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2009 | 2008

9 articles from 2009

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Rmr: Posters Galore, 'Ponyo' On a Boat, 'Avatar' Tix and Pics and More

30 August 2009 2:58 AM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »

Photo: Universal Pictures Anne Thompson reports Angelina Jolie is reading the new Wanted 2 script. Will she spark to the idea of her character's resurrection? [Anne Thompson] Tom Cruise apparently flew into New Zealand to take a meeting with Peter Jackson leading some to speculate whether Cruise and Jackson will be teaming for a future film. Of course, Cruise's involvement with MGM most likely involves further production work on The Hobbit as a script is rumored to be completed with the casting of Bilbo also underway. [Sydney Morning Herald via IGN] If you haven't read it yet, The Onion has a fantastic satirical piece written by a faux Meryl Streep headlined "Name One Masterpiece Of Cinema That I've Starred In". It's an entertaining read. The "Los Angeles Times" has posted an interesting piece looking at Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and asking "Do Tarantino's 'Basterds' jibe with Jewish beliefs?" Box Office Mojo reports Seth Rogen's The Green Hornet »

- Brad Brevet

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Oscar Nominees To Number 10 Next Year

25 June 2009 1:12 PM, PDT | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group that hands out the annual Oscar awards, touched off an industry-wide controversy Wednesday when it announced that it is doubling the number of nominees for Best Picture to 10. Although the announcement came as a surprise to many in Hollywood, Academy President Sid Ganis told the Wall Street Journal, "This wasn't a knee-jerk decision. ... We just felt we need to expand the possibilities to allow more genres." He noted that in the 1930s and '40s, the Academy routinely nominated 10 or even 12 movies a year for Best Picture. In 1939 the 10 nominees included the classics Dark Victory, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, and -- the winner -- Gone With the Wind. But one studio executive told the Hollywood Reporter "This likely means more filmmakers will want to see their movies open late in the year so they can still be in release during the crucial period between nominations [February 2] and the actual telecast [March 7]. It's simply going to clog up the distribution pipeline or mean we have to consider re-releasing one title or another. Don't even mention what it might do to DVD campaigns." Still, the move is likely to redound to the benefit of ABC, the network that broadcasts the awards ceremony. The Los Angeles Times said that it was spurred by what it called "the Marion Cotillard effect," referring to the all-but-unknown French actress who won last year's Best Actress award for her performance in the art-house release, La Vie en Rose. The Academy's action appears to ensure that at least a few hit films would be represented among its best-picture nominees. "Movies that have been nominated in recent years have been critically acclaimed but many were too obscure for the mainstream moviegoer," Shari Anne Brill, director of audience analysis for the ad-buying firm Carat, told the Times. And Geri Wang, ABC senior vice president for primetime sales, told the newspaper, "It's going to offer a broader palette of films being considered, and that should increase the interest in the show. Viewers, and the industry, will want to watch and root for their favorite films." »

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Shall we gather at the river?

11 June 2009 1:11 PM, PDT | blogs.suntimes.com/ebert | See recent Roger Ebert's Blog news »

The first time I saw him, he was striding toward me out of the burning Georgia sun, as helicopters landed behind him. His face was tanned a deep brown. He was wearing a combat helmet, an ammo belt, carrying a rifle, had a canteen on his hip, stood six feet four inches. He stuck out his hand and said, "John Wayne." That was not necessary.

John Wayne died 30 years ago on June 11. Stomach cancer. "The Big C," he called it. He had lived for quite a while on one lung, and then the Big C came back. He was near death and he knew it when he walked out on stage at the 1979 Academy Awards to present Best Picture to "The Deer Hunter," a film he wouldn't have made. He looked frail, but he planted himself there and sounded like John Wayne.

John Wayne. When I was a kid, we »

- Roger Ebert

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Remember That TCM List of Influential Films? Here's a New Variation...

10 June 2009 2:18 PM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »

Back in mid-April Turner Class Movies (TCM) revealed a list of their Top 15 Most Influential Films of All-Time. Shortly thereafter Kris Tapley at InContention.com started polling his readers to come up with another variation of the list and today the results are in. Some of the complaints about TCM's list had to do with the fact it didn't include a film after 1977's Star Wars and it had two John Ford/John Wayne films. That was, of course, on top of people getting upset over what films were left off the list, which is just one of the motivating factors for Tapley's attempt to take another stab at it. I have included the In Contention list directly below and movies with an * indicate a film that was also on TCM's list. The only thing I wish this list had was reasoning behind each title, but since it was »

- Brad Brevet

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Talkin' Westerns with A.C. Lyles

14 May 2009 4:29 PM, PDT | The Hollywood Interview | See recent The Hollywood Interview news »

(A.C. Lyles, below)

by Jon Zelazny

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared at EightMillionStories.com on February 27, 2009

There’s an A.C. Lyles Building at the Paramount Pictures main lot, but you won’t find A.C. Lyles there; his office is on the fourth floor of the William S. Hart Building.

When I arrived for our interview, Mr. Lyles was chatting with some visitors in his outer office. He bid me into his main office, and asked his assistant Pam to put in a video… a short promo reel that opens with a six minute tribute by then-President Ronald Reagan, who warmly recalls his and Nancy’s many years of friendship with A.C. and his wife Martha, and congratulates A.C. on his fifty years at the studio. The President’s intro is followed by taped congratulations from President Carter, President Ford, and Vice President Bush, then assorted clips celebrating Mr. »

- The Hollywood Interview.com

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TCM Unveils Their List of Top 15 Most Influential Films of All-Time

13 April 2009 12:08 PM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has just released their official list of top 15 most influential classic films of all time, the latest element in the network's 15th anniversary celebration and the launching point for a new feature at TCM.com in which the network says it will post a fresh list of movie favorites each day (although it actually looks like it is only going to be a weekly feature). The feature will be called TCM Dailies and will usually highlight five films, with a constantly changing theme. The lists will run from serious to silly, such as TCM's favorite car-chase movies, best slap scenes and top sequels. Perhaps the most unfortunate thing is that TCM will just be listing the films and not necessarily showing them. This would have been even bigger news had I been able to tell you the 15 films featured will be shown on TCM over »

- Brad Brevet

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Stana Katic: The Hollywood Interview

10 April 2009 3:37 PM, PDT | The Hollywood Interview | See recent The Hollywood Interview news »

Actress Stana Katic looking tailored as Detective Kate Beckett in Castle.

Stana Katic:

Storms The Walls Of Castle

By

Alex Simon

Editor's Note: The following article appears in the April issue of Venice Magazine.

Actress Stana Katic is on a roll. After scoring supporting roles in two of last year’s highest-profile films, Quantum of Solace and The Spirit, the statuesque Canadian stunner landed the female lead in ABC’s new police drama/romantic comedy Castle, playing Detective Kate Beckett, a tough-as-nails NYPD officer who finds herself with the regrettable assignment of allowing cocky, best-selling crime novelist Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) to shadow her for research on his next book. Not only does she find that Castle’s creative instincts for the criminal mind help her solve some of the city’s most challenging murders, she finds her tough exterior melting under Castle’s considerable charms. The show airs Monday nights on ABC. »

- The Hollywood Interview.com

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Oscar's Biggest Blunders

7 February 2009 3:26 PM, PST | JustPressPlay.net | See recent JustPressPlay news »

As we creep closer to the 2009 Academy Awards, prognosticators look back as much as forward to try and determine who the favorites will be. By looking back, I mean to suggest that past Academy choices perhaps unfairly paint them in a certain light, and support the group's predictability and oft-whispered bias. For instance, feel good films generally trump depressors. Oscar loves a comeback story almost as much as they love to reward seasoned veterans with lead acting awards and fresh faces in the supporting roles (particularly supporting actress). And despite a requisite surprise or two every year, they mostly play it safe. Usually painfully boringly safe. That, and the fact they get it wrong more often than they get it right. So I present a glance at the ten most egregiously shortsighted Oscars ever given.

I'm focusing solely on the big one: Best Picture. If I included anything and everything, »

- Matt Medlock

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In John Ford's West, a Methodist Hymn Starts Somber, Then Inspires Sarcasm

9 January 2009 9:00 PM, PST | amctv.com - Future of Classic: Westerns | See recent amctv.com - Future of Classic: Westerns news »

"Shall We Gather at the River?" is a Methodist hymn that became an anthem in John Ford's movies. It speckles the soundtracks of Stagecoach, Wagon Master, and My Darling Clementine. But the song's religious utopianism ("Soon our happy hearts will quiver / With the melody of peace") also makes it a perfect target for parody. "There's no more time for praying!" John Wayne barks at a funeral party that's »

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2009 | 2008

9 articles from 2009

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