Contact Help Wanted

BRÜNO Tops Box Office

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Brüno jumped to the top spot at the North American box office with a solid $30.4 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Larry Charles-directed comedy debuted at 2,756 locations Friday, beating the opening weekend gross of Borat by $4 million. (It should be noted that Borat opened in considerably fewer theaters.) In Brüno, Cohen plays a flamboyant gay Austrian fashionista heading to Los Angeles to become the biggest Austrian celebrity since Hitler.

This week’s second wide release, the comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper, debuted at No. 7 with only $5 million. Directed by Chris Columbus, I Love You, Beth Cooper stars Hayden Panettiere as [...]

Sacha Baron Cohen in BRÜNO: Photos

Directed by Larry Charles, and written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer, and Jeff Schaffer, Brüno stars Cohen (above, with Gayby) as a gay Austrian fashionista who comes to the US to become "the most famous Austrian since Hitler" while at the same time trying to pass for a hetero dude like "Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kevin Spacey."
"Beneath the idiocy," writes Steve Rose in The Guardian, "Baron Cohen is also a politically astute agent who’s devised an ingenious way to confront and expose serious social issues – and indulge his own exhibitionism.
"Brüno is funniest, though, when it’s at its most politically incorrect, especially when it comes to homosexuality. There’s an [...]

BRÜNO in THE GUARDIAN

Steve Rose reviews Brüno in The Guardian:
"Brüno is funniest, though, when it’s at its most politically incorrect, especially when it comes to homosexuality. There’s an eye-popping montage of extreme gay sex practices (imaginary, one hopes), a surfeit of waving penises, dildos, fetish gear, anal bleaching, and an excruciating mime in which Brüno fellates the ghost of a deceased member of Milli Vanilli in front of a psychic.
"Much of it is unavoidably hilarious, but is he lampooning homophobia or perpetuating it?
"Either way, he gets away with a great deal simply by being a brilliant physical comedian. That should stand him in good stead."
***
The Guardian editorial:
"Everyone apart from fans of Germanic diacritical marks will find something to deplore in Sacha Baron Cohen’s [...]

BRÜNO and the Gays Controversy

Brook Barnes in the New York Times:
"So it goes for Brüno, a movie that, in mercilessly exploiting the discomfort created when straight men are ambushed by aggressive gayness, happens to (surprise!) expose homophobia. Gay groups are reacting with deeply mixed emotions, heightened by the recent triumphs (Iowa) and losses (California) in efforts to legalize gay marriage. Is the film then vulgar, inappropriate and harmful? Or bold, timely and necessary? All of the above?
"Ultimately the tension surrounding Brüno boils down to the worry that certain viewers won’t understand that the joke is on them and will leave the multiplex with their homophobia validated."
***

Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood:
"There’s now a YouTube video … making the rounds which features notables like Peter Paige [...]

Sacha Baron Cohen in BRÜNO Trailer

Written by Sacha Baron Cohen and directed by Dan Mazer, Brüno stars Cohen as a flamboyant Austrian fashionista who, in his desire to become "the biggest Austrian celebrity since Hitler," decides to launch himself in the United States, adopting an African baby (à la Madonna) in the process while trying to pass for straight.
As a result of several sex scenes, Brüno has been slapped with a NC-17 rating in the US. I don’t believe anyone was surprised. Its distributor, Universal, will now have to trim the sex bits in order to get the mockumentary an R rating. Apparently, one sequence involves anal intercourse, the sort of stuff that drives the MPAA censors wild. That and the other soon-to-be-cut [...]

LONDON EVENING STANDARD Awards 2007

2007 EVENING STANDARD Awards
2007 EVENING STANDARD Winners: Savoy Hotel, February 4, 2007
 

United 93 by Paul Greengrass
 

Best Film: United 93 directed by Paul Greengrass
Best Actor: Daniel Craig, Casino Royale
Best Actress: Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Best Screenplay: Peter Morgan, The Queen and The Last King of Scotland
The Peter Sellers Award for Comedy: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Technical Achievement: Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, The Last King of Scotland and Brothers of the Head
Most Promising Newcomer: Director Paul Andrew Williams, London to Brighton
The Alexander Walker Special Award: Director Stephen Frears, "for making British film reverberate around the world"
 
EVENING STANDARD Awards: 2005 2006 2007 2008
Film Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 [...]

Golden Globes 2007

2007 Golden Globes
Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s 2007 Golden Globe nominations: December 14, 2006
2007 Golden Globe winners: Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on January 15, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

© HFPA 64th Golden Globe® Awards
FILM
Best Motion Picture – Drama
* Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Little Children
The Queen
Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
The Devil Wears Prada
* Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
Thank You for Smoking
Best Foreign Language Film
Apocalypto (USA)
* Letters from Iwo Jima (USA/Japan)
Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives of Others (Germany)
El Laberinto del fauno / Pan’s Labyrinth (Mexico)
Volver (Spain)
Best Animated Feature Film
* Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

© HFPA 64th Golden Globe® Awards
Best Director – Motion Picture
Clint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers
Clint [...]

SAG Awards 2007: Nominations

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced its list of 2007 nominees earlier today.
The only major surprise was the inclusion of Emilio Estevez’s Bobby — instead of Stephen Frears‘ The Queen (right) — in the "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" category, even though no individual performance from Bobby was singled out for SAG award consideration.
Also, critics’ favorites such as United 93, and both Clint Eastwood World War II films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, were completely ignored by SAG voters.
Helen Mirren, on the other hand, was shortlisted in two individual categories as two different Queen Elizabeths — the current one in The Queen, and the one from the early modern era [...]

Utah Film Critics Awards 2006

2006 Utah Film Critics Association Awards
2006 Utah Film Critics Association award winners: December 28, 2006
 

 

Best Film: United 93 directed by Paul Greengrass
Runner-up: The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese
Best Foreign-Language Film: Letters from Iwo Jima directed by Clint Eastwood
Runner-up: Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Children of Men
Runner-up: Paul Greengrass, United 93
Best Actor: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Runner-up: None (Sacha Baron Cohen was the unanimous choice)
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Runner-up: Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Sheen, The Queen
Runner-up: Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
Best Supporting Actress: Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
Runner-up: Maggie Gyllenhaal, World Trade Center and Stranger Than Fiction
Best Screenplay: Rian Johnson, Brick
Runner-up: [...]

Toronto Film Critics Awards 2006

2006 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards
2006 Toronto Film Critics Association award nominations: Dec. 16, 2006
2006 Toronto Film Critics Association Award winners: December 20, 2006
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Michael Sheen, Helen Mirren in The Queen
 

BEST PICTURE
The Departed
* The Queen
United 93
BEST CANADIAN FILM
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen
* Manufactured Landscapes
Monkey Warfare
Six Figures
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
* L’Enfant / The Child
Pan’s Labyrinth
Volver
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Brick, directed by Rian Johnson
Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
* Thank You for Smoking, directed by Jason Reitman
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Deliver Us from Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
* Manufactured Landscapes
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
* Happy Feet
Over the Hedge
A Scanner Darkly
BEST DIRECTOR (tie)
* Jean-Pierre Dardenne and [...]

San Francisco Film Critics Awards 2006

2006 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
2006 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award winners: December 11, 2006
 

Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson in Little Children
 

Best Film: Little Children directed by Todd Field
Best Foreign-Language Film: Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro (Spain / Mexico / U.S.)
Best Director: Paul Greengrass, United 93
Best Actor: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Best Supporting Actor: Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Best Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, Babel
Best Original Screenplay: Rian Johnson, Brick
Best Adapted Screenplay: Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Best Documentary: An Inconvenient Truth directed by Davis Guggenheim
Special Citation (for overlooked gems): Moartea domnului Lazarescu / The Death of Mr. Lazarescu [...]

Los Angeles Film Critics Awards 2006

2006 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
2006 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award winners: Dec. 10, 2006.
 

 

Best Film: Letters from Iwo Jima directed by Clint Eastwood
Runners-up: The Queen directed by Stephen Frears; United 93 directed by Paul Greengrass; L’Armée des ombres / Army of Shadows directed by Jean-Pierre Melville†
Best Foreign-Language Film: Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives of Others directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Runner-up: Volver directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Best Director: Paul Greengrass, United 93
Runners-up: Clint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima; Alfonso Cuarón, Children of Men
Best Actor (tie): Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, and Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Runners-up: Peter [...]

2006 Los Angeles Film Critics Award Winners

The most interesting winner at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards was best supporting actress Luminita Gheorghiu (above, with Ion Fiscuteanu), who plays a nurse assisting a sick old man in Cristi Puiu’s acclaimed Romanian comedy-drama The Death of Mr. Lazarescu.
Not only was Gheorghiu’s win a major surprise — U.S. film critics only sporadically opt for performers acting in non-English-language productions — but I could visualize Catherine O’Hara, one of this year’s top best supporting actress contenders and National Board of Review Award winner going nuts because L.A. critics chose a Romanian instead of her. (I saw the funny For Your Consideration yesterday; in that film, there’s a French Oscar nominee who inadvertently pushes O’Hara’s Oscar contender [...]

Recently Posted

• European Film Awards 2009: Rules & Relevance
• European Film Awards 2009: Nominations
• European Film Awards 2009
• Chicago Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009
• AFI FEST 2009: THE LAST STATION, AFTER.LIFE
• AFI FEST 2009 Awards
• AFI FEST 2009: POLICE, ADJECTIVE; TO DIE LIKE A MAN
• Grace Kelly: TO CATCH A THIEF, THE SWAN
• Grace Kelly on TCM
• AFI FEST 2009: A SINGLE MAN, THE SINGULARITY

Most Popular Tags

2008 Oscar Academy Awards Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Animation Best Films Books Box Office Brokeback Mountain Censorship Classic Movies Daniel Day-Lewis Documentaries DVDs Film Awards Film Festivals Film Reviews Gay Film Festivals Gay Interest Gay Movies Heath Ledger Helen Mirren Interviews London Film Festival London Film Festival 2009 Los Angeles Screenings Martin Scorsese New York Screenings No Country for Old Men Oscar Movies Penélope Cruz Photos Political Movies Politics Sex Shorts Silent Films Slumdog Millionaire Sundance Film Festival Trailers Turner Classic Movies


Related Posts

Los Angeles Film Critics Awards 2008Iowa Film Critics Awards 2008Toronto Film Critics Awards 2005Iowa Film Critics Awards 2009Iowa Film Critics Awards 2006Los Angeles Film Critics Awards 2004