Jake Gittes

Who are two people who've never been in my kitchen?

It's a load of pandering, witless garbage that plays like a parody of surface-level Hollywood biopics. I can't remember the last time a movie talked down to me like I was in a primary school so much. I mean the only thing it needed to achieve full idiotic self-satisfied perfection was a scene where a child Trumbo gets bullied after reading something he's written out loud, and then his teacher says "Don't listen to them, Dalton, you have a GIFT" and the music swells and then the movie calls back to it an hour later or something, to double down on all the inspiration. Interminable.

Weird-ass date. Even if they're just looking at Deadpool's success and thinking of owning January with a quality sci-fi movie, why not at least open limited over Christmas and keep a chance to grab a few Oscar nods? (Deakins, production design, etc). It will surprise me if they don't do that.

Sure it was.

Her performance is pretty much the only good thing about The Danish Girl, but still not award-worthy.

Still disappointed that JJL didn't win a single big precursor.

If The Big Short wins Editing early in the ceremony it's got a fighting chance at BP. If not, it'll almost definitely lose, though it'd be fun and in spirit of the season if it still ended up winning by a couple of votes or something.

The Prfdator?

I thought it was an okay YouTube short stretched into a full-length movie and made interminable as a result.

It feels like 4 or 5 hours' worth of story and drama crammed into less than half that length, with no less than three main characters and a plot that can't help but appear contrived and too artificially constructed. Maybe all of its coincidences and ironies would feel more natural and tragic if the film dived head-first into the emotions, but Wright's direction here is chilly and distant, enamored with itself and often more interested in scenery than it is in humans that populate it (the celebrated Dunkirk scene is a good example - it comes across as more "Check out my awesome long take!" than anything story-driven), and the bait-and-switch the film pulls close to the end just left a sour taste in my mouth. Whatever power it ultimately has is mostly there thanks to the actors; I never liked Knightley, but she's serviceable here, McAvoy brings the right amount of burning energy and charisma, and Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave's collective portrayal of Briony is absolutely captivating, maybe the best performance of a single character by two or more people in the same movie that I've seen.

If it stays limited I suppose they're after an Ex Machina-like run. Maybe they don't want it to get crushed by BvS in second weekend too. Everything will drop big there.

Well, Carol went almost all the way when it came to award nominations. Yeah, Gray's last two films were melodramas that were heavy on subtlety and restraint (I haven't seen Carol, but it sounds similar in that way), so they probably wouldn't have found a big audience even with strong distributors/promotion behind them. But his sensibility is also far from alienating, and if he made something widely acclaimed and at least given a chance at the box office, I don't see why he wouldn't get award recognition. Then again, it's really hard to tell with Lost City of Z because it's a very different genre and budget than he's ever had before.

Definitely keeping an eye on that one. Hunnam in the lead role gives me a slight pause but James Gray is one of the best working filmmakers, it'd be nice if he finally broke out big with this one especially after Weinstein killed and buried The Immigrant.

It is listed as a limited release on BOM.

Yes. But "it was so haaaaard, you guys!" shouldn't earn you an Oscar. And if that's what the voters are impressed by, it's even dumber that the awards aren't going to Miller, who spent as much time in the desert as Inarritu did chasing snow and the result was a brilliantly directed movie and not a beautiful mess.

I guess around the time of Tower Heist and The Watch.

He'll probably be making these until he dies. He may protest in between them and insist he's done, but Paramount has clearly bought whatever was left of his soul

Having now seen Bridge, Spotlight and The Big Short I'm glad they nominated the three good-to-great examples of based-on-real-events Important Dramas, and not dreck like The Danish Girl or Trumbo.

Exorcist didn't make 232m in its first run though

80m looks like the bare minimum. The Hangover II had a $31m OD with $10m previews, the first Hobbit did $37m with $13m previews. So Deadpool should hit $35m on Friday at the very least, and over $40m seems possible.

Ruffalo's LOOK AT ME ACH-TING routine was distracting in damn near every scene he was in, and the fact that he got Oscar recognition while Liev Schreiber's phenomenally understated work got ignored is dispiriting even if it's one of the least surprising things in Oscar history. Otherwise, rock-solid.

Sunrise Man with a Movie Camera Sherlock, Jr. Bed and Sofa The Crowd Pandora's Box The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Un chien andalou A Woman of Paris Our Hospitality Seven Chances Safety Last!

I was model pretty once, but actual life has taken its toll

If you wanna watch the DGA nominees talk for about three hours