Category Archives: Editorial

Found on Youtube: Way to Go, Newy!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I recently discovered that Dallas’s own Newy Scruggs has become something of a Youtube cult figure as a result of a report he filed from San Francisco shortly before the start of the World Series.

I think Newy is the sports reporter for one of the local stations down here.  I’m not sure which station because, to be honest, I make it a point not to watch the news.  (I rely on rumor and street innuendo for my knowledge of current events…)  However, I do know about Newy because when there’s somebody living in your city with a name like Newy Scruggs, you better know about it.

Anyway, here’s Newy Scruggs visiting Arleigh’s hometown….

So, now the question is this — what lies in the future for Newy Scruggs?  Will he become a famous, legendary Youtube messiah like the Garbage Day Guy from Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2?

Or will Newy Scruggs suffer the same tragic fate as past Youtube stars?

One thing is for sure.  I will always enjoy randomly saying “Newy Scruggs.”

The National Board Of Review: I Give Up!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The rather enigmatic National Board of Review announced their selections for the best films of 2010 today.  The NBR is traditionally considered to be the first precursor to how the actual Oscar race will shape up.  Typically, those honored by the NBR are, at the very least, nominated by the Academy.  Strangely, nobody seems to be sure just who exactly makes up the membership of the NBR.  As far as I can tell, it appears to be a collection of film professors and cable tv executives.  It wouldn’t surprise me to discover that the NBR is actually some sort of Illuminati conspiracy or MK-Ultra experiment designed to keep American filmgoers from thinking for themselves.

Anyway, as I look over this year’s award winners, all I can say is that I give up.  If my reaction to Avatar indicated to me that I’m totally out-of-step with mainstream opinion, then the current Pavlovian acclaim of the Social Network proves it.  I will never be a part of the mainstream and it’s not by choice.  It’s just I am apparently thoroughly incapable of understanding how the mainstream brain works. 

So, that’s what the National Board of Review taught me today.  I am destined to always be alone, railing against the dying of the light.  Thank you for the insight, assholes.

Anyway, here’s this year’s award winners:

Best Picture: The Social Network (Don’t get me wrong, the Social Network is a good movie.  It’s just not that good.) 

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network (I am so sick of hearing that this is Jesse’s “breakthrough” role.  Jesse’s breakthrough was in Adventureland, long before the mainstream ever decided to embrace him.)

Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year (Haven’t seen it yet)

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter (Another movie that I will see when it opens later this month.  Still, Bale should have been nominated for American Psycho back in the day.)

Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom (Yay!  This award gives me hope.)

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3 (yay!)

Best Documentary: Waiting For Superman (Yes, my favorite movie of the year —Exit Through The Gift Shop — was totally ignored.)

Best Ensemble Cast: The Town (Bleh.  So I guess that would include Jon Hamm, who gave such an amazingly bad performance in this film?)

Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone (Another yay but you know all the mainstream is going to offer her is a role in a Twilight rip-off and maybe a Maxim cover shoot.)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network (Fuck Aaron Sorkin and his elitist, sexist, technophobic script.)

Best Original Screenplay: Chris Sparling for Buried (which I didn’t see, mostly because I’m claustrophobic and the movie is called Buried.)

Ten Best Films Of The Year (in alphabetical order):

Another Year

The Fighter

Hereafter (which sucked!)

Inception (yay!)

The King’s Speech (I’m actually really looking forward to seeing this)

Shutter Island (kinda bleh but enjoyable)

The Town

Toy Story 3

True Grit (another one I can’t wait to see)

Winter’s Bone (yay!)

Yep, you read that right.  No awards for such presumed favorites as James Franco and 127 Hours, Black Swan, or The Kids Are All Right.  But you better believe they found room to honor a shallow, pandering film like Hereafter.

Finally, here are the Top Ten Independent Films of 2010, according to the toadsuckers at the National Board of Review:

Animal Kingdom (yay!)

Buried (Now I guess I have to see it)

Fish Tank (yay!)

The Ghost Writer (yay — kinda)

Greenberg (bleh)

Let Me In (another kinda yay)

Monsters (shrug)

Please Give (yay!)

Somewhere (going to see it when it opens down here, Sofia Coppola is my role model)

Youth in Revolt (shrug, it’s neither bleh nor yay)

You can read the full list of winners at The Wrap.

Anyway, in order to show just how exactly I feel when confronted with mainstream thought and opinion, here’s an old picture of me with a tampon stuck up my nose.

The Independent Spirit Awards

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This year’s Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced yesterday.  The Spirit Awards are basically the Oscars for independent films.  By independent, of course, we means films that were not directed by David Fincher, written by Aaron Sorkin, and embraced by mainstream toadsuckers who should know better.

Anyway, you can find a complete list of the nominees at the IFC web site but that site — at least on my hard-working little laptop  — had been taking forever to load.  You can also find a nearly complete list over at AwardsDaily.com but just be careful not to actually read any of Sasha Stone’s opinions while visiting the site.  Because seriously, she’ll turn you into a Roger Ebert-obsessed Stepford Wife.

Anyway, here’s the main nominees:

BEST FEATURE

  • 127 HOURS
  • BLACK SWAN
  • GREENBERG
  • THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
  • WINTER’S BONE

BEST DIRECTOR

  • DARREN ARONOFSKY – Black Swan
  • DANNY BOYLE – 127 Hours
  • LISA CHOLODENKO – The Kids Are All Right
  • DEBRA GRANIK – Winter’s Bone
  • JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL – Rabbit Hole

 

BEST SCREENPLAY

  • STUART BLUMBERG & LISA CHOLODENKO – The Kids Are All Right
  • DEBRA GRANIK & ANNE ROSELLINI – Winter’s Bone
  • NICOLE HOLOFCENER – Please Give
  • DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE – Rabbit Hole
  • TODD SOLONDZ – Life During Wartime

BEST FIRST FEATURE
(Award given to the director and producer)

  • EVERYTHING STRANGE AND NEW
  • GET LOW
  • NIGHT CATCHES US
  • THE LAST EXORCISM
  • TINY FURNITURE

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

  • DIANE BELL – Obselidia
  • LENA DUNHAM – Tiny Furniture
  • NIK FACKLER – Lovely, Still
  • BOB GLAUDINI – Jack Goes Boating
  • DANA ADAM SHAPIRO & EVAN M. WIENER – Monogamy

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000;
award given to the writer, director, and producer)

  • DADDY LONGLEGS
  • LOVERS OF HATE
  • OBSELIDIA
  • THE EXPLODING GIRL

BEST FEMALE LEAD

  • ANNETTE BENING – The Kids Are All Right
  • GRETA GERWIG – Greenberg
  • NICOLE KIDMAN – Rabbit Hole
  • JENNIFER LAWRENCE – Winter’s Bone
  • NATALIE PORTMAN – Black Swan
  • MICHELLE WILLIAMS – Blue Valentine

BEST MALE LEAD

  • RONALD BRONSTEIN – Daddy Longlegs
  • AARON ECKHART – Rabbit Hole
  • JAMES FRANCO – 127 Hours
  • JOHN C. REILLY – Cyrus
  • BEN STILLER – Greenberg

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

  • ASHLEY BELL – The Last Exorcism
  • DALE DICKEY – Winter’s Bone
  • ALLISON JANNEY – Life During Wartime
  • DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA – Jack Goes Boating
  • NAOMI WATTS – Mother and Child

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

  • JOHN HAWKES – Winter’s Bone
  • SAMUEL L. JACKSON – Mother and Child
  • BILL MURRAY – Get Low
  • JOHN ORTIZ – Jack Goes Boating
  • MARK RUFFALO – The Kids Are All Right

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • ADAM KIMMEL – Never Let Me Go
  • MATTHEW LIBATIQUE – Black Swan
  • JODY LEE LIPES – Tiny Furniture
  • MICHAEL McDONOUGH – Winter’s Bone
  • HARRIS SAVIDES – Greenberg

BEST DOCUMENTARY
(Award given to the director)

  • EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
  • MARWENCOL
  • SWEETGRASS
  • RESTREPO
  • THUNDER SOUL

BEST FOREIGN FILM
(Award given to the director)

  • KISSES (Ireland)
  • MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON (France)
  • OF GODS AND MEN (Morocco)
  • THE KING’S SPEECH (United Kingdom)
  • UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES (Thailand)

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its
ensemble cast)

  • PLEASE GIVE (DIRECTOR: Nicole Holofcener)

To be honest, the only thing that really surprises me on this list is that Greenberg was 1) remembered and 2) an independent film.  Still, Greta Gerwig was wonderful in the film and it’s good to see here getting some recognition along with Dale Dickey, John Hawkes, Ashley Bell, and the cast of one of the year’s most underrated films, Please Give.

To be honest, it’s kind of nice — in these Social Network dominated times — to see that the majority of the films nominated here deal with, feature, or were made by strong women.  (Not to mention that 127 Hours is about a man who eventually has to chop off his arm because he wasn’t properly in touch with his feminine side.)

One last note — yay! for that Last Exorcism nomination though it would have been nice to see a nomination for Patrick Fabian as well.  Still, the Spirit Awards are as close as a deserving but out-of-the-mainstream film like this one can hope to get to the Oscars.

2010 Oscars: The Search For A Host Or Two

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, I guess this the type of silly, gossipy stuff that I — and I alone — am a sucker for but anyway … the hosts of the next Academy Awards ceremony have been announced and the winners are Anne Hathaway and James Franco!

Huh?

Don’t get me wrong, I love them both.  James Franco was great in 127 Hours and Anne Hathaway starred in the story of my life, Rachel Getting Married.  But what exactly about either one of them screams “Oscar host?”

To be honest, Oscar Host has always seemed like a thankless job.  Jon Stewart did a pretty good job a few years ago (and it was really cool how he brought Marketa Irglova back out on stage so she could give her speech after winning the award for best original song) but otherwise, is it really a job that anyone wants? 

(And, even if Stewart was a great Oscar host, he’s been getting progressively more and more smug, annoying, and self-important ever since.)

Remember when Hugh Jackman hosted and he sang that song that just went on and on and then we all realized that we didn’t really like Hugh Jackman that much in the first place?

And I guess last year it was Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin and … yeah, that was really memorable.

Ellen DeGeneres hosted the Oscars and suddenly, she was a judge on American Idol and did that do anyone any good?

Actually, I think the ideal host would be someone like Jeff Probst, someone who would just smirk after the winner’s announced and ask the other nominees what it felt like to be losers.

Seriously, I’m worried for Franco and Hathaway.  I think that perhaps in the future, the role of Oscar host should be reserved for people who are already generally acknowledged as being annoying.  That way, at least, nobody will shed any tears when the Oscar Host Curse kicks in. 

Kara DioGuardi needs the work.

Billy Jack: A Retrospective

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, earlier today, I came across this big discussion/debate going on in the comments section of Arleigh’s review of the “Vatos” episode of the Walking Dead.  One comment in particular caught my attention.  It was from KO, one of my favorite frequent commenters, and it concerned the “Billy Jack” films of the 60s and 70s.

Now, I have to be honest.  Of the four Billy Jack films, I’ve only seen the third, the 3-hour Trial of Billy Jack.  It nearly put me to sleep but the character of Billy Jack continues to fascinate me.  As a Native American, karate-kicking, Viet Nam vet, peace activist, Billy Jack appears to represent everything that was good and bad about the 70s.

So, with that in mind, here’s a chronological collection of Billy Jack trailers:

1) Born Losers (1967) — This was apparently Billy’s first appearance.  On the one hand, it appears to be a pretty standard bikers flick.  But, on the other hand, I want those white boots.

2) Billy Jack (1971) — Apparently, this was — for several years — the most succesful independent film ever.  I’ve got it on DVD.  The back cover reads, “Billy Jack’s just a man who loves children and other living beings.”  Except, apparently, for old, fat, white guys.

3) The Trial of Billy Jack (1974) — Okay, so there’s some legal copyright issues that apparently makes it illegal for me or just about anyone else to post the trailer to this movie online.  Well, it’s a pretty boring movie, to be honest.  But there’s about two and a half minutes of karate action that’s kinda fun and here it is.

4) Billy Jack Goes To Washington (1978)

The final (completed and released) Billy Jack film finds Billy Jack appointed to the U.S. Senate in a remake of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.  From rebel to establishment in just 11 years, that’s our Billy Jack.

Apparently, the actor who created and played Billy Jack — Tom Laughlin — has been attempting to get a new Billy Jack film off the ground since the late 80s.  He also ran for President in 1992, 2004, and 2008.  Apparently, he’s been dealing with some health issues over the past few years but he still occasionally updates his Billy Jack web site. 

I wish him the best and I look forward to the return of Billy Jack.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yes, technically, it’s the day before Thanksgiving but really, Thanksgiving has always been a three-day event.  On Wednesday, you shop for stuff you need.  On Thursday, you realize that you bought too much stuff that you need.  And on Friday, you shop for stuff that you want.

So, anyway, since it technically is Thanksgiving today, let’s get things started with this little short film from the Kubrick of Gore, Eli Roth…

10 Things To Be Thankful For In 2010

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s the Thanksgiving season, that time when bloggers everywhere come up with lists of things that they are thankful for.  Here’s just 10 of the many things that I’ve been thankful for in 2010.

1) The fifth season of Dexter

I have to be honest.  I’ve been a fan of Dexter since the show’s 1st season but I wasn’t sure if the show would be able to survive after the fourth season ended with Rita (Julie Benz) dead in a bloody bathtub.  However, season 5 has been a triumph.  Yes, a little too much time has been devoted to the domestic troubles of LaGuerta and Batista (Lauren Velez and the always intriguing David Zayas) but Michael C. Hall (as Dexter) and Jennifer Carpenter (as Deb) have done some of their best work this season.  Even better, this season has featured two brilliant performances from guest stars Peter Weller and, especially, Julia Stiles (who really deserves her own spin-off).  Still, you have to wonder if any murder has ever actually been solved in Miami…

2) Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. 

In three films — The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, Rapace created one of the first truly iconic film characters of the 21st century and that’s an accomplishment that will stand regardless of any attempts by the Hollywood mainstream to steal her accomplishment through any unnecessary remakes. 

3) Lost

As more time has passed, the more I’ve come to admit just how dissatisfied I was with how the creators of Lost decided to end their show.  Still, that doesn’t change the fact that, for several years, I scheduled my life around when the next episode of Lost was going to air.  I may not be thankful for a series finale that left way too many questions unanswered (why couldn’t children be born on the island?  What was the sickness?) but even the final season featured some of the show’s best moments.

4) The Walking Dead

I’m not a huge fan of Frank Darabont (sorry, but The Shawshank Redemption sucks) but I’m happy to say that he didn’t fuck up The Walking Dead.

5) Kathryn Bigelow broke the glass ceiling.

I’m still not a huge fan of The Hurt Locker but I am definitely a fan of Kathryn Bigelow.  As bad as this year’s Oscar ceremony was, it was worth watching just to see Bigelow become the first woman to ever win an Oscar for best director.  In many ways, it almost felt like a fantasy come to life — not only did Bigelow win a historic victory but she did it by beating her ex, James Cameron (who, to judge from his films, has never met a woman to whom he wouldn’t condescend).  The fact that she then gave one of the only genuine acceptance speeches of the entire ceremony was a wonderful bonus.

6) Blue Valentine was rated NC-17.

The upcoming film Blue Valentine (which I have yet to see) was reportedly given an NC-17 rating on account of scenes featuring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams having sex.  That the film would feature characters played Gosling and Williams having sex makes sense when you consider that the movie is specifically about their marriage.  However, despite this, Blue Valentine was rated NC-17 while films like The Expendables, A Nightmare on Elm Street, the Saw films — in which thousands of people are graphically killed and tortured on-screen — are given an R rating as a matter of routine.  If Blue Valentine had been about Ryan Gosling murdering Michelle Williams (as opposed to fucking her), the film probably would have an R rating and would be considered appropriate viewing in malls across America.  I’m thankful for this rating because it serves as a reminder that it’s okay to show a woman being humiliated, tortured, or killed just as long as you don’t show her actually enjoying an orgasm.

7) Exit Through The Gift Shop

The rest of you mainstreamers can talk about how much you love the Social Network for the rest of eternity, if you want.  Exit Through The Gift Shop is still the best movie of 2010.

8 ) Lisa Marie finally figured out how to work her DVR.

Yes, yes, I know.  DVR has been around like forever and it’s all old news and I’m sure there’s something even better than DVR that everyone but me is raving about and using right now but — look, shut up, okay?  Yes, I’ve had DVR forever but I just figured out how to actually make it work a few months ago.  And I love it!  Now, if I want to sit down in the living room at 3 in the morning and watch old episodes of Project Runway, there’s no way anyone can stop me.

9) Joseph Gordon-Levitt floating through a dream hallway in Inception

Inception was a film full of excellent set pieces and memorable images but whenever I think about the movie, I will always see Joseph Gordon-Levitt floating through that hallway in a suit and looking rather adorable as he does it.

10) Cthulhu on South Park

Well, of course.

That’s just ten things I’m thankful for and I didn’t even start to talk about Scott Caan on Hawaii 5-0, James Franco in 127 Hours, or movies like Fish Tank, Winter’s Bone, and Never Let Me Go.  What are you thankful for?  Leave a comment, let the world know.  The best comment wins a renewed sense of peace and a happy new year.  (Please note that this is not a legally binding document.)

The 2010 Oscars: Best Documentary: The Toadsuckers Are Narrowing It Down

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here’s some more news from the toadsuckers and dumbfugs who make up the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.  These are the people who give out the Academy Awards and who continue to insist that Crash, Titanic, Gladiator, Braveheart, Gandhi, The Sound of Music, Rocky, American Beauty, The Greatest Show on Earth, and How Green Was My Valley were all great films.  Yes, those people.

Anyway, along with giving out Oscars for best picture, best director, and all the other awards that the general public actually cares about, the Academy also gives out an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.  Occasionally, this category does get some notice.  For instance, there’s always the chance that Michael Moore will win another Oscar and start foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog again and Al Gore might give another award-winning power point presentation in the near future.  But for the most part, most people just see Best Documentary as just another roadblock on the journey between Best Supporting Actress and Best Picture.

Which is a shame because Best Documentary is usually a pretty fun category to try to predict.  Since hardly anyone has seen (or heard) of the majority of the nominees, you can simply pick one at random, say something vaguely serious-sounding about it, and people will assume that you’re far smarter than you ever possibly could be.  For me, the best thing about the documentary category is that, since you’ll probably never actually see most of the films nominated, your final opinion on the winner is often based on the acceptance speech.  If the documentarian gives a funny or sentimental speech then suddenly you realize that Gabby: The Girl Who Could Have Been is the greatest freaking documentary ever made.  And if his speech is strident or angry or boring then you’ll spend the next week wondering how the Academy could ever honor a piece of trash like Pelosi: Amazon From The Bay.

Anyway, the Documentary Branch of the Academy announced the 15 finalists for the Oscar for Best Feature-Length Documentary of 2010.  From these 15, the final five nominees will be determined.

Here’s the list:

“Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” Alex Gibney, director (ES Productions LLC)
“Enemies of the People,” Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, directors (Old Street Films)
“Exit through the Gift Shop,” Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)
“Gasland,” Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)
“Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould,” Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont, directors (White Pine Pictures)
“Inside Job,” Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)
“The Lottery,” Madeleine Sackler, director (Great Curve Films)
“Precious Life,” Shlomi Eldar, director (Origami Productions)
“Quest for Honor,” Mary Ann Smothers Bruni, director (Smothers Bruni Productions)
“Restrepo,” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)
“This Way of Life,” Thomas Burstyn, director (Cloud South Films)
“The Tillman Story,” Amir Bar-Lev, director (Passion Pictures/Axis Films)
“Waiting for ‘Superman’”, Davis Guggenheim, director (Electric Kinney Films)
“Waste Land,” Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)
“William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe,” Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, directors (Disturbing the Universe LLC)      

If Exit Through the Gift Shop (which is currently my choice for the best film of 2010) had failed to appear on this list, I would have thrown a fit.  Luckily, there it is.  Will it make the final five?  It better.

As for the other finalists, I’ve only seen Restrepo and Waiting for Superman and they’re both deserving of at least a nomination.  However, I’m hoping that the film about William Kunstler gets a nomination just because I’m hoping that whoever presents the award this year will mispronounce Kunstler and get the Academy broadcast fined by the FCA.

It’s also interesting to note that I’ve probably gone to more documentaries this year than any other.  And yet, I’ve only seen 3 of the 15 finalists.  Certainly, I guess I could go see Inside Job this weekend but do I really need a documentary to tell me that the economy is fucked up?  Seriously.  The trailer — featuring Matt Damon interrogating a bunch of Wall Street types — just comes across as being incredibly smug.  Client 9 should be opening up down here in Dallas pretty soon as well and I’ll probably see it but I’m not going to cry if I miss the opportunity to spend two hours with Eliot Spitzer.

To me, the best documentaries of 2010 include — along with Restrepo, Waiting for Superman, and Exit Through The Gift Shop (the best film of 2010, did I mention that?) — Winnebago Man, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, The Best Worst Movie, and (arguably) Catfish. 

The toadsuckers disagree.

The 2010 Oscars: Best Animated Feature: The Toadsuckers Have Spoken

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Hollywood Mainstream Establish Toadsuckers (aka., the HMETS) who hand out the Academy Awards (and, even though I rarely agree with them, I still love them for it because I love tacky award shows), have announced the 15 films that are eligible for this year’s Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Those films are:

“Alpha and Omega”
“Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”
“Despicable Me”
“The Dreams of Jinsha”
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Idiots and Angels”
“The Illusionist”
“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”
“Megamind”
“My Dog Tulip”
“Shrek Forever After”
“Summer Wars”
“Tangled”
“Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue”
“Toy Story 3”

A few things to note:

In order to be nominated, the eligible films (which, apparently, are submitted for official consideration by their studios) must play in Los Angeles by the end of the year.  So far, Tangled, The Illusionist, Summer Wars, and The Dreams of Jinsha have yet to open.  Don’t get me wrong.  They all will open but until they actually do, they’re only theoretically eligible to be nominated.

Number two, Toy Story 3 and How To Train You Dragon aside, it’s been kind of a crappy year for animated films, hasn’t it?  What the Hell is My Dog Tulip?

Number three, I should give credit for most of this information to the Awards Daily web site.  It’s a good site for tracking the Oscar race but it’s a terrible site if you’re interested in anything beyond a middle class, mainstream perspective on film.  It’s the type of site where Roger Ebert’s word is God and William Goldman is quoted without a hint of irony.  Just from a critical perspective, I like to think of Through The Shattered Lens as being the anti-Awards Daily. 

Number Four, under Academy rules, there will only be three nominees for Best Animated Feature.  (If 15 films are eligible, the Academy can nominate up to 3 films.  If more than 15 are eligible, the Academy can nominate 5.)  Since Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon would appear to be locks, that only leaves one space open.  My personal choice for that slot would be A Town Called Panic — oh, wait!  It’s not eligibile!  Bleh.

Okay, then out of the eligible films, I personally would give the third nomination to Megamind and the actual Oscar to Toy Story 3.

Dino De Laurentiis, R.I.P.

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I read earlier that film producer Dino De Laurentiis died on Wednesday.  He was 91 years old and he either produced or helped to finance over a 150 movies.  He started his career with Federico Fellini and went on to produce two of the iconic pop art films of the 60s, Roger Vadim’s Barbarella and Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik.  Then in the 70s he went through the most infamous stage of his career when he produced several overblown “event” films like the 1976 remake of King Kong.  However, even while De Laurentiis was devoting his time and effort to critically reviled attempts at spectacle, he was also supporting the visions of independent directors like David Lynch.  In the 21st Century, De Laurentiis was probably best known for producing the Hannibal Lecter films.

De Laurentiis, born in Naples, was a Southern Italian and, not surprisingly, was one of those legendary, larger-than-life moguls who built his career walking on the thin line between the Mainstream and the Grindhouse.  Hollywood is run by people who try to be De Laurentiis but De Laurentiis was the real thing. 

Dino De Laurentiis, R.I.P.

(On a personal note, De Laurentiis produced one of my favorite films of all time, Bound.  And I’m a fourth-Southern Italian myself.  Southern Italians are the best.)