Michael Cieply revealed yesterday in the New York Times that the membership process to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, that group that hands out the Oscars, is mysterious. This shouldn't be a surprise, but the changes in entry rules now mean a nomination is no longer grounds for membership, either. Best actress nominee Ellen Page, it was revealed, is not a member. Weird. Weirder is how a producer didn't make the cut but his equally accomplished partner did. (I'm sure the story will embarrass someone into admitting these and other people, like Seth Rogen who was also named. Don't they want the youth vote rallying behind cooler people and movies?)

The upside of all this is that, increasingly, the membership is starting to look a lot like the world and not simply like Hollywood. (Or maybe it just confirms once again that Hollywood is still the world.) It also might mean the nominated films, technicians, and actors will continue to be less popular and more interesting - not that those two things are mutually exclusive. So it's reasonable to expect more nominees like Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi from "Babel." How much this really changes the game, though, is still anybody's guess. I mean, while Three 6 Mafia are impressive Oscar winners (it's not hard out here for a pimp anymore), Alfonso Cuaron doesn't have one. Just saying.

The most enlightening thing about this peek behind the Academy's curtain is that we now know the process for entry is as arbitrary as the nomination system can be.

Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Lists

Gallery: Top Nude Scenes of 2008

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Filed under: RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels

Continue reading Stuff and Things: Some Post-Turkey 'Tron' Sequel Hatin'

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Filed under: Classics, Celebrities and Controversy

Continue reading Who Owns Mary Pickford's Oscar?

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Best scene in the movie, don't you think?

In the same way that some people rush to put up their Christmas decorations before the Thanksgiving turkey's even digested or trample Walmart personnel to death in a Black Friday shopping frenzy, audiences turned out en masse to see "Four Christmases," an unpleasant little family fable featuring the likable but freakishly mismatched Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. The movie made an estimated $46 million from its Wednesday opening to Sunday evening, $31 million of that during the weekend proper. Presumably some in the audience were fleeing their own families; how's that for perverse?

The big disappointment, by contrast, was "Australia," Baz Luhrmann's $130 million epic: debuting in over 2,500 theaters, it pulled in a spare estimated $20 million, $14 million of it over the weekend, for a fifth-place showing. Tepid reviews may have been a factor, but the film's length may have had more to do with it; that and stars who aren't quite big enough to make a movie must-see on their own. The film opened the same day in Australia and grossed $5 million there, an unqualified hit by that country's terms.

Disney's strategy with "Bolt" -- take the lumps from "Twilight" during the first week and wait for family audiences to come out after Thanksgiving -- appears to have paid off nicely. The 3D animated film actually saw its second-weekend grosses show improvement rather than the standard nosedive, putting it just above "Twilight" in second place for the period. (The teen vampire flick has grossed $120 million overall, almost twice that of "Bolt.")

Two limited-release movies that are attracting huge audiences: "Milk," which debuted on 36 screens and averaged a monster $38,000 per theater on the strength of great reviews and Oscar buzz for Sean Penn, and "Slumdog Millionaire," which expanded to 49 screens in its third week and is still raking in a $28,000 per-theater-average. That, my friends, is word of mouth.

More BO numbers from Box Office Mojo and Leonard Klady at Movie City News.

According to the backstory of how Hell Ride got made, it was a meeting between Quentin Tarintino and Larry Bishop, who played a batrender in Kill Bill v2, and was best known as a cult film star of several road and exploitation biker films from the late 1960’s and early 70’s. “It is your destiny to write, direct and star in a movie” Quentin is quoted as saying to Bishop. The Pulp Fiction director would also put his name on it as an executive producer. Actually, Tarintino should have considered taking his name off the film, unless he was simply giddy that his name is connected to a exploitation biker pic for the next generation. It doesn’t work. Hell Ride is indeed an accurate title- the ride is hell, that’s undisputed. (more…)

Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

Poor Hulk! Batman, Iron Man, even Wolverine get more sequel press than he does. But late last week, Tim Blake Nelson revealed to MTV that he had signed for Hulk sequels, with every intention of taking the villainous center stage as The Leader. But like the rest of us, he has no idea whether or not they'll come to be, or whether or not Edward Norton will return. "It's all good, and I really do hope [the sequel] happens, for all sorts of reasons. But yeah, we did, we had a great time on Hulk together. I'm eager to do Hulk 2 if they make it ... I'm signed on to do Hulk 2 and 3 whether Edward's there or not, so it's not even up to me ... I certainly hope Edward is on the sequel - but that's up to Marvel and Edward."

Meanwhile, over in Avengers land, Robert Downey Jr. mentioned again that Hulk is going to show up in that crown jewel of superhero flicks. It's a strange place for the green giant to be in, because he's going forward, yet lost in a land of sequel rumor and leading man drama.

It's a question we've thrown out to Cinematical readers before, but with all this additional info, where do you want Hulk to go from here? Do you think that he should get his planned trilogy, then land with a thunderclap in The Avengers? Should they just leave well enough alone with The Incredible Hulk? And how do you feel about yet another Hulk recast?

My personal take is that if Marvel can't make up with Norton, they should just give up franchising Hulk, and just leave him off the big screen until The Avengers. Theoretically, you could have an all-CGI Hulk in that, thereby sidestepping the need to replace Norton. It would be clunky, though, and might "really really suck." Sigh. Why does there have to be so much drama in the world of Marvel? Earth's mightiest heroes should have a much easier time uniting than this.

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Filed under: Classics, Drama, Foreign Language, Romance, Celebrities and Controversy

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There were a few fears I had going into the sequel to Step Up, a surprise dance hit from two years ago. Both fears were confirmed within the sequel’s first ten minutes. Despite being entertaining and energetic, the first film had lots of clunky dialog and unbelievable soap opera circumstances. The sequel is made from the same mold, and, no pun intended, really does get off on the wrong foot, at least in the first reel. It takes some time for the film to recover, the lifeline supplied by the dancing and one character who is played by Adam G. Sevani, who I had never seen before, but who steals scenes left and right from everyone else in the entire film. When his character gets interesting? They have him literally step aside. (more…)

This is one picture that has three things going for it from start to finish: Jackie Chan, Jet Li and a ton of fun. The Forbidden Kingdom, of course, was the highly anticipated film that featured the martial arts legends in the same film at the same time. On that level, it does not disappoint. It’s only a let down in my view because there should have been more story-the film almost begs to be more epic on a grander scale and palette. (more…)