Thompson on Hollywood

DGA Nominees Include Surprise Fincher Nomination

Awards

The Directors Guild has announced the nominees for its 64th Annual DGA Awards, to be held on January 28. The DGA is a much larger and more populist voting group --14,000 strong--than the elite Oscar directors branch, which numbers around 400.

By Anne Thompson
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January 9, 2012 1:08 PM
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WGA Nominee John Logan Talks 'Hugo,' 'Rango,' 'Coriolanus,' 'Skyfall' and Patti Smith's 'Just Kids'

Awards

John Logan is smiling today, as he just earned a Writer's Guild Nomination for adapting the novel "Hugo Cabret" for Martin Scorsese. If his other scripts had been eligible, he could just as well have sewn up three spots this year.

By Anne Thompson
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January 5, 2012 6:11 PM
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Martin Scorsese Gets BAFTA Fellowship

Awards

As the Oscar campaign for "Hugo" gains steam, every bit of attention and support makes a difference. Thus it's good news that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts is giving Martin Scorsese its annual BAFTA fellowship at the Orange British Academy Film Awards ceremony, at London’s Royal Opera House, on Sunday February 12.

By Anne Thompson
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January 4, 2012 11:56 AM
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Video: Taxi Driver Sweded by Michel Gondry

Video

In case you missed it, as "Hugo" chases Oscar, Michel Gondry takes on Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" en francais with a mini-budget and himself as Travis Bickle.

By Anne Thompson
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December 20, 2011 2:04 AM
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Oscar Watch: The Artist is the One to Beat

Awards

Yes, "The Artist" is running away with the Oscar ball. It's has love from critics, dominated the SAG and Golden Globes nominations, and is strong with actors and craftspeople alike. As a nostalgic love letter to the movies--and a comic/tragic/romance--it has everything a Academy member could love, and will grab more Oscar nominations than any other film.

By Anne Thompson
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December 15, 2011 4:29 PM
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Scorsese Gets American Riviera Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival

Awards

Martin Scorsese is not in love with awards campaigning. But accepting awards--that's a relatively painless part of the Oscar campaign process. Thus he is going to attend the 27th Santa Barbara Film festival tribute to him on January 30 to receive the American Riviera Award.

By Anne Thompson
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December 12, 2011 6:43 PM
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Immersed in Movies: Cinematographer Bob Richardson Goes Blue for Hugo in 3-D

Awards

The 3-D journey on "Hugo" for Oscar-winning cinematographer Bob Richardson ("The Aviator, " "JFK"), once he got over the growing pains and realized that the digital technology wouldn't hinder his craft, was to confidently embrace it.

By Bill Desowitz
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December 9, 2011 11:38 AM
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Video: Listen to French Electro-Duo Air's Score for Melies' "A Trip to the Moon"

Cannes 2011: Méliès's Fully Restored A Trip To The Moon in Color To Screen Fest's Opening Night

Video

Check out the clip below from the digital restoration of hand-tinted 1902 film "Trip to the Moon," complete with French electronic duo Air’s contemporary film score, which debuted at Cannes and played Telluride. The new soundtrack gives a playful, energizing burst of vigor to the vibrant print. The pioneering short also plays a key role in Martin Scorsese's nostalgic loveletter to filmmaker Georges Melies, "Hugo."

By Maggie Lange
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December 8, 2011 2:22 PM
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Breaking Dawn Gobbles Thanksgiving Holiday Box Office, Muppets Leads Family Film Glut, Hugo Stumbles

The Muppets Disney

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend offered a rich groaning board for mainstream and specialty audiences alike as more films pushed into the award season fray. Holdover "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn- Part One" and new Disney musical "The Muppets" dominated the weekend, while "The Descendants" proved a powerful word-of-mouth hit for Fox Searchlight. On the downside, Martin Scorsese's $150-170 million 3-D period family film "Hugo" needed much bigger opening numbers to make back its production and marketing costs.

Even with a 69% drop on its second weekend, vampire soap "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" continued to pull women, grossing $62.3 million over five days and $42 million over three days. Its North American total is $221 million, just behind "New Moon"'s second weekend total, $230 million. Worldwide, the penultimate "Twilight" film grossed a weekend estimate of $71.5 million from 68 markets, with a foreign total of $268 million and a worldwide total of $489 million.

"Twilight" aside, five family films battled for the same demo, led by James Bobin and Jason Segal's modestly-budgeted $45 million musical "The Muppets" (97% Tomatometer), which rejuvenated a sleeping Disney franchise (even without the support of Frank Oz), grossing $29.5 million over three days and a total $42 million through Sunday. Its A Cinemascore promises long b.o. legs through Christmas.

By Anne Thompson
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November 27, 2011 1:15 PM
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Hugo: The 3-D Game-Changer

Martin Scorsese's Hugo

"Hugo's" the 3-D film we've been waiting for: the one we were promised by James Cameron and the other true believers when this so-called stereoscopic revolution began; the one that was going to alter our perception of moviegoing the way the coming of sound and color did.

So leave it to Martin Scorsese to boldly pave the way with his storybook valentine to Georges Méliès and early French cinema and every other voyeuristic delight that has inspired him. Indeed, as the wondrous opening demonstrates -- a complicated fly-through into the Paris train station and Hugo's eye through a clock --this movie's about 3-D. Hell, even Roger Ebert liked it.