BlogStage an opening date for Spider-Man the musical which is now called Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Whaaaa?
Bright Lights... on the subtextual Oscar highlights
Dear Jesus experiences those 'commie homo-loving sonofguns' at the Oscars being shown in Mormon homes
Empire Freida Pinto in a Woody Allen movie next. No comment.
Sunset Gun Who's Afraid of Angelina Jolie?
Roger Ebert also loved the Oscar broadcast ... possibly even more than I did. I'm aware that there's the normal slew of negative reviews out there but I think it's foolish to get hung up on Oscar reviews. The host in particular should NEVER read Oscar reviews. Basically you could copy and paste Oscar night reviews verbatim with only the hosts name changed. The negative reviews are always the same "it was boring. it was long. nobody cares about these movies. it's out of touch. above all the host sucked". It doesn't even matter what actually transpired on the broadcast. These reviews will always exist. They're a time tested tradition right up there with opening the envelopes. It's the nature of the beast.
So I loved the broadcast (my review) and these reviews don't bother me a bit. My efforts to get more positive like Poppy (Happy-Go-Lucky, y'all) must be paying off (slowly). I'm glad there are others like Ebert feeling the love. At the very least you have to give Hugh & team points for effort. They were working their asses off to make that a better show than it has been the past few years. I'm glad the ratings were slightly up.
Finally, if you're a film lover who is leaning towards film making you might want to check out this list by Movie Maker of the best cities for movie makers to live in. Their reasoning sounds complex so I shan't try to summarize but please know that I was surprised to see my city of origin there (Detroit #11) but not at all surprised to see my pre-NYC home in the mix (Salt Lake City #17). So if you're a filmmaker... say yes to Michigan. Michigan needs all the help it can get these days. Everyone is leaving and nobody has work. How that makes it a good city for movie making I don't know but if Movie Maker says it, it must be true.*
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23 comments:
I hope they keep the idea of former winners analysing the nominees' performances. It was briliant! They can ofcourse skip Angelina's. :p
Michigan has to get their crews up. If you can't crew the film locally...it adds the saved expense right back on.
Also...right to work. Is Michigan right to work? 'Cause that is a money saver as well.
Yay Frieda! Don't lose that "Slumdog Millionaire" momentum! Same for Dev Patel.
Dude Michigan is opening its own movie studio. Can't believe you didn't see this piece of info, it was everywhere a couple of weeks ago.
Yay for Michel Gondry directing green hornet!
un francais any news not involving Oscar these past two weeks is unknown to me.
i have only so much hard disk ram
So Freida gets Woody Allen and Dev gets M. Night Shyamalan.
Will be interesting to watch these two rise (or not) in the coming year or so.
Shawn... at the risk of angering the Slumdog mob again i expect a fall.
I am happy to be proven wrong of course (if people get famous and get guaranteed roles for a few years i WANT them to be good) but i think neither exhibited much talent in that movie ... the love people felt for them TO ME (mileage may vary) was entirely based on falling in love with the movie and all those cute little kids building your rooting interest in the young lovers. They both just seemed so blank as actors so I hope I'm wrong or if i'm right that they were just warming up.
certainly they're both likeable people at awards shows ;) so good luck!
Both of them will be just fine. Stop limiting their promise, talent, and future potential just b/c you love to piss all over "Slumdog Millionaire". They'll step up to the plate just like they did in their excellent performances in "Slumdog Millionaire."
i'm not really into watersports
Right now Michigan is looking like the Slumdog Millionaire, that's if Hollywood execs decide to pump their money into it.
p.s. Michigan is my home state too.
Frieda Pinto in a Woody Allen film? Isn't she aware that she's going to have to, you know, deliver lines. Like, um, a lot of them?
Should be interesting to see her try to act, instead of simply pouting and running.
It's all about the tax incentives. Many states actually give film productions a huge chunk of their production budget (to the tune of 30-40%) back in tax deductions, which makes it massively easier to raise the money for a film to be made.
Michigan's probably trying to build up the local film industry in their state (via tax incentives) in order to bring in business to stimulate their whole economy, increase demand, and get other jobs back. It's a good idea. Unfortunately, my state, FL, is stupid, and they just recently killed the tax incentives for film here and all the professionals are moving away. It sucks.
I know all about this cause I'm currently taking a class all about production management.
Maybe the Green Hornet's costume can be made out of crepe paper and superglue? Here's hoping!
Usually I can understand negative thoughts about the Oscars because, even though I love them by default I can see clear flaws, but... I dunno. This year was different. Again, there were clear flaws but I can forgive them when there were so many positives. And most of those flaws were actually just things that need tinkering with for next year (odd music cues, in memoriam, best original song, a clearer idea with the acting presentations).
Did Billy Crystal get negative reviews the years he hosted?
On an unrelated note I just realised that on the vanity fair hollywood issue cover called 'Masterclass' all of the women have now won an Oscar apart from Chloe Sevigny and Catherine Deneuve.
About that Dear Jesus link (its comments)you posted , I still don't understand the hatred for Penn and his speech. I realize there's some hatred coming from his personal public persona. But how come it is more acceptable to hear a speech mentioning an actress ability "to climb a pole"* than to hear a speech about civil rights?
*Just imagine if Winslet's speech included some mention of David Kross assets.
Iggy because people are comfortable with women being objectified but they're not comfortable with gay people having civil rights. it's pretty simple.
crazy, but simple.
i think both are ok... why shouldn't Rourke joke about Tomei's physical gifts? She's a good sport about it and she was playing a stripper. and she has a slamming body.
but regarding Penn's speech. I loved it but the "shame" bit was very confrontational. It's true, of course, but mostly people don't like to think about this future/looking back part of progressive civil rights.
I always get sick to my stomach when Hollywood covers some long won civil rights battle (take segregation or the end of slavery or some such) and congratulates themselves and everyone congratulates everyone because NOBODY would ever think it was ok that we used to be this way. In these situations it's safe. Never mind that since it was controversial at the time, at least half of the same people if they were suddenly teleported back in time would NOT be supporting it.
so the only thing worth patting yourself on the back about is standing up to injustices in the here and now.
so Penn himself was time travelling. It's possible that in 50 to 100 years they'll make movies about gays winning civil rights and everyone will congratulate themselves that had they been alive then they TOTALLY would have fought for the gays. And they'll be disgusted by people who fought against their fellow citizens having equal treatment under the law../.. and imagine that had they been there they would have been on the right side of the divide.
which is probably false because most civil rights battles are hard won and most people aren't fighting hard to insure that their fellow citizens are treated well.
sorry i'm rambling. I loved the speech but i get why it upset people. People like to protect themselves from thinking about these things.... until battles are long won in which case they'll jump right in and be all like YAY, CIVIL RIGHTS! Kind of the way the republicans act now about the 60s civil rights battles.... AS IF they would have stood up for black people back then.
where's my coffee!?????
sorry for rambling
anon 2:50... i'm guessing that in his first year as host he did. Later when it was OK to think he was good at it he probably got good reviews. I just can't recall a year EVER wherein a first time host didn't get hate mail the next day. It's a sickness with oscar reviewing.
Yes, you're right. It's sad, but it's true. Penn's speech was uncomfortable while Lance Black for instance, while aiming at the same message was beautiful, more articulate and not confrontational. I guess it's that when it's about rights I'm more on Penn's way to address the issue (why being nice with those who hate you?). But yes, from that point of view I understand the reactions, even if I don't agree with them.
And still, I think Rourke has been allowed to say whatever he wanted (and for the record, I'm ok with the jokes. I'm one of those that think we should be capable of laughing at almost everything) while Penn has been scrutinized during the whole season, which in the light of the results, it might just mean: ok, Mickey, we'll let you play and entertain us because in the end we know we're not going to give you the big prize. Which is a sad conclusion, too.
So, before getting depressed (and everyone else), and completely unrelated, one of the things I love about the awards season and the Oscars it's the pictures of actors gatherings which wouldn't happen otherwise, like this one.
http://www.variety.com/rbidata/photogallery/variety/27076.jpg
Tilda and Penélope having a good time at the Vanity Fair party.
thats awesome
I'm kinda into that Gondry-Green Hornet idea. I think he's a good match for Rogen. Did Nat or anybody else see "Be Kind Rewind"? Despite the total failure of an ending (Frank Capra at his worst...) I liked the idea of a theatrical youtube video, and felt that the movie captured some of that.
I think I'd be similarly into a stripped-down, amateurish feeling comic book movie. And Rogen seems like the man for the job, with Gondry as someone who really understands that speed.
Angelina was wonderful in films like Changeling, A Mighty Heart, Gia, George Wallace, Playing By Heart, Girl Interrupted, Foxfire, Hackers, Pushing Tin, The Good Shepherd, and The Fever. She's so underrated because of her tabloid overexposure.
Hey Nat, I've been out of town, so I didn't see that you linked to my post. Thanks a lot. Out of all my posts on Dear Jesus, I really did want people to read that one, and I got a great number of referrals from your page. So thanks again!
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