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« January 2007 | Main | March 2007 »
Monday, February 26, 2007 - 18:03:05
Post game interviews
Here are a few back stage interviews worth reading, Martin Scorsese's in particular.
Scorsese, Mirren, Arkin, Whitaker
Thank you 2006, and good night
2006, the year in movies, has officially come to end. Since this isn't an Oscar site like say incontention.com or oscarwatch.com, I'm not going anywhere for three or four months. I'll be right here talking about the difficult post-Oscar release schedule which will include more crap that's not worth your money or your time. That said, since I released my 2006 Top 10 on New Year's Eve, I've seen a dozen or so films that have caused my Top 10 to change. Assuming I can see "The Lives of Others" this weekend (it is scheduled to be released on Friday at Market Street), then I'll post a final 2006 Top 10 and close the books on the year once and for all. I'm giving up on "Little Children." I have no doubt that I would love the film, but it's not coming out here anytime soon. It will be on DVD in April and I suppose I will see it then. It will always remain one of the most curious release strategies ever.I don't have any lingering Oscar thoughts after my play-by-play last night. Scorsese won and I am pleased.
Oxford American to host DVD Premiere
The Oxford American announces the premiere of its first-ever Oxford American DVD onThursday, March 15, 2007 at the Riverdale Theater in Little Rock, followed by an after-party featuring a rare local performance by the legendary Dale Hawkins at The Cornerstone Pub in north Little Rock.
Doors open at 7 p.m., program starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30.00—and serve as tax-deductible donations to the nonprofit oxford american Literary Project—and include admission to the DVD Premiere at Riverdale, admission to the Dale Hawkins after-party, and a free copy of The Oxford American’s upcoming Southern Movie Issue 2007.
Tickets may be purchased online at www.riverdale10.com. For more information, please call Tammy Gillis at (501) 450-5376.
Special Guest, actor/director Ray McKinnon, will kick off the evening by reading “on acting,” his funny and wise essay from the Southern Movie Issue.
Clinton School to host Motion Picture Association President
The Clinton School of Public Service will host Dan Glickman, President of the Motion Picture Association of America on Tuesday, February 27th from 6:00 - 7:00 in Sturgis Hall. His topic will be "The Role of Film and the Arts in Public Service." For more information contact Ben Beaumont, 501-683-5238, Wireless phone: 501-454-2779.Sunday, February 25, 2007 - 18:29:11
Blogging live with friends
I'm online and ready for the Academy Awards. I'm at a party with friends including Arkansas Times Entertainment Editor Jim Harris, eating food, drinking wine and watching the festivities before the big show begins.
The players tonight are: JH, TH, MMK, SJ, CJ, SL and BL.
6:33 - food's coming out and the Barbara Walters special is on the television. Just watched Jennifer Hudson sing to Barbara Walters and Helen Mirren's on now, but I have no idea what she's saying. Glass of King Estates Pinot Gris in hand.
6:44 - Eddie Murphy's talking to Barbara now. Nice clip from the 80's where he said he didn't care about winning and Oscar. Yeah, right. I wish she would have asked him what the hell he was thinking doing "Norbit." I don't care how many millions it made at the box office. Murphy is funny, you have to give him that.
6:55 - talking "High Fidelity" now. General consensus about the quality of the film, although those of us that read Nick Hornby's novel admitted its superiority to the film. Still, thumbs up for Jack Black. You think Barbara Walters wants Eddie Murphy to win tonight?
7:08 - Red carpet on ABC is up and running. Leo, Steve Carrell, Jennifer Hudson and now the costume designer for "The Devil Wears Prada." What the hell was up with that red hair? JH asks, "who is that squirrel asking the questions?" A Heather Locklear ad came on and the comments ensued. Which led us to Denise Richards, who stole Locklear's man. "The worst actress in the history of film," notes JH. All agree.
7:16 - Cameron Diaz, lots of negative comments including "I bet there's an imprint of her ass on the casting couch." Cate Blanchett, my personal favorite. "Gorgeous," says TH. Ryan Gosling, solid effort in "Half Nelson." Here come "The Notebook" comments, including "it's the chick flick." People are making their picks at commercials. "Art Direction," "Original Song," "Make-Up," "Costume Design," "Documentary Short" . . . no one has a clue. Not even me.
7:27 - Who is this guy interviewing people? He's terrible. Kate Winslet looked great. Still some confusion regarding the nominees. What's the difference between sound editing and sound mixing? Hell if I know. The's show's beginning.
7:31 - Love the intro. Will Ellen bring the funny?
7:45 - Thumbs up for Ellen. Lots of laughs. Award one coming now: Best Art Direction. My pick - "Dreamgirls."
7:47 - First Oscar for "Pan's Labyrinth." I was wrong, but I'm pleased. Looks like a good night for the folks behind this marvelous film.
7:49 - The BSR It Girl takes the stage. She's doing the scientific awards. Watching the "hello" commercial directed by Spike Lee for Apple. Great commercial. Of course, I'm catching shit for my summaries. Jack Black and Will Ferrell. Yes! John C. Reilly too. Thumbs way up.
8:02 - "I've seen better animation on YouTube" was JH's reaction to Best Animated Short winner "The Danish Poet." No one at our party got it right. Best Make-Up went to "Pan's Labyrinth." Big winner over here. Live Action Short - I picked "West Bank Story." And the winner is . . . "West Bank Story." CJ also got it. How does one get to see the Oscar-nominated shorts? JH is calling Matt Smith.
8:13 - "this sucks," "this is awful," "this is a waste of time," "you should not make people look that stupid on stage." General comments about the sound effects choir. JH appreciates their talents. He would. Steve Carrell and Greg Kinnear take the stage. Best Sound Editing - My pick is "Letters from Iwo Jima." And the winner is . . . "Letters from Iwo Jima." "I didn't realize people made all those sounds." This dude is talking way to slow. The other guy is furious that he can't talk. Cut off at the knees.
8:18 - Jessica Biel is also a looker. Sound Mixing. We don't know what the hell that is, but we all picked "Dreamgirls." And the winner is . . . "Dreamgirls." These dudes shouldn't be using notes, the litigator in the room tells us. Another speaker cut off. "Guys in the back room"? Get off the stage.
8:21 - Rachel Weisz takes the stage which means it's best supporting actor time. Alan Arkin wins! The first upset of the night. "Norbit" sunk Eddie Murphy.
8:31 - James Taylor. MMK and JH love Jimmy T. Here comes Gore and Leo. Yeah, Gore's profile continues to go up. Show's gone green. What the hell was Jerry Seinfeld doing with his face? Melissa Etheridge did a nice job too. Didn't want to miss that. "True champion for the cause," says Leo to the former VP. Second announcement joke. Very good! I wonder if the Leo clip ever makes it into an ad? I guess we'll know in September.
8:43 - a lot of concern that Cameron Diaz had to memorize her lines because she's not smart enough to read the teleprompter. Best Animated Feature . . ."Happy Feet." I didn't see it. A certain three-year-old would be disappointed if she even know what the Oscars was. The guy accepeting the award might be drunk.
8:45 - SH wants to know how Ben Affleck still gets on stage? Writing montage is quite good. You can never have enough "Ed Wood" and "Sunset Blvd."
8:49 - Best Adapted Screenplay with Tom Hanks and Helen Mirren. My pick is "The Departed." Love the way they're introducing the nominees. And the winner is . . . "The Departed." "Valium does work." May be the line of the night. "Ah, this is horrible," says SJ. Yeah, it went downhill fast.
8:57 - One thing is for sure, the Oscars already have the Super Bowl beat in terms of commercials. The Wes Anderson American Express commercial (which actually debuted in theatres some time ago) and the "hello" commercial whip whatever crap we had to watch during the Super Bowl.
9:00 - "The Devil Wears Prada" chicks presenting Costume Design. Marian Cunningham as one of the costume models? Ok, this is stupid (note to the PRODUCER OF THE SHOW). "Marie Antionette" is the winner. I missed it. JH is furious. Says this has been done over and over. Pat is accepting an Oscar. This is incoherent. Bye - bye. Au revoir.
9:05 - Great. Tom Cruise. I'm going to the bathroom and to pour another glass of wine.
9:09 - Cruise presented the Humanitarian Award. Kudos to the winner, but I'm not sorry I missed Cruise.
9:11 - Ellen going out into the crowd seems to be working.
9:12 - Gwenyth Paltrow presenting Best Cinematography. My pick is "Children of Men." And the winner is. . ."Pan's Labyrinth." Damn. Big night for "Pan's Labyrinth." This is a bit of an upset.
Talking movies with Chai and Mariah
who called the film "slight but charming" and "a modest winner."
However, the popularity of this film, both with the Academy and
general populace points to a more troubling fact - the indie boom that
revitalized American film in the 90's is now definitely over. Ten
years ago, independent film was Pulp Fiction, Leaving Las Vegas, and
the Piano. Now it's "Little Miss Sunshine", which is basically a
studio comedy that studios simply don't make anymore, mainly because
it doesn't have any SNL alumni (Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn aren't
from SNL, but that's a distinction without a difference). The fact
that the film relies on quirkiness and not gross out humour while
making shallow references to Proust and Nietzsche now establishes it
as entertainment for a tiny band of urban elite and suitable for
acknowledgment by the Academy, while the hordes of teens crowding
suburban multiplexes will have to make do with movies by the Wayans
Bros., which is suitable only for acknowledgment by the box office.
In moaning the decline of independent film, I feel like those old men
I grew up reading who bemoaned the decline of the French film or
Italian film or the director driven films of the late 60's and early
70's. So much of film culture is seemingly caught up in a sense of
perpetual decline and complaining about Hollywood, one forgets how
much great filmmaking we see on a regular basis. Clint Eastwood is
very much at his height, and I agree that his "Iwo Jima Saga" is this
year's best work. Almodovar has fully regained his form after some
less than stellar films in the mid-90's and Volver is probably the
best structured film he has ever made. The Mexican triumvirate of
Curon, Iñárritu, and Del Toro have taken the aesthetic of Nuevo Cine
Mexicano global, and United 93 is perhaps the greatest movie ever shot
in "real time." So it wasn't all that bad.
Which brings us to Scorsese, some of whose recent work was very bad.
The Departed is his best film in over a decade, and it's interesting
that he will probably win an Oscar for a film set in Boston as opposed
to New York, and for a remake of a Hong Kong action film - a genre
that owes no small amount of it's aesthetic to Scorsese. The fact the
lost for his finest work isn't surprising - the Oscars never gave a
statue to Alfred Hitchcock, who is perhaps the greatest Hollywood
director of all time. The Academy isn't composed of film scholars, but
graying actors and actresses who tend to have rather bourgeois tastes.
So the brilliance of Raging Bull, which I think is Scorsese's best
work, flew right by them.
However, the Oscars could be worse - they could be the Grammy's which
simply hands out awards to best selling albums of the year, and is an
award that serious fans of pop music pay little to no attention to
(the classical Grammy's are a bizarrely good and serious award, but
now I am getting way off topic). The fact that millions of people
around the world will watch Scorsese win an Oscar and then may be
interested enough to check out some of his many great films, the
Departed included, is one of the few small blessings the Oscars tend
to give us from time to time.
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'Little Miss Sunshine' takes top Indy Spirit Award
"Little Miss Sunshine" was given top prize at the Independent Spirit Awards yesterday. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who directed the off-beat comedy, won best director. Screenwriter Michael Arndt was honored with the best first screenplay trophy. Alan Arkin took home the best male supporting actor award.
Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps, both of "Half Nelson" won best male and female lead actor awards. Frances McDormand performance in "Friends with Money" won for best female supporting actor. Jason Reitman's script "Thank You for Smoking" won best screenplay.
Don't forget the Independent Spirit Awards
The Moviegoer makes his predictions
David Edelstein talks Oscars throughout the day, weekend
Slate's complete Oscar coverage
Predictions from Oscarwatch.com
Guru's O' Gold Predictions
Oscar's greatest crimes
10 reasons to watch the Oscars
Working on your own Oscar predictions?
Tom O'Neil speculates an Abigail Breslin upset?
Opening Today
It's official
The Bagger weighs in with his Oscar picks
Rinko Kikuchi
Peter O'Toole
Oscar, Oscar, Oscar
Winners and Losers
Film Highs and Lows
More movie issues
Oscar predictions
Paying tribute
Fat Tuesday
What's in your queue?
Just cuz . . .
The 80's sequel
Talking 'Babel'
Ryan Gosling
President's Day
Oscar-nominated Score
Art Directors Guild
Costume Designers Guild
'Babel,' 'The Departed," tie for Best Cinema Editing
'Children of Men' tops Cinematographers Guild
NY Times follows David Fincher
'Venus' and 'Factory Girl'
Bravo, Mr. Martin
Saturday
Cate Blanchett
Chris Cooper
Catching up with Alan Arkin
Coffee with David Lynch
Screenwriters roundtable
Best Foreign Film
Valentine's Day
Maltese Falcon stolen!
Care to stay up late?
Washington Post 'Critical Talk'
Great performers
I see that
Chatting with Richard Eyre
BAFTA winners
Writers Guild: 'Little Miss Sunshine' and 'The Departed'
What's in your queue?
The women of Pedro Almodovar
MSNBC anticipates 2007
Saturday
Catching up with 'The Treatment'
Amazon, TiVo join digital download game
Peter Morgan
More on 'The Lives of Others'
Slate talks to Stephen Frears
'The First Ones'
More on the Eddie Murphy mess
'The Lives of Others'
P. Martin on Eddie Murphy
Nice, really nice
Nothing going on tonight?
Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?
Annie Liebovitz on shooting Hollywood Noir
Vanity Fair
Overrated
Cillian Murphy
David Mamet on the movies
Jennifer Hudson
On 'Flags of Our Fathers' and 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
P. Martin writes about Almodovar
Kenneth Turan talks Peter O'Toole, young and old
If you're bored
Vanity Fair Movie Issue
Oscar Talk with The Washington Post critics
Is Oscar colorblind?
Wal Mart enters digital download game
Precursor to Oscar Gold?
Overexposed?
'The Lives of Others'
Another studio fight?
Where have you gone?
What's left?
Free content
This weekend
Dana Stevens on Diane Keaton
Sundance wrap up
TCM's 31 Days of Oscar
Smoking with Bob Altman
'Catch and Release' & 'Notes on a Scandal'
P. Martin talks 'Venus' and takes on cranky readers
'Factory Girl'
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