Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman – two acting legends with five Oscars between them – are the latest names to be added to the Oscar ceremony as presenters. One of the last times we saw Jack present at the Oscars was when he famously announced Crash as the Best Picture winner for 2005. Maybe he can pull the same magic for Lincoln? I know, I know. Have a look at the official release after the jump.
Read more on Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman Named as Oscar Presenters…
With the New Year’s hangover slowly wearing off and few new stimulants entering circulation, there’s now ample time to catch up on the overload of awards-contending films, with the nationwide release of Zero Dark Thirty finally completing the best picture category. Expect the box-office to reflect some of the film’s early critical acclaim, especially since its competing new comers, like Gangster Squadand Quartetgarner only mild curiosity in comparison.
Read more on Weekend Openings: 1/11/2013…
Categories: Weekend Openings Tags: Billy Connolly, Chris Colfer, Chris Messina, Christina Hendricks, Dustin Hoffman, emma stone, Eva Longoria, Fairhaven, Gangster Squad, Jason Clarke, Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, kathryn bigelow, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Quartet, Rebel Wilson, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Zero Dark Thirty
 AFI Festival: Shifting from acting shoes to directing shoes, Dustin Hoffman makes his directing debut with Quartet (2012), starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, and Michael Gambon. Quartet is a touching comedy about the lives of retired opera singers, musicians, and the like, living in a retirement home and reuniting with old friends. Their day-to-day lives vary from each others, though holds a comforting similarity that is quite comedic. To save their retirement home from going under, the occupants hold an annual gala, where they display their talents for donations. Due to the arrival of Jean Horton (Maggie Smith), the original quartet is reunited and the idea to perform together is something Jean doesn’t like. In the end, the past proves to be the link to their future of happiness. Read more on Quartet (***)…
Read more on Quartet (***)…
 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
 Sizing Up Series continues with an in-depth look at the Director candidates for this year’s Oscar ceremony. As was the case last year, there are a few things to keep an eye for this particular category. One obviously is that a lot will have to do with which films get nominated for Best Picture at the end of the day. The other is the possibility of a Lone Director nod. It used to be something that happened, but it hasn’t come close of late. Now, with us in the brave new-ish world of anywhere from 5 to 10 nominees, it keeps the idea of the lone director alive, though it’s going to be unlikely for one to wind up breaking through. Not impossible, mind you…but I wouldn’t count on seeing it this year, or too many instances going forward.
Read more on Sizing Up: Best Director…
Categories: Article Tags: analysis, ang lee, Ben Affleck, Ben Lewin, Best Director, Christopher Nolan, David O. Russell, Director, Drew Goddard, Dustin Hoffman, Gus Van Sant, Jonathan Dayton, Juan Antonio, kathryn bigelow, Martin McDonagh, Michael Haneke, Mike Newell, Noah Baumbach, Oscar hopefuls, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Lorenz, Roger Michell, Sacha Gervasi, Sizing Up series, Stephen Chbosky, Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malick, Tom Hooper
 So what now? With screenings finished, TIFF closed, and New York’s Film Festival looming, how will TIFF impact the Oscar race? Believe it or not it has already begun; in fact it was happening as TIFF was playing out. You could hear the chatter in the theaters, press rooms, and hallways as critics talked with various producers, studio PR folk, or those in the know about how the Oscar race was changing. One thing I heard over and over is that all eyes are on three films for the year end, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, the musical Les Miserables, and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. The feeling seems to be until those films are screened and reaction begins to trickle out, one cannot really, truly predict the race, though as we all know, you cannot do that anyway. A conversation which took place behind me was between two executives who had seen a good portion of the footage from Les Miserables, and one of them stated, “it’s unlike any musical ever made, it captures the emotion of the play.” That is good news, and then Thursday night and Friday morning the talk was the Lincoln trailer, which impressed nearly everyone I heard or talked too, in particular the performance of two time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis. Read more on TIFF and the Aftermath…
Categories: Article Tags: American film directors, Amour, Bill Murray, Bradley Cooper, Cinema of the United States, Daniel Day-Lewis, David O. Russell, Dustin Hoffman, Emmanuelle Rivera, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jennifer Lawrence, Joaquin Phoenix, John Hawkes, Keira Knightley, Les Miserables and Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, Maggie Smith, Marion Cotillard, Michael Shannon, Oscar, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Quartet, Robert De Niro, screenplay, Supporting Actress, Tagged Image File Format, the Academy Award, The Master, Toronto International Film Festival
 Love him or hate him, you have got to give the man credit. How many times has Harvey Weinstein been down, how many times has he been counted out of the film game and yet here he is at TIFF with several films that are going to be heard come Oscar time. Not one, not two, but more. Did anyone ever think after he and brother Bob left Disney, hell, were booted out, that they would rise like a phoenix to become more powerful, more interesting than they were before?? Beyond The Master and The Silver Lining Playbook, they have Django Unchained coming in December, all three to be heard from in the Oscar race, and now with the right push (which it will get) and the right sort of attention from the the Academy, which Harvey will assure it gets, we have Quartet, Dustin Hoffman’s directing debut. In his book, Dirty Little Pictures, writing Peter Biskind painted a controversial portrait of Weinstein, arrogant, bombastic, abusive, and entitled, yet brilliant at getting a film seen by the right people or taking the risk of making a film for all the right reasons. What he and his brother Bob have done with The Weinstein Company is nothing short of a miracle, but they have done it and in a very short time. They make the movies exciting, and as long as they are with us, we know that there will be something coming from them worth seeing. Read more on TIFF: Quartet (****)…
 The great and the good films of the eighties were often box office failures, re-discovered within a few years by audiences and critics on video, as home entertainment brought a whole new world to audiences and the movies. Suddenly audiences could watch the films at home, on their TV by renting a video, which became a huge success, and video rental stores popped up all over North America. Within a year of release a film was on video, sometimes longer, and there were holdouts from directors and studios who believed films should be seen on the big screen, though eventually they gave in to the new toy that would help save the business. Suddenly it was possible for a film that initially failed to be found within a year and celebrated for the work of art it was, rather than waiting years, which had been the case for Citizen Kane (1941) and The Wizard of Oz (1939). An example might be Blow Out (1981), celebrated by critics, but audiences stayed away in droves, only to find the film on video, making it something of a cult classic. The new medium would allow audiences of the next generation and beyond to be the best educated film audience in history, simply because of the sheer availability of the films. I remember coming home for the weekend from college, and Dad having been among the first in our area to buy a VCR would stop at the video store and I would rent ten movies. It was like John’s wet dream, movies at my fingertips. Suddenly I could see films I had wanted to see again, films I had not seen, and foreign language work that had not made it to the theaters in my area. It was incredible. Read more on Best of the Decades: 1980s…
Categories: Article Tags: Amadeus, Best of the Decades, Blow Out, Christian Bale, Debra Winger, Diane Keaton, Dustin Hoffman, E.T; The Extraterrestrial, Empire of the Sun, F. Murray Abraham, George Lucas, Hannah and Her Sisters, Henry Thomas, Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange, Martin Scorsese, Michael Caine, Miloš Forman, Raging Bull, Reds, Robert DeNiro, Shirley MacLaine, Star Wars, Steven Spielberg, Terms of Endearment, Tom Hulce, Tootsie, Warren Beatty, Woody Allen
 Yes I was horrified when Roberto Benigni won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Life is Beautiful (1998), but the Screen Actors Guild had prepared me for the fact it might happen when they awarded him their Best Actor prize a few weeks earlier. There had been such a groundswell of love for the comedy featuring the little Italian clown that by the time Oscar night rolled around, it seemed he was the odds on favorite for the award. It did not matter that Edward Norton in American History X (1998), Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters (1998), Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan (1998) or Nick Nolte in Affliction (1998) had given stronger performances, this was the year of the little Italian and he stomped the competition in one of OScar’s most bizarre Best Actor choices. I remember equal amazement when Adrien Brody took Best Actor for The Pianist (2002) over Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York (2002) and Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt (2002).
Most surprising though? Neither of those. Read more on Oscar Shocks: Best Actor…
Sean Penn in “This Must Be the Place”
Is there any question left that Sean Penn is the finest actor of his generation? Can there be any further doubt that Penn stands alongside Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, early Al Pacino and early Robert de Niro as one of the screens greatest actors? Read more on Why is Nobody Talking About Sean Penn?…
Categories: Article Tags: Clint Eastwood, Directors Guild of America, Dustin Hoffman, Gus Van Sant, I Am Sam, In the Valley of Elah, Into the Wild, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, mystic river, Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Allen
Dustin Lee Hoffman is one of the finest actors of all time and is a living legend of cinema. He was born on August 8th, 1937 in Los Angeles, California, of Jewish decent from Ukrainian and Romanian immigrants. Hoffman began his acting career working alongside Gene Hackman at the Pasadena Playhouse, and the pair soon left for New York City, acquiring small roles in television shows, commercials, and Off-Broadway productions. In the early 60s, he attended the Actors Studio and studied method acting. As a result, his success on stage began to grow, which then led to bigger roles in television shows like Naked City, as well as landing him his first film, The Tiger Makes Out (1967). Later that same year, Dustin Hoffman would receive the role of a lifetime, and break out in a big, big way.
Read more on Circuit 3: Dustin Hoffman…
 When Tom Cruise sits down to speak with you he gives you his full attention, his eyes locked with yours, his smile easy and often, the welcoming handshake firm and strong. You feel that the two of you are alone in the world at that moment; he has that effect when he comes into the room and gives you that attention. He is at once down to earth, and yet I was aware I was speaking one of the biggest stars in movie history. I liked Cruise at once, and did not listen to the often circulated rumors about his private life, which frankly, are not any of my business, nor do they have anything to do with what I am writing about! He asked me if I had children and we chatted about my family briefly, discussed his career and performances, and at the time, 1998, he indicated that something was coming that was going to change how people perceived him. Later next year I discovered of course he had been talking about Magnolia (1999) and he was right, it certainly did alter some of the perceived beliefs about Cruise. He cared about being an actor; he cares deeply about his craft and is striving always to be a better actor, but is aware of a fan base that likes him in certain films. Admittedly, he knows he must be both actor and movie star. Read more on Tom Cruise — Ten Best Performances…
Categories: Article Tags: Born on the Fourth of July, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, Martin Scorsese, Minority Report, Paul Newman, Rain Man, Rock of Ages, Steven Spielberg, The Color of Money
 Directed by: Dustin Hoffman
Written by: Ronald Harwood (Play & Screenplay)
Cast: Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay, Sheridan Smith
Synopsis (Courtesy of IMDB): Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred are in a home for retired opera singers. Every year, on October 10, there is a concert to celebrate Verdi’s birthday and they take part. Jean, who used to be married to Reggie, arrives at the home and disrupts their equilibrium. She still acts like a diva, but she refuses to sing. Still, the show must go on… and it does.
Read more on Awards Profile: Quartet…
 From Kramer vs. Kramer conquering the Oscars at the peak of second-wave feminism to Wag the Dog hitting theaters at around the time then-President Clinton ordered a military strike on suspected terrorist sites in the midst of his own notorious sex scandal, many Dustin Hoffman-headlined films take on a strange cultural topicality. In 1995, Wolfgang Petersen’s bio-thriller Outbreak happened to hit theaters at a time when Ebola was killing hundreds of people in Central Africa, kicking off a number of debates in America over what the CDC really would do if a disease like that hit the homeland.
It had quite the impact back then, and even today the film is referenced when discussing the latest scare disease or epidemic feared to be the next Black Death. Such a standard-setter for the subject of epidemiological paranoia…and I don’t particularly care for it.
The main problem with Outbreak stems from a type of mindset that plagued (no pun intended) 90’s Hollywood studios. For some reason, there was distrust in seemingly every serious-minded American movie with a budget of over $50 million dollars to allow their own conceits to sell themselves. Especially obvious in the glut of John Grisham adaptations that flooded that decade, several star-studded, contemporary, ostensibly cerebral thrillers were often turgid affairs that kept eschewing a juicy premise for the sake of cheap sentiment. Read more on Historical Circuit: Outbreak (**)…
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