Somehow, 20 years after “The Mask,” 2014 might be the year of Cameron Diaz

This could be the year of Shailene Woodley, or maybe in a looser way Miles Teller (or hell, maybe even Steve Carrell), but it’s doubtful anyone is going to be in as many mass-promoted movies in 2014 as Cameron Diaz. Consider… Continue Reading

Adam McKay (Will Ferrell’s boy) and Brad Pitt are teaming up for a Michael Lewis financial crisis movie. Wait, what?

Remember Michael Lewis’ book The Big Short? It’s about the financial crash — here’s an excerpt — and received, as most Michael Lewis things do, positive reviews. (Insane thing No. 1 about Michael Lewis: how did he bag Tabitha Soren? Insane thing… Continue Reading

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So, is Steve Carrell going to win Best Actor next year for Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher?

Bennett Miller has directed Moneyball and Capote, both of which got acting Oscars and other nods (including Best Picture, where he’s 2-for-2 on non-documentary films; he’s also dating Ashley Olsen). He’s next up with Foxcatcher, which was actually supposed to come out this past… Continue Reading

14.7 million tweets were sent during the 2014 Oscars, mostly related to Gravity, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ellen’s best selfie of all-time

If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap — Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) March 3, 2014 That shot above — which is pretty cool — did become the most-retweeted photo of all-time eventually: https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/440340258140323842 Overall, during the time… Continue Reading

The Oscar Bump: King’s Speech went from $57 million to $136 million (and this stuff happens a lot)

Ever wonder what an award like an Oscar might be worth? Wonder no more, courtesy of Fast Company and PolicyMic. Here’s a cool infographic: Some bumps are huge — The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire both basically doubled their pre-nomination haul — while some are less so.… Continue Reading

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Getting there from here: the first role for 2014 Best Actress nominees Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench, and Meryl Streep

I did this yesterday for Best Actor and it was interesting, so I’m going to go ahead and do it again for Best Actress. First thought: sheesh, loaded field. Bullock has an Oscar, Adams/Blanchett are stunning, Streep defines female acting over… Continue Reading

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A career journey in acting: the first roles for Oscar nominees Matthew McConaughey, Leo DiCaprio, Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Christian Bale

I find a person’s journey through life to be interesting — not trying to be melodramatic here, honestly — because often, some of the greatest stories of our culture come from beginnings that people would have looked at and said,… Continue Reading

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Walter White, Tony Soprano, Don Draper, Jimmy McNulty (and Hannah Horvath) … what’s up with our love of the anti-hero?

Think about this for a second: in general, the best TV shows of the past 10-15 years or so are believed to be The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men and some combination of other shows you like (Walking Dead, foreign… Continue Reading