Popcorn 'N Roses

AWARDS - Satellite Award nominations full of surprises

The Intl. Press Academy has announced the nominees for the 2007 Satellite Awards, which acknowledge achievements in film, television, DVD and new media. The 12th annual ceremony will be held Dec. 16 in Century City, with awards going out in 49 categories.

And the film nominees are...

ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
Julie Christie, "Away From Her" (Lionsgate)
Angelina Jolie, "A Mighty Heart" (Paramount Vantage)
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Tilda Swinton, "Stephanie Daley" (Regent Releasing)
Keira Knightly, "Atonement" (Focus Features)
Laura Linney, "The Savages" (Fox Searchlight)

ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
Denzel Washington, "American Gangster" (Universal Pictures)
Josh Brolin, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
Christian Bale, "Rescue Dawn" (MGM)
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)
Frank Langella, "Starting Out in the Evening"(Roadside Attractions)
Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah" (Warner Independent Pictures)

ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Katherine Heigl, "Knocked Up" (Universal Pictures)
Amy Adams, "Enchanted" (Walt Disney Pictures)
Ellen Page, "Juno" (Fox Searchlight)
Emily Mortimer, "Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM)
Nicole Kidman, "Margot at the Wedding" (Paramount Vantage)
Cate Blanchett, "I’m Not There" (The Weinstein Company)

ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Richard Gere, "The Hoax" Miramax
Seth Rogen, "Knocked Up" (Universal Pictures)
Ben Kingsley You Kill Me Ifc Films
Ryan Gosling, "Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM)
Clive Owen, "Shoot ‘Em Up" (New Line Cinema)
Don Cheadle, "Talk to Me" (Focus Features)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement" (Focus Features)
Emmanuelle Seigner, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone" (Miramax Films)
Taraji P. Henson "Talk to Me" (Focus Features)
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster" (Universal Pictures)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jeff Daniels, "The Lookout" (Miramax Films)
Brian Cox, "Zodiac" (Paramount Pictures)
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Ben Foster, "3:10 To Yuma" (Lionsgate)
Javier Bardem, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jessie James" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
"The Lookout" Miramax
"Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead" (ThinkFilm)
"Away From Her" (Lionsgate)
"Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)
"No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
"3:10 To Yuma" (Lionsgate)

MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
"Hairspray" (New Line Cinema)
"Juno"(Fox Searchlight)
"Shoot ‘Em Up" (New Line Cinema)
"Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM)
"Knocked Up" (Universal Pictures)More than one option(Film) Hairspray
1988 - Sonny Bono, John Waters
(Film) Hairspray

MOTION PICTURE, FOREIGN LANGUAGE
"Ten Canoes" Australia (Palm Pictures)
"Offside Iran" (Sony Pictures Classics)
"La Vie En Rose" France (Picturehouse Entertainment)
"Lust, Caution" China (Focus Features)
"4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days" Romania Ifc Films
"The Orphanage" Spain (Picturehouse Entertainment)
"Margot at the Wedding" (Paramount Vantage)

MOTION PICTURE, ANIMATED OR MIXED MEDIA
"Persepolis" (Sony Pictures Classics)
"The Simpsons Movie" Twentieth Century Fox
"The Golden" Compass (New Line Cinema)
""Ratatouille"" (Buena Vista Pictures)
"300" Warner Brothers
"Beowulf" (Paramount Pictures)

MOTION PICTURE, DOCUMENTARY
"The King Of Kong" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
"The 11th Hour Warner" (Independent Pictures)
"Sicko" (Lionsgate)
"No End In Sight"(Magnolia Pictures)
"Darfur Now Warner" (Independent Pictures)
"Lake Of Fire" (ThinkFilm)

DIRECTOR
Ang Lee, "Lust, Caution" (Focus Features)
Olivier Dahan, "La Vie En Rose" (Picture House Entertainment)
David Cronenberg, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
Sidney Lumet, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (ThinkFilm)
Sarah Polley, "Away From Her" (Lionsgate)

SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL
Scott Frank, "The Lookout" (Miramax Films)
Diablo Cody, "Juno" (Fox Searchlight)
Kelly Masterson, "Before the Devil Knows You’Re Dead" (ThinkFilm)
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Nancy Oliver,"Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM)
Steven Knight, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)

SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED
James Vanderbilt, "Zodiac" (Paramount Pictures)
Christopher Hampton "Atonement" (Focus Features)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
David Benioff, "The Kite Runner" (Paramount Vantage)
Sarah Polley,"Away From Her" (Lionsgate)
Wang Hui Ling, James Schamus,"Lust, Caution" (Focus Features)

ORIGINAL SCORE
Dario Marianelli, "Atonement" (Focus Features)
James Newton Howard, "The Lookout" (Miramax Films)
Michael Giacchino, "Ratatouille" (Buena Vista Pictures)
Alberto Iglesias, "The Kite Runner" (Paramount Vantage)
Howard Shore, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)
Nick Cave, "The Assassination of Jesse James" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

ORIGINAL SONG
"Do You Feel Me"/Diane Warren, "American Gangster" (Universal Pictures)
"If You Want Me"/Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, "Once" (Fox Searchlight)
"Come So Far"/Marc Shaiman, "Hairspray" (New Line Cinema)
"Rise"/Eddie Vedder, "Into The Wild" (Paramount Vantage)
"Grace Is Gone"/Clint Eastwood & Carole Bayer Sager, "Grace Is Gone" (The Weinstein Company)
"Lyra"/Kate Bush, "The Golden Compass" (New Line Cinema)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Harris Savides, "Zodiac" (Paramount Pictures)
Robert Elswit, "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage)
Bruno Delbonnel, "Across The Universe" (Revolution Studios)
Janusz Kaminski, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax Films)
Roger Deakins, "The Assassination Of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Henry Braham, "The Golden Compass" (New Line Cinema)

VISUAL EFFECTS
Scott Farrar, "Transformers" (Paramount Pictures)
Michael Fink, "The Golden Compass" (New Line Cinema)
Chris Watts, Grant Freckelton, Derek Wentworth, Daniel Leduc, "300" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Peter Chiang, Charlie Noble, David Vickery, Mattias Lindahl, "The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal Pictures)
Thomas Schelesny, Matt Jacobs, Tom Gibbons, "Enchanted" (Walt Disney Pictures)
Jerome Chen, Sean Phillips, Kenn Mc Donald, Michael Lantieri, "Beowulf" (Paramount Pictures)

FILM EDITING
Pietro Scalia, "American Gangster" (Universal Pictures)
Jill Savitt, "The Lookout" (Miramax)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax)
Richard Marizy, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Christopher Rouse, "The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal Pictures)
Ronald Sanders, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)

SOUND (EDITING & MIXING)
Mike Prestwood-Smith, Mark Taylor, Glenn Freemantle, "The Golden Compass" (New Line Cinema)
Nikolas Javelle, Jean-Paul Hurier, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Christopher Boyes, Paul Massey, Lee Orloff, George Watters II, "Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’S End" (Buena Vista Pictures)
Scott Heckler, Eric Norris, Derek Vanderhorst, "300" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Karen Baker Landers, Kirk Francis, Per Hallberg, "The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal Pictures)
Tod Maitland, Skip Lievsay, Rick Kline, Jeremy Peirson, "I Am Legend" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

ART DIRECTION & PRODUCTION DESIGN
Guy Dyas, David Allday, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal Pictures)
Patricia Norris, Martin Gendron, Troy Sizemore, "The Assassination Of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Dennis Davenport, David Gropman, "Hairspray" (New Line Cinema)
Mark Tildesley, "Sunshine" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Gary Freeman, Stephen Morahan, Denis Schnegg, David Allday, Matthew Gray, Charles Wood, "Amazing Grace" (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Mark Friedberg, Peter Rogness, "Across the Universe" (Revolution Studios)

COSTUME DESIGN
Alexandra Byrne, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal Pictures)
Yvonne Blake, "Goya’S Ghosts" (Samuel Goldwyn Pictures)
Marit Allen, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Rita Ryack, "Hairspray" (New Line Cinema)
Jenny Beavan, "Amazing Grace" (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Jacqueline Durran, "Antonement" (Focus Features)

SPECIAL AWARDS

BEST ENSEMBLE, MOTION PICTURE
"Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead"

MARY PICKFORD AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
Kathy Bates

NIKOLA TESLA AWARD IN RECOGNITION FOR VISIONARY ACHIEVEMENTS IN FILMMAKING TECHNOLOGY
Dennis Muren

AUTEUR AWARD
Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell And The Butterfly"

AWARDS - "Into The Wild", "Sicko" top Gotham Awards

The 2007 Gotham Awards were handed out last evening at the annual event in New York City.

2007 GOTHAM AWARD WINNERS:

Best Feature - "Into The Wild"

Best Documentary - "Sicko"

Breakthrough Director - Craig Zobel, "The Great World Of Sound"

Breakthrough Actor - Ellen Page, "Juno"

Best Ensemble Cast (tie) - "Talk To Me" and "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead"

Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You - "Frownland"

The annual awards are awarded by IFP, the largest independent filmmakers network, connecting talent and the film industry together.

Castroneves takes the checkered flag on "Dancing With The Stars"

Two time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves took home the "coveted" mirror ball trophy in the finals of this season's "Dancing With The Stars"

Castroneves and partner Julianne Hough bested Spice Girl Mel B and partner Maksum Chmerkovskiy after Monday nights' final.

Marie Osmond and partner Jonathan Roberts were eliminated early on Tuesday's final results show, taking third place.

Castroneves and Mel B were neck and neck in the finals on Monday, with the Brazilian race car driver sitting just one point behind the Spice Girl after the judges were through with their scoring.

Many fans (and some insiders) think Chmerkovskiy may have cost Mel B - the frontrunner for most of the season after the shocking elimination of Sabrina Bryan a few weeks back -  the title after the syndicated entertainment news show Extra aired a controversal interview on Monday with the pro dancer where he trashed Marie Osmond as not deserving to be in the finals, and basically coming across like a major jerk. While some fans jumped to Maks' defense, most people posting comments on Extra's site following the interview felt that Maks was out of line for criticizing Osmond, who he said was capturing the sympathy vote after a season which found the 48 year old singer fainting during a live show, losing her father suddenly and dealing with the burdens of having her 16 year old son enter rehab. Fans were particularly angry that Chmerkovskiy compared the fact that Mel B's year old child had chicken pox during the show's run to the problems which beset both Osmond and fellow competitor Jane Seymour, who also lost her mother during the run of the show.

The win makes two in a row for Hough, the 19 year old professional dancer teamed with Castroneves - Hough took Olympic gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno to the trophy last season.

Congrats to Helio and Julianne!

AWARDS: 2008 Independent Spirit Awards - The Nominees

Nominees for the 2008 Spirit Awards were announced the morning of Tuesday, November 27. They are:

2008 SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS by category

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer - Executive Producers are not listed)

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Kilik

I'm Not There
Producers: Christine Vachon, John Sloss, John Goldwyn, James D. Stern

Juno
Producers: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Mason Novick, Russell Smith

A Mighty Heart
Producers: Dede Gardner, Andrew Eaton, Brad Pitt

Paranoid Park
Producers: Neil Kopp, David Cress

BEST DIRECTOR

Todd Haynes, I'm Not There
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Jason Reitman, Juno
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)

2 Days in Paris
Director: Julie Delpy
Producers: Julie Delpy, Christophe Mazodier, Thierry Potok

Great World of Sound
Director: Craig Zobel
Producers: Melissa Palmer, David Gordon Green, Richard Wright, Craig Zobel

The Lookout
Director: Scott Frank
Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Laurence Mark, Walter Parkes

Rocket Science
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Producers: Effie T. Brown, Sean Welch

Vanaja
Director: Rajnesh Domalpalli
Producer: Latha R. Domalapalli

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000;
award given to the writer, director, and producer - Executive Producers are not listed)

August Evening
Writer/Directpr: Chris Eska
Producers: Connie Hill, Jason Wehling

Owl and the Sparrow
Writer/Director: Stephane Gauger
Producers: Nguyen Van Quan, Doan Nhat Nam, Stephane Gauger

The Pool
Director: Chris Smith
Producer: Kate Noble
Writer: Chris Smith & Randy Russell

Quiet City
Director: Aaron Katz
Producers: Brendan McFadden, Ben Stambler
Writers: Aaron Katz, Erin Fisher, Cris Lankenau

Shotgun Stories
Writer/Director: Jeff Nichols
Producers: David Gordon Green, Lisa Muskat, Jeff Nichols

BEST SCREENPLAY

Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner, Starting Out in the Evening
Adrienne Shelly, Waitress
Mike White, Year of the Dog

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Jeffrey Blitz, Rocket Science
Zoe Cassavetes, Broken English
Diablo Cody, Juno
Kelly Masterson, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
John Orloff, A Mighty Heart

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Sienna Miller, Interview
Ellen Page, Juno
Parker Posey, Broken English
Tang Wei, Lust, Caution

BEST MALE LEAD

Pedro Castaneda, August Evening
Don Cheadle, Talk To Me
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
Frank Langella, Starting Out in the Evening
Tony Leung, Lust, Caution

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Anna Kendrick, Rocket Science
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Margot at the Wedding
Tamara Podemski, Four Sheets to the Wind
Marisa Tomei, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Talk To Me
Marcus Carl Franklin, I'm Not There
Kene Holliday, Great World of Sound
Irrfan Khan, The Namesake
Steve Zahn, Rescue Dawn

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Mott Hupfel, The Savages
Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Milton Kam, Vanaja
Mihai Malaimare, Jr., Youth Without Youth
Rodrigo Prieto, Lust, Caution

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)

Crazy Love
Director: Dan Klores

Lake of Fire
Director: Tony Kaye

Manufactured Landscapes
Director: Jennifer Baichwal

The Monastery
Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær

The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair
Directors: Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker

BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Director: Cristian Mungiu
(Romania)

The Band's Visit
Director: Eran Kolirin
(Israel)

Lady Chatterley
Director: Pascale Ferran
(France)

Once
Director: John Carney
(Ireland)

Persepolis
Directors: Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi
(France)

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film's director, casting director and its ensemble cast)
I'm Not There
Director: Todd Haynes
Casting Director: Laura Rosenthal
Ensemble Cast: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood

IFC/Acura Someone to Watch Award
The 14th annual IFC/Acura Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

Ramin Bahrani, director of Chop Shop
Ronnie Bronstein, director of Frownland
Lee Isaac Chung, director of Munyurangabo

Truer Than Fiction Award
The 12th annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant attention.

Laura Dunn for The Unforeseen
Gary Hustwit for Helvetica
John Maringouin for Running Stumbled

Producers Award
The 11th annual Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films.

Anne Clements, producer of Ping Pong Playa and Quinceañera
Alexis Ferris, producer of Cthulhu and Police Beat
Neil Kopp, producer of Paranoid Park and Old Joy

***

All in all an interesting and eclectic group of films. Still, some major stunners among the bunch, the biggest of which is perhaps the unbelievable and almost complete shutout of the year's most successful indie, Waitress, with the exception of the nomination for the late Adrienne Shelly for Best Screenplay.

And Gus Van Zant's Paranoid Park grabbed two top nominations, Best Feature and Best Director, despite fairly scathing reviews at Sundance last January. A couple people I know have seen it, and they're split on it - one loved it, one hated it. So it's not a cut and dried piece of work. As a voter in the Spirit Awards, I am glad it got nominated because i've wanted to see it since Sundance - if skateboarding is involved, i'm interested, despite Wassup Rockers in 2006 - and now i'll have the chance to see it before it comes out next March.

I'm also disapponted, that Wristcutters: A Love Story was shut out, but that was to be expected, as it was submitted while on the festival circuit and landed a first time director nomination for Goran Dukic last year. But I was hoping that Fierce People would get something out of it, but alas, it was not to be.

The 2008 Spirit Awards will be handed out on the beach in Santa Monica, live on Saturday, February 23, 2008, one day before the 2008 Academy Awards.

Stay tuned to PNR throughout awards season as we bring you all the nominations and best of lists as the awards season ramps up!

Subject:CINEMA #85 - "Madcap Mayhem - The All-Star Movies"

This week, Kim and TC discuss the all-star slapstick comedies.

THE SHOW: Kim and TC take a look at the old fashioned screwball all-star comedies, and name a few more recent ones as well. Plus, this week's Callback with all kinds of site goodies, and the Bonehead Of The Week, which marks the first time the same person has been awarded the Bonehead twice for the same thing, but with a later statement. And it could only be ONE person...you STAR TREK fans will know what we mean... And in response to a letter from a listener, TC and Kim discuss how far is too far for a movie critic to go, and why the Boston Globe's Ty Burr went way way WAAAAAY too far when he revealed the complete surprise ending of Stephen King's The Mist in his review last week, spoiler alert or not. Finally, Awards Season is HERE!! You'll get this year's first Year-End awards list from Paste Magazine, and a review of another concert starring the Swell Season - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of the indie smash "Once".

NEXT WEEK: My So-Called Life? Mocumentaries At The Movies!

A Fun Movie Meme for everyone...

Chlotrudis director Michael Colford made reference in his weekly e-mail newsletter to a movie meme that a number of Chlotrudis members have taken and posted, so I thought we'd do the same. If anyone cares to copy the questions and send me the answers at subjectcinema@popcornnroses.com i'll post this weekend on the site!

So anyone, here are MY answers!

1.Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times.
Encino Man, First Monday IN October, Star Trek II, The Wizard Of Oz, Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, Lords Of Dogtown, Hero

2.Name a movie that you’ve seen multiple times in the theater.
In order of number of times...Encino Man (8 - OK, so SUE ME, it's funny!); The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (6); Happy Feet, Clerks II, Hero (4)

3.Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie.
Michael Angarano, Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Jamie Bell, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Patrick Fugit

4.Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie.
Tom Cruise, Ben Affleck

5.Name a movie that you can and do quote from.
My mind is foggy and I can pull random quotes from lots of movies, but I can't quote just one...maybe Clerks II...

6.Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs.
Newsies, Hairspray, Grease, Rent

7.Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.
See above

8.Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see.
EVERYONE - Hairspray; EVERYONE (adults): Wristcutters:A Love Story

9.Name a movie that you own.
Dozens of them - all kinds of stuff from Happy Feet to Koyaanisqatsi to Encino Man to Pan's Labrynth and everything in-between

10.Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.
I can't think of anyone, but because I'm a fan and I like his companies' movie parodies, I'll say two time Olympic men's snowboarding silver medal winner Danny Kass - Smell The Glove and Revenge Of The Grenerds are HILARIOUS...oh, yeah, and there's The Rock too...

11.Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what?
Dozens of them when I was little, I have memories of seeing movies from WIld Angels to The Green Slime to Mary Poppins at the drivein

12.Ever made out in a movie?
No, but necking is definately a yes!

13.Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven’t yet gotten around to it.
How long do you have? Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and tons of others

14.Ever walked out of a movie?
Not that I can remember

15.Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.
Hero, Happy Feet, March Of The Penguins

16.What’s the last movie you saw in the theater?
Beowulf

17.What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie?
I like everything, but indies are really getting under my skin lately, no matter what they're about

18.What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
In an actual sit-down movie theater it was A Boy Named Charlie Brown at the Cine' One (now demolished) in Newark Ohio - I was six

19.What movie do you wish you had never seen?
The Ackyroyd/Belushi mess Neighbors - the worst waste of 100 minutes in cinematic history - there's not even anything worth riffing on...it's just BAD!

20.What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?
Weird movie - Koyaanisqatsi
Weird Taste - Encino Man

21.What is the scariest movie you’ve seen?
I don't like scary films, but I remember being terrified by The Birds when I was a kid...now it's one of my favorite Hitchcock movies.

22.What is the funniest movie you’ve seen?
I think this is awfully hard to say, since I love a lot of comedies - i'll have to say as far as in terms of laugh long and loud content, it has to be Clerks II and Young Frankenstein

Hope everyone has fun doing it too!

Subject:CINEMA #84 - "Pass The Turkey - An Onscreen Banquet Of Food!"

On this mid-week edition, we celebrate Thanksgiving by discussing food in the movies - be warned, don't eat or have a full stomach while you're listening to segment five, or you'll regret it...

THE SHOW - Kim and TC discuss all things food in the movies...and be warned as above, do NOT listen to segment five with a full stomach or while eating...you'll regret it...heh heh heh...

See you Saturday with "Madcap Mayhem!"

AWARDS SEASON IS HERE! Paste Magazine names "Juno" Best Picture Of The Year

Awards season has officially arrived for 2007, and Paste Magazine gets the honor of the first "Best Of" list of 2007.

Paste names Jason Reitman's "Juno" as best picture. "Juno", starring PNR 2006 Rising Star Ellen Page as a pregnant teen who arranges to give her baby up for adoption to a childless couple (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), was the hit of the Toronto Film Festival this year. The movie opens nationally on December 14th.

Paste has named Viggo Mortensen as best actor for "Eastern Promises"; Julie Christie has been named best actress for "Away From Her"; Best Ensemble goes to the cast of "Before The Devil Knows Your Dead"; David Cronenberg snagged Paste's best director for "Eastern Promises"; Diablo Cody picks up best screenplay for "Juno", and their annual "Originality Of Vision" award went to Julie Taymor and her voyage through the Vietnam era via Beatles music, "Across The Universe"

Paste's Top 10 Movies:

1. Juno

2. Once

3. Eastern Promises

4. Away From Her

5. Margot At The Wedding

6. Michael Clayton

7. The Wind That Shakes The Barley

8. No Country For Old Men

9. The Kite Runner

10. Syndromes And A Century

The full list of Paste's top 50 movies (which inexplicably does NOT include Wristcutters: A Love Story or Fierce People, grumble grumble) is available in the December issue, and on their website at http://pastemagazine.com. If you're unfamiliar with Paste, I highly recommend it - it's the music and movie equivilant to foods Saveur magazine, with a unique perspective on entertainment. It's my absolute favorite multi-coverage entertainment magazine, and the only one of it's kind I have a subby to.

This is only the beginning, folks....many many MANY more will be coming in the weeks and months ahead...stay tuned to Popcorn N Roses and Subject:CINEMA for complete coverage of the 2007 Awards season!

Slight delay on midweek S:C

Due to a couple of problems with my editing program that i'm getting worked out, it looks as though the mid-week edition of Subject:CINEMA scheduled for today will actually make it's appearance sometime on Thursday or Friday. I apologize for the delay.

In the meantime, have a GREAT THANKSGIVING!

Subject:CINEMA #83 - "Mini-Glorious-Movies - The MGM Cartoon Stars!"

This week, Kim and TC Get a little long winded (we ran about 10 minutes over) discussing the MGM Cartoon Stars!

THE SHOW: We discuss all the MGM stars, plus our usual antics, and complete reviews of Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium and Beowulf in Digital 3-D!

Of Vulcans And Robots...OR...JJ and Michael, GET A CLUE!

Two of the biggest movie projects for the next two years are gearing up for war with the fans.

Star Trek (release date scheduled for Christmas Day 2008) and Transformers II (scheduled release date June 26, 2009) are two of the most highly anticipated movies of the next 24 months. But are the people in charge of them actually setting themselves up for a fall?

Michael Bay declared war with the fans earlier this week in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, where he said the following:

"One thing I do know is I know how to screw them up more. We're going to leak a lot of false information all over the place. I now know their game. They're going to get a lot of script treatments that they think are going to be the script. They will never see the script. We've got scripts and treatments written up that we're going to leak. No one's going to know. Scoopers who currently think they're sitting on a hot one, here's a head's up. "There's one out that's fake right now. There are going to be many others."

This from the man who bent over backwards to make sure the fans were informed of every little detail of the original movie and watched as those same movies turned the movie into the third highest grossing movie of 2007, with nearly $300 million in it's coffers.

Why change your attitude now, after the fans were so loyal to the first movie?  I'm confused. And if that attitude is in play from now until the next movie, it wouldn't surprise me to see the fans out there scream a collective "F**K YOU" on opening weekend, and cause the movie to tank...just to show you their gratitude for your present "f**k the fans" attitude...

And JJ Abrams, writer, director, and producer of the Star Trek reboot, is having similar thoughts. He's doing his damndest to keep ANYTHING from leaking. He's paranoid about things leaking - look at the trailer for Cloverfield last year - not even a minute long teaser, really...and absolutely NOTHING about the movie...but BOY OH BOY it started a buzz.

But JJ has NEVER had to deal with the world of Star Trek fandom as yet...and it's the biggest and by far the LOUDEST group of fans on the planet. They have shown their anger and support in the MILLIONS AND MILLIONS over the years. Why close that huge fandom off before it even begins?

Abrams is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars just trying to hide what the uniforms look like, for pete's sake...and he must be having "kittehs" (apologies to CuteOverload.com) about the photos of Zachary Quinto in full Spock makeup that got out onto the net last week. He can't stand the thought of having someone know what they are doing until HE says so.

That kind of thinking is the exact opposite of what Gene Roddenberry would have done.

Abrams should follow Gene's blueprint - starting with a photo of the cast, in uniform, in the new bridge set, IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS, as Gene did when the first film, STAR TREK:THE MOTION PICTURE began production. You can keep the plot under wraps, Mr. Abrams, that's fine with us..but we want to see how the new reboot cast looks, how much you have kept or changed things, and most importantly, whether or not you're going to prove to be a WORTHY successor to the Great Bird Of The Galaxy.

If you are too paranoid to include the fans in your vision, it means that chances are good you are NOT going to be the worthy successor...or you're deathly afraid the fans won't give you a chance.

Let me tell you something, Mr. Abrams. As a nearly lifelong Trekker (please do NOT call me "Trekkie"), I can say this - you can TRUST the Trek fans to be honest and upfront. Sure, there are some who are a bit more obsessed with the show than most, but they're important too. And as longtime fans of the show know, it's Gene's vision that is first and foremost in their minds.

BUT... I can say this in all honesty as a Trek fan...

If you've managed to piss off Harlan Ellison already, you MUST be doing something right...

Coming soon...Part two...why some Trekkers need to LIGHTEN UP about the new Star Trek movie

Subject:CINEMA #82 - "The First Cut Is The Deepest"

This week, we take a look at the first roles of a number of today's biggest stars, including Nicole Kidman, Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner, Jackie Chan, Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwartznegger, and more, plus a few of our rising stars as well...

THE SHOW: a ton of first roles, plus coverage of the two entertainment strikes, this years' Peoples Choice Nominations, and all our regular features - The Callback, the Bonehead of The Week, and E-mail.

AND

THE WINNER OF THE MASTERS OF THE MACABRE TRIVIA CHALLENGE IS ANNOUNCED!

THIS WEEK'S NOTES:

On this Veteran's Day, we take a look at some show biz vets and some relative newcomers to the movie world, and take a look at the first role they had, proving that playing a waiter can someday make you a superstar...

Hope everyone likes the changes occuring on the site - I addressed these last Thursday on the site, and there will be more over the next week. If you have any ideas, please drop me a line at subjectcinema@popcornnroses.com!

NEXT WEEK: Mini-Glorious-Movies: The MGM Animation Stars!

See you then!

Midweek Update - exciting things are happening....

Greetings all!  Wanted to keep you abreast of some of the changes that will be happening in the not too distant future...

I mentioned last week on Subject:CINEMA that we were going to be doing some minor redesigns of the site over the next two weeks. You should start to notice them in the next day or two. First off, I have added a "Live Search" search box to the right sidebar, but it doesn't appear to be operating properly, so we'll be working on that over the next couple of days.

Also, after a few discussions with people, we have elected to concentrate our social networking efforts in four places - we WILL be keeping the site on Spout.Com, and I have been working on greatly expanding our presence on Facebook, where a number of our regular listeners congregate. This area will consist of a lot of movie-oriented plug-ins and capsule reviews of dozens of films i've seen. Kim is also thinking of launching a Facebook page of her own, with my encouragement; we'll have more on that as it develops. Kim is also planning to relaunch Platinum Roses' Garden soon...

In addition to Spout and Facebook, which are already growing, and the already large MySpace site (all of which you should all join if you haven't already...), we will be connecting and making our newest friends' network site active this weekend. Friends of Landmark (http://friends.landmarktheatres.com) is a brand-new social site, connecting fans of the Landmark Cinema chain. We love our local Landmark theater, the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, and a good number of great films end up in Landmark's houses (this great, unknown little thing called "Wristcutters: A Love Story" and another recent Diamond, "Fierce People", among the many we've seen there), so we've decided to open a fan site over there. The idea is that you join the Landmark site, then join various people's pages. I hope you'll check it out when it debuts in the next couple of days - there will be a "Landmark" button of some sort on the sidebar. The four sites above will be grouped together in some way.

Now, these changes will NOT affect the "Friends Network" - these are sites that we will continue to have a relationship with, and if you link up there (Netflix, Blogshares, Beanywood, etc) we will still be active there, but the ones that will be very active for social networking will be MySpace, Spout, Facebook, and Friends Of Landmark. Hope that's not too confusing for you...it was confusing to write it, that's for sure...

The only social networking site we are dropping completely is Friendster...because they have proven to be "less than friendster-ly" in dealing with me concerning problems with our site over there. This membership will disappear this weekend for good, unless they can answer about a dozen questions plausibly...something that they have yet to do...and they've been extremely RUDE in dealing with me as well...I've often thought over the past couple of months that they should add the words "Screw Your" to the term "Customer Service" on their site...

Also this weekend, probably on Sunday when the next Subject:CINEMA premieres, I HOPE (keep your fingers crossed, heh heh heh) to be debuting a new area of the site, tenatively called "The Listzone". This is going to encompass a number of different things we're working on that are more or less permanent fixtures on the site - the Personal Pantheon lists, the Rising Stars list, the top 20 songs lists, the Scenes That Sizzle lists, etc.  PLus, we will be making a number of permanent connections sites as part of the ListZone. All the links presently on the "Connections" list in the sidebar will be moving there except to those sites that we run or that are connected to the PNR Network, and we'll be introducing a number of "portals" to this area, dealing with both sales (magazine subs and the like) as well as info (Newspaper Movie sites, movie magazine sites, etc). Some of these are being incorporated into the PNR Toolbar, which will also debut (FINALLY!) soon.

Anyway, stay tuned on Sunday for more info on this week's Subject:CINEMA!  And keep checking the site for more news!

Subject:CINEMA #81 - "Diamonds In The Rough II: Karat Cake!"

On our second annual Diamonds In The Rough show, Kim and TC each spotlight five films that you should see when you get the chance, because they're too good to miss - call it our "Put it on your Netflix queue II" show! ::see Wristcutters this week::

THE SHOW: 10 great films you may have missed that we think you should see!  Plus, The Callback, we catch up on tons of e-mail, a look at two more special "Uncut Gems" in a new regular feature, our Bonehead Of The Week (attention you Dancing With The Stars fans) and TC and Kim offer up a philosophical arguement about "Wristcutters: A Love Story", opening wide this weekend!::see Wristcutters this week::

THIS WEEK'S NOTES:

It is not too late to enter the Masters Of The Macabre Trivia Challenge - you have until this Thursday, November 8, at 6 PM to enter!  Remember, you should at least TRY - a $100 BestBuy gift card could be YOURS! ::see Wristcutters this week::

I apologize for being late this week - i've been trying to fix some of the problems that several listeners have been mentioning with the sound, and I dont' think it's there yet, but we'll get it.::see Wristcutters this week::

We've got a LOT on tap this week, and plan to attend a couple more movies this week, so hopefully we'll be able to bring you news on those on next week's show.::see Wristcutters this week::

We're also going to be making a few small changes to the site this week involving the way the sidebars are arranged, hoping to make things more asthetically pleasing and easier to use. ::see Wristcutters this week::

I get the feeling there's some subliminal campaigning going on here...somewhere...oh, well. maybe it's just my imagination...::see Wristcutters this week::

Be sure and let us know what you think of our picks for Diamonds, and of course be sure to let us know if you've seen them, and what YOUR Diamonds are at subjectcinema@popcornnroses.com!::see Wristcutters this week::

Before I forget, as I mentioned briefly above, Wristcutters:A Love Story opened nationwide this weekend, and will continue to expand over the next three weeks. I hope everyone who gets a chance to see it will go, because there are so many reasons WHY I named it my #3 movie OF ALL TIME on my Personal Pantheon list earlier this year. I cannot express how much I truly LOVE this movie, but as you listen to the last segment of the show, where Kim and I both get a bit silly about the topic, i'm sure you'll get the idea...::see Wristcutters this week::

Oh, and one more thing...::see Wristcutters this week::

See "Wristcutters" This Week!  Hee Hee Hee!

NEXT WEEK: THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST! See you then!

WEEKEND UPDATE

I wanted to let everyone know that this weekend's Subject:CINEMA may be delayed due to the remnants of hurricane Noel, which is expected to batter Massachusetts today. We are expected to get wind gusts in the 50-60 mph range, and a ton of rain from what's left of this storm. The local authorities have told all of coastal Mass (which includes PNR HQ in Revere) to prepare for street flooding and widespread power outages due to the severity of this storm.

We are hoping to be able to record the show later today and if luck holds have it up on time at Noon on Sunday as scheduled. However, if we suffer power failures because of the storm, it may not be possible to have it up at the scheduled time. If this happens, we will finish the show and make it available as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience and understanding! :-)

TC