Thompson on Hollywood

Great Expectations: Predicting The Ten Best Studio Films of 2012 - Will They Deliver?

Features

As the flurry of year-end top tens has slowed, it's time to anticipate the films of 2012. What have the studios got to offer?

By Sophia Savage
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January 3, 2012 9:00 AM
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Trailer Watch: Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus' Seeks Origin Myth

Video

Check out the new trailer for the unofficial Ridley Scott prequel "Prometheus"( June 8, 2012). The tagline: "They went looking for our beginning. What they found could be our end."

By Anne Thompson
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December 22, 2011 6:38 PM
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Geena Davis, Callie Khouri and Mimi Polk Gitlin Talk Thelma & Louise at 20

The Academy celebrated the 20th anniversary of Thelma & Louise August 25th by screening a splendid new print of the iconic Ridley Scott movie that turned the traditional buddy movie on its head. I moderated a Q & A with Geena Davis, Callie Khouri and producer Mimi Polk Gitlin afterwards; highlights can be found here. Mainly, they admitted that things have not changed a whole lot for women in Hollywood. (Trailer is below.)

By Anne Thompson
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August 31, 2011 5:29 AM
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Ridley Scott: From Alien Reboot Prometheus to Blade Runner Sequel

The highlight of Comic-Con, bar none, was Ridley Scott's Prometheus footage. While Fox and Scott are downplaying the sci-fi space thriller's relationship to the original Alien and the kick-ass James Cameron sequel Aliens, there's no question this movie is grown from the same DNA; Scott admits it. The movie is a further exploration of that future world produced with the scale and scope that new technology makes possible. And its ultimate goal is "to scare the living shit out of you," Scott said via satellite from Iceland. Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, and Noomi Rapace star in the film due in June, 2012.

By Anne Thompson
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August 18, 2011 5:37 AM
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Talking Must-See Formula 1 Race Car Doc Senna: Visceral "Three Act Drama"

Sundance doc audience-award-winner Senna has been wowing fest crowds and European moviegoers in advance of its August 12 opening (via indie PDA). And motors are gunning on Peter Morgan's Formula 1 race car movie Rush, because low-budget indie doc Senna shows that the sky's the limit on what you could do with a fiction film and a big budget. With new technology, lightweight digital cameras put you inside the action and the visceral danger that this kind of racing is all about. It's inherently dramatic. Thus Ron Howard is chasing Rush, about three-time Formula 1 champion Niki Lauda, who crashed in 1976 but weeks later returned to the track, covered with burns, to compete.

By Anne Thompson
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August 11, 2011 5:15 AM
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Women with Guns: Thelma & Louise On Its 20th Anniversary vs. Hit TNT Series Rizzoli & Isles

In honor of the 20th anniversary of Thelma & Louise, Matthew Brennan's latest “Now and Then” compares and contrasts Ridley Scott and Callie Khouri's groundbreaking road trip and TNT's police procedural/buddy series Rizzoli & Isles. Louise (Susan Sarandon) pulls no punches, but she’s fastidious, too. She pins her hair back tight and tugs her jacket on as snugly as she can; her kitchen is spotless enough to be a makeshift hospital room. Thelma (Geena Davis), on the other hand, is slovenly, loud. She skitters around in a floral housedress, surrounded by so many coupons, newspaper clippings, telephone bills, and other ephemera you’d be hard pressed to tell kitchen from master bedroom. She’s also charmingly nonchalant, dropping a silver gun in her purse like an extra shade of lipstick. In Thelma & Louise , a real pistol crack of a feminist caper, the gun’s the thing.

By Matthew Brennan
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August 1, 2011 6:12 AM
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Academy Hosts New 20th Anniversary Print of Thelma and Louise and Q & A

The Academy will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Thelma & Louise by screening a new print of the iconic Ridley Scott movie that turned the traditional buddy movie on its head. Screenwriter Callie Khouri won an Oscar for this story of two Southern women (Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis) who escape their domestic traps and begin a whirl-wind crime spree. Released in 1991, the film was an immediate critical, commercial, and cultural success (the trailer is posted below). Scott was nominated for a best director Oscar for, among other things, an ensemble of great performances, including breakout Brad Pitt.

By Maggie Lange
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July 27, 2011 8:10 AM
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Official Prometheus Synopsis Still Vague: Foster Joins Rapace, Theron, Elba, Pearce, Fassbender

Arriving in theaters in less than a year, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus has been shrouded in mystery, plot details and the big-picture concept behind the grand-scale epic have been non-existent. The film was first reported in 2009, and named as an untitled prequel to Scott’s 1979 Alien.

By Maggie Lange
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July 1, 2011 7:03 AM
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Life in a Day Doc Follows On-Demand Marketing Model: Hometown Screenings, Marketing SWAT Teams

The trend in marketing these days is the on-demand model launched by Paramount's Paranormal Activity. The idea is to engage fans and get them to market the movie.

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
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June 22, 2011 8:16 AM
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Life in a Day and Ridley Scott's Micro Movie Mogul Initiative Raise Money for Charities

Ridley Scott invites the public to aid in promoting the UK theatrical release of Life in a Day on June 17 (it opens in the US June 29), and by doing so raise money for UK charities, all through the Micro Movie Moguls initiative. This is how it works: An individual or company sets themselves up as a Micro Mogul and they chose a charity -- any good cause -- to receive 25% of the tickets sold through their online ticket booth. Here's more information. Here is our review and the Life in a Day trailer. This movie is a must-see.