Fox TV in Los Angeles is covering the massive Universal Studios fire live at this link:
http://media.myfoxla.com/live/2/
We will have as much as we can on the fire on this week's edition Subject:CINEMA later this evening.
Online DVD trading site Peerflix sent out the following notice to it's members yesterday:
Dear Peerflix Member,
Effective April 23, 2008 Peerflix is discontinuing the Marketplace and DVD buy/sell/trade portions of Peerflix.com. While the Peerflix.com web site will be available beyond April 23, 2008, you will no longer be able to buy, sell, send or receive DVDs on Peerflix as of that date. While we have made considerable investments in our marketplace platform over the past four years, unfortunately the escalating costs of operating the marketplace do not make that business viable at this juncture. As we move out of the DVD marketplace business, we are focusing our energy and resources on building the Peerflix Media Network which is now the web's fastest growing vertical movie network.
The Peersafe Protection Program will also be terminating effective April 23, 2008 meaning that you will no longer be able to make any Peersafe claims starting April 23, 2008. So, if you have DVDs that you have been holding on to but were planning to send at some point, now's the time! If your Trade Cash account balance is greater than $10 and you would like to cash out your remaining Trade Cash balance, you must do so before April 30, 2008. To request a cash out of your Trade Cash, please log in to Peerflix.com and click "My Account" in the upper right corner, then click the "My Cash" tab and then click on the "Request Cashout" button and follow the indicated steps. As of April 30, 2008 you will no longer be able to request any Trade Cash payments from Peerflix and your Trade Cash will immediately expire and be forfeited. All cash out requests remain subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Peerflix Service Policies and will be charged a $10 processing fee.
In addition to Peerflix.com, please also check out our other movie related web properties TheMovieBlog and Peliki.com.
Thanks!
The Peerflix Team
It's a shame, as Peerflix was a great service, and enabled people to find DVD's that were otherwise difficult to track down.
We've had Peerflix as a click sponsor almost from day one, so it's especially sad to see it go. Here's hoping another company steps up to the plate and continues the Peerflix tradition.
This overpacked, extra long edition of S:C is all about YOU, our listeners! Without your support, we would have NEVER made a milestone like 100 shows!
We'll take a look back at the past 99 shows, talk about what has been so special about doing this show every week, and look ahead to the future of the show. Plus - we've got this week's short Callback, a huge E-mail section, coverage of this past week's National Amusement's Kung Fu Flicks, our Oscar predictions, TC's take on his second New Year's resolution movie, The Maltese Falcon, a trip to the Brattle Theater's annual Bugs Bunny show, and full reviews of Spirit Award nominee Quiet City and the hilarious new comedy Charlie Bartlett!.
Don't miss our Awards Weekend wrapup show, available tomorrow evening around 9 PM with complete coverage of the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards, The 2008 Golden Raspberry Awards, and of course, the 2008 Academy Awards!
THE CASE OF THE MISSING AUDIO CLIP: I said in the show that Rob Collier's 100th show wishes would run between the second and third segments. When I was editing the show, I started having so much trouble with the audio program that I totally forgot to put it in--as Rob pointed out to me later on Sunday...heh heh heh. Anyway, I apologize, but after thinking about it for a while, rather than make you all download two versions of the 100th show, I will put it in this week instead. Sorry for the mistakes, and Rob, sorry about that...i'll get it in this week's show, right between the first and second segments, I PROMISE...
See you next week!
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!
Between Memorial Day, jury duty on Wednesday, a leg injury that has been keeping me in a lot of pain (I still don't know what I did to it) and another death in the family (Kim's Uncle Frank passed away on Wednesday morning), I just haven't had the time to keep things going this week.
Because of all the craziness, this week's edition of Subject:CINEMA will be a day late, and will premiere Sunday at Noon EST.
This week, we should be back to normal, and I hope to have a few printed items posted between now and tomorrow, so stay tuned...
Thanks for your patience!
Cheers,
TC
The 60th anniversary edition of the Cannes Film Festival wrapped up Sunday night with the presentation of the festival's coveted awards.
The top prize, the Palm d'Or, was given to Romanian director Cristian Mungui's abortion film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. The drama, which follows the lives of two students dealing with an unwanted pregnancy in the waning days of the Ceausescu regime, bested 21 other films in competition, including Wong Kar-Wai's Cannes opener My Blueberry Nights, Emir Kustirica's Promise Me This, Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, the Coen brothers No Country for Old Men and Russian auteur Alexander Sokurov's Alexandra.
The runner up, who gets what's know as the Grand Prize (go figure), was Japanese director Naomi Kawase's The Mourning Forest, about the journey of a caregiver and her elderly patient who wind up stranded in the woods after setting out on a drive in the country.
Julian Schnabel earned Best Director honors for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the harrowing story of a 43-year-old French journalist whose entire body was paralyzed by a massive stroke except his left eye, which he subsequently used to blink out a memoir composed entirely in his head. Although much in demand at the festival, the film is thought to be one that will be hard to market in the U.S.
The Jury Prize, which amounts to third place, was a tie between two movies: Persepolis, an animated feature by first-time French-Iranian director Marjane Satrapi, an account of growing up under fundamentalist rule in Iran featuring voice work by the legendary Catherine Deneuve; and Silent Night by Mexican director Carlos Reygadas, which explores a father's faith after he falls for another woman.
In the acting department, Russia's Konstantin Lavronenko landed the Best Actor award for his role in The Banishment, while South Korean Jeon Do-yeon was named Best Actress for the comedy romance Secret Sunshine.
Gus Van Sant, who grabbed the Palm d'Or in 2003 for his dark fictional retelling of the Columbine massacre with Elephant, was given a special 60th Anniversary Prize for his latest film, Paranoid Park, about a Portland skateboarder whose life is turned upside down after he accidentally kills a security guard.
Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin, who won the prestigious Golden Bear a few years back at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival with the hard-hitting love story Head On, scored Best Screenplay Award for his latest, The Edge of Heaven.
Walking away with the Camera d'Or, which honors a first-time filmmaker, was the Israeli husband and wife team of Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen for Meduzot. Keret is best known in the film world at the moment for his short story "Kneller's Happy Campers", the basis for the critical 2006/07 film festival darling (and one of my personal favorites) Wristcutters: A Love Story. The short film prize went to Watching It Rain by Elisa Miller of Mexico.
This year's jury was headed by Oscar-nominated British director, Stephen Frears, and the jury included Aussie actress Toni Colette, Hong Kong star Maggie Cheung, French screen star Michel Piccoli and Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk.
So now it is over and Cannes takes a back seat until next year. And please, now that all the hype and hoopla is over, get George Clooney and Brad Pitt off my tv for a while, will ya?
Heh heh heh...
OK,ok, it's NOT a movie, but....
Can you say PERFECT 30, ladies and Gentlemen?
YEAAAAAAAHHHHH!
On last night's installment of Dancing With The Stars, PNR's personal favorite, 2-time Olympic speedskating Gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno and his partner Julianne Hough danced the Samba and came away with the first perfect 30 score of the SEASON!
PNR has been backing Ohno all season, and will continue to do so right up until the very end.
In case you missed it...here's the whole segment from YouTube...and it's WORTH EVERY SECOND!!
Don't forget to vote for Apolo every week at ABC.Com (you can still vote online for last night's performance), and every Monday at 1-800-868-3411!
Getting past this week's results show should be smooth sailing....
CONGRATS TO APOLO AND JULIANNE! WOW, WHAT A PERFORMANCE!!!!!
Kim and I have both admitted that one of the reasons we decided to launch PNR was, in addition to our general love for movies, our love for MST3K's Kevin Murphy and his wondeful and hilarious book, A Year At The Movies.
Kim and I have been talking for a couple of years about what we could do in a similar vein, but in our own way of course.
And so after much thought, we've now hit on the PERFECT idea for us.
We don't have a car anymore, so we tend to think in a rut when it comes to going to the show. We usually go to the same two movie theaters - Revere's Showcase Cinema, which is a ten minute walk (or 2 minute bus ride) from our house, and Boston's Boston Common theater, which is central to everything in downtown Boston and right on the T (the Boston Public Transportation System, for those who aren't in the area).
Sure, we take the occasional trip to other favorite spots for special fare,including the Coolidge Corner Theater, the Brattle Theater, and if we're in the mood for a bit of a walk, the Kendall Square Theater (great movies, but about 10 blocks from the nearest T Stop).
All of this started me to thinking...just how many movie theaters in the Metro Boston area are directly accessable from Boston's T system? If we include the bus routes and commuter rail lines in the total, the answer is "quite a lot"!
Between now and Labor Day, we're going to see if we can get to EVERY theater on the Basic T system. Subway first, then the buses, and finally, if we can manage it, the commuter rail.
There will be the ones we know about and are easy to get to on the four main subway lines (Red, Green, Blue, or Orange Lines) but that we haven't had a real reason to go to because closer theaters were showing the same movie. These would include Regal's Fenway 19 in Boston, AMC Harvard Square Theater in Cambridge, and so on.
Then there are the ones that are a bit more remote that are (or should be, I haven't finished my mapping yet, heh heh heh) accessable by Bus - Fresh Pond Cinemas in Allston, West Newton Cinema in West Newton, Liberty Tree AMC 20 at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, Cinema:Salem in Salem, etc.
Finally, if we get REALLY ambitious and can justify the trip and expenses (and the time), we may try hitting the commuter rail to get to some of the really distant theaters, such as those in Worcester, Lowell, Leominster, Fitchburg, and Providence. Yes, that's RHODE ISLAND. But the commuter rail goes there, and so it might make a fun day trip.
Why are we going to do this? Well, first of all there's the excitement of setting a goal and trying to reach it. And what we don't reach this year...well, there's always NEXT YEAR! Second, it's the fun of going places we've never been before. We love finding new favorite spots, and quite frequently surrounding good theaters you will discover fantastic restaurants, good shops, or good places to hang out in general.
Occasionally, we might try to drag some of our friends in on this as well (that means YOU, Stacy and Jenn...heh heh heh), to theaters you can only get to by car.
And in the end, we'll blog each trip, review the film AND the experience, post our review of the theater on our site AND with our friends at SimpleMovieReview.com, and feature a short rundown about each excursion as a new segment on our weekly podcast, Subject:CINEMA.
If any of you would like to join up with the idea in your own hometown area, by all means, please DO! And be sure e-mail or voice mail us with your own experiences and travels.
The summer adventure is beginning Saturday April 21 - we've planned an ENTIRE DAY of movies in Boston and Cambridge, ending with a special New England premiere of 2006 Festival favorite "WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY" at the Brattle, complete with the screenwriter in attendance. Some last minute changes could happen, but even when they do, you'll hear about those too.
So here's to our great summer adventure! And we hope you'll be along for the ride!
This one's all over the road, folks...We're talking Easter this week, with a look at the religious aspect as well as bunnies and all things in the order of Easter cuteness...
THE SHOW (times may be slightly off due to Podshow insertions):
Segment 1 (1:30) - Peeps; Easter as a holiday; The Passion Of The Christ; various Easter specials; It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown; Easter Parade; Here Comes Peter Cottontail; The Easter Bunny Is Coming To Town
Segment 2 (19:36) - the classic Bugs Bunny cartoon (and inspiration for this show's title) Easter Yeggs
Segment 3 (28:43) - DVD Easter Eggs - a whole list of what to find on what discs - not as extensive as we could be, but there'll be plenty of links below (special thanks to Rob Collier for his input and lists of Easter Eggs)
Segment 4 (48:09) - The usual hardsell, plus our goodbyes to Bob Clark and John Inman; E-Mail; Trivia Answer; Bonehead of the Week; Cuteoverload.com; Starz Bunnies Club
Segment 5 (1:05:28) - Our own personal memories of Easters past and future, plus exciting Michael Angarano news...
THIS WEEK'S NOTES:
First off, no matter which holiday you may be celebrating - Easter or Passover - we wish you all the best!
Second, we hope you like the new revamped site format, where we have now merged Subject:CINEMA into the main PNR site. You can select "podcasts" in the catagory cloud for just the S:C listings. And we're planning more great updates in the future...
We would also like to announce our new affiliation with the Blubrry Network. Blubrry will hopefully lead to some exciting new opportunities for our show.
And now, the goods...
DVD EASTER EGG SITES:
Popular Science Top 5 Eggs
MovieWeb Eggs
Clerks II Eggs
DVD Easter Eggs.com (hasn't been updated recently)
EasterEgg sites on Google
KIM'S SITE OF THE WEEK:
CuteOverload.Com
(be forewarned, even the hardest curmudgon will be won over...)
THE LATEST FROM THE BUNNIES:
>Starz! presents 30-Second Bunnies Theater
NEXT WEEK'S SHOW: Haiii-YAAAAA! Celebrating The Chop-Socky Movie!
Well, the deals continue to be made at this year's Sundance Film Festival (a complete - or near complete - wrap up will happen on this weekend's edition of Subject:CINEMA).
Fox Searchlight, who bought Little Miss Sunshine last year at this time and has now seen that become money well spent with several Oscar noms this morning, has bought the rights to Adrienne Shelley's final film, Waitress. Shelley, you remember, was a favorite indie actess who was murdered in November by an illegal alien doing some construction work near her New York apartment, and he tried to cover it up as a suicide. The movie got good buzz from the audiences attending it, and since it has a good ensemble cast that includes Keri Russell in a starmaking turn, Fox couldn't resist.
They also have finalized the deal we mentioned yesterday, for the thriller Joshua; Warner Independent has picked up the Aussie romance Clubland.
And also as mentioned yesterday, Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company will go halvsies on Teeth, a bizarre new horror comedy. Apparently neither studio felt comfortable with a solo investment.
Monday's crowds were buzzing about other hot titles. Patricia Riggen's small-scale La Misma Luna (The Same Moon) was drumming up big interest from several distributors. Evening screenings of Son of Rambow, How She Move and the controversial Dakota Fanning project Hounddog were pulling in interested crowds.
Five more movies screened over the weekend - Once, Delirious, Snow Angels, The Ten and Chicago 10 - have entered extended negotiations with various studios and distributors and should secure major deals as the week goes forward...
More SUNDANCE News later today and continuing all week....
OSCAR NOMINATIONS 2007 - COMPLETE LIST
Best Picture: "Babel," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Queen."
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond"; Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson"; Peter O'Toole, "Venus"; Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness"; Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland."
Best Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Volver"; Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"; Helen Mirren, "The Queen"; Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"; Kate Winslet, "Little Children."
Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"; Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children"; Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond"; Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"; Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed."
Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, "Babel"; Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal"; Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"; Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"; Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel."
Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Babel"; Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"; Clint Eastwood, "Letters From Iwo Jima"; Stephen Frears, "The Queen"; Paul Greengrass, "United 93."
Foreign Language Film: "After the Wedding," Denmark; "Days of Glory (Indigenes)," Algeria; "The Lives of Others," Germany; "Pan's Labyrinth," Mexico; "Water," Canada.
Adapted Screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, "Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"; Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, "Children of Men"; William Monahan, "The Departed"; Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, "Little Children"; Patrick Marber, "Notes on a Scandal."
Original Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga, "Babel"; Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, "Letters From Iwo Jima"; Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine"; Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth"; Peter Morgan, "The Queen."
Animated Feature Film: "Cars," "Happy Feet," "Monster House."
Art Direction: "Dreamgirls," "The Good Shepherd," "Pan's Labyrinth," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "The Prestige."
Cinematography: "The Black Dahlia," "Children of Men," "The Illusionist," "Pan's Labyrinth," "The Prestige."
Sound Mixing: "Apocalypto," "Blood Diamond," "Dreamgirls," "Flags of Our Fathers," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
Sound Editing: "Apocalypto," "Blood Diamond," "Flags of Our Fathers," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
Original Score: "Babel," Gustavo Santaolalla; "The Good German," Thomas Newman; "Notes on a Scandal," Philip Glass; "Pan's Labyrinth," Javier Navarrete; "The Queen," Alexandre Desplat.
Original Song: "I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth," Melissa Etheridge; "Listen" from "Dreamgirls," Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven; "Love You I Do" from "Dreamgirls," Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett; "Our Town" from "Cars," Randy Newman; "Patience" from "Dreamgirls," Henry Krieger and Willie Reale.
Costume: "Curse of the Golden Flower," "The Devil Wears Prada," "Dreamgirls," "Marie Antoinette," "The Queen."
Documentary Feature: "Deliver Us From Evil," "An Inconvenient Truth," "Iraq in Fragments," "Jesus Camp," "My Country, My Country."
Documentary (short subject): "The Blood of Yingzhou District," "Recycled Life," "Rehearsing a Dream," "Two Hands."
Film Editing: "Babel," "Blood Diamond," "Children of Men," "The Departed," "United 93."
Makeup: "Apocalypto," "Click," "Pan's Labyrinth."
Animated Short Film: "The Danish Poet," "Lifted," "The Little Matchgirl," "Maestro," "No Time for Nuts."
Live Action Short Film: "Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)," "Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)," "Helmer & Son," "The Saviour," "West Bank Story."
Visual Effects: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "Poseidon," "Superman Returns."
COMPLETE ANALYSIS AND COMMENTS COMING LATER TODAY!
The awards season continues in full steam mode this week, even though the DEFINiTIVE awards, The Poppies and The Rosies, were handed out last weekend, heh heh heh...
Seriously though, let's take a look at what's gone down over the past 48 hours...
The Producers Guild have announced their nominees for Best Picture..and not surprisingly, as I said yesterday, the stellar United 93 has been totally ignored...it's just NOT COOL to like this movie in La La Land...
PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA - BEST PICTURE NOMINEES 2006
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
DREAMGIRLS
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN
There are SO MANY OTHER stellar films out there being ignored by the main body of Hollywood voters...but then again, I don't play the Hollywood game, and never will... I just wouldn't fit in...but still, movies like United 93, as well as Brick, A Prairie Home Companion, Wordplay, and others should be taken into consideration.
Moving on....::sigh::
The Online Film Critics Association have announced their nominees, but are waiting until January 8th to announce their winners, so we'll wait until then to cover their choices...they at least remembered to include United 93, as have most critics...
The Screen Actors Guild announced their nominations today....
SCREEN ACTORS GUILD - FILM NOMINATIONS
BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit Of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King Of Scotland
BEST ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes On A Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes On A Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
BEST CAST:
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
I simply DO NOT GET those groups which are nominating DiCaprio in the supporting catagory for The Departed, since he's clearly the lead character...oh well...
More when they come in...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
On Saturday, December 30, on our podcast, SUBJECT:CINEMA, PNR announced it's annual dual awards, The Poppies and The Rosies. Kim will be by later on today or tomorrow to announce her awards. But the time is here to announce the 2006 Poppies, as chosen by me, for the 2006 Film Year.
Since starting Popcorn N Roses in late 2005, we have almost tripled the number of movies we've seen in a given year.This year, both Kim and I were exposed to films we would have never even bothered with before, and it proved to be both rewarding and frustrating. Rewarding because we discovered films we would have totally ignored before; frustrating because it made the task of selecting the year-end awards very very VERY difficult.
Needless to say, there are a LOT of worthy performances out there. Unfortunately, not all of them can be rewarded. That isn't to say we didn't appreciate those performances - some of them were just barely beaten out, and some of the top award getters in other places aren't winners here because we may not have had time to get to see everything during this busy season.
We go with our GUT when announcing our awards. We try to represent the REAL people of the world rather than film critics, and base our winners on our own gut feelings as to what we really liked, because if we really liked it, we think you would like it as well.
In addition to my Poppies, i'll also be listing my Top 10 films of the year. These are the films where most of my awards were pulled from, and it was a VERY hard job, especially in the top catagories where six films landed on my absolute favorites list, and I had to choose just ONE of them as Best Picture. And the performances are no easier. People may not agree with me on my choices, but that's ok. It doesn't mean your favorite movie or performance wasn't considered - in fact, chances are good that they were. So keep that in mind when you read the winners...
THE POPPIES - 2006 Winners
Best Picture - Brick (directed by Rian Johnson)
Best Director - Paul Greengrass, United 93
Best Actor - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brick
Best Actress - Meryl Streep, A Prairie Home Companion
Best Supporting Actors (team) - Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly, A Prairie Home Companion
Best Supporting Actress - Lily Tomlin, A Prairie Home Companion
Breakthrough Performance, Male - (TIE) Trevor Fehrman, Clerks 2 AND Rudy Youngblood, Apocalypto
Breakthrough Performance, Female - Nora Zehetner, Brick
Best Animated Film - Happy Feet (directed by George Miller)
Best Voice Performance - Robin Williams, Happy Feet
Best Animated Performance - the cast of Happy Feet
Best Documentary - Wordplay (directed by Patrick Creadon)
Best Original Song - You Know My Name by Chris Cornell, from Casino Royale
Best Musical Performance - (tie) ABC, from Clerks 2 AND Boogie Wonderland, from Happy Feet
Best Fight Scene - Brendan Frye vs Brad Bramish, Brick
Best Battle Scene - The Alcatraz Siege from X-Men:The Last Stand
Best Semi-Cameo - Jason Lee, Clerks 2
Funniest Cameo - Wolverine's Costume, Flushed Away
Best One Liner of the year - Mayan dialect for "I'm Walking Here!" , Apocalypto
Best Off Camera Performance - Savion Glover, Happy Feet
Most Pleasant Surprise - Casino Royale (directed by Martin Campbell)
Biggest Disappointment - Superman Returns (directed by Bryan Singer)
Most Fun At A Movie - Clerks 2 (directed by Kevin Smith)
Most Infectious Spontanious Laugh by an audience - Jay's Tuck, Clerks 2
The "Damn! I Can't Even Go To The Bathroom If I Want To Keep Up" award for the most unexpected plot twists - (TIE) Brick AND The Prestige
The "From All The Hype You'd Have Thought He'd Have A Bigger Part" award - Ben Foster as Angel, X-Men:The Last Stand
The "Casting Director's Worst Nightmare" award for overcoming negative fan(boy) buzz and making the part their own - (TIE) Kelsey Grammer, X-Men:The Last Stand AND Daniel Craig, Casino Royale
The "Brass Kahones Beyond Belief" award for reliving a nightmare - Former FAA chairman Ben Sliney and numerous other government and military personnel for playing themselves and recreating their movements from September 11, 2001 in United 93
The "What The Hell Did That Ending Mean?" Award to the movie with the most satisfying yet somewhat...oh, OK, COMPLETELY Confusing Ending - A Prairie Home Companion (directed by Robert Altman)
The "Did I Make A HUUUUUUGGGEEE Mistake In Wanting To See This Movie?" Award - the incomprehensible, extremely exasperating first 20 minutes of Wassup Rockers (directed by Larry Clark) (and ultimately, the answer was "No, I didn't make a mistake...but damn it's hard to sit through the crap at the beginning of the movie...")
So there you have them...the 2006 Poppies! They're not going to represent many other critics out there, and certainly won't reflect the Oscars, i'm sure (although it would be nice, heh heh heh). But it represents MY choices, and I hope you will take the time to see those movies you may not have seen yet...because they're all worth it!
And now...here is my personal best decision list...if there are only ten movies from 2006 that you can ever see...let it be these ten movies...
TC's Top 10 movies of 2006 (in alphabetical order):
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
AN INCONVIENENT TRUTH
APOCALYPTO
BRICK
CASINO ROYALE
CLERKS 2
HAPPY FEET
THE PRESTIGE
UNITED 93
WORDPLAY
Here's to a FANTASTIC MOVIE YEAR in 2007!!!!!
You have only about 36 more hours to vote in the First Annual Popcorn N Roses/Subject:CINEMA movie awards!
The ballot time has been extended to 9 PM US ET tomorrow, Christmas Day, but will be closed IMMEDIATELY after that time has passed...
DO NOT MISS OUT on your chance to have a say in the year end awards season - VOTE NOW!
Click the "Cast Your Vote" Icon to the right of this post!
Landmark Cinemas is a national chain of theatres specializing in showing smaller films with a bent towards the kind of movies that the college crowd will embrace. If it wasn't for our local Landmark theatre, the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, we might not have ever been able to see two of our favorite films this year, Brick and One Last Thing... .
So i'm NOT surprised, but I am disappointed, that the Landmark chain has seen fit to agree to run Death of A President starting October 28.
This film, which was the darling of the Toronto Film Festival - or so they would have you believe; it was actually a disaster at both screenings, according to several online sources, including Fox 411's Roger Friedman - is a pseudo-documentary, supposedly released in 2008, about the assassination of President George W. Bush a year earlier.
The movie was written by two Brits - Gabrial Range (who also directed) and Simon Finch - who told the press at the Toronto Film Festival that they thought the premise was funny. Forgive me, gents, but I DON'T see the humor in a fictional story about the assassination of a SITTING president.
What's worse, thoogh, is the millions of people who will probably pay to see this abomination...and the money they're putting into the pockets of these two insensititve, so-called filmmakers.
So let me go ahead and ruin the movie for you. President Bush is assassinated sometime in 2007, and an Arab man - NOT a terrorist - is quickly caught, tried, and convicted, only to have it come out at the end of the movie that he was railroaded and that the real culprit was an american black man who was embittered about losing his son in the Iraq war.
As an american, i'm OUTRAGED that such a film even exists. I would probably NOT have a problem with the premise had they waited until AFTER Bush was out of office to do it. But as it is, it's just WRONG. No movie of this type should be made while the man is currently in office. And I shudder to thing what will happen if some crazy goes out and uses this movie as a blueprint for a REAL assassination attempt.
Although as i've said, i'm disappointed, at Landmark, and more than a bit disgusted, but i'm not surprised. I won't put the blame on them or any other theatre for carrying it. They are not stupid - they know that this piece of celluloid dung is going to be a small moneymaker. But I think every american -whether you agree with Bush's policies OR NOT - should be OUTRAGED that it's being shown. And you should let your local theatre know that you're NOT happy they're carrying this movie. There is no need to threaten or cajole them...just you letting them know that you might think twice before patronizing them again will get the message across.
I fully intend to continue seeing films at the Kendall, and as I said, I can't blame them for showing it. But I am also planning to write a letter letthing them - and the Landmark Head office - know that I'm not pleased
I'm not even going to boycott NewMarket Films, the american distributor of the movie. I don't see that many of their films anyway. But I will again let them know that I'm not happy with their choice to distribute Death Of A President in America. In a year that marked the fifth anniversary of 9/11- the most tragic day in American History - and gave us really well-made, insightful, and thought provoking films like United 93, World Trade Center, and the excellent documentary The War Tapes, Newmarket should be ASHAMED that they're distributing this piece of propaganda under the guise of a "satire". NewMarket has handled some great films in the past, such as Donnie Darko, Tristam Shandy, The Passion Of The Christ, and the Oscar-winning Monster. Why they chose to get involved with this film is beyond me. And it's a black mark on their otherwise stellar record.
You can use Landmark's directory to find your local cinema. Click HERE for their homepage. Each city has contact information for the local theatre and usually an email or snail mail address for the management.
You can e-mail Landmark Corporate HQ here.
Or you can send a snail mail to:
Customer Service
Landmark Theatres
2222 South Barrington Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90064
You can contact NewMarket Films here.
This isn't a political issue. It's not Democrat or Republican, Conservative, Liberal, or even Libertarian. It's a DECENCY issue, pure and simple. And decent Americans should speak their mind about this movie. If you DO believe , as I do, that this kind of movie has NO PLACE in our theatres, speak out. Because if you don't, more of this kind of claptrap will be coming...sooner rather than later...betchurass it will...and America will be that much poorer because of it...
I've come to the conclusion that the only way to really keep up with this site, I'm going to have to make some sort of entry every day. So that's what I'm going to do. It might be long, it might be short, but I'm gonna write SOMETHING every day.
We haven't been to see any new movies this month due to our illness. Oh, wait a minute, that's wrong. We did go to the Brattle on our anniversary to catch WASSUP ROCKERS; I had missed it when it was running the Kendall Square in Cambridge back in June. It's not a half bad movie either. I'll pick it up when it comes out on DVD in December. Of course, those of you who are familiar with me should know by now that I'm a skateboard and snowboard fanatic, and so of course I couldn't wait to see this movie.
For the first 30 minutes, I was worried, because the first 30 minutes just DRAGS. BADLY. But if you can get past the first 30, the rest of the movie, another 75 or so minutes, is worth it. Once this likable group of Ramones-loving punk rock Latino skateboarding kids heads to Beverly Hills for a day of skating the legendary steps at Beverly Hills High, it's lots of fun. Kim didn't care for it all that much, but if you're a skateboarding fan, I think you'll like it. Highly worth a spot on your Netflix queue.
I spent this weekend updating the Subject:CINEMA website. I've finally got several new features I wanted to offer launched, and have several more features planned to debut throughout the month of October, planning for a huge relaunch, with lots of publicity, over the week preceding Veteran's Day, when I'm taking another week off my regular job. Hopefully, it will be the start of something spectacular. I would so love to be able to do my sites and podcasts as a full-time venture, but right now, it's not possible.
Speaking of which, next weekend, we'll be launching our newly revised Donations program over on S:C. We can't thank those who have donated to S:C enough, because we spend a great deal on the sites each month, and we're not making any of that back right now, though eventually, I hope to. Anyway, starting next week, you'll be able to make a one-time donation (your choice), choose one of three monthly "subscription" plans ($2, $5, or $10 automatic monthly donations), or, for those who care to indulge", one of our "S:C Club Members" packages, which will include goodies for a one-time donation at pre-set levels. as well as name recognition on the "Club Members" page. Of course, and I can't stress this enough, you DO NOT have to donate to be a fan or to listen to the show. We love all our listeners and know that not everyone can afford to donate. But if you DO have some spare, know that your donation can help us defray costs. "Marquee Mix" alone costs upwards of $60 monthly to keep on the air, so it can get pricey.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know what's coming up in the weeks ahead. Kim and I are planning to sit down and watch a few DVD's this evening, and I'll be back with my impressions of what we watch as the week ahead goes on. Cheers! TC
Well, it's been a slow two weeks over here, between the launch of our podcast, Subject:CINEMA (to which the response has been OVERWHELMING...and THANK YOU!), and starting work on Phase II of Popcorn N Roses, set to debut over Labor Day weekend , a lot is getting done behind the scenes.
For those of you who have subscribed to the PNR newsletter, which will cover the latest info on PNR, Marquee Mix, and Subject:CINEMA, we plan to launch it in the next two weeks, and we thank you for your patience.
Over the weekend, we'll be updating a number of items on the site, and also posting some new reviews and commentary, and hopefully getting the ball rolling again!
Thanks for sticking with us, and as always, if you have a suggestion for the site, you can drop us a line at popcornnroses@yahoo.com. We can't always respond to each individual e-mail but we do read them ALL!
Thanks for your continued support!
I apologize for not getting more done on the blog this week, but it's been a hard week. PRL has been sick with a horridly bad chest cold, and as a result, neither one of us have gotten a good deal of sleep. It's getting better however...
I hope to have some major improvements to the site up this weekend, as well as some coverage of the Sundance Film Festival, which started yesterday. Some interesting stuff coming out of there this year.
I Also plan on getting our regular features in place as usual, Popcorn's Pix, a new Disaster films column called Disaster Blaster, and more.
Hope you'll all tune in for our continuing meanderings about the film world...thanks!
Gene Shalit has become the lone voice of dissention about the year's most over-hyped movie, "Brokeback Mountain".
According to E! Online reporter Sarah Hall:
The veteran Today show critic has been taken to task by the Gay And Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation over his negative review of the gay cowboy western, in which he referred to Jake Gyllenhaa's character, Jack, as a "sexual predator" who "tracks Ennis down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts."
The group claimed that Shalit's statements, delivered during his "Critic's Choice" segment on Thursday's Today show, promoted "defamatory anti-gay prejudice to a national audience," and criticized NBC News for providing the eccentric critic with a platform from which to air his views.
You can read the complete article at Yahoo! News - http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060107/en_movies_eo/18098
My take on this: GLAAD is embarrassing gays and lesbians around the world with their "outrage". The truth is, their "outrage" is nothing more than a publicity stunt to get their name plastered all over the print media. And every thinking movie fan out there knows it. GLADD does just as much to give gays and lesbians a bad name as today's version of the ACLU does to give people who believe in civil rights a bad name.
If Shalit feels that Gyllenhaal's character is a "sexual predator", he has a RIGHT to EXPRESS that opinion. And I would bet that most gays and lesbians out there - including several of my own personal friends - would agree. Most of them are not militant gay rights supporters anyway, and would find GLAAD's grandstanding embarrassing as all hell.
Personally, I don't know. I haven't seen the movie. Don't intend to until it comes out on DVD, either. Simply because the subject matter is not of great interest to me. I have no disrespect for the story, the writers, the actors, or the studios.
Personally, I applaud Gene Shalit for his unique view of the movie. Everyone else has been too busy jumping on the bandwagon of the award-winning "gay cowboy movie" to bother saying much about the SUBSTANCE of the movie. And that's just the kind of thing that drives me crazy most of the time. They're too busy being on the "in thing" that they probably haven't bothered to notice whether or not "Jack" IS a sexual predator or not. And if they did, they wouldn't care. All they care about is promoting their agenda. It's a MOVIE, people, a work of FICTION! Why does it need to be a part of an "agenda"? Why can't it just be a good story? If you want gay reality, try CAPOTE instead!
Although, being totally truthful, "Brokeback Mountain" has done more to promote gays and lesbians as REGULAR PEOPLE than any other movie in history, and I applaud it for that. They ARE regular people - and sexual preference should be NOBODY's business but the consenting adults involved. It's nice to see even middle america starting to come around to that fact. Sure there are some bible-toting yahoos in the Bible Belt screaming about it, but what the hell...they're always full of hot air anyway. And that's coming from a born-again Christian like me.
Not to mention, as PlatinumRose pointed out, everyone calling it a "gay cowboy movie" are missing the point...it's more accurately a "bi-sexual cowboy movie"...
Hey, if GLAAD wants to come after me for my opinions, that's fine. I'll still have them and keep expressing them. But I hope Mr. Shalit and his employers at NBC do the noble, correct thing, and tell GLAAD to "Go to Hell!". If they cave in to pressure from a lobbying group like GLAAD, that's just another horrifying misstep down the road to total loss of freedom of expression that there is...the very kind of freedom of expression that allows movies like "Brokeback Mountain" to even be made....
