Ananas

What that article doesn't mention (as it was published prior to Leno's Thursday show) is that after the WGA informed him that writing for his monologue violates the strike rules, he went out and did it again on Thursday. Leno is trying to have his cake and eat it too. He goes on about how he supported the strike from day one and shows up on his Harley with donuts just as the media is around, then he can't be bothered to follow the strike rules? What is the point of a strike if working guild hyphenates like Leno do the job of their striking writing staff? It's obvious that Leno resents that Letterman got his show a deal and that no such thing will come to him, but if he wants to change that he should be lobbying his bosses at NBC Universal to come back to the negotiating table. Also, the Golden Globes are pretty much fucked at this point. Earlier in the week SAG president Alan Rosenberg said there was unanimous consent among his member nominees and presenters to honour the picket lines. Dick Clark Productions tried to guilt the WGA into giving it a pass and the guild said it would - if the show wasn't broadcast. While DCP was considering this NBC basically stepped in to try to legally bully the Globes into doing a televised broadcast, as it is entitled to broadcast the show should it happen in any form. So the options for a January 13th GG ceremony at this point are a disastrous and starless show that's even more irrelevant than usual or a non-broadcasted form that would still be irrelevant but at least it wouldn't take up TV time. The cool thing that came out towards the weekend was that Tom Cruise's "United Artists" had reached a deal with the Writers Guild. This makes the company the first movie studio to break ranks with the AMPTP and negotiate a contract with the Guild. For UA, it gives them an exclusive window for all of the floating scripts which can't be sold to the big six until the dispute is resolved. For the WGA, it brings an air of credibility to their offer to negotiate independently and perhaps gives other studio heads the ability to follow suit since they wouldn't be the first anymore. I got to admit, this is a solid move by Tom Cruise which has gained him a lot of respect in my eyes. By the way, all of these stories are covered in greater depth at Deadline Hollywood Daily, which has been since the start and continues to be the most balanced, courageous and timely coverage of the ongoing strike. If you read something on Variety, you really ought to check this site out to make sure they aren't lying through their teeth.

I don't watching like this team at all. Let's ride out the season with Bell, Belak and Tucker on the first line. If you can't beat the best, at least try to physically hurt the best.

Fuck the playoffs. Let's play for the Steve Stamkos sweepstakes. At least then we might have some young prospects worth playing. 8th place only gives the executives an excuse not to change anything.

Weezer, Coldplay, The Postal Service, Cadence Weapon, Destroyer, ill nino, Lil' Wayne, The Trews, Sevendust, Pennywise, Gnarls Barkley, P.O.D., Jason Mraz, The Roots, Disturbed, Slipknot, Death Cab for Cutie, Propagandhi, Soulfly, Static-X, +44, Nine Inch Nails, Mudvayne, Oasis, Rammstein, The Streets, Nas. I'd say Metallica, but we all know these things don't come until you concentrate on something else for a while. Or maybe that's Christmas morning. I dunno, same difference really.

It's not just 300, it seems more a wide ranging spoof of 2007 pop culture. Just like how Scary Movie parodied plenty of non-horror movies.

Poor Nerfy has terrible taste. ({)

It is fucking awesome, and this coming from someone who enjoyed the original musical and had suspicions about whether they could pull it off. I think it's impressive that they cut a few of my favorite pieces out of the film and yet it didn't feel like it was lacking at all. A lot of people have talked about how Sweeney and Burton were a perfect fit, but the truth is it was a BIG stretch for him to cover subject matter so dark. Some of his films are macabre but they're much more rye and farcical. And on this very dark and disturbing musical, he knocked it out of the park. So did Depp and Bonham Carter. Just a wonderful movie.

Sinatra Just listen to In the Wee Small Hours.

Oh... so THAT's why he hasn't shown up to any of the pickets.

The movie was set up to work based on Will Smith's abilities. It succeeded in that right. Not only is he one of the most talented actors in Hollywood, he's also now quite clearly the biggest star (80 million in December? Holy shit!). I agree with everyone here that the film lost a lot in the second half. I haven't read the book so I obviously can't comment on that, but as a viewer having a completely new experience I thought what really hurt the film was the ending specifically. It was just so contrived that it seemed a desperate attempt to wrap the film up under 2 hours. And hearing the contrasts you folks are making between the book and the movie is kind of sad, because it just underscores how much better this could have been. Alas it was alright, if not outstanding.

All of these shows will suck without writers, especially TDS and TCR. The strike rules basically outline that doing any writing beforehand that a struck writer would normally due is a violation, so there won't be monologues, comedy bits etc. How is Colbert's show, which is basically a 30 minute comedy bit, going to work? He's going to have to conduct interviews in earnest then? Consider me more interested in new Letterman/Ferguson if they have their writers.

Funny how this whole thing gets settled a week after their originally intended new cash cow "The Golden Compass" got massacred at the box office. I also have a hard time believing this is actually "settled", since he's still going to pursue an audit of the box office receipts for the next two flicks. By the time that's over he theoretically could be available to direct. Of course, that's going under the impression that New Line wants to get this issue settled, not rush out a couple of cash cows to defend their awful post-LOTR track record.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juMh4_JC4iU

If you think that's funny, you should see the one that ISN'T real.

Leno and O'Brien were in an insanely tough position, and I think they did well to hold out for two months. But to say they're returning "with WGA support" I think is a bit overbroad. The WGA leadership have not made any statements to condemn their return; in fact they've released statements deriding the AMPTP for forcing them back without writers. But while the leadership may be okay with it, it seems that from early reaction the "s" word is being thrown around a lot. Many writers feel that as WGA members Leno and O'Brien should not have returned to work without at least a waiver. But hey, there's nothing to kick the AMPTP in the teeth like a couple of writers pissed off that the moguls are the reason they don't have their writing staff. Let's hope having a full staff doesn't blunt Dave's rage, because I think he could be a game changer. In other news, the Academy Awards and Golden Globes will not get special waivers like was previously though. Winners who refuse to cross the picket will be given the opportunity to make brief speeches from the picket lines, with their comments shown on the internet. With SAG 100% behind the WGA, those are going to be a couple of empty auditoriums.

Foobar. It's not a memory whore and it's ridiculously customizable.

But then how else would we know?

It's already out stateside, albeit in only a few locations (40 screens this week, 200 next). It'll hit the UK February 1st, according to IMDB.

Well it's that time of year again, where studios whore their prestige pieces in an attempt to make up for inundating us with pirates, ogres, spiders and transforming cars all summer. Some do it for the glory, while others do it for the lulz, but what can I say, I'm happy to be in the season where Joe Wright gets more attention than Michael Bay. Starting with the Independent Spirit Awards:

Casablanca and It's A Wonderful Life.

In the two Leafs games I've been to this year, the Leafs have won by a combined score of 13-2. If that's not a sign that I should be given complimentary seasons tickets, I don't know what is.

The problem with that comes when you look closely at the build up to the stoppage. There was a massive ramp-up of script development in the last year leading to an overall abundance of projects waiting to film. As a result, there are going to be a lot more movies than usual filming in January and February, extending the length of time the film divisions can weather the storms. The TV divisions obviously have been immediately impacted, and for some networks (namely CBS and ABC), an extended work stoppage serves to hurt them overall because their bread is buttered in scripted programming. Others however, like FOX and The CW, have a backlog of non-scripted programming ready to go and could actually increase their market share in the coming months, while NBC has hit such harsh financial difficulties that many at that company feel like it would be better off financially to get out of all those production commitments and air reruns until June. So you've got CBS and Disney looking at ways to end the strike, while NBC Universal, Newscorp, Sony and Time Warner are more than happy to ride this thing out. As you can see, the hawks outnumber the moderates. The one slight glimpse of hope, and let me repeat "slight", is that the Guild have been quietly back-channelling an invitation to individual moguls like Les Moonves (CBS) to negotiate independently of the talks to avoid his company taking a significant hit (not only is CBS scripted-con-heavy, they're also rarely involved on the film end of things). If he takes that offer up, it could split the moguls and speed up the resolution. But that would obviously run the risk for the AMPTP of permanently fracturing their negotiating strength and upping the salaries of creatives. You know, a market with actual competition. Wouldn't want that.