John Joseph ”Jack” Nicholson was born on April 22, 1937 in New Jersey. Upon moving to Hollywood, Nicholson worked running errands for William Hanna and Jack Barbera, the famous animation giants, at their MGM studios. Wanting to pursue a career in acting, he declined an offer to work for them as an animation artist. His first film, The Cry Baby Killer (1958), was a low budget film produced by Roger Corman in which Nicholson played the titular character. Corman would go on to direct Nicholson in a few more films, including his first memorable performance in Little Shop of Horrors (1960).
Read more on Circuit 3: Jack Nicholson…
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…
Warner Brothers is courting Jack Nicholson for their upcoming courtroom dramedy, The Judge, in which they hope the 3-time Academy Award winner will play the alienated and Alzheimer’s-stricken father of a lawyer played by Robert Downey Jr. In the film, Nicholson’s character is a judge who is the prime suspect in the murder of his wife, while his son seeks out the truth and tries to reconnect with a family he barely knows.
Read more on Casting News for Jack Nicholson, Kit Harington, and Brandon T. Jackson…
 When I see movie trailers for the first time, I busy myself with thinking about whether it’s meant to showcase the actors, director or plot. Recently, when I see a trailer for an Adam Sandler movie, the only thing I can do is groan in disgust. This once great comedian made very funny films, and with a sensational serious side, displayed the potential to be an Oscar nominee. However, it seems he’s given up on making quality movies and only cares about making money. Read more on Will The Real Adam Sandler Please Stand Up?…
Categories: Article Tags: Anger Management, Article, Click, Comedy, Drama, Funny People, golden globes, Grown Ups, Jack Nicholson, James L. Brooks, Oscars, Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch-Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, Spanglish
‘Moonrise Kingdom’ is hitting Blu-Ray shelves in time for Oscar…
Since film aficionados are always looking for something to watch, we decided to round up some Blu-ray and DVD releases for you to seek out. Some of these titles are already out, some will be out soon – the one thing that can be said for sure is that this is quite the eclectic bunch. Read more on The Blu Circuit…
Categories: Article, Blu-Ray/DVD Tags: Blu-ray Disc, Blu-Ray/DVD, Chernobyl Diaries, Danny DeVito, DVD, Edward Burns, Entertainment/Culture, Hoffa, Home video, Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Anniston, Joe Dante, John Cusack, josh lucas, Moonrise Kingdom, movies, People Like Us, Rock of Ages, Sound of My Voice, The Blu Circuit, The Brothers McMullen, The Raven, tom cruise
 OK, I am the studio head and have access to two hundred million dollars. I have been asked to remake ten classics made before 1970, and attach actors to the projects to speed up the casting process. In some cases, I see more than one actor or actress in a role, and I say that. Here are the ten films I choose to remake along with the casting hopefuls. Each film can cost no more than twenty million dollars so much will be said to the actors about being involved in something very special.
Read more on Remaking Cinema – Before 1970…
Categories: Article Tags: Ben Foster, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Cinema of the United States, Denzel Washington, Film, George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Connelly, Jessica Lange, Julia Roberts, Leonardo di Caprio, Meryl Streep, Remaking Cinema, Sean Penn, Series, Terence Howard
 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
 ANNA KARENINA (**)
In 1977 Sidney Lumet gave audiences his film version of the superb, award-winning stage play Equus (1977) about a boy who blinds six horses with a hoof pick. Superbly staged with actors wearing massive horse head crowns that towered over the actors, their height increased by the “hooves” they stood on, the effect was blindingly theatrical and sensational. Surrealistic, expressionistic, and somehow mythological all at once, the play explored man’s relationship to God, to horses, to worship and to one another. On film of course they made the decision to use real horses, and opened the play up to the world, with busy streets and grassy meadows visible for all to see. It was exactly the wrong thing to do. Read more on TIFF: Wright Falters while Room 237 doesn’t “Shine”…
Categories: Article Tags: Anna Karenina, Cinema of the United States, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Jack Nicholson, Joe Wright, Jude Law, Keira Knightley, Sidney Lumet, The Shining, TIFF, TIFF 2012, Toronto Film Festival
 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
Joaquin Phoenix in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master”
Oscar Predictions, how I love thee yet how I hate thee. As I revealed the newest set of predictions this time around and took a look at the next five months, I haven’t dived into serious awards analysis in a while. A lot of the reason was I felt it was too early and we didn’t know enough. I had an epiphany recently however; we never know what the Oscars are thinking. Even after critics’ awards drop, Golden Globes, SAG, Critics Choice Awards are televised; all mean nothing at the end of the day. Oscar will always do what she wants to do, even when everyone is telling her the obvious choices.
Granted, I am one of the few that thinks they can actually pick some great choices among their winners. I was and still am in the camp that Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist was the best film of last year. I couldn’t have chosen a better film. Does that mean everything that accompanied The Artist was the best? Absolutely not. What Oscar often lacks are edgy, loud, or mainstream choices. Could they have found room for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive or for its leading man Ryan Gosling? How about Steve McQueen’s Shame with the best leading male performance of the year, Michael Fassbender? Like I said, they’re not perfect. And here’s a look into the future…they never will be.
I am a firm believer that in ten, fifteen years time, we may have an Academy that embraces films like The Dark Knight or performances like Tang Wei in Lust, Caution. It’s not THAT time yet. Read more on Too Many Actors, Too Little Spaces – A Look at Best Actor…
Categories: Article, Editor Tags: Best Actor, Brad Pitt, Cinema of the United States, Clint Eastwood, Entertainment/Culture, Films, Hugh Jackman, Jack Nicholson, Joaquin Phoenix, John Hawkes, kevin bacon, Killing Them Softly, Leonardo DiCaprio, Les Miserables, Martin Freeman, Martin Scorsese, Million Dollar Baby, Paul Thomas Anderson, Peter Weir, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling, The Master, The Sessions
 Though he will not appear – or even be mentioned, for that matter – in The Dark Knight Rises, no discussion of the film or its eponymous character can be reasonably made without his arch nemesis, The Joker. He is arguably the most famous comic book villain in history and has been featured in just about every media translation of Batman’s stories. As has been brought up often in their conflicts together, it could very well be argued that the two are inseparable forces that have come to define one another in their long history together.
For a character that has become a staple of the franchise, The Joker was not originally conceived as such a longstanding addition to Batman’s rogue’s gallery. Introduced in Batman #1 in 1940, the initial plan was to kill him off after his second appearance until a last-minute plea from Editor Whitney Ellsworth caused a hastily-drawn panel showing the villain surviving his stab wound, tormenting the Caped Crusader ever since, and the story of who actually created an initially brief antagonist became a lot more disputed. Prolific comic book artist Jerry Robinson went to his grave insisting that he was the man who created The Joker, but Bob Kane tells a different story: Read more on Understanding the Character: The Joker…
Categories: Article Tags: batman, Batman: The Animated Series, Best Supporting Actor, Caesar Romero, Christopher Nolan, Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, The Dark Knight, the dark knight rises, The Joker, Understanding the Character Series
 30 Days of Batman continues…
I’ve revitalized my review from 2008 of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight with a hybrid, truly analyzing the film with hindsight and perspective:
Director Christopher Nolan has created the newly invented and ultimately prestigious, The Dark Knight, the sequel to his revolutionary Batman Begins. Nolan has completely raised the bar and set the standards high for him and any comic book film that will ever be adapted. Nolan also created one of his darkest pictures to date, definitely his strongest so far from his already impressive film credits which includes Memento and The Prestige. Read more on Historical Circuit: The Dark Knight (***½)…
Categories: Historical Circuit Tags: batman, Batman Begins, Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan, Heath Ledger, Historical Circuit, Jack Nicholson, Jonathan Nolan, Katie Holmes, Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Dark Knight
“30 Days of Batman” Continues….
Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), remains one of my favorite superhero films to hit the big screen. Showcasing the many talents of director Tim Burton, when he was still innovative and fresh, while exhibiting two outstanding performances from Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Being born in the mid-1980′s, I (and perhaps even YOU, the reader), had no idea the ordeal the film had gone through to make it to the big screen. Read more on Historical Circuit: Batman (1989)…
 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
 Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay to the Jack Clayton directed film The Great Gatsby (1974), a banner year for cinema with some of the greatest films ever made. For those who hail 1939 as the greatest year in film history, I suggest they look hard at 1974 which is infinitely stronger. All in ’74 were The Godfather Part II, Chinatown, Lenny, The Conversation, Young Frankenstein, A Woman Under the Influence, Badlands, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Phantom of the Paradise were just some of the American films released in that single, miraculous, year. One of the most anticipated films of the year, and subsequent failure was the film adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby (1974) with Robert Redford as Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy. Redford was at the zenith of his career, a major box office star after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973) and respected as an actor in films such as Jeremiah Johnson (1973) and Oscar nominated for The Sting (1973). Farrow was less known but had enjoyed both box office and critical acclaim in Rosemary’s Baby (1968). In many circles she was better known as Frank Sinatra’s wife. Many felt she lacked the acting chops to play the role believing Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton or Ali McGraw to be better choices. Read more on Re-visiting Gatsby (1974) Brings High Hopes Luhrmann’s adaptation…
Read more on Re-visiting Gatsby (1974) Brings High Hopes Luhrmann’s adaptation…
 Over the weekend Jack Nicholson turned 75 years old, and besides just wishing him a happy birthday (and many more), I wanted to be able to pay tribute to him in some small way, and decided to do that by citing his best performances and also to basically have a space for you all to talk about your favorite works of his. Few actors have been honored during their career as much as Jack has (3 Oscars, 7 Golden Globes, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg), but even so, there are still plenty of his performances that have flown under the radar. I’ll be citing one or two below, but I hope everyone recognizes that Nicholson can do much more than just simply play “Jack Nicholson”. I won’t be ignorant and claim that he never falls back on his comfort zone like that, but he’s capable of much more than I think he’s currently given credit for, so I’m going to give him a late birthday present and rectify that a bit. I was going to just do a countdown of his 10 best performances (in my humble opinion, of course), but since he’s 75 I thought I’d do an even dozen instead (plus 7 and 5 added together equals 12, so there’s that as well). As always, I’ll expect your lists to follow in the comments section, plus some healthy debate of course, but for now let’s dive into some of the best work of Jack Nicholson’s!
Read more on Jack Nicholson is 75 years old…What are your favorite Jack roles?…
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