Gurus o’ Gold – The Final Ballot, pt 2 of 3

We got your doc categories, your editor, your music, your make-up, your foreign language, and your animated short.

Gurus o’ Gold – The Final Ballot, pt 1 of 3

The Gurus are handing in their final ballots in all categories. Any big changes? Well, one category in the Top 8 has a new leader. And a few races have tightened up. The campaigns that have attacked Phase II aggressively have made some inroads, at least with The Gurus. More categories tomorrow…

The DVD Wrap: Unstoppable, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, All the President’s Men, Network, William S. Burroughs: A Man Within …

Unstoppable: Blu-ray Few directors and producers are as adept at making high-octane thrillers as Tony Scott. Like Goose and Maverick in Scott’s first blockbuster, Top Gun, the 66-year-old Brit has a chronic need for speed, and Unstoppable nicely fills the bill, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Deja Vu, Days of Thunder and Enemy…

The Weekend Report – February 13

It was Sandler by a nose over the teen sensation. The rom-com Just Go With It emerged with an estimated $30.8 million while the 3D concert film Justin Bieber: Never Say Never was right behind with $30.4 million. In a session energized by new releases the animated Gnomeo and Juliet charted third with $25.3 million and the Gladiator-lite The Eagle slotted in position five with a drab $8.3 million.

Friday Estimates – February 11, 2011

How bad a case of Bieber Fever has America caught? Did they Go With It or leave Adam Sandler looking like a supermodel without a Brazilian? Did the kids get the pun or did they think Gnomeo was Travelocity: the Movie? That and more in the Friday Estimates.

Analysis of the Friday numbers by David Poland can be read here.

“How To Kill The Academy” by The Hollywood Reporter

I have always read Stephen Galloway with respect. Seems like a smart guy. But in the new Hollywood Reporter, his offering suggests that he doesn’t have much of a grasp of what The Academy is or what other similar institutions in this town have suffered over recent years. He blithely offers “10 Easy Tips” –…

Wilmington on Movies: The Eagle, Gnomeo and Juliet

“That’s what the best of The Eagle gives us. As a twelve year old, I know I would have liked it, maybe loved it. And that twelve-year-old is still somewhere inside me as I watch it now, applauding and yearning for a swift horse, the wild frontier and the beautiful, stormy territory ahead.”

Gnomeo & Juliet – “I never thought I’d say it, but Michael Caine and Maggie Smith make pretty good lawn ornaments.”

Box Office Hell — February 10

This pre-Valentine’s Day weekend, our box office pundits predict box office gold — or at least a box of chocolates — for the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston rom-com Just Go With It. Looking to grab second place is the Justin Bieber flick, Never Say Never, which is getting some surprisingly positive buzz, and would play well to the “I heart Justin Bieber” fan base even if it didn’t. Gnomeo and Juliet plays for the younger set, but may have a hard time challenging the power of The Bieber.

17 Days To Oscar: Just Keep Swimming

In the end, after all the shouting, it is about The Movie and The Academy Demographic. It is forever tempting to see The Academy as a monolith. It’s not. 5800 people is a lot of people. But the basic principles of movie marketing apply. Flukes happen, but there are movies that appeal to certain demographics and not to others. And The Academy, big as it is, has certain kinds of taste.

Gurus o’ Gold: Has Anything Changed This Week?

As voting continues, The Gurus are asked, “Anything? Anything?”

And the answer is…

How HuffPaOl Could Force Media Walls To Be Raised

I hear, “The monarchy is not without its problems, but it’s here to stay, so the peasants need to come to terms with me living in obscene luxury based on their hard work and them living without even bread to eat. Let them eat cake.”

Of course, the “peasants” that this princess is raping to pay for her bubble baths are major companies, like the New York Times, News Corp, etc.

The AOL Way: Insert Keywords, Barf Out “Content”

Update: I just added a response from Cinematical’s Deputy Editor Scott Weinberg, below. Over on The Daily Beast, Dan Lyons offers a scathing analysis of the AOL/Huffington Post merger. Lyons quotes Gawker Media’s Nick Denton, who asked the question: “Is this a fearsome Internet conglomerate or simply a roach motel for once lively websites?”

Wilmington on DVD: From Tillman to Amarcord

This week, Mike’s New Picks are The Tillman Story and Kore-eda’s Still Walking, the Classic Pick is Amarcord, the Blu-Ray pick is Broadcast News, the Box Set is Alien Anthology, and his Knock Of The Week is Paranormal Activity 2. Plus reviews of The Princess & The Frog, Life As We Know It, and You Again.

The DVD Wrap: Enter the Void, Life as We Know It, You Again, The Girl, Hideaway, Thelma and Louise …

Enter the Void Even after reading what critics had to say about Gasper Noe’s latest provocation, “Enter the Void,” it was difficult for me to foresee just how exhilarating an experience it might be. Reviewers compared the film’s audacious visual conceit to the mind-boggling head trip conjured by Stanley Kubrick for the “Stargate” and “Star…

Why Are So Many Films for (Insert Group of Your Choice) Bad?

For most of America, there’s clearly not a huge interest in films that seek to inform, or even to entertain in intelligent ways. If there were, folks, all the good films we just saw at Sundance — and there were a lot of them this year — would have no trouble finding a distributor and an audience, while the latest special-effects extravaganza would flounder so desperately for box office bang that no such sequels would ever be greenlit.

The Weekend Report – February 6

The debut of The Roommate led an anemic field at the weekend box office with an estimated $15.5 million. Second ranked was another newcomer – the 3D adventure Sanctum – with a disappointing $9.2 million.

Friday Estimates — February 5

This weekend it’s all about digging out of snowstorms and the Packers and Steelers, who are playing in some big game everyone seems to be excited about. Nonetheless, a few folks ventured out, as The Roommate is leading Sanctum on a boring box office weekend. Rom-com No Strings Attached should continue to garner some bank from football widows (or widowers, let’s not be gender-ist). The King’s Speech, now leading the Oscar pack, continues to perform best among awards contenders.

Wilmington on Movies: Sanctum, The Mechanic and Inspector Bellamy

Sanctum (One and a Half Stars) U.S./Australian: Alister Grierson, 2011 In Sanctum, a terrible movie shot in an amazing natural wonder, six hapless characters/explorers, mostly Australian, are trapped in the Esa-Ala caves of Papua, New Guinea. Those Esa-Ala caves, at least, are really something. One of the world‘s largest underground cave systems, they’re captured here…

Gurus o’ Gold – February 3, 2011

This week, the Gurus offer their view of the Best Picture race. (Not much happening there.)

Also, what are the most likely upsets on the big night? You’ll have to look for yourselves, but ladies first.

Box Office Hell — February 3

No one’s anticipating a box office touchdown this Superbowl weekend, as a couple of newcomers vie for the top of a lackluster heap. Oscar front-runner The King’s Speech and No Strings Attached, with its chick appeal, stand to benefit most from those wishing to escape bowl game craziness.