Dallas-Fort Worth Entertainment Columnist Chris Vognar | News for Dallas, Texas

02/12/2010

Christopher Plummer talks about playing Tolstoy

Sony Pictures Classics

Christopher Plummer is shown in a scene from The Last Station.

He has played F.D.R., Rudyard Kipling, Aristotle, John Barrymore and Mike Wallace. Now he's got a couple of new roles on display. He's an elderly Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station, which opened in Dallas on Friday. At age 80, he's also a first-time Oscar nominee. Where fans might ask what took the Academy so long, Plummer does a dazzling impression of a man just happy to be here.
Movie review: The Last Station | More recent releases
New to Video, DVD and Blu-ray
Chat replay: The movies staff discusses the Oscar nominees for actor and actress

The Couch Potato: Box set revisits Cilnt Eastwood's finest hours

BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

Clint Eastwood

In 1997, film critic and historian Richard Schickel made a documentary called Eastwood on Eastwood. Thirteen years later, with the release Feb. 16 of the gargantuan ($179.98 suggested retail) box set Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros., Schickel is once again chronicling the Eastwood legacy.
New to Video, DVD and Blu-ray
More recent releases
Chat replay: Chris Vognar, Tom Maurstad and others discuss the Oscar nominees for actor and actress

02/05/2010

Oscars: In best picture, does story trump visuals, or vice-versa?

Staff illustration

Up in the Air and Avatar are up for best picture.

Avatar may have nine Oscar nominations, but to hear some tell it, James Cameron's visual marvel isn't even a good movie. The most common complaint, usually sniffed with nose in the air, has been repeated often enough to become a cliché: "The story isn't good enough." Indeed, if it goes on to win the Big One, Avatar will do so without the benefit of a screenwriting nomination.
Chat replay: Chris Vognar and Tom Maurstad discussed the nominees for the supporting roles
More recent releases
New to Video, DVD and Blu-ray

02/02/2010

Chris Vognar: 10-film format varies little from Oscar tradition

Smaller, independent films still have a comfortable place in the Oscar firmament, Vognar says.
'Avatar,' 'Hurt Locker' top nods
Tell Us: Your take on nominees
Blog: Movies | More movie news
Link: Academy Awards official site

01/29/2010

The Oscars: 10 best picture nominations double the fun
You could say the price of an Oscar nod got cut in half this year. Chagrined that box-office and critical favorite The Dark Knight wasn't nominated last year, the academy honchos decided to double the number of nominees for best picture. That means 10 films, not five, will be up for the big kahuna come March.

The Couch Potato: Yet another 'Godfather' DVD reissue reignites the debate - Which is better, I or II?

Paramount Home Entertainment

Director Francis Ford Coppola's epic trilogy

The Couch Potato admits that sometimes he thinks the whole DVD thing is a scam. Case in point: Movie lovers had cause to rejoice when the Godfather films were first released on DVD. Then in 2008, all three chapters came out in a handsome Blu-ray package, with a high-definition restoration overseen by Francis Ford Coppola. Fancy.
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In theaters today

01/22/2010

The Couch Potato: 'Paris, Texas' represents international filmmaking at its best
P aris, Texas may be the ultimate international film collaboration. It's a German-French co-production, set in the lonesome plains of Texas and the equally lonely if more populated Sun Valley outside of Los Angeles. It's directed by Wim Wenders, who brings a European's unironic perspective of America's wide-open spaces, and written by Sam Shepard, as American a dramatist as you'll find.

01/20/2010

'Sag Harbor' author dismisses 'post-black' label
AUSTIN – "Post-black." Colson Whitehead hears the term and flinches a little.

01/17/2010

'Avatar' and its director are winners at the Golden Globes

Courtesy

Clockwise, from top left, winners for Best Motion Picture Drama categories: James Cameron (Director, Motion Picture - Avatar), Mo'Nique (Actress in a Supporting Role), Jeff Bridges (Actor) and Sandra Bullock (Actress)

Chris Vognar: Those who tune into the Golden Globes generally do so for two reasons. There's a solid chance of seeing drunken celebrities act like fools. And sometimes, though not always, the Globes indicate who might win at the Oscars, otherwise known as The Awards That Matter.

Tom Maurstad: All seemed on their best behavior, and that's too bad
List: Nominees and winners
Quoted: What they're saying about the Golden Globes | Photos
Link: GoldenGlobes.org
Relive the night: The show | The red carpet

01/15/2010

Critics give their Golden Globe predictions

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Clockwise: John Hamm in Mad Men, Lea Michele in Glee, George Clooney in Up in the Air and Zoe Saldana in Avatar.

Sunday night's Golden Globes awards show for movies and TV is considered the fun one. The booze flows freely, and a looser, table-hopping vibe prevails. Here are the nominees, with predictions and picks for movies from critic Chris Vognar and TV from critic Tom Maurstad:
Shopping Blog: Fashion writers' views of the Sunday red carpet
Movies Blog: Join the Golden Globes discussion at 7 p.m. Sunday
List: Nominees and winners

The Couch Potato: 'The Invention of Lying' uncovers truths about humanity

Warner Bros.

Jennifer Garner and Ricky Gervais

A lowly drone gains power and learns life lessons when he becomes the first person ever to lie. Sounds a little like a rightfully abandoned Jim Carrey vehicle, maybe Liar, Bruce Almighty, Liar! But The Invention of Lying, out next week on DVD and Blu-ray, manages to weave a little droll comedy gold from its high-concept premise.
Recent releases: New to video, DVD and Blu-ray
In theaters this week: Movie reviews

01/08/2010

Down-to-earth dudes George Clooney, Jeff Bridges are prime picks for an Oscar

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George Clooney and Jeff Bridges

George Clooney and Jeff Bridges both come off as a couple of dudes, although only Bridges played "The Dude" (in the popular The Big Lebowski). They are guy's guys, the kinds of actors you can imagine sipping a cold one and watching the game with. Down-to- earth, happy-go-lucky, pick your descriptor.
Blog: The Screening Room

The Couch Potato: '8 1/2' is just about a 10 on Criterion Collection's Blu-ray version
Right after I installed the Blu-ray player, I invited a fellow film geek over to revel in my new toy. The Dark Knight was on the menu, and he was duly impressed. "Great picture," he said. "But I don't know how it would work with something like 8 ½ ."

01/01/2010

The Couch Potato: I'm passionate about 'Big Love'
The Couch Potato had a sedentary epiphany this week as he watched the third season of Big Love on DVD. No, I'm not going to try polygamy; intriguing as it looks, I don't have that kind of budget. This epiphany has to do with the theme of assimilation and how it runs through many of HBO's best series.

12/31/2009

Chris Vognar's top 25 films of the decade

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Clockwise: The Departed, Wall-E, Spirited Away and There Will Be Blood

A year-end best-films list is an invitation to an argument. A decade-end list? That's like starting a barroom brawl. Ten years is a long time. Do I go by what I thought then, when I saw the films, or by what I think now, when I tally my favorites? Some of the films on this list didn't even crack my yearly top 10 lists over the past decade. How can they make the cut on the big kahuna?
Best of the Decade: Share your picks for the top movies