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Need a movie for the weekend?

By Dan on January 28, 2012 in

The Couch Potato Report – January 28th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report is a film that isn’t all about cancer and it isn’t all funny …it is 50/50. Plus, real steel and the first film ever named Best Picture.

Being diagnosed with cancer is not a laughing matter…but the filmmakers behind the dramatic comedy 50/50 try to provide us with a story that is equally serious and funny as we meet a radio producer in Seattle named Adam who is diagnosed with a rare type of the disease and given – as the title indicates – a 50/50 chance of beating it.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt from INCEPTION and (500) DAYS OF SUMMER plays the straight laced, nice guy who can’t believe the news and Vancouver’s Seth Rogen from KNOCKED UP and PINEAPPLE EXPRESS is his goofball stoner buddy who is trying to be supportive…in his way.

Gordon-Levitt and Rogen are great together as old friends, but the best performance in 50/50 comes from Academy Award winning actress Anjelica Huston. She has a small role as Adam’s Mother.

50/50 is based on the true story of writer Will Reiser’s battle with cancer, and how he and his friends and family dealt with it. His personal tragedy has inspired a very good film.

As usual Seth Rogen isn’t always likeable, and the story moves along very slowly at times, but the end result is a movie that is very good…and occasionally even great.

Due to the fact that the film is about a person possibly dying of cancer, 50/50 isn’t always an easy film to watch…but I easily recommend it.

I also recommend the set in the not too distant future action film REAL STEEL, directed by Montreal’s Shawn Levy and starring Hugh Jackman from the X-MEN films as a likeable loser former boxer who is now a struggling promoter of a robot fighter.

But before you dismiss the film because of that…and think of it as just a movie with fighting robots…you should know that it is also a movie about family, as Hugh decides to take temporary custody of his 11-year-old son.

Now before you start to think that REAL STEEL is overly dramatic…let me point out once again that this is a movie about fighting robots, set in the year 2020!!

Okay, REAL STEEL does have a lot of drama in it – some of it comes courtesy of Alberta born actress Evangeline Lilly of the television show LOST – but that drama added together with the fighting robots somehow all works.

Turn your brain off for a couple of hours…leave it in the other room if you can…and this one will make a good night’s entertainment.

Over the past couple of years the films in the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY series have made every hair on my body stand on edge as they gave me thrills, and chills, and maybe even made me worry about my safety a bit…I love them and I love scary movies!!

After meeting adult Katie in the first film and grown-up Kristi in the second, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 takes the franchise right back to the beginning and we see the sisters as little girls as the cameras are on and recording when evil first begins to terrorize them.

These “Found Footage Films” offer up film that was found after the events in the film took place, and edited together for all to see and I love them.

No, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 isn’t as good as Part 2, which wasn’t as good as the first one…but this series still give me the creeps each and every time I see them! I love them!!

We have arrived at the worst film of the week now…a movie called THE WHISTLEBLOWER that fails to offer an emotional connection to the tragic human story of sexual trafficking and forced prostitution in Bosnia.

Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz from THE CONSTANT GARDINER stars as a police officer who accepts a lucrative contract to be a peace keeper in post-war Bosnia, eventually outing the United Nations for covering up a sex scandal.

THE WHISTLEBLOWER is full of horrific truths, tragic events that actually happened and should strike a chord with the viewer, yet the film is so boring. I felt sympathy for the victims, but I had no emotional connection to the film.

Skip this one…it isn’t worthy of your time…although the story must never be forgotten.

We head back to 1994 now, for a baseball film that I hoped to love when it first came out, and this week when I watched it again.

Sadly, I didn’t care for it either time…but I wanted to love THE SCOUT!!

THE SCOUT stars the great comedian Albert Brooks as a major league baseball scout for the New York Yankees sent to the most remote part of Mexico as punishment for recommending players who never lived up to their potential.

It is there where he discovers Ottawa raised actor Brendan Fraser from THE MUMMY films. This guy can pitch and hitter better than anyone…but he is childish and mentally unstable.

Only concerned for himself, the scout can’t resist bring him to The Big Apple…no matter what happens.

THE SCOUT has been released on blu-ray this week and as much as I love Albert Brooks, and baseball movies, this one is not a great movie.

Never has been, never will be.

When the nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards were announced last Tuesday morning, Woody Allen’s latest film – the fantastic MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – received four nods – for Art Direction, Original Screenplay, Directing and Best Picture.

He isn’t likely to win any of the categories this year, but thirty-four years ago at the Academy Awards ceremony in 1978, Woody Allen’s ANNIE HALL won four Oscars…Best Actress for Diane Keaton, Best Director, Original Screenplay, and Best Picture.

In this classic comedy Woody plays a neurotic comedian who falls in love with Diane Keaton’s ditzy and positive Annie and we meet their friends and families and witness the ups and downs of their relationship over the years.

ANNIE HALL has heart, and laughs, is full of characters you will care about and like, and it is one of my favourite films of all time. Even if you do not usually like Woody Allen’s films, you should see it. It is a beautiful, witty and entertaining movie that is now on blu-ray and I highly recommend!!

I also highly recommend Woody’s follow-up, 1979’s MANHATTAN…but this one – also new on blu-ray – isn’t for everyone. This one is for true fans only!

MANHATTAN tells several different love stories – including Woody playing a twice-divorced comedy writer who dates a very young woman before eventually falling in love with his best friend’s mistress – but the main love story in the film is Allen’s love for his city. Manhattan is loving shot and featured, in glorious black and white, by a man who knows what her best side is.

This film loves the women in it – including a young Meryl Streep – and it loves Manhattan.

I love the film, and how great it looks on blu-ray

MANHATTAN may not be for everyone, but this film is definitely for me!

Finally this week is the very first film ever named Best Picture by the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences.

Actually…at the first Academy Award ceremony, held at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood on May 16, 1929, WINGS was named Most Outstanding Production as there was no Best Picture award. The title was changed in 1930 to Best Production and to Best Picture for the 1931 awards.

But it is regarded today as the first Best Picture winner by the Academy, and it is regarded by all film fans as a classic…and now it has been meticulously restored and is available in High Definition for the first time on blu-ray!

WINGS is about two men – both in love with the same women – who become fighter pilots in World War I. It is the only silent film to be named Best Picture – so far – and this new release offers two different audio tracks to accompany it…you can select the more common to silent films Wurlitzer pipe organ score.

Or you can choose to watch it with a more modern sounding score that also includes sound effects.

WINGS was a spectacular achievement when it was first produced, and it remains one now. It is a true movie classic!!

The fully restored, truly classic film WINGS, Woody Allen’s modern day classics MANHATTAN and ANNIE HALL, the failed baseball comedy THE SCOUT, the failed dramatic thriller THE WHISTLEBLOWER, the not as good as the first two but still very good horror thriller PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3, the very good rental REAL STEEL and the very good comedy drama 50/50 are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

The film that didn’t get London, Ontario born actor Ryan Gosling an Academy Award nomination this week – DRIVE will be available for you to watch at home and decide in your own mind if he was snubbed or not. Also next week, the made-in-Toronto hockey comedy BREAKAWAY. Spike Lee’s MALCOLM X, and STAR TREK – THE NEXT GENERATION debuts on blu-ray. I’ll tell you how THE NEXT LEVEL looks in HD.

I’m Dan Reynish. I’ll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!

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Cool!!

By Dan on January 28, 2012 in

Unreleased ABBA track on new album

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Mamma Mia, here they go again.

ABBA fans will soon again be saying “Thank you for the music” with the release of a new track on a special edition of the disbanded 70′s pop group’s “The Visitors” album.

The record, including new track “From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel,” is the first official new release by the Swedish group in 18 years.

Universal Music Group spokeswoman Mia Segolsson said Friday that the special edition of “The Visitors” — originally released in 1981 — will be available in stores from April 23.

ABBA — Agnetha Faeltskog, Benny Andersson, Bjoern Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad — split in 1982. The band has never reunited.

Known for catchy hits in the 70s and 80s — such as “Dancing Queen,” and “Money, Money, Money” — ABBA have sold 400 million records worldwide.

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That could be fun!!

By Dan on January 27, 2012 in

‘Bridesmaids’ Cast to Present at the Oscars

Good thing they already have those fancy dresses.

“Bridesmaids” stars Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig will serve as presenters at this year’s Academy Awards, this year’s telecast producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer said Thursday. This will mark the first Oscars appearances for all six actresses.

The Academy’s announcement makes a significant break from tradition for the organization — typically, the first presenters announced are the previous year’s Best Actor and Best Actress winners, which in this case would be Colin Firth and Natalie Portman.

McCarthy and Wiig both scored their first Oscar nominations for “Bridesmaids” this year — McCarthy for her supporting role, and Wiig for her screenplay.

This year’s ceremony, which will be hosted by Billy Crystal, takes place at the Kodak Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 26.

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May he rest in peace!!

By Dan on January 27, 2012 in

Robert Hegyes, played Epstein on ‘Kotter,’ dies

METUCHEN, N.J. (AP) — Robert Hegyes, the actor best known for playing Jewish Puerto Rican student Juan Epstein on the 1970s TV show “Welcome Back Kotter” has died. He was 60.

The Flynn & Son Funeral Home in Fords, N.J., said it was informed of Hegyes’ death Thursday by the actor’s family.

A spokesman at JFK Medical Center in Edison, N.J., told the Star-Ledger newspaper that Hegyes, of Metuchen, arrived at the hospital Thursday morning in full cardiac arrest and died.

Hegyes was appearing on Broadway in 1975 when he auditioned for “Kotter,” a TV series about a teacher who returns to the inner-city New York school of his youth to teach a group of irreverent remedial students nicknamed the “Sweathogs.” They included the character Vinnie Barbarino, played by John Travolta.

The show’s theme song, performed by John Sebastian, became a pop hit.

Hegyes also appeared on many other TV series, including “Cagney & Lacey.”

He was born in Perth Amboy and grew up in Metuchen, the eldest child of a Hungarian father and Italian mother.

He attended Rowan University, formerly Glassboro State College, in southern New Jersey, before heading to New York City after graduation. He returned to Rowan on several occasions to teach master classes in acting, a university spokesman said Thursday.

“He was a good friend to the university,” spokesman Joe Cardona said.

Hegyes continued to act after “Kotter” and was a regular on “Cagney & Lacey.” He also guest-starred in shows including “Diagnosis Murder” and “The Drew Carey Show.”

On his website, Hegyes wrote that he was inspired by Chico Marx, whom he had played in a touring production of a show about the Marx Bros. He also recalled how his mother encouraged him to get involved in theater as a teen.

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Gosling was snubbed!!! Boooooooo!!!

By Dan on January 25, 2012 in

The Couch Potato Report – January 21st, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report, enjoy the ides of March, and stay away from Abduction…unless you are on Team Jacob.

When the Academy Award nominations were announced on Tuesday George Clooney’s film THE IDES OF MARCH received a nod in the best adapted screenplay category, but it wasn’t named in any of the big six categories – including Best Picture and Best Director.

Unfortunately London, Ontario born co-star Ryan Gosling was completely ignored – although he was so good in this political drama and in the romantic comedy CRAZY STUPID LOVE and the thriller DRIVE. He had a great year, but he didn’t get nominated.

Gosling’s nomination is a longshot…however you WILL definitely hear co-writer, co-star and Director George Clooney’s name called as he WILL be nominated for Best Actor for his performance in another film…one called THE DESCENDANTS.

But that one isn’t coming out for home viewing until March, so let me focus on the film you can see both George Clooney and Ryan Gosling in right now…the very good THE IDES OF MARCH.

Clooney stars here as a presidential candidate whose has groundbreaking ideas that could change politics and carry him all the way to the White House.

Gosling is his Junior Campaign Manager and he isn’t just trying to sell this guy to the people, he actually believes that this is the guy that will make a difference…however, when he agrees to go to a meeting with the competition, something he knows he shouldn’t do, things change for everyone.

The great cast of THE IDES OF MARCH also includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood and this is a film I recommend, even though it doesn’t have much of a payoff, and the major twist the story takes isn’t really all that surprising.

But it does have that cast, and enough sharp, quick-witted and interesting dialogue that I enjoyed it.

I also enjoyed the made-in-Montreal THE HAPPINESS OF OTHERS about a modern day family trying to deal with love, divorce, break ups, new beginnings, pregnancy, infertility, infidelity, happiness and heartbreak.

The main reason I liked it is because THE HAPPINESS OF OTHERS is a full of people who seem genuine and real. They aren’t movie characters all living beyond their means, they are folks like you and I…working hard and trying to make it in the world. They are people you root for and want the best for.

Unfortunately THE HAPPINESS OF OTHERS is not a great movie…at times it does drag more than a bit…but I did enjoy it and can easily recommend it.

What I don’t recommend…because I did not enjoy it at all…is an awful wannabe action thriller called ABDUCTION, starring Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob in the TWILIGHT films.

Now I am not surprised that a film starring Taylor Lautner is bad…the kid can’t act…but the fact that it was directed by John Singleton…who also made BOYZ N THE HOOD, SHAFT and 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS…is what’s disappointing. He may not be the world’s greatest director, but in the past he has been able to direct action scenes.

Here…as a young man runs around Pittsburgh and area searching to find out the truth about his life and who his real parents are…Singleton has given us a film that doesn’t work, and is a complete waste of your time.

Unless you are a long-time member of the Team Jacob fan club…skip ABDUCTION, at all costs!! It is a waste of time!!

Finally this week is a small British film called BRIGHTON ROCK, based on the classic 1939 novel of the same name by Graham Greene.

The novel is set in the 1930s, while this film takes place during the Mods and Rockers era of the 1960s as small-town Pinkie ruins the life of a shy and quiet waitress named Rose, only because she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, prior to him killing a rival thug. He wants to marry her in order to keep her quiet, and – for some reason that is hard to grasp in this film – she agrees.

BRIGHTON ROCK is not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination…and the character of Rose is a bit too annoying to really get invested in whether she lives or dies…but I admit that I got caught up in the film enough that I wanted to see how it would all end.

So call that a very mild recommendation.

The okay British film BRIGHTON ROCK, the awful action film ABDUCTION – for fans of TWILIGHT hunk Taylor Lautner only!!, the good but not great made-in-Montreal family drama THE HAPPINESS OF OTHERS and the very good political drama THE IDES OF MARCH are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

The action film REAL STEEL, the horror thrill PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 and the partially filmed in Vancouver cancer comedy 50/50

I’m Dan Reynish. I’ll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!

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I am looking at Boston, New York City and New Jersey!!

By Dan on January 25, 2012 in

Bruce Springsteen ‘Wrecking Ball’ U.S. Tour Dates Announced

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will launch the first U.S. leg of the 2012 “Wrecking Ball” World Tour on March 18 in Atlanta, the singer announced today. Springsteen’s 17th studio album, “Wrecking Ball,” will be released on Columbia Records on March 6.

“We Take Care Of Our Own,” the album’s first single, can be streamed at the singer’s official website; the album is also available for pre-order.

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Wrecking Ball’ to Swing March 6

The official press release lists the E Street Band’s members as follows, notably excluding a horn player. Longtime saxophonist Clarence Clemons passed away last year. Roy Bittan (piano, synthesizer; Nils Lofgren (guitar, vocals; Patti Scialfa (guitar, vocals; Garry Tallent (bass guitar; Stevie Van Zandt (guitar, vocals; and Max Weinberg (drums; with Soozie Tyrell (violin, guitar, vocals and Charlie Giordano (keyboards).

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 2012 Tour Dates:

U.S. Tour Dates
March 18: Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Arena)
March 19: Greensboro, N.C. (Greensboro Coliseum)
March 23: Tampa, Fla. (Tampa Bay Times Forum)
March 26: Boston, Mass. (TD Garden)
March 28: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wells Fargo Center)
March 29: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wells Fargo Center)
April 1: Washington, D.C. (Verizon Center)
April 3: East Rutherford, N.J. (Izod Center)
April 4: East Rutherford, N.J. (Izod Center)
April 6: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)
April 9: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)
April 12: Detroit, Mich. (The Palace of Auburn Hills)
April 13: Buffalo, N.Y. (First Niagara Center)
April 16: Albany, N.Y. (Times Union Center)
April 17: Cleveland, Ohio (Quicken Loans Arena)
April 24: San Jose, Calif. (HP Pavilion)
April 26: Los Angeles, Calif. (Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena)
April 29: New Orleans, L.A. (New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival)
May 2: Newark, N.J. (Prudential Center)

European Tour Dates
May 13: Seville, Spain (Estadio Olimpico)
May 17: Barcelona, Spain (Estadio Olimpico Lluis)
May 18: Barcelona, Spain (Estadio Olimpico Lluis)
May 25: Frankfurt, Germany (Commerzbank Arena)
May 27: Cologne, Germany (RheinEnergieStadion)
May 28: Landgraaf, Netherlands (Pinkpop)
May 30: Berlin, Germany (Olympia Stadion)
June 2: San Sebastian, Spain (Estadio Anoeta)
June 3: Lisbon, Portugal (Rock in Lisbon)
June 7: Milan, Italy (Stadio Meaza)
June 10: Florence, Italy (Stadio Francesco)
June 11: Trieste, Italy (Stadio Trieste)
June 17: Madrid, Spain (Estadio Santago Bernabu)
June 19: Montpellier, France (Park & Suites Arena)
June 21: Sunderland, U.K. (Stadium of Light)
June 22: Manchester, U.K. (Etihad Stadium)
June 24: Isle of Wight, U.K. (Isle of Wight Festival)
July 4: Paris, France (Bercy)
July 5: Paris, France (Bercy)
July 7: Roskilde, Denmark (Roskilde Festival)
July 9: Zurich, Switzerland (Stadium Letzigrund)
July 11: Prague, Czech Republic (Synot Tip Arena)
July 12: Vienna, Austria (Ernst Happel Stadium)
July 14: London, U.K. (Hard Rock Calling)
July 17: Dublin, Ireland (RDS)
July 18: Dublin, Ireland (RDS)
July 21: Oslo, Norway (Valle Hoven)
July 23: Bergen, Norway (Koengen)
July 24: Bergen, Norway (Koengen)
July 27: Gothenberg, Sweden (Ullevi)
July 28: Gothenberg, Sweden (Ullevi)
July 31: Helsinki, Finland (Olympic Stadium)

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Love the facts!!!

By Dan on January 25, 2012 in

Oscar odds, ends, facts and figures

RECORD BREAKERS: A few of this year’s nominees are smashing records. “War Horse” producers Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy now share the record for most best picture nods. “The Iron Lady” actress Meryl Streep extended her lead as the most nominated performer with a 17th nomination. With his two original score nods for “The Adventures of Tintin” and “War Horse,” John Williams is now second only to Walt Disney as the most nominated person with 47 nods. (Disney was nominated 59 times.)

MATCH POINT: It might be time for Woody Allen, who has only attended the Academy Awards once, to make a return trip to the ceremony. With his “Midnight in Paris” writing and directing nominations, Allen passes Billy Wilder in becoming a seven-time double nominee for writing and directing on the same film. Allen’s nominations this year bring his total to 23 nods, second to composer John Williams. Allen was last nominated for best original screenplay for 2005′s “Match Point.”

BACK IN BLACK AND WHITE: “The Artist” is the 10th predominantly black-and-white film to be nominated for cinematography since 1967 when the separate black-and-white category was eliminated. The previous ten nominees were 2009′s “The White Ribbon,” 2005′s “Good Night, and Good Luck,” 2001′s “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” 1993′s “Schindler’s List” and 1983′s “Zelig,” 1981′s “Raging Bull,” ”1974′s “Lenny,” 1971′s “The Last Picture Show” and 1967′s “In Cold Blood.”

FIRST TIMERS: Gary Oldman and Jonah Hill now have at least one thing in common: They received their first Oscar nomination this year. In the acting categories, there are nine first-time nominees, including Melissa McCarthy, Rooney Mara, Jessica Chastain, Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo and Octavia Spencer. “Pina,” the tribute to late choreographer Pina Bausch from German director Wim Wenders, is the first 3-D film to be nominated in the feature documentary category.

CLOONEY SQUARED: For the second time, George Clooney has received nominations in two different categories for two different films in the same year. He’s up for his leading role in “The Descendants,” as well as best adapted screenplay for “Ides of March.” He won the best supporting actor trophy for “Syriana” and was nominated in the original screenplay category for “Good Night, and Good Luck” in 2005. He was also nominated as best director for “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

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Congrats to all the nominees!!

By Dan on January 24, 2012 in

84TH ACADEMY AWARDS® NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

Beverly Hills, CA – Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced today (Tuesday, January 24) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2010 Oscar® nominee Jennifer Lawrence.

Sherak and Lawrence, who was nominated for an Academy Award® for her lead performance in “Winter’s Bone,” announced the nominees in 10 of the 24 Award categories at a 5:38 a.m. PT live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives. Lists of nominations in all categories were then distributed to the media in attendance and online via the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com.

Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.

Nominations ballots were mailed to the 5,783 voting members in late December and were returned directly to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the international accounting firm, for tabulation.

Official screenings of all motion pictures with one or more nominations will begin for members this weekend at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings also will be held at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood and in London, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.

All active and life members of the Academy are eligible to select the winners in all categories, although in five of them – Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject and Foreign Language Film – members can vote only if they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Animated Feature Film
“A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
“Rango” Gore Verbinski

Art Direction
“The Artist” Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography
“The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
“Hugo” Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
“Anonymous” Lisy Christl
“The Artist” Mark Bridges
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
“W.E.” Arianne Phillips

Directing
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese
“Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
“The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)
“Hell and Back Again” Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Pina” Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated” TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad”James Spione
“Saving Face” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
“Bullhead” Belgium
“Footnote” Israel
“In Darkness” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
“A Separation” Iran

Makeup
“Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Iron Lady” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams

Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Picture
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)
“Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
“Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
“Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing
“Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
“Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

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Smart idea!!

By Dan on January 24, 2012 in

Razzies moved to April Fools’ Day

The organizers of the Golden Raspberry Awards have pushed back the annual ceremony by five weeks – because they couldn’t resist staging the prizegiving on April Fools’ Day for the first time.

The trophies, known as Razzies, are given to the worst movies of the year, and usually take place the day before the Academy Awards.

The 2012 Oscars are scheduled for February 26, but Razzie bosses are going against tradition to stage their ceremony on 1 April.

A statement reads, “John Wilson and Mo Murphy, co-owners of the Razzies, saw a unique opportunity to do something they’ve wanted to do since their awards were created in 1980: emphasise (its) comedic intent by unveiling the ‘winners’ of Tinsel Town’s Tackiest Trophy on April Fools’ Day.”

Nominations for the awards will be announced on February 25. Last year’s big winner at the mock prizegiving was M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender – it landed five trophies, including worst director.

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It is too bad!!

By Dan on January 24, 2012 in

CBC dismantling LP, CD archives

The CBC is quietly dismantling its archives of LPs and CDs across Canada – a cultural treasure trove built over decades – even as it prepares to launch a major new music service online.

With uncertainty over levels of funding from Ottawa, CBC management has told archivists to winnow the music collections at regional bureaus by the end of March. This could mean donating, selling or discarding thousands of records and CDs – a cost- and space-saving measure as recordings are increasingly digitized.

This is happening just as the CBC’s need for music could grow heavily, as the broadcaster gears up to introduce a number of new music channels streaming online, possibly as many as 35, sources familiar with the project say.

While CBC management would not confirm that a new service is in the works, sources say it is expected to provide a number of musical formats (one for Canadian rock, one for Canadian hip hop and so on) all accessible from one central CBC website.

Some CBC archivists see irony in the fact that they are being asked to dismantle regional record collections just as producers will be coming to them for music. Many old LPs won’t be digitized, they say, and producers and announcers won’t be able to hold the physical albums and see liner notes and information that can’t be fully captured in a database.

“We believe that they are jumping the gun quite a bit by doing this,” said archivist John MacMillan, who has spent much of his career looking after CBC Vancouver’s music library. “We understand that at some point the hard-copy collection would not be needed any more, and the usage of the CDs has gone down. But the content in this virtual music library – as it’s known – is still far below the needs of the users.”

There is also a risk, some fear, of losing some valuable recordings when such large collections – some with tens of thousands of titles – are broken up. As one archivist said, not for attribution, it’s a question of whether CBC management sees the collections as a valuable archive for Canadians or simply as a resource for CBC producers.

CBC spokesman Chris Ball said that the cull isn’t affecting its Toronto-based archive, and the CBC will continue to maintain an extensive physical collection. At the same time, he notes, the CBC has been relying less and less on CDs and albums and more on digitized music, like much of the industry. The broadcaster’s digitized library is said to already contain about 1.5 million titles.

“We’re going to look at what content has historic value, what has a programming value to us,” Ball said. “The goal here is that we are digitizing that content in the virtual music library. What that’s going to be able to do is give everybody across the country [in the CBC] desktop access to our entire music library.”

Out of the approximately 650,000 CDs housed in CBC bureaus, only 140,000 CDs are unique to those libraries. The rest are duplicates of discs already housed in Toronto, Ball said. Unique physical titles will be shipped to the CBC’s permanent collection in Toronto, which currently has about 135,000 unique CDs.

He added that the physical library will continue to add new discs. “This isn’t the end point. … We’re still going to support regional artists who want to provide us with their music,” he said.

So the push is now on not only to scour the bureaus’ collections for records to ship to Toronto, but to simultaneously digitize more of those titles. This isn’t expected to eliminate many, if any, jobs since most CBC archivists also maintain other collections, such as TV and radio archives.

CBC’s popular online Radio 3 service, which features new music and has a largely separate collection, is expected to integrate more of its library into the CBC’s larger digitalized music system.

So far, the dismantling of regional record collections only applies to the English-language side. The question is whether there’s enough time to input enough of the rare LPs into the virtual music library by the end of March, and how much of the information in the liner notes will be lost.

MacMillan acknowledges that this kind of information is not necessarily used every day. “But the point of this, and I think with any library, it’s there for next year or the year after when someone goes ‘Oh, how about …?’ and they can look up something that is here and readily available, something that iTunes just will never have, ever,” he said.

The collection in Vancouver, for instance, has an unusually large array of South American titles and other music from around the world. These could be viewed as extraneous when the collection is dismantled. It also has a large number of 78-rpm records and Edisons (early 78s recorded without amplifiers or microphones).

“I can think of one or two collectors in Vancouver who would love to have them and preserve them,” MacMillan said. “Some records are in such poor shape that they may have to be thrown out. But [with] much of it, we would endeavour to try to save it as best we could and to make sure it went into a collector’s hands or [to] a university.”

He added that “it is a time-consuming process to go through, to make sure that we’re not tossing something away that doesn’t exist in a modern format … The thing about this that is most rankling to me is that, sure, we knew that this had to happen. But it is happening way too fast.”

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