My only enthusiastically preferred Democratic Presidential candidate of 2016 is Elizabeth Warren...end of story. I'll accept Hillary Clinton, yes, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. But a voice tells me it's Warren's to lose or fulfill. The Gods have picked her. Plus half the electorate, I sense, really wants to see a woman in the White House...finally.

The great Ben Gazzara has died at the age of 81. He had a long and rich life, and from the 1957 release of The Strange One (which is a very strange film) on he was "Ben Gazara," and that really meant something. But what? Gazzara was almost as much of a vibe as he was an actor. He was magnetic but also a bit of a hider. In film after film he was always some variation of a jaded, laconic, laid-back smartass with a very slight grin starting to emerge.

As a member...Read More

A highly dubious source confided this morning that a secret high-level meeting of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bigwigs happened two nights ago at Kate Mantilini. I wasn't able to verify if Academy president Tom Sherak, COO Ric Robertson, and CEO Dawn Hudson actually met at 10:30 pm in a rear booth. I've only been told that a conversation might have unfolded as follows:

Sherak: I know it's late, but thanks for coming, guys. (To waiter) I'll have a Chardonnay and a bowl of whatever the soup is. What's the special?

Waiter: Split pea with...Read More

Deadline is reporting that Zalman King, director of high-toned erotic features like Two Moon Junction, Wild Orchid and Red Shoe Diaries and producer/co-writer of Adrian Lyne's 9 1/2 Weeks, died today at age 69 from cancer. King and wife Patricia Louisianna Knop co-wrote 9 1/2 Weeks ('86), which co-starred Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger, and Wild Orchid ('89), starring Rourke and Jacqueline Bisset plus several episodes of Red Shoe Diaries, the Showtime series.

Let no one accuse Hollywood Elsewhere of not standing by its opinions despite financial consequences. My anti-Artist jihad has apparently resulted in a lack of Phase Two ads from the Weinstein guys. Many thousands down the drain. But it's fair game and totally their call. I hear what they're saying, and no worries. For what it's worth an ad on HE doesn't mean I follow suit with obsequious endorsement. It just means that the Oscar conversation is happening on this site and...you know, whatever, have at it. I know that Artist ads are currently on The Wrap, Deadline, Hitfix and L.A. Times. C'est...Read More

My first significant activity after returning to Santa Barbara yesterday was a second viewing of Amy Berg's West of Memphis, a tightly compelling and superbly woven doc about the nearly-20-year saga of the West Memphis 3. (My first was in Park City a week and a half ago.) It played at the Lobero theatre, and was followed by a q & a with Berg and John Byers, stepfather of one of the three murder victims.

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"Do you think they'll ever make a movie about a big-market baseball team, and they have the money, and they still suck?" Last night Jon Stewart asked Brad Pitt why Oscar movies don't go negative on other movies like Presidential candidates do in political campaigns. Uhm, well...in my own modest and personal way I've been engaged in surgical negative Oscar campaigning for years now. No biggie, just saying.

I dropped by my place during my visit to Los Angeles and picked up a just-arrived Bluray of Billy Wilder's The Apartment, which I'd ordered via Canadian Amazon. Joseph LaShelle's black-and-white Scope images are radiant and shaded and really beautiful this time out. I felt as if I was truly seeing them for the first time. They're clean and film-like and yet not, to my eyes, scrubbed or DNR'ed. The best part? You can see the eyeliner and face powder on everyone. Even on Jack Lemmon, Fred MacMurray and Ray Walston.

BEST PICTURE CONTENDERS

1. The Artist (p: Thomas Langmann); 2. The Descendants (p: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor); 3. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (p: Scott Rudin); 4. The Help (p: Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan); 5. War Horse (d: Steven Spielberg); 6. Midnight in Paris (p: Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum); 7. Hugo (p: Graham King and Martin Scorsese); 8. Moneyball" (p: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt); 9. Midnight in Paris (p: Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum); 10. The Tree of Life (p: Nominees to be determined).

BEST DIRECTOR CONTENDERS

1. Alexander Payne, The Descendants; 2. Michel Hazanavicius , The Artist; 3. Martin Scorcese, Hugo; 4. Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life; 5. Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris.

BEST ACTOR CONTENDERS

1. George Clooney , The Descendants; 2. Brad Pitt, Moneyball.; 3. Jean Dujardin, The Artist; 4. Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; 5. Demian Bichir, A Better Life.

BEST ACTRESS CONTENDERS

1. Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs; 2. Viola Davis, The Help; 3. Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady; 4. Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn; 5. Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR CONTENDERS

1. Christopher Plummer, Beginners; 2. Nick Nolte, Warrior; 3. Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn; 4. Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; 5. Jonah Hill, Moneyball.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS CONTENDERS

1 Berenice Bejo, The Artist; 2. Jessica Chastain, The Help; 3. Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids; 4. Octavia Spencer, The Help; 5. Octavia Spencer, The Help.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE CONTENDERS

1. A Cat in Paris , Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli; 2. Chico & Rita, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal; 3. Kung Fu Panda 2 , Jennifer Yuh Nelson; 4. Puss in Boots, Chris Miller; 5. Rango , Gore Verbinski.

BEST ART DIRECTION CONTENDERS

1. The Artist, Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould; 2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. , Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan; 3. Hugo, Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo; 4. Midnight in Paris, Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil; 5. War Horse, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY CONTENDERS

1. The Artist , Guillaume Schiffman; 2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , Jeff Cronenweth; 3. Hugo, Robert Richardson; 4. The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki; 5. War Horse , Janusz Kaminski.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN CONTENDERS

1. Anonymous, Lisy Christl ; 2. The Artist , Mark Bridges; 3. Hugo , Sandy Powell; 4. Jane Eyre , Michael O'Connor; 5. W.E. , Arianne Phillips.

BEST DOCUMENTARY CONTENDERS (FEATURE)

1. Hell and Back Again, Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner; 2. If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman; 3. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs; 4. Pina, Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel; 5. Undefeated, TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas.

BEST DOCUMENTARY CONTENDERS (SHORT SUBJECT)

1. The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin; 2. God Is the Bigger Elvis, Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson; 3. Incident in New Baghdad, James Spione; 4. Saving Face, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy; 5. The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen.

BEST FILM EDITING CONTENDERS

1. The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius; 2. The Descendants, Kevin Tent; 3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall; 4. Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker; 5. Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen.

BEST FOREIGN FILM CONTENDERS

1. Bullhead, Belgium; 2. Footnote, Israel; 3. In Darkness, Poland; 4. Monsieur Lazhar, Canada; 5. A Separation , Iran.

BEST MAKEUP CONTENDERS

1. Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle; 2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng; 3. The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE CONTENDERS

1. The Adventures of Tintin , John Williams; 2. The Artist, Ludovic Bource; 3. Hugo, Howard Shore; 4. inker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesia; 5. War Horse, John Williams.

BEST SHORT FILM CONTENDERS (ANIMATED)

1. Dimanche/Sunday, Patrick Doyon; 2. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg; 3. La Luna, Enrico Casarosa; 4. A Morning Stroll, Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe; 5. Wild Life, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby.

BEST SHORT FILM CONTENDERS (LIVE ACTION)

1. Pentecost , Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane; 2. Raju, Max Zahle and Stefan Gieren; 3. The Shore, Terry George and Oorlagh George; 4. Time Freak, Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey; 5. Tuba Atlantic , Hallvar Witz.

BEST SOUND EDITING CONTENDERS

1. Drive, Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis; 2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Ren Klyce; 3. Hugo, Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty; 4. Transformers: Dark of the Moon , Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl; 5. War Horse , Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom.

BEST SOUND MIXING CONTENDERS

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson; 2. Hugo , Tom Fleischman and John Midgley; 3. Moneyball, Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick; 4. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin; 5. War Horse, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS CONTENDERS

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 , Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson; 2. Hugo, Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning ; 3. Real Steel, Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg; 4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett; 5. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY CONTENDERS

1. The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; 2. Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan; 3. The Ides of March, Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon; 4. Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin; 5. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY CONTENDERS

1. The Artist, Written by Michel Hazanavicius; 2. Bridesmaids , Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; 3. Margin Call, Written by J.C. Chandor; 4. Midnight in Paris , Written by Woody Allen; 5. A Separation, Written by Asghar Farhadiplea.

Honestly? I'm on the fence about doing South by Southwest this year. Am I going to spend at least $1000 to $1200 (and probably closer to $1500) on basics to fly there and stay in a flophouse so I can see...what, 21 Jump Street and one or two other films that might be worth the hassle and expense? This is my concern, dude. I'm not saying the value isn't there. I'm saying I don't see it yet. This is a process, not a judgment.

Last year Bridesmaids debuted in Austin, and so did Undefeated, Weekend, Natural Selection and The Beaver. For me...Read More

A near-miss on the 101 Freeway early this afternoon left me hugely impressed with my driving skills. I was next to the farthest left lane, speeding along at 75 or so when a young Asian-American woman in a white Honda SUV turned sharply left without a signal. She was just a few feet ahead. I'm sure I was in her blind spot. This is why they tell you to quickly look over your left shoulder before changing lanes.

I was breaking the law myself by talking on my cell phone, holding it to my right ear with...Read More

Markus Schleinzer's Michael, a "somewhat chilly, jewel-precise" study of an Austrian child molester, "is the absolute best film I've seen at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival so far," I wrote on 5.14.11. "It isn't pleasant to watch, but it's briliiant -- emotionally suppressed in a correct way that blends with the protagonist, and aesthetically disciplined and close to spellbinding."

Michael will play at Manhattan's Film Forum from 2.15 through 2.28. An absolute must-see, if only to get into the argument.

I wrote the following reply to a Glenn Kenny post on 5.14: "Those who...Read More

Knowing I'd worked for Cannon Films in the mid to late '80s, a guy asked me this morning about Dolph Lundgren and the making of Masters of the Universe . I replied as follows: "All I did was write the press notes and visit the set, once. I remember very little because I knew it was a cheeseball enterprise from the get-go and I didn't give a shit about any of it. The idea of the Golan & Globus machine attempting to arouse the geek/comic-book fanbase was hopeless from the start...pathetic."

"What was the atmosphere at...Read More

Let's at least acknowledge what I've been told again and again and again about the fate of Miss Bala. The main reason it didn't get nominated for a Best Foreign Language Feature Oscar is because progressive-minded industry women didn't approve of Stephanie Sigman's Laura Guerrero being constantly intimidated and pushed around. They wanted to see her stand up in Act Three and take charge of her fate. Films about women that fail to endorse and affirm the prevailing p.c. doctrine do so at their own peril -- that's a fact.

Yesterday afternoon (as I was politely firing my old accountant and meeting with my new one) Rope Of Silicon's Brad Brevet pointed out how oppressive regimented flashback sequences have become (i.e., always some of dreamtrip effect, always a different film stock or texture), and how ingenious it was for Alfred Hitchcock to invite those 1940 audiences watching Rebecca to -- horrors! -- imagine the details as Laurence Olivier recalled the take of his late wife's accidental death. The sequence starts somewhere around 3:20, but doesn't really kick in until 4:00 or thereabouts.

Due respect to Michael R. Roskam and the Bullhead team, but I was fundamentally uncomfortable with the story of a primitive, inarticulate, bull-like Belgian guy with no balls. Literally. Having been more or less castrated as a youth by a neighborhood psychopath. I disengaged and in fact ran the other direction from this film so fast it wasn't funny. Life is hard enough when you have a pair. And the Academy foreign branch preferred this to Miss Bala?

Is this another teaser-for-a-Superbowl-Dictator trailer or the actual Superbowl spot itself? The only original material is (a) "Hey, America, I bought NBC!" and (b) the track-race sequence. The "what am I, a Kardashian?"/"No, you're much less hairy" exchange was in the original teaser.

TV ad guys trying to reach Joe Superbowl know that however attuned or even brilliant he might be about sports, when it comes to movies he's half-bombed and/or half-retarded. His eyelids are at half-mast, he's slow on the pickup and his pants are halfway down around his ankles. You have to keep...Read More

"Side by Side, a new documentary produced by Keanu Reeves, takes an in-depth look at this revolution. Through interviews with directors, cinematographers, film students, producers, technologies, editors, and exhibitors, Side by Side examines all aspects of filmmaking -- from capture to edit, visual effects to color correction, distribution to archive. At this moment when digital and photochemical filmmaking coexist, Side By Side explores what has been gained, what is lost, and what the future might bring."

South by Southwest 2012 has announced what appears to be most of its slate. The crassly commercial 21 Jump Street will be the centerpiece and Big Easy Express, a doc by Emmett Mallory, will close things out. I'm going to have to beg and plead for tickets from publicists and take cabs and bicycle rickshaws and wait in long press lines and contend with James Rocchi singing karaoke, etc. SXSW is no duckwalk.

It's been almost 45 years since the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 40 years since the Allman Brothers' Eat A Peach, about 31 or 32 years since the heyday of The Pretenders and 20 to 30 years since the peak days of The Police and Sting. And yet each and every Starbucks you walk into these days insists on playing little else besides classic Beatles, Pretenders, Police/Sting and Allman Brothers cuts, over and over and over and over.

The over-50 people who run companies and corporations just won't play anything recorded within the last 20 or 25 years, certainly...Read More

I've just parked my car on a leafy residential street in Glendale, and I felt a sublime surge of calm and well-being when I realized there were no parking meters or residential sticker requirements. Okay, a sign said "No parking on Wednesday -- 8 am to 10 am" but otherwise it was a place of peace. I felt like I'd parked my car on a shady cul de sac in Bedford Falls in 1946. It's been the best thing that's happened to me so far today. That plus my accountant being a nice guy and shrugging his shoulders and wishing me well when...Read More

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I drove down to Los Angeles yesterday afternoon to take care of some accounting matters. I'm looking at a full day of hitting banks, meeting with two accountants, driving around, etc. This won't be a big posting day, or at least not until later this afternoon or this evening.

Last Sunday I wrote that facial stubble was mandatory for lead actors in Sundance 2012 films, and that "every single actor in every single film I saw in Park City complied." The mandate also includes mainstream cinema, as this still from Skyfall, the latest 007 installment, makes clear. Daniel Craig's James Bond was absolutely clean-shaven in Casino Royale, but I can't recall if he wore GQ stubble in Quantum of Solace.

Joss Wheedon's The Avengers opens in less than four months and Disney marketing chose to limit their Super Bowl spot...oh, I get it. This is a ten-second tease for a trailer that will debut during the game. I still maintain that Wheedon is a lightweight (i.e., moderately talented) clock-puncher and journeyman, and nowhere near the realm of James Cameron or Bryan Singer even. Here's the most recent trailer.

Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan is a four-CD package of many, many artists signing Bob Dylan songs. The revenue goes to Amnesty International, hence the copy line "this album saves lives." But my reaction when I saw this poster was that music itself can do this. Regularly, I imagine.

All great art in fact -- films, plays, paintings, novels -- has the power to lift people out of the doldrums and turn them on and nourish their souls to some degree. Dylan's music alone made a huge difference to hundreds of...Read More

Earlier today I was buying some regrettably expensive sunglasses at Macy's at the Beverly Center, and I asked the sales girl to just let me wear them out and to forget the imitation leather case and the cleaning cloth and the plastic carrying bag and the receipt even. I just wanted the glasses.

"Are you sure?," she said. "Because you'll need the receipt if you want to return them."

"I won't. They're just sunglasses."

"You'd be surprised how many people come back and want to return or exchange," she explained.

"What do they say when they do that?," I asked. "What...'excuse me...Read More

To me, Universal's decision to advance the opening of Oliver Stone's Savages from 9.28 to 7.6 means (a) they've decided it has definite mainstream popcorn potential and (b) they don't think it fulfills the requirements of a "fall movie" (however you want to define that term) to quite the same degree. I haven't read the script but it's basically a drug-dealing movie costarring Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch that's about saving Blake Lively from Mexican drug cartel kidnappers. Benicio Del Toro, Demian Bichir, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Emile Hirsch, Mia Maestro and Salma Hayek costar.

"Even The Artist's most vocal detractors -- who would likely not be vocal at all about it under normal circumstances -- would have to confess that the film is not some bloated sop to the Academy, like so many other major studio productions crafted specifically for year-end consideration," writes AV Club's Scott Tobias.

"Its goals are modest, its pleasures refined -- not a whiff of self-importance or middlebrow grandeur, no issues more pressing than a general appreciation of love and the cinema, and certainly no ambition to heal a nation a decade after 9/11 or credit...Read More