Thompson on Hollywood

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Set with Daldry, Bullock, Hanks

Paramount and Warner Bros. are set to partner on Jonathan Safran Foer's 2005 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close: A Novel, with Stephen Daldry to direct two Oscar-winners, Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks.

By Anne Thompson
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August 22, 2010 5:45 AM
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Box Office: Expendables Holds Off All New Takers on Weak Weekend

It's the dog days of August indeed as the mighty Expendables threw off all new challengers and cheapie Twilight parody Vampires Suck outperformed Eat Pray Love on its second go-round. Anthony D'Alessandro does the numbers. (UPDATED.)

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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August 22, 2010 4:26 AM
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A Social Network Starts Too-Early Oscar Buzz

David Fincher, Scott Rudin and the Sony marketing team are all smiles over a very early rave review from Film Comment of The Social Network, followed by a tweet from Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers (proffering an ad quote after A Social Network lost its Hot Issue cover to Barack Obama): "David Fincher’s Social Network is the 1st film I've given **** in 2010. It’s the movie of the year that also brilliantly defines the decade." The NYT weighs in with a fact vs. fiction debate.

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2010 12:18 PM
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Academy Selects Scientific Achievement Short List

The Motion Picture Academy's scientific and technical awards committee has selected 15 achievements for further awards consideration. Now anyone else with similar devices or prior claims can offer their achievements to the committee, by August 31.

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2010 5:36 AM
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Reporter Loses Sight of Story

Journalism is a tough job, but someone has to do it. Check out this report:

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2010 5:34 AM
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Leaves of Grass Gets A Theatrical Release After All

Turns out Leaves of Grass isn't going straight to DVD, as previously reported; it will have a limited release on September 17th in New York City and Tulsa (where actor-writer-director Tim Blake Nelson grew up).

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2010 1:42 AM
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Waiting for Malick: The Tree of Life Should Open by Year's End

A new favorite sport among movie lovers is forecasting exactly when Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life will come out.

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2010 1:06 AM
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First Look: Coen Brothers' True Grit

Here's a first look at the Coen Brother's True Grit, which was filmed (along with another western, Cowboys & Aliens) around the Southwest. Paramount has released this still of grizzled Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld as Rooster Cogburn and Mattie Ross, respectively.

By Sophia Savage
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August 19, 2010 6:15 AM
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Clooney's The American: New Trailer, Pictures

The American, from director Anton Corbijn (Control), arrives in theaters on September 1st, opting out of the fall fest circuit. George Clooney, who followed his charmingly vulnerable role in Up in The Air with shaggy humor in the less impressive The Men Who Stare At Goats, now returns to his commercial bread-and-butter as the side-burned assassin whose "last job" isn't as cut-and-dried as he'd hope. It never is.

By Anne Thompson
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August 19, 2010 5:30 AM
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Idris Elba as Alex Cross, Bateman's Reckless Masturbation, Fair Game's Identity Crisis

- It's no longer Morgan Freeman's time on the James Patterson murder mystery series (Kiss the Girls, Along Came A Spider). The veteran actor last played the role of Dr. Alex Cross in 2001, but now a new man is taking over the role for Cross, the next cinematic installment in the best-selling series: Idris Elba, of The Wire, The Office, and Obsessed. The 37-year old Brit actor has a long TV and film resume and is due for a meatier lead in a studio feature. Although he's stepping into a role played by Freeman, he's reminiscent of Denzel Washington circa 1999's The Bone Collector. Washington at 43 was in his prime: dignified, sexy, powerful. David Twohy will direct Cross, which follows the character as he tracks a rapist he believes to have murdered his pregnant wife years ago.