You just know John Ford was thinking to himself, “Huston, okay…I’ve liked a lot of his pictures. A libertine but talented and ballsy. Knows horses. But Hopper made life hell for poor Henry Hathaway, and then came Easy Rider, which I didn’t fully hate because he seems to love the Southwest like me. Or his … Read more
Steven Spielberg has made a highly respectable grandfather-clock film that has inspired subdued or muffled reactions from one-third of the industry/journo crowd, so naturally Movieline has him down as the Best Director front-runner. Ang Lee is the winner of the 2013 Attaboy Award for having directed a respected, vaguely spiritual tiger-in-a-lifeboat film that has absolutely … Read more
If anyone is stuck for Sundance Film Festival lodgings in Park City between Saturday, 1.19 and Saturday, 1.26, I know of two one-bedroom units at the Park Regency. $1200 each for seven days. Not huge but decent-sized. Good for two people (or three in a pinch). An excellent central location — a four-minute walk to … Read more
“I don’t understand why [Lincoln] didn’t just end when Lincoln is walking down the hall and the butler gives him his hat,” Samuel L. Jackson recently told L.A. Times reporter Steven Zeitchik. “Why did I need to see him dying on the bed? I have no idea what Spielberg was trying to do. I didn’t … Read more
Vanity Fair‘s Marnie Hanel reported today that an article on Oscar.go, the official website of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, accidentally and prematurely disclosed that Django Unchained costume designer Sharen Davis has nabbed a Best Costume Design nomination. The page in question has since been taken down, and the person responsible is … Read more
Speaking to N.Y. Times reporter Michael Cieply about Gangster Squad (Warner Bros., 1.11), director Ruben Fleischer‘s period melodrama (i.e., set in the late ’40s and early ’50s), producer Dan Lin says “if we do this right, it’s a contemporary gangster movie.” The instant I read those ten words, I went “Jesus Christ, game over.” Because … Read more
So Tina Fey and Amy Poehler‘s Golden Globes material is still taking shape, but the basic idea, apparently, is to go with a generic 21st Century approach to humor — dry, casual, ironic, referenced — and pretty much stay away from being Ricky Gervais-y or funny. Unless the purpose of this clip is to lower … Read more
It would be nice to catch Steven Soderbergh‘s Side Effects (Open Road, 2.5) before I leave for Park City on Tuesday, 1.15, as I’ll be swamped with Sundance and then the Santa Barbara Film Festival through Saturday, 2.2. Yes, I could see it during the five-day run-up to 2.8, but Soderbergh’s films are always special … Read more
Oh, my God…the 2012 Writers Guild nominations were announced around 10:05 am and here it is 10:29 am and I haven’t posted anything yet. What was I doing the last 24 minutes? Staring into space? You have to re-post breaking news within 10 or 15 minutes, tops. If you don’t you lose cred, and if … Read more
In 1972 a man spoke to a woman in a bathroom and said, “You want some man you love to protect and take care of you. You want this golden, shining, powerful warrior to build a fortress where you can hide so you don’t have to ever be afraid. You don’t have to feel lonely … Read more