On Friday The Black Dahlia opens, ushering in --we assume we hope we dream-- an onslaught of quality pics for the cooler months. So we're quickly touring what the year has brought us up until now... But what exactly has the year brought us in regards to leading actors? Not too damn much. Nevertheless, if the FB Awards (my own) were held today, the shortlist would read: Chen Chang in Three Times He's serenely watchable. His name doesn't have the marquee value of a Tony Leung or a Takeshi Kaneshiro, but maybe it will someday. You've seen him ...

Hi, it's Anne. I'm so happy that all of you went and saw my movie this summer. Can you believe I was sharing scenes with Meryl Streep? I was four months old when she won her second Oscar! She's so accomplished... such an amazing woman. My character "Andy" had such a terrible job in that movie working for her. Acting isn't as easy as people think but, honestly, I've never had a job half as tough ...

This is my final Almodovar round up from around the web --too many other things vying for my attention at the moment. But I hope my fellow Pedro nuts enjoy. ...

While you're enjoying those two Kate-centric videos in the previous post... Re: Kate Winslet in Little Children David Poland "career-topping" and "deserves the Oscar" Gerard Kennedy "truly one of the best creations of her career." October looks to be a Winslet-apalooza: Her birthday is on Thursday the 5th and she'll probably be able to spend it reading raves about her work in Little Children opening the next day. ...

Here's a great video montage for your viewing pleasure. I DID NOT MAKE THIS. So please head on over to its page on YouTube if you love it and tell the original creator "Eegah" how much you do deeply dig. I personally thank him for creating this. It's 4 and a 1/2 minutes of heaven for Kate Winslet fans:Watch it nowI especially loved watching this because Heavenly Creatures is prominently featured and its one of my favorite films of all time. I'd also never seen the clips from Romance & Cigarettes or Kate's lampooning of her own Oscarless ...

Toronto's Film Fest is almost over. The Fall Cinema arrives like thunder thereafter. So we're quickly touring what the year has brought us up 'til now... If the Film Bitch Awards were held today, your nominees for Supporting Actor would be:Ben Affleck as "George Reeves" in Hollywoodland I would argue that the casting is the true brilliance here but that is not to say that Ben doesn't acquit himself very well nonetheless. I loved his easy charm laced with troubling self awareness. And I must say that I bought him in the period, too. That's tougher to get ...

I fear typing this. I have held my tongue for days. The fabric of the cinematic universe may tear at such a blasphemic utterance. And yet... I feel compelled to share my confusion. For I saw the dread event occur with mine own two eyes: Jessica Biel out-acting Edward Norton. Tags: Jessica Biel, Edward Norton,The Illusionist, films, movies ...

Word recently entered the entertainment media that French action auteur Luc Besson, he of the Milla Jovovich fixation, has retired from directing. He recently completed his 10th feature. I don't have any specific feelings about his filmography but there are a couple of things for which I'm grateful. I can take or leave La Femme Nikita (and its subsequent remakes/spinoffs) but Besson did bring us the memorable feature debut of Natalie Portman in The Professional (I swiped this ancient pic from this fine Natalie site) and Bruce Willis in that backless orange Tee in The ...

As some of you may already know (if you read ModFab as you should), Gabriel is working on a production of Angels in America in the Baltimore area with his friend Shannon (an amazing and hilarious designer --I'm still pissed that she didn't end up on Project Runway when she auditioned: she'd be great TV.) They've launched a blog to document the rehearsal and production process on their version of Tony Kushner's sadly still contemporary gay fantasia. I found this entry from one of their actors, he who plays Prior, to be very interesting: One ...

Why do I always start these review features with my favorite category? It's like I'm eating my dessert first. I have no self control."Instant gratification takes too long" Can you name the Best Actress nominated movie that that classic quote is from?If the Film Bitch Awards were held today, your nominees would be:Gretchen Mol as "Bettie Page" The Notorious Bettie PageKeke Palmer as "Akeelah" Akeelah and the BeeMeryl Streep as "Miranda"The Devil Wears PradaI raved about Mol and Streep in the last roundup. Am I doing this again too soon? (Probably. Shut up). Palmer's ...

It wasn't always this way but the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has become the halfway point of each film year. You can neatly divide the film year by pre-TIFF (a bunch of movies) and post-TIFF (a bunch of movies with awards on their mind). So we are now leaving 2006 B.T. (Sept 7th) and entering 2006 A.T. (Sept 16th) In order to distract myself from the depressing realization that I am not at TIFF this year and in order to cleanse my movie palate for the new dishes of Fall Cinema and resultant Oscar buzz, these next five days ...

Some links to enjoy as Nattybaby struggles to get a move on on this Monday morning.Wandering Medusa on a screening and Q&A; with "Maggiebaby"Wow Report -an awkward moment with Drew Barrymore. I so relate.Hollywood Elsewhere finds Little Children more than a little impressive.BoingBoing on Alan Moore's erotic graphic novel about fairytales.Defamer tabloid spinning of Angelina's babysdaddys marital vow.Pen15 Club "the gays love fall movies" Heh.Movieweb Patrick Wilson continues his tour of the great actresses. From Streep through Winslet to...? ...

Would you rather... ...shoot up with Maggie Gyllenhaal, smoke crack with Ryan Gosling, or snort heroine with Alan Arkin ??? American independent cinema really wants to know! Tags: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ryan Gosling, addiction, films, drugs, movies, recovery ...

Oscar Foreign Film Race Updates For countries that produce only a handful of films each year the choice for an Oscar submission can be simple. But can you imagine the drama of choosing just one film if your country has a healthy prolific and famous film industry? Imagine the egos bruised in, say, France or India each year once the choice is made. Countries with a lot of films often narrow it down to "finalists" before announcing. Here's a quick look at two interesting battles shaping up. Mexico narrowed it down to twelve competitors (full list here) but I think this ...

One of my least favorite things in movies is when I can't tell characters apart. Atrociously bad movies and even many good movies often have easy to read characterizations --partially because most characters get just one or two personality traits (the angry one, the rebellious one, etc...) But if you have a group scene and you're still trying to learn the names and a casting director has cast look-alikes: good luck. You're on your own.I'm not proud to admit it but I saw Renny Harlin's The Covenant today. Though it's straight up bad in every way I found ...

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As soon as the lights came up after the screening of Hollywoodland I knew I wouldn't have the drive to write a full review. It's one of those movies that you can see potential in but that you can't work up energy to root for: unfulfilling. The film is about an investigation into the death of TV's first Superman George Reeves (Ben Affleck, exceptionally well cast). Choosing an unsolved mystery as a story is not necessarily a problem, but it requires deft handling. This type of crime film comes with an obvious storytelling risk: no ending. Choosing ...

And Your Little Blog, Too on "All About All About Eve" Cinematical looks at low budget/high return movies. Stale Popcorn celebrates (musically) fellow Aussie, Toni Collette. Low Resolution has a cool new series on "Rewatchables" Janet Charlton offers the first Suri Cruise conspiracy that I've found even remotely interesting. Otherwise, zzzzz on this story. All aspects of it. Greencine Daily has an interesting interview up with filmmaker Rick Stevenson. I love and agree with this quote: I think the future of indie filmmaking is everywhere else from New York and LA, unless you're from New York ...

Um. Happy Anniversary to Me. As I was wishing popbytes a happy 3rd birthday the other day, I became curious about my own blog's anniversary date. Turns out it's today. Yay, me. I don't think much about this because I am bad at remembering important dates (just ask The Boyfriend. Wait...don't) I don't even know the birthday of the film experience proper --just that it's like 6 or 7. This blog started out as an off-site experiment in brain vomiting. I didn't take it seriously for awhile. I think it took me until this Julianne Moore post ...

Happy News -Ellen Degeneres will be hosting High Holy Night* in Hollywood on February 25th, 2007. *That's Oscar Night for those of you who haven't had enough coffee this morning. ...