Even if no awards body deigns to recognize the year’s finest screen work by a dog (or anyone else, for that matter), we can all take some comfort in knowing that Movieline’s Consider Uggie campaign has attained an apex of some kind: The Artist ‘s wonder-dog sidekick has been featured in that celebrated repository of prestige, glamor and influence otherwise known as Page Six. But that’s the good news; another, more troubling report on Uggie suggests that this campaign may be his last shot at golden glory.
Since our friends at Next Movie totally went there , why not bat this one around Movieline HQ? It’s Friday! Live a little. In honor of Michael Fassbender ‘s infamous display of total nakedness in this week’s Shame — emotional and physical, to be fair — Next Movie ran down the nine greatest “penis moments” in the movies. Yes, Ewan McGregor . You made the list.
In a video that hit the Web over a year and a half ago but appears to have only really surfaced this week, find Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and other principals from The Karate Kid rehearsing the entire 1984 classic on handheld camera for the film’s director, John G. Avildsen. It’s like something out of Be Kind Rewind — except, you know, featuring the actual cast working with no budget and the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind the VHS (?) camera announcing sound cues (“Wind chimes!”) and other pertinent atmospherics as the story rolls along.
In a blog entry yesterday, Roger Ebert announced that Ebert Presents At the Movies , the public television film review show hosted by the AP’ s Christy Lemire and Mubi’s Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, will indeed be forced to go on hiatus at the end of December while he and Chaz Ebert search for funding. “We hope our hiatus will be brief. You have told us you like the show. And we now have options. A touching number of viewers offered to send us money directly. One of the avenues we may take is a Kickstarter campaign, as you suggested. We will let you know as soon as that is worked out.” [ Roger Ebert’s Journal ]
Edgar Rice Burroughs created the planet-hopping hero John Carter of Mars way back in 1912 in his serialized novels about a Southern gent transported to an alien world. So why does the new trailer for John Carter , directed by Pixar vet Andrew Stanton, feel so familiar? Shades of Avatar and Attack of the Clones distract from what should be nonstop ooh-ing and aah-ing over giant CG creature effects and Taylor Kitsch in a loincloth. Then again, Taylor Kitsch in a loincloth … thank you for that, Mr. Stanton.
Emily Browning, the Australian actress best known for Hollywood efforts Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events and this year’s Sucker Punch , hits the art house this week for something completely different: Sleeping Beauty , writer-director Julia Leigh’s disturbing dive into the realm of somnambulistic sex work.
Whether or not you buy into Dane Cook ‘s brand of humor, you must acknowledge that the Boston-born stand-up has cornered a sizable comedy market and successfully infiltrated the movie business. Up next, Cook attempts to make the most challenging transition of his career — from dependable funnyman to respected actor.
Couple have been together since 2002 and have a 5-year-old daughter together. By Jocelyn Vena Maggie Gyllenhaal Photo: Getty Images Actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and hubby Peter Sarsgaard are expanding their family. The couple is expecting their second child together next spring. A rep for Gyllenhaal has confirmed to Usmagazine.com that the couple’s daughter, 5-year-old Ramona, will soon have a baby brother or sister to keep her company. A source said that the actress will “be laying low for a little bit now.” In a previous interview with the magazine, Gyllenhaal admitted it’s not always easy to balance being an actress and being a mom. “I had been so focused on Ramona — and she’s been everything to me — but I’m also an actress. It’s not possible to do it perfectly,” she said. “Being a mom is so present in my mind and my work. It’s the most important thing about me, but next I’d like to play someone who’s not a mother.” Life & Style reported that the couple told friends and family about the pregnancy over the Thanksgiving holiday. Gyllenhaal first had people wondering if she was expecting when she arrived at the Rome Film Festival sporting what appeared to be a baby bump in late October. “Over Thanksgiving weekend, Maggie was telling friends that she’s six months pregnant,” a friend of the actress said. “Her bump is so big!” The friend added, “She’s thrilled to be pregnant! She and Peter have wanted another child for a while. They’re very happy that they’ll have another baby in the house soon.” The couple, together since 2002, tied the knot in 2009 in Italy. As for uncle Jake Gyllenhaal , the friend tells Life & Style that he’s really excited to be an uncle again. “Jake is so happy that she’s pregnant again because he loves kids. Maggie’s said that he’s the best uncle and has done a lot of sweet things for her first child.”
“Hedy didn’t drink. She didn’t like to party. Her idea of a good evening was a quiet dinner party with some intelligent friends where they could discuss ideas — which sounds so un-Hollywood, but Hedy had to find something else to do to occupy her time.” In his new book Hedy’s Folly , author Richard Rhodes sheds light on the little-known side hobby of Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-American actress, Golden Age screen siren, and… inventor.
To dispatch with the pleasantries and get straight to the but : Arthur Christmas favors the late-century style of computer animation that turns characters into smooth, plasticky dirigibles, adding a Made-in-China cello-skin to faces and scenery alike and vacuum-sealing the works for maximum digital freshness. I’ve never cared for the look — if cartoons could be embalmed, that’s how I imagine they’d be — and in sharing a release weekend with a Muppets revival, the limits of Arthur ‘s CGI puppeteering seem even more stark. That is of course, until you consider almost everything outside of my but — which may well not be yours — which is to say the near-total mitigation of aesthetic bummers with an avalanche of charm, wit, and enlivening, highly oxygenated performances.
