A SINGLE MAN

2010 February 9

Release date: 12 February
Certificate: 12A
100 mins
USA 2009


Director: Tom Ford
Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Ginnifer Goodwin, Nicholas Hoult, Ryan Simpkins


The much-anticipated feature debut from former Gucci Creative Director Tom Ford, A SINGLE MAN follows a day in the suddenly shattered life of an English professor, George (Firth, BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY), whose partner of 16 years has unexpectedly passed away. read more…

DEAR JOHN takes the top spot in the US, while AVATAR still rules UK Box Office

2010 February 8
by Admin

No change at the top here in the UK but, finally, the mighty AVATAR has been toppled from the top spot in the US by DEAR JOHN, the new romance saga from the pen of Nicholas Sparks (THE NOTEBOOK) starring Hollywood hunk Channing Tatum and MAMMA MIA’s Amanda Seyfried.

Young women flocked to the box office to support this pre-Valentine’s Day schmaltzy release, leaving John Travolta’s bald hard man to bomb terribly in FROM PARIS WITH LOVE.


UK – OPENING B.O. Position Prints Weekend Total Weekend Sc Av
Invictus 3 275 1,068,389 3,893
Youth in Revolt 6 285 743,934 2,658
Astro Boy 8 408 1,091,552 1,780
Tony 55 6 1,055 309
UK – STILL PERFORMING B.O. Positon (wk) Prints Weekend Total Weekend Sc Av
Avatar 3D (58,678,488) 1 (8) 295 3,804,194 13,003
The Princess & The Frog (2,230,559) 2 (2) 464 2,210,569 4,821
Sherlock Holmes (24,464,283) 4 (7) 403 24,464,283 2,026
Edge of Darkness (2,651,279) 5 (2) 413 768,014 1,873
Alvin & The Chipmunks 2 (1,091,552) 7 (7) 482 722,372 1,780
Up in The Air (5,579,201) 9 (4) 338 480,282 1,472
Precious (818,366) 10 (2) 101 378,024 3,771
US & CANADA – OPENING B.O. Position Prints Weekend Total Weekend Sc Av
Dear John 1 2,969 28,130,176 10,616
From Paris with Love 3 2,722 7,434,248 3,190

PRECIOUS: Interview with director/producer Lee Daniels

2010 February 4

Precious Director & Producer Lee DanielsLEE DANIELS began his career in entertainment as a manager representing a talent pool that included several Academy Awards nominees and winners. MONSTER’S BALL, the first production by Lee Daniels Entertainment, marked Daniels as the first African-American sole producer of an Academy Award winner, earning substantial critical and box office success. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards in 2002 — Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress, for which Halle Berry won an Oscar. Daniels’ next producing project was THE WOODSMAN, starring Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and Mos Def, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. Daniels made his directorial debut with 2006’s SHADOWBOXER, starring Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr, and he recently produced TENNESSEE, a road movie starring old friend Mariah Carey. PRECIOUS: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is his second directorial outing…

Initially, the author, Sapphire, was against a film adaptation. Yet you won her round…

Love her. Love her for that. It took me nine, probably ten, years to stalk her. I have stalked her for ten years. Sapphire is a scholar. She is a genius. She is a poet. She is an intellect beyond belief. She doesn’t give a fuck about Hollywood. She don’t care about it, just doesn’t. It is about literature and I think that Lady Luck must have been on my side because she finally embraced the idea. I think that even if I did a bad movie, it would not affect her brilliant masterpiece and I think that she saw the difference in both. She finally realised it and I was there the right time stalking her. read more…

Oscar Nominations – 2010

2010 February 2
tags:
by Gabriel

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up in the Air

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious

Animated Feature
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Directing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air

Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food Inc.
Which Way Home

Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth
The Last Truck: Closing of GM Planet
Rabbit a la Berlin

Film Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Foreign Language Film
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon

Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Music (Original Score)
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Original Song
Almost There – The Princess and the Frog
Down in New Orleans – The Princess and the Frog
Loin de Paname – Paris 36
Take It All – Nine
The Weary Kind – Crazy Heart

(Short Film) Animated
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Short Film (Live Action)
The Door
Instead of Abracadraba
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
District 9
An Education
In The Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

Flick’s Flicks February

2010 February 2
by Gabriel

Slackers Club – free preview of THE WOLFMAN

2010 January 27
by Gabriel

Slackers Club is a free-to-join club for students set up by E4 and Picturehouse Cinemas. Members get the chance to attend special screenings every month (or so) – brand new E4 shows, classic movies or a sneaky peak at a film yet to be released – all for free!

Here’s the E4 trailer for the next event, THE WOLFMAN, on Wednesday 10 February.

Slackers Club: The Wolfman

Slackers Club: The Wolfman

This movie requires Adobe Flash for playback.

Visit the Picturehouse website for more information on joining Slackers Club.

Tim Burton named Cannes jury president | News | Screen

2010 January 26
by Gabriel

Tim Burton has been named as president of the jury for the 63rd Cannes Film Festival.

The director, who accepted the appointment from Cannes chiefs Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux, said, “After spending my early life watching triple features and 48-hour horror movie marathons, I’m finally ready for this. It’s a great honour and I look forward, with my fellow jurors, to watching some great films from around the world. When you think of Cannes you think of world cinema. And as films have always been like dreams to me, this is a dream come true.”

Cannes festival president Jacob added, “It’s the first time an artist whose origins are in animation will preside over the jury of the Festival de Cannes. A filmmaker with a heart of gold and silver hands, Tim Burton is first and foremost a poet. He’s a magician of visual delights who turns the screen into a fairy wonder. We hope his sweet madness and gothic humour will pervade the Croisette, bringing Christmas to all. Christmas and Halloween…”

Burton follows in the footsteps of such recent Cannes jury presidents as Wong Kar-wai, Stephen Frears, Sean Penn and actress Isabelle Huppert, who led the jury last year.

Burton was a member of the main jury under Isabelle Adjani in 1997. His feature Ed Wood screened at the festival in 1995. This year’s festival runs from May 12 to 23.

via Tim Burton named Cannes jury president | News | Screen.

AVATAR surpasses TITANIC at the International Box Office

2010 January 26
by Gabriel

AVATAR continues to break all box office records, slipping only 16% from last week in the US box office, James Cameron’s mammoth total is now at $552.8m and looks set to surpass – TITANIC, also his film, currently at $600.8m. International box office is even more impressive as AVATAR surpassed TITANIC’s record this week with an additional $107m taking its tally to $1.288bn (TITANIC’s old record was $1.242bn).

States side Peter Jackson’s THE LOVELY BONES dropped to fifth place with an estimated $8.8m lifting the total to $31.6m – surprisingly, Paramount may end up with a total exceeding $50m which didn’t seem possible two weeks ago.

Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford failed to excite adult audiences with EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES which scored very poor reviews and opened in seventh place with only $7m.

[Source: Neilson, ScreenDaily.com]

UK – OPENING B.O. Position Prints Weekend Total Weekend Sc Av
TOY STORY 2 3D 6 240 904,945 3,787
BROTHERS 10 216 363,865 1,705
A PROPHET 11 75 289,729 3,863
THE BOYS ARE BACK 23 120 64,465 543
UK – STILL PERFORMING (total) B.O. Positon (wk) Prints Weekend Total Weekend Sc Av
Avatar 3D (46,392,827) 1 (6) 297 4,342,980 14,706
Sherlock Holmes (21,359,477) 2 (5) 478 1,628,291 3,464
Alvin & The Chipmunks (18,490,169) 3 (5) 502 1,446,717 3,041
Up in The Air (3,277,088 4 (2) 328 1,200,457 3,669
The Book of Eli (2,635,512) 7 (2) 387 824,942 2,146
Avatar 2D (7,610,646) 8 (6) 286 505,934 1,871
Daybreakers (3,520,830) 9 (3) 318 419,071 1,333
US & CANADA – OPENING B.O. Position Prints Weekend Total Weekend Sc Av
Legion 2 2,467 16,417,932 7,293

2 of the best…independent cinemas

2010 January 22
by Gabriel

The Cameo, Edinburgh

A few weeks ago The Guardian invited people to champion their favourite local cinema by posting a comment on their film blog. The people have spoken and two of our humble cinemas have made it into The Guardians 10 of the best independent cinemas in the country.

The Cameo in Edinburgh “with leather sofas and a lengthy cocktail menu (you can take your glass into the auditorium with you). Programmes, spread over three screens, tend to be a tour through cinematic history, from vintage classics, through foreign-language films, documentaries, arty stuff and current hits.”

Duke of York’s in Brighton where “homemade cake is reason enough for a visit, and its eclectic programme entices celebrity regulars from Ken Loach to Fatboy Slim.”

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE

2010 January 20

Release date: 29 January
Certificate: 15
110 mins

USA 2009


Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Sherri Shepherd, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz


Adapted from the bestselling novel Push by Sapphire, PRECIOUS tells the inspirational story of a girl whose struggle embodies America’s downtrodden youth. Pregnant by her father with her second child and taunted over her obesity and illiteracy by her peers, Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones’s life is one of unimaginable trauma and heartache.

Growing up in New York’s unforgiving Harlem district, Precious is plagued by her drug-addicted father and deranged mother, who are not so much unwilling parents as outright unfit. Her home is the epitome of broken. But when she is invited to an alternative school by a social worker (Carey), she discovers hope in the support around her. Encouraged not tormented, she becomes determined to turn her life around.

With Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry onboard as executive producers and Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz supporting, PRECIOUS seems destined for big-screen success. But it is the bold direction and a brave central performance from newcomer Gabourey Sidibe that have been stirring expectation since the film premiered at Sundance 2009. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but anyone who writes off PRECIOUS does so at their own peril. This is set to be one of the year’s big cinematic surprises and a serious awards contender.

//Extra Precious Care//

Having received considerable praise and a number of accolades, it is no surprise that American writer-cum-poet Sapphire was very protective of her debut novel. Such a story was an easy target for Hollywood, and it had been highly desired by several major studios since its publication in 1996. This level of interest led Push to be closely cosseted by its creator. After falling in love with the book some years ago, however, director-producer Lee Daniels (SHADOWBOXER) was determined to take Push onto a bigger platform.

“I’d never read anything so breathtakingly honest and original. Every page, my mouth was open,” he says. “It became like my lover and I slept with it under my pillow.” He continues: “I knew this person, I knew her mother, I knew the social worker, I knew the girls, I knew the teacher – I knew everybody. I thought it was real.”

Daniels is no stranger to literary adaptations of course, having produced 2002’s Oscar-sweeping MONSTER’S BALL. This time around, however, he admits that acquiring the rights to Push was an altogether more challenging prospect. Sapphire was understandably wary of handing over her most precious of oeuvres, but Daniels was just as determined.

“I actually stalked her,” he jokes. “No; she’s really an auteur, you know. She’s a genius and a scholar and a poet. And I don’t think she’s impressed with Hollywood at all,” he explains. “I think that she felt that I would – or that anyone could – make a bad movie out of it. And I think that she thought if we did, it would somehow affect her piece of literature. I think that once she got over the fact that no matter how bad the movie was it would never affect her book and her work, she was okay.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it. The moment I saw ‘Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire’, I knew I wanted to do whatever I could to encourage other people to see this movie. The film is so raw and powerful – it split me open.” – OPRAH WINFREY

“One of the best movies I’ve seen so far this year” BAZ BAMIGBOYE, THE DAILY MAIL

“Gabby Sidibe is remarkable as Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones” – PETER BRADSHAW, THE GUARDIAN

“Precious simply cannot be missed” – MARY CORLISS, TIME MAGAZINE