From the Spirit Awards nominees party last night in Santa Monica. The nominees are…
At STK in West Hollywood last night, Paramount Vantage celebrates the Oscars… My own favorite film of the year, “There Will Be Blood” was the hot topic of course, with Paul Thomas Anderson enthusiastically greeting guests and well-wishers. Sissy Spacek and John C. Reilly were among the bold-faced names, along with Miramax’s Daniel Battsek, Tom Bernard and Michael Barker from Sony Classics, and other fans and friends. My favorite moment of the night… the assortment of milkshakes (with straws), served to party-goers.
iPhone photo by eugene hernandez
The final edition of Movie City News’ Gurus o’ Gold takes a final look at the nominees for this weekend’s Academy Awards. The big winners, according to the prognosticators (including myself): “No Country For Old Men”, Julie Christie, Daniel Day Lewis, Cate Blanchett, Javier Bardem...
Pictured: The lobby of the AMPAS building on Wilshire earlier this week.
[photo by eugene hernandez]
A blog is a pretty powerful weapon in the hands of a reporter with lots of opinions.—Jacob Bernstein, Women’s Wear Daily
The constant battles and bickering between must-read Hollywood industry bloggers David Poland (The Hot Blog), Nikki Finke (Deadline Hollywood Daily) and Jeffrey Wells (Hollywood Elsewhere) often deliver engaging insider tales from L.A.
This morning, Wells teased a new profile of Finke from WWD by offering some of her apparent choice quotes and then tonight Poland weighed in with the full text, charging that her reaction to the story spiked it from WWD’s website.
During a recent bloggers panel at the L.A. Film Fest, participants recalled a time years ago when the blogging trio of Poland, Finke and Wells had met to discuss working together. These days they declined to appear on the same dais together, but just imagine if they had… worked together.
Saying that the Sundance Film Festival changed the way stars, directors, Hollywood and moviegoers thought about movies, CNN cited the “rise of the indies” as the top pop culture moment of the past 25 years on its “hit list” show with Entertainment Weekly (a major fest sponsor). Filmmaker Kevin Smith recognized “Pulp Fiction and the Weinsteins (who have also embraced Smith throughout his career) as “kicking the door open for people like myself.”
Posing but never answering the question “has independent film gone Hollywood,” the message sent by the program was in fact a clear yes. No shock there, the program pushed the idea that “independent spirit is alive and well,” paying lip service to filmmakers who make low-budget movies on video today, but never exploring the new generation of such directors, instead asking Kevin about the importance of “indie” films for actors today. He added that its “great for emerging actors” and for those who “want to recharge their batteries.” Smith concluded:
Indie film isnt going anywhere, as long as there is somebody looking at Hollywood going ‘ugh, i dont want to watch any of this anymore’, there will be somebody out there who wants to make their own movie that speaks to a smaller, but distinct audience.
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