Natalie Portman working into all angles of film

Natalie Portman is known as a beautiful and intellegent woman, actress and Oscar winner but did you know she also works behind the camera?
  Though the credits are small Natalie has started to venture into the production side of film besides dazzling us with her acting skills. Her first venture was a short, Eve a short film that starred Lauren Bacall and Olivia Thirlby which she directed and wrote. Then she took did a repeat performance as writer/director in one of the segments of the film New York I Love which was about a father dealing with the having only a small amount of time to spend with his daughter and the fact that people assume he is her "manny".
   Besides directing and writing Portman has begun to produce films with a company that she created called HandsomeCharlie Films. Besides Eve being her first film that she write and directed it was also the first film that she produced with her company. Next came the film The Other Woman that was filmed in 2008, selected for the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009 and released into the international market in 2010 but did not see a domestic audience until just this year.  She went on to produce Hesher which was released today and No Strings Attached that was released earlier this year, in which she also co-starred in both.
   I myself may have never heard about Portman's production company and not completely noticed her producing efforts if it weren't for a recent interview conducted with Portman's Hesher co-star Joseph Gordon Levitt with PopSugar. He mentioned how much he has admired Portman since he saw The Professional.  Also he was grateful for her supporting the project (Hesher) when she could back any project that she likes with her name and stature in the industry.
   So I hope to see a lot of great projects coming our way as of her production company.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt's PopSugar interview.

Movie Review: No Strings Attached

Director: Ivan Reitman

Starring: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher

To start off the year Natalie Portman stars along side comic actor Ashton Kutcher in the romantic comedy No Strings Attached.  The film is about two people have met off and on over the years and continually have a kind a chemistry that culminates in them agreeing to be sex friends.  But of course can two people have sex and not let emotions get involved with their plans? 
     Portman dazzles as the Emma, the fun loving girl that prefers to not get emotionally involved in a relationship.  The character of course isn't a challenge Portman since the character is somewhat to that of Sam from Garden State, except for the emotional withholding and quadruple amounts of sex.  She continues to make you love her, no matter what I do, but it isn't that hard to figure out how the character ends up.   
     Ashton Kutcher is adorable as the slightly in over his head Adam.  The character is very similar to his character Oliver from A Lot Like Love, again except for a lot more sex happening in the film.  He plays that perfect kind of guy that you really wouldn't mind bringing home and waking up to over and over.  The chemistry between Portman and Kutcher was very believable which made it kind of awkward for me to watch the first sex scene (no real skin showing), especially because I was sitting next to an 11yr old.
      One of the most surprising things about the film was the Ivan Reitman directed the film. Reitman's last film about five years ago, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, was not much of a success and his biggest films were in the late 1970s and early 1990s.   Most of his film have only been comedies but none of them romantic comedies so, I assume that he decided he was trying something new.
         The film is full of comedic moments that don't appear in the trailer so you will continue to laugh through out the movie.  In the beginning it does have a few week points that don't seem like great transitional scenes but after the first fifteen minutes there aren't really any more moments like that. The supporting cast is great and if you don't actually read the cast list you are surprised by who pops up in the film.
    Even though I liked the film I think that it is fine to wait until this film gets to DVD because it is pretty much the predictable Romantic Comedy.  If you do go see the film it is best seen as a date film to win you points with your date for later (if your date loves Ashton Kutcher or Natalie Portman).  It is not really a repeat watch movie in the theater but will be great as a repeat DVD watch.

Golden Globe Nominations Released

The nominations are out for the up and coming 2011 Golden Globe awards which means that you may be looking at the list of potential Oscar nominees as well.  It has been a long standing tradition that often movies and actors nominated for the Golden Globe Awards will also be on the ballot for the Oscars.  Also the Golden Globes wins due tend to run along the same lines as the Oscar wins as well with one of the recent exceptions of Avatar winning best Dramatic Motion Picture and Best Director but it was later pointed out to me that to win at the Oscars usually you also have to have some nominees in the acting categories. Below is a list of the nominees.  Get out to the theaters, your local Redbox or hit Netflix to watch these films and make your determinations.

MOVIES
 Best Picture - Drama
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"The Social Network"
 
Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Burlesque"
"The Kids are All Right"
"Red"
"The Tourist"
 
Best Actor - Drama
Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"
Colin Firth, "The King’s Speech"
James Franco, "127 Hours"
Ryan Gosling, "Blue Valentine"
Mark Wahlberg, "The Fighter"
 
Best Actress - Drama
Halle Berry, "Frankie and Alice"
Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine"
 
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
Johnny Depp, "Alice in Wonderland"
Johnny Depp, "The Tourist"
Paul Giamatti, "Barney's Version"
Jake Gyllenhaal, "Love and Other Drugs"
Kevin Spacey, "Casino Jack"
 
Best Actress  - Musical or Comedy
Annette Benning, "The Kids Are All Right"
Anne Hathaway, "Love and Other Drugs"
Angelina Jolie, "The Tourist"
Emma Stone, "Easy A"
Julianne Moore, "The Kids Are All Right"
 
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"
Mila Kunis, "Black Swan"
Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"
Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom"
 
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, "The Fighter"
Michael Douglas, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps"
Andrew Garfield, "The Social Network"
Jeremy Renner, "The Town"
Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech"
 
Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"
David Fincher, "The Social Network"
Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"
Christopher Nolan, "Inception"
David O. Russell, "The Fighter"
 
Best Screenplay
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, "127 Hours"
"Lisa Cholodenko, "The Kids are All Right"
Christopher Nolan, "Inception"
David Sieber, "The King's Speech"
Aaron Sorkin, "The Social Network"
 
Best Animated Feature
"Despicable Me"
"How to Train Your Dragon"
"The Illusionist"
"Tangled"
"Toy Story 3"
 
Best Foreign Language Film
"Biutiful"
"The Concert"
"The Edge"
"I Am Love"
"In a Better World"
 
Best Original Song
"Bound to You," "Burlesque"
"Coming Home," "Country Strong"
"I See the Light," "Tangled"
"There's a Place For Us," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"
"You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," "Burlesque"
 
Best Original Score
Alexandre Desplat, "The King's Speech"
Danny Elfman, "Alice in Wonderland" 
A. R. Rahman, "127 Hours"
Hans Zimmer, "Inception"
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, "The Social Network"
 
TELEVISION
 Best Television Series - Drama
"Boardwalk Empire"
"Dexter"
"The Good Wife"
"Mad Men"
"The Walking Dead"
 
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie, "House"
 
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"
Elisabeth Moss, "Mad Men"
Piper Perabo, "Covert Affairs"
Katey Sagal, "Sons of Anarchy"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"
 
Best Television Series - Comedy
"30 Rock"
"The Big Bang Theory"
"The Big C"
"Glee"
"Modern Family"
"Nurse Jackie"
 
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy
Toni Collette, "The United States of Tara"
Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Laura Linney, "The Big C"
Lea Michele, "Glee"
 
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
Thomas Jane, "Hung"
Matthew Morrison, "Glee"
Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory"
 
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Scott Caan, "Hawaii Five-0"
Chris Colfer, "Glee"
Chris Noth, "The Good Wife"
Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"
David Strathairn, "Temple Grandin"
 
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hope Davis, "The Special Relationship"
Jane Lynch, "Glee"
Kelly MacDonald, "Boardwalk Empire"
Julia Stiles, "Dexter"
Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"
 
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
"Carlos"
"The Pacific"
"Pillars of the Earth"
"Temple Grandin"
"You Don't Know Jack"
 
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Hayley Atwell, "Pillars of the Earth"
Claire Danes, "Temple Grandin"
Judi Dench, "Return to Cranford"
Romola Garai, "Emma"
Jennifer Love Hewitt, "The Client List"
 
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Idris Elba, "Luther"
Ian McShane, "Pillars of the Earth"
Al Pacino, "You Don't Know Jack"
Dennis Quaid, "The Special Relationship"
Edgar Ramirez, "Carlos"