frozen river

Is Sundance Oscar’s New Favourite One-Stop Shop?

3:16AM STV | It used to be that Sundance acclaim meant the kiss of death for its recipients. The 2008 Oscar nominations may signal the end of that curse. More »

Old Man Brad Pitt Still Front-Runner as Oscar-Hungry Paramount Pushes ‘Button’

8:15AM STV | Oscar-chasing Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein’s convalescence from their bruising steel-cage Reader release-date squabble has left a tiny window open today for other awards hopefuls, a selection of which are scrambling through with varying degrees of aggression. But while the upstart Frozen River (a Defamer Attractions “Underdog” alum) is reportedly the first film to send out screeners to Academy voters, and while the controversial German pick for Best Foreign-Language Film, The Baader-Meinhof Complex, found mixed reviews upon its LA bow last Friday, the real witchcraft is wafting from a cauldron deep inside the Paramount lot. There, we’re told, Brad Grey’s ambition to exorcise DreamWorks and conjure awards-season glory for Brad Pitt yielded both the lovely Benjamin Button trailer after the jump and a closer, carefully vetted look at the ‘Mount Spell Book.

August Blahs Hit Hard as Scummy ‘Mummy’ Threatens Bat-Superiority

2:05AM STV | Welcome back to Defamer Attractions, your regular guide to new hits, misses and dead ends this weekend at the movies — and considering our sudden passage into the August filmgoing doldrums, we could use all the guidance we can get. Still, Batman’s dark shadow stretches into its second week while another, stinkier franchise will do all it can to vanquish The Dark Knight at the box office. Meanwhile, we fear for Kevin Costner, have a film-festival darling in mind for this week’s Underdog pick, and have a bleary-eyed glance at the latest DVD releases as well. As usual, our opinions are our own, but they’re also essentially failsafe, so read them and weep! Literally!