Thompson on Hollywood

Venice Film Festival, Day One: George Clooney's Ides of March is a Winner, Review and Fest Preview

The Venice Biennale got off to a strong start with The Ides of March, reports London-based TOH correspondent David Gritten:How perfect a choice was George Clooney’s The Ides of March to open the Venice Film Festival today? Let us count the ways. Firstly, this political thriller fits Venice like a silk glove. It’s smart, sophisticated and politically astute, written with a shrewd intelligence and featuring stars (Clooney himself, Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood and Marisa Tomei) who offer Hollywood glamour while engaging in work that’s more than a cut above routine Hollywood product. The Ides of March also offers two terrific supporting performances from Grade-A character actors (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giammatti), doing the kind of work that makes European critics and audiences sit up and take notice.

By David Gritten
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August 31, 2011 2:54 AM
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Oscar Talk: From The Help, Rise of the Apes and Woody to the Fall Fest Circuit and Beyond

Oscar Talk is back. The first podcast of the fall season with In Contention's Kris Tapley runs for a good hour, so gird your loins, Oscar mavens, listen and weep. We cover the Cannes films, the summer releases, the Fall Festival entries and the end-of-year possibilities. We talk Meryl and Glenn and Malick and Chastain, debate the merits of sleeper Warrior and admit that we both cried over cancer patient Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 50/50. Next week we'll post from Telluride. The award season begins.

By Anne Thompson
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August 26, 2011 4:00 AM
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Fall Fest Trailer Watch: From Hysteria and Dangerous Method to Anonymous and Scorsese's Harrison

We're collecting trailers from films coming up on the fall fest circuit. A smattering is below.

By Jacob Combs
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August 18, 2011 6:38 AM
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Oscar Watch: Sony Pictures Classics Boasts Strong Fall Line-up; Midnight in Paris Stays in Theaters

Sony Pictures Classics is having a good year. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris is not only the most successful Woody Allen movie ever ($49 million domestic and counting), it's the only movie to play all summer long. After its successful launch May 20 after opening Cannes, co-president Tom Bernard refused to tell me when they were planning to release the DVD. "We're staying in theaters as long as possible," he said.

By Anne Thompson
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August 17, 2011 9:35 AM
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George Clooney's The Descendants To Close NYFF, Main Line-Up of 27 Films

The 49th New York Film Festival closer on October 16 will be Alexander Payne's family drama starring George Clooney, The Descendants (Fox Searchlight), which will already have played Venice Telluride and Toronto by the time it makes its way to New York. The festival had gone after Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Focus Features) for the opening night slot, but was unable to liberate Gary Oldman from his duties on The Dark Knight Rises, and never chased after the film for other slots due to its September 16 opening in the U.K (stateside opening is November 18). Payne will also participate in a one-on-one On Cinema conversation.

By Anne Thompson
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August 17, 2011 4:50 AM
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Directors Hating on Other Directors: Cronenberg vs. Shyamalan, Burton and Green vs. Smith

Thank you, Flavorwire, for reminding us of the dark side of creative genius. In "The 30 Harshest Filmmaker-on-Filmmaker Insults In History," Flavorwire reveals the competitive, nasty side of many beloved filmmakers. Bigmouth Kevin Smith is a dart magnet: but he gives as good as he gets.

By Sophia Savage
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August 15, 2011 8:25 AM
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Dangerous Method's S&M, Jolie's Blood & Honey, Soderbergh Killing Oscar Winners & More from EW

We culled the best soundbites from EW's Fall Movie Preview for your pleasure below, from Brad Pitt's struggle to get Moneyball made and Steven Soderbergh killing off Oscar-winners in Contagion to what Mickey Rourke has in common with the animals in Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo.

By Sophia Savage
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August 15, 2011 8:10 AM
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NYFF: Cronenberg's Dangerous Method and Almodovar's Skin I Live In Added to Galas

Auteurs David Cronenberg and Pedro Almodovar are joining the line-up of the 49th New York Film Festival line-up with two new galas. Both are edgy sexually transgressive dramas from Sony Pictures Classics, which is also releasing the opening night film Carnage. Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley, will debut at Venice, play NYFF October 5 and open in theaters November 23. Almodovar's The Skin I Live In, starring Antonio Banderas, played to mixed reaction at Cannes and will open October 14, right after its gala on October 12.

By Anne Thompson
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August 15, 2011 4:50 AM
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Toronto Sees Double: Two Films Each for Busy Clooney, Gosling, Fassbender, Mulligan and Butler

These five stars are working double time at the Toronto Film Festival this year: George Clooney (The Ides of March, The Descendants), Michael Fassbender (Shame, A Dangerous Method), Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March, Drive), Carey Mulligan (Shame, Drive) and Gerard Butler (Machine Gun Preacher, Coriolanus) are keeping busy, each with two films, at the September 8-18 fest. Which one will come out on top with some Oscar buzz? Easier said than done. Consider their Toronto track records:

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
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July 29, 2011 2:47 AM
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Oscar Talk Mid-Summer Outlook: New Rules, Midnight in Paris, Streep vs. Close

Kris Tapley and I reconvened over Skype for a mid-summer Oscar Talk (below). We covered quite a bit of ground. New Academy rules affect the top ten best picture ballot, VFX, documentaries and animation, but not foreign eligibility. New members may tip the scale as well on a more mainstream selection.