It was a scene reminiscent of “The Breakfast Club.” On stage at the Oscars was a brain, and a basket case, and a princess, and a criminal. Oh, and Macaulay Culkin, Matthew Broderick, and Jon Cryer were there, too.
At last night’s ceremony, awards were given and speeches were made, but one of the most memorable moments came during the tribute to late writer-director John Hughes. Molly Ringwald (star of “The Breakfast Club,” “Pretty In Pink,” and “Sixteen Candles”) and Matthew Broderick (”Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) gave an introduction honoring the late artist. Broderick spoke of the fact that thanks to Mr. Hughes, every day someone, somewhere comes up to him, taps him the shoulder and says, “Hey Ferris, is this your day off?”
And then out came several more actors from some of Mr. Hughes’ best known works. Joining Molly and Matthew on stage were Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Jon Cryer (”Pretty in Pink”), and Macaulay Culkin (”Home Alone”). With Ringwald, Hall, Sheedy, and Nelson together, fans of Hughes were thisdarnclose to having a full-on “Breakfast Club” reunion.
We now know that “The Hurt Locker” upended “Avatar” for Best Picture honors at this year’s Oscar awards on Sunday.
But it will still be a while before we know if the Kathryn Bigelow film will stand with the best of all time.
We can all think of previous winners we thought weren’t deserving in years crowded with very good movies or films that weren’t even nominated that should have won. However, sometimes the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gets it right.
The day before she is favored to win an Oscar for best actress, Sandra Bullock was given a Razzie Award and crowned with the dubious title of worst actress of 2009. Video courtesy of Reuters.
Here, based on interviews with film buffs and movies historians, are the Top 10 Best Picture winners — including a pair of multifilm sets — that are must-haves for your DVD/Blu-ray library.
Anyone who watched the entire Oscar broadcast last night couldn’t help but say “What was that?” when one man’s speech was crashed by a lady in a purple jacket. It was all too reminiscent of another abrupt takeover of an award-acceptance speech, which is why the mystery woman was immediately dubbed “Lady Kanye” in Internet chatter.
In a bizarre moment that was eerily similar to Kanye West’s storming of the MTV Video Music Awards stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech, filmmaker Roger Ross Williams was just a few seconds into his acceptance speech for Best Documentary Short, “Music By Prudence,” when the ambush happened. A redheaded woman suddenly appeared next to Williams, took over the microphone saying, “Isn’t it just like a man not to let the woman talk?” She then launched into her own speech as Williams stood there uncomfortably holding his award until the music began to play and the two were ushered off stage
‘The Hurt Locker’ was the winner of the Best Picture award at the 2010 Oscars. The Iraq-set war drama about bomb disposal experts also netted director Kathryn Bigelow the Best Director award, making her the first woman to win the award in film history.
“The Hurt Locker” follows a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team during the Iraq War and stars Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty and best actor nominee Jeremy Renner. They star as members of a U.S. Army EOD unit in Iraq and the film tells of their tour together as they contend with defusing bombs and the threat of insurgency.
Bigelow shot in the Middle East, specifically in Jordan, within miles of the Iraq border
You wouldn’t know it to look at him — he is one of those actors, like Robert Redford, who seem fated to be called “boyish” well into retirement age — but Matt Damon turns 40 this year. And that’s inspired some sober reassessments on his part.
“I guess there’s got to be the admission that I’m never going to play for the Red Sox,” the Massachusetts native admits. “Although I kind of got over that one in my 20s.”
Well, maybe that’s not the most dramatic example.
Yet the impending milestone does have the actor thinking about changes in his career — more producing, a return to writing, maybe even directing his first film. New paths will be explored, old ones reassessed.
But the kind of work — and the co-workers he chooses — isn’t likely to change at all.
Why should it? Last year brought his acclaimed work in “The Informant!” for Steven Soderbergh and an Oscar-nominated part in “Invictus” for Clint Eastwood. And Damon’s new movie, “Green Zone,” opening Friday, reunites him with “Bourne” series helmer Paul Greengrass.
The last time filmmaker Martin Scorsese delved into the world of terror, it was for his 1991 remake of the 1962 thriller Cape Fear starring Robert De Niro. Over eighteen years later, he’s exploring some of the same territories of fear and suspense in Shutter Island, his adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel.
The eerie film reteams him with his regular leading man Leonardo DiCaprio, playing U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, sent to investigate a mysterious disappearance at the high-security hospital for the criminally insane along with his partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo). Once they arrive, they become trapped by a dangerous storm and must try to navigate their way around the institution’s enigmatic director Dr. Cawley (Sir Ben Kingsley) who seems very casual about one of his dangerous patients vanishing into thin air.
Helping Scorsese to create the tone and mood of some of those great suspense and horror movies of the late ’40s and early ’50s is screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, whose experience writing genre fare culminated in her collaboration with James Cameron on his worldwide blockbuster Avatar. She was also involved with the adaptation of Timur Bekmambetov’s Night Watch, and is currently adapting two beloved Japanese animes, Battle Angel (also for Cameron) and Ghosts in the Shell, for American moviegoers.
Shock Till You Drop got on the phone with Ms. Kalogridis to talk about how her latest screenplay was realized by another master director.
Movies are evolving ever more into 3-D, a shake-up of the medium that has been compared to the advent of sound or color in motion pictures.
But if digital 3-D is so revolutionary, it will need to go beyond fantasy and animated blockbusters to drama and live action comedy. Explorations of Pandora may seem like the stuff of three-dimension wizardry, but what of a domestic drama such as “Precious” or a character-driven movie such as “An Education”?
When color was widely introduced to Hollywood moviemaking in the 1930s, was first used predominantly in musicals and other films thought to be perfect platforms for rainbow hues. Many filmmakers are predicting a similar genre expansion for 3-D.
“We see in depth, for the most part. We go to the theater — it’s in depth. Why couldn’t a film like `Precious’ be in 3-D? It should be,” says Martin Scorsese.
Director: Tim Burton Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp Studio: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The Plot: 19-year-old Alice (Wasikowska) returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.
BROOKLYN’S FINEST
Director: Antoine Fuqua Stars: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke Studio: Overture Films
The Plot: In Brooklyn, New York, three veteran cops (Gere, Hawke, and Cheadle) struggling with their own personal and professional dilemmas dispatched to a notorious housing project, where they will each collide with destiny.
The Plot: As his medieval outpost faces a threat from advancing barbarian hordes, talented, young Brendan looks to finish illuminating an ancient book that could help keep his home safe. To do so, he will have to overcome his fears of an enchanted forest where mythical creatures are thought to hide.
When “Nip/Tuck” opened with that line in the summer of 2003, the television universe had no idea what it was in for. Alternatively emotional, outlandish, sexual, graphic, tongue-in-cheek and gothic, the story of two handsome Miami plastic surgeons (Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon) “sucking the champagne and caviar out of life” was a breakout hit, and not just in terms of its own fledgling network, FX.
With its cultural statement about society’s obsession with youth and its underlying message that “beauty is a curse on the world,” “Nip/Tuck” resonated with aging baby boomers and younger viewers. It was the No. 1 basic cable series in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic for five straight seasons, tying with FX’s “The Shield” the first year. Its audience grew each of its first four seasons, peaking at 3.9 million in the fourth.
TV critics embraced it, celebrity and entertainment magazines fixated on its cast, and actors lined up for guest-star spots. In its freshman year, the show won the Golden Globe for best drama.
An Army sergeant has filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the makers of Oscar-nominated film “The Hurt Locker” just days before the Academy Awards ceremony, claiming the central character in the film is based on him.
The suit was filed late Tuesday in federal court in New Jersey.
In the suit, Master Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver said he believes screenwriter and producer Mark Boal based the film’s main character, a cocky and reckless army sergeant, almost entirely on him.
