Stranded in Manhattan

Nice to have me back

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:56:00 +0000

I finally got my internet fixed last Monday. The Time Warner dude came and discovered after climbing up a telephone pole that someone had disconnected our wires and stuck their own in instead. Awesome.

Why Customer Service couldn't just tell me I was disconnected after calling about it three times is not a big mystery: the only thing Customer Service ever tells you to do is unplug your modem and then plug it back in. If that doesn't work, they're utterly useless.

Anyway, last weekend I avoided staring longingly at my modem by going away for the weekend for my birthday. Now things are back to normal, so let's get down to business:

THECINEMASOURCE:

MOVIEZEN:

The Top 5 Stoner Movies - because Pineapple Express looks really good
The Rise and Pseudo-Success of Viral Marketing - does it work or not?
Wanted Explodes in a Surprising Summer - a look at the summer box office so far

DAILYLOST:

Life without home internet service

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:01:00 +0000

For the past ten days, I haven't been able to connect to the Internet at my apartment. Six days in, I called the cable company. They said it was an outage in the area and would be back up ASAP. I said it'd been out since Saturday. They said, "Wow, that's a long time. Bye," and hung up.

Since 100% of the stuff I need to do requires being online, it's been a rough week as I've suddenly found myself frantically trying to do everything conceivable during work hours. Then when I get home, I find myself with absolutely nothing to do. I spent the weekend watching Degrassi: The Next Generation marathons and actually - gasp - reading a book. (Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke, which so far is quite good.)

Anyway, I'll stop lamenting to let y'all know what I have been able to pump out over the last two weeks:

THECINEMASOURCE:

Interviews with the cast & director at The Happening premiere:

Exclusive interview with Quid Pro Quo star Vera Farmiga:

MOVIEZEN:

Embarking Down 'The Road' - a preview of a cool upcoming movie

DAILYLOST:

LOOOOOOOOOOST (plus Indiana Jones and steroids)

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:11:00 +0000

I haven't updated in two weeks, so let's get right to it...oh yeah, after I obsess about the Lost season finale. The more I think about it, the more I like it. There was so much going on, it was like Christmas. Each cool part was like an expensive gift. Keamy dying twice: thanks, Santa! The Desmond and Penny reunion: wow, what an expensive-looking gift! "Checkmate, Mr. Eko" - ooh, a nice surprise in the stocking!

All right, that metaphor went way too far. Among the DailyLost links, click "The Finale" for my full commentary on the two-hour episode. Plenty of other good stuff here too, including a new video.

THECINEMASOURCE:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull review
Bigger, Stronger, Faster review (It's a documentary about steroids, hence the title of this post. I was in no way implying Harrison Ford juices.)
War, Inc. review
The Children of Huang Shi review
Exclusive Video Interview with Bigger, Stronger, Faster director Chris Bell:

MOVIEZEN:

No! Anywhere but the Front!: An argument for sitting in the front row in movie theaters, 'cause it's really not as bad as you think
Perfect Adventure Scenes: I wax nostalgic about Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Back to the Future

DAILYLOST:

Zen and the Art of Narnia Maintenance

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:04:00 +0000

Not much is going on this week because everybody was terrified to open another movie against Prince Caspian. Turns out their fears were only half-founded: the flick made $56 million this weekend, which, while not at all disastrous, didn't match The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe's $67 million. Most box office watchers expected it to surpass that number - which shows you how much they know, since they also predicted Speed Racer would hit at least the high 20s.

Anyway, few people care about box office numbers as much as I do. Onto my new material...

THECINEMASOURCE:

I've already linked to my Narnia review in the previous post, but here are the two spotlights I did:

Anna Popplewell interview (Susan)
Peter Dinklage interview (Trumpkin)

MOVIEZEN:

For the past few weeks I've been linking to the occasional article of mine up at a blog for a relatively new website called MovieZen. It looks like that will become a semi-regular gig for me, with about two articles a week, so I'm giving it it's own category.

The Delusion of George Lucas - an editorial on Lucas's comments about his own fans and the expectations of the new Indiana Jones movie vs. the Star Wars prequels

DAILYLOST:

Speed Racer's dead; on to Narnia

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:13:00 +0000

A little mini-update today:

Despite all our coverage for it, Speed Racer flopped. Resoundingly. I wrote an editorial about its performance; follow the above link to check it out.

With that flick out of the way and Iron Man now two weekends old, it's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian full speed ahead, and the movie doesn't disappoint. I wrote my review early; you can find those three pages of in-depth raving here.

In addition to the usual, you'll also be getting a few spotlights with the Narnia cast this weekend, so watch out for those.

The rest of the Tribeca videos, and lots of Lost

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:43:00 +0000

For the first time in quite a long time, I didn't have to write any reviews this week. My boss loved Speed Racer so much that he insisted on writing the review himself. (I liked it too, overall, although not as much as he did.)

Keeping me busy was the ridiculous amount of video material we had thanks to the Tribeca Film Festival. I've got three more videos for you below, the coolest one being the collection of interviews with John Goodman, Emile Hirsch, and Kick Gurry at the premiere of Speed Racer. We'll still be doing videos as often as possible, but don't expect nearly as many now that the festival's over. (I held the camera and edited all the videos; my co-worker Andrea hosts them. And for full coverage of everything I did at the festival, follow the "Tribeca 2008 Blog" link.)

THECINEMASOURCE:

VIDEOS:

Julianne Moore and director Tom Kalin at the Savage Grace premiere:

Chazz Palminteri, Christine Lahti, and Tom Guiry at the Yonkers Joe junket:

Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, and Kick Gurry at the Speed Racer premiere:

DAILYLOST:

Two Videos, Two Articles

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:07:00 +0000

I was going to just tack the Chris Meloni video interview onto my last post, but since then I've also come out with another video interview, so suddenly that makes it important enough to get a new post.

The second interview, conducted by me personally, is with Lost's Emilie de Ravin, a.k.a. Claire. Yeah. Awesome. Check 'em both out below:

As for the two articles, here's another weekly TV roundup, and if you're wondering whether or not you'd see a summer movie preview from me, this list of the top five potential flops of the summer is pretty close.

And now for too much information

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:57:00 +0000

I've been naked for the past four hours. No, it's not what you're thinking - I'm alone. Wait, no, it's still not what you're thinking. I've actually just been hanging out. Er, lounging around.

It all started around midnight when I had to poop. I stripped down while sitting on the toilet, planning on taking a shower when I was finished. But before that could happen, I ended up talking to my girlfriend on the phone for an hour. Then I remembered I had to write a review for work. Throw in lots of mindless Wikipedia browsing and an episode of The Chris Rock Show from 2000 that HBO was airing for some reason, and a lot of time was wasted. When my roommate got home, I realized just what time it was and finally jumped in the shower. Now I'm out, and still clad in nothing but a towel. Let me go get some pajama pants on and we'll never speak of this again.

Okay, decent. What's new this week?

THECINEMASOURCE:

Baby Mama review
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay review
Christopher Meloni interview for Harold and Kumar - my boss conducted it, I edited it. I didn't get the chance to upload it yet, but once I do I'll throw it on this page. (If you don't know who he is, Meloni plays Stabler on Law & Order: SVU.)

The Tribeca Film Festival just started, so this week promises to be plenty busy. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do blog-style coverage like last year, because we're trying to do as many interviews as possible and that might take up more than enough time; either way, I'll keep you posted.

DAILYLOST COLUMNS:

If you haven't seen "The Shape of Things to Come," the episode that aired last night, please do not look below. There's a big spoiler in the title of a post.

By the way, do you guys even look at these lists? Would it be better if I just brought two or three posts to your attention each time? Or is it fine the way it is?

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:

The same blogging network that runs DailyLost asked me to contribute to another blog called, quite simple, Hell. So I'm doing that now as well. It's of the celebrity gossip variety, although in my defense, I'm trying to inject it with more humor and less lameness than other blogs of its kind to make it a slightly-less-guilty pleasure. Plus, you know other celebrity blogs that go on and on about random models you've never heard of? Well I've never heard of them either, so I'm only going to stick to people who are actually famous. (That means no Kim Kardashian. Unless she comes out with another sex tape.)

My only other extra-curricular of late is the third weekly TV round-up from CC2K. And that's it, folks; catch you next week with hopefully a whole heaping pile of Tribeca coverage.

88 Minutes is crap, Phil Donahue is cool, and many other links you should check out

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:07:00 +0000

It's been a good couple of weeks. I got to meet Phil Donahue, who was very cool and, according to people older than me, is famous. I got to write a really terrible review (for 88 Minutes), which I haven't done in a while and have to admit is pretty fun. I got to write an interview for, but sadly not meet, Kristen Bell, a.k.a. Veronica Mars. And tonight, my parents came into town, so I got to eat for free. They also brought me a toilet bowl cleaner!

NEW ON THECINEMASOURCE:

88 Minutes review
The Forbidden Kingdom review
Body of War review
Street Kings review
Smart People review
Interview with Kristen Bell for Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Interview with Phil Donahue and Tomas Young for Body of War
Video interview with Scott Speedman:

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:

A hopefully funny and insightful editorial on the many reasons splitting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two films is a terrible idea.
My second TV round-up for CC2k.

DAILYLOST COLUMNS:

Many Odds and Ends

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:30:00 +0000

It's been another two weeks or so, but I've got a ton of stuff in this update...something for everyone, you might say. The coolest bit is probably an interview with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for the Rolling Stones concert film Shine a Light. (Martin Scorsese directed it and we've got an interview with him too). And no, to the disappointment of myself and my dad, I didn't actually get to meet them.

My recent reviews:
Shine a Light
My Blueberry Nights
21
Run Fatboy Run

As promised, I also shot and edited video interviews with Run Fatboy Run's David Schwimmer and Thandie Newton. I've embedded them below, or you can just scroll to the bottom of our homepage and watch them there.

Nice, huh? Shifting gears a bit, I also just got a gig contributing a weekly TV column to a neat pop culture website called CC2K. My first column got published today (at the moment under the alias "The TV Scout"), and you can check it out here.

Finally, I continue to pump out posts for DailyLost. Just because Lost isn't on for another two and a half weeks doesn't mean we can't still obsess about it! Here's everything I've written since the last update:

The Debate That Wasn't
Grading the First Eight
Theory of the Day: Black Hole!
Entertainment Weekly Teases Us Once Again [spoiler]
Blind Speculation [potential spoiler]
Matthew Fox quits!
Theory of the Day: Reports of a Ben/Widmore War Are Greatly Exaggerated
Theory of the Day: The Others are Descendents of the Black Rock
Checking in with the Writers
It's Thursday Night and I'm Suddenly Lost
About That Time Loop Theory
Desmond Hume wins Lost Madness!
The Long Line of Losers that Lifted from Lost
Me vs. Lost: Via Domus (Part 2)

And that's it for now! This coming week I'm reviewing two movies, both of which I really liked: Street Kings and Smart People. Wildly different, but both quite fun.

Back to the grind

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 06:11:00 +0000

Last weekend's festivities already seem like distant memories now that I'm fully back in work-mode. Unfortunately, we're still in the dark days of March where no cool movies come out. Take Under the Same Moon. It's a crowd-pleasing indie, but it can't be that crowd-pleasing or they'd release it in the fall and hope for Oscars.

Soon we'll see Indiana Jones again. And Batman. And Aslan. And for the first time, Iron Man! We can make it.

Oh, also, because I haven't updated in two weeks, I have about eight tons of DailyLost posts I haven't listed on here yet. As usual, you can find everything below...

Reviews:

Under the Same Moon
Doomsday
Sleepwalking

Spotlights:

Charlize Theron for Sleepwalking

On DailyLost:

Michael and Tom's Semi-Official Off-the-Island Timeline
Ratings Update
Random Initial Thoughts: "Meet Kevin Johnson"
What to Expect on Tonight's "Meet Kevin Johnson"
Lost Madness: The Final Four!
Lingering Oceanic Six Confusion
Have Even More Fun with Lost...on a budget!
Muy baby's seeeeeck! (Say it out loud)
Me vs. Lost: Via Domus (Part 1)
Meh [commentary of "Ji Yeon"]
DVR Playback
I am suddenly obsessed with "Lost Madness"
Lost vs. The X-Files
I Will Survive, too [choosing the best Lost chick]
"The Other Woman" ratings

Sorry if my writing seems a bit brief and stunted tonight; I'm tired and I want to go to bed. Coming up this week, besides my regular content, are *video* interviews with Thandie Newton and David Schwimmer, shot and edited by yours truly.

New stuff to feast on

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:49:00 +0000

Nothing big here; just a rundown of my latest stuff. If I don't post an update next weekend, it's because my sister's getting married on Saturday. Congratulations Liz!

New reviews:
The Bank Job
Be Kind Rewind
Vantage Point

DailyLost posts:
"The Other Woman": The Real Bad Guys, and Other Thoughts
Remember "The Sickness"?
Damon Lindelof on How Season 4 Ends (spoilers, obviously)
Lost video game released
Interview with Matthew Fox!
The Constant, Back to the Future, and Slaughterhouse-5
1 Theory, Do I Hear 2 Theories, 2.342 Theories? Sold!
What the Heck is That?
Henry Ian Cusick is a "Constant" Promoter

Moving cramped my (Oscar) style

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:20:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks I've been embroiled in a plot to get the heck out of my old apartment and move into a new place. On the work front, TheCinemaSource was down for a week for mysterious reasons thanks to a horrible hosting service, and numerous headaches were had before we finally successfully switched servers.

In other words, both my personal and professional lives have been in shambles.

The good news is, I'm making a full recovery: I've moved with longtime roommate Zach into a new apartment in a much nicer neighborhood in south Park Slope, Brooklyn (which I'm trying to casually refer to as "South Park" for short). And at work, we're on a new server, we just completed eleven (!) new interviews, and I'm almost up-to-date on reviews. Here are the links to my new stuff:

Interviews for Vantage Point:
Dennis Quaid
Matthew Fox FROM LOST!

...For Semi-Pro:
Will Arnett
Andre Benjamin
Will Ferrell

Reviews:
Jumper
The Spiderwick Chronicles
City of Men
Semi-Pro

Then there's the Oscars. I just barely saw the Oscar ceremony last week - it was my first night in the new apartment, and all I had in there was my bed, my desk, one chair, one frozen pizza, and a TV with no cable hookup that barely - just barely - picked up ABC. In retrospect, the night was highly romantic.

Anyway, I failed to post any Oscar coverage on this site, although I did have a very punctual, very encompassing day-after report on TheCinemaSource.com which you can read here. But that article didn't include my predictions, so what follows is a chart of how things panned out for me. Tech awards were a bit of a mess, but I successfully picked all the majors except for Supporting Actress (I even picked the Marion Cotillard upset for Best Actress!) That left me with 18 for 24 - much better than last year and above average overall. (My best year remains the 21 for 24 I predicted when Return of the King swept.)

CATEGORY	PREDICTION	WINNER
Best Picture	No Country for Old Men	No Country for Old Men
Director	Joel & Ethan Coen, NCFOM	Joel & Ethan Coen, NCFOM
Actor	Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood	Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Actress	Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose	Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose
Supporting Actor	Javier Bardem, NCFOM	Javier Bardem, NCFOM
Supporting Actress	Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There	Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Original Screenplay	Diablo Cody, Juno	Diablo Cody, Juno
Adapted Screenplay	Joel & Ethan Coen, NCFOM	Joel & Ethan Coen, NCFOM
Foreign Film	The Counterfeiters	The Counterfeiters
Animated Film	Ratatouille	Ratatouille
Documentary	No End in Sight	Taxi to the Dark Side
Score	Atonement	Atonement
Song	"Falling Slowly," Once	"Falling Slowly," Once
Editing	The Bourne Ultimatum	The Bourne Ultimatum
Art Direction	Sweeney Todd	Sweeney Todd
Cinematography	Atonement	There Will Be Blood
Costume Design	Atonement	Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Makeup	La Vie en Rose	La Vie en Rose
Sound Mixing	The Bourne Ultimatum	The Bourne Ultimatum
Sound Editing	The Bourne Ultimatum	The Bourne Ultimatum
Visual Effects	Transformers	The Golden Compass
Live-Action Short	The Tonto Woman	The Mozart of Pickpockets
Animated Short	Peter and the Wolf	Peter and the Wolf
Documentary Short	Freeheld	Freeheld

Getting Back on Track

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:24:00 +0000

TheCinemaSource went back up early last weekend to all of our great relief; for today only, it's down again, but that's on purpose this time as we switch to a new server. We're also spending this whole week getting up-to-date on stuff we fell behind on during the absence.

So since I can't direct you to any new content at the moment, how about some honest-to-goodness personal photos of celebrities? I snapped these atrocious-quality shots on my camera phone when I was at a press conference for Semi-Pro yesterday:

Will Ferrell

Andre Benjamin

Will Arnett

Real papparazzi outside the hotel

Fun, huh? And as always here are some Lost musings over the past week or so from DailyLost.com...

Remember "Raised by Another"?
So Why was it Called "Eggtown"?...Thoughts on Last Night
EW's interview with Lindelof and Cuse: A "Mind-Blowing Scoop"
Evolution of a Lost Cast 2004-2008
The Case for (and Against) Sayid in the Coffin

And in fact, I'm about to write another post now featuring what Matthew Fox said about Lost at a Vantage Point press day I went to last week, so check that out. It's nothing whatsoever mindblowing, but hey, it's Matthew Fox.

In the cold, cold night (of TheCinemaSource's temporary absence)

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 08:12:00 +0000

Frequent readers of mine might have noticed that TheCinemaSource has been down the past couple of days. It's because of really annoying server memory issues that are too maddening to get into here, but the good news is that we're switching servers entirely very soon - and then not only will we be back up, we'll be running more smoothly.

Normally I would be sitting here directing you to my Spiderwick Chronicles and Jumper reviews (I'm thinking B+ for the former and B- or C+ for the latter), but since that's impossible, we do luckily have new content of another sort. A few days ago me and fellow TheCinemaSource staffer Andrea Tuccillo attended the red carpet premiere of Jumper and nabbed a few quickie interviews. I edited the video footage into a little piece and put it up on our YouTube channel; you can check it out below. Sadly, I'm not in the video at all, because I'm the one holding the camera.

In other news, here are some of the articles I've posted to DailyLOST lately:

Random Initial Thoughts: "The Economist"
Maps of the Island
Spoilers for Tonight's "The Economist"
Breaking News: 5 Additional Episodes to Air!
Showrunners Lindelof and Cuse are back to work!
Whoops, I forgot to tell you last Thursday's ratings.
I Know Who Ben's "Man on the Boat" Is (probable spoilers)
The Writers Guild and Studios Make a Deal! (So Does That Mean We Get a Full Season?)

You'll notice that a few of those articles address the Writers Guild strike being over, which I wasn't able to fully cover on TheCinemaSource this week. (Most writers didn't actually go back to work until Wednesday.) My thoughts on the resolution? In general, it's a very good thing.

Yes, I think the AMPTP was very evil throughout the situation, especially by walking away from the table right before Christmas, enacting force majeur, and hiring spin doctors to help write ridiculously offense press releases. And no, the writers didn't get everything they wanted - no DVD residuals (that was off the table early), no reality and animation jurisdiction, and lower Internet residuals than they were asking for, with a lame 17-day window for "promotional use" on some types.

Then again, they got a much better deal than the AMPTP wanted to give them, certainly, and the strike was the direct result of that. The first real sign that it was working was when the Directors Guild got their own solid deal in part thanks to the leverage the strike provided. The Writers Guild deal improved on that one in some areas; they secured a residual system for Internet streaming and downloading; and they managed to change the payment equation from the "producer's gross" (basically a sum easily manipulated to cheat the writers out of money) to the "distributor's gross" (which is how much money stuff actually makes).

Plus, maybe this way, that production company I sent a screenplay to the day before the strike started will finally get back to me. Yeah, that'll definitely happen.

Reviews and Updates and Lost, oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:41:00 +0000

I never gave my weekly TheCinemaSource update last week because I didn't write any reviews or spotlights last week - and that's because, and I don't mind stressing this, January is utter crap for new movies.

Now that the wretched taste of Untraceable is finally out of my mouth, though, things are looking up. I've got two reviews for you this weekend, and next week I'm covering both Jumper and The Spiderwick Chronicles...the latter of which is not only pretty good, but will have the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull teaser attached to it.

The current two reviews: In Bruges - which you should definitely see - and Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show, which was decent (but between you and me, probably not worth shelling out $12 bucks for).

In other news, on my Lost blog - that's http://www.dailylost.com/ if you forgot - here's a list of all the posts I've done thus far. I put up at least one a day though - usually two - and there are two other regular contributors with good stuff as well - so you should really just make it one of your regular destinations. Don't you think?

From most recent to least recent:
Perspective on Lost (literally)
Initial Thoughts on "Confirmed Dead"
Jorge Garcia Tells Us What's What
Meet the Other Others
Lost Parody Pics 2008
Piecing together the clues of the Oceanic Six's secret
Who is Jacob? We're getting closer...
It's Good to Be Ratings King (Again)
First reactions to "The Beginning of the End"
The Top 5 Things I Hope Happen on Tonight's Premiere
'Twas the Night Before Season 4

Blogging about Lost? Don't I already do that?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:06:00 +0000

Hey guys, some big news, at least as it relates to this little website here. I've landed a part-time gig writing for a Lost blog. Yeah, seriously. It even pays a small but nonetheless tangible sum of money (so shhhh...nobody tell them that last year I was doing it on my own for free).

I can't double-post my stuff on here because apparently Google gets mad at you whenever the same thing is posted in two different places, although I will be linking to it. It just means my episode recaps won't be showing up on this site - but it also means I'll be writing even more than I used to, and not just recaps but news, theories, everything. Daily.

Check it out on DailyLOST.com.

I am a video editing genius

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:55:00 +0000

A couple of months ago, when TheCinemaSource started nabbing some exclusive video interviews, I set up our very own YouTube channel (at, predictably, youtube.com/TheCinemaSource). Sure, none of the actors were particularly A-list (or B-list), but over time I was happy to see that people were actually watching them - currently, our interview with Everwood's Gregory Smith has 1,139 views.

To breathe some life into the channel, last night I put up some movie clips that the studios had sent to us as promotional material, for Rambo and Penelope (and a much-lesser-known indie movie we're helping to promote called Military Intelligence and You!). In order to get our name out there, I wanted to watermark each video with "TheCinemaSource.com" in the lower right corner. Problem was, I have no editing software, and besides, all the clips were Windows-unfriendly .mov files.

What to do? I finally found a free online format converter (media-convert.com), switched all the videos to either .avi or .wmv, then imported them into Windows Movie Maker, a ridiculously limited video editing program, but the only one I had since it comes bundled with Vista. It doesn't even let you place text anywhere you want - I had to pretend "TheCinemaSource.com" was a "subtitle" in order to get it to the bottom of the screen, and then luckily I was able to right-justify it.

Victory! All the movie clips (except one screw-up) are now stamped with TheCinemaSource.com, and when somebody watches a clip, the URL will get burned into their brain without even realizing it. Will this give us any sizeable traffic boost? Probably not, but it puts our name out there, people actually watch them (it's been less than a day, and most of the new clips already have 50+ views) and at least I actually accomplished something tangible while messing around on my computer for once.

So anyway, if you're a big YouTube user, you should subscribe to TheCinemaSource's channel, because I'll be putting up movie clips regularly and video interviews whenever we do them. (It's a long shot, but it's conceivable we could get one with Rosario Dawson.) Because who doesn't love watching random movie clips out of context? See for yourself:

Untraceable is the worst movie I've seen in a long time

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:08:00 +0000

So have a good time checking out THAT review. I also have a review up for the new Rambo flick, which was surprisingly fun. Aaaaaaaand...that's all I've got for y'all today. It's the weekend, and I'm seriously considering doing my own laundry instead of waiting until the next time I visit my girlfriend or my parents. The only problem is, that will be breaking a 10-month streak of not doing laundry on my own. Man I rule.

My annual post-Oscar nominations gigantic article

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:03:00 +0000

Here it is, folks - the nominees, the tallies, the surprises, what got robbed, and how my predictions stacked up. I usually put this up the day the nominations are announced - yesterday - but I think it's fair to say the news of Heath Ledger's death overshadowed everything else. (Incidentally, read my article on that here.)

(The following is also published here and here.)

Nominations by category:

BEST PICTURE:
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST DIRECTOR:
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman, Juno
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTOR:
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

BEST ACTRESS:
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Ellen Page, Juno
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Laura Linney, The Savages

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Diablo Coby, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Brad Bird, Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Sarah Polley, Away from Her
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

(For a complete list, go to Oscar.com.)

Nominations by film:

8 nominations:

No Country for Old Men - Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing
There Will Be Blood - Picture, Director, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound Editing

7 nominations:

Michael Clayton - Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Score
Atonement - Picture, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Score, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design

5 nominations:

Ratatouille - Animated Feature, Original Screenplay, Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing

4 nominations:

Juno - Picture, Director, Actress, Original Screenplay
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Director, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography

3 nominations:

La Vie en Rose - Actress, Costume Design, Makeup
Sweeney Todd - Actor, Art Direction, Costume Design
The Bourne Ultimatum - Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing
Enchanted - Song ("Happy Working Song", "So Close", "That's How You Know")
Transformers - Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing

2 nominations:

The Savages - Actress, Original Screenplay
Away from Her - Actress, Adapted Screenplay
Into the Wild - Supporting Actor, Film Editing
Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Actress, Costume Design
American Gangster - Supporting Actress, Art Direction
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Supporting Actor, Cinematography
3:10 to Yuma - Score, Sound Mixing
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Visual Effects, Makeup
The Golden Compass - Visual Effects, Art Direction

1 nomination:

In the Valley of Elah - Actor
Eastern Promises - Actor
Charle Wilson's War - Supporting Actor
I'm Not There - Supporting Actress
Gone Baby Gone - Supporting Actress
Lars and the Real Girl - Original Screenplay
Persepolis - Animated Feature
Surf's Up - Animated Feature
The Kite Runner - Score
Once - Song
August Rush - Song
Across the Universe - Costume Design
Norbit - Makeup

The Surprises:

There were two big surprises in the Actor and Actress categories: Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah and Laura Linney for The Savages. Neither actors won any awards leading up to the Oscars, and most people had written them off. Still, its great news, especially for fans of Jones, who turned in two great performances this year (the other being in No Country for Old Men).

Saorise Ronan sneaked into the Supporting Actress category for her role in Atonement despite being nominated for not much else besides a Golden Globe. (She's about to hit it big - she's the star of Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones movie.) Likewise, while Johnny Depp might seem like a no-brainer, many close observers were expecting him to be left out of the Best Actor race on the basis that Sweeney Todd wasn't really that well received.

In the Best Director race, Jason Reitman (Juno) and Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) made it in despite the general consensus that the screenplays of those films had overshadowed the directing work. Speaking of screenplays, Sarah Polley's Away from Her was a surprise inclusion in the Adapted race.

Finally, in the Animated Feature race, Persepolis makes it in (hooray!) but so does...Surf's Up, a flop from early in the summer that everyone forgot about. Okay...

The Snubs:

The main film to get the cold shoulder from the Academy was Into the Wild - which also happens to be my favorite film of the year, not that I'm whatsoever bitter. It managed Supporting Actor and Film Editing, but Emile Hirsch was left out of the Actor race, as was Sean Penn for Director. Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay were also more distant possibilities, but there was no love in those categories, either.

Lars and the Real Girl managed to get its Original Screenplay nomination, but Ryan Gosling was left out of the Best Actor race. Surf's Up most likely took the place of The Simpsons Movie in the Animated Feature category. Angelina Jolie didn't make Actress for A Mighty Heart, while Zodiac, unfortunately, was shut out of the Oscar race completely.

My Predictions:

I actually did fairly well this year, getting 80% correct - averaging out to 4 out of 5 in each of the top eight categories. I correctly predicted Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Screenplay, but only went 3 for 5 in Best Actor (I had Hirsch and Gosling instead of Depp and Jones), Director (Sidney Lumet and Sean Penn instead of Jason Reitman and Tony Gilroy), and Actress (Jolie and Amy Adams instead of Blanchett and Linney).

So who's going to win?

Well, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood both have 8 nominations apiece, the most out of anyone. More pointedly, they're the only Best Picture nominees to get Film Editing nominations - and there is a long history of Editing and Picture matching up. Atonement has seven nominations but is missing the all-important Director nomination, meaning it's probably out of the running for Best Picture. Juno, the biggest box office success of all five nominees, could turn out to be the little movie that could, but when faced between a quirky indie about a pregnant teen or a male-driven drama, the middle-aged-male-ridden Academy will probably go with the latter.

Right now it's a horse race between No Country and Blood. That is, until they split the vote and Michael Clayton emerges, victorious.

Final Oscar Nomination Predictions

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:20:00 +0000

These went up on TheCinemaSource this evening, but here they are with commentary. I realize nobody will be reading this before the nominations are announced - 5 hours from now - but hey, this is a hobby for me. Writing it all down is the easy part. Besides, I need proof when I get things 100% correct, right? (Sure, bud.)

The Academy Award nominations are announced bright and early tomorrow morning, so here are my final, official predictions for the eight main categories. Underneath each, I've listed a group of "other contenders" to let you know what else is in the running, but don't worry, I'm not hedging my bets - if one of the "other contenders" gets nominated, then I was wrong. If I don't mention something at all, it doesn't mean it's out of the race entirely - it just means it will be a major surprise when it makes it in. Without further ado:

BEST PICTURE:
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Other contenders: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Into the Wild; American Gangster

Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood can be considered as locked as you can get. Juno has the best box office out of anything and is a safe bet for the Big Indie Movie (this year's Little Miss Sunshine or Sideways, if you will). That leaves the fifth slot. I'm a huge personal proponent of Into the Wild, but it was finally time to let it go; I've always considered it to be the likely 6th or 7th choice, and it looks to end up that way here as well.

Many people are jumping on the Diving Bell and the Butterfly bandwagon thanks to its surprisingly strong showing in the Producers and Directors Guild nominations, but I think when it comes down to it, the Academy will go with what they know: an upscale, awards-baiting British film. Atonement. It's on shaky ground - it was snubbed in all those guild awards that Diving Bell did so well in - but I bet it makes it in. But hey, if I'm wrong and Into the Wild sneaks in, I'd be very happy.

BEST DIRECTOR:
Sidney Lumet, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Other contenders: Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton; Joe Wright, Atonement

Every year, there's always a surprise nominee in this category - Fernando Meirelles for City of God, Paul Greengrass for United 93, and so on. Many people were expecting Julian Schnabel to fill that role - until he won the Golden Globe and his film started getting major attention and he became anything but a surprise. So I'm sticking in my biggest no guts, no glory contender: Sidney Lumet for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. The Academy skews old, which means the 82-year-old Lumet might still have a lot more fans than people are counting on, and the film was a critical success.

You'll notice that my Picture/Director nominations only match up 2 out of 5. That's a pretty good indication that I've miscalculated somewhere down the road - usually it's more like a 4 out of 5 match. Michael Clayton feels like it will be seen as more of a writing achievement than a directing achievement, but then again I've underestimated it all along. Joe Wright, meanwhile, is quite viable as well. But Schnabel, the Coens, and Anderson feel quite solid, with Penn right behind them.

BEST ACTOR:
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Other contenders: Denzel Washington, American Gangster; Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd; James McAvoy, Atonement

Clooney and Day-Lewis are locked, locked, locked. I was certain that Mortensen would get snubbed all along, so I'm still worried about him - he was ignored for A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises didn't have anywhere near that film's box office. Hirsch I'm also worried about, but I think thats jitters that goes along with really wanting him to be recognized. Ryan Gosling I'm actually skeptical about - very few people actually saw Lars and the Real Girl, and he already got his hot-young-actor nomination for a better performance - last year's Half Nelson.

But then again, I'm even more skeptical about Johnny Depp. Yes, he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical, but that's actually a bit of a curse - with the exception of Joaquin Phoenix, I'm pretty sure the past five winners in that award have gone on not to get an Oscar nomination. James McAvoy hasn't garnered enough attention - and the Screen Actors Guild snubbed Atonement altogether - but you can never really count out Denzel Washington.

BEST ACTRESS:
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Amy Adams, Enchanted
Ellen Page, Juno
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Other contenders: Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age; Keira Knightley, Atonement; Laura Linney, The Savages

Christie, Cotillard, and Page feel good. Jolie is also well-liked in Hollywood - oh, and she gave a great performance - and looks to get nominated despite her film tanking. That leaves the fifth slot; due to the box office success of Enchanted and the Academy's penchant for young women, I'm putting Amy Adams in there. Elizabeth: The Golden Age was badly received (although Blanchett has plenty of fans in the Academy), Keira Knightley doesn't have the buzz, and Laura Linney...well, she could be a surprise if there's a large enough minority that's a big proponent of her work.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Other contenders: Tommy Lee Jones, No Country for Old Men; Paul Dano, There Will Be Blood

I could definitely see Tommy Lee Jones showing up in this category in favor of Holbrook or Hoffman. Otherwise, things look pretty much locked in place. Affleck made a stir in some critics groups, but the award is Javier Bardem's to lose.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Jennifer Garner, Juno
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Other contenders: Catherine Keener,

Into the Wild; Saoirse Ronan, Atonement

It might be quite stupid to put Jennifer Garner in here, because she's gotten no love from SAG or the Golden Globes or anyone. But her name is persistently mentioned, and again, the Academy has a thing about talented young women. Then again, it could also be someone out of left field - like Vanessa Redgrave and her six-minute role in Atonement - but that would be something the Golden Globes would do, not the Oscars. Keener, with a SAG nomination, could easily sneak in; Ronan is a more distant alternative.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Diablo Cody, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Brad Bird, Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

Other contenders: Steve Zaillian, American Gangster; Judd Apatow, Knocked Up; Steven Knight, Eastern Promises

This category looks fairly locked up. I continue to be skeptical of Lars and the Real Girl, but that's more of an opinion thing than anything else; like in many of the top categories, it's conceivable but unlikely that American Gangster could have a stronger showing than anticipated. I'd love to see Knocked Up make it in, but if The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which was more age-appropriate to the Academy, didn't, then why this one?

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
James Vanderbilt, Zodiac

Other contenders: Sean Penn, Into the Wild; Aaron Sorkin, Charlie Wilson’s War

Both other contenders are major alternatives. The Coens and Anderson are quite locked, and I feel good about Diving Bell, but I could see some other creative shuffling. Zodiac is on shaky ground indeed, and while I'm betting that the Academy will take to Atonement, if they don't, Hampton's out. I'd love to stick Penn in there, but I feel like voters are looking at him more as the director than the writer. Similarly, Sorkin might get left out because of a different kind of assumption: that he's a TV writer, not a feature writer. Of course, now I'm assuming about assumptions. But that's what Oscar predicting is all about, right?

Recent Reviews, Spotlights, and Oscar Spiels

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:27:00 +0000

That's a boring title for a generally boring roundup of recent work. Yes, Cloverfield was good, but there's not a whole lot other than that to get excited about...except THE OSCAR RACE! Except there may not even be an Oscar ceremony. Whoops.

Here's what the past couple of weeks has brought:

Cloverfield review
Teeth review

Lizzy Caplan spotlight (for Cloverfield)
T.J. Miller spotlight (ditto)

Oscar Spiel #7: The Official Oscar Poster, and my First Predictions
Oscar Spiel #6: The SAG nominations and the rise of There Will Be Blood

Fun with Lost

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:12:00 +0000

A friend is holding a Lost viewing party, and on the Facebook invite he posted a bunch of pictures he found that I got a kick out of. Here are my favorites:

Oh, and you might also get a kick out of this: http://copafeel.ytmnd.com/

There Will Be 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:19:00 +0000

Sorry for the lack of updates over Christmas. Relaxing with my family and all that - although I managed to crank out a few reviews:

Pictured, of course, is a shot from There Will Be Blood, which features another awesome performance from Daniel Day-Lewis: "I can't keep doing this on my own. With these ....... [sneer] people ......" Oh, and I did two spotlights:

As always, the Christmas season was crowded this year, and not everyone survived. Walk Hard flopped badly - a crappy ending for an otherwise great year for Judd Apatow (writer/director of Knocked Up, producer of Superbad, and co-writer of Walk Hard). Too bad, because while it wasn't flat-out hilarious, it was pretty funny. Sweeney Todd also underperformed, but I feel less bad about that; the flick just didn't hit me whatsoever.

On the other hand, Alvin and the Chipmunks did ridiculous business. Who knew? National Treasure 2 and I Am Legend are also cleaning up, as expected, although I'm quite heartened to see Juno doing so well. It expanded to over 1,000 theaters just yesterday, and last week it still managed to crack the box office's top five.

Next thing of note you'll be seeing from me is another Oscar spiel and my Top 10 Movies of 2007 list. And yeah, Juno will be on it, although it's not my #1; if you've been paying close attention you'll probably be able to figure out what is.

Oscar spiels

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 03:11:00 +0000

This year I've decided to write an Oscar column for TheCinemaSource; I was going to do it for this site anyway, like I've done for the past four years, so I figured I may as well get more than two or three people to read it in the process. The good news is that it's a weekly column and I've actually actually managed to write it each week (although on a different day every time); the bad news is I forgot to tell you about it until now. Don't worry; we still have, like, ten weeks until the Oscars actually arrive. Here's what you missed so far:

Oscar Spiel #1: The frontrunnners of the Best Picture race so far... (11/7)
Oscar Spiel #2: A look at the Best Actor race (11/15)
Oscar Spiel #3: The Few Great Roles for Women (11/28)
Oscar Spiel #4: National Board of Review winners and revised Best Picture predictions (12/6)
Oscar Spiel #5: Reaction to the Golden Globes & Critics Groups nominees (12/16)