The annual critical powwow that is Slate’s Movie Club is currently underway, with that site’s Dana Stevens leading a conversation between a redoubtable quartet also including Michael Phillips, Dan Kois and Movieline’s own Stephanie Zacharek. What’s on the agenda? To date, topics discussed include:
The Producers Guild of America just announced its 2012 award nominees, with a few surprises ( The Ides of March ? Again ?) and noteworthy snubs (sorry, Tree of Life -ers) in the main event. Meanwhile, the animated category dared to recognize the roundly loathed Cars 2 , and the documentary voters gave at least on conspicuous Oscar snubbee a break (I’m looking at you, Senna ). The full list of film awards is below; check our sister site Deadline for TV nominees as well. Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures: THE ARTIST Producer: Thomas Langmann BRIDESMAIDS Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend THE DESCENDANTS Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin THE HELP Producers: Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green HUGO Producers: Graham King, Martin Scorsese THE IDES OF MARCH Producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum MONEYBALL Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt WAR HORSE Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg The Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN Producers: Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg CARS 2 Producer: Denise Ream KUNG FU PANDA 2 Producer: Melissa Cobb PUSS IN BOOTS Producers: Joe M. Aguilar, Latifa Ouaou RANGO Producers: John B. Carls, Gore Verbinski The Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures: BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST Producers: Michael Rapaport, Edward Parks (*additional producers eligibility pending arbitration completion) BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK Producer: Philip Gefter PROJECT NIM Producer: Simon Chinn SENNA Producer: James Gay-Rees THE UNION Producers: Cameron Crowe, Michelle Panek ###
Happy New Year! Especially if you’re among the maintenance crew members at Universal Studios Hollywood Orlando, where you will never again have to take to the murky waters of the Jaws ride to fix the perennially broken mechanical shark: The attraction honoring Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster closed for good on Monday. Revisit the experience in better — i.e. functioning — days with an epic new video. I don’t remember the ride ever being this theatrical. Guns? Explosions? Boat drivers who look like they honed their acts in Friday the 13th: The Musical ? I also haven’t set foot in that theme park in about 25 years, so you tell me. In any case, R.I.P., Bruce the Shark. You were a worthy adversary, at least when you worked. [via Inside the Magic ]
Maybe the apocalypse is nigh: News Corporation kingpin Rupert Murdoch rang in 2012 on Twitter, dashing off his appreciation for in-house treats (“Great oped inWSJ [sic] today on Ron Paul. Huge appeal of libertarian message”), urban atmospherics (“NY cold and empty, even central park. Nice!”) and, naturally, the movies of Fox and its subsidiaries. Good news: The Descendants scored some much-needed awards love! Bad news: Said love came from a man who extolled equivalent appreciation for We Bought a Zoo . Hoo boy, now what? Saw Fox film Descendants. Thank God, one to be proud of. Star Geo Clooney deserves Oscar, maybe film too. Sat Dec 31 23:48:34 via Twitter for iPad Rupert Murdoch rupertmurdoch “Maybe film too”? What an endorsement! Why couldn’t it be more like this: I LOVE the film “we bought a zoo”, a great family movie. Very proud of fox team who made this great film. Sun Jan 01 15:44:03 via Twitter for iPad Rupert Murdoch rupertmurdoch Whatever. Nothing a quick hack from inside the office can’t fix, though first I might focus on swapping out Murdoch’s accompanying photo with something that doesn’t look like a near-sighted scrotum with lips. [via Deadline ]
Dear family Movieliners, it is with a heavy heart that I inform you that after three lovely years together — spent dissecting nearly every James Franco General Hospital performance , evaluating Sylvester Stallone’s shirtless evolution onscreen and trying desperately to make sense out of the Adam Sandler Box Office Paradox — I am setting sail for a new horizon. Although I am sad to leave my friends at Movieline, I am excited to report that beginning next week, I will be writing daily for VanityFair.com’s Hollywood Blog . Consider this a formal invitation to visit me at my new home. In the meantime though, thanks are in order. Thank you to the tirelessly intelligent S.T. VanAirsdale, the wickedly funny Seth Abramovitch and the reliably witty Kyle Buchanan, all of whom initially took a chance on me, entertained me endlessly during the work day and gave me confidence in my writing. Thank you to Christopher Rosen, who not only nurtured my work but proved to be an excellent friend and Internet conversationalist when it comes to television and planning funerals fitting for action icons. Thank you to Jen Yamato, for being such a sweet and encouraging editor with a borderline scary dedication to karaoke. (One day, I will join you on the dark side of Koreatown.) Thank you to Movieline’s critics Stephanie Zacharek and Michelle Orange for their dependably beautiful prose on even the most hopeless pieces of cinema. Thank you to Mike Ryan, for inspiring me with your original and entertaining interviews. Thank you to Mark Lisanti, for flooring me with your consistently hilarious Alan Smithee features. And lastly, thank you to Louis Virtel, who made me snort-laugh and be self-conscious of my monotone delivery more than any single person I have ever known. It was a pleasure being your droll Movieline sidekick for two plus years. And finally, thank you to the wonderfully articulate readers and commenters, who continually kept me thinking and laughing long after my posts had been published. This is starting to sound like and Oscar acceptance speech though and I am simply leaving an Internet writing job, so I’ll cut this short. I enjoyed you all over the past three years and am proud to say I wrote for Movieline . Best of wishes in the new year. As always, you can reach out to me about Lifetime movies, cats and jigsaw puzzles on my Twitter feed ( @juliewmiller ) and beginning next week, you can read my musings on Hollywood at VanityFair.com. Yours, Julie Miller
I honestly have no idea where 2011 went. I vaguely remember what follows here. There might have been more. You tell me. The Animated Oscar Index Currently in the middle of its second annual cycle, the Oscar Index is, to me, the story of the film industry’s awards race. But despite the tens of thousands of words expended every year, nothing quite sums it up like animated videos of celebrity heads floating inexorably toward golden glory. Drinking adds much to the experience, I’ve found. I Hate Brangelina: An Appreciation They’re mega-glamorous, mega-rich and mega-talented. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie would make me sick if they didn’t make me so goddamned happy. The $11 Question The Worst Movie EVER! dazzled everyone by enticing one solitary ticketbuyer to its debut in Los Angeles. The rest is history. Well, kind of. Anyway, this is the story of whatever the hell happened. Consider Uggie The last time someone wore a fur coat in a do-it-yourself Oscar campaign, Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actress. Imagine what we can do for someone who deserves a statuette! Lumet Life Lessons The late Sidney Lumet was often called a humanist filmmaker, but what does that actually mean? Hint: It’s not because he directed The Wiz . Parsing out some touchstones of his philosophy amounted to one of the more satisfying exercises of the year. Collect Them All! If nothing else, Jacki Weaver’s Awards-Season Trading Card made four weeks of ridiculous design labor worth it. The “Should I See The Smurfs ?” Flow-Chart Review Behold the future of film criticism! Also: I am so sorry. Fair is Fair For the second time in three films, Marshall Curry is once again among the documentarians on the Oscar-consideration bubble. Get used to it — and here’s why. Big “Will He?” Style Despite all the trade gossip and fanboy chatter, Will Smith remains no closer to making any of the projects listed on this year’s list of Smith films you’ll likely never see. Brush up here, and place your updated 2012 bets accordingly. The Celibate Screen I stand by my airtight case for less sex at the movies. That is all. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
I don’t care if you’re sick of Zooey Deschanel ‘s adorkable omnipresence, or if you’ve seen 400 videos already of Joseph Gordon-Levitt singing some song or another for his HitRECordJoe community. It’s nigh on the new year and this video of the (500) Days of Summer co-stars dueting Nancy Wilson’s “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” is just too cute, dammit! Give in to the twanging twee twosome and start planning your midnight kiss. Deschanel’s note, posted with the video to her Hello Giggles website: “I have known Joe Gordon-Levitt for going on 12 years. We first met in the summer of 2000 while doing a tiny movie called Manic , where we bonded over a mutual appreciation for Harry Nilsson and Nina Simone and I have been lucky enough to call him one of my dearest friends ever since. When we did 500 Days of Summer 8 years later, we spent every lunch hour dancing to Marvin Gaye in the hair and make up trailer; we had loads of fun. I hope to do a thousand more movies with him because he’s simply the best. But in the meantime, we made a little New Year’s duet for all of you! The original by Nancy Wilson. ENJOY! Don’t forget to check out Joe’s website http://hitrecord.org/ [ Hello Giggles via Huffington Post ]
Last night, during the 34th Annual Kennedy Center Honors telecast, Meryl Streep ‘s friends feted the honoree in grand fashion. There were video montages introduced, touching anecdotes told, funny memories recounted, musical numbers performed and splits done in her honor – by Robert De Niro, Mike Nichols, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, Kevin Kline, Anne Hathaway and Tracy Ullman (who co-starred with Streep in Plenty ). It was an epic ode to the actress’s “superhuman” onscreen ability — one, that after ten minutes of increasingly heaping praise, began to feel like one of the most elaborate Oscar campaigns to date. With just two months until the 84th Academy Awards, last night’s Kennedy Center Honors Meryl Streep-fest aired at a perfect time. The actress has just scored her Golden Globe nomination for her highly-anticipated performance in The Iron Lady and is already being called an Oscar frontrunner for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in a project that seems designed entirely for a Lead Actress Oscar win. Take a look at the 10+ minute CBS campaign below.
There’ve been updates about The Paperboy ‘s casting for awhile, but only now do I realize the gravity of what’s occurring. Um, wow: Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron are sharing a screen! And John Cusack! And Matthew McConaughey, for the hell of it! And — what now? — Lee Daniels is directing! They should call this quaint tale Extra Precious: Based on the Cutie ‘Zac’ by Efron . Synopsis and impressive poster after the jump. Downright old-fashioned and sharp. Reminds me of Young Adult ‘s evocative cover in coloring and detail. From a distance, Mr. Efron’s cheeks look a tad more pregnant than they usually do. I know what you’re thinking, and let me assure you: I’m the father. The Paperboy concerns a reporter who returns to his hometown to save a man on death row, though he’s derailed by the romance he strikes up with the inmate’s lady friend. I have the feeling we won’t get a juicy character study worthy of Nicole Kidman’s involvement in this movie, and that sucks because I’m still reeling from Rabbit Hole . Still, I’m in for Zac Efron’s sacred facial architecture. He’s like a cathedral of tawny hotness. Paperboy Poster [GossipCop]
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the poster for the 84th Academy Awards, and it’s… nice? I mean, Oscar looks sexy as ever, and all those foggy images of awards-night glories past recall both the champagne-fueled afterparties and the preponderance of white folks who take this hardware home every year. But isn’t something missing? Like, the host? After all that hullabaloo about Brett Ratner and Eddie Murphy that the Academy worked to deflect, and after all the lengths that the Board of Governors went to just to replace Murphy with an ultrasafe, ultrastable emcee, and after years of advertising hosts from Chris Rock to Jon Stewart to Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin to Anne Hathaway and Anne Franco, where is Billy Crystal? If I’m a casual viewer, I’m far likelier to take positive notice of the host than of the centrally positioned reminder that Driving Miss Daisy actually won Best Picture once upon a sad, sad time. Also: Can’t we get some more color in here? Sidney Poitier? Denzel Washington? Mo’Nique? If it has to be Best Picture alums, maybe Poitier and Rod Steiger from In the Heat of the Night ? Even Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner from The Hurt Locker . I’m not sure what this says about the young demographic that the aging Academy claims to covet; I doubt they’re watching Giant and/or The Sound of Music . Or maybe they are! Are you “young” and obsessive-compulsively watching Gone With the Wind on a DVD loop in honor of white, uptight, vaunted Academy legacies? Tell us in the comments! [via Awards Daily ]
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