Most Enjoyable Film Clichés

When you're down, these clips can get you going

(NEWSER) - World got you down? Let one of these coaches buck you up: AskMen picks the best sports movie inspirational talks. The top five:

1. Kurt Russell, Miracle: “If we played ‘em 10 times, they might win nine. But not this game.”
2. Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday: “You find out life's this game of inches. So is football. The inches we need are everywhere around us.”

'Lord of the Rings' mastermind takes over project from del Toro

(NEWSER) - Lord of the Rings fans, rejoice: The Hobbit will be directed by Peter Jackson himself, Deadline reports. Jackson is negotiating a deal with Warner Bros, New Line, and MGM, and the studios are reportedly willing to spend big on a two-part Hobbit picture from J.R.R. Tolkien's most accomplished interpreter. More»

(NEWSER) - John Forsythe, a versatile actor who gained lasting fame as Blake Carrington on the pioneering prime-time soap Dynasty and as the voice of the mysterious Charlie on Charlie's Angels, died yesterday in California. He was 92. Best known at the time as the affable star of Bachelor Father, Forsythe played a villainous judge in the 1979 Al Pacino vehicle And Justice for All, demonstrating he had the chops to channel the scheming Blake Carrington. More»

Even Hollywood can make movies for the non-'lily-livered:' Nile Gardiner

(NEWSER) - "Hollywood may well be a bastion of liberalism, but it does continue to occasionally produce major films that advance conservative principles," Nile Gardiner writes in the Telegraph . His best of the aughts:

1. Master and Commander, 2003: The Peter Weir flick starring Russell Crowe is "an epic tale of heroism and love for country in the face of incredible odds, and a glowing tribute to the grit and determination that forged the British Empire."
2. Black Hawk Down, 2001: Critics may have called it an "anti-war film," but Gardiner doesn't buy it. Instead, it's "an extraordinarily powerful and deeply patriotic tribute to the heroism and bravery of the US military."

SF Chronicle serves up its 'Titanic Awards'

(NEWSER) - Oscars go to undeserving flicks so often that the San Francisco Chronicle has a prize for them: the Titanic Award. Pop culture critic Peter Hartlaub targets some of the most egregious offenders:

• Best Picture: Titanic. The award’s namesake, which somehow beat LA Confidential, needs no explanation.
• Best Actor: Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman. "Pacino considered this award an affirmation of his overacting and has played the same character in every movie since."