Screenhead

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are set to host the 82nd annual Academy Awards live on the air March 7, 2009 on ABC.

Sounds like quite a gig for Baldwin while Martin has hosted the celebrated show twice before.

I don’t think either one is much of a song and dance man, perhaps Martin is a bit.

Should prove to be an interesting match.

Martin and Baldwin star in the movie It’s Complicated with Meryl Streep.  Enjoy this interview — funny!

(HQ) Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin – Interview on the Set of “It’s Complicated” – The best bloopers are here

In Contention brought this clip of Gabourey Sidibe on “Ellen” to my attention.  What a great interview that shows the difference between a character and the real person who plays that character on the silver screen.

Okay, remember when I talked about how Miramax was pretty much getting castrated by Disney, seriously downsized, with only one release every other month?  Well, it’s getting worse out there.  A lot worse.

Miramax’s current president, Daniel Battsek, recently announced that he would step down as the head of Miramax following the recent defanging of same.  Disney had said that Battsek would remain in charge of day to day operations, but Battsek wasn’t having it, and left after a month.

Excuse me if I don’t smell a rat bugging out of a sinking ship.  After all, Battsek’s career looks pretty prime right now; he DID release No Country For Old Men, after all, not to mention Gone Baby Gone, so if this isn’t a move to go find greener pastures at another studio, I’ll be plenty surprised.

Stranger things have happened, of course, so it’s a move worth keeping an eye on.

There’s absolutely no chance that Michael Jackson’s final movie This Is It will win an Oscar for Best Documentary.

I’m sorry, but that’s just the case.  It was released too late in the year to be considered–at least this year.  But it’s not too late, however, for it to take other honors.  It could easily take the Academy Award for Best Picture, even if it has some pretty stiff competition in that department.

Most years, Academy Award for Best Picture is seldom a foregone conclusion even at the best of times.  But let’s face it…this is a wholly different animal.  This is a movie about the last concert ever that never actually happened but was in the process of doing so of one of the biggest entertainers of the twentieth century.

That and the Best Picture slate has been recently expanded to TEN competitors rather than five, so there’s some extra room on the field, a slot that This Is It could easily find itself in.

Can This Is It win?  Well, that’s not clear.  Especially since NONE of the slots have been filled yet.  But is there every possibility?  I’d say yes.

No song and dance man — Hugh Jackman will not host the Oscars a second year in a row.  

The actor, who’s starring on Broadway with Daniel Craig in the drama “A Steady Rain,” quietly turned down the job sometime during the past few weeks.

I liked Jackman as the song and dance man of the Oscars. He drew praise from others as well. He says he’ll host the Oscar show again in the future, but is not certain.

After his Broadway run, Jackman plans to take time off and prepare for The Real Steel, the Shawn Levy-directed DreamWorks drama that starts production in the spring.

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Rob Marshall is just about to take the helm of Disney’s fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film.  If he takes the job, it will put the film back on track for a 2010 start with Johnny Depp, once again, as Captain Jack Sparrow.

According to Disney, even though Marshall has not confirmed his commitment, things are looking pretty good.  So good in fact, the studio has begun casting new characters for the movie.  

The studio wants to solidify the production of the Pirates film so they can have Depp star in it before he does The Lone Ranger for them.  The Pirates franchise brings in a lot of money for Disney with the first three movies grossing $2.6 billion worldwide.

The fact that Marshall is even being considered the director for the fourth Pirates is a surprise, yet a turn that may take the franchise down a more refreshing voyage.  If anyone is familiar with Marshall’s work, a choreographer-turned-director, you know he made his feature directing debut with the Oscar-winning musical Chicago and followed by Memoirs of a Geisha, a film that underperformed at the box office, but I thought was well-crafted.  Of late, Marshall has returned to the musical genre with Nine, starring a stellar cast:  Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson and Sophia Loren.  Nine opens November 25, 2009, Thanksgiving weekend, by the Weinstein Co.

(Source)

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science announced this week the return to ten best picture nominations for 2009 82nd Academy Awards.  In the official press release President Sid Ganis states the Academy’s reasons for going back to more than five nominations:

“After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year,” said Ganis. “The final outcome, of course, will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009.

“Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” commented Ganis. “I can’t wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February.”

I don’t think this decision will affect the general movie goers and those who watch the Oscars for sheer viewing pleasure.  And those who are privy to the behind-the-scenes decision making process, I am sure the Academy has made concessions for members who want to see their movies showcased even more, generating more dollars in the bank.

Ah, the Batman series.  Never has a series fallen so far so fast only to come back, seemingly from irredemptibility, to become the biggest thing since sliced bread.

We’re talking about a series that went from Arnold Schwartzenegger as the dumbest villain EVER (…well, maybe not counting Jim Carrey) to a series where the bad guy wins a Oscar…posthumously.  You have any idea how hard it is to win a posthumous Oscar? Especially for an actor?  Hollywood HATES giving these things to dead guys–there was only ONE beforehand, and that was Peter Finch in Network.

And now, Warner Brothers has done something amazing with their new offering Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology.  They’re going to show you how badly this whole concept went off the rails, and how far back they had to come in order to be the amazing conquering juggernaut it is now.

For reasons that leave me baffled, the Batman Motion Picture Anthology covers only the period from 1989, with the original Batman, and goes to 1997, with Batman and Robin.  Here are quick plot synopses of the four in the set:

Batman–Batman grapples with his legendary archnemesis, the Joker, who’s out to coat a bankrupt Gotham with Smilex gas, a chemical compound that’ll leave the city as deformed and insane as he is.

Batman Returns–Batman takes on the Penguin and Catwoman as they work together to put a corrupt local businessman into power as Mayor of Gotham.

Batman Forever–It’s the Riddler and Two-Face for Batman to contend with this time, as the duo engage a brain-draining device to render all of Gotham to drooling idiocy.  This is the point where Robin first joins after we discover, somewhat outside of canon, that Two-Face killed his circus acrobat family.

Batman and Robin–Batman and Robin together, along with, for some reason, Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, go forth to tackle Poison Ivy, Bane and Mr. Freeze, each with their own goal in mind.  Interestingly, despite the fact that the goals are contradictory you don’t see a lot of infighting with the villains.  Mr. Freeze is out to ice over Gotham while stealing suffcient cash to research a cure for a disease his wife carries, while Bane and Poison Ivy are out to turn the planet into a greenhouse.

This gives you a good idea of what’s going on here.  You’ll notice that, after the first one, it’s always multiple villains for the Batman series.  Batman Returns had two–well, more like one and a half; no one was ever too sure what the deal was with Catwoman.  Batman Forever had two, and Batman and Robin packed in three.  Also, the number of heroes grew from the lone Batman to Batman and Robin, then finally Batman and Robin and Batgirl. You’ll further notice that each progressive movie only got more outlandish and steadily worse with each passing iteration.  It’s downright amazing to have this one single box to show us, with crystalline clarity in Blu-ray, just how far down the rabbit hole a movie series can go.

The only real problem I have with the box set–which is positively LADEN with bonus features–is that it stops at 1997.  Why no Blu-ray love for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight?  I KNOW The Dark Knight is already on Blu-ray; surely they could’ve thrown IT in the box.  Unless, of course, they’re planning a big Batman Omnibus edition later on, and they’re getting us all enthused with this version in advance.

So I’m left to reserve judgment on this one–by itself, the Batman Motion Picture Anthology is a pretty good buy.  Four movies in one box?  Never a bad thing.  But considering the likelihood that a later version may include the two best Batman movies?  I’m inclined to wait for THAT one to make a solid buy recommendation.  You may, however, want to hedge your bets if you’re a sufficiently big Batman fan–you’re not likely to find all these on Blu-ray anywhere else.

This one’s for you, Heath.  Rest in peace.

For those of you who haven’t heard yet, Heath Ledger did take home the posthumous Oscar for Best Actor for his handling of his last role, The Joker in The Dark Knight.

Thus, I’m going to tackle that movie today, just so you all know how good this one was.

Seriously, if you haven’t seen it yet, I don’t know what’s stopping you. It’s entirely too good to pass up on.  Basically, we’re still in Gotham City, with Harvey Dent on his meteoric rise to power, The Joker out to take his place as Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime, and the Batman out to settle everybody’s hash who even so much as considers returning a library book late.  Indeed, the Joker’s convinced that Gotham deserves a better class of criminal, and he’s out to provide it, starting from the very beginning in an extremely well-orchestrated bank robbery scene.  The rest of the movie is the Joker’s mad attempt to do…well…something (if Alfred is to be believed he’s just one of those guys who wants to watch the world burn) and the Batman’s almost equally mad attempt to stop him.

I have to hand it to The Dark Knight almost immediately.  This movie is unbelievable.  It is, easily, the best Batman installment I’ve ever seen.  Yes, after Batman Returns the whole franchise started a slow collapse into sludgy campdom, but Batman Begins gave it a whole new life.  It elevated the series from bad comic book to true action movie.  And The Dark Knight is the result of that new life.  It’s produced the best Batman (Christian Bale) and a whole lot of other bests, too…including the best Joker.

Say what you will about Jack Nicholson.  I’m not going to fault Jack.  But the plain and simple is, Jack WAS the best Joker.  WAS…until Ledger just destroyed it.  The first time I saw Ledger’s Joker do the Pencil Trick I just LOST IT.  My jaw actually dropped.  I mean literally and actually FELL OPEN.  I’m glad I wasn’t drinking a Coke at the time or it would’ve wound up all down the front of my shirt.  It was crazy.

When you’ve got the best Batman, the best Joker, the best script–a script so tautly plotted and packed with clever twists that it’s ALMOST difficult to follow, but only almost–you’ve got no choice but to call it the best in the series.  It brings together so many quality, powerful, disparate elements that make it sheer lunacy on a whole-wheat bun.  And it’s not just the choice performances turned in by the leads, either.  It’s amazing, the kinds of great acting jobs were brought to this.  The set design, the prop design, the music…it’s amazing.  Watching the Batman hangglide around in the middle of Singapore was just eye-popping.

At this point I must sound like a fanboy raving ceaselessly, but in all honesty, I have no choice but to.  I enjoyed this movie too much to say anything less.  I’m even having difficulty trying to pick out downsides, because I just outright enjoyed this.  Were there problems?  I can’t mention any, really.  If there were they were so small they just coasted on by while I stared goggle-eyed at the impressive proceedings going on in front of me.

If you have even a vague enjoyment for action movies, if you love a dramatic touch, if you like an occasional comic book, then you must–MUST–see this movie.  It’s just too much fun to pass up.

The Oscars proved last night that Hugh Jackman can sing, dance and handle spontaneity like a true professional of Broadway Theater.  He kept pace with the award show moving rapidly and smoothly with a few technical glitches, which were not his fault.

My favorite parts of the telecast were the actor awards presentations where former recipients introduced the nominees and presented the awards.  I thought, Shirley Maclaine’s presentation to Anne Hathaway stood out among the other almost equally worthwhile presenters.

Best moments of the telecast:

My favorite winner and most deserving was Kate Winslet for Best Actress in The Reader. Penelope Cruz is a talented and inspiring woman who lovingly accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. And I loved Danny Boyle’s impersonation of Tigger as he accepted his Oscar for Best Director for Slumdog Millionaire.

It can’t go without mention of Ben Stiller’s parody on Joaquin Phoenix recent escapades in the media and talk shows.

Variety shares some of the back stage moments here, which is worth a quick visit to get a feel for the overall celebration of film at the Oscars.