Sorry this is so late. Been traveling since 7am — which means I’m tired, grumpy, and probably constipated.
Brian Grazer to Produce, Billy Crystal to Host Academy Awards
Oh, how I love me some Eddie Murphy for sticking it to the Academy.
But you have to hand it to them; they rallied and fast. Brian Grazer is a very respected and accomplished producer, and the only possible guest host that could’ve bailed these nitwits out of this mess is the universally beloved Billy Crystal. So in just one day the Oscar telecast went from the rock-n-roll promised in the team of Ratner and Murphy to the old-school class promised by Grazer and Crystal.
Quite stupidly, for years now, the Academy has been trying to skew “young” in order to prop up their cratering ratings. But this is the very reason why the telecast has been so dismal. Anne Hathaway and James Franco? Let’s hope that the return of Crystal proves through the ratings that class is the real key to a successful telecast.
After all, we all love Billy Crystal; he’s very much the Bob Hope of our time. On the other hand, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Whoopi Goldberg and Alec Baldwin are divisive partisans over 50% of the country can’t stand.
We win.
Opening Tomorrow With Predictions
Weekend Forecast (Nov. 11-13)
1. Jack and Jill – $25.5 million
2. Puss in Boots – $22.1 million (-33%)
3. Immortals – $20.5 million
4. Tower Heist – $14 million (-42%)
5. J. Edgar – $11.5 million
I don’t make predictions because I suck at them, but “J. Edgar” opening that low on over 1900 screens does not bode well.
Anyway, like the rest of America, I love Adam Sandler, and I really love Adam Sandler when he teams up with director Dennis Dugan… but I don’t know about this one. This is one of those trailers I watch and just know it’s either going to be a complete miss or a minor comedic masterpiece. The Pacino scenes do look as though they might become the stuff of legend and quoted down through the ages.
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SCOTTD’S EPIC LINK-TACULAR
FLASHBACK: GLAAD VS. KEVIN SMITH
MGM PURCHASES SCRIPT ADAPTATION OF YOUNG ADULT NOVEL ‘KILLER PIZZA‘
AN EARLY LOOK AT RIAN JOHNSON’S ‘LOOPER,’ STARRING BRUCE WILLIS
‘SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE’ ACTOR ANIL KAPOOR TO STAR IN AND PRODUCE INDIAN VERSION OF ’24‘
JENNIFER SAUNDERS TO WRITE ‘ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS’ MOVIE
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF ‘AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON’…
…AND CELEBRATING 60 YEARS OF ‘A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE‘
14 VARIATIONS ON MARILYN MONROE
CABLE COMPANIES TO OFFER $9.99 BROADBAND TO LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS
20 OF TELEVISION’S BEST ONE-SEASON VILLAINS
THE 10 WORST MOVIES ABOUT GREEK MYTHOLOGY
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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING
West Side Story (1961) –– Going to write a proper review of the Blu-ray, but for now let’s just leave it at… wow.
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CLASSIC PICK FOR FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11
10pm EST: The Americanization of Emily (1964) — A British war widow falls for an opportunistic American sailor during World War II. D: Arthur Hiller. Starring: James Garner, Julie Andrews, James Coburn.
I’m currently about 20 pages away from finishing James Garner’s just-released and superb autobiography “The Garner Files,” and I wasn’t surprised at all to learn that the role of proud coward Charles Madison is his favorite. Written by three-time Oscar winner Paddy Chayefsky –“Marty” (1955), “The Hospital” (1971), and “Network” (1976) — this brilliant and brilliantly complicated anti-war film (which is beautifully filmed to boot) offers Garner one fantastic scene after another — my personal favorite (and Garner’s) being this unforgettable explanation of his personal manifesto.
The tension Chayefsky adds to the scene with the mentioning of the wife is the work of a genius.
You can argue with the politics of the film (though I don’t think it’s as simple of an anti-war film as even Garner makes it out to be) but not the brilliance. If memory serves, William Holden was the first choice for the role but for some reason it didn’t work out. Of course, Holden would’ve been good, but not as good as Garner. Holden’s entire persona is one of cynicism, and those words wouldn’t have been so shocking coming out of his mouth. Clean-cut, amiable, Garner is a different story.
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