'Descendants' tops with Florida crix

Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" required top honors in the Florida Film Experts Circle, with wins for the best pic, supporting actress for Shailene Woodley, and finest script for Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.Within the acting groups, Michael Fassbender nabbed best actor for "Shame," Michelle Williams was named best actress for "My Week with Marilyn" and Albert Brooks won a supporting trophy for "Drive." Elizabeth Olsen was named breakout star of the season on her operate in "Martha Marcy May Marlene."Martin Scorsese won for the best director for his focus on "Hugo."The FFCC was founded in 1996 and it is composed of experts and authors within the Florida area.And also the those who win are:Best Picture: "The Descendants"Actor: Michael Fassbender, "Shame"Actress: Michelle Williams, "My Week with Marilyn"Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, "Drive"Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants"Director: Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"Modified Script: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants"Original Script: Michael Hazanavicius, "The Artist"Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Existence"Visual Effects: "Rise from the Planet from the Apes"Art Direction/Production Design: Dante Ferretti, "Hugo"Language: "Your Skin My Home IsInchComputer animated Picture: "The Adventures of Tintin"Documentary: "Project Nim"Breakout Star: Elizabeth Olsen, "Martha Marcy May Marlene" Contact Erin Maxwell at erin.maxwell@variety.com

Clooney versus. Gosling: Who Should Win?

BEVERLY Hillsides, Calif. (AP) George Clooney versus. Ryan Gosling ... it is indeed a few personal preference, is not it? And perhaps it's a generational factor, too.Both stars are sexy and gorgeous, obviously, but both also provide selected difficult film roles that deliberately play lower their looks. Both ooze movie-star charisma but have displayed flexibility, too.And both is going to be competing within the group of best actor inside a drama in the Golden Globe Honours on Jan. 15 nominations were introduced Thursday morning. Clooney expires for "The Descendants," by which he plays a parent battling to boost his two kids while his wife is within a coma Gosling expires for "The Ides of March," by which he plays a cunning campaign strategist for any democratic presidential hopeful ... performed by Clooney. (Gosling also received a nomination for the best actor inside a comedy for playing a lady's guy in "Crazy, Stupid, Love.")Possibly just a little tale from the tape might help us determine an earlier champion:AGE: Clooney just switched 50 this season Gosling is 31.HEIGHT: Clooney is 5-feet-10 Gosling is 6-feet-1.Home town: Clooney was created in Lexington, Ky. Gosling was raised in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.MOST IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE: For Clooney, it is so tough to choose, due to the fact he's existed longer making more movies. Maybe "Syriana" (see below) since it am demanding both physically and psychologically. But guy, is he great in "Michael Clayton." For Gosling, he needed to search hard for "The Believer" (2001), by which he performed a Jewish guy who becomes an anti-Semitic skinhead. It had been an early indication of his huge talent. But guy, is he great in "Blue Valentine."MOST OUT-THERE PERFORMANCE: Clooney demonstrated his wacky side like a smooth-speaking steered clear of convict within the Coen brothers' 2000 comedy "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Gosling fell deeply in love with a existence-sized toy named Bianca in 2007's "Lars and also the Real Girl."BRUSHES WITH OSCAR: Clooney packed around the pounds, increased a shaggy beard and grew to become virtually unrecognizable to experience a CIA operative in 2005's "Syriana," which gained him the Academy Award for the best supporting actor. That same year, younger crowd was nominated for pointing and co-writing the television news drama "Night, and Good Luck." Since that time, he's gained two other best-actor nominations: for "Michael Clayton" (2007) and "Up in mid-airInch (2009). Gosling would be a surprise nominee for 2006's "Half Nelson" not while he was undeserving, not even close to it, but since it was this type of small, little-known film. He performed a middle-school teacher having a drug problem.EMBARRASSING Origins: Clooney rocked the mullet within the mid-1980s around the sitcom "The Details of Existence," where he performed a renovator named George. Gosling would be a person in "The Donald Duck Club" within the early the nineteen nineties, around the same time frame as Justin Timberlake, Britney Warrior spears and Christina Aguilera."Most sexy Guy ALIVE" STATUS: Clooney has got the rare distinction of winning the annual recognition from People magazine two times: in 1997 and 2006. Gosling has not won yet but the 2011 champion, Bradley Cooper, has conceded that Gosling deserved the title a lot more than he did.ON-SCREEN ROMANCES: Clooney: Michelle Pfeiffer ("One Fine Day") Jennifer Lopez ("From Sight") Jennifer Aniston ("Ocean's Eleven" and "Ocean's Twelve") Catherine Zeta-Johnson ("Intolerable Cruelty") Vera Farmiga ("Up in mid-airInch). Gosling: Rachel McAdams ("The Notebook") Michelle Williams ("Blue Valentine") Emma Stone ("Crazy, Stupid, Love"), Carey Mulligan ("Drive") an structurally correct sex toy ("Lars and also the Real Girl").OFF-SCREEN ROMANCES: Clooney is divorced from actress Talia Balsam and it has dated model Lisa Snowdon, former reality show contestant and cocktail waitress Sarah Larson and actress Elisabetta Canalis. He's now dating former WWE star Stacy Keibler. Gosling formerly dated his "Notebook" co-star McAdams and it has been linked most lately to Avoi Mendes.THE Champion: A tie. While Clooney will most likely win on Golden Globe evening, Gosling is really hot nowadays he appears easy.Copyright 2011 Connected Press. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. By Christy Lemire December 16, 2011 PHOTO CREDIT Frazer Harrison/Getty Images BEVERLY Hillsides, Calif. (AP) George Clooney versus. Ryan Gosling ... it truly is dependent on personal preference, is not it? And whether it's a generational factor, too.Both stars are sexy and gorgeous, obviously, but both also provide selected difficult film roles that deliberately play lower their looks. Both ooze movie-star charisma but have displayed flexibility, too.And both is going to be competing within the group of inside a drama in the Golden Globe Honours on Jan. 15 nominations were introduced Thursday morning. Clooney expires for "The Descendants," by which he plays a parent battling to boost his two kids while his wife is within a coma Gosling expires for "The Ides of March," by which he plays a cunning campaign strategist for any democratic presidential hopeful ... performed by Clooney. (Gosling also received a nomination for the best actor inside a comedy for playing a lady's guy in "Crazy, Stupid, Love.")Possibly just a little tale from the tape might help us determine an earlier champion:AGE: Clooney just switched 50 this season Gosling is 31.HEIGHT: Clooney is 5-feet-10 Gosling is 6-feet-1.Home town: Clooney was created in Lexington, Ky. Gosling was raised in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.MOST IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE: For Clooney, it is so tough to choose, due to the fact he's existed longer making more movies. Maybe "Syriana" (see below) since it am demanding both physically and psychologically. But guy, is he great in "Michael Clayton." For Gosling, he needed to search hard for "The Believer" (2001), by which he performed a Jewish guy who becomes an anti-Semitic skinhead. It had been an earlier indication of his huge talent. But guy, is he great in "Blue Valentine."MOST OUT-THERE PERFORMANCE: Clooney demonstrated his wacky side like a smooth-speaking steered clear of convict within the Coen brothers' 2000 comedy "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Gosling fell deeply in love with a existence-sized toy named Bianca in 2007's "Lars and also the Real Girl."BRUSHES WITH OSCAR: Clooney packed around the pounds, increased a shaggy beard and grew to become virtually unrecognizable to experience a CIA operative in 2005's "Syriana," which gained him the Academy Award for the best supporting actor. That same year, younger crowd was nominated for pointing and co-writing the television news drama "Night, and Best Of Luck.Inch Since that time, he's gained two other best-actor nominations: for "Michael Clayton" (2007) and "Up in mid-airInch (2009). Gosling would be a surprise nominee for 2006's "Half Nelson" not while he was undeserving, not even close to it, but since it was this type of small, little-known film. He performed a middle-school teacher having a drug problem.EMBARRASSING Origins: Clooney rocked the mullet within the mid-1980s around the sitcom "The Details of Existence," where he performed a renovator named George. Gosling would be a person in "The Donald Duck Club" in early the nineteen nineties, around the same time frame as Justin Timberlake, Britney Warrior spears and Christina Aguilera."Most sexy Guy ALIVE" STATUS: Clooney has got the rare distinction of winning the annual recognition from People magazine two times: in 1997 and 2006. Gosling has not won yet but the 2011 champion, Bradley Cooper, has conceded that Gosling deserved the title a lot more than he did.ON-SCREEN ROMANCES: Clooney: Michelle Pfeiffer ("One Fine Day") Jennifer Lopez ("From Sight") Jennifer Aniston ("Ocean's Eleven" and "Ocean's Twelve") Catherine Zeta-Johnson ("Intolerable Cruelty") Vera Farmiga ("Up in mid-airInch). Gosling: Rachel McAdams ("The Notebook") Michelle Williams ("Blue Valentine") Emma Stone ("Crazy, Stupid, Love"), Carey Mulligan ("Drive") an structurally correct sex toy ("Lars and also the Real Girl").OFF-SCREEN ROMANCES: Clooney is divorced from actress Talia Balsam and it has dated model Lisa Snowdon, former reality show contestant and cocktail waitress Sarah Larson and actress Elisabetta Canalis. He's now dating former WWE star Stacy Keibler. Gosling formerly dated his "Notebook" co-star McAdams and it has been linked most lately to Avoi Mendes.THE Champion: A tie. While Clooney will most likely win on Golden Globe evening, Gosling is really hot nowadays he appears easy.Copyright 2011 Connected Press. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

'Paradise Lost' Production Halted: Bradley Cooper Film Delayed Over Budget

Fiscal responsibility isn't just for you anymore. Apparently, faced with dwindling box-office returns and increasing costs to produce and market a high-priced movie, Hollywood studio executives have gotten the memo that belt-tightening is en vogue. Like Warner Bros. did with 'The Lone Ranger,' Legendary Pictures has halted the Bradley Cooper-led effects-heavy 3D spectacle 'Paradise Lost' just one month before shooting was scheduled to begin in Australia. Per Deadline, 'Paradise Lost' -- an adaptation of the John Milton classic poem; yep -- isn't being scrapped just yet. Apparently the budget sailed over $120 million and producers will try to cut that number down by 10 or 15 percent. Led by Cooper as Lucifer, 'Paradise Lost' is also set to star Benjamin Walker as archangel Michael, Casey Affleck as Gabriel, Diego Boneta as Adam and Camilla Belle as Eve. It was initially scheduled for release sometime in late 2012. [via Deadline] [Photo: Getty] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

NBA Renews Three Big Ad Partnerships

NBC Saturday Night Live drew solid ratings this weekend with first-time host Katy Perry and musical guest Robyn.our editor recommends'Saturday Night Live': Katy Perry Hosts, Alec Baldwin Gets Last Laugh on American Airlines (Video)Alec Baldwin Mocks American Airlines Controversy on 'Saturday Night Live' (Video)Katy Perry Photos at Center of $3 Million Paparazzi Showdown Saturday night's episode of the NBC sketch-comedy show averaged a 4.8 rating in the metered-market households. That marks SNL's highest metered-market household rating since the Nov. 5 episode with host Charlie Day and musical guests Maroon 5. PHOTOS: Katy Perry and the Best (and Worst) Moments of AMAs 2011 In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, SNL averaged a 2.7 rating in the adults 18-49 demo, making it the No. 11 telecast of the night in the LPMs, topping all primetime programming on the broadcast networks. Perry appeared in at least nine sketches during the Saturday's show, portraying Christina Aguilera in a parody of New Year's Eve, recent musical guest Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine and a ballsy Pippa Middleton, among others. PHOTOS:54th Annual Grammy Nominees: Kanye West, Adele, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Katy Perry Alec Baldwin also made a surprise appearance to spoof his recently being thrown off an American Airlines plane. PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery 'SNL' Stars Salute Kennedy Center Honoree Will Ferrell Alec Baldwin Katy Perry TV Ratings Saturday Night Live

The Flowers of War (Jin ling shi san chai)

A Wrekin Hill Entertainment (in U.S.) release given Beijing New Pictures Film Co. Created by Zhang Weiping. Executive producers, David Linde, Deng Chaoying, Bill Kong. Directed by Zhang Yimou. Script, Liu Heng, in line with the novel "13 Flowers of Nanjing" by Yan Geling.John Burns - Christian Bale Yu Mo - Ni NiZhang Yimou's great gift for tales of resilient women serves him well in "The Flowers of War," a distinctively harrowing account from the rape of Nanjing. Concurrently florid and gritty, this make believe drama about convent students and hookers hiding together in the 1937 Japanese onslaught is really a work of frequently garish dramatic flourishes yet indisputable emotional energy, finding humor and heartbreak inside a tale of unlikely gallantry in close quarters. Considerable advance hype and topliner Christian Bale should assist the most costly production in Chinese history recoup worldwide, though its grave subject material and 141-minute running time repetition not-minor obstacles. Set to spread out 12 ,. 16 in your area and then this month Stateside to have an Oscar-being approved run, the image will represent China within this year's foreign-language film race, the official endorsement that evaded Lu Chuan's more somber and nuanced Nanjing chronicle "Town of Existence and Dying" (2009). Boasting a starry pedigree, an extensive variety of mix-cultural acting styles and enough British dialogue to create some audiences question its foreign-lingo designation, "The Flowers of War" is really as total an antithesis to Lu's starkly realist treatment as you could imagine still, like a rare attempt with a major landmass helmer to tackle a topic that continues to be an unhealed national wound, its cultural significance could be forget about undervalued than its cumulative impact. Making his way with the bombed-out boulders of Nanjing, American mortician John Burns (Bale) gets to a cathedral for attending a lately deceased priest. Towards the dismay from the church's boy warden, George (Huang Tianyuan), and also the dozen approximately adolescent girl students in the care, Burns works out to become a genially lazy opportunist who immediately plunders the breaking of the bread wine supply. Whenever a small military of courtesans barge in to the chapel seeking sanctuary in the Japanese, who've overtaken the town, Burns is delighted at the possibilities of their own personal harem and flirts strongly with the only person who are able to speak British, Yu Mo (Ni Ni). Understanding the Japanese will not attack a whitened guy, Yu demands that Burns help her and also the other women escape Nanjing, while George similarly begs him to assist shield the scholars. Zhang entertainingly tracks the tensions among this strange gathering of people, even staging a near-catfight between your indignant students as well as their diva-like visitors. However the infighting involves an finish when Japanese troops attack the chapel and, not recognizing you will find courtesans hiding nearby, attempt to pressure on their own the scholars -- a sickening scene marked through the girls' screams and also the sounds of clothing being ripped, all whipped right into a craze of terror by d.p. Zhao Xiaoding's handheld camera. The attackers are momentarily held away when Burns, in just a minute of moral courage worth Karl Malden in "Around the Waterfront," finds a method to stop their assault. The succession grips even while its stylistic heavy-handedness brings about a wince, something that may be stated from the picture in general. Scene by scene, "The Flowers of War" is definitely an erratic and ungainly bit of storytelling, filled with melodramatic twists and grotesque visual excesses (a bullet pierces first a stained-glass window after which a girl's neck), that are nevertheless shipped with startling conviction. Zhang doesn't have curiosity about sparing the viewer's sensitivity, and the readiness to push beyond the limits of excellent taste is exactly what paradoxically gives his film a curious integrity. At first glance, probably the most problematic component of Liu Heng's script (modified from Yan Geling's novel "13 Flowers of Nanjing") may be the familiar way it utilizes a whitened American character being an access point for Western audiences. Yet Burns works out to become only one estimate a panorama that distributes dramatic weight evenly overall, and enables the scholars and particularly the courtesans to do unpredicted, deeply moving functions of decency and self-sacrifice. Whilst not every character is individuated within the film's large ensemble, the viewer emerges with a feeling of an exciting and varied human tapestry whose colors glow all of the better within the wake of impending catastrophe. Twenty-4 years after starring like a youthful lad held in Japan-occupied China in "Empire from the Sun," Bale has fun playing Burns like a loutish, liquored-up rascal in early stages before gradually being a figure of integrity and fatherly tenderness, a transformation handled by sheer pressure of movie-star charisma a lot more than other things. The actor blends in remarkably well using the mostly non-professional distaff cast, including 23-year-old newcomer Ni, who is removed as stilted in her own British dialogue moments but charges various other moments having a quiet, radiant dignity. Other thesps who register strongly include Atsuro Watabe like a Japanese colonel having a stealthily kind, cultured appearance Tong Dawei like a heroic Chinese soldier who safeguards the chapel together with his dying breath 13-year-old Zhang Xinyi because the brave youthful student who narrates a lot of the drama and Cao Kefan as her desperate, new father, a job virtually just like the main one performed by dead ringer Fan Wei in "Town of Existence and Dying." The film's reported $100 million finances are entirely apparent in the large-scale fight sequences, shot and staged with intense verisimilitude and impressive spatial coherence. Yohei Taneda's production design, particularly his looking for the cavernous cathedral space, reps an astounding task of period renovation within the roads of Nanjing itself. Chan Quigang's score works well but goes a little heavy around the violins.Camera (color, widescreen), Zhao Xiaoding editor, Meng Peicong music, Chan Quigang production designer, Yohei Taneda costume designer, William Chang Suk-ping seem (Dolby Surround 7.1/Dolby Digital), Xiao Jing seem designer, Tao Jing re-recording mixers, Steve Burgess, Roger Savage, James Ashton, He Wei effects supervisor, Andy Williams effects, Darkside Forex visual effects administrators, Tony Willis, Felician Lepadatu, Christopher Bremble visual effects, Technicolor (Beijing) Visual Technology Co., Media Professional Miracle Factory, Base line producer, Huang Xinming. Examined at Aidikoff screening room, Beverly Hillsides, 12 ,. 4, 2011. Running time: 141 MIN.With: Zhang Xinyi, Huang Tianyuan, Han Xiting, Zhang Doudou, Tong Dawai, Cao Kefan, Atsuro Watabe, Yangyang Chunzi, Sun Jai, Li Yuemin, Bai Xue, Takashi Yamanaka, Shigeo Kobayashi, Paul Schneider. (Mandarin, British, Japanese, Shanghainese dialogue) Contact Justin Chang at justin.chang@variety.com

Ride the Cyclone

From left to right: Elliott Loran, Rielle Braid, Sarah Pelzer, Matthew Coulson, Kelly Hudson, Kholby Wardell in "Ride the Cyclone." A Theatre Passe Muraille and Causing Problems Stage Company presentation of the Atomic Vaudeville musical in a single act. Book by Jacob Richmond. Lyrics and music by Brooke Maxwell and Richmond. Directed by Britt Small , Richmond. Choreographed and staged by Treena Stubel.Sea Rosenberg - Rielle Braid Misha Bachinsky - Matthew Coulson Constance Blackwood - Kelly Hudson Ough Potts - Elliot Loran Jane Doe - Sarah Pelzer Noel Gruber - Kohlby WardellPicture "Forever Plaid" meets "Glee" meets "Spring Awakening" you'll also find an excellent concept of "Ride the Cyclone," a brand new musical which has been kicking around for quite some time but lately was modified and mounted inside a production that's offered out its entire Toronto run and produced individuals wished-for words around the Canadian musical scene: "The following 'Drowsy Chaperone.'" Happily, show lives as much as the excitement. It does not simply have legs, it is a centipede. "Drowsy" and "Cyclone" have little in keeping, except both drummed up a powerful grass roots support and handled to interact both auds and native press. "Cyclone" originates from an eclectic west coast company known as Atomic Vaudeville, and Jacob Richmond's cool book is paramount. A five-voice choir from Uranium City, Saskatchewan, all die inside a curler- coaster crash in a tacky circus. They return in the dead to provide the last concert, a number of party pieces by which they sing by what their existence was like and the things they wished it might be. The gay guy regrets getting purchased before he "kissed a guy or visited Paris," and thus does in his fantasy, being a floozie chanteusie (Kohlby Wardell, inside a virtuoso turn). The troubled daughter of the bitchy Irish mother along with a Marxist Jewish father relives the controversy where she lost out, despite her awesome talent, to everything about political correctness (Rielle Braid, staying away from cliches). Additionally, there are the comicbook geek who would like to be a super hero known as Bachelor Guy (Elliott Loran in fine form), the Ukranian immigrant who combines gangsta rap with classical ballet (a amusing Matthew Coulson) and also the sweet girl who all of a sudden breaks out right into a gospel song of complete disclosure (Kelly Hudson, who you'd follow anywhere). Music by Brooke Maxwell handles to become tuneful and theatrical without falling into pastiche, while lyrics by Maxwell and Richmond will always be clever and often more. Show acquires an additional edge with the look of a sixth chorister, empty-eyed and quiet because the grave. Nobody knows who she's or how she arrived, however when she sings you realize dying may be the real theme from the show. Artist Sarah Pelzer's empty stare and soaring voice create a great combination for that part. An enjoyable tuner with great resonance, "Cyclone" is one of the demise of small cities, youthful lives and also the hopes for a whole generation, however it will get across its message with real skill. Using its small-scale cast and production values, "Ride the Cyclone" appears a tempting prospect for canny producers.Set, Hank Pine and James Insell costumes, Ingrid Hansen lighting, Michael Franzmann. Opened up, examined November. 14 2011. Went through 12 ,. 4. Running time: one hour, 45 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com