Thompson on Hollywood

Oscar Watch: Up in the Air, Clooney, Streep Lead Gurus 'O Gold

The Gurus 'O Gold jury of 14 Oscar prognosticators have weighed in on the top movies, actors and animated films so far in the Oscar race. Here's how it looks with at least four major movies (*) sight unseen. (BTW, I meant to include Up, which naturally leads the animation pack, in my top twelve.) George Clooney leads the actors, while Carey Mulligan Meryl Streep is the top contender among the actresses. UPDATE: Since November 4, MCN added votes which pushed Streep into the lead, by one point.

By Anne Thompson
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November 6, 2009 8:18 AM
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Nine Things I Learned at BAFTA's Brittania Awards

BAFTA LA's Britannia Awards at the Hyatt Regency were a blast Thursday night, as the Brits handed out achievement awards to Kirk Douglas, Colin Firth, Emily Blunt, Danny Boyle and Robert De Niro. The show was far better than last year, which went on "at ass-paralyzing length," as host Stephen Fry put it.

By Anne Thompson
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November 6, 2009 7:52 AM
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Studios vs. Theaters: Clash Over FCC Waiver

National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) president John Fithian is at war. He is in Washington right now fighting a pitched battle for exhibitors at the FCC. The LAT reported Wednesday:In regulatory filing today, the Motion Picture Assn. of America, the chief lobbying group for the major studios, restated its support for a waiver of current Federal Communications Commission rules that would clear the way for a technology that would allow consumers to watch movies at home close to or during their theatrical release. The so-called selectable output control technology would prevent the illegal copying of movies, which has been a major stumbling block to delivering first-run movies directly to consumers.

By Anne Thompson
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November 5, 2009 7:07 AM
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99 Classics Mash-Up Video

This Phish concert mash-up of their top 99 classic albums (they performed the entire Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street at one concert) is deliriously fun.

By Anne Thompson
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November 5, 2009 6:41 AM
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Entertainment Weekly Slashes Staff

Entertainment Weekly lost eleven staffers Wednesday, including four editorial. My old Premiere colleague Christine Spines is out at the West Coast office. What's telling is that she specialized in writing features, something the magazine isn't interested in running anymore, as their stories get shorter and shorter and they waste their best writers on chasing celeb news online. It's rare to see a feature longer than 1800 words; more are in the 800-word range.

By Anne Thompson
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November 5, 2009 1:53 AM
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Herzog Times Two: My Son, My Son Opens December 11

David Lynch and Industrial Entertainment will release writer-director Werner Herzog's My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, which played Venice, Telluride and Toronto, on December 11 at the IFC Center in New York. Other cities will follow.

By Anne Thompson
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November 5, 2009 1:16 AM
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Oscar Watch: Crazy Heart's Bridges Joins Actors Fray

Back in July, Fox Searchlight paid low seven figures for worldwide rights to Crazy Heart, a movie the distrib felt needed a little work in the editing room. (Here's my announcement story.) It was one of the first buys by new co-presidents Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula after Peter Rice left to run Fox TV.

By Anne Thompson
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November 4, 2009 10:14 AM
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Oscar Watch: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin Are Co-Hosting--and Co-Promoting

Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman, the two producers of the Academy Awards telecast to be broadcast around the world on March 7, have selected two hosts for the show: repeat host Steve Martin (the 73rd and 75th Oscars) and newbie Alec Baldwin. The producers went to last year's host Hugh Jackman first, but he didn't want to do the honors two years in a row. (Rumors that Emmy and Tony Awards host Neil Patrick Harris had landed the Oscar gig remind us not to believe everything we read on the internet.)

By Anne Thompson
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November 4, 2009 12:52 AM
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Twilight's Pattinson Covers Vanity Fair

I never do junkets. But at Comic-Con a year ago last July, the place went nuts over Twilight star Rob Pattinson. So last November, I knew I had to interview the young Brit actor with my flip cam. Summit gave me a one-on-one with him at the Four Seasons.

By Anne Thompson
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November 3, 2009 8:56 AM
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Apocalypse Hits 2012, D-BOX, Collapse

Roland Emmerich's disaster movies Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow are guilty pleasures. I want to see 2012 (November 13) but Sony is hiding it from me.