'The Help' Reviews: Strong As (Emma) Stone

FROM MTV MOVIES: "It feels kind of scary saying this because that means it's only downhill, but it's been the best year of my life," Emma Stone told MTV News late last year as we honored her as the actress we were most thankful for in 2010. The past eight months, however, have hardly been downhill, and Stone might soon have to rework her conception of a superlative year. The year 2011 has seen Stone, among other things, nominated for her first Golden Globe, film her lead role in "The Amazing Spider-Man" and win advance plaudits for a dramatic, yet at times comedic, turn in "The Help," which hit theaters Wednesday (August 10). In a summer filled with wizards and robots and all manner of nasty alien invaders, some critics are pointing to "The Help" as perhaps the finest drama of the season, highlighting not only Stone's performance, but that of Viola Davis, who could well be part of the upcoming awards-season hubbub. Other reviewers, though, haven't been as kind, citing a jumbled story structure and an overall maudlin tone that distracts from the weighty themes of the film. Read on for those critiques and more: The Story "What the film lacks is a strong point of view. The story is all over the place on that front, bouncing from one perspective to another. ... Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) has just graduated from college in Mississippi in the 1960s and returned home. The town is divided, Black and White, and nowhere is this more evident than in Skeeter's social circle, young women married as soon as possible, raising children or, more accurately, having their children raised by the Black women who work for them. ... Skeeter wants to be a serious writer, and a New York editor (Mary Steenburgen) needs something to judge her on. So Skeeter, having gotten a job at the local newspaper writing a housecleaning column, asks Clark for help with tips. But what she really wants is to know how the 'help' is treated, about the world from their perspective, for a book." Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic Read the full story at MTV Movies!

HFPA lunch toasts $1.6 mil in grants or loans

Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio attend the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. lunch Thursday in the Beverly Hillsides Hotel. The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. put together Leonardo DiCaprio, Gerard Butler, Jum Michele and sundry other stars Thursday mid-day to fete the org's charitable efforts, which this season totaled an archive $1,579,500 in grants or loans to film schools, nonprofit orgs along with other entertainment-related non profit organizations. A lean, shaggy-headed Butler was initially to accept stage in the Beverly Hillsides Hotel, giving method to a succession of Hollywood talent who recognized or presented inspections with respect to orgs such as the Film Foundation, Film Independent, Sundance Institute, LACMA, MoMA and many colleges, fundamentals and scholarship grant programs. Butler, available to provide a grant to the skill of Elysium, introduced recently chosen HFPA prexy Aida Takla O'Reilly, who been successful Philip Berk in June. "After present day festivities," O'Reilly stated, "we are able to happily say our company has contributed a lot more than $13.5 million in the last 17 years through our grants or loans program." Gold coin originates from the HFPA's Golden Globes show, which airs on NBC. Carrying out a shoulder-to-shoulder champagne cocktail reception, Kevin Sausage, Mark Wahlberg, Jessica Chastain yet others made an appearance in rapid succession, concluding the quickly paced enter in an hour's time. DiCaprio, showing a $350,000 grant towards the Film Foundation because of its upkeep efforts, ribbed Wahlberg because he produced happens, calling him "Marky Mark." Wahlberg was quick to retort. "I am sitting alongside a man there, Leo, who's better searching than you and also in better shape than me," Wahlberg stated, pointing to "Twilight" hunk Rachelle Lefervre. "We are screwed, guy. 'Titanic' and 'Boogie Nights' were a very long time ago." Overall, 46 film schools and non-profits received grants or loans varying from $5,000 (the Pablove Foundation, a photograph work for sick children) to $350,000 (the Film Foundation). Donations also incorporated relief to profit sufferers of disasters all over the world. "Over $250,000 was contributed to individuals impacted by the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes and also the Japanese tsunami," O'Reilly stated. Event also celebrated the election from the HFPA's 2011-12 officials, created by O'Reilly, who quickly rattled and shook off their names because they was up using their plates of filet Mignon, Chilean seabass and gnocchi for any quick wave. They incorporated: Jorge Camara (Vice president), Ali Sar (treasurer), Serge Rakhlin (executive secretary). The board of company directors people include Berk (chairman), Yoram Kahana, Yukiko Nakajima, Ruben Nepales, Meher Tatna and Theo Kingma (alternate). Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Josh Goldstine Named Universal President of Marketing

Longtime marketing exec Josh Goldstine is now officially on board as Universal's president of marketing, the studio announced today. Goldstine's move was long rumored, with the exec taking the place of Eddie Egan, who segued to the position of president of marketing of Illumination Entertainment. Goldstine will report to Universal's chairman Adam Fogelson, and according to the studio, will "oversee and orchestrate all aspects of Universal's domestic feature film marketing activities including creative advertising, media, publicity, promotion, digital marketing, home entertainment marketing and administration." He will also work with co-president of marketing Michael Moses. "Josh has repeatedly and consistently proven himself a top advertising and marketing executive, and we are fully confident his leadership will continue to build upon this division's recent successes with Hop, Fast Five and Bridesmaids," said Fogelson and Universal co-chairman Donna Langley in a joint statement. Stated Goldstine: "With the evolving nature of the industry and the challenges we face as marketers, I look forward to leading this group as we take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead. Together, we will capitalize on advances in technology and the changing media landscape to enhance the way we communicate about and promote films." Goldstine spent two decades at Sony Pictures where he most recently worked on the marketing campaigns of The Social Network, Battle: Los Angeles and the Spider-Man movies. He also worked on eight movies with Will Smith and the Smith-produced remake of the Karate Kid. He began his career as an executive assistant to the president of marketing of Columbia Pictures in 1991. Related Topics Universal Pictures

Prime Suspect Reboot Finds Its Footing, Pulls Back on Sexism

Maria Bello, Prime Suspect It's difficult to assume that the female TV detective this year would face sexism - Mariska Hargitay's Det. Benson appears to do all right on SVU - but NBC's reboot from the BBC's Prime Suspect will still show Maria Bello's Det. Jane Timoney a little harsh critique from her male peers. NBC boss: SVU's Hargitay will stay in "every episode," Voice returns publish-Super Bowl The initial series, which went occasionally between 1991 and 2006, starred Oscar champion Helen Mirren like a female detective thriving on the planet of male cops in England. Producers the sexism will not appear as strongly within the reboot. "Clearly it's 2011," executive producer Alexandra Cunningham stated at NBC's fall TV previews on Monday. "There is no institutionalized sexism. There's human assets for women who live option at the office when unexpected things happen, however when you make individuals options, you need to do become the one who made individuals options. So Maria's character is someone who's just likely to buckle lower and do her job and ignore individuals type of things. "A few of the figures will respond to her inside a typically sexist way along with other figures won't like her due to the individual she's, because she's rude and uncompromising and ambitious," she ongoing. "So we are likely to explore it for the reason that way and then try to allow it to be more realistic because sexism is much more subtle in today's world.Inch Cunningham stated she desired to create content that audiences could enjoy. "There's a lot great stuff inside that people clearly desire to use as touchstones... but we likewise want fans from the original in order tune into ours and revel in it by itself level," she stated. "And So I wouldn't wish to take something that people would believe they have seen before and would not be surprised at.Inch The Shield's Kenny Manley joins Prime Suspect Bello, who stated she has not seen the initial series inside a couple of years, but appreciated it being dark, added that the moment she browse the script, she understood "it had been this type of different show." The main one similarity she'd desire to be true? "If only my body system appeared as if Helen Mirren's," she joked. Neither Bello nor Mirren's strong cops are always serious, but this new Jane will not always stick to the destructive path as her British predecessor, who battled with alcoholism in later seasons. "We have seen alcoholic cops a great deal... but [it's] not as groundbreaking to complete now, so we are likely to find our very own journey to take with Jane," Cunningham stated. "Every cop I understand who's not positively in AA, the consuming is simply kind of part of everyday existence and wherein they cope, so it will likely be area of the show, but I'm not sure that we'll show Jane climbing down into alcoholism in the same manner.Inch Prime Suspect premieres Thursday, Sept. 22 at 10/9c on NBC.

A&E TV Systems Chief Abbe Raven: Why Customers Crave Original Programming (Q&A)

You'll need to excuseAbbe Raven for gushing.our editor recommendsEmmys: How 'Pawn Stars' Was Created (Q&A) So far this summer time, her portfolio of cable systems includes four from the top 5 fundamental cable shows within the coveted 18 to 49 demographic. Included in this: History's Pawn Stars along with a&E's Storage Wars, which lure 3.a million and a pair of.7 million audiences, correspondingly, within the demo. Both systems rank one of the top ten cable nets one of the more youthful audiences too. As ceo of the&E Television Systems, Raven also runs systems like Bio, History en Espanol and also the Lifetime Movie Network. By having an eye towards ancillary possibilities, she's also centered on their worldwide expansion, DVD sales and social networking extensions. The Hollywood Reporter swept up with Raven, a 1-time school teacher, to go over the development, the difficulties and also the intend to add much more original programming towards the network group. The Hollywood Reporter: Within an era of growing options, your systems keep growing their viewership. What's working? Abbe Raven:Right, and customers tend to be more demanding than ever before. What's happened is we've had the opportunity to place a genuine focus on our original programming. Customers want and crave originality they're not likely to broadcast reruns how they did years back. They want quality and originality, and our systems happen to be in a position to provide that. We don't take one hit and run it 25 occasions per week. We've seen our rivals do this, where they are doing five versions of the identical show. Frankly, we obtain lots of credit from your audiences because we don't do this. THR: You'll need only consider the many Pawn Stars spawns to determine that it is really an industry fueled by copycat fare... Raven: That's right. A part of me says are you able to develop something original, please? The first from the gate is the one which really sets a dark tone and works. We glance whatsoever from the copycats of Pawn Stars --there's twelve or even more-- plus they perform a fraction from the rankings that people do. They don't even compare and i believe that's because audiences be aware of difference. We consider the copycats and say, 'It's a fascinating type of flattery.' We are saying we're not going to achieve that by ourselves air because we now have more pride than might we all know that people could be more creative. THR: While you noted, broadcast reruns are no more the kind of destination viewing they were in the past proper care of growing options, but cable has typically depended on off-internet repeats. How have these altering viewer habits influenced your strategy? Raven: You've hit on something which shows the vulnerability of other network groups, which is they're just a few broadcast reruns. There just aren't a lot of large hits decreasing the pipe and definitely very few which are repeatable. We haven't permitted ourselves to get involved with that position where we become exclusively reliant, even majority reliant, and that's why when comparing the quantity of original programming that people dress in our systems holiday to a network group we're far ahead. And So I'd say you will find there's completely different philosophy about repeats and i believe we've situated ourselves for future years in way others haven't. THR: [Background and Lifetime gm] Nancy Dubuc has spoken openly concerning the challenges that off-internet series like Gray's Anatomy have triggered at Lifetime... Raven: Correct. Now, that's not saying that occasionally good off internet will help you...About ten years ago, A&E network was heavily just a few Law & Order [reruns]. It had been really at about the time which i was there to consider on the&E also it would be a very obvious illustration of putting yourself inside a vulnerable position because we lost the series and didn't have sufficient original programming to pay. We vowed then that people would not allow ourselves to become for the reason that position again. It's not saying that you simply couldn't take one quite strong franchise and employ it. We bought The Sopranos at that time also it would be a great starting pad for original programming. However it was one series not getting a selection of off internet programming.By creating original programming we've had the opportunity to produce our systems all over the world this will let you large library that people're able to utilize in many different media. THR: Lifetime is certainly going via a reinvention of sorts under Nancy.Provide us with a standing report. Raven: I'd give kudos towards the Lifetime team for really escaping . there and developing new programming. We've greenlit about 175 new hrs in an exceedingly short time. However I'm a large believer in steady but very slow wins the race, and that we're likely to still unveil our triple threat strategy or drama, movies and reality series.I'm very bullish. THR: What's the greatest challenge facing you at this time? That factor that keeps you up during the night like a cable executive? Raven: It's where may be the media world going? How are consumer actions likely to change within the next couple of years? Individuals are still likely to Best To Buy to purchase large screen televisions, so there's hope. However with the proliferation of other products, how can we make certain our customers understand what our brands are? It's really about wrestling using the future. THR: Whenever you consider the growing cadre of streaming shops, like Netflix, could they be friend or foe? Raven: We glance whatsoever of individuals automobiles which are supplemental to the business and then try to work out how it might allow us to -- how can we understand this being an chance to carry on to advertise what we should do. THR: So that they're not really a threat? Raven: I believe we approach this stuff being an chance, and then try to get the most from them. But that's challenging, there's no questions regarding it. And every one of us as developers are searching only at that. THR: Moving forward, where would be the major possibilities for growth? Raven: We're always searching for what's next. It's always nearby and you simply don't understand what it's likely to be, and that i discover that exhilarating -- that something jumps within the culture that resonates the way in which Pawn Stars has resonated for History audiences, or Storage Wars for any&E audiences, or Returning Home for Lifetime audiences. The way in which we operate here's that people give our creative team lots of latitude. You will find there's large amount of stability within our management and what that enables individuals to do would be to be creative. On the practical point, it will likewise actually cover growing the Lifetime brand all over the world. We now have 10 systems. There's Crime & Analysis, History Worldwide, Bio, Lifetime Movie Network, History en Espanol -our brands are extremely strong. I believe one thing that people're searching at and dealing very difficult at is actually pushing not just customers but additionally our partners to identify the need for individuals other systems. They perform perfectly -- we're not only a three trick pony. The efforts for that development of we is our purchase of marketing and original programming in individuals systems too. THR: Therefore we'll begin to see more original programming on these systems? Raven:Yes, and that i guarantee you will notice individuals systems take center stage within the next year. Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com Twitter: @LaceyVRose Related Subjects Abbe Raven A&E Pawn Stars