Posted on December 17, 2009 at 3:58 pm
There’s no one I enjoy talking to about movies more than Nick Digilio, and it was a blast to hear his thoughts on the holiday season releases. Thanks for having me on the show!
Posted on December 17, 2009 at 8:33 am
I’ve been listening to a lot of carriage wheels on cobblestones lately, with three films set in Victorian London. And two of them feature one of my favorite actors, Mark Strong. You may not recognize his name. You may not even recognize his face because he appears different in every film. That’s not make-up; it’s acting. Here he is in the marvelous fantasy, Stardust:
He is truly astonishing in the scene shortly after, when he has to swordfight as a corpse manipulated by a sort of puppetry enchantment (trust me, it’s great). He was a silky Jordanian secret service director in “Body of Lies” (out-acting co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe) and a thug in “RocknRolla.” And now he is plays nemesis to both the teenage Queen Victoria (Sir John Conroy) and Sherlock Holmes (Lord Blackwood). It’s worth seeing both movies just to see how good Strong is when he is bad.
Posted on December 16, 2009 at 11:26 am
I am truly honored and blessed to be invited to vote on the Black Reel Awards, and very proud of our nominees:
Best Actor
Quinton Aaron | The Blind Side
Jamie Foxx | The Soloist
Morgan Freeman | Invictus
Souléymane Sy Savané | Goodbye Solo
Denzel Washington | The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Best Actress
Nicole Beharie | American Violet
Taraji P. Henson | I Can Do Bad All By Myself
Sophie Okonedo | Skin
Maya Rudolph | Away We Go
Gabourey Sidibe | Precious
Best Supporting Actor
Charles Dutton | American Violet
Chiwetel Ejiofor | 2012
Lenny Kravitz | Precious
Derek Luke | Madea Goes to Jail
Anthony Mackie | The Hurt Locker
Best Supporting Actress
Mariah Carey | Precious
Mo’Nique | Precious
Paula Patton | Precious
Zoe Saldana | Avatar
Alfre Woodard | American Violet
Best Director
Lee Daniels | Precious
Bill Duke | Not Easily Broken
Spike Lee | Passing Strange
Scott Sanders | Black Dynamite
George Tillman, Jr. | Notorious
Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted
Brian Bird | Not Easily Broken
Geoffrey Fletcher | Precious
John Lee Hancock | The Blind Side
Scott Sanders, Michael Jai White and Byron Minns | Black Dynamite
George Tillman Jr. | Notorious
Best Film
American Violet | Samuel L. Goldwyn
The Blind Side | Warner Bros.
Invictus | Warner Bros.
Precious | Lionsgate
The Princess and the Frog | Walt Disney
Best Breakthrough Performance
Quinton Aaron | The Blind Side
Nicole Beharie | American Violet
Souléymane Sy Savané | | Goodbye Solo
Gabourey Sidibe | Precious
Jamal Woolard | Notorious
Best Ensemble
American Violet | Samuel Goldwyn
Notorious | Fox Searchlight
Passing Strange | Sundance Selects
Precious | Lionsgate
The Princess and the Frog | Walt Disney
Best Song, Original or Adapted
Almost There | The Princess and Frog (Anika Noni Rose)
Down in New Orleans | The Princess and the Frog (Anika Noni Rose)
I Can Do Bad | I Can Do Bad All By Myself (Mary J. Blige)
Keys (Marianna) | Passing Strange (Stew, de’dre Aziza and Daniel Breaker)
Never Knew I Needed | The Princess and the Frog (Ne-Yo)
Best Documentary
Good Hair | Roadside Attractions
Michael Jackson’s This Is It | Columbia
More Than a Game | Lionsgate
Passing Strange: The Movie | Sundance Selects
Tyson | Sony Pictures Classics
Best Voice Performance
Keith David | Coraline
Keith David | The Princess and the Frog
Delroy Lindo | Up
Anika Noni Rose | The Princess and the Frog
Forest Whitaker | Where the Wild Things Are
INDEPENDENT
Best Independent Feature
Blue | Ryan Miningham
Mississippi Damned | Tina Mabry
Sugar | Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
The Tenant | Lucky Ejim
This is The Life | Ava Duvernay
Best Independent Mini Feature
Life on Earth | Jeffrey Keith
(Mis)leading Man | Morocco Omari
The Rowe Effect | Kiel Adrian Scott
Best Independent Documentary
Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness | Llewellyn Smith
Without Bias | Kirk Fraser
Still Bill | Alex Vlack & Damani Baker
Posted on December 15, 2009 at 3:57 pm
The first Christmas movie quiz was so much fun I’ve got another one — a little harder this time!
1. Which movie based on a classic book stars a one-time Star Trek captain?
2. In which Christmas classic do children surprise a priest when they make an unusual choice for the song they sing to the baby Jesus in their nativity play: Happy Birthday?
3. Barbara Stanwyck stars in two movies that often show up at Christmas. In one she plays a journalist who writes Martha Stewart-style features about home-making but really can’t cook and then has to entertain her boss at Christmas. In the other she plays a thief who has to go home for the holidays with the prosecuting attorney who is trying to put her in jail. What are they?
4. In which of the great Christmas weepies of all time is an estranged couple re-united by a shawl and a painting?
5. Which animated Christmas movie features songs by the Broadway composer/lyricist team who went on to do “Funny Girl?”
6. One of the foremost American playwrights, known for tragedy, wrote just one comedy and it takes place at Christmas. It is about two couples, one newlywed, one married for several years, having marital problems and it stars Jane Fonda. What is the title?
7. A bitter, divorced father finds himself right in the middle of Christmas after an accident at his house has him taking over for a Christmas character in what movie?
8. In which caustic Christmas comedy does one relative, asked to say grace, recite the Pledge of Allegiance?
9. Which movie explains the four major food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup?
10. One of the highlights of which all-star British movie is a performance of a Mariah Carey Christmas song by a group of children in a school holiday play that includes a “first lobster” at the nativity?
Posted on December 15, 2009 at 11:18 am
The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards NOMINATIONS
HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION
2010 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2009
NOMINATIONS PRESS RELEASE
1. BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
a. AVATAR
Lightstorm Entertainment; Twentieth Century Fox
b. THE HURT LOCKER
Voltage Pictures C/O 42West; Summit Entertainment
c. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
The Weinstein Company; The Weinstein Company
d. PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
A Lee Daniels Entertainment / Smokewood Entertainment Group Production;
Lionsgate
e. UP IN THE AIR
Paramount Pictures; Paramount Pictures
2. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
a. EMILY BLUNT THE YOUNG VICTORIA
b. SANDRA BULLOCK THE BLIND SIDE
c. HELEN MIRREN THE LAST STATION
d. CAREY MULLIGAN AN EDUCATION
e. GABOUREY SIDIBE PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL
PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
3. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
a. JEFF BRIDGES CRAZY HEART
b. GEORGE CLOONEY UP IN THE AIR
c. COLIN FIRTH A SINGLE MAN
d. MORGAN FREEMAN INVICTUS
e. TOBEY MAGUIRE BROTHERS
4. BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER
Watermark Pictures; Fox Searchlight Pictures
b. THE HANGOVER
Warner Bros. Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures
c. IT’S COMPLICATED
Relativity Media, Scott Rudin Productions; Universal Pictures
d. JULIE & JULIA
Columbia Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing
e. NINE
The Weinstein Company; The Weinstein Company
5. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR
MUSICAL
a. SANDRA BULLOCK THE PROPOSAL
b. MARION COTILLARD NINE
c. JULIA ROBERTS DUPLICITY
d. MERYL STREEP IT’S COMPLICATED
e. MERYL STREEP JULIE & JULIA
6. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY
OR MUSICAL
a. MATT DAMON THE INFORMANT!
b. DANIEL DAY-LEWIS NINE
c. ROBERT DOWNEY JR. SHERLOCK HOLMES
d. JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT (500) DAYS OF SUMMER
e. MICHAEL STUHLBARG A SERIOUS MAN
7. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
a. CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS
Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation; Sony Pictures Releasing
b. CORALINE
Laika, Inc.; Focus Features
c. FANTASTIC MR. FOX
American Empirical Picture; Twentieth Century Fox
d. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG
Walt Disney Pictures/Walt Disney Animation Studios; Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
e. UP
Walt Disney Pictures/PIXAR Animation Studios; Walt Disney Studios Motion
Pictures
8. BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
a. BAARIA (ITALY)
Medusa Film; Summit Entertainment
b. BROKEN EMBRACES (SPAIN)
El Deseo SA; Sony Pictures Classics
c. THE MAID (CHILE)
(LA NANA)
Forastero; Elephant Eye Films
d. A PROPHET (FRANCE)
Chic Films; Sony Pictures Classics
e. THE WHITE RIBBON (GERMANY)
(DAS WEISSE BAND – EINE DEUTSCHE KINDERGESCHICHTE)
Wega Films; Sony Pictures Classics
9. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A
MOTION PICTURE
a. PENÉLOPE CRUZ NINE
b. VERA FARMIGA UP IN THE AIR
c. ANNA KENDRICK UP IN THE AIR
d. MO’NIQUE PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL
PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
e. JULIANNE MOORE A SINGLE MAN
10. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A
MOTION PICTURE
a. MATT DAMON INVICTUS
b. WOODY HARRELSON THE MESSENGER
c. CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER THE LAST STATION
d. STANLEY TUCCI THE LOVELY BONES
e. CHRISTOPH WALTZ INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
11. BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
a. KATHRYN BIGELOW THE HURT LOCKER
b. JAMES CAMERON AVATAR
c. CLINT EASTWOOD INVICTUS
d. JASON REITMAN UP IN THE AIR
e. QUENTIN TARANTINO INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
12. BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
a. NEILL BLOMKAMP, DISTRICT 9
TERRI TATCHELL
b. MARK BOAL THE HURT LOCKER
c. NANCY MEYERS IT’S COMPLICATED
d. JASON REITMAN, UP IN THE AIR
SHELDON TURNER
e. QUENTIN TARANTINO INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
13. BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE
a. MICHAEL GIACCHINO UP
b. MARVIN HAMLISCH THE INFORMANT!
c. JAMES HORNER AVATAR
d. ABEL KORZENIOWSKI A SINGLE MAN
e. KAREN O,
CARTER BURWELL WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
14. BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE
a. “CINEMA ITALIANO” — NINE
Music & Lyrics by: Maury Yeston
b. “I WANT TO COME HOME” — EVERYBODY’S FINE
Music & Lyrics by: Paul McCartney
c. “I WILL SEE YOU” — AVATAR
Music by: James Horner, Simon Franglen
Lyrics by: James Horner, Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell
d. “THE WEARY KIND (THEME FROM CRAZY HEART)” — CRAZY
HEART
Music & Lyrics by: Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett
e. “WINTER” — BROTHERS
Music by: U2
Lyrics by: Bono
15. BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
a. BIG LOVE (HBO)
Anima Sola and Playtone in association with HBO Entertainment
b. DEXTER (SHOWTIME)
Showtime Presents, John Goldwyn Productions, The Colleton Company, Clyde
Phillips Productions
c. HOUSE (FOX)
Universal Media Studios in association with Heel and Toe Films, Shore Z
Productions and Bad Hat Harry
d. MAD MEN (AMC)
AMC
e. TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
Your Face Goes Here Entertainment in association with HBO Entertainment
16. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES –
DRAMA
a. GLENN CLOSE DAMAGES
b. JANUARY JONES MAD MEN
c. JULIANNA MARGULIES THE GOOD WIFE
d. ANNA PAQUIN TRUE BLOOD
e. KYRA SEDGWICK THE CLOSER
17. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
a. SIMON BAKER THE MENTALIST
b. MICHAEL C. HALL DEXTER
c. JON HAMM MAD MEN
d. HUGH LAURIE HOUSE
e. BILL PAXTON BIG LOVE
18. BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. 30 ROCK (NBC)
Universal Media Studios in association with Broadway Video and Little
Stranger Inc.
b. ENTOURAGE (HBO)
Leverage and Closest to the Hole Productions in association with HBO
Entertainment
c. GLEE (FOX)
Twentieth Century Fox Television
d. MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
Twentieth Century Fox Television
e. THE OFFICE (NBC)
Universal Media Studios, Deedle Dee Productions, Reveille LLC
19. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES –
COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. TONI COLLETTE UNITED STATES OF TARA
b. COURTENEY COX COUGAR TOWN
c. EDIE FALCO NURSE JACKIE
d. TINA FEY 30 ROCK
e. LEA MICHELE GLEE
20. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES –
COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. ALEC BALDWIN 30 ROCK
b. STEVE CARELL THE OFFICE
c. DAVID DUCHOVNY CALIFORNICATION
d. THOMAS JANE HUNG
e. MATTHEW MORRISON GLEE
21. BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. GEORGIA O’KEEFFE (LIFETIME TELEVISION)
Sony Pictures Television
b. GREY GARDENS (HBO)
Specialty Films and Locomotive in association with HBO Films
c. INTO THE STORM (HBO)
Scott Free and Rainmark Films Production in association with the BBC and HBO
Films
d. LITTLE DORRIT (PBS)
Masterpiece/BBC Co-production
e. TAKING CHANCE (HBO)
Motion Picture Corporation of America and Civil Dawn Pictures in association
with HBO Films
22. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION
PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. JOAN ALLEN GEORGIA O’KEEFFE
b. DREW BARRYMORE GREY GARDENS
c. JESSICA LANGE GREY GARDENS
d. ANNA PAQUIN THE COURAGEOUS HEART OF IRENA
SENDLER
e. SIGOURNEY WEAVER PRAYERS FOR BOBBY
23. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION
PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. KEVIN BACON TAKING CHANCE
b. KENNETH BRANAGH WALLANDER: ONE STEP BEHIND
c. CHIWETEL EJIOFOR ENDGAME
d. BRENDAN GLEESON INTO THE STORM
e. JEREMY IRONS GEORGIA O’KEEFFE
24. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A
SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. JANE ADAMS HUNG
b. ROSE BYRNE DAMAGES
c. JANE LYNCH GLEE
d. JANET McTEER INTO THE STORM
e. CHLOË SEVIGNY BIG LOVE
25. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES,
MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. MICHAEL EMERSON LOST
b. NEIL PATRICK HARRIS HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
c. WILLIAM HURT DAMAGES
d. JOHN LITHGOW DEXTER
e. JEREMY PIVEN ENTOURAGE
