Still feeling nihilistic? So's Michael Musto! "Apparently, you pay Scientology, and they help your career big time. But in the old days, the studios closeted you for free! ... I'd rather read an old Pauline Kael review of a movie than watch the actual movie. ... The film biz should pick one day out of the calendar year and declare it 'No Fart Jokes or Car Crashes Day.' ... And how about 'No Pretentious, Scenery-Chewing Oscar-Grubbing Month' (and let's make it December)? ... Every important film from an auteur bloats in at exactly two hours and 20 minutes. One second less would obviously be a creative abortion. ... Today's stars should never do historical epics. Chin implants and pillow lips look funny in the Middle Ages. ... Opening credits have become ridiculous. 'Dingdong Films, under the auspices of Crapola Productions, in association with FilMagic, Cinema Paradise, and Rutgers University, along with Kazilloscope Matters Inc., and Hempstead Futons, Presents an Ashton Kutcher Joint ...'" [Village Voice]
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"I hated this so much. It also has a very good shot of winning." [The Awl]
Over at Awards Daily, Sasha Stone forwards an interesting theory: "There is a school of thought where Oscar is concerned that goes like this: You can win if you can give them rock hard erections." The latest in said awards trend, it would seem, is the February cover spread in GQ in which My Week with Marilyn's Michelle Williams poses in lingerie as the magazine's headline screams "Who Knew Michelle Williams Had This Body?" It's a far cry from Williams' perpetual pixie-mom persona, the one she broke out in her Golden Globe acceptance speech last weekend. But is her skin-baring the key to getting that coveted Oscar nomination/win?
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Aside from a few honors of the Teen Choice and MTV Movie variety, newly minted Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe nominee Jonah Hill is an awards virgin -- which makes this year's lead-up to the Oscars particularly exciting for the actor, who earlier this year impressed critics with his role in Moneyball as Brad Pitt's Ivy League-educated, number-crunching Oakland A's wingman. The role, like his 2010 titular turn in Cyrus, was a welcome departure from the wise-cracking characters audiences have grown accustomed to seeing him play, from the early days of Knocked Up and Superbad to last weekend's The Sitter. Next up, Hill uses his sarcastic charm to crack down on a high school drug ring in the March 16 feature adaptation of 21 Jump Street, which Hill also wrote and produced.
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Spirits were bright Wednesday night in West Hollywood when Fox Searchlight celebrated the season with their annual holiday party -- really, just an excuse to fete Oscar candidates Win Win, Tree of Life, Shame, Martha Marcy May Marlene, and The Descendants like debs at a coming out ball. Movieline caught up with Fox Searchlight's hopefuls at the early awards-season shindig.
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Throw on your fur and gaze sinisterly by a swimming pool, because those collectible toys of Oscar season, the "Consider" campaigns posters, are busting out. The first one up for inspection is the campaign for Warrior, the gritty MMA drama starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte. Let's take a look at the wordy one-sheet and see if it makes us feel any differently about its positioning in the Oscar index.
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For some moviegoers, Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive was the movie of 2011 (ditto that soundtrack). Nevertheless, over at Nerve, Jett Wells echoes the sad realization of many a Drive-loving Oscar-watcher: Academy Award nominations are about as unlikely for the stylish crime pic as a clean getaway is for Ryan Gosling's boyish, near-mute anti-hero.
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Awards screeners have yet to really start coming in (a few have already been sent out, including Sony Pictures Classics' Take Shelter, The Guard, and Higher Ground, and Summit's A Better Life), but this week's arrival of Attack the Block DVD screeners is a surprise entry to the season. The Sony/Screen Gems-released sci-fi pic was sent out to members of the L.A. Film Critics Association this week, although it's unclear how much of a campaign the studio plans, if any. Does the British kid-oriented genre film have a shot at awards season, anyway?
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When word hit that Kevin Smith was aiming for the Oscars with a qualifying theatrical run for his divisive film, Red State, critics split over his perceived goals and, more specifically, the financial terms of his week-long engagement at L.A.'s beloved, family-run New Beverly Cinema. Reached for comment, Smith explained his award season intent and why he's charging $20 for a screening and Q&A at a theater where you can get a double feature for $7 every night, often with an amazing Q&A for free.
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