Despite the best efforts of animal rights activists to kill the movie at the box office as if it were a vicious, blood-thirsty wolf that had lost its fear of humans, The Grey finished first place over the weekend, bringing in an estimated $20 million. Contrary to what many animal rights groups had predicted, the film's popularity did not inspire a mass outbreak of senseless vigilante-style wolf-killings.
Here's the list of all the big movie winners from tonight's 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGs):
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: The Help
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: Viola Davis (The Help)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Octavia Spencer (The Help)
Tuesday’s Oscar nominations announcement presented the usual blend of sure things, sweet surprises and shocking snubs. But one of the juiciest competitions to officially emerge was that between George Clooney’s The Descendants and Brad Pitt’s Moneyball. Both films are up for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, while both actors are up for the coveted Best Actor Oscar.
It’s an exciting showdown—not only because they each delivered a solid performance, but because Clooney and Pitt are good friends. And while the pals are renowned for being handsome, debonair and gracious, they’re also credited with having wicked senses of humour. Clooney in particular is known for his prankster antics, and recent comments from the star indicate that Brad Pitt might want to watch his back as the Oscars race heats up.
New in theatres this week: Liam Neeson battles wolves onscreen, animal rights activists offscreen; 9/11 truther Daniel Sunjata appeases our Illuminati overlords by starring in a Katherine Heigl romantic comedy; and the searing Iranian state-sponsored drama A Separation proves that even the crazy Ahmadinejad regime is occasionally capable of making sensible decisions.
In this week's Oscars-y edition of Take Two, Devon and Mark debate the merits of 2011's most beloved raunch-com, Bridesmaids, and whether or not it was robbed of an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
Last year, the trailer for The Dilemma — which bizarrely opened with Vince Vaughn describing electric cars as "gay" — created one of the biggest movie-related controversies of recent memory. Amid a string of teen suicides that were widely believed to be the result of anti-gay bullying, the joke was singled out by GLAAD and Anderson Cooper as particularly insensitive and cruel. Despite the harsh criticism, director Ron Howard resolved to keep the joke in the finished film — although Universal issued a new trailer that opened in a more conventional way.
50/50 (8/10)
If you didn't get the opportunity to see last year's critically acclaimed "cancer comedy" 50/50, now's your chance to see what all the fuss was about. Out on Blu-ray and DVD this week, this third directorial feature of Jonathan Levine's has just the right blend of comedic and dramatic warmth to get you through a cold, windy night in the remaining months of winter. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Anjelica Huston, 50/50 delivers a unique combination of raunchy comedy, dark and witty humour, and tear-jerking pathos that blend together surprisingly well.
The Whistleblower stars Rachel Weisz as real-life security expert Kathy Bolkovac, whose bravery brought media and political attention to the sex trade in post-war Bosnia, and offers a poignant, often disturbing examination of the politics of sex trafficking. From the enslavement and torture of young women that flourished in post-war Bosnia, to the complicity—and worse yet, direct involvement—of international security agents, The Whistleblower contains scenes that will inspire outrage.But like its protagonist, The Whistleblower has also acted as a catalyst for change. By highlighting Kathy Bolkovac’s story, the film forced UN officials to acknowledge their organization’s involvement in the sex trade and their efforts to conceal that involvement. And although director Larysa Kondracki says the UN has yet to officially apologize to trafficking victims, her film has nevertheless sparked an important international dialogue. It also recently nabbed six Genie nominations, including Best Motion Picture, Best Achievement in Direction, and Best Performance by an Actress for Rachel Weisz.
I recently spoke with Kondracki about The Whistleblower and its impact. Here are the highlights of our conversation:
The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have been announced! Leading the way with eleven nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, is Martin Scorsese's 3D Adventure film, Hugo. The black-and-white silent movie The Artist came in at a close second with a total of ten nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius), and Best Actor (Jean Dujardin).
Moneyball and War Horse picked up six nominations each, while The Descendants and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo each had 5 (all four films except for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were nominated for Best Picture). Rounding out the nine nominees for the top prize are Midnight in Paris (4 nominations), The Help (4 nominations), The Tree of Life (3 nominations), and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2 nominations).
The Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26th at 8:00PM EST/5:00PM PST. Here's the full list of nominees:
Both Haywire and Underworld: Awakening are action movies that feature a strong female lead character, but apart from that, the two movies have little in common. Haywire received mostly rave reviews; Underworld wasn't even screened for critics. Haywire offered audiences something they rarely ever see in movies (realistic action scenes presented in a coherent way); Underworld offered audiences something they were already extremely familiar with (vampires vs. werewolves). Haywire didn't go over very well with non-film critics, earning a D+ Cinemascore rating from regular audiences; Underworld, meanwhile, was deemed to be slightly better than The Social Network and Inception by regular audiences, who awarded it a Cinemascore of A-.
It wasn't too surprising then that Haywire performed poorly at the box office, earning just $9 million, while Underworld finished in first place at the box office with $25 million.
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