film

Is that she's still dead. Can we move on now? She's taking headlines away from Brtiney Spears' world-class freakshow.

In his blog, Jeffrey Wells relays news from L.A. Times columnist Joel Stein that Eddie Murphy bailed out on the Oscars ceremony right after he lost out to Alan Arkin. My initial reaction was disgust, but the longer I think about it, the more sure I am that Murphy not only did the right thing, but the honest thing. If you have no class, that makes the act of showing class a flat-out lie. Murphy was angry he lost, hated everyone around him for voting for Alan Arkin instead of him, and thus no longer wanted to remain in their company. I also identify with Murphy for getting out of Dodge, because the show was so boring to watch it must have been tough for even the winners to sit through the whole thing. I know I didn't - I spent the final hour playing video games on mute while listening to the telecast from another room.

Man, last night was one of those experiences that reinforced everything I hate about the Oscars. Unfunny monologues (DeGeneres' material had more bombs than Clint Eastwood's two WW II films combined), idiotic skits (although the shadow formation dancers were pretty awesome) and so, so, so, so many long, long, long, looooong montages, including that dull-as-an-heirloom butter knife opening nominee interview sequence directed by Erroll Morris.

Nintendo announced that its Wii console outsold the Xbox 360 and PS3 in January by a disgustingly wide margin. The Wii sold 435,503 units while the Xbox 360 sold 294,000 and the PS3 brought up the rear with 244,000. It's exactly the start Nintendo needed to establish itself as a player in the new generation of console gaming, but mark my words - the lead will shrink or disappear entirely if the Wii's online system, which is set for release the second quarter of this year, can't hang with Microsoft's sterling Xbox Live program.

Sylvester Stallone announced that the fourth Rambo film will now be known as "John Rambo." This is obviously a sign of an attempt to emulate the success of "Rocky Balboa" (I still hope the movie will somehow win an Oscar Sunday even though it wasn't nominated for anything. C'mon, write-ins!) Hopefully the fourth Rambo will be as good as the first two, and Stallone can find a way to avoid getting stopped for illegal substances at Australian airports long enough to get the film made. If the film does well, I'll have hope for "Lincoln Hawk," the long-awaited follow-up to Over the Top, as well as "Gabe Walker," the highly necessary sequel to Cliffhanger.

I wonder what it feels like to Oscar nominees who have no chance whatsoever to win in their categories. Are they able just to relax in their sure-to-come disappointment and enjoy the awards season and the ceremony for what they are, or do they cling to some desperate half-hope that maybe some invisible late surge in momentum combined with hanging chads will grant them a win? Whatever the case, here are the people and films that have NO CHANCE WHATSOEVER to bring home Oscars come Sunday evening.

Maxim's Pete Hammond embarrassed himself and all other film critics by playing along with the Weinstein Company's finagling over a TV commercial quote blurb. According to a story in the Daily Variety, the studio planned on using Hammond's quote "the most terrifying thriller of the new year."

"Because I Said So" could have been a much more entertaining film if it had managed to snag Gaspard Ulliel, who plays Young Hannibal Lecter in "Hannibal Rising."

Here's my treatment: Gaspard answers Diane Keaton's internet ad, wows, her, she convinces Mandy to date him instead of Uptight Architect or Musician Who Plays By His Own Rules. Only after Gaspard tries to carve up Mandy's brain at the dinner table does mom finally realize she maybe shouldn't be meddling so much in her kid's love life.

GameSpot links to this story about legislation attempting to ban people from walking through traffic while playing handheld gaming systems like DS or PSP.

In my eyes, it's already a two-film race. I'm not talking about Oscars here, but what will go down as the genuine best movie of 2007 - the one you'll see five times in the theater and buy two copies of the DVD (one to loan out to others and another to keep for yourself). If these trailers are any indication, and barring any unforseen contenders, the best film of the year will either be 300 or Grind House.