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Rest In Peace, Sydney Pollack

BuzzSugar — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:30:46 -0700

Sad news to report today: Director and actor Sydney Pollack died on Sunday at the age of 73. He had been diagnosed with cancer nine months ago.

The hard-working actor and highly respected director is known for a variety of accomplishments. Older generations might recognize him as the Oscar-nominated director of Tootsie and the Oscar-winning director of Out of Africa. He also directed The Way We Were, The Firm and The Interpreter, among other titles.

In more recent years, he took on more acting roles, from Will's dad in Will & Grace to the boss at Michael Clayton's law firm in Michael Clayton to Patrick Dempsey's wedding-happy father in Made of Honor, along with many others.

Clayton costar George Clooney issued a statement about Pollack's death, writing, "Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. A tip of the hat to a class act. He'll be missed terribly."

Source

Best Picture Breakdown: Michael Clayton

BuzzSugar — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:33:41 -0800

From now until the 2008 Oscars air on Sunday night, I'll be breaking down the five contenders for Best Picture, giving you the scoop on why each film could win and why it might not stand a chance. I started off with There Will Be Blood, and today I'm turning my sights to Michael Clayton.

The plot description on IMDB is most succinct: "An attorney known as the Fixer in his law firm comes across the biggest case of his career that could produce disastrous results for those involved." It's screenwriter Tony Gilroy's first attempt at directing and he lucked out with some phenomenal talent: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson — all of whom nabbed acting nominations as well. To see what I think Michael Clayton has going for and against it in this year's race,

Will You Go See a Movie Just Because It's Nominated?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:30:03 -0800

With so much ado over the Oscars each year, it's always interesting to see what impact, if any, the king of all award shows has on the nominated films at the box office. This year's not looking so good: Lacking major blockbuster crowd-pleasers a la Lord of the Rings, this year's five best picture nominees will likely be the second-lowest box office earners in two decades. Still, studios put a lot of stock in these accolades. Michael Clayton, for example, got a re-release after it started racking up critics' awards and nominations in the hopes that audiences would give it a second chance because of all the acclaim. What do you think? Do Oscar nods or other award nominations make you more interested to see a movie you originally planned to skip?Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Will You Go See a Movie Just Because It's Nominated?

Yes. The nominations help me cut through clutter and see quality films.

No. If the movie didn't look good to me originally, no nomination will change my mind.

Other (I'll tell you below)

Announcing the 2008 Oscar Nominations!

BuzzSugar — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:16:51 -0800

No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood led the field this morning when the Oscar nominations were announced in Hollywood. Each film snagged eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

After it raked in a huge number of Golden Globe nominations, Atonement made less of a splash here, scoring nods for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress but largely getting shut out of other major categories.

Juno and Michael Clayton are the other two films that will compete for Best Picture when the awards are presented Feb. 24. Juno scored a total of four nominations, while Michael Clayton nabbed seven. To see the full list of nominees, just

Michael Clayton Gets a Theatrical Re-Release

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:30:50 -0800

Warner Bros. has announced today that the George Clooney drama Michael Clayton will get a re-release in approximately 1,000 North American theaters starting January 25. The film was originally released in October and didn't do too well at the box office — but this was before all the awards buzz started up. Apparently the movie has made "more than 100 critics' top-ten lists." It also nabbed four Golden Globe nominations and five BAFTA Awards nominations, among others.

Do you think you'll check out Michael Clayton in its second theatrical run? If you've already seen it, what did you think?

To check out the trailer for Michael Clayton,

Into the Wild Leads Screen Actors Guild Nominations

BuzzSugar — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:35:27 -0800

Nominations were announced today for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the only major awards ceremony guaranteed to still happen now that the writers' strike is threatening the Golden Globes. Into the Wild dominated the film side with four nominations, followed by No Country for Old Men and Michael Clayton with three each.

On the TV side, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, and Mad Men were among the recognized series. To see the full list of nominees, just

Atonement Leads Golden Globe Nominations

BuzzSugar — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:49:17 -0800

Atonement came up big this morning when the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards were announced in Hollywood. The film snagged seven nominations — three for the acting of stars James McAvoy,
Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan and four more for Best Dramatic Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Score.

Also getting a lot of attention from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association: Charlie Wilson's War, which snagged five nominations, including Best Musical or Comedy and acting nominations for Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Sweeney Todd, Michael Clayton, and No Country for Old Men were close behind with four nominations each.

In the television categories, cable series got a lot of love, including new shows Californication, Damages, and Mad Men.

I'll be back with my complete thoughts later today, but for now, you can check out all the nominees if you

Box Office: 30 Days of Night Sucks Up All the Money

BuzzSugar — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:15:24 -0700

Not a lot of folks are going to the movie theaters lately, but those who are seem to be most interested in the super scary vampire flick 30 Days of Night, which came in at No. 1 at the box office with $16 million. What with all the highly dramatic dramas coming out, maybe it's understandable that people are drawn to the fun unreality rather than checking out movies that address the starkest aspects of human life.

Only one of the weekend's anticipated dramas even cracked the top five at the box office: Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone came in fifth place. At No. 2 was Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? while Disney's The Game Plan held steady at No. 3, and Michael Clayton followed up in fourth place. Rendition opened in ninth place to the tune of just over $4 million. The Halle Berry/Benicio Del Toro weepie Things We Lost in the Fire came in fifteenth place, while Reservation Road — only playing in a handful of theaters — came in at No. 39.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Box Office: Tyler Perry's No. 1 Movie

BuzzSugar — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:30:00 -0700

This past weekend at the box office was one of the most surprising I’ve seen in a long time. Tyler Perry’s play-turned-movie Why Did I Get Married? took the No. 1 spot by a long shot, finally knocking The Rock’s Game Plan into second place. The George Clooney starrer, Michael Clayton, leapt up the list to No. 3 as it expanded to wide release. Clayton just barely came in above the drama/thriller We Own the Night.

The Heartbreak Kid weakly rounded out the top five bringing in $7.4 million. Most surprisingly, the talented, good-looking cast of Elizabeth: The Golden Age couldn’t save the movie from its measly $6 million take. The period piece landed in sixth place.

This upcoming weekend audiences have their pick of drama (Things We Lost in the Fire), more drama (Reservation Road), thrills (Gone Baby Gone), more thrills (Rendition) and horror (30 Days of Night).

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Michael Clayton: Even Clooney Can't Revive Something So Sleepy

BuzzSugar — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 11:00:00 -0700

George Clooney is an incredibly handsome man. He's a capable actor and has an endearing way about him onscreen. As a general rule, I love watching him and will seek him out in pretty much any capacity. Additionally, director Tony Gilroy is responsible for writing such successful suspense movies as the Bourne trilogy. So why did I nearly doze off during Michael Clayton?

Clooney does his charming, disarming best in this role, but I'm not convinced it's a great role. Gilroy wants badly for the audience to care about the titular character, but doesn't give us any reason to do so. Same goes for the plot in general. You can gather together the greatest actors around, but if we're given no way to connect to either the story or the characters, we viewers will find ourselves, well, falling asleep. To see what I mean,

Movie Preview: George Clooney in Michael Clayton

BuzzSugar — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:00:58 -0700

I am not embarrassed to admit that the trailer for George Clooney's upcoming thriller Michael Clayton utterly confuses me. I can see there's some kind of lawsuit and mystery going on, but that's about all I got.

Warner Bros. describes the plot thusly: "Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an in-house 'fixer' at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor, Clayton takes care of Kenner, Bach & Ledeen's dirtiest work at the behest of the firm's co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack). At U/North, meanwhile, the career of litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) rests on the multi-million dollar settlement of a class action suit that Clayton's firm is leading to a seemingly successful conclusion. But when Kenner Bach's brilliant and guilt-ridden attorney Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) sabotages the U/North case, Clayton faces the biggest challenge of his career and his life."

I'm still a little lost, so to watch the trailer and see if you can figure it out before Michael Clayton opens October 5,