Oscar Nominations: The King’s Speech Leads, Nolan Snubbed

The 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations were announced today. The King’s Speech (which was quite exceptional) leads the pack with 12 nominations. But the real story of the day is the Academy’s snubbing of Christopher Nolan as Best Director for Inception. And while The Social Network and True Grit were…

Basketball Wives, Episode 6: Awkward Dates in Cougar Town

To say last night’s episode of Basketball Wives was a cluster f*** of crazyness is an understatement. So very much went on. Where do we being? First, we want to start with the fact that VH1 is trying to push crappy Orlando off as Miami. And to be honest–we’re a…

Celebrity living has its downside in Sophia Coppola’s Somewhere.

Dissolute action-movie star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), first seen doing laps in his black Ferrari, has no destination in Somewhere, Sofia Coppola’s mood ring of celebrity lassitude. Coppola’s fourth feature, winner of the Golden Lion at Venice this year, is, at times, similarly aimless and empty. But those who groan…

New in film: No Strings Attached

Fully devoid of the fantasy contrivance that often sets an Ivan Reitman film (Ghostbusters, Dave) in motion, NoStrings Attached is extremely narrow in focus: It’s “just” about two people in lust struggling to put away their respective baggage in order to have a real relationship with each other. Adam (Ashton…

Dreams Are the Theme for the 2011 Miami International Film Festival

It’s that time of year again. Miami International Film Festival time? Oh yeah (Film Lovers powers: activate!). The official lineup of the 28th Annual Miami International Film Festival (which runs from March 4-13, and which you can call MIFF, at the risk of sounding like a total pretentious film nerd…

All Good Things: When Rich Folks Flip Out

We scored a sneak peek of All Good Things, which opens at Coral Gables Art Cinema this weekend. And we haven’t seen something this uplifting since Capturing the Friedmans, the 2003 documentary about child molestation. Andrew Jarecki directed both, but Good Things is his first foray into fiction. Well, not…

Film Picks From the 2011 Miami Jewish Film Festival

Sixty Jews recently meet at a Utah resort to discuss what it means to be Jewish in 2011. The identity summit, Reboot, included some notable pop culture makers (Jenji Kohan, creator of “Weeds,” and Ben Greenman, an editor at The New Yorker). One its founders Rachel Levin told the New…

Basketball Wives, Episode 5: Cocktails Get Catty

If there is one thing we have learned about these this season of basketball wives, it’s that there is no shame in their game. Only days before, they were physically assaulting one another (or trying to at least). And on last night’s episode, they just have a nice little day…

The Golden Globes: Who’s Hot, Who’s Not, and Who Won

Last night was a big night for television lovers. First, Miss America was on. But who really cares about beauty pageants if it’s not Toddlers & Tiaras? Then, our personal favorite Big Love was back on. (We love ourselves some polygamy, what can we say?) Then, there was the Golden…

Rich hippie criminals in All Good Things

Generously bankrolled, then shelved, by an imperiled Weinstein Co. and peopled with Oscar nominees, All Good Things might be called an upscale version of straight-to-cable true crime crap — only that would make it sound more entertaining than it is. The fiction feature debut of Andrew Jarecki, director of 2003’s…

New in film: Blue Valentine and Rabbit Hole

Derek Cianfrance’s divorce drama Blue Valentine is the story of how a couple (Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams) travels from too-cute introduction to irreconcilable differences in just over half a decade. Starting with the present-day married-with-kid Dean and Cindy, Cianfrance weaves long flashbacks of Dean and Cindy’s early days through…

Seth Rogen schlubs it up as The Green Hornet‘s masked man

Only inertia will bring people to Michel Gondry’s 3-D spectacle, The Green Hornet. Opening amid persistent negative buzz in the mid-January dead zone, this long-germinating prospective franchise, based on a character that first saturated the nation’s radio waves in 1939, seems pretty much DOA — although in the absence of…

Top Five Bachelorettes on The Bachelor

The new year means a lot of things for a lot of people: maybe loose some weight, be a better friend, have more sex, stop smoking so much weed, etc. And for all you singles out there, we’re going to guess finding l-o-v-e is also on that list–maybe even above…

Defend Jersey Shore‘s J-Woww Against Creepy Ex, Tom Lippolis

Thanks to demure, well-respected celebrities like Pam Anderson, Paris Hilton, and Vanessa Hudgens, leaked celeb nudes are old hats. So why post about yet another one, involving a Jersey Shore cast member? Especially on this fine arts blog? Because this particular instance really sets our fingers aflame.According to an exclusive…