Tonight, HBO will air its adaptation of NY Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin's portrait of the financial crisis, Too Big To Fail. It features a wide array of stars playing real life figures, including William Hurt as former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Billy Crudup as former NY Federal Reserve head (and current Treasury Secretary) Timothy Geithner, Paul Giamatti as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Ed Asner as Warren Buffett, Evan Handler (yes, Harry Goldenblatt from Sex and the City) as Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein and Tony Shalhoub as Morgan Stanley's John Mack. However, if the movie were to have a romantic lead, it might be Bill Pullman, who plays JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon.
Too Big To Fail: Will Paul Giamatti, Billy Crudup Make Credit Default Swaps Sexy?
Sophie Barthes, Paul Giamatti Talk Cold Souls at BAM
Not too long ago, writer-director Sophie Barthes had a dream in which she found herself one of several patients at a futuristic doctor's office. Everyone was holding a box, Barthes remembers, even fellow patient Woody Allen. Only after an office assistant told the group that these boxes contained their extracted souls did the patients begin to look inside, but Barthes says she woke up before seeing her own soul in the box. She did, however, get to see the spiritual contents of Woody Allen's box, and it's that moment that would go on to become the inspiration for her directorial debut, Cold Souls.
Noteworthy Television This Weekend: John Adams
A seven-part miniseries about John Adams based on the best-selling Pulitzer Prize winning book by historian David McCullough seems like something you used to find on PBS done in cooperation with the BBC, but you’ll find it on HBO, with parts 1 & 2 airing Sunday at 8:00 p.m.
The Cinecultist's Weekly Movie Picks: Serpents In Flight edition
. Hopefully it will be as cheese-tastic as it seems from the trailers and the title. However, whether you're first in line tonight at a midnight screening or not, there's still loads coming up to see at the movies.
The Cinecultist's Weekly Movie Picks: Reality Is Stranger Than Fiction edition
wherein Paul Giamatti discovers someone mysterious in the pool of the apartment complex he manages. The trailers want it to be both a horror story and an eerie children's fable, but it doesn't seem like it could really be both simultaneously.
Looking Into the Crystal Ball for the Oscars
As Jon Stewart takes to the stage this Sunday at 8 pm to host the 78th Annual Academy Awards, the movie-lovin' Gothamist will be watching with eager anticipation from our couch. The spectacle, the glamour, the bad musical numbers and cheesy memorial montages -- we love it all. In fact, Gothamist (ie. Jen Chung and movie correspondent Karen Wilson) will be live blogging the ceremony but in the meantime, here's a few predictions for the winners:
At the Oscars 2005: Gothamist Live Blogs Hollywood's Biggest Night
You know it's the Oscars when P. Diddy busts out the velvet suit! Gothamist loves the Oscars, and we're going to attempt to do a little liveblogging. We might need to order a vat of caffeine and an EMT team at the ready; not because Chris Rock will be boring, but because we think that Gil Cates might kill us with his newfangled ideas and because we're meh about this year's nominees in the big categories. Anyway, onto the show.
77th Annual Oscar Nominations Announced...ZZZ
And The Aviator crew: What is it they say about the sum of the parts? You bore us with your "prestige picture with ensemble cast" glow. All the nominations bore us. Sure, there are interesting bits (the strong showing for Hotel Rwanda and Vera Drake; a screenplay nomination for Brad Bird and the Incredibles, Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and the Before Sunset team, though who knew that Ethan Hawke would ever get two, let alone one, nominations; nominations for Born Into Brothels and Super Size Me in the documentary category), but overall, meh. Where's Peter Sarsgaard for Kinsey?
American Splendor
Gothamist saw American Splendor this past weekend and enjoyed this twist on a biopic. The film offers Paul Giamatti as underground writer/cartoonist (though he doesn't draw) Harvey Pekar, as well as the real Harvey Pekar giving narration, as well as other real-life people making appearances alongside the actors who portray them. Giamatti is so perfect as this beleagured, lonely crank, with mouth partly open, perhaps in pain, that it's almost painful to watch. And Hope Davis depretties herself for another movie to brilliantly play Pekar's wife, Joyce Brabner, pursed lips and all. James Urbaniak's Robert Crumb was pretty awesome, as was Judah Friedlander as Genuine Nerd friend Toby Radloff. If this means there is a trend to turn underground comics like Ameircan Splendor, Crumb's work and life and Daniel Clowes' Ghost World into great films, then Gothamist eagerly awaits the next adaptation.

