Blogs and Stories
The Oscar Recession
Doubt, December 12, 2008
Storyline: Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play about the struggle between a nun and a priest over suspected sexual abuse.
Status: Stars Oscar queen Meryl Streep. Enough said.
The MAYBES—Theoretical contenders with penny-pinching late release dates; could be like Million Dollar Baby—a real contender—or Lions for Lambs—an instance of over-inflated expectations.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, December 25, 2008
Storyline: Brad Pitt ages backwards in David Fincher’s three-hour, century spanning epic.
Status: Considered to be the ultimate front-runner even though almost no one has seen it. Shares some qualities with Forest Gump (a “unique” protagonist winding his way through history) which could be good—Gump won a lot of Oscars—or bad—it didn’t deserve to. Jeff Wells, proprietor of film blog Hollywood-Elsewhere, has spoken with some of the few souls who have seen it and believes it will go all the way: “I’ve heard from over 40 straight guys that it made then cry. When they’re crying, you’ve got the winner.”
Australia, November 26, 2008
Storyline: Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman get romantic in Baz Luhrmann’s $100 million dollar epic set Down Under during WWII.
Status: Three weeks from its release date, and the only person who has seen this movie (still in unfinished form) is Oprah. Luhrmann isn’t done editing yet and has compared finishing in time for the release date to “landing a jumbo jet on an aircraft carrier in a storm.” Needless to say, this does not bode well.
Revolutionary Road, December 25, 2008
Storyline: Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio team up for the first time since Titanic in an adaptation of Richard Yate’s ennui-ridden novel about a couple trying to avoid conformity in 1950s America.
Status: Director Sam Mendes has had luck with tales of suburban malaise before: his American Beauty took home a gold statue. But word of mouth on this film has been yo-yoing, which is to be expected, since no one’s seen it either. It may lose some momentum if The Reader, also starring Winslet, gets good notices.
Bringing Down Bachmann
Benjamin Sarlin is a reporter for The Daily Beast. He previously covered New York City politics for The New York Sun and has worked for talkingpointsmemo.com.
America's Hot Jobs (and Not Jobs)
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Nicolas Cage, Compulsive Spender
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
Is Being 17 Really So Cool?
Willa Paskin is a writer and former editor of Radar magazine. She lives in New York City.
Death of a Hollywood Cliché
Willa Paskin is a writer and former editor of Radar magazine. She lives in New York City.
I don't think it's any secret that the movie industry is going down like a led balloon, fast. You see actors going on talk shows and willingly admitting their movies suck, and that's even more of a sign. I mean, what are you going to do?
It's interesting that a political movie like "W" would be panned by both Republicans and Democrats alike. Perhaps it's time to admit that Oliver Stone has gone the way of other great directors like Stephen Spielberg. Once great. But now cannot direct there way out of a paper bag.
Edits. . . "rein in" - not "reign in," please, in paragraph 4. And the login screen should be "fill out," not "fill-out."
Arg.
Please respect meat-world rules of grammar; please don't let the immediacy of the Web drag us down!!
Why the two references to Batman being "lowbrow" and "low subject matter?" Maybe back in the days of pulpy 10-cent comics, but not now. Comic books, graphic novels, whatever you want to call them, are succeeding as an industry in developing stories with a far more compelling, varied and vivid palette of creativity and talent than either the film or TV industries. While few were looking, comics grew up. And now it's time to stop looking down your nose at them.
What's funny to me is the growing backlash against "all these comic book movies" while seeing, as a reader of comics, that most of these adaptations pale in comparison to their source material. The darly shining exception is this "low" Batman film, which expertly draws inspiration from some of the best stories published in recent memory and adds to them in ways that only moviemakers can. That's what makes this one so special.
"The Curiours Case of ..." is three hours. Won't be seeing that. Isn't this one of the issues that is having a negative effect on movie ticket sales? Who wants to sit in the movie theater for three hours. Aside from the review, the most important factor in whether I will spend my time and money on a movie is the length of the film. An hour, forty-five is perfect. Two hours is pushing it. I broke my daughter's heart when I refused to see the Chronicles of Narnia sequel which clocked in at some ridiculous time, but I would've chewed my hand off if I had to sit through a two-hour, forty-five minute film. We settled for Baby Mama. Good, not great, but I was in and out of the theater without feeling like I'd given half my day. Am I the only one who checks the length of the movie? Surely, I can't be.
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