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CinemaCon: 10 Things That Stood Out for Us

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Apr 1st 2011 8:00PM
Filed under: Features, Cinematical


At CinemaCon, the Las Vegas film convention for theater owners and distributors (formerly known as ShoWest), most of the people in the audience were industry folk more interested in dollar signs than anything else, but for journalists who still believe in having fun at the movies, there were several promising, even gasp-inducing teasers that reminded us that an integral part of the theatrical experience -- aside from the projection and concession stands -- were the movies themselves.

We caught exclusive new glimpses of 'Super 8,' 'Thor,' 'Puss in Boots,' 'Kung Fu Panda 2,' and even prestigious non-summer fare, like Steven Spielberg's World War I-era 'War Horse' and a potentially-Oscar-nominated Nick Nolte in 'Warrior.'

What are we most intrigued with? Read on for our recap of what got our pulses racing.
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10 SXSW '11 Films We've Seen and Highly Recommend

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Mar 9th 2011 10:00PM
Filed under: SXSW Film Festival, Cinematical, Festivals


With over 120 films to choose from in just nine days at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival, even the most experienced planner will be unable to take in all of them. That is just simple math. Sometimes you just have to take a page from Neil ... Page: "You have to discriminate. You choose things that are funny or mildly amusing." So you can look over the SXSW catalog descriptions and make up your mind, or you can take the word of some trusted critics who have a heads-up and start from there.

If extreme violence laced with comedy is your bag, then you can take the word of Eric Snider who enjoyed 'Hobo With A Shotgun,' or Scott Weinberg who fancied 'Super,' James Gunn's take on the modern superhero. If horror is more your thing you may follow Joe Utichi, who enjoyed James Wan's ghost story, 'Insidious,' or Erik Davis' affinity for a cult with a sci-fi angle in 'Sound Of My Voice.' Maybe reality is more your speed, and in that case you can follow Christopher Campbell's lead into 'Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times,' 'How To Die In Oregon' or Morgan Spurlock's 'The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.'

Or, you can take a cue from yours truly (as you hopefully did last year) and add ten more recommendations to your schedule to already go along with 'Source Code' and 'Paul.'
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12 Fun (and Depressing) Stats From The 83rd Academy Awards

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Feb 28th 2011 10:00PM
Filed under: Movie News, Oscar News, Awards, Cinematical


The 83rd Academy Awards are over, and not a minute too soon for most viewers. No major surprises in the big categories; even the most ardent believers in David Fincher cannot feign adequate shock that Best Director matched the Director's Guild choice for the 56 in 60 tries (not counting Steven Spielberg & Ron Howard who were not nominated after winning DGA, respectively, in 1985 & 1995.)

When Tom Hanks took the stage to introduce the first two awards of the night with a few nifty stats, it looked as if the Oscars were trying to steal the shtick of us Oscarwatching statisticians. Though really what kind of stat is a film winning Best Picture, Art Direction & Cinematography? An odd combo that means little to the numbers geeks and probably even less to the young viewers they were trying to court with their new hosts. The show pretty much dropped the stats game after Hanks' intro, but we thought we would dig a little to find a few more interesting tidbits, whether you like it or not.
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Oscar Rankings: The Pool-Busting Final Ranking of 2010

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Feb 24th 2011 8:00PM
Filed under: Oscar News, Awards, Cinematical

We have arrived at the final days before the 83rd Academy Awards. In the four weeks since the nominations, all the Oscar bloggers and experts have tried to analyze and pick apart what every award victory and loss means. There is the usual drama over what is accurate in the biopics, actual drama in front-runners taking out their own "for your consideration" ads and invented drama over who may be the new race leaders, usually planted by journalists with close ties to studios or in desperate need of a story to draw attention to themselves. You will get none of that here. Nothing but pure guesstimates and hunches from the heart as it is time to offer a few last minute stats and analyses on who may have a new eight-pound golden friend to make room for.

To help string you along, we'll mix things up just like the Oscarcast is bound to do. And we'll take a cue for the order with last year's ceremony.

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Oscar Rankings: Does 'Social Network' Still Have a Chance?

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Feb 22nd 2011 12:00PM
Filed under: Awards, Cinematical

The Oscar race is over! Such has been the chant dating back to the night Tom Hooper won the Director's Guild Award for 'The King's Speech', and this belief has been reinforced every time the film won a late-season prize -- up to and including a generous sweep from their side of the pond, courtesy of BAFTA. Is there even a need to tune in this year, other than to see how well James Franco and Anne Hathaway do with hosting duties? Or can anyone try to make a case that Aaron Sorkin's David Fincher's 'The Social Network' is still in the running? We can give it a shot.
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Oscar Rankings: Make Your Picks the Vegas Way!

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Feb 10th 2011 6:00PM
Filed under: Awards, Cinematical
The Social Network
Since the beginning of awards season, yours truly has been tracking the rankings of all the films, performances and pertinent categories. My estimates have been based on hunches, the subsequent and nonstop feedback from critics and guilds, and, most importantly, the statistics. The numbers don't lie, as they say, and that's as true of movie awards as it is of hockey playoffs. And if you want to doubt the veracity of numbers, try joining the gambling movie freaks in Vegas on Oscar night. You won't be able to place a bet there, but the oddsmakers are already making their picks online.
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Oscar Rankings: Who Are the Front-Runners?

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Feb 4th 2011 12:40PM
Filed under: Awards, Cinematical



Do you hear that? It's not the sound of people shoveling out their cars on the East Coast or Chicagoans trudging through this week's snowpocalypse. What you hear is everyone bailing on the chances of 'The Social Network' being the big winner at the Oscars and resigning themselves to the perceived inevitability that 'The King's Speech' is now the front-runner. That was something I believed walking out of its premiere screening at Toronto fest last September. Before the onslaught of critic's awards that had 'Social' outpacing every other film by at least 2 to 1 (and for most of the season 3 to 1), yours truly was being shouted down on 'Speech.'

Even I, however, was quick to change my tune as 'Social' seemed poised to roll its way to Oscar glory. But now the story has changed again. Thanks to the Guilds, we now must look to the numbers to see if the accidental billionaires still have a chance.
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