Features
(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 […]
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
Filed in: Daily
Equalized
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:09 am · June 16th, 2010
The occasion of Russell Crowe saddling up to a film version of “The Equalizer” (ironically announced the same day studios were supposedly clamoring for original material), is an excuse for nothing more than an embed of the opening credits sequence from the 1980s series. I always thought it was badass.
Filed in: Daily
Tension between Scott and Crowe on ‘Robin Hood’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:44 am · May 19th, 2010
We’ve already pointed out the long, destructive development process of “Robin Hood” and how it yielded a Frankenstein assemblage due to multiple rewrites. So it’s a full nine graphs into this Vulture “exclusive” before you get to the actual exclusive material: the film apparently almost splintered Crowe and Scott’s relationship forever. Writes Claude Brodesser-Akner: With […]
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SUNDAY CENTS: Taking ‘Hood’ stock
Posted by Chad Hartigan · 4:16 pm · May 16th, 2010
*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars. Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott helped steal $37.1 million from the poor on behalf of the rich as “Robin Hood” enters the chart in second place this week. The humorless duo courted the older adult audience, and in that respect, this is a solid enough debut. […]
Filed in: Box Office · Sunday Cents
Russell Crowe wins radio’s Dick of the Year award
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:29 pm · May 15th, 2010
You might recall last year’s prestigious honor for showing one’s ass across the radio waves went to Billy Bob Thornton. This year’s award goes, in a landslide, to Russell Crowe:
Filed in: Daily
FRIDAY FORECAST: ‘Robin’ of schlocksley
Posted by Chad Hartigan · 2:12 pm · May 14th, 2010
*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars. Fresh off a tepid debut at Cannes, Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe have unleashed their fifth collaboration upon the world. Forget Scorsese and DiCaprio, these guys are taking actor-director bromance to another level. Together, they’ve given us Oscar winning hits (“Gladiator”), non-Oscar winning hits (“American Gangster”) […]
Filed in: Box Office · Friday Forecast
CANNES: ‘Robin Hood,’ ‘On Tour’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:42 pm · May 12th, 2010
I spent a good long time trying to think of some glib, pithy way to link the pair of titles served up on the first day of the Cannes Film Festival, but must admit defeat — they have no common points whatsoever, apart from the fact that they both, like, feature French people. In lieu […]
Filed in: Reviews
Call it ‘Robin Hood Begins’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:45 pm · May 9th, 2010
Anne tips us off to the first wave of “Robin Hood” reviews, which were meant to be held until Wednesday, given the Cannes screening and all. Alas, no one seems to follow embargoes anymore, so the trades, as usual, spilled right after Empire did the same across the pond. For my part, I’ve been trying […]
Filed in: Daily
Nothing good can come of this
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:12 pm · February 9th, 2010
I tend to avoid reporting on projects at the pre-production stage, since they so often don’t pan out — if they were ever more than rumors to begin with. But it’s for that very reason that I bring this to your attention: if I mention it, that’ll hopefully put the hex on it ever happening. […]
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The Great Performances: 2005
Posted by John Foote · 5:07 pm · December 18th, 2009
2005 was the year of Heath Ledger’s beautiful, moving performance in “Brokeback Mountain,” which I saw for the first time in Toronto. It instantly became the talk of the festival, and the film became the one to beat for the Academy Award. Ledger was astonishing as the taciturn cowboy who is more surprised than anybody […]
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The Great Performances: 2003
Posted by John Foote · 9:14 am · December 4th, 2009
There is little doubt in my mind I am going to take some heat this week, so let’s kick it off right away with my belief that Sean Penn deserved his Best Actor Oscar for “Mystic River,” a performance of overwhelming ferocity and staggering emotional power. Yes, I too loved Bill Murray in “Lost in […]
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The Great Performances: 2001
Posted by John Foote · 6:23 pm · November 20th, 2009
In one of the weakest years in memory, not just for performances but for great films, 2001 saw Denzel Washington and Halle Berry knock “two birds out with one stone,” as the former declared on Oscar night, as two African Americans won the top acting prizes for the first time ever. And it was difficult […]
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The Great Performances: 2000
Posted by John Foote · 7:14 pm · November 13th, 2009
Michael Douglas was robbed. The already Oscar-christened actor gave a career-best performance in 2000 in Curtis Hanson’s “Wonder Boys,” but he got no love from the Academy. Worse, his performance was easily among the five best of the year and won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actor prize. That having been said, I […]
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The Great Performances: 1999
Posted by John Foote · 9:18 pm · November 7th, 2009
1999 was a strange year. And it’s hard to believe a full decade has slipped past since. There were some great award-winning performances, to be sure, but there seemed to be just as many not nominated that certainly should have been. Ten years later, I remain stunned that Reese Witherspoon was not nominated for her […]
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Mann subs Robert Capa for Robert Jordan
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:15 pm · October 4th, 2009
Director Michael Mann has been trying to get an adaptation of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” off the ground for a while now. As far back as October 2006 (when I interviewed Mann for an Eric Roth profile), the film was mere days from being announced. I’m not a sleuth like the Anne Thompsons or […]
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Hey, the rest of the year counts too
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:31 pm · September 7th, 2009
As we sit in the flurry of festival season, with the even more flurry-ful (sorry, I’m tired) awards season upcoming, everyone’s eyes are pointed forward, as we impatiently await the supposedly Oscar-tailored collection of movies peppered across the next 3 or 4 months. At this point, it’s easy to forget that the year is actually […]
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THE LISTS: Top 10 performances from Michael Mann films
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:24 am · June 30th, 2009
With the forthcoming release of Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies” (review) dominating — quite impressively, I might add — the publicity circuit this week, all eyes are on Johnny Depp. An Ulmer Scale X factor for this character study posing as a summer blockbuster, Depp’s performance is sure to draw champions and detractors alike for its […]
Filed in: The Lists
First look at Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott’s ‘Robin Hood’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:55 pm · April 19th, 2009
When Russell Crowe was on Letterman the other night, it totally escaped me that the filming of Rilsey Scott’s “Robin Hood” was responsible for his new “Gladiator” hair do. Now we get our first official look at Crowe in character, courtesy of USA Today: And here’s Crowe pitching “State of Play” in the aforementioned Letterman […]
Filed in: Daily
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