Monday - November 23 Los Angeles, CA In the fog of war, appearances are never reliable for long. Is James really a swaggering cowboy who lives for peak experiences and the moments when the margin of error is zero—or is he a consummate professional who has honed his esoteric craft to high-wire precision? Guild, Union & Academy Members RSVP Here

Film Reviews MCN Critics Roundup Box Office Hell Interviews DVD Reviews Mopy, gloomy, drenched with romantic longing and erotic terror (from vampire chic to werewolf beefcake) More>

Our Players	Coming Soon	Box Office Prophets	Box Office Guru	Ent Weekly
The Twilight Saga: New Moon	104.2	n/a	102	n/a
The Blind Side	13.6	n/a	15	n/a
Planet 51	10.8	n/a	13	n/a

 

Wilmington on Movies
The Twilight Saga: New Moon;
Bad Lieutenant: New Orleans Port of Call; 2012; The Blind Side, Planet 51 and more ...
by Michael Wilmington

Like its heroine, Kristen Stewart once again playing the central character of tormented, horror-smitten high school outsider Bella Swan—it’s moody and pretty, and constantly in the throes of a wild supernatural crush. But I didn’t like it much. And the fact that audiences are coming in droves didn‘t reassure me. 
     
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20 Weeks To Oscar
The Drip, Drip, Drip
by David Poland

I guess what I am saying is that this season may be the most mouth-breathing, desperate, media awards season ever. Yet, the lessons learned are going to be the least informative ever.

Do not plan on learning anything you can hang onto this year... except for who wins and who loses. Plenty of noise will be made as endless Reverse Analysis will prove that hindsight is not always 20/20. But for all the micro-obsessing, it is unlikely that there will ever be a year quite like this again.

The Charts
Best Picture | Actor/Supporting Actor
Actress/Supporting Actress

Still not a lot of movement in the Gurus Best Picture picks, just a few shuffles in the middle of the pack. Meanwhile, the Best Director picks reflect, but don't quite mirror, the Picture list. And in Animation, Up leads the way... so far. Gurus: November 18

Wilmington on DVD
Star Trek, Gone With the Wind, The Exiles, Fight Club, Humpday and more ...
by Michael Wilmington

Star Trek, James Bond-style, starts off with a super-bang—a deep space blowup—and then after some childhood action or psychological stuff for Kirk and Spock, keeps racing us from one space fight and planetary catastrophe to another, with time in between for jokes and drama. It’s the action that tends to hog the show, but the personality that makes it hum.

MCN DVD Wrap
Brüno
by Gary Dretzka

Overall, I’d say Brüno's contribution ranks between Borat and Ali G Indahouse, which played more like an extended Mr. Bean sketch than anything else. It’s intermittently hilarious, to be sure. Too often, though, it’s no more entertaining than the average float in a Gay Pride parade.

Also ... Exiles, My Sister's Keeper, Fight Club 10th Anniversary Blu-ray, Kevin Smith Box Set.. and more...

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Frenzy on the Podcast
Lukas Moodysson
by Noah Forrest

Noah Forrest talks to one of his favorite filmmakers, Lukas Moodysson, about his new film Mammoth, working with Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams, globalization, and Margot at the Wedding.

 

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The Ultimate DVD Geek
Drag Me To Hell
by Doug Pratt

The old woman spits out a curse at her, and the rest of the 99-minute feature is about the curse methodically coming to pass. There are oodles of jump moments in the film—when was the last time a handkerchief made you leap out of your seat…twice?—and effectively conceived and executed characters, so that not only is the story compelling to follow, it is an effective thrill ride, clear up to its final turn.

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1,000 Monkeys
Memory Lane
by Kim Voynar

How many fine, crisp autumn days did I sit nursing a baby in the living room of our big house in Redmond, looking out the big picture windows at the trees dressing up in their fall finery, while the water of the lake shifted subtly from bright summer blue to moodier autumn grey? How many brilliantly colored leaves did I watch tumble gently down from trees, never pausing to consider that each one that fell marked a moment, a day of my life that could never come back? 

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Digital Nation
Emmy Rossum
by Gary Dretzka

Despite Rossum's high-profile role in Phantom of the Opera, she’s been able to fly under the radar of fame for most of her career. That changed radically this summer, after word leaked that her near-secret marriage to producer Justin Siegel had failed and she was dating rocker Adam Duritz, of Counting Crows. She also insinuated in a recent radio interview that she was a victim of spousal abuse.

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Frenzy on the Wall
Let's Blow Up the Planet!
by Noah Forrest

Literally every moment, every scene, every line of dialogue is something you have seen or heard before. It is a compendium of disaster movie clichés. You want Poseidon Adventure? You got it. Who cares if it was remade a few years ago? You want Volcano?  Bam! Supervolcano.  You want fireballs to shoot from the sky like meteors in Armageddon?  Here you are. 

Voynaristic
Precious Things
by Kim Voynar

What made Push: A Novel by Sapphire so remarkable is that it shows the raw resiliance and courage of the human spirit. The main character's life is a horror of gut-churning abuse at the hands of her mother Mary, played fiercely and fearlessly by Mo'Nique, who grabs hold of this repulsive character with all her strength and never lets go. She is raw and terrifying and she deserves absolutely the Oscar nomination she seems poised to receive. In my book she deserves it.

 

 

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