Take The City And Run

Woody Allen’s upcoming release, Match Point, has people revved up more than any of his films in quite some time. And, if the trailer and press are anything to go by, the interest is well-deserved. Gothamist captures the impact of the trailer quite succinctly with this:
Major kudos need to go to the DreamWorks marketing team […]

Nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards have been announced (via IFC Blog):
Best Feature

Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Good Night, And Good Luck
The Squid And The Whale
The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada

Best Director

Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
George Clooney, Good Night, And Good Luck
Gregg Araki, Mysterious Skin
Rodrigo García, Nine Lives
Noah Baumbach, The Squid And The Whale

Best First Feature

Crash
Lackawanna Blues
Me And You And […]

Syriana looks to be the most interesting film to open this week as the Middle East gets Stephen Gaghan’s Traffic-style, sprawling, ensemble cast treatment. Advance word is good for the film and for George Clooney’s performance. And if you need additional reasons to see it, how about Christopher Plummer, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, Matt Damon, […]

The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting interview with George Lucas, in which he discusses the future of technology and presentation in filmmaking — perhaps “moviemaking” is more appropriate, though.
(via Cinematical)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has annouced the shortlist from which the three nominees for Best Animate Feature will be chosen:

Chicken Little
Gulliver’s Travel
Hoodwinked
Howl’s Moving Castle
Madagascar
Robots
Steamboy
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
Valiant
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit

Wallace & Gromit may be a safe bet for the eventual win and probably has a lock on […]

Which is more disturbing? The fact that someone designed a Pataki For President” thong or the fact that someone is supporting Pataki for President in the first place?
(via The Politcker)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has annouced the shortlist from which the five nominees for Best Documentary Feature will be chosen:

After Innocence
The Boys of Baraka
Darwin’s Nightmare
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (read bullet review)
Favela Rising
Mad Hot Ballroom
March of the Penguins
Murderball
Occupation: Dreamland
On Native Soil: The Documentary of the […]

Let’s face it: most biopics suck. It’s hard to shoehorn even the most interesting lives into a dramatic structure that feels satisfying and complete. Biopics tend to be overly episodic and, too often, begin to lose momentum in the final acts, either marking time while waiting for the protagonist to die (Pollock) or suddenly skipping […]

According to Yahoo! News/Reuters, Fox has officially decided to cut and run from Arrested Development. Let’s see: hilariously funny, well-written/acted/produced, critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning. All good reasons for cancellation, obviously. But, of course, the real reason for the move is that the show’s ratings have, unfortunately, never been as great as the network would have liked. […]

If you’re up for what appears to be some good old-fashioned Oscar-baiting, make sure to check out Bee Season or Pride & Prejudice, both of which open this week.
Of course, Oscar-baiting isn’t all that Hollywood’s about. There’s also “Jumanji in space” (Zathura), “The Rapper Basically Plays Himself Story” (Get Rich Or Die Tryin’), and […]

Empire’s “50 Greatest Independent Films” list is now online.
Bearing in mind that to encompass all those that are independently financed would mean The Phantom Menace is an independent film, we’ve qualified all entries by ensuring they were made with what we consider to be an independent spirit. The final order then takes into account […]

John Lydon apparently has some unexpected opinions about who should play him in a movie based on his autobiography:
“I want Jason (sic) Timberlake to do it. I know it sounds odd and the market he comes from is screaming teen girls, but he’s just the kind of bloke who would really, really make an effort. […]