Last week, right before the opening of the new film What Maisie Knew, I was invited to participate in a series of roundtable interviews with some of the talent involved in the movie. The big gets were obviously a few moments with Awards Circuit favorite Julianne Moore and the up and coming heartthrob Alexander Skarsgard, though also on hand were actresses Onata Aprile and Joanna Vanderham as well as the directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel. Obviously, having to share time with other journalists isn’t ideal, as you’re hoping to get in maybe one or two questions at max in the same time allotted for one on one chats, but you just have to make do. Below you’ll find the bit that I got to take part in, notably with Moore and Skarsgard.
There’s no two ways about it…What Maisie Knew is an often depressing film. Some of that certainly has to do with the source material, an adaptation of the Henry James novel of the same name, but the team of directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, doing something very different from their last film, along with scribes Carroll Cartwright and Nancy Doyne definitely aren’t shying away from the tough nature. Read more on What Maisie Knew (***)…
Where the romantic comedy A Case of You, starring Justin Long and Evan Rachel Wood, succeeds is ultimately where it missteps. Directed Kat Coiro assembles a terrific cast including the underutilized Sam Rockwell and extremely memorable Peter Dinklage, however, the screenplay that is co-written by Long along with brother Christian and Keir O’Donnell doesn’t have a true sense of identity. Tells the story of a young man who thinks he’s met the girl of his dreams and attempts to court her by all interests and statuses from her Facebook page.
All of you have chimed in with the Year 1999 with the Awards Circuit Community Awards. Nominations were announced last Sunday and the final ballots are now open for you to vote. David Fincher’s cult-classic Fight Club leads the nominations with twelve with Sam Mendes’ American Beauty closely behind it with eleven. The beautiful and talented Julianne Moore is double-nominated for her performances in Neil Jordan’s The End of the Affair and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. She is the second person in ACCA history to be double nominated in two separate years. The first was Kate Winslet.
Other record setting includes Buena Vista Social Club that becomes the first film to be nominated for Documentary and Foreign Language Film. Thomas Newman is the second composer to be double-nominated in the same category. Michael Clarke Duncan is the second actor to be nominated by the community posthumously for The Green Mile. Heath Ledger is the first in his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight and it was also in Supporting.
This weekend, look for the Davis Award (Editor’s) choices for the Year 1999 as well as the collective awards of the Awards Circuit staff called, “The Circuit Awards.”
You remember way back when in 2002 when Femme Fatale filmmaker Brian De Palma cut a trailer with the entire film in it? But it was so stylish and super fast that everyone loved it? Well if you did something similar, the results were less stylistic and just all around underwhelming you’d have the trailer for the Kimberly Peirce directed Carrie remake. Starring Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz, Carrie centers around a sheltered high school girl (Moretz) who unleashes her newly developed telekinetic powers after she is pushed too far by her peers. Check out the trailer after the jump! Read more on New ‘Carrie’ trailer lets you see the entire movie for free!…
Last week we saw the poster for The English Teacher, starring Julianne Moore. Today, we have the trailer. Moore stars as a teacher who falls for one of her former students in Craig Zisk’s comedy. The film also stars Nathan Lane, Greg Kinnear, and Lily Collins, and opens on May 17. Have a look at the trailer after the jump.
We all love and root for Julianne Moore to finally win her inevitable Oscar, but no one has supported her chances for The English Teacher anywhere near as much as our very own editor, Clayton Davis. For the last few years he has anxiously awaited the release of this film, and now, finally, on May 17 it will open in theaters. Before that, it will be On Demand on April 16 and premiere in theaters at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26. While this might not end up being the vehicle to get Ms. Moore her first Oscar, there should be a shout out to Clayton in her speech for his support when she finally does win. Have a look at the poster for The English Teacher - which also stars Greg Kinnear and Nathan Lane – after the jump.
The producers of The Ring bring you a new psychological thriller from directors Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein titled 6 Souls. The films stars Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. They are releasing the film On Demand on March 1st before it gets a theatrical release on April 5th. You can watch the trailer on iTunes here, and have a look at the full poster and a synopsis for the film after the jump.
“I am a star. I’m a star, I’m a star, I’m a star. I am a big, bright, shining star. That’s right.”
With this ending pep talk, Dirk Diggler reclaims his rightful place in the limelight as Paul Thomas Anderson burgeons onto the scene as a formidable filmmaking talent. Since Boogie Nightstook critics and viewers by surprise and effectively cemented itself as his breakout film, Anderson has trickled out a handful of films, all of which he’s written and directed. A self-taught student of the art, he’s come into his own as a modern American auteur in the vein of Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles before him. Taking pride in generating a truly original narrative (all of his six films are based on his original screenplays with the exception of the loose adaptation that drives There Will Be Blood), Anderson is of the lesser-populated writer-director breed in the species of film-helmers in Hollywood. Read more on Writer’s Block: Paul Thomas Anderson…
When it comes to fashion we all have different tastes. But sometimes we all find ourselves agreeing on one thing, the celebrities who really messed up on the red carpet. The popular trend at the Screen Actors Guild awards was bold colors and simplicity. The other popular trend that didn’t work too well on the red carpet was prints, ruffles, black and mesh fabric. Let’s take a look at who made the list of Worst Dressed at the SAG awards. Read more on Screen Actors Guild Awards: Worst Dressed…
Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes an incredibly strong directorial debut with Don Jon’s Addiction, an outstanding take on romantic comedies. Writing and directing as well as taking the lead role, Gordon-Levitt nails each part of the equation, making for easily my favorite film of the Sundance Film Festival so far. JGL is great as the title character, but Scarlett Johansson is really terrific too, while Tony Danza steals every single scene that he’s in and Julianne Moore is her reliable self. This tale of a modern-day Don Juan dealing with porn addiction and female objectification is peddling not just sex, but a message as well. There’s plenty of nudity and barely covered up shots of porn too, but this never becomes exploitation and actually has more in common with ‘Shame’ than you’d initially expect. Funny and warmhearted, the flick should be a hit when it gets its inevitable 2013 release, though it might need to undergo some trims to avoid an NC-17 rating. Regardless, this is a great movie and not only my favorite of Sundance so far, but my favorite of the year now.
The lovely and talented Julianne Moore turned 52 this December 3rd. Born in 1960 as Julie Ann Smith, Moore got her big break after winning a Daytime Emmy Award in 1988 for her performance in the soap opera As the World Turns. In the early 90s, she received several supporting roles in films, including The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), Benny and Joon (1993), and most notably in Robert Altman’s Short Cuts (1993).
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:
Coming off their NY Comic-Con panel, the team behind the Carrie remake have released a teaser trailer for the film which is set to arrive in theaters next March. There isn’t much in the trailer (it’s the definition of teaser) but it does show off some of the destruction of the town and a brief glimpse at Chloë Grace Moretz covered in blood. Interesting that they have a lot of voice over, will this film hew closer to the Stephen King novel, which was more epistolary than the De Palma film? We’ll have to wait and see, but for now check out the trailer after the jump!
At the Emmy’s, some stars shined and some stars dissapointed on the red carpet. I always picture in my mind, these stars have a handful of dresses at their disposal to choose from and I’m sure if I was a star, I’d be like a kid in a candy shop picking out the best dress that made me look fabulous, not that it would be a hard task. But, in the end, I’m not one who has ever been shy about judging the stars on what they choose to wear, so here are the ladies who made my Top 10 Best Dressed list.
The Emmy Awards are tonight! Many of the staff members will be LIVE blogging here on the site. If you’re watching, come join us for the party. Listed below are my last minute Emmy Predictions:
The Primetime Emmy Awards are just around the corner and while Joseph and I had fun talking to each other during our Emmy Chatter series, we’re tired of each other’s voices and want to hear from you the readers! So join us and the rest of the staff on Sunday at 7:00/4:00 pm as we live blog the Primetime Emmy Awards, covering everything from red carpet snafus to the awards as they are handed out live. The full list of nominees is available here and you can peep Joseph and I’s predictions after the jump. See you Sunday!
TWICE BORN (***)…This Italian-Spanish co-production began as a time filler for me, in between screenings with little else to do, I thought a Penelope Cruz would be interesting. Turns out it was much more than merely interesting, the picture was a powerful study of a terrible time in recent history. Set against the backdrop of the Balkan Wars in the early 90′s, the film moves easily between 1984 shortly before the Winter Olympics in 1984 and present day. Returning to Bosnia to see a series of photographs taken by her then boyfriend Diego (Emile Hirsch), brings back a flood of memories to Gemma, who believes she knows the story about her son, but only in opening up her mind and not judging the people who were with her does she learn the terrible truths. She adores Diego, an American photojournalist and the fact they cannot conceive is a great disappointment to her. When Diego arranges for a surrogate (so he says), Gemma has no idea of the woman’s background or that of the child, and she will come to learn that no matter how horrific a life begins, there is still a chance for goodness, for hope for decency. Gemma will come to learn that Diego’s greatest act was getting she and the newborn baby out of the country, saving both of their lives (she and the child) allowing for them to have a chance at life. The picture looks unflinchingly at the war-torn country, the acts of horror that seem random and so inhuman, and as often happens in war, acts of immense courage that surprise us.
Regardless of what one might think about the remake of the classic horror movie Carrie (I, for one, am not a fan), the modernized version of the classic Stephen King tale is indeed going to happen. Thanks to Chloe Moretz’ instagram and Entertainment Weekly we get our first look at the mother-daughter combo of Moretz and Julianne Moore. It will be interesting to see the reception these pics, and ultimately the film will get considering the last Carrie remake was awful. In any case, these photos give us a good look at the main players so take a gander after the jump!
Hello Awards Circuit! The Emmys are right around the corner and we thought it might be fun to break from a traditional article/recap of the nominees and do a chat in live blog form. Each entry will cover a particular section of the nominated field (ie. Drama, Comedy, Reality TV, TV Miniseries or Moive). This weeks chat will focus on the TV Miniseries or Movie category that sees many Hollywood heavyweights battling it out in long form.
OUTSTANDING TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE
American Horror Story
Game Change
Hatfields & McCoys
Hemingway and Gellhorn
Luther
Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia
Terence: I don’t know what your opinion of the nominees is, but this is perhaps the strongest field we’ve had in a while.
Joseph: I concur. I believe any of the nominated series could potentially win, but I pray it’s not the disappointing, thinly-plotted Hemingway & Gelhorn. I’m rooting for Game Change, just because I know American Horror Story will more than likely be nominated next year and the year after and the year after…
Terence: Yeah you’re right about Hemingway & Gelhorn seeming like the weakest in this field. I LOVED American Horror Story this season, although I think it’s committing slight category fraud (no matter what the Emmy Committee says!) But I have a confession to make…
Trying to sand down the rough slate that is the Actress categories is an intimidating task. The past few years, the category has produced the likes of Natalie Portman in her career-topping performance in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Marion Cotillard’s transformation like no other in the Foreign Language film, La Vie en Rose.
It’s August. Summer’s coming to an end. Eight months have passed and we have one, count, one, Best Actress contender on the chart. Quvenzhané Wallis is more and more looking like the little engine that could for her heartbreaking turn in Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild. While many are shouting from the rooftops that she could be the one to hold the Oscar, barely reaching the microphone, and being a Cinderella story for the millennium, there’s no one to challenge her as of now.
In the past week, Carey Mulligan has dropped off due to the “sudden” push of The Great Gatsby to summer 2013. Was that telling of something? We’ll discuss on this week’s episode of Power Hour if it was. With Mulligan out, we are struggling to find spots filled from performances coming down the pike. Read more on “Best” Actress Award or “Whatever We Have Left Over”…
It’s the first of the month. Not only that, it’s the first day of the second half of the year. Anybody else feel like that was fast? Yet, here we are.
It’s time to start getting serious, Oscar-wise. Not many things have come out, and not many films are looking like Best Picture nominees from the first half. Some will argue The Avengers with a $600 million dollar bank is in talks. Some think the little indie-film Moonrise Kingdom from Wes Anderson could be our “Little Miss Sunshine” of the year. In limited release, Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild has opened and received one of the best word-of-mouth reviews of the year. Is that a contender for the big prize? I’d say it is.
I’m ready to start getting down and dirty with these predictions.
It’s May! Contenders are still far on the horizon, the summer blockbuster season is quietly underway after the impressive showing of “The Avengers.” $200 million dollars? I still can and cannot believe it. With our revamp being brought to a close, official and frequent Oscar predictions have started and will continue to be updated. As you will see from the menu and the actual pages, there are some changes, most for the better. I’ve kept the basic “For It/Against It” as you click through the contenders. Anything outside of the predicted five or ten nominees are ranked accordingly. I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to keep the ranking in perspective of the actual predicted nominees and I’m open to any suggestions. Otherwise, what you see is what you get. Now, on to actual Oscar talk which is pretty much the reason you all come here in the first place.
Predictions have begun with the NEW and IMPROVED official Oscar Predictions! I’ve begun in Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress. The rest will come periodically throughout the weekend. (MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON THE PICTURES!)
These Oscar Circuit’s will be incredibly in-depth since there won’t be any place for me to include commentary on the actual pages. You can look on the sidebar for the updated Oscar Circuit’s as they become more and more frequent throughout the year. Read more on Editor Oscar Circuit – “It’s time for a face lift”…
Last week, right before the opening of the new film What Maisie Knew, I was invited to participate in a series of roundtable interviews with some of the talent involved in the movie. The big gets were obviously a few moments with Awards Circuit favorite Julianne Moore and the up and coming heartthrob Alexander Skarsgard, though also on hand were actresses Onata Aprile and Joanna Vanderham as well as the directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel. Obviously, having to share time with other journalists isn’t ideal, as you’re hoping to get in maybe one or two questions at max in the same time allotted for one on one chats, but you just have to make do. Below you’ll find the bit that I got to take part in, notably with Moore and Skarsgard.
There’s no two ways about it…What Maisie Knew is an often depressing film. Some of that certainly has to do with the source material, an adaptation of the Henry James novel of the same name, but the team of directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, doing something very different from their last film, along with scribes Carroll Cartwright and Nancy Doyne definitely aren’t shying away from the tough nature. 
You remember way back when in 2002 when Femme Fatale filmmaker Brian De Palma cut a trailer with the entire film in it? But it was so stylish and super fast that everyone loved it? Well if you did something similar, the results were less stylistic and just all around underwhelming you’d have the trailer for the Kimberly Peirce directed Carrie remake. Starring Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz, Carrie centers around a sheltered high school girl (Moretz) who unleashes her newly developed telekinetic powers after she is pushed too far by her peers. Check out the trailer after the jump!
