The Gurus are back in business, delivering the weekly take on where the horses in Hollywood's ultimate race.

There are not a lot of surprises in this week's Top Ten, but there are new faces in Best Actor and Best Actress, plus a surprising choice in the #3 slot for Animation

Gurus: November 4



Film Reviews
MCN Critics Roundup
Box Office Hell
Interviews
DVD Reviews

Zemeckis’ Christmas Carol, like most of his other movies, is a good show, gloriously, as he says, “full of stuff.More>


Our Players
Coming
Soon
Box Office
Prophets
Box Office
Guru
Ent
Weekly
Disney's A Christmas Carol
37.4
n/a
41
41
The Fourth Kind
13.5
n/a
11
8
The Men Who Stare at Goats
12.2
n/a
7
9


Wilmington on Movies
Disney's A Christmas Carol, The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Fourth Kind, Paranormal Activity and 35 Shots of Rum ...
by Michael Wilmington

The movie is certainly a visual stunner. And, despite the bizarre excesses of the action sequences, it’s also a fairly faithful and even loving adaptation, mostly well written and very well acted. Does that endorsement include Carrey as Scrooge (and also all three Christmas Ghosts)? Yes it does.

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Wilmington on DVD
Food, Inc., North by Northwest, Forrest Gump, It's a Wonderful Life, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and more ...
by Michael Wilmington

Do you know that the post-modern world of corporate farming is often run by corporate bullies who put smaller farms and agriculture workers through Hell (like a hapless seed-separator persecuted by Monsanto whom we see here)? That the old bucolic world of farms and farms we will remember and idealize is largely gone and has often been replaced by the usual greed-crazed creeps
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MCN DVD Wrap
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Having to cope with the noise, grime, pervs and hooligans can be a daily nightmare, without also having to deal with a gun-toting terrorist (a pre-“Jaws” Robert Shaw) or former employee with an ax to grind (a thoroughly menacing John Travolta). Denzel Washington and Walter Matthau may not look as if they’d belong in the same movie, even 35 years apart, but they both created perfectly believable negotiators. 

Also ... The Shield: Complete Series, I Love You, Beth Cooper, Forrest Gump: Chocolate Box Giftset .. and more...

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The Ultimate DVD Geek
Paul Blart: Mall Cop and
Observe and Report
by Doug Pratt

2009 turned out to be the year of the 'shopping mall security person' comedy, and it shows you how fast trends turn over these days that there were only three months between the theatrical release dates separating the point where the genre was established, with Paul Blart: Mall Cop, a Sony Pictures Home Entertainment release, and was then undercut in cynicism, with Observe and Report, a Warner Home Video release.

 

Voynaristic
The Vampire as Moral Compass
by Kim Voynar


Back in the day, it was more, well, black-and-white. Vampires were the devourers of humans, the seducers of innocent, pale-skinned virgins ... they were Bad Guys, plain and simple. For most of their literary and cinematic history, it made sense that this was so; the world back then was a simpler place, a place with clear-cut perceptions of right and wrong.
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Frenzy on the Wall
Why Do They Keep Making Them Like They Used To?
by Noah Forrest


A lot of modern films care little about entertaining an experienced filmgoing audience; many filmmakers simply recycle past ideas without even bothering to repackage them as something different. Although this phenomena crosses all genres, it seems especially prevalent in horror films.



Confessions of a Festival Junkie: AFI
by Leonard Klady

One can only hope that what the organizers demonstrate is a flexibility to adapt as the festival proceeds. If the crowd demands, add second screenings because the one thing no one wants is a patron that feels shut out from the experience. Much better to have someone walk away from such superior offerings as The White Ribbon, Bad Lieutenant, City of Love and Death or Looking for Eric with a feeling of having seen something unique and edifying.

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20 Weeks To Oscar
The Rules Of Ten
by David Poland

The most often considered issue of this year’s Oscar race is, “How will having ten nominees change the game?”

And the definitive answer is, “Ask me next April.”

Well, even that may be a little blurry.

And - A New Best Picture Chart

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Updated throughout the day
Updated: 8:49 pm

Bruno Releases His La Toya Jackson Scene (video mnfsw)

Nick Counter, 69, Headed AMPTP For 27 Years, Negotiating 311 Labor Contracts

"I packed everything in this movie. I don't see what could be left for me in the genre."
Emmerich Doesn't See 2013 On The Horizon

Rosenbaum On Resnais' Unknown Statue

"American Idol" Creator's First Hw'd Deal Is With Robert Pattinson (And Nicole Kidman)

Ebert On The Great American Documentary

What Would A Cook County Film Commission Add To The Chicago Film Office And Illinois Film Office?

"Women are crazy and you love them not in spite of that but because of that."
Carla Gugino Talks Women In Trouble

Dan Aykroyd = Yogi Bear

Jason Reitman Offers Pie Charts Of Leading Questions Interviewers Ask Him
And - The Top 10

Melissa Rosenberg Talks New Moon And Sequelizing

Thomson On Why We Should Care About The Honorary Oscars

Collector Buys Film Tin On eBay For £3.20; Finds Unseen Charlie Chaplin Film Inside

Cove 7 Noms; Burma VJ And October Country 5
Cinema Eye Announces Nonfiction Feature Nominees For 2010 Edition

Wall Street Big On IMAX

Sunday Preview: Scott On The Darkening Of Films About Childhood

The Man Who Owns The North By Northwest Cropduster

Sketching The Essay Film

A Quizzical First Day Report From Sheffield's DocFest

An Argument Against The MPAA Plugging Your Analogue Holes

Subtitles For Your Eyes

The Swiss Want To Change The Topic Back To Polanski's Oeuvre

Scorsese Talks Shoes, "Boardwalk Empire," Sinatra

Windolf On America Drowning In Tsunami Of Cute

For First Time In 20 Years, No Big-Budget US Pics Shoot In Oz

Jonze Sneaks Peek At Romanek's Never Let Me Go

Lionsgate Buries The Dead

When You Walk Out Humming The Production Design

What If The Coens Had Made 2012?

Mouse May Bite

O'Hehir's Take On Miramax Contraction

You Can Probably Guess The Names Of Most Of The Movies In This Compilation

Capitol Films' Slate Of Films Still Nailed By Litigation

What Turbulence Met Amelia Pre-Production?

Remembering Cubby Broccoli

John Kenley, 103, Brought Touring Shows To Boonies With Names Like Mae West, Tommy Tune, Billy Crystal, Ethel Merman, Hugh Downs, Joe Namath And Burt Reynolds

Studios, Theaters Question MPAA Request To FCC To Allow Anti-Piracy Set-Top Boxes For Early Home Film Releases

140 Questions Google Might Ask You At Your Interview

Ebiri Cultivates Six Best Middle Eastern Pics At First Tribeca Doha Fest

EW's Deep-Sixed 11 Include Feature Writer Christine Spines, Must-List Editor

Murdoch Delays Internet Tolls

Debuting The SF WSJ Online

From Zagreb With Grit

Sony Takes "Risk"; "Candyland" Quavers In Fear

"Tribune Co. Lets Employees Know Exactly How Much Worthless Stock They Own"

Annals Of Journalistic Self-Doubt
Sunday Times Mag Profiles Politico Dick Armey As Perhaps Greatest Living American

Readers Digest Closes A Pop Evangelism Magazine

Sheldon Dorf, 76, Founded Comic-Con

Essence Cuts 18 Jobs, Seems To Have Eliminated Web Presence

Zhang's Blood Simple Remake Shot Digitally; Apes Stephen Chow's Comedy Style

Ent Weekly Ditches 11; Four From Editorial

Goldman Sachs Ignites Legal Tussle Over Canuck Cable Channels

Shine A Light Or This Is It? Do We Have To Choose?

STV Sick Of Celeb Barack

Another Item Noting Jailed Roger Avary Is Able To Pull Tweets Out Of His Cell Without Noting He's Not Confined Except At Night
And - Screenwriter's On Work Furlough During The Day

Basterds Land In Japan

Oregonian, Former No-Layoff Zone, Sez Layoffs "Inevitable"

"Perry and Winfrey may think Precious is serious, but Daniels is hoisting his freak flag. This incoherence should not pass for sociology. Not since The Birth of a Nation has a mainstream movie demeaned the idea of black American life as much."
Harmin' Armond Blanches In Latest Predictably Snobbish Notice

Thessaloniki Confirms 240-Film Slate On Top Of Complete Herzog Tribute

Miramax Steps Out On The Red Carpet For Everybody's Fine

Is This The Passing Of New York's Literary Culture?

McSweeney's Previews San Francisco Panorama, Its 380-Page Sunday Newspaper, With A 120-Page Magazine And 116-Page Book Section

Gilliam: Watchmen "Needed A Kick In The A--"

Sundance 2010 Will Have One-Night Parallel Events In 8 U.S. Cities

Shankman Sez Oscar Was Almost Steve Martin & Tina Fey

Secret Copyright Treaty Would Send Your Spawn To Jail For Noncommercial Music Sharing

Unseen Prequels: The Hockey Mask Was Born 50 Years Ago

Scorsese On His Favorite Picture

Hey, You, Go Make Out With Violence!

British Doc Awards Include Afghan Star, Burma VJ, Yes Men

Time's 400-500 Layoffs Start At Sports Illustrated

Fritz Reports Home Ent Growth Will Return In 2012
While - Scorsese Talks Up Blu-Ray

The Woz Sez Lee Daniels The "Anti-Pygmalion," "Loves To Knock A Diva Off Her Pedestal"
And - "How Precious Became America's Next Big Thing"

Chinese Gov't Approves Disney Shanghai

New Yorker Talks To Al Gore About Post-Inconvenient Truth Book, While, Unlike NY Times, Does Not Repeat Ill-Premised Jokes About Inventing Internet

Living While Distracted

Eller Asks, How Will Summit Avoid Twilight?
And - Photog David Strick Backlots New Moon

Carmike Cinemas Posts 3rd Quarter Loss

The Secret Copyright Treaty, Leaked, Seems Much Worse Than Expected On Internet Issues

The Nasty Row Over The Legacy Of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Plus - How Stieg Larsson Feminized The Conspiracy Thriller

Gleiberman Thinks Upon Miramax

Anna Kendrick Takes On George Clooney

Lucas' Storm Trooper Battle Resumes In UK Courts

Blanchett's Down Under "Streetcar" Gets Raves In D.C.

Henry Jaglom Puts On A Play

Down To The Last Drags Of H'wd Power Garden, Orso

Robert Gottlieb Thrashes Wiseman's Ballet La Danse As "Pretentious," Overextended "Travelogue Short"

Ken Kerman, 73, Motorcycle Stuntman On Highlander, Naked Gun 2 1/2, House Of Sand And Fog
And - Bill Shepard, 79, Casting Director For Splash, Frankenweenie, Four Mel Brooks Pics



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