Thompson on Hollywood

Review: Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: Secret Of The Unicorn

Reviews

Our London film critic Matt Mueller reviews The Adventures Of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, which left him out of breath. The film opens overseas starting on October 26; you'll have to wait until December 21 stateside.

By Matt Mueller
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October 16, 2011 5:08 AM
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Oscar Talk: Spielberg's War Horse, My Week with Marilyn's Michelle Williams, Scorsese's Hugo

In this week's Oscar Talk Kris Tapley and I debate Simon Curtis's My Week with Marilyn, which I saw at the New York Film Festival and the Weinsteins have moved to Thanksgiving. "You see a lot working behind those eyes," says Tapley. We agree Williams will make the top five for best actress.

By Anne Thompson
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October 14, 2011 4:12 AM
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My Week in New York: Hugo, War Horse, Turin Horse, Parties, Marilyn, Book of Mormon

Monday night's mystery screening of Martin Scorsese's work-in-progress 3-D Hugo (featurette below) marks my last screening at this year's New York Film Festival. The reason that the movie was shown without completed effects or a final score (by Howard Shore) is that it's a cinephile's dream, and the NYFF audience couldn't have been a more receptive crowd. While the movie should work with families over the Thanksgiving holiday, and producer Graham King (nervously pacing in the rear of the theater as ushers passed out 3-D glasses) assured me that they wouldn't have shown the film if the movie wasn't going to finish on time, Paramount wanted to build buzz for the film via the festival and this was the only way to do it.

By Anne Thompson
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October 11, 2011 4:22 AM
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Sundance May Not Be Big Factor in This Year's Oscar Race

Even with Sony Pictures Classics behind it, Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter, which has earned raves for Michael Shannon, failed to lure audiences this weekend. Hopefully it will build strong word-of-mouth and critics group votes at year's end. But even though Sundance has launched multiple Oscar nominees of late--15 in 2010 alone--will other Sundance fave raves Win Win, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Like Crazy and Another Happy Day meet that same fate?

By Anne Thompson
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October 10, 2011 2:59 AM
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Trailer Watch: Reitman's Young Adult Stars Charlize Theron as A Soulless Bitch You'll Love to Hate

After his over-exposure on the Up In The Air campaign trail -- as he emulated his own leading man's logging of air miles --and having lost the screenwriting Oscar to Precious's Geoffrey Fletcher, director Jason Reitman (and Paramount) have held off as long as they could before unveiling Young Adult, written by Juno's Diablo Cody.

By Sophia Savage
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October 6, 2011 6:47 AM
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Media Watch: Hulu Lets You Choose Your Ads, Amazon Splits Streaming, Transformers Streamed Directly

- Amazon's stand-alone streaming service might follow the path of Netflix, reports Fierce Online. Amazon's plans to break its streaming business from its e-commerce store marks another instance, like Netflix, in which corporations make business decisions that do not cater to their consumers. Amazon might also have plans to split Prime from its original site.

By Maggie Lange
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October 5, 2011 12:21 PM
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Aronofsky's Noah Goes Ahead with Paramount & New Regency: Will It Sail With Bale?

Paramount is on board to co-finance Darren Aronofsky's Noah with New Regency, and shooting is set to kick off in Spring 2012. This means no more wondering how Aronofsky will follow up his Black Swan success.

By Sophia Savage
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October 4, 2011 6:52 AM
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Media Watch: Twitter Proves People Are Happiest on Weekends, Netflix vs. Amazon

Looking at a catalogue of real-time updates from Twitter, scientists at Cornell University were able to track mood changes throughout the day and week, and found confirmation of the obvious: people are happiest on their days off. Cornell University analyzed over 500 million Tweets from 2.4 million people, from 84 countries and using a computer program to look at words indicating positive or negative moods, found that positive attitudes peaked early in the morning and then again around midnight. Moods dipped in the middle of the workday and peaked on weekend mornings.

By Maggie Lange
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September 30, 2011 6:19 AM
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Paramount Moves Up Mission: Impossible and Tintin Release Dates, Overhauls Studio Structure

Paramount is making a lot of moves these days. Tweaking its December release schedule, the studio is launching Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol starring Tom Cruise, with previews in IMAX and other select theaters on December 16, 2011, with its wide release still scheduled for December 21. And Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin in 3-D, which was previously set for release on December 23, will now open wide everywhere including IMAX two days earlier, on December 21, 2011. This suggests that Paramount feels the need to build word-of-mouth going into the big holiday weekend.

By Anne Thompson
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September 28, 2011 9:27 AM
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Box Office Scandal: Circuit Dealing Pervades Small Towns, Flagship vs. Century Theatres

In a David vs. Goliath face-off, indie-owned Flagship Theaters recently won an appeal in its crusade against Cinemark’s Century Theatres. Does the age-old practice of circuit dealing — an unethical way for chain exhibitors to muscle studios — still persist? Anthony D’Alessandro digs further into this taboo topic: What is circuit dealing, exactly? It’s a predatory film booking practice whereby multiplex chains strong-arm studios for product in a specific market. If a studio decides to book with the competition in a given community, usually a Mom-and-Pop venue, then the exhibitor will threaten to bar that film (or future films) from playing the entire chain.