OSCAR RATINGS: THIRD WORST IN HISTORY

Sunday night’s Oscar awards telecast, which was supposed to put new life into the telecast and boost its audience, did just the opposite, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings released today (Monday). It bombed — by Oscar standards. The primetime portion of the telecast was watched by an average of 33 million viewers. Only two Oscar […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: DRIVE ANGRY 3D

In his review of Drive Angry 3D, Tom Maurstad in the Dallas Morning News wrote that it is “so wantonly ridiculous, so aggressively stupid, it demands you make fun of it.” That’s just what most critics have done, including Maurstad himself, who wrote, rather mildly: “Take the title of this wheels-off action movie as a […]

CRITICS ON 83RD OSCARS: SAME OLD, SAME OLD

One would be hard-pressed to blame Deadline.com’s Nikki Finke’s early release of the full run-down of Sunday night’s Oscar telecast for the fact that not a single surprise materialized during the entire show. “Predictable” was the description used by many TV columnists in their assessment of the affair. Virtually all of the favorites won: best […]

WHEREFORE ART GNOMEO NO. 1?

Box office analysts were puzzling over the “whys and wherefores” of a wreck of a weekend that saw the two newest releases unable to fulfill even their worst forecasts. Most of the bewilderment was about the “wherefores,” as Disney’s animated Gnomeo & Juliet took over first place in its third week. The movie, which was […]

BLACK SWAN DOMINATES SPIRIT AWARDS

Black Swan was the big winner at independent filmdom’s annual Spirit Awards, winning for best picture, best actress (Natalie Portman) and best director (Darren Aronofsky). James Franco won the best actor award for his performance in 127 Hours. Films eligible for an award must have been produced for less than $20 million. Black Swan reportedly […]

PARKER OUT, SPITZER STAYS AT CNN

CNN has ousted Kathleen Parker from the program she has hosted with Eliot Spitzer for the past four months, the New York Times reported today (Friday). The cable news network said that the program will be reformatted and retitled In the Arena, with an ensemble group, including newsmakers, guests and contributors joining Spitzer. Beginning Monday, […]

ONLINE VOTING COMING TO AMERICAN IDOL

The Fox Network will come together with the social network when online voting begins for American Idol on March 1. Fox said Thursday that anyone with a Facebook account will be able to sign on to www.americanidol.com and cast up to 50 online votes. (Facebook will verify the identity of the voters and make certain […]

LENO REGARDING STERN ATTACK: “I JUST IGNORE HIM”

Jay Leno has finally gotten around to responding to Howard Stern’s attack on him last January. Appearing during the first week of Piers Morgan’s CNN show, the intrepid shock jock, who had mildly criticized Leno in the past (like calling his performance “horrible”), accused Leno of plagiarism. “Jay is insane. And Jay is a crook. […]

OSCARS TO STAY ON ABC THROUGH 2020

Just days before Sunday’s Oscar telecast on ABC, the network announced on Thursday that it had signed a new deal with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to extend its rights to televise the ceremony through 2020. The previous agreement had been set to expire in 2014. “This contract ensures that the Oscar […]

REPORT: NOLAN CONVERTING INCEPTION TO 3D

Clash of the Titans director Jonathan Liebesman has disclosed that Christopher Nolan has agreed to convert Inception into 3D. Liebesman made the startling revelation in an interview with Movieweb.com as he discussed how Warner Bros. had persuaded him to convert his own Wrath of the Titans, a sequel, into 3D. “I didn’t want to convert,” […]

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