Box Office Hell — November 19

Our pundits agree: Part One of the final installment in the Harry Potter franchise should easily stupefy the competition for the top box office slot this weekend. Meanwhile, Megamind and Unstoppable will have to battle it out for second place.

1,000 Monkeys: The Real Things

These are the things, now that I am 42 and on the other side of scary illness with life smelling sweet again, and with the days and months and years of my childrens’ childhoods slipping past me ever faster, that I ponder when I pause to consider where my life is now, and who I am and aspire to be. Frankly, they are not, generally, the kind of things you tend to think of in your lean and hungry 20s or 30s, when work seems to be all that matters. But at 42, I’ve learned the wisdom of the words Socrates wrote so long ago: “Beware the barrenness of the busy life.”

15 Weeks To Oscar: Don’t You Forget About Me

There are a lot of good films in the Oscar race this year… but here is a list of five that feel like their Best Picture hopes may be fading away and not only deserve consideration, but could be an embarrassment to The Academy if not given a full hearing and some nods.

Interview: In Arm’s Way With Danny Boyle

In 127 Hours, Danny Boyle doesn’t present Aron Ralston as any kind of idealist of the great outdoors, or as a man surmounting the wilderness. Rather, the climbing enthusiast who was trapped for days in a Utah canyon by a fallen boulder is a blithe young man who may have reached the limits of his…

The DVD Wrap: The Kids Are All Right, Modern Times, Avatar Three-Disc Extended Collector’s Edition: Blu-ray, Cher: The Film Collection … and more

The Kids Are All Right It’s been 21 years since the publication of Heather Has Two Mommies, a book the mommies in The Kids Are All Right might have read to their own children. The controversy that little book sparked in 1989 had already turned into a giant shit storm when Lisa Cholodenko’s observant family…

MW on Movies: Avatar, Modern Times, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Apocalypse Now/Apocalypse Now Redux

   PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW Avatar (Three Disc Extended Edition Blu-ray Digital DVD Combo) (Four Stars) U. S.; James Cameron, 2009 (Fox) Avatar, James Cameron’s` planet-shaking, moon-rocking, eco-worshipping, dragon-riding new science fiction fantasy epic-and-a-half, may not be a perfect movie. But it’s sure as hell an incredible experience. It‘s a genre-movie knockout, a cinematic…

Gurus o’ Gold – November 16, 2010

The Gurus have landed on their regular weekly date, Tuesday, but no changes in Best Picture since last week. But they are looking at the Supporting Acting races, with veterans up front and a youthful newcomer in each category. Plus, they look at the Globes’ Best Comedy/Musical race, offering 18 possible candidates.

Frenzy on the Wall: How About Some Awards Buzz for These Guys?

Every year around this time, the award-season storylines begin to take shape. You see, like in politics, it’s not always the best candidate or film that gets awarded, it’s usually the one with the best publicity, the best “story.” When Best Picture actually goes to the best film, all it means is that the best…

Weekend Box Office Report – November 14

Take the A Train The animated Megamind with an estimated gross of $29.9 million again topped the weekend viewing charts despite a trio of new contenders in the marketplace. Second on the rails was the kinetic Unstoppable with $23.2 million while the District 9 homage Skyline slotted fourth with $11.5 million and echoes of Broadcast…

Friday Estimates – November 13

Unstoppable wasn’t quite a runaway boxoffice train, but did speed past Megamind Other newcomers Skyline and Morning Glory opened to the fourth and fifth slots on Friday.

Gurus o’ Gold – November 12, 2010

Not much movement by The Gurus on Best Picture, though Hereafter, How Do Yo Know and Secretariat have fallen from the chart. Also this week, a look at Best Director and the Animation category… we rank 5, though the category may only manage 3 nominees.

MW on Movies: Unstoppable and Saw 3D

Unstoppable (Four Stars) U.S.: Tony Scott, 2010 Unstoppable, a blow-you-out-of-your seat and slam-you-against-the-wall thriller about a runaway train — by Tony Scott, who knows how to make action movies, but rarely makes them this well — starts strong, hits the tracks fast, tears out the brakes, takes off like a shot, and then just keeps…

Box Office Hell — November 11

This week our pundits appear to be in agreement on the staying power of Megamind, with the unscreened sci-fi thriller Skyline duking it out with Denzel Washington’s Unstoppable star power for second place in the frame.

The Social Network, actors Jesse Eisenberg & Andrew Garfield

DP/30 – The yin and the yang of The Social Network, two young actors, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield talk about the film, their careers, and a life in show business as they sat for a chat at the Pacific Design Center.

16 Weeks To Oscar – The Ongoing Story Of 10

The difference between being “in” and being “out” is, in most cases, no less dramatic or emotional for Academy nominees than for Project Runway contestants. A Best Picture nomination would significantly change the financial life of many films, if not in theatrical release, in DVD and other ancillary markets. But even more so, it would elevate the filmmakers and actors involved with those films, even though they all have serious credentials going in.

Digital Nation: Four Lions

Besides December 7, 1941, two other dates will live in infamy as long as wars against tyranny are fought. Americans will continue to mark September 11, 2001, for as long as there are people who can recall the sight of New York’s World Trade Center crumbling into ash and dust. For Britons still wary of…

Review: Morning Glory

The heart of this film shoulda/coulda been McAdams, deeply connected to classic TV news, but forced to pander in Morning Show World because that is the only place she can get a job, a little lost in the pandering, perhaps forgetting what really makes her happy. Ford is the symbol of excellence and a lost generation of news thinkers. He’s lost his job and his sense of perspective as well. Paring the two up will be rocky, but they will fight and give up and fight some more to find a balance that allows him self-respect and raises her to the top of a generation that can barely remember when The News was THE NEWS.

But it’s not that.

The DVD Wrap: Antichrist, The Elia Kazan Collection, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Grown Ups … and more

Antichrist: The Criterion Collection Controversies that erupt at film festivals, Cannes especially, practically define what it means to stir “a tempest in a teapot.” For two weeks, the upper crust of the international film community – and way too many crusty critics – come together for the sole purpose of promoting cinema and themselves. The…

MW on DVDs: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Chaplin at Keystone, Moulin Rouge … and more

PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Three Stars) U.S.; Edgar Wright, 2010 Oh, to be a kid again. To feel the juices and saps running madly, to get wildly excited about comic books and top ten hit-lists and about the last good new teen movie you saw (the whole canon from…

DVD Geek: Frozen

—‘I would take my skis and wrap them around the cable, upside-down, and I would reverse-helicopter down to safety.’ Or, ‘I would take my pole and I would vault to the next chair, till I could get to safety.’ It’s hilarious how everybody became Indiana Jones or Spider-Man. ‘Oh, it’s only fifty feet. I would just jump.’”