Premiere's Top 50 Movie Stars

Another day. Another list. Whenever you get big media lists, they're always, naturally less idiosyncratic than individual list-making exercizes. But what they lack in fascinating quirk they make up for in their ability to represent generalized public opinion / time-capsule "who is hot" statements. That's the same reason why the Oscars can lean towards stupefyingly dull but still say interesting things about contemporary standards of quality.

Best thing? That Warren Beatty made it to the top 30. Even though the list is obviously slanted to right.this.very.second. because...
worst thing? Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise are higher than either Hepburn, Davis, Nicholson, Brando, and Streep? ??? Will Smith also appears. That's right: Will Smith. And he's also higher than Meryl Streep.

Joe Reid's Brokenback

Joe's New Column
He's off next week so read it twice. Store it up.

"Well, here we go. We all pretty much knew that Brokeback Mountain would encounter some controversy if it really expected to be the Oscar contender many of us hope it will be. I just wish it … didn't have to start out like this. Matt effing Drudge takes it upon himself to fire the first shot across the Brokeback bow, wondering if … wait for it … the film is "too gay" for the heartland. Yeah, I know, I'm shocked, too... "

Read the rest

Hump Day Hotties: Rachel McAdams

love·ly Pronunciation: 'l&v-lE Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): love·li·er; -est 1. charmingly or exquisitely beautiful; a lovely actress. 2. having a beauty that appeals to the heart as well as the eye, as a person, a face, Rachel McAdams, etc... 3. Informal. delightful; highly pleasing: to have a lovely time watching Rachel McAdams. 4. Colloq. very well; splendidly: That silver screen and Rachel McAdams go lovely together.




Previous Hump Day Hotties if you're in the mood and just joining us...
Jake, Madonna, & "Give 'Em Hell" Harry
Orlando Bloom
Lady Tottington
Daniel Craig
Viggo & Maria
Emmanuelle Béart
Takeshi Kaneshiro Fiennes & Weisz

Your Reading Assignments

I am busy as a bee, studying my dictionary, so go away! Er... to these places.

Javier, borrowing a filmbitch oft-awarded obsession, on the "wow" that is Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver.

Nick defends Birth a movie we both do solemnly swear to protect.

ModFab is mixed on this year's ModFab genderbender movies. What, is it 1982 again and nobody told me?

Jill blessedly states the obvious. Unfortunately, it's so not obvious to many.

Kris plays incredibly coy and annoys his readers. But I thought he already had a favorite film of the year? He practically wet himself when Lord of War opened months ago. [/bitchiness]

MaryAnn offers a pointed timely quote that's so applicable to right now. But you all knew that the USA was getting positively Orwellian, didn't you? You're smart.

Josh likes Jarhead more than most. And you gotta hear all sides. You owe the movie that (It not being a complete wash and all, despite what you may have heard.)

I Am... Who Are You?

I've related before on this blog that I often feel like I'm in a big frazzled Boogie Nights cocaine binge scene --"too many things. too many things"-- only without the cocaine part. Today I have a different character tapping on my psyche.

Yesterday, I was discussing something on the OscarWatch forums and I typed the word "weird" about 4 times within one paragraph. So, today I'm halting with each new sentence. Did I just say that? Suddenly having visions of Tracey Ullman in Small Time Crooks all desperate to increase the 75-cent word count. Remember that? She gets all nouveaux riche (sp?) and starts studying the dictionary to increase her vocabulary. She starts at the beginning with "A" for several guffaw inducing moments. I woke up feeling like I need a dictionary or thesaurus in my pocket today as safety net.

So who are you today? What movie character races through your mind as you prepare for the day?

Sticks and Stones Won't Break Her Bones

Mrs. Osbourne can't stop dissing Madonna. Maybe someone should tell her that it's totally embarrassing/pathetic for women who are famous for being married to trash hard-working accomplished women who are self-made. I'm just sayin'

Oscar Updates Complete: Best Actor

Rankings can be deceiving. Especially in the BEST ACTOR Oscar race. Hoffman may be locked, but I consider spots 2 through 8 to be fairly equal in nominatability. We never know as much as we think we do in November. No combo of 4 of these 7 men would surprise me as Hoffman's competitors. Bana, Phoenix, or Ledger could just-miss even if their films have strong nomination tallies and support. It wouldn't be the first time. Just ask DiCaprio (1997), Crowe (2003), Giamatti (2004), etc...

Dirty Girls or "Another reason why Amy Adams from 'Junebug' won't be nominated"

[This post has been rated R for sexual situations and offensive language] Feeling like choking your chicken? If you're an Oscar hopeful and you have a vagina -don't do it! Hands above the waist please. It's the dirty little secret of Oscar nominations. Girls who she-bop get snubbed. With guys... well, kids, that's just boys being boys, don't you know? Kevin Spacey's Oscar for American Beautydidn't go down the drain during his shower scene. Nicolas Cage's meat-beating in Adaptation didn't spoil his nomination. But with the distaff half of the populace, 'tis a different story.

Now, it's probably no surprise that Kim Basinger missed out for her 9 1/2 Weeks solo. There were larger forces at work there, than her moment alone with the slide projector. But some other missing nominations seem highly suspect unless you factor in those unbecomingly hairy palms. You might want to ask Joan Allen where her Pleasantville nomination went. Naomi Watts's Oscar hopes for Mulholland Drive disappeared somewhere along the way as well. It wasn't into that film's mysterious blue box but a box was probably involved. So goodbye Amy Adams in Junebug. We hardly knew you. Less time in the honeypot and more time weepily suffering about your inattentive husband would have probably been the Oscar key.

Whither Bening?

It occurred to me today whilst thinking about the Best Actress Oscar race [yes that's my cerebral default mode. sigh] that it's a real shame they decided not to release Mrs. Harris theatrically. Several folks who saw this film at the Toronto Film Festival went nuts for Annette Bening's performance --even some who hated the film. So why couldn't they figure out a way to release this for Oscar consideration? How appropriately sweet would it have been if she had swept into this year's rather minor race as a surprise entry ~an avenging Oscar angel.

Pathetic as it may be, I'm still licking my wounds about last year.

True Faith or Generic Gullibility?

Every year about this time I start feeling like the sole voice of sanity. I know that's silly, boorish, and simplistic but here's why: Around about right now (first two weeks ofNovember) most people who talk about the Oscar race start trumpeting the studio lines even though they haven't seen the final batch of films and couldn't know the outcome.

Current exciteable memes that have no basis in fact:
That last minute voiceover addition to Memoirs of a Geisha has saved it -it's the epic nominee! The Producers really works. It's a giddy joy. It's the comedy nominee. Cinderella Man will resurge triumphantly in all categories! It's the early bird nominee. Munichis the absolute frontrunner -no worries, it's as great as we believed. Surprise attack -King Kong is a total epic triumph! It's the blockbuster nominee.

[ahem] That's 5 pictures right there enjoying immense hype o' the moment. This list would make the Best Picture lineup almost entirely Universal and almost entirely December. (Guess which studio is already working hardest to ramp up for awards season? You only get one guess.) Neither of those outcomes are statistically close to being "likely." Possible? Sure. Likely? No.

I'm not accusing any particular person that passes along these memes of being studio shills -many of my fellow movie writers are close to my heart. But it seems to me that every year the hype on the sight-unseen stuff reaches fever pitch in early November and nobody wants to do anything other than turn up its volume. Don't people know that before a film is screened, the studios control the buzz? Beforea film has screened there is no opinion of it that is anything other than speculative or, more commonly, simple sheep-like humming to PR tunes. No one not involved in the filmmaking could possibly know whether or not the studio memes are true. And many in the film industry would never tell anything other than great news--that's just basic professionalism and ethics. If you've seen the film, fine. If you haven't acknowledge (please) that this is all hype. Some hype will become real enthusiasm. Some will reveal itself to be pure fabrication.

Jarhead is having perception trouble now that it's open and won't do as well as expected Oscar-wise. This is very normal. In what year, ever has this not happened to some of the December hopefuls? And, yet, to hear the internet roar, you'd think every release in December was going to be an unqualified triumph. (Caveat: I know I probably err in the opposite direction, placing too much hope on earlier releases. I think I do that mostly out of principle, wishing Hollywood believed in releasing strong films all year long)

I hope you hear me on this one point. Not everything we hear in November about the movies that haven't yet been shown will turn out to be true once they have.

Knocking Spidey Sideways

It's old news which villains will appear in Spider-Man 3 but this is the first pic I've seen of the results [source: Aint-It-Cool-News] Thomas Hayden Church (Sideways) as Sandman.

One of the great joys of comic book films (at least for geeks) is watching characters you've only seen two-dimensionally your whole life, suddenly filled out by actors, costumes, and f/x. Church looks perfect. It is no secret that I love the Spider-Man movies. They're the best thing that ever happened to the superhero movie genre. They show Hollywood the simple formula for getting it right: 1. Stay true to your original material and 2. Hire an accomplished imaginative director who truly loves the source. 3. Cast appropriately, ignoring bankability (the title is its own draw). Pity that Hollywood still doesn't seem to entirely believe in these oh so obvious lessons. I can't wait to see this movie but I will be so sad when the credits roll as its the last one.

Picture and Director

November 6th Prediction Updates for PICTURE and DIRECTOR. Obviously the big drop being Sam Mendes and Jarhead... though I do feel the film is being criticized for strange reasons. Not that there isn't something to criticize. Just not the same ones that are happening. I am still predicting a 3/5 split between these two categories... though I should note that that is always easier to imagine before the precursors begin the homogenization process. Once all those similar sounding and Academy influencing lists come out it might be a different story entirely.

International Male

No, not the underwear catalogue. The poll. The favorite actor polls continue on the main site. This week it's the first batch of foreign language movie stars. So you can choose between your Delons, Kinskis, Chans, Khans, Lees, Depardieus, and Gabins. And before this prompts angry commentary -like all of these 'all time' polls, it excludes people who weren't really established by 1995. So otherwise likely winner Gael Garcia Bernal (your possible favorite and one of mine) is not eligible. Don't freak -just vote.

Online Fatigue

My name is Nathaniel and I am an internet addict. [applause] However... I'm not sure that I'm ready to seek help for it. Maybe next week. Maybe I don't need help at all. [denial] I could probably quit any time I wanted to [/denial]

Hoskins and...um... whoever

Oscar Updates November

And the award for 'category in which almost anything could still happen' goes to... BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR. Supporting categories always clear up late (because there's, well, hundreds of possibilities as each year begins). Any man who can gain early traction with the NBR or NYFCC will be helped greatly in the hunt. With Jarhead proving less of a "performance" piece than expected, it got even more confusing this weekend.

Read the rest -- now updated with new text and trivia-- and marvel at how cloudy the whole thing looks. This is the category where the best campaign strategies (not to mention overall picture heat) can really work wonders.

Holiday Preview

New York Times Sunday "Holiday Movie" section has arrived. Interesting to try and read into the general feeling towards the movies based on tiny writeups. Descriptions of The New World, Geisha and Ellie Parker (with Naomi Watts) read as snarky/bitchy. And this section needs a fact-checker. Adultery thriller Match Point is called a "romantic comedy" which it is clearly not and Freedomland is listed as arriving on December 2nd even though it's been moved to 2006. (This paper is daily so they don't have an excuse to miss old news...)

Performances and Films
Crazy delicious rave for Michelle Williams in Brokeback that calls her a "first rate dramatic actress." Can she give Keaton a run for the gold in supporting? Notes on Casanova don't seem derogatorily-laced at all. Sienna Miller gets very good ink. The write-up on A Good Woman is kind only to Helen Hunt (sight unseen) which is weird because she looks like the worst element in the trailer. The actual articles (as opposed to the general preview capsules) focus on Match Point, Geisha, Producers, New World, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Narnia, and Michael Haneke's Caché. And Match Point star Jonathan Rhys-Meyers starts the drum beating for his Woody Allen calling him "the world's greatest living director". Haven't heard that said about the Woodster in quite a while, have you?

Studio Breakdown Universal Pictures has a two page full color spread for The Producers, King Kong, and Munich. They seem to want to pull off a Miramax 2002 coup and totally dominate the Oscar Best Picture race in the space of 9 days (Dec 14th to 23rd). That ain't easy to do. SPC has a one page b&w ad for Breakfast on Pluto, Three Burials..., White Countess, and Cachéall premiering in a one month frame... and Warner Bros has three full color pages but they're less Oscar minded and more -look at our potential hits! Finally, Dreamworks has a great full page ad for Match Point. Their marketing on that film seems very focused with the tag "the runaway sensation of the Cannes Film Festival" (just like in the trailer). It's smart to pick a good angle and really drive it.

You can read most of the articles here.

Original Song

Oscar Beat's Steve Pond shares the news about a bakeoff style "original song" screening for the Academy. Sounds like a good idea (except for instant scoring --snap judgments are evil). Now, if only they could figure out a way to demand that the actors watch all the nominated performances before voting. Than, we'd really be talking.

Keira, Charlize, Judi, Reese, and Joan

Oscar Updates November

Ahhh, for the love of BEST ACTRESS, my fav category. Films keep on arriving and failing. My early-bird pet (Joan Allen, beeyotches. Pour her another!) is looking like a stronger bet. Hooray. In one month the NBR kicks this off. Let's hope they go with someone who needs/deserves a jumpstart. The revamp of the Actress page is complete. This isn't the exact lineup... I think I'm but one player off. My crystal ball isn't so cloudy.

I might eat it on my continued lack of faith in two possibly major players: Felicity (too fussy. film not liked) & Ziyi (Li and Yeoh stealing her thunder). But you gotta make some tough calls. If you can't, you can't play the pre-precursor Oscar predix game (when it's actually quite hard to play). Read the rest -- now updated with new text and trivia on the dozen leading competitors. More categories soon...

Diane, Uma, Michelle, Scarlett, and Q'Orianka

Oscar Updates November

It's time to get serious. The movies are opening and it's just ONE month until the NBR kicks off my favorite season. No not the holidays, sillies. Awards season! I'm starting the revamp with Supporting Actress. I still don't think this is the exact lineup... but I'm trying to suss out it out and do a little future divination.

I don't totally believe in Uma but she could survive even if the film is a dud... if they're feeling charitable. I sense Bello faltering despite being totally deserving. Damn. I sense Capote keeping Keener's name in the process even though it would be a strange possibility in this normally showy category. And I return to believing in Michelle who you'll recall was one of my year-in-advance predicted.

Read the rest... Each page now comes with new text and trivia on each of the 15 leading competitors. More categories to follow in the next few days.

Insta-Poll: Raising Your Temperature

Due to technical difficulties, I missed the Hump Day Hottie entry yesterday. So, let's make it interactive. Who was on fire this week?

You chose:
#1 JAKE GYLLENHAAL (in the Santa Hat and nothing else in "Jarhead") with 70% of all votes. Whoa.
#2 Sen. HARRY REID ("Give 'em Hell Harry" --stop the Republican distortion machine in its tracks. ) took second with 18%
#3 MADONNA (in pink leotard, gyrating in clubs and on boomboxes in "Hung Up") brought up the rear with 13%
she can't keep on waiting for yoooo--ooouuooouu