Tag Archive for 'Sandra Bullock'

You know that whole conversation about how women don’t go to the movies and are not a film market?  You know that conversation that we hear over and over as the big reason why we are inundated with crappy boy films week in and week out.

Well thanks to the statistics that we released by the MPAA with barely a blip yesterday, (thanks David Poland for the heads up) the news is that not only do women go to movies, we go more than men.  Yes, folks — women go to the movies more than men do.

This news should rock each and every executive in Hollywood more than the Bigelow Oscar win.  Cause this is something they understand.  This is money and women are delivering the money.  Big time.

So I am officially holding a funeral for the term “women are not a film market.”  I never want to hear it uttered again.  I am going to keep these statistics next to my computer (or maybe make them my screensaver but that would mean removing my picture of Kathryn Bigelow holding two Oscars) because every time someone says that women don’t go to the movies I’m just going to throw the stats in their faces.

I know exactly why the 2009 numbers increased.  If you follow the business it’s not too hard to figure it out.  The reasons are New Moon and The Blind Side with a side of The Proposal (now Sandra Bullock’s Oscar makes even more sense.)  Maybe folks are going to try and say that it is a fluke because there were two female centric successes and we don’t have those frequently.  Friends, that is the whole fucking point.  It’s like that line from Field of Dreams – “if you build it they will come.”  It is only looked at as a fluke because of the shortsightedness of people who won’t believe that women will continue to go to the movies.  There is nothing in any of the data that I have looked at the gives me any indication that women won’t go to the movies in the future.  In fact, I would venture to say that if they continue to make movies that attract women we will continue to be there.

Another line that I want to bury for good is that young men go to the movies more than anyone else.  That’s just bullshit.  Younger men don’t go to the movies more than younger women.  Younger people in general go to the movies more, but based on the MPAA numbers of frequent moviegoers (ones who go more than once a month) in the coveted demographic of 18-24, women make up 3.4 million filmgoers while men make up 3.1 million.  Suck on that Hollywood!

Don’t believe me, check out the numbers from the MPAA:

See the yellow?  That’s the women.

Here are the other stats:

• In 2009 there were 217 million moviegoers.  The total admissions was 1.4 billion dollars.
• Women are 113 million of the moviegoers and bought 55% of the tickets.
• Men are 104 million of the moviegoers and 45% of the tickets.

Here’s the money quote from the MPAA:

“A higher percentage of women than men are moviegoers in all categories of frequency.”

In. All. Categories. of. Frequency.

Women make up 9 million more filmgoers than men.

Bottom line: The future is female.  The upside is great.  The market is there ready to be tapped.  The only issue is who will take advantage of it.

Aside from the historic Bigelow win there were several other moments during the Oscar show (which I still strongly feel was really bad, but I was tweeting the whole time) and the wrap up that are worthy of note.

Mo’Nique

The woman rocks.  She did everything this whole season on her own terms and every time people tried to bring her down and shame her for it, she said I am not playing by your bullshit rules.  The fact that she won proves that art triumphs over bullshit.  She took all the shit that was shoved at her and rose above it, big time.  I really hope Hollywood learns a lesson from how Mo’Nique was treated.  There were racist quips, sexist shit (you know the crap about her shaving her legs) and in general a whole lot of you need to kiss some Hollywood ass if you think you are going to win this award.

Yesterday, on Oprah she talked about dedicating her win to Hattie McDaniel, the first African American woman to win an Oscar which she did for the 1939 film Gone With the Wind.  McDaniel, as Kate Harding at Salon reminds us, was not able to attend the opening of Gone with the Wind because the theatre was segregated.

Here’s what Mo’Nique said about the moment before they announced her name:

They are going through the nominees and I know this woman Hattie McDaniel had to endure so much in this industry.  And because of her is why you sit (talking to Oprah) where you sit and I sit where I sit because she did so much for all of us.

Sandra Bullock

So she beat Meryl and poor Meryl has not won in some 25 years which is unbelievable to me.  Part of it is that everything she does is Oscar worthy so that people think they don’t need to vote for her because she will be back again and again.  News flash people.  She’s taking some time off.  She made two movies this past year, both directed by women directors.  Both made $100 million.

But the thing about this year and the Sandra Bullock factor is that we all know that not everything that Sandra Bullock does is Oscar worthy.  She’s the first to admit it.  The Blind Side hit a chord in the country.  As did Sandra Bullock.  Remember, things suck out there (out here).  No matter how much they tell us the recession is over.  Things are still really hard and The Blind Side gave people a moment to feel better about things and themselves.  That’s why it has made a fortune.

And Bullock rode those waves all the way to the Oscar win. She was so funny talking about her kiss with Meryl that people can’t let go.  She talked about how during the awards season the group of nominees became a sorority and that they all liked and respected each other.  And she tore down some more bullshit about how women hate each other.  Here’s what she said to Oprah:

They pit women against each other all the time.  They don’t do it to the men.  I am so sick of it.

Here’s her wonderful acceptance speech.  I loved how she gave tribute to her mom It is worth watching again:

Barbra Streisand

How poignant must it have been for Barbra to have the honor to announce the first female directing winner when she has been so visibly snubbed by the Academy in the past.  There are of course women who directed great films before Barbra.  One, Lina Wertmuller, was nominated before Barbra made Yentl and The Prince of Tides which was nominated for best picture and best actor for Nick Nolte but she was not nominated for best director.  Barbra chose to direct when she was a gigantic huge acting and recording star.  She chose to direct and got shit for it.  She is a trailblazer and let’s not forget it.  Here’s what she said after she gave the award to Bigelow:

I hope there will come a time when it will not be about a woman director or a man director but will just be about who the best director is.  When there is no regard for gender.  That it’s just about the talent.

Other Thoughts:

I did love Geoffrey Fletcher winning for Precious.  Now I know people are upset because he forgot to thank Sapphire.  In his defense he was beyond shocked.  You could see it on his face and hear it in his voice.  The fact that Precious got that award over the film everyone (including me) expected Up in the Air really shows how much that film resonated within the Hollywood community.

I loved Gabourey Sidibe’s awesomeness on the red carpet.  She showed no signs of nervousness and has come through this Oscar season as the most unexpected and  success.  Every single time I see her I smile.

Here are my bets as to who will pick up Sunday night’s awards.  Also don’t forget, the Indie Spirit Awards are tonight at 8pm.  You can watch it live on IFC.  Here are the nominees.

Keep in mind that these are just my picks based on the movies I saw and other things I have been reading.

I hope everyone has a great time on Sunday night.  We’ll be live tweeting: If you want to join in follow me at: @melsil.

Best picture: “The Hurt Locker”
Actor
: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
Actress: 
Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
Supporting actor
: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
Supporting actress: 
Mo’Nique, “Precious”
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Animated feature: “Up”
Original screenplay
: “Inglourious Basterds”
Adapted screenplay
: “Up in the Air”
Best foreign-language film
: “El Secreto de Sus Ojos”
Best film editing: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Art direction: “Avatar”
Cinematography: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Costume design
: “The Young Victoria”
Best documentary feature
: “The Cove”
Documentary short: “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
Makeup
: “The Young Victoria”
Music (original score): 
”Up”
Music (original song)
: “The Weary Kind (Theme from “Crazy Heart”) from “Crazy Heart”
Short film, animated: 
”A Matter of Loaf and Death”
Short film, live action: 
”Kavi”
Sound editing: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Sound mixing: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Visual effects: “Avatar”

So it wasn’t perfect, but it’s the beginning and next time will be better. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If you can make it through the first couple of minutes of me talking to myself about Kathryn Bigelow and the Oscars, the show starts to rock when Sasha Stone of Awards Daily joins.

Let me know what you think.

Yesterday, 121 Oscar nominees gathered to celebrate themselves and get their marching order for the show (speeches can only be 45 seconds.)

Anne Thompson has a report from the event.

How fun would it have been to be in that room where Tom Sherak the head of the Academy said to the nominees that “everyone is equal.”

Here’s the 2010 class picture

In  case you care- Kathryn Bigelow is in white on second row third in from the right side between Morgan Freeman and Jeremy Renner.

You have to check out the NY Magazine piece that Mark Harris wrote on the Oscar campaign.  The more I read and learn about this stuff, the more it resembles politics with handlers telling people what to wear, what to say, where to go and how to act.

It seems so bizarre, but there is a lot at stake here, not only money, but prestige and bragging rights.  If you were a person in the film business and lucky to work on something that had Oscar potential, you would work your ass off to get there.  Cause, really, how many people in the world can say they are an Academy Award winner or even nominee.  Oscar is the top of the mountain.

But while on the surface everything looks pretty, Mark Harris dives into the ickiness factor that starts seeping out of the awards circuit if you look a bit too closely.  Looking at the reality of the merry go round these actors, directors and stars go on reminds me of the push towards election day.  Kissing babies and shaking hands all towards that coveted Oscar nomination.

Here are some of the parts I liked.

When Sandra Bullock tied with Meryl Streep at the Broadcast Film Critics Awards:

Bullock, who has never come anywhere near an Oscar nomination but is riding a wave of big box office and positive press for The Blind Side, is almost as good as Streep at the podium: She gives the kind of emotive, funny, ingratiating speech that makes people say, “Maybe she should win,” just because it seems like fun. All at once, we have a contest—and the most interesting acting face-off of the season, since the excellent narrative behind Streep (namely, There Is No Way on God’s Green Earth That This Woman Should Have Fewer Best Actress Oscars Than Hilary Swank) must now fight off Bullock’s, the much simpler Who’da Thunk It?!

Continue reading ‘Oscar Campaigning’

When I saw this picture I tried to come up with my idea of what these two awesome women said to each other on the red carpet at the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards this past Saturday.  Every scenario I wrote was so lame that I can’t post them.  Any of you comedy writers have a good idea?

BTW, Tina took home the trophy for best comedy actress and Meryl was denied the best actress is a film by the juggernaut that has become Sandra Bullock.

What do you think they said to each other?

photo h/t Jezebel

While most Americans (and the world) are struggling financially, Hollywood had a great year.  Box office revenue topped  $10.6 billion, up 10 percent from 2008 (according to Hollywood.com) and many of the year end stories have talked about women both at the box office and as directors.

Here what IndieWIRE had to say:

This was truly a landmark year for women and film.  Female-centered options dominated the indie landscape, with “Precious,” the year’s top grossing specialty release, leading the way.  The film may have been directed by a man, but it featured an almost entirely female cast and most certainly raked in its box office due in large part to female audiences hungry for options.  And beyond “Precious,” there were surprisingly many. Christine Jeffs’ “Sunshine Cleaning,” Lone Scherfig’s “An Education,” Jane Campion’s “Bright Star,” Anne Fontaine’s “Coco Before Chanel,” Claire Denis’s “35 Shots of Rum,” Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces,” Cédric Klapisch’s “Paris,” Sebastian Silva’s “The Maid,” Cherien Dabis’s “Amreeka”…  It’s an incredibly long list of often fantastic cinema.

And on top of all of it, these movies are making money. Of the top ten grossing limited released narrative films of 2009, four were directed by women (“Hurt Locker,” “Sunshine Cleaning,” “Coco Before Chanel,” and “An Education”), and three more (”(500) Days of Summer,” “Precious” and “Away We Go”) were most certainly aimed at female audiences, and feature either a female co-lead (“Summer” and “Away”) or a nearly all female cast (“Precious”).

And don’t forget the earlier pieces from the Wrap: Look Who’s Winning the B.O Battle of the Sexes and CNN.com: Yes, Hollywood, Women Do Go to the Movies

So 2009 had a confluence of good movies that were directed by women that made money and movies about women that people wanted to see.

So 2010 should be a year to build on these successes.  Here’s the problem.  All the women who make movies at the studios released movies last year.  It’s not a big list to begin with.  It includes Anne Fletcher, Nora Ephron, Betty Thomas and Nancy Meyers (am I missing anyone?)  All those women were in action last year and none of them (except maybe Fletcher) releases a movie each year.  On the indie from we also had films from other high profile women like Jane Campion, Mira Nair, Karyn Kusama, Sally Potter, and of course Kathryn Bigelow.

The question is how to we keep building on the success of 2009 when they won’t be any big movies directed by women?  There will be some strong women centric films like Sex and the City 2, the third Twilight installment as well as films from Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Katherine Heigl and an action pic from Angelina Jolie.

But those are movies directed by guys about women.  We need those and several of them will be great, but we also need to see movies by women about women (and also about guys and other things.)

From what I can tell there are only a couple of women with films already scheduled for release in 2010 and they are all indies.  We will have films like Please Give from Nicole Holofcener, Toe to Toe from Emily Abt, Fish Tank from Andrea Arnold (January 15), Last Night from Massy Tadjedin (March 19), The Runaways, from Floria Sigismondi (March 19).  Other women with completed films but without a release date include Julie Taymor ’s The Tempest, Niki Caro’s The Vinter’s Luck, Jodie Foster’s The Beaver and Sophia Copolla’s Somewhere.

There are a bunch more films that will roll out starting at Sundance including Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right and Gurinider Chadha’s It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.

So the thing we all need to wrap around our heads early this year is that most all the women directed flicks will have smaller releases so we will all need to be vigilant and get our asses out to the theatres.

I don’t want to give the powers that be (whoever the fuck they are) any ammunition to say that 2009 was a fluke either from a box office or a behind the scenes perspective.

Is anyone else concerned about this?  Are there other movies coming out that I don’t know about?  Please share.

Box Office 2.0: The Biggest Stories of the 2009 Indie Box Office (IndieWire)

Look Who’s Winning the B.O. Battle of the Sexes (The Wrap)

Yes, Hollywood, women do go to movies (CNN.com)

Here’s the link to the radio show from this morning where we talked about women’s box office successes of 2009, can a woman get a best director nomination and win, with three amazing creative artists, playwright Theresa Rebeck, TV writer and director Nell Scovell, and feature writer and director Katherine Dieckmann. about how we shift the conversation about getting more women into creative positions on power in Hollywood (and other areas of pop culture.)

Would love to hear people’s thoughts on the conversation.

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Bios on the Guests

Theresa Rebeck is one of the most accomplished playwrights in America today.  Her newest work The Understudy is currently playing in NYC through January 17th.  She is also a novelist.  Her first book Three Sisters and Their Brother is now available in paperback and her newest novel Twelve Rooms with a View will be published in May by Random House.  She is also writing a pilot for USA TV.

Katherine Dieckmann has written and directed three feature films most recently Motherhood starring Uma Thurman.  She was also a journalist and a director of music videos.  She currently is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, where she teach screenwriting.  She also directed music videos for R.E.M., Aimee Mann, Wilco, and Everything but the Girl, among others.

Nell Scovell is a TV writer and director who created the show Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  She caused a bit of a stir with a recent piece on Vanity Fair’s website about her experience as a female writer on Late Night with David Letterman.

Sandra Bullock started out 2009 pretty much off the Hollywood radar screen.  She hadn’t made a movie for two years, and since most people never thought a woman over 40 could score box office successes, her upcoming films weren’t taken very seriously.  Part of the reason is because her films are romantic comedies and are starring vehicles for her so they don’t get a lot of love or buzz in the blogosphere.  Nobody had really high expectations for The Proposal,  All About Steve looked terrible (and did terrible), and The Blind Side wasn’t yet registering at all.

But then The Proposal hit — and hit big — with an opening weekend of $33 million on a $40 million budget.  It has now grossed $163 which puts it at number 13 for the year.

The Blind Side has propelled Bullock into a serious power position.  The success of the film, it opened with $34 million on a budget of $29 million, made Bullock 2009’s box office star in a survey of theatre owners.  The last time a woman was at top of the list was Julia Roberts in 1999.  The film is now the 8th top grossing film for 2009.

And to to top it off according to EW: “Bullock is now the only actress ever to have a film marketed with her name solely above the title (i.e. based on her star power alone, and not a franchise or tentpoll picture) pass the $200 million mark in domestic gross.”

Congrats Sandra but it is a sad testament to how far we have to go.

Sandra Bullock is top star of ‘09 boxoffice (Yahoo)

Happy New Year!

The Women’s Media Center is piloting a radio show on WBAI in NY and Women & Hollywood has put together a progam for tomorrow morning’s edition.

It airs at 10amEST and you can stream in live here.

The first part of the show will be a conversation with me and the hosts about what happened for women in 2009 and what to look forward to in 2010.

The second part (which I am so excited about) is a conversation with three amazing creative artists, playwright Theresa Rebeck, TV writer and director Nell Scovell, and feature writer and director Katherine Dieckmann.

Bios on the women are below.

The focus of our discussion will be how to shift the conversation about parity issues in Hollywood (and other areas of pop culture) beyond the where are the women to trying to come up with solutions.

Here’s an overview:

Women as consumers are evident in all areas of the arts.  We buy 50% of the movie tickets, over 50% of the theatre tickets, the majority of books and are a desired TV audience.  Yet, there is still a great disconnect between the audiences and the work.  Statistics show that women creatives are underrepresented in all areas of theatre, film, and TV.

And the biggest problem is the numbers are not improving.

Women remain at 25% representation in TV, under 10% of directors, 10% of film writers, 31% of theatre creatives jobs (and that includes actors.)

For the last decade (if not longer) the conversation has been about asking the question where are the women?  The time has come to shift the conversation from continuing to lament the problem to finding solutions.

If you can listen live please do.  I will post the podcast when it is up.

Bios

Theresa Rebeck is one of the most accomplished playwrights in America today.  Her newest work The Understudy is currently playing in NYC through January 17th.  She is also a novelist.  Her first book Three Sisters and Their Brother is now available in paperback and her newest novel Twelve Rooms with a View will be published in May by Random House.  She is also writing a pilot for USA TV.

Katherine Dieckmann has written and directed three feature films most recently Motherhood starring Uma Thurman.  She was also a journalist and a director of music videos.  She currently is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, where she teach screenwriting.  She also directed music videos for R.E.M., Aimee Mann, Wilco, and Everything but
the Girl, among others.

Nell Scovell is a TV writer and director who created the show Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  She caused a bit of a stir with a recent piece on Vanity Fair’s website about her experience as a female writer on Late Night with David Letterman.

After the Golden Globe nominations, I reached out to several women who write and think about films to get their sense of the stories that came out of the nominations.

The issues that I wanted to hear other people’s thoughts on what I saw coming out of the nominations:

• Meryl vs Meryl
• Kathryn Bigelow
• The return of Sandra Bullock
• Nora (Ephron) vs. Nancy (Meyers)
• Women over 40 rule acting nods
• Bright Star missing
• An Education, no best picture

The woman who participated included: Sasha Stone, Awards Daily; Thelma Adams, Us Weekly; Anne Thompson, Thompson on Hollywood; Monika Bartyzel, Cinematical; Caryn James, film critic Marie Claire; Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer; Ella Taylor, LA Weekly; Katey Rich, Cinemablend; Jan Lisa Huttner, The Hot Pink Pen; Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today; Jenni Miller, Cinematical.

Thanks so much to all the participants.

Sasha Stone

I’m a bit horrified that Jane Campion’s Bright Star was ignored.  On the other hand, it is an extremely competitive year for women and in that way, be careful what you wish for.  The one woman who is playing in the big leagues, Kathryn Bigelow, didn’t direct a gender-based film at all; in fact, her film, like most of her films, is all about the men.

But who’s to say a woman shouldn’t feel free to direct a film about anyone?  Men, women, aliens, politicians – women should have an open playing field.

Nora vs. Nancy is funny – both women kind of corner the market on funny films about older women looking for identity and love.  And there is Meryl Streep smack dab in the middle. Having them both there is call for celebration.

Bright Star is an odd film, not easily sold or packaged.  It didn’t get enough momentum out of the festival circuit and not the fault of the publicity team who worked day and night to get that film the exposure it needed.   Campion’s refusal to make Bright Star and out and out weepy, combined with its distant romantic tale, fought off the very audience it would need to survive: romance-hungry women.  How awful to have it categorized like that but that is what women want.

Campion, however, is an auteur.  Her films will last long after many of the films in play today are merely footnotes.  She in uncompromising and that makes her a powerful force in filmmaking in general, not just in “women’s filmmaking.”  This year is an exceptional leap forward.  One hopes it doesn’t get rolled up and put into a stupid theory that films directed by women don’t win awards unless they’re about men.  That would be a shame.

Finally, it’s a mistake to confuse quality of filmmaking with success in the awards race.  One is a game, the other is art.

Thelma Adams

Here’s another: Vera versus Anna.  Don’t you wish Anna would gracefully bow out so that this terrific veteran actress who really soars in Up in the Air has a chance at best supporting actress?

As for Meryl versus Meryl — this is a speed bump.  It won’t happen at the Oscars where Meryl will be nominated for Julie & Julia — and has a very good chance to take the Oscar.

I LOVE Bright Star but it was a tough sell…..Jane Campion is making brilliant movies, but not movies for the masses.

I so LOVE Marion Cotillard’s nomination — she is the brilliant heart of NINE.  Imagine the movie if all the casting had been equal to hers.

Anne Thompson

What I think happened with Bright Star is that it opened too early in the season in September and didn’t get any real traction.  It was very well reviewed. The thing that struck me about it, why it would have been overlooked it has a very low key effect.  Jane Campion has made a very subtle, intimate, very precise, very beautiful drama and tragic romance that appeals to women.  It is extremely intimate.  There is nothing hugely dramatic about it.  It almost errs on the side of restraint in a way that I admire and I found it very moving but it doesn’t wow people.  A lot of people find it to be a long and quite meditative – it’s like a beautifully wrought Keats poem.  It didn’t score at the box office, it hasn’t been getting prizes from the critics groups and the Golden Globes also completely overlooked it.  My other theory is that Campion may not have realized this when she went with an unknown cast and really junior key players on her crew, a lot of young crew people, in a funny kind of way I think the Oscars are going to overlook it too.  I pray that she gets recognized for costumes and production design and cinematography but finally it feels like a small movie that a lot of people haven’t seen.

From the beginning I thought that Kathryn Bigelow would be the leading contender in that category and because you have 10 best picture slots it’s possible that An Education would get in there remote possibility that It’s Complicated or Julie & Julia would get in there.  But in the director category you only have five and my sense is that there will only one woman getting in there.  But she could win.  I’m very optimistic that the time has come for everybody to come through for Kathryn Bigelow.  People are jumping on the fact that she is competing with her ex-husband, and that’s really not the story.  The fact is that Cameron himself respects her is a big deal.  You have to be pretty great to stand up to Jim Cameron, and he absolutely respects her.

It’s Complicated, The Hurt Locker, Julia & Julia, The Proposal and An Education all did very well with the Golden Globe nominations.  That’s a pretty strong list of women’s pictures.

Sandra Bullock is an interesting siituation where I suspect the Golden Globes came through for her in a way the Oscars may not.  But people are writing about The Blind Side and it has done well at the box office.  The best actress category isn’t as strong as it might be.  We are going to see Gabourey Sidibe, Carey Mulligan, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep probably for Julie & Julia.  There is a fifth slot there.  Is it going to go to Emily Blunt?  Is it going to Bullock?  Is it going to go to Cotilliard?  These are the contenders for that spot.

Nora Ephron v Nancy Meyers – first of all remember that the Globes have a comedy and musical category.  Without that category they wouldn’t be there.  It’s Complicated, The Proposal and Julie & Julia are considered on some level romantic comedies (not really Julie & Julia) and they don’t do well at the Oscars.  There are a lot of people in the muscial/comedy category who will not show up on Oscar morning.

I couldn’t miss the opportunity to ask Anne if she noticed anything different this  year with the success of female centric films at the box office.

I have been covering the question of hollywood and the women’s audience and women directors for a very long time.  If you’re a screenwriter you have a better shot so Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron have made their way by virtue of being screnwriters as well as directors.  Bigelow has made her way outside of the so-called women’s genre and she’s managed to make her way as an action director and that’s one of the reapsns why she’s so strong.

I don’t have a sense that Hollywood is jumping up and down to create more projects for women.  What may be going on is that they have to learn that lesson over and over again with the audience thirsty and starving for good women’s fare.  In some ways Manohla (Dargis) is right.  Even though it looks like they are doing well, the studios are not supportive.  They don’t count on women to show up on opening weekend unless it’s a branded entertainment like Twilight, Sex and the City or Mamma Mia.

Monika Bartyzel

While writers like Nikki Finke have called the Golden Globes “completely meaningless,” I found myself inspired and hopeful because of Up in the Air. Not only did Clooney get a nod, but also Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. While someone in the Women Film Critics Circle certainly didn’t like Farmiga’s character, these were two of my favourite female characterizations this year. Each had a few big flaws to ignore (like Kendricks’ ridiculous mid-movie meltdown), but overall, they were women I could really relate to, regardless of age and place in life. With the film getting so much love, I hope it inspires more successful and balanced women on the big screen.

Women Over 40 — It’s great, but the cynic in me wonders if this is only because these women are aging so slowly that no one believes their real ages — that Hollywood can forget that they are, indeed, over 40.

Meryl — She’s definitely worthy for Julie & Julia, she stunningly brought Julia Child to life, but I would’ve liked to see someone else take the other spot. I’ve already noticed complaints of Streep overkill, and she is becoming the safe bet. Since (500) Days was included, maybe Zooey Deschanel to go with Levitt.

Caryn James

I don’t want to take anything away from Kathryn Bigelow; The Hurt Locker is an amazingly-directed film. But it is also a stereotypically macho film, while Jane Campion’s beaufitul, poetic Bright Star plays into stereotypes of what a woman filmmaker might do. It’s true that awards rarely honor subtlety, male or female, and that has hurt Bright Star. But it’s also true that the many nominations for Bigelow play into the old idea that women get ahead by behaving like men, in this case making a movie voters might expect a man to have made. I’m glad Bigelow made the film she wanted to make, but real progress will come when we stop looking at poetic films as if they exist in some lesser, female category.

Carrie Rickey

The only thing you’re missing is Kathryn Bigelow vs. her ex husband Jim Cameron in best pic and director race.  I think the Cameron/Bigelow noms are an excellent illustration of the dif between studio epic and intimate indie and the weirdness of comparing apples to mangoes when it comes to awards.  My principal thought at looking at the Streep, Ephron and Meyers nods is that we’re seeing an illustration of the creative second wind of women of a certain age — what anthropologist Margaret Mead called “post-menopausal zest.”

Ella Taylor

My only comment (as a Brit) is that An Education, a perfectly presentable, perfectly unremarkable film that would do nicely as a television drama, didn’t remotely deserve best picture. But Rosamund Pike, relatively unsung as the blond ditz, certainly deserves a nomination for best supporting actress.

Katey Rich

Meryl vs. Meryl– This doesn’t really seem to be a contest to me. It’s Complicated is such a dud that Meryl should easily be able to win for Julie & Julia. Even though all the buzz is about Sandra Bullock having this comeback year and all, the potential spoiler to watch is probably Marion Cotillard, who is by far the best part of Nine. I still think it’s a supporting role, though, so that could damage her chances.

Kathryn Bigelow– You go girl. She swept the critic’s awards over the weekend and is very much poised as a Best Director frontrunner. The more people who talk up her chances to be the first-ever female Best Director winner, the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that she’ll win.  And it’s not like it’s just some token “time for a woman to win” award– that would never have gotten her so far.  She made an amazing film and is getting rightly rewarded for it.  It’s ridiculous that it’s taken this long for it to happen, but I’ll take it!

Sandra Bullock– I haven’t seen The Blind Side yet, but I’m pretty iffy on awarding for performances in really mediocre movies, which is what I hear about this one. However, more power to her for having such a comeback in her 40s– she and Meryl Streep need to start giving lessons. It’s hilarious, though, that everyone has completely forgotten the existence of All About Steve. I saw that movie! I will not forget!

Nora vs. Nancy– It’s Complicated had a truly, truly awful screenplay, and while Julie & Julia wasn’t exactly a masterpiece of writing, I would have much preferred seeing it get the screenplay nomination instead. But hey, District 9 was co-written by a woman, and it got a completely out-of-the-blue nomination, so that’s pretty cool.

Women over 40– I wouldn’t say they “rule” the acting nods, exactly– there’s plenty of hot young things in there (Anna Kendrick, Carey Mulligan, Gabby Sidibe, Penelope Cruz, Vera Farmiga even is just 36) that make it pretty status quo. Julia Roberts’ nomination, though, thrilled me– Duplicity was so, so great and was quickly forgotten once it was a flop. She wasn’t revelatory in that movie or anything, and I’m sure the Globes went for her for their much-beloved starpower, but I’m glad to see someone else remembers that movie.

Bright Star– It’s a shame that this movie has utterly fallen off the radar, since Abbie Cornish really was remarkable in it, and Jane Campion at least deserves to be part of the conversation. I think it will be back in the Cinematography department come Oscar time, but sadly Bright Star seems to be one of those victims of the December release glut.

An Education– I can’t figure out why this seems to have fallen off the radar except for Carey Mulligan, though a friend of mine has a theory that it only seems to have disappeared in the fast-moving online world. Basically, there was only room for 5 Dramas at the Globes, but only one of the Comedy/Musical nominees (Nine) seems likely to make it at the Oscars, so there’s room for An Education to come back. They need to come back with the marketing campaign though. Maybe if they had sent me a screener I’d be talking about it more.

Jan Lisa Huttner

Bright Star missing: As I told you back in July, Melissa, men do NOT get this film & they’re actively pissed that it’s told from Fanny’s POV (that is, that is it NOT told from Keats’ POV).  Did you see that execrable “review” in recent NY Review of Books?!?  Oy!!!

An Education no best picture: Again, guys don’t really get this picture & they totally missed all the Mr. Rochester references in Acts 1 & 2, which I why I asked Women Critics Circle members to add new “Invisible Woman” category for Olivia Williams as “Miss Stubbs.”  Sure enough, when I received my Chgo Film Critics Assoc ballot, Olivia Williams wasn’t even offered as a candidate for Best Supporting Actress!!!  Oy!!!

I loathed Up in the Air.  Also, saw INGLORIOUS BASTERDS & hated it.  Saw INVICTUS & shook my head in despair–this is the best we can do for Nelson Mandela: a rugby movie?!?  Saw PRECIOUS & liked it but didn’t love it.  Having spent most of my life as a fat girl, I just didn’t believe the fantasy sequences.

Susan Wloszczyna

Well, I sensed Bright Star was frizzling quite soon after Toronto. They went crazy for it at Cannes but it quickly lost momentum. Once it opened, the reviews were mixed and the box office weak. And that was all she said.  Too bad — I root for Jane Campion since she is one of a kind and a true artist. That butterfly scene alone is worth an Oscar. But I think it was the wrong kind of movie at the wrong time, as good as Abbie Cornish was.

It is interesting about An Education being left out because it is such a smart, savvy film with a fine ensemble cast that outshines most crappy female-driven romcooms. But Carey seems to be the only story there now.

Just like people love Robert Downey Jr. and Meryl, they totally love Sandra Bullock. The fact that she gave two great performances in one year in decent enough movies is reason for celebration. Us Sandy fans have been waiting for her to get back on track for ages.

Jenni Miller:

I’m disappointed that An Education didn’t get a best picture nomination, but I do think the others were deserving. My feelings about Up in the Air aren’t as strong as others writers’, though.

I cannot believe that Bright Star didn’t get any nominations. Abbie Cornish, Jane Campion’s direction, the cinematography, the way she wove his poetry into the music — Bright Star was dazzling. Emily Blunt was good in The Young Victoria, but I thought the movie itself was fairly mediocre.

Meryl is amazing, of course. I haven’t seen It’s Complicated (although I would certainly like to!), so I can’t comment on that, and I did think she was great in Julie and Julia, but were 2009 comedies really that dry for actresses? What about Rachel Weisz in The Brothers Bloom, one of my favorite movies? What about any of the women in Whip It?

The Proposal is a guilty pleasure romcom, and as for Duplicity, I watched it on a plane. It’s a double-edged sword, as Monika wrote, about supporting women writers/directors/actors — I’m glad that women over 40 whom I enjoy in general are getting nominated, but they’re not for roles that blow me away, or even qualify (in my mind) as more thansomething I’d catch on DVD.

I can’t decide if that category is so blah because of what’s out there or because of the voters. I feel as though there’s something I’m overlooking.

Here’s what she had to say about her great year:

“Sexism is everywhere. Ageism is everywhere. But you know know what? It’s about making money. Look at what Sarah Jessica Parker did with Sex and the City. Look at what Meryl Streep is doing” — she pauses to laugh — “every other week! The proof is in the pudding. I didn’t have the ‘Oh my God, I’m not working because I’m 40.’ I was working when I was 40. I’ve never had this many opportunities in my lifetime.”

Magazine hits the newsstands today.

Sandra Bullock Soars (EW)

So here’s a crazy thing that happened this weekend, The Blind Side beat New Moon to become the number one movie in its third weekend of release.  A movie that did not open in the number one slot rarely then climbs to number one.  Just doesn’t happen.

But it happened with The Blind Side, an undermarketed and underappreciated movie before its release.  It became a success in spite of minimal studio support because people are really liking it and lots of them are women and those women tell their friends and that my friends is how word of mouth works.  This is a perfect example of the power of women at the box office.  It might take us a little longer, but if it is good and people recommend it to us, we will make see it.

The Blind Side has now grossed $129 million domestically and looks to continue to play through the holidays.  Just a little perspective, 2012 the Roland Emmerich world is ending calamity movie cost $200 million to make and is in its 4th week of release.  It has grossed almost $149 million.  The Blind Side cost somewhere between $29 and $35 million to make and it will probably beat the domestic gross of 2012.  So tell me, what’s the better investment?

Slowly, quietly, Sandra Bullock has turned out to be the most successful box office star this year.  She has two films in the top 20 and both will wind up grossing over $150 million each.

Also, New Moon is on its way to being one of the top five grossing films for the year, and worldwide it has now grossed over $570 million.

New Moon and The Blind Side helped make this past holiday weekend a record breaking one for Hollywood.  It seems that this weekend, grosses were upwards of $275 million breaking the mark set in 2000 by 12%.  The interesting thing is that none of the films that actually opened for the holiday made any dent in the box office.

What does that mean?  It means that the women ruled the box office for the second weekend in a row.

New Moon suffered a massive 70% decline in ticket sales, but since it started off so well there was no place to go but down.  The precipitous drop does really show that the film does not appeal to guys and all the people who want to see the film will have seen it pretty soon.  But even though it had a huge drop is still made over $42 million over the weekend and in two weeks has grossed over $200 million domestically (and an additional $243 million overseas) and will end up with over a half a billion worldwide gross.  All on a budget of $50 million.

New Moon is already number 6 on the list of the top grossing films of 2009, and it will probably beat Star Trek to enter into the top 5 for 2009.

BUT the bigger story of the weekend is the INCREASE in box office of The Blind Side.  That movie went up 18%.  That’s virtually unheard of.  Most films decline in their second weekend when there is additional competition, but The Blind Side has great word of mouth and will play for weeks.  It will be one of the those films that when other things are sold out through the holiday season people will go to because they heard from someone that it was good.  The Blind Side almost beat New Moon for the top spot grossing approx $40 million.  The movie has already past the $100 million mark.  All on a budget of $35 million.  That’s two hundred million dollar movies this year for Sandra Bullock.  I really hope she got some serious backend dollars for this flick.

How did this happen?  How did this movie that everyone was dismissing a couple of weeks ago as a “lite Sandy Bullock film” become a hit?  First, it’s a good movie.  It does exactly what it is supposed to do.  It makes you feel good.  You smile at the end of it.  Yes, it’s sappy, but it’s supposed to be.  Second, it’s a family movie.  Kids and parents (and men and women) can see this together and all enjoy it.   Third, underestimate Sandra Bullock at your own peril.  She is really helping to redefine what roles women can play in their 40s.  This year she played the evil boss, and crazy stalker and a fierce mom.

Also, Precious which is playing in over 600 theatres declined 34%, and personally I think that the success of The Blind Side will make a dent in Precious’ numbers for now.  Once the year end nominations start coming in people will want to see Precious because they will want to be in the know.  While I am not saying that the films are alike, one could look at the ads for the two movies and want to see a more upbeat film that deals with hard issues in a more upbeat way like The Blind Side does instead of Precious which everyone knows is brutal and intense.

New Moon Tops Box Office Again (Hollywood Reporter)

Thanksgiving box office record blown away despite absence of new hits (LA Times)

Women are going to seriously dominate the box office this weekend with the opening of the juggernaut New Moon as well as the Sandra Bullock starrer, The Blind Side.

New Moon is the 2nd chapter of the Twilight saga the love story between the mortal Bella Swan and the vampire Edward Cullen.  The good thing about this film is that no matter what any critics say this film will be a hit, especially among younger women.

What can I say about the film?  It’s totally cheesy and at times pretty bad that you kind of have to cringe.  But it’s critic proof just like Transformers 2 was. (BTW – Transformers 2 had only 19% on rotten tomatoes compared to New Moon’s still low 28% as of 7am today.)

Even though the movie has so many problems (I know that Summit wanted to rush out the sequel and didn’t want to give Catherine Hardwicke the time she wanted to make this film better but honestly they should have waited and listened to her) the boring script being the big one, I am excited to watch this movie roll out because I can’t remember the last time a movie with a woman at the center was essentially critic proof.  It would be better for all of us if the movie was stronger, but this is a movie that women want to see and they will not be kept away.

If you want to experience a cultural phenomenon go and see it this weekend (if you can get in.)  Just be prepared, there will be lots of screaming fans with you in the theatre.

The Blind Side

Here’s my confession.  I’m a big Sandra Bullock fan.  Don’t know exactly why, but I’m just always rooting for her.  Maybe it’s because she knows exactly the type of movies she will be good in (All About Steve notwithstanding) and lays it all out there.

In The Blind Side, Bullock takes on the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy based on the true story of a wealthy white Memphis family who takes in and virtually adopts a young black man.   They work hard to help this boy, including hiring tutors to help put him on the road to success.  And by success I mean finishing high school, getting a college scholarship, and now having a successful NFL career.

I’m a sucker for a feel good sports movie, but this is not about football the same way that the TV show Friday Night Lights is also not about football.  This film is about family and Bullock is great.  She kicks butt as the gun toting NRA member who astounds herself and her family by taking in and loving a 350 pound black young man.

It’s hard not to think about Precious when writing about this film.  This boy has potential and options that Precious never had.  Sports.  Sports are still a way out for boys that girls just don’t have.  I’m not trying to gloss anything over and say this boy had it easy, he didn’t.  He lived on the streets and was lucky to be alive.  But when you look at a big boy you can see the potential for his life and his future, and when you look at a girl of the same size you see all the limitations she has.  That’s just the reality.

But nonetheless, this is a heartwarming and moving story that’s fun and is a film that both men and women can enjoy.

I love when I get my Entertainment Weekly preview issues.  Just love them.  This year’s holiday movie preview just arrived and lo and behold it looks like it could be a pretty decent season for us women.

The season has already begun with Oscar frontrunner Precious, but when the cover gives me a picture of Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in a Nancy Meyers flick, I am happy.  It’s Complicated opens on December 25 and I for one cannot wait to see it.  It’s looks to be Something’s Gotta Give but even better.

I am also psyched for Sandra Bullock’s new film (she has been busy this year) The Blind Side based on the Michael Lewis book.  It’s about a white couple from Memphis who take in a homeless very large African-American teenager and makes him a part of their family.  Here’s the description: “A cross-pollination of heart warming family film and rousing sports movie, with a little Erin Brockovich social consciousness thrown in…”  My kind of movie.  Sounds like this film can get the guys and the girls.

The whispers are starting about Bullock’s performance (haven’t seen it yet) as Oscar material but she shuns that kind of conversation.

“People who do what I do don’t do award winning films…which is kind of a relief…I’d rather roll home, put on the jeans, go outside, pick up dog poop, or go for a run or something.”

Another reason why I love her.  She’d rather pick up dog poop than wear a fancy dress.

Then of course there is juggernaut of Twilight- New Moon which opens opposite The Blind Side and this movie will be HUGE.  (working on a separate post about this.)  I think it will beat Twilight’s 68 million opening weekend numbers.

I’m about to see The Private Lives of Pippa Lee written and directed by Rebecca Miller based on her own novel starring Robin Wright.  Wright who has shed soon to be ex Sean’s last name feels like she has finally gotten a juicy role and she is psyched:

Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and the Kates have all gotten great roles, and were so good in them, and now I got one…I finally got one.

Here’s a little shout out to the adorable Anna Kendrick who at 24 really holds her own opposite George Clooney in Up in the Air.  Here’s what she said that got me loving her:

My character is so rare.  She doesn’t have sex with anybody.  She doesn’t revolve around the boy.  She’s smart and complicated and really messed up.

She knows the it may be a while because she gets another character like this, which incidentally writer/director Jason Reitman wrote with her in mind.

I’m going to have to deal with a lot of characters that revolve around a guy or just aren’t that well-rounded.

Isn’t it sad that a 24 year old knows that she may have already have gotten the best part of her career already?  Hopefully, that’s not true since based on her performance and the Oscar buzz, she’s going to be around a long, long time.

Other movies (including some that star guys) I am looking forward to over these next couple of months include: Avatar; A Single Man; The Lovely Bones; Nine; Invictus; Brothers; The Last Station; Serious Moonlight; Did You Hear About the Morgans?; The Young Victoria and The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond.

What movies are you looking forward to?

This kind of snuck up on me. The Sandra Bullock film The Proposal has now surpassed Sex and the City in its domestic gross.  Sex and the City earned almost $153 million and this week The Proposal passed $155 million and its still going.

Interesting.

I was just thinking back to when Sex and the City was released and how mean the reviews were.  We got none of that vitriol with The Proposal.  I guess we are very comfortable with a romantic comedy where the woman has to be transformed through love, yet four women who embrace themselves, their lives and their sexuality are scary.

I’m glad for the success of The Proposal (I liked the film), but I am still perplexed over a year later at the nastiness that greeted Sex and the City.

Wonder what will happen when Sex and the City 2 opens next year?

Quietly, ‘The Proposal’ Has Become a Romantic Comedy Goldmine (NY Times)

I took myself to a matinee on a rainy Sunday to check out The Proposal since many of you commented on how much you liked it. I knew by the time I plunked down my money that it had won the weekend making over $34 million propelling Sandra Bullock back to the top of the list of people who can open a movie.  That’s a good thing.  Another good thing is that 63% of the people who paid to see the film were women and 70% of the attendees were between 18-49.  Younger men didn’t propel Year One to the top of the box office, but women propelled The Proposal.  Tell me again how women aren’t a market.

It also will probably give Anne Fletcher her chance to direct a broad “guy” comedy though I don’t exactly understand why people think directing movies about men is a step up from directing movies about women.

So the movie…it was good.  Way better than I expected from the trailer.  So here’s what I have to say to the trailer people and the people who approved the trailer.  YOU SUCK!  That trailer was incredibly sexist and not funny and made me not want to see the film, yet the film did not come off as sexist at all.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The beginning was hard to watch.  Bullock plays Margaret Tate a mid 40 something woman who is the editor-in-chief of a mainstream book publishing company.  She acts like an ice queen and everyone hates her.  She tries to be perfect and in doing so acts like a mean robot.  I hated that she was dehumanized by all the people in the office — she was called “it” on IM messages.  But I know that’s the set up that was needed to humanize her later.  Looking at it another way I found the portrayal of a woman boss in the workplace to be very sad.  This is how she felt she had to act to be respected.  She had to scare everyone off and keep everyone at a distance.  While she was a stereotype, stereotypes come from somewhere and I really, really wish we would get over these portraits of women with no life who are working so hard to get ahead that they and everyone around them is miserable.

I gotta say that the chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds was great.  From their boss/assistant relationship I completely understand why Bullock said she was the “guy” in the film.  Cause she is.  He’s her assistant and he’s really good at his job.  He takes care of her so well, cause that’s what good assistants climbing the corporate ladder do.  But having a guy play the assistant was so refreshing and the fact that he wants to be a book editor a world so completely dominated by women was also smart.

By now you know the premise.  Margaret blackmails Andrew (Reynolds) into marrying her so she can stay in the country and keep her job.  Most of the film is spent at Andrew’s family’s house in Alaska (he’s really rich but smartly they don’t let that get in the way) trying to keep up with the deception that they are in love.  But of course they fall in love (cause this is a romantic comedy) and I really liked how the story played out.

Once Bullock’s guard is down it is easy to remember why she is so popular — she knows how to be very funny and touching.  She’s also very comfortable with physical comedy.  I’m glad she waiting for the right script because this was the perfect piece for her.

Many of the stories leading up to the opening were about how much nudity is in the film.  Really?  I didn’t see any body parts.  The “nude” scene from the trailer was very tasteful and she has a gorgeous Alaskan husky pup covering her vajayjay.  I don’t know why such a big deal was made about her being naked throughout the movie cause that’s not what I remember.

It’s also interesting to note that a guy, a former studio exec wrote the script under a female pseudonym.  In an interview he says he used a fake name because he was an exec and if he failed he didn’t want that to effect his career.  But instead of picking a guys name, consciously he picked a woman’s name.  Here’s what he said:

It was all about deception and lies, as opposed to wanting people to think a woman had written it. It was about not wanting them to think that I had written it, not anything socially relevant.  (h/t Charlotte Trouper)

I find that answer disingenuous.  He could have out a guy’s name but it was a film starring a woman and knew it would probably play better with a female name.

So I want to thank the people who read this site and said they liked the film cause you convinced me to see it.  I really wish that the trailer they put out earlier would have not been such a turn off to me.  Another observation is that the film was very respectful of both men and women.  Both Bullock and Ryan Reynolds’s characters were well written unlike the comedies toplined by men that relegate women to the role of the shrew (if she’s there at all.)  I found it delightful to see a comedy with a female lead that both men and women can enjoy.

The Proposal, Sandra Bullock’s first movie in two years opens today on a little over 3,000 screens.  That is a mega wide release.  We are talking big mainstream Hollywood film release numbers.  I haven’t seen the film.  I tried but couldn’t get invited to any screenings.  So unlike most weeks I will be making the same decision with you as to whether to pay to see this film.

From my glancing at reviews (I don’t really read many anymore) the film is not getting great notices.  But I remember that Sex and the City got a lot of crappy reviews as did Mamma Mia so I don’t necessarily go by reviews.

Here is what I am using to make my decision.

Con- On the surface (from the preview and commercials) the movie looks really stupid and regressive.  Woman plays bitchy boss and forces her assistant to marry her so she doesn’t get deported to Canada.  Yikes.  It looks dreadful so much so when I saw the preview this past winter I wrote this post: What’s Up With Sandra Bullock’s Career?

But the press over the last couple of weeks, especially from Sandra Bullock has softened me.

Pro: Sandra Bullock.  She’s still a woman who can open a film and she’s also been really honest about why she hasn’t been in a film in a while.  The scripts have sucked.  Not too many women are that honest.  So major points to her.

This movie is easily going to make $20 million this weekend and that would be Bullock’s biggest opening yet.  Disney and all the folks associated with the film are doing everything to convince the public that this is a “date movie” to bring in the guys and I think the message is working.  If they could get a split of 50/50 or even 55/45 between women and men that would be a great sign that a movie that stars a woman can being in men.

Here’s what she had to say about romantic comedies:

…the 44-year-old actress now says she “can’t stand” romantic comedies because most of the scripts she reads from the genre are terrible and feature underdeveloped female characters. “I always read scripts and go, ‘I want to change the role of Sam to Samantha because it’s written better,’” (Wall Street Journal)

and

“They’re not funny, they’re not romantic, they’re not written well for women anymore,” she says, explaining her decision in typically no-bull fashion. “It was basically all crap. I did the last good one. I’m done.” (USA Today)

“This is basically a guy’s film,” says Ms. Bullock, who was an executive producer on the movie, “except I’m the guy.” (Wall Street Journal)

Pro: It’s directed by a woman — Anne Fletcher.  A woman directing a film that is playing on over 3,000 screens.  Extremely rare.  Happens maybe once or twice a year.  Fletcher might now be known for her romantic comedies but she’s ready for the straight comedies:

I want to do one of those movies because I know I can and they make me laugh. I want to be a woman who says, “Yeah, I made that movie.” But it would have to appeal to me. There are certain male-driven films that cross a line for me. I don’t know if I could put my name on it. (Forbes)

Pro: Betty White – the woman’s been in the business for 60 years.  How can you not love her.

All the above does not say one thing about the content of the film.  But then again how many times do you go see movies that stars men knowing all about it?  Probably not too often.   So for me, the pros — a woman star, AND a woman director — who actually like and respect each other have pushed me towards this film.  This quote from Bullock in USA Today made me laugh out loud:

…they said, ‘Here’s this woman director we like, Anne Fletcher. Can she come and meet you?’ I met her and within five minutes, she said the word ‘vagina,’ and I’m like (her voice rising giddily), ‘I love her.’ “

I know I am a broken record on this but it is my job to remind you need to support films by and about women.  We. just. do.  I wish we lived in a world where they don’t need our help but they do.  If this movie does $25 or $30 million that would be a great sign, even though sadly, it will still probably be dismissed as a fluke.

She’s the Boss (Wall Street Journal)

Something for the Ladies (Forbes)

Sandra Bullock is (bleeping) tired of romantic comedies (USA Today)