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'The Artist' Sweeps Spirit Awards Taking Best Picture, Director, Actor & Cinematography

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • February 25, 2012 7:44 PM
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  • 6 Comments
Awards
The awards season train continues for "The Artist," and while in years past the Spirit Awards have tended to honor edgier or more decidedly independent fare, this year it looks like even they have the fever for the silent movie sensation. Taking home the big prizes for Best Picture, Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius), Best Actor (Jean Dujardin) and Best Cinematography (Guillaume Schiffman) it looks like the stage has been set for the film to repeat these honors, and maybe more, tomorrow night at the venue formerly known as the Kodak Theater.
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More: The Artist, Spirit Awards, Shailene Woodley, Margin Call, The Descendants, Pariah, Michel Hazanavicius, Alexander Payne, Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn, Awards, Without, Margin Call, Will Reiser, 50/50

National Board Of Review Gives Best Picture & Director To 'Hugo'; Tilda Swinton & George Clooney Take Acting Awards

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • December 1, 2011 4:14 PM
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  • 8 Comments
Awards
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More: Hugo, Martin Scorsese, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, The Descendants, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Christopher Plummer, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (screenplay); Kaui Hart Hemmings (novel), Rango, Felicity Jones, Rooney Mara, J.C. Chandor, The Help, Michael Fassbender, Crime After Crime, Pariah, A Separation, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, The Artist, Drive, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Ides Of March, J. Edgar, The Tree Of Life, War Horse, Elite Squad II: The Enemy Within, Le Havre, Buck, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Project Nim, Senna, 50/50, Another Earth, A Better Life, Cedar Rapids, Margin Call, Shame, Take Shelter, Win Win, The Amazing Race

Weekend Box Office: 'Dolphin Tale' Flips Over Another Batch Of Weak New Releases To Score #1

  • By Gabe Toro
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  • October 2, 2011 4:38 AM
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  • 0 Comments
Break it down however you want, but its simple economics. The last month has been absolutely saturated with product, so few of it appealing to mainstream America. These movies aren’t bad. And, in most cases, the marketing isn’t all that faulty. It’s pure numbers. The market can’t withstand this over-saturation. In September, eighteen films entered wide release of 1500 or more theaters, and only six crossed $30 million domestic, two of them benefiting from inflated 3D prices. That’s a poor record of success, even as we keep the bar exactly that low.
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More: Films, Film Studios, Weekend Box-Office, Animated Films, Dream House, Contagion, Take Shelter, 50/50, What's Your Number?, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Sony, Open Road, Lionsgate, The Lion King, Margaret

In Theaters: 'What's Your Number?' Does The Math With '50/50' & 'Dream House'

  • By Katie Walsh
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  • September 30, 2011 6:58 AM
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  • 2 Comments
I hope you've all iced your crotch punches from last weekend and are ready to get down to brass tax. Joseph Gordon-Levitt with cancer! Come on now, people, we've got to be SERIOUS, it's almost October after all. We need politics and drama and commentary, like in the scathing feminist critique of "What's Your Number?" (Lemme guess, Chris Evans is number 20 and she doesn't have to go over the socially acceptable limit of dudes effed). So put on the big boy or girl pants, this weekend we've got "50/50," "Dream House," "What's Your Number?" and "Take Shelter" hitting screens.
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More: Films, What's Your Number?, 50/50, Dream House, Margaret

Jonathan Levine Talks Surviving Title Changes & Casting Switch-Ups In Making '50/50'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • September 29, 2011 8:37 AM
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  • 0 Comments
Filmmaker Describes Why They Dropped The Original Title, 'I'm With Cancer' & How They Survived Losing Their Lead Actor 2 Weeks Before ShootingOur conversation with director Jonathan Levine first ran during the "50/50" world premiere at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, but we're worried it got lost in that crazy shuffle. With the film in theaters this weekend -- on 2,400 screens no less -- we thought we'd revisit the chat one more time.
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More: Films, Actors, Jonathan Levine, 50/50, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Review: Comedy And Tragedy Awkwardly Collide In ’50/50’

  • By Jeff Otto
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  • September 26, 2011 10:59 AM
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  • 4 Comments
Director Jonathan Levine’s new comedy-drama is an ambitious undertaking, a heartfelt attempt at finding the difficult balance between the masks of comedy and tragedy. Based partially on the real-life struggle of writer Will Reiser and his relationship with pal Seth Rogen (who produces and stars), “50/50” tells the story of a young man diagnosed with cancer and forced to come to terms with his own mortality, something that would generally be relegated to movie-of-the-week or arthouse status. But Rogen’s inclusion, along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead, in addition to a strong supporting cast elevates “50/50” to a level of exposure, scrutiny and commercial compromise that may ultimately be detrimental to the intended artistic expression of Reiser’s experience.
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More: Films, Review, 50/50

The Amazing Race: Which Awards Contenders Came Out Of The Venice/Telluride/Toronto Derby On Top?

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • September 16, 2011 5:44 AM
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  • 11 Comments
After two bonkers weeks, the September festival season is just about dragging to a close (at least in terms of major awards-season debuts; Fantastic Fest is pretty much imminent, but it's not an awards player and the NYFF follows hot on its heels, but most of those films have screened already). And as ever, the films that we're likely to see strutting their stuff at the Kodak Theater -- and the ones that we won't -- have started to come into focus.
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More: Films, Ides Of March, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Descendants, Sports Films, The Deep Blue Sea, A Dangerous Method, Anonymous, 50/50, Venice, Moneyball

Jonathan Levine Says He Hopes His Zombie Movie 'Warm Bodies' Will Be "Visually Arresting"

  • By Edward Davis
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  • September 14, 2011 9:15 AM
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  • 0 Comments
With "50/50" pulling in pretty positive reactions from most critics (although you'll recall that we were a little cooler on it than most), it looks like director Jonathan Levine is finally heading toward the big time, after a false start when his debut "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane" was lost to legal distribution hell.
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More: Films, Jonathan Levine, 50/50, Warm Bodies

TIFF '11 Review: Admirable, Low-Key ’50/50’ Splits Difference Between Genuinely Funny And Sad

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • September 11, 2011 10:46 AM
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  • 4 Comments
Let's get this out of the way early; the cancer dramedy, "50/50," formerly known as "I'm With Cancer," is an admirable effort by all the parties involved. There's maturity and restraint shown throughout in this story, about a healthy young twentysomething man staring his mortality in the face when he is suddenly diagnosed with a rare spinal cancer, and it's a well-intentioned humanistic drama that tries to demonstrate that life is complicated and never quite cut and dry. The measured film takes pains to illustrate there is laughter to be derived in difficult and near-tragic situations and melancholy can also be found in some of the most humorous moments. It's also a friendship movie that is wise enough to not feel like a bromance film. In fact, it feels like it comes from the playbook of master comedians like James L. Brooks, Judd Apatow and Albert Brooks who deftly understand that a little sour in sweetness and vice-versa can go a long, long way.
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More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Review, Jonathan Levine, 50/50, Philip Baker Hall, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard

Director Jonathan Levine Talks Title Changes, Pearl Jam & Making Cancer Dramedy '50/50'

  • By The Playlist
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  • September 10, 2011 11:50 AM
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  • 4 Comments
Filmmaker Describes Why They Dropped The Original Title, 'I'm With Cancer' & How They Survived Losing Their Lead Actor 2 Weeks Before ShootingThe words 'Seth Rogen comedy' and 'Oscar-buzz' are not usually found in the same sentence, but that's the situation that "50/50" has found itself in. Based on an autobiographical script by Rogen's pal Will Reiser, it stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam, a man in his twenties who is unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer, with Rogen (who is also producing) as his best friend, and Anna Kendrick as his psychiatrist/love interest.
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More: Films, Actors, Interview, Jonathan Levine, 50/50, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

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