Darren. At the Cinema.

18th Screen Actors Guild Winners

2012-01-29T22:06:00.003-05:00

Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture - THE HELP
Best Male Actor in a Leading Role - Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Female Actor in a Leading Role - Viola Davis, The Help
Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Male Actor, Movie/Miniseries - Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail
Best Female Actor, Movie/Miniseries - Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce
Best Male Actor in a Drama Series - Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Best Female Actor in a Drama Series - Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Best Male Actor in a Comedy Series - Alec Balwin, 30 Rock
Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series - Betty White, Hot in Cleveland
Best Ensemble in a Drama Series - Boardwalk Empire
Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Modern Family

Okay show. These are usually pretty dull, but this at least had a few moments of life. The cast of The Help were best dressed for the night, more on that later in the week. Surprise at no-show from Kate Winslet, gotta be a story there.

Random comments I made during the show:
+Not a fan of Armie Hammer's slickbacked hair. LOL @ him being an ass in the background during Meryl Streep postclip applause.
+The red carpet had some fun moments. I LOVED Jonah Hill calling Gulianna and E! on bashing him after he got nominated for an Oscar. It was funny watching G on E! try to backtrack and act like everything was cool. Kristen Wiig's impression of that family I do not speak of's matriach also had me howling. My mom thought it was funny too.
+The Mary Tyler Moore thing felt awkward? The audience clearly didn't know what to do when they gave a standing O as her clip package ran.
+Bridesmaids bit with SCORSESE was awesome. And I love that some people ran with it during the night. I'm not sure what to think of Kristen Wiig's choker and I wish Maya Rudolph would try to look pretty. Hopefully both clean up for the Oscars. Really didn't like Rose Byrne's pants/jumper thing. Ellie Kemper looked amazing though. Where was Wendi? Melissa looked good, though. Wished my boyfriend Chris O'Dowd was there. LOL I SAW GIL AND BRYNN.
+Dick Van Dyke comes out and my friend Brian said Shailene Woodley was probably thinking "I loved him in Warrior." LMAO!
+The Betty White love needs to end. Its ridiculous. Next year they'll give her an award for this year's speech.
+We had a lot of fun making fun of the Glenn Close - Jessica Lange - Meryl Streep secret rivalry. It would have been awesome to see Glenn lose to Meryl after losing to Jessica. He said when Jessica won, Berenice was like "I loved the costumes in her movie W/E." Busy Phillips: "Is that Madonna?"
+Kathy Bates needs to play Paula Deen in a movie.
+I love that Octavia Spencer brought Josh Hopkins. I have no idea why that makes me so happy.
+Tina Fey and John Krasinski were almost as funny as Amy Poehler and John Krasinski from a few years back.
+I wish the cast of The Office would realize their show hasn't been good in awhile. I wish the cast of Glee - except Naya Rivera - would go away.
+Emily Watson looked really unamused by everyone.
+Jane Krakowksi seemed really happy for everyone.
+Josh Charles is hot, and let me be blunt: probably has a nice dick.
+Natalie Portman takes herself so fucking seriously. Seriously. Girl, hang with the Bridesmaids or something.
+Somehow, the idea of someone thanking both Penelope Ann Miller AND Missi Pyle in their speech just fills me with joy?
+Shailene Woodley clearly just laughed at Clooney and declared him a 2-time loser. go girl!
+I would kill to hear the conversation Angelina and Tilda were having? Do you think they were just talking shit on everyone? Good times.
+We got a race in two acting categories. Thank god.

Scorsese.

SAG PREDIX

2012-01-29T14:57:00.002-05:00

Tonight on TBS/TNT.

Only doing film categories, as their TV winners are probably going to be the same as last year.

Male Actor - George Clooney
Alt - Brad Pitt
Dujardin has a shot. Clooney wins here, smooth sailing to Oscar. Bleh.

Male Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer
Alt - Nick Nolte
I could see there being a random upset, but I doubt it. Plummer should have everything locked down.

Female Actor - Viola Davis
Alt - Meryl Streep
Streep just won this 3 years ago, and if she does win, she's in it all the way to Oscar. Which is sad. Davis and Streep are neck and neck, which of course means Michelle Williams will shock everyone and win. That would make things fun.

Female Supporting Actor - Octavia Spencer
Alt - Melissa McCarthy
Melissa probably does have a decent shot here, so might Jessica. Again, I'm hoping one of them takes it just to make things interesting.

Ensemble - THE HELP
Alt - THE ARTIST
I'm not entirely sure Help is winning anymore because of the overwhelming industry support for The Artist. The fact that Help's ensemble is only one (or two?) man might hurt it. That being said, it is the "actors" movie of the lot, so I'm going with it.

DGA Goes To....

2012-01-29T14:28:00.003-05:00

Best Director for a Feature Film
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Feature Documentary
James Marsh, Project Nim

Drama Series
Patty Jenkins, The Killing, “Pilot” (AMC)

Comedy Series
Robert B. Weide, Curb Your Enthusiasm, “Palestinian Chicken” (HBO)

Movies for Television and Miniseries
Jon Cassar, The Kennedys (Reelz Channel)

Reality Series
Neil P. Degroot, The Biggest Loser, “Episode #1115” (NBC)

Musical/Variety Series
Glenn Weiss, 65th Annual Tony Awards (CBS)

Daytime Serials
William Ludel, General Hospital, “Intervention” (ABC)

Children’s Programs
Amy Schatz, A Child’s Garden of Poetry (HBO)

Best Dressed At the Globes

2012-01-29T00:22:00.007-05:00

#9 - TILDA SWINTON
(I can't help it. I totally love this.)

#8 - DIANE LANE

#7 - EMMA STONE

#6 - OCTAVIA SPENCER

#5 - KATE BECKINSALE

#4 - SHAILENE WOODLEY

#3 - CLAIRE DANES

#2 - ANGELINA JOLIE

#1 - CHARLIZE THERON

Late, I know. But I got it out of the way before the SAGs?

DGA2NITE

2012-01-28T18:42:00.001-05:00

DGA Predix:

Michel Hazanavicius
alt - Scorsese

If Marty wins, we might have a fun race.

SAGDIX2MORROW

Bridesmaids Are the First Oscar Presenters

2012-01-27T02:40:00.002-05:00

Making my dreams come true, the producers of this year's telecast announced today the first batch of presenters for the Oscar ceremony: Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendy McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig - the cast of Bridesmaids. They made the first announcement with exactly one month to go. I'm guessing the next batch will be last year's acting winners. I'd really like to see the Harry Potter trio present. Yeah, producer Darren is taking over!

As promised:

GIFSoup
*Oscar Nominated*

Box: The Company of Wolves

2012-01-26T01:59:00.002-05:00

1. The Grey - $17m / $17m / $60m
2. Underworld: Awakening - $11.5m / $44.5m / $70m
3. Man on a Ledge - $10m / $10m / $29m
4. Red Tails - $9.5m / $33m / $56m
5. One for the Money - $9m / $9m / $26m
6. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - $7.5m / $21.5m / $40m
7. Contraband - $6m / $56m / $72m
8. The Descendants - $5m / $57m / $82m
9. Beauty and the Beast - $4.5m / $40m / $50m
10. Haywire - $4m / $15.5m / $25m

OSCAR NOMINEES:
The Artist - $4m / $17.5m / $50m
The Iron Lady - $3m / $17.5m / $32m
Hugo - $3m / $59m / $70m
War Horse - $2.5m / $76m / $85m
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - $2.5m / $98.5m / $105m
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - $1.5m / $20.5m / $26m
My Week With Marilyn - $.3m / $12.5m / $14m

I have no idea how many screens Albert Nobbs is opening in this weekend. I'm guessing 150-200. I'd expect it to gross $5m - $7m when it finishes its run. As for the rest, The Artist is really struggling to breakout and its biggest weekend will probably be after it wins Best Picture. It should be in about 1000 theatres for this weekend. If the black and white doesn't kill it, the lack of sound certainly will. The Descendants expands to 1700+ and should have a very nice rebound. Hugo is only going to about 950, and already has a DVD/Blu date of February 28. The rest of the lot should experience very modest drops, and I doubt anything will go up from last week.

Oscar Nom Thoughts: Extremely Good and Incredibly Gross

2012-01-24T11:22:00.002-05:00

OSCAR NOMINEE KRISTEN WIIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all, really.

No, there's more.

I told ya there would be surprises. Except for supporting actress, each acting category produced one. Bechir and Oldman, over Dicaprio and Fassbender! Mara over Swinton! We all thought Glenn Close was running 5th, poor Tilda. And supporting actor was the one place we knew a surprise was lurking. The screenplay categories are pretty solid.

The song category sucks ass? They really should have just cancelled it this year. Though Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords is now an Oscar-nominee.

Terrence Malick and Tree of Life - WONDERFUL!!!! SO HAPPY.

Jennifer Lawrence did a great job and looked lovely. She rocks the dark hair, but I prefer her as a blonde. Gorgeous!

But, let's forget about all that and focus on what will be remembered about this morning.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?!?!?!?!!?!??!!?!?!?!?!?!

Oy vey. That is really not good at all, and will probably mean next year we'll be back to 5 nominees. Between this and War Horse, well....

It seems we have a strong internal battle from AMPAS with the old guard vs the new guard. I've said it before, if you haven't made a movie in 10 years and are not an Oscar winner or previous nominee, your membership should be revoked. Even most people acknowledged that screenings for Extremely Loud were lukewarm at best. This nomination feels bought. Not really, but given how the 5% thing works, its possible that the system can in a way be manipulated. You know it, I'm going to corfirm it now: Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks and Stephen Daldry are evil. Daldry has now had three movies get Picture noms, two of which had pretty mediocre to awful reviews.

But bleh.

This is a wild mixed bag, but thankfully there were surprises. You have to take the good with the bad, and I'm just happy for Bridesmaids and Tree of Life. And Woody Allen. My three favorite films so far this year!

Fuck, now I have to see that stupid Thomas Horn movie. UGH!

Every Oscar post from now till Oscar night shall have a Wiig-gif.

84th ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEES

2012-01-24T10:33:00.002-05:00

BEST PICTURE:
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
THE HELP
HUGO
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
MONEYBALL
THE TREE OF LIFE
WAR HORSE

BEST DIRECTING:
MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS - THE ARTIST
ALEXANDER PAYNE - THE DESCENDANTS
MARTIN SCORSESE - HUGO
WOODY ALLEN - MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
TERRENCE MALICK - THE TREE OF LIFE

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
DEMIAN BACHIR - A BETTER LIFE
GEORGE CLOONEY - THE DESCENDANTS
JEAN DUJARDIN - THE ARTIST
GARY OLDMAN - TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
BRAD PITT - MONEYBALL

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
GLENN CLOSE - ALBERT NOBBS
VIOLA DAVIS - THE HELP
ROONEY MARA - THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
MERYL STREEP - THE IRON LADY
MICHELLE WILLIAMS - MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
KENNETH BRANAGH - MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
JONAH HILL - MONEYBALL
NICK NOLTE - WARRIOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER - BEGINNERS
MAX VON SYDOW - EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
BERENICE BEJO - THE ARTIST
JESSICA CHASTAIN - THE HELP
MELISSA MCCARTHY - BRIDESMAIDS
JANET MCTEER - ALBERT NOBBS
OCTAVIA SPENCER - THE HELP

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
THE ARTIST - MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS
BRIDESMAIDS - ANNIE MUMOLO & KRISTEN WIIG
MARGIN CALL - J.C. CHANDOR
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS - WOODY ALLEN
A SEPARATION - ASGHAR FARHADI

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
THE DESCENDANTS - ALEXANDER PAYNE, NAT FAXON AND JIM RASH
HUGO - JOHN LOGAN
IDES OF MARCH - GEORGE CLOONEY, GRANT HESLOV AND BEAU WILLIMON
MONEYBALL - STEVEN ZALLIAN, AARON SORKIN AND STAN CHERVIN
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY - BRIDGET O'CONNOR & PETER STRAUGHAN

ART DIRECTION:
THE ARTIST
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
HUGO
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
WAR HORSE

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
THE ARTIST
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HUGO
THE TREE OF LIFE
WAR HORSE

COSTUME DESIGN:
ANONYMOUS
THE ARTIST
HUGO
JANE EYRE
W.E.

FILM EDITING:
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HUGO
MONEYBALL

MAKEUP:
ALBERT NOBBS
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
THE IRON LADY

MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE:
THE ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN
THE ARTIST
HUGO
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
WAR HORSE

MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG:
"MAN OR MUPPET" - THE MUPPETS
"REAL IN RIO" - RIO

SOUND MIXING:
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HUGO
MONEYBALL
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
WAR HORSE

SOUND EDITING:
DRIVE
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HUGO
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
WAR HORSE

VISUAL EFFECTS:
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
HUGO
REAL STEEL
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

ANIMATED FEATURE:
A CAT IN PARIS
CHICO & RITA
KUNG FU PANDA 2
PUSS IN BOOTS
RANGO

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
HELL AND BACK AGAIN
IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERTATION FRONT
PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY
PINA
UNDEFEATED

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT):
THE BARBER OF BIRMINGHAM: FOOT SOLDIER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
GOD IS THE BIGGER ELVIS
INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD
SAVING FACE
THE TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
BULLHEAD
FOOTNOTE
IN DARKNESS
MONSIEUR LAZHAR
A SEPARATION

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED):
DIMANCHE/SUNDAY
THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. MORRIS LESSMORE
LA LUNA
A MORNING STROLL
WILD LIFE

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION):
PENTECOST
RAJU
THE SHORE
TIME FREAK
TUBA ATLANTIC

OSCAR PREDIX!

2012-01-22T19:18:00.006-05:00

I'm just saying this. I'll regret it Tuesday.

Look to the films people feel passionately about. Even if its a small group, it just might be enough.

Melancholia, Margaret, A Separation, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Take Shelter, Tree of Life, Weekend and Drive to name a few. And, yes, those Bridesmaids.

Why are they important?

If there's one thing I can tell about this year's Oscar race, it is that there is a lack of passion. The Artist will probably win Best Picture, and Hugo and The Descendants will probably be nominated. The Help clearly has the support of actors, Midnight in Paris is Woody's biggest hit ever, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has had a nice surge in recent weeks. Almost all of these films could get nominated any year, but they all feel like also-rans. Films that get nominated, but don't win. They all feel safe. This is why I feel that there's a chance in almost every single category to have a nomination come along that's a genuine surprise.

It's been a fun award season so far, with no lineup really set in stone. Let's hope the Academy provides us with some fun picks, rather than just the same old Oscar bait.

VISUAL EFFECTS:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Tree of Life
Alt: Captain America: The First Avenger
Only ten options thanks to the bakeoff.

SOUND MIXING:
The Artist
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Alt: War Horse

SOUND EDITING:
Adventures of Tin Tin
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
Alt: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Basically, any action movie, animated feature or big summer movie could show up here. Hanna, interestingly enough, also has a decent shot. No pun intended. These two categories, of all the categories, are sort of like drawing lottery numbers. Usually, 3 or 4 films show up in both.

MAKEUP:
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Iron Lady
Alt: Hugo
Bakeoffs aren't very helpful here because even with the narrowed down field, any of the films listed could make it.

MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG:
"Lay Your Head Down" - Albert Nobbs
"Star Spangled Man" - Captain America: The First Avenger
"Hello Hello" - Gnomeo and Juliet
"The Living Proof" - The Help
"Life's a Happy Song" - The Muppets
Alt: "Pictures In My Head" - The Muppets
Another crapshoot. I think only the songs from The Muppets and The Help are safe.

MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE:
The Artist
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse
Alt: Adventures of Tin Tin
Safe choices. Almost everyone else has this exact 5.

ART DIRECTION:
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse
Alt: Midnight in Paris
I think Paris is going to show up in one of the non-major eight categories. I'm just not confident in which one.

COSTUME DESIGN:
The Artist
The Help
Hugo
Jane Eyre
My Week With Marilyn
Alt: Anonymous
Jane actually seems on the verge of showing up in three categories (here, art direction and score) but its safest bet is here.

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
The Artist
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Alt: War Horse
I just know Horse is getting nominated. I KNOW it is. I decided to be risky, but I know War Horse is getting nominated.

FILM EDITING:
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Alt: War Horse
If The Descendants wants to make a legit play for Picture, it MUST show up here.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Bill Cunningham New York
Buck
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Project Nim
We Were Here
Alt: Hell and Back Again

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
A Separation
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar
Pina
Alt: Bullhead
Yeah, I'm confident in about 3 of the Docs and 2 of the Foreign Films. Wild guess for the rest.

ANIMATED FEATURE:
Adventures of Tin Tin
Arthur Christmas
Chico & Rita
Puss-In-Boots
Rango
Alt: Kung Fu Panda 2
I don't care about anything here other than them NOT nominating Cars 2.

THE BIG 8:

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Alt: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Tattoo is just on the edge of defeating Tinker for that 5th slow. Hugo and The Help aren't totally safe, as Drive or Ides of March could wind up here.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
50/50
The Artist
A Separation
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
Alt: Win Win
Or Beginners or Tree of Life or Young Adult or Margin Call or a few others. Basically, every indie dramedy is up for this award?

SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks - Drive
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Alt: Ben Kingsley - Hugo
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Corey Stoll, Armie Hammer, Jim Broadbent, Viggo Mortensen, Brad Pitt (Tree of Life), Robert Forster, Max Von Sydow, Patton Oswalt, who else? The category is the one where the big Oscar morning shocker will most likely occur.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Alt: Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
Okay, McTeer and Woodley are neck and neck for that last slot. Woodley missed the SAG & BAFTA nod and all her buzz seems to have died a few weeks after the film opened. Another big morning shocker would be Chastain getting in for another film, or missing altogether. I think the only other viable alternative for this category would be Carey Mulligan, but even she is competing against herself - Shame vs. Drive.

DIRECTING:
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick - Tree of Life
Alt: David Fincher - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Ugh. The concensus for the 5th slot is Malick. Fincher, Winding-Refn, Spielberg, Taylor and Miller could also show based on the strength of their films. I'm not confident in Malick, but I'm not really sure about any one of the alts.

ACTOR:
George Clooney - The Descendants
Leondardo Dicaprio - J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Alt: Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Dicap is the weak link, let's hope. Ryan Gosling is also a contender, but he's competing against himself.

ACTRESS:
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk about Kevin
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
Alt: Rooney Mara - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Ugh, Glenn Close. Mara might make it in based on the buzz of her film being at its apex when ballots went out. That being said, its disgusting and very amusing how many people will do a happy dance if Glenn Close doesn't make it. We can all agree that film was made for no other purpose than getting her an Oscar. Let's hope Elizabeth Olsen, Kirsten Dunst, Kristen Wiig or Charlize Theron can kick her out. Also, one thing I didn't mention in supporting actress was the possibility of Bejo being in lead. She apparently is actually lead (Bafta put her there), so there's a shot.

PICTURE:
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
THE HELP
HUGO
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
6. MONEYBALL
7. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
8. WAR HORSE
9. THE TREE OF LIFE
10. DRIVE
Alt: Bridesmaids
Predicted # of Best Picture Nominees: 7
Remember how this works? There's going to be between 5 and 10 nominees, depending on how many films get 5% of the #1's. Or something. I will say to watch out for A Separation showing up in Picture & Directing if it goes over big. That would probably be my NO GUTS NO GLORY for Tuesday morning.

I have Hugo and The Artist tied with 11 nominations each.

My goal is 75% accuracy overall. 10/10 in the female acting categories - I DID IT LAST YEAR!!! - at least completed accuracy in 4/8 of the major categories. Good luck me!

And if I could secure one nomination, I would make Kristen Wiig an Oscar-nominee. Actress or screenplay. Just nominate her, Academy!

PGA Goes To...

2012-01-22T01:41:00.001-05:00

I was totally unaware that the PGA was announcing their winners tonight. I would have predicted The Artist with Hugo as an alternate.

Producers Guild of America WINNERS:

Theatrical Feature: The Artist
Animated Feature: The Adventures of Tintin
TV Drama: Boardwalk Empire
TV Longform: Downton Abbey
TV Comedy: Modern Family
TV News: 60 Minutes
TV Sports: ESPN’s 30 for 30
TV Variety: The Colbert Report
TV Documentary: American Masters
TV Reality: The Amazing Race
Web Series: 30 Rock Presents
Documentary Feature: Beats, Rhymes and Life: the Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

Costume Designer Guild Nominees

2012-01-19T15:02:00.002-05:00

So one more guild (the Motion Picture Sound Editors) and then everything has been announced but the Oscars. WOW! LOL @ Red Riding Hood scoring a nod here. Usually one film gets in that wasn't mentioned here, most likely My Week With Marilyn.

Excellence in Period Film:
"The Artist" (Mark Bridges)
"Jane Eyre" (Michael O'Connor)
"The Help" (Sharen Davis)
"Hugo" (Sandy Powell)
"W.E." (Arianne Phillips)

Excellence in Fantasy Film:
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" (Jany Temime)
"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" (Penny Rose)
"Red Riding Hood" (Cindy Evans)
"Thor" (Alexandra Byrne)
"X-Men: First Class" (Sammy Sheldon)

Excellence in Contemporary Film:
"Bridesmaids" (Leesa Evans & Christine Wada)
"The Descendants (Wendy Chuck)
"Drive" (Erin Benach)
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (Trish Summerville)
"Melancholia" (Manon Rasmussen)

Box: But Can Mark Wahlberg Prevent Bad 9/11 Movies?

2012-01-18T20:02:00.002-05:00

1. Underworld: Awakening - $22m / $22m / $52m
2. Contraband - $13.5m / $47.5m / $76m
3. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - $13m / $13.7m / $42m
4. Red Tails - $10.5m / $10.5m / $35m
5. Beauty and the Beast 3D - $10m / $35m / $56m
6. Joyful Noise - $7m / $23m / $42m
7. Mission Impossible 4 - $6.5m / $198.5m / $214m
8. Haywire - $6m / $6m / $16m
9. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $4.5m / $178m / $190m
10. Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 - $4m / $125.5m / $138m
The Iron Lady - $4m / $13m / $35m

Like the Resident Evil films, the Underworld films seem to do the exact same amount and seemingly will never end. A shame that Haywire is supposed to be quite good and will probably do dismal numbers. Next week, Liam Neeson vs. wolves and the much anticipated Oscar bump.

BAFTA Noms!

2012-01-17T15:09:00.002-05:00

BEST FILM
THE ARTIST – Thomas Langmann
THE DESCENDANTS – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
DRIVE – Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
THE HELP – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo

DIRECTOR
THE ARTIST – Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE Nicolas – Winding Refn
HUGO – Martin Scorsese
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Tomas Alfredson
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – Lynne Ramsay

LEADING ACTOR
BRAD PITT – Moneyball
GARY OLDMAN – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
GEORGE CLOONEY – The Descendants
JEAN DUJARDIN – The Artist
MICHAEL FASSBENDER – Shame

LEADING ACTRESS
BÉRÉNICE BEJO The Artist – Film
MERYL STREEP – The Iron Lady
MICHELLE WILLIAMS – My Week with Marilyn
TILDA SWINTON – We Need to Talk About Kevin
VIOLA DAVIS – The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER – Beginners
JIM BROADBENT – The Iron Lady
JONAH HILL – Moneyball
KENNETH BRANAGH – My Week with Marilyn
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
CAREY MULLIGAN – Drive
JESSICA CHASTAIN – The Help
JUDI DENCH – My Week with Marilyn
MELISSA MCCARTHY – Bridesmaids
OCTAVIA SPENCER – The Help

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
SENNA – Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
SHAME – Steve McQueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – _Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox, Robert Salerno, Rory Stewart Kinnear

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
ATTACK THE BLOCK – Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
BLACK POND – Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
CORIOLANUS – Ralph Fiennes (Director)
SUBMARINE – Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
TYRANNOSAUR – Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

DOCUMENTARY
GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD – Martin Scorsese
PROJECT NIM – James Marsh, Simon Chinn
SENNA – Asif Kapadia

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE ARTIST – Michel Hazanavicius
BRIDESMAIDS – Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
THE GUARD – John Michael McDonagh
THE IRON LADY – Abi Morgan
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – Woody Allen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE DESCENDANTS – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
THE HELP – Tate Taylor
THE IDES OF MARCH – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
MONEYBALL – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
INCENDIES – Denis Villeneuve, Luc Déry, Kim McGraw
PINA – Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel
POTICHE – François Ozon, Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
A SEPARATION – Asghar Farhadi
THE SKIN I LIVE IN – Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

ANIMATED FILM
HE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN – Steven Spielberg
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS – Sarah Smith
RANGO – Gore Verbinski

ORIGINAL MUSIC
THE ARTIST – Ludovic Bource
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
HUGO Howard – Shore
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Alberto Iglesias
WAR HORSE – John Williams

CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE ARTIST – Guillaume Schiffman
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Jeff Cronenweth
HUGO – Robert Richardson
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Hoyte van Hoytema
WAR HORSE – Janusz Kaminski

EDITING
THE ARTIST – Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE – Mat Newman
HUGO – Thelma Schoonmaker
SENNA – Gregers Sall, Chris King
TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER – SPY Dino Jonsater

PRODUCTION DESIGN
THE ARTIST – Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
HUGO – Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
WAR HORSE – Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN
THE ARTIST – Mark Bridges
HUGO – Sandy Powell
JANE EYRE – Michael O’Connor
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Jill Taylor
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Jacqueline Durran

SOUND
THE ARTIST – Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
HUGO – Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley
WAR HORSE – Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN – Joe Letteri
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
HUGO – Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
WAR HORSE – Ben Morris, Neil Corbould

MAKE UP & HAIR
THE ARTIST – Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
HUGO Morag – Ross, Jan Archibald
THE IRON LADY – Marese Langan
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Jenny Shircore

SHORT ANIMATION
ABUELAS – Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
BOBBY YEAH – Robert Morgan
A MORNING STROLL – Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

SHORT FILM
CHALK – Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
MWANSA THE GREAT – Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
ONLY SOUND REMAINS – Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
PITCH BLACK HEIST – John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn
TWO AND TWO – Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD
ADAM DEACON
CHRIS HEMSWORTH
TOM HIDDLESTON
CHRIS O’DOWD
EDDIE REDMAYNE

ACE Noms - The Eddies!

2012-01-16T18:47:00.002-05:00

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC):
The Descendants - Kevin Tent, A.C.E.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Angus Wall, A.C.E. & Kirk Baxter, A.C.E.
Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker, A.C.E.
Moneyball - Christopher Tellefsen, A.C.E.
War Horse - Michael Kahn, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY OR MUSICAL):
The Artist - Anne-Sophie Bion & Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids - William Kerr & Michael L. Sale
Midnight in Paris - Alisa Lepselter
My Week with Marilyn - Adam Recht
Young Adult - Dana E. Glauberman, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
The Adventures of Tintin - Michael Kahn, A.C.E.
Puss in Boots - Eric Dapkewicz
Rango - Craig Wood, A.C.E.

GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS!

2012-01-15T23:12:00.003-05:00

FILM:
Picture - Drama: The Descendants
Picture - Comedy/Musical: The Artist
Director: Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Screenplay: Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Actor - Drama: George Clooney - The Descendants
Actress - Drama: Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Actor - Comedy/Musical: Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Actress - Comedy/Musical: Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer - The Help
Original Song: "Masterpiece" - W.E.
Original Score: The Artist
Foreign Language Film: A Separation
Animated Feature: The Adventures of Tin Tin

TV:
Drama: Homeland
Comedy/Musical: Modern Family
Movie/Miniseries: Downton Abby
Actor - Drama: Kelsey Grammer - Boss
Actress - Drama: Claire Danes - Homeland
Actor - Comedy/Musical: Matt LeBlanc - Episodes
Actress - Comedy/Musical: Laura Dern - Enlightened
Actor - Movie/Miniseries: Idris Elba - Luther
Actress - Movie/Miniseries: Kate Winslet - Mildred Pierce
Supporting Actor: Peter Dinklage - Game of Thrones
Supporting Actress: Jessica Lange - American Horror Story

Biggest Winner of the Night: Paula Patton

Globe Thoughts!

2012-01-15T20:29:00.013-05:00

+Thought Gervais killed it. I love how no one really wanted to look in the camera for long. Jodie Foster's Beaver and Kim K/Kate Middleton. AWESOME! Depp still hasn't seen The Tourist.

+Plummer wins. Sorta rambling, but nice speech. Love his shoutout to Ewan who deserved so much more for that movie. He should be nominated!

+DERN! Love her, but Amy really deserved this.

+Julianne Moore and Rob Lowe lose the teleprompted. Moore looks FAB!

+DOWNTON ABBY wins. Cougarton Abby should clean up next year.

+KATE WINSET! "I'd like to thank the Globes for giving me the award." Nice, Kate. Evan was happy she won.

+Glenn Close is talking to Jane Lynch. There aren't as many random cuts to the audience as last year. Damn it.

+LOL IS PAULA PATTON STONED OUT OF HER MIND???? She's so happy.

+Everyone is touching/greeting Charlize? Laura Linney just did. So did Laura Dern on her way up to get her trophy.

+Amy Poehler was just LOLing at seemingly nothing, cuz Will Arnett and Tina Fey were looking elsewhere.

+Jake presents Marilyn, cuz he's Michelle's daughter's godfather.

+I didn't really care about any of those winners - Homeland, Grammar, haven't seen either.

+Andie MacDowell's daughter, Miss Golden Globe, looks like she's going to pass out.

+Natalie Portman is sitting with Nicole and Keith.

+The Artist score winner is very french.

+Lol Missi Pyle was very happy Madonna won. "I'm not French, I have no excuse." Nice, madge. Is she going to let her fellow winners talk?

+Someone just had to tell Julianne Moore something very important.

+LOL Elton John looked so bored with Madonna.

+Someone named Melton Gumball or some shit is presenting. She's from Turkey. WTF was that? Okay, we are just gonna have random actors from the world say random shit.

+This show started off kinda dull or the alcohol is starting to take effect, cuz I'm enjoying it.

+Maybe Paula Patton just did that to me. Jesus, what the fuck was she on?

+LOL Debra Messing and Katherine McPhee. "this is one of the most prestigious awards for any actor" nice Debra.

+YAH IDRIS ELBA!!!! I've never seen Luther. He got a stache!

+Dustin Hoffman looked so bored.

+Dominic West is so hot, but he just realized his finger was in his mouth.

+Did Busy Phillips and Michelle co-ordinate their outfits.

+Kate Beckinsale and Seth Rogen. LOL ROGEN'S ERECTION JOKE WAS AWESOME!!!

+OMG Jodie Foster's kids look just like her.

+Charlize is stoned!

+KRISTEN WIIG GOT LOUD APPLAUSE

+MICHELLE WILLIAMS!!!! WINS!!!!!

HERE WE GO, DELIVER IT GIRL! SHE LOOKS SCARED TO DEATH.

+FUCK THAT WAS A SPEECH!! great job, michelle.

+LOL SMG and Piper have a competition to see who can have the biggest, tackiest dress. Piper is clearly having fun, though.

+LOL @ Jesse Tyler Ferguson's WHATEVER behind Eric.

+DINKLAGE - STATION AGENT RETURNS!

+Clooney makes fun of Pitt, nice.

+Jessica Alba and Channing Tatum fill in the "bland but hot" role. I like Channing better when he's fat.

+SHIT TIN TIN BEATS RANGO?????? Oh, cuz of Spielberg. LOL Paula Patton is giving him a standing O.

+Hey, there was Michelle Pfeiffer.

+Katherine McPhee was just talking to Michelle Williams, probably asking her how she got her talent.

+Ewan McGregor gets better and hotter with age. LOVE HIM. He presents 50/50, starring JG-L who also gets better and hotter with age.

+CLIVE AND NICOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+OMG OK I LOVE NICOLE'S DRESS!!!!!

+SHE LOOKS FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!!!!

+Is the Dean from Community going to win?

+WOOODDY!!!!!! I'm so happy he won!!!!

+Owen Wilson looks happy.

+LOL@NICOLE - COME AND GET IT WOODY!!!

+Shit, Felicity Huffman looks stunning!

+OMG!!!! FELICITY AND WILLIAM WERE HILARIOUS!!!! SINGING!!!!

+Evan Rachel Wood looked bored.

+Shit, Jessica Lange looks trashed.

+SHE WON!!! OMG SHE LOOKS HORRIBLE!!! Meryl Streep looks happy, in her country western gettup. She realized Jessica looks worse, so she's happy.

+AWESOME MADONNA getting some digs in. Angelina loses. A SEPARATION wins.

+Shailene looks bored, Emma Stone looks happy.

+Dustin Hoffman is a 6-time Golden Globe winner. The Killing actress - I don't know how to spell or say her name - is so white. LOL @ the Callie Thorne woman? Yeah, that was bought.

+CLAIRE DANES wins. Random cut to Penelope Ann Miller who looked embarassed.

+EMILY BLUNT presents BRIDESMAIDS!!!!!!! Emily looks gorgeous.

+Jane Lynch and Tina Fey present TV COMEDY ACTOR, which will suck no matter who wins it. And Matt Le Blanc does.

+Bradley Cooper, who is not gay at all, presents Supporting Actress to OCTAVIA who gives a mostly great speech. Shocked, but happy. MELISSA MCCARTHY WAS BAWLING!!! LOVE IT

+Paula Patton was very happy, too.

+Reese presents The Descendants. She reminds us that she worked with Alexander Payne before she only appeared in shit.

+Sidney Poitier comes out to present Mogran Freeman with the Red Buttons Lifetime Achievement Award for Dramatic Musical or Comedy.

+Paula Patton is very happy.

+Helen Mirren is there. I wish Patton was presenting this. LOL @ (Sir) Ben Kingsley's date is sitting on his lap.

+Seven. Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box. I would have loved a cut to Angelina during that.

+OMFG Sarah Michelle Gellar is talking with Albert Brooks. Does that complete my life for some odd reason?

+Robert Downey Jr in an evening gown tux. Presenting The Artist.

+LOL Charlize looks at it like she's looking at an autistic kid.

+Angelina! FIERCE!!!! Presenting Director.

+LOL Busy and Michelle switched seats.

+SCORSESE WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!

+OMG Leo is sitting JGL. Handjobs under the table?

+Sacha Baron Cohen is very happy to be there. Where is Chloe Moretz? Bitch is fierce.

+Antonio and Salma present Comedy Series. MODERN FAMILY wins (bout 6 months too late.)

+The Schmidt guy on New Girl is hot. Darren want.

+OMFG Sofia and Steven Levitan are funnier than anything Modern Family has done in awhile.

+Oh, Michelle Pfeiffer, my true love! Looks beautiful but she's unfortunately there to present War Horse.

+Mark Wahlberg and Jessica Biel, who is wearing the world's oldest wedding dress.

+I wish Brendan Gleeson would win something. I wish Joseph Gordon Levitt would be on me.

+JEAN DUJARDIN, who I also want on me, wins. LOL Laura Dern looked so awkward when they cut to her.

+Ugh, I love Jean! So charming. LOL Viola is getting tanked for her upcoming speech as someone pours her some champagne. OMG TILDA!!!! TILDA IS THERE FINALLY!!!

+Queen Latifah presents The Help. Missi Pyle gives her a whistle, remember their fight from Bringing Down the House.

+Is Bryce Howard not there despite being in 2 Picture nominees?

+Tate Taylor is HOT HOT HOT.

+Ricky says Colin Firth is very racist. *cut to The Help table*

+Okay, Drama Actress. Viola or Meryl? I said Viola, standing by it. TILDA SWINTON!!! WHO IS EMBARASSED LOVE HER.

+Meryl wins. SHOCK! SHIT! OMG Glenn close just looked like she was about to explode. Meryl gets standing O. Madeline Stowe just reminds herself to stand up? WTF.

+Meryl just swore. Shit, Viola looks mad. Oh, she just namechecked the Pariah actress? AWESOME. And Mia Wasacowska.

+LOL Salma looked confused.

+Meryl knows Viola is probably mad and gives her a shoutout.

+THE ARTIST takes Comedy/Musical. Piper Perabo looks politely annoyed by this.

+Berenice Bejo needs a dress to match her beauty. OMG THE DOG IS ON STAGE. Where's John Goodman?

+Did Harvey Weinstein buy these? Madonna, Micelle, Meryl, The Artist?

+Natalie's dress, not so high on it now. FASSBENDER FASSBENDMEOVER.. HOTTIE LINEUP.

+George Clooney wins. Boo-ring. God, he's going to be the worst 2-time Oscar winner since Swank.

+Even George loves Michael's dong.

+Shailene looks bored.

+Harrison Ford presents Drama. THE DESCENDANTS WINS.

Pretty good show. I guess Paula Patton has been passed out in the bathroom for the past hour. Fashion thoughts later in the week!

Red Carpet for the Globes!

2012-01-15T17:29:00.012-05:00

+Why is Kelly Osbourne considered a fashion expert when she looks terrible most of the time and I can't tell if her hair is gray or purple? Why would it be EITHER?

+Sharon Osbourne is there for probably just having a show on NBC.

+RED CARPET OFFICIALLY BEGINS!!! Come on ladies, let's see some big risks.

+Ricky Gervais first up! Ryan asks if things have been blown out of proportion about him hosting. Gee, ya think?

+George Clooney arrives?? EARLY! Looks the same as always.

+Is E! going to be obsessing over the arrivals of the GLEE cast this year like the past two years? So far they really haven't mentioned them. That officially does it: GLEE is over.

+Ad for THE VOW - This is going to be Channing Tatum's year between this and MAGIC MIKE? Aww, I love you Rachel McAdams. I wonder if she's coming tonight?

+Stacey Kiebler - a name that makes me crave cookies - looks way too safe. Come on, you're with George. Work it, gir.

+Sarah Hyland of MODERN FAMILY arrives. Or Mila Kunis' little sister. Chris Colfer!

+OCTAVIA SPENCER AND MELISSA MCCARTHY!!! Look gorgeous from waist up!

+Claire Danes just made my jaw drop! I'm loving that!

+Piper Perabo - OMFG!!! That's awful. She looks like she's going to pass out.

+OH FUCK GUYS! Remember my confusing over Amy Adams and Nicole Kidman? Jessica Chastain just arrived and I thought it was Amy. Jessica looks very old school. I can't see anyone's total look so far, other than Perabo.

+JEAN DUJARDIN and the dog from THE ARTIST!!! LMAO!!! Jean is so sexy it hurts.

+Sarah Michelle Gellar!!! OOH, not liking it. Elle McPherson hasn't aged. Adam Levine is there because the show is on NBC, like his show.

+Penelope Ann Miller looks FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!! Love that look. Sarah Paulson - eh. Amanda Peet is wearing a bunch of tablecloths.

+Debra Messing too much smokey eyeshadow. Melissa McCarthy looks very campy 1960's? But I like it!

+FUCK I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR! I don't care that the dress is way too over the top.

+Josh Brolin and Diane Lane look good. Jessica Chastain looks not that good. She seems really fake too? She talks kinda weird too?

+Paula Patton in yellow lookin nice. Ryan is interviewing Nicole Richie who apparently will never go away. She looks okay.

+SOFIA VERGARA!!! SHAILENE WOODLEY looks amazing! Though it makes her boobs very saggy. MADELINE STOWE! Lol Between her, McPherson and Miller is it 1992?

+Rooney Mara is like some kind of red carpet goth chick. I kinda wish her sister was getting this level of exposure, Kate seems less snobby.

+FUCK ME DIANE LANE!!! Ugh, the most beautiful woman. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE her. She looks amazing!!!

+Ugh, cut your hair Gerard Butler. Vergara looks way too - oh god i can't believe i'm about to type this - plain? Her dress is just too blah! Too traditional. She's so fun though.

+Frieda Pinto looks okay. I can't believe she's still around? LOL. That was mean, Darren.

+LMAO Julie Bowen looks like some kind of stupid Disney princess. God, why can't this woman ever get it right?

+I really don't know how I feel about Rooney's dress. I feel like she's worn it before.

+KRISTEN WIIG!!! LOOKS FUCKING STONED!!!

+LOL The Deschanel sisters! Both look terrible. Awesome.

+Jane Lynch! Jonah Hill! Bryan Cranston! People!

+Viola Davis looking sexy! Love the deep red!

+Seth Rogen arrives and Charlize Theron just behind him. I wanna see Charlize NOW!

+Matthew Morrison needs to get the memo that no one cares about him or his show now.

I JUST SWITCHED OVER TO NBC OFFICIAL COVERAGE. Bye, E!

+Brad and Angelina look pretty great. True movie stars. I love how E! like just cut everything else to go to them.

+OMFG I LOVE CHARLIZE!!! That's how you do a princess look!!!!

+This is a pretty great red carpet so far???!!!!!

+Julianna Margulies looks pretty good, but I feel that look is last year's Globes.

+Zooey Deschanel looks like a parody of herself.

+Laura Dern!!!!!!!!!!! I love her so much! I miss her? Oddly. Nice risk she took with hat dress, I kinda like it. Might need to think about it some more.

+Michelle Williams. Hmmmm. HEADBAND!!!! Headbands are in! I'm sorta loving that? I don't know about this dress. LOL @ Michelle pointing out the chanting behind her. LOL even Carson points out how nervous Michelle is.

+LOL Carson just "sent it over" to Natalie. Remember Julia Roberts two years ago? "Who's Natalie?" All-time greatest red carpet moment. That and Gary Busey attacking Jennifer Garner, then Laura Linney trying to save her.

+Nicole Richie sucking up to the Asian reporter girl. I liked Nicole better when she was a trainwreck.

+Elton John for the GNOMEO AND JULIET song!!! I LOVE THAT SONG!! Lol Elton John just said Madonna had no fucking chance of winning.

+Rob Lowe said Amy Poehler has a bad drinking problem.

+Mary J Blige looks terrific.

+Evan Rachel Wood - now that's like a real mermaid dress!

Still haven't seen Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman, Tilda Swinton or Emma Stone.

+Salma Hayek's top part of her dress looks like the stage of 1970's game show?

+Channing Tatum!

+I bet Salma Hayek hates Sofia Vergara.

+Mila Kunis looking very elegant, but I miss her pops of color from last year.

+Natalie Portman! WOW Looking better here than she looked all last season - no dis on the prego.

+Madonna and Andrea Riseborough were interesting. They both look like they stole style tips from Patricia Arquette. Not good, ladies.

+Matt Le Blanc for this show, with Andrea Anders! I miss Better Off Ted! Matt Le Blanc always seems like such a dick.

+OMFG MERYL STREEP LOOKS LIKE SHE'S GOING TO A LINEDANCE!!!!

+Tina Fey looks pretty good.

+Ryan Kwanten would show up to the opening of an envelope.

+LOL Owen Wilson looks plastic.

+EMMAMMAMAMAMMW STOSTONSOSTONENNEENNE

+Emma Stone looks fucking a-mah-zing but I'm not sure about that eagle belt thing. I love her so. She's so fucking down to earth and has a healthy self esteem, not obnoxious like some people. LOVE HER LOVE HER LOVE HER. The Project Hollywood story she told was awesome.

+Okay, Nicole's dress is interesting. I have no idea. I'm so mixed on it? It looks like a variation of her last Oscar dress, but better. I have no idea.

+LOL Glenn Close. "your transformation as a man"

+REESE!!!! I like it, its sorta trashy and simple. She's hanging out with Chelsea too much. HEHEHE.

Okay, I think I'll leave it at that before the show. Be back during some commercial breaks or in case it turns genuinely awful.

I hope not, this is a great red carpet so far. Loved Claire Danes, Angelina Jolie, Emma Stone, Diane Lane and several others. You brought it, ladies.

HAVE FUN EVERYONE.

Countdown to Gervais controversey in 3...2...1...

THE GLOBES - A Night of Too Many Stars

2012-01-15T14:41:00.002-05:00

The Golden Globes are tonight.

Last year's ceremony was one of if not the very best in their history. Between Gervais' roasting, the totally awkward and random shots of people in the crowd, memorable speeches and deserving winners, this year has a lot to live up to. If any ceremony can do it, it is the Globes.

There will be so many stars at tonight's ceremony that seating has become a problem. The massive ensembles and long list of presenters, it is going to be wall to wall celebrities.

Presenters:

Jessica Alba, Antonio Banderas, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Emily Blunt, Pierce Brosnan, Gerard Butler, George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Meltem Cumbul, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr, Jimmy Fallon, Colin Firth, Jane Fonda, Harrison Ford, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jake Gyllenhaal, Salma Hayek, Dustin Hoffman, Felicity Huffman, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Adam Levine, Rob Lowe, Jane Lynch, Elle MacPherson, William H. Macy, Madonna, Melissa McCarthy, Ewan McGregor, Katharine McPhee, Debra Messing, Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Paula Patton, Piper Perabo, Michelle Pfeiffer, Freida Pinto, Brad Pitt, Sidney Poitier, Natalie Portman, Seth Rogen, Channing Tatum, Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon

Excited to See: The cast of Bridesmaids, Michelle Williams, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emily Blunt, Kate Winslet, Amy Poehler, Laura Linney, Laura Dern, the usuals.

I'll be back liveblogging during the red carpet and commercial breaks! Happy Globe-iness!

GLOBE Predix!

2012-01-14T22:54:00.003-05:00

I'll start with TV.

TV!

Their TV winners have a tendency to be more random than the film winners.

Supporting Actress - All TV:
Lange - MacDonald - Smith - Vergara - Wood
WILL WIN: Jessica Lange - American Horror Story
Alt: Maggie Smith - Downton Abbey
I'm only familiar with Sofia here, and I'd love to see her win.

Supporting Actor - All TV:
Dinklage - Giamatti - Pearce - Robbins - Stonestreet
WILL WIN: Guy Pearce - Mildred Pierce
Alt: Peter Dinklage - Game of Thrones
Only familiar with Eric here, and he deserved it for the show's first season.

Actress - Miniseries/TV Movie:
Garai - Lane - McGovern - Watson - Winslet
WILL WIN: Kate Winslet - Mildred Pierce
Alt: Elizabeth McGovern - Downton Abbey
Winslet's a done deal. She's getting her third Globe.

Actor - Miniseries/TV Movie:
Bonneville - Elba - Hurt - Nighty - West
WILL WIN: Hugh Bonneville - Downton Abbey
Alt: Idris Elba - Luther
I have no fucking clue.

Actress - Comedy/Musical Series:
Dern - Deschanel - Fey - Linney - Poehler
WILL WIN: Zooey Deschanel - New Girl
Alt: Amy Poehler - Parks and Recreation
God, I really want Amy to win this. But they'll go with the hype and give it to Zooey. Damn it. I hope Amy pulls a stunt. Laura Dern has a shot, too.

Actor - Comedy/Musical Series:
Baldwin - Duchovny - Galecki - Jane - LeBlanc
WILL WIN: Matt LeBlanc - Episodes
Alt: Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
This category kinda sucks? It feels like most of these shows have been cancelled? They should have nominated Joel McHale.

Actress - Drama Series:
Danes - Enos - Margulies - Stowe - Thorne
WILL WIN: Claire Danes - Homeland
Alt: Madeleine Stowe - Revenge
LOL @ the USA chick? Piper Perabo 2.0 I wonder who gave the handjobs to get her nominated?

Actor - Drama Series:
Buscemi - Cranston - Grammer - Irons - Lewis
WILL WIN: Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad
Alt: Damian Lewis - Homeland
Not really sure here. I know Bryan has never won here, so I went with him.

Miniseries or TV Movie:
Cinema Verite - Downton Abbey - The Hour - Mildred Pierce - Too Big To Fail
WILL WIN: Downton Abbey
Alt: Mildred Pierce
Okay, I decided to be brave. Outside of its performances, I thought the reception for Mildred was pretty divisive.

Comedy/Musical Series:
Enlightened - Episodes - Glee - Modern Family - New Girl
WILL WIN: Modern Family
Alt: Glee
Much the same way they got on board for 30 Rock during its hit or miss season 3, they will do the same for Modern. If Glee threepeats, that would really really really suck. This category is shit anyways. Again, weren't Enlightened and Episodes just barely picked up? It's funny that the Globes try to be so hip with the cable shows that they end up being totally unaware of just how great some broadcast comedies are (Parks and Recreation, Community, Happy Endings).

Drama Series:
American Horror Story - Boardwalk Empire - Boss - Game of Thrones - Homeland
WILL WIN: Boardwalk Empire
Alt: Homeland
Let me just say that Boss looks like the only thing that can't win here. I originally chose Homeland, then Thrones but decided something from last year needs to repeat so went with Boardwalk.

NOW FOR THE MOVIES!!!!

Foreign Language Film:
The Flowers of War - In the Land of Blood and Honey - The Kid With a Bike - A Separation - The Skin I Live In
WILL WIN: A Separation
Alt: In the Land of Blood of Honey
Cuz they really want to starfuck Angelina, right?

Animated Film:
The Adventures of Tin Tin - Arthur Christmas - Cars 2 - Puss In Boots - Rango
WILL WIN: Rango
Alt: Tin Tin
Rango has this locked down.

Original Score:
The Artist - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Hugo - War Horse - W.E.
WILL WIN: The Artist
Alt: W.E.
Fairly confident here.

Original Song:
Albert Nobbs - "Lay Your Head Down"
Gnomeo and Juliet - "Hello Hello"
The Help - "The Living Proof"
Machine Gun Preacher - "The Keeper"
W.E. - "Masterpiece"
WILL WIN: "The Living Proof"
Alt: "Masterpiece"
Just a guess. Starfucking Madonna, Glenn Close, Elton John or Mary J. Blige? I think we can all agree the Machine Gun song isn't win.

Screenplay:
The Artist - The Descendants - The Ides of March - Midnight in Paris - Moneyball
WILL WIN: The Descendants
Alt: Midnight in Paris
Could be a way to give something to Woody, but I think Dean from Community will win.

Director:
Allen - Clooney - Hazanavicius - Payne - Scorsese
WILL WIN: Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alt: Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Yeah, this.

Supporting Actress:
Bejo - Chastain - McTeer - Spencer - Woodley
WILL WIN: Octavia Spencer - The Help
Alt: Jessica Chastain - The Help
First I went with Jessica, then switched to Octavia. I'll probably regret this. I think only Woodley and McTeer have no shot here. Fuck, I wish Melissa McCarthy was nominated here.

Supporting Actor:
Branagh - Brooks - Hill - Mortensen - Plummer
WILL WIN: Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Alt: Albert Brooks - Drive
Biggest lock of the acting categories.

Actress - Comedy/Musical:
Foster - Theron - Wiig - Williams - Winslet
WILL WIN: Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
Alt: Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids
Second biggest lock in the acting categories. Hope Michelle's speech is as good as her Palm Springs Award acceptance speech. Most are dreading this speech as she's almost painfully shy, but I think she'll be very genuine.

Actor - Comedy/Musical:
Dujardin - Gleeson - Gordon-Levitt - Gosling - Wilson
WILL WIN: Jean Dujardin - The Arist
Alt: Owen Wilson - Midnight in Paris
Dujardin will charm the pants off everyone and make us forget the Pitt-Clooney dramatic sexiness.

Actress - Drama:
Close - Davis - Mara - Streep - Swinton
WILL WIN: Viola Davis - The Help
Alt: Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Viola will just edge out Meryl and then it should be smooth sailing to Oscar. Right?

Actor - Drama:
Clooney - DiCaprio - Fassbender - Gosling - Pitt
WILL WIN: Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Alt: George Clooney - The Descendants
Okay, slightly more people are predicting Clooney than Pitt. I went with Pitt on the basis that he hasn't won in 15 years and George just won 5 years ago.

Picture - Comedy/Musical:
The Artist - Bridesmaids - 50/50 - Midnight in Paris - My Week With Marilyn
WILL WIN: The Artist
Alt: Midnight in Paris
Biggest lock of the night?

Picture - Drama:
The Descendants - The Help - Hugo - The Ides of March - Moneyball - War Horse
WILL WIN: The Descendants
Alt: Hugo

USC Scripter Noms & BFCA/Critics Choice Winners

2012-01-13T01:49:00.002-05:00

USC Scripter Noms:

+Screenwriter Christopher Hampton for A Dangerous Method, adapted from the nonfiction book A Most Dangerous Method: The Story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein by John Kerr and the 2002 stage play The Talking Cure by Hampton
+Screenwriters Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash for The Descendants, adapted from Kaui Hart Hemmings’ novel (itself an expansion of her first published short story, “The Minor Wars”)
+Screenwriter Moira Buffini for Jane Eyre, adapted from the 1847 book by Charlotte Brontë
+Screenwriters Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin for Moneyball, based on Michael Lewis’ book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
+Screenwriters Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan and author John le Carré for the thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

BROADCAST FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION - CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS:

Best Picture: The Artist
Best Actor: George Clooney - The Descendants
Best Actress: Viola Davis - The Help
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer - The Help
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Best Acting Ensemble: The Help
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Best Adapted Screenplay: Moneyball - Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, story by Stan Chervin
Best Original Screenplay: Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
Best Young Actor/Actress: Thomas Horn - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Best Comedy: Bridesmaids
Best Action Film: Drive
Best Animated Film: Rango
Best Foreign Film: A Separation
Best Documentary Feature: George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Best Art Direction: Hugo
Best Cinematography (TIE): The Tree of Life & War Horse
Best Costume Design: The Artist
Best Film Editing: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Best Makeup: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part II
Best Score: The Artist
Best Song: "Life's a Happy Song," The Muppets
Best Sound: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part II
Best Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

ASC Noms

2012-01-11T20:19:00.002-05:00

American Society of Cinematographers nominees for best looking movies of 2011:

Guillaume Schiffman - The Artist
Jeff Croneweth - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Robert Richardson - Hugo
Hoyte van Hoytema - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Emmanuel Lubezki - The Tree of Life

I suspect one film will be replaced on the Oscar ballot, either Tinker or Tattoo.

Box Office: January Is Beckinsale Pride Month

2012-01-11T19:50:00.002-05:00

3-day / Total So Far / Projected Final Gross

1. Beauty and the Beast 3D - $16m / $16m / $45
2. Contraband - $15m / $15m / $44m
3. Joyful Noise - $13m / $13m / $40m
4. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocal - $12m / $187m / $216m
5. The Devil Inside - $11m / $50m / $70m
6. Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows - $8m / $169.5m / $190m
7. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - $7m / $88m / $112m
8. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-wrecked - $5.5m / $118.5m / $135m
9. War Horse - $5m / $65m / $80m
10. We Bought a Zoo - $5m / $63.5m / $76m
*Adventures of Tin Tin - $4m / $68m / $78m
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - $4m / $16m / $30m
The Iron Lady - $3.5m / $4m / $35m

I doubt Beauty will match Lion King's $30m-opening, $90m-total reissue gross. If it does, we're going to be raiding the Disney vault every couple of months for the next several years. Contraband and Joyful Noise will make the typical January amounts. As for The Devil Inside, it really doesn't matter it got a F from Cinemascore or how fast it drops. In the end, the movie will make 60-70 million on a million dollar budget. Tinker Tailor overperformed last week and will add theatres this weekend, allowing it to finish with a modest gross in the 30's. The Iron Lady expands to around 700 theatres this weekend and should see a gross similar to Doubt. Its reviews aren't good enough to turn into The Queen or The King's Speech, but Weinstein should be happy.

Meryl, Michelle and Viola will hear their names called on nomination morning by...

2012-01-10T01:56:00.002-05:00

OSCAR NOMINEE JENNIFER LAWRENCE.

In a fairly obvious way of promoting The Hunger Games, last's year Best Actress nominee, the stunningly gorgeous and talented Lawrence, will join Tom Sherak to announce the Oscar nominees in 10 categories on January 24th at 8:37AM.

DGA Noms

2012-01-10T01:45:00.002-05:00

WOODY ALLEN - MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
DAVID FINCHER - THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS - THE ARTIST
ALEXANDER PAYNE - THE DESCENDANTS
MARTIN SCORSESE - HUGO

So Fincher surprises, and looks like Dragon Tattoo is pretty strong with the guilds. Interesting to note, Midnight in Paris has shown up at all four major guilds.

DGA Dix, Globe Presenters

2012-01-08T21:46:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow, the HFPA will finally announce the first batch of presenters for Sunday's Golden Globe show. They usually start announcing a month before the show, so I'm wondering if this is a way of building last minute hype or if they had trouble booking people. As is my understanding of "presenter booking", everyone is booked no later than two weeks before the show.

As for the DGA, they also announce tomorrow.

Payne, Hazanavicius and Scorsese are the only locks. Tate Taylor, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, Bennett Miller, David Fincher, Terrence Malick and possibly Nicolas Winding-Refn are vying for the remaining two spots. If Malick makes it, it would be Tree of Life's first guild appearance. It started off so well...

DGA predix:
Michel Hazanavicius - The Arist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Steve Spielberg - War Horse
alt: Tate Taylor - The Help

I was brave and went with Woody.

WGA Noms

2012-01-06T01:49:00.002-05:00

(USC Scripter apparently announces next week! I was duped!)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
50/50, Written by Will Reiser
Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen
Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni
Young Adult, Written by Diablo Cody

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemming
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian; Based on the novel by Stieg Larsson
The Help, Screenplay by Tate Taylor; Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett
Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan; Based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin; Based on the book by Michael Lewis

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Better This World, Written by Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Written by Marshall Curry and Matthew Hamachek
Nostalgia for the Light, Written by Patricio Guzmán
Pina, Screenplay by Wim Wenders
Position Among the Stars, Script by Hetty Naaijkens-Retel Helmrich, Leonard Retel Helmrich
Senna, Written by Manish Pandey

Box: The Tom Hardy Inside

2012-01-04T21:00:00.002-05:00

1. Mission: Impossible 4 - $16.5m / $166m / $205m
2. The Devil Inside - $13m / $13m / $34m
3. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $11.5m / $155m / $180m
4. Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 - $10.5m / $113m / $140m
5. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - $9m / $74m / $100m
6. We Bought a Zoo - $8.5m / $56.5m / $82m
7. War Horse - $8.5m / $56.5m / $100m
8. Adventures of Tin Tin - $7.5m / $63m / $85m
9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - $4.5m / $9m / $30m
10. New Year's Eve - $3m / $51.5m / $56m

The weekend after Christmas was kind to most films. War Horse was oddly frontloaded, but given Oscar nominations in a few weeks should be able to ride to $100 million. Ditto for Dragon Tattoo, which will make it to $100 million because the studio will most likely fudge the numbers. Sony is known for this. We Bought a Zoo benefitted the most from word of mouth and along with Alvin may have some staying power in the coming weeks given limited competition. Tinker Tailor will just barely make it into wide release and could go higher than I have it based on screen count.

WGA & USC Scripter Dix

2012-01-04T20:33:00.002-05:00

The following films were ruled ineligible for the WGA award: The Artist, Beginners, The Iron Lady, Like Crazy, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Rango, Shame, Take Shelter, Albert Nobbs, Carnage, Drive, Jane Eyre, My Week With Marilyn, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Predix:

Original: Bridesmaids - 50/50 - Midnight in Paris - Win Win - Young Adult
Alt: Tree of Life

Adapted: The Descendants - The Help - Hugo - The Ides of March - Moneyball
Alt: War Horse

USC Scripter:
The Descendants - Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - The Help - Hugo - Moneyball
Alt: Ides of March

ART DIRECTORS GUILD NOMINEES!

2012-01-04T00:02:00.001-05:00

Period Film
THE ARTIST - Production Designer: Laurence Bennett
HUGO - Production Designer: Dante Ferretti
THE HELP - Production Designer: Mark Ricker
ANONYMOUS - Production Designer: Sebastian Krawinkel
TINKER TAYLOR SOLDIER SPY - Production Designer: Maria Djurkovic

Fantasy Film
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 - Production Designer: Stuart Craig
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER - Production Designer: Rick Heinrichs
THE ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN: THE SECRET UNICORN - Production Designer: TBD
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES - Production Designer: John Myhre
COWBOYS & ALIENS - Production Designer: Scott Chambliss

Contemporary Film
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt
THE DESCENDANTS - Production Designer: Jane Anne Stewart
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE - Production Designer: K.K. Barrett
DRIVE - Production Designer: Beth Mickle
BRIDESMAIDS - Production Designer: Jefferson Sage

I wonder if Midnight in Paris got snubbed because they had no idea which category to put it in.

PGA NOMS!

2012-01-03T14:17:00.002-05:00

THE ARTIST
Producer: Thomas Langmann

BRIDESMAIDS
Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend

THE DESCENDANTS
Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin

THE HELP
Producers: Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green

HUGO
Producers: Graham King, Martin Scorsese

THE IDES OF MARCH
Producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

MONEYBALL
Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt

WAR HORSE
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

The Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
Producers: Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

CARS 2
Producer: Denise Ream

KUNG FU PANDA 2
Producer: Melissa Cobb

PUSS IN BOOTS
Producers: Joe M. Aguilar, Latifa Ouaou

RANGO
Producers: John B. Carls, Gore Verbinski

PGA Dix

2012-01-02T17:25:00.003-05:00

Announced tomorrow. WGA on Thursday. DGA in a week.

The PGA likes the typical awards bait, but they also like well-reviewed films that made money. They are sticking with 10 nominees. Last year, they went 9/10 with Oscar opting for The Town instead of Winter's Bone. The year before they went 8/10 going for Invictus and Star Trek over AMPAS's The Blind Side and A Serious Man. However many Picture nominees AMPAS ends up with this year, expect all of them to be among PGA's 10.

The Artist - Bridesmaids - The Descendants - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - The Help - Hugo - Midnight in Paris - Moneyball - Tree of Life - War Horse
Alt: Drive

Box: People Love Horse Movies

2011-12-27T22:25:00.002-05:00

1. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocal
3-day: $34m / Projected Final Gross: $215m

2. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
3-day: $24m / Projected Final Gross: $190m

3. War Horse
3-day: $17.5m / Projected Final Gross: $100m

4. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked
3-day: $17m / Projected Final Gross: $140m

5. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
3-day: $14.5m / Projected Final Gross: $90m

6. Adventures of Tin Tin
3-day: $12.5m / Projected Final Gross: $85m

7. We Bought a Zoo
3-day: $12m / Projected Final Gross: $75m

8. New Year's Eve
3-day: $4.5m / Projected Final Gross: $50m

9. The Darkest Hour
3-day: $3.5m / Projected Final Gross: $20m

10. The Descendants
3-day: $3m / Projected Final Gross: $80m

Raise Your Glass...

2011-12-23T00:27:00.002-05:00

These are being run on television. It is looking like noms from PGA and WGA are in its future. But I really really really hope AMPAS will follow suit and give the film the nominations it deserves: Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress (x2) and Original Screenplay.

Thank you. Dessert wine is out.

Box Office: Mara Christmas

2011-12-20T15:48:00.002-05:00

This is a very tricky couple of days at the box-office. Three movies open on Wednesday, one on Friday and two on Saturday. Throw in that Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, and the day after will probably be the biggest day of the holidays. Rather than my typical estimates, I'm just going to do some rough ones.

All 3-day grosses are Friday through Sunday.

1. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocal
The performance of this film in IMAX made everyone take notice. It seems sort of odd that this could be the highest grosser of December. But I guess that makes sense given the crazy box office year this has been.
3-day: $28 million
Projected Final Gross: $200 million

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The books and original Sweedish films were huge, and I've loved the way they've dealt with the dark subject matter in the advertising (the feel bad movie of Christmas!).
3-day: $24 million
Projected Final Gross: $150 million

3. Adventures of Tin Tin
The weekday performance of this for next week will be where it makes most of its money. It should be 3D-proof and be one of the few films people want to see in the format.
3-day: $20 million
Projected Final Gross: $115 million

4. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
A somewhat disappointing opening (called it!), but keep in mind last year's Tron: Legacy opened to the same amount and made about $170 million when all was said and done. An A- from Cinemascore is a big help, and if you don't like Tom Cruise, this is the only action picture in the market.
3-day: $19 million
Projected Final Gross: $175 million

5. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked
I think the opening for this is a bigger thud than Sherlock, but no one cares. In the end, this will still do enough for another installment. It is still quite a sharp dropoff from the last one.
3-day: $15 million
Projected Final Gross: $125 million

6. We Bought a Zoo
Fox has held numerous sneak peeks to build buzz for this, but in the end it'll be a modest performer at best. The family audiences that don't have pre-schoolers will probably be going to Tin Tin or the PG-13 fare.
3-day: $10 million
Projected Final Gross: $60 million

7. War Horse
People love horse movies and people love Spielberg-schmaltz. So win win? No names other than the director will only be a small challenge.
1-day: $5 million
Projected Final Gross: $100 million

8. New Year's Eve
This'll have a nice bump next weekend.
3-day: $3.5 million
Projected Final Gross: $50 million

9. The Darkest Hour
Terrible movies like this have an odd way of doing okay on Christmas Day. (See Black Christmas, Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem - better yet, don.t)
1-day: $3 million
Projected Final Gross: $25 million

10. Young Adult
There's about 5 or 6 movies that could land here, but I went with this one just cuz.
3-day: $2.5 million
Projected Final Gross: $20 million

The Artist also finally makes a significant expansion to 170-ish theatres. It'll be a good barometer of whether or not the film will connect with more mainstream audiences after a slightly sluggish start.

Globe Thoughts

2011-12-15T09:28:00.002-05:00

Well, not as bad as the SAGs but far from good.

YAH! on another awards body other than the Emmys recognizing Amy Poehler.

BOO on Melissa McCarthy missing out where many thought she was a shoe-in. At least here. YAH ON KRISTEN WIIG!!!!

Mara-mania is, indeed, alive. But can she capture an Oscar nod?

Ides of March reeks of starfucking. It was all but dead. But I guess if they starfuck it should at least have decent reviews. Many are pissed Gosling got the nod for this and not Drive.

The Comedy/Musical categories don't suck this year!

The TV categories are pretty bad/bland. The Necessary Roughness chick? Does USA have to randomly get in somewhere now?

Sofia Vergara's pronounciation of everything this morning was epic. "Martin Scor-says". Rashida Jones looked nerdy elegant. Has she been hanging out with Zooey Deschanel a lot?

After seeing him on the Today show, Jean Dujardin is officially Darren Award Season Boyfriend 2011. He joins a long tradition of hot actors that are nominated for awards. Like Jeremy Renner.

I guess I need a girlfriend. Chastain maybe? I certainly ain't goin for no Albert Nobbs ladyfella.

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS!!!!

2011-12-15T08:30:00.002-05:00

Best Picture - Drama
"The Descendants"
"The Help"
"Hugo"
"The Ides of March"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
"The Artist"
"Bridesmaids"
"50/50"
"Midnight in Paris"
"My Week With Marilyn"

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"
George Clooney, "The Ides of March"
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"

Best Actor - Drama
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "J. Edgar"
Michael Fassbender, "Shame"
Ryan Gosling, "The Ides of March"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Brendan Gleeson, "The Guard"
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "50/50"
Ryan Gosling, "Crazy, Stupid, Love."
Owen Wilson, "Midnight in Paris"

Best Actress - Drama
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Tilda Swinton, "We Need to Talk About Kevin"

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy
Jodie Foster, "Carnage"
Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids"
Charlize Theron, "Young Adult"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"
Kate Winslet, "Carnage"

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
Albert Brooks, "Drive"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Viggo Mortensen, "A Dangerous Method"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants"

Best Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, "Moneyball"

Best Foreign Language Film
"The Flowers of War"
"In the Land of Blood and Honey"
"The Kid With a Bike"
"A Separation"
"The Skin I Live In"

Best Animated Feature
"The Adventures of Tintin"
"Arthur Christmas"
"Cars 2"
"Puss in Boots"
"Rango"

Best Original Score
Ludovic Bource, "The Artist"
Trent Reznor and Attivus Ross, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Howard Shore, "Hugo"
John Williams, "War Horse"
Abel Korzeniowski, "W.E."

Best Original Song
"Lay Your Head Down," "Albert Nobbs"
"Hello Hello," "Gnomeo and Juliet"
"The Living Proof," "The Help"
"The Keeper," "Machine Gun Preacher"
"Masterpiece," "W.E."

Best Television Series - Drama
American Horror Story
Boardwalk Empire
Boss
Game of Thrones
Homeland

Best Actor - Drama
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Kelsey Grammer, Boss
Jeremy Irons, The Borgias
Damian Lewis, Homeland

Best Actress - Drama
Claire Danes, Homeland
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Madeleine Stowe, Revenge
Callie Thorne, Necessary Roughness

Best Television Series - Comedy/Musical
Enlightened
Episodes
Glee
Modern Family
New Girl

Best Actor - Comedy/Musical
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
David Duchovny, Californication
Jonny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Thomas Jane, Hung
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

Best Actress - Comedy/Musical
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Hour
Mildred Pierce
Too Big to Fail

Best Actor - Miniseries/Motion Picture Made for Television
Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
Idris Elba, Luther
William Hurt, Too Big to Fail
Bill Nighy, Page Eight
Dominic West, The Hour

Best Actress - Miniseries/Motion Picture Made for Television
Romola Garai, The Hour
Diane Lane, Cinema Verite
Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey
Emily Watson, Appropriate Adult
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail
Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce
Tim Robbins, Cinema Verite
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofía Vergara, Modern Family
Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce

Globe dix

2011-12-14T22:01:00.004-05:00

Come on, HFPA! Get rid of that dour feeling this morning gave me and make this award season even crazier! I know you can.

Announced in the morning by Gerard Butler, Woody Harrelson, Rashida Jones and Sofia Vergara.

FILM - DRAMA:
The Descendants - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - The Help - Hugo - War Horse
Alt: Moneyball
No Guts, No Glory: Tree of Life
I think only Descendants and Hugo are totally safe. Beyond that, 6-7 films vying for the remaining slots. This could be Girl With the Dragon Tattoo's last shot at getting traction.

FILM - COMEDY/MUSICAL:
The Artist - Beginners - Bridesmaids - Carnage - Midnight In Paris
Alt: My Week With Marilyn
No Guts: Win Win
It is the comedy/musical category. It is totally random! Any film with an acting nominee could be present. I went with Carnage because it has stars. So does Muppets. LOL. Marilyn and Young Adult could sneak in here.

ACTOR - DRAMA:
George Clooney - The Descendants
Leondardo Dicaprio - J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Ryan Gosling - Drive
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Alt: Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
No Guts: Michael Shannon - Take Shelter.
Probably one of the easier categories of the morning. Not entirely sold on Gosling as Oldman could replace him. I guess that Damian Behir guy could appear, but that feels like a SAG anomaly.

ACTOR - COMEDY/MUSICAL:
Matt Damon - We Bought a Zoo
Jean Dujardin - The Arist
Paul Giamtti - Win Win
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - 50/50
Owen Wilson - Midnight in Paris
Alt: Christoph Waltz - Carnage
No Guts: Even after all the jokes last year, they starfuck Johnny Depp for Rum Diary or Pirates 4.
I expect the most random nomination to strike in this category. Brendan Gleeson (Guard), Paul Rudd (Our Idiot Brother), Ewan McGregor (Beginners), Steve Carell (Crazy Stupid Love), or Robert Downey Jr (Sherlock Holmes) are all possibilities.

ACTRESS - DRAMA:
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton - We Need To Talk About Kevin
Alt: Rooney Mara - Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
No Guts: Kirsten Dunst - Melancholia
Rooney and Elizabeth are battling it out for the fifth slot. Given the nature of the Globes, I thought this would be the only place Glenn Close would show up. Thanks, SAG.

ACTRESS - COMEDY/MUSICAL:
Berenice Bejo - The Arist
Charlize Theron - Young Adult
Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet - Carnage
Alt: Cameron Diaz - Bad Teacher
No Guts: Jennifer Aniston - Horrible Bosses
If Julia Roberts happens here for Larry Crowne, that would almost be worse than anything this category produced last year.

SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks - Drive
Patton Oswalt - Young Adult
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Alt: Ben Kingsley - Hugo
No Guts: Kevin Spacey - Margin Call
This category is fucked. There's 10 or so potential nominees. Armie Hammer was at a recent HFPA event, so that would typically mean he's in. (Yes, that's about all it takes.)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Vanessa Redgrave - Coriolanus
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
Alt: Carey Mulligan - Shame
No Guts: Jessica gets 2 noms.
I really don't know about Redgrave. The type of release its getting never pays off, not for money or kudos. But, she's Vanessa Redgrave.

SCREENPLAY:
The Artist - The Descendants - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Midnight in Paris - Moneyball
Alt: Hugo
No Guts: Bridesmaids
Not much to say here. Dragon Tattoo is another candidate as they love their literary adaptations.

DIRECTING:
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Steven Spielberg - War Horse
Alt: Stephen Daldry - Extremely Loud
No Guts: Angelina Jolie - In the Land of Blood and Honey
I feel better about Directing than Screenplay.

SCORE:
The Adventures of Tin Tin - The Artist - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Hugo - War Horse
Alt: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
No Guts: Rango
Sure, why not? No idea.

SONG:
Albert Nobbs: "Lay Your Head Down"
Gnomeo and Juliet: "Hello, Hello"
The Help: "The Living Proof"
The Muppets: "Life's a Happy Song"
W.E.: "Masterpiece"
Alt: Winnie the Pooh: "So Long"
No Guts: a Footloose song
Yeah, a crapshoot.

ANIMATED FEATURE:
Adventures of Tin Tin - Kung Fu Panda 2 - Puss In Boots - Rango - Rio

As for TV, I'm hoping they recognize Happy Endings. And finally throw Amy Poehler a bone. Please be the opposite of SAG. They can't stop nominating The Closer.

Box: Charlize and the Sequels No One Asked For

2011-12-14T19:18:00.002-05:00

1. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $44m / $44m / $170m
2. Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 - $32m / $32m / $165m
3. New Year's Eve - $7m / $24.5m / $48m
4. Mission Impossible 4 - $6m / $6m / $150m
5. Young Adult - $5.5m / $6m / $28m
6. Arthur Christmas - $4.5m / $39.5m / $54m
The Sitter - $4.5m / $18m / $32m
8. The Descendants - $4m / $29.5m / $80m
Breaking Dawn - $4m / $266m / $282m
Hugo - $4m / $39.5m / $65m
The Muppets - $4m / $71m / $90m

MI4 makes the top 5 by just being in a couple hundred IMAX theatres. Ugh, despite the talent I really have no desire to see Sherlock 2. I do think the reception to the first film wasn't as warm as the studio thinks and this will gross less. Hey, the original Lisbeth Salendar is in it! As far Alvin, well, it'll do enough to ensure another installment in 2 years.

SAG Nom Thoughts

2011-12-14T09:33:00.002-05:00

LOL REALLY??

Well, that keeps things interesting at least.

These are awful, probably the worst SAG has ever done. They resurrected some long dead people and totally ignored some people who were popping up everywhere.

The biggest snub of the morning was probably Shailene Woodley as after The Help ladies she was the closest lock in the supporting category.

The biggest surprise of the morning was probably Demian Bechir, but even he had his supporters. So Jonah Hill? Armie Hammer? Albert Nobbs not being dead?

Ensemble is the safest category, and really not that bad of a selection. What's refreshing is that none of the nominees are totally serious.

Suck it haters. Melissa McCarthy is happening.

Emma Stone AND Rachel McAdams became SAG nominees!

As for the television categories, they are just awful. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. Not "fun awful" like the film categories, just offensive awful. It seems to take three to four years for a show to break in, then they never stop nominating you. Poor Amy Poehler.

Bleh. I'm kinda glad Globes are after SAG this year. Come on crazy HFPA, get this bad taste out of my mouth.

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD NOMINEES!

2011-12-14T09:11:00.002-05:00

FILM:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
DEMIÁN BICHIR / Carlos Galindo - “A BETTER LIFE” (Summit Entertainment)
GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King - "THE DESCENDANTS” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO / J. Edgar Hoover - "J. EDGAR" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
JEAN DUJARDIN / George - "THE ARTIST" (The Weinstein Company)
BRAD PITT / Billy Beane - "MONEYBALL" (Columbia Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
GLENN CLOSE / Albert Nobbs - "ALBERT NOBBS” (Roadside Attractions)
VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark - “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)
MERYL STREEP / Margaret Thatcher - “THE IRON LADY” (The Weinstein Company)
TILDA SWINTON / Eva - “WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
MICHELLE WILLIAMS / Marilyn Monroe - “MY WEEK WITH MARILYN” (The Weinstein Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
KENNETH BRANAGH / Sir Laurence Olivier - “MY WEEK WITH MARILYN” (The Weinstein Company)
ARMIE HAMMER / Clyde Tolson - "J. EDGAR" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
JONAH HILL / Peter Brand - "MONEYBALL" (Columbia Pictures)
NICK NOLTE / Paddy Conlon - “WARRIOR” (Lionsgate)
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER / Hal - “BEGINNERS” (Focus Features)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
BÉRÉNICE BEJO / Peppy - "THE ARTIST" (The Weinstein Company)
JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote - “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)
MELISSA McCARTHY / Megan - “BRIDESMAIDS” (Universal Pictures)
JANET McTEER / Hubert Page - "ALBERT NOBBS” (Roadside Attractions)
OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson - “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
THE ARTIST (The Weinstein Company)
BÉRÉNICE BEJO / Peppy
JAMES CROMWELL / Clifton
JEAN DUJARDIN / George
JOHN GOODMAN / Al Zimmer
PENELOPE ANN MILLER / Doris

BRIDESMAIDS (Universal Pictures)
ROSE BYRNE / Helen
JILL CLAYBURGH / Annie’s Mom
ELLIE KEMPER / Becca
MATT LUCAS / Gil
MELISSA McCARTHY / Megan
WENDI McLENDON-COVEY / Rita
CHRIS O’DOWD / Rhodes
MAYA RUDOLPH / Lillian
KRISTEN WIIG / Annie

THE DESCENDANTS (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
BEAU BRIDGES / Cousin Hugh
GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King
ROBERT FORSTER / Scott Thorson
JUDY GREER / Julie Speer
MATTHEW LILLARD / Brian Speer
SHAILENE WOODLEY / Alexandra King

THE HELP (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)
JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote
VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark
BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD / Hilly Holbrook
ALLISON JANNEY / Charlotte Phelan
CHRIS LOWELL / Stuart Whitworth
AHNA O’REILLY / Elizabeth Leefolt
SISSY SPACEK / Missus Walters
OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson
MARY STEENBURGEN / Elaine Stein
EMMA STONE / Skeeter Phelan
CICELY TYSON / Constantine Jefferson
MIKE VOGEL / Johnny Foote

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (Sony Pictures Classics)
KATHY BATES / Gertrude Stein
ADRIEN BRODY / Salvador Dali
CARLA BRUNI / Museum Guide
MARION COTILLARD / Adriana
RACHEL McADAMS / Inez
MICHAEL SHEEN / Paul
OWEN WILSON / Gil

PRIMETIME TELEVISION
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
LAURENCE FISHBURNE / Thurgood Marshall – “THURGOOD” (HBO)
PAUL GIAMATTI / Ben Bernanke – “TOO BIG TO FAIL” (HBO)
GREG KINNEAR / Jack Kennedy – “THE KENNEDYS” (REELZ CHANNEL)
GUY PEARCE / Monty Beragon – “MILDRED PIERCE“ (HBO)
JAMES WOODS / Richard Fuld – “TOO BIG TO FAIL” (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
DIANE LANE / Pat Loud – “CINEMA VERITE” (HBO)
MAGGIE SMITH / Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham – “DOWNTON ABBEY” (PBS)
EMILY WATSON / Janet Leach – “APPROPRIATE ADULT” (Sundance Channel)
BETTY WHITE / Caroline Thomas – “HALLMARK HALL OF FAME: THE LOST VALENTINE” (CBS)
KATE WINSLET / Mildred Pierce – “MILDRED PIERCE” (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
PATRICK J. ADAMS / Mike Ross – “SUITS” (USA)
STEVE BUSCEMI / Enoch “Nucky” Thomson – “BOARDWALK EMPIRE” (HBO)
KYLE CHANDLER / Eric Taylor – “FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS” (DirecTV)
BRYAN CRANSTON / Walter White – “BREAKING BAD” (AMC)
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan – “DEXTER” (Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
KATHY BATES / Harriet Korn – “HARRY’S LAW” (NBC)
GLENN CLOSE / Patty Hewes – “DAMAGES” (DirecTV)
JESSICA LANGE / Constance – “AMERICAN HORROR STORY” (FX)
JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick – “THE GOOD WIFE” (CBS)
KYRA SEDGWICK / Dept. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson – “THE CLOSER” (TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – “30 ROCK” (NBC)
TY BURRELL / Phil Dunphy – “MODERN FAMILY” (ABC)
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott – “THE OFFICE” (NBC)
JON CRYER / Alan Harper – “TWO AND A HALF MEN” (CBS)
ERIC STONESTREET / Cameron Tucker – “MODERN FAMILY” (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
JULIE BOWEN / Claire Dunphy – “MODERN FAMILY” (ABC)
EDIE FALCO / Jackie Peyton – “NURSE JACKIE” (Showtime)
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – “30 ROCK” (NBC)
SOFIA VERGARA / Gloria Delgado-Pritchett – “MODERN FAMILY” (ABC)
BETTY WHITE / Elka Ostrovsky – “HOT IN CLEVELAND” (TV Land)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)
STEVE BUSCEMI / Enoch “Nucky” Thompson
DOMINIC CHIANESE / Leander Cephas Whitlock
ROBERT CLOHESSY / Ward Boss Jim Neary
DABNEY COLEMAN / Commodore Louis Kaestner
CHARLIE COX / Owen Sleater
JOSIE & LUCY GALLINA / Emily Schroeder
STEPHEN GRAHAM / Al Capone
JACK HUSTON / Richard Harrow
ANTHONY LACIURA / Eddie Kessler
HEATHER LIND / Katy
KELLY MACDONALD / Margaret Schroeder
RORY & DECLAN McTIGUE / Teddy Schroeder
GRETCHEN MOL / Gillian Darmody
BRADY & CONNOR NOON/ Tommy Darmody
KEVIN O’ROURKE / Mayor Edward Bader
ALEKSA PALLADINO / Angela Darmody
JACQUELINE PENNEWILL / Lilian
VINCENT PIAZZA / Lucky Luciano
MICHAEL PITT / Jimmy Darmody
MICHAEL SHANNON / Agent Nelson Van Alden
PAUL SPARKS / Mickey Doyle
MICHAEL STUHLBARG / Arnold Rothstein
PETER VAN WAGNER / Isaac “Icky” Ginsburg
SHEA WHIGHAM / Sheriff Elias Thompson
MICHAEL KENNETH WILLIAMS / Chalky White
ANATOL YUSEF / Meyer Lansky

BREAKING BAD (AMC)
JONATHAN BANKS / Mike
BETSY BRANDT / Marie Schrader
RAY CAMPBELL / Tyrus Kitt
BRYAN CRANSTON / Walter White
GIANCARLO ESPOSITO / Gus Fring
ANNA GUNN / Skyler White
RJ MITTE / Walter White, Jr.
DEAN NORRIS / Hank Schrader
BOB ODENKIRK / Saul Goodman
AARON PAUL / Jesse Pinkman

DEXTER (Showtime)
BILLY BROWN / Chicago Mike
JENNIFER CARPENTER / Debra Morgan
JOSH COOKE / Louis
AIMEE GARCIA / Jamie Batista
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan
COLIN HANKS / Travis Marshall
DESMOND HARRINGTON / Joey Quinn
MARIA DOYLE KENNEDY / Sonya
RYA KIHLSTEDT / Michelle
C.S. LEE / Vince Masuka
EDWARD JAMES OLMOS / Professor Gellar
JAMES REMAR / Harry Morgan
LAUREN VELEZ / Lt. Maria LaGuerta
PETER WELLER / Liddy
DAVID ZAYAS / Sgt. Angel Batista

GAME OF THRONES (HBO)
AMRITA ACHARIA / Irri
MARK ADDY / King Robert Baratheon
ALFIE ALLEN / Theon Greyjoy
JOSEF ALTIN / Pypar
SEAN BEAN / Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark
SUSAN BROWN / Septa Mordane
EMILIA CLARKE / Daenerys Targaryen
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU / Ser Jaime Lannister
PETER DINKLAGE / Tyrion Lannister
RON DONACHIE / Ser Rodrik Cassel
MICHELLE FAIRLEY / Lady Catelyn Stark
JEROME FLYNN / Bronn
ELYES GABEL / Rakharo
AIDEN GILLEN / “Littlefinger” Petyr Baelish
JACK GLEESON / Joffrey Baratheon
IAIN GLEN / Ser Jorah Mormont
JULIAN GLOVER / Grand Maester Pycelle
KIT HARINGTON / Jon Snow
LENA HEADEY / Queen Cersei Lannister
ISAAC HEMPSTEAD WRIGHT / Bran Stark
CONLETH HILL / Lord Varys
RICHARD MADDEN / Robb Stark
JASON MAMOA / Kahl Drogo
RORY McCANN / Sandor Clegane
IAN McELHINNEY / Barristan Selmy
LUKE McEWAN / Rast
ROXANNE McKEE / Doreah
DAR SALIM / Qotho
MARK STANLEY / Grenn
DONALD SUMPTER / Maester Luwin
SOPHIE TURNER / Sansa Stark
MAISIE WILLIAMS / Arya Stark

THE GOOD WIFE (CBS)
CHRISTINE BARANSKI / Diane Lockhart
JOSH CHARLES / Will Gardner
ALAN CUMMING / Eli Gold
MATT CZUCHRY / Cary Agos
JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick
CHRIS NOTH / Peter Florrick
ARCHIE PANJABI / Kalinda Sharma
GRAHAM PHILLIPS / Zach Florrick
MAKENZIE VEGA / Grace Florrick

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

30 ROCK (NBC)
SCOTT ADSIT / Pete Hornberger
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy
KATRINA BOWDEN / Cerie
KEVIN BROWN / Dotcom
GRIZZ CHAPMAN / Grizz
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon
JUDAH FRIEDLANDER / Frank Rossitano
JANE KRAKOWSKI / Jenna Maroney
JOHN LUTZ / Lutz
JACK MCBRAYER / Kenneth Parcell
TRACY MORGAN / Tracy Jordan
MAULIK PANCHOLY / Jonathan
KEITH POWELL / Toofer

THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS)
MAYIM BIALIK / Amy Farrah Fowler
KALEY CUOCO / Penny
JOHNNY GALECKI / Leonard Hofstadter
SIMON HELBERG / Howard Wolowitz
KUNAL NAYYAR / Rajesh Koothrappali
JIM PARSONS / Sheldon Cooper
MELISSA RAUCH / Bernadette Rostenkowski

GLEE (FOX)
DIANNA AGRON / Quinn Fabray
CHRIS COLFER / Kurt Hummel
DARREN CRISS / Blaine Anderson
ASHLEY FINK / Lauren Zizes
DOT MARIE JONES / Coach Beiste
JANE LYNCH / Sue Sylvester
JAYMA MAYS / Emma Pillsbury
KEVIN McHALE / Artie Abrams
LEA MICHELE / Rachel Berry
CORY MONTEITH / Finn Hudson
HEATHER MORRIS / Brittany Pierce
MATTHEW MORRISON / Will Schuester
MIKE O’MALLEY / Burt Hummel
CHORD OVERSTREET / Sam Evans
LAUREN POTTER / Becky Johnson
AMBER RILEY / Mercedes Jones
NAYA RIVERA / Santana Lopez
MARK SALLING / Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman
HARRY SHUM, JR. / Mike Chang
IQBAL THEBA / Principal Figgins
JENNA USHKOWITZ / Tina Cohen-Chang

MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
AUBREY ANDERSON-EMMONS / Lily
JULIE BOWEN / Claire
TY BURRELL / Phil
JESSE TYLER FERGUSON / Mitchell
NOLAN GOULD / Luke
SARAH HYLAND / Haley
ED O’NEILL / Jay
RICO RODRIGUEZ / Manny
ERIC STONESTREET / Cameron
SOFIA VERGARA / Gloria
ARIEL WINTER / Alex

THE OFFICE (NBC)
LESLIE DAVID BAKER / Stanley Hudson
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER / Kevin Malone
CREED BRATTON / Creed Bratton
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott
JENNA FISCHER / Pam Beesly Halpert
KATE FLANNERY / Meredith Palmer
ED HELMS / Andy Bernard
MINDY KALING / Kelly Kapoor
ELLIE KEMPER / Erin Hannon
ANGELA KINSEY / Angela Martin
JOHN KRASINSKI / Jim Halpert
PAUL LIEBERSTEIN / Toby Flenderson
B.J. NOVAK / Ryan Howard
OSCAR NUÑEZ / Oscar Martinez
CRAIG ROBINSON / Daryll Philbin
JAMES SPADER / Robert California
PHYLLIS SMITH / Phyllis Lapin-Vance
RAINN WILSON / Dwight Schrute
ZACH WOODS / Gabe Lewis

SAG HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (UNIVERSAL PICTURES)
COWBOYS & ALIENS (UNIVERSAL PICTURES)
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 (WARNER BROS. PICTURES)
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (PARAMOUNT PICTURES)
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (20TH CENTURY FOX)

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
DEXTER (SHOWTIME)
GAME OF THRONES (HBO)
SOUTHLAND (TNT)
SPARTACUS: GODS OF THE ARENA (STARZ)
TRUE BLOOD (HBO)

SAG Predix

2011-12-13T21:21:00.003-05:00

Announced tomorrow morning by Regina King and Judy Greer.

It really isn't pleasing me that these are announced before the Globes. I've always liked that SAGs more grounded nominees provide a clearer picture after the Globes' seemingly drunken selection. Maybe it'll be more fun this way, but I doubt it. It was always pretty easy guessing who SAG was nominating that would go onto the Oscar nom after the Globes overlooked them.

2008 - Melissa Leo & Richard Jenkins
2009 - Jeremy Renner

Though last year, Jacki Weaver and Michelle Williams got Globe nods but no SAG and still made the Oscar list. And getting both a Globe and SAG nod does not equal Oscar nom (hi, Mila Kunis!).

So here goes:

ENSEMBLE:
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Midnight in Paris
Alt: Bridesmaids
I'd say there's actually only about 8 or 9 films that could show up here. Bridesmaids has won a few critics group ensemble awards and has been nominated by just about every critics group, so it could easily make the lineup. I'm wondering just how late EL&IC screened as that could hurt it. Hugo is another film with a legit shot, but it might not be seen as an actor's film. All that aside, The Help is winning this in a cakewalk. SAG WINNER EMMA STONE. Learn it. Live it. Love it. The boring surprise could be Ides of March. God, that would be dull.
No Guts, No Glory: Rather than saying something random will show up, my choice here is that The Descendants will NOT be nominated. Clooney's last 2 films both received three acting noms, but missed ensemble. 2nd No Guts: Drive.

MALE ACTOR - LEADING:
George Clooney - The Descendants
Leondardo Dicaprio - J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Alt: Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I'm going the route that Leo will be this year's Cate Blanchett in The Golden Age (failed Oscarbait that still results in a nomination that everyone hates). Actually, a better comparision would be Ziyi Zhang in Memoirs of a Geisha. She showed up everywhere for a performance that was unspectacular but ultimately (and rightfully) missed the Oscar nom. That seems likely. Let's hope that's the case.
No Guts, No Glory: Thomas Horn - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. SAG loves it child actors.

FEMALE ACTOR - LEADING:
Viola Davis - The Help
Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Charlize Theron - Young Adult
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn
Alt: Tilda Swinton - We Need To Talk About Kevin
The general consensus seems to be that Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs is DOA. She has showed up just one place (the Golden Satellites) though SAG and HFPA could easily revive her chances. Davis, Streep and Williams are the only sure bets. I gave Theron and Olsen the edge over Swinton because I get the feeling their movies have been seen more.
No Guts, No Glory: A Kristen. Dunst or Wiig.

MALE ACTOR - SUPPORTING:
Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks - Drive
Patton Oswalt - Young Adult
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max Von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Alt: Ben Kingsley - Hugo
With Nick Nolte and Corey Stoll as outside shots.
No Guts, No Glory: Brad Pitt - Tree of Life

FEMALE ACTOR - SUPPORTING:
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Vanessa Redgrave - Coriolanus
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
Alt: Berenice Bejo - The Artist
So can Chastain possibly score multiple noms here? And did enough people see her movie to get Redgrave in?
No Guts, No Glory: Bryce Dallas Howard - The Help.

As for TV, go Parks and Recreation and Community. SAG's TV categories are shitty shit shit.

Broadcast Film Critics Awards Nominees!

2011-12-13T07:05:00.002-05:00

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 17th ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS

BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney – “The Descendants”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “J. Edgar”
Jean Dujardin – “The Artist”
Michael Fassbender – “Shame”
Ryan Gosling – “Drive”
Brad Pitt – “Moneyball”

BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis – “The Help”
Elizabeth Olsen – “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Meryl Streep – “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Charlize Theron – “Young Adult”
Michelle Williams – “My Week With Marilyn”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 
Kenneth Branagh – “My Week With Marilyn”
Albert Brooks – “Drive”
Nick Nolte – “Warrior”
Patton Oswalt – “Young Adult”
Christopher Plummer – “Beginners”
Andrew Serkis – “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo – “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain – “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy – “Bridesmaids”
Carey Mulligan – “Shame”
Octavia Spencer – “The Help”
Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Asa Butterfield – “Hugo”
Elle Fanning – “Super 8”
Thomas Horn – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Ezra Miller – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Saoirse Ronan – “Hanna”
Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Help
The Ides of March

BEST DIRECTOR
Stephen Daldry – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist”
Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”
Nicolas Winding Refn – “Drive”
Martin Scorsese – “Hugo”
Steven Spielberg – “War Horse”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius
“50/50” – Will Reiser
“Midnight in Paris” – Woody Allen
“Win Win” – Screenplay by Tom McCarthy, Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni
“Young Adult” – Diablo Cody

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Descendants” – Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” – Eric Roth
“The Help” – Tate Taylor
“Hugo” – John Logan
“Moneyball” – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Artist” – Guillaume Schiffman
“Drive” – Newton Thomas Sigel
“Hugo” – Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” – Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” – Janusz Kaminski

BEST ART DIRECTION
“The Artist” – Production Designer: Laurence Bennett, Art Director: Gregory S. Hooper
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” – Production Designer: Stuart Craig, Set Decorator: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” – Production Designer: Dante Ferretti, Set Decorator: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“The Tree of Life” – Production Designer: Jack Fisk, Art Director: David Crank
“War Horse” – Production Designer: Rick Carter, Set Decorator: Lee Sandales

BEST EDITING
“The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius and Anne-Sophie Bion
“Drive” – Matthew Newman
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” – Thelma Schoonmaker
“War Horse” – Michael Kahn

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“The Artist” – Mark Bridges
“The Help” – Sharen Davis
“Hugo” – Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” – Michael O’Connor
“My Week With Marilyn” – Jill Taylor

BEST MAKEUP
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady
J. Edgar
My Week With Marilyn

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
The Tree of Life

BEST SOUND 
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Super 8
The Tree of Life
War Horse

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Drive
Fast Five
Hanna
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8

BEST COMEDY
Bridesmaids
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Horrible Bosses
Midnight in Paris
The Muppets

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
In Darkness
Le Havre
A Separation
The Skin I Live In
Where Do We Go Now

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Buck
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Page One: Inside the New York Times
Project Nim
Undefeated

BEST SONG
“Hello Hello” – performed by Elton John and Lady Gaga/written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin – Gnomeo & Juliet
“Life’s a Happy Song” – performed by Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets
“The Living Proof” – performed by Mary J. Blige/written by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason, Jr. – The Help
“Man or Muppet” – performed by Jason Segel and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets
“Pictures in My Head” – performed by Kermit and the Muppets/written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman – The Muppets

BEST SCORE
“The Artist” – Ludovic Bource
“Drive” – Cliff Martinez
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
“Hugo” – Howard Shore
“War Horse” – John Williams

Pre-Majors Oscar Dix

2011-12-11T22:05:00.002-05:00

Busy week.

We've got BFCA on Tuesday.
SAG noms on Wednesday.
Golden Globe noms on Thursday.

By the end of Thursday morning, we'll more or less know most of the acting nominees. I doubt BAFTA (announcing in early January) will throw any curveballs, but one never knows. I say most because it seems in every category we have 3 locks, followed by a handful of people vying for the last 2 slots. I suspect Chastain is in for The Help, but it would be fun if each org chose her for a different film. And by fun I mean frustrating. It is important to keep in mind that for the past four years, someone has gotten an acting Oscar nomination with little to no precursor support.

2007 - Jones (Elah) and Linney (Savages)
2008 - Shannon (Revolutionary)
2009 - Gyllenhaal (Crazy)
2010 - Bardem (Biutiful)

I might do another set after most of the guilds, but most likely this will be the only set of Oscar predictions I do until the day before nominations are announced.

SAG and Globe predix the night before their respective noms are announced.

Last year, my early December dix were pretty good. Here they are. Picture - 9/10. Actor, Actress, Supp Actor, both screenplays - 4/5. Supporting Actress - 5/5. Directing - 3/5. I don't think I'll be anywhere near as close this year.

OSCAR PREDICTIONS:

PICTURE:
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
HUGO
WAR HORSE
6. Midnight in Paris
7. The Help
8. Moneyball
9. The Tree of Life
10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I'll predict 7 nominations!

DIRECTING:
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Stephen Daldry - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

ACTOR:
George Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt - Moneyball

ACTRESS:
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Charlize Theron - Young Adult
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn

SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Albert Brooks - Drive
Ben Kingsley - Hugo
Patton Oswalt - Young Adult
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max Von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Vanessa Redgrave - Coriolanus
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Shaileene Woodley - The Descendants

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
50/50
A SEPARATION
THE ARTIST
MARGIN CALL
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
THE DESCENDANTS
EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
HUGO
MONEYBALL
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

CRITICS & AFI WINNERS ROUND-UP

2011-12-11T16:16:00.005-05:00

Winners for a very busy Sunday: Brad Pitt, Albert Brooks, Melissa McCarthy, Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life, The Artist, Hugo and The Descendants.

AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE TOP 10 FILMS OF 2011:
BRIDESMAIDS
THE DESCENDANTS
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
THE HELP
HUGO
J. EDGAR
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
MONEYBALL
THE TREE OF LIFE
WAR HORSE

BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS
PICTURE: THE ARTIST
DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese - Hugo
ACTOR: Brad Pitt - Moneyball
ACTRESS: Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
SUPP. ACTOR: Albert Brooks - Drive
SUPP. ACTRESS: Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
ENSEMBLE CAST: Carnage
SCREENPLAY: Moneyball
USE OF MUSIC: Drive & The Artist
EDITING: The Clock
CINEMATOGRAPHY: THE TREE OF LIFE
BEST NEW FILMMAKER: Sean Durkin - Martha Marcy May Marlene
DOCUMENTARY: Project Nim
FOREIGN FILM: Incendies

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE:
BEST PICTURE: THE ARTIST
BEST DIRECTOR: MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS - The Artist
BEST ACTOR: MICHAEL SHANNON - Take Shelter (runners-up: MICHAEL FASSBENDER - Shame and GARY OLDMAN - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)
BEST ACTRESS: MERYL STREEP - The Iron Lady
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST: BRIDESMAIDS
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: ALBERT BROOKS - Drive
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: MELISSA MCCARTHY – Bridesmaids
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER: JESSICA CHASTAIN – The Tree of Life, The Help, The Debt, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, Coriolanus
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: EMMANUEL LUBEZKI - The Tree of Life
BEST SCREENPLAY: ALEXANDER PAYNE, NAT FAXON, JIM RASH - The Descedants
BEST USE OF MUSIC: LUDOVIC BOURCE for The Artist
BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR: JOE CORNISH for Attack the Block
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: A SEPARATION
BEST DOCUMENTARY: CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS AWARDS:
(website here, featuring runner-ups)
BEST PICTURE: The Descendants
BEST DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life
BEST ACTOR: Michael Fassbender - A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame and X-Men: First Class
BEST ACTRESS: Yun Jung Hee - Poetry
BEST SUPP. ACTOR: Christopher Plummer - Beginners
BEST SUPP. ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain - Corialanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields and The Tree of Life
BEST SCREENPLAY: A Separation
BEST MUSIC/SCORE: Hanna
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Hugo
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Tree of Life
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Cave of Forgotten Dreams
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Rango

SAN FRANCISCO CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS:
Best Picture: “The Tree of Life”
Best Director: Terrence Malick - “The Tree of Life”
Best Original Screenplay: J.C. Chandor - “Margin Call”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan - “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Best Actor: Gary Oldman - “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Best Actress: Tilda Swinton - “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks - “Drive”
Best Supporting Actress: Vanessa Redgrave - “Coriolanus”
Best Animated Feature: “Rango”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Certified Copy”
Best Documentary: “Tabloid”
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki - “The Tree of Life”
Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community
National Film Preservation Foundation, in recognition of for its work in the preservation and dissemination of endangered, culturally significant films
Special Citation for underappreciated independent cinema
“The Mill and the Cross”

Box: Adventures in Box-Officing

2011-12-07T19:49:00.003-05:00

1. New Year's Eve - $22m / $22m / $80m
2. The Sitter - $12m / $12m / $37m
3. Breaking Dawn - $8.5m / $260m / $282m
4. The Muppets - $8m / $67m / $100m
5. Arthur Christmas - $5.5m / $32m / $50m
6. Hugo - $5m / $32.5m / $75m
7. The Descendants - $4.5m / $23.5m / $85m
8. Happy Feet 2 - $4m / $57m / $68m
9. Jack and Jill - $3m / $68.5m / $76m
10. Tower Heist - $2.5m / $74m / $80m

Tracking and other sites have NYE doing much more, but I just feel that the sour taste Valentine's Day left in audiences mouths and those awful reviews will give this a much softer opening. I wonder how well the film will do on December 31st.... I also wonder how many more holidays we can exploit with massive casts and cookie cutter storylines. This is like some kind of bizarro revival of the holiday horror movies of the 80's. Speaking of 80's revivals, Jonah Hill's semi-remake of the Elisabeth Shue film looks fun, but probably won't have registers ringing. The Descendants will be in just under a thousand theatres as Fox is probably looking to add some theatres next weekend after Golden Globe nods. I've now accepted the film is probably not crossing the century mark, but based on award season's path I'm thinking Hugo will probably do more than I originally expected.

OMFG MIA!

2011-12-06T23:53:00.003-05:00

New York Times doing its typical award-friendly actor shots. Last year and this year they chose to do shorts homaging famous movies/archtypes. They are all fun, with Viola Davis being my second fave. But Mia owns this shit.

Here for the evil.

NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW WINNERS

2011-12-01T15:20:00.003-05:00

Usually the first out of the gate, perhaps letting them go second has allowed them to make some pretty inspired picks. They, as usual, love Eastwood. So maybe not.

Best Film: HUGO
Best Director: MARTIN SCORSESE - HUGO
Best Actor: GEORGE CLOONEY - THE DESCENDANTS
Best Actress: TILDA SWINTON - WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Best Supporting Actor: CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER - BEGINNERS
Best Supporting Actress: SHAILENE WOODLEY - THE DESCENDANTS
Best Original Screenplay: 50/50 - WILL REISER
Best Adapted Screenplay: THE DESCENDANTS - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
Best Ensemble: THE HELP
Best Animated Feature: RANGO
Breakthrough Performance: (tie) Felicity Jones - Like Crazy / Rooney Mara - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Debut Director: J.C. Chandor - Margin Call
Spotlight Award: Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)
NBR Freedom of Expression: (tie) Crime After Crime AND Pariah
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation
Best Documentary: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Special Achievement in Filmmaking: The Harry Potter Franchise

Top 10 Films (alphabetical)
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
DRIVE
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2
HUGO
THE IDES OF MARCH
J. EDGAR
TREE OF LIFE
WAR HORSE

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
13 ASSASSINS
ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN
FOOTNOTE
LE HAVRE
POINT BLANK

Top 5 Documentaries
BORN TO BE WILD
BUCK
GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD
PROJECT NIM
SENNA

Top 10 Independent Films:
50/50
ANOTHER EARTH
BEGINNERS
A BETTER LIFE
CEDAR RAPIDS
MARGIN CALL
SHAME
TAKE SHELTER
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
WIN WIN

Box: 'Dawn' of the Dead Weekend

2011-11-30T21:15:00.002-05:00

1. Breaking Dawn - $17.5m / $247.5m / $285m
2. The Muppets - $15m / $60m / $115m
3. Hugo - $7m / $24.5m / $55m
4. Arthur Christmas - $6.5m / $24.5m / $46m
5. Happy Feet 2 - $6m / $52m / $70m
6. Descendants - $5.5m / $18.5m / $100m
7. Jack and Jill - $4.5m / $63.5m / $74m
8. Puss In Boots - $4m / $140m / $150m
9. Immortals - $3.5m / $74.5m / $82m
10. Tower Heist - $3m / $69.5m / $76m

Sadly I think the Muppets will just miss the #1 slot, allowing Twilight a threepeat. Hugo is adding screens and could experience one of the smallest post-Thanksgiving drops in years. I have no idea how many screens Descendants is adding, but its apparently going fully wide next week. I'm hanging on that $100m+ prediction. There's a shitload of movies opening till the end of the year, numerous in limited. At least the art houses will be booming.

Award Season Kicks Off...

2011-11-29T14:02:00.002-05:00

GOTHAM FILM AWARDS:

Best Feature: (tie) BEGINNERS and THE TREE OF LIFE
Best Documentary: BETTER THIS WORLD
Best Ensemble: BEGINNERS
Breakthrough Actor: FELICITY JONES - LIKE CRAZY
Breakthrough Director: DEE REES - PARIAH
Audience Award: Girlfriend
Best Film Not Playing at a Theatre Near You: SCENES OF CRIME

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS:

Best Feature:
50/50 - Beginners - Drive - Take Shelter - The Artist - The Descendants

Best Director:
Mike Mills - Beginners
Nicholas Weinding Refn - Drive
Jeff Nichols - Take Shelter
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Robert Altman Award: Margin Call

Best International Film:
A Separation - Melancholia - Shame - The Kid With a Bike - Tyrranasaur

Best Male Lead:
Demian Bichir - A Better Life
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Ryan Gosling - Drive
Woody Harrelson - Rampart
Michael Shannon - Take Shelter

Best Female Lead:
Lauren Ambrose - Think of Me
Rachel Harris - Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye - Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn

Best Supporting Male:
Albert Brooks - Drive
John Hawkes - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
John C. Reilly - Cedar Rapids
Corey Stoll - Midnight in Paris

Best Supporting Female:
Jessica Chastain - Take Shelter
Angelica Huston - 50/50
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana - Gun Hill Road
Shaileen Woodley - The Descendants

Best Documentary:
An African Selection
Bill Cunningham New York
The Interrupters
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
We Were Here

Best First Screenplay:
Mike Cahill & Brit Marling - Another Earth
J.C. Chandor - Margin Call
Patrick DeWitt - Terri
Phil Johnston - Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser - 50/50

Best Screenplay:
Joseph Cedar - FootNote
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Tom McCarthy - Win Win
Mike Mills - Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash - The Descendants

Best Cinematography:
Joel Hodge - Bellflower
Benjamin Kuh-Sulk - The Off Hours
Darius Kond-Jee - Midnight in Paris
Gui-omme Shiffman - The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron - The Dynamiter

John Cassavetes Award (For Films Made Under $500k):
Bellflower - Circumstance - Hello Lonesome - Pariah - The Dynamiter

Best First Features:
Another Earth - In the Family - Margin Call - Martha Marcy May Marlene - Natural Selection

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS WINNERS:

Best Picture: THE ARTIST
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Best Screenplay: Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin - Moneyball
Best Actor: Brad Pitt - Moneyball & The Tree of Life
Best Actress: Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks - Drive
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain - The Help & Take Shelter & Tree of Life
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki - The Tree of Life
Best First Features: Margin Call
Best Documentary: Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation

So, for the first day, our big winners are The Artist, Jessica Chastain, Tree of Life, Margin Call, Albert Brooks and Beginners. I do wonder if Chastain's chances will firmly be with The Help or if she can get in for one of her other performances.

And Michelle Williams is officially the Meryl Streep of the Spirit Awards.

Box: In Which Tweens Matter and Martin Scorsese Doesn't

2011-11-21T23:40:00.003-05:00

Doing these a bit earlier because of the long weekend.

1. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 1
This looks to match New Moon's box-office perfectly. Moon barely beat out The Blind Side for the #1 slot Thanksgiving weekend 2 years ago, and unless the Muppets have a huge surge this should win the weekend with ease. Next weekend, however....
3-day: $42m
Total After Weekend: $223m
Projected Final Gross: $300m

2. THE MUPPETS
Interesting to note that the last Muppets movie came out in 1999 and didn't make more than $15 million. The marketing has done a great job of selling this reboot and bringing the loveable characters back in the spotlight. I'm expect this to play out the same way the last time Disney met Amy Adams met Thanksgiving.
3-day: $33 million
Total After Weekend: $48m
Projected Final Gross: $125m

3. HAPPY FEET TWO
Not surprised at all this more or less bombed last weekend. There seemed to be so little interest, and Puss In Boots and The Muppets will absorb most of the family audience for the holidays.
3-day: $15.5m
Total After Weekend: $48m
Projected Final Gross: $80m

4. ARTHUR CHRISTMAS
I have no idea - is Arthur a character from something else? Is this a book series? A TV show? Like Happy Feet Two, this feels like a non-event.
3-day: $13.5m
Total After Weekend: $19m
Projected Final Gross: $55m

5. PUSS IN BOOTS
Family holdovers typically have miniscule drops.
3-day: $10m
Total After Weekend: $139m
Projected Final Gross: $164m

6. JACK AND JILL
I hope this film's underperformance will be a lesson to those involved to maybe try a little next time. It won't.
3-day: $9.5m
Total After Weekend: $57m
Projected Final Gross: $78m

7. IMMORTALS
As the only adult-aimed film in wide release, this should avoid another steep drop.
3-day: $9m
Total After Weekend: $69m
Projected Final Gross: $86m

8. HUGO
Paramount rethought the ad campaign and release strategy after realizing the number of family films in the market and that this probably wouldn't do well with them anyways. Only opening in 1200 theatres, the studio is hoping to expand in the coming weeks based on word of mouth and the film's excellent reviews. It'll probably be a classic in ten years time, but this feels sadly like an excellent film that will bomb in theatrical release.
3-day: $8.5m
Total After Weekend: $11.5m
Projected Final Gross: $35m

9. TOWER HEIST
A solid hold if only because its the only PG-13 film in release that isn't for tween girls.
3-day: $5m
Total After Weekend: $62m
Projected Final Gross: $72m

10. THE DESCENDANTS
Expanding to 400+ theatres on Wednesday should be enough for this to land in the top again. Hopefully, it takes advantage of no openings next weekend and adds a thousand theatres.
3-day: $4.5m
Total After Weekend: $8m
Projected Final Gross: $100m

My Week With Marilyn will open in a hundred theatres on Wednesday and double that number on Friday. Expect about $2 million for the three day for Harvey's Michelle Williams Oscar campaign, err, film. Give it a decent expansion next weekend, Harv.

Box: Breaking Wind

2011-11-16T19:26:00.001-05:00

1. Breaking Dawn Part 1 - $134m / $134m / $290m
2. Happy Feet Two - $36m / $36m / $160m
3. Puss In Boots - $14m / $125.5m / $175m
4. Immortals - $13.5m / $55m / $85m
5. Jack and Jill - $13m / $42.5m / $80m
6. Tower Heist - $7m / $53.5m / $72m
7. J. Edgar - $6m / $21m / $36m
8. Harold and Kumar Christmas - $3m / $28.5m / $36m
9. In Time - $2m / $34m / $38m
10. Paranormal Activity 3 - $1.5m / $103m / $106m
**The Descendants - $1m / $1.2m / $125m

Maybe after the record breaking final installment of Harry Potter, the latest Twilight doesn't seem to be the sensation the last two were. It'll still come close to $300 million. Happy Feet Two will probably finish just below its first installment ($198 million), and the charge of family films in theatres over Thanksgiving will do it no favors. I expect The Muppets and Puss-In-Boots to finish higher than the dancing penguins. The Descendants debuts in just under 30 theatres and has an outside shot of making the top 10. It expands to 400 theatres on Wednesday, and probably wide December 2nd I'm guessing. Considering it is the Best Picture frontrunner, a leggy run surpassing $100 million looks to be in store.

Brian Grazer In, Ratner/Murphy Out - HOSTS FYC

2011-11-09T23:06:00.003-05:00

What's with all the controversies leading to firings/"stepping down"?

Anywho, megaproducer Brian Grazer will replace Brett Ratner as co-producer of the 84th Academy Awards. After Ratner stepped down yesterday, host Eddie Murphy joined him today. This leaves three and a half months to find a new host.

coughamypoehlercough

That's plenty of time as usually the host isn't even announced till late November, early December. Back before the announcement was made to have Murphy host, I was going to create a list of people I've love to see take the MC duties. I may do one by the weekend as who knows how fast they'll announce a new one.

Ratner rightfully was fired, err, sorry, "stepped down" after several statements he made while promoting his latest cinematic offering Tower Heist. The main one that got people upset was "rehearsals are for fags." He also made sexist/racist remarks about Olivia Munn. After his resignation, many were curious as to whether Murphy would remain as host. That was answered faster than expected. Similarly, the question as to whom would replace Ratner was answered at lightning speed.

What I hope is something I've said here numerous times: the Academy and its show producers need to stop chasing people who couldn't care less about the show and film. Stop bringing inexperienced young actors to produce ratings. Never works. Stop trying to bring in edgy comedians when you're only going to give us neutered versions of them. Never works. Stop trying to find ways to cut the running time of what will always be a long show. Never works. And how bout this: rather than trying to win over an audience that just doesn't care about this stuff, work on pleasing the people that do care.

Just embrace what are you and have fun with that. Yes, if you end up going the way of the Tonys and don't get a ripple in the pop culture universe, that's fine. At least they put on a show that honors and showcases the best their art form has to offer.

And I'll give a throwback to a previous post. Look at what Amy Poehler and her fellow nominees did at the Emmy's. Sure, shenanigans. But did it at devalue the category, the nominees or the show? Fuck no.

So, my FYC for hosts:

+the afforementioned Poehler. She has the energy to keep a three hour show going. It'll be a nice excuse to bust out her hilarious Sharon Stone impression.

+Steve Martin. The Steve Martin of the 73rd, 75th and 81st Academy Awards. Not the one where he co-hosted with Baldwin.

+Tina Fey and a male cohost. (Steve Martin, Steve Carell or Robert Downey Jr, perhaps.) I don't think Fey could do it alone, she works best when playing off someone. The three I mentioned have given her some great award show moments.

+Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway. As long as Anne doesn't have some deadweight stoner bringing her down, she's got the old school Hollywood entertainer thing down pat. Throw in Jackman, with similar skills, and these two would be gold.

+The cast of Bridesmaids. Though knowing the Academy, they'll probably try the cast of Hangover or some stupid shit. The red-hot McCarthy and limitless Wiig would kill it.

+Meryl Streep. Cause she's actually really funny and who better to host than the most nominated actor ever?

+Given Jon Stewart a third time. Or Ellen a second.

+And, yes, Facebook campaign: The Muppets would be amazing hosts.

I really hope its not Billy Crystal. His era is over and he hasn't been in a notable movie in ten years. I liked most of the times he hosted, but even he wasn't that great when he appeared this year. I really wish that revisionist history would stop trying to say he was. His head is too botoxed, too.

Box: Katie Holmes As Adam Sandler's Love Interest....

2011-11-09T20:29:00.002-05:00

...while in a few weeks, Michelle Williams is playing Marilyn Monroe. Food for thought.

1. Jack and Jill - $25m / $25m / $85m
2. Puss In Boots - $21.5m / $105m / $170m
3. Immortals - $18m / $18m / $55m
4. Tower Heist - $13.5m / $44m / $75m
5. J. Edgar - $12m / $12m / $40m
6. Very Harold and Kumar Christmas - $6m / $23.5m / $38m
7. In Time - $4m / $30.5m / $40m
8. Paranormal Activity 3 - $4m / $101m / $110m
9. Footloose - $2.5m / $48.5m / $54m
10. Real Steel - $2m / $81.5m / $86m

J.Edgar will probably do about the same as Changeling and Invictus. I seem to be higher on Jack and Jill and lower on Immortals than everyone else. Sandler is a fairly reliable box office draw. The PG-rating reminds me of Fred Claus, which opened four years ago and did just under $100 million. Puss In Boots had a terrific 3% drop last week, and should see a drop of around 35% this weekend. Those drops will steepen in the coming weeks given the storm of kids and family movies taking over Thanksgiving.

Box-Office: Holiday Season Kickoff

2011-11-02T22:31:00.002-04:00

1. Tower Heist - $27m / $27m / $84m
2. Puss In Boots - $24m / $66.5m / $135m
3. A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas - $14m / $14m / $38m
4. Paranormal Activity 3 - $7m / $94m / $108m
5. In Time - $6.5m / $23m / $38m
6. Footloose - $3.5m / $43.5m / $51m
7. Real Steel - $3m / $78.5m / $86m
8. The Rum Diary - $2.5m / $10m / $15m
9. Ides of March - $1.8m / $36.5m / $42m
10. Moneyball - $1.6m / $70m / $75m

Last weekend's random snowstorm and only two openers will lead to modest declines, particulary the kitty movie. This weekend is the offical start of the holiday movie season and looks to be pretty soft when compared to years gone by. That being said, it should be a pretty stellar moneymaking time with muppets, emo vampires, dragon tattoos and chipmunks. Hopefully, like last year, we'll see some of the awards contenders turn into blockbusters a la True Grit, Black Swan, The Fighter and The King's Speech.

Happy Halloween...I guess

2011-10-31T22:54:00.002-04:00

Horrorfest is over. I'm typing this e-mail on my battery powered labtop, while a candle lights the room. Far and away, the worst Halloween ever. October its last days and we're right in Christmas. Thanks, snow. I guess I'll send my remaining movies back to NetFlix and take one back to the video store. The last video store there seems to be. I can't believe they went out that fast. Sorry, I won't make this another post waxing nostalgic about the video aisles of yesteryear. Anywho, thought I'd post this article from Slant magazine listing the 25 best horror movies of the modern age. Their top 10 is rather wonky and some questionable picks in there, but otherwise just about everything that should be is represented.

What a waste of a couple of days.

The Innkeepers Trailer

2011-10-29T00:06:00.003-04:00

I first heard about this movie earlier in the year when it played at some festivals and got decent reviews. Given Ti West, one of the best of the modern splat pack, is behind the camera adds to my excitement. This debuts early next year on VOD with a small theatrical release. Many of the indie horror successes of the past several years have had similar launches. I love the vintage poster and the trailer is really fun. Sara Paxton (2009's Last House on the Left) and Kelly McGillis (haven't seen her in a while!) costar.

TRAILER HERE.

Horrorfest: TV Stuff

2011-10-27T21:32:00.004-04:00

The Walking Dead
Ep 2.1 "What Lies Ahead": A-
Ep 2.2 "Bloodletting": B+
Season 2 has so far been more consistent and more of what this should be than what season 1 was. Outside of the pilot, season 1 was all over the place - some greatness, some really bad moments, but mostly a lot of "where is this going?" and "stop trying to be like Lost." That being said, all that could come to an end with episode three, the first non-Darabont episode. The show has been hinting at fixing its largest problem: the bland story and acting of its three leads. Stick with Jeff DeMunn and Laurie Holden because their aces. The set piece from the season's first episode, in which our survivors hide from a herd of walkers on a highway, was one of the most thrilling moments TV has offered in recent memory. Granted, I don't watch much if any of "serious TV."

Suburgatory
Ep 1.5 "Halloween": B-
Despite being down on this show outside of its pitch perfect pilot, I've stuck with it because a) there's nothing else on. b) Jane Levy is terrific and a genuine find. c) Cheryl Hines was dead on when she said on Chelsea Lately the other week that Jeremy Sisto is a total DILF. d) I rather love Cheryl's character. It has some nice sataric touches here and there, but mostly the "city vs. suburbia" mentality that dominates it is already old. Anytime Levy does her parody of a suburban girl sipping Red Bull from a straw while calling someone 'bitch', it always makes me laugh.

Happy Endings
Ep 2.5 "Spooky Endings": B+
I've become aware that everyone is now becoming aware of this really funny little show. If you like trials and tribulations of late twentysomethings, rapid fire dialogue, sarcastic people and tons of pop culture references, you've found your Holy Grail. Episodes 2 and 4 of season 2 have been borderline perfect, while this is an enjoyable Halloween episode of a series. Not quite a classic, though they are slowly fixing the series one major problem: that Zachary Knighton and Elisha Cuthbert's characters and performances aren't nearly as strong as their costars.

Community
Ep 3.5 "Horror Fiction In Seven Spooky Steps": A-
I wish this was an hour long. If it was, it could have been as great as last year's zombie episode and ranked among TV's all time Halloween classics. Gillian Jacobs has slowly emerged as MVP now that the writers know how to write for her correctly. The setup to this ep, in which everyone basically tells some variation of a scary story, is about too much for the half hour format. Abed's deadpan story and Shirley's fire and brimstone were easily the best. Jacobs was great with Pudi. As they stared at each other awaiting the serial killer while the awkward music played, that was probably the hardest I've laughed at a show in some time. I think of all the shows currently on air, this is probably the one that can most pull off a Simpsons' 'Treehouse of Horror' style episode. Keep that in mind for senior year, and make it an hour long.

Park and Recreation
Ep 4.5 "Meet'n'Greet": B
Are we going to witness a relationship between Ann and Ron? That would certainly be interesting? I'm glad it seems the Entertainment 720 plot seems to be done, as it was a little too unreal for this show. There was lots of nice little moments, but I really wanted Oren to do something crazy at the party. Ben and Andy's story was this episode's best, and I like how they've dealt with just how sad Ben is over and his breakup with Leslie. Last episode's shot of him sitting on a bench eating soup was just as funny and pathetic as Donna pointed it out to be. April's costume was brilliant, and she had a lot of use of her trademark smirk.

Re: American Horror Story. I really want to watch this, it just never quite fit in. It doesn't help that I'm apparently losing FX after Monday. Thanks DirecTV! I'll check out when it comes to DVD.

ABC reran Modern Family's Emmy-winning Season 2 "Halloween" episode. I was looking forward to a new Halloween ep, but that episode is about as perfect a Halloween ep a TV show can do.

Box Office: Return to Gattaca

2011-10-26T17:13:00.002-04:00

1. Puss-In-Boots - $42m / $42m / $165m
2. Paranormal Activity 3 - $21m / $84m / $115m
3. In Time - $16m / $16m / $46m
4. The Rum Diary - $8m / $8m / $22m
5. Real Steel - $6.5m / $75.5m / $92m
6. Footloose - $6m / $39m / $52m
7. The Three Musketeers - $4.5m / $16m / $26m
8. Ides of March - $3m / $33.5m / $44m
9. Moneyball - $2.5m / $67.5m / $78m
10. Dolphin Tale - $2.5m / $67.5m / $74m
***Anonymous - $1.5m / $1.5m / $7m

Lots of weird stuff happening this weekend, not just whatever goes down in PA3. Firstly, In Time looks like a sequel to Gattaca but will do more this weekend than that one did in its entire run. The Rum Diary probably should have gotten a limited release before expanding. Film District's track record is all over the place, but I'm expecting Rum to do a tad less than Drive. Puss-In-Boots was supposed to kick off November but was inexplicably moved to this weekend. I think that could mean a softer opening, but very small drop for next week. Lastly, Sony made the really dumb decision to platform Anonymous a mere 10 days before its release date. These 200-ish releases almost always fail. It would have been smarter to just suck up as much money as they could have in wide release even if it was DOA. Sony plans on adding theatres. Their strategy reminds me of the one they used 4 years back on Across the Universe. In limited, I'm keeping a close eye on Martha Marcy May Marlene. I expect its run to match Winter's Bone.

Horrorfest: You Might Be a Redneck If....

2011-10-25T21:46:00.003-04:00

WRONG TURN 4: BLOODY BEGINNINGS
(Declan O'Brien, 2011)
Since I've seen all the other Wrong Turn movies... The first one I saw in a theatre alone (most people who saw it theatrically were probably the only ones in the theatre) and rather enjoyed it. I'll admit that backwoods cannibal redneck movies are my #1 guilty pleasure. The second film (straight to dvd) is watchably bad, but picks up as it goes along till it actually becomes decent in its final act. The third film was just bad. This one lies somewhere in the middle of part 2 & 3, if closer to #3 in quality. There's a lot to dislike: really annoying characters, bad acting, an interracial lesbian couple who can do nothing but have sex. Why are there never gay male couples in these things? I digress. The gore is gross, you can spot the Final Girl a mile away and god was she annoying. I liked the wintry setting and the inbred cannibals did their job effeciently. It's a prequel, but doesn't really take advantage of that story-wise. All the sordid charms of the original have been replaced by typical annoyances of d2DVD horror fodder. GRADE: D+

RED STATE
(Kevin Smith, 2011?)
Not quite a horror movie, even if Smith somewhat promised it was. Turns into an Oliver Stone-esque semi-action film about a third of the way in. Three teens are led to a trailer with the promise of sex but end up kidnapped by Phelps-esque church that wants to eradicate them for their sins. Michael Parks is chillingly accurate as the pastor, Melissa Leo perfectly nutjob as his daughter. John Goodman, always perfect, rounds out the cast as the SWAT team captain who wants to bring them in. I think the idea for this film would have been perfect for a horror film, unfortunately its almost like Smith chickened out and went with too many action cliches. Shakey cam abounds. The ending is the only time Smith's usual humor rears its head, and I found that unfortunate. Despite my qualms with the direction of the story, his dialogue and skill with the veteran actors is excellent. I have to give him credit for doing a film that will hopefully spark a lot of debate, even if it does at times feel like he went a somewhat safe route. GRADE: B

Melissa Leo in Red State / Melissa Leo Winning an Oscar

Horrorfest: Blah Blah Blob

2011-10-24T22:38:00.002-04:00

TROLLHUNTER
(Andre Ovredal, 2010)
Norwegian "found footage" film about a group of film students who look to find what happened in a series of bear killings, but come across a man who hunts trolls. Not really a horror film, more of a fun fantasy with some great humor thrown in. Special effects are effective, and there's several really good action set pieces. Otto Jespersen's performance as the troll hunter is the best part, flourishing the fairy tale elements yet grounding it in reality. Summitt is planning a remake. May I suggest Liam Neeson in the title role? One thing they should consider is dropping the found footage angle. I get its intention, but it came off as a distraction most of the time. GRADE: B

THE BLOB
(Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr, 1958)
Steve McQueen! Then Steven McQueen, the hunk stars as a 28-year-old teenager who along with his teenybopper friends (all in their 30's) battles a big red blob that overtakes his small town after crashing from space. I watched Criterion's edition, which was colorized. A drive-in staple, this is deliriously campy fun. Though I wanted more shots of a giant blob wreaking havoc. There really wasn't any? I loved it invading the theatre and everyone running out. In regards to the ending, I'm sure a remake could address the global warming issue. GRADE: B+

THE ROOST
(Ti West, 2005)
I loved West's House of the Devil so much I thought I'd check out one of his earlier efforts. I believe he was right out of film school when he made this. It does come off at times like a student film, especially the acting. While the college kids won't be winning Oscars anytime soon, West's talent shows through. Labled boring by many people on Netflix, West really knows how to draw out the tension. He is very limited by the budget of the film, which is about a group of college students on their way to a friend's wedding when they have car trouble. Arriving at a desolate farm house, they are soon fending off killer bats that turn people into zombies. The storyline is riddled with cliches as you can tell, but when the film works it works. Bookended by a "late night horror show" hosted by Tom Noonan, this aspect doesn't work at all, and the ending is too abrupt. I wish we had more of these late night horror shows still around, though. GRADE: B-

DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW
(Frank De Felitta, 1981)
TV movie (though you'd never know it) about a mentally challenged man wrongly accused of murdering a young girl. Some men in the town kill him, and a while later are haunted by a scarecrow that comes for them one by one. Seems a lot of people who remember watching this as a kid on late night television hold it in high regard, and I see why. While there is some minor blood, this is more suspenseful and some things are rightfully left unexplained. The story and characters are kept first, though I'm not sure why exactly the four men believed they were totally innocent of the crime. Of the cast, only Charles Durning is famous. This could easily be remade, though they'd probably ruin the film's ambiguous ending. GRADE: B

MANHUNTER
(Michael Mann, 1986)
First Hannibal Lecter movie, though he's here named Lecktor. Remade by Brett Ratner in 2002 under the novel's original name, Red Dragon, this ranks along Silence of the Lambs as the best of the Hannibal movies. Here he's briefly played by one of my faves, Brian Cox. William Peterson is excellent as the detective tracking down The Tooth Fairy killer, despite being damaged from his previous case involving bringing in Hannibal. Cox's version of the legendary psychopath is not as mannered as Hopkins, and is probably closer to how the character is intended to be: a psychotic genius. Mann's stylized 80's noir directing may come across as dated to some, but works very thoroughly in the context of the film. Cinematography, like all of Mann's films, is perfect. This is one of those films where being very much of a product of its time works for it. Some of the editing of the climax left me a little cold, but I doubt I'll ever think of "In-a-gadda-da-vida" the same way. Tom Noonan (again!) is masterful as the serial killer. There's apparently many versions of this available, but I watched the theatrical version. A box office disappointment when it opened, the film has amassed a cult following. Despite how the character Hannibal has entered the lexicon, most people still aren't aware of this film. Check it out not just because you love serial killer procedurals, but because William Peterson in short shorts is very worth it. GRADE: A-

Box Office: So will the next Paranormal Activity take place on a ultrasound looking at Katie in the womb?

2011-10-20T13:10:00.004-04:00

1. Paranormal Activity 3 - $32m / $32m / $68m
2. The Three Musketeers - $15m / $15m / $44m
3. Real Steel - $10m / $68m / $94m
4. Footloose - $9m / $29m / $50m
5. Johnny English Returns - $8m / $8m / $24m
6. Ides of March - $4.5m / $28.5m / $40m
7. Dolphin Tale - $4m / $64m / $75m
8. The Thing - $4m / $15m / $24m
9. Moneyball - $3.5m / $63m / $80m
10. 50/50 - $2.5m / $28.5m / $35m
*The Mighty Macs - $2m / $2m / $6m

With the exception of Insidious, horror has been DOA this year. PA3 hopes to revive it, if only for a weekend. Puss-In-Boots arrives next weekend, hopefully giving the box office a shot to the heart and a nice start to a robust holiday season.

Horrorfest: Joel Edgerton's Thing

2011-10-14T01:49:00.004-04:00

THE THING
(Matthijs van Heijningen Jr, 2011)
Coulda been much better, coulda been a lot worse. Bland remake - err, I'm sorry, PREQUEL - of John Carpenter's classic (itself a remake) that boasted trademark Carpenter elements: ominous score, terrifying use of anamorphic widescreen, Kurt Russell. This one has a largely forgettable score by Marco Beltrami (though Carpenter's has a nice cameo), shots that could have been directed by anyone (there are some lovely shots of Antarctica or whatever land that was) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Regarding the leading lady, I get that she's cute and on a geek's "to bang" list after Scott Pilgrim, but she's sooooooo bland. This part really could have been played by anyone and I, of all people, have no problem with a woman stepping into Kurt's badass shoes. But bah. Can we send her to TV? All things considered, the thing (har har!) that does this one in is its overuse of CGI. Yes, the Carpenter film boasts wildly dated makeup effects. I will take those anyday over actors staring at tennis balls in front of a green screen. In fact, I really wish filmmakers would drop CGI when practical makeup effects can be used. There's also way too many characters here, none of which we care about. Other than lead Ann Veal, Eric Christian Olsen, Joel Edgerton and the black guy, everyone else in the movie looks exactly alike. They all have scruffy hair and beards! AND I LOVE SCRUFFY HAIR AND BEARDS!!! I sound like I'm being pretty negative against this film, but it is decently paced with some effective jolts and not the worst remake/prequel/whatever Hollywood has put out probably even this year. GRADE: C

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (not pictured)

Box: By the end, I really didn't want to hear it for the boy.

2011-10-12T22:12:00.002-04:00

1. Footloose - $24m / $24m / $76m
2. Real Steel - $17.5m / $53m / $100m
3. The Thing - $16m / $16m / $40m
4. The Big Year - $7m / $7m / $20m
5. Dolphin Tale - $6.5m / $58.5m / $80m
6. The Ides of March - $6m / $20.5m / $36m
7. Moneyball - $4.5m / $56.5m / $74m
8. 50/50 - $3.5m / $23.5m / $32m
9. Courageous - $3m / $20.5m / $29m
10. The Lion King 3D - $2.5m / $90m / $96m

Two remakes of early 80's classics, one of which is said to be pretty good. I'm rooting for Footloose if only because Craig Brewer deserves a hit and he needs to make more films. Worth mentioning is Real Steel's A+ Cinemascore grade, so expect legs.

Horrorfest: Sweet Dee

2011-10-11T22:41:00.002-04:00

WAKE WOOD
(David Keating, 2011)
I guess this would be the first horror movie from Ireland that I've seen. I'm making an attempt to check out more horror/world cinema. Playing like a cross between The Wicker Man, Pet Cemetary and The Bad Seed, the film follows a couple that moves to a small town after their daughter is killed by a dog (not Cujo, mind you.) They find out that a local ritual will allow her to come back for three days. Of course, they agree to it, and there is no downside whatsoever. No, it is a horror movie and there's always something bad waiting to happen. The parts of the film that focus on the ritual and the creepy town are easily its best, but then it switches to a "demon child" horror movie and loses steam. One of the first films from the modern Hammer horror films. GRADE: B-

[REC] 2
(Jaume Balaguero and Paca Plaza, 2009)
I had heard good things about this sequel, but was mostly disappointed with it. There are some pulse-racing moments, but I'm not sure how I feel about the whole possession angle. These are supposed to be zombies? Film follows a SWAT team and group of teens that go into the quarantined building from the first film. Essentially more of the same, but not nearly as effective as the original. Sidenote: the American remake Quarantine recently had a direct-2-dvd sequel. The sequel to the remake is not a remake of the original sequel. Thank you, Hollywood, for making me say shit like that. GRADE: C+

CUJO
(Lewis Teague, 1983)
Let's be honest. This is sort of dumb. Yet, it works thanks to actual characters and a solid performance from genre fave Dee Wallace. I thought the dog was supposed to be some demon dog, not just a dog with rabies. I must have assumed this was like Critters but with a demon dog, so I was off a bit. I wasn't expecting it to be more of a realistic horror movie, which is probably way its a semi-classic that is still popular. Maybe because Stephen King wrote the book its based on I'm used to his stuff having more supernatural or fantastical elements. GRADE: B

Horrorfest: Starting to Sound Like a Wes Carpenter Flick

2011-10-08T23:28:00.003-04:00

I began with two of the masters: Wes Craven and John Carpenter.

SCREAM 4
(Wes Craven, 2011)
Yeah, so I saw this in theatres and it technically shouldn't count, but maybe I'll be revisiting some stuff (The Thing, perhaps!). It really is shocking how divisive this film became with some hailing it as a worthy sequel and others saying its almost as bad if not worse than part three. The film's triple opener has grown on me quite a bit, and I'll still defend its triple climaxes. All that considered, it does has the worst moment in the series ("Fuck you, Bruce Willis") and it is still distracting how little Adam Brody, Anthony Anderson and especially Mary McDonnell have to do. Aunt Kate should have had more screentime, and I doubt if Lauren Graham had ended up playing her the part would have been whittled down so much. Other than these aspects, I think this is a pretty terrific sequel. It really is wonderful to see Neve Campbell back, and I still have my fingers crossed she will continue to get notable work. Thinking back on it, I don't think she touched her head once in this film. That was always her thing? Kristen Stewart stole it. Really fun performances by Alison Brie, Marley Shelton and Erik Knudsen. Hayden Panetierre's Kirby is one of the series best characters. Someday, I want to have a home with a barn so I can have a Screamathon.
GRADE: B+

THE WARD
(John Carpenter, 2011)
Feels weird that this is John's first film in a decade, his last being 2001's dud-that-I-enjoyed Ghosts of Mars. It doesn't feel very much like a John Carpenter film as he didn't write it or compose the score. However, the score is one of the film's strong points, sounding ridiculously Suspiria-y. Amber Heard is a young woman who winds up in a mental institute in 1966, where a ghost is taking a group of girls one by one. Servicable performances by Heard, Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep's daughter), and Danielle Panabaker who seems to be the closest thing to a modern day scream queen we have. Given the film's setting, you can guess that all is not what it appears and the twists aren't really surprising. Almost the entire second half of the film is escape sequences, only the first of which has any bite. There's a bit too many fast cuts and things jumping out with loud music. Carpenter could have done (and has done!) a lot worse. But after a ten year wait, this is a let down.
GRADE: C+

Upcoming: The Blob, [Rec] 2 and Wake Wood.

Get it? Got it. Good.

2011-10-06T01:03:00.002-04:00

P.S. Horrorfest starts this weekend!

Box Office: Rocky meets Transformers?

2011-10-06T00:56:00.002-04:00

1. Real Steel - $26m / $26m / $85m
2. The Ides of March - $14m / $14m / $50m
3. Dolphin Tale - $10.5m / $50m / $82m
4. Moneyball - $8.5m / $50m / $75m
5. 50/50 - $5.5m / $17m / $32m
6. Courageous - $5m / $16.5m / $30m
7. The Lion King - $5m / $86.5m / $94m
8. Dream House - $4m / $14m / $23m
9. Contagion - $3m / $69m / $76m
10. Abduction - $3m / $23.5m / $30m

Real Steel should do comparable business to Eagle Eye, while I'm predicting Ides of March to perform almost exactly as Michael Clayton. Holdovers will have modest drops. The Lion King dropped 50% last weekend, and I'm thinking it'll drop even more this weekend due to the Blu-ray release on Tuesday.

Box: Anna Faris has great taste in men.

2011-09-28T23:31:00.002-04:00

Chris Evans, Joel McHale, Chris Pratt, Anthony Mackie, Andy Samberg, Dave Annabelle. Just sayin.

1. Dolphin Tale - $14m / $36.5m / $80m
2. The Lion King 3D - $13m / $80.5m / $86m
3. Moneyball - $12.5m / $38.5m / $75m
4. Dream House - $12m / $12m / $35m
5. 50/50 - $11m / $11m / $34m
6. What's Your Number - $10m / $10m / $30m
7. Courageous - $6.5m / $6.5m / $22m
8. Abduction - $6m / $18m / $30m
9. Killer Elite - $5m / $18m / $28m
10. Contagion - $4.5m / $64m / $75m

No idea how many screens Lion King will lose, but after this weekend it will be done at most theatres. I went higher than tracking on all the openers, but really anything in the top 6 could be #1 and there will be only a few million difference between them. Courageous could also go higher as these Christian targeted movies are so hard to predict.

Box-Office: Brad Pitt and Simba on Top - What is it? 1994?

2011-09-21T19:12:00.004-04:00

1. Moneyball - $20m / $20m / $70m
2. The Lion King - $18m / $55m / $90m
3. Abduction - $14m / $14m / $40m
4. Dolphin Tale - $13m / $13m / $60m
5. Killer Elite - $10m / $10m / $28m
6. Contagion - $8.5m / $57m / $80m
7. Drive - $6m / $22m / $36m
8. The Help - $4.5m / $154.5m / $167m
9. Straw Dogs - $2.5m / $9m / $13m
10. I Don't Know How She Does It - $2m / $8.5m / $12m

The Lion King will make more its second weekend than most thought it would be its first weekend. Despite the ads claiming a limited two week engagement, I suspect Disney will keep it in theatres longer give how well its doing. Abduction will prove once again that no one gives two shits about the Twilight stars outside of the franchise (take note, tabloids!). Dolphin Tale would do much better if it weren't for the 3D, but seeing as it has a lack of competition till Puss-in-Boots in November it'll have some legs.

This is how its done.

2011-09-19T14:50:00.003-04:00

The Emmys are usually pretty awful. A step up from the SAGs, no doubt. But they are just kinda dull and low energy. That long trog (is that the word? is that even a word?) through the miniseries/tv movie stuff in particular brings things to a screeching hault. That being said, Jane Lynch's Entourage joke is enough to make up for that terrible intro, bizarre sound problems and those stupid EmmyTones. And a lot of the Drama winners provided surprises.

But all of that fails in comparison to this.

As someone who has watched countless award shows in his lifetime, I can safely say this is by far one of the greatest moments any has ever pulled off. It had nothing to do with the producers or writers and had everything to do with the creativity of the actual nominees and letting them run with it. Letting them actually have their moment. It was gloriously tongue-in-cheek, poking fun of the whole enterprise while bringing it back down to reality with the winner's genuine "holy shit" moment. I can only hope that someone high up at AMPAS will give Amy Poehler a phone call.

Hopefully, the video is still available here.

Box: Doggy Style With James and Alexander

2011-09-14T21:20:00.003-04:00

1. Straw Dogs - $13m / $13m / $36m
2. Contagion - $12.5m / $42m / $65m
3. I Don't Know How She Does It - $12m / $12m / $38m
4. The Lion King 3D - $10m / $10m / $22m
5. Drive - $9m / $9m / $28m
6. The Help $6m / $146.5m / $167m
7. Warrior - $3.5m / $10.5m / $18m
8. The Debt - $3m / $26.5m / $32m
9. Colombiana - $2m / $33m / $37m
10. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $2m / $171m / $175m

The three openers and one reissue could do just about anything below the upper teens. Contagion also stands a chance at repeating its time at #1. Hopefully, audiences keep their eyes on the quality product and allow Drive to be a mini-sleeper.

Summer Movie Box Office Wrap

2011-09-13T18:54:00.005-04:00

In which Woody Allen, Kristen Wiig and Emma Stone are the new hitmakers. I can live with that.

Top Movies of the Summer of 2011:

1. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
Projected Final Gross: $380 million
No shocker here. Scoring the biggest 3-day opening of all time, Potter's last stand was more than enough to hold off an assortment of sequels to claim the top spot.

2. TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
Projected Final Gross: $351 million
Aided by better reaction than the franchise's much maligned second installment and 3D that audiences actually enjoyed, the film's earning will unfortunately probably mean another sequel in a few years time. But hey, at least audiences enjoyed ONE 3D film since Avatar? Right?

3. THE HANGOVER: PART 2
Projected Final Gross: $255 million
This feels in many ways like a Shrek sequel: no will remember it in a few years time and those that do will be baffled it made so much money. Again, probably enough to ensure another installment or two.

4. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES
Projected Final Gross: $241 million
No one remembers this movie barely four months after it came out. So perhaps that should be a sign to abandon ship of this entire franchise, but it made a billion dollars worldwide. Altogether now: probably another installment.

5. CARS 2
Projected Final Gross: $190 million
I'd like to think that the people at Pixar are smart enough to see that this won't need another sequel no matter how much the merchandise brings in. Pixar's worst received movie to date, and could be their first to not get an Oscar nomination for Animated Feature.

6. THOR
Final Gross: $181 million
7. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
Projected Final Gross: $176 million

So now we're not even really making movies so much as we are making prequels to future blockbusters? I'll say next summer's The Avengers makes somewhere in between these 2 and Iron Man. So about $235 million. Remember that, kids!

8. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Projected Final Gross: $175 million
Hey, an actual surprise! Potter notwithstanding, this is the first film on the list so far we can say was actually liked by both audiences and critics.

9. BRIDESMAIDS
Projected Final Gross: $170 million
9 films in and we find our first film that is not part of a franchise. Perhaps studios should look at the grosses for this film and #10 and realize that there is an audience for womens' films that are actually good. I get the feeling we'll see one in mid May and one in mid August every year from now on.

10. THE HELP
Projected Final Gross: $167 million
See, modestly budgeted adult fare can do well in summer. Come on, studios. Look at this film and realize that if you have people behind a film that are passionate about making it and only need about $20 million, its worth it.

11. KUNG FU PANDA 2
Projected Final Gross: $165 million
Huge overseas, okay here. Seems to be a reoccuring theme this year.

12. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
Final Gross: $147 million
Despite solid reaction, this probably should have done better if they wanted a proper reboot of the franchise.

13. THE SMURFS
Projected Final Gross: $142 million
Ah, the Alvin and the Chipmunks of the season. Terrible reviews, huge hit.

14. SUPER 8
Projected Final Gross: $127 million
TNT and TBS will be running this thing nonstop in three years, in case you missed it. Will probably develop a nice following on DVD/Blu.

15. HORRIBLE BOSSES
Projected Final Gross: $117 million
Jennifer Aniston starred in 2 100+ grossers this year. Can we stop saying she's not a movie star? Can we just leave her alone? Please.

16. THE GREEN LANTERN
Projected Final Gross: $117 million
Ryan Reynolds starred in two flops this summer, this one being the biggest flop of the year. Really, Warner Bros, you spent over $200m on this? Can we stop pretending Blake Lively is going to happen? Tabloids, please.

17. COWBOYS AND ALIENS
Projected Final Gross: $100 million
If only this could have been as fun as the title promised. Can we stop pretending Olivia Wilde is going to happen? No matter how many guys she supposedly makes out with at parties, its not happening.

18. BAD TEACHER
Projected Final Gross: $100 million
The studio will fudge numbers to get it past the century mark, but at a budget of just $30 million, this is one of the more profitable films of the summer. If only they had just remembered to make it good and funny.

19. CRAZY STUPID LOVE
Projected Final Gross: $83 million
Not as big of a hit as The Help, but a similar lesson should be learned from it: modestly budgeted adult-aimed pictures can do well.

20. ZOOKEEPER
Projected Final Gross: $80 million
How did this movie cost so much to make? It baffles me how these Adam Sandler-produced movies cost so much.

21. MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS
Projected Final Gross: $68 million
I think audiences are over Jim Carrey.

22. FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
Projected Final Gross: $56 million
A small recouper, even if it did less than No Strings Attached while looking miles better.

23. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Projected Final Gross $55 million
Ranks as one of this summer's biggest hits. Congrats, Woody. See you at the Kodak.

24. FINAL DESTINATION 5
Projected Final Gross: $43 million
This is supposedly the actual final one. If creativity didn't kill this franchise, that gross just may have.

25. SOMETHING BORROWED
Projected Final Gross: $39 million
We're done with Kate Hudson in romcoms, right?

26. Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World - $39m
27. 30 Minutes or Less - $38m
28. Jumping the Broom - $37m
29. The Change-Up - $37m
30. Colombiana - $37m
31. Larry Crowne - $36m
32. The Debt - $32m
33. Priest - $29m
34. Winnie the Pooh - $27m
35. Our Idiot Brother - $27m
36. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - $25m
37. Monte Carlo - $23m
38. Conan the Barbarian - $23m
39. Shark Night - $22m
40. Apollo 18 - $20m
41. Fright Night - $18m
42. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer - $15m
43. One Day - $14m
44. The Tree of Life - $13m
45. Glee: The 3D Concert Movie - $12m

So what did we learn from that last batch:
-Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts aren't the draws they once were and Tom needs to learn what a good script is and how to direct it.
-Selena Gomez can't open a movie worth a shit.
-Winnie the Pooh can't open a movie worth a shit.
-Glee and its cast should stay on the small screen.
-Focus Features seems to have small, random luck with adult films over Labor Day weekend.
-Terrence Malick films will never have mainsteam appeal.
-And I hope whoever the fuck thought it would be a good idea to spend $90 million on a remake of Conan the Barbarian is booted out of a showbiz. I'm guessing this is the same person that represents Blake Lively and Olivia Wilde.

Box: Matt, Gwyn and Jude are back for The Talented Mr. Sickly

2011-09-07T21:09:00.006-04:00

1. Contagion - $18m / $18m / $52m
2. Warrior - $12m / $12m / $45m
3. The Help - $9m / $137m / $165m
4. The Debt - $6m / $23m / $35m
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $4.5m / $168.5m / $178m
6. Colombiana - $4m / $30m / $38m
7. Shark Night - $3.5m / $15m / $22m
8. Bucky Larson - $3.5m / $3.5m / $8m
9. Apollo 18 - $3m / $15m / $21m
10. Our Idiot Brother - $3m / $21.5m / $27m

Contagion had low tracking for the past several weeks, but went up this past week due to the mostly positive reviews and a last minute surge in the ad campaign. Though I do wonder if this opening on the weekend of the anniversary of 9/11 will have any effect on it. Warrior has great audience reaction and could begin a leggy run. Sexy Tom Hardy/Joel Edgerton legs. Given the surprise performance of The Debt last weekend, obviously there's a good market out there for adult-aimed films.

Shoulda been a gay movie.

Eddie Murphy to Host The Oscars

2011-09-06T20:19:00.004-04:00

In case you haven't heard by now and after a weekend of swirling rumors, Eddie Murphy has been chosen to host the Oscars. The reaction to this has been mixed (hey, its better than James Franco!) to negative (hey, isn't this 20 years to late?). I'm not totally against this, as when I think about how hard he made me laugh in The Nutty Professor and Shrek, it could work. That being said, it still seems that this is totally out of his element, he's pissed off numerous people in Hollywood and his own history with the Oscars (he left after he lost) is iffy. But, we'll see. Since Ratner was announced, many predicted the comedian he'd pick would be Ben Stiller given Mr. Stiller is also in Ratner's upcoming film Tower Heist. Instead, they went with his costar in that film. That Ratner and Murphy have a film in November and this announcement came very early have raised some eyebrows. After the last two ceremonies, things can only get better. Right? Right?

Official press release:

Beverly Hills, CA (September 6, 2011) – Oscar® nominee Eddie Murphy, whose performing career spans movies, television and the stage, will host this year’s Academy Awards show on Sunday, February 26, 2012, telecast producers Brett Ratner and Don Mischer announced today. This will be Murphy’s first hosting stint on the Oscars®.

“Eddie is a comedic genius, one of the greatest and most influential live performers ever,” said Ratner. “With his love of movies, history of crafting unforgettable characters and his iconic performances – especially on stage – I know he will bring excitement, spontaneity and tremendous heart to the show Don and I want to produce in February.”

Commented Mischer, “Eddie is a truly ground-breaking performer, whose amazingly diverse array of roles has won him a devoted audience of all ages. His quick wit and charisma will serve him very well as Oscar host.”

“I am enormously honored to join the great list of past Academy Award hosts from Hope and Carson to Crystal, Martin and Goldberg, among others,” said Murphy. “I’m looking forward to working with Brett and Don on creating a show that is enjoyable for both the fans at home and for the audience at the Kodak Theatre as we all come together to celebrate and recognize the great film contributions and collaborations from the past year.”

Murphy began his career at the age of 15 as a stand-up comedian. In 1980, at the age of 19, he joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” becoming the show’s youngest cast member to that point, and bringing to life many of the show’s most memorable characters. His 1983 album “Eddie Murphy: Comedian” won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording. It included portions of his groundbreaking HBO special “Eddie Murphy Delirious.” In 1987, “Eddie Murphy Raw” was theatrically released and went on to gross over $50 million. Murphy made his feature film debut in 1982 with the classic “48 Hrs.” and would go on to star in such box-office hits as “Beverly Hills Cop” and the “The Nutty Professor” and “Shrek” franchises. All told, movies in which he has performed have earned in excess of $7 billion worldwide during their theatrical releases.

Murphy earned an Oscar nomination in 2006 for his supporting role in “Dreamgirls.”

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide

Box Office: Live Every Week Like Its Shark Week

2011-08-31T19:26:00.004-04:00

3 day / Total So Far / Projected Final Gross

1. Shark Night 3D - $13m / $13m / $34m
2. The Help - $11.5m / $115.5m / $148m
3. Apollo 18 - $10m / $10m / $24m
4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $6.5m / $159m / $174m
5. Colombiana - $6m / $21m / $34m
6. The Debt - $5m / $6m / $18m
7. Spy Kids 4 - $4.5m / $29m / $39m
8. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - $4m / $15.5m / $25m
9. Our Idiot Brother - $4m / $14.5m / $24m
10. The Smurfs - $4m / $132m / $142m

My main question for this week is whether Irene tearing into last week's box office will lead to small drops all around. The Help, Apes, Smurfs and possbly Spy Kids 4 will all see very small declines regardless.

Summer movie wrap up on Monday or Tuesday!

Box Office: Haunted Holmes

2011-08-24T18:47:00.002-04:00

1. The Help - $15m / $97m / $150m
2. Colombiana - $13m / $13m / $38m
3. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - $12m / $12m / $35m
4. Rise of the Apes - $9.5m / $149.5m / $174m
5. Our Idiot Brother - $8m / $8m / $25m
6. Spy Kids 4 - $7.5m / $23.5m / $42m
7. The Smurfs - $5.5m / $126.5m / $142m
8. Conan the Barbarian - $4.5m / $18m / $28m
9. Fright Night - $4m / $15.5m / $24m
10. 30 Minutes or Less - $3.5m / $32.5m / $40m
Final Destination 5 - $3.5m / $39m / $46m

The Help will hold off the trio of openers to be #1 for a second week. I'll be doing a summer movie wrap up next weekend! I know you can't wait!

Box: How you doin, Joel McHale?

2011-08-17T19:14:00.003-04:00

1. The Help - $19m / $70m / $130m
2. Spy Kids 4 - $18m / $18m / $62m
3. Conan the Barbarian - $16m / $16m / $45m
4. Fright Night - $15m / $15m / $40m
5. Rise of the Apes - $14.5m / $133m / $168m
6. The Smurfs - $9m / $119m / $145m
7. Final Destination 5 - $8.5m / $33.5m / $50m
8. 30 Minutes or Less - $7.5m / $27.5m / $45m
9. One Day - $6m / $6m / $17m
10. Captain America - $4m / $165m / $175m
Cowboys and Aliens - $4m / $89m / $100m
Crazy Stupid Love - $4m / $63.5m / $74m
Harry Potter 7.2 - $4m / $365.5m / $376m

Given the low screen count and little buzz, I'm pretty confident in One Day's number, but Focus occasionally surprises. As for the remaining three openers, they could go anywere from low teens to low twenties.

Box: I get by with a little Help from Emma Stone

2011-08-09T20:06:00.003-04:00

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $28m / $107m / $170m
2. The Help - $20m / $29m / $80m
3. Final Destination 5 - $18m / $18m / $42m
4. 30 Minutes or Less - $14m / $14m / $36m
5. The Smurfs - $12.5m / $99m / $135m
6. Glee 3D Concert - $12m / $12m / $22m
7. Cowboys and Aliens - $7.5m / $81m / $100m
8. Crazy Stupid Love - $7.5m / $55.5m / $78m
9. Harry Potter 7.2 - $7m / $356m / $375m
10. Captain America - $6.5m / $156m / $172m
11. The Change-Up - $6m / $25.5m / $36m

The next month or so will see 3-4 movies opening per week, a big change given most of this summer has seen only about 2 films per week. That aside, The Help is in for a leggy run as this is the exact type of movie studios used to always put at the end of the summer when people grew sick of the visual effects, talking animals and big stars. Will it be enough for it to cross $100m might be the big question.

Anne as Catwoman

2011-08-05T13:51:00.004-04:00

Warner Bros released the first official image of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman today. While Nolan's more realistic, practical approach was never going to give us something quite as sexy and fantastical as Pfeiffer's look, I do like this. There's some images floating around of her stunt double from the side that shows the outfit off a little more. It looks almost exactly like I'd imagine it would.

AMPAS shoves its head further up its ass....

2011-08-04T20:10:00.002-04:00

...and hires Don Mischer and Brett Ratner to produce the 84th Academy Awards.

Mischer was the coproducer of this year's much maligned show. Brett Ratner is the biggest hack in Hollywood.

So with that announcement, I'm guessing the next one will be James Franco and David Letterman cohosting the ceremony.

At this point, I don't even get what they are trying to do with the actual show. Does it even matter to AMPAS anymore? As I've said before, the best thing would be for the show to go the way of the Tonys so they stop caring about ratings and just focus on putting on a good, memorable show.

It seemed like we were headed in a good direction with the recent announcement of Best Picture slots being anywhere from 5 to 10.

AMPAS takes one step forward, two back.

But hey, at least there's the chance of the Olsen Twins being in the audience to support baby sis, right? And Oprah will be an Oscar winner!

Box: I hate every chimp I see from Chimpan-A to Chimpanzee

2011-08-03T21:48:00.003-04:00

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $38m / $38m / $140m
2. The Smurfs - $20m / $76m / $135m
3. Cowboys and Aliens - $16.5m / $68.5m / $110m
4. The Change-Up - $15m / $15m / $45m
5. Crazy Stupid Love - $12m / $42m / $75m
6. Captain America - $11.5m / $142m / $170m
7. Harry Potter 7.2 - $11m / $341.5m / $368m
8. Friends With Benefits - $5m / $49m / $60m
9. Horrible Bosses - $4.5m / $105m / $116m
10. Transformers 3 - $3m / $344m / $352m

Rise of the Apes is actually good, maybe great??? Nice summer surprise, I suppose. The Change-Up will have a problem breaking out given its one of the last of the summer comedies and probably the worst reviewed.

Box Office: I blue myself.

2011-07-28T00:40:00.003-04:00

1. Cowboys and Aliens - $42m / $42m / $130m
2. Captain America - $30m / $124m / $190m
3. Smurfs - $25m / $25m / $90m
4. Harry Potter 7.2 - $21m / $318m / $365m
5. Crazy Stupid Love - $16m / $16m / $60m
6. Friends With Benefits - $10m / $39m / $64m
7. Horrible Bosses - $7m / $96m / $115m
8. Transformers 3 - $6.5m / $338.5m / $355m
9. Zookeeper - $5.5m / $70m / $84m
10. Cars 2 - $3.5m / $183m / $192m

Crazy Stupid Love will be a mild sleeper, while we should get ready for the shittastic Smurfs to stick around for awhile. Other than the next Spy Kids, there's no other family movies this summer. That means LEGS. Bleck. Cowboys and Aliens sounds like fun on paper, but it supposedly doesn't live up to its fun premise. Outside the top 10, Midnight in Paris continues its illustrious run. With the exception of maybe Attack the Block, there's no other major art house releases till the awards contenders start their runs in the fall. I think that means Woody's film might even top $60 million. Wow.

Box: Chris Evans On Top

2011-07-20T21:06:00.006-04:00

1. Captain America - $54m / $54m / $150m
2. Harry Potter 7.2 - $50m / $278m / $360m
3. Friends With Benefits - $22m / $22m / $75m
4. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $10.5m / $324.5m / $355m
5. Horrible Bosses - $10m / $80.5m / $112m
6. Zookeeper - $7.5m / $58m / $75m
7. Cars 2 - $5m / $175.5m / $192m
8. Winnie the Pooh - $5m / $17.5m / $30m
9. Bad Teacher - $2.5m / $93m / $100m
10. Midnight in Paris - $1.5m / $44m / $50m

So just how big will Harry drop? It'll range anywhere from $45 to $60m, and its drop will be a good indication of where it will end up. I'm thinking the floor is $350m and the ceiling is $380m. Captain America looks to perform somewhere between X-Men: First Class and Thor. And Friends With Benefits looks like it will just barely outdo the $20m opening / $70m finish of No Strings Attached.

Box: Potter's Steaming Pooh

2011-07-13T22:21:00.002-04:00

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - $144m / $144m / $340m
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $22m / $305m / $360m
3. Horrible Bosses - $16m / $58.5m / $100m
4. Zookeeper - $10m / $40m / $65m
5. Winnie the Pooh - $9m / $9m / $28m
6. Cars 2 - $8.5m / $165.5m / $192m
7. Bad Teacher - $4.5m / $88m / $100m
8. Larry Crowne - $3m / $32m / $40m
9. Super 8 - $2.5m / $123m / $129m
10. Midnight in Paris - $2m / $42m / $50m

Harry could take Dark Knight's record, but I'm more interested in its final gross. I doubt it will be able to top Transformers, and even if it takes well over $100m, the last film's multiplier was only about 2.3. Its Friday + midnight gross will be massive, probably half its weekend.

Emmy Plea

2011-07-13T21:38:00.003-04:00

Grant the following people/shows Emmy nods in the morn'....

BEST COMEDY SERIES:
COMMUNITY
PARKS AND RECREATION
In a year where Modern Family and Glee saw steps down in quality from their first seasons, 30 Rock rebounded from a mostly forgettable season four, and The Office struggled to find direction, Community and Parks and Recreation saw near flawless seasons. Community has so much fun playing with its own form, and Parks has set up the most colorful cast of small town characters that both shows seem to be mirroring the best years of The Simpsons. And that's not a compliment I give out lightly.

ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES:
Joel McHale - Community

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES:
Courteney Cox - Cougar Town
Amy Poehler - Parks and Recreation

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES:
Aziz Ansari - Parks and Recreation
Ty Burrell - Modern Family
Chris Colfer - Glee
Donald Glover - Community
Nick Offerman - Parks and Recreation
Ed O'Neil - Modern Family
Adam Pally - Happy Endings
Chris Pratt - Parks and Recreation
Danny Pudi - Community

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES:
Alison Brie - Community
Busy Phillips - Cougar Town
Aubrey Plaza - Parks and Recreation (GO REGINA SNAKEHOLE!)
Naya Rivera - Glee
Sofia Vergara - Modern Family
Kristen Wiig - Saturday Night Live
Casey Wilson - Happy Endings

I doubt she needs the push, but Gwyneth will get a letter closer to being an EGOT winner.

Box: Revenge of the Transformers

2011-07-06T20:51:00.003-04:00

1. Transformers 3 - $47m / $263m / $350m
2. Horrible Bosses - $26m / $26m / $85m
3. Zookeeper - $24m / $24m / $86m
4. Cars 2 - $16m / $149m / $200m
5. Bad Teacher - $7m / $76m / $94m
6. Larry Crowne - $7m / $27m / $43m
7. Super 8 - $4.5m / $117.5m / $130m
8. Monte Carlo - $4m / $16m / $25m
9. Mr. Popper's Penguins - $3m / $57.5m / $65m
10. Midnight in Paris - $3m / $38.5m / $50m

After an underwhelming first 2 days, Transformers struck back big time and could pose a threat to Harry Potter being the number one movie of the year. Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper look to do about the same amount of business, and the early word that Bosses could be another Hangover/Wedding Crashers seems to have faded. And for the umpteenth weekend, Midnight in Paris just won't let go of that 9/10/11 spot.

Official Press Release...

2011-07-05T22:41:00.003-04:00

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Anchor Bay Entertainment and Dimension Films announced today that the Blu-ray™/DVD Combo Pack and DVD release of the latest installment in the acclaimed horror franchise, SCREAM 4, is heading to retail on October 4, 2011. Directed by the incomparable Wes Craven, SCREAM 4 features an ensemble cast that includes the film’s original cast plus new stars – David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody, Rory Culkin, Marielle Jaffe, Mary McDonnell, Marley Shelton, Nico Tortorella, Lucy Hale, Shenae Grimes, Aimee Teegarden, and Brittany Robertson. SCREAM 4 is available for an SRP of $39.99 for the Blu-ray™/DVD Combo Pack (which includes a Blu-ray™, a DVD, and a code for the Digital eCopy) and $29.98 for the standard definition DVD.

Here’s what the critics have to say about SCREAM 4: “Pure genius.” (Richard Roeper, RichardRoeper.com) “The Best ‘Scream’ since the original! Funny, clever and scary as hell.” (Dan Jewel, Life & Style Weekly) “Full of surprises!” (Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald)

Directed by suspense master and director of the first trilogy, Wes Craven, SCREAM 4 is the newest installment in the acclaimed franchise that ushered in a new wave of horror in the 1990s. In SCREAM 4, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale (Courteney Cox), who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (Emma Roberts). Unfortunately Sidney’s appearance also brings about the return of Ghost Face, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends (Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin) and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

The SCREAM 4 Blu-ray™/DVD Combo Pack and DVD bonus features include a “The Making of Scream 4” featurette; an Alternate Opening; an Extended Ending; Deleted and Extended Scenes; and a Gag Reel. Note: Special features are subject to change.

You can buy it from Amazon.com here.

The cover is okay, glad they kept the ghostface/knife. I'm guessing the alternate opening is the one that was shown to test audiences and has Jenny dying before Marnie. LOL @ the "extended ending" - people's biggest complaint was how long the final act was. I happen to disagree, but we'll see just what that is. As for the deleted scenes, that's probably where we'll see the famous missing fountain scene.

Scream 4 DVD/Blu date

2011-07-01T01:50:00.005-04:00

Scream 4 will hit DVD/Blu-ray on October 4th. In time for Halloween, duh, you can have your own Screamathon in a barn, just stay away from haystacks. No full list of supplementary features just yet, but there WILL be a commentary with Wes Craven, Neve Campbell, Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere. The film is being released courtesy of Anchor Bay which usually does terrific transfers.

The original trilogy will also be (re?)-released on September 6th. The boxed set is from LionsGate and there's no word if this will just be the same discs that were released earlier in the year repackaged or discs with new features/transfers/audio.

Box Office: Kristen Wiig and Woody Allen still the only box office superstars

2011-06-29T21:52:00.003-04:00

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $78m / $136m / $275m
2. Cars 2 - $37m / $128m / $215m
3. Larry Crowne - $15m / $15m / $43m
4. Bad Teacher - $13m / $58.5m / $86m
5. Monte Carlo - $8m / $8m / $22m
6. Green Lantern - $7m / $103.5m / $120m
7. Super 8 - $6.5m / $107m / $125m
8. Mr. Popper's Penguins - $5.5m / $50.5m / $65m
9. Midnight in Paris - $3.5m / $33.5m / $48m
10. Bridesmaids - $3.5m / $152.5m / $162m

Transformers - Yawn. Why are Fran McDormand and Malkovich Malkovich in this shit? Larry Crowne looks awful. And the performance of Monte Carlo should prove that Selena Gomez is just another member of the current crop of celebrities that are covered endlessly in the tabloids despite not being able to open a movie worth a shit. Summer's halfway over and the only good things about the box office are Bridesmaids and Midnight in Paris. Is Potter 7.2 here yet?

Box-Office: Cammie D gets an education

2011-06-23T10:09:00.002-04:00

1. Cars 2 - $84m / $84m / $265m
2. Bad Teacher - $23m / $23m / $68m
3. Green Lantern - $21m / $93m / $135m
4. Super 8 - $12m / $94.5m / $130m
5. Mr. Popper's Penguins - $10m / $38m / $65m
6. X-Men: First Class - $6m / $132m / $148m
7. The Hangover 2 - $5m / $243m / $258m
8. Kung Fu Panda 2 - $5m / $153m / $168m
9. Bridesmaids - $4.5m / $145m / $158m
10. Midnight in Paris - $4m / $27.5m / $42m

A slight part of me believes we could see Cars 2 soar past the century mark in its first three days. Either way, the merchandise will be huge! Not happy with the mixed reception for Bad Teacher, but at least my girl is getting solid reviews. It feels in an odd way like a comeback vehicle? I do think it'll end up being the least grossing of this summer's series of R-rated comedies (the other's being Bridesmaids, The Hangover 2, Friends With Benefits and Horrible Bosses). Hopefully, it'll lead Hollywood to casting Phyllis in more movies.

Box-Office: Where Bridesmaids outgross X-Men

2011-06-15T21:58:00.003-04:00

1. Green Lantern - $48m / $48m / $130m
2. Mr. Popper's Penguins - $24m / $24m / $85m
3. Super 8 - $19m / $71m / $125m
4. X-Men: First Class - $12.5m / $121m / $155m
5. Kung Fu Panda 2 - $9.5m / $144m / $174m
6. Hangover 2 - $9.5m / $232.5m / $260m
7. Bridesmaids - $7.5m / $136.5m / $158m
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - $6m / $220m / $236m
9. Midnight in Paris - $4.5m / $21m / $40m
10. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer - $3.5m / $12m / $20m
**The Art of Getting By - $.7m / $.7m / $2m

I'm glad Green Lantern will finally be out, as I'm sick of having Blake Lively's publicist shoving her down our throats. Sadly, we have to endure Olivia Wilde's doing the same thing in a month's time. I've always thought GL looked like absolute shit and had a good shot at being the big budget bomb of the summer. However, even with middling reviews, it looks like another Fantastic Four: critically maligned box office it.

Box-Office: Average 8 and the Bummer Summer

2011-06-08T21:54:00.002-04:00

1. Super 8 - $28m / $28m / $85m
2. X-Men: First Class - $25m / $99m / $165m
3. The Hangover 2 - $14.5m / $212.5m / $256m
4. Kung Fu Panda 2 $14m / $124m / $170m
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - $9m / $206.5m / $232m
6. Bridesmaids - $8.5m / $122m / $150m
7. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer - $7m / $7m / $20m
8. Midnight in Paris - $4.5m / $12.5m / $36m
9. Thor - $2m / $173m / $178m
10. Fast Five - $1.5m / $205m / $209m

I went low on Super 8 because movies that moviebuffs love that have retro concepts almost always bomb. I could see it going as low as high teens, but I do think it'll have some decent legs.

Box: Fassbender & McAvoy in XXX-Men, please

2011-06-01T19:55:00.003-04:00

1. X-Men: First Class - $65m / $65m / $200m
2. The Hangover 2 - $39.5m / $195m / $275m
3. Kung Fu Panda 2 - $26m / $102m / $175m
4. Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides - $17.5m / $189.5m / $240m
5. Bridesmaids - $11.5m / $106m / $140m
6. Thor - $5m / $170m / $185m
7. Fast Five - $3.5m / $202m / $212m
8. Midnight in Paris - $2.5m / $6.5m / $32m
9. Tree of Life - $1m / $1.6m / $25m

(Didn't do a top 10 cuz nothing else is worth guessing.)

I took a shot in the dark with Paris and Tree. A lot will depend on how many theatres they get and both are benefitting from a very dry art house year. Paris looks to be Woody's biggest grosser ever (not counting inflation, of course). WOW @ the reviews for X-Men. All the previous films - despite quality or lack of - were very frontloaded. But with the reviews this one's getting, the legs could be as terrific as Jennifer Lawrence's. Yes, I really need to stop talking about sexy legs.

Go box-office superstar, Rose Byrne! Insidious - Bridesmaids - X-Men: First Class! Is she a big star yet?

Box: One Night in Bangkok

2011-05-25T21:56:00.002-04:00

1. The Hangover 2
3-Day: $66m
5-Day: $104m
Projected Final Gross: $200m

2. Kung Fu Panda 2
3-Day: $56m
5-Day: $84m
Projected Final Gross: $230m

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - $36m / $149.5m / $230m
4. Bridesmaids - $13m / $81m / $125m
5. Thor - $7m / $157.5m / $175m
6. Fast Five - $5.5m / $195m / $210m
7. Rio - $2.3m / $135.4m / $142m
8. Jumping the Broom - $2m / $34.3m / $39m
9. Priest - $1.9m / $27.5m / $31m
10. Something Borrowed - $1.8m / $34m / $38m

Box: Arrrrrrrren't we done with this Pirate shit?

2011-05-18T21:16:00.003-04:00

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - $92m / $92m / $260m
2. Bridesmaids - $18m / $56.5m / $110m
3. Thor - $17m / $147.5m / $190m
4. Fast Five - $10.5m / $186.5m / $212
5. Priest - $7m / $26.5m / $39m
6. Rio - $5.5m / $132.5m / $144m
7. Jumping the Broom - $4.5m / $32m / $42m
8. Something Borrowed - $3.5m / $31.5m / $39m
9. Water For Elephants - $2.5m / $53m / $58m
10. Soul Surfer - $1.3m / $41m / $45m

Pirates opens - yawn. The question is whether or not the bad taste from the last 2 sequels will have much of an effect. This seems like the movie that 3D could help. It could open north of $100m, but I think just below is where it will settle. Hopefully, the story will be those Bridesmaids and their sexy legs. Its weekday numbers have been incredible, and there's a slim chance it'll have a second weekend that is $20m+.

Box: The BRIDESMAIDS Oscar Campaign Starts Now

2011-05-11T19:19:00.001-04:00

1. Thor - $31.5m / $117m / $190m
2. Bridesmaids - $18m / $18m / $70m
3. Priest - $17m / $17m / $40m
4. Fast Five - $15m / $164.5m / $200m
5. Jumping the Broom - $8.5m / $27.5m / $48m
6. Something Borrowed - $7m / $25.5m / $40m
7. Rio - $5.5m / $122.5m / $136m
8. Water For Elephants - $3.5m / $48m / $56m
9. Madea's Big Happy Family - $2m / $50m / $55m
10. Soul Surfer - $1.4m / $39m / $43m

I expected Bridesmaids to open higher - and it very well could - but the better than expected performances of last week's wedding movies may put a slight dent in it. Nevertheless, with some of the best reviews of any mainstream movie this year, it'll be less about the opening and more about the legs. As for Priest, that could go anywhere from $5m to $25m. It seems like the type of film that the 3D will hurt more than help (see My Soul to Take, Drive Angry).

MTV Movie Award Nominees

2011-05-04T23:25:00.002-04:00

These will be hosted by Jason Sudeikis - future Darren husband.

Hey, they don't suck too much? If you take out the Twilight, they are actually fairly decent.

I put my votes in BOLD.

Best Movie:
Black Swan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Inception
The Social Network
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Best Male Performance:
Zac Efron - Charlie St. Cloud
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
Taylor Lautner - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Robert Pattinson - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Daniel Radcliffe - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Best Female Performance:
Jennifer Aniston - Just Go with It
Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Kristen Stewart - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Emma Stone - Easy A
Emma Watson - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Best Comedic Performance:
Russell Brand - Get Him to the Greek
Zach Galifianakis - Due Date
Ashton Kutcher - No Strings Attached
Adam Sandler - Just Go with It
Emma Stone - Easy A

Best Breakout Star:
Jay Chou - The Green Hornet
Andrew Garfield - The Social Network
Chloë Grace Moretz - Kick-Ass
Xavier Samuel - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit
Olivia Wilde - TRON: Legacy

Best Line from a Movie:
"I want to get chocolate wasted!" - Alexys Nycole Sanchez - Grown Ups
"There's a higher power that will judge you for your indecency." "Tom Cruise?" - Amanda Bynes and Emma Stone - Easy A
"If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook." - Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
"...A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool?" "A billion dollars. And that shut everybody up." - Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield - The Social Network
"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger darling." - Tom Hardy - Inception

Best Scared-as-Shit Performance:
Ashley Bell - The Last Exorcism
Minka Kelly - The Roommate
Ellen Page - Inception
Jessica Szohr - Piranha 3D
Ryan Reynolds - Buried

Biggest Badass Star:
Robert Downey Jr.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Chloë Grace Moretz
Alex Pettyfer
Jaden Smith

Best Jaw Dropping Moment:
Justin Bieber - Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
James Franco - 127 Hours
Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page - Inception
Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Steve-O - Jackass 3D

Best Villain:
Ned Beatty - Toy Story 3
Tom Felton - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Leighton Meester - The Roommate - LOL just cuz
Mickey Rourke - Iron Man 2
Christoph Waltz - The Green Hornet

Best Fight:
Amy Adams vs. The Sisters - The Fighter
Chloë Grace Moretz vs. Mark Strong - Kick-Ass
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint vs. Death Eaters (Rod Hunt and Arden Bajraktaraj) - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Joseph Gordon-Levitt vs. Hallway Attacker - Inception
Robert Pattinson vs. Bryce Dallas Howard and Xavier Samuel - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Best Kiss:
Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Inception
Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis - Black Swan

Box Office: 'Something' Blew

2011-05-04T23:10:00.002-04:00

1. Thor - $62m / $62m / $185m
2. Fast Five - $35m / $144m / $215m
3. Something Borrowed - $13m / $13m / $38m
4. Jumping the Broom - $10m / $10m / $29m
5. Rio - $9m / $116m / $145m
6. Water for Elephants - $5.5m / $41.5m / $58m
7. Madea's Big Happy Family - $4.5m / $47.5m / $59m
8. Prom - $2.6m / $8m / $12.5m
9. Hoodwinked Too - $2.2m / $7m / $11m
10. Soul Surfer - $2m / $36.5m / $41m

Summer is here! Fun box office! Yah! Thor is earning pretty good reviews and will play like a mini-Iron Man, exposing Chris Hemsworth's sexy bulky legs. Fast Five's performance is ridiculous, and will ensure me scratching my head in two years over Furious Six's performance. Jumping the Broom will be hurt by the fact that it seems no movies for black audiences succeed unless Tyler Perry had something to do with them. Lastly, Something Borrowed. Oh god. Can I just say that this looks like the biggest piece of shit to hit theatres in ages? The trailer was the laziest, most bland looking pile. That title is way too appropriate. Apparently the movie is as terrible as it looks. Poor John Krasinski. Ugh - this movie is making me mad. Thank god for Bridesmaids next week.

Box Office: Movies No One Wants That People Apparently Want

2011-04-28T14:17:00.003-04:00

1. Fast Five - $60m / $60m / $150m
2. Rio - $17m / $106m / $160m
3. Prom - $13m / $13m / $45m
4. Madea's Big Happy Family - $11m / $42.5m / $65m
5. Water for Elephants - $10m / $33.5m / $60m
6. Hoodwinked Too - $8m / $8m / $26m
7. Hop - $5.5m / $108.5m / $120m
8. Soul Surfer - $3.5m / $34m / $42m
9. Insidious - $3.5m / $49m / $58m
10. Scream 4 - $3m / $36.5m / $44m
11. African Cats - $3m / $11m / $18m
12. Hanna - $3m / $36.5m / $44m
13. Source Code - $3m / $49m / $55m
***Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - $1m / $1m / $2m

I went on the lower end for Fast Five. I just hate the fact that this movie will be credited with saving us from the slump? No matter how high it does go, Thor will probably open with less. Meaning what we've been saying for years: the last weekend in April is the new start of the summer box office season. The nice thing, though, about most of the movies in the top 10 are how leggy they are getting. Despite mostly middling reviews, audiences seem to enjoy them.