While zipping through my RSS feeds this week, I found a blurb from In Style, via CNN. With the title "The world according to Katie Holmes," I couldn't resist. What followed was a word association game that shared her thoughts on a bunch of brief, personal topics like her work, marriage, fashion, and age. Between listing one of her roles of a lifetime as being a wife, making many marriage references, and talking about what husband Tom Cruise likes to see her wear, I started to muse about the good old days.
Remember when she was just starting out and lived for herself? When her main interest in life wasn't the fact that she nabbed Mr. Cruise? How about when Tom was wowing audiences everywhere instead of being the tabloid face of Scientology? It seems like a million lifetimes ago that Holmes was a big up-and-coming actress, and Tom was the uber-awesome, megastar actor that everyone loved. In memory of those days, I thought it would be nice to throw a couple great flicks into the DVD player that captured their great, successful, and gossip rag-free early days.
Before popping up in Dawson's Creek, Katie Holmes was Libbets Casey, a wild schoolgirl in the '70s who makes Paul Hood's (Tobey Maguire) Thanksgiving all sorts of memorable in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. My favorite of Ang's films, Storm stars one heck of a cast -- Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Christina Ricci, Maguire, and Elijah Wood. Instead of the regular thanks and turkey gluttony, the film deals with two families who struggle for happiness and a road out of romantic disillusionment -- all in a '70s backdrop of changing times and political lies.
But Kate comes into play outside of the family dynamic. Libbets is the object of Paul's affection, but he has to battle his paramour-stealing friend Francis (David Krumholtz) for her attentions. While her role is brief, it looked to be the start of something good. Of course, some of the work that followed couldn't even be classified anything but stinkeriffic, but still -- there's some good ones like this wonderful first role, Go, and of course, her next film with Tobey -- Wonder Boys.
Unfortunately, while you can find a few trillion billion TomKat videos up on YouTube, no one has reveled in Libbets love yet. So, here's a selection of other goodies from the movie, and some retro Katie action for good measure.
I didn't leave Charlie Wilson's War, the new film from director Mike Nichols, dissatisfied or unamused. I walked out of Charlie Wilson's Warangry. No reasonable person expects a film -- any film -- to capture the complexity and scope of real events with absolute precision; adaptations are translations, and as the old Italian saying goes, "The translator is a traitor." It's one thing to compress, combine and fictionalize a story to fit the sprawling, ugly mess of it onto the big screen; it's another to take only the best, shiniest parts of a real, ugly story and turn it into a feel-good comedy. Translation may be traitorous, but Charlie Wilson's War feels like a conscious act of treason against reason itself. As film critic David Thompson has said, "We learn our history from movies, and history suffers ...." Charlie Wilson's War isn't just bad history; it feels even more malign, like a conscious attempt to induce amnesia.
Based on George Crile's 2003 book of the same name, Charlie Wilson's War follows the exploits of Charlie Wilson, a Democratic Congressman from Texas who, during the '80s, had as much fun with his position as you could, which was a lot. But as Charlie Wilson's War opens, we see Charlie hot-tubbing in a Vegas hotel suite; the room's full of booze, broads and blow. But Charlie, played by Tom Hanks, can't look away from the news; as one of his new acquaintances notes her apathy to world events, Charlie boils it down: "Dan Rather's wearing a turban; you don't want to know why?" Dan Rather's in a turban because Dan Rather's in Afghanistan, among the Afghan mujahideen -- the Islamic rebels trying to drive the Soviet Union out of their country by any means necessary. This sight sparks something in Charlie, so he sets out to increase the C.I.A.'s funding for the Afghan rebels -- from $5 million a year to 10. It's a lot of money. It's going to be much more.
So do the Screen Actors Guild nominations announced today completely reset the Oscar playing field or not? Depends on which L.A. Times columnist you read. Pete Hammond (normally of Maxim) says that the inability of "Atonement" and "Sweeney Todd" to field any SAG nominations means that it's over, buh-bye, no Oscar soup for you. Tom O'Neil in his Gold Derby column says it's not that simple but still finds dark meanings in the fact that the Outstanding Cast category included dark horses like "3:10 to Yuma," "Hairspray," "American Gangster," and "Into the Wild" -- rather than such assumed Oscar frontrunners as "Atonement," "Sweeney Todd," "There Will be Blood," "Michael Clayton," and "Juno."
Lot of noise over misread tea leaves if you ask me. There is no correlation between the SAG's Outstanding Cast category and the Academy's Best Picture. The former looks only at performance, the latter considers the entire production. What do the the five films nominated by the Guild have in common? Deep, deep casts, with one or two big star turns anchored by a number of smaller, pungent players. Of the five presumed Oscar front-runners overlooked by the SAG, only "Michael Clayton" and "Juno" have both the flashy home-run hitters and the deep bench, and as much as I love Ellen Page and Allison Janney, "Juno" is hand-tooled for writers' awards, not actors' laurels. (As for "Clayton," beats me. Maybe Clooney and Swinton and Wilkinson and Pollack just aren't good enough for their peers.)
In any case, actors and pictures equals apples and oranges. My own guess, at this precise moment in time, of what could be the five Best Picture nominees: "No Country for Old Men," "Atonement," "Into The Wild," "American Gangster," and one wild card -- maybe "Clayton," maybe "Juno," maybe even "Hairspray." Not "There Will be Blood," though -- too damn strange (and brilliant). Nor "Sweeney" -- too damn bloody. Understand, of course, that this has nothing to do with what the year's best movies actually are.
By the way, the SAG folk got their WGA waiver, which means the televised awards ceremony can go forward without a picket line. The Globes and the Academy can't say the same. Maybe the SAG awards will be the Oscars this year.
The Screen Actors Guild has announced their nominees for outstanding performances of 2007. A solid list with a few surprises: The amount of love shown to "Into the Wild" (actor, supporting actor, supporting actress, outstanding cast), which is, after all, a film directed by an actor very much respected by his peers. Nice to see Ruby Dee nominated for her "American Gangster" performance, and nice to see "3:10 to Yuma" noted for its entire cast.
Below is the full list of SAG movie nominations; follow the link above to see the TV noms. The award ceremonies will be held January 27th, 2008, and will be televised on TNT and TBS.
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
GEORGE CLOONEY / Michael Clayton ? ?Michael Clayton? (Warner Bros. Pictures)
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS / Daniel Plainview ? ?There Will Be Blood? (Paramount Vantage)
RYAN GOSLING / Lars Lindstrom ? ?Lars And The Real Girl? (Sidney Kimmel Entertainment)
EMILE HIRSCH / Christopher McCandless? ?Into The Wild? (Paramount Vantage)
VIGGO MORTENSEN / Nikolai ? ?Eastern Promises? (Focus Features)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
CATE BLANCHETT / Queen Elizabeth I ? ?Elizabeth: The Golden Age? (Universal Pictures)
JULIE CHRISTIE / Fiona ? ?Away From Her? (Lionsgate)
MARION COTILLARD / Edith Piaf ? ?La Vie En Rose? (Picturehouse)
ANGELINA JOLIE / Mariane Pearl ? ?A Mighty Heart? (Paramount Vantage)
ELLEN PAGE / Juno MacGuff ? ?Juno? (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
CASEY AFFLECK / Robert Ford ? ?The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford? (Warner Bros. Pictures)
JAVIER BARDEM / Anton Chigurh ? ?No Country For Old Men? (Miramax Films)
HAL HOLBROOK / Ron Franz ? ?Into The Wild? (Paramount Vantage)
TOMMY LEE JONES / Ed Tom Bell ? ?No Country For Old Men? (Miramax Films)
TOM WILKINSON / Arthur Edens ? ?Michael Clayton? (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
CATE BLANCHETT / Jude ? ?I?m Not There? (The Weinstein Company)
RUBY DEE / Mama Lucas ? ?American Gangster? (Universal Pictures)
CATHERINE KEENER / Jan Burres ? ?Into The Wild? (Paramount Vantage)
AMY RYAN / Helene McCready ? ?Gone Baby Gone? (Miramax Films)
TILDA SWINTON / Karen Crowder ? ?Michael Clayton? (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
3:10 TO YUMA (Lionsgate)
CHRISTIAN BALE / Dan Evans
RUSSELL CROWE / Ben Wade
PETER FONDA / Byron McElroy
GRETCHEN MOL / Alice Evans
DALLAS ROBERTS / Grayson Butterfield
VINESSA SHAW / Emmy Roberts
BEN FOSTER / Charlie Prince
ALAN TUDYK / Doc Potter
LOGAN LERMAN / Will Evans
AMERICAN GANGSTER (Universal Pictures)
ARMAND ASSANTE / Dominic Cattano
JOSH BROLIN / Detective Trupo
RUSSELL CROWE / Richie Roberts
RUBY DEE / Mama Lucas
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR / Huey Lucas
IDRIS ELBA / Tango
CUBA GOODING, JR. / Nicky Barnes
CARLA GUGINO / Laurie Roberts
JOHN HAWKES / Freddie Spearman
TED LEVINE / Lou Toback
JOE MORTON / Charlie Williams
LYMARI NADAL / Eva
JOHN ORTIZ / Javier J. Rivera
RZA / Moses Jones
YUL VAZQUEZ / Alfonse Abruzzo
DENZEL WASHINGTON / Frank Lucas
HAIRSPRAY (New Line Cinema)
NIKKI BLONSKY / Tracy Turnblad
AMANDA BYNES / Penny Pingleton
PAUL DOOLEY / Mr. Spritzer
ZAC EFRON / Link Larkin
ALLISON JANNEY / Prudy Pingleton
ELIJAH KELLEY / Seaweed
JAMES MARSDEN / Corny Collins
MICHELLE PFEIFFER / Velma Von Tussle
QUEEN LATIFAH / Motormouth Maybelle
BRITTANY SNOW / Amber Von Tussle
JERRY STILLER / Mr. French
JOHN TRAVOLTA / Edna Turnblad
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN / Wilbur Turnblad
INTO THE WILD (Paramount Vantage)
BRIAN DIERKER / Rainey
MARCIA GAY HARDEN / Billie McCandless
EMILE HIRSCH / Chris McCandless
HAL HOLBROOK / Ron Franz
WILLIAM HURT / Walt McCandless
CATHERINE KEENER / Jan Burres
JENA MALONE / Carine McCandless
KRISTEN STEWART / Tracy Tatro
VINCE VAUGHN / Wayne Westerberg
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Miramax Films)
JAVIER BARDEM / Anton Chigurh
JOSH BROLIN / Llewelyn Moss
GARRET DILLAHUNT / Wendell
TESS HARPER / Loretta Bell
WOODY HARRELSON / Carson Wells
TOMMY LEE JONES / Ed Tom Bell
KELLY MACDONALD / Carla Jean Moss
Looks like I was at the wrong roundtable. Over at Cinema Blend, they are reporting some interesting footnotes from a recent Walk Hard junket, in which John C. Reilly says that Paul Thomas Anderson offered him a role in There Will Be Blood, but it wasn't right. "Paul and I talked a lot about it,"he says. "He wrote me a part for the movie and I said 'Don't put me in there just because you think you have to, because we're friends. Put me in there if I'm the right guy to be in there.' And he thought about it and he was like 'You know what? You're right. You just talked yourself out of a part.'" Reilly says he was happy about the decision and how the movie ultimately turned out. "I was really glad. That movie just seems so seamless. It just seems like he discovered this real place."
Reilly also went on to talk more about the film, saying "I really hope those guys [Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis] get some attention, because I think that movie is a real achievement for Paul. It's such a departure from his other work. I was just staggered by it. I've seen it a couple of times, and I have really high hopes for that one." So do I -- if a Best Director Oscar isn't forthcoming, for P.T., then it better go to Joe Wright. Who else is deserving this year?
A lot of worries are going around about "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," the Tim Burton movie adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical. It opens tomorrow, and fans of Johnny Depp (and those expecting a good train wreck) are wondering if the man can sing. Having seen the movie, I can attest that he can sing just fine, if not on the level of the great stage Sweeneys (Len Cariou, George Hearn, Michael Cerveris). Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett? Ehhh, not so much. In fact, you could thumbnail the film (which is overall quite good) as: One sings, the other shouldn't.
And yet -- perspective is all, as my editor and friend Mark Feeney recently reminded me by passing along the video below. Here is Elizabeth Taylor singing "Send in the Clowns" to Len Cariou in 1978's "A Little Night Music," one of the few other Hollywood attempts to put Sondheim on screen. Liz's rendition is both mesmerizingly awful -- a cat could sing this song better soaking wet -- and a testimony to the serene assurance of star power. Nothing in the new "Sweeney" is this bad -- or this good.
Sort of. In an entertaining interview over at The Guardian, flavor of the month Jason Bateman opens up somewhat about his many years in the Hollywood wilderness, and comes across as genuinely shaken by how randomly an actor like himself can go from unemployable to a hot property in the blink of an eye, for no good reason. Specifically, Bateman talks about the randomness of choosing the Arrested Development series, his big comeback vehicle. "I would have done a show half as good as Arrested Development," he says. "Things were few and far between. I didn't give a shit at the time. I just got really lucky." He says that around the same time Arrested Development was offered, he also got an offer to appear on another show that would have tanked, and his big rebirth would never have happened. "The more obvious choice was the other series," he says. "It had a big star, it paid better, it probably had guaranteed air time. It could have buried me."
Continuing with his 'it's all a coin toss' analogy, he posits the following hilarious scenario: "Let's say, God forbid, Gary Coleman got kidnapped tomorrow. That would lead the national news. Then he would get released, maybe in a month, but now he is revitalised, currently relevant, and a great piece of casting for a new project. If he does that project and he's halfway decent in it, he's got another career. It's an awful way to make a living if your success is predicated on some arbitrary moment of exposure." Am I the only who thinks that there's at least a 50-50 chance that Coleman will read this article and then hire someone to kidnap him?
There are girls who make the waves in the media world because of their exploits (Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears), and then there are some special ones who just know how to keep gossip-fiends hooked with their strange vacation from reality. Jessica Simpson is one of those people. If you thought Blonde Ambition or Major Movie Star (as if) were laughable, get ready for this -- she wants to be the next Julia Roberts. Or, at least, follow in her footsteps a little and play a hooker.
Yes, dear Cinematical readers, Jessica Simpson wants to star in a remake of Pretty Woman. According to OK! Magazine's source, "She thinks this one's got 'hit' written all over it.' Her father Joe has been telling anyone who will listen that she's the next Julia." Yeah, so as her manager, he's got to talk her up, but there's a difference between being positive about your talent (for lack of a better word), and making ridiculous comparisons. I would ask if she's really that clueless, but after her television show, and her myriad of insane statements, I think that's clear. And, no, I'm not talking about the Heckerling sort of Clueless.
And here I thought Simpson taking on the role of Sandy for a Grease remake was bad ... but I'll hand the mic over to you. Would you like to see Miss Jessica as a Pretty Woman? Can you see her winning an Oscar one day? Have we all just somehow disregarded her amazing acting talents? Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
And now to the business: Today, Variety reports that the WGA will indeed picket outside the Golden Globes ceremony on January 13, assuming the strike is still going strong. SAG has not decided yet whether or not they will cross the picket lines, and are "seeking reaction from members who have been nominated before announcing its plans." There might, however, be rules as to where the WGA can picket -- meaning if they set up a few blocks from the theater, there might be another way into the theater that allows SAG members to not, technically, cross the picket lines. So it's still up in the air.
Yesterday, when the whole waiver news broke, a fellow Cinematical writer asked if Cinematical would "cross the picket lines" and live-blog the ceremony. For the past few years, we have live-blogged both the Globes and the Oscars, and have had a pretty good time doing it. The way I see it, my fat ass is at home, in front of the television, and so I'm not technically crossing any picket lines by live-blogging the Globes. I told this to our writer, and they replied: "So then we don't support the writers?" No, we support the strike coming to an end in a way where both parties are happy with the outcome. That's what we've always supported. Personally, I'm not a part of the WGA, or SAG, and so my only loyalty is to our readers. And if our readers want some delicious, humorous color commentary to go along with what will probably be another boring awards ceremony, then I have no problem providing that to them.
But I wanted to ask you folks first. Keep in mind, we're not asking whether the ceremony is worth live-blogging, because most of you will say it sucks anyway. That's a fact. I'm asking whether you think we should live-blog the ceremony considering the WGA will be picketing it? Would you be offended if we "crossed the picket lines?" (Note: Our decision will not be based solely on this poll, but I wanted to get a general opinion before making the final call.)
What a surprise. Reuters has reported that The Vatican really doesn't like The Golden Compass. They're not the only ones, since this massive-budget film has been flopping around like a fish gasping for breath since it came out; however, they are the ones leading the religious charge. It's, obviously, not the film's cinematic shortcomings that are making waves, but rather, its religious commentary. This is the same content that was toned down by Chris Weitz in an attempt to make this a more palatable film to everyone -- as if they hadn't thought about the potential controversy when the project first came to be.
The Vatican newspaper, l'Osservatore Romano, has printed a long editorial ranting about the film, pretty much describing it as if it were an example of torture porn, rather than fantasy, calling it "the most anti-Christmas film possible," and that "when man tries to eliminate God from his horizon, everything is reduced, made sad, cold, and inhumane." These are the most religion-specific quotes coming out of Reuters' piece. The writer must be living one heck of a film-free life if this is not only the most anti-Christmas film made, but even possible! It's no surprise that they wouldn't be happy about the film, but statements like that just take the whole argument to a new level of ridiculous. It's one thing to comment on the aspects of a film that diverge from the church's beliefs. It's another to take exaggeration to new heights. Then again, we're in a world where one short peek at a nipple creates monumental fuss.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
While zipping through my RSS feeds this week, I found a blurb from In Style, via CNN. With the title "The world according to Katie Holmes," I couldn't resist. What followed was a word association game that shared her thoughts on a bunch of brief, personal topics like her work, marriage, fashion, and age. Between listing one of her roles of a lifetime as being a wife, making many marriage references, and talking about what husband Tom Cruise likes to see her wear, I started to muse about the good old days.
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Looks like I was at the wrong roundtable. Over at Cinema Blend, .jpg)
Sort of. In an 
There are girls who make the waves in the media world because of their exploits (Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears), and then there are some special ones who just know how to keep gossip-fiends hooked with their strange vacation from reality. 
I'd just like to take a moment of silence for Jamie Lynn Spears' 
What a surprise. 
