once Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Here's some stuff (and things) currently making waves online ...

-- If you, like me, were really hoping Hollywood would bring back He-Man and do the character justice on the big screen, we all may be sh*t out of luck. That's because those basterds over at Latino Review tell us the latest version of He-Man (script written by wonder boy Justin Marks) is dead in the water. Because of executive shifts and a few high profile directors (Bryan Singer, Doug Liman) shying away from the project, it seems He-Man no longer has a home. LR suggests Warners put it into turnaround in the hopes someone else will take a chance on the blonde badass.

-- Liam Neeson will join Christina Ricci (odd pairing indeed) in the film After.Life, which marks Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo's feature directorial debut and tells of a young woman stuck between life and death. Neeson will play a funeral director who "appears to have the gift of transitioning the dead, but may be intent on burying her alive." Freaky. [The Hollywood Reporter]

-- They're hosting A Christmas Story convention in Cleveland at the end of November in honor of the film's 25th anniversary. Said convention boasts a reunion of eight original cast members (Scut Farkus? I'm there! Did you know he has yellow eyes? Yellow eyes!), as well as the premiere of two docs and a special preview of the upcoming A Christmas Story - The Musical (where can I buy tickets?). The downside? It's in Cleveland ... at the end of November. I'm cold just thinking about that. [more info at A Christmas Story House, via Slashfilm]

-- Remember the film Once? It won an Oscar? The song made people cry (not me, shut up, wanna fight about it)? Well, seems Once is becoming a musical, and is shaping up to hit Broadway for the 2010-2011 season. Both Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are expected to be involved. So, if Once - The Musical hits it big, will Hollywood then re-cast and remake Once, the indie? That's what you all need to be thinking about during dinner this evening. No questions asked! [Variety]

Things for Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard continue to come up roses. Their little film went from little indie to big international deal. They won an Oscar for "Falling Slowly." Not surprisingly, their good fortune continues. Variety reports that the pair have signed a deal with Warner/Chappell Music -- part of Warner Music Group -- to get their catalog of music published.

Warner will go through all of their catalog -- not only the songs from Once, but also Hansard's work with the Frames and the music appearing on Glen and Marketa's debut album as The Swell Season. Now, to be clear, this isn't a recording contract -- it's only a publishing deal. Glen Brunman of Warner/Chappell says: "Glen's and Mar's songs have touched so many who have seen the film Once. Glen's work with the Frames we'll continue to rock, and we'll make sure that it reaches an even wider audience."

In the meantime, the duo are touring the U.S. from late April to mid-June, if you want to see them up-close and live. Good luck, Marketa and Glen!

A lot of people will be talking about Marion Cotillard today, whose teary-eyed acceptance speech was just beyond cute. But I feel the night's greatest moment came in two parts -- first when Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova performed Falling Slowly (from the movie Once) on stage, and then when both accepted the Oscar for best song. In a very cool moment, Irglova was cut off at the mic before she could thank anyone, and so after the commercial break Jon Stewart brought her back on stage to finish what she was about to say.

Talk about two kids who deserved a break. This song, from a film that was made for roughly $100,000, beat out Disney and their -- what? -- 13 Enchanted nominations. Was it me, or did each of those Enchanted songs sound exactly the same? This time, however, the Oscar went to the little guy (and girl). You could totally tell that there was a ton of love behind that song -- and even though it was obvious Hansard and Irglova were nervous at the beginning, they finished it off in spectacular fashion. Above, check out their performance at the Oscars, then head after the jump to see both acceptance speeches.

Over at Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeff Wells goes off on an eHarmony article about movies that make guys cry, specifically for including Love Actually, which Wells calls "repulsive." Leaving aside for the moment the more pressing question of why Wells happened upon an article on eHarmony to begin with, the list actually does include a few films that are definite tearjerkers, but some of them are over-the-top obvious -- Brian's Song, The Natural, Rudy, The Pride of the Yankees, Rocky (Seriously? Who cries at Rocky?) and Old Yeller, the most stereotypical "it's okay for guys to cry over this one" film ever.

The list loses some credibility points with me for including sapfests like Love Actually and Terms of Endearment, but overlooking Once -- when they play "Falling Slowly" for the first time, I bawl my eyes out -- but moderately redeems itself with the inclusion of Schindler's List, To Kill a Mockingbird, and my all-time fave cry-your-eyeballs-out flick, The Iron Giant. I guess it's true (however much it may be a stereotype) that guys and chicks are moved to tears over different things.

A lot of my colleagues seem to be practically empurpled lately over the fact that Juno is being feted as not merely a success, but an indie/crossover success. This seems like a moot argument to me -- more on that in a second -- but first I will say that whether you think it is or isn't, you shouldn't overstep and give the PR machine too much credit here. Any studio shingle PR team worth its salt obviously has a 'media manipulation/other shenanigans' Trapper Keeper ready to be opened at a moment's notice if the clouds part and a movie actually connects with the public, but that's the point -- it has to connect first. Juno is a quadrant pimp and Once isn't -- that's why EW isn't piling on the plaudits for Once, even though it's currently enjoying 98 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. If your response to this is "Um, yeah, I'm sure Once would love to have Fox Searchlight's Scrooge McDuck-swimming pool of money to buy some ads with" I would say, first, it does, and second, I'm increasingly of the opinion that most of that money is wasted on an ad-saturated public anyway.

All the marketing in the world and a bevy of A-list stars couldn't push a big movie like The Golden Compass even to $70 million, nor keep a crazy-hyped film like Cloverfield from swan-diving in its second weekend, so Juno clearly has legs, which is a rare commodity these days for any film, big or small. And to suggest that Juno's success rests on its popularity with teens, as some have, is wishful thinking. The scary reality is that today's 16 year-olds would probably like to see Step Up 2 in the Oscar race, not a Jason Reitman movie.

Who else is tired of all the Academy Award technicalities that make this or that ineligible for best song, best score or best foreign film? Well, we can rejoice for a little bit today, because the popular indie film Once will remain in the running for the Best Original Song award in this year's Oscar race. Just yesterday Monika was telling us that the tune "Falling Slowly" was being looked at by the Academy and had a high chance of being disqualified due to its being publicly played before the film's release. Or something. I guess it doesn't matter now, because according to David Carr (aka The Carpetbagger), the track is valid and has been included on the Oscar ballots mailed out this morning.

Carr has printed a statement given to him by phone by music branch executive committee chairman Charles Bernstein, who said (as quoted by Carr), "We needed to address whether the song was written specifically for the the film and the second issue was whether it had been played prior to the inclusion in the film - did this constitute a reason to ineligible-ize it. The first issue was satisfied by a sworn statements attesting to the fact that it was written for the film along with a chronology, and the second issue was settled by the fact that it had only been performed in Europe and the Czech Republic and not in a way that would have given it advantage or influence here."

This should be great news to Once fans, many of whom thought the film's music got the shaft by the Golden Globes and whom may even think the Oscar's one nomination was not enough recognition considering three different songs from Enchanted received nominations. Now, if only we fans of Jonny Greenwood and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days could see the same sort of satisfaction in the score and foreign language categories, respectively.

As if the Best Song category wasn't already completely ridiculous, the lone fresh breeze in that race might lose its spot. If you remember, the Academy selected a ridiculous three songs from Enchanted, one from August Rush, and then the excellent "Falling Slowly" from Once. Now, according to the New York Times, Once might see its song removed. It seems that there are eligibility issues (one would think that would've been sussed out before the nods) -- songs should be written specifically for the film, and since some of the songs were played after the film started to come together, but before it was released, it might be ineligible. That's just a stinking load of offal and baloney.

They should just axe the Best Song category at the Oscars. It's never an accurate portrayal of the original songs that come from each year of film, and it almost never focuses on what's really important -- the song in the context of the film. Sure, one song may be more technically challenging than the other, or have more widespread appeal. However, fact of the matter is, the Oscars are about film -- so the Best Song should really not only be a good song, but reflect the material it is played in.

Sometimes the Academy seems to get that, but most of the time it just falls into this ridiculous rut -- one that this year made Enchanted some example of musical perfection, shadowing the other songs from Once, Kimya Dawson's work on Juno, Eddie Vedder's work on Into the Wild...

[via Anne Thompson]

It was a damn fine year for movies, 2007. It's hard enough picking 10 top flicks from the crop after a just-decent year, so the task was especially tricky this time around. (At least at Moviefone we're able to pick the 50 best.) That's why I'm thankful for the unwritten critics' rule that Top 10 lists can start with a tie, so long as there's common thematic bond between them. Here are my 11 10 favorite movies of the 007.

10. Tie: Dan in Real Life / Grace is Gone (Widower Special)
What can I say, I'm a sucker for widowers. Some critics found the loving family in Steve Carell's poignant dramedy Dan unrealistic. I feel sorry for some critics. Plot contrivances aside, it succeeds both in capturing the dynamics of a large clan and telling a helluva love story. In a career-best performance in Grace, John Cusack is a flag-waving father of two whose wife is killed in Iraq. This tear-jerking drama might be misconstrued as a political statement, but finally it's a heartrending tale of human loss.

9. Hot Fuzz
Yes, this hilarious send-up of (tribute to?) Bruckheimer schlock tops Shaun of the Dead, the brilliant debut from Brits Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright. Whereas Shaun's first hour is pure bliss, it loses some steam in the third act. Fuzz gets better as it speeds along, offering up surprises and side-splitters in equal measure. Really, who would've thought anyone would ever pay homage to Bad Boys II?

8. No End in Sight
As you can surmise from the title, this ain't exactly a sunshiney look at the Iraq War. But it's the most thorough, eye-opening detailing of the mega-blunders made the Bush Administration in planning and executing the war to date (so THAT'S where the insurgency came from!), with nary a Michael Moore stunt in sight. Prepared to be educated, maddened.

7. Ratatouille
Like I've been saying it for a while now: The machines at Pixar appear to be challenging themselves more and more with each release: "What DON'T audiences think they'll fall in love with? How about a rat who cooks? Better yet, a French rat!" And of course, after 111 minutes of Pixar magic, most of us left with a newfound respect for rodents. (Reminds me of '91 when I saw Beauty and the Beast; haven't been afraid of beasts since.)

6. Superbad
Forget Knocked Up. Forget Walk Hard. This deliciously raunchy buddy comedy/love story will stand the test of time and prevail as the most influential Apatow movie of '07, defining a generation like Dazed and Confused and Fast Times at Ridgemont High did before it. Here's hoping Christopher Mintz-Passe (a.k.a. McLovin) will ever be able to convincingly play another character, though I wouldn't mind more McLovin.

One of the true underdog stories of the year, "art house musical" Once arrives on DVD today from Fox Searchlight. Written and directed by John Carney, the film won the Audience Award at Sundance back in January and ended up earning more than nine million dollars in the US. James Berardinelli at Reel Views wrote: "This isn't a perfect motion picture but, in the midst of summer's vapid pursuit of spectacle, a movie that provides real heart and emotion is a rare find." The DVD includes music and film commentaries by Carney and actors/musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, two featurettes and an animated "webisode."

I don't understand why John Landis' Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project was selected to screen at the New York Film Festival. It's a fine celebrity documentary with plenty of well-known faces praising the acerbic, long-lived insult comic, Landis keeps the pace snappy, and it's quite entertaining, but it fits in quite well on HBO (where I saw it) and if there were any transcendent angles, I missed them entirely. Cinematical's Jette Kernion had a similar reaction. The DVD from Vivendi is a two-disk "collector's edition," but I haven't been able to find specific details on what's included.

Deep Water sounds intriguing: the "stunning true story of the first solo, non-stop, round-the-world boat race." Richard von Busack felt that the documentary by Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell "seems like a last word; the film gives a full and aesthetically satisfying overview" of the events that occurred, effectively meshing interviews with dramatizations. (His review is well worth clicking through to read in its entirety.) The DVD includes additional interviews with sailors, family members and journalists involved with the race.

A lot of people were disappointed with the Golden Globe nominations because they failed to include any tracks from Once in the category for Best Original Song. Will the Oscars make the same mistake? We won't know for another month, but we can at least see that the Academy is deeming the film's songs as eligible. Both "Falling Slowly" and "If You Want Me" have been shortlisted along with 57 other song titles written exclusively for their respective movies. The variety of films is quite interesting and includes musicals (Hairspray), action blockbusters (Transformers), documentaries (Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone), foreign films you've never heard of (56 Drops of Blood), domestic films you've never heard of (Badland) and Hollywood comedies you wish you'd never heard of (Good Luck Chuck).

Aside from Once, which the Academy will have to include if they want people to tune into the musical performances, the nominees are likely to include a song from Enchanted -- I'd pick "Happy Working Song" over the Globes' pick of "That's How You Know" -- a song from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story -- I'd pick "Let's Duet" over "Walk Hard" -- the Eddie Vedder song from Into the Wild (for more "guaranteed" viewers), and the song from Hairspray that wasn't in the Broadway version -- "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)". I'm sad to see Kimya Dawson not on the list, as I had hoped she had written at least one original tune for the Juno soundtrack. A few of them certainly felt like they were penned exclusively for the film. I'm not sad but was surprised to see that the Bono and Stevie Wonder duet "Love's In Need of Love Today" from Darfur Now was not eligible. But then I realized that despite it seeming like a song written just for an Oscar the film, it's actually pretty old.