Amy Adams. You know the girl. Sweet, bright-eyed, purveyor of naive, fresh-faced screen creations. You certainly wouldn’t peg her as an expected fit for Charlene Fleming, boxer Micky Ward’s tough-as-nails bartender girlfriend in David O. Russell’s “The Fighter,” but as it turns out, she delivers perhaps her most accomplished performance to date in that role, […]
INTERVIEW: ‘The Fighter’ actress Amy Adams
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:30 pm · February 16th, 2011
Filed in: Interviews
2/10 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Gasland’ director fires back, Wahlberg/Russell on Aronofsky, hoping Banksy stays away
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:00 am · February 10th, 2011
• Mark Wahlberg and David O. Russell on Darren Aronofsky’s departure from “The Fighter.” [Inside Movies] • Eric Kohn writes up the Oscar shorts. [indieWIRE] • Josh Fox fires back at gas industry accusations about the accuracy of his documentary, “Gasland.” [Facebook]
Filed in: Daily
Life versus art in ‘The Fighter’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:29 am · January 6th, 2011
You know by now how much I love “The Fighter” for its odd, jangly fusion of heightened realism and rah-rah studio formula, so it’s never struck me as particularly important how fact-faithful it remains in striking the balance. Still, I rather liked this video, which breaks down not only the liberties the film takes with […]
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12/29 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Timberlake’s Harvard honor, ‘Kids’ and the “steak eaters,” HFPA/Clark tension
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:39 am · December 29th, 2010
• Golden Globes tension as Dick Clark and HFPA fued over contract. [The Wrap] • Justin Timberlake gets a prestigious Harvard award. [Pop Eater] • Anne Thompson on the obstacles her #2 film of the year, “The Kids Are All Right,” will face with the “steak eaters.” [Thompson on Hollywood]
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Adams does Conan, Wahlberg/Bale/Russell on Charlie Rose
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:57 pm · December 16th, 2010
I had lunch yesterday with “The Fighter” star Amy Adams and hope to have that interview up some time over the holiday. When we said goodbye, she was off to the Warner Bros. lot for an interview taping with Conan O’Brien. I wasn’t able to watch last night but I wanted to track it down […]
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Make your SAG predictions
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:29 pm · December 15th, 2010
Now that most of the major critics’ groups have had their say, tomorrow begins the second phase of the precursor season, as the Screen Actors’ Guild makes the first of this year’s industry award pronouncements. I always feel a twinge of dread about the SAG nomination list — frequently more middle-of-the-road than the critics’ picks, […]
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Not you
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:22 am · December 15th, 2010
I might have kept it off his face and just kept cutting to different people in the film, but anyway, passed the time for about a minute:
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‘King’s Speech’ leads Globe nods, ‘True Grit’ shut out
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:53 am · December 14th, 2010
True to form, the Golden Globe nominations are a buffet of the good, the bad and the unconscionably hideous — with perhaps a touch more emphasis than usual on the third of those this year. I refer, of course, to those largely mortifying Comedy/Musical races, where HFPA voters solved the lack of obvious contenders this […]
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“You will bow to Wahlberg power.”
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:27 pm · December 8th, 2010
(I guess I should be a good webmaster and mention: language alert.)
Filed in: Daily
11/30 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Nolan circling back, Carpetbagger returns, debating Oscarcast hosts
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:34 am · November 30th, 2010
• Composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and sound mixer Ren Klyce talk “The Social Network. [SoundWorks Collection] • Patrick Goldstein catches up with the idea that the new Disney is pushing hard for “Toy Story 3,” deems it “crazy,” but smartly warns against chafing. [The Big Picture] • Christopher Nolan circles back around as […]
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11/24 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Kunis on her ‘Machinist’ impression, Hammer talks twinning, bad boy celebrity
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:00 am · November 24th, 2010
(Ended up unexpectedly taking the day off yesterday. Not that I’m complaining.) • Anne Thompson talks to “Secretariat” star Diane Lane. [Thompson on Hollywood] • Mila Kunis on dropping to a bony 95 pounds for “Black Swan.” [E! Online] • Dave Karger, meanwhile, wonders if the actress can score an Oscar nod alongside co-star Natalie […]
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OFF THE CARPET: Giving thanks
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:41 am · November 22nd, 2010
As we move into turkey (or tofurkey, if that happens to be your speed) week 2010, it seems proper, if a tad bit obvious, to take a moment and give thanks. So in lieu of a proper analysis of the season’s progression this week, allow me to express my boundless, breathless appreciation for the following: […]
Filed in: Off the Carpet
Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jack McGee talk ‘The Fighter’ at first industry screening
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:41 am · November 11th, 2010
David O. Russell’s “The Fighter” may have had its first public screening Tuesday as an AFI Fest “secret” event (with plenty of press in attendance), but last night’s SAG nominating committee screening on the Paramount lot has been on the calendar for most the past week. Naturally, it was a packed house, which can be […]
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AFI FEST: ‘The Fighter’ crashes the party
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:29 am · November 10th, 2010
I decided to come home and give “The Fighter,” which saw its world premiere at a “secret screening” at AFI Fest tonight, some real thought rather than rushing back to review. How novel. Given the amount of press on hand, one imagines Paramount publicity was besieged with ticket requests following the last minute announcement of […]
Filed in: Reviews
OFF THE CARPET: Leading men in the spotlight
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:14 am · October 25th, 2010
About a year ago I took to examining the 2009 Best Actor race. The frontrunners for five slots seemed to be, in order, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Jeremy Renner, Morgan Freeman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Viggo Mortensen and Robert De Niro. A day later press members received their first invites to “Crazy Heart” screenings and were notified […]
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Wahlberg talks up ‘The Fighter’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:25 pm · July 20th, 2010
When I remarked in a post yesterday that the upcoming awards season looks a little short on the high-profile biopic contenders so beloved of Academy voters, I had a feeling I was forgetting something obvious. And so I was: “The Fighter,” David O. Russell’s biopic of against-the-odds boxing champ “Irish” Micky Ward, starring Mark Wahlberg […]
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OFF THE CARPET: Pump your brakes
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:52 pm · December 7th, 2009
It is true. The annual Oscar season has forged an epidemic of instant judgment and facile analysis that has become a fairly significant blight on the fraternity of film criticism. Not everyone is guilty. In fact, most aren’t. But from where I sit, and speaking solely for myself, the initial quality-assessors of the industry have […]
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Foreign watch: UK enters ‘Afghan Star,’ ‘Reykjavik’ remake
Posted by Guy Lodge · 7:07 am · October 7th, 2009
Two interesting news tidbits relating to the Best Foreign Language Film race surfaced yesterday, the first of which is the United Kingdom’s bold, wholly unexpected decision to submit Havana Marking’s acclaimed documentary “Afghan Star” as their entry. The news is surprising for a number of reasons. It’s the first time the UK has submitted a […]
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