Avatar, the People's Champ?

I found this interesting article at Business Wire - me

Americans Believe Avatar Should Win Best Picture Oscar on Sunday

Morgan Freeman and Sandra Bullock on top for acting Oscars

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--There are the dresses and the pageantry, as well as waiting to see what people will say during their acceptance speeches. But at the end of the night it comes down to three awards – best actor, best actress and best picture. There is also the new twist of having 10 movies nominated for best picture instead of the normal five.

“Who should win the Oscar for Best Actress?”

This year, one in five Americans (18%) believes that Avatar should win the Academy Award for best picture while 15% say the Oscar should go to The Blind Side. One in ten U.S. adults (9%) say The Hurt Locker should win best picture, 6% say the award should go to Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, and 5% each say the Oscar should go to Up and Inglourious Basterds. Small percentages believe the Oscar should go to Up in the Air (2%) or District 9 (2%) and less than 1% believe it should go to A Serious Man or An Education. One-third of Americans (33%) are not sure who the best picture Oscar should go to this year and 5% say it should go to none of the nominated films.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,073 adults surveyed online between March 2 and 4, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

There is a gender divide for best picture. One in five men (20%) say Avatar should win the Oscar while one in five women (20%) believe it should go to The Blind Side.

Best Actor and Actress
When it comes to the best actor statue, just over one in five Americans (21%) say Morgan Freeman should win for his performance in Invictus while just under that (18%) say the Oscar should go to Jeff Bridges for his performance in Crazy Heart. One in ten U.S. adults (11%) believe George Clooney should win for Up in the Air, 6% say Jeremy Renner should win for The Hurt Locker and 1% believe Colin Firth should take the Oscar for his performance in A Single Man. Almost two in five Americans (38%), however, say they are not sure who should win the best actor Oscar.

For best actress, there is a clear front-runner as almost two in five Americans (37%) say Sandra Bullock should win the Academy Award for her performance in The Blind Side. For her performance as master chef Julia Child in Julie & Julia, 16% believe Meryl Streep should win the Oscar. One in ten (11%) believe Gabourey Sidibe should win for her performance in Precious: based on the novel Push by Sapphire, followed by Helen Mirren in The Last Station (2%) and Carey Mulligan in An Education (1%). Three in ten Americans (30%) are not sure who should win the Academy Award for best actress.

Who will be watching?
One thing the Academy Awards have struggled with over the past few years is who should host the show. This year, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will co-host the Awards. Over one-third of Americans (35%) believe they will be better compared to previous hosts while 36% say they will be neither better nor worse. Less than one in ten (8%) think they will be worse than the hosts from pervious telecasts.

There is also always the question of who is watching. As the shows drag on and on and producers struggle to find ways to keep the show entertaining, there is concern about lost viewers. Just over half of Americans (53%) say they will not watch the Oscars this year while 47% say they will. Women are more likely than men to say they will watch the award show (52% versus 43%).

So what?
These questions ask who Americans believe should win the Academy Awards and fan favorites and box office receipts play a large role in these choices. Avatar is critically acclaimed and has struck box-office gold so it may be like James Cameron’s previous blockbuster, Titanic, and also win the Oscar. But never count the underdogs out as the Academy has been known to produce surprises each and every year.

Read the rest here.

Twilight News: Editor Art Jones out on "Eclipse"

EW.com's Hollywood Insider is reporting that Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the Twlight film series, is replacing editor Art Jones with Nancy Richardson who edited the first Twilight.  Apparently Jones' edit of Eclipse was "very good," but still needed to be stronger.

Hmmm.

Review: Tim Burton's "Big Fish" Out of Water

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Big Fish (2003)
Running time: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for a fight scene, some images of nudity and a suggestive reference
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: John August (from a novel by Daniel Wallace, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions)
PRODUCERS: Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks, and Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA with elements of comedy and fantasy

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham Carter, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard, Matthew McGroroy, David Denman, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito, Ada Tai, Arlene Tai, Deep Roy, and Hailey Ann Nelson

Tim Burton is an imaginative, creative, and innovative filmmaker, but his eccentric vision is traditionally wasted on studio fare. He’s sometimes managed to make average to very good movies out of junk, as in Planet of the Apes. He’s made visually appealing films that sadly misfire, Mars Attacks. He’s made fairy tales and fables into visually appealing films like Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow. He occasionally makes a films that live up to people’s expectations of him as a great filmmaker, as in Beetlejuice and Ed Wood. His new film Big Fish belongs in the category with Planet of the Apes.

Will Bloom (Billy Crudup) has a father Ed Bloom (Albert Finney) who likes to spin tall yarns. It’s how Ed tells the story of his life, mixing tall tales (or big fish stories) with what actually happened; that must mean his stories have a life lesson somewhere inside. As the Young Ed (Ewan McGregor), he claims to have had many adventures: as a star athlete, as a circus worker, and as a soldier. Will grows to hate those stories and what he sees as his father’s dishonesty. He goes away, until his mother Sandra (Jessica Lange) calls Will and his wife Josephine (Marion Cotillard) home because Ed is dying. Ed wants to make peace with his father, so he tries again to figure out fact from fiction, but maybe he’s missing the point.

For all his visual aplomb and quirkiness, Tim Burton made a pleasant, but ultimately safe father-son movie with a few oddball characters thrown into the mix. And when it’s all said and done, there’s nothing really odd about them other than they might not look or act like the average folks. On the surface, they may appear strange, but underneath, they’re just your typical country witticism-spewing role players. There’s potential in each one, but Burton wastes it by making them less dangerous. Fairy tales and oddities are dangerous because they challenge our preconceived notions of what is and what is not. To make them little more than weird looking is to take away what makes them truly different and all you have left is fluff.

It’s not entirely Burton’s fault; he’s admitted before that he wouldn’t know a good screenplay if he saw one, and weak screenplays are often the biggest flaw of his films. He focuses on making his movies look unusual, but the story ultimately fails to live up to his visual promise.

The acting in Big Fish is pretty good, but it’s wasted. How can you have a major talent like Jessica Lange and regulate her to making sad faces with sad smiles. Don’t get me started on Robert Guillaume playing the patient and wise Negro who just so happens to say those typically wise-Negro words that finally make Will “get it” about his father.

Big Fish isn’t bad; it’s just pleasant. It’s not a bad time at the movies. There are some laughs and some clever moments. There’s a bit of magic in the air, but be careful you don’t choke on maudlin and sentiment.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Music, Original Score” (Danny Elfman)


2004 BAFTA Awards: 7 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Kevin Scott Mack, Seth Maury, Lindsay MacGowan, and Paddy Eason), “Best Film” (Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks, and Richard D. Zanuck), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Jean Ann Black and Paul LeBlanc), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Albert Finney), “Best Production Design” (Dennis Gassner), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (John August), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Tim Burton)


2004 Golden Globes: 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Danny Elfman), “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Eddie Vedder for the song "Man of the Hour"), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Albert Finney)

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Dreamworks Gets "The Help"

In an exclusive story EW.com reveals that DreamWorks Pictures has now acquired the movie rights to Kathryn Stockett's hot novel, The Help.

The book is set in the 1960s and follows the lives of a group of Southern white women and their black housekeepers.  Filming may begin this summer in Mississippi.

Countdown to Oscar 2010: The Broadcast Film Critics Associations Awards 2009

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) claims to be the largest film critics’ organization in the United States and Canada. The BFCA represents television, radio and online critics, and currently has 235 members. Since 1995, they’ve presented the “Critics’ Choice Awards.” The awards are bestowed annually to honor the finest in cinematic achievement.


For the 15th edition of the Critics' Choice Awards, members selected nominees in each of 25 categories. Eligible films were released in 2009. The accounting firm of Gregory A. Mogab tallied the written ballots. The group claims that, historically, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.

15th Annual Critics' Choice Awards Winners and Nominees:

BEST PICTURE
Winner: The Hurt Locker

Nominees:
• Avatar
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Invictus
• Nine
• Precious
• A Serious Man
• Up
• Up In The Air

BEST ACTOR
Winner: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart

Nominees:
• Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
• George Clooney - Up In The Air
• Colin Firth - A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman - Invictus
• Viggo Mortensen - The Road
• Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS
Winner: TIE:
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia, and Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side

Nominees:
• Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria
• Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
• Carey Mulligan - An Education
• Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones
• Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
• Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Nominees:
• Matt Damon - Invictus
• Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
• Christian McKay - Me And Orson Welles
• Alfred Molina - An Education
• Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
• Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Mo'Nique - Precious

Nominees:
• Marion Cotillard - Nine
• Vera Farmiga - Up In The Air
• Anna Kendrick - Up In The Air
• Mo’Nique - Precious
• Julianne Moore - A Single Man
• Samantha Morton - The Messenger

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Winner: Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones

Nominees:
• Jae Head - The Blind Side
• Bailee Madison - Brothers
• Max Records - Where The Wild Things Are
• Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones
• Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Road

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Winner: Inglorious Basterds

Nominees:
• Inglourious Basterds
• Nine
• Precious
• Star Trek
• Up In The Air

BEST DIRECTING
Winner: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker

Nominees:
• Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
• James Cameron - Avatar
• Lee Daniels - Precious
• Clint Eastwood - Invictus
• Jason Reitman - Up In The Air
• Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Nominees:
• Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker
• Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
• Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber - (500) Days Of Summer
• Bob Peterson, Peter Docter - Up
• Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up In The Air

Nominees:
• Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell - District 9
• Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious
• Tom Ford, David Scearce - A Single Man
• Nick Hornby - An Education
• Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up In The Air

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Avatar

Nominees:
• The Hurt Locker
• Nine
• Avatar
• The Lovely Bones
• Inglourious Basterds

BEST ART DIRECTION
Winner: Avatar

Nominees:
• A Single Man
• Avatar
• Nine
• The Lovely Bones
• Inglourious Basterds

BEST EDITING
Winner: Avatar

Nominees:
• Up In The Air
• Inglourious Basterds
• The Hurt Locker
• Avatar
• Nine

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Winner: The Young Victoria

Nominees:
• Nine
• Bright Star
• The Young Victoria
• Inglourious Basterds
• Where The Wild Things Are

BEST MAKEUP
Winner: District 9

Nominees:
• Avatar
• District 9
• Nine
• The Road
• Star Trek

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner: Avatar

Nominees:
• Avatar
• District 9
• The Lovely Bones
• Star Trek
• 2012

BEST SOUND
Winner: Avatar

Nominees:
• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Nine
• Star Trek

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Winner: Up

Nominees:
• Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Princess And The Frog
• Up

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Winner: Avatar

Nominees:
• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Star Trek

BEST COMEDY
Winner: The Hangover

Nominees:
• (500) Days Of Summer
• The Hangover
• It’s Complicated
• The Proposal
• Zombieland

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Winner: Grey Gardens

Nominees:
• Gifted Hands
• Grey Gardens
• Into The Storm
• Taking Chance

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Winner: Broken Embraces

Nominees:
• Broken Embraces
• Coco Before Chanel
• Red Cliff
• Sin Nombre
• The White Ribbon

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Winner: The Cove

Nominees:
• Anvil
• Capitalism: A Love Story
• The Cove
• Food, Inc.
• Michael Jackson’s This Is It

BEST SONG
Winner: "The Weary Kind" - Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett - Crazy Heart

Nominees:
• "All Is Love" - Karen O, Nick Zinner - Where The Wild Things Are
• "Almost There" - Randy Newman - The Princess And The Frog
• "Cinema Italiano" - Maury Yeston - Nine
• "(I Want To) Come Home" - Paul McCartney - Everybody’s Fine
• "The Weary Kind" - Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett - Crazy Heart

BEST SCORE
Winner: Michael Giacchino - Up

Nominees:
• Michael Giacchino - Up
• Marvin Hamlisch - The Informant!
• Randy Newman - The Princess and the Frog
• Karen O, Carter Burwell - Where The Wild Things Are
• Hans Zimmer - Sherlock Holmes

Joel Siegel Award: Kevin Bacon

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow a Fluffy Fantasia

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 186 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG for sequences of stylized sci-fi violence and brief mild language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Kerry Conran
PRODUCERS: Jon Avnet, Marsha Oglesby, Sadie Frost, and Jude Law
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eric Adkins
EDITOR: Sabrina Plisco, A.C.E.

SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE with elements of a mystery

Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Gambon, Bai Ling, Omid Djalili, and Angelina Jolie

Writer/director Kerry Conran’s Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is the first feature film released to theatres in which the live action photography was shot entirely against a blue screen. After the completion of principal photography, the filmmakers filled in every frame-detail digitally. The film has virtually no real sets and no actual locations. Digital technology and CGI (computer generated imagery or computer graphic imagery) created the sets: from the skyscraper mountains of 1930’s New York City (an NYC that never quite existed) to the lush primordial jungle of a lost island; from the art deco offices of the Chronicle newspaper offices in New York to the streamlined sci-fi fortress of the mad villain.

In the story, Chronicle newspaper reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) is investigating the disappearances of several famous scientists when she meets Dr. Walter Jennings (Trevor Baxter) who believes that he will be the next scientific genius to be kidnapped. The doomed man whispers one word into her ear, the name of the man hunting him, Totenkopf. Polly enlists the help of her old flame, Captain H. Joseph Sullivan (Jude Law) – aka – Sky Captain, an ace aviator with daredevil flying skills, a heroic pilot who is part Buck Rogers and part Indiana Jones, who is also hunting Totenkopf. Meanwhile, the mysterious Dr. Totenkopf sends his giant robots and other diabolical machines around the world to steal machines and building supplies. Polly and Sky Captain travel to the Himalayan Alps and beyond in search of the evil mastermind behind a plot to destroy the world. With the help of Sky Captain’s old friend, Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie), the captain of an amphibious squadron, and Sky Captain’s technical super genius Dex Dearborn (Giovanni Ribisi), Polly and Sky Captain are the planet’s only hope against Totenkopf’s plot.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow certainly wears its influences on its sleeves. The film borrows (current PC term is homage) from films like King Kong, Lost Horizon, and 40’s aerial flicks like the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials. The film also borrows heavily from Max Fleischer’s Superman cartoons, film noir, and the old sci-fi, fantasy, and adventure stories found in pulp fiction magazines like Weird Tales. The late Sir Laurence Olivier even makes a surprise cameo via archival black and white film footage.

The acting is pretty good, good enough for a film that is just a fluffy piece of adventure entertainment. There is, however, something great about Gwyneth Paltrow as reporter Polly Perkins. She plays the part with the sass and self-assuredness of the great “girl reporters” of the screen. It’s a shame her character was lost in a film in which the effects and explosions dominated the tale.

But is the movie good? Sky Captain is a rollicking adventure like Raiders of the Lost Ark, itself an homage to old Saturday matinee adventure serials, but Sky Captain isn’t as good as Raiders. In fact, sometimes, the film is quite dry, and for all its visual aplomb, the film has nothing to say. The wonderful digital visual images often come across as plastic fantastic. The film has one truly great sequence, Sky Captain’s duel with Totenkopf’s flying machines through the concrete canyons of New York City is as good as any other aerial duel every put on film. A later underwater duel is quite good, but not as great as NYC throw down, but still good.

Early on, I found the film’s retro-look and its hazy, quasi color photography that was made to look black and white annoying. The story and plot is light, tightly wound, although the villain’s motivation and plot are ridiculous. The film stumbles drunkenly through the last act to the end, and the resolution with Totenkopf is a miscalculation. It’s a good time at the movies, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow actually isn’t as forgettable as a lot of other summer popcorn fluff. I wouldn’t mind visiting the scenario again on DVD, and a sequel would be sweet treat on the level of a Hershey’s Kiss.

6 of 10
B

"The Craving Heart" Now on DVD

Triumphant Entertainment Releases The Craving Heart on DVD


LOS ANGELES, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Triumphant Entertainment is proud to announce its DVD release of The Craving Heart. The latest film by award-winning filmmaker Stan Harrington, Craving is enjoying success in DVD sales. The Craving Heart stars Golden Globe Winner John Saxon (Enter the Dragon), Rick Peters (Dexter), and Adrian Zmed (TJ Hooker).

Craving's central theme, Scientist, Alexander Tom thought he had it all, great wife, great house, career... that was until the death of his best friend and a random affair with an anonymous woman force him to re-evaluate everything. In the ensuing days his relationships with his father (Saxon), his wife, his co-worker and Walela, the mysterious woman, contribute to his edification that life is riddled with intangibles, that complacency and routine have deadened him and that despite his scientific understanding of life, there are other forces at play.

Stan Harrington has won multiple awards in his career as a director. Next up for Harrington will be the indie Christian themed drama Prodigal. Stan Harrington partners with CEO John Atterberry of Silent Noise to direct, Silent Noise is co-financing Prodigal for a 2nd quarter start date.

http://www.triumphantpictures.com/