 Tomorrow the prestigious National Board of Review will unveil their slate of films and performances they consider the best of 2012. After yesterday’s long and sort of surprising announcement of the New York Film Critics, all eyes are on this group. The National Board of Review are known to kick-start campaigns for films pundits and critics aren’t taking serious during the early weeks of awards season.
Last year, the group rewarded Hugo as Best Picture along with Martin Scorsese being cited for his direction. The film reaped the benefits and took the lion’s share of awards during the season and ended winning a total of five Oscars when everything was said and done, just as many as Oscar’s Best Picture winner The Artist. The group was also successful in naming Best Supporting Actor winner Christopher Plummer for his turn as the newly gay father in Beginners. The group has been known to have favorites among their awards every year. Oscar-winner Clint Eastwood has won Best Actor (Gran Torino) and Best Director (Invictus) from the organization and has also been cited for a special achievement for Million Dollar Baby and a Career Achievement Award. Oscar-winner George Clooney has won three Best Actor titles since 2007 for Michael Clayton (2007), Up in the Air (2009), and The Descendants (2011). Perhaps that love will translate to his producing credit on Ben Affleck’s Argo this year. Read more on National Board of Review Preview and Predictions…
 Musical scores are the last thing added to movie, but are often the lynch pin in the cinematic experience. Think about how you found yourself humming along to the themes or being moved to tears by a scene underscored with emotional music. There have been so many good scores this year so I thought we’d take a gander at the some of the contenders for original score. I’ve tried grouping each score with another one similar to it and there will also be links (if available) to Youtube playlists so you can peruse the score on your own, and links to iTunes and Amazon if you want to purchase it. Today, we’ll be taking a gander at the scores for Prometheus and Looper. Read more on Spotlight on Scores: Prometheus and Looper…
Read more on Spotlight on Scores: Prometheus and Looper…
 We’re coming to the end of the Sizing Up series at The Awards Circuit, which is of course the making of early groupings of the hopefuls for each major Oscar category, in case somehow you forgot. This is the second to last and tackles the Best Adapted Screenplay race. For now though, we’ll focus here on the category at hand. I admit that my success rate is still to be determined with this year’s crop of articles, but that kind of comes with the territory of Oscar prognostication, and I’m feeling good about my picks so far. Perhaps I’m getting wiser with age, but then again…maybe not. Both this screenplay article and the next one tackling Original Screenplay will be a tad lighter than usual, not in terms of the number of films/scripts but in the number of big time contenders held within, mainly because they’re the only categories that really limit what you can work off of, so it’s a little harder to not be top-heavy. I did my best though, so I think I deserve a bit of credit for that! I think most of you will be happy with these rankings, but that ultimately remains to be seen, I suppose.
Read more on Sizing Up: Best Adapted Screenplay…
 Film: Red Hook Summer
For Your Consideration: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Director: Spike Lee
Screenplay: Spike Lee and James McBride
Realistic Nominations: None
Oscar Scene: “We live in a world of SHOULD! NOT! BE!”
Even for a Spike Lee joint, the reactions to Red Hook Summer were extremely polarizing, which probably explains its half-hearted distribution by Variance. Though I lean toward the “pro” side of that debate, it’s hard to argue the criticisms of Lee’s shaky setups, utterly dreadful performances from Jules Brown and Toni Lysaith, and a third-act twist that almost (more on that in a minute) derails the whole picture. Even with those flaws, conviction goes a long way in my book, and Red Hook Summer is enriched with rare levels of hope and passion. Giving that emotional conviction its lasting power, however, is Clarke Peters’ astounding performance as Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse.
Read more on Circuit Consideration – Clarke Peters…
What a thrill! The international release of ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2‘ (Sum.) has landed at the top of almost all of the charts. Beating out ‘Skyfall‘ (Sony) without a hitch, it also remains #1 during this week’s box office count. Within the top 10, ‘Skyfall‘ follows at #2 and ‘Lincoln‘ (BV) at #3. Recent releases, ‘Life of Pie‘ (Fox) jumps up three to #4, followed by ‘Rise of the Guardians‘ (Par./DW) up to #5. ‘Wreck-It Ralph‘ (BV) drops two to #6, followed by ‘Red Dawn (2012)‘ (FD), a recent release, at #7. ‘Flight‘ (Par.) drops three to #8, the underdog, ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘ (Wein.) floats up four to #9, and ‘Argo‘ (WB) drops one to #10. All in all, many have made several leaps up as older movies fallen at slower rates.
Read more on Box Office (12.02.12)…
 After his surprisingly successful live-action directorial debut, Ted, Seth MacFarlane is gearing up for his next project, which he plans to direct and star in. He’s joined by his Ted co-writers, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, in penning A Million Ways to Die in the West, an offbeat comedy in the vein of Blazing Saddles (1974).
Read more on Seth MacFarlane to Follow Up ‘Ted’ with Western Comedy…
 I’ve long been a big admirer of Edward Burns as a filmmaker. He’s entertained me as an actor, but his contributions to cinema as a writer/director have been consistently underrated. ‘The Fitzgerald Family Christmas’ is his 11th outing behind the camera, and not only is it one of his best, it’s also in many ways a return to his roots. Burns has crafted another intimate tale of family set on Long Island, rich with details that will ring true to both native Long Islanders (especially those on the Queens border) as well as anyone who’s had to brace for a family gathering. Anyone who’s been longing for Burns to go back to the types of films he started his career with will be thrilled with what he’s delivered here. The movie hits theaters this Friday, and honestly it’s probably the best holiday themed film of the year. Burns and his ensemble cast all have terrific chemistry with each other, and the large scale family moments ring incredibly true. By making micro-budget indie films and maintaining almost complete control over the final product, Burns has been able to assure his movies now are coming out with top notch quality. If you’re looking for a Christmas themed movie, it’s hard to wrong with this one…
Read more on The Fitzgerald Family Christmas (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Anita Gillette, Caitlin Fitzgerald, connie britton, Ed Burns, Ed Lauter, Edward Burns, Heather Burns, Kerry Bishe, Malachy McCourt, Marsha Dietlein, Michael McGlone, Noah Emmerich, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Tom Guiry
Don’t mess with Amanda Brown.
Hello again, fans of The Voice! I’m going to start off by being very matter-of-fact: My interest in the season has taken an extreme nosedive following the elimination of my favorite contestant, Cody Belew — AKA the most interesting and entertaining reality show talent since American Idol’s Haley Reinhart — and the unfortunate dismissal of the much-improved Dez Duron from Team Christina. I consistently find myself disappointed when America shuns the quirky, unique and diverse in favor of the same ol’ music hand-me-downs a la rocker Terry McDermott and soul singer Nicholas David. Good singers, sure, but they won’t make any waves in the music business and they lack true originality. But it is a new week, and I must keep a positive spirit if I am to carry on with the rest of the season. Chug along, I must, and with that said…here is my review session of The Voice’s Top Six…
Read more on ‘The Voice’ Recap: Reviewing the Top 6…
Read more on ‘The Voice’ Recap: Reviewing the Top 6…
Categories: Article Tags: Amanda Brown, Cassadee Pope, Melanie Martinez, nbc, Nicholas David, Terry McDermott, The Voice, the voice recap, The Voice Top 6 Recap, The Voice Top Six, Trevin Hunte
 This week, there’s literally a ton of films hitting Blu-Ray/DVD, among them one of the year’s most gargantuan flicks. It’s release slates like this that make me love the column as much as I do. Hey, whenever I can wholeheartedly recommend a half dozen titles, that’s a top notch group in my book, and that’s not including other cinematic offerings that will have an appeal to many of you. There may be only one film really that ever got consideration for my top pick, but that’s more about its outstanding quality than because any of the other main contenders weren’t worthy. In another week, 2 or 3 of the other recommended flicks could have claimed that spot. As it stands though, it’s an easy choice for my PICK OF THE WEEK today. Besides being perhaps the most anticipated film of 2012, it’s also one of the best to many, including myself. Whether it’s an actually Oscar player or not remains to be seen, but it’s getting a solid honor from me right now. The choice should be obvious, but if you’re still in the dark (no pun intended this time around), I’ll clue you in. It’s:
Read more on Joey’s DVD Picks of the Week (12/04/2012)…
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