Well, the Oscars are over. It's been a long and often mind-numbingly boring Oscar night (especially the acceptance
speeches), but we, like Jon Stewart, stuck it out until the bittersweet end. What did everyone think of Stewart as the
Oscar host? I was really impressed with Stewart, myself. I was worried the audience wouldn't be real responsive
to his jokes. His brand of humor is political, highbrow and snarky, and I wondered how he would go over with a theater
full of insecure movie stars. I loved the Daily Show-style bits they did in-between too, although I think the humor
went over the heads of some of the stars. Reese Witherspoon got it, though - she's a smart cookie, don't let the cutesy
looks fool you for a second.
Here, for your perusing pleasure, is the list of all the winners and nominees from the major categories (winners
are in bold and marked with an asterisk). Give us your thoughts on Oscar night - the winners, the losers, whose
outfits you loved and hated, what you thought of Stewart as the host - whatever your thoughts are, we want to hear
them.
Are you fed up with the glorification of murderers in the movies? No? Well, to each his
own. In Australia, some folks are downright livid about a new film, Suburban Mayhem, inspired by a 2000
gay-hate crime of a local mayor. In response, the Crime Victims Support Association in Victoria is demanding Australia
pass a law that bans the making of movies based on real murders for a 20-year period after the crime. It's a noble idea
in some respect, but silly in others. If this logic were transplanted to America, Monster couldn't have been
made when it was. And would this law apply to meta-stories? Would Capote have been banned based on this
law, even though it's only about the writing of In Cold Blood? As offensive as these movies may
be to the victims of the families, when done well, they can offer dramatic insights into the minds of the
perpetrators.
Even more to the point, however, the international nature of filmmaking renders such a law
preposterous. If a filmmaker is truly intent on making a movie based on an Australian crime, all they need to do is
move the production overseas. Australians interested in watching the film could then order DVDs off of the Internet.
And then, you know, there's that whole sticky "freedom of speech" thing...
You're Charlize Theron. You have an Oscar. You also starred in
one of 2005's most notorious flops. What do you do
next? you find yourself a prestige project to produce, get the man who got you an Oscar on board, and get the hell on
with that "serious acting career". Ms. Theron is joining forces with Bob
Berney, producer of Monster and current head of Picturehouse, to produce The Ice
at the Bottom of the World. Through an unusual deal, Theron, who has owned the
property for several years, will not only produce and star in the picture – she'll own the final negative. The
film follows the relationship between a grizzled Navy captain and his daughter, played by Theron, "a heroin addict and the single mother of a mixed-race child."
Meanwhile, Lionsgate is putting all its Oscar money on Crash.
They're sending out an astounding 130,000 screeners of Paul Hagis' film – about 10 times the usual screener push.
The mailout will include all members of the Writers and Screen Actors Guilds, and unusual move that will put the
ensemble drama directly in the hands of those professionals most likely to appreciate its strengths and overlook its
weaknesses.
In vaguely related news, former Lionsgate marketing man John Hedgeman has been tapped as COO of
Fox's new youth division. This is interesting: Hedgeman says that the division, which is designed to produce content
for an audience aged 12-24, is open to producing R-rated fare. "Whether it's a comedy
or horror or drama or action, as long as it's speaking to a segment and it's a great piece of material, we'll make
it," Hegeman said.
Just days after the debunking of the Charlize
Theron rumors, we now are hearing that the almost-divorced Jessica
Simpson may well be cast as Vesper Lynde in Casino
Royale. I know, it sounds outrageous - I totally agree. Not only can the girl not really act, but her vapid
persona also doesn't fit in very well with the most recent trend in Bond girls, most of whom are at least supposed to
be both tough and smart. Plus, Lynde's role in the story - and in Bond's life - is reported to be much more significant
than those played by the other chicks in his past (Or is it future? This prequel thing is confusing). And Simpson
doesn't exactly spring to mind when you're trying to think of an actress with emotional staying power (Hey, just ask Nick, right? I'll be here all week.)
Regardless of what
foolish fans want, however, there are supposedly a couple of at least somewhat informed sources for this story, so who
knows - maybe Daisy Dukes will soon be showing up in England sooner than we think.
Word is swirling that Charlize Theron has turned down the opportunity to be Daniel Craig's first Bond girl.
If this is true (and this
and this), it makes her the third major American actress to
reject the part (after Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson), and it leaves Casino Royale producers with just
one month to find an actress to make their late-January start date. So who's left? It seems clear that the producers
are dangerously overshooting the mark here. Why would actresses like Johansson, Jolie and Theron, all of which can pout
their way into any slice of Oscar bait's above-the-title lead. Who would be on your list?
The trades and business sections are all abuzz today on the Dreamworks/Paramount deal announced late last Friday. Sharon Waxman's piece in today's NY Times is less "why" than "how." And how *did* Brad Grey lure an unconvinced David Geffen and Steven Spielberg from their first choice, NBC/Universal? With speed, efficiency, and, of course, lots of cash. The morning after getting the go-ahead from corporate daddy Viacom, Grey apparently brought the paperwork over to Spielberg's Malibu home, obeying an earlier command from Geffen to leave him and his partner alone until he had "signed contracts that require only our signatures." But one can't disavow Paramount's willingness to pay. A large part of the discrepancy between the Paramount payout and the considerably lower number quoted in reference to the Universal deal will actually go to Universal – Paramount will have to pay them $75 million in order to nulify a previous Dreamworks Animation distribution deal, and repay another $75 million in old loans made when Dreamworks first started running out of cash.
But nobody seems to be complaining. In an interview with Waxman, Geffen said that, despite the $1.6 billion figure that's been bandied about, the Paramount deal was not actually worth more than a few million more than what Universal had proposed; in the end, he was simply impatient to sell, and Paramount was there. "Dealing with G.E. is unpleasant and difficult under any circumstances,"
he said, speculating that Universal had made the mistake of assuming "we had no choice and were going to squeeze us and
squeeze us. After a year of dealing with them, they still did not have
a concluded finished contract ready to sign."
Ah, Bond girl rumors. At some point, pretty much every hot actress has been the subject of them and, now that Charlize Theron
has clearly decided to follow Halle Berry's career path to the letter
(Oscar for playing against type? Check. Horrible failure of a
superhero-ish movie? Check.) it was pretty much inevitable that she
would be next.
According to the ever-reliable Daily Mirror, Theron has actually been offered a Casino Royale
contract (presumably she'd play Vesper Lynd) and was director Martin Campbell's first choice for the part. Me, I'm still hoping the Angelina Joliespeculation pans out, but since this story allegedly
comes from multiple "industry sources," it's probably at least a
little more likely to be true that the ones about Jolie. Damn.
In spite of an effort by its releasing studio to circumvent critics (and despite an ad campaign in which star Charlize Theron's nudity was heavily implied), Aeon Flux failed to flex much of a latex-clad muscle at the box office this weekend. With an estimated three-day gross of $13.1 million, the cartoon-inspired action flick barely edged out Walk the Line for second place, but fell far afield of Harry Potter's first place, $20.5 million take. This is Paramount's second attempt this fall to create synergy with lil' sister MTV, and the second to disappoint; Get Rich or Die Tryin' has, four weeks after its release, all but disappeared. It's also Theron's second film this fall, after North Country, to make little impact at the box office. Meanwhile, Transamerica more than quadrupled Aeon's per screen take at two locations; it goes wide on Christmas day.
In this day of the XBox frenzy, it's not surprising that many of the big holiday movies come at us not only with their own million dollar advertising campaigns, but also with associated, multi-platform games. In some cases (as with Aeon Flux), the games are even better-reviewed than their inspirations.
Since Cinematical happens to have a sibling who is much better equipped to discuss this sort of thing than we are, we present a quick roundup of Joystiq's coverage of the biggest recent movie-related games:
Aeon Flux: The game is "a good introduction to a stylish, obscure universe," and gets a solid B across the sites sampled by Joystiq. Plus, it features Charlize Theron's voice - what's not to love?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Gamers aren't impressed by this particular entry into the Potter game-verse. To sum up, "stay away unless you’re a Potter fan with a lot of patience." (And I'm sure the guys who made this one are crying all the way to the bank.)
The Chronicles of Narnia: This game gets really mixed reviews, from D to A and everything in between. Joystiq sums things up this way: "The Chronicles of Narnia certainly warrants a look. How much of a look will depend on your level of fascination with the source material."
King Kong: This one, which you can play as either Kong or Adrien Brody, is available on a total of eight platforms and sounds like a pretty solid game. Weirdly, one of the best reviews describes it as "accessible without being dumb." This is high praise?
Enterprising Pirelli employees are getting themselves an extra Christmas bonus by hawking their yet-to-be released 2006 Pirelli calendars on Ebay. Pirelli calendars are a serious collectors item among artsy afficionados (and guys who like calendars with pics of of half-naked supermodels). This years calendar includes Jennifer Lopez, making her Pirelli debut, Kate Moss (a 1994 Pirelli alum), Giselle Bundchen (who was also in the 2001 cal), Guinivere Van Seenus, Natalia Vodianova (2003 and 2004), and Karen Elson (1999 and 2001). If you want one of these in your Christmas stocking, be prepared to shell out big bucks for one.
Aeon Flux traces its lineage back to a cartoon that no one ever watched because it wasn't as compelling as Beavis & Butthead, and the movie carries on that ambitious tradition. For those who haven't had the pleasure: Four hundred years from now, an unbeatable plague has rendered all of Earth uninhabitable. A few lucky survivors have managed to wall themselves off into a post-everything, Sting music video-state where they can pursue a life of idle chatting and lounging, but cracks are starting to appear in their Jericho paradise. The citizens are ruled over by a increasingly demanding governing council. It provides food, water and the latest fall fashions, but accepts no disobedience - anyone who becomes a threat is whisked off the streets in broad daylight. Even more alarming, the government refuses to offer any comment on why, every now and then, the sky overhead is criss-crossed by a flying, motorized jellyfish. With Pete Postlethwaite at the controls. Wearing an empty peanut shell as clothes. Soon enough, a popular rebellion arises.
No Review Roundup today - partially because Martha is out of town, and partially because there is, like, nothing to review. As you know, Aeon Flux wasn't screened for critics; we refused to allow the Tom Arnold-scripted The Kid and I to be screened for us. Otherwise, you've got Transamerica, which I lukewarmly nod in the gereal direction of; documentaries Be Here to Love Me(which Chris loved) and Boys of Baraka, (which Chris finds generally disappointing); and that's basically it. But - and it's a big but - we'll have reviews of Flux and Adam Goldberg's I Love Your Work by the end of the weekend, and on Monday – oh, sweet Monday – you should be able to pull up Cinematical the minute you sit down at the computer and find Ryan's review of The Chronicles of Narnia staring you square in the face. Unless you're late for work. In that case, it's your own fault.
It looks like Paramount has decided not to pre-screen Aeon Flux, the Karyn Kusama-directed, Charlize Theron-starring adaptation of the MTV animated series created by Peter Chung. Our source at Paramount has been telling us for the past couple of weeks that the effects weren't ready and, thus, a screener print wasn't done. We crossed our fingers and hoped that an 11th hour screening would be announced; but now, sources in other markets have informed us that there will be no critics screenings at all.
This is interesting on a couple of levels. Usually, studios withhold films from critics because early testing indicates that they're simply bad. But we can't find ANYONE who's seen Aeon Flux – you'll note, it has not a single Rotten Tomato, nor has Metacritic even bothered to create an entry for the film. So when the Friday paper comes, and you open up that Arts & Leisure section to that great, big centerfold promo, you'll see not a single pullquote (well, not a legitimate one, anyway). Usually, even with bad movies, at least *someone* has seen the thing before it opens – there's been a test screening somewhere, and AICN somehow got in, and yadda yadda. So, I think it is actually possible that the print really isn't ready (although you'd assume, if that was the case, that Paramount would just push back the opening date).
Regardless: anyone standing in line on Friday evening (and this is the weekend's sole wide release, so we can only imagine that the lines will be long) will have the strange sensation of walking into a picture about which they've heard zero buzz. And of course, the strangest thing of all: is this the first fall release starring a recent Oscar winner to be withheld from critics? I can think of only one other title that might have faced a similar fate – a little gay cruise film called Boat Trip.
Charlize Theron and longtime-love Stuart Townsend have finally announced a wedding date. The couple says they will tie the knot when and if it becomes legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married in America. Theron said on the show Extra that she and Townsend are sick of being asked all the time when they're going to get married, so they decided to wait until gay people have the same right to marriage as hetero couples.
It's actually kind of nice to see a celeb putting their money, er, marriage where their mouths are. Sure, it's hip in Hollywood to wave the gay rights banner, but how many couples would tie their own wedding plans to a political issue? In other non-wedding news, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes will not have a shotgun wedding, in spite of Cruise knocking up the formerly Catholic and "virginal" Holmes before they wed. Cruise reportedly tells Barbara Walters in an upcoming interview the couple plan to get married next year, after their lovechild is born. No word on whether their delay is for political reasons, or just so Holmes can look svelte in her wedding dress.
Christmas just came early for Aeon Flux fans. Aeon Flux: The Complete Animated Collection was released today, so if you just can't wait for the Charlize Theron movie Devcember 2, you can get your Flux fix while you wait. The series started as a series of shorts on MTV's Liquid Television, which always ended with Aeon Flux being killed. The later shorts, when she had her own series, were different. Both are included in the DVD set.
The three-disk set runs 221 minutes and includes two "featurettes" titled Investigation: The History of Aeon Flux and The Deviant Devices of Aeon Flux, as well as production art and other goodies, the Liquid TV shorts, and the other shorts. Amazon lists plot keywords including: buxom, cleavage, breasts, espionage, secret agent, femme fatale, busty heroine and belly button. Hey, with keywords like that, what's not to like?
You're 
Just days after the 
The trades and business sections are all abuzz today on the Dreamworks/Paramount deal announced late last Friday. Sharon Waxman's piece in today's NY Times is less "why" than "how." And how *did* Brad Grey lure an unconvinced David Geffen and Steven Spielberg from their first choice, NBC/Universal? With speed, efficiency, and, of course, lots of cash. The morning after getting the go-ahead from corporate daddy Viacom, Grey apparently brought the paperwork over to Spielberg's Malibu home, obeying an earlier command from Geffen to leave him and his partner alone until he had "signed contracts that require only our signatures." But one can't disavow Paramount's willingness to pay. A large part of the discrepancy between the Paramount payout and the considerably lower number quoted in reference to the Universal deal will actually go to Universal – Paramount will have to pay them $75 million in order to nulify a previous Dreamworks Animation distribution deal, and repay another $75 million in old loans made when Dreamworks first started running out of cash.
Ah, Bond girl rumors. At some point, pretty much every hot actress has been the subject of them and, now that 
In spite of an effort by its releasing studio to circumvent critics (and despite an ad campaign in which star Charlize Theron's nudity was heavily implied), Aeon Flux failed to flex much of a latex-clad muscle at the box office this weekend. With an estimated three-day gross of $13.1 million, the cartoon-inspired action flick barely edged out Walk the Line for second place, but fell far afield of Harry Potter's first place, $20.5 million take. This is Paramount's second attempt this fall to create synergy with lil' sister MTV, and the second to disappoint; Get Rich or Die Tryin' has, four weeks after its release, all but disappeared. It's also Theron's second film this fall, after North Country, to make little impact at the box office. Meanwhile, Transamerica more than quadrupled Aeon's per screen take at two locations; it goes wide on Christmas day.
In this day of the XBox frenzy, it's not surprising that many of the big holiday movies come at us not only with their own million dollar advertising campaigns, but also with associated, multi-platform games. In some cases (as with 
Enterprising Pirelli employees are getting themselves an extra Christmas bonus by hawking their yet-to-be released 2.jpg)
It looks like Paramount has decided not to pre-screen Aeon Flux, the Karyn Kusama-directed, Charlize Theron-starring adaptation of the MTV animated series created by Peter Chung. Our source at Paramount has been telling us for the past couple of weeks that the effects weren't ready and, thus, a screener print wasn't done. We crossed our fingers and hoped that an 11th hour screening would be announced; but now, sources in other markets have informed us that there will be no critics screenings at all. 
Christmas just came early for Aeon Flux fans. Aeon Flux: The Complete Animated Collection was released today, so if you just can't wait for the Charlize Theron movie Devcember 2, you can get your Flux fix while you wait. The series started as a series of shorts on MTV's Liquid Television, which always ended with Aeon Flux being killed. The later shorts, when she had her own series, were different. Both are included in the DVD set.
