Wednesday Reading List

by Norm Gregory on March 10, 2010

in Daily Items


Corey Haim dead at 38

Corey Haim, a 1980s teen heartthrob for his roles in “Lucas” and “The Lost Boys” whose career was blighted by drug abuse, has died. He was 38. ● More from: HitFix.com

‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ Release Bumped From April 23rd To September 24th

Fox has bumped the upcoming Oliver Stone film “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” from April 23rd all the way to September 24th. ● More from: :: The Playlist :::

Lindsey Graham denounces Liz Cheney advertisement

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham denounced a recent ad questioning the loyalty of Obama administration lawyers who had previously represented suspected terrorists. ● More from: POLITICO.com

CBS’s ‘Late Show’ pulls ahead in late night

After one week, Jay Leno has fallen behind David Letterman in the demo NBC most cares about.

On Monday night, a week after Leno returned to “The Tonight Show,” CBS’s Letterman notched his first nightly victory over his old rival among adults 18-49, though he remained behind in total viewers. ● More from: Media Life Magazine

HotTopic: Bing, Microsoft

Microsoft Bing traffic increased and Yahoo search traffic decreased in February ● More from: FeedFeedFeed

MPAA Cites 3D For Fueling Box Office Spike

Worldwide Box Office Continues To Soar; U.S. Admissions On The Rise 3D gives a boost to box office growth Los Angeles – The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) today released its annual Theatrical Market Statistics Report for 2009. The report shows that global box office receipts reached an all time high of $29.9 billion, an increase of 7.6% over 2008 and almost 30% from 2005. The U.S./Canada market reached $10.6 billion, an increase of more than 10%, and International receipts increased 6.3% to $19.3 billion in 2009. ● More from: Deadline.com

Pink Floyd, EMI Brawl Over iTunes Royalties

Pink Floyd and its label, EMI, are battling over online royalties stemming from a contested clause in their decade-old contract.

The developer of The Dark Side of the Moon and other top-selling albums claims its contract with EMI requires its music to be sold as an entire album, not the single tracks that EMI has permitted iTunes to distribute. ● More from: Wired.com

What’s an Oscar Worth? It Depends on Your Contract

Win yourself a Nobel Prize, and you know you just scored roughly 1.4 million U.S. dollars. Get a Pulitzer Prize, and you can count on $10,000. But win an Oscar? Your cash prize is more of a crapshoot. When signing on for films that are possible Oscar contenders, actors often have award-triggered bonuses built into their contracts that vary depending on the size of the film. A modest indie production like Crazy Heart — for which Jeff Bridges just won Best Actor — likely came with a $125,000 bump for the nomination and another $125,000 for a win, while a larger studio production, like Avatar, would see those nomination and win figures double or triple. ● More from: Vulture

Moviegoer is stabbed after complaining about cellphone user

A meat thermometer was plunged into the victim’s neck during a screening of ‘Shutter Island.’ An L.A. County sheriff’s spokesman called it a ‘vicious and cowardly attack.’ ● More from: latimes.com

Andy Richter Has Ill Will Toward NBC and Jay Leno

Andy Richter had plenty to say today about NBC’s late-night talk show debacle on ‘Live With Regis and Kelly’ (weekdays, syndicated). The former ‘Tonight Show’ announcer pulled no punches and blamed NBC execs for not honoring their commitment to Conan O’Brien and ‘The Jay Leno Show’ for failing to command ratings and provide a strong lead-in. ● More from: Inside TV

Tatum O’Neal ‘deeply saddened’ by Farrah Fawcett snub at the Oscars

Though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences previously explained that the exclusion of Farrah Fawcett in the Oscars’ In Memoriam montage was intentional, Tatum O’Neal seems to think the decision was an outright snub. ● More from: nydailynews.com

Panasonic, Best Buy double down on 3D TV

Panasonic has announced its first 3D TV bundle available exclusively at Best Buy stores, featuring a plasma TV and 3D-compatible Blu-ray player. The bundle will cost $2,900 for a 50-inch TC-P50VT20 TV (a $2,500 value by itself) and 3D-compatible DMP-BDT300 Blu-ray player ($400), and also include one pair of 3D glasses (model TY-EW3D10U, $149). The Panasonic bundle and TVs will be “sold exclusively at select Best Buy stores via Magnolia Home Theater,” according to Panasonic. The 50-inch model will be followed by 54-, 58-, and 65-inch versions later this year, though pricing has yet to be determined. ● More from: Crave – CNET

MySpace readies site overhaul to rekindle growth

With shrinking audiences, deep layoffs and two management shake-ups, MySpace, the one-time leader in Internet social networking, has had a rocky year. ● More from: Reuters

Critics lose 2 powerful voices as Variety cuts film’s Todd McCarthy and theater’s David Roone

In showbiz, timing is everything. It could hardly be a coincidence that the morning after Oscar season mercifully came to a close, Variety laid off its two best-known critics, longtime chief film critic Todd McCarthy and chief theater critic David Rooney. According to Variety President Neil Stiles, the firings were an “economic reality.” ● More from: Los Angeles Times

Kathy Ireland: ‘I wasn’t drunk at the Oscars’

Model-turned-actress Kathy Ireland has hit back at reports she was drunk at Sunday’s Oscars, insisting she was just overjoyed and “grateful” to be invited. ● More from: blog.seattlepi.com

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Tuesday Reading List

by Norm Gregory on March 9, 2010

in Daily Items


New Matt Damon movie “Green Zone” slanders America

After all of Hollywood’s Iraq movies have flopped (even the Oscar-garlanded “The Hurt Locker” earned only $15 million at the box office), one studio thinks it has the following secret to success: The previous films didn’t insult the United States enough. ● More from: Kyle Smith – NYPOST.com

HotTopic: Letterman

Television producer pleads guilty to trying to blackmail David Letterman ● More from: FeedFeedFeed

HotTopic: Sea lions

California sea lion euthanized for eating too much salmon ● More from: FeedFeedFeed

HotTopic: Betty White, SNL

Betty White to Appear on Saturday Night Live ● More from: FeedFeedFeed

Glenn Beck boycotting ‘Hurt Locker”

Declaring it an “anti-troop movie” by Hollywood elites, Glenn Beck said on his radio show Monday he won’t be seeing The Hurt Locker, the Oscar-winning movie that realistically portrays (and lionizes) US Army bomb squad technicians of the Iraq War. ● More from: BlatherWatch

Jesse James: Sandra Bullock Deserved the Oscar “More Than Anybody”

Motorcycle man Jesse James is thrilled for his wife Sandra Bullock, who won a Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side Sunday night. ● More from: UsMagazine.com

Newly released Jimi Hendrix album, ‘Valleys of Neptune,’ sparkles

Jimi Hendrix is dead. The album is dead. And so the arrival of a new Jimi Hendrix album is an extraordinary occasion. “Valleys of Neptune” comes out this week on Sony Legacy Recordings, part of a flurry of Hendrix-related goods hitting shelves this year as Sony and Experience Hendrix LLC, the local company run by Hendrix’s stepsister that manages his estate, commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Seattle-born guitarist’s death. ● More from: Seattle Times Newspaper

‘Crazy Heart’ has surprising staying power

Purveyors of art-house films like to talk about the “Oscar bounce,” the phenomenon by which niche movies see a surge in ticket-buying after being nominated for Academy Awards.

This year, few films are bouncing, as “Avatar” dominated the winter months and adult audiences continue to stay away from upscale dramas. Oscar nominees “An Education” and “A Single Man,” for example, have earned only about $2 million apiece since the nominations were announced. ● More from: Los Angeles Times

The 10 funniest tweets during the Oscars

Rainn Wilson, Mindy Kaling and Roger Ebert crack wise in 140 characters or less during awards show ● More from: Salon.com

White House tweeting spreads president’s message

#wanttospinWHreporters?

If you’re PressSec — White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’ username on Twitter — you join the powerful social media platform and push your message across the Internet, 140 characters at a time. ● More from: Yahoo! News

Do You Miss Him Yet?

I know you’re not supposed to, but I just love to say I told you so.

What I told you back on Sept. 28, 2008, was that within a year of the day he left office George W. Bush would come to be regarded with affection and a little nostalgia. The responses (over 300 before the comments were closed) to that prediction were overwhelmingly negative; even the very few who agreed with me attributed what they took to be a sad fact to the stupidity of the American people. The other 290 or so said things like “No way”; “Are you kidding?”; ”Are you mad?”;“What a ridiculous and insulting premise!”; “I’ll miss him like a rash”; “This must be a satire”; “Bush is a sociopath”; “George Bush has destroyed this country”; “History won’t forgive him”; and (a popular favorite) “I hate the man.” ● More from: Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com

Lindsay Lohan sues E-Trade for $100M over “milk-a-holic” Super Bowl commercial

The world revolves around Lindsay.

Lindsay Lohan is suing the financial company E-Trade, insisting that a boyfriend-stealing, “milkaholic” baby in its latest commercial — who happens to be named Lindsay — was modeled after her. And she wants $100 million for her pain and suffering, The Post has learned. ● More from: NYPOST.com

Palin says her family went to Canada for health care when she was young

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, a fierce opponent of Democratic health-care reform efforts who has said America under President Obama is headed toward socialism, told a Canadian audience her family used to go to Canada to get medical care when she was growing up. ● More from: voices.washingtonpost.com

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My Movie Review: ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’

by Norm Gregory on March 9, 2010

in Movies

If you like your cop dramas gritty, dirty and intense then Brooklyn’s Finest is for you. Sure . . lotsa cop cliches, and an urban style that’s very familiar but outstanding performances from Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and particularly Ethan Hawke lift this material into something special for fans of the actors and genre. And I really like the three separate story lines that we follow as they slowly converge. Someone called it New Jack City meets The Wire. That pretty much nails it. Rounding out the cast is Ellen Barkin, Lilli Taylor, Will Patton and speaking of The Wire, Michael K Williams. [ RT ]

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Monday Reading List

by Norm Gregory on March 8, 2010

in Daily Items


Elinor Burkett, Roger Ross Williams, ‘Music by Prudence’

In a decidedly ‘Kanye’ moment, Zimbabwe producer Elinor Burkett highjacked the microphone during Academy Award winning director Roger Ross Williams’ acceptance speech for “Music by Prudence”. ● More from: Bitten and Bound

TV ratings smile on Oscar as viewership rises

An estimated 41.3 million people saw “The Hurt Locker” top the popular “Avatar” for best picture in the most-watched Academy Awards telecast since 2005. ● More from: The Associated Press

Ratings: Oscars Most-Watched Since 2005

Sunday’s Oscar cast attracted 41.3 million viewers, the best since 2005 and a roughly 15 percent gain from 2009’s show. ● More from: The Wrap

HotTopic: Farrah Fawcett

Academy Refuses to Apologize for Farrah Fawcett Snub ● More from: FeedFeedFeed

What’s Next for Sandra Bullock?

“Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?” Oscar winner Sandra Bullock joked in her acceptance speech at the Academy Awards on Sunday night where she won Best Actress for her work as Leigh Anne Tuohy in “The Blind Side.” The accolade capped off an awards season that also saw Bullock win a number of awards, including a Critics Choice Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe (not to mention a Razzie). ● More from: MTV Movie News

Oscars 2010 WORST-DRESSED: See Who Bombed The Red Carpet

You voted, and we listened–for the most part. Here are your (and a few of our) picks for the Oscars’ worst-dressed. Then tell us if you stand by what your fellow readers think…or completely ● More from: huffingtonpost.com

Oscars: 16 Memorable Moments

From Neil Patrick Harris to Ben Stiller in the Na’vi to a history-making win — the Oscar segments that stand out ● More from: EW.com

Oscars 2010: Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Hurt Locker’ wins Best Director, toppling James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’

“The Hurt Locker” emerged victorious from a tough battle with “Avatar” – the biggest movie of all time – to win Best Picture at Sunday night’s Academy Awards.

“Hurt Locker” won five other Oscars, including, in a surprise main sweep, Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow. ● More from: nydailynews.com

Oscars Spread Wealth to ‘Avatar,’ ‘Locker,’ ‘Precious’

“The Hurt Locker,” a little-seen war film with big backing from the critics, pushed past “Avatar” and other crowd-pleasers to win the best picture Oscar at a Sunday night ceremony here, while its director, Kathryn Bigelow, became the first woman to win the directing award. ● More from: NYTimes.com

‘Hurt Locker,’ Kathryn Bigelow tops ‘Avatar,’ James Cameron to be Oscars big winner

The small-budget hit “The Hurt Locker” conquered an army of Tinseltown blockbusters last night to win six Oscars — including Best Picture and a historic Best Director award for Kathryn Bigelow.

She became the first woman ever to win Hollywood’s top moviemaking honor.

Her film about a US bomb squad in Iraq bested ex-husband James Cameron’s sci-fi hit “Avatar,” which had been nominated in the same categories. ● More from: NYPOST.com

Complete list of Oscar winners

Here’s a full list of the winners at the 82nd Academy Awards, which were bestowed Sunday night at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The Oscars ceremony was telecast on ABC, hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. ● More from: Gold Derby | Los Angeles Times

This Oscars show was not a winner

Setting aside the award outcome for a sec, what should we think of the Oscars ceremony? Early response to our poll asking Gold Derby readers what they think yields disappointing results: Nearly 60% give the Academy Awards telecast a C grade or lower.

The show wasn’t a disaster, but it wasn’t a great Oscars either. It had lots of low points, starting with that awkward opener. Didn’t you feel so terribly sorry for those poor lead-acting nominees frozen in silent fear on stage as they were introduced to TV viewers, then dispatched to their seats? Then came that odd Busby Berkeley fantasia hoofed and crooned by Neil Patrick Harris donning too much glitter. Sorry, Neil: You’re no Hugh Jackman. ● More from: Gold Derby | Los Angeles Times

Cops: We Busted Asses Over Fake Oscar Passes

At the Academy Awards, only certain fake items are tolerated — and according to cops, red carpet passes are not on the list. ● More from: TMZ.com

Charlize Theron Oscar Fashion: Best Or Worst Dressed?

The stunning Charlize Theron chose to wear a Dior lavender gown that actually made heads turn but not for a good reason on the red carpet of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards held at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday (March 7). ● More from: Bumpshack.com

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Oscar Winners

by Norm Gregory on March 7, 2010

in Movies, Oscars

No surprises for me tonight at the Academy Awards. I have been saying for months that The Hurt Locker would win the big award. I concede it’s a well made thriller. My problem was that the few Americans who have seen it (only $15 million at the box office and now has only DVD sales) will think it’s an accurate depiction of what the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams do and face in Iraq. It’s not. They rarely wear those heavy suits, they don’t spend a lot of time pulling out scary wires (robots blow up IEDs) and soldiers don’t sneak out of Green Zone on solo missions. I could go on . . . but . . . won’t here. Just to say the “cowboy-ism” of The Hurt Locker borders on disrespecting the real work our troops are doing. (My Best Picture winner wasn’t nominated: Crazy Heart. Of the nominees I would have gone with An Education or Up In The Air.)

Despite my problems with her movie I was delighted to see Kathryn Bigelow win the Best Director Oscar. She is the first woman to win. Only four women have been nominated in the category (Let me give them credit: Linda Wertmüller, Seven Beauties, 1976; Jane Campion, The Piano, 1993; Sofia Coppola, Lost In Translation, 2003).

I was a big fan of Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart and his win was very much expected. I am still bewildered by Sandra Bullock’s rise to the top of the acting world. But most observers saw her win for her role in The Blind Side coming. The supporting wins were expected. Mo’Nique in Precious was a lock for months. I was put off by the movie’s rolling every stereotypical tragedy facing black youth into one young woman that it made the story completely unbelievable, but you can’t deny the power of the performances. Also for months we knew that Christoph Waltz was on his way to a win playing the evil Nazi Jew killer in Inglourious Basterds.

This years show on ABC was sloppy, uneven, poorly directed, had an unexplained homage to the horror film and went, again, way too long. Maybe it was the new broadcast producers that lead to several missed opportunities. Although Avatar director James Cameron (who is Bigelow’s ex husband) was strategically seated directly behind his former wife, when she was named best director, the camera cut away so that viewers were robbed of knowing whether the two bothered to keep up the “No, You’re the Best!” game they’ve been playing for months now. Remember last year how much fun it was when cameras cut back and forth between Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie when Brad Pitt took to the stage?

Thank goodness I was on DVR delay so I could fast-forward through the song and dance numbers; but, to the producers credit there were fewer this year. Co-hosts Steve Martin and Alex Baldwin got a few laughs but most of their humor fell flat (Sample joke: “Oh look, there’s that damn Helen Mirren,” Martin said, pointing at the audience. “That’s Dame Helen Mirren,” Baldwin explained. Doesn’t even look funny on paper). But . . . but . . . I did like how they bookended the program. The broadcast started with kudos from Alec for Steve (a quick segue prevented Steve from saying something nice about Alec) . . . and then kudos for Alec from Steve at the end (and Alec ending the broadcast before a return compliment). You had sit through the 3.5 hour show to get it. If you could remember what happened nearly four hours earlier.

Trivial note 1: Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur were left out of the In Memoriam segment.

Trivial note 2: For years, in fact as long as I can remember, upon opening the envelope the presenter would say “And the Oscar goes to . . . ” Tonight all the presenters, but one (Kate Winslet), said “And the winner is . . .” Meaningful? Don’t know. But it’s the kind of thing I catch.

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What Are Next Year’s Best Picture Nominations?

by Norm Gregory on March 7, 2010

in Movies

Hollywood observer Jeffery Wells over at hollywood-elsewhere.com has, what he calls, the Oscar Ballon. In the Ballon are his predictions of the movies and actors he thinks will be in contention for the next batch of Oscars. Gary (garyburleigh.com) recently listed the Ballon’s 2011 picks. I decided to fill out the list with some details. It might occur to you, as it did to me, that these films were pretty much selected because the “names” are involved. I’d like to see someone predict the dark horses . . . something done by an unknown . . . which will be a break out box office and/or critical success.

Let’s break down the Oscar Ballon list . . . and sort it by release date . . . if I have a release date.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Dig this cast: Carey Mulligan, Shia LaBeouf, Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Josh Brolin, Susan Sarandon, Frank Langella, Natalie Morales to name a few. Plot Summary: As the global economy teeters on the brink of disaster, a young Wall Street trader partners with disgraced former Wall Street corporate raider Gordon Gekko on a two-tiered mission: To alert the financial community to the coming doom, and to find out who was responsible for the death of the young trader’s mentor. ( Release date: April 23 )

Inception

Quite a cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Michael Caine . . . just to name a few. It’s Sci-Fi thriller depicting a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a single idea within one’s mind can be the most dangerous weapon or the most valuable asset. ( Release date: July 16 )

Biutiful

A man involved in illegal dealing is confronted by his childhood friend, who is now a policeman. Stars Javier Bardem. Director Alejandro Innaritu . . . who, by the way, is the guy behind Amores Perros, Babel and 21 Grams. (Release: August)

The American

Clooney’s next film is a thriller about a master assassin. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected. The American abroad hightails to the Italian countryside to hole up in a small town where romance develops with local woman. But by stepping out of the shadows, he may be tempting fate. (Release: September 1)

The Social Network

The story behind Facebook. (I am not kidding) With Rashida Jones, the annoying Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake and other members of the slacker generation. ( Release date: October 15 )

How Do You Know

Jack is back! With his As Good as It Gets director. Also in the romantic comedy cast: Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Paul Rudd. Brooks’ story sees Witherspoon as a professional softball player torn between two men, a solid guy played by Rudd and a charming ball player with a 94-mile an hour fastball played by Wilson. I heard Jack jumped in when Bill Murray pulled out of the role as the father. (Release: December 17 )

True Grit

Redo . . er . . re-imagination . . . of the 1969 western about a drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger who help a stubborn young woman track down her father’s murderer in Indian territory. Jeff Bridges in the John Wayne role as Marshal Reuben J. Cogburn. Matt Damon plays the Ranger. (scheduled for a Christmas release)

Hereafter

Matt Damon back working with Eastwood in a supernatural thriller centered on three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — who are touched by death in different ways. Also in the cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Jay Mohr, Marthe Keller among others. (Release: December )

Somewhere

A hard-living Hollywood actor re-examines his life after his 11-year-old daughter surprises him with a visit. Benicio Del Toro, Michelle Monaghan, Elle Fanning, Stephen Dorff are in the cast. (2010 release date to be announced.)

Betty Ann Waters

Betty is a working mother who puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction through public defenders. Betty is played by Hilary Swank. Also in the cast: Sam Rockwell, Juliette Lewis, Minnie Driver, Peter Gallagher and Melissa Leo. (2010 release date to be announced.)

London Boulevard

My man Ray Winstone in the cast with Keira Knightley, Colin Farrell, Anna Friel. Crime and romance in London, where an ex-con becomes involved with a reclusive actress. (2010 release date to be announced.)

The Way Back

A fact-based story centered on soldiers who escaped from a Siberian gulag in 1940. Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris star. (2010 release date to be announced.)

Black Swan

A thriller that hones in on the relationship between a veteran ballet dancer and a rival. With Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Winona Ryder, Vincent Cassel and Barbara Hershey. (2010 release date to be announced.)

Tree of Life

Brad Pitt and Sean Penn in a story which centers around a family with three boys in the 1950s. The eldest son witnesses the “loss of innocence.” (2010 release date to be announced.)

Fair Game

Okay it’s Vallerie Plame Wilson’s well known story . . Remember . . Plame’s status as a CIA agent was revealed by White House officials allegedly out to discredit her husband after he wrote a 2003 New York Times op-ed piece saying that the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq. Naomi Watts and Sean Penn play Mr and Mrs Wilson. The title is based on a Karl Rove comment (now he claims he can’t remember saying it on MSNBC). (2010 release date to be announced after a festival premiere.)

The Conspirator

A period piece from Redford? Yep. You remember Mary Surratt? She ran the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks against the President, Vice President and others. Robin Wright plays Surratt. (2010 release date to be announced.)

Love and Other Drugs

A salesman competes in the cutthroat world of pharmaceuticals to hawk a male performance enhancement drug. Based on Jamie Reidy’s memoir “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.” Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jake Gyllenhaal, Judy Greer, Hank Azaria, Oliver Platt, George Segal, Jill Clayburgh, Jeffrey Jones and the ubiquitous David Morse.

The Decendants

Won’t be out until 2011 with George Clooney as a land baron who, with his two daughters, set out on a mission to keep their family together. Based on a novel.

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