WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Jeff Bridges Rules!
Posted on Jan 02, 2011 @ 05:20AM - 1 comment
Little Fockers may have finished # 1 at the box office this weekend, taking in $26.3 million in ticket sales, but it is Jeff Bridges who is wearing the real crown.
Bridges' True Grit finished second this weekend, with $24.5 million in ticket sales and his TRON: Legacy came in third, with $18.3 million!
HOLIDAY PLANS: What Your Favorite On-Screen Stars Are Doing For The Holidays
Posted on Dec 17, 2010 @ 03:02PM - 1 comment
It’s that time of year again when friends and family gather to celebrate the holidays, and RadarOnline.com is revealing how your favorite on-screen actors and actresses like Ellen DeGeneres, Brangelina, Lea Michele and John Travolta are spending the season.
DVD Releases for the Week of April 20
Posted on Apr 20, 2010 @ 06:08PM - Add a comment
Avatar (PG-13) (Released April 22):
James Cameron’s piece of box-office gold is now ready for viewing in earthly homes everywhere. The global hit stars rugged Aussie Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, a paraplegic military man sent to planet Pandora via a Na’vi avatar, and is expected to make nice with the locals so the humans can crush them more easily. Instead, he makes a little too nice with a sexy blue alien, and soon embarks on a life-changing mission to save the planet he now considers to be his own. (Sam Worthington [Jake Sully], Zoe Saldana [Neytiri])
Jersey Shores Spoofs Avatar
Crazy Heart (R)
Washed-up country singer Bad Blake is on the booze train to nowhere when he meets a young single mom who inspires him to turn his life around. Of course, the road to redemption is never without its hurdles, and Blake’s is no different. Bonus: Colin Farrell plays the super-star protégé eclipsing his fading mentor, and actually sings on camera. (Jeff Bridges [Bad Blake], Maggie Gyllenhaal [Jean Craddock])
DVD Review: SherLock Holmes
The Lovely Bones (R)
Peter Jackson brings his aesthetic vision from Lord of the Rings to this less upbeat story about a girl who’s murdered and observes both her family and her killer from her liminal state between heaven and earth. As she watches her family mourn and subtly impacts their behavior, she must decide whether to take revenge through her father’s actions, or embrace peace for herself -- and for them. (Saoirse Ronan [Susie Salmon], Mark Wahlberg [Jack Salmon])
New DVD Releases
The Young Victoria (PG)
Growing up is hard to do, even for members of the royal family. The Young Victoria chronicles the 19th century ruler’s ascent to the throne, the great love she found for her own cousin (minus legal constraints), and the power struggle among her relatives, advisors, subjects and, yes, even her own husband, that she navigated before finding her stride as a leader, wife and woman in the public eye. (Emily Blunt [Queen Victoria], Rupert Friend [Prince Albert])
VIDEO: Jeff Bridges Finally Gets His Oscar Win
Posted on Mar 07, 2010 @ 11:00PM - 2 comments
With enough nominations that you can barely count them on one hand, Jeff Bridges finally walked away with an Oscar statuette on Sunday night at the 82nd Academy Awards for his work in Crazy Heart.
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His performance of fictional musician Bad Blake was a stunning work of understated but simmering emotion that was impressive enough to beat out other nominees George Clooney, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, and Jeremy Renner.
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The laid-back Bridges was joyous during his acceptance speech and saved the best for last, dedicating his final thank yous for his wife Sue and their three children.
VIDEO: Roger Ebert Speaks For The First Time in 4 Years, Thanks To A Computer
Posted on Mar 02, 2010 @ 05:03PM - 2 comments
The world’s most famous movie critic, Roger Ebert, is speaking for the first time through a computer since he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and left with a disfigured face, RadarOnline.com has confirmed.
Ebert, who lost his voice, and ability to eat and drink four years ago, appeared on The Oprah Show to a standing ovation.
Oprah Winfrey asked the smiling Ebert how he felt. Ebert then typed in his answer on a computer and a computer voice read out his response: “Terrific!”
Oprah then asked if he remembered his last words. The ever joking Ebert said through the computer “No I don’t because I didn’t realize at the time they were going to be my last words. I probably spoke them to Chaz (his wife) then as they wheeled me to the operating room. They probably were ‘I love you.’” But, he continued, “on the other hand, they may have been ‘Good morning doctor’.”
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Roger has his meals in private through an intravenous tube four times a day, but he still has a vivid memory of being a kid and drinking A&W Root Beer. His brother-in-law says “when the Lord took away your ability to drink, he gave you that memory.”
Roger goes to two to four movie screenings a day and writes for 200 newspapers. So his voice is still heard around the world.
He tells Oprah that he talks in his dreams. “I’m talking all the time that’s just like it was in life. You can never shut me up,” he said through the computer.
But what would an interview with Roger Ebert be like without seeing his Oscar Predictions:
Best Supporting Actress Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Actress Sandra Bullock, Blind Side
Best Actor Jeff Bridges Crazy Heart
Best Director Kathryrn Bigelow
Best Picture The Hurt Locker
Academy Awards Offer Plenty of Man Candy
Roger, who is now cancer free, plans on attending the Oscars. And, while he reports on a appearence obsessed industry, Ebert says he will not have any reconstructive surgery on his face.
In a powerful statement he says “nobody looks perfect, we have to find peace with the way we look and get on with life.”
Jeff Bridges Reveals Award-Winning Secret
Posted on Feb 22, 2010 @ 02:28PM - 5 comments
Jeff Bridges recently walked away with a Golden Globe for his leading role in Crazy Heart and with multiple Academy Award nominations (and a potential statuette come March 7) under his belt, the veteran actor revealed the secret to his success: marriage.
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"Well, I'm deeply in love with this girl, man," he told GQ. "[My wife] Sue should get a credit on all my movies. I wouldn't be able to do this [without her]."
Bridges and Susan Gaston have been married for 34 years since meeting in Montana when he was in town shooting the film Rancho Deluxe.
Meet Your 2010 Oscar Hosts!
The movie star recently ran into legendary director Francis Ford Coppola who echoed the need to have a real life off screen.
PHOTOS: Stars Shine At BAFTA
"I ran into Coppola not too long ago. I said, 'What you been doing?' He said, 'Just gave a class to a bunch of young actors.' I said, 'What did you teach them?' and he says, 'I taught them the main thing, the most important thing you should do as a young actor: Get married.
"Think about it all movies, everything, is about love. And having a family. Then you have a purpose for making the money and doing the things you do. It gives you a grounding, to go off and do your stuff. The kite has a string. You go way out there, but you've got this thing grounding you.'"
67th Annual Golden Globes Highlights
Posted on Jan 18, 2010 @ 11:21AM - 2 comments
Although the 67th Globes show itself didn't really bring any steam the host, British funnyman Ricky Gervais, was on fire Sunday bringing the laughs from the audience with a risque and hilarious introduction, taking time to make digs at NBC and their ongoing Leno/Conan fiasco, a theme of the night at the awards show and on the red carpet.
PHOTOS: Stars Dazzle At The 67th Golden Globes
Australian actress Toni Collette, a vision in gold, accepted her award for Best Actress In A TV Series, Comedy or Musical, for the show United States Of Tara, and shared that the first time she appeared 15 years ago, she was "on the loo" and missed her whole category!
John Lithgow accepted his award for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, TV Series Or Movie and made a moving shout out to be-hatted Dexter star Michael C Hall. As RadarOnline.com previously reported Hall announced last week that he is battling cancer. Thankfully, Hall says he is now in remission and is nearing the end of his treatment.
For his part, accepting his award for Best Actor in TV Series Drama, Michael C Hall kept his speech brief and to the point. Not acknowledging his battle at all. The camera panned at one point to his co-star Lithgow though and he could be seen choking back tears.
PHOTOS: Best And Worst Of The Red Carpet
Gervais didn't just save the digs for NBC throughout the night, he joked about his own movie too, The Invention of Lying, saying he had been inundated with people asking why (the total flop and critically panned flick) wasn't nominated for a Globe!
As usual in awards shows people's too long speeches were cut off midway with a rising crescendo of music playing over them as they trotted out shout out after shout out. It seemed that even the soaring music couldn't stop the producers of HBO's Grey Gardens though as they just talked louder and louder over the loud music, being sure to not miss a single person from their seemingly never ending list of thanks!
Winners Of The Golden Globes
Meryl Streep accepted her award for Best Actress in A Motion Picture Comedy or Musical saying she wants to change her name to "T-Bone" Streep! The actress who was a favorite to win the category with two nominations, won for her role in Julie and Julia. A tearful Streep gave a moving shout out to her deceased mom as well as making mention of the crisis in Haiti and how grateful she is that she has the money to help out there.
A gushing Drew Barrymore, accepting her award for Best Actress in a Mini Series or TV Movie for HBO's second win of the night for Grey Gardens, quipped that she had been meeting with the Hollywood Foreign Press for "97 years now"! Choking back tears, she went on to say that with everything going on in the world now she knows what is important.
VIDEO: Cancer Stricken Michael C Hall Accepts Award For Best Actor
Holding a beer in his hand Ricky Gervais excused any offending behavior on his drinking, before going on to say, "I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man is...Mel Gibson!" Mel, for his part, took the teasing in his stride, playacting like he was drunk before going on to introduce the category and winner of Best Director of a Motion Picture.
In a shock upset Sandra Bullock won Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her part in The Blind Side, beating out the favorite, Gabourey Sadibe from Precious. Even though she was a winner of one of the major catagories Bullock still wasn't immune from the soaring music playing over her speech to stop her talking!
In another shock of the evening Jeff Bridges beat out George Clooney's appearance in Up In The Air with a Best Actor win for his performance in Crazy Heart. He gave a shout out to his mom who died last year, saying she taught him to dance, "In this room".
Movie Review: Crazy Heart
Posted on Dec 16, 2009 @ 01:34PM - Add a comment
Just about everything in Crazy Heart could have been a cliché. There’s the washed-up, whiskey-soaked country singer, looking for his return to the spotlight. Then there’s his romance with a single mom, ready for a bad boy but afraid to commit. And finally, there’s his good-looking, country-pop protégé who’s making megabucks as his mentor fades into obscurity.
Instead of becoming self-parody, Crazy Heart quietly blossoms into a mesmerizing, unapologetic film with characters whose stories are so tangible that by the end, country music feels like home -- no matter where you’re from. Country music isn’t just a genre in Crazy Heart, it’s the tangible fabric of the characters’ lives. With producers T-Bone Burnett and the late Stephen Bruton behind the film’s soundtrack, it’s no surprise that the music isn’t so much a mood-setter as a another usher along the emotional through line. Musical ingenue Ryan Bingham wrote and recorded the film’s theme song, “The Weary Kind,” which features a refrain that may as well be the movie’s tag line: “And this ain’t no place for the weary kind/And this ain’t no place to lose your mind/And this ain’t no place to fall behind/Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try.”
Crazy Heart’s characters embody the musical undercurrent, navigating the tides of their losses, fears and triumphs with a startling authenticity. Jeff Bridges stars as Bad Blake, the boozey has-been on the brink of hitting rock bottom, performing in Podunk towns and passing out in cheap motels. In recent weeks, Bridges’ performance has been swept up in breathless Oscars talk, and he deserves all that and a gold statue. He’s so captivating that it’s hard to imagine he’s anything but a weathered singer with a hopeful heart and a lot of crosses to bear.
Maggie Gyllenhaal stars opposite Bridges as Jean Craddock, a local music reporter trying to raise her son alone. When she meets Bad for an interview, there’s a spark and they gradually find hope and passion together, tentatively reclaiming a kind of tender happiness they’d both left behind. Tugging at each of them, though, are old demons and very real fears. Jean’s relationship wounds have made her cautious, and parenthood has made her a mother first, lover second. Bad has gotten used to loving and leaving, but eviscerated record sales never gets comfortable. In each case, their characters become revelations, surprising themselves as much as the audience with their willingness to take the tougher road and make hard choices.
Along the rough terrain, Bad reconnects with Tommy Sweet, his former bestie who’s far surpassed him in commercial success. Colin Farrell portrays the slick country phenom, eschewing convention both as an actor, with his authentic singing performances, and as the character, who’s equal parts humanity and practicality. Much like the rest of Crazy Heart, Farrell easily sheds any trace of his real heritage (in his case, Irish), and seems to breathe American roots with gritty songs and a sturdy moral compass.
Crazy Heart is director Scott Cooper’s first film, based on Thomas Cobb’s eponymous novel. Despite his rookie status, Cooper’s deft approach feels as if he’s lived the story himself. There’s so much to hang on to, that when it’s over it feels as if we’ve all lived it -- minus the sound track.
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart: "Motherhood's Made Me a Different Actress"
Posted on Dec 14, 2009 @ 03:45PM - Add a comment
In Crazy Heart, Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the kind of woman she’s so good at portraying: strong, smart and decisive, with an understated beauty that’s hard to pin down. In the film, which opens December 16, she plays aspiring journalist Jean Craddock, a single mom who falls for down-and-out, aging country singer Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges). As they’re swept up into a tentative romance, each deals with their demons along the way.
Despite some of the similarities between Jean and some of her other past roles, Gyllenhaal says that she’s a different actress now. “Everything in my life has changed absolutely and completely since becoming a mother,” she told reporters this week. “I usually try not to talk too much about my family in the press, but the making of this movie was so connected to moving out of a certain phase of motherhood for me. My daughter was almost two when I made the movie, and I got to this place of, ‘I am also me! I am also an actress!’ I had this really strong hunger to express something that I hadn’t had for a while.
“When I look at the movie now, I see Jean as really going through a similar thing,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s part of the movie inherently, or if I put it there. But I think for Jean she’s got this four-year-old, who at least for a big chunk of time she’s been raising alone. She’s been trying to do good, trying to be good, trying to manage ... . I think she finally says, ‘I need something for me. I need something that feels good to me. And I don’t care if it’s bad for me. It’s better if it’s bad for me.’ ... I think there’s a line that every mother walks ... balancing what you need in order to be alive and what you have to sacrifice for your kids.”
While Gyllenhaal’s character in Crazy Heart wrestles with some of the struggles of motherhood, she also treads carefully on a minefield of love and loss. Gyllenhaal opened up to RadarOnline.com about how she approached the romantic component of her role. “My favorite scene that I got to play in the movie is where [Bad Blake] is writing the song on my bed and I freak out for no reason,” she said. “I watched the movie next to my best girlfriend. My husband was away, and I needed someone to come with me because I felt ... like ... I am a different actress now that I’ve had a child. I felt so much more vulnerable in this part than I ever have in anything. And quieter. The other things I’ve done that I’ve been really proud of, I’ve kind of bulldozed through... .”
In addition to motherhood, Gyllenhaal also credits time for her ability to work so closely with Bridges, with whom she has a compelling -- if not surprising -- on-screen chemistry. She recalled meeting him for the first time years ago: It was only after a few glasses of champagne that she finally introduced herself, saying, “I love your movies.” Bridges told her, “We’re going to work together one day.”
But then Crazy Heart happened. “I’m glad that it happened however many years later, when I had a better sense of myself as an artist,” Gyllenhaal said. “[In Crazy Heart,] we were both playing people who had really open hearts, and I think we are people who have open hearts, and I think we just kind of said, ‘I’ll go there with you. Let’s go.’ And we got down and we did it.”
