Armchair Commentary

Will You Watch a Mel Gibson Movie?

Mel Gibson hasn't starred in a major movie since 2002's Signs, stayed behind the scenes for his next two directorial efforts (Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto). Plus, his image took quite the beating over the last few years (the DUI and the anti-Semitic remarks, the divorce, etc.), and with the gradual decline of movie stars in general (remember back when they were known simply as Tom, Julia, Mel, and Arnold?) there's serious doubt he can open a movie like he used to.

But surprisingly, the reviews for his new film Edge of Darkness are in, and they are 52% fresh on Rottentomatoes.com. Some quotes:

"Gibson looks every bit his age, but he can still bring the fierce determination as well as anyone in the business." -- Richard Roeper

"Gibson, who has always been an undervalued actor, does a sturdy job as a grieving dad." -- Time

"An intense Mel Gibson performance anchors this brutally effective crime thriller." --Hollywood Reporter

That said, are you still interested in watching a Mel Gibson movie? Or have his personal troubles eclipsed his movie-star persona for good? --Ellen

Trailer Park: "The Losers"

Trailer for The Losers, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen), Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four), and Idris Elba (RocknRolla, The Wire), directed by Sylvain White.  Based on the DC comic book series, it opens April 9.  --David

Howard Zinn, 1922-2010

As noted in Omnivoracious and other sources, Howard Zinn passed away on Wednesday at the age of 87.  We'd like to share with you a short clip Zinn filmed along with Anthony Arnove about the DVD The People Speak, a follow-up to their books A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People's History of the United States. --David

Trailer Park: "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps"

"Why don't you start calling me Gordan?" This movie could be great, minus the fact it might be hard to take Shia seriously as a Wall Street titan. We will see. -- Meredith

Which Movie Actor Do You Want to See on Television?

As you may have noticed, TV owns the lions' share of good scripts, good parts for older women, everything the movies aren't providing. (Although staying on TV is tough in of itself).

So it's no wonder film stars have been enjoying a career resurgence on the small screen: Alec Baldwin, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Bill Paxton, Toni Collette, Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Kyra Sedgwick, Gary Sinise, and Gabriel Byrne are just a few examples. Even if they don't want to commit to a series, you'll find the television movies/miniseries category littered with pedigreed actors: Jessica Lange, Joan Allen, Kenneth Branagh, Meryl Streep, and Al Pacino, for example.

In the middle of her guest arc on 30 Rock, Julianne Moore (complete with Boston accent) has reportedly been courted for TV pilots, including a remake of Prime Suspect. Also on TV networks' wishlists for new series: Maria Bello, Demi Moore, and Matt Dillon (whose younger bro Kevin has had much success on Entourage).

I scrolled through lists of Oscar nominees in the past decade and found it hard-pressed to find someone who didn't at least guest star on a TV series since then. But who would you love to see make the full-gig jump to small-screen glory? Perhaps Susan Sarandon or Uma Thurman in an edgy drama for Showtime? Kevin Spacey as the next nemesis on Dexter? Billy Bob Thornton in the next incarnation of CSI? --Ellen

10 Movies About the Holocaust

The U.N. Assembly dedicated Wednesday, January 27, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a date which marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Several poignant, yet brilliant films are set against the backdrop of this horrific era of our history. In the hands of extraordinary actors and directors, these sensitive, yet brutal movies have earned numerous awards and critical acclaim.

• Schindler's List: Director Steven Spielberg won his first-ever Academy Award in 1994 for Schindler’s List and delivered a heartfelt speech paying homage to Holocaust survivors and “the six million who can’t be watching this.” Watch it here. The story of one man’s quest to save the lives of more than 1,000 Polish Jews who worked in his factory is beautifully shot in stark B&W. This was also the first movie I watched in a theater that called for an intermission (its run time is 195 minutes), yet Schindler’s List never felt as thought it were a long movie. The film does an incredible job of bringing you into another world.

  
  
  

• Life is Beautiful: Director/star Roberto Benigni, who won the Best Actor Oscar, deftly handles the tale of World War II Italy with a sprinkling of humor that doesn’t make the audience uncomfortable. Its lighthearted, head-over-heels love story at the beginning of the film is an effective contrast to the sorrowful ending. At first glance, Life is Beautiful seemed like an odd name for a film on such a painfully, brutal subject, but trust me on this one: at the end, the title makes sense.

  
  

• The Pianist: This heartbreakingly beautiful tale features Adrien Brody in his 2003 Oscar-winning role as Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew living in German-occupied Warsaw. At times, The Pianist was almost too painful for me to watch, but the audience in the theater stood and applauded at the end of this brilliant film. Director Roman Polanski, whose mother died in Auschwitz, received the Best Director Award. Say what you will about Polanski’s legal troubles; no one could have done a finer job directing this film.

  
  

• Sophie's Choice: The always-awesome Meryl Streep picked up a Best Actress Oscar in 1983 for her portrayal of a Holocaust survivor. Using flashbacks, the film delves into Sophie’s terrifying past, but fear and brutality cloud her present life in New York City with husband Nathan (Kevin Kline). While Sophie’s Choice always lands on various “Top 10 Saddest Movies” lists, it also provides an eye-opening look at male-female roles in post-WWII America.

  
  
  

• The Diary of Anne Frank: The film, based on the book by the same name, follows the wise and courageous titular character (played by Millie Perkins) and her family hiding from Nazis in Amsterdam. It has moments where it strays away from the book, but that doesn’t ruin the story. Diary, which scooped up several Oscars in 1960, including Shelley Winters’ win for Best Supporting Actress, finally came out on DVD several years ago and it’s worth having in your collection.
  
  

And let's not forget these notables:

• The Reader: Best Actress winner Kate Winslet plays a former Nazi prison guard on trial for war crimes..

• Holocaust: The critically acclaimed and popular 1979 television miniseries follows each member of the Jewish Family Weiss throughout Hitler's reign in Germany.

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: This 2008 film tells the story through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy who befriends a Jewish boy in a concentration camp.

• Uprising: Jon Voight and David Schwimmer star in this 2001 TV miniseries about a group of Jews who rebelled against the Nazis in Warsaw.

• Nuremberg: An Emmy-winning TV miniseries dramatizing the famous war-crime trials following the defeat of Germany in World War II, starring Alec Baldwin and Brian Cox.
  

--Francine Ruley

What Movie Makes You Laugh the Hardest?

From our Who Knew? Department: Sunday, January 24, is Belly Laugh Day. Yup. I'm celebrating by going for a round of snort-laughs with some pals.

• We're re-watching Borat, which I originally saw while recovering at home from laparoscopic surgery via my abdomen. I don't know why I thought watching a comedy was a brilliant idea, so I'll blame it on the meds. I nearly busted my stitches during the part where a group of guys show Borat how to wear droopy pants proper: "Don't show your Huggies!" Sacha Baron Cohen fans already know he'll stop at nothing to get a laugh and that includes wearing a one-piece man-kini thong exposing more fur than a PETA rally. Give Cohen credit for being an equal opportunity offender. "Borat" is a stready stream of politically incorrect humor, but it's nothing compared to Religulous . . .

 

• My friend Alexis and I saw Religulous on the big screen in a theater where we were stifling our laughs, hands cupped over mouths, in order not to offend anyone sitting nearby. As it turned out, nearly everyone in the theater was laughing too. All's fair n Bill Maher's documentary-comedy which takes a skeptic's view of the logic of religion. Yes, a deep topic can be funny and it was nice to be able to walk out of the theater knowing everyone else was laughing along, too. Watch Religulous at home and feel free to donkey-laugh as loud as you want.

 

• Another good home-screener is Superbad. Yes, I'll admit to giving Superbad the side-eye when it first came out. It's so easy to sneer at a "teenage comedy." But there I was with my finger on the DVD remote, flipping back to savor another Jonah Hill one-liner (What DID he just say about cargo shorts?) And proving Superbad isn't just another teen comedy, my 60-ish bus driver and I were chatting about movies we liked and he started quoting his favorite lines from Superbad . Of course, these were "clean" lines from the movie, but soon a few other riders joined in the conversation and shared their favorite lines. It was an interesting bus ride that morning.

• My uncle has a well-worn copy of Blazing Saddles on VHS that still gets play in his house. Once was enough for me, but he still insists, "Come here and watch this campfire scene!" Hey, we all have our limits.

So in honor of Belly Laugh Day, it's your civic duty to line up some laughs. Just be sure to hold on to your stitches. What movie, no matter how highbrow or downright dumb, has made you laugh the hardest? -- Francine Ruley

Trailer Park: "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "Percy Jackson"

I just ran across two trailers, one for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, opening April 2. I'm a fan of the books so I'm looking forward to seeing if the movie can re-create their distinctive personality. Another is Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, opening in theaters February 12, which looks like Clash of the Titans for teens. --David

Screen Actors Guild Award Winners & Best Quotes

This Oscar season is starting to get boring predictable.

After last week's Globes and tonight's Screen Actors Guild Awards, the acting categories are nearly a lock: Mo'Nique (Precious) and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) in the supporting categories, and Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) and Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) in the lead categories, repeated their wins. Barring a late surge from Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) or any backlash over Bullock, the only suspense this year seems to be whether The Hurt Locker or Avatar will win Best Director and Picture (those two categories are absent at the SAGs which solely rewards acting, though they do have a Best Ensemble award).

Here is the list of winners:

Movies:
Cast: Inglourious Basterds
Actor in a leading role: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Actress in a leading role: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Supporting actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds
Supporting actress: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Stunt ensemble: Star Trek.

Television:
Drama series cast: Mad Men
Actor in a drama series: Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Actress in a drama series: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Comedy series cast: Glee
Actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Actress in a comedy series: Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Actor in a movie or miniseries: Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance
Actress in a movie or miniseries: Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens
Stunt ensemble: 24
Life Achievement: Betty White

Side note #1: Did you see Cuba Gooding Jr. play usher and help Betty White and Mo'Nique to the stage? My first thought was "Good Lord, is that where his career has gone?" and then I saw him sit down at a front table and discovered he was actually a nominee in the TV movie category. Still not sure whether that was chivalry or if the producers just asked him to pull double duty to cut costs.

Side note #2: The announcer mentioned that Julianna Margulies had won seven SAG awards (Mariska Hargitay visibly gasped), the other six from her years on ER. Hey, George Clooney was on that show (and also nominated tonight)! Why didn't they cut to him? Or have them present together? That would have been cute.

Side note #3: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick are officially, like, the cutest celebrity couple ever. They're right up there with Will and Jada in my book.

Side note #4: In the "In memoriam" clip, the last actor in the montage was Patrick Swayze, and they showed the clip from Ghost where he's all glowy and turns to walk into the afterlife. *tear*

And now, the best quotes of the night:
"I get so excited when they play that [theme song to 30 Rock] because every time it plays my husband gets 15 cents." --TV comedy actress winner Tina Fey, whose husband Jeff Richmond is the composer

"If you divorced Kevin Bacon and married Jon Hamm, you know what your new name would be?" -- Ray Romano, presenting with Kyra Sedgwick
"Kyra Sedgwick." --Sedgwick
"You're right. I didn't think that through." -- Romano

"My mother and father call me after every single episode. They've been so supportive of me and have such interest in my life and every role I take. Well, except Snakes on a Plane. They weren't so proud of that one." -- TV drama actress winner Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)

"Right now I feel really sick." --Television movie/miniseries actress winner Drew Barrymore

"Isn’t it heartening to see how far a girl as plain as she is can go?" Lifetime achievement award winner Betty White, about The Proposal co-star Sandra Bullock

"You get dressed in a monkey suit... and you sit at a table with people you don’t know. And I leave you there and then you come back with, like, Morgan Freeman's e-mail. I don't know how you do it." -- Best Actress winner Sandra Bullock to hubby Jesse James

--Ellen

Amazon exclusive: "Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Vol. 1" on Blu-ray

Available exclusively at Amazon.com is the Blu-ray edition of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Vol. 1, releasing on March 12, 2010. This is the first in a highly anticipated series of six OVAs set in the Universal Century timeline. You can watch the trailer and read the press release below. --David

AMAZON.COM TO EXCLUSIVELY DISTRIBUTE MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN V. 1 BLU-RAY; OTHER GUNDAM SERIES AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING

 January 13, 2010 – Bandai Visual Japan announced today that Amazon.com will release the Mobile Suit Gundam UC(Unicorn) Vol.1 Blu-ray with a two-month exclusive window in North America under the "Honneamise" label. Amazon.com will be taking pre-orders starting on January 10 with a street date of March 12, 2010 at a SRP of $49.98. Bandai Entertainment Inc. distributes this Blu-ray product for Bandai Visual Japan.

Since its inception in 1979, the Gundam franchise is considered the introduction of the giant robot or "Mecha" genre in the U.S. Mobile Suit Gundam UC is a series of popular novels by Harutoshi Fukui, which was originally serialized from 2006 to June 2009 in the monthly Gundam Ace magazine by Kadokawa. Ten volumes of the novel have sold over 2 million copies. The story is set in Universal Century, three years after the events of the film Char’s Counterattack. The series will be comprised of six 50-minute episodes directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi.

The Blu-ray will feature Episode One with Japanese and English TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese and English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio with a 16:9 / 1080P High Definition transfer. Subtitle tracks will include Japanese, English, French, Spanish, and Chinese (in both Cantonese and Mandarin). The English voice cast features the talents of Steve Cannon, Stephanie Sheh, Rachael Lillis, Tara Platt, and others.

Additionally, to celebrate Gundam UC's Blu-ray release, Bandai Channel will begin streaming classic Gundam series starting February 1. This is a long-awaited opportunity for existing fans to revisit their favorites or for newer fans to become familiar with the world of Gundam before watching Gundam UC. Six TV series of Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Z Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, and Mobile Suit Gundam 00) are planned for free streaming in North America and Europe for limited time only on AnimeNewsNetwork (www.animenewsnetwork.com), Crunchyroll (www.crunchyroll.com) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/AnimeChannel). More series are to be added later.

For streaming schedule and more information, visit Gundam UC's official site: http://www.gundam-unicorn.net/en