The Wrap Movies | Entertainment Industry Analysis, Breaking Hollywood News

AFI's Stealth World Premiere for 'The Fighter': a Knockout

November, 10, 2010 4:06 am | Comments On #'Irish' Michey Ward, Academy Awards, AFI Film Festival, Amy Adams, christian bale, company, David O. Russell, Deal Central, Dickie 'Dick' Eklund, Jack McGee, Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo, Mickey O'Keefe, Movies, news, oscars, Paramount, people, project, The Fighter

David O. Russell's boxing drama "The Fighter" was unveiled Tuesday night as the secret screening at AFI Fest, where proud distributor Paramount orchestrated the film's "stealth" world premiere.

Producer and star Mark Wahlberg introduced the movie by noting that "I haven't seen a crowd like this since I performed with the Funky Bunch."

Indeed, it was a packed house, as more than 100 people were turned away at the door, and other important invitees weren't seated until well after the picture started.

Wahlberg gives a winning performance as "Irish" Micky Ward, a 31-year old fighter from Lowell, Massachusetts who has been taught "...

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See Zach Galifianakis in 'Operation: Endgame' (Trailer)

July, 06, 2010 6:08 pm | Comments On #Anchor Bay, Brian Watanabe, company, Deal Central, Movies, news, Operation: Endgame, people, project, Zach Galifianakis

"Operation: Endgame" was the first screenplay I ever wrote coverage for in Hollywood, back when it was known as Rogues Gallery and Brian Watanabe was listed as the sole writer.

The premise is pretty nifty: Two teams of government spies are ordered to turn against each other in an underground facility. Their guns are locked up, so they're forced to do battle with everyday office supplies, with the caveat that theirs is not a typical office.

Anchor Bay will be dumping this one into a handful of theaters (if that) in a couple weeks before a DVD release at the end of the month. I'm actually really looking forward to seeing what director Fouad Mikati has done with the script.

The film boasts a killer cast including Joe Anderson, Rob Corddry, Ellen Barkin, Odette Yustman, Maggie Q, Zach Galifianakis, Adam Scott, Brandon T. Jackson, Emilie de...

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Why 'Twilight' Ruined the MTV Movie Awards

June, 07, 2010 6:19 pm | Comments On #Awards, Aziz Ansari, Breaking Dawn, company, Eclipse, Kristen Stewart, Movies, MTV, mtv movie awards, New Moon, people, project, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Television, Tom Cruise, Twilight

It may sound crazy, but believe it or not, the MTV Movie Awards used to mean something once upon a time. Unfortunately, the show's relevance to pop culture has long since passed, as "Twilight" fever has sunk its ratings-craving fangs into a worldwide broadcast that has become a pale imitation of its former self, at least as far as the actual awards are concerned.

Years ago, MTV bestowed its Golden Popcorn award for Best Movie on great, popular films that may or may not have been considered "Oscar material." However, recent winners have been ridiculous blockbusters of questionable quality.

The fact is that beginning in 1992, the first six Best Movie winners were “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” “A Few Good Men,”...

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The Facebook Movie Has Been Tagged in an Oscar Prediction

May, 19, 2010 6:26 pm | Comments On #aaron sorkin, Facebook, Justin Timberlake, Movies, the social network

David Fincher's "The Social Network," known casually as "The Facebook Movie," is going to be nominated for Oscars.

The only question is, which ones?

I haven't seen the movie yet -- nobody outside its production has -- but I have read Aaron Sorkin's 162-page script, which tells a fascinating story with the necessary ingredients to translate into one of the year's best films.

With ten Best Picture nominees again this year and no clear-cut front-runners in sight, it's likely that the Columbia film will find itself in the Oscar conversation during the increasingly long awards season.

Based on Ben Mezrich's book "The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal," the story charts Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's transformation from a happy, 19-...

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Description

Jeff Sneider is a 2006 graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. An aspiring screenwriter, he holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing. He started his career writing film reviews on Ain't It Cool News, and continues to contribute reviews to the Colorado Springs Independent. Jeff spent two years as a writer/editor for Variety, and has also written for Hollywood Life, the MTV Movies Blog, Thompson on Hollywood and Examiner.com. In September 2006, Jeff was knocked out by director Uwe Boll in a boxing match/publicity stunt that has since become a footnote in pop culture history. He has appeared in Michael Addis' documentary “Heckler” and on HBO's “Entourage,” and is proud to have briefly worked as a production assistant on “The Departed.” He enjoys playing basketball and volleyball and his favorite movie is “Pulp Fiction.” Jeff maintains a personal awards season blog, TheInSneider (www.theinsneider.blogspot.com).

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