Michael Jackson’s mother and his three children received a huge setback yesterday in their lawsuit with AEG Live. The judge ruled that AEG executives Randy Phillips and Paul Gongaware should be removed as defendants. The family had not proven that either exec was responsible for Jackson’s death. The jury can still consider whether or not AEG had hired Dr. Conrad Murray or if he was Jackson’s physician.

This is a major turning point in the trial and absolutely right. From the beginning I told you, right after Jackson’s death in June 2005, that the King of Pop had insisted on having Murray with him. I wrote then that AEG was simply funding Jackson’s request and hoping for the best. No one there had any idea of the scope of Jackson’s history with drugs, or the way he manipulated doctors to do his bidding.

In Murray Jackson saw a man who was in enough financial trouble that he would indeed carry out  the craziest instructions. The irony was that AEG never actually paid Murray and that he wound  up in jail for negligence in Jackson’s death. The most egregious part of that story is that Murray gets out of prison shortly and will probably try to peddle a book and go on TV to proclaim his innocence. He will be met by a frenzy of rabid Jackson fans out for his blood, however.

It does seem like Michael Jackson’s siblings should stop counting their winnings from this trial. With the execs removed, the jury has gotten the signal that AEG didn’t kill their brother. The one thing Michael didn’t want was his family– aside from his mother and children– to become rich off of him. He may get his way after all.

Toronto: The movie adaptation of “August: Osage County” received a rare 10 minute standing ovation last night at Roy  Thomson Hall. The film of Tracey Letts’ Pulitzer Prize winning play stars Meryl Streep as Violet, matriarch a volatile Oklahoma family. The ovation was like something from the Cannes film festival, not usually seen in restrained Canada, and was very disarming for everyone in the cast who was in attendance including Julia Roberts

I know, every time Streep is in a movie people say “Oscar.” But the three time Oscar winner weaves some kind of magic in this movie. You can see it from the moment she appears in half light, looking haggard with spiky short hair to when she pulls on a full, dark wig to play Violet, the pill popping cancer patient with loads of secrets. And yes, this is a comedy and a drama.

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Streep was not at last night’s premiere because she starts filming “Into the Woods” this week and has a bad enough cold that she couldn’t travel up from New York with setting back that production. But her name was heard everywhere as the credits rolled and the lights went up.

Most of the large, talented cast was there however: Ewan McGregor, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, and Abigail Breslin among them. And when they got to their party at Soho House–the only party of any interest last night in Toronto– pop star Taylor Swift arrived and joined them. That caused mayhem as you can imagine, when Swift and Roberts posed for pictures together with Harvey Weinstein.

“August: Osage County” was a bit of a surprise for many reasons last night. There had been a lot of talk that the film adaptation hadn’t worked out. That may have come from a teaser trailer that made the film look like a Southern comedy played for yucks. There was also a lot of discussion about how to handle Oscar positioning with Streep and Roberts. Who would be considered lead or supporting?

But once John Wells’s movie unfurled, all became clear. Streep is the star, the quarterback. In one scene taken from the play she sits at the head of a dining room table with this cast all around her. She literally throws “touchdown passes” to each cast member, landing jokes and barbs as they run to the end zone. It’s sort of mesmerizing because she never flags or tires or misses. It’s like watching an acting master class. It’s breathtaking.

So yes, Meryl Streep jumps onto the Best Actress list with Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench and Sandra Bullock. “AOC” becomes an extremely serious contender for Best Picture. It will almost certainly win Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards. Julia Roberts and Chris Cooper will be up for all the supporting awards. Cooper almost steals the show with a scene right out of Letts’s play at the dinner table. Roberts gives her most soulful performance yet, and comes across with a humanity–as one of Violet’s three daughters–that gives the movie anchor while Streep storms on like a hurricane.

PS Kudos also to Margo Martindale, Benedict Cumberbatch and Sam Shepard, who also make this movie an absolute pleasure.

From the Toronto Film Festival, Monday morning: First the good news. Ron Howard’s “Rush” is an adrenaline packed success for the director of “Cocoon,” “Apollo 13,” and “A Beautiful Mind.” Even if you don’t care about Formula 1 racing, you’re going to love Howard’s recounting of the famed 1976 rivalry between rock star blond god James Hunt and the determined Austrian Niki Lauda.

Working with an impeccable Peter Morgan script, and cinematography from the amazing Anthony Dod Mantle, Howard has made one hell of a crowd pleasing movie. I dare say that under proper conditions with a real campaign, the movie and actor Daniel Bruehl, who plays Lauda, would be in awards contention.

Lauda, if you don’t know, was in a terrible accident that year on the track. He suffered jaw dropping burns to the face and head. And still he came back to the race circuit. Hunt died in 1985 from a heart attack. He followed the motto Live Fast, Die Young and leave a pretty corpse. Chris Hemsworth is sure to attract the female audience into “Rush.” He’s the new Robert Redford-Brad Pitt, with long blond locks and the looks of a young Viking god.

“Rush” should be the rare exception to the rule that American films needn’t have a good story to play in foreign territories. It will be a smash, and it’s good.

By the way, at the premiere at Roy Thomson Hall, members of Hunt’s family, and Lauda himself made appearances. On stage, Lauda– a brave, brave guy– said he never realized the impact his own facial scars had on people until he saw the movie and saw the way an actor reacted to his character. It was a rare moment of self-realization shared with the general public– and nearly 40 years after the accident.