Thompson on Hollywood

Bening Talks Vanity-Free Roles in Mother and Child, The Kids Are All Right

Sony Pictures Classics has a good eye for awards contenders. They scooped up Get Low and Mother and Child out of Toronto, and it's likely that we will see both Robert Duvall and Annette Bening in the awards race this fall.

By Anne Thompson
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April 28, 2010 1:08 AM
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Iron Man 2 Reviews Are Mixed But It Won't Matter

Thank God for Mickey Rourke.

By Anne Thompson
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April 27, 2010 11:34 AM
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Lionsgate Poison Pill Rebuffed in Canada

Lionsgate Entertainment, which is incorporated in both Vancouver and Santa Monica, is trying to fend off shareholder Carl Icahn's efforts to take over the company. But Lionsgate has met a setback, reports the LAT and Bloomberg News:

By Anne Thompson
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April 27, 2010 11:16 AM
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SFIFF 53 Day Three: T-Bone Burnett, A Brand New Life, Nymph, Cracks

TOH correspondent Meredith Brody continues her coverage of the 53rd SFIFF:

By Meredith Brody
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April 27, 2010 9:54 AM
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TCM Classic Film Festival is Hit, and is Coming Back

Last weekend's TCM Classic Film Festival in LA was such a hit that it's coming back in 2011. TCM targeted an aging demo starving for classic movies and created an event feel, with Q & As and panels, from Danny and Anjelica Huston honoring their father and grandfather in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (which holds up really well, fresh as a daisy) and the Complete Metropolis accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra, which judging from the interest I'm gauging will do some business. (Leonard Maltin covered the fest like a blanket.)

By Anne Thompson
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April 27, 2010 7:29 AM
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Please Give Nicole Holofcener More Money

Please Give, writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s thoughtful, well-observed portrait of neurotic, flawed New Yorkers, stars her alter-ego Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt as husband and wife, and Rebecca Hall and a bronzed Amanda Peet as sisters caring for their aging grandmother (Ann Morgan Guilbert), who lives next door. Holofcener gets better with every film--all of which are must-sees, from Walking and Talking to Lovely and Amazing and Friends with Money. Holofcener plans to work again with Frances McDormand on a book adaptation.

By Anne Thompson
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April 27, 2010 1:29 AM
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Talking Treme: Ep. Three

Tim Appelo and I are riffing on each episode of David Simon's HBO series Treme, which brought me to tears during Ep. 3:

By Anne Thompson
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April 26, 2010 12:34 PM
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The Kennedys at the Movies: from Martin Sheen to Matt Damon

We can't seem to get enough of the Kennedys.

By Anne Thompson
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April 26, 2010 12:06 PM
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Avatar Breaks More Records, in DVD Sales

As DVD sales decline (8% in the first three months of 2010), studios and filmmakers are putting more energy into their marketing. Not to rest on their Avatar laurels ($2.7 billion global gross) James Cameron and producer Jon Landau returned to the campaign trail to promote the April 22 Earth Day DVD release. It worked. Avatar sold 2.7 million Blu-ray discs in just four days, a record:

By Anne Thompson
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April 26, 2010 7:55 AM
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Hitfix Adds TV Blogger Sepinwall

Meanwhile consumer-friendly entertainment site Hitfix.com continues to grow, adding Star-Ledger TV blogger Alan Sepinwall (What's Alan Watching) to their line-up. Here's the news release. Sepinwall joins Hitfix stalwarts Drew McWeeny, Daniel Fienberg, Melinda Newman, Katie Hasty and editor-in-chief and co-founder Gregory Ellwood. What's Alan Watching will relaunch on HitFix on Tuesday, May 4, 2010.