Circuit Round-Up, 08/07

* Last week saw a whole slew of new reviews: Crazy Stupid Love, The Guard, Attack the Block, Captain America: The First Avenger, Horrible Bosses, Friends with Benefits, Terri, Hobo with a Shotgun, Winnie the Pooh, Cowboys & Aliens, Of Gods and Men, Illegal, Beastly, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes!

* Joey’s DVD Pick of the Week was a tiny indie starring one of Hollywood’s most recognizable “That Guy” actors.

* Mike Ward chronicled the myriad failures leading up to the release of Cowboys & Aliens in last week’s Box Office Actuals.

* John Foote felt like a kid in a candy store with all the promising films at TIFF this year.

* I speculated on the Oscar possibilities of films like Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Whistleblower.

* Finally, Anna Belickis wondered what happened to one of the most promising actresses of the 90’s for this week’s Women in Cinema.

Circuit Round-Up, 07/17

* Last week saw a ton of new reviews, including Hesher, Submarine, Larry Crowne, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Monte Carlo, Ceremony, Cars 2, Bad Teacher, and of course, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

* Joey’s DVD Pick of the Week was a film from James Wan and Leigh Whannell that’s actually…good?!?

* I previewed the, well, only weekend release that mattered…as well as some other films.

* Finally, Anna Belickis wrote up the “Oscarettes” for the 81st Academy Awards.

Circuit Round-Up, 06/26

* Last week, Mike Ward gave less than enthusiastic reviews of both Green Lantern and Mr. Popper’s Penguins.

* Luckily, Joey Magidson had a DVD Pick of the Week that he could really get behind.

* Anna Belickis spotlights Emma Hamer-whoops, I mean Emma Stone for this week’s Women in Cinema.

* Coinciding with Green Lantern is an Under the Circuit for Peter Sarsgaard, who I still maintain gave one of the most unjustly snubbed performances of the last ten years in Shattered Glass.

* I also previewed the Weekend Openings, and gave a surprisingly accurate prediction for Cars 2.

* Finally, Joey expresses his disagreement with the recent changes to the Academy’s rules regarding Best Picture nominations. Let us know your take on the news!

Circuit Round-Up, 05/19

* Last week, John H. Foote weighed in on The Tree of Life and submitted his Oscar predictions.

* Joey’s DVD Pick of the Week is a, well, terrible movie, but he didn’t have a strong release slate this week at all. On the plus side, we (specifically John) have a quote on the DVD box for True Grit!

* I didn’t fare much better in previewing the new theatrical releases.

* But I suppose I shouldn’t complain; I never gave an amazing performance that was snubbed by the Academy like Maria Bello.

* Okay, okay, no more grouchiness. On the more positive side, Anna Belickis discovers a great actress that she’s unknowingly been a fan of for a long time for this week’s Women in Cinema.

* Also on a very positive note, our online community did a great job distinguishing themselves with some interesting and quality nominees for ACCA 2001. Well done, guys!

* Finally, The Awards Circuit extends its congratulations to Clayton Davis for celebrating his first Father’s Day as a proud parent himself!

Circuit Round-Up, 06/12

* Last week, Joey Magidson loved Beginners, was intrigued by Kaboom, shrugged at Priest and despised Passion Play. Mike Ward very much enjoyed X-Men: First Class, and both of them recommended Super 8.

* Joey admitted his cinematic “blind spots.” What films are seemingly forever in your “To Watch” pile?

* Joey’s DVD Pick of the Week was not what most would expect.

* “The Oscarettes” make a triumphant return to Anna Belickis’ Women in Cinema, this time evaluating the victories of Sandra Bullock and Mo’Nique as well as their competition.

* The relatively modest slate of weekend releases was also previewed by yours truly.

Circuit Round-Up, 06/05

* Last week, Joey Magidson published his long-awaited (and very conflicted) thoughts on The Tree of Life, while Mike Ward mostly dismissed The Hangover: Part II.

* Joey also recommended something dumb but fun for his DVD Picks of the Week.

* The awards season has barely started and John H. Foote already felt comfortable betting the house on Steven Spielberg’s War Horse.

* I gave a controversial warning in response to the rapturously-received trailer for David Fincher’s upcoming remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

* Anna Belickis concluded her long-running series on “Dancing with the Stars,” with her predicted winner Hines Ward taking the Mirrorball.

* Anna also paid tribute to Dakota Fanning for Women in Cinema, almost a full decade after her first major film role in I Am Sam.

* Speaking of tributes, I celebrated the recent success and acclaim of actor Michael Fassbender.

* Finally, the weekend openings were previewed. As always, we love to hear what you saw and what you thought of it.

A USC study confirms that film is a male dominated industry...

...which isn't surprising, but definitely is still discouraging in this day and age. The full study can be found here, but this is a tidbit:

This study examined the gender of all speaking characters and behind-­‐the-­‐scenes employees on the 100 top-­‐grossing fictional films in 2008. A total of 4,370 speaking characters were evaluated and 1,227 above-­‐the-­‐line personnel. In addition to prevalence, we assessed the hypersexualization of on screen characters across the 100 movies.

32.8 percent of speaking characters were female. Put differently, a ratio of roughly 2 males to every one female was observed across the 100 top-­‐grossing films. Though still grossly imbalanced given that females represent over half of the U.S. population, this is the highest percentage of females in film we have witnessed across multiple studies.

The presence of women working behind-­‐the-­‐camera is still abysmal. Only, 8% of directors, 13.6% of writers, and 19.1% of producers are female. This calculates to a ratio of 4.90 males to every one female. Films with female directors, writers, and producers were associated with a higher number of girls and women on screen than were films with only males in these gate-­‐keeping positions. To illustrate, the percentage of female characters jumps 14.3% when one or more female screenwriters were involved in penning the script.

-Joey's Two Cents: I know it's quality over quantity, but a bit more equality certainly wouldn't hurt...thoughts?

Circuit Round-Up, 04/10

* Last week, Joey Magidson gave positive reviews of Source Code, Insidious, Super and Cedar Rapids. Michael Ward’s review of Hop is…not so kind.

* Joey’s DVD Pick of the Week is a tribute to Jim Carrey’s work in I Love You Phillip Morris.

* Anna Belickis honors her first actress highlighted for Women in Cinema…and she’s one of the best working today.

* Anna also reminds us of how great Tobey Maguire can be for Under the Circuit.

* Anna gives a recap of the third week of Dancing with the Stars.

* I take a look at the new releases for the weekend. What did you end up seeing?

* Finally, on a more serious note, staff writer John Foote gives us an update on his wife’s condition. Please keep both of them in your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time…

Circuit Round-Up, 04/03

* Last week Mike, Anna and Joey shared a slew of reviews for last week's new releases.

* Anna Belickis spotlights the career of Nancy Meyers in her “Women in Cinema” series.

* Joey's DVD Pick of the Week is an Oscar-winning favorite of the senior staff writer's from last year.

* Joey Magidson inspires some interesting debate with his choice for “Under the Circuit.”

* Anna also gives us an update on the second week of Dancing with the Stars. You know you love it!

* I give my impressions of the first two episodes of the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce…

* …and, for good measure, review the 1945 noir classic for Historical Circuit.

Check out the New, Women in Cinema Series!

Written by our very own Anna Belickis, this weekly column will introduce women and their parts in our wonderful film industry that sometimes get overlooked or simply ignored. This week we focus on Academy Award Winning Director, Kathryn Bigelow! Check it out HERE.