Reese Witherspoon

Yawn. What? Right. Here's the gossip round-up for Nov. 23, 2008, Thanksgiving Friday and possibly the slowest news day ever.

An eight-months-pregnant Nicole Richie and her friend, the society disc jockeyess Samantha Ronson, volunteered at a Hollywood soup kitchen yesterday.  read more »

Robert Duvall will join Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn in the holiday romp, Four Christmases, set to start production in December. Mr. Vaughn is trying extra hard to get on Santa's good list this year (Fred Claus, now Four Christmases?)

Variety reports:

Vaughn and Witherspoon also are producing the pic, in which a couple struggles to visit all four divorced parents on Christmas Day.  read more »

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Fresh-out-of-the-package lovebirds Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal ran into a little paparazzi action last night while celebrating boo-day with Ms. Witherspoon’s wee tots. Hard as he may have tried, Mr. Gyllenhaal didn’t fool the camera-toting celeb-stalkers with his full-body gorilla suit. The Rendition star’s decidedly less-hairy girlfriend was much easier to spot, however, in a costume that looks something like a marriage of vampire slater Anne Rice and My Fair Lady.

Who’s the Gorilla? [A Socialite’s Life]

Move over, Meryl! Reese steals scenes from Streep in this timely political thriller about the government’s overzealous treatment of suspected terrorists.  read more »

A missive has just arrived from Sara Vilkomerson, our envoy to the Toronto Film Festival.

1. Air Canada section of La Guardia was overrun by douchebags talking about "projects."

2. The Suri Cruise Vanity Fair was sold out at all the newstands. (See above.)

3. I talked to a charming girl named Tracy, age 24. Her job is airport coordinator for the Toronto Film Festival. Her accent is nuts. She said that Brian DePalma and Carrie Ann Moss had arrived that morning. Carrie Ann Moss was wearing a light blue jogging suit and was almost unrecognizable. She said that the big buzz is on Brad Pitt's arrival, she thinks tomorrow, and that she knew Reese Witherspoon was coming in soon too, but Ms. Witherspoon has her own private plane and an entourage, thank you very much. Actually, what she said was,"must be nice." She's hoping she'll get to drive Jason Biggs, up here for that Michael Ian whatever movie, and that "he might be single."

4. I saw Pedro Almodovar in the elevator at the Four Seasons. He has gray spiky hair. As my friend here just said: "But not because of product."

5. The Borat maddness is tonight. It looks to be a shit-show and I was told to get myself to the red carpet because there will be "surprises."

6. Canadians talk funny. —Sara Vilkomerson

While I was trying to decide how I would introduce my customary list of the past year’s achiev  read more »

At the New York Film Critics Circle awards at Cipriani on Sunday night, an evening considered to be  read more »

The Transom has seen a whole hell of a lot of movies this year and is a know-it-all and a total busy-body and sometimes pretends to be psychic at parties. So, why not jump in the Oscar pool? Best Actress Felicity Huffman beats out Judi Dench and Reese Witherspoon and Naomi, improbably, Watts. Maybe, maybe a nom for Renee Zellweger, who was awful good in that awful bad Ron Howard movie. Best Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman squeaks past Joaquin Phoenix, with much moaning about Heath Ledger robbery. (If we're going to rob Heath Ledger, incidentally, can we also strip him and tie him up? Just checking!) The real robbery though will be of Cillian Murphy. (Amazingly, there is a tiny tiny possibility that best actor and actress could both be parts played as transsexuals. That is crazy.) There's also the whole Eric Bana non-issue that people are talking about. And sadly, Ralph Fiennes will sit nobly in the audience, waiting, waiting, anger growing.... Supporting Actor Terrence Howard, for Crash. Sadly, not superfox Craig Bierko for Cinderella Man, who probably won't even get nominated. Nominated, but: not Jamie Foxx, not George Clooney. Also not Matthew Broderick. Supporting Actress Gong! Gong Li, that is. Tilda Swinton, the White Witch, gets hideously robbed, possibly even snubbed for a nomination. That is a crime, she was amazing. Shirley Maclaine nominated, doesn't win. Catherine Keener, probably should, doesn't win. Uma Thurman, doesn't win. Best Picture Not that barf-fest Cinderella Man, praise be. Munich detracts from Walk The Line, and the large dieting segment of the Academy goes in for now-skinny Peter Jackson's King Kong, which means Brokeback Mountain wins. Director Ang Lee beats nominees George Clooney (don't laugh!) and Woody Allen and James Mangold --and maybe even Noah Baumbach. Doc Oh, Murderball beats out Mad Hot Ballroom and March of the Penguins and Enron. Cinematographer Roger Deakins beats Cesar Charlone. Screenplay The Squid and the Whale. Adaptation Well, hey, Brokeback Mountain--unless in a crazy upset, Shopgirl beats out Jarhead, both of which were fairly lovely scripts MARRED HIDEOUSLY by TERRIBLE VOICE-OVER NARRATION, particularly in the final scenes. WHEN WILL YOU PEOPLE LEARN? STOP IT. Foreign Not Paradise Now, the Palestinian shoe-in, but The Promise, instead. Worst Potential Moment Of Oscar Night? The threat of music from Rent.  read more »

David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, from a screenplay by Jack Olson, based on the graphi  read more »

Reese Witherspoon is as modishly contemporary as a Palm Pilot with a Duracell battery.  read more »

Hand on the hip of her Alberta Ferretti gown, her proud chin jutting out from that pixie face, Reese  read more »

Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl , from a screenplay by Ted E  read more »

Wednesday 25th Summer naked, some ain't ….  read more »

Andy Tennant's Sweet Home Alabama , from a screenplay by C. Jay Cox, based on a story by Douglas J.  read more »

Peter Næss' Elling , from a screenplay by Axel Hellstenius and Mr.  read more »

Robert Luketic's LegallyBlonde , from a screenplay by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, based  read more »

The heist movie, an old and honorable tradition, is designedto increase the adrenaline and test the  read more »

As a teenager, I started smoking because everybody else was doing it and I didn't want to feel left  read more »