November 2, 2009
12 Facts About 2012
Did the Mayans really predict, all those centuries ago, that Earth would be visited by planetary apocalypse three years from now? It's open to interpretation -- Roland Emmerich has a gargantuan disaster movie to sell and even he admits the whole 2012 theory is just, "a nice hook for the audience." John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Woody Harrelson and Danny Glover are a few of the stars swept up in Emmerich's latest cataclysmic shocker. Rotten Tomatoes meets the cast and director in Cancun, Mexico - close to the once-throbbing heart of Mayan civilisation -- for a 2012 fact-finding mission.
More...
February 23, 2007
Familiar Face Joins "Iron Man" Ensemble
One of those "know the face / don't know the name" character actors has just been signed to co-star with Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow in Jon Favreau's "Iron Man." His name is Shaun Toub, and here's what you might remember him from...
More...
August 24, 2006
New Line Signs Bettany & Fraser for "Inkheart"
New Line's just getting the ball rolling on their highly-anticipated "His Dark Materials" series -- and now they have an all-new potential trilogy to worry about. Chapter one of Cornelia Funke's series is called "Inkheart," and it looks like Brendan Fraser and Paul Bettany have been tapped as the lead guys.
More...
July 13, 2006
Critical Consensus: "Dupree" Misfires; "Little Man" Is Short On Laughs
This week at the movies, we've got some unwanted houseguests, in the guise of a guy with a bad case of arrested development ("You, Me and Dupree," starring Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon) and a pint-sized thief on the lam ("Little Man," starring Marlon and Shawn Wayans). Will the critics be welcoming, or will they boot these flicks into the street?
More...
April 21, 2006
Oscar Jumps Back to February
You know how the Oscars have been were held in March this year? Not any more. Starting next year, the Oscars head back to their normal spot: the last week of February.
More...
April 5, 2006
An Early Peek at the Other "World Trade Center" Movie
With everyone buzzing about Paul Greengrass' United 93, another 9/11-centric project has fallen into the background ... for now, anyway. But IGN FilmForce has a few tidbits reharding Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, including a plot recap, a cast list, and a pair of pics.
More...
March 13, 2006
Haggis To Direct And Produce "Enemies"
As negotiations with Columbia Pictures wrap up, multiple award-winning hyphenate Paul Haggis is adding another project to his plate: "Against All Enemies," based on former counterterrorism agent Richard A. Clarke's best-selling memoir.
More...
March 13, 2006
"Failure" Fails To Fail At The Weekend Box Office
By now it's downright ridiculous, but once again the weekend's box office winners are also the week's critical duds, with the aptly named "Failure To Launch" balancing a Tomatometer of 30 percent with an opening B.O. of $24.6 mil.
More...
March 9, 2006
"Walk the Line" Leaps to No. 1
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's "Walk the Line" strutted into the top spot on both the DVD sales and rental charts the week ended March 5, easily beating a slate of high-profile competitors.
More...
March 6, 2006
Indie Spirit Awards Distributed
Lost in the shadow of the weekend's Oscar coverage was the annual Independent Spirit Awards presentation, which is where you'll find ... a lot of accolades similar to the Academy Award winners.
More...
March 6, 2006
The Day After The Oscars: A Recap
So, it's the day after the Oscars. You might be stinging from the upset wins of last night (Three 6 Mafia, Oscar-winners?? No acting honors for "Brokeback?"), or maybe you actually won the office pool by picking dark horse "Crash" for best pic. Either way, the 78th Annual Academy Awards show was a doozy.
More...
March 3, 2006
2006 Golden Schmoe Award Winners!
Sure, everyone's psyched for the Oscars this Sunday night (yes, even the movie snobs who claim to hate the Oscars), but let's kick the weekend off with an awards presentation that's a little less ... highbrow. If you followed our advice last week, then you've already cast your ballot for JoBlo's Golden Schmoe Awards. Now check out the winners!
More...
March 2, 2006
"Crash" Producers Wage War In Court
Days before their pic goes head-to-head with gay cowboys, pimps, and other cinematic heroes of the year, the producers of "Crash" have locked horns in court in not one, but two lawsuits -- with each other.
More...
February 22, 2006
BAFTA Winners Announced!
The British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) held their annual awards presentation on February 21st, and they managed to dole out some love for an interesting variety of films and filmmakers -- most of which have been on the receiving end of other awards already, but they're good choices anyway, if it's me you're asking.
More...
January 31, 2006
2005 Oscar Nominations Are In!
Like most pathetic movie geeks, I was up at the crack of dawn (ok, 8:30am eastern time) to see how my nomination prediction ballot would measure up. (I was perfect on all 20 acting nods and all 10 screenwriting nods, but I erroneously predicted that "Walk the Line" would get nominated over "Capote" for Best Picture, and I picked Croneberg for director over Benett Miller.) Anyhow, here are the nominations for us to rant and rave about for the next five weeks...
More...
January 16, 2006
OFCS Announces Its '05 Winners
The Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) cast their ballots over the holiday weekend in an effort to pick the group's favorite flicks from 2005, and I think we did a pretty solid job, all things considered.
More...
January 13, 2006
Ohio Film Critics Offer Up Their Year-End Picks
The film critics of Central Ohio have chimed in with their own year-end picks, and they came up with quite a few solid surprises, actually. How about "A History of Violence" as best film of the year?
More...
January 11, 2006
The "People's Choice" is Pure Idiocy
Whenever I share a new Top Ten List or Critic's Group Nomination list, I'm always extra careful to be fair and respectful of other peoples' opinions. But after seeing what the "People's Choice Awards" handed out for 2005's movies, I just can't contain myself. It's simply too hilarious.
More...
January 11, 2006
Chicago Critics Pick Their 2005 Winners (and Iowa!)
The Chicago Film Critics Group announced their nominees just before New Years' Eve, and they reconvened this week to vote on their year-end favorites. Also, the Iowa Film Critics chimed in with their picks as well. Why not? Iowa has film critics, too!
More...
January 10, 2006
Broadcast Film Critics Dole Out Their Awards on National TV
The Broadcast Film Critics Association held their annual awards presentation live on The WB network, with plenty of mildly corny jokes, appreciative acceptance speeches, accolades galore, and even a few cool surprises. (Oh, and their favorite film overall was "Brokeback Mountain.")
More...
January 10, 2006
Online Film Critics Offer Their Annual Nominations
The OFCS, which is hosted right here at Rotten Tomatoes and (full disclosure) includes yours truly as a member, announced their year-end nominations yesterday ... and we hope you'll find a few solid surprises among the more familiar (yet obviously deserving) nominees. The winners will be announced on Monday the 16th.
More...
January 6, 2006
DGA & SAG Chime in with Their Nominations
Yesterday we got the year-end nominations from the Writers Guild and the Producers Guild, so simple logic dictates that today should bring news from the directors (DGA) and the actors (SAG). As always we thank Movie City News for divulging every single nomination on the planet.
More...
January 4, 2006
Ebert & Roeper Share Their Favorites from '05
TV's biggest and most (relatively) beloved movie critics, Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper, have announced their top ten lists for 2005, and you can either listen to the banter on their official site, or you can hang out here and just read 'em. Our way is quicker.
More...
December 22, 2005
Phoenix & Toronto Critics Offer Their Year-End Favorites
It's tough to keep up with all the critics' awards being tossed out this time of year, but Movie City News sure helps out a whole lot. This time we have the year-end picks from critic's groups in Phoenix, Arizona, and Toronto, Ontario.
More...
December 21, 2005
Southeastern Critics Chime in With Their Picks
The 2005 Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards announced their annual awards on Monday, Dec. 19, in Atlanta, Ga. Forty-two members in nine states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia) voted in the 14th annual SEFCA poll.
More...
December 20, 2005
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics 2005 Awards
December 19, 2005 -- DALLAS-FORT WORTH FILM CRITICS NAME ?BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN? BEST OF 2005. The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association voted the frontier romance BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN as the best film of 2005, according to the results of its 12th annual critics? poll.
More...
December 16, 2005
London Movie Critics Present Their '05 Nominations
Movie City News shares with us a press release from the London Film Critics Group in which their various nominations are announced. Keep in mind that the Brit crits use their own release dates as criteria, so don't be surprised to see a few 2004 releases in the mix.
More...
December 13, 2005
Awards Season Gets Rolling with Crix Picks
If you're a fan of the late-year awards season, be sure to add Movie City News to your hit list, because they deliver some consistently excellent coverage. Mid-December is when most of the critics' groups start doling out their accolades, and so far we've gotten input from reviewers' groups in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington.
More...
December 12, 2005
BFCA Nominees Announced; "Brokeback" Leads Pack
The Broadcast Film Critics Association announced its Critics Choice Awards, and "Brokeback Mountain," Ang Lee's revisionist western, leads the pack with eight nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor (Heath Ledger), Best Supporting Actor (Jake Gyllenhaal), and Best Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams).
More...
July 7, 2005
Eastwood Drafts Three Soldiers for "Flag" Duty
Legendary filmmaker Clint Eastwood ("The Outlaw Josey Wales," "Million Dollar Baby") has just started casting his next project, which is a WWII drama entitled "Flags of Our Fathers." Recently enlisted were Ryan Phillippe ("Antitrust"), Adam Beach ("Windtalkers"), and Jesse Bradford ("Swimfan"), and the trio will be starring in a film inspired by the true-life accounts found in James Bradley's "Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima."
More...
May 23, 2005
"Sith" Smashes Box Office Records All Over the Place
Needless to say, "Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith" was the number one movie at the box office this weekend ... and it absolutely demolished a few records in the process. "Sith" grossed just over $158 million in its first four days of release as it debuted on over 9,000 screens.
More...
May 16, 2005
Fonda & J. Lo Enjoy a "Monster" Weekend
Despite total box office numbers being down (once again), that didn't stop the critically lambasted Jane Fonda/Jennifer Lopez comedy "Monster-in-Law" from grabbing the top spot with a better-than-expected haul of $24 million on 3,400 screens. Also debuting in fine financial form was the Will Ferrell sports comedy "Kicking & Screaming," which effortlessly earned second place with a tally of $20.8 million on approximately the same number of screens.
More...
May 9, 2005
"Kingdom" Leads a Less Than Heavenly Weekend at the Box Office
"Officially" starting the Summer Movie Season with somewhat of a fizzle are a pair of wide release newcomers and a handful of hangers-on. Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven" took the #1 spot by a healthy margin, although total box office numbers continue to lag as compared to last year. "Heaven" grossed an estimated $20 million on 3,200 screens, which was more than enough to give it the top spot, despite hauling in less cash than anticipated. In second place ...
More...
May 5, 2005
Critical Consensus: ?Crash? Garners Bullock First Fresh Film in Nearly a Decade
Two weeks before the release of the final Star Wars movie where we finally get to see Anakin Skywalker giving over to the dark side of the Force, three new wide releases will try to tempt us into forking over our money this weekend. Orlando Bloom headlines Ridley Scott?s (?Gladiator?) epic tale about a blacksmith who goes on to achieve great fame in ?Kingdom of Heaven.? Elisha Cuthbert (?24?) tries her luck in yet another horror remake, ?House of Wax.? Sandra Bullock teams up with Don Cheadle and an ensemble cast in ?Crash,? a drama about race relations. We?ll see which of these new releases will be able to seduce the nation?s print, online, and broadcast critics.
More...
May 2, 2005
"The Guide" Reigns Supreme During Its Debut Weekend
The long-awaited movie version of Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" ended up in first place during its inaugural weekend, raking in a healthy (but not staggering) $21.7 million from just over 3,300 theaters. Hanging on in second place was last weekend's "The Interpreter" which pulled in a fairly impressive $14.2m in its second weekend. Debuting in third place was ...
More...
