What is so great about twitter?

I woke up this morning knowing full well the Golden Globe nominations had been announced a few hours earlier. I was too lazy to find the remote, and WAY too lazy to get up to get my laptop. Instead, i picked up my phone, clicked a few buttons, and voila, the golden globe nominations appeared. (In case you haven't seen them yet, they are here). The Golden Globes are never taken quite too seriously, in both film and television. I mean, I love Halle Berry as much as the next guy, but its fairly obvious at this point that she will NOT be getting an Oscar nomination for Frankie and Alice. In terms of television, just ask Angela Lansbury if she would trade in her six Golden Globes for one of the EIGHTEEN times she was nominated for an Emmy, and I don't think she would hesitate. Nevertheless, the Globes have always been this way though. Always choosing star wattage over the performance, which probably includes some pressure from the execs over at NBC to boost ratings and get stars on the red carpet (see Gwyneth Paltrow being nominated for Proof). Last year, interestingly, they went 4/5 in choosing the Best Actress nominees at the Oscars, with only Emily Blunt (who should have been nominated for The Young Victoria) not getting that coveted Oscar nomination. [Meryl Streep, who got the fifth slot at the Oscars, was in the Musical/Comedy category that year for Julie and Julia)].

As someone who loves film, loves reading about film and getting the latest updates on upcoming films, trailers, movie deals, etc, it's tough navigating the internet to find what you are looking for. And this is why twitter is so great. I have everything i need, right in a small newsfeed. Between Peter Knegt & Anne Thompson over at indieWIRE, Guy Lodge over at inContention, Scott Feinberg, resident film scholar Matt Mazur, or one of my all-time favorites, Nathaniel Rogers over at The Film Experience, one of them will surely have what I need. If they don't, they probably retweeted it from someone else. I no longer have to stalk Apple Trailers, although sometimes I still will, as trailers are constantly being tweeted by different sources (usually i will see, for the most part, the same tweet over and over again). Twitter is also a great place to get free screening tickets, if that's the kind thing you are into and you like to save a few bucks (I know I do). Every single screener I have gotten tickets to this year (Love and Other Drugs, 127 Hours, The Fighter, Unstoppable, The Next Three Days) all came from someone tweeting an RSVP code. If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out Gofobo.

Twitter isn't just great for the film lover though. Following the New York Times, New York Post, CNN, Gawker, The Daily Beast, Huffington Post, etc, I am rarely ever behind the eight ball (though it does happen). For instance, what did I do last night when my friend told me that Bobst library at NYU was on fire? I knew if I googled it no one would have anything on it yet. I searched on twitter, and found people tweeting things to the effect of: "ALERT: Someone threw a burning book into the Book Return receptacle at Bobst. FIIIIIIIIRE!" As I am writing this, I have now learned that the Kimmel Center at NYU has been evacuated due to fire as well. NYU kids love to do crazy shit, but two days in a row? Must be finals time.

And, for those of you still looking for that ultimate job, twitter has an app for that too (Funny? No? Ok, moving on). Seriously though, most companies have a twitter for their human resources department, in which they tweet when new jobs open up, where you can apply for them online, and even when their internship program begins accepting application.

Like I said, no matter who you are or what you are interesting in, you really should be on twitter.

Morning Glory

Hello all. I have no idea why, but after seeing Morning Glory today, I decided to blog about it. There are so many things that go right with this movie; unfortunately, there are also a few that go wrong. First of all, Rachel McAdams is nothing less than sensational as Becky Fuller (what a name, eh?). This is McAdam's first time really headlining a movie on her own and truly getting it right (although I did thoroughly enjoy Red Eye). She is funny, sincere, quirky, cute and you can't take your eyes off her. It's hard to imagine that she hasn't made it to that next level yet in her career. She's done romantic drama (The Notebook), thriller (Red Eye), Sci-Fi (The Time Traveler's Wife), adult drama (Married Life), romantic comedy (Wedding Crashers), teen comedy (Mean Girls) and even action (Sherlock Holmes), all to mostly good reviews. She has pretty much done it all in terms of film genre, but she has never made the growth she needs to make it to full-fledged movie star (a la Julia Roberts or Angelina Jolie). Can she do it? Perhaps. She needs to find her niche, and stick to it. Julia and Angie pretty much found it, although they might diversity every now and then. She can perhaps take a pointer from Natalie Portman, who is finally getting the best reviews of her career as a haunted ballerina in Black Swan. With the right direction, we can hopefully expect greater things from McAdams in the future. She is still young, and has enough time to show us the real thing.

In terms of other actors, Diane Keaton was severely underused, though I cant really blame them considering what her film choice has been like lately (Perhaps a starring-role in the HBO comedy, TILDA?). Patrick Wilson is, well, Patrick Wilson. He is there to look pretty, and he has always played that role well, for the most part. He is another actor whom I am not exactly why he hasn't taken that next step in his career either. Not quite sure where he goes from here. He has to eventually get tired of playing these roles. At least that is the impression I get from interviews and other articles that I have read about him. Harrison Ford is funny and he plays off well with both Keaton and McAdams. I would love for him to go back to typical Harrison Ford fare though, which he seems to be doing with COWBOYS AND ALIENS, coming out in July 2011. Some nice work from Jeff Goldblum, who has been having a career resurgence of sorts, with both this and The Switch, which I haven't seen yet, but have heard great things about his role in that.

Overall, the film is less about a morning show (like Today and GMA, but less successful) than it is about a woman's career ambitions and struggles, with everything in between. As someone who has worked in production on a television show before, it is a great "behind the scenes"film in how it represents what its like to work on a show like that. Morning Glory succeeded in what it set out to do, and is entertaining, cute and enjoyable to the fullest extent.

AVATAR and such

WOW. that is all I can say regarding what I just saw. I know i probably waited a little too long to see Avatar, the movie that is now the second highest grossing film of all time worldwide, after another James Cameron film you may have heard of, Titanic. Avatar just blows the mind in every way possible. The film is visually stunning, and anyone that said that the film had no plot clearly saw a different film than I just saw. A love story set against the backdrop of a racial war about to take place between humans and the Na'vi people, the film has just something for just about everyone. It's funny, witty, and smart---and i only looked at my phone once (except for when it died and it made a loud annoying buzzing noise). I would definitely recommend seeing it in atleast 3D--I did not see it in IMAX, but I heard it is a different experience altogether. But if youre not going to see it in one of those two ways, than dont bother seeing it at all. Cameron made this film for it to be seen in 3D, and you wont get the full effect of the film if you do not see it that way. I am a little disappointed that Sigourney Weaver is not getting more buzz for her role in the film- it would nice to see the film get at least one acting nomination, and hers should be it. But alas, the best supporting actress race this year is an extremely tight one, and she will probably be left on the cutting room floor.

In terms of other oscar worthy films, i saw The Lovely Bones and Up this past weekend. The Lovely Bones clearly does not have much support from its studio, as its wide release date was pushed back to January 15th, away from all the chaos that is Christmas film releases. I did not read the book, however, the movie was deeply moving and portrayed beautifully. Peter Jackson, along with James Cameron, is one of the most brilliant directors of our time, and this film only strengthens that. Up was a typical Pixar movie and exactly what i expected, but it was still great nonetheless. Somehow, Pixar knows every time how to find a hit, no matter the topic. Do not be surprised if you find Up was one of the 10 nominees this year for Best Picture at the Oscars. Also saw Invictus this past break. Ever since Morgan Freeman came to prominence in the early 1990s, people have been saying that he was born to play Nelson Mandela- and he lived up to that. He truly embodied one of the most beloved men of our time. Although the movie was more about the 1995 Rugby World Cup than the life of Mandela, it was truly a great film and one that should not be missed.

Also looking forward to hopefully catching Crazy Heart this weekend, as people have been touting Jeff Bridge's performance for weeks now. I think he might just win the oscar--its really a toss up between him, Colin Firth (a Single Man) or Morgan Freeman (Invictus). That should be an interested race come Oscar time.

Started my job at Sony Music this week- never envisioned I would be doing stuff like this, but it is extremely interesting and I am truly learning a lot. That is all for now.

EP