THE BLOG REEL

The full "Ebert Presents At The Movies" website is now up and running!

2011-01-23T23:54:00.000-08:00

Great news: the full "Ebert Presents" website is now up and running! Live! If you missed the debut of the show on PBS this weekend, you can now watch the first episode (in segments) on the site. Just go to http://www.ebertpresents.com and click on "episodes".

Also visit the critics page, with all of the contributors to the show! Enjoy! and watch PBS!

In Re Gervais

2011-01-17T23:39:00.000-08:00

It's been just over 24 hours since the end of the 68th Annual Golden Globes, and the number one topic remains its host Ricky Gervais.

Many on Twitter and in the blogosphere in general have praised Mr. Gervais' comedy monologue and intros during last night's show, broadcast live on NBC television.

The reaction has been far more mixed in the mainstream media and among those in attendance at The Beverly Hilton, site of last night's awards bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA).

Within hours, media stories raised the issue of whether Mr. Gervais would be invited back to host next year. Some expressed displeasure toward the British comedian, writer and actor for his comments about Robert Downey Jr. and about the age of the cast of "Sex And The City 2" and Hugh Hefner, among other opinions. Those were arguably the mildest references of the night. A lot of what Mr. Gervais said was funny. Much of it jabbed harder than the body blows sometimes launched at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner.

This was the second time Ricky Gervais hosted the Globes. He first hosted last year. The HFPA was happy to bring him back. Like ABC when it hired Rush Limbaugh several years ago, the HFPA knew what to expect. Last night Mr. Gervais often walked a tightrope on the order of the documentary "Man On Wire". Except he rocked and wobbled frequently, but didn't fall off.

The audience reaction last night at an event typically more relaxed than the Oscars however, was telling. Disapproving ohs were clearly audible, as were murmurs, particularly during Mr. Gervais' opening five-minute monologue, which is posted above.

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen mildly rebuked the host, as did Mr. Downey, following Mr. Gervais' references to the actor's drug rehab stints and jail time in the 1990s. When presenting, Mr. Downey received fairly substantial audience applause as he remarked about the "mean-spirited" atmosphere being created by the show's host, whom he diplomatically resisted mentioning by name. The "Iron Man" actor then made headlines himself (joking about sleeping with specific actresses), as did honoree Robert De Niro (joking about the deportation of the Beverly Hilton cooks and waitstaff, in what may have been seen by some as borderline racist comments.)

Nevertheless, in an otherwise blah show, the Globes and Gervais were perfectly imperfect together, making for spiky, queasy but entertaining television -- at least sometimes. The Globes were mostly predictable, but what increasing numbers of people watch the telecast for are its unpredictable winners' speeches.

At the Oscars you have an idea that the winners will gush with happiness or be overcome with shock. You have an idea that they will stay mostly -- with the exception of some notable incidents including last year's rude intervention while Roger Ross Williams gave his Oscar acceptance speech -- on script.

By contrast, with the Globes, and the abundance of food and drink in the room, there's no telling what the host, presenters or winners will do or say. Nor how far they will go in the process. An awards show that is still largely viewed either unfavorably or less seriously than other awards shows, the Globes were put on the map last night by its host. And Mr. Gervais still has us talking, so he (or someone) is doing something right.

Sure, Mr. Gervais was inartful and below the belt at times during the live broadcast. He said things more scathing than anything Chris Rock said at the Oscars when he hosted the more tony, serious awards show in 2008. Then, Mr. Rock took on Jude Law, chiding him for being not such a great actor and saying that he needed to fire his agent. Sean Penn pushed back. Mr. Rock was never to be seen again on the Oscar stage. Hugh Jackman took over in 2009. The rest, as they say, was history.

If you thought Mr. Gervais went too far last night, and there were times that he gingerly stepped over the line, then you ought to be witness to Friars Club roasts in New York City. I know people who have been. Anything Mr. Gervais said last night was kids' play compared to what has happened at Friars, where it can get downright vicious and patently offensive. Just ask Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson.

Had Mr. Gervais hosted the same way at the Oscars as he did last night at the Globes, he'd likely not be asked back. At this moment it is not known if he will be asked to host the Golden Globes again next year.

If Bill Maher had hosted the Globes last night and said what Mr. Gervais did, would the reaction be the same? Hard to say. Mr. Maher is respected for being brash, thought-provoking and direct. If Charles Barkley had hosted the show and opined instead of Mr. Gervais, would he have received a pass from the media? Mr. Barkley is typically respected for the same reasons as Mr. Maher, and like the comedian and social-political commentator is generally liked by a considerable margin.

What if Sarah Silverman had hosted last night? Kathy Griffin? Joan Rivers? Paul Mooney? Louis C.K.? Joaquin Phoenix? Jack Nicholson? Would it be better? Worse? Would they be invited back?

"Ebert Presents At The Movies" Website, Facebook and Twitter Launched Earlier Today

2011-01-12T23:59:00.000-08:00

Early today the new logo (abbreviated above), website (http://www.ebertpresents.com), Facebook (http://on.fb.me/gzfr7F

) and Twitter (@ebertpresents) pages were unveiled for "Ebert Presents At The Movies", which premieres on PBS television on January 21.

Please visit often!

Happy New Year! Now let's go Seattle...

2011-01-10T23:45:00.000-08:00

"Ebert Presents At The Movies" gets its close-up on January 21 on PBS television. Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (@vishnevetsky on Twitter) joins Christy Lemire (@christylemire) as a co-host of the program, which will air in 48 of the top 50 U.S. markets.

Kim Morgan (@SunsetGunShot) and me (@popcornreel) will be two of the contributors, with Nell Minow (@moviemom), David Poland (@davidpoland), Kartina Richardson (@ThisMoiThisMoi) and Jeff Greenfield also part of the Ebert team. I'm honored to be a part of this talented and illustrious group.

Please watch Roger Ebert's new show beginning on January 21 on PBS. And if you are in Seattle (which is not carrying "Ebert Presents") please e-mail start@kcts9.org and demand that KCTS 9 air the show.

Thanks!

"Ebert Presents At The Movies", Coming January 21, 2011 to PBS Television

2010-12-24T23:23:00.000-08:00

Whew! Time has vanished in 2010. I'm pleased to announce on this blog that "Ebert Presents At The Movies" is the new title of the show, which thus far is in over 200 affiliate PBS television markets in the U.S., with over 90% saturation nationally. Armed Forces Network will carry the show internationally.

Roger has recently sent a link of this news with more details, including a PDF of the stations in the cities and states that will carry the show, which begins on January 21, 2011 on PBS. Some further news about the show and who will be its co-hosts and contributing critics is to be announced in the near future.

The January 2011 television brochure pictured above is from the show's flagship station WTTW, based in Chicago, where the show will be based.

You should hear some official announcements from one of the show's producers, Chaz Ebert, soon, so stay tuned!

Merry Christmas!

I'm back! And a word about "Roger Ebert Presents At The Movies"

2010-09-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

I've been away from this blog for far too long -- one month shy of one whole year away.

October 20, 2009 was the date of my last post here, but now I will be updating this blog much more often! In these intervening months I have been wondering whether Twitter and Facebook have made blogs more or less obsolete. I'd be foolish to answer "yes", but Twitter is where I have been spotted on numerous occasions over the last year.

A great deal has happened since October of 2009, including the announcement ten days ago (September 10, 2010) of Roger Ebert's new movie review/film criticism television show "Roger Ebert Presents At The Movies". The new show will air on PBS television in the U.S. beginning in January 2011. Roger will be joined on the show by lead co-hosts Christy Lemire (pronounced "Lem-eer") and Elvis Mitchell. They will review the latest new film releases. Kim Morgan and me will be substitute co-hosts and contribute various feature pieces to the show, which will air each week and be a total of a half-hour in length, and without commercial interruption. Chaz Ebert produces.

Here's a statement about the show that I published on my movie/interview/essay/video website The Popcorn Reel on Saturday, September 18.

The Scare Power of the "Paranormal"

2009-10-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

A scene from the hit film "Pranormal Activity". (Paramount Pictures)

While The Popcorn Reel will be returning in full force very soon with a ton of updates -- my computer crashed hard two weeks ago and I've had to do some extensive recovery -- I will be posting stories here that I'm currently writing for The Examiner newspaper group. I recently became the San Francisco Indie Movie Examiner writer, as well as a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle.

Halloween is coming, and earlier this week I wrote a story about the cinematic phenomenon that is "Paranormal Activity". Take a look.

Breaking The Law

2009-10-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

Are you a law-abiding citizen?

Here's my review of F. Gary Gray's new film, which opened today in the U.S. and Canada:

http://www.popcornreel.com/htm/lawcitrev.htm

For The Author Julie Powell, It's Lights! Camera! Cooking!

2009-07-31T05:08:00.000-07:00

A delightful conversation with Julie Powell, author of "Julie & Julia", was had earlier this week. Julie is a passionate cook whose life was in freefall just seven years ago. Julia Child, the iconic cooking legend and author helped inspire Ms. Powell and soon the Austin, Texas-born Ms. Powell started a blog and cooked more than 500 of Ms. Child's recipes in one year. The film "Julie & Julia" which is based on Ms. Powell and Ms. Child's separate books, opens in the U.S. and Canada on August 7. Here's the feature story. Enjoy. And eat!

"Julie & Julia"

2009-07-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

Look out for "Julie & Julia" -- I saw it last night. The film, based on two true stories, is about cooking master Julia Child and cooking aspirant-turned-famous cook Julie Powell, and is directed by Nora Ephron. Meryl Streep and Amy Adams (both of "Doubt") star in Ms. Ephron's film. "Julie & Julia" opens on August 7 in the U.S. and Canada.

"Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince"

2009-07-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

Pottermaniacs: This "Harry" Gets Better With Age. David Yates gets this edition right, with a few imperfections. http://www.popcornreel.com/htm/hpotter09rev.htm

Back On The Popcorn Trail

2009-07-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a while - have neglected The Reel more than I'd like. I've been very busy and have also fallen under the spell of Twitter -- I can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/popcornreel. I will also be blogging here regularly.

When Obsession Is Beyond Obsession

2009-04-01T01:56:00.000-07:00

I don't have the words to explain. But something has to be done. Just read on, please.

"Spinning" Into Coincidence?

2009-03-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

Sarah Jessica Parker as Dean Sarah Daniels in the new film "Spinning Into Butter".
(Photo: Screen Media Films)
Last Wednesday (March 25) was one of coincidences. I had posted an early review of the film "Spinning Into Butter" which depicts racial tension and racism on a college campus in Vermont. Sarah Jessica Parker (above) stars and does a good job in the role of Dean Sarah Daniels. Strangely enough, I had not realized (I found out later) that March 25 was Ms. Parker's 44th birthday. Also on that same day, the renowned and revered black historian John Hope Franklin died, aged 94. He had experienced racism and racial tension first hand and wrote books about it and many other topics. What did these three events have to do with each other? Not much perhaps, but they are related by topic, timing and circumstance.

A very interesting Wednesday indeed.

In Hollywood Films Today, Where Are The Women Of Howard Hawks' Day?

2009-03-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

Howard Hawks and his star Lauren Bacall, who made her debut in
Mr. Hawks' "To Have And Have Not", opposite Humphrey Bogart.
Miss Bacall was just 19 at the time, and she told ol' Bogey where to
get off. (Photo: UCLA Film Archives)

The recent spate of Hollywood girl-power love stories and romances ("Bride Wars", etc.) showing women as inept, self-pitying, spoiled rotten brats crescendoed last month with "He's Just Not That Into You", which has become a moderate hit since its release a week prior to Valentine's Day in the U.S. and Canada. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times pointed out the stupefying depths of degradation and dumbing down of women in these Hollywood comedies, longing for the days of tougher women like "Thelma & Louise".

Which brought me to thinking: what about the women of American filmmaker Howard Hawks' films from the 1930s through the 1950s in particular? What has happened to that kind of women in today's Hollywood film? Read on . . .

"Eyes Wide Shut" Has Its Tenth Anniversary This July

2009-03-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

Tom Cruise as Bill Harford in Stanley Kubrick's final film, "Eyes
Wide Shut", which has its tenth anniversary of release on July 16.
(Photo: Warner Brothers)

A lot of the public detested it, convinced that they were duped by the two-minute sexy trailer that debuted earlier that year (March 1999, to be precise). They said that "Eyes Wide Shut" was boring, too long, slow-paced and pretentious. American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick directed what would be his last film over a two-plus-year period and in March ten years ago died of a heart attack in his sleep. "Eyes Wide Shut" opened in North America on July 16, 1999 to mixed but mostly positive reviews. The film starred then-actual spouses Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a married couple whose real or imagined flirtations with infidelity lead Mr. Cruise's character on a nighttime odyssey.

The film has its 10 year anniversary of theatrical release in July. Colorful, foreboding, disturbing and hauting, "Eyes" is a riveting, penetrating powerhouse.

"Heat" Still Burns Cool Blue

2009-03-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, in a contemplative stance, bathed
in deep blue, one image that defines Michael Mann's "Heat". (Screen
shot: Warner Bros/Omar P.L. Moore)

While Michael Mann's "Public Enemies", starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, doesn't open for more than three months in the U.S. and Canada, it's worth taking a look back at a classic film from Mr. Mann. "Heat" (1995) pitted Al Pacino and Robert De Niro on opposite sides of the law, cop chasing criminal in a test of relentless will. I predict that "Heat" will show up on the top 100 films of all time on the American Film Institute list. Here's a reminder of just how good this film still is.

Barry Jenkins Muses On "Melancholy"

2009-03-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

Barry Jenkins, writer, director, producer (Photo: Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com. Copyright 2009.)
Earlier this month, San Francisco filmmaker Barry Jenkins was in that very city talking about his feature film directing debut "Medicine For Melancholy", which played earlier this year in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Los Angeles. The film, starring Los Angeles actors Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins, is now enjoying an extended theatrical run in San Francisco, where it is set. Two on a one-night stand slowly wake up the next morning and retrace (or enhance) their steps in San Francisco, learning a lot about themselves and the city in the process.

Mr. Jenkins had several revealing things to say about his film and the politics and demographics of the city he now calls home. You can take a look here.

Steven Soderbergh Talks About "Che"

2009-01-25T02:45:00.000-08:00

(Photo by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com. Copyright 2009.)
Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh recently talked to me about his latest film "Che". Definitely a wonderfully insightful and revealing conversation, which is chronicled in today's Sunday Popcorn Profile on this blog's companion website, PopcornReel.com.

The feature story is also posted here.

Brief audio excerpts of the conversation will be posted within the next day or two, so stay tuned.

Today's Oscar Nominations, Digested

2009-01-22T09:47:00.001-08:00

So I've had an hour or two to digest this morning's Oscar nominations for the films of 2008.

Generally speaking, no real surprises: The best film of 2008, "Slumdog Millionaire", did very well with ten nominations, but the sheer number of bouquets tossed at "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" was indeed curious. Thirteen Oscar nominations. Wow. Only "Titanic" and "Ben Hur", if I'm not mistaken, received the same or more, although there are other nominated films that have escaped my mind.

Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei (both for "The Wrestler") and Viola Davis ("Doubt") were all expected, as was Kate Winslet, although she was nominated in the lead role for "The Reader", which was always a lead role (The HFPA got that one wrong, I'm afraid) -- and not "Revolutionary Road", which for my money was a slightly better performance by the newest bridesmaid of Oscartown. As well as those mentioned in this paragrpah I was particularly pleased that Richard Jenkins was recognized for "The Visitor", which should have earned more nominations. Mr. Jenkins embodied the character of Walter Vale so well. "Milk" did well -- best picture, best director, best original screenplay, best actor (Sean Penn), best supporting actor (Josh Brolin), but James Franco should have joined them.

I love Robert Downey Jr.'s work and while I am happy for him I had mixed (at best) feelings about the Academy saluting his work in "Tropic Thunder", although he did it very well, don't get me wrong, deftly tiptoeing into and out of the racist stereotypical waters of blackface. The cavalier nature of his role as "Iron Man" was far better.

With its eight nominations "The Dark Knight", to be re-released in IMAX and 35mm in North America tomorrow, was snubbed out of best picture and best director nominations. How on earth does a film gain nominations for best cinematography, editing, art direction, sound editing, sound mixing, make up, visual effects and not receive nominations for best picture and best director? It simply doesn't make sense. Ah well. Politics, politics for sure. There always is. At least Heath Ledger was nominated for his towering pillar of menace, The Joker. Mr. Ledger will no doubt be awarded the Oscar posthumously exactly one month from today.

Clint Eastwood came up relatively empty this morning ("Gran Torino") but "Changeling" did garner three nominations, including one for Angelina Jolie. The one surprise was "Frost/Nixon", with best picture and best director nods. The film, which had an excellent performance from Frank Langella (as usual for him) was good, but not that good.

Full PopcornReel.com 81st Annual Academy Award nominations report here

Pre-nomination announcement advice for the Academy, who didn't really need it today

The Popcorn Reel Ten Best Films of 2008

Popcorn Reel YouTube Channel

Friends and Face Time - The Popcorn Reel on Facebook or enter Popcorn Reel in the search area

The Blog Reel Is Back In Business!

2009-01-21T01:04:00.000-08:00

New Year, New Look, New Address.

The Blog Reel is back!

You can check out The Popcorn Reel website which has the film reviews, interviews, news, feature stories you're interested in.

The Popcorn Reel -- http://www.popcornreel.com

You can take a look at The Popcorn Reel Channel on YouTube -- http://www.youtube.com/PopcornReel -- look at the movie reviews there and subscribe

Or, you can visit The Popcorn Reel on Facebook -- http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=1645123184&ref=name