Walk-in, run-in, let-in, give-in, turn-in, move-in, sit-in...now comes shut-in. “A shut-in is a person who, due to physical, mental and/or emotional reasons, is not able to leave his or her home. These conditions can cause a person to feel lonely, isolated, sad and cut off from the rest of the world. Sometimes, they do not have family and friends available to visit and spend time with them. They often lack any kind of companionship.” Shut In, the movie, is a generic psychological t...

Demolition, Review: Shun If ever there was a practical example of ‘deconstruction for the sake of reconstruction’ being taken too literally, here is one. Our protagonist, a tormented and meandering soul, cannot cope with the loss of his wife, which tragedy has benumbed him. So, he remembers what his father-in-law once said, that in order to rebuild something, you have to demolish it first. His father is a more than sane investment banker and his own boss (which means that our hero...

Demolition, dir. by Jean-Marc Vallée, US 2015  By Martin I. Petrov    A normal man’s reaction to his wife’s tragic death would be grief and depression. For Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal), is a chance to rediscover his own self in a loud, tragelaughic and destructive emotional torpedo, involving a lot of… deconstruction.  Davis is a successful investment banker who suddenly loses his wife in a car accident. No matter how hard he tries to adapt...

by, Cameron Lui   Critics have not been very fond of the premier booed “The Sea of Trees,” directed by the talented Gus Van Sant.    Mathew McConaughey and Naomi Watts did not deserve the criticism they received during the premier. While many critics have called this one of the worst recent films by McConaughey, I thought he turned out yet another consistently passionate performance.    What made the movie so insightful was how right they got the dark...

While We’re Young, Review: Means and ends Documentary film-maker and lecturer Josh (Ben Stiller) and his wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts) are a middle-aged New York couple who befriend a free-spirited, liberal younger couple, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). The young couple claim to be fans of his, and Jamie is an aspiring documentary-maker himself. Josh is struggling on the post-production of his new documentary film about leftist intellectual Ira Mandelstam (Peter Yarrow) ...

Insurgent, Review: Prior knowledge Metaphors, here, metaphors there, metaphors everywhere. Besides metaphors, there’s a lot of pain and anguish and a large take-away moral in Insurgent: unity in diversity/let a thousand flowers bloom/different does not mean bad or hostile/religion or caste should preach respect and love for others, not hatred. In that milieu, the appropriate title for the second coming, Divergent being the first foray, should have been Convergent. Obviously, that would ...

SPOTLIGHT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS   Inside the 2015 SAG-AFTRA Awards, By Adrienne Papp   Debbie Reynolds and Adrienne Papp By Adrienne Papp One thing about the Hollywood awards season, you can always count on some things that are out-of-left-field unexpected, and there are always things that are completely expected and well-deserved. Voted on by 111,228 eligible SAG-AFTRA members, the SAG Awards are a key event in the buzz creat...

Birdman/The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, Review: The Expected Vice of Knowledge Back in the 1980s and 1990s, actor Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) was known for his superhero role, Birdman, which spawned two sequels. He refused to do the third. Now a-used-to-be-big-star, Riggan is trying hard to make a comeback through drama, by staging Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” He will be co-starring with Lesley (Naomi Watts), who is also a movie star...

By Maria Esteves – October 25, 2014 The 52nd New York Film Festival 2014 (NYFF52) Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), press conference with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, cast members actor Michael Keaton, Academy Award nominated supporting actor Edward Norton, actor/stand-up comedian Zach Galifianakis, English actress Andrea Riseborough, Academy Award nominated actress Amy Ryan, actress/model Emma Stone and British actress Naomi Watts moderated by director of...

By Liza Foreman Herewith the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards, which were announced today (Thursday, January 10) by this year's Oscar host, Seth MacFarlane, and actress Emma Stone. MacFarlane and Stone announced the nominees at a 5:38 a.m. PT live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives.  Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors no...

Naomi Watts Promotes Jacob's Creek Cool Harvest At Centennial Park This afternoon famous Australian actress Naomi Watts along a number of her friends, associates, and a sprinkle of Sydney’s social set enjoyed an afternoon and evening of wining and dining thanks to Jacob’s Creek Cool Harvest. The sophisticated and glamorous event was held amongst a vineyard inspired set and the rolling lawns of Centennial Park. Special guest and Cool Harve...

Doug Liman presented his In Competition film Fair Game,starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, Thursday morning. The press conferencefollowing the screening addressed the true story of scandal, truth and lies of US spies Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson. Fair Game marks the third time Watts and Pennhave worked together, and she expressed her relief when she learned she’dbe playing alongside her longtime friend. “Everytime he’s infront of me, Ielevate my game to match his,” Watts said.Liman empha...

                                     The American director, Doug Liman, presents his first film in Competition at the Festival de Cannes. Fair Game is the backdrop for the 2005 Plame-Wilson scandal, where Valeria Plame (played by Naomi Watts), a CIA agent in the nuclear non-proliferation department, sees her reports on uranium trafficking between Nig...

 Thursday, October 18----------Naomi Watts, whose film career is suddenly on fire, will appear as a special guest at the TCM Screen Talk tomorrow evening at the London Film Festival. Watts was one of the stars at last night's Opening Night Gala screening of EASTERN PROMISES, the new film from Canadian auteur David Cronenberg, which stars her opposite Viggo Mortenson and Vincent Cassel. The prolific actress also toplines the English-language remake of Austrian director Michael Haneke's FUNNY G...

 Thursday, October 18----------Naomi Watts, whose film career is suddenly on fire, will appear as a special guest at the TCM Screen Talk tomorrow evening at the London Film Festival. Watts was one of the stars at last night's Opening Night Gala screening of EASTERN PROMISES, the new film from Canadian auteur David Cronenberg, which stars her opposite Viggo Mortenson and Vincent Cassel. The prolific actress also toplines the English-language remake of Austrian director Michael Haneke's FUNNY G...