The Screening Room

According to Variety (by way of /film), we just may see more of the mysterious Cloverfield on screen:

Matt Reeves is in early talks with Paramount to direct a "Cloverfield" sequel, and he has also made a deal with GreeneStreet Films to direct "The Invisible Woman." (Read more)

I'm torn. As much as I enjoyed the original (and plan to see it again and perhaps again), can they really sustain the momentum of the original? Most of the draw for seeing Cloverfield was the "OMG what was that?" factor, which is gone. And do we face another instance of 28 Days Later vs. 28 Weeks Later? Does the new version lose what made the original so cool?

So, early days yet, but what do you think? Would you fork out to see the sequel? Would you prefer a prequel? What would it take to get you back in the seats for Cloverfield 2?

If you live near Plano and you dig on Oscar-winning epics, here's an event for you. The Angelika Plano continues its series of classic Oscar favorites every Thursday night at 7:30 for the next month. The fun starts Tomorrow night with Lawrence of Arabia. Feb. 7 brings All About Eve, followed by Gone With the Wind (Feb. 14, good Valentine's Day date) and Ben Hur (wager on chariot race, Feb. 21). Tickets are nine clams. Get 'em here.

No, we're not talking golf. A Fair to Remember, Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell's ode to the Texas State Fair, has won the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award, recognized internationally as a symbol of the highest production standards in filmmaking and videography. Huzzah to it and them. Find out more about the company behind the film, Media Projects, here.

It's 40 years old, it's black and white, and it's scarier than Britney on bender. We speak of Night of the Living Dead , the original 1968 zombiefest that's heading to the Inwood for a one-night stand Feb. 21.

A send-up stands up
It looks as if you are all in on the joke. Meet the Spartans, the spoof of last year’s 300, among others, topped the box office with $18.5 million, edging out Rambo by about $300,000. Spartans’ opening weekend is right in line with the openings of the last two year’s similarly minded spoofs, Date Movie ($19 million) and Epic Movie ($18.6 million).

Now that Sylvester Stallone has released long-unawaited sequels to Rambo and Rocky, what's the next 20-year old flick that he should follow up on.
Share your thoughts below. Here are some suggestions:
Cobra
Over the Top
Tango & Cash
Rhinestone

Tekken, the film adaptation of the popular video game, will hold a casting call on Sunday in Dallas. The film is looking for extras 18 and older of Japanese ancestry to work on the production, which will shoot in Shreveport in February. If you fit the bill, stop by the Embassy Suites Hotel, 3880 W. Northwest Highway, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. If you get picked, you’ll earn $200 a day plus hotel room. For more info, go to www.gloriosocasting.com.

Local members of the Screen Actors Guild will host a SAG Awards watching party, and you’re invited. The event will be held Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at the Dallas Angelika, 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane. Mitch Carr of 98.7 KLUV will MC the event that will feature local celebs, contests and door prizes. Tickets are $10; proceeds benefit the Texas Motion Picture Alliance.

Rambo's back and ready for more action - 20 years after his last on-screen appearance. First Die Hard's John McClane came back last summer, followed by Indiana Jones this summer, both after 19 years, and let's not forget Rocky Balboa. When is it too much? Are you rejoicing to see the heroes of your youth back on the big screen? Or is it to time to pass the torch to the next cast of characters?

A monster opening
Cloverfield, armed with an effective viral marketing campaign and a devoted fanboy crowd, easily vanquished the competition over the holiday weekend. Its $46 million opening weekend was good for the best January debut on record.

Accoring to msnbc.com:

The radical Baptist church known for picketing the funerals of American soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq has announced that they intend to protest Heath Ledger’s stateside memorial service because he played a gay character in Brokeback Mountain.

Read the full story.

IVER HEATH, England — Quantum of Solace is the title of the
new James Bond film, the 22nd Bond adventure.

Read more.

Also, have you gotten used to Daniel Craig as Agent 007?

Chuck Palahniuk fans rejoice. Fox Searchlight has scooped up the film adaptation of Choke, a popular novel by the Fight Club author. Searchlight, which has a hit (and Oscar player) on its hands with Juno, paid a reported $5 million for the film at the Sundance Film Festival. For the New York Times' piece on the latest flurry of Sundance acquisitions, click here. For a plot summary of Choke, keep reading.

There's going to be shock anytime someone 28 dies unexpectedly, and when it's someone famous and talented that reaction is magnified in the media. But it will be interesting to see what the results of today's autospy on Heath Ledger and the findings of the toxicology report (whenever they are released) tell us, not just about the cause of Heath Ledger's death, but the caws around his death.

OMG, Paris Hilton was in Highland Park on Tuesday, and we've got video to prove it. The celebutante is in town for a screening of her new movie, cleverly titled The Hottie and the Nottie. Did you go to the screening? What did you think?

Brad Loper / DMN

Slideshow: Heath Ledger 1979-2008

From the New York Times: Actor Heath Ledger Is Found Dead

Read reviews of Heath Ledger's recent films:
Lords of Dogtown (2005)
The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Casanova (2005)
Candy (2006)
I'm Not There (2007)

Among last year’s 20 acting nominees, there were five black actors (Eddie Murphy, Will Smith Djimon Hounsou and winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudston), two Latin nominees (Penélope Cruz and Adriana Barraza) and one Asian (Rinko Kikuchi). But this year, the diversity trend seems to have reversed itself: Ruby Dee and Javier Bardem are the only non-white actors nominated this year.

Every Oscar race has its showdowns, those one-on-one match-ups that transcend the field of five. Wanna know which ones we find most intriguing? Keep reading, oh loyal blog peruser.

I'm going to try to address some of the many snub comments/questions in one bulk posting. Here goes:

American Gangster: I think a lot of people just don't know what to make or do with it. It's a big, fairly mainstream entertainment with a morally ambiguous antihero, and it's a bit on the slick side. Denzel has had his Oscar glory recently (and has two awards), and his performance might have reminded some too much of Training Day. I will still steadfastly defend it, and him. The guy's got charisma and screen presence to burn.

Eddie Vedder: He got caught up in the surprising indifference to Into the Wild. His songs were the highlight of the film for me. I wonder if there's some Sean Penn hating afoot....

Ryan Gosling: I wasn't a big Lars fan; I could never get over the nagging feeling that everyone in it was slightly daft. I liked Half Nelson a lot more. In any case, he's going to be around for years, and he'll he part of the Oscar conversation for as long as he wants to be.

Here's a look at the nomination leaders, how much they've made at the box office and where you can see them:
Noms. Title Box office Where to see?
8 No Country for Old Men $48.6 mil. In theaters
There Will be Blood $8.7 mil. In theaters
7 Atonement $31.8 mil. In theaters
Michael Clayton $39.3 mil. In theaters
5 Ratatouille $206 mil. On DVD
4 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly $2.6 mil. In theaters
Juno $85.3 mil. In theaters

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again And again. And again. And again.

Sound mixer Kevin O'Connell picked up his 20th Oscar nomination, for Transformers. He has yet to win. Somewhere, Susan Lucci is smiling ear to ear.

It's now official: Juno is this year's Little Miss Sunshine, the boutique studio (Fox Searchlight) crossover that slayed the box office and scored nods aplenty. It has now made $87 million domestically on fewer screens than a lot of major releases. Jason Reitman, Ellen Page and Diablo Cody earned nominations to go with the best picture nod. I was especially happy to see Reitman get his - Cody has gotten endless, well-earned buzz for her screenplay, but Reitman has such a deft comic touch, as he showed with Thank You for Smoking. At 30, he's got plenty of plaudits ahead.

Looks like Sicko, Michale Moore's deconstruction of the American healthcare system, is one of the five nominees in the documentary category. Oddly enough, he may be rooting for another nominee in the field, No End in Sight. It's a lot more critical of Moore's favorite punching bag, Pres. Bush, than Sicko.

Cate Blanchett manages the rare double nomination, one in the lead category for Elizabeth: The Golden Age and one in the supporting category for I'm Not There. Many prognosticators felt that her frontrunner status in the supporting category meant that she'd be left off the lead actress list, but apparently Oscar voters can't get enough Cate. The last person to score two acting nominations in the same year was Terrell's own Jamie Foxx in 2004, for Collateral (supporting) and Ray (lead, which he won). The last time an actress turned the trick was 2002, when Julianne Moore scored for Far From Heaven (lead) and The Hours (supporting). She walked away with neither.

I can't say American Gangster's solo nod (for supporting actress Ruby Dee) is a shock; I think the movie was under-appreciated from the start, and I think time will treat it very well. (Nice to see it's still getting love over at IMDB).

Once again we see the value (not much) of a Golden Globe win in the musical/comedy category. Dreamgirls didn't get nominated, and neither did Sweeney Todd. It's hard out there for a demon barber.

And what about Into the Wild? Some experts predicted nods for Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and Catherine Keener. Zip, zip and zip.

As some of you know, I've been tracking the possible nominees week by week since October, so today is the I was going to finally get to show the world how smart I am. Instead, I would say this is the day I showed the world how sorta smart I am. Of the 30 nominees in the major categories, I correctly predicted 22, giving me a batting average of 73 percent. If you're curious about my exact misses, read on...