Can’t wait for Sam Raimi’s star-studded, mega-budget Oz: The Great and Powerful ? How about a low-budget, modern-day twist on the L. Frank Baum classic featuring Dorothy as a children’s book author (and Kansas transplant, natch) in Manhattan and co-starring Lance Henriksen, Billy Boyd and Christopher Lloyd? Oh. Well anyway, here’s the latest on Dorothy and the Witches of Oz , the erstwhile little-seen mini-series that by all appearances this weekend should become a little-seen theatrical release. Writer-director Leigh Scott’s film reportedly has one of the more roundabout broadcast/distribution records of any recent movie (save for Margaret , perhaps), but will finally come to theaters Friday. By “theaters,” I mean ” four venues in Arizona ,” with three more to follow Feb. 24 in Kansas and Kentucky. The film itself, meanwhile, appears pretty deeply NYC-centric — because no one’s ever imposed that twist on the Oz legend before: It does kind of look better than This Means War , right? And in “glorious 2D”! Well-played, team. Arizona, you are in luck! [via Big Hollywood ]
The underdog candidate for this year’s Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, Undefeated is, fittingly, about an underdog sports team, a group of kids from an underfunded urban school for whom football provides some desperately needed structure as well as a possible route to a better life. There’s good reason the Weinstein Company reportedly coughed up seven figures for distribution and remake rights to the film — Undefeated is Friday Night Lights meets The Blind Side in nonfiction form, examining issues of class and race through the lens of its ragtag athletics program while also reinforcing American mythos of bootstrapping, hard work and community. Its triumphs are bittersweet, but they’re irresistible. That title isn’t literal, however; there are definite losses over the course of the single hard-fought, promising high school football season this film follows, and it’s still one of the best years the North Memphis Manassas Tigers have ever had. Bill Courtney is Undefeated ‘s center, a ruddy-faced, sweaty white guy who serves as volunteer coach at the mostly (if not entirely) black school. We first see him lecturing his team about how their ranks have been decimated by drop-outs, shootings and arrests: “Most coaches, that would be a career’s worth of crap to deal with. That sums up the last two weeks for me.” Bill has a family of his own and a flooring company to run, but coaching is his great love, and the depth of his investment in it and his sincere faith in the potential saving power of football make his gruff character easy to latch on to. He looks to be the closest thing most of the young men he works with have to a male authority figure in their lives, fathers out of the picture, and they latch on to his devotion and to the expectations he has of them with a quiet hunger. Undefeated also follows three of Courtney’s players through the year. The talented, good-natured O.C. Brown stands a good chance of getting a football scholarship if he can pulls his grades up. Montrail Brown, who goes by “Money,” is a good student working towards college until an injury on the field derails him and destroys his confidence. And Chavis Daniels arrives back on the team after a stint in juvie, and has alarming rage issues to manage. The Tigers have never won a playoff game, and they’re so underfunded that they used to raise money by traveling to play other schools for pay as an easy win. Over their season they face teams that are obviously more upscale (and ones whose racial make-up is very different) as well as teams that aren’t — one game against another Memphis school ends with the police on field shooing the boys back onto their bus to head off a potential brawl with the opposing school. Despite some early setbacks, the Tigers are having a good year, and as the team wends its way to a possible playoff spot the film starts to shine as it delves into the personal lives of its players. O.C. is going to become unrecruitable if his academics don’t improve, but tutors won’t go to the neighborhood where he lives with his grandmother, so another (white) coach takes him in a few days a week, O.C. moving into the coach’s comfy suburban set-up with his wife and kids. The matter-of-factness with which this and a later act of startling generosity are done make them heartwrenching, but also provide a reminder of how difficult things like paying for college or getting better at classwork can be without outside help. Money struggles to find motivation to keep going with school after a knee injury possibly ends his season, and flirts with dropping out. Chavis, the most haunting character, seems to have no filter on his emotions, rage seething up without warning and dissipating just as quickly. He chooses the number “0” for himself because he claims he has no sense, and has a clash with another player based on nothing at all. But he keeps coming back, gets off suspension, finds a place for himself on the team, realizing he needs football and has to change if he wants to be allowed to stay with it. “I’ll die for you tonight,” he tells Bill when he’s put in the game, and you believe him. Aside from what looked like a few technical snags in terms of color, Undefeated ‘s look is fluid and vital. It’s shot vérité style, but still finds moments for nods to studio magic — a circling camera around a hugging Bill and O.C. toward the end is unadulterated, completely effective Hollywood. Directed and edited by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin (the pair collaborated previously on 2008’s Last Cup: Road to the World Series of Beer Pong ), the film finds romance in its images of the sport, from the boys walking off the field at sunset to the battles under the bright lights to a close-up that lingers on the Manassas temporary tattoo one player has fixed to his cheek. Undefeated doesn’t have the epic, years-spanning arc of Hoop Dreams , but it finds in its season some unfeigned resonance that, like tears during that final embrace on the field, can’t be eluded. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
‘The Descendants’ and ‘Moneyball’ seem to be leading the race, but who will take home gold? By Kevin P. Sullivan Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” Photo: Columbia TriStar Woody Allen has dominated the race to decide the year’s best screenplay, winning the Golden Globe for “Midnight in Paris,” but when the Academy Awards split up the category into Adapted and Original, the former proves much harder to predict. Based on critic and guild awards, the competition for Best Adapted Screenplay comes down to two films: “Moneyball” and “The Descendants.” Each has won significant prizes in the past few months, so the category could result in one of the night’s few genuine surprises. Here are our predictions for Best Adapted Screenplay: Who Will Win : Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for “The Descendants.” Unfortunately, this will be the film’s consolation prize in a night dominated by Jean Dujardin and “The Artist.” Without all of the hype surrounding Michel Hazanavicius’ silent film, the story of a soon-to-be widower in Hawaii would be the odds-on favorite to take Best Picture and Actor. True to his reputation, Payne and his co-writers crafted a subtle, sad and touching film that keeps you laughing the entire way through. He has proven himself to be one of our most consistent auteurs. And although Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian’s screenplay for “Moneyball” deserves its spot as a front runner, Sorkin’s win for “The Social Network” only happened a year ago. Who Should Win : Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” Straughan and his late wife O’Connor faced the challenge of not only adapting a beloved novel, but one that had been previously adapted into a beloved miniseries. In transforming John le Carr
MTV News thinks ‘Rango’ is the likely winner at this year’s Academy Awards, but who should win? By Josh Wigler “Rango” Photo: Paramount Pictures The Academy Awards are fast approaching, and it’s bound to be an animated show this year — if not a particularly “Adventure”-ous one. For the first time in years, animation powerhouse Pixar has been shut out of the Oscar race for Best Animated Feature Film, leaving the field wide open for an unexpected newcomer to take the top prize. Two foreign flicks — “A Cat in Paris” and “Chico & Rita” — are in the mix, battling it out against popular favorites and proven franchise hits “Kung Fu Panda 2” and “Puss in Boots.” But we expect that the Academy will skew toward the surreal this year, honoring the beautifully bizarre “Rango” with a shiny new golden statue. Read on for our picks and wishes for Best Animated Feature Film. Who Will Win : “Rango” takes it home. “A Cat in Paris” and “Chico & Rita” cancel each other out, as do DreamWorks Animation’s two offerings. That leaves the door open for the little chameleon that could, played to quirky perfection by seasoned veteran Johnny Depp. Reteaming with his former “Pirates of the Caribbean” captain Gore Verbinski, “Rango” stands out as one of the most original animated movies to hit theaters stateside in quite some time. It’s fully deserving of its impending victory. Having said that… Who Should Win : “The Adventures of Tintin.” Clearly, it’s not going to win — it’s not even nominated! A travesty, I say. Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the adventure tales from Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi stands out as one of the greatest comic book films of 2011, and in my opinion, the best animated movie of the year. It deserves not just a nomination, but a win, for its fantastic score from John Williams, wonderfully inventive opening credits, astoundingly assembled action pieces and yet another all-star motion-capture grand slam from the incredible Andy Serkis. “Tintin” didn’t win its Golden Globe award for nothing, folks. This movie should already be polishing its Oscar by now — there are no excuses for its exclusion from the race. The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 25, we’ll put you on the red carpet and bring you all the winners. Related Photos 2012 Oscar Nominees
Surely no one saw this coming: Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier and Artist wonder dog on whose behalf the Consider Uggie awards campaign has surged ever onward for nearly three months now , won the top prize Monday at the inaugural Golden Collar Awards. That’s really all I have to say about that, deferring instead to Uggie’s trainer Omar Von Muller, who put the purpose of the whole phenomenon in perspective while accepting the trophy with his winning pooch: Von Muller said the award was “overwhelming” adding: “He has been my buddy forever and is a great performer and great family member.” He also thanked award organizers DogNewsDaily.com saying: “This is very important for all the trainers in the movie industry, because we have never been recognized before, and people just don’t understand that it takes hundreds and even thousands of hours to train a dog.” Exactly . Respect! [ BBC ; photo via WireImage]
Three pretty young friends find themselves trapped by a shadowy stranger — in an ATM vestibule! — in David Brooks’ directorial debut, ATM . Get a glimpse of the single-location thriller, from the writer of Buried , in an exclusive clip and new images. Josh Peck, Alice Eve, and Brian Geraghty star in ATM as a trio of co-workers who find their late-night stop off for cash interrupted by a menacing figure who stands between them and sweet, sweet freedom. ATM debuts on March 2nd on VOD and select digital outlets (SundanceNOW, iTunes, Amazon, Xbox) before opening in theaters on April 6. Want more? Check out three new images from the film and ponder how bad things will get for our intrepid heroes in that freezing cold vestibule…
It’s Valentine’s Day, lovebirds — time to hash out some passionate debate over the films that get your pulse racing and make your chest heave, the romances that get your hankies flying and fill your hearts (and your loins!) with longing. Whether you’re planning the perfect V-Day date or preparing to love vicariously this Valentine’s Day, chime in and tell us which of cinema’s greatest love stories hits you the hardest. Let’s start with a classic, shall we? Casablanca ‘s been named AFI’s greatest American love story of all time, and it’s hard to argue the choice; few films have managed to capture the heartbreak and sacrifice of love than Michael Curtiz’s 1943 romance. The lyrics “You must remember this/a kiss is still a kiss” still conjure the magic of place and time captured at Rick’s Café Americain, where Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are propelled into each others’ arms in the midst of war, only to be parted again. Sigh. For a long while my favorite romance was An Affair to Remember , the Cary Grant-Deborah Kerr tale that spawned many a fateful meeting at the Empire State Building (and itself was remade from director Leo McCarey’s Love Affair ). It was a movie that insisted that no matter what disfiguring, horrific accident befell you, your partner would love you just the same. Swoon! But then I saw Sleepless in Seattle and got annoyed that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks were co-opting the classic. Thanks, but no thanks. Ghost features some deliciously melodramatic lovemaking (oh, pottery ) and the added layer of emotion that stems from death coming between two soulmates. Ditto Titanic , which taught a generation of lovers to never let go. At any cost. EVEN IF YOU’RE FREEZING TO DEATH SO YOUR GIRLFRIEND CAN FLOAT TO SAFETY ON SOME SHRAPNEL. Downside to Titanic worship: You’ll just get that damned Celine Dion song stuck in your head again, which is pretty much how I spent all of 1997. Alternately, you may opt to go the lighter route, John Hughes-style, with a selection along the lines of the underrated teen romance Some Kind of Wonderful — the movie that promised tomboys everywhere that our crushes would come to their senses sooner or later and taught boys that meaningful diamond stud earrings (okay, and reciprocated heart flutters) are a quicker way to a young woman’s heart than waking up a girl by blasting Peter Cetera outside her window. I mean, that works, too, but it takes at least one montage more to get to happily-ever-after. Then there’s the entire oeuvre of weepie specialist Nicholas Sparks, who never met a love story he couldn’t ruin with gut-wrenching tragedy. The Notebook ? SHE CAN’T REMEMBER HIM! A Walk to Remember ? SHE’S DYING! Pass the tissues and hit rewind! My favorite film of all time, and one of the most heartbreaking movies about love ever made, is Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg — a movie that could also be considered an anti-romance, depending on how you look at the world and how much you perversely enjoy the visceral sting of heartbreak. Candy-colored palettes and entirely sung dialogue mask this tragically sad tale within the trappings of a musical melodrama, but the stark realities of life and love lost sneak up on you in the film’s final moments when former lovebirds Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve) and Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) meet again by chance on Christmas Eve. After pledging their undying love to one another as youths, they’ve both moved on — even if the memory of what they once had still lingers. It’s something like a French ’60s cinema equivalent of an Adele song, devastating and gorgeous and felt all the more deeply because we feel, acutely, what’s been lost and what might have been. But you tell me, folks — which are your favorite, go-to, can’t miss tales of love, lust, romance, and longing? (And what will you be watching on Valentine’s Day?) Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Hudson’s stirring cover of Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ was an emotional homage to late singer. By Gil Kaufman Jennifer Hudson performs at the Grammys on Sunday Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images There is a whole generation of modern divas who grew up worshipping at the altar of Whitney Houston . Everyone from Mariah Carey to Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Rihanna and Beyonc
