 August: Osage County is one of the most anticipated films of the Oscar season given it’s ensemble cast led by Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts and award winning pedigree (it won the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize). Today on GMA, the Weinstein Company debuted the trailer giving everyone the first look at the material since the test screening held in March. The trailer, while establishing all of the main players, is a more subtle affair, choosing to not play up the acidic wit of Lett’s writing or the really big confrontations, although you do get a glimpse of the dinner scene. Check it out after the jump!
Read more on Watch the first trailer for Weinstein Oscar contender ‘August: Osage County’…
Categories: News, Trailer Tags: Abagail Breslin, August: Osage County, benedict cumberbatch, Chris Cooper, Dermont Mulroney, Ewan McGregor, John Wells, Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Meryl Streep, Misty Upham, news, Oscar hopeful, Sam Shepard, the weinstein company, Tracy Letts, trailer
The first poster has dropped for The Weinstein Company’s latest Oscar hopeful, August: Osage County. The film is directed by John Wells (The Company Men), and boasts an all-star cast that includes Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard, and Margo Martindale (love!). You can read Terence’s Awards Profile for the film here, and have a look at the full poster after the jump. August: Osage County is set for a November 8 release date.
Read more on Misery Loves Family: First ‘August: Osage County’ Poster…
Categories: Poster Tags: Abigail Breslin, August: Osage County, August: Osage County poster, benedict cumberbatch, Chris Cooper, Dermot Mulroney, Ewan McGregor, John Wells, Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Meryl Streep, Sam Shepard, the weinstein company
 Harvey must have known that we were doing an Awards Profile about his crown jewel August: Osage County yesterday so he went and had a test screening last night! The joys of these here interwebs means that reactions were instantaneous and we’ve rounded up some of the comments. Did the movie excel or fail? Check out the opinions after the jump! Read more on First reactions to ‘August: Osage County’ arrive!…
Categories: Article Tags: Abagail Breslin, August: Osage County, benedict cumberbatch, Chris Cooper, Dermont Mulroney, Ewan McGregor, John Wells, Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Meryl Streep, Misty Upham, news, Oscar hopeful, Sam Shepard, secret screening, the weinstein company, Tracy Letts
Directed By: John Wells
Written By: Tracy Letts
Cast: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Margo Martindale, Sam Shepard, Chris Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Juliette Lewis, Abagail Breslin, Dermont Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Misty Upham, Newell Alexander
Synopsis: The Weston family overcomes certain differences when their alcoholic patriarch goes missing. Read more on Awards Profile: August: Osage County…
Categories: Award Profile Tags: Abagail Breslin, August: Osage County, Awards Profile, benedict cumberbatch, Chris Cooper, Dermont Mulroney, Ewan McGregor, John Wells, Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Meryl Streep, Misty Upham, Sam Shepard, the weinstein company, Tracy Letts
 It’s March! We get started right away and over the past few weeks after the Oscar ceremony, I took some brief stabs at some categories. Those have been tinkered with and will be reflected on the actual Oscar Prediction pages in the next couple of days. The full listing of predicted nominees is on the sidebar with the list of contenders on the Oscar Prediction pages for Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, and Animated Feature.
Obviously categories like Original Song are merely speculation because we don’t know what film will have an eligible song attached. Disney and Pixar films are good for a song or two so that’s always a good place to start. Read more on Oscar Circuit – 2014 Films and Minority Contenders…
Categories: Article, Editor, Oscar Circuit Tags: 2014 Oscar Predictions, A Separation, Academy Awards, Adepero Oduye, Angela Bassett, Antonio Banderas, August: Osage County, Berenice Bejo, Black Nativity, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Captain Phillips, Chavez, Christian Bale, Ewan McGregor, forest whitaker, Fruitvale, Gwyneth Paltrow, Idris Elba, jennifer hudson, Julia Roberts, Kasi Lemmons, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Michael Fassbender, Michael Pena, naomi watts, nicole kidman, Octavia Spencer, Oprah Winfrey, Out of the Furnace, Penelope Cruz, Ridley Scott, Rosario Dawson, Saving Mr. Banks, Steve McQueen, Tahar Rahim, The Counselor, The Grandmaster, The Past, the weinstein company, The Wolf of Wall Street, tom hanks, Twelve Years A Slave, Walt Disney, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana
 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
 If Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible doesn’t work out for Ewan McGregor, the Weinstein Company announced today that McGregor will be joining Academy Award Winners Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in the upcoming adaptation of August: Osage County. The film is directed by John Wells and is adapted by Tracy Letts who wrote the play as well.
Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Dermot Mulroney, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard, and Margo Martindale are also set to co-star. Read more on Ewan McGregor joins Meryl Streep & Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County”…
Categories: News Tags: August: Osage County, benedict cumberbatch, Chris Cooper, Culture of New York City, Dermot Mulroney, Entertainment/Culture, Ewan McGregor, John Wells, Juan Antonio Bayona, Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Osage County, Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Sam Shepard, The Weinstein Company Holdings LLC, Tracy Letts, Winners Meryl Streep
 Taking a break from all this Bat-talk. Trekking through the year 2000 was a daunting task. There were many films I hadn’t seen in years, while others I’ve never feasted my eyes on before. Naturally this brings on a dilemma. A 15-year-old Clayton watching movies is very different from a now, 28-year-old Clayton. I like to think there is a maturity there that lacked before. I realized that after re-watching Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In 2000, I found the film immensely overrated and couldn’t understand what people were so mesmerized by. Naturally, I’ve never officially appreciated it or thought it to be among Ang Lee’s best. Enter last weekend. Talk about being fantastic a second-time around, the film was nearly hypnotic in its style and approach. Do I consider it the best of the year? Not really. One of the best? Definitely so.
With our ACCA 2000 closing up on Friday, and winners being announced on Sunday’s podcast, I have to let you in on my favorites of the new millennium. Please include yours in the comment section and let’s see what commonalities or differences we have. Bold denotes winner. Enjoy after the jump: Read more on Davis Awards 2000 Announced!…
Categories: Article, Community, Editor Tags: Almost Famous, American Psycho, Awards Circuit Community Awards, Benicio Del Toro, Billy Crudup, Cast Away, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Christian Bale, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Darren Aronofsky, Davis Awards, Davis Awards 2000, Ellen Burstyn, Frances McDormand, Gladiator, Jennifer Connelly, Joaquin Phoenix, Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson, Laura Linney, michelle yeoh, Requiem for a Dream, Ridley Scott, Robert Zemeckis, Russell Crowe, Scary Movie, Steven Soderbergh, tom hanks, Traffic, Ziyi Zhang
 Presented as a live-action family film, Mirror Mirror is the first of two very different, but equally high profile 2012 adaptations of the iconic tale of a princess named Snow White and her quest in finding her handsome Prince Charming. Aiding in that pursuit, are seven dwarves who work with Snow White in helping her vanquish an evil queen and restore a wondrous kingdom to its rightful heir. It is indeed a tale that has been told, interpreted, and reinvented countless times, but in all honesty, “Snow White” seems a story well suited for the dazzling and innovative director Tarsem Singh.
Singh’s approach to the story, Mirror Mirror features a fair amount of alterations made to the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale, but essentially this is a simple take on the classic tale; one which seems to have an eye towards a possible franchise moving forward. The evil queen (Julia Roberts) is “raising” her orphaned step-daughter, the beautiful and kind-hearted Snow White (Lily Collins), who is banished to her bedroom. Snow White’s father left her the gift of a dagger and promised to return as he set off to battle, but he never came home and his wife, the queen, controls his and his daughter’s kingdom. The opulent palace they call home is bathed in a stunning colorful palette with its architecture and is an extraordinary backdrop to the queen’s expensive and lavish parties and galas. Just outside the queen’s palatial estate however, the neighboring towns are bleak, dark, and destitute.
Read more on Mirror Mirror (**½)…
 Michael Ward’s Review (**)
Two of the biggest superstars on the planet, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, join together for the romantic comedy, Larry Crowne, and offer a break from the more conventional bang-bang, shoot-em-up entertainment audiences have grown accustomed to seeing in the typical Summer Movie Season. Hanks is front and center with this project, serving as the film’s star, co-producer, co-writer (with Nia Vardalos), and director.
As the front-end manager at a corporate retail giant known as U-Mart, Larry Crowne (Hanks) has a simple and efficient life. A couple of years removed from divorce, Larry is quite popular with his staff and knows every nook and cranny of U-Mart’s cavernous retail store. He is anything but ordinary in this environment and loves coming to work each and every day. Unfortunately, U-Mart has a new ownership team running things and there is now a new mandate in place that all managers, both existing and those in training, must be college educated. Despite serving 20 years in the Navy as a chef, and several more years working up the ladder with U-Mart, he is unceremoniously fired having never attended a moment of college in his 50+ year life. The reasons given are obtuse and maddeningly generic, leaving Larry with no understanding as to what he has done to deserve this treatment. Read more on Larry Crowne (Multiple Reviews)…
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