Do Oscar favorites really change between when the Nominees are first announced and those last few days before the ceremony? Well, of course they do! The politicking, the hand shaking, and the puff pieces do change people’s opinions on who should win these things, and, with that in mind, I offer up the following up-to-the-minute predictions to help you win your office Oscar pool. I don’t know who will be presenting, I don’t know how they plan to fill the empty sixty second void Peter Gabriel created in the show, and I’m not sure how people will react to a host with an Australian accent, but I do have a few opinions on how the big categories are shaping up.

Read the rest of this entry »

The nominations for the 81st annual Academy Awards were announced this morning, and while most of the picks are in step with predictions, the Academy also threw in a few shockers — which may change the point spread for awards season highrollers. So here with a list of the Oscar noms and a long-range take on the odds is AllMovie’s own resident awards bookie Perry Seibert.

Read the rest of this entry »

My AllMovie compatriot Perry pointed out to me not too long ago that Miley Cyrus looks a lot like Razzie Award winning actress and forgettable singer Pia Zadora.

I think there’s definitely an uncanny physical resemblance (aside from Miley’s weirdo giant caps), but maybe the perceived similarity is psychological, since they’re both mediocre singers with careers built almost solely on connections. Either way, I think it’s terrifying.

So the moral of this story is look out Miley; in 20 years this picture of you with a random Jonas brother is going to be the same as this picture of Pia with a random Jackson brother. (I think it’s Jermaine. Maybe Tito).

Fanboys and girls everywhere perked up their ears when talk of a live action adaptation of the hit anime series Cowboy Bebop began brewing in the nerd community at large. Oh the joy. Oh the horror. This will be awesome until it becomes terrible.

We fans are fickle, irrational creatures when it comes to the furthering of our favorite franchises. For the cult surrounding some particular novel or comic or video game, there are few diversions as engrossing as speculating about how the masterpiece could be adapted to film — fantasizing about dream casts, bickering about worthy directors, and bitching about the inevitable ways that the precious material would be most unavoidably and completely f*cked up.

Read the rest of this entry »

On a recent expedition into the long-untouched catacombs of my parents’ basement, I stumbled across this: my much-loved copy of the classic Milton Bradley talking board game Mall Madness. I dusted it off to investigate the battery corrosion on the game’s pretend plastic credit card machine, hoping to recapture precious first lessons about the concept of money — namely that all money is, apparently, limitless and discretionary. I was stopped, however, by the image of the girl on the box.

I know, your brain is probably fighting it. That’s because of Danes’ sterling reputation. She did make her debut in the public consciousness with that famous portrayal of pensive high-school sophomore Angela Chase on My So-Called Life — a show that was just “too real to last(!)” And Danes never had to worry about being lumped in with gals like Jennifer Love Hewitt and Tara Reid. Her indie film cred and general air of smartyness kept her in what viewers think of as the Jodie Foster school of young actresses — though the stint at Yale didn’t hurt.
 
In fact, for all her sparkly red carpet dresses, Danes’ enduring image is still kind of brooding — do you know how hard it was to find pictures of her smiling for this comparison shot? I’ve watched the MSCL bonus features and I’ve heard the story about how the show was her first gig ever, plucking her fresh, vernal genius from the masses, but whatever. You KNOW that girl had a binder of pre-teen modeling shots, full of ecstatic grins and Blossom hats.

Hey, Nic and Werner:

As a fellow member of the film industry (OK, so writing the occasional movie review in some little town in Michigan doesn’t really make me a member of the industry, just humor me on this), I read the trade papers on a regular basis, and I recently saw an article in Variety which said you guys were planning to work together on a remake of Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant, which starts shooting this summer. Now, practically every issue of Variety includes at least one announcement of a project that ends up never seeing the light of day, but this piece seemed reasonably plausible, so I wanted to step forward with some friendly advice on how you should approach this particular film. It’s quite simple, really – you should drop the idea now while you still can. No one is going to come out ahead if this movie ever gets made, and I think we all realize this in our heart of hearts.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not here to badmouth anyone. Heck, I’m actually a fan of both you guys. Werner, I’ve been following your work ever since Aguirre, The Wrath of God turned my head around sideways when I saw it in college. And Nic, if you had a nickel for every time I quoted your great line in Wild At Heart, “This here jacket represents a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom,” you’d be considerably wealthier than I am. Of course, you already are, but adding that money could well push the proportions into the algebraic.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the ’90s, rumors persisted that Martin Scorsese came close to adapting Nick Tosches’ brilliant biography of Dean Martin with an all-star cast headed by Tom Hanks and John Travolta. Lucky for us all, Cinematical is reporting that the greatest living American director may be rekindling a Rat Pack project.

Now the fun part - playing casting agent! How about Leonardo DiCaprio as the Chairman of the Board, Ryan Gosling as Dino, and Edward Norton as Jerry Lewis? Chiwetel Ejiofer would be a perfect Sammy Davis Jr. And Kate Beckinsale could play Ava Gardner for the second time in a Scorsese movie.

The latest addition to a motley club consisting of several angry Romanian villagers, an offended etiquette teacher, two misguided frat boys (and a partridge in a pear tree) is none other than acclaimed director and alleged ruiner of fun, Steven Spielberg. Unlike his company, Spielberg isn’t interested in suing Sacha Baron Cohen, but his actions may lead to the end of Borat all the same. The director has signed a $6 million dollar deal with Cohen, who has reportedly agreed to play the role of Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago Seven. Though the film, which follows the events leading up to a violent anti-Vietnam protest, has the potential to make polite society uncomfortable, it’s a far cry from letting chickens loose on a New York subway train and stirring up trouble in a traditional American rodeo. Will we see Borat wreak havoc throughout the U S and A while rocking a mean mustache after reaching legitimate actorhood? Only time will tell.