The WGA nominations have hit the wires, giving awards watchers more fodder for speculation. Does Bridesmaids' inclusion mean the mainstream hit has more traction in the Oscar race? Will Win Win's nomination mean the Fox Searchlight hopeful has a shot at the big leagues? Should Diablo Cody break out the leopard print couture? Check out the full list of nominations and debate away.
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As everyone looks back on the year that was, I've found myself returning to a few moments in the movies that resonated especially well thanks to a phenomenon that achieves soul-stirring status so rarely, though not for lack of frequency: Song choice. I'm not talking about dropping the latest Kelly Clarkson/Natasha Bedingfield ditty into a crap rom-com. I mean the special, skin-tingling magic that occurs when a song is married so perfectly to a character, story, or feeling that the music and the moment swell within us with new, layered meaning. Join me and let's hash it out: Which movie(s) used music the best in 2011?
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Truth be told, I don't enjoy ranking films -- especially at the end of a year that disappointingly lacked a single title that moved me to tears, gut-busting laughter or some kind of profound existential realization. (However there were quite a few films that inspired hopelessness for the future of cinema. See Just Go With It and Bucky Larson: Born To Be a Star. Actually, don't see them.) But there were some titles I'd recommend and even some I wouldn't immediately regift if they found their way under my Christmas tree/menorah this season. Behold, my fave films of 2011. As always, let me know how much you disagree with this list in the space below.
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If you haven't joined the cult of Film Crit Hulk, the anonymous blogger who writes astoundingly observed film musings in the character and voice of The Incredible Hulk, now's as good a time as any to start reading with his recent post on Jonathan Levine and Will Reiser's cancer dramedy 50/50.
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In this weekend's 50/50, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a public radio employee who, when diagnosed with cancer, struggles to survive the disease and the changed attitudes of those around him. So how did a teenager best known for playing a sitcom alien transform himself into one of our most versatile actors who is capable of playing anything from a troubled teen prostitute to a lovelorn greeting card writer?
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Jonathan Levine has directed two feature films (The Wackness and next month's 50/50) since seeing his 2006 directorial debut, the indie horror pic All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, infamously go from a Weinstein Co. pick-up to a Weinstein Co. cast-off sold to Senator Entertainment, who then went out of business themselves. So what's the latest status of the Amber Heard starrer (which also features Anson Mount, Whitney Able, and Twilight's Michael Welch)?
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Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg first teamed up on the big screen with pals Jonathan Levine and Will Reaser in the forthcoming 50/50, based on Reaser's own fight with cancer. Next, the gang will tackle Jamaica, another Reaser tale based on true events, "loosely based on a vacation [Reaser] took to Jamaica with his grandmother when he was 14." In a word: Hot. As with 50/50, Reaser will script with Levine directing and Rogen and Goldberg producing. [Press release]
If you dug the first trailer for Jonathan Levine's (The Wackness) September pic 50/50 -- about a 27-year-old (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) coming to terms with his cancer diagnosis -- then enjoy the first batch of images, in which JGL shaves his head, lights fires with Seth Rogen, and unburdens himself to a comely young lady friend (Anna Kendrick).
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