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Updated: Martin Scorsese has shared the following statement amid Robert De Niro’s comments regarding alleged censorship of his Gotham Awards speech: “The Gotham Awards honored the filmmakers and cast with The Historical Icon & Creator tribute, which recognizes significant moments in history and for bringing a story to life in an authentic way on screen. We all wanted to make sure that in the limited time available, the acceptance speech had space to acknowledge our Osage collaborators on-stage and at home, as well as our entire cast and filmmaking team. Apple has been a tremendous partner and there was no censorship. There was an unfortunate miscommunication regarding the final version of the speech. The event was a beautiful moment for our cast and collaborators to be reunited for the first time since the strikes. It was an incredible honor to receive this recognition.”

Earlier: At this year’s Gotham Awards ceremony,...

Robert De Niro has had a hell of a year. In April, the screen icon welcomed a daughter, Gia, with his girlfriend Tiffany Chen. Three months later, he lost his grandson, Leandro, to a drug overdose at just 19 years of age. Then came the actors’ strike, causing an industry-wide shutdown that put him out of work for the next four months and prevented him from promoting Killers of the Flower Moon, a masterful crime saga boasting his best performance in years. Finally, he was embroiled in a legal nightmare with an ex-assistant that,...

The WGA Awards boosted a pair of movie screenplays into Oscar frontrunner status on Saturday night, handing its marquee Original Screenplay award to Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won for Neon’s Parasite, and its Adapted Screenplay award to Taika Wiatiti for Searchlight’s Jojo Rabbit. Both of the winning scripts are nominated for Oscars on February 9.

This year the guild wasted no time in its 72nd edition, awarding its marquee prizes early in the night in simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York. Many of the film-side nominees gathered in the Edison Ballroom in NYC, so as to make the shorter jump to the BAFTAs which are Sunday in London.

Last year, the guild did not line up with Oscar’s screenwriting prizes, awarding Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade in original screenplay and Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? in adapted. Green...

Bye, bye bikinis! The Miss America pageant just announced it is getting rid of the bathing suit portion of the competition and will no longer judge women on their physical apperance. Instead, contestants will participate in a live interactive session with the judges. "We are no longer a pageant. Miss America will represent a new generation of female leaders focused on scholarship, social impact, talent and empowerment,” said Gretchen Carlson, chair of the board of trustees, in a press release. "We’re experiencing a cultural revolution in our country with women finding the courage to stand up and have their voices heard on many issues. Miss America is proud to evolve as an organization and join this empowerment movement." Along with scrapping swimsuits, the board also decided to eliminate the evening gown portion from the contest to "give participants the freedom to outwardly express their self-confidence in evening attire of...

[[tmz:video id="0_i9322ydv"]] Former Miss America Mallory Hagan feels validated in the wake of degrading internal emails by CEO Sam Haskell that were leaked ... and now she thinks it's time for those in charge to hit the road. Mallory tells us she knew about the offensive behavior within the Miss America organization for a long time, but felt it would be dismissed as hearsay if she spoke up ... so she's happy it's come to light. She says there's...

Two-Time Academy Award Winner Robert De Niro Leads an All-Star Cast, Including Leslie Mann, Danny DeVito, Edie Falco, Charles Grodin, Cloris Leachman, Patti LuPone and Harvey Keitel in The Comedian

Two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro (Best Supporting Actor, The Godfather: Part II, 1974; Best Actor, Raging Bull, 1980) stars as an aging insult comic trying to reinvent himself for acclaimed filmmaker Taylor Hackford (Ray) in the comedy-drama The Comedian. De Niro’s eight-years-in-the-making passion project also stars Leslie Mann (Knocked Up), Danny DeVito (“Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), Edie Falco (“The Sopranos”), Charles Grodin (Dave), Academy Award winner Cloris Leachman (Best Supporting Actress, The Last Picture Show, 1971), Patti LuPone (“Penny Dreadful”), and Academy Award nominee Harvey Keitel (Best Supporting Actor, Bugsy, 1991), with a cast that includes Lucy DeVito (Leaves of Grass) and Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally…). In addition, the film features a veritable who’s who of stand-up comedians,...

Following major festival accolades and a short qualifying run, Magnolia Pictures’ Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro heads to more than two dozen cities this weekend. The film is the final title in the documentary category to begin its regular theatrical run. On the other end of the spectrum, Sony Pictures Classics will open Robert De Niro starrer The Comedian, which also features Leslie Mann, Danny DeVito and Edie Falco. The film will bow Friday in about 800 theaters. Filmmaker Tim Sutton’s Dark Night, a ‘pseudo-doc’ film loosely based on the massacre at a multiplex in Aurora, Co during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises will also begin its limited run via Cinelicious Pics, while Vertical Entertainment will launch thriller Eloise, directed by Oscar-winning Visual Effects artist, Robert Legato.

Among other films opening in limited release are Janus Films’ Polish genre-bender The Lure, which opened in NY only...

Chicago – Mention this possibility…Robert De Niro portrays an aging stand-up comic who once had a popular sitcom in the 1980s…and 99% of filmgoers are in. Add that he beds a woman 25 years his junior, does community service, roasts Cloris Leachman and becomes a reality show host, and suddenly 80% of that 99 are out. That’s just part of the over-extension and dread in “The Comedian.”

Rating: 2.0/5.0

The film had a ton of promise it just couldn’t deliver on. On the one hand, they wanted De Niro’s character to take on the role of a dirty comedian – like Bob Saget of “Full House,” trying to get rid of his clean sitcom image – and for the most part the routines work and showcased De Niro at his best. On the other hand, there was the 90% (I’m into percentages in this review) of the rest of the movie, which was hackneyed movie plot clichés,...

Actress Leslie Mann is an absolutely lovely person to talk to if you ever get a chance. To many, she’s become better known as Mrs. Judd Apatow and the mother of two daughters who have famously stolen scenes from her in his comedies Knocked Up and This is 40. In fact, she’s been a fairly active comedic actress for quite some time and since her last movie with her husband, she’s appeared in movies like The Bling Ring, How to Be Single, The Other Woman and more.

For The Comedian, a new comedy directed by Taylor Hackford (Ray), Mann is paired with Robert De Niro as the love interest to his stand-up comic Jackie Burke, who meets her character Harmony Schultz when he’s at a low point in life, forced to work at a soup kitchen as community service for attacking a heckler. Jackie and Harmony...

Remember when Robert De Niro starred as wannabe standup comic Rupert Pupkin in Martin Scorsese's classic The King of Comedy. Since Pupkin was a full-time sociopath, it came as huge surprise when this amateur had the goods to make a go at his five minutes of fame. As Jackie Burke in The Comedian, De Niro is playing a pro, an aging comic who long ago made his bones doing stand-up and starring in a hit TV sitcom, Eddie's Home, that fans won’t let him forget. De Niro got under the skin of Pupkin.

The Comedian Sony Pictures Classics Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: C+ Director:  Taylor Hackford Written by: Art Linson, Jeffrey Ross, Lewis Friedman, Richard Lagravenese Cast: Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann, Edie Falco, Harvey Keitel, Danny DeVito, Patti LuPone Screened at: Sony, NYC, 11/18/16 Opens: January 13, 2017 You may think that the new vulgarity in the U.S. makes its presence felt only in films produced by Judd Apatow and others of his ilk. Taylor Hackford thinks otherwise.  You get the impression by watching the jokes told by Jerry Burke (Robert De Niro) that comedy clubs need grossness to bring in a young audience.  For that matter, the old folks  [ Read More ]

The post The Comedian Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

The Comedian, starring Robert De Niro, will open the Capri Hollywood Film Festival on Dec. 27 in its European premiere.

The film, directed by Taylor Hackford (Ray), stars De Niro as aging insult comic Jackie Burke, who gets a second lease on life after meeting Harmony (Leslie Mann). The two find inspiration in each other, and his resulting new material finds the formerly has-been comic going viral. 

An all-star supporting cast includes Edie Falco, Billy Crystal, Danny DeVito, Charles Grodin, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Keitel and Patti LuPone. Art Linson, Jeff Ross, Richard Lagravenese and Lewis Friedman wrote the screenplay. It opens...

When fans look back at Robert De Niro's career, he certainly won't be defined as a "comedian" per se. Not like one would immediately classify someone such as Eddie Murphy as a comedian, at least. Still, that's not to say that he isn't funny, because he most certainly is. But he'll likely be more remembered for his dramatic roles in Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, more than he will be for Meet the Parents or Midnight Run. In his latest offering, The Comedian, this acting legend gets to showcase his dramatic chops along with his R-rated comedy prowess in a delightful yet overly-long and uneven dramedy.

The Comedian has been a labor of love for Robert De Niro, who has been trying to get this off the ground for the past eight years. Directors such as Sean Penn and Mike Newell were attached at various points in the development process,...

The Writers Guild of America has just announced the nominations for their annual awards for Best Screenplays (by writers who are guild signatories). That’s right, before you get nervous thinking that your favorite may have been left off the list, you must remember that the WGA is the group that is not all-inclusive and leaves out several of the top contenders each year due to them not being part of the guild or not following their very specific rules. For this reason, you won’t see Inside Out, The Hateful Eight, and Ex Machina in the Original Screenplay category or Room, Brooklyn, or Anomalisa in the Adapted screenplay category.

Taking a look at what’s left over for the nominations, we find many that were expected to make a showing, including Spotlight and Bridge of Spies for Original Screenplay, though they apparently had to sink to really low depths...

The Writers Guild of America announced some of its nominees for its 2015 awards on Thursday, including television, new media, and radio, and among the TV nominees are series both new and old, and all beloved.

In the comedy series category, freshman Netflix show "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" scored a nomination for best series, as well as an overall best new series nod. "The Last Man on Earth" also landed in that latter category, and was singled out for its pilot episode writing, too.

On the drama side of the equation, lauded "Breaking Bad" spinoff "Better Call Saul" also got best series and best new series nominations, in addition to a an episode writing nod. Newly-minted Emmy winner "Game of Thrones" also scored a best drama citation, as well as an episodic writing nomination.

The full list of nominees released this week are below. Nominations in the theatrical and documentary categories will...

Director: Alex Ross Perry; Screenwriter: Alex Ross Perry; Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Elisabeth Moss, Jonathan Pryce, Joséphine de La Baume, Krysten Ritter; Running time: 108 mins; Certificate: 15

The daggers are out for Jason Schwartzman's novelist Philip Lewis Friedman in this acerbic comic character study that doubles as a rib-tickling guide in how to lose friends and alienate people. Indeed, it's the titular writer who is the architect of his own misery (not the critics) by treating people with disdain. Similarly, writer/director Alex Ross Perry challenges viewers by making his antihero so anti-everything.

Playing the erudite idiot is second nature to Schwartzman, having done so in films dating back to Wes Anderson's Rushmore, and it's hard to imagine anyone else hurling elaborate insults with the same devastatingly flat delivery. His arrogance is countered by a deliciously dense voiceover from Eric Bogosian who speaks with the air of superiority you would...

★★★★☆ There have been several films over the past few years that have sought to engage with the subject of creativity and the pursuit of artistic success. Few have been quite so razor-sharp as Alex Ross Perry's acerbic third feature, Listen Up Philip (2014), which skewers the misanthropic pretensions of a 'notable' young New York novelist. With pitch perfect performances, and a script that seems to never miss a beat it is a scabrous satire of writerly narcissism in a vintage 16mm world dominated by dislikable characters who are never less than compelling. "You're a man of contradictions," Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) is told. "No I'm not," he fires back with a quick-witted snipe.

40. Night Moves

Since 2006, Kelly Reichardt has found a way to reach inside of the hearts of her audiences, plucking out strings one by one with desolate re-imaginations of the American Pacific Northwest, seen through the eyes of people not so different than ourselves. With Meek’s Cutoff, she departed from her typical genre and moved in to the Old West, but you could still see her stark realism, perfectly imagined on-screen. Now, Reichardt has shifted gears again, this time to present day (still in the Pacific Northwest), following three environmental activists as they plan to blow up a dam. But this time Reichardt has eschewed all sense of dry, dirty characterization for a much more flowing story where the characters emerge from their settings more fully. It’s still methodical, but somewhere in between the planning and heist itself, Reichardt’s star Jesse Eisenberg finds notes we haven’t seen...

After a summer season of blockbusters that gave the cinematic landscape of jewels and gems worthy of inspection a shake, “awards season,” from which some worthy contenders showed themselves, came roaring. Likewise, a backlog of more movies in the thick of this holiday season growing, certain timely realities proved elusive, in terms of getting to see everything 2014 — a year with more discoveries on my part than planned anticipation — had to offer. For that reason, potential favorites may turn up by the time some people, including myself, get to see those.

Yet, among the larger blockbusters (Interstellar, Godzilla, Guardians of the Galaxy) and widely lauded releases (Gone Girl, Boyhood, Whiplash, Birdman), surveying every crevice of that landscape, there were a lot of movies that were released, watched, podcasted about and reviewed here on Sound on Sight.

(Look for Sound on Sight’s finalized, staff-wide list of this year’s best on December 28.)

In fact,...

About to publish his second novel and at the current peak of his career, Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) is burning bridges with just about everyone in his life: his ex, his college roommate, his publisher, his colleagues, his girlfriend, no one is safe. He has become resentful toward those around him because he thinks they're beneath him. He is selfish and unsentimental, and when people call him on it, he wonders if that's a bad thing. Everything in the world revolves around Philip, at least in his mind. Given the film's first scene, which sees Philip meeting his ex-girlfriend for lunch so he can brag about his recent success, it seems he has always been this way, incapable of understanding how repugnant he is, how his blatant narcissism and intense disinterest in others make him a true asshole. Weeks before the release of his book, Philip decides not to...

A celebration of male arrogance that pretends to be a condemnation. Because who wouldn’t love to spend 108 minutes with an insufferable egotistical “genius”? I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Hipster novelist Philip Lewis Friedman is an“insufferable piece of shit” who is “incapable of finding happiness” and is “crippled with anxiety.” There, you no longer need to sit through the insufferable piece of shit that is Listen Up Philip. I’ve spoiled nothing for you: Philip is thusly pegged for us within the opening moments of the film, primarily via the Narrator (Eric Bogosian [Blade: Trinity], who does not appear and is not a character), and we are never offered even the slightest of reasons why we might want to spend 108 minutes (though it feels much, much longer) with such a spectacular asshole. Especially not when...

Director Alex Ross Perry takes a chainsaw to the tweedy highbrow literary scene and the toxic men who inhabit it in Listen Up Philip. Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) is one of those fully realized personalities. A successful novelist awaiting the publication of his second book, Philip is at turns cripplingly insecure and a megalomaniac who's unafraid to alienate and offend. In this exclusive clip, you'll see Philip meeting up with an ex early in the film. With the droll, unflinching narration (from Eric Bogosian), and bristly intelligent humor, it's an indicative sample of the belligerent arrogance Philip displays throughout...

Philip Lewis Friedman’s second novel is about to be released and he’s all ready to gloat. Beginning with a meeting between him and an ex-girlfriend who he believes wasn’t encouraging enough, Listen Up Philip sees Jason Schwartzman’s author character rage from moment to moment, consumed by self-interest but impeded by a desire to be around people who revere him in some way. After receiving news that the New York Times is preparing to give his upcoming book a negative review, Philip decides to cancel all his scheduled press appearances despite the objections of his publisher. He says he wants to be an author whose work speaks for itself, but really, it’s more self-aggrandizing stunt work to satiate his own ego.

This ego is further fed by a new fan of his work, famous author Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce). Ike is excited to spend time around a younger colleague,...

"Of the many ironic things that characterize Alex Ross Perry’s third feature, Listen Up Philip, perhaps the most ironic is the film’s title," suggests Michael Pattison at Grolsh Film Works. "New York-based author Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) isn’t listening to anyone: not his long-suffering girlfriend Ashley (Elisabeth Moss), not the creative writing students he’s supposed to be teaching upstate at Lambert College, not even his mentor Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce), an older, more experienced novelist who divides his own time between NYC and the remote country home to which he voluntarily exiled himself years ago." We've got more reviews and the trailer. » - David Hudson...

"Of the many ironic things that characterize Alex Ross Perry’s third feature, Listen Up Philip, perhaps the most ironic is the film’s title," suggests Michael Pattison at Grolsh Film Works. "New York-based author Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) isn’t listening to anyone: not his long-suffering girlfriend Ashley (Elisabeth Moss), not the creative writing students he’s supposed to be teaching upstate at Lambert College, not even his mentor Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce), an older, more experienced novelist who divides his own time between NYC and the remote country home to which he voluntarily exiled himself years ago." We've got more reviews and the trailer. » - David Hudson...

From the Film Society of Lincoln Center: Alex Ross Perry’s third feature heralds the arrival of a bold new voice in American movies. Even more than in his critically lauded The Color Wheel, Perry draws on literary models (mainly Philip Roth and William Gaddis) to achieve a brazen mixture of bitter humor and unexpected pathos. In this sly, very funny portrait of artistic egomania, Jason Schwartzman stars as Philip Lewis Friedman, a precocious literary star anticipating the publication of his second novel. Philip is a caustic narcissist, but the film, shot with tremendous agility on Super-16mm by Sean Price Williams, leaves his orbit frequently, lingering on the perspectives of his [ Read More ]

The post New York Film Festival 2014: Listen Up Philip Gets A Trailer appeared first on Shockya.com.

Opening Night – World Premiere

Gone Girl

David Fincher, USA, 2014, Dcp, 150m

David Fincher’s film version of Gillian Flynn’s phenomenally successful best seller (adapted by the author) is one wild cinematic ride, a perfectly cast and intensely compressed portrait of a recession-era marriage contained within a devastating depiction of celebrity/media culture, shifting gears as smoothly as a Maserati 250F. Ben Affleck is Nick Dunne, whose wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) goes missing on the day of their fifth anniversary. Neil Patrick Harris is Amy’s old boyfriend Desi, Carrie Coon (who played Honey in Tracy Letts’s acclaimed production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) is Nick’s sister Margo, Kim Dickens (Treme, Friday Night Lights) is Detective Rhonda Boney, and Tyler Perry is Nick’s superstar lawyer Tanner Bolt. At once a grand panoramic vision of middle America, a uniquely disturbing exploration of the fault lines in a marriage,...

Jason Schwartzman has most memorably played muse to Wes Anderson, snagging key roles in Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom and Anderson's latest The Grand Budapest Hotel. But last January he was earning rousing praise out of the Sundance Film Festival thanks to the dark comedy Listen Up Philip, written and directed by Alex Ross Perry. Surprisingly, this praised pic didn't land domestic distribution right out of Sundance, but it has now! Tribeca Film has announced its acquirement of the North American distribution rights of Listen Up Philip. In the movie, Jason Schwartzman stars as Philip Lewis Friedman, an often frustrated novelist who is impatiently awaiting the release of his second book. The noise of his metropolis home is proving to be too much during this purgatory, and his photographer girlfriend (Elisabeth Moss) doesn't seem too fond of him anymore - fed up in part by his...

Alex Ross Perry's second feature, The Color Wheel (2011), is now playing on Mubi in the U.S. through March 23. Ignatiy Vishnevetsky wrote about it earlier on the Notebook.

Alex Ross Perry's first two features, Impolex (2009) and The Color Wheel (2011), climax with single-take rug-pulls—performance-intensive scenes which reveal the loneliness and longing that underpins Perry's freewheeling humor. The camera style developed by Perry and his regular director of photography, Sean Price Williams, is already actor-friendly, largely handheld, and composed mostly in eye-level, three-quarter profile close-ups. These climactic sequences, however, stretch this style to its limits—unfolding as a single close-up in Impolex, continually reframing from close-up to medium shot and back again in The Color Wheel—while also straining technical limitations. (Impolex and The Color Wheel were shot on 16mm, and both films' big long takes run almost as long as a standard 400' magazine.) What makes these sequences...

The Writers Guild of America, West (Wgaw) and the Writers Guild of America, East (Wgae) tonight announced the winners of the 2012 Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing for screen, television, radio, news, promotional, videogame, and new media writing at simultaneous ceremonies at Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles and the B.B. King Blues Club in New York City.

Screenplay Nominees

Original Screenplay:

Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

50/50, Written by Will Reiser; Summit Entertainment

Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Universal Studios

Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni; Fox Searchlight

Young Adult, Written by Diablo Cody; Paramount Pictures

Adapted Screenplay:

The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings; Fox Searchlight

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian; Based on the novel by Stieg Larsson,...

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has announced the winners of the WGA Awards for outstanding achievement in writing. In the Screenplay category, "Midnight in Paris," written by Woody Allen, took home the Original Screenplay award while "The Descendants," written by Alexander Payne, and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemming, received the Best Adapted Screenplay award.

Winners of the WGA awards were announced Sunday, Feb. 19 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Zooey Deschanel and Joel McHale served as hosts of the ceremony.

Here is the full list of winners (highlighted) and nominees of the 2012 WGA Awards (to see winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies, visit our Awards Avenue coverage right here)

Screenplay Nominees

Original Screenplay

50/50, Written by Will Reiser; Summit Entertainment

Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Universal Studios

*** (Winner) Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

Win Win,...

Midnight in Paris, Young Adult, and the other nominations for the 2012 Writers Guild Awards have been announced. The 64th Annual Writers Guild Awards is “a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different Us labor unions: The Writers Guild of America, East (Wgae), representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi. The Writers Guild of America, West (Wgaw), representing TV and film writers in Hollywood and southern California.” The 2012 Writers Guild Awards will be held on February 19, 2012.

The full listing of the 2012 Writers Guild Awards nominations is below.

Screenplay Nominees

Original Screenplay

50/50, Written by Will Reiser; Summit Entertainment

Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Universal Pictures

Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni; Fox Searchlight

Young Adult, Written by Diablo Cody; Paramount Pictures

Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne...

The Writers Guild of America, West (Wgaw) and the Writers Guild of America, East (Wgae) announced nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen in both film and television for 2011. Winners will be honored at the 2012 Writers Guild Awards on Sunday, February 19, 2012, during simultaneous ceremonies in Hollywood and New York.

Categories for film include Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Documentary Screenplay. The TV nominations are a little more extensive, offering awards for Best Drama Series, Best Comedy Series, Best New Series, Best Episodic Drama, Best Animated Series, Best Comedy/Variety Series, and Best Daytime Drama.

To find out what got nominated, check out our full list of nominees below.

Screenplay Nominees

Original Screenplay:

50/50, Written by Will Reiser; Summit Entertainment

Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Universal Studios

Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by...

HollywoodNews.com: The Writers Guild of America, West (Wgaw) and the Writers Guild of America, East (Wgae) have announced nominations for outstanding achievement in television, news, radio, promotional writing, and graphic animation during the 2011 season. The winners will be honored at the 2012 Writers Guild Awards on Sunday, February 19, 2012, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.

Television Nominees

Drama Series

Boardwalk Empire, Written by Bathsheba Doran, Dave Flebotte, Howard Korder, Steve Kornacki, Itamar Moses, Margaret Nagle, Terence Winter; HBO

Breaking Bad, Written by Sam Catlin, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, George Mastras, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett; AMC

Game of Thrones, Written by David Benioff, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, George R.R. Martin, D.B. Weiss; HBO

The Good Wife, Written by Courtney Kemp Agboh, Meredith Averill, Corinne Brinkerhoff, Leonard Dick, Keith Eisner, Karen Hall, Ted Humphrey, Michelle King, Robert King, Steve Lichtman, Matthew Montoya, Julia Wolfe; CBS

Homeland, Written by Henry Bromell,...

HollywoodNews.com: The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmys featured some wins from a handful of newcomers, as well as some repeat wins from previous years. As “Mad Men” took home the award for Best Drama Series and “Modern Family” took home the Emmy for Best Comedy Series, these shows aren’t the only ones who reaped some of the awards.

View the complete nominee and winner list below:

Drama Series

Breaking Bad (AMC)

Dexter (Showtime)

The Good Wife (CBS)

Lost (ABC)

Mad Men (AMC)

True Blood (HBO)

Comedy Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

Modern Family (ABC)

Glee (Fox)

Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

The Office (NBC)

30 Rock (NBC)

Miniseries

The Pacific (HBO)

Return to Cranford (PBS)

Made for Television Movie

Endgame (PBS)

Georgia O’Keeffe (Lifetime)

Moonshot (History)

The Special Relationship (HBO)

Temple Grandin (HBO)

You Don’t Know Jack (HBO)

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)

Michael C. Hall,...

Crimes: • Tackling the fatuousness—and the fat—of Michael Moore via the fictional "Michael Malone," a documentary filmmaker whose attempts to ban Independence Day are thwarted after three patriotic ghosts visit him • Vacillating over whether Malone is merely a trumped-up celebrity created by the liberal media, or a dangerous demagogue with legions of blinkered followers • Advancing a broad, insulting analogy between people who question the Bush administration's tactics in the war on terror, and people who would've appeased the Nazis, or prevented Lincoln from freeing the slaves • Mocking liberal professors and venal Hollywood types with the subtlety and fine detail of a Mallard Fillmore cartoon Defender: Director/co-writer/co-producer David Zucker, co-writer/co-producer Lewis Friedman, and star Kevin Farley Tone of commentary: Gap-filled and sheepish. Early on, there are several long pauses followed...

Seen on: October 5, 2008

The players: Director: David Zucker, Writers: David Zucker, Myrna Sokoloff, Lewis Friedman, Cast: Kevin P. Farley, Kelsey Grammer, Jon Voight, Trace Adkins, James Woods, Jon Voight

Facts of interest: None at all.

The plot: An infamous anti-American documentary filmmaker is visited by three ghosts who show him why there's no room for too much liberalism in the United States.

Our thoughts: David Zucker’s “An American Carol” could have been a funny satire, but as it turns out, it’s nothing but a missed opportunity. I really don’t mind watching a right-wing comedy poking fun at Michael Moore and liberalism in the United States, but I do expect it to be worth my time and money. Too bad I didn’t get what I hoped for…...

In David Zucker's flat-footed would-be satire An American Carol, a porky documentarian modeled on Michael Moore (Kevin Farley) sees the light after visitations by ghosts of conservatism past. Zucker, whose résumé runs from Airplane! and The Naked Gun through the last two entries in the Scary Movie series, has never shown much interest in big-screen politics, and his gag-driven style doesn't adapt particularly well to political humor. There's only so much wackiness to be mined from suicide-bomber jokes. Zucker co-wrote An American Carol with Myrna Sokoloff and Lewis Friedman, tasking the former with plot and the latter with jokes, which explains why the movie seems to be so often at cross-purposes, attempting to wring laughs out of hysterical exaggerations and ponderous lectures. It's like watching an improv comedy group whose premises consist entirely of Republican talking points. "Neville Chamberlin is signing away the Sudetenland — go!" (Zucker and Sokoloff...

"An American Carol" is coming to a theater near you, whether you like it or not.

A zany comedy that promises to offend Hollywood's liberal sensibilities -- coming just one month before the presidential election -- there's more riding on "Carol" than one might expect.

For one, it's the first wide release distributed by Vivendi Entertainment, which launched as a theatrical distribution company in March. Vivendi will open "Carol" on 2,000 screens Oct. 3.

And "Carol" is the first theatrical production from Mpower Pictures, the studio co-founded by Mel Gibson's longtime producing partner Steve McEveety.

It's loosely based on "A Christmas Carol," only instead of Ebenezer Scrooge learning an appreciation for Christmas, a Michael Moore-type filmmaker who is visited by the ghosts of George Washington, George Patton and President Kennedy must learn to appreciate the USA.

"Carol" isn't the only politically charged film set for wide release before voters head to the polls Nov.

Vivendi Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to David Zucker's "An American Carol," which it plans to release theatrically nationwide Oct. 3.

The film -- a flag-waving variation on "A Christmas Carol" -- follows a cynical Hollywood filmmaker who has been trying to abolish the Fourth of July. He is visited by three ghosts who teach him the meaning of America.

Zucker co-wrote and directed the film, which he produced with Mpower Pictures' Stephen McEveety and John Shepherd. Zucker's co-writers are Lewis Friedman and Myrna Sokoloff. Sokoloff also executive produced.

The cast includes Kevin Farley, Kelsey Grammer, Trace Adkins, Leslie Nielsen, Dennis Hopper, James Woods, Robert Davi and Jon Voight.

The deal was brokered by Yolanda Macias for Vivendi Entertainment and Todd Burns for Mpower.