Among the nominees, announced today via press release, for the Teen Choice Awards are Naomi Watts and her tsunami drama "The Impossible"; Ben Affleck and his Iranian hostage caper "Argo"; Bradley Cooper in the plagiarism melodrama "The Words" (remember "The Words"?); and Carey Mulligan for "The Great Gatsby." Outside the prestige categories, things got even weirder, with Jessica Biel nominated for two little-seen films: the science fiction remake "Total Recall" and the romantic comedy "Playing for Keeps." The box-office disappointment "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" got three nominations.

Plus ça change, though: the final "Twilight" film led the field with the most nominations, and Justin Bieber was nominated for "Choice Male Hottie." Good luck, Justin -- and say hi to beloved teen icon Naomi Watts on the red carpet!

Continue Reading...

The Wrap reports:

Bearman's article has not been published yet so details remain thin, but those familiar with the story say it involves a group of teenagers who are used to smuggle drugs in Coronado, which is an affluent resort city near San Diego, California.

Clooney and Heslov will produce with David Klawans, who executive produced "Argo." He's also producing an adaptation of Bearman's 2010 Wired magazine article "Art of the Steal."

Continue Reading...

The fatwa placed on him by Iran long since having been lifted, the novelist is trying new things, from last year's memoir "Joseph Anton" to the upcoming film adaptation of "Midnight's Children," his Booker Prize-winning novel. Rushdie wrote the script for "Midnight's Children" along with director Deepa Mehta, and also narrates the film, which is to be released May 3. But that doesn't mean he isn't still causing controversy.

The fallout from "The Satanic Verses," which brought the ire of Iran, led to a shooting delay that could have jeopardized the entire film.

"Midnight's Children" isn't even about Iran -- it takes on the story of India's history, from the moment of independence to the Partition between India and Pakistan -- an element that Rushdie claims is the book's greatest legacy, educating Indian Hindus and Pakistani Muslims about one another.

The novel is a massive tome -- and it was clearly difficult to winnow down into a film that runs 146 minutes. Rushdie, for decades a literary gadfly, says he was inspired by friends like Kazuo Ishiguro and Gunter Grass. Below, he discusses his influences, whether he'd write about Kashmir, and how the Sri Lankan president saved his film.

Continue Reading...

Ramin Bahrani: Well, probably Andrew would know historically, but I think depending on what’s happening in the world, there’s always a possibility for a political film to exist. I mean, “Zero Dark Thirty” was probably the one that was the most directly connected to what was happening, “Lincoln” in more of a shadow way, “Argo,” I think, in maybe a way that makes the least sense in terms of what’s happening, actually. I think there’s always an appetite, and now that we clearly have a major conflict in Washington, I think that Occupy Wall Street is making people think very differently about society and our role in it. I think wealth and equality and this whole idea [of a] 99 percent is a huge topic – it’s on people’s minds, especially young people. So anyway, that informs cinema.

Continue Reading...

The talks come after officials dismissed the film about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, calling it anti-Iran propaganda in February, and again taking issue with Michelle Obama's presentation of the best picture award to "Argo" at the Oscars ceremony. The lawsuit would allege that "Argo" gives an "unrealistic portrayal" of the country, but it's not clear yet specifically whom the lawsuit would target.

As of January, the Iranian government has been working on its own retelling of the crisis, called "The General Staff."  According to the Hollywood Reporter, the project is being liberally funded by the Art Bureau of the Iranian government.

Continue Reading...

But apparently not. While a robust debate has emerged about Zero Dark Thirty’s depiction of torture, the film largely celebrates the tireless spycraft of a CIA analyst who was complicit. Meanwhile, Argo is an unqualified nod towards the CIA’s collaboration with Hollywood in liberating hostages held in Iran in 1979.

Argo and Zero Dark Thirty are only the latest film productions the CIA has influenced in the 15 years since the Agency opened its official liaison office to Hollywood. Tricia Jenkins examines the history of this version of “Hollywood confidential” in The CIA in Hollywood: How the Agency Shapes Film and Television. Short and dry, her book raises serious ethical and legal questions about the relationship between the CIA and Hollywood, and the extent to which we consume propaganda from one through the other.

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

Who knows – perhaps with the right poster, "Wreck-It Ralph" might have snagged best picture!

Be sure to view these in full-screen mode.

[slide_show id="13211482"]

Continue Reading...

On Monday's radio broadcast, Limbaugh said he sent the widely derided Oscars host an "attaboy note." MacFarlane's response, according to Rush? "You know what? I kind of understand how you conservatives feel about the media now."

Limbaugh was fired up about the Oscars, and saw evidence of a liberal conspiracy to create a totalitarian world, and also a political tug-of-war between Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein.

Speaking of Michelle Obama's appearance via video link to hand out the best picture Oscar with Jack Nicholson, Limbaugh said:

Continue Reading...

Of course, it turns out she was. And the current first lady, Michelle Obama, is more popular than Clinton was then. So, what does the future hold for her?

After a winning weekend on Jimmy Fallon's show and the Academy Awards, it's clear she will be in demand.

There’s a tradition at the Oscars of an elder statesman of Hollywood (and they are mostly statesmen) presenting the award for best picture at the end of the perennially overtime award show. Last year it was Tom Cruise, the year before that it was Steven Spielberg (his third appearance in 10 years), and before that people like Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford and Clint Eastwood.

Continue Reading...

One possible reason? The New York Times has a theory they won't attribute to anyone, but which they pushed in stories both Friday and today: "Lincoln" and its producers "seemed to overreach by getting Bill Clinton to introduce a clip at the Golden Globes last month." The film seemed to bid for recognition as more than a movie, as something serious and grave, in its marketing materials as well, with For Your Consideration ads describing noble sacrifice and exhorting "His Story is Our Story." At a time when Congress is held in low esteem (to say the least), a reminder that the film's depiction of a fractious Congress united by a charismatic leader is somehow meant to be contemporary hardly inspires.

Continue Reading...

Of course it’s standard operating procedure for someone in my position (or yours, for that matter!) to mock the Oscars for all kinds of reasons: The terrible musical numbers, the doomed attempts to seem hip and relevant, the amazing empty stretches in the middle of the evening occupied only by technical awards no one outside the film industry understands and commercials for “financial products.” In a year when the most famous awards ceremony in the history of show business changes its name in a last-minute branding panic, that’s all way too easy. It wasn't clear that the Oscars had any further to fall after the legendary James Franco-Anne Hathaway debacle of two years ago and the emergency Billy Crystal early-'90s flashback of last year -- and indeed I suspect this year wasn't worse -- just cruder, stranger and more detached from the Oscars' alleged and theoretical purpose.

Continue Reading...

The show's organizers have in recent years flailed about before our eyes to make the evening's proceedings a less grim broadcast – bringing James Franco and Anne Hathaway in hopes of making it a dewy, youthful affair, then turning around and trotting out Billy Crystal with the promise of the balm of the reassuringly familiar. This year, the spaghetti it threw at the wall of television viewers was Seth MacFarlane, and the pitch was basically, "Let's try making the show saucy and fun -- like the 2012 Golden Globes, but without a British person." And now we know how well that idea works.

Herewith, then, are our most memorable moments of a show that will go down in history as the time the awards gave over its power to Stewie Griffin, and the adversity that followed.

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

The last, late momentum could be with "Silver Linings Playbook."

Director David O. Russell's film cleaned up at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, the last ceremony before tonight's Academy Awards.

It won Independent Spirit Awards for best film, director, screenplay and actress for Jennifer Lawrence.

"The last time I held one of these was 19 years ago for best screenplay and best first feature [for 'Spanking the Monkey'] and my son was 1 year old," Russell said, accepting his award for best director. "Matthew's here today and he gave me this movie."

Russell's son has bipolar disorder. In the film -- up for eight Oscars -- Bradley Cooper's character wrestles with the illness.

John Hawkes won best actor for "The Sessions." His co-star Helen Hunt took best supporting actress. Best supporting actor went to Matthew McConaughey for "Magic Mike."

"Amour" was named best foreign film.

Continue Reading...

If you've been to the movies in the last half-century, you know the White Savior genre well. It's the catalog of films that features white people single-handedly rescuing people of color from their plight. These story lines insinuate that people of color have no ability to rescue themselves. This both makes white audiences feel good about themselves by portraying them as benevolent messiahs (rather than hegemonic conquerors), and also depicts people of color as helpless weaklings -- all while wrapping such tripe in the cinematic argot of liberation.

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

But everything is poised to change for "Argo." The precursor awards for Affleck and his film have been rolling in and building momentum for his Oscar campaign: The actor-turned-director picked up trophies for directing from the Critics' Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, the Directors Guild of America, and the UK's BAFTA Awards. As voting ends today, "Argo" is perceived to be in the lead: the aggregate Oscar prognosticators at Movie City News's authoritative Gurus O' Gold have overwhelmingly declared "Argo" the film to beat for best picture.

Continue Reading...