Women are from Venus, Men are from … Pandora?

In 1992, John Gray’s relationship book “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” gave self-help romance seekers everything they wanted to know about the opposite sex. The book became a huge best-seller. But really, all anybody with a desire for romance needed to do was look at who goes to movies on Valentine’s Day, and why, to see just exactly what the opposite sex wanted.

That’s right. This weekend is THE WEEKEND for affairs of the heart, date nights and dinner-and-a-movie outings as V-Day hits calendars on Sunday. And movie ticket seller Fandango.com has polled moviegoers to see just exactly what they will go see in theaters. The results? Forty-two (42) percent of women want to go see the new movie, “Valentine’s Day” while 39 percent of men picked action-packed “Avatar,” which takes place on the faraway moon, Pandora.

In the pool, 92 percent of men say they are “willing to let their dates pick the movie” (Gee, awfully nice fellas), and 94 percent of men say that they do, in fact, actually pay for the trip to the theater (Now, that’s more like it guys).  And while 32 percent of women polled picked Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling in the weepy romance “The Notebook” (2004) as their favorite onscreen couple, 20 percent of men chose Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana in “Avatar.”

We wonder: where does that leave one of the other new movies this week, “The Wolfman“? Well, only 10 percent of men and 7 percent of women want to see that horror show, according to Fandango.  … Maybe a little too much hair. Now, if it were a blue-haired wolfman…

Dr. Conrad Murray, guilty as charged?

(video by Marc Price)

Los Angeles prosecutors finally had their day in court on Monday, when Dr. Conrad Murray — better known as Michael Jackson’s personal physician — was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the pop star’s sudden death. You can read about the charges here.

If you don’t already know about the case, LA coroners have said Jackson died of acute intoxication of an anesthetic drug called propofol, which is used in surgery. Dr. Murray has admitted giving the singer propofol on the day he died, according to court documents, but he has also said other doctors gave Jackson numerous drugs. Indeed, the coroner’s report said several drugs, including the sedative Lorazepam, were in Jackson’s system. You can read about the drugs in his system here.

10 Oscar nominees, but who’s counting?

Back in June, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said it would expand its list of best film Oscar contenders to 10 from five, then Academy President Sid Ganis told reporters doing so would “cast our net wider, and it casting that net wider, who knows what will turn up.” (Read about that here). Essentially, what that meant was the Academy wanted more populist fare among its nominees after years of seeing its membership favor low-budget adult dramas over box office hits like Batman movie, “The Dark Knight.”

Why is that important? The Academy knows that nominating popular movies helps boost the audience size for the Oscar telecast. Last year, when “Slumdog Millionaire” was on a roll at box offices ($141 million), more than 38 million people tuned in to the Oscars compared with 32 million the previous year when gritty drama “No Country For Old Men” ($74 million) won best film. 

Luckily for the Academy, this year it has a box office smash and a critical hit on its hands in “Avatar” — the highest grossing movie of all time. But the film that pundits say is right behind is low-budget, art house flick “The Hurt Locker.” And heading into Tuesday’s Oscar nominations (read about them here), if you asked Oscar pundits who the top five films would have been, the would have said: “Inglourious Basterds,” “Up in the Air” and ”Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” The fifth slot may have been a toss-up. Then again, it generally always is.

The point is, all five of those films were nominated, and likely only the two — “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” — stand a chance at winning, pundits say. So, having 10 nominees may not have changed a thing. But that is what insiders think. You are the fans. What do you think? Did the 10 matter, and does it make for a more exciting show? Put another way, is having “District 9″ among the nominees, for instance, really going to change the thinking among the 6,000 or so Academy members? Maybe not. But how about “The Blind Side”? And do movies like those make you  any more, or less, willing to tune in to the show on March 7?

Sundance rebels?

If you’ve been reading our coverage of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival (and we certainly hope so, otherwise our boss won’t pay for a return trip in 2011), you know by now that this year event organizers were promoting a return to a rebelliousness among independent filmmakers — those people making movies outside Hollywood’s major studios. The words “rebel,” “rework,” “rebirth,” and others figure prominently on Sundance posters, t-shirts, film trailers and the like. If you haven’t been reading about it, click here and here.

So the natural question all week has been, “do this year’s films exemplify a renewed indie spirit?” The answer depends on how you look at it. In the opening day press conference, even Sundance founder Robert Redford and festival director John Cooper seemed to disagree with Redford calling it a festival of rebirth for that independent spirit and Cooper thinking it was more a renewal of Sundance’s pledge to promote fresh, new voices in cinema. Rebirth or renewal? … TomAIto or TomAUto.

Here’s what we think. Sundance is first and foremost about films and filmmaking, say it’s organizers. So, what about the movies? Many are about the same, and a few will always be different — as different as the people who made them and how audiences perceive them. We ask: how was “Buried,” about a Iraq war contractor buried alive, any different from 2003’s “Open Water,” about a pair of scuba divers stranded in the middle of the ocean when their tourist boat leaves them? Both take us on horrific journeys that lead to personal introspection, but “Buried” also preys upon our feelings about the years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. So that’s a little different, yes. Movie watching is subjective and, as Joseph Gordon-Levitt (you can call him Joe) told us, a new movie is often about taking an old idea and “putting your own, unique spin on it.” Read our Q&A with Joe here.

A Sundance filmmaker tell-all?!

The Sundance Film Festival is nothing if not about discovering new filmmakers and fresh voices in the world of cinema. Most of these writer/directors, of course, want their movies to make some sort of impact on audiences, but what impact does Sundance have on them beyond just selling their films into distribution or starting a career? We talked to some of them at a filmmaker meet-and-greet on Wednesday. Click on the video to see what they had to say.

“A Small Act” brings big gift at Sundance

It is not unheard of, but certainly is uncommon. After film documentary “A Small Act,” which tells of the plight of kids struggling just to get an education in Kenya, debuted here at the Sundance Film Festival this week it became a cause celebre — not for starpower, rather for charitable giving to send kids to school.

To here director Jennifer Arnold tell it, after the second screening a woman stood up in the audience and offered a $5,000 donation to help the kids. She challenged the audience to give, too, and her $5,000 was quickly matched by another check for $5,000. Midway through the festival, the amount raised and pledged had grown to $80,000. That’s a lot of schooling. According to the documentary, in Kenya secondary school can cost less than $10 a week.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen,” Arnold told Reuters. She said she knows that sounds cliche, but it’s true. Arnold said she had heard from one other documentary director who, in the past, had a similar experience but with all that’s happening in Haiti, she reckoned any donations might be slow in coming, if at all. Little did she expect people would be giving her cash out of their pockets. “We never set out with (raising money) as a mission,” she said.  “It’s really overwhelming…to know some of these kids will go through school is the best thing that could happen.” (That’s Arnold at left in a picture by Kristen Schaffer/HBO.)

The documentary, which Arnold said is expected to air in the United States on cable TV channel HBO this summer, tells how Chris Mburu, a top student in rural Kenya, had little hope of an education until a  Swedish pre-school teacher, Hilde Back, decided to sponsor him. He went on to Harvard Law School and then became a United Nations human rights advocate who has dedicated his life to battling genocide. Little did he know that Back’s parents were Holocaust victims. In the documentary, the two get together in Kenya where Mburu has started a scholarship fund in Back’s name to help other kids get through school. Back learns that her “small act” has blossomed into educations for many kids. Arnold captures it on her cameras, and you can learn more at www.asmallact.com .

Joan Jett, “The Runaways” rock Sundance

So, maybe you thought the Sundance Film Festival was just about movies? Think again.

A big part of a successful movie is a good score, hit song or great soundtrack. Any director or producer will tell you music can make or break a film, and each year the festival promotes music seminars to help filmmakers learn the ins-and-outs of creating or picking good tunes. Also, the festival will screen a few films dealing with musicians, bands or the recording industry, and this year is no exception.

“The Runaways,” which tells the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll story of the all-girl 1970s-era band of the same name led by Joan Jett, brought youthful energy and starpower to  Sundance 2010’s opening weekend. You can read about the movie here. Stars Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart were in town for the movie’s premiere.  Fanning portrays Cherie Currie, whose career as the Runaways lead singer flamed-out as a teenager due to alcohol and drug use, and Stewart is Joan Jett. Jett, with her band The Blackhearts, continues to rock into her 50s and while the movie does not open until March, she was at Sundance playing a Saturday night gig at Harry O’s. We were there and put together the brief video clip above.

Sundance surprises: Banksy and Bill @ Bing

Every year at the Sundance film festival — and journalists can pretty much count on it — during the opening weekend an unexpected celebrity will show up in town and captivate the media’s attention. Whoever that is or (whatever he or she has done) becomes a “must-have” story. This year, the title was shared by British grafitti artist Banksy — who evidently turned up, although characteristically no one has seen him — and businessman Bill Gates.

On Thursday, the word on the snowy streets of Park City was that Banksy had tagged several buildings with his art. And in fact he — or someone — did. That’s a picture at left.

Why was he here?  A film dealing with his stealthy artistry, “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” screens on Sunday night and a little advance publicity goes a long way. That certainly has been true and to be sure, on Sunday night reporters will turn out en masse for the movie.

But we have to hand it to Bill Gates. When he showed up on Friday, he did so with a cause beyond just movies and he did show his face (we might add that he was looking pretty relaxed, laughing and joking and seeming pleased to be at Sundance. He said he’d always wanted to come). Yes, he was here promoting a film, too — “Waiting for Superman” the new Davis Guggenheim documentary about education — and you had to get him at the Bing Supper Club, obviously affiliated with Microsoft. Can’t blame him. He’s a businessman.

Conan O’Brien fans all wet? On Monday, they were.

(video and reporting by Marc Price)

When push comes to shove — as in Conan O’Brien out NBC’s backstage door — it may not make a difference, but on Monday Conan O’brien’s fans rallied to his support in the rain outside NBC Universal Studios in Los Angeles. We went out to see what they had to say in support of their favorite late-night talk show host. They got wet, no doubt, but they weren’t “all wet,” as you will see. Click the video to watch.

And just for the record, as of Tuesday morning, there still was no public announcement of a deal between NBC and Conan to change “The Tonight Show” hosting duties  back to Jay Leno — not yet. We’re all still waiting.

Jay Leno tells his side of Conan O’Brien, NBC saga

So much has been made in the media about the jokes flying around on late-night television dealing with NBC’s handling of its situation with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. But Monday night — with industry watchers were STILL waiting to see how things would end up — Leno extended  a bit of an olive branch to Conan. In comments he made at the taping of his Monday show, Leno says: “…through all of this, Conan O’Brien has been a gentleman. He’s a good guy. I have no animosity towards him…”

Leno adds that he thinks he will be returning to host “The Tonight Show” at 11:30, but says “I’m not sure.” So, as they say in TV, “stay tuned.” In the meantime, you can read his comments below. In them, he lays out his side of exactly how the whole business of moving him to and (perhaps now) from late-night TV took place at NBC. The comments were released in a statement by “The Jay Leno Show”.

LENO SHOW COMMENTS

Jay speaking: “I thought maybe I should address this.  At least give you my view of what has been going on here at NBC.  Oh, let’s start in 2004.  2004 I’m sitting in my office, an NBC executive comes in and says to me, listen, Conan O’Brien has gotten offers from other networks.  We don’t want him to go, so we’re going to give him ‘The Tonight Show.’  I said, ‘well, I’ve been number one for 12 years.’  They said, ‘we know that, but we don’t think you can sustain that.’  I said, ‘okay.  How about until I fall to number two, then you fire me?’  ‘No, we made this decision.’  I said, ‘that’s fine.’  Don’t blame Conan O’Brien.  Nice guy, good family guy, great guy.  He and I have talked and not a problem since then.  That’s what managers and people do, they try to get something for their clients. I said, ‘I’ll retire just to avoid what happened the last time.’  Okay.