Keira Knightley courtesy Focus Features
Jeers to the Oscar voters for rewarding Atonement with a knee-jerk best-picture nomination. I took a holiday from TV so I could see it and be prepared for its onslaught of accolades. But I wasn't prepared for what an overwrought piece of kitsch this movie is. Keira Knightley does most of her acting with her shoulderblades, and James McAvoy is a nonentity. And I'm sorry, but did I miss the scene that explains why these two love each other so desperately — or at all? If Joe Wright's odd, silly Titanic wannabe beats Paul Thomas Anderson's genuine masterpiece on Oscar night, there will be blood!• Read and react to Bruce's opinions on Breaking Bad, Cashmere Mafia's Bonnie Somerville and more!• Share your own raves and rants about other shows on the Reader Cheers & Jeers discussion board.• We may feature your Cheer or Jeer on TVGuide.com or in TV Guide magazine!
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Saturday Night Live funnywoman Maya Rudolph isn't laughing at the move-in condition of her Soho condo, and has filed a $450,000 lawsuit claiming that the premises are "infested with bedbugs." Rudolph, who shares the $13,500-a-month loft with director-beau Paul Thomas Anderson and their year-old child, says it was touted as "perfect" and in a "first-class luxury" building, but in actuality bore bedbugs, as well as a nonworking elevator. The property's broker has no comment on the suit, but I think we just got a new SNL sketch.
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The current box-office champ, Hoodwinked, is already being groomed for a sequel, Variety reports. Hood vs. Evil, will find a teenage Red Riding Hood investigating the disappearance of Hansel and Gretel.... 24's Kim Raver has been cast as the ex-wife of Ben Stiller's bumbling security guard in the comedy Night at the Museum.... Virginia Madsen has replaced the newly pregnant Elisabeth Shue as Jim Carrey's wife in the psychological thriller The Number 23, which starts shooting Monday.... Daniel Day-Lewis will play a Texas oil prospector in Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling period piece There Will Be Blood.
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Question: I'm just curious about why Paul Thomas Anderson's production company is named Ghoulardi Films. Was he a big fan of Channel 8's Shock Theater when he was a kid?
Answer: Here's a hint: Hipster Cleveland-area TV horror host Ghoulardi's real name was Ernie Anderson. Yes, Paul Thomas Anderson is his son. The director actually grew up in California; his father moved from Cleveland in 1966 to pursue work as a voice actor and became an extremely successful TV announcer. For younger readers who think the history of horror hosts begins with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Ghoulardi was only one in a long line of oddball characters who introduced TV showings of old horror movies. They're all descended from "Vampira," a wasp-wai
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Question: How can people in the movie business have the same name? Like there's a director called Morgan Freeman as well as an actor; isn't there some kind of rule that one of them has to change his name?
Answer: Two actors who are members of the Screen Actors Guild cannot use the same professional name. That's why you have one actress named Vanessa Williams and another named Vanessa L. Williams though, confusingly, both the Vanessas were in Soul Food: Vanessa L. was in the 1997 movie and just-plain-Vanessa was in the cable series. Fortunately, they didn't play the same character. I put in a call to the Directors Guild of America, and they have a similar rule: As long as a DGA member is active (which does
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