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    <title>The Deep End of the Ocean's Recent Activity - Spout</title>
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      <title>The Deep End of the Ocean's Recent Activity - Spout</title>
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      <title>Film:The Deep End of the Ocean</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/films/The_Deep_End_of_the_Ocean/131393/default.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<table width='100%' style='font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><tr><td><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t97312lbnd3.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' /></td>
<td>
<strong>Title:</strong> The Deep End of the Ocean<br/>
<strong>Year:</strong> 1999<br/>
<strong>Director:</strong> Ulu Grosbard<br/>
<strong>Plot:</strong> Beth Cappadora (<a href="/players/P____56469/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Michelle Pfeiffer</a>), a photographer, is married to Pat (<a href="/players/P____76576/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Treat Williams</a>), a restaurateur, and they would seem to have a perfect life in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1988, they have three small children that Beth takes along to her high school reunion in Chicago. While checking in at a crowded hotel lobby, her middle child, three-year-old Ben, disappears. Despite a frantic search and much media coverage, the boy is not found, and Beth soon falls apart. Nine years later, the family has only barely recovered when they move to Chicago so Pat can open a restaurant with his father. A few months later, a neighborhood boy named Sam Karras (Ryan Merriman) knocks on the door, asking to mow the lawn. Beth notices the boy's appearance exactly matches a time-elapsed photo of Ben constructed by the police; she takes pictures of the boy and contacts both her husband and police detective Candy Bliss (<a href="/players/P____27431/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Whoopi Goldberg</a>). School fingerprints of Ben and Sam match, and the boy is taken to foster care while Candy and Beth confront the father, George (<a href="/players/P____36865/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>John Kapelos</a>). It seems Ben was abducted by an unbalanced woman who was Beth's high school classmate; the boy was eventually adopted by George when he married "Sam's" new mother, and she later committed suicide, leaving no one to blame. Having grown up happily with George, Sam has no memories of his real parents. Now Beth and Pat must find a way to bond with Sam, and heal older brother Vincent (Jonathan Jackson), who was supposed to be watching Ben at the time he disappeared, and has been suffering from guilt ever since. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide<br/>
<strong>Times Tagged:</strong> 6<br/>
<strong>Number of Lists:</strong> 3<br/>
<strong>Number of blog posts:</strong> 1<br/>
<strong>SpoutRating:</strong> 2<br/>
</td></tr></table>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:37:56 GMT</pubDate><spout:Title>The Deep End of the Ocean</spout:Title><spout:Year>1999</spout:Year><spout:Director>Ulu Grosbard</spout:Director><spout:Plot>Beth Cappadora (&lt;a href="/players/P____56469/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Michelle Pfeiffer&lt;/a&gt;), a photographer, is married to Pat (&lt;a href="/players/P____76576/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Treat Williams&lt;/a&gt;), a restaurateur, and they would seem to have a perfect life in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1988, they have three small children that Beth takes along to her high school reunion in Chicago. While checking in at a crowded hotel lobby, her middle child, three-year-old Ben, disappears. Despite a frantic search and much media coverage, the boy is not found, and Beth soon falls apart. Nine years later, the family has only barely recovered when they move to Chicago so Pat can open a restaurant with his father. A few months later, a neighborhood boy named Sam Karras (Ryan Merriman) knocks on the door, asking to mow the lawn. Beth notices the boy's appearance exactly matches a time-elapsed photo of Ben constructed by the police; she takes pictures of the boy and contacts both her husband and police detective Candy Bliss (&lt;a href="/players/P____27431/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Whoopi Goldberg&lt;/a&gt;). School fingerprints of Ben and Sam match, and the boy is taken to foster care while Candy and Beth confront the father, George (&lt;a href="/players/P____36865/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;John Kapelos&lt;/a&gt;). It seems Ben was abducted by an unbalanced woman who was Beth's high school classmate; the boy was eventually adopted by George when he married "Sam's" new mother, and she later committed suicide, leaving no one to blame. Having grown up happily with George, Sam has no memories of his real parents. Now Beth and Pat must find a way to bond with Sam, and heal older brother Vincent (Jonathan Jackson), who was supposed to be watching Ben at the time he disappeared, and has been suffering from guilt ever since. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide</spout:Plot><spout:TimesTagged>6</spout:TimesTagged><spout:taglevel>Taggedy Taggged (6-10)</spout:taglevel><spout:Numberoflists>3</spout:Numberoflists><spout:NumberOfBlogPosts>1</spout:NumberOfBlogPosts><spout:SpoutRating>2</spout:SpoutRating><spout:FilmCoverURL>http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t97312lbnd3.jpg</spout:FilmCoverURL><spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL>http://www.spout.com/films/The_Deep_End_of_the_Ocean/131393/default.aspx</spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL><spout:type>Film</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Australia’s Oscar Chances: Does Oprah’s Endorsement Matter?</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/11/17/37380.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t97312lbnd3.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/9325/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog on spout.com</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 11/17/2008 5:00:58 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> Oprah Winfrey can certainly create a best seller when it comes to books, and her pick of the presidential candidates is on his way to the White House. But can she get behind a movie and contribute to its success? 20th Century Fox seems to hope so, because the studio apparently allowed the talk show host to screen an unfinished cut of Australia in preparation for her November 10 show, which featured the film’s stars, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, as well as a live-via-Skype call-in from filmmaker Baz Luhrman. Fortunately for Fox, Oprah raved about the film, and now the media has latched on to the endorsement, creating some much-needed positive buzz for the Oscar-hopeful. Yet there’s a big problem with all the excitement: Oprah’s film recommendations have hardly been sure-fire champs in the past.

Case in point: the first title I came upon while searching for Oprah-select cinema was something called Christmas in the Clouds, a 2005 indie that she chose as her “must see holiday movie,” in O magazine a few years back. The film barely grossed a quarter-million dollars in theaters, but even if her endorsement didn’t occur until its DVD release in November 2006, there’s still no proof of popularity from the rental charts of the time, and two years later fewer than 250 people have rated it on IMDb (not the best for determining how many people have seen it, sure, but such a small number of votes is still somewhat revealing). As for awards recognition, well, it received the Audience Award at the 2001 Austin Film Festival, and it was named the best Native American-themed film the same year at the Santa Fe Film Festival, but the majority of Academy voters probably never even heard of it.
Okay, so that is an extreme example of a film that had not even one percent of the marketing budget of Australia. So, let’s take a look at some of the bigger releases that Oprah has recommended more recently. Well, there is Michael Moore’s Sicko, which she labeled “the one movie you must see this summer,” a few weeks prior to its barely wide release in June 2007. Considering its theater count and its genre, the documentary’s final domestic gross of $24.5 million was quite an achievement, especially since only two other docs have grossed more (including Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which will stay on top for quite awhile with its $119.1 million). Oh, and yes, Sicko earned an Oscar nomination, too.
But did Oprah’s statement really have that much impact on Sicko’s success? What about all the other titles with Oprah connections that haven’t performed so well? Films based on her book club selections, from her inaugural title, The Deep End of the Ocean, to the recent adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera, have rarely been blockbusters, and the three Academy nominations for House of Sand and Fog are hardly thanks to her love for and endorsement of that novel. Of course, film adaptations are not necessarily ever pegged to the praises of their source material, which is why Oprah’s name has not been linked to the expected Oscar contenders The Reader and The Road.
Then there are the films she’s been directly involved with. Beloved, which she produced and starred in, earned a middling gross of $22.9 million. Its sole Oscar nomination was for costume design. Her more recent production, The Great Debaters, did a little better money-wise with $30.2 million, but it failed to garner the Academy’s attention. Ignoring the animated films she’s lent her voice to, you have to go back 23 years, long before she had the powers of influence she’s currently known for, to find something as big as Fox would like Australia to be. It was then that The Color Purple earned nearly $100 million and 11 Oscar nominations (none of which it won).
As for films that Oprah simply promotes and recommends on her show, there is no clear certainty that she can influence either box office or the Oscars. She’s featured the casts from Crash and Brokeback Mountain, yet she’s also given time to publicize films like Alexander and Things We Lost in the Fire. Last week, after calling Australia “the film we needed to see,” she also helped to sell Marley & Me, a movie that might benefit slightly in increased ticket sales thanks to the appearances by Jennifer Aniston, yet there are no news reports mentioning anything but Aniston’s comments about her ex-husband. There’s likewise little media attention given to the fact that Oprah also apparently saw Seven Pounds, the Will Smith movie that, like Australia, has so far received no reviews. Was there no soundbite from Smith’s appearance earlier this month? Seven Pounds is also a mysterious Oscar contender with some needed positive buzz, though maybe Sony Pictures didn’t think to feed the press anything regarding Oprah’s connection to that film the way Fox has pushed them on the Australia endorsement.
And what of Oprah’s praise anyway? She said, “I have not been this excited about a movie since I don’t know when.” How excited? And be more specific. Since forty years ago? Since Titanic? Since Christmas in the Clouds? Is this really the best movie of the year? Other than turning the expectations up a little higher following the recent negativity surrounding Australia, Oprah hasn’t really offered us anything except hope. So, a word to Fox: it’s about time you let the real critics see this alleged masterpiece so we can actually find out if this film has some real chances at an Oscar. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:00:58 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>SpoutBlog</spout:postby><spout:postto>SpoutBlog on spout.com</spout:postto><spout:postdate>11/17/2008 5:00:58 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>Oprah Winfrey can certainly create a best seller when it comes to books, and her pick of the presidential candidates is on his way to the White House. But can she get behind a movie and contribute to its success? 20th Century Fox seems to hope so, because the studio apparently allowed the talk show host to screen an unfinished cut of Australia in preparation for her November 10 show, which featured the film’s stars, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, as well as a live-via-Skype call-in from filmmaker Baz Luhrman. Fortunately for Fox, Oprah raved about the film, and now the media has latched on to the endorsement, creating some much-needed positive buzz for the Oscar-hopeful. Yet there’s a big problem with all the excitement: Oprah’s film recommendations have hardly been sure-fire champs in the past.

Case in point: the first title I came upon while searching for Oprah-select cinema was something called Christmas in the Clouds, a 2005 indie that she chose as her “must see holiday movie,” in O magazine a few years back. The film barely grossed a quarter-million dollars in theaters, but even if her endorsement didn’t occur until its DVD release in November 2006, there’s still no proof of popularity from the rental charts of the time, and two years later fewer than 250 people have rated it on IMDb (not the best for determining how many people have seen it, sure, but such a small number of votes is still somewhat revealing). As for awards recognition, well, it received the Audience Award at the 2001 Austin Film Festival, and it was named the best Native American-themed film the same year at the Santa Fe Film Festival, but the majority of Academy voters probably never even heard of it.
Okay, so that is an extreme example of a film that had not even one percent of the marketing budget of Australia. So, let’s take a look at some of the bigger releases that Oprah has recommended more recently. Well, there is Michael Moore’s Sicko, which she labeled “the one movie you must see this summer,” a few weeks prior to its barely wide release in June 2007. Considering its theater count and its genre, the documentary’s final domestic gross of $24.5 million was quite an achievement, especially since only two other docs have grossed more (including Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which will stay on top for quite awhile with its $119.1 million). Oh, and yes, Sicko earned an Oscar nomination, too.
But did Oprah’s statement really have that much impact on Sicko’s success? What about all the other titles with Oprah connections that haven’t performed so well? Films based on her book club selections, from her inaugural title, The Deep End of the Ocean, to the recent adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera, have rarely been blockbusters, and the three Academy nominations for House of Sand and Fog are hardly thanks to her love for and endorsement of that novel. Of course, film adaptations are not necessarily ever pegged to the praises of their source material, which is why Oprah’s name has not been linked to the expected Oscar contenders The Reader and The Road.
Then there are the films she’s been directly involved with. Beloved, which she produced and starred in, earned a middling gross of $22.9 million. Its sole Oscar nomination was for costume design. Her more recent production, The Great Debaters, did a little better money-wise with $30.2 million, but it failed to garner the Academy’s attention. Ignoring the animated films she’s lent her voice to, you have to go back 23 years, long before she had the powers of influence she’s currently known for, to find something as big as Fox would like Australia to be. It was then that The Color Purple earned nearly $100 million and 11 Oscar nominations (none of which it won).
As for films that Oprah simply promotes and recommends on her show, there is no clear certainty that she can influence either box office or the Oscars. She’s featured the casts from Crash and Brokeback Mountain, yet she’s also given time to publicize films like Alexander and Things We Lost in the Fire. Last week, after calling Australia “the film we needed to see,” she also helped to sell Marley &amp; Me, a movie that might benefit slightly in increased ticket sales thanks to the appearances by Jennifer Aniston, yet there are no news reports mentioning anything but Aniston’s comments about her ex-husband. There’s likewise little media attention given to the fact that Oprah also apparently saw Seven Pounds, the Will Smith movie that, like Australia, has so far received no reviews. Was there no soundbite from Smith’s appearance earlier this month? Seven Pounds is also a mysterious Oscar contender with some needed positive buzz, though maybe Sony Pictures didn’t think to feed the press anything regarding Oprah’s connection to that film the way Fox has pushed them on the Australia endorsement.
And what of Oprah’s praise anyway? She said, “I have not been this excited about a movie since I don’t know when.” How excited? And be more specific. Since forty years ago? Since Titanic? Since Christmas in the Clouds? Is this really the best movie of the year? Other than turning the expectations up a little higher following the recent negativity surrounding Australia, Oprah hasn’t really offered us anything except hope. So, a word to Fox: it’s about time you let the real critics see this alleged masterpiece so we can actually find out if this film has some real chances at an Oscar. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:family</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/family/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/family/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>family</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 6289</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 227</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 1139</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:00:49 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>6289</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>227</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>1139</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:kidnapping</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/kidnapping/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/kidnapping/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>kidnapping</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 2851</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 49</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 172</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:39:42 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>2851</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>49</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>172</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:memory</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/memory/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/memory/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>memory</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 452</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 49</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 69</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:02:06 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>452</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>49</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>69</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:based-on-a-book</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/based-on-a-book/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/based-on-a-book/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>based-on-a-book</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 173</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 37</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 278</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:52:06 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>173</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>37</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>278</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:child</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/child/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/child/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>child</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 2821</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 32</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 99</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:19:37 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>2821</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>32</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>99</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:guilt</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/guilt/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/guilt/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>guilt</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 521</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 23</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 36</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:42:35 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>521</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>23</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>36</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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      <title>Spout Tag:reunion</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/reunion/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/reunion/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>reunion</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 943</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 23</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 45</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:13:22 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>943</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>23</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>45</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:healing</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/healing/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/healing/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>healing</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 273</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 16</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 18</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:02:43 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>273</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>16</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>18</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:disappearance</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/disappearance/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/disappearance/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>disappearance</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 234</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 9</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 9</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:03:15 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>234</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>9</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>9</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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