Over Valentine’s Day weekend, Nicholas Sparks briefly owned the box office, scoring a major hit with the big-screen adaptation of his best-seller Dear John. Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum elegantly brought Sparks’ prose to life, causing a sudden spike in tissue sales as even hardened criminals wept at the bittersweet love story.

Now, trying to sustain a winning streak that began with The Notebook, Sparks transfers The Last Song from bookstore to box office, bringing with him Disney ‘tween star Mylie Cyrus.  Sparks has proven that his writing can make the leap.  Hollywood critics wonder whether Cyrus can, too.

In The Last Song, Cyrus plays 17-year-old Ronnie Miller, angry teen, alienated from parents and exiled to her father’s house for the summer.  Of course, in keeping with the Sparks formula, Ronnie is supposed to reconcile with her father as she experiences her first big romance; count the beachside setting as a plus for background and chemistry.  Veteran actor Greg Kinnear plays the father immersed in his art and devoted to his own pain.  Book reviewers praised Sparks for the depth and complexity he brought to his fifteenth book.  Movie reviewers hope that Cyrus can bring the same depth, subtlety, and poignancy to her portrayal of Ronnie and especially to recreation of the intricate relationship between father and teen-age daughter.

Sparks fly off-screen, too.

Rumours had flown around the set and among the cool girls since the film wrapped: Mylie’s on-screen romance had spilled off the screen and into real life, they said.  Speaking with CNN’s Brooke Anderson earlier this week, both Cyrus and co-star Liam Hemsworth admitted that they are seriously in-like.  The little extra buzz cannot hurt the film’s pre-lease publicity, and it certainly adds to The Last Song’s serious teen appeal.  Disney executives are counting on legions of Hannah Montana fans to line-up at the box office, tissues in hand.  And the Disney promotional works are revved-up into high gear in anticipation of the film’s nationwide release March 31.  The trailers clearly show how Cyrus can model the summer fashions and play the girlfriend part par excellence.  The jury is still out on whether or not she really can act.

Few people have heard of El Cajon, and even fewer can pronounce it—L Ka-HONE, which means “the box,” because the city of approximately 100,000 spreads across a large valley directly east of San Diego.  El Cajon does not attract headlines or headliners.  Solidly blue collar and especially hard hit by the New Depression, El Cajon does represent the core audience for both Crazy Hearts, the movie, and “The Weary Kind,” the song for which Bingham and co-writer T-Bone Burnett won Hollywood’s most cherished statuette. 

Borders Books in El Cajon provides an “intimate” setting for Bingham and his music.  In El Cajon, “Intimate” translates to up very-very close and perhaps uncomfortably personal.  Converted to a bookstore after an early shopping-centre life as a grocery store, the El Cajon Borders has hosted local musical groups and a few prominent local authors. No El Cajon Borders performer ever has topped the charts or earned a trophy. The 900-square foot performance space never has accommodated a certified “star.”  Unadvertised, the special appearance nevertheless has the buzz-machine in overdrive, and Borders officials expect a capacity crowd 

Winning the Academy Award, Bingham and Burnett edged some formidable competition: veteran Randy Newman received nominations for songs he debuted in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, and Tony Award-winning composer Maury Yeston, who won the Academy’s recognition for “Take It All,” an original song penned for Marion Cotillard in Nine.  The competition also included “Loin de Paname,” composed by Reinhardt Wagner for little-known Paris 36. 

 Now, with Nine  gathering a great deal of pre-Oscar buzz, Cotillard finally may have come into her own.  Adapted for cinema from a Broadway musical, Nine  stars a stunning collection of the world’s most beautiful and prominent actresses.  But the movie itself has earned only mixed reviews, and it hardly has qualified as a box office smash.  It has generated a whole lot of buzz and not so much bucks.  Still “Take It All,” Cotillard’s signature song in Rob Marshall’s deliciously decadent film, may finally have earned the French actress a measure of the fame she justly deserves.  Cotillard did not garner another nod from the Academy, but her song numbers among the five movie pieces nominated in 2010.  The experts credit Cotillard’s exquisite performance with attracting Hollywood’s proper attention to the piece.

 Cotillard devotees say her rendition of “Take It All” in the pop music video gives privileged glimpses into the actress’s authentic personality.  Despite her considerable musical talent and her stunning recreation of French singer Edith Piaf in her award-winning role, Cotillard admittedly felt more than a little nervous as she recorded Tony Yeston’s brand-new piece.  Sharing film and music credits with Grammy Award winner Fergie put a little extra pressure on Cotillard.

 In the video, which combines clips of rehearsal and the movie with film of the recording session, Cotillard reveals her several facets.  She frequently shows her poignant vulnerability, which beguiled fans in Public Enemies, and she shows her determination as she belts-out the song in bold burlesque style.  Dressed just in jeans and a simple sweater for the recording session, her hair down and loose, she also reveals the breathtaking quality of her natural beauty.

 Hollywood finally has noticed.

The friendly tug-of-war between Baldwin and Martin represents just one among several plots that will unfold on Oscar night.

Considerably more exciting but far more subtle, Oscar’s big night will tell the story of the competition between Avatar director James Cameron and his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow, who directed The Hurt Locker.  Each movie has collected nine Academy Award nominations, and they go head-to-head in the battle for Best Picture.  The two pictures have nothing in common.  For Hollywood wonks, pundits, and bloggers, their radical differences between the films make the battle between them far more interesting.

James Cameron’s Avatar, the biggest Hollywood money-maker of all time, presents its futuristic war story in 3D with vivid computer animation.  Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, which turned a healthy profit because it became a hit produced on a small indie-film budget, tells its Iraq-war story in vivid “cinema verite,” including skilled and strategic use of a handheld camera.  Just as importantly, the battle of the exes pits Cameron, one of Hollywood’s most decorated film-makers, against only the fourth woman ever nominated for Best Director.  If Bigelow wins, she will make history and put a few more major fissures in the glass ceiling, becoming the first woman ever to earn one of the Academy’s most coveted statuettes.

Adding a little piquancy to the drama, a sinister sub-plot unfolds: In a battle with New York cable providers, the Disney company has blocked some of the New York broadcast, driving hard-core movie fans to their computers, where they can watch one of several live Oscar streams.  The dispute between Disney and cable rages over the media giant’s desire to charge a $1 per viewer fee for its feeds.

 Cruz’s sultry, sensuous, and provocative burlesque dance instantly became a modern-film icon, rivaling Marilyn Monroe’s classic up-skirt pose from The Seven-Year Itch.

 The Academy has recognized Cruz’s brilliance with an “Oscar” nomination for Best Supporting Actress.  Most fans, captivated by Cruz’s grace and beauty, cannot tell you the names of the other 2010 nominees.  Cruz won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2009, earning accolades for her performance in Vcky Cristina Barcelona.

 Cruz will appear as a presenter during the 2010 Academy Awards broadcast.

 The high price of stardom

Although the spellbinding dance easily convinces viewers of Cruz’s consummate confidence, the actress has been wonderfully forthcoming about her abject terror as she prepared for her role.  Everything about the role of Carla, the burlesque director’s mistress, took Cruz well out of her comfort zone.  And the filming itself exacted a heavy toll on the actress’s body and psyche.  Aching and bruised after the last take, “I couldn’t stop crying,” Cruz nearly wept to The Daily Mail.

 In subsequent interviews, Cruz has told all about the pain of preparation and performance.

 Appearing last fall on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Cruz openly confessed her fears about singing for the movie: “I was terrified.  I never have sung professionally before.  Sure, I sing at home,” Cruz giggled, “I have a karaoke machine; but I never have sung in public.” 

 Cruz told Oprah that, when she first saw the script’s demands for a song and dance, she almost called the director and told him that he could fire her that instant, because she never would be able to do what he requested.  In the same interview, she went on to explain how she worked with a dance coach and vocal coaches to prepare for the movie.  She rehearsed “hours each day” from late August until they shot her now legendary sequence in November.

Saying more about her preparation for singing, Cruz looked vulnerable as she admitted, “I was even more nervous the day I had to go to Abbey Road to record the song.  It is such a legendary place; the Beatles recorded their albums there.”  Cruz detailed how she locked herself in her room, saving her voice for the first day of recording, “and that day it did not go well,” she said.  “On the second day, when I was a little more relaxed, that was the take that they used for the movie.”

 Upstart Lady Antebellum led the list of the Academy’s nominations with a total of seven, including nods for “Best Vocal Group” and “Album of the Year.”

 In November, 2009, the group picked-up two Country Music Awards.  Then, late in January, Lady Antebellum won a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by group, earning their precious golden statuettes for their vocals on “I Run to You.” 

 Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire officially announced the nominations on the CBS morning news program, “The Early Show.”   Lady Antebellum also received nominations for “Best Video,” and they are up for awards as producers, artists, and composers.  McEntire told Shelton, “They’re fresh; they’re new.  Their music is totally different, and we love it.”

 “We are blown away,” David Haywood told the press in a statement dictated from 35,000 feet as the band flew across the country.  The musical threesome is currently touring in support of their second album, the first single from which blew the top off the popularity charts during the first week of February.  “Need You Now” became an instant cross-over hit, selling nearly 600,000 copies during its first week in distribution.

 Although they have an unmistakably country sound—slide guitar and fiddle wailing, honky-tonk piano plunking-out the melody—nevertheless Lady Antebellum does not deliver the usual “Lost my truck, lost my dog, lost my double-wide, lost my girl…”  Yes, they have the right bittersweet bluesy-tang, but they have style and sophistication suitable for big city listening. In her powerful, seductive lead vocals, Hilary Scott shows both her range and her knack for getting just the right little cry in her voice.  The harmonies are smooth as a good Kentucky bourbon, and the simple lyrics keep it real. 

 One ardent fan recently wrote, “ ‘Need You Now’ is just the kinda song that makes a girl keep droppin’ quarters in the jukebox.”  Apparently, the Academy of Country Music agrees.

 Other pundits suggested that an appearance by US Ski Team poster-girl and all-American sweetheart Lindsey Vonn probably did not hurt the numbers either.  Elegantly dressed and showing just enough leg to thrill her millions of male fans, Vonn sparkled; she has grown extremely comfortable before the cameras.  Alluding to Vonn and taking one of only a few shots at the network Leno, quipped, “When it comes to going downhill, nobody’s faster.  OK, except NBC.”

 Leno’s reprise brought closure to a drama that has unfolded, not always elegantly, since just before Christmas.

 In September, NBC restructured the last hour of primetime and all of the late-night schedule, hoping to hold steady in the ratings while drastically reducing production costs.  Moving Jay Leno to 10pm, the network saved the huge costs associated with primetime dramas, which sometimes cost nearly as much as motion pictures without producing nearly the same revenue.  Moving Conan O’Brien to 11:30 pm, the network expected to retain Leno’s fan base and augment it with scores of younger viewers, who like O’Brien’s off-beat, frequently self-deprecating style.  Forecasters were wrong on all counts.

 Proposals for returning Leno to the premier late night spot began circulating when local network affiliates complained that they had lost market shares and advertising revenues from their 11pm newscasts.  The majority of viewers do not change channels for late local news, so the network that wins the 10pm contest typically wins at 11, too.  Some NBC affiliates complained of losses over 50%, pleading with network officials to put Leno back where he reigned as #1 for fifteen years.

 Preliminary overnight ratings indicated the plan mostly worked.  Garnering more than 6.5 million viewers, Leno handily beat Letterman by a million screens.  Although the numbers came nowhere close to all-time records, they were considerably higher than last year’s Leno averages, and they outperformed O’Brien’s average by nearly 40%.

 In this, the fourth in a series of Scorsese-DiCaprio collaborations, DiCaprio recreates the character of US Marshall Teddy Daniels, who investigates the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane.  The most probing, penetrating critics claim that DiCaprio’s performance preserves the film’s intensity, keeping it from degenerating into gothic melodrama.  DiCaprio, deftly interpreting a very well-crafted screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis, sustains the suspense until the split- second before the credits roll.  Ostensibly caught-up in the mystery, Marshall Daniels questions everything–the doctors and their treatments, the hospital and its policies, and his partner’s loyalty and integrity.  Because DiCaprio convinces audiences of his character’s consummate trustworthiness, no one suspects his paranoia.

 The film remains faithful to Dennis Lehane’s successful novel, and DiCaprio brings exceptional emotional depth to his character.  Audiences describe the film’s ending as “singularly memorable and thought-provoking,” which is probably the long way of saying “disturbing.”  Because DiCaprio inspires the audience’s sympathy and empathy with Marshall Daniels, they willingly overlook the clues that implicate the investigator himself in the mystery.  When, at the very end, Scorsese strips the veil from the mystery, the audience feels justifiably troubled, an emotion which testifies to the mastery in the film-making and acting.