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Entries in The Descendants (18)

Monday
Dec192011

It's Michelle/Marilyn for Dallas, Florida, Vegas and Chicago

The critical map continues to unfold with only three films scoring repeatedly: The Artist, The Descendants and The Tree of Life. All of them recently picking up another "best of year" prize. I had expected Hugo to feature more prominently after its high profile NBR win but that hasn't come to pass. But isn't it awfully nice to see a year with three major critical players even if you don't much like one of them (for me that's The Descendants). In short: Death to sweeps!

Michelle Williams is dominating the critics awards

While she's not quite a sweeper Michelle Williams is going to be on a lot of airplanes if she intends to attend all of these critics ceremonies that plan to honor her work in My Week With MarilynAfter the jump prizes from... Chicago and St. Louis who both just announced, Dallas Ft Worth, Florida, and Las Vegas (which I missed last week oopsie).

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Dec132011

Interview: Judy Greer on "The Descendants" & "Archer"

It can't be just that we're both from Michigan. Perhaps it's her voice on the other end of the line, which sounds too much like an old high school friend's? There's something about Judy Greer that seems familiar. No, no, I just see a lot of movies is all. It's merely the cumulative effect of her filmography, I tell myself, which often presents her to us as relatable sideshow: friend, sister, neighbor, co-worker, everywoman. Maybe she strikes casting directors this way, too. I can't imagine I'm alone in this feeling, though to our mutual amusement, this girl next door vibe she gives off turns out to be surprisingly literal. As we begin to talk the small talk stretches out and out as the revelations come. We lived 3 miles from one another as children! We went to the same dance clubs as teenagers! We were scared of the same freeways while driving!

"Anyway, hiiiiiiiiiii" she says laughing, as we reboot out conversation. We'd better get to talking about the movies!

After years and years in showbiz how does this sense of familiarity sit with her, strangers feeling like they know her. How uncomfortable must this 'Where do I know you from again?' sensation be?

"It happens to me all the time but I don't consider it a problem," she says, instantly getting the question. There was a time, she offers, that people would always actually think they knew her. At some point in changed. Now they know she's an actress but they can't quite place from where. 

Mr & Mrs Speer (Judy Greer and Matthew Lillard) in "The Descendants"Eventually that signature role will hit and there'll be no mistaking the "who?" and the "were from?" The Descendants is definitely a forward step in that direction. Though it's another brief supporting role, her Mrs. Speer is a lynchpin character in an acclaimed Oscar buzzing film at that. She can already taste the difference and is "flattered" to be included in all the promotion for the movie for such a small role. The cast has already been nominated for Best Ensemble at the BFCA Critics Choice Awards. Judy herself will announce the SAG nominees on Wednesday where The Descendants is also expected to score.

Without spoiling the film, let's just say that George Clooney's Matt King befriends her character with an agenda; he knows something about her husband that she doesn't and he wants to get closer to her in order to get to him. She only has three scenes but all are opposite Clooney himself and all three are crucial to the emotional journey of the film.

Once we got to the movies, The Descendants was the only place to start.

[Judy on Nice George, Naughty Archer, Descendant Enthusiasm and her best roles after the jump]

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Nov292011

Spirit Awards: "Take Shelter" & "The Artist" Lead the Nominees

The New York Film Critics Circle isn't even finished with its announcements yet and now we've got The Spirit Award nominations. They have the longest lag time between nominations and ceremony since they aren't even held until the day before the Oscars. Like the NYFCC they've been swerving ever closer to Oscar over the years, often championing a runner-up type of candidate like, say, Sideways or Black Swan. That could be good news for The Artist or The Descendants this year depending on which takes the lead in the Oscar race. Though if you believe the nomination tallies here this could be a very big night for Take Shelter.

BEST FEATURE
50/50 (3 noms total) -review
Beginners (4 noms total) -review
Drive (3 noms total) -review
Take Shelter (5 noms total)
The Artist (5 noms total) -review
The Descendants (4 noms total)

I'm super fond of ½ of this lineup and whenever you're super fond of ½ a lineup you should smile. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the way awards season is aiming to go, The Descendants is my least favorite from their preferred lineup.  

FULL LIST OF NOMINEES AFTER THE JUMP

Click to read more ...

Sunday
Nov202011

Box Office: Bella Marries but We're Totally Team George

Twi-hards RSVP'ed to their beloved franchise's wedding, giving Twilight's fourth film a box office weekend as bloated as its romantic angst and running time. George Clooney's Oscar bid (aka The Descendants) also saw very enthusiastic attendance. It's only in 29 theaters and still managed to crack the top ten (!), suggesting a future all lucrative like the family's in the movie (who happen to own gazillions worth of Hawaiian real estate).

Box Office (U.S.) Top Ten -Estimates

01 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 new $139.5
02 HAPPY FEET TWO new $22
03 IMMORTALS $12.2 (cum. $52.9)
04 JACK AND JILL $12 (cum. $41)
05 PUSS IN BOOTS $10.7 (cum. $122.3)
06 TOWER HEIST $7 (cum. $53.4)
07 J EDGAR new $5.9 [review] (cum $20.6)
08 A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS new $2.9 (cum $28.3)
09 IN TIME $1.7  (cum. $33.4)
10 THE DESCENDANTS new $1.2  (cum. $1.3)

One Final Talking Point
Remember when we were wondering if The Help (#11 of the year) could overtake Bridesmaids (#10) to land in the US top ten of the year? It's still trying. The Help is still in theaters (under 400) and is now just $900,000 behind the other female driven smash featuring poo jokes. The only similarly intense and weirdly close battle for yearly "rank" bragging rights is between Captain America (#8) and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (#9) with less than $300,000 separating their takes; no poo jokes unite them but they do share super serum injections.

What did you see this weekend? Or are you saving your pennies for the awesome cavalcade of pictures opening for Thanksgiving. So many goodies opening for the holiday.

Thursday
Oct202011

Gotham Awards: The Tree of Marcy May's Sheltered Descendants

The Gotham Award nominees were announced today. Though they're not affiliated I like to think of them as the East Coast Spirit Awards on account of the similar types of films they tend to honor (independent and lower budgeted films) and the slightly confusing windows of eligibility. The ceremony will be held on November 28th, 2011 here in NYC which is the same day that the New York Film Critics Circle have just announced as the date on which they'll name their winners. So mark those calendars. Awards Season begins in earnest on Monday November 28th, 2011. So the season will be almost exactly three months long this year what with the Oscars arriving on Sunday February 26th, 2012.

Best Feature:

  • Beginners (Mike Mills)
  • The Descendants (Alexander Payne)
  • Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt
)
  • Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols
)
  • The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)

'One of these things is not like the others, one of these things is not the same.' The black sheep of this shortlist family is The Descendants which is decidedly more mainstream than the other contenders: big movie star, crowd-pleasing rather than crowd-risky, obviously on its way to Oscar nods.

Several categories and few opinions after the jump.

Click to read more ...