 After attending an early and advanced screening of the then-unfinished 2006 film “Bobby”, Clayton Davis, the respected and esteemed Awards Circuit editor was then a contributor to the website The Oscar Igloo. Clayton was so taken by the film that he immediately went to work on writing his thoughts and feelings and delivered to the site a comprehensive and richly detailed film review. Within days of posting his 4-star review, the film’s director, writer, and star, Emilio Estevez sent a direct message to Clayton thanking him for his review. Additionally, Estevez indicated that because of Clayton’s review, The Weinstein Company had changed their minds and decided to leave the performance of Estevez’s father, Martin Sheen, in the final cut of the film. It was that experience and at that precise moment that Clayton knew that a career in film was truly his calling.
Read more on Digging Into: Clayton Davis…
"50/50" (Summit Entertainment)
Stricken with a shocking, confounding, and life-threatening cancer diagnosis, 27-year old Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is forced to deal with realities he never could have anticipated in the brilliant “50/50″, a comedy/drama that takes a considerable amount of risk in conveying a story of this subject matter with a liberal mix of humor and drama. Adapted from screenwriter Will Reiser’s real life experiences in battling a dangerous and rare form of cancer, “50/50″ is a film of subtle power and effectiveness, one of the more dynamic surprises I have encountered in a long, long time.
Read more on 50/50 (****)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: 2011 releases, 50/50, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Comedy, Drama, Inspirational, Jonathan Levine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Oscar hopefuls, Seth Rogen, Will Reiser
As we wave goodbye to September, the awards season just keeps heating up. A lot of interesting releases this weekend, both wide and limited, some of which could be serious Oscar contenders:
First up in wide release is the dramedy 50/50, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young man who is diagnosed with cancer. Reviews have praised this film as an intelligent, sincere and surprisingly funny movie that rises far above and beyond your typical “Disease of the Week” Lifetime-esque melodramas. I’m starting to believe that it may actually be a serious threat for a Best Original Screenplay nomination. Box office-wise…eh, I don’t know. Despite support from critics, cancer isn’t exactly an audience-friendly subject. I’m thinking it’ll hit somewhere around the $8-13 million mark by Sunday. Read more on Weekend Openings (September 30-October 2)…
Categories: Weekend Openings Tags: 50/50, Anna Faris, Anna Paquin, Courageous, Daniel Craig, Dream House, Jeff Nichols, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kenneth Lonergan, Margaret, Michael Shannon, Nick Broomfield, Rachel Weisz, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin - You Betcha!, Take Shelter, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Weekend Openings, What’s Your Number?
 My Oscar Predictions are due this weekend and I’ve been playing with them quite a bit. I’ve even been having mini-pow-wow’s with some of my staff talking it up with them and what we think will or will not make it. It’s funny that this time of the year I foresee many possibilities as almost assured things but that’s just my ego talking. Ain’t no way, we’re close to sewn up in any category in October. This is wide open for many surprises and this makes this year very exciting.
In my next round of predictions I’ll likely be dropping the ten Best Picture nominees. I’ve known for a while that there would be anywhere between six and eight nominees with the new ruling but I’ve stayed with ten for percentage purposes. In the big category I’m definitely staying with Steven Spielberg’s War Horse for now. It’s the safest bet, the new images that hit are actually very beautiful and the story itself will have critics and audiences cheering. Many (and I am fully aware this to happen as well) think Spielberg’s film will crash and burn. In the likely event, what would jump out in front? I’m thoroughly feeling Michel Hazanvicius’ The Artist could be the big darling of the season leading all the way to Oscar love. Many pundits out there that have seen it including critics from Telluride, Toronto, and Cannes have championed the film. Hopefully it’ll be something that will age well with audiences overtime. Do we all still think Crash was the best of 2005? Could ever fathom the Academy choosing Braveheart again with the same lineup from 1995? Hell no.
Read more on Oscar Circuit: “I Wish”…
Categories: Editor, Oscar Circuit Tags: 2011 releases, academy awards, Clint Eastwood, Drive, Editor, extremely loud and incredibly close, J. Edgar, Leonardo DiCaprio, michel hazanvicius, Oscar Circuit, oscar predictions, predictions, the artist, war horse
 An aquatic/animal welfare documentary that plays it pretty safe, and almost too safe if you ask me, ‘The Whale’ has an interesting topic and charm to spare, but it never really goes out there to make itself feel particularly relevant or important. In fact, if you didn’t know that Ryan Reynolds was the narrator (and the producer, along with ex-wife Scarlett Johansson), you might actually think this is a film made about an event that transpired a decade or so ago, it feels so generic at certain points. It doesn’t ever give itself a real sense of time or place, and that bugged me a tad, since it sort of defeats the point of documenting something on film. Despite that small sized issue, it’s still a solid 90 minutes of slightly informational cinema, with a few very cute moments of an Orca at play, a tear or two shed for some, and an overall sense of your time pretty much well spent. It’s not the type of doc to remember come Oscar time, and it surely won’t show up at all during the precursor season, but if you see it you likely won’t regret that you did. I know that I didn’t.
Read more on The Whale (***)…
 Let me be clear before I begin writing this and you begin reading…I do not believe for one minute that Citizen Kane (1941) is the greatest American film ever made. Cue the howls of protest now please. Sorry.
Though the American Film Institute has twice voted the film such, in 1997 and again in 2007, and the annual poll conducted by Sight and Sound states the same, I think other films have gone past the film in terms of their brilliance, namely The Godfather: Part II (1974), The Godfather (1972), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Schindler’s List (1993), Raging Bull (1980), and The Searchers (1956) to name a few. My opinion does not bring into the mix that Citizen Kane (1941) is not among the greatest films ever made, (it is), and it might be the most innovative film ever made, changing the way directors made their movies forever, but greatest of all time? Nope. Read more on Historical Circuit: Citizen Kane (****)…
Tuesday’s results show on Dancing with the Stars was a big surprise. It’s normal that early in the season the lowest scores are the ones to get eliminated off the show. But sometimes the viewer’s chime in and fight for you to stay on the show. Chaz Bono is one of those cases. Bono had the lowest scores Monday night and was at the bottom of the leaderboard premiere night. He was in the bottom three Tuesday night and walked away safe.
Read more on Dancing with the Stars: Week 2 Results…
 In an industry dominated by testosterone, explosions, and hot-tempered men who think they know everything, Anna Belickis, one of the newest writers to The Awards Circuit as on her way to establishing herself as one the industries freshest critics. Many readers of the Awards Circuit can barely name any female critics in the industry let alone our small nook of the internet. Sasha Stone of Awards Daily and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood are probably the leading ladies of this part of film criticism but rest assured, Anna will be making her way up the rounds to be synonymous with those talented women in no time..
Anna who currently resides in New York, first became interested in film at the tender age of eleven. She was watching Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and recognized Elijah Wood from a previous movie she seen him in. She looked him up and read his entire biography, filmography, etc. and the next day approached her friend Caitlin and made a pact to watch every Elijah Wood film to that date. Mission Accomplished! And even at eleven, she had to keep the Rated R films under the radar. From that point on, Anna and Caitlin would pick random actors and watch all their films.
As Anna matured so did her love of film. Some of her most dramatic and endearing choices of films she constantly watches until this day is Robert Redford’s Ordinary People, as she puts “the perfect acting movie. All performances are perfect.” Her favorite Oscar Best Picture winner is Sam Mendes’ American Beauty. When Anna applied as a writer for the Awards Circuit many questions came to mind. The Awards Circuit, as well as other sites, sadly and I imagine not purposely are predominately run by men and even the commentators, not necessarily the entire readership are men. How could she fit in? The idea of a woman joining the staff was a dream I was afraid that would never come to fruition, having tried and failed, several times before. Anna applied at the tender age of twenty, didn’t have any “formal” writing training, and at the time was in North Carolina with her husband Kevin. At the time Anna was writing on her own blog, “Showtimes and Dogtags.” A blog and forum for military women and men who were fighting overseas and finding consolation in film and television. I read the blog and recognized massive potential. It was like being a coach and going out and scouting for your baseball team and find the best kept secret and it’s yours for taking. Anna is an innovative, special, and tremendously talented woman.
Read more on Digging Into: Anna Belickis…
As a continuing feature here at Awards Circuit, here are the latest ratings provided by the MPAA Ratings Board – The Classification and Ratings Administration (CARA).
In this edition, dated 9/28/11, two Oscar hopefuls, “Carnage” and “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, go in front of the Board and a whole host of independent and potentially straight-to-video releases get their marks. Curiously, a film known as “The Good Doctor” starring Orlando Bloom, Michael Pena, Troy Garity, Rob Morrow, and Taraji P. Henson won a ratings appeal but still lacks domestic distribution.
Read more on MPAA Ratings Bulletin No. 2191 (9/28/11)…
 Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Born: February 17th, 1981
Place: Los Angeles, California
Major Awards and Citations: Golden Globe Awards (2010): Nominated for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for ‘(500) Days of Summer’
Gotham Awards (2005): Nominated for Breakthrough Award for ‘Mysterious Skin’
Independent Spirit Awards (2010): Nominated for Best Male Lead for ‘(500) Days of Summer’
Seattle International Film Festival (2005): Won Best Actor for ‘Mysterious Skin’
(plus a bunch of nods for Best Ensemble in 2010 as a part of the film ‘Inception’)
Oscar Snubs: ‘Mysterious Skin’ (2004), ‘Brick’ (2005), ‘The Lookout’ (2007), and ‘(500) Days of Summer’ (2009)
One of the rare child actors to successfully transition into a well regarded adult thespian, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is widely considered to be one of the best young actors in the business. He constantly chooses interesting projects and almost never does anything that you’d consider to be a “paycheck” job. He’s sort of been on the fringes of major stardom, but his profile is growing with each year, and I feel like he’s in prime position to really hit the A-list, and this just might be the time for him to add “Academy Award Nominee” to his resume. He’s certainly got the right project to do it, but as much as anything, it’ll be interesting to see if the Academy finally wakes up and realizes what a talent they’ve been ignoring for years. I don’t think he can win the Oscar this year, but I do believe that he’s more likely than many realize to get that elusive first nomination. Come with me as we look back on the career of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and see what’s next for him as well. Yes, it’s time to go…Under the Circuit!
Read more on Under the Circuit: Joseph Gordon-Levitt…
 Now in its 10th season, there is no denying that Family Guy is one of the most popular shows on television. The absurd scenarios the Griffin’s get themselves into are hilariously fun and entertaining.
It’s quite hard to summarize the plot of this following season but if you watch Family Guy, you know there is none. There is never one. Each episode is different and outrageous in its own way. How is it that a show with absolutely no point can be so funny and good?
I know, Seth MacFarlane.
Seth MacFarlane is a multi-talented man who continues to engage viewers with his sick gags every week about the dysfunctional family that strives to cope with the not so everyday life.
Read more on TV Review: Family Guy (****)…
 Free Agents tells the story of an emotionally distressed man, Alex dealing with his recent divorce and an emotionally heartbroken women, Helen dealing with her fiancé’s recent passing who find comfort in each other’s bed.
Co-workers Alex (Hank Azaria) and Helen (Kathryn Hahn), both recently single end up in bed together one night. Alex recently divorced and Helen, dealing with the death of her fiancé are not ready for a relationship just yet. After their awkward encounter Helen decides being friends is the best thing for them. But, Alex is left wondering if his emotional breakdown after sex is the reason they will remain just friends. Both are in desperate need to get back into the dating game but Helen would rather spend her time alone drinking alone and not dealing with her problems and Alex just wants to spend time with Helen.
Read more on TV Review: Free Agents (**)…
 Kevin Smith’s career has been very frustrating to observe. Here is a man whose debut was hailed as a vanguard of a new kind of independent cinema, and since then (with the possible exception of Chasing Amy) he has not only failed to evolve but in some ways has moved backward, particularly when it comes to dialogue and character development. Even more annoying is that he has petulantly taken to defending his growing ineptitude. This reached an astounding level of arrogance when he threw a Twitter tantrum over the critical drubbing of Cop Out, a film he even admitted wasn’t very good. Despite a recent string of worthless films and his childish attitude, I remain hopeful that he can impress me in the future. One does not have to be a likable person to achieve great things, after all.
So imagine my pleasant surprise in hearing about Red State, a film that appeared completely removed from his tiresome raunchfest-with-a-heart-of-gold formula. There’s nothing I love more than auteurs redeeming themselves after a period of artistic corrosion, so I made sure to see it as soon as I could. Read more on Red State (*½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: 2011 releases, cynicism, disappointment, John Goodman, Kevin Smith, melissa leo, Michael Parks, politics, Red State, religion, self-indulgence
 To know Joey Magidson is to know you have a friend. The loyal readers of The Awards Circuit have read Joey’s work for years but, all you know is Joey the writer. When I became part of the staff on this amazing site, I began a friendship with Joey and got to know Joey, the person.
Joey the writer is professional, witty, smart, open minded and his best quality; he listens to all of your opinions. He doesn’t throw his opinion in anybody’s face or tell you that you’re wrong; he takes what you say and thinks about it. Joey the person is caring, honest, funny, a great listener, pessimistic while being occasionally optimistic, a romantic, unique and just a genuinely good person. He will go to any length for a friend and will do anything to make you smile and laugh.
Joey attended Stony Brook University and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Cinema Studies. He currently resides in New York and spends most of his time cooking delicious meals, exercising, seeing movies, writing about them for your viewing pleasure and writing a few screenplays. (I read one, and it is really good)
Writing and The Awards Circuit is Joey’s life. He is such a great writer and gives such insight to the world he loves. He devotes himself 110% to the Awards Circuit and to being the best writer he can be. Just look at his reviews and the blog, he constantly keeps the readers informed on what’s going on around them so they don’t miss a thing. He is someone you, the reader, should never take for granted.
Read more on Digging Into: Joey Magidson…
"The Lion King" makes it 2 in a row…
A burgeoning teen movie star, a big budget political drama-slash-action film, an inspirational family drama from the producers of “The Blind Side”, and a highly anticipated Oscar hopeful receiving some of the year’s best reviews all failed to unseat a film first released 6,311 days ago. “The Lion King 3D” has pulled off a second improbable box office victory with a weekend gross $21.9 million. Although the four major new releases for the weekend fell short of the top, the success of “The Lion King” and those new films led to potentially the biggest grossing September weekend on record.
Read more on Box Office Final: A Prideful “Lion” Stays #1…
Categories: News Tags: Abduction, analysis, Apollo 18, box office, Conan the Barbarian, Dolphin Tale, Drive, Kevin Hart: Laugh At My Pain, Killer Elite, Machine Gun Preacher, Moneyball, Pearl Jam Twenty, Straw Dogs, The Lion King 3D, Thunder Soul, Warrior
 Metta World Peace is gone and the rest of the stars try to prove they are worthy or reaming apart of the competition. This week the stars had their work cut out for them dancing the Jive and the Quick Step. A difficult dance will show who has the potential to win and who will be voted off. Without any ado, let’s review.
Read more on Dancing with the Stars: Week 2…
 Charlie Harper is dead and Walden Schmidt is in.
During the premiere episode it begins with the death of Charlie Harper. All of his conquests show up to his funeral to make sure that he is actually dead and bash him during Alan’s eulogy. It is obvious the shows creator Chuck Lorre, who Sheen publicly insulted was getting all of his anger out during this funeral scene and made it clear, Charlie Sheen is no more.
Read more on TV Review: Two and a Half Men (**1/2)…
Please, Mr. Nolan, don't screw up Catwoman…
I’m pretty sure that, by the time Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises actually hits theaters on July 20th, the internet will have leaked so many “inside scoops” about the film that every spoiler-hunting fanboy will know the whole damn plot already. I try my best to avoid spoilers as much as possible before seeing any film, but I’m not perfect. So when ComingSoon.net posted pictures of Anne Hathaway in full costume as Catwoman, I couldn’t help but take a quick peek…and for the first time since this film was announced, I became truly worried about how it’ll turn out.
Contrary to the grumblings of others on the internet, I think Hathaway herself will do a fine job as Selina Kyle. As Anna pointed out in yesterday’s Women in Cinema, she is an immensely talented actress who has effectively explored her dark side before. She is also gorgeous and sexy, so I never had any doubts as to her ability to rock a skintight outfit. Not that she even needs to have overt sex appeal at all, since Nolan’s Batman films have always attempted to present a costumed hero scenario in the most realistic light possible, including favoring pragmatism over aesthetic appeal. The series’ claim to realism was never its main or even secondary strength, but it’s a cool touch that has in past flown in the face of fanboy expectation (The Joker’s painted face is a good example of this). But then I glanced at these…absurd things: Read more on High Heels and Tumbler Wheels…
Few names in the film community unite actors, filmmakers, bloggers, Oscar prognosticators, publicists, and the general media in respect like John Foote does. Yes, a young man who spent his early days in Canada wanting nothing more than to play in the NHL now is one of the preeminent voices in film criticism and the Oscar race, not to mention someone quoted on DVD/Blu-Ray box art across the globe (don’t believe me? Go pick up a copy of 2010′s remake of True Grit). He’s been in print, on television, in the classroom, and now on the internet. Those who know him on a professional level know of his passion and knowledge, but those like myself who know him on a personal level can attest to his kindness, heart, and ability to make you feel like family within mere moments of meeting him. For my money, he’s one of the best voices in the industry and a great colleague to boot. Canada should be proud to cal him one of their native sons and I’m proud to call him my frend.
By conducting this interview with John, I hope to bring out who he is as a person, as well as a writer and film enthusiast. It’s a somewhat free form piece, with me spitballing out what I think you might want to know about him and John not holding back and opening himself up to you all. Don’t expect any huge revelations (he’s not who shot J.R. or anything), but expect an enjoyable look into who exactly John Foote really is. You’ll find out about his favorite films, his family, and everything in between. Enjoy!
Read more on Digging Into: John Foote…
 It’s a bit of a light week on DVD for me here at The Awards Circuit, especially considering my distaste for the major release of the week. I’ll get to that piece of trash in a minute, though I’d be happier to forget it ever existed, but first let me point out the lights at the end of the tunnel. Some major upcoming releases on DVD include The Tree of Life in 2 weeks and Red State in 3, so keep your eyes peeled for that, not that I’ll let you forget…especially about the latter. As for this week, I have 4 films to make mention of. One is good, two are fair, and one is terrible. Not exactly a rouge’s gallery, but we make do. For my PICK OF THE WEEK, I went with an acclaimed piece of work that I had all but forgotten about. It’s not as good in my eyes as it is to most, but it’s still a quality bit of cinema. It’s:
Carlos
Yes, this is technically a TV miniseries, but it’s been released theatrically as well, so it’s as much an epic film as anything else. Certain critics went absolutely nuts over this biopic of Carlos the Jackal, specifically the lead performance of Edgar Ramirez. I really liked his work in it, but found the rest to be a bit of a slog to sit through. It’s compelling at times, but not quite as much as many had made it out to be. It’s still worth checking out, especially as it’s a Criterion release, and they always do a top notch job. If you were curious what all the fuss was about last year, give it a shot…
Read more on Joey’s DVD Picks of the Week (9/27/2011)…
Discovering the man behind ShouldISeeIt…
To the average observer, Michael Ward is the definition of the American everyman. An unassuming, workaday family man, it wouldn’t be immediately obvious that there lies a deep-seated passion for the motion picture. Indeed, his entire philosophy of reviewing films takes on a removal of self rarely seen of most critics. “My mind intuitively drifts to others when forming an opinion on a film; what would my friends think of this? My wife? Would they see it differently than I do?”
Far from a simple personality quirk, this distinctive trait had been cultivated from the time he was seven years-old. “It all started when my parents gave me not only a TV set, but HBO along with it.” That was the first domino, “From that point, it was always, ‘on.’ I was not really a ‘popular kid.’ I preferred my own company and was a little reclusive.” So what was it about cinema that appealed to him at that age? “I don’t remember any specific film that ignited my interest. I do recall lots of bits and pieces of classics, and being very drawn to them. To me, their visuals and sensational presentation were more captivating than other forms of entertainment.” Read more on Digging Into: Michael Ward…
 I’m of two minds about the current box office numbers for Ryan Gosling’s collaboration with Nicolas Winding Refn ‘Drive’. On the one hand, it really is an art film and the money it’s making is good for that, but on the other, it did really have the potential to be a crossover success. Some have labeled it a failure, but I haven’t, as I still see it to be a major Oscar player. Always eager to throw her two cents in, Nikki Finke over at Deadline has given her take. I found her article to actually be pretty interesting, so I thought I’d share some of it with you. Here is what she calls her “post-mortem” on the film:
Read more on Why Did “Drive” Stall at the Box Office?…
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After attending an early and advanced screening of the then-unfinished 2006 film “Bobby”, Clayton Davis, the respected and esteemed Awards Circuit editor was then a contributor to the website The Oscar Igloo. Clayton was so taken by the film that he immediately went to work on writing his thoughts and feelings and delivered to the site a comprehensive and richly detailed film review. Within days of posting his 4-star review, the film’s director, writer, and star, Emilio Estevez sent a direct message to Clayton thanking him for his review. Additionally, Estevez indicated that because of Clayton’s review, The Weinstein Company had changed their minds and decided to leave the performance of Estevez’s father, Martin Sheen, in the final cut of the film. It was that experience and at that precise moment that Clayton knew that a career in film was truly his calling.
