Girls on Film: The Academy's Shallow Actress Pool
Filed under: Awards, Girls on Film

With the werewolves out of the way, back to our regularly scheduled programming. A few weeks ago, The Hollywood Reporter ran a piece called "Shallow pool for Oscar's actress contenders." The basic premise: While the list of female directorial hopefuls is stronger than ever for the 2010 Academy race, the actress nods aren't so hot with Meryl Streep leading only a handful of other front-runners (Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe). The piece also noted the other potential Best Actress candidates, the possibility of notable performances in the remaining releases, the struggles women still face in Hollywood, and -- egads -- the fact that some are talking about Sandra Bullock getting a nod for The Blind Side.
Reading the article through, I quickly had a thought .... and it was most definitely not about that previously mentioned werewolf flick getting any award love. Usually a discussion like this might be disheartening or aggravating, but the thought wasn't negative. It was, in fact, quite positive.
Why don't we use this "shallow pool" as a reason to celebrate unconventional roles and performances?
Monday Night Poll: How Much Will 'Avatar' Make Opening Weekend?
Filed under: Action, Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Box Office, 20th Century Fox, Movie Marketing, Oscar Watch

Avatar isn't being released until December 18th, but if you're already sick of hearing about it, you better plug up your ears. The hype machine for James Cameron's magnum opus has been hard at work leaking details, images, snippets, and trailers since way before this year's San Diego Comic-Con or the extensive profile in October's New Yorker. Cameron, who has never been one to bite his tongue, told Playboy, "We know from the exit polling that the response [to Avatar] was 95 percent ecstatic. Most of the five percent negative response is from the fanatic fans who imagined the movie in their minds but now have to deal with my movie." Also, that when it comes to giving birth to a movie, he's crowning. Yum!
Bon mots from Cameron aside, Avatar could be a real game-changer as far as 3D films go – and hell, it's a refreshing change of pace from the sequels, prequels, remakes, and re-imaginings we're forced to sit through. (Plus... giant blue cat people!!!). It's definitely in the running for numerous Oscars. In fact, Oscar experts at In Contention currently have the film for consideration in eight categories, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Not only that, Variety reported that James Cameron, stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, and producer Jon Landau will be doing a live webcast on December 3rd that will allow fans the chance to ask questions of the crew and sneak peeks at previously unseen footage from the film. The webcast will be broadcast on MTV two days before Avatar hits screens.
So, are you a betting man or woman? How much do you think the Avatar exposure will pay off opening weekend? Will Na'ivish become the new Elvish? Let's start with under $20 million. Going once, going twice... Vote below!
Lightning Bolt Gives You All the Strength of Steven Seagal
Filed under: Fandom

So how did I not know until this minute that Steven Seagal has a line of energy drinks called Lightning Bolt, which one assumes fills the imbiber with all the powers of Steven Seagal? During all my afflictions and woes, why did no one inform me that Zen-like wisdom and ponytailed physical excellence were readily available in a 16-ounce can?
The drink's website, which likes to mis-punctuate "its" as "it's," very strongly implies that Seagal devised the formula for Lightning Bolt his own self, conjuring images of Seagal in a white lab coat, mixing chemicals in beakers while occasionally stopping to deliver a roundhouse kick to an oncoming attacker. "Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt energy drinks are as unique as the man who created it," the website says, using "it" when it means "them." Where most energy drinks derive their power from massive amounts of caffeine, Lightning Bolt has none of it beyond the small amount found in green tea extract, which is one of the ingredients. The other ingredients are all natural, and Lightning Bolt was the first energy drink to contain Tibetan goji berries, not to mention Asian cordyceps! Whatever those are!
Old Doctor Who to Play John Lennon
Filed under: Drama, Music & Musicals, Casting

Naoko Mori, who played Toshiko in Torchwood, will play Yoko Ono. (For Hackers buffs out there, she also played the Tokyo Hacker back in the 1995 movie.) Rounding out the cast is Rory Kinnear as Epstein, Claudie Blakley as Cynthia, and Andrew Scott as Paul McCartney.
Now this is a BBC movie, but considering the reach of Red Riding, I imagine this could stretch beyond the UK's TV screens. There's the fact that The Beatles have been seeing a lot of love in the CD and video game world, and Lennon usually doesn't get much cinematic love save retro pieces in a cameo capacity. The tide changed this year with Nowhere Boy -- so we'll have to wait and see. But what do you think about the casting? Can Naoko and Who pull off a convincing John and Yoko?
Alec Baldwin Becomes Latest to Threaten Retirement
Filed under: Fandom, Newsstand
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My first reaction: What's up with Men's Journal, and why do actors feel the need to announce their retirement through them? Mortensen's whole snafu came from an interview with Men's Journal, and now Baldwin. Is Men's Journal now the publication actors will turn to when they want to semi-announce their retirement in spectacular (and somewhat moronic) fashion? I mean, really Alec? You consider your career a failure? Tell that to the middle-aged aspiring actor working six jobs in Los Angeles just so he can call home once a week to tell his family that the second assistant's assistant's assistant on the Viagra commercial really thought he showed promise as a background extra, and that all those years of hard work are finally paying off.
The First 'Iron Man 2' Poster Appears!
Filed under: Action, Paramount, Fandom, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Posters
Marvel Studios, Paramount and Jon Favreau have given you an early Christmas present. Yahoo! Movies has debuted the first poster for Iron Man 2, and as cheesy as it is to go nuts over marketing, it's an awfully cool poster. It's their exclusive, so you'll have to click the picture to see the entire thing, but I've given you a tiny preview above.
The best part? Those of us who didn't get to see the pants-wetting footage at Comic-Con finally get a glimpse at War Machine! There's something deliciously geeky about the buddy cop stylings of this poster. I could live quite comfortably in a world where Iron Man 2 was something akin to a super-suited Lethal Weapon, couldn't you?
Of course, as nice as the poster is, it's no substitute for seeing these guys actually take flight. Faverau has hinted via Twitter that we might see the first Iron Man 2 trailer this Christmas, and that it'll be attached to that other Robert Downey Jr. franchise, Sherlock Holmes. Maybe if you're very good boys and girls, Santa will grant your wish, and we'll get it a few days before Holmes hits theaters. I can't think of a more festive way to ring in the holidays than with a flying hero of red and gold.
Mirren to Play The Queen Again in Star-Studded Biopic?
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Casting, Newsstand

Tom Hanks and Tommy Lee Jones are also reportedly in talks to play Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, respectively, while Emily Watson is attached to play the formidable Margaret Thatcher. Director Krishna Shah calls it "the project of my life" so one hopes this could actually come together for him with this kind of cast. The film is scheduled to be released in 2010, which seems a bit too optimistic with so many schedules to coordinate, but we'll see.
Obviously, this should be filed firmly under "rumor," but it's an intriguing prospect. Indira Ghandi is certainly long overdue for a biopic, and the cast would be fantastic. It would be fascinating to see Mirren go back and play a younger Queen Elizabeth II, even for just a small part in a larger historical picture. Besides, with Michael Sheen doing triple duty as Prime Minister Tony Blair, it seems very appropriate that his onscreen monarch get another shot at the throne.
'Nine', 'Up in the Air' Lead Satellite Award Nominations
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Music & Musicals, Awards, Quentin Tarantino, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Oscar Watch

But over the years I've come to appreciate the Satellites and their bestowing organization, the International Press Academy, for their constant surprises when it comes to nominating and awarding unlikely films and talent. Just look at some of last year's acting winners: Richard Jenkins; Rosemarie DeWitt; Ricky Gervais; Michael Shannon.
Now check out this year's nominees, which continue to prove that IPA voters like to go at least slightly against the grain. Okay, so there are a lot of predictable titles in the lot, including Up in the Air and Nine, which leads with 11 nominations. Yet there are some films I don't expect to be recognized by the Golden Globes, let alone the Oscars, such as The Maid and The Stoning of Soraya M., both of which feature in the Best Actress (Drama) category.
First (Official) Look at 'The Karate Kid' Remake - Updated with More Photos
Filed under: Action, Sony, Family Films, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Remakes and Sequels, Images

Update: Check out three more images in the gallery below.
The initial trauma over Columbia's remake of The Karate Kid seems to have passed for the children of the 1980s, enough that the first official image (not counting the teaser poster Erik Davis posted in September) shouldn't be salt in the wound. Instead, you might be thinking "Hey, for the first image of The Karate Kid, shouldn't there be, you know ... karate?" Yes, yes there should. But instead People Magazine gave us a tender look between the new kid, Jaden Smith, and his mentor, Jackie Chan. 1980s children will be relieved to know that his name isn't Mr. Miyagi, but Mr. Han, and he's a maintenance man who befriends the troubled and unhappy boy who's been relocated to China. He also can kick major ass.
Smith and Chan give a few excited quotes for Kid. Smith reveals he trained for four months with the film's fight coordinator, Master Wu, which was probably interesting enough to warrant its own training montage. As he became wise in the way of karate, he learned discipline that extended all the way to his personal habits. "His dad told me that Jaden had changed," says Chan. "When he takes his shoes off, he doesn't throw them in the corner, but puts them away neatly!"
Admittedly, there could be some lovely Chinese eye candy in this. One sequence will take place on the Great Wall of China, so we're in for at least one (hopefully) breathtaking sequence that could actually rival any crane kick Ralph Macchio performed. The Karate Kid hits theaters on June 11, 2010.
Serious Scores: Goblin

Goblin also supplied soundtracks to other Italian horror movies, as well as giallo and soft porn director Joe D'Amato's Beyond the Darkness. They did the soundtrack to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, aka Zombi, under the name The Goblins; much later, Shaun of the Dead used one of the songs from the soundtrack in their film as one of many sly nods to the zombie classic.