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2011/12/19 at 12:00am

Complete 2012 Golden Globes nominations

12.19.2011 | By Jack Rico |

“The Artist,” Weinstein Co.’s silent, black-and-white film about an actor who deals with the transition to talkies, was nominated for six Golden Globe awards, but in the Comedy or Musical category.

This selection seems erroneous since every other organization including the BFCA included it under it’s Best Picture categories. Did we miss something? Are you really telling us that ‘The Artist’ is competing with Bridesmaids?? Something seems terribly out of whack here.

Nevertheless, go ahead and immerse yourself in what will be a very interesting night hosted by noneother than Ricky Gervais.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
The Descendants, Fox Searchlight
The Help, Walt Disney Co./DreamWorks Pictures
Hugo, Paramount Pictures
The Ides of March, Sony Pictures
Moneyball, Sony Pictures
War Horse, Walt Disney Co./DreamWorks Pictures

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
50/50, Summit Entertainment
The Artist, Weinstein Co.
Bridesmaids, Universal Pictures
Midnight in Paris, Sony Pictures Classics
My Week With Marilyn, Weinstein Co.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Adventures of Tintin, Paramount Pictures
Arthur Christmas, Sony Pictures
Puss in Boots, DreamWorks Animation/Paramount
Cars 2, Walt Disney Co.
Rango, Paramount Pictures

BEST ACTOR – DRAMA
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

BEST ACTOR – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris

BEST ACTRESS – DRAMA
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

BEST ACTRESS – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet, Carnage

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

BEST DIRECTOR
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
George Clooney, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

3 questions with ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’

By Karen Posada

2011/12/18 at 12:00am

Movies

3 questions with ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’

12.18.2011 | By Karen Posada |

The main actors of the amazing phenomenon ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, Daniel Craig (AKA Mr. James Bond) and Rooney Mara gave us an exclusive behind the scenes of what it was like to be involved in this project and how they prepared to become the characters that have been followed by 65 million plus readers of the trilogy world-wide. There’s so much pressure coming from different angles from the readers and from the fans of the Swedish version of the film and it’s understandable since this is a story that has captivated so many, but Craig and Mara have such easy going confident personalities that it’s easy to understand why they were chosen for the roles.

ShowBizCafe.com (SBC): How did you prepare for the roles of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander and what kind of pressure did you feel?

Daniel Craig (DC): The more you read the more prepared [you are] and the better chances you have during the day. Steve Zaillian (Screenwriter/Executive producer) wrote great words, so it’s all there and all you are trying to do in rehearsal is just tweak and make sense of it and make sure it ties up, make sure you know where you are when you get to it because we didn’t shoot one thing in sequence. We shot the end of the movie first; like you always do…I did what I wanted to do. The most important thing for me, was to make his character as real and believable as possible and obviously is another person I play and I deal with it in a different way, not that I kind of was ever thinking about that but you put the reality in it. You get shot at and you run away screaming, like anybody else would. That’s what the key is; it’s that easy. The [more] you think about what other people think about in the industry the less original you can be; you can’t go into a project thinking: “How would those people like it?” You just gotta get on and be reason minded about it, you can’t please everybody.

Rooney Mara (RM): David Fincher (Director) told the casting director to let me know before I went down the long road of auditioning that If I were to get the part I would have to: become a smoker, have to go off and live by myself for a year, I would have to be butt naked, I would have to do a rape scene and I would have to ride a motorcycle; which was the least thing I was excited to do [because] it just seemed dangerous. There was a lot of rehearsal, me and David read the script a few times just the two of us together and all of us sat around quite a lot and went through the script and talk the scenes through with Steven Zaillian. We started shooting in Stockholm, just doing the exterior so, it sort of felt like we had three months to really rehearse before we went back to LA and shot sort of the meat of the movie. To be honest, I didn’t really think much about what other people imagined them to be (meaning the characters), I used what I imagined her to be and I read all three books and I had a really clear picture of who this girl was and luckily David’s idea was pretty similar.

SBC: Daniel, what can you tell us about your character and the relationship he has with the female lead?

DC: What I love about this character and the relationship he was with Salander…he’s not out to prove that he’s a man, he’s a guy [and] he doesn’t have to go around beating his chest and he’s very happy to fall into this sort of relationship where she’s literally wearing the trousers. [They have] have an age difference and she falls for him but she’s not supposed to. It has a lot to do with honesty and trust. They shouldn’t have a relationship, they shouldn’t really meet in life, they come from different social classes but Salander doesn’t trust anybody and there are very few people in her life that are straight with her and he is. She’s broken the law, she’s hacked into his life and he walks in and says: “ok forget that. I think you are great and I’d like to work with you”. [he] doesn’t walk away.

SBC: Rooney, What do you think about your bi-sexual character and the fashion trend she’s set? Seeing that H&M has a ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ clothing line out in stores now.

RM: Growing up in NY and LA it didn’t seem that crazy to have a bisexual character, she’s incredibly comfortable with her sexuality and I wanted to do it the same. It didn’t faze me, I didn’t really think about it too much. I think the clothes featured in H&M is more Salander, I wouldn’t call her a fashion icon, but you know the H&M look has nothing to do with me personally. [There wasn’t much] I could do with the costume after shots, the hair was stuck to my head and the eyebrows remained bleached and the piercings that I got that were real obviously stayed in. I expected people to treat me much differently. But, it didn’t really happen, the biggest change I noticed is that when you sort of look slightly off in that way, people sort of pay less attention to you and their expectations of you are lowered and I didn’t mind that; I actually enjoyed it.

By Jack Rico

2011/12/16 at 12:00am

Movies

‘The Expendables 2’ has a new poster

12.16.2011 | By Jack Rico |

We just received the new poster of ‘The Expendables 2’, the highly anticipated action movie that assembles the greatest 80’s action stars in one film: Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris and Dolph Lundgren, amongst others.

The poster only has Stallone on it, but you can bet the others are going to want in. From our perspective, looks like a bomb went off outlining the number 2 on a concrete wall with Stallone looking on like a bad ass. This new poster looks much better than the original posters from last year.

Part 1 was #1 at the box office generating $266,159,621 worldwide. So why not come back and make some more cash! Stallone wrote this sequel, but he won’t be directing or producing. Sounds like he wants to take it easy on this one and concentrate on his “acting”.

If you have no clue of what’s going down in this second installment, The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal… Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time – six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that’s nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way….

‘Extremely Loud’: 3 questions with Sandra Bullock

By Karen Posada

2011/12/15 at 12:00am

Interviews Movies

‘Extremely Loud’: 3 questions with Sandra Bullock

12.15.2011 | By Karen Posada |

We had a chance to meet with Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock and newcomer Thomas Horn to talk about their new movie â€˜Extremely Loud & Incredibly Closeâ€™. The film is based on the book with the same title that deals with the loss of a father during 9/11. We get to see it all through a childâ€™s eyes and his search for closure. With Bullockâ€™s witty personality and this prodigy actor it was a delightful interview. Read More

Steven Spielberg: In-depth interview about ‘Tintin’

By Karen Posada

2011/12/14 at 12:00am

Interviews Movies

Steven Spielberg: In-depth interview about ‘Tintin’

12.14.2011 | By Karen Posada |

ShowBizCafe.com had the amazing opportunity to listen to Steven Spielberg as he talked about his new 3D movie â€˜The Adventures of Tintinâ€™ during the press conference. This is the story of a journalist invented by HergÃ©, a Belgian comic writer that created endless adventures of the boy reporter from 1929-1983. This was a story in the making for 20 years, Spielberg told us how that came about and what we should expect from it.Â Read More

Review: Monty Alexander: Music of Sinatra & King Cole

By Alex Florez

2011/12/13 at 12:00am

Movies

Review: Monty Alexander: Music of Sinatra & King Cole

12.13.2011 | By Alex Florez |

With a stunning backdrop of the Manhattan Skyline, 67 year old pianist Monty Alexander took center stage Saturday night hoping to wind back the clock and turn Jazz at Lincoln Center into Jilly’s Saloon, a famed Rat Pack hangout of the 1960s.

Accompanied by a group of masterful musicians and vocalists, Alexander paid tribute to his heroes Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole in a cabaret-like show with American standards such as “Come Fly With Me”, “My Kind of Town” and “L-O-V-E.”

For the role of Old Blue Eyes, Alexander enlisted 22 year-old baritone James DeFrances while tapping charismatic jazz artist Allan Harris to play the “King.” Both traded classics and made for a “swinging session,” but the real delight here was the show’s supporting cast.

Blues guitarist Russell Malone’s haunting solo rendition of “Where or When” might have easily stolen the show. It was the one interpretation of the night that seemed entirely heartfelt and evocative of the nostalgia Alexander was looking to capture with this concert series. Also impressive was percussionist Bobby Thomas Jr., who seemed to hypnotize the audience every time he was given the spotlight.

Alexander’s appreciation for the music of Sinatra and Cole is sincere, and for jazz lovers the tunes are timeless and a joy to experience live – especially by such a talented bunch. But somewhere a note is missed when trying to strike the right tone.

While DeFrances holds his own as a singer, he underwhelms as a performer – never quite looking comfortable with the rest of the group. That, is not how we all remember the Chairman of the Board. Thankfully, Harris picks up the slack with his exuberance and Alexander’s anecdotes serve as a reminder that he himself is a direct link to the Rat Pack era.

‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’: Karen Posada talks w/cast

By Karen Posada

2011/12/12 at 12:00am

Interviews

‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’: Karen Posada talks w/cast

12.12.2011 | By Karen Posada |

Karen Posada kicks back with two of the greatest living actors in England – Gary Oldman and Colin Flirth – to chat about their new spy thriller ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’. (Warning: you might just end up talking Spanglish with an English accent after viewing!)

Synopsis: In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6’s echelons. Read More

‘New Year’s Eve’ steals first place in the box office

By Karen Posada

2011/12/12 at 12:00am

Movies

‘New Year’s Eve’ steals first place in the box office

12.12.2011 | By Karen Posada |

The romantic comedy ‘New Year’s Eve’ took the first place in the box office this weekend, with a high sum in the United States of $13.7mil and $26.6 mil world-wide, although the number of movie goers in the United States is at its lowest in three years.

Jonah Hill’s comedy where he plays the role of a babysitter, ‘The Sitter’ followed with $10millions.

Lastly, ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part I’ went to the third spot after it was in first place for the last three weekends, it accumulated $7.9 million dollars in dim ticket sales.

The top 10 movies in the box office are:

1. ‘New Year’s Eve’ -$13.7millon

2. ‘The Sitter’- $10mil

3. ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1’- $7.9 mil

4. ‘The Muppets’ – $7.1mil

5. ‘Arthur Christmas’ $6.6mil

6.’Hugo’-$6.1mil

7. ‘The Descendants’ -$4.8mil

8. ‘Happy Feet Two’ -$ 3.7mil

9.’Jack and Jill’ -$3.2mil

10. ‘Immortals’ – $2.4mil

New York Film Critics Online chooses ‘The Artist’ Best Pic

By Jack Rico

2011/12/11 at 12:00am

Movies

New York Film Critics Online chooses ‘The Artist’ Best Pic

12.11.2011 | By Jack Rico |

The digital film organization that I am a member of, the NYFCO (New York Film Critics Online), voted today for the best of the best in film for 2011.

There were some surprises for me, in particular, the animated category. I voted for Rango as the best, but the rest of my collegues felt strongly for Spielberg’s Tintin. I agree that on a visual, Tintin is extraordinary, but as a whole movie, the film dragged to point of boredom. Rango was intellectual, funny, unique, and had very adult themes.

Also interesting was Michael Shannon for ‘Take Shelter’ in the Best Actor category. He wasn’t a favorite, but nevertheless, I’m happy he took the award as opposed to undeserved Clooney. Shannon is one hell of an actor. He was excellent in Revolutionary Road and was the best part of The Runaways. He should’ve been nominated for Best Supporting actor at the Oscars in 2010.

So many more deserved and surprising moments such as Melissa McCarthy for ‘Bridesmaids’ over Octavia Spencer from ‘The Help’ in the Supporting Actress category. Read on and enjoy the beauty that is film criticism during award season.

BEST FILM
“The Artist”

TOP PICTURES OF 2011 (alphabetical)
“The Artist” (The Weinstein Company)
“The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
“Drive” (Film District)
“The Help” (Walt Disney Pictures)
“Hugo” (Paramount Pictures)
“Melancholia” (Magnolia Pictures)
“Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“Take Shelter” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
“War Horse” (Dreamworks Pictures)

DIRECTOR
Michael Hazanavicius for “The Artist”

ACTOR
Michael Shannon for “Take Shelter”

ACTRESS
Meryl Streep for “The Iron Lady”

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Albert Brooks for “Drive”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa McCarthy for “Bridesmaids”

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Tree of Life” – Emmanuel Lubezki

SCREENPLAY
“The Descendants” – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash

FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE
“A Separation”

DOCUMENTARY
“Cave of Forgotten Dreams”

ANIMATED FEATURE
“The Adventures of Tin Tin”

USE OF MUSIC
“The Artist” – Ludovic Bource

BREAKOUT PERFORMER
Jessica Chastain for “The Tree of Life, “The Help,”The Debt,” “Take Shelter”

DEBUT AS DIRECTOR
Joe Cornish for “Attack the Block”

ENSEMBLE CAST
“Bridesmaids”

Bichir nominated at 2012 Independent Spirit Awards

By Jack Rico

2011/11/29 at 12:00am

Movies

Bichir nominated at 2012 Independent Spirit Awards

11.29.2011 | By Jack Rico |

Mexican actor Demián Bichir and the half-Dominican, half-Puerto Rican transgender actress Harmony Santana have been nominated for awards at the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The films they represent are ‘A Better Life’ and ‘Gun Hill Road’, respectively.

Also, if you’re just becoming curious on what films are creating buzz in Hollywood come awards season, check out the rest of the nominations:

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer, Executive Producers are not listed)
50/50 Producers: Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin, Seth Rogen
Beginners Producers: Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Jay Van Hoy
Drive Producers: Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel
Take Shelter Producers: Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin
The Artist Producer: Thomas Langmann
The Descendants Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Mike Mills – Beginners
Jeff Nichols – Take Shelter
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive

BEST SCREENPLAY
Joseph Cedar – Footnote
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Tom McCarthy – Win Win
Mike Mills – Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash – The Descendants

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
Another Earth Director: Mike Cahill
Producers: Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Brit Marling, Nicholas Shumaker
In the Family Director: Patrick Wang
Producers: Robert Tonino, Andrew van den Houten, Patrick Wang
Margin Call Director: J.C. Chandor
Producers: Robert Ogden Barnum, Michael Benaroya, Neal Dodson, Joe Jenckes, Corey Moosa, Zachary Quinto
Martha Marcy May Marlene Director: Sean Durkin
Producers: Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Josh Mond
Natural Selection Director: Robbie Pickering
Producers: Brion Hambel, Paul Jensen

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Mike Cahill, Brit Marling Another Earth
J.C. Chandor – Margin Call
Patrick deWitt – Terri
Phil Johnston – Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser – 50/50

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the writer, director, and producer. Executive Producers are not listed
Bellflower Writer/Director: Evan Glodell
Producers: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw
Circumstance Writer/Director: Maryam Keshavarz
Producers: Karin Chien, Maryam Keshavarz, Melissa M. Lee
Hello Lonesome Writer/Director/Producer: Adam Reid
Pariah Writer/Director: Dee Rees
Producer: Nekisa Cooper
The Dynamiter Writer: Brad Inglesby
Director: Matthew Gordon
Producers: Kevin Abrams, Matthew Gordon, Merilee Holt, Art Jones, Mike Jones, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Lauren Ambrose – Think of Me
Rachael Harris – Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye – Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn

BEST MALE LEAD
Demián Bichir – A Better Life
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Ryan Gosling – Drive
Woody Harrelson – Rampart
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter
Anjelica Huston – 50/50
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana – Gun Hill Road
Shailene Woodley – The Descendants

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Albert Brooks – Drive
John Hawkes – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
John C. Reilly – Cedar Rapids
Corey Stoll – Midnight in Paris

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Joel Hodge – Bellflower
Benjamin Kasulke – The Off Hours
Darius Khondji – Midnight in Paris
Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron – The Dynamiter

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
An African Election Director/Producer: Jarreth Merz
Bill Cunningham New York Director: Richard Press
Producer: Philip Gefter
The Interrupters Director/Producer: Steve James
Producer: Alex Kotlowitz
The Redemption of General Butt Naked Director/Producers: Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion
We Were Here Director/Producer: David Weissman

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
A Separation
(Iran) Director: Asghar Farhadi
Melancholia
(Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany) Director: Lars von Trier
Shame
(UK) Director: Steve McQueen
The Kid With a Bike
(Belgium/France/Italy) Directors: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Tyrannosaur
(UK) Director: Paddy Considine

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – The 15th annual Piaget Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.
Chad Burris Mosquita y Mari
Sophia Lin Take Shelter
Josh Mond Martha Marcy May Marlene

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 18th annual Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Simon Arthur Silver Tongues
Mark Jackson Without
Nicholas Ozeki Mamitas

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 17th annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Heather Courtney Where Soldiers Come From
Danfung Dennis Hell and Back Again
Alma Har’el Bombay Beach

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
Margin Call Director: J.C. Chandor
Casting Director: Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey
Ensemble Cast: Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci