Michael Keaton, Benedict Cumberbatch and Steve Carell signal lift-off for Oscar's Best Actor category

HITFIX
By Kristopher Tapley  

TELLURIDE — If you asked me to pick between the three commanding, sure-fire awards-contending lead actor performances on display at this year's Telluride Film Festival, I'd have a break down. Yet that's just what Academy voters will surely be asked to do in a few months' time, with added pressure in the form of whoever fills out the rest of the competitive category.

In "Birdman," Michael Keaton may well end up putting forth the most compelling case for a win. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but some things are just patently obvious. Keaton is resurrected by this film, a tried-and-true narrative that we just saw play out last year with Matthew McConaughey. More than that, he's revealing shades of a character that will no doubt connect with actors, presenting the very id of a soul desperate to perform but hamstrung and even quarantined by the realities of the "business" of "show business."

In "The Imitation Game," Benedict Cumberbatch delivers his career-best work in a biopic that is sure to find Academy love and adoration across the board. "Birdman" certainly left a crater, but Morten Tyldum's film feels very much like the breakout of the festival. It's on everyone's lips and I've overheard more than a few compare the experience to the "King's Speech" coming out of 2010. And a lot of that stems from the undeniable layers Cumberbatch exhibits in his performance as ill-fated computer pioneer Alan Turing, finding graceful emotional notes amid the otherwise eccentric playground of the film's subject.


Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/best-actor-oscar-race-heats-up-in-telluride#vsIywHbc493cuzel.99

Keria Knightley and Steve Carell "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwYC7V8iYr4

Keira Knightley steals apocalyptic comedy from Steve Carell BY JOE WILLIAMS > Post-Dispatch Film Critic > joewilliams@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8344 | Posted: Friday, June 22, 2012 1:15 am STL TODAY

"This is the way the world ends," poet T.S. Eliot wrote. "Not with a bang but a whimper."

For reasons that are so obvious that storytellers have stopped mentioning them, the apocalypse is all the rage. Survivalists are counting the days until the rapture or the Mayan meltdown, and last year we had two separate movies about astronomical annihilation ("Another Earth" and "Melancholia").

An asteroid is the off-screen bad guy in "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World," but the problem with this nice-try comedy is the nice-guy protagonist. Steve Carell, as a whimpering white suburbanite who hunts for a lost love while the clock runs down, is a black hole that sucks the satirical juice from the movie.

Carell is Dodge, an East Coast insurance agent whose wife leaves him on the eve of destruction. While his yuppie friends fornicate and snort heroin (a wickedly funny touch), Dodge wonders what ever happened to his first love, Olivia.

As the faceless masses finally make a cameo appearance in his neighborhood, Dodge stages a hasty getaway with Penny (Keira Knightley), the free spirit from the apartment downstairs, who has a car and an armload of vintage vinyl to wile away the hours.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7FKVAuDv8M&feature=player_embedded


Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/keira-knightley-steals-apocalyptic-comedy-from-steve-carell/article_c4919d70-b9c7-11e1-b8ad-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1yefoGrRM

Keria Knightley: Steve Carell Vs. The End of the World (She Knows)

What would you do if you had three weeks to live?

Feb 10, 2012 4:05 PM by Jenna Milly

In the quirky comedy about finding a friend when the world is literally crashing down around you, Steve Carell and Keira Knightley make for a comedic odd couple in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.   

Steve Carell and Keira Knightley are an odd couple dealing with an even odder situation. The earth will be destroyed by a meteor in three weeks, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it.

Carell plays Dodge, an office worker who finds out -- along with the rest of the world – about the demise of the planet. Panicked, emotional and completely out of their minds, everyone else responds in stride.

Dodge on the other hand seems to have a deadpan approach to this looming disaster. He was lonely before he found out the earth was being destroyed, and he's lonely now.


Read further:  http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/949155/what-would-you-do-if-you-had-three-weeks-to-live

How to host the Golden Globes: an open letter to Ricky Gervais (The Guardian)

In the first of a series offering well-meant unasked advice to the prominent, Emma G Keller warns Ricky Gervais

 

Third time's a charm. Ricky Gervais hosts the 2011 Golden Globes Photograph: Handout/Getty Images

Dear Ricky,

Sunday's a big night for you, and to be honest we're the teensiest bit concerned. Ever since we heard that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association called you back to host the Golden Globe Awards for the third time, we've been a little on edge. How can we explain this to you nicely? You were funnier when you were fat. Now that you've slimmed down you've gone all shouty and worthy on us.

Your blog is filled with rants against fundamentalists and animal abusers. Your tweets are weird. Last year's Globes appearance was joke-lite and that was before you completely disappeared half way through the show. What were you doing backstage all that time? Eating your feelings?

Listen, we're happy for you to have a dig – or as Robert Downey Jr put it be "hugely mean-spirited" – to the celebs in the room on Sunday. But we – yes us, the 200 million people watching at home – like the occasional laugh in our three-hour live broadcasts. So here are some tips to help get you back on the humor track.


SLOW DOWN… your Twitter output starting this minute. You need to be in full comedian mode. So write jokes, not tweets. In any case we follow comedians on Twitter for laughs not for tweets like your 'Joking aside now. How fucking disgusting is it of that cunt to tell a rape victim they are a murderer for not wanting that child. Pure evil.'

Ricky, for you, there is no joking aside now.

HAVE FUN JOKING ABOUT… TinTin. Cars 2. Alec Baldwin playing Words With Friends on a plane. Rupert Murdoch's Twitter account. Wendi Deng's fake one. Demi Moore as Gloria Steinem in the upcoming Linda Lovelace movie. Globe nominees Meryl as Maggie and Leonardo as J Edgar.
Piers Morgan. Donald Trump. The Justin Bieber baby. The Justin Bieber movie. War Horse. Anything else by Steven Spielberg. Lindsay Lohan's teeth. Or other body parts. Dragon tattoos. Any real or fake housewife. Celebrity divorces, (Ashton and Demi, Russell and Katy, J Lo and Marc, Arnold and Maria, Kim and Kris). George Clooney's perennial on-again-off-again single status. Gay marriages. Royal marriages. W.E. All the Republican Presidential candidates.

PLEASE DON'T MENTION… Any show or movie you have ever made, written or starred in. Especially The Office. Or your 2011 Golden Globes performance. Don't plug your upcoming HBO series, "Life's Too Short." Why not? Well, we don't want to find out that the BBC has already cancelled it.

Also, drop the Steve Carrell superstar schtick.

DO START… A Stephen Merchant superstar schtick. He's grown out of being your sidekick. And do a turn with Bridesmaids superstar, Kristen Wiig. She can give anyone a comic lift.

DON'T SHOW US… DVDs of your past work. A glass of beer. A Kardashian.

DO SHOW US… All the Brit nominees – Downton Abbey, The Hour, Damian Lewis, Kate Winslet (if you must), Janet McTeer, Kenneth Branagh, Hugh Bonneville, Dominic West, Emily Watson, Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith.

Oh, and single out Ryan Gosling – he's not a Brit, but he is a beaut. Make a few jokes about him so the camera heads his way. We might not laugh but we'll beam with pleasure.

Good luck!

Emma
XOXO



http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/filmblog/2012/jan/13/ricky-gervais-golden-globes-host?CMP=NECNETTXT8187

Ray Stevenson: Pompeii (shooting starts in 2012) (International Business)

Pompeii (shooting starts in 2012)

If Earth makes it past the Dec. 21 deadline conspiracy theorists insist is the end of the world, Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson is set to release Pompeii, a disaster flick set during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The movie won't just feature volcanic CGI destruction, but will also include a love story, according to reports that will star Christoph Waltz, Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson and Milla Jovovich.


Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (April 20)

The end of the world doesn't have to be all doom and gloom as this flick might suggest. Rom coms have taken audiences from working girls climbing the corporate ladder to faked orgasms in Katz's Delicatessen to lifting a boombox in front of a professed love's home, but doomsday?

Sure thing!

In "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World", as an asteroid hurls towards Earth, Dodge (played by Steve Carell) searches out his long-lost high school sweet heart after he wife jets in a panic. Dodge's neighbor Penny (played by Keira Knightley) joins him, putting a wrench in his plans. Directed by Lorene Scafaria.

Men in Black III (May 25)

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones launch this third 3D installment from the Men in Black franchise, but this time, it's a future mankind they're out to save.

This flick will time travel back to 1969 after Agent J (Smith) catches word that an evil alien named Boris is threatening to destroy the world. Agent J meets the younger Agent K (Jones) in the battle against the baddies.

Prometheus (June 8)

Director Ridley Scott's upcoming sci-fi action flick will pit a team of explorers against an alien life force driven to destroy the human race.

In the movie, a group of researchers venture to the darkest coerners of the universe to find the beginning of life only to find an unknonwn enemy that the film makers say will lead them to "fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race."



World War Z (Dec. 21)

Just in time for the alleged doomsday date of Dec. 21, this novel-inspired film takes a look at a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by flesh-eating zombies. The movie stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a U.N. employee " who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself," according to reports. In the original novel, Lane interviews zombie survivors in an effort to piece together a world war that destroyed every nation on Earth. Directed by Marc Forster.

Michael Fassbender, Jude Law, Keira Knightley (Pop Sugar)

Keira Knightley Compares and Contrasts Costars Jude Law and Michael Fassbender

---

Posted 01/11/12 1:15 AMby Allie Merriam·  

 

Keira Knightley stars as patient-turned-psychiatrist Sabina Spielrein in David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, which expands into theaters across the country this Friday. The film came out in limited release last Fall, and quickly earned notoriety for the racy sex scenes Keira shares with her hot costar Michael Fassbender, who plays Carl Jung.

Yesterday, Keira spoke about working with both Michael and David. Keira shared excitement for the critical acclaim Michael's earned for another daring performance in Shame, a movie she liked quite a bit. She also spoke about her other upcoming projects, Seeking a Friend at the End of the World, the directorial debut from Lorene Scafaria featuring Steve Carell, and a remake of Anna Karenina. The later film sees Keira paired up with director Joe Wright for the third time, after Atonement and Pride & Prejudice, as well as leading man Jude Law. Keira said:

• On having reservations about the spanking scenes in DM: "I was 95% going to say yes as soon as my agent said, 'Look, David Cronenberg is going to offer you a film.' . . . I did have reservations about the masochistic scenes. I actually spoke to him about it and said, 'I love the script, but I'm not sure I can do this because of these scenes. I'm not quite sure I want to go there.' And he said, 'If that stops you playing the part, that would be a tragedy so let's just take them out.' And I thought that was an amazing thing for him offer. We just talked and talked, and once he's made it clear he didn't want it to be voyeuristic and sexy, he wanted them to be kind of more clinical, I thought I might as well go for it."
• On similarities between Jude and Michael: "No! No. Jude a proper actor — he's wonderful to work with. He's a proper actor, I mean they all are . . . Michael works in a much more muscular way. Everything turns into muscle memory. He works a script, and works a script. Jude does a lot of theater so he comes from the preparation side — like a rehearsal room. He's really open to it, and he asks a lot of questions on that day. He's just phenomenal. So no there aren't any similarities, but they're all very good actors."
• On first-time director Lorene: "She's just fab — she's great. She's completely the reason I think everybody signed up to do the movie. The script was wonderful. It was one of the best scripts I've ever read. The dialogue was brilliant, and the concept behind it was amazing. I haven't seen the finished article yet. I'm seeing it [today] so that's really exciting. She's an amazing woman, an amazing talent. On set, to think it was her first film — you'd never have guessed it. She was so cool, she knew exactly what she wanted, she was unbelievably fast, she was completely amazing. So hopefully it will work!"
• On what she's excited to see succeed during award season: "I was really excited about Shame, because given the nature of it and the subject matter of it, quite often those ones get passed by. I think Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady. That performance was amazing. That was very good. I haven't seen The Artist yet, but I'm really looking forward to seeing that."

To read Keira's thoughts on Michael in Shame, working with the "lovely" Steve Carell, and wrapping Anna Karenina, just keep reading.

• On Michael's work in Shame: "I have seen him in Shame. I think he's amazing. I saw him in Hunger as well, and he got quite a lot of awards for that one as well, which was completely right and justified. He's a phenomenal actor, and I think his performance in Shame is amazing. Talk about brave. I think it's wonderful."
• On learning about psychiatry for DM: "I knew nothing about it. The script came through my door and I just thought it was totally fascinating. Obviously, I'd heard of Freud and Jung but I'd never heard of Sabina Spielrein. I really knew very little about any of them. It was really just an amazing opportunity to read as many books as I could in the couple of months before I started and really delve into that world. And it was fascinating."
• On bring surprised by the amount of press the DM spanking scene received: "This time in New York, people aren't really talking about it. They are a little bit, but not as much as I thought that they would be. It goes to show how well the film's been received and how fascinating the subject matter is. That is an interesting part of it, and I was interested by it because I didn't understand why people would want to do that or what the vibe is and what she was getting out of it — the fact that the subject itself is so fascinating. What's more shocking about the character is what's going on in her head rather than the spanking scene."
• On cracking up while working with Steve Carell: ""He's just lovely. He's such a lovely man. I was quite frightened, because I haven't done comedy before really. I was kind of going, 'It's terrifying, I don't know how to do it, I don't even want to do it!' He was such a sweetheart."
• On finishing up Anna Karenina: "I wrapped before Christmas. They've got, I think five more days to go. They're going to Russia for five days. Yeah, it's pretty much in the bag."
• On working with Joe Wright for the first time: "We do have a shorthand, but it doesn't get easier. Neither of us are people that are looking for the easy option. We're always looking for something that's going to be more difficult or more challenging. Taking on Anna Karenina is a certainly massive challenge. Partly because it's an 820-page book and you're trying to get it down to, well, a 130-page screenplay."

http://www.popsugar.com/Keira-Knightley-Interview-Michael-Fassbender-Jude-Law-21261320

Couch Potato: Top TV performances of 2011 (Burg)

Credit: Showtime photo

Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin did their typical great work in Showtime's "Homeland," the best new series of the year

 

In a world full of corruption and some pretty awful people on "Game of Thrones," Sean Bean’s Ned Stark was a genuinely good, decent guy. And we all know how things ended up for him. Credit: HBO photo

Emmy winner Margo Martindale's Mags Bennett was one scary, yet likeable, villain on "Justified." Credit: FX photo


Steve Carell was great in his final season on "The Office." Credit: NBC photo

Credit: Showtime photo

Damian Lewis has been incredible on Showtime's freshman drama "Homeland." His former POW is tortured, fascinating and, quite possibly, evil. Yet you still feel for him.

By: Casey Gillis |
Published: December 20, 2011 Updated: December 20, 2011 - 4:05 PM

 

Next week, we’ll be bringing you our lists of the best movies, music and TV of the year.

But before we do, I give you my top TV performers of 2011.

It’s a motley crew of actors, many of whom I’ve loved for years (see: Mandy Patinkin); others, like “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke or “Justified” villain Margo Martindale, are new to my couch potato radar.

Several were nominated for Golden Globe and SAG awards just last week, but more weren’t, to my horror. I hope they consider this a consolation prize.

Damian Lewis, Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin, “Homeland”
Three reasons why this Showtime series is the best new one of the season. Lewis left me guessing about his motives every week (will we ever really know if he’s good or bad?); Danes is scarily good as an increasingly unhinged CIA agent (her character annoys me, but you can’t deny the acting skills that are on display there); and Patinkin is, well, Mandy freakin’ Patinkin. He brings so much to all of his roles, but usually in the quietest, most subtle ways.

Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke and Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”
In a world full of corruption and some pretty awful people, Bean’s Ned Stark was a genuinely good, decent guy. And he got his head chopped off. I can’t remember the last time I was so shocked by a piece of television, and it wouldn’t have affected me as much as it did if Bean wasn’t so good.

I’ve also included Clarke because she believably went from a quiet, scared little girl to a force to be reckoned with (what a splashy first role for a newcomer!), and Dinklage because he simply was Tyrion Lannister.

Mirielle Enos, “The Killing”
This show started out with such promise but quickly went off the rails. Through it all, Enos nailed everything she was given. I believed her, even when I didn’t believe the show.

Margo Martindale, “Justified”
It’s hard to top “Justified’s” season one bad guy, Boyd Crowder, but Martindale’s Mags Bennett fit the bill. She was a tough mountain mama who would do anything for her boys, which made her one scary foe for Raylan Givens.

Nick Offerman, “Parks and Recreation”
Offerman could’ve shown up on this list last year, and I’m sure I’ll want to include him next year, too. Ron Swanson is one of the best characters on television right now, comedy or drama, and Offerman is just perfect in the role. I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing it.

Jim Beaver, “Supernatural”
“Supernatural” is all about the Winchester boys. We know that. But they couldn’t do what they do with-out Bobby Singer, who has always been more of a father to them than their real one. He was perfect in the series’ last original episode of the year, as Bobby, fighting for his life from a gunshot wound to the head, faced some of his demons and fought like hell to get back to his boys.

Mark Pellegrino, “The Closer” and “Supernatural”
I’m not sure there’s any role this guy can’t play. He scared the bejesus out of me (and occasionally made me laugh) as Satan himself on “Supernatural.” He intrigued me as Jacob on “Lost.” And now he’s regularly cracking me up as Brenda’s lawyer on “The Closer.” Give this guy his own show already!

Seth Gabel, “Fringe”
It’s hard to fill the void of a fan favorite character like Joshua Jackson’s Peter Bishop, and that’s exactly what Gabel had to do this season. I’ve always liked the “Over There” version of his Lincoln Lee, and it was fun getting to know the “Over Here” version too.

Steve Carell, “The Office”
Carell couldn’t have been better in his final episodes of the NBC series, which makes his absence all the more glaring this season.


http://www2.the-burg.com/entertainment/2011/dec/20/couch-potato-top-tv-performances-2011-ar-1557806/

Movie News Wrap Up: November 13th, 2011

Here’s our wrap up of various movie news tidbits we may have missed this week including details on the Clive Owen action film ‘Recall’ as well the news that Bradley Cooper has passed on the lead role in ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’

This week:
Jessica Chastain is Caught in Flight; Bradley Cooper won’t be going Solo in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Mike Binder sends someone on a Familymoon; Steve Carell is a Lunatic and Clive Owen has total Recall.

Breaking Dawn Contest

Play the Journey to Wedding game for a chance to win a new Volvo S60

 

1. It appears that Tree of Life actress Jessica Chastain will play Diana, Princess of Wales in Caught in Flight, for German director Oliver Hirschbiege.

“The film revolves around a secret affair between the late princess and a heart surgeon, Dr. Hasnat Kahn, who was said to be the love of her life. Described as a ‘love story between a princess locked in a tower and an ordinary man’.”

The $15 million budgeted film, written by Steven Jeffreys is set to go into pre-production in March 2012.
Hirschbiege directed the well received Downfall before being tempted by Hollywood to direct the ill-judged The Invasion with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman.
Chastain is having a bumper year having starred in the aforementioned Tree of Life, as well as Take Shelter, The Help and The Debt.
Source: Thompson on Hollywood-

2. Bradley Cooper’s mild flirtation with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. has come to an end. The Wrap is reporting that The Hangover star has declined a Warner Bros. offer to headline the big screen adaptation of the 1960s television series.



The Steven Soderbergh directed film is currently without a cast, with the likes of George Clooney, Matt Damon and Johnny Depp turning down the lead role of Napoleon Solo.
Anybody else get the feeling that this may just fall apart?
Source: The Wrap

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3. Mike Binder is set to direct Walden Media’s latest family comedy Familymoon.

According to Variety:

“[Familymoon]tells the story of a perpetual bachelor who marries a single mother of two. In lieu of a typical honeymoon, the newlyweds take her kids with them on a “familymoon”, where they discover that blending a family in paradise is no vacation.”

The film penned by Family Guy writer Dave Collard should start shooting in early 2012, and casting will get underway soon.
While Binder isn’t a household name, he does know how to put together some great “little films”, having directed Indian Summer and The Upside of Anger.
Source: Variety

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4. Universal Pictures has picked up the screen rights to Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel’s novel Lunatics. The studio hopes that the increasingly busy Steve Carell will star in the film which will be produced by Stuber Pictures and Carell’s Carousel production company.


The film follows “two New Jersey soccer dads whose minor feud escalates to create worldwide consequences, and leave them running for their lives.”
Source: Deadline

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5. Clive Owen is attached to star in Recall, a new action film written by Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader and set to be directed by Harold Becker (Mercury Rising).



Variety reports that the film sees an “NSA agent trying to piece together the events of a botched hostage rescue operation. As the agent begins to recall events and unearth the truth, he finds he can trust neither his fellow soldiers nor his own mind.”
Recall is set to star shooting in March with locations set Bulgaria and Washington D.C.
Source: Variety

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