First Look At "August: Osage County"

Well, lookie here. It's our first official photos from August: Osage County. Albeit tiny blurry ones.

UPDATE: What the text on that page says

This glossy promotional item with photos of Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Julianne Nicholson, and Ewan McGregor and The House (!) where it all goes down was emailed to me by a reader who is currently attending the American Film Market.

Streep with dark hair always makes me think of Silkwood which is never an unpleasant thought and coincidentally also takes place in Oklahoma. If A:OC is anywhere close to Silkwood's quality everyone wins.

P.S. I'm wild for Juliette with red locks.

P.P.S. Back to this year's Oscar race!

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Side Effects"

Some directors make a movie every five years. Some every two. Steven Soderbergh makes so many lately that he seems intent on creating a whole new filmography to go with his previous one. Here's a thought, Stevie: Don't retire! Stop rushing. There are plenty of movies to be made and you're only 49 years old.

The Happy Couple Chan & Rooney. Or are they....?

His new thriller Side Effects starring Channing Tatum and Rooney Mara now has a trailer. Let's break down it down with a yes no or maybe so right here...

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My Fair Linky

The Poison Pen on the shifting gaze of cinema, objectifying men and, specifically, Gene Kelly's ass
Stale Popcorn Nicole Kidman goes totally 'My Fair Lady' for the races in Australia
The Advocate another gay role for Benedict Cumberbatch. He'll play the "fifth Beatle"  Brian Epstein in a new biopic
Movie City News David Poland talks to Sally Field for Lincoln 

Vulture considers the Looper effect. New time travel films are coming, one from Leonardo DiCaprio's company
Movie|Line talks to the LEOgend. She's in everything lately including Flight. 
/Film Paul Thomas Anderson screens 20 extra minutes of The Master, to be included on the DVD release 
Guardian Skyfall is breaking records well before its US box office debut 
Empire a look at Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 
Cinema Blend Maggie Smith's recent health scare was, very thankfully, much exaggerated by rumors. But there's still no word on whether she'll return to Downton Abbey for a fourth season.

Finally, have you seen Elizabeth Olsen on the set of Oldboy? She's giving you Maggie Gyllenhaal realness.

Right? I also love that she's standing by a Catering and Extras sign. As if.

BIFA Gives an Early Boost to "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"

The British Independent Film Awards are what I like to think of, rightly or wrongly, as the UK version of the Gotham Awards... or maybe the Spirit Awards. British readers can correct that assumption in the comments if it's totally untenable. They've announced their nominations and on the heels of the EFA announcement this is more minor good news for Amour but I'm already off track. That's barely a blip story here since the awards focus (almost) exclusively on British Indies. Let's talk headline.

In terms of Oscar the biggest boost (i.e. more laurels for the FYC ads to tout) goes to the sleeper hit The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which we should've figured would come back to life at year's end given how well liked slash comfy it is. It even doubles up on the Dames for maximum BAFTA/AMPAS pleasure.

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM
Berberian Sound Studio
Broken
Sightseers
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
The Imposter

Broken, a film about a young girl who witnesses a violent attack, leads the BIFA nods with 9 nominations including 4 for acting. Marigold Hotel won 3 acting nominations. Complete list of nominations with commentary after the jump...

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Free Association: "Sandy" & The Impossible

You may have noticed that The Impossible has been fading on my Oscar charts these past couple of months. I always thought it a chancy Oscar prospect. Though it's undeniably technically impressive -- I'm not sure I want to know what Naomi Watts had to go through to film the tsunami scenes -- and emotionally compelling if you can get past its blonde privileged whiteness in a Thailand-set disaster epic. But its profile also seems quite low for a potentially major player. Summit is either planning a mega-blitz at the tail end of the year (a risky strategy with several giants opening at Christmas) or they're too busy rubbing their hands together gleefully whilst awaiting those Breaking Dawn Part 2 dollars to remember that they have an inspirational drama to push!

But lately I've been wondering if Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath might turn people off of The Impossible. More... 

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