Rabbit Hole

The performance of the week turns out to be in Rabbit Hole, a gruelling, wordy drama about a couple (Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman) ­suffering after the accidental death of their four-year-old son.

Sensitively directed by John Cameron Mitchell, it looks like an opened-out stage play, and it is. Although it’s sad, it avoids ­miserabilism, because it is leavened by touches of humour and a refusal to wallow. The reason to see it is Kidman. She’s wonderfully transparent, subtle and honest. This is an astonishing performance, rightly Oscar-nominated.

But though the play won a Pulitzer prize, the film will ­struggle to find an audience.

Harry Potter franchise to get outstanding Bafta award

The Harry Potter films will receive an outstanding British contribution to cinema prize at this year's Bafta awards, organisers have announced.

Potter author JK Rowling and producer David Heyman will receive the award on behalf of the franchise.

The films have "highlighted the expertise within the British craft and technical industries", Bafta said

The 2011 Bafta Film Awards will be held at London's Royal Opera House on 13 February.

Starting in 2001 with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the seven films released so far have made more than $5.4 billion worldwide.

An eighth and final instalment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, will be released in July.

Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, 21, said he had "loved every minute of making these films".

"To me the real heroes are the crew and the huge team of craftsmen that have made all eight of them possible," he went on.

"This award is a testament to their incredible work."

Radcliffe's sentiments were echoed by co-star Emma Watson, who said it was "a huge honour".

"Thank you so much Bafta for this amazing award," added Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley opposite Radcliffe's Harry and Watson's Hermione Granger.

To date, the Potter movies have received seven Oscar nominations and 28 Bafta nominations.

'Cogan's Trade' could be great with or without Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt will star for director Andrew Dominik in a film version of George V. Higgins' super novel, "Cogan's Trade." That's got to be good news of some kind for Higgins fans. During my first professional job in journalism, at Boston magazine, I had the pleasure to interview and once or twice edit Higgins, the lawyer turned fiction-writer whose debut book, "The Friends of Eddie Coyle," is a perfect novel about imperfect crimes. Like Hammett in his day, Higgins (who died in 1999) brought American writing closer to crime as Americans actually lived it in the streets -- meaning, in Higgins' case, the saloons, dives and alleyways of Boston. He also transformed the art of hardboiled storytelling, developing plot and character almost entirely through dialogue. Higgins fans would go around for weeks repeating lines like, "This life's hard...but it's harder if you're stupid."

"Cogan's Trade" (which I reviewed for the Boston Phoenix in 1974) is Higgins at his pinnacle. It's the taut, mordant tale of an enforcer bent on restoring gangland equilibrium after the stick-up of a high-stakes card game that was supposed to be shielded by the Mob. A movie version would at least bring the book back into print. And Pitt has shown the acting chops to play a member of Higgins' Beantown rogue's gallery. My fear is that director Andrew Dominik will art it up and ruin it the way he did Ron Hansen's "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." (That's Pitt as James, above). But even a failed film of "Cogan's Trade" could be worthwhile if it sparks a Higgins print revival.

Michelle Williams to play Marilyn Monroe in movie

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michelle Williams will play Marilyn Monroe in a new movie based around the iconic actress's 1956 film shoot in London opposite Sir Laurence Olivier, producers said on Friday.

Williams, 30, who earned an Oscar nomination for her 2005 role in "Brokeback Mountain" and also appeared in "Shutter Island", stars as Monroe alongside a British cast that sees Kenneth Branagh as Olivier, Julia Ormond playing actress Vivien Leigh and Judi Dench in the role of British screen veteran Dame Sybil Thorndike.

"My Week with Marilyn" chronicles a week in the life of Monroe as she escapes her Hollywood routine and is introduced to the pleasures of 1950s Britain by an assistant on the set of "The Prince and the Showgirl".

British actor Derek Jacobi, and young stars Dominic Cooper and Emma Watson of "Harry Potter" fame, will also appear, with Simon Curtis directing.

Work on the co-production between BBC Films, Trademark Films and the Weinstein Company has already started at Britain's Pinewood Studios, producers said.

The movie is the second planned film treatment of Monroe -- still one of the world's best-known sex symbols more than 40 years after her death.

Australian Naomi Watts is due to play Monroe in the Hollywood movie "Blonde" based on U.S. writer Joyce Carol Oates' 2000 fictional biography of the star. "Blonde" is expected to start shooting in early 2012.

Craven conjures dull, generic horror in "Soul"

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – Understandably not screened for critics before its Friday release, "My Soul to Take" represents a particular disappointment because it represents the first writing-directing effort from Wes Craven since his fiendishly clever "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" in 1994.

Unfortunately, the director of "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Scream" and other horror classics comes a cropper with this dull, talk-heavy snoozer that most closely resembles something that would show up on the CW network. Even more egregious is the converted 3D presentation of the Universal release, forcing moviegoers to cough up extra bucks for effects that are barely noticeable -- other than, of course, the inevitable increased dimness.

After a fairly slam-bang opening sequence introducing serial killer the Riverton Ripper, who is promptly dispatched (seemingly) after attempting to murder his family, the film fast-forwards 16 years. We are then introduced to the Riverton Seven, a septet of local teens who were born on the day the Ripper died, with one of them possibly harboring his murderous soul. Their number soon dwindles as each proceeds to suffer a gruesome death at the hands of a faceless killer, with the most obvious suspect being Bug (Max Thieriot), a rather disturbed youth who has a strange obsession with the vulturelike California condors.

Unfortunately, neither the Riverton Ripper nor his faceless successor is likely to compete with Freddy Krueger in iconic horror-movie villain terms, and the overall proceedings lack the wit and style that marked the best of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Scream" series.

Craven's trademark satirical humor sadly is in little evidence here, though he does try at times, most notably in an absurd sequence that riffs off the classic mirror routine performed by the Marx Brothers in "Duck Soup." The film becomes particularly leaden as it lurches endlessly toward its conclusion, with the action, such as it is, giving way to endlessly confusing exposition that had the audience stirring restlessly.

The generic teen characters are dully played by the youthful ensemble, though the wild-eyed Thieriot does try his best to create a memorably weird figure.

At one point in the film, Craven makes a classic mistake, showing a clip of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." It only serves to remind us that our money would have been better spent renting horror classics on DVD.

Harry Potter can't make 3-D magic

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Warner Bros on Friday said it abandoned plans to convert the next Harry Potter movie to 3-D, bringing mixed reactions from box office watchers and fans of the multibillion-dollar blockbuster franchise.

The Hollywood studio said it was unable to produce a 3-D version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I" in time for its release on November 19.

The movie will be presented only in conventional 2-D and in Imax theaters, but the second installment, due to be released in July 2011, is still set to be released in 2-D and 3-D.

"Despite everyone's best efforts, we were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality," Warner Bros. said in a statement.

The six previously released Harry Potter movies, based on the best-selling novels by author J.K. Rowling, have raked in an estimated $5.4 billion at the worldwide box office.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", released in 2-D in 2009, earned $933 million worldwide at the box office. "Deathly Hallows; Part 1" is expected to do about the same figure, Hollywood sources said.

IMAX Corp declined to comment on Friday's statement regarding "Deathly Hallows: Part I" -- which covers about half of the final book in Rowling's series.

The news was greeted with a mixture of shrugs and dismay by Harry Potter fans, but most said on websites they would go to see "Deathly Hallows" anyway.

Some industry sources said the movie might take a hit in terms of box offices receipts, given the $2 to $3 dollar markup in prices for 3-D screenings, but others weren't so sure.

The DreamWorks Animation 3-D movie "How to Train Your Dragon," for example, saw 68 percent of its opening weekend ticket sales in March come from 3-D and Imax screenings.

Brandon Gray, president of Boxofficemojo.com, said the financial impact was hard to predict.

"People are going to 'Harry Potter' primarily for the story. It is one of the few sure things this holiday season,' Gray said. "3-D is over-rated and might be cooling. It is not the end of the world for Warner Bros," he added.

Paul Dergarabedian of box office trackers Hollywood.com said the shortfall from higher 3-D ticket prices could be offset by fans going more than once.

"Whatever is lost from the 3-D ticket bonus might be made up in repeat business. And families will appreciate the lower prices," Dergarabedian said.

"3-D isn't that big of a deal anyway. ALL I CARE ABOUT IS HARRY POTTER. The awesomeness of the movie trumps all obstacles," wrote Joshua.A on Harry Potter fan site mugglenet.com.

Other fans said they would rather see the movie next month than wait even longer for a 3-D conversion. But there was also huge disappointment in some quarters. "This sucks big time!!!!," wrote Carrie-Ann Brooks.

Warner Bros. is owned by Time Warner Inc..

Katherine Heigl's Movie Life As We Know It

Boy meets girl. Boy and girl don't like each other. Boy and girl are forced to raise a child together. What will happen next? That's the premise of the new movie Life As We Know It (in theaters Oct. 8), starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. After their mutal best friend dies, Holly (Heigl) and Eric (Duhamel) -- who previously went on one really terrible first date -- must put their differences aside, move in together and raise their goddaughter Sophie.

Heigl seems to be a natural fit for this movie. She's proven her comedy chops before (did you see the orgasm scene in The Ugly Truth!?) and she can make you cry at the drop of the hat (remember the Denny Duquette death scene in Grey's Anatomy?). And as for Josh Duhamel, well he's extremely easy on the eyes, and, if you saw Ramona & Beezus, you know he has the perfect charisma around kids.