropriately with an old man telling a group of children a ghost story, and that's exactly what the film feels like: a masterfully told, old fashioned ghost story. Jamie Lee Curtis, mother Janet Leigh and most memorably Adrienne Barbeau star in this tale of the small Northern California coastal town Antonio Bay battling an eerie fog that has come ashore carrying a hundred year old ghosts. John Carpenter directs.

15. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
Easily the most divisive film in horror (and perhaps non-horror) film history. Your love (or hate) of the film depends largely on your proximity to creepy woods and your ability to let yourself go to a film. Operating on nothing but the most stripped down of fear (there's no score, no pop-out spooks), the most successful independent film and marketing campaign revolves around three missing film students who venture into the woods of Maryland to shoot a documentary about a legendary local witch. They are never heard from again. Absolutely harrowing (in this film lover's opinion) especially the final chilling moment.

14. 28 DAYS LATER (2003)
Danny Boyle's all-too-timely, post apocalyptical thriller revolves around 4 survivors who must fight together against a virus that has wiped out most of the population of London. The "infected" are fast moving, blood thirsty violent human beings turned zombies, thus throwing out the antiquated image of slow, stupid zombies. The film, shot in glorious DV, is also a very involving and deeply human story of man's struggle to survive. Cillian Murphy (Red Eye) and Naomi Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) star.

13. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
It has a Best Picture Oscar, which pretty much means that to some people it's not an actual horror movie. That's right: movies involving diabolical cannibals, serial killers and women getting skinned aren't horror movies? Jodie Foster is at her very best as the fragile FBI agent tracking down a serial killer with the help of another (TAH-DAH!) serial killer: Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector. Jonathan Demme's artfully violent masterpiece is considered one of the greatest films of all time, but hang on to your skin. You just might fly out of it. Or have it ripped from you. Whichever.

12. ALIEN (1979)
So Spaceballs may have ruined some of the impact of this film's highly regarded chest-popping sequence. Despite that, the rest is some of the best science fiction ever put on film. A crew investigates a SOS message from a ship on a distant planet and soon discover that it wasn't a SOS, rather a warning as an alien species is about make the ship its home. Sigourney Weaver, towering and elegant as always, stars in master director Ridley Scott's film.

11. PSYCHO (1960)
Perhaps the first official slasher film, Alfred Hitchcock's most famous film tells the story of Norman Bates, the shy and psychotic manager of the Bates motel and the murders he must clean up after his mother goes a little mad. Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh star. Despite its age, the film still packs a punch, particularly the oft-parodied shower sequence.

10. THE THING (1982)
Genre fave Kurt Russell may have eventually crossed over to the mainstream by being Goldie Hawn's arm candy, but his best work lies in the early 80's and in the films he did with John Carpenter. The Thing is a remake of the 1950's B-movie classic, where a group of scientists in the Antarctic battling an alien species that can assume the person - or thing! - it kills. The special effects are wonderfully cheesy by today's standards, but still have impact as it's some of the most creative makeup work you'll ever see. The blood testing sequence is classic.

9. DAWN OF THE DEAD (1979)
The second installment in George Romero's Dead series focuses on a foursome of survivors holding out for months in an abandoned mall as the outside world is ravaged by zombies. Equal parts scathing satire on a consumerist society and gory horror film, it's probably the most realized of the Dead films and certainly the one that puts the zombie world in perspective. There are many different versions of Dawn of the Dead available but any of them will likely be the most gory film you will ever see. A surprisingly worthy remake in 2004 took the film in a more action oriented route, and managed to be a solid film on its own terms.

8. THE DESCENT (2006)
It turns out that when trapped underground in a cavern, flesh craving, high evolved bat-people are the least of your worries. Especially when you have friends that will take any chance at screwing you over in order to save their own ass. Yes, Neil Marshall's expertly directed creature feature about 6 female cave divers battling an undiscovered and very hungry new species turns out to be a battle of woman vs woman, instead of woman vs beast. A bleak morality play disguised as a horror film, this serious side adds to the depth of this modern genre masterpiece.

7. CARRIE (1976)
Sissy Spacek, in perhaps her best work and the greatest performance by an actress in a horror film, stars as Stephen King's creation - a telekinetic outcast who uses her powers to seek revenge against those who wronged her at her high school prom. Be prepared the film's notorious final jolt, ripped off numerous times but never as effective as it is here. Brian De Palma directs one of his best films, even if the film plays different in a post-Columbine world.

6. SCREAM (1996)
If Psycho is the mother of all slasher movies, Halloween the brother and Texas Chain Saw Massacre its in-bred cousin, then that would make Scream the bastard stepchild that blabs all of the family's secrets. Writer Kevin Williamson helps Wes Craven shred apart some of the clichés he invented with what may be the most clever of slasher films. Managing to both parody and pay homage to the then dead genre with cameos and in-jokes galore, the film surrounds a group of horror-savvy teens (led by Neve Campbell) as they must battle or die at the hands of a serial killer who uses horror trivia to dispatch his victims. As gruesome as it is hip and hilarious.

5. THE SHINING (1980)
Like the typical Kubrick production, this one was plagued with problems from the get go. And like the typical Kubrick film, it's nothing short of a masterpiece. No matter what author Stephen King thinks of the final product, this is an intense character study of a man driven to madness by his own isolation. Despite the grand interiors, the film feels incredibly claustrophobic, and this is the rare well made haunted house film that will appease the gore hounds. In a word: spooky.

4. JAWS (1975)
A bit hesitant the last time you went in the ocean, were you? Gee, I wonder why. Actually, the shark in this movie is enough to keep people out of pools, baths, sinks, anything with water. This and The Exorcist were 2 of the first official blockbusters, though this film is given credit for creating the summer blockbuster. A beach is shut down after a series of shark attack and a crew is dispatched to kill the great white responsible. Steven Spielberg directs, and John Williams' score is probably the genre's best...

3. HALLOWEEN (1978)
Actually, John Carpenter's score to his own film is the genre's best. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Laurie Strode, a babysitter being stalked by Michael Myers on Halloween night. Simple and yet very effective, Carpenter's best film revived the slasher genre and created a movie star out of Janet Leigh's daughter, Miss Curtis. That's just one of the film's many inside jokes.

2. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1973)
Not as violent as many believe it to be - there's actually very little blood on screen, director Tobe Hooper's indie feels at times like a documentary, perhaps even a snuff film. As a group of teens venture across Texas, they get caught in slaughterhouse where Leatherface and his family of cannibals have some disturbing plans for them. Star Marilyn Burns delivers what may be the longest Oscar clip, spending the last half of the movie crying, running, screaming with a look of blood-curdling horror plastered on her face. And three decades prior to the current red state vs blue state mentality, the film proves what we've always known: No matter where hippies go, rednecks will kill them.

1. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
Survivors barricade themselves in a farmhouse as the outside world turns into flesh-craving zombies. George Romero's very low budget, hugely successful film is the easily the most terrifying film ever made. In grainy black and white, the film's impact echoes throughout the ages and is given new life given the current climate in the world where a biological attack is repeatedly warned. Adding to the film's stark realism, Judith O'Dea is no Sigourney or Neve, as she sits almost helplessly at a loss for words. The film's other lead is Duane Jones, a black man, and the fact that the film and its characters are probably the first in movie history to call no attention to the difference in races proves that when in the most horrific situation, there's virtually no point in separating ourselves for any reason from others. Though the zombie invasion is eventually controlled as the film ends, it's far from a happy ending. Even without zombies, it's still a dark world we live in.

So..

What's your favorite scary movie?

Box Office Predix: Oct. 27 - 29

2006-10-24T22:37:00.000-04:00

1. Saw 3 - $34m / $34m / $85m
2. The Departed - $9.5m / $90.5m / $130m
3. The Prestige - $9m / $28.5m / $50m
4. Flags of Our Fathers - $7m / $21m / $40m
5. Open Season - $6m / $77m / $92m
6. Flicka - $5.5m / $14.5m / $26m
7. Catch a Fire - $5m / $5m / $14m
8. The Grudge 2 - $4m / $37m / $46m
9. Man of the Year - $4m / $28m / $37m
10. Marie Antoinette - $3.5m / $10.5m / $19m
**Running With Scissors - $3m / $3.4m / $10m

sad times at the box office

Rachel McAdams signs on to a movie! 'Bourne Ultimatum' plot details! Darren overabuses exclamation point!

2006-10-22T19:25:00.000-04:00

!!!!!

Both pieces of info from the illustrious ComingSoon.net

RACHEL MCADAMS IS THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE!

TMZ reports that Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers, Red Eye, The Notebook) is in talks to star in New Line's The Time Traveler's Wife, based on Audrey Niffenegger's bestselling novel of 2003.

McAdams would be reteaming with screenwriter Jeremy Leven, who wrote the screenplay for The Notebook. The site adds that Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things) and German director Robert Schwentke (Flightplan) are at the top of the studio's list of directors.

The Time Traveler's Wife is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals—steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

My thoughts: This could be really great. Or really bad. It has Rachel McAdams, so I hope for the former. I hope they pick Frears. At one point, though, Gus Van Sant was attached.

BOURNE ULTIMATUM PLOT WILL BE....

Relatively the same as the first 2!!!

Matt Damon returns as the trained assassin Jason Bourne for the latest showdown in "The Bourne Ultimatum." In the follow-up to 2002's "The Bourne Identity" and 2004's "The Bourne Supremacy"--the smash hits that have earned over $500 million at the global box office--acclaimed director Paul Greengrass ("United 93," "The Bourne Supremacy") joins returning cast members Julia Stiles and Joan Allen and new additions David Strathairn and Paddy Considine.

All he wanted was to disappear. Instead, Jason Bourne is now hunted by the people who made him what he is. Having lost his memory and the one person he loved, he is undeterred by the barrage of bullets and a new generation of highly-trained killers. Bourne has only one objective: to go back to the beginning and find out who he was.

Now, in the new chapter of this espionage series, Bourne will hunt down his past in order to find a future. He must travel from Moscow, Paris, Madrid and London to Tangier and New York City as he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne--all the while trying to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents with him in their crosshairs.

My thoughts: It would probably be best to keep the majority of the action - and hopefully big car smashing sequence - in America. I'm pretty psyched with the terrific additions to the cast (Strathairn and Considine), but please don't let Stiles turn into his love interest. Someone like Asia Argento or Ludivine Sagnier would be nice!

October Oscar Predix (#2 of 5)

2006-10-21T18:12:00.000-04:00

I think box-office may have hurt Flags of Our Fathers. I think Dreamgirls looks like a solid blockbuster that gets tech nods but nothing more. So there. The Departed's box office is hard to ignore, and The Queen is knocking them out in limited release.....So here goes:

Best Picture:
1. The Departed
2. The Good German
3. The Queen
4. Babel
5. Little Miss Sunshine

Best Director:
1. Martin Scorsese - The Departed
2. Stephen Frears - The Queen
3. Steven Soderbergh - The Good German
4. Alejandro Inirritu Gonzalez - Babel
5. Paul Greengrass - United 93

Best Actor:
1. Peter O'Toole - Venus
2. Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
3. Forrest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
4. Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
5. George Clooney - The Good German

Best Actress:
1. Helen Mirren - The Queen
2. Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
3. Penelope Cruz - Volver
4. Cate Blanchett - The Good German
5. Kate Winslet - Little Children

Best Supporting Actor:
1. Jack Nicholson - The Departed (currently campaigned as lead, but that should change soon)
2. Brad Pitt - Babel
3. Tobey Maguire - The Good German
4. Michael Sheen - The Queen
5. Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Supporting Actress:
(Oh kill me now.....Annette Bening is currently being campaigned lead for Running With Scissors. The movie itself is doing poor with critics, so it might be smart to put her in supporting where she can actually get nominated. Jennifer Hudson's fans are putting her here on the strenght of one musical number and no actual proven acting talent. If you're going to compare her to Queen Latifah getting in for Chicago, you have to keep in mind how big Chicago was. I don't see that with Dreamgirls. Bobby is very divisive, but everyone really likes Sharon Stone's performance in it. If The Departed does in fact go over big, there's a chance it could pull in Vera Farmiga given how weak this category is. Maggie Gyllenhaal could get in for World Trade Center or Stranger Than Fiction even, but STF would have to be a Best Picture nominee for her to get in. There's still those Prairie Home Companion gals - Meryl Streep & Lily Tomlin - and even the Friends With Money gals - last year's nominees Catherine Keener & Frances McDormand - might be remembered if this category gets even weaker. Even The Devil Wears Prada's Emily Blunt shouldn't be overlooked at this point. Hell, even Jessica Biel in The Illusionist shouldn't be dismissed. If I were 20th Century Fox, I'd put Meryl in supporting for Prada where she would easily win the actual statue. That would bump her out of lead, and put Marie Antoinette's Kirsten Dunst in. Eh, who knows. I considered actually skipping this category but I might as well go with..

(unranked)
Arriana Barazza - Babel
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Carmen Maura - Volver
Sharon Stone - Bobby
Emma Thompson - Stranger Than Fiction

Original Screenplay:
1. The Queen
2. Babel
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. Stranger Than Fiction
5. Volver

Adapted Screenplay
1. The Departed
2. The Good German
3. Little Children
4. The Last King of Scotland
5. Children of Men

Art Direction:
1. Marie Antoinette
2. The Good German
3. Flags of Our Fathers
4. Dreamgirls
5. The Nativity Story

Costume Design:
1. Marie Antoinette
2. Dreamgirls
3. Miss Potter
4. The Good German
5. The Devil Wears Prada

Cinematography:
1. The Good German
2. Dreamgirls
3. Flags of Our Fathers
4. Children of Men
5. Apocalypto

Editing:
1. The Departed
2. Babel
3. United 93
4. The Good German
5. Flags of Our Fathers

Makeup:
1. Apocalypto
2. Marie Antoinette
3. Dreamgirls

Original Song:
1. Shut Up and Sing
2. Bobby
3. An Inconvenient Truth
4. Cars
5. Dreamgirls

Score:
1. The Queen
2. The Good German
3. Children of Men
4. Babel
5. The Departed

Sound Mixing:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2. Dreamgirls
3. The Departed
4. Superman Returns
5. Casino Royale

Sound Editing:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2. Cars
3. World Trade Center

Visual Effects:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2. Superman Returns
3. Night at the Museum

THE GOOD GERMAN trailer

2006-10-19T15:14:00.000-04:00

Hot damn! I LOVE IT. Especially Blanchett!

Trailer is Here.

Box Office Predix: Oct. 20 - 22

2006-10-18T12:13:00.000-04:00

1. Flags of Our Fathers - $16m / $16m / $70m
2. The Prestige - $14m / $14m / $45m
3. The Departed - $12m / $75m / $120m
4. Flicka - $10m / $10m / $30m
5. The Grudge 2 - $8.5m / $32.5m / $52m
6. Open Season - $7.5m / $69m / $90m
7. Man of the Year - $7m / $22.5m / $39m
8. Marie Antoinette - $6m / $6m / $18m
9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning - $3.5m / $36m / $44m
10. The Guardian - $3m / $46m / $53m

I'm sure it will be "beautiful and amazing" Lindsay...

2006-10-16T14:29:00.000-04:00

..but this sounds like it could be the greatest unintentional black comedy ever?

From ComingSoon.net:

MTV reports that Lindsay Lohan has joined Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean films) in The Best Time of Our Lives, based on a screenplay written by her mother, the playwright Sharman Macdonald. John Maybury, who directed Knightley in The Jacket, will helm the feature set to go before the cameras in April, the week after Easter.

The Best Time of Our Lives revolves around Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, his wife Caitlin and the curious real-life incident in which childhood friend Vera Phillips (Knightley) and her eventual husband William Killick opened fire on the Thomas home with a machine gun and a hand grenade.

"It's a beautiful and amazing movie - a piece [that] takes place at the time of World War II," Lohan said. "I have a child in the movie."

The film explores the events that led up to the incident and its effect on the Thomas family - which moved soon after from its home in Wales.

While additional cast members have not been announced, Lohan was visibly excited about working with Knightley - whose character Lohan described as having an enigmatic relationship with her own.

"[Keira] is older than me, but she kind of has a mysterious relationship with my lover," Lohan chirped. "And then there's somewhat of a lesbian undertone."

Okay. Let me get this straight. The world's two favorite thin ingenues will have a lesbian subtext between them in their WWII-set film which features someone opening fire and throwing a grenade at their neighbor's house?

I think that pop you heard was just a million heteromales' heads exploding. My inner heteromale did the same. Well, the heteromale that was in me at the time!

Oh, Darren...

BFF

Pics of Nicole at Fur's Rome Premiere!

2006-10-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

I'm contractually obligated (to myself) to show pictures of Nicole Kidman every now and then. Here's my favorite lady looking lovely at the Fur screening at the Rome Film Festival. That's the director, Steven Shamberg, with her.

Box Office Predix: Oct. 13 - 15

2006-10-11T23:20:00.000-04:00

1. The Grudge 2 - $32m / $32m / $78m
2. The Departed - $17m / $55m / $110m
3. Man of the Year - $13m / $13m / $40m
4. Open Season - $11m / $59m / $82m
5. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning - $8m / $31m / $49m
6. The Marine - $7m / $7m / $18m
7. Employee of the Month - $6m / $20m / $32m
8. The Guardian - $5.5m / $40.5m / $52m
9. One Night with the King - $4.5m / $4.5m / $15m
10. Jackass 2 - $3m / $68m / $75m
**Infamous - $1.5m / $1.5m / $7m

LAURA LINNEY FOR PRESIDENT. Eh, screw that. LAURA LINNEY FOR GOD!

First Look: Damon & Stiles filming "Bourne Ultimatum"

2006-10-09T11:41:00.000-04:00

Is Jason Bourne cracking a smile in that one pic? Real Movie News has the first pics from the set of the much anticipated third installment in the hugely successful franchise. Paul Greengrass (Bourne Supremacy, United 93) is at the helm for the second time for the international production which will be shot in Europe, and New York City among others. Joan Allen returns reprising her role from Supremacy, and David Strathairn has joined the cast, rumored to be playing Bourne's father. Also, Gael Garcia Bernal was offered the part of the main villain for the film but there hasn't been any followup reports as to whether he accepted. The Bourne Ultimatum hits theatres August 3, 2007.

I should really write press releases for studios?

There's a rumor that Matt Damon and Julia "really, she's still in this series?" Stiles will have a romance for the film. The pictures would certainly lead that way.

Go here for more images.

'Shut Up & Sing' Trailer & Poster

2006-10-06T01:30:00.000-04:00

I luvs my Dixie Chicks and I can't wait to hear the original song from this. If you haven't yet done so, pick up their fabulous new album (it's actually about 4 months old) as The Long Way Around is probably my fave song of the year!

Trailer here.

Box Office Predix: Oct. 6 - 8

2006-10-03T23:05:00.000-04:00

1. The Departed - $22m / $22m / $100m
2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning - $21m / $21m / $54m
3. Open Season - $15m / $45.5m / $80m
4. Employee of the Month - $11m / $11m / $30m
5. The Guardian - $10m / $33m / $56m
6. Jackass 2 - $6.5m / $63.5m / $78m
7. School for Scoundrels - $4m / $15m / $23m
8. Gridiron Gang - $2.5m / $37m / $43m
9. Fearless - $2.5m / $22.5m / $27m
10. The Illusionist - $2m / $34m / $40m

this movie needs more annoying people

Box Office Predix: Sept. 29 - Oct. 1

2006-09-27T23:55:00.000-04:00

1. Open Season - $28m / $28m / $98m
2. The Guardian - $24m / $24m / $80m
3. Jackass 2 - $11.5m / $50m / $72m
4. School for Scoundrels - $9m / $9m / $24m
5. Fearless - $5.5m / $18.5m / $29m
6. Gridiron Gang - $5.5m / $34m / $44m
7. Flyboys - $3.5m / $11m / $19m
8. Everyone's Hero - $3m / $15m / $21m
9. The Illusionist - $2.5m / $31m / $38m
10. The Black Dahlia - $2.5m / $21m / $25m

you think if i kept ignoring these kinds of movies they'd eventually go away?

BOBBY trailer!

2006-09-20T21:19:00.000-04:00

In about 25 years, I'd like to see a sequel to this film depicting how King of the Hill's Bobby Hill impacted my generation. I will be played by one of Angelina Jolie's kids. In the meantime, get ready for a look at the movie you'll love. Or hate. There seems to be no in between with this one.

Bobby Trailer Here.

<--this picture gives me a woody?

THE GOOD GERMAN poster!

2006-09-20T11:35:00.000-04:00

Me loves some vintage posters. And when you don't have anymore marketing ideas, why not just rip some old stuff off? Everyone wins.

Box Office Predix: Sept. 22 - 24

2006-09-19T23:11:00.000-04:00

1. Jackass 2 - $20m / $20m / $45m
2. Flyboys - $9m / $9m / $26m
3. Fearless - $8m / $8m / $22m
4. Gridiron Gang - $7.5m / $25m / $40m
5. All the King's Men - $5.5m / $5.5m / $16m
6. The Black Dahlia - $5m / $18m / $28m
7. Everyone's Hero $4m / $11m / $19m
8. The Last Kiss - $2.5m / $8.5m / $13m
9. The Covenant - $2.5m / $19.5m / $24m
10. The Illusionist - $2.5m / $21.5m / $28m

now THAT looks fun!

OSCAR PREDIX (1st of 5)

2006-09-17T21:34:00.000-04:00

All right, slightly for fun but just a lid-bit serious, here goes:

Picture:
Babel - Dreamgirls - The Good German - Little Children - United 93

Director:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
Bill Condon - Dreamgirls
Steven Soderbergh - The Good German
Todd Field - Little Children
Paul Greengrass - United 93

Actor:
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Jude Law - Breaking and Entering
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Brad Pitt - Babel
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

Actress:
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Ashley Judd - Bug
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children

Supp. Actor:
Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland
Brian Cox - Running With Scissors
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Tobey Maguire - The Good German
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls

Supp. Actress:
Annette Bening - Running With Scissors
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Carmer Maura - Volver
Sharon Stone - Bobby
Emma Thompson - Stranger Than Fiction

Original Screenplay:
Babel - Breaking and Entering - The Queen - Stranger Than Fiction - Volver

Adapted Screenplay:
Dreamgirls - The Good German - The Last King of Scotland - Little Children - Running With Scissors

Animated Feature:
Cars - Flushed Away - Happy Feet - Monster House - Over the Hedge

Art Direction:
The Black Dahlia - Dreamgirls - The Good German - Marie Antoinette - The Prestige

Cinematography:
Children of Men - Dreamgirls - Flags of Our Fathers - Fur - The Good German

Costume Design:
Dreamgirls - The Good German - Infamous - Marie Antoinette - Miss Potter

Editing:
Babel - Bobby - Dreamgirls - The Good German - United 93

Makeup:
Dreamgirls - Marie Antoinette - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Original Song
Bobby - Cars - Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing - An Inconvenient Truth - A Prairie Home Companion

Score:
Babel - Children of Men - The Good German - Little Children - The Queen

Sound:
Dreamgirls - Flags of Our Fathers - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Superman Returns - United 93

Sound Editing:
Cars - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - World Trade Center

Visual Effects:
Charlotte's Web - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Superman Returns

Box Office Predix: Sept. 15 - 17

2006-09-13T21:57:00.000-04:00

1. Gridiron Gang - $17m / $17m / $48m
2. The Black Dahlia - $12m / $12m / $36m
3. Everyone's Hero - $8m / $8m / $26m
4. The Last Kiss - $6m / $6m / $17m
5. The Covenant - $4.5m / $15.5m / $23m
6. Hollywoodland - $4m / $11.5m / $20m
7. The Illusionist - $3.5m / $23m / $32m
8. Invincible - $3.5m / $50m / $57m
9. Little Miss Sunshine - $3m / $46m / $56m
10. Crank - $2.5m / $24m / $28m

and when does the threeway begin?

Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Teen Movies EVER!

2006-09-09T00:10:00.000-04:00

Given how much I love teen movies, I thought I'd post this!

50. Splendor in the Grass 1961
Young love — especially when it's with the star of the football team — can make a girl crazy. Literally. In pre-Depression, small-town Kansas, good-girl Natalie Wood is so tortured by her sexual urges for beau Warren Beatty and conflicting pressure to be moral that she attempts suicide after a school dance and ends up in a sanitarium. It's the ultimate depiction of overwhelming first love, and — sorry, religious right — a chilling PSA against the dangers of teen abstinence. — Josh Wolk

49. Sixteen Candles 1984
It's tough to turn 16. But when your entire family forgets your birthday, it only makes that day worse. Molly Ringwald puts on a brave face as her character endures basically the worst week of her life, whether it's having her panties taken by Anthony Michael Hall or getting groped by her grandma (''Fred, she's gotten her boobies!''). The awkwardness is all hilarious, though, especially watching a young Joan Cusack attempt to use the water fountain in orthodontic head gear. — Tim Stack

48. Just One of the Guys 1985
Every generation has its variant on the girl-dresses-as-boy, girl-as-boy-falls-for-boy, boy-freaks-out tale. And this immensely fun, if minor, romp from the '80s perfectly captures the decade's raunch-lite spirit and funky fashion sense. As the cross-dresser caught in the middle, Joyce Hyser's aspiring journalist learns the hard way that there's more to being a dude than just stuffing a tube sock down your pants. — Michelle Kung

47. Napoleon Dynamite 2004
The plot is insignificant, the lead character (Jon Heder) is a petulant spaz, and the pace creeps along just barely faster than a John Deere. Still, this sleeper hit succeeds because it manages to mock and celebrate high school geekdom with a bone-dry, unsentimental tone. The inane one-liners, absurd non sequiturs, and sheer stupidity of the characters don't just bring back memories of adolescence, they make you feel like a teenager again, giggling at something idiotic without knowing exactly why. — Michael Endelman

46. Flirting 1992
She's a Ugandan beauty in a prep school populated by blond Aussies (including young Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts); he's a gawky stutterer obsessed with Camus. Given their shared outsider status at their respective institutions, is there any doubt that Danny (Noah Taylor) and Thandiwe (Thandie Newton) end up falling for each other? Wryly tender and respectfully told, director John Duigan's coming-of-age romance is a warm and fuzzy confection that stops short of being icky. — Michelle Kung

45. My Bodyguard 1980
There's something timeless for everyone when new kid Clifford ''Peachy'' Peache (Chris Makepeace) enlists the mysterious, tortured class psycho (Adam Baldwin) to protect him from the school bully (Matt Dillon). Lifelong scapegoats will cheer the underdogs' triumph, while former home-room villains of all generations will shed a nostalgic tear at Dillon's showcase of evergreen bully tactics: the locker prison, the wet toilet-paper bomb, the bathroom surprise attack. Ahhh, high school: good times, good times. — Josh Wolk

44. Can't Hardly Wait 1998
It's the last night of high school and the only thing left to do is party — and face the skeletons in the closet. By the end of this crazy bash, everyone succeeds: The nerd gets revenge on the jock, the nice guy snags his prom-queen crush, and a pair of unlikely old friends reunite. It may be a typical teen comedy, but the underlying message always rings true: Don't let fate pass you by. — Lindsay Soll

43. Stand and Deliver 1988
Any grandiose ''O Captain! My Captain!'' speech would only invite a Dead Teacher's Society beatdown at dilapidated Garfield High in East L.A. Instead, Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) teaches in a fast-food-worker uniform and inspires with math problems about gigolos. He gives extra textbooks to a studious gangbanger (Lou Diamond Phillips) in exchange for protection, and turns a mathematical truth, ''A negative times a negative equals a positive,'' into a social one. That's ganas, jefe. — Jeff Labrecque

42. Fame 1980
By today's standards, this Oscar-winning musical is downright gritty, with its frank and often bleak depiction of arts-inclined teenagers. Sure, they sing and act and turn lunchtime into a funk jam, but they also have abortions, fend off predatory pornographers, experiment with drugs, and contemplate suicide. High School Musical, it isn't. The potent shot of authenticity is sweetened by the memorable, soul-drenched musical numbers, which inspired millions to try and pirouette on a taxi. — Michael Endelman

41. Can't Buy Me Love 1987
Before he was Dr. McDreamy on Grey's Anatomy, Patrick Dempsey won us over as the lovable lawn-mowing nerd Ronald Miller. After a failed attempt to buy his way into the cool clique, Ronny goes from totally chic right back to a total geek. Lesson learned: Sometimes performing the ''African Ant Eater Ritual'' at the school dance isn't enough to get you a spot at the right lunch table. — Lindsay Soll

40. Risky Business 1983
Long before Tom Cruise became a couch-jumping Scientologist, he came to prominence in this sharp satire of privileged suburban teens. The socks-and-undies dance scene is what everyone remembers, but this Reagan-era hit isn't just another teensploitation flick. It's about the soul-crushing pressure to be perfect, and the primal urges to rebel against a manicured, pre-programmed future — even if that means turning your parents' house into a brothel. — Michael Endelman

39. The Virgin Suicides 2000
This one deserves to be on the list if only for the one terrific shot in which Josh Harnett, as heartthrob Trip Fontaine, glides down the locker-lined hall, with his leather jacket hung over one shoulder and Heart's ''Magic Man'' blaring on the soundtrack as all the girls turn their heads. If guys in high school don't actually walk like that, they should. The rest of the movie, about gorgeous sisters in a death pact, is shot by debut director Sofia Coppola as teenage iconography at its dreamiest and most weirdly entrancing. — Gregory Kirschling

38. Bye Bye Birdie 1963
High school is definitely more fun when you add a little song and dance. Ann-Margret is all big hair and energy as a lucky small-town teen who wins the chance to be kissed on television by Conrad Birdie, a thinly veiled Elvis copy. Unfortunately, her boyfriend is a tad jealous of her swapping spit with a celeb. What follows is a gleeful parade, perfect for viewers who always wanted to meet the high school star crush whose posters adorned their bedroom walls. — Tim Stack

37. Friday Night Lights 2004
Is there a sight more wonderful than kids playing a sport just for the sheer love of the game? That's a vision entirely absent from Peter Berg's superbly unsparing, based-on-real-events examination of the diamond-forming pressure present in small-town-Texas high school football. A great teen movie and a great sports movie, albeit one that may prompt more than one young ballplayer to switch to darts. — Clark Collis

36. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2005
No, we haven't lost our minds. One of J.K. Rowling's ingenious ideas was to blend two literary traditions, fantasy and coming-through-school fiction (à la Tom Brown's School Days). That's particularly true in Goblet, which depicts 14-year-old Harry's heightened state of adolescent anxiety, about the big (Quidditch) game, about finding a date for the big dance, and about juggling homework while saving the wizard world from evil Lord Voldemort. — Thom Geier

35. Brick 2006
''Nah, bulls gum it. They'd flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes, probably find some yeg to pin.'' The high school kids in Brick talk like this for the entire movie. With a femme fatale, a dead girlfriend, and a mysterious cape-wearing drug lord, Brick gives you a teen flick in the guise of a noir thriller where everything is all very life-and-death. Come to think of it, that's exactly what high school is like. — Gilbert Cruz

34. Get Real 1999
A typical first-love-with-the-school-jock story, but with a twist. ''Sex on legs'' track star John Dixon (Brad Gorton) really does fall for Steven Carter (Ben Silverstone), the bright, gawky student journalist who's lusted after Dixon while tiptoeing around female classmates on platonic dates. Of course, Dixon also has an official girlfriend. But when our hero yearns for a romance that's a little more public, the baton gets dropped in a way that's touchingly, poignantly real. — Thom Geier

33. Hoop Dreams 1994
This documentary follows William Gates and Arthur Agee, two kids who avoid the pitfalls of growing up in the Chicago slums by living, breathing, and playing basketball. As with any kid who plays ball, Gates and Agee fantasize about one thing: making it to the NBA. For all audiences, this is a purely inspirational tale. For some, it's nostalgic, bringing back dreams you once had of making it to the pros. — Vanessa Juarez

32. Scream 1996
Aside from the awesomeness of seeing Henry ''The Fonz'' Winkler as a square principal, Scream is the supreme teen horror movie specifically because it is so self-aware of how ridiculous and formulaic teen horror movies can be — even those that are set outside of high school, in college dorms or summer camps. And if sex equals death, as fright flicks and parents alike have tried to warn us, then how cool is it (spoiler alert!) for Scream to make the killer Neve Campbell's boyfriend — the one trying to get in her pants? Scary cool, we say. — Gilbert Cruz

31. The Karate Kid 1984
We practiced ''the crane'' and wasted money on a Bonsai tree. But the real reason this movie makes the cut: Rocky director John G. Avildsen understood that Mr. Miyagi (late Oscar nominee Pat Morita) had a lot to say — about finding balance, about choosing mentors wisely, about disguising defensive martial-arts techniques in home improvement (and yourself in a shower curtain, if it meant you could attend your high school Halloween dance undetected by Cobra Kai bullies). Perhaps that explains why only one of Daniel-san's training sessions is set to music: When Miyagi talked, we, like outsider Ralph Macchio, listened. — Mandi Bierly

30. Bring It On 2000
They're sexy, they're cute, they're popular to boot! Kirsten Dunst plays Torrance, the bright-eyed cheerleading captain who must save her high school's squad from a major cheeragedy: going down as the team who stole routines. In the end, we learn there's more to cheerleading than loads of hairspray, teeny halter tops, and back-stabbing: These are athletes who know how to really bring it. We give this comedy five spirit fingers up! — Lindsay Soll

29. Gregory's Girl 1982
Gregory's Girl is short on stars, long on soccer, and it sounds like a Weird Al Yankovic parody of Rick Springfield. But it is also sweetly hilarious as gangly Scottish teen Gregory (Gordon John Sinclair) falls for an out-of-his-league girl. The result is guaranteed to make viewers feel much better about their own post-pubescent awkwardness — unless they, too, ever tried to romance someone with the information that ''When you sneeze, it comes out your nose 180 miles an hour.'' — Clark Collis

28. Back to the Future 1985
A.K.A. the coolest movie ever to feature a Huey Lewis and the News song. The film ingeniously literalizes high school's sexual frustration and disdain for one's parents by having Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly getting hit on over and over again by Lea Thompson as his young, future mother (thanks to that time-traveling DeLorean). It just goes to prove that the parental units were just as horny back in the day as we were. — Gilbert Cruz

27. To Sir, With Love 1967
Way before Mr. Holland began teaching his opus and Michelle Pfeiffer was molding dangerous minds, Sidney Poitier was taming a room of unruly British teens with his real-life lessons and tough-love tactics (a boxing glove to the stomach, anyone?). Having himself played an insubordinate kid in 1955's Blackboard Jungle, the student masterfully becomes the teacher in this sappy but never maudlin tale of inspiration and tolerance. — Michelle Kung

26. Pretty in Pink 1986
Perhaps the most controversial ending to a teen romance ever. (Behind Romeo and Juliet? Fine.) Should Andie (Molly Ringwald) have chased after rich, repentant Blane (Andrew McCarthy), or stayed at the prom with poor, devoted Duckie (Jon Cryer)? That we, women now in our 30s, still care is a testament to John Hughes' script about love across class lines (point for Blane); the meaning of friendship and individuality (point for Duckie); and the evil nature of wealthy high schoolers in crisp, white clothing (point for James Spader). — Mandi Bierly

25. Hoosiers 1986
Most school movie jocks are belligerent bullies. But Jimmy Chitwood (Maris Valainis) is part Larry Bird, part Rain Man, letting the swish of the basketball net do his talking. Hoops-crazed Hickory, Ind., adores him for it. His support of embattled Coach Dale (Gene Hackman) sways the town, and his skill transforms Dale from goat to genius. In the championship game, the Brylcreemed god overrules Dale's last-second strategy with three words: ''I'll make it.'' Definitely. — Jeff Labrecque

24. Rushmore 1998
For some reason, Rushmore doesn't quite feel like a high school movie. Maybe that's because director/co-writer Wes Anderson's wonderful comedy doesn't feel like any other movie ever made. But it's about school days: Just the fact that Jason Schwartzman's tirelessly enterprising Max Fischer is a student at all becomes palpably bittersweet, since he's too young to ever win Olivia Williams, the teacher of his (and anyone's) dreams. — Gregory Kirschling

23. Cooley High 1975
Written by Good Times co-creator Eric Monte and directed by Michael Schultz, this tearjerker provided the blueprint for Boyz N the Hood. In mid-'60s Chicago, geek Leroy ''Preach'' Jackson (Glynn Turman) and hoop star Richard ''Cochise'' Morris (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs) struggle to stay out of trouble while prepping for graduation. The soundtrack, featuring G.C. Cameron's ballad ''It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,'' remains as beloved as the film. — Margeaux Watson

22. American Pie 1999
A frivolous teen comedy that left its mark: Jason Biggs taught us the dangers of webcam misuse (and baked-goods abuse), while the guy who'd become Harold — or was it Kumar? — popularized the term MILF. Pie was both funnier and bawdier than Porky's, though that 1981 romp gets points for Kim Cattrall's outrageous orgasm scene. But even she can't top Alyson Hannigan's perfect delivery of the line (all together now): ''This one time? At band camp?'' — Hannah Tucker

21. Grease 1978
Still the top-grossing film musical ever, Grease may look too pure to be ''pink,'' but listen to those lyrics (and watch John Travolta ogle Olivia Newton-John in ''You're the One That I Want'') and you may find yourself blushing. Beneath the karaoke-heaven soundtrack lies a story with teen pregnancy, ''pussy wagons,'' and a TV personality trying to put an aspirin in a girl's Coke. Naughty but harmless, it's just like high school should be. — Mandi Bierly

20. Dead Poets Society 1989
Perhaps the finest movie in a shockingly sparse mini-genre: the high school weepie. (After all, high school makes you cry sometimes.) Here, if Robert Sean Leonard's suicide doesn't get you (''My son! My son!''), then the ending — Ethan Hawke's stirring ''O Captain! My Captain!,'' Maurice Jarre's blaring bagpipes, and teacher Robin Williams' ''Thank you, boys, thank you'' — will. Only somebody too cool for school could resist. — Gregory Kirschling

19. The Last Picture Show 1971
Peter Bogdanovich's black-and-white film takes us to the tumbleweed burg of Anarene, Tex., where Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, and Randy Quaid vie for Cybill Shepherd, the town's No. 2 seductress. (Her mom's No. 1.) These horny, angst-ridden teens deal with sex, mortality, money, and a li'l Texas football by being themselves: subconsciously callous. But the witty banter, mostly by the grown-ups, makes it all less bleak. — Vanessa Juarez

18. Rock 'n' Roll High School 1979
Producer Roger Corman's comedy is a jiggly love affair set at Vince Lombardi High and centered on matchmaker Eaglebauer (Clint Howard), whose office is a men's room stall, and ''Riff Randell, rock & roller'' (pre-Stripes hottie P.J. Soles), who must rebel against Principal Togar (Mary Woronov) to see a forbidden — and very excellent — Ramones show. Think Spinal Tap and Dazed and Confused skipping study hall together to get stoned. — Jason Adams

17. Peggy Sue Got Married 1986
Would you change anything if you could relive high school? Possibly hook up with that beatnik of a guy you always wondered about? Until Chevrolet makes an actual plutonium-powered time machine, we'll have to live vicariously through this humorously goofy Francis Ford Coppola flick, in which Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) goes back in time to figure out whether pompadoured heartthrob Charlie (Nicolas Cage) is her one and only. — Vanessa Juarez

16. Lucas 1986
Sure, sensitive jock Charlie Sheen ends up shirtless for seven minutes due to a freak blender accident in Home Ec. But we remember Lucas for its smart scrawny hero (an affecting Corey Haim), who showed that the strongest kid is the one who walks through the halls knowing he'll be teased. And that the most interesting person finds beauty where he can — even in the sewer system, sitting beneath a manhole cover, listening to a live symphony above. — Mandi Bierly

15. Carrie 1976
School can be terrifying, especially when you're an awkward telekinetic teen whose mother is a loony religious zealot. Poor Carrie White can't even get through P.E. class without being viciously mocked by her peers. But in this Brian De Palma classic, the wallflower eventually gets her revenge in the spectacularly gory prom climax (even disposing of a Kotter-era John Travolta). Sissy Spacek's Oscar-nominated turn in the title role is pure, silent rage. — Tim Stack

14. Donnie Darko 2001
There are funnier high school movies, and ones with better soundtracks and more nostalgic value, but how many of those deal with time travel, alternate universes, fate, God, free will, therapy, censorship, teenage angst, falling airplane engines, pedophilia, and a scary freaking bunny? Point made. And while we still don't necessarily understand it all, few films deal so matter-of-factly with the sheer dread (both literal and metaphoric) of teen life. — Gilbert Cruz

13. High School 1968
Although it was added to the elite National Film Registry the same year as 2001 and Chinatown, Frederick Wiseman's documentary is — like many of his fly-on-the-wall nonfiction films — extremely difficult to find on video. But it is essential. Thirty years before reality TV, Wiseman took his camera to Philadelphia's Northeast High School and shot what was there, editing it, without narration, into a devastating indictment of bureaucracy and enforced conformity. — Gregory Kirschling

12. Mean Girls 2004
There was a time when Lindsay Lohan was best known for her acting rather than her party-hopping. Showcasing La Lohan in arguably her best role to date, this Tina Fey-scripted film also boasts a breakout turn by Rachel McAdams as evil queen bee Regina George (''Gretchen, stop trying to make 'fetch' happen! It's not going to happen!''). While Mean Girls is technically a comedy, its depiction of girl-on-girl cattiness stings incredibly true. — Tim Stack

11. Say Anything 1989
Go on: Hoist that boom box above your head and turn up ''In Your Eyes.'' Stand motionless with a fixed expression of unrequited but determined love. And watch Cameron Crowe's ode to young passion, which made John Cusack the thinking teen's heartthrob and should have done the same for Ione Skye. If the postgraduation romance between an earnest kickboxer and a sheltered valedictorian doesn't win you over, repeat steps one and two and listen closer. — Hannah Tucker

10. Ferris Bueller's Day Off 1986
Who didn't want to be Ferris in 12th grade? Who wouldn't want school to be a magical place where you could wake up and call in sick (with an awesome hacking-cough keyboard) and then see your name in a get-well-soon message painted on the side of a water tower by lunch, all while you were cruising through Chicago in a red Ferrari? Thanks to Matthew Broderick as Ferris, teenagerdom has never felt more fun or mythic. — Gregory Kirschling

9. Election 1999
Before taking on geezers (About Schmidt) and oenophiles (Sideways), director Alexander Payne in Election scabrously exposed the most embarrassing shortcomings of high schoolers in an artful, hilarious way. He doesn't go easy on anybody — not Matthew Broderick's weak, meddling teacher, nor Reese Witherspoon's Fargo-accented student-council-president candidate. In fact, Election is as mean as high school at its worst. - Gregory Kirschling

8. Boyz N the Hood 1991
Set in South Central Los Angeles, John Singleton's Oscar-nominated directorial debut revealed what it's like to come of age — and cram for the SATs — in a community plagued by crime, violence, and gang warfare. By contrasting the collegiate aspirations of bookworm Tre Styles (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and football star Ricky Baker (Morris Chestnut) with the self-destructive lifestyle of dropout/drug dealer Doughboy (Ice Cube), Boyz effectively pimped for education. — Margeaux Watson

7. Clueless 1995
It's a rare movie that makes you want to befriend the prettiest, most popular girl in school. But not all girls are Cher (Alicia Silverstone), who gets as many killer lines as fashion ensembles, learns that seeing the best in others is a way to better yourself, and discovers the joy of shopping with a well-dressed gay man — all at the ripe age of 15. Credit writer-director Amy Heckerling for making this modern-day Emma consistently smart and funny. — Mandi Bierly

6. American Graffiti 1973
Graffiti's cast of teens — including Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard — has serious decisions to make on a late-summer night filled with rock music and hot rods, the kind that can only be made if they stay up 'til dawn. Should they ditch town for college? Should they stay with their gals? Whatever the choice, it infuses this most innocently joyous eve-of-adulthood film with that bittersweet feeling of leaving one's childhood behind. - Gilbert Cruz

5. Heathers 1989
For those who dream about offing an obnoxious classmate, Heathers is the ultimate fantasy. Full of mordant wit, shocking violence, and savvy performances by Christian Slater and Winona Ryder, the flick was the antithesis of the earnest '80s John Hughes films — you'd never see Molly Ringwald serving up a kitchen-cleaner cocktail for Ally Sheedy. Even today, Heathers' spin on cliques, teen suicide, and homosexuality still has bite. - Tim Stack

4. Rebel Without a Cause 1955
''You're tearing me apart,'' Jim Stark (James Dean) howls at his parents. For the new kid in school, it doesn't get any easier. Though he finds a friend in the extremely troubled Plato (Sam Mineo), Stark gets into it on his first day with a gang of bullies, in a knife fight and later in a chickie run. Dean was a refreshing change from the well-scrubbed teens of earlier Hollywood films. Here was a character young audiences could finally recognize. — Vanessa Juarez

3. Dazed and Confused 1993
Matthew McConaughey's Wooderson likes high school girls because even though he gets older, they stay the same age. We feel the same way about Richard Linklater's minutiae-filled comedic epic about the last day of school in 1976 — we may get older, but Dazed is ageless. And for a movie featuring so many stoners, Dazed is mammothly ambitious: Few other films say as much about starting, sticking around in, and leaving high school. — Gregory Kirschling

2. Fast Times at Ridgemont High 1982
When screenwriter Cameron Crowe went undercover to observe the species Teenagerus americanus, he returned with more than the usual grab-bag of anecdotes about horny, apple-pie-humping guys and the popularity-obsessed girls who must fight them off with a stick. He returned with 24-karat truth. To watch Fast Times today is to know exactly what it felt like to be fixated on sex, drugs, and rock & roll in Southern California circa 1982. It also launched careers and dished out still-relevant life lessons: Jennifer Jason Leigh (relax your throat muscles when fellating a carrot), Phoebe Cates (always knock before entering a bathroom), and Judge Reinhold (see above). And Sean Penn's Jeff Spicoli, with his checkerboard Vans and bong-hit grin, was a geyser of catchphrases (''Aloha, Mr. Hand!''). The film never strains for coming-of-age treacle. Maybe that's why it still feels so...right. Especially Damone's sage advice: ''When it comes down to making out, whenever possible put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.'' — Chris Nashawaty

1. The Breakfast Club
We see it as we want to see it — in the simplest terms, the most convenient definition: The Breakfast Club is the best high school movie of all time. It may lack the scope of its peers — the drinking, the driving, the listless loitering in parking lots — as well as any scenes that actually take place during school. But if hell is other people — and high school is hell — then John Hughes is the genre's Sartre, and this is his No Exit.

The concept is simple: one Saturday detention, five unhappy teens, and their scramble to prove they're each something more than a brain (Anthony Michael Hall), an athlete (Emilio Estevez), a basket case (Ally Sheedy), a princess (Molly Ringwald), and a criminal (Judd Nelson). Following the farcical fluff of Sixteen Candles, the issues Hughes explored — sex, drugs, abuse, suicide, the need to belong to something — were surprisingly subversive and handled with bracing, R-rated honesty. '''Kids movie' was a derogatory term,'' recalls Nelson, ''and Hughes was definitely not making that.'' Thus, 21 years later, the film still sparks intense debates about the trials of teen life. (Sheedy's goth freak gets a makeover, then gets the guy: well-earned happy ending or antifeminist propaganda? Discuss!)

Never mind the serious sociological stuff. The Breakfast Club rules because watching the group dismantle/ignore the authority of Principal ''Dick'' Vernon (Paul Gleason) is a vicarious thrill at any age. It rules because Simple Minds' ''Don't You Forget About Me'' is a kick-ass theme. Mostly it rules because, as Hall puts it: ''In the end, you learn maybe we're more alike than we realize, and that's kind of cool.'' Leave it to the neo-maxi-zoom-dweebie to get all cheesy. — Whitney Pastorek

"perfectly formed ass" TRAILER

2006-09-07T22:54:00.000-04:00

Casino Royale. Whatever it's called.

Either way, this trailer kicks all kinds of perfectly formed arse!

Go here.

ELLEN! ELLEN! ELLEN! ELLEN! ELLEN!

2006-09-07T21:43:00.000-04:00

ELLEN!

Say it with me now:

ELLEN!

The divine and hilarious Miss Degeneres will be your host for the next Oscars! And the chorus adds a big, fat FINALLY! This is the third new host in a row, in case you've been keeping track. I really loved Jon and hope he comes back sometime, but I think Steve Martin is my favorite. Well, I pretty much love everyone I've seen host the Oscars. I thought Letterman was okay?

From YAHOO:

Ellen DeGeneres has been tapped to host next year's Oscars, the Academy of Motions Pictures Arts and Sciences said Thursday.

It will be the comedian and TV talker's first time hosting the Oscars show and first appearance on the award show. She has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast twice and co-hosted it once, and hosted the Grammys twice.

"Ellen DeGeneres was born to host the Academy Awards," said producer Laura Ziskin in a statement. "I can already tell she is going to set the bar very high for herself and therefore for all of us involved in putting on the show. Now all we need is a lot of great movies."

The 79th Annual Academy Awards are scheduled to be broadcast live from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 25. This year's Oscarcast, in March, was fronted by "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.

DeGeneres is the host of the syndicated talk show "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," which has won 15 Daytime Emmys since going on the air in 2003.

DeGeneres also starred in the ABC sitcom "Ellen," which aired between 1994 and 1998, and the CBS sitcom, "The Ellen Show," which ran 2001-2002. She has also been a regular in films and has authored several books.

"When Laura Ziskin called, I was thrilled," said DeGeneres in a statement. "There's two things I've always wanted to do in my life. One is to host the Oscars. The second is to get a call from Laura Ziskin. You can imagine that day's diary entry."

Garsh, I love her so much!

I hope the fab Portia will be there, too!

Box Office Predix: Sept 8 - 10

2006-09-06T18:07:00.000-04:00

1. The Covenant - $14m / $14m / $35m
2. Invincible - $7.5m / $47.5m / $60m
3. The Protector - $7m / $7m / $17m
4. Hollywoodland - $6.5m / $6.5m / $22m
5. Little Miss Sunshine - $6m / $43m / $66m
6. The Illusionist - $5.5m / $19m / $40m
7. Crank - $4.5m / $20m / $29m
8. The Wicker Man - $4m / $17.5m / $25m
9. Talladega Nights - $3m / $142m / $148m
10. World Trade Center - $2.5m / $67m / $72m

it's like the craft, but with boyz!

'FUR' trailer.

2006-09-05T23:10:00.000-04:00

I really dig this trailer. Given that it's about a photographer, it would make sense that the movie looks as visually unusual as it does. They use the same music that was used in the Donnie Darko trailer, another movie that involved fantasy elements and a big furry man. :-) Kidman looks very understated, and (furry) Downey Jr looks great!

Go here.

And despite popular belief, the movie is still titled FUR. There is a subtitle now: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus.

Best Poster of the Year? Certainly the SEXIEST!

2006-09-05T23:04:00.000-04:00

Yum. Yum. Gimme some.

Summer Movie Box-Office Wrap Up: The Pirates Came. They Saw. They Conquered.

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At the beginning of the summer, I predicted what the top 25 movies of the season would be. Below is listed the actual top 25 and behind several are what I predicted they would do.

Also, I predicted that The Devil Wears Prada and Little Miss Sunshine would be the sleeper hits of the summer and that Miami Vice and Poseidon would bomb. Ha! (Several of my other predix were off, but oh well. I got those right so I'm happy!)

Top Movies of Summer 2006

(Many grosses are projected final grosses.)

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - $422m (325)
2. Cars - $244m (250) SCORE!
3. X-Men: The Last Stand - $234m (180)
4. The Da Vinci Code - $218m (225) SCORE!
5. Superman Returns - $199m (240)
6. Over the Hedge - $155m (155) OH SNAP!
7. Talladega Nights: Ballad of Ricky Bobby - $148m (100)
8. Click - $137m (130) SCORE!
9. Mission Impossible 3 - $133m (200) OUCH
10. The Devil Wears Prada - $124m (62) I'm so happy to be off with this one!
11. The Break Up - $119m (105)
12. Nacho Libre - $80m (74)
13. You, Me and Dupree - $76m (86)
14. Word Trade Center - $72m (58)
15. Monster House - $72m (125) OUCH!
16. Barnyard - $70m
17. Little Miss Sunshine - $66m
18. Step Up - $64m
19. Miami Vice - $64m (80)
20. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - $62m (65) SCORE!
21. Poseidon - $61m (95)
22. Invincible - $60m
23. Little Man - $58m
24. The Omen - $55m (56) OH SNAP!
25. The Lake House - $52m (52) OH SNAP!
26. Lady in the Water - $42m (72)
27. John Tucker Must Die - $41m
28. The Illusionist - $40m
29. Snakes on a Plane - $35m (70)
30. Accepted - $34m
31. The Ant Bully - $28m
32. Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties - $28m (60)
33. The Descent - $26m
34. An Inconvenient Truth - $25m
35. Clerks 2 - $24m
36. My Super Ex-Girlfriend - $22m (64)
37. Waist Deep - $21m
38. Pulse - $20m
39. A Prairie Home Companion - $20m
40. Beerfest - $18m

Final Thoughts:

The 10 Movies That Define Summer 2006:

Cars
Pixar still owns it.

The Da Vinci Code
May not have been the film audiences wanted, but that controversy and hype sure was fun!

The Devil Wears Prada
Remember the studio movies of yesteryear that had fabulous stars and witty writing! DWP does, and audiences are hungry for non-juvenile, non-grossout comedies like this one.

An Inconvenient Truth
I hate to say that some films are important and must be seen, but....

Little Miss Sunshine
Mainstream indies make people feel hip. And they really, really, really love Steve Carell.

Mission Impossible 3
If no one wanted a sequel to begin with, it's not going to do anything despite it easily being the best in the series. This disappointment began the summer, and the Cruise-Paramount fallout ended the summer.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
.....

Snakes on a Plane
Proof that fanboys and internet marketing aren't really as powerful as we thought. Nevertheless, this is going to have a long happy life on DVD.

Superman Returns
It's what happens when a movie is in development for far too long: like MI3, no matter how good it ends up being, people will just lose interest.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
You could credit this success to Will. You could credit it to the funny trailers and solid marketing. But really, it's NASCAR. And NASCAR only.

How do you end this summer?

To quote the most quoted character of the year....

"That's all."