AFI Names Its Top 10 Films and TV Series of 2011

The American Film Institute (AFI) describes itself as “America’s promise to preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers.” Their awards focus on American feature films and television programs.

AFI’s Ten Films of 2011:
BRIDESMAIDS

THE DESCENDANTS

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

THE HELP

HUGO

J. EDGAR

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

MONEY BALL

THE TREE OF LIFE

WAR HORSE

AFI’s Ten TV Programs of 2011:
Breaking Bad

Boardwalk Empire

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Game of Thrones

The Good Wife

Homeland

Justified

Louie

Modern Family

Parks and Recreation

AFI gave special awards to the film, The Artist, and the entire “Harry Potter” film series.

"Star Wars" Satire Makes 2011 Black List

The Black List is an annual collection of the “most-liked” unproduced screenplays of the year. The list is the child of Overbrook Entertainment executive, Franklin Leonard, and is selected by 307 industry readers.

The Top 10 (title, author(s), author representation, and development company:

1. The Imitation Game by Graham Moore (CAA, The Safran Co.)

2. When the Street Lights Go by Chris Hutton & Eddie O'Keefe (WME, Tariq Merhab Management)

3. Chewie by Evan Susser & Van Robichaux (WME, Industry Entertainment)

4. The Outsider by Andrew Baldwin (CAA, Anonymous Content)

5. Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses by Matthew Aldrich (CAA, Silent R Management)

6. In the Event of a Moon Disaster by Mike Jones (CAA, The Gotham Group)

7. TIE: Maggie by John Scott III (CAA, Trevor Kaufman) and The Current War by Michael Mitnick (WME, Fourth Floor Productions)

8. The End by Aron Eli Coleite (CAA)

9. Beyond the Pale by Chad Feehan (CAA, Management 360)

10. Ezekiel Moss by Keith Bunin (CAA, Kaplan/Perrone)

Chewie is apparently a satire of Star Wars, and there is at least one zombie movie in the top ten. As a side note, I had a rude encounter with Anonymous Content (see #4) over a science fiction comic book I created almost a decade ago. An employee at Anonymous Content feigned interest in the comic as a property they wanted to develop. After I spent my time and money to get them material, the employee just left me hanging. Next time I’ll do more than just play hard to get; I’m going to cuss a mutha out if they bother me.

For the complete 2011 Black List, including the screenplays that finished out of the top ten, go to http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/risky-business/black-list-2011-top-screenplays-272332

Boston Film Critics Pick "The Artist"

The Boston Society of Film Critics was formed in 1981. The group claims that its mission is to make “Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the year's films and filmmakers and local film theaters and film societies that offer outstanding film programming.”

2011 Winners:

Best Picture - The Artist

Best Actor - Brad Pitt for Moneyball

Best Actress - Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks for Drive

Best Supporting Actress - Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids

Best Director - Martin Scorsese for Hugo

Best Screenplay - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for Moneyball

Best Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life

Best Documentary - Project Nim

Best Foreign-Language Film - Incendies

Best Animated Film - Rango

Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer) - Christian Marclay for The Clock

Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy) - Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May Marlene

Best Ensemble Cast - Carnage

Best Use of Music in a Film - TIE: Drive and The Artist

"The Help" Passes $200 Million in Worldwide Box Office

DreamWorks Pictures and Participant Media’s “The Help” Surpasses $200M Worldwide

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DreamWorks Pictures announced Dec. 8 that its empowering film “The Help” has surpassed $200 million in worldwide ticket sales. “The Help,” directed and written for the screen by Tate Taylor, is based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett.

“The Help” has resonated with audiences around the globe, sparking conversation and comments across all media platforms from such notables as Oprah, Scott Fujita, Tyler Perry, Russell Simmons, Katy Perry, Diane Sawyer, Jason Whitlock, Jackie Jackson and others.

“The Help” stars Emma Stone (“Easy A”) as Skeeter, Academy Award®–nominated Viola Davis (“Doubt”) as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny—three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. Also starring Bryce Dallas Howard (“Hereafter”), Allison Janney (“Juno”), Academy Award®–winner Sissy Spacek (“In the Bedroom,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter”) and Jessica Chastain (“Tree of Life”), “The Help” is deeply moving, filled with poignancy, humor and hope—a timeless and universal story about the ability to create change.

Rounding out the cast are Ahna O’Reilly (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), Cicely Tyson (“Sounder,” “Fried Green Tomatoes”), Chris Lowell (“Up in the Air”), Mike Vogel (“Blue Valentine”), Aunjanue Ellis (“Ray”) and Mary Steenburgen (“Did You Hear About the Morgans?”).

From DreamWorks Pictures and Reliance Entertainment, in association with Participant Media and Imagenation Abu Dhabi, “The Help” was produced by Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan.

“The Help” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Los Angeles Film Critics Vote "The Descendants" Best Picture

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is a professional organization of Los Angeles-based, professional film critics working in the Los Angeles print and electronic media. Since 1975, LAFCA members vote on the year's Achievement Awards each December, honoring screen excellence on both sides of the camera.

37th Annual (2011) Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards:

BEST PICTURE: "The Descendants"
Runner-up: "The Tree of Life"

BEST DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"
Runner-Up Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

BEST ACTOR: Michael Fassbender, "A Dangerous Method", "Jane Eyre", "Shame", "X-Men: First Class"
Runner-up: Michael Shannon, "Take Shelter"

BEST ACTRESS: Yun Jung-hee, "Poetry"
Runner-up: Kirsten Dunst ("Melancholia")

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Runner-up: Patton Oswalt ("Young Adult")

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, "Coriolanus," "The Debt," "The Help," "Take Shelter," "Texas Killing Fields," "Tree of Life"
Runner-up: Janet McTeer ("Albert Nobbs")

BEST Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, “A Separation"
Runner-up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash ("The Descendants")

BEST Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Life"
Runner-up: Cao Yu ("City of Life and Death")

Best Production Design Dante Ferretti, "Hugo"
Runner-up: Maris Djurkovic ("Tinker Tailor Solider Spy")

Best Music Score "Hanna" The Chemical Brothers
Runner-up: "Drive" Cliff Martinez

Best Foreign-Language Film: "City of Life and Death" Directed by CHUAN LU
Runner-up: "A Separation" directed by Asghar Farhadi

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" directed by Werner Herzog
Runner-up: "The Arbor" directed by Clio Barnard

Best Animation: "Rango" directed by Gore Verbinski
Runner-up: "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" directed by Steven Spielberg

New Generation: Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond and Elizabeth Olsen, "Martha Marcy May Marlene"

Career Achievement: Doris Day

The Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award: Bill Morrison, "Spark of Being"

http://www.lafca.net/

"Family Guy Volume 9" Now Arriving on DVD

Spice up the holidays with new FAMILY GUY DVD collection available December 13

 

Bring the Griffins home this holiday season with FAMILY GUY Volume 9 DVD arriving in stores on December 13th. The three-disc DVD set features 14 episodes from the hysterical eighth and ninth seasons including the popular 150th episode, an extended version of And Then There Were Fewer and never-before-seen extras consisting of:

• ­Uncensored footage
• Deleted scenes
• ­Side-by-side animatics
• 3 Featurettes
• ­An episode of The Cleveland Show with a special introduction from Mike Henry
• Audio commentaries

 

America’s most dysfunctional family, the Griffins, return with another outrageous and hilarious, uncensored volume. Follow unconventional dad Peter Griffin (SETH MACFARLANE) as he gets up to plenty of antics with the reluctant help of his caring wife Lois (ALEX BORSTEIN), their awkward daughter Meg (MILA KUNIS), dorky son Chris (SETH GREEN), maniacal baby Stewie (MacFarlane) and Brian, the family dog who is both a ladies man and a heavy drinker.

 

FAMILY GUY Volume 9 is available on a three-disc DVD set on December 13 and is perfectly priced for the holiday gift-giving season.

 

About Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC (TCFHE) is a recognized global industry leader and a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a News Corporation company. Representing 75 years of innovative and award-winning filmmaking from Twentieth Century Fox, TCFHE is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming, acquisitions and original productions on DVD, Blu-ray Disc Digital Copy, Video On Demand and Digital Download. The company also releases all products globally for MGM Home Entertainment. Each year TCFHE introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to retail outlets from mass merchants and warehouse clubs to specialty stores and e-commerce throughout the world.

 

Follow Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on Twitter @FoxHomeEnt

 

 

Review: "House of Sand and Fog" is Filled with Conflict (Happy B'day, Jennifer Connelly)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 101 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hour, 6 minutes)
MPAA – R for some violence/disturbing images, language and a scene of sexuality
DIRECTOR: Vadim Perelman
WRITER: Shawn Otto and Vadim Perelman (from a novel by Andre Dubus III)
PRODUCERS: Michael London and Vadim Perelman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Deakins
EDITOR: Lisa Zeno Churgin
COMPOSER: James Horner
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard, Frances Fisher, Kim Dickens, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Jonathan Ahdout

After being abandoned by her husband, Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connelly), an alcoholic, discovers that the county has foreclosed her home and put it up for auction. After the county discovers that the foreclosure was an error on their part, they try to buy the home back from the new owner, Colonel Behrani (Ben Kingsley), an Iranian military officer under the Shah (who was deposed by the Islamic revolution in the late 70’s). However, Behrani bought the house with the intention of selling it again at a profit, and he will not sell it back to the county unless he gets his asking price, which is four times what he paid for it. Thus, begins a conflict between Kathy and the colonel that has tragic consequences for all involved.

House of Sand and Fog is a well-acted mega-tragedy that switches from being harrowing and riveting to depressing and boring. The film is a brilliant rumination on how living in the past and failing to move on with one’s life can lead to both a figurative and literal death. However, it is also a painfully obvious, artsy movie drama racing down the slippery slope to film tragedy.

The film received three Academy Award nominations: Ben Kingsley for “Best Actor in a Leading Role,” Shohreh Aghdashloo for “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” for her part as Behrani’s wife, and one for James Horner’s gorgeous score. Although Kingsley and Ms. Aghdashloo did not win, they were clearly robbed. The rest of the cast stands out quite well (even prior Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly), but Kingsley and Ms. Aghdashloo give impeccable performances in this relentlessly morose drama. In fact Kingsley is not only clearly a great film actor; he is also an artist, and when he’s in a film, his filmmaking collaborators’ efforts sometime end of up merely being the canvas upon which he paints his brilliant work.

I’ll recommend House of Sand and Fog to people who love to see good acting, if they can stomach this film’s heartache and misfortune. At least we can give director Vadim Perelman credit for so convincingly making sadness eye candy the way pop directors make action sequences so appealing.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Ben Kingsley), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Shohreh Aghdashloo), and “Best Music, Original Score” (James Horner)

2004 Golden Globes: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Ben Kingsley)