Thompson on Hollywood

1927 Best Picture Winner "Wings" to Screen in January

News

The first Academy Awards were handed out in 1927, when the silent World War I epic "Wings" took home the prize for Outstanding Picture, the precursor to today's Best Picture.

By Jacob Combs
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December 5, 2011 3:22 PM
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Jolie's In the Land of Blood and Honey Passes Muster with Newsweek

News

Newsweek's profile on Angelina Jolie, "Angie Goes to War" gives more insight into her directorial debut, "In The Land of Blood and Honey," than 60 Minutes did. Put Jolie on video for TV and the focus is bound to be her famous face, her celebrity.

By Sophia Savage
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December 5, 2011 3:14 PM
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Annie Awards Nominations Led By Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, Rango

Awards

It's a strange year in the Oscar animated category, as there are so many sequels. The Annie Award nominations often become a bellwether of where the race could go. Thus Dreamworks had a very good day, as "Kung Fu Panda 2" led the field with twelve nominations.

By Anne Thompson
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December 5, 2011 3:03 PM
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2 Comments

INTERVIEW: Jason Reitman Made Unmakeable Young Adult for $12 Million

Features

Jason Reitman is in a different place than he was during the release of "Up in the Air," when he pushed and pushed to gain entrance into the Oscar club. It crushed him on Oscar night when adapted screenplay went to Geoffrey Fletcher for "Precious." Was Reitman too young, too overexposed? When he jumped into his next feature with "Juno" collaborator Diablo Cody, "Young Adult," he took a witty midwestern plunge to the dark side. Charlize Theron went with him, and could land a Best Actress Oscar nomination. And so could supporting actor Patton Oswalt, the unlikely object of her attention.

By Anne Thompson
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December 5, 2011 1:44 PM
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New Hollywood Graffiti from Hanksy

News

Has Banksy gone Hollywood? No, the folks at FunnyOrDie have posted a best of Hanksy slideshow, where you can see the visage of the grinning Hanks in various knock-offs of Banksy's heavy-handed street art. The best, perhaps, is an inexplicable photo of Hanks on a fast-food trash can.

By Maggie Lange
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December 5, 2011 11:55 AM
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Concrete Jungles: Doc Short Reimagines the High Rise

Reviews

“One Millionth Tower” is a visually spectacular Web documentary by Canadian filmmaker Katerina Cizek that reimagines the fate of the dilapidating modern high-rise, a building form that houses over a billion people worldwide. The six and a half minute short concentrates on a Toronto concrete high rise, Kipling Avenue, home to some 20,000 people. The film mixes photographs of the high rises with whimsical animation that brings these concrete structures to life, communicating the vibrancy of the high-rise through virtual landscapes. “One Millionth Tower” filmmakers spent two years interviewing residents with delicate attentiveness; the animation is sourced from apartment denizens' sketches of ways to improve their home. As the third installment of short web documentaries from the HIGHRISE project (others include “One Thousandth Tower” and “Out My Window”) this short film shows the power of film to transform our world. Watch "One Millionth Tower" here.

By Maggie Lange
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December 5, 2011 11:47 AM
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Young Adult: Early Reviews and Theron's Deliciously Narcissistic Anti-Hero

Reviews

"Young Adult," the lastest from director Jason Reitman ("Up in the Air") and screenwriter Diablo Cody ("Juno") is a rare black sheep. It plays like a dark indie comedy with attitude, but it stars Oscar-winner Charlize Theron, sidesteps convention and beats to its own drum. It doesn't conform to mainstream laughs or tidy endings, nor does it charm its way into our hearts. Reitman and Cody happily make us squirm by pointing out things in the culture and ourselves that we may not be ready to see.

By Sophia Savage
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December 5, 2011 11:40 AM
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Watch: War Horse Clips Offer Glimpse into Tear-Jerking Oscar Contender

Video

While the trailer hints at the scope and scale of Steven Spielberg's epic "War Horse," the clips below give a better taste of what's in store with the "unabashedly manipulative movie," which is spoon-feeding itself into the Oscar race. We agree that the film has multiple nominations in store, including best picture and director, not to mention technical categories.

By Sophia Savage
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December 5, 2011 11:26 AM
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Now and Then: With Recent Controversies, Maybe Critics Matter?

News

Something changed this week. As the days passed, each became part of a snowballing narrative about critics that seemed to me to portend a future less than bright. The New York Critics pandered to the Oscar horse race and ended up muffing the whole deal, losing their one chance a year to go out on a limb. AT’s criticism of the latest incarnation of “At the Movies” ignited the usual mixed bag of fury. And now David Denby’s gone and broken Sony’s review embargo on “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

By Matt Brennan
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December 5, 2011 11:22 AM
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Sony, Rudin Fight Back Against The New Yorker for Breaking The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Review Embargo

News

Scott Rudin is pissed. And so is Sony. They feel strongly that the New York Film Critics Circle made a deal with them to honor a worldwide December 13 review embargo on David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," which opens December 21. The studio and the filmmakers went out of their way to screen the movie for the NYFCC on November 28; the critics delayed their voting by one day in order to see the film. Every member agreed in writing to honor the embargo. During their vote, the critics did not give the film any awards. But critic David Denby (who fought against moving the voting earlier this year) went ahead and filed a review for The New Yorker for the issue that hits the stands on Monday, December 5, a week ahead of the embargo deadline.