Weekly Wilson

With Labor Day in the rear view mirror, we can officially say that summer is over. I went to a lot of summer movies, but here I will try to separate the wheat from the chaff. In some cases, I couldn’t get to a few that I really wanted to see (Winter’s Bone, The Pat Tillman Story).

Early in the summer, I missed an opportunity through CinemaChicago to see The Kids Are All Right for free. I regretted it then and I regret I now. It seems to have become the only pure breakout independent hit movie of the summer, and I am much more about small, independent character-driven films than giant Transformer type fare, (although I did trek down to the Chicago River and do some on-the-spot reporting from the Chicago sets of that film sequel shooting in the Windy City.)

The last film-of-summer I hurried out to see was George Clooney’s The American. Contrary to the good review Roger Ebert gave this Anton Corbijin (a Dutch director) film, it was a total dud. Unless you like interminable shots and discussions of weapon assembly that go on for hours (which feel like days), pass on this one. I got the feeling that Clooney…who, as we all know, has an estate in Italy…just wanted to stay close to his Lake Como digs and make a few bucks filming in places with names like Castelvecchio and Castel del Monte. Those of us who are big Clooney fans (count me among that number) and really enjoyed “Up in the Air” and “Syriana” and “Michael Clayton” and “Good Night and Good Luck” were sucked into the vacuum that this film represents.  “Rolling Stone” magazine (September 16, “Arthouse Vs. Grindhouse”) described The American as “a film of startling austerity” (read boring) and “remote to a fault” (read boring). There were 5 of us who attended this movie together, 3 of them male. The snoring began almost immediately. George’s anguished driving scene merely made him appear constipated; not his finest acting hour Very disappointing film.

Then there was Get Low, which was almost as slow-moving at times, but done with spectacular attention to detail. How can you not like watching Robert Duvall play a scene opposite Bill Murray portraying a pencil-mustachioed undertaker? The plot, (for most of you who will miss the film), was supposedly based on a true story and involved the eccentric Duvall, who lives in the woods and is considered a crackpot, trying to arrange to host his own funeral while he is still alive. [Be sure to arrive at the beginning so you don’t miss the scene of the unknown stranger jumping out of a burning house.] It is only at the funeral that we learn that Duvall has actually summoned everyone in the county to the celebration so that he can confess to crimes of the heart committed many years ago. With able acting support from Sissie Spacek as a long-ago sweetheart, Lucas Black as Buddy, Gerald McRaney as the Reverend Gus Horton and Bill Cobbs as the Reverend Charlie Jackson, I have to admit that I thought about this film for days after I saw it, appreciating the lovely cinematography (Director Aaron Schneider is better-known as a Cinematographer) and the spot-on period piece music (“I’m Looking Over A Four-Leaf Clover,” “Blue Skies,” a Bix Beiderbeke piece). There are some great lines. Bill Murray: “I sold 26 of the ugliest cars in the middle of December with the wind blowing so far up my ass I was farting snowflakes into July.” Robert Duvall:  “There’s alive and there’s dead and there’s a worse place in between that I hope you never know nothin’ about.”  Murray again:  “That’s one thing about Chicago. People know how to die.  They drown. Get shot.  Whatever it takes.” This film was only showing at 570 sites, according to “Entertainment Weekly” and its take was far below that of the summer’s blockbusters, but it was a fine film from Director Aaron Schneider, who previously won an Oscar for his cinematography work. It shows in this film and I wouldn’t ever count Robert Duvall out in the Oscar acting category.

Big Blockbusters of Summer:

There’s no question that Inception and Toy Story 3 were the films to smile about this summer. Inception will be nominated for numerous Oscars, and has raked in $270.5 million (“Entertainment Weekly,” September 10, The Chart, p. 75).  Toy Story 3 has done even better, with a take of $405.7 million. Both of them great films.

Other films that were enjoyable include The Other Guys with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as unlikely crime-fighting partners. The fact that Ferrell’s character drives a red Prius (“I didn’t know they put tampons on wheels” is one put-down from the film) and that Wahlberg’s cop is known as the guy who shot Derek Jeter are just a few of the comic touches. Brooke Shields’ husband Chris Henchy and Adam Mckay co-wrote. (Look for Brooke in a cameo appearance, sitting next to Ferrell at a Lakers game.)

Cyrus with Noah Hill, John C Reilly and Marisa Tomei was a nicely acted comedy with some depth. It depicted the unhealthy relationship that has emerged between a divorced mother and her adult son. A great supporting performance by Catherine Keener as Jamie (Who can forget Keener shouting, “Check, please!” in Being John Malkovich after John Cusack’s character tells her he is a mime?) Unfortunately, Jonah Hill also was part of Get Him to the Greek this summer, an attempt to cash in on crass comedy of The Hangover variety. Russell Brand did a good job portraying a prima Dona rock star, but the low humor killed it for me.

I came out of The Switch feeling sorry for Jennifer Aniston…and not just because Angelina Jolie ran off with Brad Pitt. It wasn’t a bad film, depicting, as it does, an unmarried independent career woman planning to give birth by means of artificial insemination. The best thing about the film was co-star Jason Bateman portraying Anniston’s long-time neurotic male friend Wally Mars (Anniston to Bateman:  “You’ve got to hide your crazy at least through the appetizers.”) The plot, as most will know, involves Wally switching the sperm sample Cassie plans to use for making a baby, which gives rise to a little Wally (child actor Thomas Robinson, who didn’t cut it, for me). The inevitability of Jennifer’s character Cassie and Bateman’s Wally eventually ending up together is a foregone conclusion. My husband objected to having to go to “a chick flick.” I have read reviews that trumpeted the film as “the end of Jennifer Aniston’s film career.” I think that is a bit harsh and overly dire for what was a pleasant-but-predictable film with some good acting from the principal characters (including able support from Jeff Goldblum as Leonard, Juliette Lewis as Debbie and Patrick Wilson as Roland, the sperm donor). However, there is no question that it was uncomfortable watching Jennifer Aniston play a more-or-less close to her real life character’s situation: an attractive, independent female who hears her biological clock ticking and is becoming desperate. Desperate is never fun.

I saw Dinner for Schmucks and found it much better than the trailer the advertising gurus chose to use to promote it (see previous Associated Content article).

Here are the films I purposely avoided and am very glad I did:  The Expendables, Eat Pray Love, Sex in the City 2, The Last Exorcism, Prince of Persia, The A-Team, Jonah Hex, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Step Up 3D, Knight and Day, Killers, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

Here are the films I saw and could just as happily have missed: Iron Man 2, The American, Journey to Mecca (IMAX offering). Count these as disappointing.

Here are the films I caught and am glad I did:  A Piece of Work (Joan Rivers documentary), Toy Story 3, Inception, Get Low, and Cyrus.

Here are the films I am going to make sure I see before Oscar-time:  Winter’s Bone, Despicable Me.

Happy movie-going to us all!

They’re shooting “Transformers 3″ in Chicago and one downtown hotel, Hotel 71 on Wacker Drive, has even sold out its “Transformers” packages, according to the manager, Steve Shern. It sure didn’t look like the patrons of that hotel would get much sleep between Thursday, July 15, when the movie crew shut down Michigan Avenue at Randolph, and Monday morning, July 19, when the main drag opened up to regular traffic again.

On Sunday, July 18th, I took my trusty Canon camera and boarded a bus to get as close as possible to the shooting at Michigan and Wacker, right at the bridge that leads to the Tribune building and the Gleacher Center, where the University of Chicago holds classes.

As I walked the final couple blocks, three huge explosions could be heard. This would be in line with the fireballs, skydivers and wrecked autos that were said to be littering the place. Tribune employees reported that, during the day, they could see star Shia LaBoeuf running to and from one rock to a pile of debris (cars, mostly) several times. This time out, Shia’s co-star is Rosie something Whiteley, a former Victoria’s Secret model. She replaced Megan Fox, who seems to have become embroiled in a war of words with Director Michael Bay, who chalked up her mild criticism of the “scream-and-run” school of acting to her extreme youth. (She’s 23). I saw no similar criticism of Shia LaBoeuf’s nearly identical comments within a “Vanity Fair” article on the Michael Douglas reprise of his Gordon Gekko role on “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” due out soon.

It was boring standing there hoping the car (pictured) would fall into the Chicago River, and I can only imagine that it would be even more boring to have to run from a pile of wrecked cars to a rock several times, convincing people that a child’s toy gone wild is threatening the Earth.

I did read that, this time, Chicago will really represent Chicago, rather than Gotham City as it did in the last “Batman” movie. That will be nice, and I will be able to say I saw the filming, which, really, would be more accurately phrased as, “I heard the filming, on Sunday, July 18th, 2010.”

Viggo Mortensen at the 2008 Chicago Film Festival.

In the 1980 film “American Gigolo,” Richard Gere boldly went where no male actor had dared go before: full monty on film. As Julian Kaye, Richard had a scene standing next to a window in a bedroom (with co-star Lauren Hutton) that started a trend that shows no signs of  abating. It was an important moment in cinema: a break-through,  baring one’s all for one’s art.
Here are 10 examples of Full Frontal since Richard let it all hang out (pun intended).  It does not include those that are closer to porno, like the shower scene in 1980’s “Can’t Stop the Music” with Valerie Perrine (The Village People sang “Y.M.C.A.” in that one, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the film’s quality) and it doesn’t include the edited sequence(s) in “Fast Times at Ridgewood High” or the really obscure Dutch film “The 4^th Man” (Paul Verhoeven). The list also excludes “All the Right Moves” (1983) with Tom Cruise and Lea Thompson, where the camera lingered lovingly over the near-naked pair and panned downward.

And, since I’ve mentioned Tom Cruise, it doesn’t include FEMALE full frontal nudity, which has been done  to death for years. If it did, I’d be citing “Risky Business” and the scene with Rebecca DeMornay removing her dress to reveal  she had nothing on underneath, because Tom was not the one showing skin on the silver screen that time. There was also the overly long “At Play in the Fields of the Lord,” with Tom Berenger wearing almost nothing and Darryl Hannah literally wearing nothing, but I’ve left it off the list, too, because that  film about missionaries bringing more than just religion to the poor oppressed natives of South and Central America had  Tom wearing almost nothing, but I think there was a loin cloth or some such involved in the scene where he is nearly starkers.

So, who/what are the few, the bold, the Full Monty Minions?

Here are 10 that you can check out at your leisure. In some cases, don’t blink or you’ll miss it/them. Number Ten represents full frontal male nudity, but not from the likes of  Tom Cruise or a Richard Gere (more’s the pity).

1)      Richard Gere, (1980), “American Gigolo” and  “Breathless” (1983)

2)      Harvey Keitel, “The Piano” and “Bad Lieutenant” (Harvey took it off so often that, for a while, people were saying that it wasn’t truly an indie film unless Harvey was nude in it. More’s the pity that the actor enjoying nudity so much wasn’t someone a lot more attractive; you almost had to shout “Put it on! Put it on!” from your seat in the audience.)

3)      Jason Segel, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”

4)      Ewan McGregor: “The Pillow Book,” “Trainspotting,” “Velvet Goldmine,” “Young Adam” (And you thought Harvey Keitel was addicted to shedding his clothes at the drop of a plot point.)

5)      William H. Macy, “The Cooler.”

6)      Bruce Willis, “The Color of Night” (swimming pool scene)

7)      Kevin Bacon, “Wild Things”

8)      Jaye Davidson, “The Crying Game” (Is he a he or a she?)

9)      Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises” (One of the most horrifying fight sequences ever filmed.)

10)  Also, although hardly “star” turns, (which the list above is mainly involved with),

let’s not forget the fat guy in “Borat” (Ken Davitian), the phallic scene in “Boogie Nights” with Mark Wahlberg (no, it wasn’t all real), and the guy offering a beer in “Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story.”

So, there you have it: men who will bare their souls…and a lot more…for their art. Actors who have actively stripped to wearing nothing but a smile. Enjoy!

“Splice,” starring Adrien Brody as the semi-mad scientist, looked good in preview trailers, and it does not disappoint. It was not surprising to see that Guillermo del Torro and Joel Silver were 2 of the 4 producers. Del Torro, in particular, always has a wonderful visual feeling in his films, as with his Oscar-nominated 2006 film “Pan’s Labyrinth,” and his name, like that of Director Tim Burton, signals something that is going to be exceedingly cool visually.

Forty-one-year-old Director Vincenzo Natali, was the storyboard artist for a lot of impressive films, going all the way back to 1991’s “Beetlejuice” before stepping up to direct back around 2000. Natali wrote and directed “Cube” in 1997, and he has done double-duty as writer and director on “Splice,” as well.

The film opens with some heartbeat noises and there is a birth scene that is pretty impressive. The director also seems to have a sense of humor, as the secret lab where Dr. Frankenstein-like attempts to create new life are taking place is labeled NERD, standing for “Nucleic Experimental Research Development.”

In this lab lovers Sarah Polley as Elsa and Adrien Brody as Clive have created some disgusting-looking critters that are being bred to give off valuable proteins and enzymes that will reap rewards for the drug company funding their efforts. The creatures look like nothing so much as male genitalia that have learned to move around inside a cage. The two gung-ho scientists, who are portrayed as hot shots in their field, are to give a big presentation in front of their colleagues, which goes about as well as the King Kong stage scene in that classic monster movie. (“Don’t worry, Folks. He can’t escape.”) We expect disaster and we get it, because the cloned creatures have changed sex from female to male, meaning a critter-a-critter bloody fight to the death onstage, in front of thousands of their scientific colleagues. Embarrassing…and bloody. And, additionally, the two scientists are no longer such hotshots and their lab is in danger of imminent shutdown.

But Elsa (Sarah Polley), who seems ambivalent about giving birth herself after 7 years together as a couple, does want to try to clone a creature that is a little bit of this and a little bit of that: part human, part bird, part amphibian, part reptile, etc. The kicker is that Elsa provides her own DNA so that the lab serves as a surrogate mother for the diabolical experiment that Clive (Adrien Brodey) is opposed to from the start.

“Don’t worry,” Elsa reassures him. “We won’t take it to term. We just will know if we can generate a sustainable life form.” And there is always Elsa’s line, “What’s the worst that can happen?” We’re going to find out. And it’s an intensely graphic violent adventure that combines discussions about morality with the usual “How do you kill a monster?” stuff.

What the two lovebird scientists create initially is primarily a pretty hideous-looking CG creature. It continues to evolve outside the artificial “womb,” however, and, in time, Dren, as the duo name the creature, even begins to bear a resemblance to its human “mother.” The creature, which has bird-like legs, is quite human looking from the legs up, and is played by actress Delphine Chaneac in later scenes.

When the developing Dren becomes too big to hide in the lab, she is moved to a family farm that the mysterious Elsa has inherited from her family, a family that does not seem to have been quite right in the head. We learn very little of the trials and tribulations of the young Elsa, but we learn enough to know that her childhood was not straight out of a Disney movie.

The only problem with hiding Dren in the deserted farm is that Dren is bored and tries to escape at various points and attendance at work for one or both of the scientists become sporadic at best and non-existent at worst, dropping their status from hot shot stars to endangered species. (One funny exchange regarding Dren in the barn: “Don’t worry. She’s not gonna’ leave us,” from Elsa to Clive. Clive’s response: “She just did” as Dren flies off.

Yes, flies. Dren can do lots of things that humans cannot do, including breathe underwater and fly. The creature is one of the most intriguing and interesting other-worldly figures created on film since “Alien.” The human part comes through clearly, although Dren has no hair and seems to have a scar down the middle of the forehead of her otherwise attractive face.

There is an interesting scene where Clive dances with Dren to “Begin the Beguine” and a horrifying scene where Dren’s “Mother,’ (Elsa) feels it necessary to surgically remove Dren’s “stinger” against her will, because the stinger is lethal. (And, apparently, regenerates, if amputated.) There’s also the dispensable character that you just know is going to be picked off first, if anyone is.

Lots of bad things start to happen, as we knew they would, leading to charges that, “You’ve become something sick” (Clive to Elsa) and “We changed the rules. We got confused about right and wrong,” from Clive. Wistfully, he says, “I just wish things could go back to the way they were.”

As we all know, once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s hard to put it back in, leading, ultimately, to some interesting sequel opportunities.  Will Brody reprise his role? Stranger things have happened on film, but it looks more like Elsa will take this series to the next level in “Splice 2.”

The special effects are…well…special and it doesn’t hurt to have the London Philharmonic Orchestra recording such songs as ‘Night and Dren.” Shot in Toronto, this film opens up interesting ground for discussion about cloning and its implications for mankind. I’m really looking forward to the sequel and thoroughly enjoyed this first “Splice” film.

In 1988 Universal Studios used a farm in Dyersville, Iowa, as the main location for the movie Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Burt Reynolds and Ray Liotta.

Today, that baseball diamond carved out of a cornfield is for sale for $5.4 million dollars. The sellers are Don and Becky Lansing and the 193-acre plot has been used as a tourist stop ever since the movie came out, with the 2-bedroom farmhouse, 6 buildings including a concession stand and the diamond up for purchase.

Realtor for the sale is Ken Sanders who went 29-45 with a 2.97 Earned Run Average for 8 major league teams during 10 seasons in the 1960′s and 1970′s, before he became a real estate agent.

In the film Letters to Juliet, Amanda Seyfried (see previous article on Associated Content) comes of age as the bride rather than always the bridesmaid. Cast in most films as the best friend, Seyfried portrays Sophie Hall, a young “New Yorker” fact checker who travels to Italy with her boyfriend (Gail Garcia Bernal) and finds true love. The true love she finds is not her boyfriend, however, as any veteran moviegoer will suspect is going to be the case.

The title refers to the practice begun by Ettore Solimani in 1937 of replying to the love letters for advice left at the Juliet memorial in Verona, Italy. As many as 7,000 letters come in, and, in real life, twelve secretaries answer them. (2 are men). It’s even possible to send them by e-mail at info@julietclub.com or to snail mail them addressed to “Juliet, Verona, Italy.”

In the film, Sophie Hall (Amanda Seyfried) and her soon-to-be husband Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal) take a “pre-honeymoon” trip to Italy, since Victor is soon going to be opening a restaurant in New York City. Victor is the kind of fiancée who seems like he has serious ADHD or some other ailment that renders you overly effusive. No matter what the comment, he would exclaim as though it was the Second Coming. He was very irritating after about 10 minutes. One wondered what Sophie’s character found so charming about him, especially since his workaholic tendencies immediately manifested and he was off to this wine auction or that vineyard, leaving Sophie to amuse herself in gorgeous Italian locations like Siena, Tuscany, Soave, and Verona, where Sophie follows the girl gathering the letters to Juliet and discovers the fact-checkers (reduced in number for the film version, and all female).

As luck would have it, Sophie also discovers a letter long-hidden behind a loose brick, which turns out to be from Claire Smith (Vanessa Redgrave) of England. Sophie answers Claire’s letter, which is 50 years old, and Claire and her grandson Charlie, whom she raised, come to Verona looking for a love of Claire’s life whom she knew when 15.

One of the flaws in the film occurs when Sophie is asked by the letter-writers if she is the English translator, since all of them seem to speak perfect English. Another is trying to pass Vanessa Redgrave off as being 65, when she is actually 73. Redgrave is more than equal to the task of portraying Claire, being the only actress to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony, at Cannes, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors’ Guild Award, but she does not appear to be 65 years young. Her grandson, Charlie, as played by Christopher Egan, who resembles a younger Ryan Philippe may look good, but he moves gracelessly and has about as much charm as a pet goldfish.

If Victor was annoying in his effervescence, Charlie is equally as unlikable in his cold fish British way. There is even a line when Charlie says of his Grandmother Claire, who raised him,  “She took the angry obnoxious young man I was and turned me into the simply unpleasant type I am today.” I couldn’t have said it better, and I’m still wondering why Sophie, with her double major from Brown with a minor in Latin, her writing talent, and her good sense didn’t dump both of these Lotharios.

The thing that makes the film fascinating is watching Vanessa Redgrave reunited with Franco Nero, her real-life husband since 2006. Since most of the film from the point that Claire and Charlie show up involves Sophie riding with them to find the love of Claire’s young life, whom she lost 50 years ago (should have made it more like 60 years ago), we know that eventually that individual will be found. The fact that it is Franco Nero, now a handsome, well-preserved 69 years young, just makes the film ring truer.

A little history:  Vanessa Redgrave was married to Director Tony Richardson from 1962 until 1967, but he left her for French actress Jeanne Moreau. Vanessa met Franco Nero while playing Queen Guinevere in 1967’s “Camelot” and the two produced a son, Carlo Gabriel Nero. However, their paths drifted apart, and Vanessa Redgrave was with Timothy Dalton (of the ’87 and ’89 James Bond films “License to Kill” and “The Living Daylights” from 1971 through 1986.) It was only after 37 years, in their case, that Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero rediscovered their great romance and married on New Year’s Eve of 2006. In fact, it was Franco Nero who gave away the recently departed Natasha Richardson when she married Liam Neeson.

It is perfect casting to have the two reunited lovers played by two real-life reunited lovers when lines like, “People want to believe in love” and “I didn’t know that true love had an expiration date” resound throughout the film, courtesy of screenwriters Jose Rivera and Tim Sullivan.  Gary Winick directed the film and Ellen Barkin was one of the film’s producers.

For me, the gorgeous scenery, very reminiscent of Diane Lane’s “Under the Tuscan Sun” or Keanu Reeves’ film “A Walk in the Clouds,” was a great treat, and the female leads were fine (although I do have the previously noted comment about Redgrave trying to play 65.) However, both of the male leads were lacking. Hugh Dancey was originally supposed to play the Victor lead, and I’d never seen Christopher Egan, who plays Charlie, before. Not only does Charlie come off as stiff and unlikeable throughout, there is almost no reason to believe that the two will fall madly in love, when they have only one chaste love scene.

The use of “Love Story” (Taylor Swift) in one park scene is great for music selection and the phrases, “When we’re speaking about love, it’s never too late’ and “If what you felt then was true love, why shouldn’t it be true now?” will probably spice up some high school reunions this season. The main reason to see the film, however, is the scenery and the performance by Amanda Seyfried,  finally coming into her own as a leading lady.

Aaron Paul, whose name at birth was Aaron Paul Sturtevant, is the 31-year-old Emmy-nominated co-star of Breaking Bad. The Emmett, Idaho native, who graduated from Centennial High School in Boise, Idaho, set off for Los Angeles, California with $3,000 in his pocket and—after 8 months—landed his first paying gig: a Kellogg’s Corn Pops cereal commercial.

Since then, Aaron Paul’s career has taken a less wholesome trajectory, as far as the role he is best known for,  that of the tweaker and heroin addict Jesse Pinkman on “Breaking Bad.”

Paul has said that he owes series writer Vince Gilligan his career, as Gilligan remembered him from a role on “The X-Files” where he played a character known as Sky Commander Winky, which had been Gilligan’s college nickname.  When Paul auditioned for “Breaking Bad” and blew his lines, Gilligan remembered him from “The X-Files.” He cast him for one season’s work on “Breaking Bad” as Jesse Pinkman. Jesse (Aaron) was to have been killed off at the end of season one.

Says Gilligan of the decision to retain Paul beyond season one, “I didn’t realize the depth, humor and pathos Aaron could bring.  He was so excellent.  I told Aaron I wasn’t going to kill Jesse, but I couldn’t promise I wasn’t going to torture him.”  Jesse’s tortures, so far, have increased viewership by +17%, to about 1.3 million viewers per episode, and his stint as the clean-cut Scott on “Big Love” didn’t hurt, either.
Long before Aaron was Jesse or Scott he was appearing in independent films and a variety of TV series, such as “The Guardian,” “CSI,” “CSI: Miami,” “E.R.”, “Bones”, and a music video for the band “Korn” that accompanied the song “Thoughtless,” a video which was directed by the Hughes brothers.

Appearing on Carson Daily’s late night show on Monday night, May 16th, Paul told the host, “The Hughes Brothers directed it (the Korn video) and I just jumped onboard with it and it was fun.”  He added, “It’s just a dream to work in this business.”

The two were meeting at Citizen Smith’s Bar and Restaurant.  To questions from Daly about whether he minds being associated with his work in National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Paul replied, “I always get people accosting me for Van Wilder.” Said Carson, “That must drive you nuts.” Paul responded good-humoredly, “No, it’s fine.”

The gifted Paul seems genuinely grateful to be on “Breaking Bad,” saying, “When I first read the script, I thought to myself, I mean, it’s brilliant, but there’s no way this is going to make it on the air.  There’s no way they’re going to pick this up.  I applaud AMC for having the balls to do it.  I found myself laughing at scenes where Jesse is trying to melt a body with acid, but it’s pretty dark stuff.”

Asked Carson, “What did you know about tweakers and meth/amphetamine addicts before the show?” Paul replied, “It never really got a hold of me, but I definitely saw how it affected people. It is a dark side world.”

Paul’s co-star, Bryan Cranston, who plays Walter White, the meth chemist and was previously best known for playing the father in “Malcolm in the Middle,” said, “Aaron’s capacity to convey someone who is daring and vulnerable, to bring likeability to an unsympathetic character is astonishing.”

Carson Daly asked Paul about shooting in Albuquerque, mentioning that he(Daly) had motorcycled through there while traveling Route 66 and that he “did not have a great time.” Said Paul, “It’s nice to get out of L.A., but there’s really not much to do.  They just like that it’s being shot in their city. Some people like it. Some people hate it.”

Paul continued, “I owe Vince (Gilligan) for my career,” and reminisced about his job as an usher when he first hit L.A., saying, “It was the first and only time I saw Steven Spielberg in person.”  The overnight success that Aaron Paul is now enjoying (a film, Wreckage, is due out in 2010) was really 13 years in the making.

Gilligan told “T.V. Guide,” “Aaron’s a star in the making.  He has great charisma, wonderful range.  He’s the whole package.  But he’s also one of the sweetest guys around.”

Paul—who has been linked to actress Jessica Lowndes—said, “I love the story (of “Breaking Bad”), the nice layers—the role is just incredible.” Check it out on AMC; it’s one of the best series now on television.

Americans are always fascinated by what other people make. If the other people in question are famous celebrities, everyone wants to know who’s making what. Here’s the scoop!

In a lengthy article entitled “Hollywood’s Top 40” (March, 2010 Vanity Fair) details of “who makes what” are given in an article that runs from page 272 to 275.  The list includes information on each individual, telling what films or television projects they were involved in during the preceding year, but let’s just cut to the chase and list them, as follows:

#1)  Michael Bay – $125 million

#2)  Steven Spielberg – $85 million

#3)  Roland Emmerich – $70 million

#4)  James Cameron – $50 million

#5)  Todd Phillips – $44 million

#6)  Daniel Radcliffe – $41 million

#7)  Ben Stiller – $40 million

#8)  Tom Hanks – $36 million

#9)  J. J. Abrams – $36 million

#10)Jerry Bruckheimer – $35.5 million

#11)Tyler Perry – $32.5 million

#12)Adam Sandler – $31.5 million

#13)Denzel Washington – $31 million

#14)Emma Watson – $30 million

#15)Rupert Grint – $30 million

#16)Owen Wilson – $29 million

#17)Nicolas Cage – $28 million

#18)Russell Crowe – $28 million

#19)Cameron Diaz – $27 million

#20)Brian Grazer and Ron Howard – $25.5 million

#21)Johnny Depp – $25 million

#22) Steve Carrell – $25 million

#23)Robert DeNiro – $24.5 million

#24)Sarah Jessica Parker – $24 million

#25)Katherine Heigl – $24 million

#26)Shawn Levy – $23 million

#27)Oren Peli and Jason Blum – $22.5 million

#28)Robert Downey, Jr. – $22 million

#29)George Clooney – $22 million

#30)Matt Damon – $22 million

#31)Reese Witherspoon – $21 million

#32)Angelina Jolie – $21 million

#33)Jennifer Aniston – $20 million

#34)Sandra Bullock – $20 million

#35)Robert Pattinson – $18 million

#36)Clint Eastwood – $17 million

#37)Kristen Stewart – $16 million

#38)Mark Wahlberg – $16 million

#39)Shia LaBoeuf – $15 million

#40)Brad Pitt – $13.5 million

The 82^nd Academy Awards were broadcast to millions on Sunday, March 7, 2010, and history was made. The first woman won the Best Director Award, Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” and the Best Picture of the Year was an upset: “The Hurt Locker,” a little-seen film about bomb defusers, starring Jeremy Renner.

“Avatar” won 3 Oscars, when all was said and done, one for Visual Effects, one for Cinematography and one for Art Direction. “The Hurt Locker,” meanwhile, raked in the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow), Original Screenplay (Mark Boal), Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Mixing.

After those two gorillas in the jungle, the numbers dropped off rapidly: only “Crazy Heart” (with 2) and “Crazy Heart” and “Precious” with 2 apiece challenged for awards this night.

The evening opened with a lame song-and-dance number by Neil Patrick Harris, who had actually been good in this role on an earlier awards show. Neil Patrick Harris sang a song whose message whose message was “No One Wants to Do It Alone.” This is true, and is probably why Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin shared hosting duties for the 82^nd annual Oscars. I was disappointed in their performance, as they are both so funny and quick-witted, individually, but their scripted stuff was somewhat weak…although not as weak as Kathy Ireland’s red carpet interviewing. None of the people doing the red carpet interviews this year impressed, least of all Kathy, Sherry from “The View” or the editor of “People” magazine (I think). I never thought I’d say it, but give us back Joan and Melissa Rivers. Army Archerd just died, so he’s definitely out. What about somebody like Mario Lopez or Joan Hart or, really, just about anybody but this trio.

The winners this night were as follows:

Best Picture: “The Hurt Locker”

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow (first woman director to win)

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges (for “Crazy Heart”)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:  Mo’Nique in “Precious”

Best Animated Feature Film:  “Up”

Best Original Screenplay:  “The Hurt Locker” by Mark Boal

Best Adapted Screenplay:  “Precious”, Geoffrey Fletcher

Best Foreign Language Film:  “The Secret in Their eyes” (Argentina)

Best Original Score:  “Up” (Michael Giacchino)

Best Original Song:  “The Weary King” from “Crazy Heart

Best Art Direction:  “Avatar”

Best Cinematography:  “Avatar” by Mario Fiore

Best Costume Design:  “The Young Victoria” (Sandy Powell)

Best Documentary Feature:  “The Cove”

Best Documentary Short Subject:  “Music by Prudence”

Best Film Editing:  “The Hurt Locker” (Bob Murawksi and Chris Innis)

Best Makeup:  “Star Trek”

Best Animated Short Film:  “Logarama” (French, 16 mins.)

Best Live Action Short Film:  “The New Tenants”

Best Sound Editing:  “The Hurt Locker”

Best Sound Mixing:  “The Hurt Locker”

Best Visual Effects:  “Avatar”

Sandra Bullock’s acceptance speech was the most affecting of the night, for me, as she said, “To that trailblazer who allowed me to have this extraordinary opportunity—and to my lover, Meryl Streep.” Sandra also referenced a time when George Clooney had thrown her into a swimming pool and almost choked up during her acceptance speech. I also enjoyed Mo’Nique pointing out that, at least in her case, the award was truly given for the performance. I agree with that, having seen all the nominated performances, but it didn’t hurt any that Oprah got behind the film Big Time, so that somewhat contradicts Mo’Nique’s comment that politics was not a factor in her win. (She also shared TMI during her Barbara Walters interview, telling the world that she does not shave her legs and has an open marriage with her spouse.)

The evening ended on as always-hurried note, with the dynamic duo of Steve Martin and Alec Baldin signing off very quickly.

Most of the winners were not a surprise, with Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock and Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique winning, as expected.

What if there were 10 nominees for Best Supporting Actress this year, as is the case for Best Film of the Year this year, rather than just five? Who would those 10 nominees be?

First, let’s consider the 5 that Academy members have already nominated:

1) Anna Kendrick for “Up in the Air.”

2) Vera Farmiga for “Up in the Air.”

3) Maggie Gyllenhaal for “Crazy Heart”

4) Mo’Nique for “Precious”

5) Penelope Cruz for “Nine”

Let’s consider, for a moment, the current official nominees and their chances. I have not seen Penelope Cruz in “Nine,” but I watched a Charlie Rose roundtable discussion of the film in which critics from both coasts described the movie as a mess. It seems obvious that the two fine actresses nominated for “Up in the Air” are likely to cancel each other out. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s movie, “Crazy Heart” has not been distributed nationwide until recently, so few have seen it. It is also not that “showy” a role, nor is she onscreen that long. Mo’Nique, who has Oprah pulling for her, is a virtual lock on this award, from the performances I’ve seen (4 out of 5). In a moment I’ll return to the actual nominees and tell you why I feel they are as deserving as the additional five I’ve been asked to pick.

The others that I would recommend to the Academy as good or better than the current crop of nominees would include these fine actresses, and my reasons for recommending their performances this year:

6) Samantha Morton in “The Messenger”- Samantha Morton (5/13/77) has been nominated for two Oscars previously, once for “In America” in 2002 for her role as Sarah, who has lost a child, and again for “Minority Report” with her role as Agatha, one of the future-telling floating mystics in the pool whom Tom Cruise consults. She has also had roles as Hazel in 2008’s “Synecdoche, New York,” a puzzling film by screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. In “The Messenger” Samantha plays Olivia Pitterson, the wife of a soldier killed in Iraq. Her co-star in the film, Ben Foster (as Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery) talked about how excited he was to be starring opposite an actress of Samantha Morton’s caliber when he appeared with the film at the Chicago Film Festival. At the time, said Foster, Morton had just given birth and was often busy nursing her newborn child when not onscreen. Samantha Morton is a serious, fearless actress who has earned an Oscar nomination, more than nominees #1 and #2, above.

7) Sigourney Weaver in “Avatar” – Weaver (8/8/49) has been nominated for 3 Oscars during a long career. (She turned 60 in August).  In 1987 she came to fame as Ripley in “Aliens,” for which she was nominated as Best Actress. In 1999, she was nominated for her part in the film “Working Girl.” In 1989, her last nomination, she was nominated for playing Dian Fossey in “Gorillas in the Mist.” Weaver has also earned plaudits, including Saturn and BAFTA awards for her roles in “Alien Resurrection” in 1997, “The Ice Storm,” and “Galaxy Quest,” a 2000 spoof of her “Alien” roles that won her a Saturn award. Surely an actress who has been doing good work this long deserves a nomination more than an actress whose only previous leading roles were in the teen vampire movies “New Moon” and “Twilight”? This year’s role of Dr. Augustine in “Avatar,” the best-selling movie ever, would seem to be as worthy as Anna Kendrick’s or Vera Farmiga’s, and she has paid her dues much more than either of those decades-younger actresses.

8) Amy Adams in “Julie and Julia,” opposite Meryl Streep, was criticized in the role, for reasons that seemed bogus, to me. As Julie Powell, the young girl who decides to make every single recipe in the Julie Child cookbook, she did a good job…at least as good as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s role in “Crazy Heart.” In addition, Adams has been on a hot streak. She co-starred (again, with Streep) in “Doubt” as Sister James in 2008 and had a role in 2007’s “Charlie Wilson’s War” as Bonnie Bach. She also appeared as Giselle in 2007’s “Enchanted” and as Brenda Strong in 2002’s “Catch Me If You Can” with Leonardo DeCaprio.

9) Natalie Portman (6/9/81) played Grace Cahill in this year’s “Brothers.” She was the stay-at-home wife of 2 small daughters, left behind on the home front as her husband, Toby Maguire went to war. Jake Gyllenhaal plays toby’s brother in the film. For reasons that can be attributed to post traumatic stress disorder, Toby’s character becomes convinced that his brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) has had a relationship with his wife (Natalie Portman) while he was off fighting in the war. Ultimately, Toby has a classic Oscar-worthy meltdown. Natalie, who has previously played roles as varied as the lead in “V for Vendetta” (2005) and in 2 “Star Wars” episodes, must project strength for her children’s sake and the stand-by-your-man attitude of a good woman who truly loves her troubled husband. Natalie did a great job, and her previous role as Alice in “Closer”, Sam in “Garden State,” Sara in “Cold Mountain” and in the film “Anywhere But Here” are just a few of the wonderful performances she has provided audiences with, prior to this year’s overlooked film, “Brothers.”

10) The 10^th spot as a nominee for “Best Supporting Actress” should go to one of two female supporting performances from the film “Precious.” The unknown actress Paula Patton, portraying Ms. Rain, the teacher who helps Precious discover her potential, is one possibility, but far more intriguing would be Mariah Carey, who eschewed all make-up and fancy wardrobe for her role as the social worker, Mrs. Weiss. At first, watching the film, you can hardly believe this is the same Mariah Carey whose plunging cleavage recently graced the Golden Globes. Carey’s debut film, “Glitter,” was an unmitigated disaster. Director Lee Daniels made sure that Mariah (and, for that matter, rocker Lenny Kravitz in a small role as a male nurse) really inhabited roles that are the antithesis of their normal rock star images. Carey was recognized for the good job she did as the disgusted social worker who can hardly believe the self-serving, narcissistic rantings of Mo’Nique as Precious’ mother. Not only did Carey win a Palm Springs Award for Breakthrough Performance Award for her part, but she also won a Capri (Hollywood) role for Best Supporting Actress. In addition, she was nominated (as part of the ensemble) for awards by the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association, the Screen Actors’ Guild (cast nomination), the Broadcast Film Critics’ Association Best Acting Ensemble award, the Boston Society for Best Ensemble Award and was nominate for a Black Reel award.

If I ruled the Oscars and there were 10 nominees in the Best Supporting Actress category (rather than simply 5), these would have been my nominees. (And, no, I haven’t totally forgotten about Betty White’s turn as Ryan Reynolds’ grandmother in “The Proposal.”)