The News: All-Positive Friday!

By S.T. VanAirsdale

As per tradition, some of today's (really hard-to-find) more upbeat movie news of note from around New York:

--Lynn Hirschberg's summary of the year in breakthrough performances isn't much of a breakthrough itself (Hal Holbrook? Really?), but it's worth a read for the candidly nifty observational tandem of Josh Brolin ("Before No Country, my most famous role was in The Goonies") and Jack Nicholson: "I knew it at the first showing of Easy Rider at the Cannes Film Festival by how the audience reacted to the movie. A lot of people would say, 'I know I'm a movie star, but, oh, I wonder what’s going to happen.' ... I knew it then: I was a movie star. And it was great."

--Also worth viewing in the same package: Jake Paltrow's Breakthroughs video, a vast ripoff of Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, but in color and with the stars talking. Skip ahead to Amy Ryan, Paul Dano and Marion Cotillard if you're feeling short on time.

--Speaking of pop-art derivatives, the winner of the Best Improvement on a Title Ripped Off From a Lost Andy Warhol/Jack Palance Movie (Sequel Division) goes to: Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' With the Godmother. Seriously.

--Slant Magazine critic Ed Gonzales hated The Hottie and the Nottie. But, you know, in a good way.

--Via L Magazine editor Edith Zimmerman, I give you my favorite film of the week. (Check out EZ's expert analysis and commentary at her fantastic personal blog.)

Posted at February 8, 2008 12:14 PM