Pitch Perfect (review)
What’s charming and fun here gets a little overwhelmed by too much grossout stuff.
Up in the Air
question of the day: What makes a movie star a movie star, and has this changed over the Hollywood century?
Dave Beauchene at PopTometry suggests that movie stars should only be movie stars if there can be unanimous agreement on their objectively superior talent. What’s more, this was once true, and has been lost. I couldn’t disagree more.
question of the day: Is product placement in movies and TV necessarily a bad thing?
This past weekend in my Leftover Links roundup, I included a link to a story in The New York Times called “Branding Comes Early in Filmmaking Process,” about how product placement in studio films is now often being arranged “before the movie is cast or the script is fully shaped.” My reaction to the Times … more…
Oscar predictions: ‘The Hurt Locker’ won’t be hurting
UPDATED: Winners are indicated with ♦s. I made informed guesses in 20 of the 24 categories; of those, I guessed 12 correctly. (Well, 13, really, except that in the animated short category in the original version of this page, I had both “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” and “Logorama” checked … more…
bias update: February 10
obsession: Canadian TV (and film) (because I’m hungry for something new and good) boyfriend: Esai Morales in Caprica (not so much his character, though: he’s kinda scary) psyched: Alice in Wonderland (even though I’m still on Disney’s shitlist) girl crush: Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air (because she’s too cool) dreading: Cop Out (why, … more…
bias update: February 4
obsession: Canadian TV (and film) (because I’m hungry for something new and good) boyfriend: Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes (sexiest Holmes ever) psyched: The Wolfman (because I adore Benicio Del Toro) girl crush: Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air (because she’s too cool) dreading: Cop Out (why, Kevin Smith? why?) enemy: everyone connected … more…
question of the day: Who will the Oscar Best Director nominees be?
Over the past month, the members of the Online Film Critics Society have been guessing who will be nominated in a handful of major Academy Award categories. With the actual nominees to be announced on February 2, we’re down to our last speculations: Best Director. Here’s who we picked (in alphabetical order; links go to … more…
U.K. box office: ‘Avatar’ and other holdovers block newcomers
This looks awfully familiar: 1. Avatar: £5.2 million 2. Sherlock Holmes: £1.6 million 3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: £1.5 million 4. Up in the Air: £1.2 million (2nd week; drops 7%) 5. It’s Complicated: £1.1 million (3rd week; drops 12%) (actual numbers, not estimates) Up in the Air and It’s Complicated switched positions, … more…
bias update: January 25
obsession: Canadian TV (and film) (because I’m hungry for something new and good) boyfriend: Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes (sexiest Holmes ever) psyched: The Wolfman (because I adore Benicio Del Toro) girl crush: Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air (because she’s too cool) dreading: When in Rome (is there no end to rom-com … more…
question of the day: Who will the Oscar Best Actress and Best Actor nominees be?
Over the past two weeks, the members of the Online Film Critics Society were polled about which performances we thought will be the Oscar nominees for Best Actress and Best Actor. These are the performances we collectively predicted (in alphabetical order; links go to my reviews): Best Actress Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side Vera Farmiga, … more…
