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  • 15 Documentary Features make 2011 Oscar Shortlist

    [caption id="attachment_1842" align="alignnone"]Under Fire: Journalists in Combat[/caption]

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 84th Academy Awards®. One hundred twenty-four pictures had originally qualified in the category.

    The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company:

    “Battle for Brooklyn” (RUMER Inc.)
    “Bill Cunningham New York” (First Thought Films)
    “Buck” (Cedar Creek Productions)
    “Hell and Back Again” (Roast Beef Productions Limited)
    “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” (Marshall Curry Productions, LLC)
    “Jane’s Journey” (NEOS Film GmbH & Co. KG)
    “The Loving Story” (Augusta Films)
    “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” (@radical.media)
    “Pina” (Neue Road Movies GmbH)
    “Project Nim” (Red Box Films)
    “Semper Fi: Always Faithful” (Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc.)
    “Sing Your Song” (S2BN Belafonte Productions, LLC)
    “Undefeated” (Spitfire Pictures)
    “Under Fire: Journalists in Combat” (JUF Pictures, Inc.)
    “We Were Here” (Weissman Projects, LLC)

    The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, and the Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

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  • Go See the Indie Comedy “Rid of Me”

    by Francesca McCaffery

    RID OF ME, James Westby’s latest black comedy that follows Meris, (an awesome Katy O’Grady!) an awkward young woman trying too hard to perfect her marriage, amongst a new group of friends. RID OF ME follows Meris’ rejection from the cool crowd down a path towards truth and salvation which includes a job at a local candy shop, a group of punk friends, community gardening and a newfound love for Cambodian rock music! (Yes!)

    I think this was one of the hidden gems of the Tribeca Film Festival, and it is opening at Cinema Village West Theater tomorrow in New York City, November 18th- RUN OUT TO SEE IT ASAP THIS WEEKEND! We LOVED it, and so will you.  Let’s make this small wonder a huge hit! Check out the awesome reviews below:

    “Bracingly original, alarming and droll! The domestic meller and the horror movie have met, wed, and proven fruitful.” –John Anderson, VARIETY

    MEAN GIRLS for adults! Few recent movies are as darkly funny.” –Steven Zeitchik, LA TIMES

    “RID OF ME, if there’s any justice, should make actress Katie O’Grady a star.” –S.T. VanAirsdale, MOVIELINE

    “RID OF ME is cheerfully obscene, hip, and wickedly funny! Director James Westby is a talent on the march.” –Erica Abeel, HUFFINGTON POST

    RID OF ME was officially selected to play in the Tribeca Film Festival, Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival, San Diego Film Festival, and Bend Film Festival. Winner of Best US Narrative at the Traverse City Film Festival

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  • REVIEW: Le Havre

    Shot in the picturesque French port city of the same name, “Le Havre,” directed by Aki Kaurismaki, looks like it truly could have been created forty-five years ago. It’s an amazing and lovely film about community and solidarity, without any maudlin nostalgia to muck it up in the middle. It’s truly an original, and already feels like a dyed-in-the-wool classic. 

    A shoe-shine man (the glorious Marcel Max), making a meager living and relying on the unconditional adoration of his wide Arletty, (the sad-eyed Kati Outinen) one afternoon spots a young black African boy (Blondin Miguel), who has come here illegally in a freight container with his extended family. The boy has escaped police after temporary capture, and is hiding out in chest-deep seawater underneath a dock, where Andre has been lunching. After his wife must go to the hospital and stay there for treatment, Andre brings the boy into his home, hiding him away from the kind but thorough police captain ( an implacable Jean-Pierre Darroussin), who may or may not have some history with Andre. The entire neighborhood then becomes deftly enlisted in helping Andre with is new mission- getting the boy to London- where his family awaits him.

    This film is built so solidly on these beautiful performances, and bears the stamp of a director who knows how to disappear into the ether- making a truly charming, enriching tale of love and community. This is how they used to make ‘em, and it’s amazing that the marriage of all these nameless elements comes together to bring us a tale that is both timeless as well as genuinely topical. The way the director and production designer, (Wouter Zoon) with the obvious help of a genius DP (Timo Salminen), have merged to make a film that seems simultaneously so anchored in time as well as feeling absolutely timeless. (When we see the word “Alchieda” in a newspaper headline, it’s almost jolting) The era or time simply do not matter here. It’s the story that, finally, truly counts.

    In the director’s statement, Kaurismaki explains that this is a film about the plight of refugees, in all nations. If this is going to be the shape of politically driven narrative film, this is certainly one way to do it- with an almost unparalleled sense of grand confidence and a purely “cinematic” sense. “Le Havre” will leave you feeling warm inside without the fuzzy, and good without the heinous “feel good” feeling. It’s impossible, in the end, to explain the truly unique charm and beauty of this film: You will just have to go out and see it for yourself…

    by Francesca McCaffery

     

     

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  • Morgan Freeman to receive the Cecil B DeMille award at the Golden Globes

    Morgan Freeman will receive the Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globes ceremony in January. The award is given every year by the HFPA for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.

    Freeman won a best actor Golden Globe in 1990 for Driving Miss Daisy and was nominated three more times, for The Shawshank Redemption, Million Dollar Baby, for which he won an Oscar, and Invictus.

    The Cecil B. DeMille was first given in 1952 to the filmmaker whose name it bears and other recipients have included Walt Disney, Joan Crawford, Robert Mitchum and, more recently, Warren Beatty, Anthony Hopkins, Steven Spielberg and Robert DeNiro among others.

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  • Oliver Platt and Edie Falco to cohosts Gotham Independent Film Awards

    Oliver Platt and Edie Falco will co-host the 21st annual Gotham Independent Film Awards ceremony scheduled to take place November 28th 2011 in New York.

    “We are absolutely thrilled to be co-hosting this year’s Gotham Awards,” Platt and Falco said in a joint statement. “We look forward to an evening that celebrates outstanding independent film-making, brave and bold voices against the backdrop of this incredible city.”

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  • Billy Crystal is the new host of the Oscars

    Billy Crystal will replace Eddie Murphy as the host of the 84th Academy Awards. The funny man announced in a tweet, “Am doing the Oscars so the young woman in the pharmacy will stop asking my name when I pick up my prescriptions. Looking forward to the show.”

    This will mark Crystal’s ninth time as host. Only Bob Hope has hosted more Academy Awards presentations, with 19 ceremonies between 1940 and 1978. Crystal last hosted the Academy Awards in 2004.

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  • Brian Grazer is the new producer of 84th Academy Awards

    Academy President Tom Sherak announced today that Academy Award®-winner Brian Grazer will be the replacement for Brett Ratner as the producer of the 84th Academy Awards. This will be the first time Grazer has produced the Oscar® telecast.

    “Brian Grazer is a renowned filmmaker who over the past 25 years has produced a diverse and extraordinary body of work,” said Sherak. “He will certainly bring his tremendous talent, creativity and relationships to the Oscars®.”

    “I am thrilled to welcome Brian Grazer as my partner and that we will be  collaborating to produce an outstanding show,” echoed co-producer Don Mischer.

    “It’s very gratifying to be part of a show that honors excellence in the medium to which I have devoted so much of my career,” said Grazer. “Don is a legend, and I am excited to work with him.”

    “I too am delighted that Brian will join Don in producing the Academy Awards and I am looking forward to our producers delivering the movie event of the year,” commented Academy CEO Dawn Hudson.

    Grazer has earned four Academy Award nominations. He won a Best Picture Oscar in 2001 for “A Beautiful Mind.” In 1984, Grazer was nominated in the writing category for “Splash,” and he received Best Picture nominations in 1995 and 2008 for “Apollo 13” and “Frost/Nixon,” respectively.  His other film credits include “Spies Like Us,” “Kindergarten Cop,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Liar Liar,” “8 Mile” and “Cinderella Man.”  His current projects include the about to be released “J. Edgar” and the just released “Tower Heist.”

    Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

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  • Eddie Murphy Quits as Host of 84th Academy Awards

    One day after Brett Ratner, quit as producer of the 84th Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announced that Eddie Murphy has withdrawn as host of the 84th Academy Awards. “I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well,” said Sherak.

    In the statement, Murphy said, “First and foremost I want to say that I completely understand and support each party’s decision with regard to a change of producers for this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I’m sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job.”

    Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

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  • Chinese film producer and director Zhang Yimou to be honored at Asia Pacific Screen Awards

    Zhang Yimou

     

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  • Filmmakers behind Joe Frazier Film sad about his Passing

    [caption id="attachment_1816" align="alignnone"]Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears[/caption]

    Former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier died at the age of 67 from liver cancer.

    The filmmakers behind the film, “Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears” issued a statement on their website, “It is with deep sadness that all of us involved with the film learned of Joe’s sad passing. Our thoughts are with his friends and family. We are truly grateful for the time Joe spent with us to share his story. We hope in turn that we can share it with the world.”

    Directed and produced by Mike Todd, “Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears” is described as the story of the real Joe Frazier.

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  • Brett Ratner No Longer Producing the Oscars After Homophobic Slur

    Brett Ratner has resigned as a producer of the 84th annual Academy Awards after reportedly using the homophobic F-word at an event on Sunday night. He reportedly said “Rehearsal is for f*gs,” in response to a question at the event.

    In a statement issued later today, the Academy said, This morning, Brett Ratner submitted his resignation as a producer of the 84th annual Academy Awards to Academy President Tom Sherak. Ratner then issued an open letter to the entertainment industry in which he explained his decision. “He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself,” Sherak said. “Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent.”


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  • RIP: Science Fiction and Horror Films Producer Richard Gordon

    [caption id="attachment_1798" align="alignnone"]Richard Gordon, left, with actor Bela Lugosi, in 1952. [/caption]

    Richard Gordon, producer and executive producer of science fiction and horror films died Tuesday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, reports the LA Times. He was 85.

    Gordon’s career included such credits as a “Fiend Without a Face” and “The Haunted Strangler,”; he also ecutive-produced movies such as “Corridors of Blood” with Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, “The Haunted Strangler” with Karloff, “Island of Terror” with Peter Cushing and “Fiend Without a Face” and “First Man Into Space,” both with Marshall Thompson. He later produced films such as “The Cat and the Canary,” “Horror Hospital” and “Inseminoid.”

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