Movies - Star-ecentral.com” plus 4 more

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R.I.P. Larry Gelbart (A Special Appreciation) - The Moderate Voice
Damon, demons, Darwin among Toronto fest offerings - Morning Journal
Perry's movie tops the box office - News-Democrat
Movie stalwart modernizes - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The Star Online > eCentral > Movies - Star-ecentral.com

Posted: 14 Sep 2009 01:40 AM PDT

Published: Monday September 14, 2009 MYT 4:21:00 PM

Oprah, Tyler Perry push 'Precious'

TORONTO (AP) - Lee Daniels has an Oscar-winning movie to his credit, but he still needed some big-time help to draw attention to his latest film about a girl who overcomes crushing abuse.

He got it from Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry: The two are executive producers of "Precious," which had a premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival over the weekend.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Winfrey said she was happy to help bring more attention to the film.

"Everyone needs someone to help them navigate," the TV talk show host explained. "I had Bill Cosby, Quincy Jones, Sidney Poitier and Maya Angelou who I look to. You can't do that on your own. Someone has to show it to you."

Daniels produced "Monster's Ball," which won Halle Berry an Oscar for best actress in 2002. She adapted "Precious" from Sapphire's novel "Push." It tells the story of an illiterate black girl who manages to rise above poverty, sexual and mental abuse. The film, which stars Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton and others, won the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and has been generating Oscar buzz.

Still, Daniels believes the cachet of Oprah and hit filmmaker Perry will help the film, which comes out on Nov. 6, build a greater audience.

Perry's latest movie, the comedy "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," opened at the top of the box office this weekend. Besides directing and writing the film, based on his stage play of the same name, Perry co-stars as his brash, cross-dressing alter ego, Madea. Perry's "Madea Goes to Jail" also opened at No. 1 in February.

"My movies are art films. So many people don't see art films. People do see Oprah and Tyler's movies and they do hear Oprah's word, so it is really good," Daniels said.

Carey, Patton, and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, who plays the title role, gathered at a private cocktail reception prior to the movie's Toronto premiere where they later joined Winfrey on the red carpet.

"I couldn't wait to get here because I love it so much and I couldn't wait to see it again. I am just really excited," said Carey.

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R.I.P. Larry Gelbart (A Special Appreciation) - The Moderate Voice

Posted: 13 Sep 2009 10:38 AM PDT

This Guest Voice special appreciation is by skippy the bush kangaroo, a popular blogger who writes in lowercase — and who offers this piece on the late comedy-writer great Larry Gelbart. He offers this caption for the above photo: skippy and dick benjamin laugh it up, while (left to right) leonard stern, stanley rubin, larry gelbart and carl reiner yawn.

rip larry gelbart

by skippy the bush kangaroo

tony award-winner and oscar nominee larry gelbart, one of the most prolific and important comedy writers of the 20th century, has died @ age 81. latimes:

larry gelbart, the award-winning comedy writer best known for developing the landmark tv series "mash," co-writing the book for the hit broadway musical "a funny thing happened on the way to the forum" and co-writing the classic movie comedy "tootsie," died Friday morning. he was 81.

gelbart, who was diagnosed with cancer in june, died at his home in beverly hills, said his wife, pat…

"larry gelbart was among the very best comedy writers ever produced in america," said mel brooks, whose friendship with gelbart dated to when they both wrote for sid caesar's comedy-variety show "caesar's hour" in the 1950s. gelbart "had class, he had wit, he had style and grace. he was a marvelous writer who could do more with words than anybody i ever met," brooks said.

in a statement friday, woody allen called gelbart "the best comedy writer that i ever knew and one of the best guys."

said carl reiner, who had also known gelbart since the "caesar's hour" days when reiner was a cast member: "the main thing about larry, he was a comedy prodigy who developed into a national treasure. the man was one of the most gifted satirists who ever lived."

larry started out writing for radio in the 40's, for different comics, notably eddie cantor & bob hope. he went on to write for red buttons' television series, and some broadway shows (of which "a funny thing happened on the way to the forum" is perhaps his best known) before creating and producing the tv series "m*a*s*h," based on the robert altman movie.

gelbart's oeuvre is too extensive to list here. anybody in any creative endeavor could only hope to achieve one one-thousandth of the body of quality, important, and down-right hilarious work he turned out in his lifetime.

skippy himself had the great honor of working in a sketch written specifically for him by gelbart in a hollywood roast for leonard stern (producer of "get smart") a couple years ago. skippy played chuckie weinberg, the shyest writer in show biz. roast emcee richard benjamin relayed chuckie's speech praising stern, as chuckie whispered into richard's ear (because chuckie was too shy to speak to the crowd). it's an old gag, copped this time from benjamin's film "my favorite year," a fictional account of the writers on the sid caesar show.

it was, without question, one of the supreme highlights of skippy's career.

rest in peace, larry gelbart.

skippy the bush kangaroo has been aware of all internet traditions since 2002, since which time he has been blogging continuously. like everyone else, he is convinced he in the center of the spectrum politically and of the universe personally. tho he constantly wants to, he has never shouted "you lie!" to anyone.

(TMV Editor's Note: skippy invented the word "blogtopia.")

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Damon, demons, Darwin among Toronto fest offerings - Morning Journal

Posted: 13 Sep 2009 10:19 PM PDT

By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer

Click to enlarge

Jason Reitman and wife Michele Lee, right, arrive to the red carpet for the gala screening of "Chloe" during the Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall yesterday in Toronto. ASSOCIATED PRESS

TORONTO — The cinema smorgasbord of the Toronto International Film Festival has something for all tastes, a place where zombies, demons and vampires share screen time with art films, Hollywood awards contenders and studio crowd-pleasers.

One of the world's biggest and most diverse movie showcases, the festival opens Thursday with the Charles Darwin film biography "Creation," starring real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly. It closes Sept. 19 with another 19th century biopic, "The Young Victoria," featuring Emily Blunt as the British monarch in her early years.

In between, the festival will accommodate nearly half a million admissions as industry types and regular film fans share some time in darkened theaters for a total of 273 feature-length productions and 63 short films from 64 countries.

The Toronto festival is a pivotal place for Academy Awards contenders and other fall films angling for attention among the hundreds of critics and entertainment reporters.

"If you're going to bring a movie out around this time, there's no better game in town," said Matt Damon, who reteams with "Ocean's Eleven" director Steven Soderbergh for his Toronto entry, the whistle-blower saga "The Informant!"

"Ocean's Eleven" co-star and Toronto regular George Clooney has two films at the festival, Jason Reitman's comic drama "Up in the Air" and Grant Heslov's military satire "The Men Who Stare at Goats."

Reitman's previous films, 2005's "Thank You for Smoking" and 2007's "Juno," premiered at Toronto, the latter a $100 million hit whose four Oscar nominations included best picture and director.

"When I think about starting a movie, I think about shooting by January, editing by April or May, cutting through the summer and having it in time for Toronto," Reitman said. "It's my mecca every two years. I'm too superstitious not to play there at this point."

The lineup includes Drew Barrymore's directing debut "Whip It," a roller-derby romp in which she co-stars with Ellen Page and Juliette Lewis; Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner's comedy "The Invention of Lying"; Joel and Ethan Coen's "A Serious Man," a 1960s tale set in their native Minnesota; the documentary "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel," a portrait of the Playboy publisher; "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee," a domestic drama with Robin Wright Penn, Alan Arkin, Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder; and Atom Egoyan's "Chloe," the film Liam Neeson was shooting in Toronto last March when his wife, Natasha Richardson, sustained a fatal head injury while skiing in Quebec.

Along with a huge lineup of foreign and avant-garde films, the festival caters to horror crowds with a midnight madness schedule featuring Megan Fox possessed by a demon in "Jennifer's Body," a plague of vampires in Ethan Hawke's "Daybreakers" and the latest from the zombie master with "George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead."

Toronto also is presenting big films that premiered at other festivals such as Cannes and Venice, including Michael Moore's documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story" and Terry Gilliam's fantasy "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," Heath Ledger's final role.

With a city full of sophisticated cinema fans, the Toronto showcase allows distributors to gauge the commercial prospects of films.

At festivals such as Cannes and Sundance, "those audiences mostly don't live there. It's mostly industry or press or people in the film business. The response can be a little more reserved or jaundiced or critical sometimes," said Toronto festival co-director Cameron Bailey. "Toronto audiences, these are people who love movies. They're interested and they're also informed about movies, so filmmakers can get kind of a real-world reaction."

While some film distributors have closed or scaled back operations amid the economic meltdown, the sheer number and breadth of the Toronto lineup still makes the festival a prime spot to scout for new films and talent.

Sony Pictures Classics has a schedule crowded with such recent acquisitions as "Doctor Parnassus" and top Cannes prize winners "The White Ribbon" and "A Prophet," yet the company is actively scouring Toronto for other films.

"The economic downturn has affected us all. We're all in survival mode," said Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics. "But the fact is, when you look at the Toronto film festival, its value is the same as it always was, which is to launch films effectively, to get the attention of critics and academy members at the dawn of the so-called awards season, and also for companies like us to look for new films to buy."

For directors whose films already have a distributor, such as Clooney's producing partner Heslov, the festival is a place to find out if their hard work might pay off with fans.

"You put a year of your life into something, so I'm excited about the prospect of having it in front of audiences, hearing their reaction," said Heslov, who makes his directing debut with "The Men Who Stare at Goats," about a fringe military unit researching psychic warfare. "It comes to life with an audience in a way you don't really get when you're editing and shooting."

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Perry's movie tops the box office - News-Democrat

Posted: 14 Sep 2009 12:57 AM PDT

"Tyler Perry has a special way of speaking to his audience, and it's unbelievable," David Spitz, Lionsgate's executive vice president and general sales manager, said Sunday. "He always knows what his audience wants, and I never underestimate him."

Spitz said the presence of the popular Madea character, plus a cast that included Henson, Mary J. Blige, Gladys Knight and Pastor Marvin Winans, helped put the movie on top. It also had the best critical reception of all of Perry's films, with 58 percent positive reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes Web site.

Perry, who's known for his productivity, has the sequel "Why Did I Get Married Too" coming out next spring. And in a rare adaptation of someone else's work, he's preparing to go into production on a film version of the Ntozake Shange stage play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf."

Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian joked that his latest movie should have been called, "Tyler Perry's I Can Do No Wrong at the Box Office."

"Eight theatrical films, five No. 1 debuts -- Lionsgate has a perpetually successful franchise in Tyler Perry," Dergarabedian said. "He is the brand. He's a very rare example of a director-writer-actor who is completely synonymous with his work and with the success of his movies."

Coming in second was the dark, animated "9" from Focus Features, which made $10.9 million this weekend, according to Sunday estimates. Since its Wednesday opening -- on 9-9-09 -- the movie has made about $15.3 million. The voice cast includes Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer and Jennifer Connelly as hand-stitched dolls who represent the last vestige of humanity after a war between man and machine.

In what is traditionally a slow time at the box office between the summer blockbusters and the fall prestige films, two other new releases had so-so openings. The Summit Entertainment horror flick "Sorority Row" came in at No. 6 with about $5.3 million, while the Kate Beckinsale thriller "Whiteout" from Warner Bros. followed in seventh place with $5.1 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Tuesday.

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Movie stalwart modernizes - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Posted: 14 Sep 2009 12:00 AM PDT

HOLLYWOOD – Technicolor has been a fixture since the early days of Hollywood.

The company brought color to the big screen in such classics as "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz." When its pioneering "three-strip" color process fell out of favor, Technicolor reinvented itself as a successful film processor. The company later became a leading duplicator of VHS tapes and DVDs.

Now, after 94 years of serving Hollywood, Technicolor Inc. has planted itself in the heart of Tinseltown, leaving its nondescript headquarters in an industrial neighborhood near Burbank Airport. Its new digs – a modern, six-story structure – are a symbol of the company's latest transformation.

Technicolor is now refashioning itself to keep pace with the digital revolution that has reshaped the entertainment industry.

It has invested more than $200 million in digital post-production and visual effects facilities, including in London, Bangalore, India, and the company's new Hollywood headquarters, as well as in a sound editing facility that is slated to open next year in Hollywood.

"People say Technicolor, it's just fighting to stay in the old business, and they will never make it in the digital business," said Frederic Rose, chief executive of Thomson, the French media technology company that owns Technicolor. "In reality, we are pushing harder than anybody else in the industry to go digital."

The global expansion comes at a time when many other companies that service Hollywood are scaling back in the face of a severe production slowdown.

But Technicolor has little alternative: The bulk of the company's business derives from replicating DVDs and processing film prints for theaters, both challenged segments. DVD sales are slowing, and more movies and TV shows are being shot digitally.

Technicolor is the largest manufacturer of DVDs and remains one of the largest processors of film – it processed 1.8 billion feet of film during the first half of this year.

But the company has also emerged as a market leader in the processing and distribution of digital cinema. Its new headquarters includes nine digital scanners, which cost more than $1 million apiece.

They are part of a "digital intermediate" process that Technicolor developed several years ago that allows film to be color-corrected and edited on digital equipment as opposed to in a film laboratory using chemicals. The process is less expensive and faster.

As part of a strategy to expand into creative services, Technicolor in March hired Tim Sarnoff away from Imageworks, Sony Pictures' visual effects and computer animation unit, to lead its new Digital Productions division, which creates visual effects for movies, television shows, commercials and video games.

"They could have put their head in the sand and said, 'This is what we do.' But they didn't," said Randi Altman, editor-in-chief of trade publication Post Magazine. "They've adapted and evolved with the industry."

Some aspects of Technicolor's digital strategy haven't worked. The company last year pulled the plug on a planned rollout of digital equipment in theaters, concluding that it wasn't economical and that it veered too far from its core business.

Instead, Technicolor recently devised a system that can show 3-D movies using conventional film projectors, potentially saving exhibitors from spending $75,000 on a digital projector.

The rollout of 3-D screens has been delayed because exhibitors have had difficulty funding the conversion, raising concerns among studio executives releasing dozens of 3-D films in the next two years. Technicolor's system will be tested this fall.