Another week has passed, Awards Circuit devotees, and we have not one but two (!!!) brand new Power Hour episodes for your listening pleasure! In the first show, you’ll discover the winners of ACCA 1999 and in the second we round-table critique the hot mess that is Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. Go ahead, press that “play” button…I know you can’t resist. Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 5/12)…
Happy holidays, fans of The Awards Circuit! I hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying the time with friends and family this holiday season. This past week was another busy — although slightly less chaotic than last week — one for us at the site, but we carried on with grace and gusto as always! Starting things off, the African-American Film Critics Associationannounced their winners, where Zero Dark Thirty and Middle of Nowhere both won huge. For the latter film, the momentum it’s built throughout the awards circuit now puts it firmly in contention for a “Best Original Screenplay” slot. Zero Dark Thirty’s Mark Boal, however, is a shoo-in for the category. Other critics groups that unveiled their yearly champions include Houston Film Critics Society, San Francisco Film Critics, Kansas City Film Critics, Florida Film Critics Circle, Chicago Film Critics Association and Dallas Fort-Worth Film Critics. The Golden Satellite Awards also gave a ginormous boost to Silver Linings Playbookwith multiple wins (including “Best Film”), which now could be a very, very major threat if it steals the presumed Globe win away from Les Miserables. Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 12/23)…
Much like the title character, the film ‘Jack Reacher’ gets in, does its job, and gets out. Tom Cruise’s potential new franchise is a decidedly low tech detective story that offers audiences some old school entertainment. It’s hardly original, but I’m pretty sure that’s intentional on the part of Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. They know the kind of movie this is, and in adapting Lee Child’s popular series of books about the title character, they seem to have effectively achieved their goals. Cruise is sufficiently charismatic and carries the movie from an acting standpoint, while McQuarrie plays around with the tone a little more than you’d expect. Paramount seems to be confident in this as a new franchise for Cruise (despite having a review embargo in place until opening day, normally the sign of a film with something to hide), and I think they’ve got a winning formula in place. I can see this flick playing on TV for the next decade, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s never revolutionary and does have its problems, but for pure entertainment this is a solid holiday outing at the movies. If you like action movies starring Cruise, this is another one to check out…
The AC Team comes together this week to try and decipher many question marks about the season. We also celebrate our 25th episode. Thanks for listening all these months. Here’s the 25 more! The agenda for today’s episode is listed below:
Tom Cruise stars as the title character in Jack Reacher, an action film that on the surface appears to steal the best parts of Drive, the Bourne films, and Taken. The most attractive element of Christopher McQuarrie’s (The Usual Suspects) thriller (aside from Rosamund Pike co-starring) might be seeing legendary documentarian Werner Herzog as the villain. Robert Duvall and Richard Jenkins add to a pretty interesting cast, but I have my reservations on the film working after watching this trailer. Jack Reacher opens December 21st. Watch the trailer after the jump.
Besides the recent news about his split from Katie Holmes (which I’m proud to say we’re not interested in covering here at The Awards Circuit), most of the talk in regard to Tom Cruise of late has been his return to the A-list after the terrific box office and reviews for ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’. His supporting turn in ‘Rock of Ages’ was the best thing about a disappointing movie, and now he’s continuing to do the action hero thing by starring in an adaptation of the Lee Child novel ‘One Shot’, which Christopher McQuarrie has adapted and directed. It’s now called ‘Jack Reacher’, with Cruise playing the title character. A trailer has dropped, and after the jump you can check it out. It’s a bit of a tease, but it suggests a potentially entertaining film later on this year. Give it a look below…
