The long-awaited (expected) journey back to Middle Earth finally sets off with the first installment of Peter Jackson’s imminent The Hobbit trilogy (still baffled as to how this turned into a hat-trick). As Bilbo, Thorin, Gandalf and the rest of the Dwarves make their way to the Lonely Mountain, so too will the film soar to the top of the box office this weekend. Not in the mood for second breakfast? Skip right to lunch with a handful of other menu options…
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Language: English
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage
In his younger years, sensible Bilbo Baggins finds himself somehow convinced to venture out of the Shire to accompany a band of Dwarves on a dangerous quest to reclaim a treasure stolen by the evil dragon, Smaug. See what Terrence had to say about this first act. Read more on Weekend Openings: (12/14/2012)…
Categories: Weekend Openings Tags: Alison Brie, Any Day Now, Bilbo Baggins, Christopher Walken, Ian McKellan, Jason Clarke, Lizzy Caplan, Martin Freeman, Peter Jackson, Richard Armitage, Stand Up Guys, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Tim Blake Nelson
Forgive the obvious pun, but I’ve got my money on Ralph wrecking his competition at the box office this weekend to cap off a nice week of triumphs for Disney. Robert Zemeckis is also back at it with the help of a non-animated Denzel Washington. And perhaps a little stylized kung fu from a hip-hop chameleon to feed the eclectic palate?
Read more on Weekend Openings: 11/2/2012…
Categories: Weekend Openings Tags: Animation, Barry Levinson, Bradley Rust, Cast Away, China, Christopher Denham, Christopher Walken, Denzel Washington, Director, Don Cheadle, Entertainment/Culture, Francis McDormand, humble blacksmith, Jack McBrayer, Jacob Aaron Estes, jane lynch, Jane McNeill, John C. Reilly, John Goodman, Judd Hirsch, Juno Temple, Katherine Keener, Kristen Connolly, Kylie Minogue, Late Quartet, Laura Linney, Lucy Lui, Movie Release, Paolo Sorrentino, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rich Moore, Riley Keough, Robert Zemeckis, Russell Crowe, Sean Penn, tobey maguire
 This year we have several actors in contention for Oscar nominations from the same film. The Supporting Actress category is typically has no problem nominating two ladies from the film as we saw just recently with Jessica Chastain and eventual Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer from The Help (2011). This year, the following films have two or more possible Supporting Actor nominees from the same picture; Argo (Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston), Lincoln (Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, David Strathairn), Quartet (Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay), Les Miserables (Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne), and Seven Psychopaths (Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken). You can also probably name Django Unchained, Promised Land, and Cloud Atlas as well.
The last time that Oscar nominated two male actors from the same film was Bugsy (Ben Kingsley, Harvey Keitel).
What’s the last film that you felt had two worthy supporting male performances that would have nominated if you had an Oscar ballot? Read more on Oscar Question of the Day – Double Dipping Men…
Categories: Question of the Day Tags: ben kingsley, Billy Connolly, bryan cranston, Bugsy, Christopher Walken, Cinema of the United States, David Strathairn, Eddie Redmayne, Entertainment/Culture, harvey keitel, james spader, Jessica Chastain, John Goodman, Lincoln, little miss sunshine, Octavia Spencer, Oscar, possible Supporting Actor, Russell Crowe, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, Steven Spielberg, Tom Courtenay, Tommy Lee Jones, Valerie Faris, Woody Harrelson
 Seven Psychopaths is a movie about…well I’m still processing the film and its many interpretations. On the surface it’s just a black comedy about crazy people acting crazy telling crazy stories. But more than that, Martin McDonagh’s film is an exploration of screenwriting and a bristling take down (send up?) of male dominated action comedies. It’s a film that will leave you puzzled, especially after a rough first half hour, but the more you open your mind to will prove revelatory, entirely engrossing and incredibly funny. While there are so many recursive elements to the story one could get lost but my pal Mark Johnson summed up the set up beautifully: Seven Psychopaths is the tale of a struggling screenwriter (Colin Farrell) who gets mixed up with the mob after his delinquent friends (Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken) kidnap an eccentric gangster’s (Woody Harrelson) precious Shih Tzu.
Read more on Seven Psychopaths (***½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Christopher Walken, Colin Farrell, film review, film reviews, Gabourey Sidibe, Martin McDonagh, Michael Pitt, Michael Stuhlbarg, Olga Kurylenko, Sam Rockwell, seven psychopaths, Woody Harrelson, Željko Ivanek
 This year’s race for the Academy Award for Best Actor will have no shortage of worthy nominees; in fact I daresay they could nominate five worthy actors right now. However there are still many more performances to be unveiled, work that will end up in the category, work that will not, disappointing audiences, the Academy and critics. Already I think we have seen a preview of that, though Clay might disagree in Bill Murray’s highly touted work in Hyde Park on Hudson, which after seeing at TIFF I felt would slowly drop out of sight and out of contention. The film’s reception at Telluride was weak, and in Toronto the same thing happened, with a rather shocked audience filing out mumbling about the disappointment they were feeling. I have stated already, Murray is never bad, weak or anything remotely negative, just not strong enough to be an Academy Award nominee. It is merely a good performance and lined up alongside the ones I think have a chance so far, it looks oddly out of place, which of course means nothing. Read more on Lead Actor Overstuffed…
Categories: Article Tags: Anthony Hopkins, Ben Affleck, Bill Murray, Brad Pitt, Burt Lancaster, Cannes, Cannes Best, Christopher Walken, Cinema of the United States, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Director nomination, Dustin Hoffman, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Flight, François Cluzet, Good Will Hunting, Hugh Jackman, Jack Nicholson, jamie foxx, Jean-Louis Trintignant, John Hawkes, Kirk Douglas, Lancaster, legendary director, Liam Neeson, Mads Mikkelsen, Matt Damon, Michael Shannon, Movie Release, Omar Sy, Oscar, Oscars, Peter Fonda, Pilot, powerful actor, President, Promised Land, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Kuklinski, Richard Nixon, robert duvall, Robert Zemeckis, serious actor, the Academy Award, the Oscars, The Polar Express, Toronto, Toronto International Film Festival, United States
 Another potential Oscar player added to the books ladies and gentleman. Stand Up Guys starring Academy Award Winners Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin are getting an Oscar qualifying run in December as the film is set to open wide January 11. The film is directed by Fisher Stevens and produced by Tom Rosenberg, the Oscar-winning producer on Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby (2004).
IMDB lists the film’s synopsis as:
Read more on “Stand Up Guys” with Pacino, Walken, and Arkin Get Qualifying Oscar Run…
Categories: News Tags: American film directors, Ben Affleck, Chicago, Christopher Walken, Cinema of the United States, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Fisher Stevens, Golden Globe, IMDB Inc, Julianna Marguilles, Julianna Margulies, Martin McDonagh, Million Dollar Baby, Oscar, Stand Up Guys, The Good Wife, USD
 If you’re a fan of ‘In Bruges’, then chances are you’ve been looking forward to this for a while now. Martin McDonagh wowed many with his last flick, and now he’s returning to theaters this year with a new film in ‘Seven Psychopaths’, which debuted a Trailer today. Starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, and more, this looks like a fantastically offbeat good time, not to mention being a really clever almost parody of Trailers in and of itself. You can see the Trailer after the jump, but count me in. It debuts at the Toronto Film Festival, and hits theaters in October, which can’t come soon enough for me. Take a gander below:
Read more on Here’s the Trailer for ‘Seven Psychopaths’!…
 The second half of the year is upon us. The race is about to heat up with big Oscar hopefuls coming down the pike. Our John Foote will be in attendance at the Toronto International Film Festival and many films will be unveiling themselves to critics alike. There is a very unclear yet still feasible shape to the race looking from ten thousand feet.
There are internet jitters building for Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. With the trailers released and now the film being pushed up to September, it looks as though we may be in store for a master class in filmmaking. Phoenix also looks to be a lead contender for his first Oscar after delivering in his previous nominated works, Gladiator (2000) and Walk the Line (2005). Phoenix does have tough competition ahead of him including what looks to be a critical darling-type performance coming from John Hawkes in Ben Lewin’s The Sessions. Early word is very positive for the film and the turns by Hawkes along with co-stars Helen Hunt and William H. Macy. Since Hawkes’ initial nomination two years ago for Winter’s Bone, he hasn’t shown any signs of letting up. He was arguably left off last year in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene and will be seen later this year in Julia Dyer’s The Playroom and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. There seems to be a tremendous following and support for him in his current state. Speaking of Spielberg, we’re still awaiting some type of marketing material for his upcoming Lincoln biopic. No poster or trailer has been released with very few stills leaked online. One starts to think if it will even be ready in time.
Taking a look at the next couple of months, the circuit will begin to reveal itself.
Read more on Oscar Circuit: “It’s the time of the season”…
Categories: Article, Editor, Oscar Circuit, Oscar Predictions Tags: Amour, Amy Adams, ang lee, Anna Karenina, Anne Hathaway, Arbitrage, Argo, Ava DuVarney, Ben Affleck, Bill Murray, Bradley Cooper, Brave, bryan cranston, Carey Mulligan, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Walken, Clint Eastwood, Cloud Atlas, Colin Farrell, Daniel Barnz, Daniel Day-Lewis, David O. Russell, Django Unchained, Editor, Elizabeth Olsen, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Flight, Fun-Size, Great Expectations, Halle Berry, Helen Hunt, Hyde Park on Hudson, jamie foxx, Joaquin Phoenix, Joe Wright, John Goodman, John Hawkes, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, judd apatow, Justin Timberlake, kathryn bigelow, Killing Them Softly, Laura Linney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Les Miserables, Liam Neeson, Liberal Arts, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Logan Lerman, Looper, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Martin McDonagh, Michael Haneke, Middle of Nowhere, Moonrise Kingdom, nicole kidman, Not Fade Away, olivia colman, Olivia Williams, Oscar Circuit, oscar predictions, Paul Thomas Anderson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson, Richard Gere, Rise of the Guardians, Roger Michell, Russell Crowe, Rust and Bone, Sam Rockwell, Seth Rogen, seven psychopaths, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Steven Spielberg, the dark knight rises, The Grandmasters, The Guilt Trip, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Impossible, The Man with the Iron Fists, The Master, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Sessions, tom hanks, Trouble with the Curve, Viola Davis, Woody Harrelson, Wreck-It Ralph, Zero Dark Thirty
Awards Circuit Presents: 30 Days of Batman
It’s sort of hard to imagine now, what with The Avengers having demolished seemingly every box office record in existence, but prior to the New Millennium, comic book superhero movies were not the ubiquitous Hollywood staples that they have become today. In fact, prior to Bryan Singer’s X-Men kicking off the entire craze and even for a few years after, studio honchos were rather unsure of how to go about bringing even the most iconic superheroes to the big screen. Of course times are much different now; especially since 2008, when the two watershed films Iron Man and The Dark Knight became the go-to templates for seemingly the entire genre (“dark and aggressive” or “humorous popcorn romp”). While I very much enjoyed both of those films, I now have to concede that they were the ones that really snowballed the superhero genre into their current state of artistic predictability that make me sick of the whole thing now. Read more on Historical Circuit: Batman Returns (**½)…
 CRUISE (****)
Adam Shankman is not much of a movie director. His last film of any note was Hairspray (2007) which used the gimmick of casting John Travolta as a Jewish mom in the role created by gay legend Harvey Fierstein on Broadway. Hairspray (2007) had its moments, Christopher Walken was terrific (as always) and the songs were curiously upbeat and toe tapping but for me there were one too many shots of the chubby (sorry) lead actress dancing with a silly smile on her face, looking like a too happy gremlin, as though she could believe her good luck to be the lead in a movie. The film had its moments, Amanda Bynes was wonderful as the nerdy white girl who falls for a cool black boy, and James Marsden was outstanding as, Corny Collins, the host of the goofy TV show the kids watched. I think where the film goes off the rails is when it becomes overly preachy about Civil Rights, because up to that moment we have been watching a musical comedy and suddenly we veer into another area. Don’t judge a book by its cover, right, be it a chubby girl or by the color of one’s skin. Read more on Rock of Ages (*)…
Oh my, what is this? One of the most anticipated movies of the year seems to be causing a bit of a stir if the early responses are an indication of what’s to come when everyone sees it (and certainly everyone from Awards Circuit will/has)…
That’s right; Ridley Scott’s long awaited sort-of-Alien-prequel-but-not thriller Prometheus is finally upon us! Is it the sci-fi masterpiece that fully lives up to the standard Sir Scott set with Blade Runner and Alien? Well…depends on who you ask. While the majority of critics are leaning positive overall for its visual wizardry and performances, some frustrations have been raised about the film’s script, including our own Mike Ward’s mostly positive take. Frankly, I welcome the debate. Even if it’s as flawed as some of its harshest detractors are saying, I’d rather watch a misfire with huge ambitions than a proficient example of assembly-line filmmaking.
Read more on Weekend Openings (June 8-10)…
Categories: Weekend Openings Tags: Ben Stiller, Best Animated Feature, Best Supporting Actress, Best Visual Effects, Bruce Beresford, Catherine Keener, Chris Rock, christina ricci, Christopher Walken, David Schwimmer, divisive films, Greta Gerwig, Idris Elba, Jane Fonda, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lola Versus, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Martin Short, Mia Farrow, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Oscar hopefuls, Peace Love & Misunderstanding, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, Robert Pattinson, sacha baron cohen, Safety Not Guaranteed, Selma Blair, Uma Thurman, Weekend Openings
 Directed By: Martin McDonagh
Written By: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Olga Kurylenko, Gabourey Sidibe, Kevin Corrigan, Tom Waits, Zeljko Ivanek
Synopsis (Courtesy of IMDB): A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster’s beloved Shih Tzu. Read more on Awards Profile: Seven Psychopaths…
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