TFC Journal at TheFilmChair.com

There’s an episode of The West Wing where President Bartlet appoints a sitting FEC commissioner to the post of U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria in order to open a seat on the commission. This allows Bartlet to name an anti-soft money candidate to the FEC, giving the campaign finance reformers a majority.

Now, word on the blog is that President Obama is toying with the idea of naming New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, a Republican,  as his commerce secretary. The move would effectively give the Democrats a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority (assuming Al Franken will be seated) when the state’s Democratic governor names Gregg’s replacement.

A bold move, but will it stick? And what’s with a Republican getting a major cabinet appointment? Well, as Kos points out via FiveThirtyEight, Gregg has voted with Obama on six of seven important pieces of legislation since Obama took the oath.

If this pan out, Obama really will be a Sorkin president.

Mickey Rourke, what were you thinking? Appearing on Larry King Live and exchanging barbs with Chris Jericho? Nothing says Oscar like challenging a professional wrestler to a bare-knuckle fight.  It looks like Sean Penn and Frank Langella’s chances at winning the Oscar just got a whole lot better.

Update: The Defamer says Mickey Rourke is out of WrestleMania. Rourke’s publicist, someone with some sense, decided it was better to win an Oscar than to play wrestle, career-wise:

“Mickey was very honored to be asked as he has the greatest respect for WWE however he will not be participating in Wrestle-Mania. He is focusing entirely on his acting career.”

Too little, too late? Well, if he doesn’t win the Oscar, you know people are going to point to this flirtation with real fake wrestling as the reason why.

If you ever needed proof that the Watchmen adaptation is going to be an epic failure, look no further than the decision to have My Chemical Romance cover Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row” for the picture.

I was totally prepared for Zack Snyder to gut Alan Moore’s text, but Bob Dylan, too! I guess if you didn’t want to kill yourself by the end of Synder’s bastardized Watchmen, you’ll now have extra incentive when MCR’s Dylan cover plays over the credits.

This make my soul hurt.

Could the Tony-winning Broadway show In The Heights be coming to a movie theater near you? Well Page Six indicates it may be so.

Word is J-Lo meet with Meryl Poster, executive producer of the Oscar-winning Chicago, to discuss the show. But Jenny from the Block isn’t headed to Broadway. PS says, “A rep for Lopez said, ‘She loves the play but is not Broadway bound.’”

Hmm. That sounds like a plan for a movie musical to me. And it can’t happen soon enough. I’m dying for a quality movie musical after watching Meryl Streep roll around and grab her naughty parts in Mamma Mia! God, I just can’t erase that image from my mind.

Also, one quick word of advice: Watch Rent for what not to do.

Jon Hamm, a.k.a Donald Draper, is set to guest star on 30 Rock as Liz Lemon’s love interest.  The first of three Hamm-tastic 30 Rock episodes will air on Feb. 5.

Just like the biological children of Brad and Angelina, these babies are bound to be perfect.

Here’s what the pair had to say in their EW interview:

Jon, is there any other role you’d like to play on 30 Rock?
HAMM: Here’s an interesting story: I don’t know if Tina knows this, but I actually auditioned for the role of Jack Donaghy.
FEY: You did? Was I there?
HAMM: No, it was way early in the process. So somewhere on tape, there exists me talking about three kinds of heat. The corollary is that Tina auditioned for Don Draper.
FEY: No, I would probably be the wife of the guy in the closet.

Cannot wait. Total TVgasm.

Okay, so this isn’t confirmed, but Fox News is reporting that Hugh Jackman has asked his Australia director to stage the opening number at this year’s Oscar ceremony. Now, I know this isn’t a way for the Oscars to get a mainstream audience. People really hate Luhrmann. But to all the haters out there, if you could stomach the Cirque du Soleil journey through cinema history, you’ll be able to make it through this.

I mean

+

=

Heaven

I posted this last year because we all have to remember the real reason for Oscar: the Oscar bounce.

The box office boost was in full effect when Slumdog jumped 80 percent at the box office this weekend. In fact, all the nominees grabbed more cash, including The Reader, which lost 50 theaters.

Last year there were no $100 million movies nominated for Oscar. This year,The Curious Case of Benjamin Button already has that and some change in the bank.  With 13 nominations, it will likely to ride the wave for a little while, maybe to $150 million. If (when?) it wins Best Picture, Slumdog could give the Pitt starrer a run for its money.

Now onto the box office.

2008/2009 Best Picture Box Office Picture
(totals as of Thursday, Jan. 22)

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Dec. 25)-$105 million
• Slumdog Millionaire (Nov. 12)-$45 million
• Frost/Nixon (Dec. 5)-$9 million
• The Reader (Dec. 12)-$8.2 million
• Milk (Nov. 26)-$21 million

An here are last year’s nominees with pre- and post- nomination totals.

2007/2008 Best Picture Box Office Picture
(with release dates)

• Atonement (Dec. 7)-$33 million/$51 million
• Juno (Dec. 5)-$87 million/$143 million
• Michael Clayton (Oct. 5)-$39 million/$49 million (after re-issue)
• No Country for Old Men (Nov. 9)-$49 million/$74 million
• There Will Be Blood (Dec. 26)-$9 million/$40 million

More box office figures at BoxOfficeMojo.com.

One of the problems with living in a place like Cleveland (or Erie, Pa. before this) and not in NYC or LA is that you don’t get to see all the movies of 2008 until it’s 2009. I’ve always given myself an extra month to catch up.

Considering the lackluster year it’s been for movies, it’s no surprise that I could have published this list a few weeks ago. (Damn you Fox Searchlight for holding back The Wrestler.) It’s also no surprise that a three-and-a-half star movie made it onto my list for the first time since I started compiling them. That would Woody Allen’s best film in years, Vicky Christina Barcelona.

But even in bad years, there are certain movies that you fall in love with. I can’t remember caring about the characters in the movies as much as I did this year. Ballast, Rachel Getting Married, The Edge of Heaven, Milk, Slumdog, Benjamin Button, Vicky Christina Barcelona and even WALL-E didn’t just make me root for their characters. No, they made me feel like I knew them on a very intimate level. Even movies like The Wrestler, The Visitor, and Gran Torino, which didn’t make my list, took me inside lives of the characters beyond simple voyeurism.

Then there are the masterpieces like Revolutionary Road and Let the Right One In, which each affected me for days. I love when movies do that. I just love it.

So here they are, the top ten films of 2008 from TFC Journal at TheFilmChair.com:

1. Revolutionary Road (dir. Sam Mendes)
2. Let the Right One In (dir. Tomas Alfredson)
3. Ballast (dir. Lance Hammer)
4. The Edge of Heaven (dir. Fatih Akin)
5. WALL-E (dir. Andrew Stanton)
6. Rachel Getting Married (dir. Jonathan Demme)
7. Milk (dir. Gus Van Sant)
8. Slumdog Millionaire (dir. Danny Boyle)
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (dir. David Fincher)
10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (dir. Woody Allen)

Honorable Mention: Gran Torino (dir. Clint Eastwood)

Best Director – Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road
Best Actress – Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
Best Actor – Sean Penn, Milk
Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress – Viola Davis, Doubt

Song of the Year:  “The Wrestler” by Bruce Springsteen, The Wrestler

Quote of the Year:
“Don’t talk like one of them. You’re not! Even if you’d like to be. To them, you’re just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. I’ll show you. When the chips are down, these… these civilized people, they’ll eat each other. See, I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.” – The Joker, The Dark Knight

I’ve been heavy on the Oscar coverage lately, but there’s another little film event going on right now.  The Sundance Film Festival announced its award winners today, the last day of the festival. The big winner was Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, which won three awards including the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Audience Award: Dramatic, and a Special Jury Prize for Acting (Mo’Nique).

The three awards tie a festival record, but Push also became only the third film in festival history to win both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. (The others were Three Seasons in 1999 and Quinceañera in 2006.) The story sounds pretty grim. It follows a teenage girl from Harlem who is twice impregnated by her father but has the chance to enroll in an alternative school, giving her a chance at a new direction in life. Mo’Nique won the acting award for playing the girl’s mentally ill mother.

This won’t be the last time you hear about Push.  The Weinstein Company and BET have been circling the picture for a joint release. Now that it is the big winner, I imagine a deal will be announced shortly despite what will likely be a tough sell to audiences.

Full Sundance Awards Announcement

Kate Winslet earned her sixth Academy Award nomination on Thursday for her performance in The Reader. All signs point to Oscar for Mrs. Mendes, but what happens if she doesn’t win?  Well, she’ll tie Deborah Kerr for female actor with the most nominations and no wins.

Kerr earned her sixth and final acting nomination when she was only 39 years old for her leading role in The Sundowners (1960).  She received an Honorary Oscar in 1994 for being “An artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance.”

I hope Kate does win the Oscar this year just so she doesn’t have to accept an honorary one thirty-four years from now with something like that engraved on the plate.