Sunday, May 29, 2011

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO




THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO could be a contender in this years Academy Awards. It is directed bt David Fincher. It is inspired by late author Stieg Larsson's successful trilogy of books. A journalist (Daniel Craig) and a mysterious computer hacker discover that even the wealthiest families have skeletons in their closets while working to solve the mystery of a 40-year-old murder.

The trailer has not been released yet, but a red banned trailer camcorder version was recently leaked on the Internet. Watch it before it gets taken down...here is the link:


THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO LEAKED TRAILER

Saturday, May 28, 2011

MERYL STREEPS YEAR?



In THE IRON LADY Meryl Streep plays British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Streep has had 16 Oscar nominations. Her last one was in 2009 for JULIA JULIA. She lost to Sandra Bullock.  In THE IRON LADY she plays a real person from Britain. The Academy loves that, remember THE KING'S SPEECH? Streep is due for another Best Actress win. It has been since 1982 for SOPHIE'S CHOICE. There is not a trailer or release date yet, but I will keep you updated.

Friday, May 27, 2011

OPENING THIS WEEKEND




HANGOVER II -(Award Potential: maybe MTV Movie Award) Everyone enjoyed the first HANGOVER. The reviews for the sequel are not very good. Same storyline, different place.

KUNG FU PANDA 2-(Award Potential:possible animated feature nomination)-Getting pretty good reviews if you liked this first one rumor has it the sequel is just as good if not better.

HANGOVER will no doubt win the holiday weekend at the box office.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

THE DESCENDANTS



Alexander Payne's THE DESCENDANTS starring George Clooney looks to be an early Oscar contender. Clooney may need to prepare for a Best Actor nomination. Fox Searchlight is is distributing the film and they have had a lot of luck with their movies lately. Check out the trailer below:

THE DESCENDANTS TRAILER

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

ACADEMY GOES ELECTRONIC




The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences have announced that they will adopt electronic voting soon, possibly as early as next year.

AMPAS director Kimberly Rush said it will happen "as early as this year, and will certainly by in effect by next year. ... At some point, once the system is up and running, mailed ballots will be eliminated."

This could be to speed up the process so that the Academy Awards show can be moved to January.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

CANNES OSCAR POSSIBILITIES





Winning Best Picture at Cannes rarely leads to an Academy Award. In fact last years Cannes winner was UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES.  We never heard from that movie after Cannes. THE TREE OF LIFE winning Best Picture this year does not mean much either. The Cannes jury is much different than the Academy voters. THE TREE OF LIFE doesn't have a typical storyline that the Academy prefers. It is more of a movie that makes the audience decide what the film is about. Not only that, but the reviews have been mixed. Only time will tell if TREE makes it all the way. It will be released wide on July 18th.

­ Oscilloscope Laboratories announced that they picked up the rights to LETS TALK ABOUT KEVIN. They are releasing it in the Winter with a full Oscar campaign. This is great news for Tilda Swinton who has a great shot at a Best Actress nomination. But only if the movie can get an audience.

DRIVE is another film getting a lot of good reviews from Cannes. Ryan Gosling plays Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheel man and discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong. Gosling seems to never get the acting awards he deserves. Maybe this year?


TAKE SHELTER won the top critics prize at Cannes. it is about a family plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions.  A husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.

THE BEAVER was shown at Cannes. The reviews have been poor, but I hear that Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson are great in their roles. Gibson is hated too much now for the movie to get any recognition.

MELONCHOLIA starring Kirsten Dunst and directed by Lars von Trier may have lost its chances at any awards. This is due to Trier joking at a press conference that he was a Hitler sympathiser. He may have been trying to be funny, but he was censured from the rest of the festival. Much like Mel Gibson, if you are not liked its hard to win an Academy Award. Hopefully it won't ruin Kirsten Dunst's chances. She did win Best Actress at Cannes, but she may be hurt by the bad press.

SLEEPING BEAUTY was very much anticipated before Cannes, but once it was screened the reviews didn't hold up. It is about a university student drawn into being a prostitute and is not for everyone due to its graphic nature. It may not even get released in the US.


WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is one of the few films if any from Cannes that will make to the Academy Awards.

Monday, May 23, 2011

CANNES WINNERS




The winners for this years Cannes Film Festival were announced on Sunday.

  • Palme d’Or: THE TREE OF LIFE


  • Grand Prix: THE KID WITH THE BIKE and ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA


  • Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn (DRIVE)


  • Best Actor: Jean Dujardin (THE ARTIST)


  • Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst (MELANCHOLIA)


  • Best Screenplay: Joseph Cedar (FOOTNOTE)


  • Jury Prize: POLISSE


  • Kirsten Dunst winning for Best Actress puts her in the mix for a Best Actress Oscar nomination. THE TREE OF LIFE has had mixed reviews. It will be interesting to see how far it goes and how well it does at the Box Office.

    Saturday, May 21, 2011

    CANNES




    Now that the Cannes Film Festival is wrapping up we are getting a sense of some possible Oscar contenders. The official Cannes awards will be announced tomorrow,but some films getting good reviews are:

    THE ARTIST

    THE TREE OF LIFE

    MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

    THE IRON LADY

    TAKE SHELTER-won the Critics Grand Prize

    THE SKIN I LIVE IN

    MICHEAL

    Friday, May 20, 2011

    OPENING THIS WEEKEND




    Not too much opening this weekend unless you are a PIRATES fa.m. THOR and BRIDESMAIDS are still dominating the Box Office.


    PRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES: (Award potential:maybe technical awards)
    Reviews have been poor and its reported that it is hard to follow.


    THE LION OF JUDAH: (Awards potential: none) Another animated 3D movie.


    THE BEAVER:(Awards potential: none) It had some buzz last year before the Gibson tirade. It is being released wider this weekend.  Now that it has been seen the reviews are mixed.

    Thursday, May 19, 2011

    CAN A SILENT FILM WIN AND OSCAR?




    Growing up in the 70's we did not have DVR's, VCR's, DVD,s and 4 or 5 channels on TV. The first movie I ever saw at a movie theater was PETE'S DRAGON in 1977. I was instantly hooked on movies and movie making. I desperately wanted to work at a movie theater so that I could see all of the films that were playing. I soon learned that there were film projectors for consumer purchase. Being 11 years old I didn't have the money to buy one, but would constantly ask my parents when I could get one. Finally they bought me my first film projector I think it was $50 or $60. It was not a sound projector, but I was in heaven. The only problem now was where do you get films to watch?  I learned that my local library rented them. They were all silent old films most of which I never heard of and didn't think looked that interesting. The reel was in a white box with the title sloppily handwritten on the top. I didn't care I just wanted to watch movies on my projector. I was soon getting films from the library weekly. I remember many of them starring Charlie Chaplain. I would invite friends over and I placed the projector as far from the wall as possible to make the picture as big as I could. I would play a music record during the movie to add some sound and make my bedroom as close to a movie theater as possible. Charlie Chaplain running around to a record from The Police really didn't match but it did'nt matter.  When I reflect back on those movies I realize what terrific film making it was. The actors were telling a story without saying a single word except for a title card here and there. They were able to portray true human emotion and tell a great story wit no sound.

    The point of my childhood story comes from a silent black and white film that was shown at Cannes this week. THE ARTIST has received great reviews from those lucky enough to have seen it. The film is presented in 4:3 ratio and the score is close to something you would hear in the 1920's. The story revolves around a silent film star who is resistant to playing along with the emerging "talkies" of the time.

    If THE ARTIST does well at the Box Office it could very well be a contender at awards time.



    THE ARTIST TRAILER

    Tuesday, May 17, 2011

    TREE OF LIFE REVIEWS




    One of the most anticipated films at Cannes THE TREE OF LIFE was screened this past weekend. It stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. The reviews have been mixed with people either hating it or loving it. The Cannes critics are a tough crowd and not afraid to express their feelings. Sasha Stone reported that there were a handful of boos at the end followed by a silence and an applause. From the reviews I have read from the movie is that is in line with the Sopranos finale. Some loved it and some hated it, but everyone was speculating about what the ending meant. THE TREE OF LIFE will do the same. The movie does star Sean Penn, but apparently he only has a few lines in the film. It will be interesting to see how a broader audience reacts when it is released May 27th. 

    THE TREE OF LIFE TRAILER

    Saturday, May 14, 2011

    WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN



    It is shaping up to be a good year for movies if you go by what is coming out of Cannes. So far the biggest movie has been WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.  It stars Tilda Swinton as a mom who's son goes on a shooting rampage at the age of 16 and John C. Reilly as the father.  The movie goes into the mind of the mother and asks the question, is it possible for a mother to hate her own child?

    It is shaping for a Best Picture nomination as well as a Best Actress nom for Swinton and Supporting Actor for Reilly.

    There is not an official trailer yet, but here is a link to a teaser...

    WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN TEASER

    Friday, May 13, 2011

    WEEKEND RELEASES




    Google Blogger has been down on and off for the last few days, so I have not been able to update. Some good things are coming out of Cannes that I will write about later, but first here are this weekends openings:

    BRIDESMAIDS-(Awards Potential: none) It is getting good reviews. Look for a Bridesmaids 2.

    PRIEST-(Awards Potential: none) More vampires, bad reviews.



    THOR will probably win the weekend again due to good word of mouth. BRIDESMAIDS is predicted to come in second place.

    Wednesday, May 11, 2011

    MIDNIGHT IN PARIS



    Woody Allen's MIDNIGHT IN PARIS was shown for the first time last night at Cannes. The reviews I read coming out of the screening were all very positive. This could be Allen's return to the Oscars. Best Picture nomination was being thrown around, but the competition this year is going to be tough. Owen Wilson apparently steals the film and could be a Best Actor contender. Obviously it is waaaay early and only the first film screened at the festival. The trailer doesn't do much for me, but I think what Wilson's character does that we don't see yet is the heart of the movie.  Here is a link to check it out yourself.


    MIDNIGHT IN PARIS TRAILER LINK

    Tuesday, May 10, 2011

    CANNES





    The Cannes Film Festival opens tomorrow in of all places Cannes, France. This is where filmmakers show their work and hope to get distribution. The distributors use this festival to hear reviews, opinions and buzz on movies open for distribution. It can make or break a movie. Woody Allen opens the festival with a screening of MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. THE TREE OF LIFE will also get its first big screening for critics this week. It also gives us an idea of what movies could show up at Oscar time. Many of the critics who attend say that the schedule is brutal watching movies from 8am to 2am everyday, must be tough. I will keep you updated on the winners and losers to come out of Cannes.

    Monday, May 9, 2011

    WEEKEND BOX OFFICE



    No Surprises at the Box Office this weekend. THOR at number one with $66 million. Here is list of the top 10 with the possible award contenders underlined:

    1. Thor ($66 million)

    2. Fast Five ($32.5 million)

    3. Jumping the Boom ($13.7 million)

    4. Something Borrowed ($13.1 million)

    5. Rio ($8.2 million)

    6. Water for Elephants ($5.6 million)

    7. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family ($3.9 million)

    8. Prom ($2.4 million)

    9. Soul Surfer ($2.1 million)

    10. Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil ($1.9 million)

    Saturday, May 7, 2011

    THE BEAVER


    THE BEAVER was released in limited theaters this weekend. It was supposed to be released last year in time for last years Academy Awards. Mel Gibson's problems delayed the opening until this year. The reviews I have read so far have been mixed, but many agree that Gibson does a great job in the role. With a Metacritic number of 59 it is unlikely to be nominated for any awards and I don't think think that the public is ready for a Mel Gibson come back.

    Friday, May 6, 2011

    WEEKEND RELEASES




    Each week I will let you know which films are being released and their Oscar potential. I will keep a running list on the Award Potential Page. I will not include many limited releases because for most of us we have to wait for a wide release to see them.

    This week:

    THOR-Potential: Art Direction, Visual Effects and other technical awards. This will be a big winner this week at the Box Office. The reviews so far have been good. Still worth checking out even if you are not a comic book fan.

    JUMPING THE BROOM -Potential: none. Maybe a few laughs, but thats about all.

    SOMETHING BORROWED-Potential: none-Typical romantic comedy minus the romance and the comedy.

    Thursday, May 5, 2011

    REAL SUMMER MOVIE POSTERS

    Summer movie time is here. Look for Superheros, sequels and comedies. Thanks to shiznit.com here are some summer movie posters that really tell you what the movies are about:






    Wednesday, May 4, 2011

    THE TREE OF LIFE




    THE TREE OF LIFE with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn getting a lot of pre-Oscar attention. It will be screened May 16th at Canne and then gets a limited release in the US on May 27th. So far nobody really knows what the movie is about. The trailer looks like a coming of age dinosaur movie. It will be interesting to see what will happen with this mysterious movie. Check out the trailer below:


    LINK TO TREE OF LIFE TRAILER

    Tuesday, May 3, 2011

    MTV MOVIE AWARDS



    The MTV Movie Award nominations have been announced. They are a lot more fun than the Oscars. How can Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis not win Best Kiss?  Maybe the Academy will consider the Best Scared as Shit Performance. Best Line From a Movie is a new category this year. The show will happen June 5th hosted by Jason Sudeikis. Here are the nominees... 


    Best Female Performance
    Emma Stone (Easy A)
    Emma Watson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1)
    Jennifer Aniston (Just Go With It)
    Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)
    Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

    Best Male Performance
    Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1)
    Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
    Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)
    Taylor Lautner (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)
    Zac Efron (Charlie St. Cloud)

    Best Line from a Movie
    “I want to get chocolate wasted.” –Alexys Nycole Sanchez (Grown Ups)
    “There is a higher power that will judge you for your indecency.” “Tom Cruise?” –Amanda Bynes and Emma Stone (Easy A)
    “If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook.” — Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
    ” …A million dollars isn’t cool You know what’s cool?” “A billion dollars. And that shut everybody up.” –Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)
    “You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger darling.” –Tom Hardy (Inception)

    Best Kiss
    Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception)
    Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I)
    Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)
    Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)
    Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis (Black Swan)

    Best Fight
    Amy Adams vs. The Sisters (The Fighter)
    Chloë Moretz vs. Mark Strong (Kick-Ass)
    Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint vs. The Death Eaters (Rod Hunt and Arden Bajraktaraj) (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part I)
    Joseph Gordon Levitt vs. “Hallway Attacker” (Inception)
    Robert Pattinson vs. Bryce Dallas Howard and Xavier Samuel (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)

    Best Villain
    Christoph Waltz (The Green Hornet)
    Leighton Meester (The Roommate)
    Mickey Rourke (Iron Man 2)
    Ned Beatty (Toy Story 3)
    Tom Felton (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part I)

    Best Jaw-Dropping Moment
    James Franco cuts off his own arm (27 Hours)
    Justin Bieber performs (Justin Bieber: Never Say Never)
    Leonardo DiCaprio schools Ellen Page (Inception)
    Natalie Portman goes all “Black Swan” (Black Swan)
    Steve-O is “The S—” (Jackass 3D)

    Biggest Badass Star
    Alex Pettyfer (I am Number Four and Beastly)
    Chloë Moretz (Kick-Ass)
    Jaden Smith (The Karate Kid)
    Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception)
    Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man 2)

    Best Scared-As-Shit— Performance
    Ashley Bell (The Last Exorcism)
    Ellen Page (Inception)
    Jessica Szohr (Piranha 3D)
    Minka Kelly (The Roommate)
    Ryan Reynolds (Buried)

    Breakout Star
    Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)
    Chloë Moretz (Kick-Ass)
    Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
    Jay Chou (The Green Hornet)
    Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy)
    Xavier Samuel (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)

    Best Comedic Performance
    Adam Sandler (Just Go With It)
    Ashton Kutcher (No Strings Attached)
    Emma Stone (Easy A)
    Russell Brand (Get Him To the Greek)
    Zach Galifianakis (Due Date)

    Best Movie
    Black Swan
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part I
    Inception
    The Social Network
    The Twilight Saga: Eclipse


    Monday, May 2, 2011





    I can't post today without mentioning the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Hopefully it can bring some closure to everyone affected by 9/11.

    BOX OFFICE PICKING UP



    This year so far has been pretty slow at the Box Office up until this weekend. Granted last year at this time we had AVATAR and ALICE IN WONDERLAND. It is hard to compete with those films. May officially begins the summer movie season. FAST 5 has had the biggest opening so far this year at around $84 million. The biggest opening ever in April and the biggest opening for the FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise.

    The animated movies RIO and RANGO have both done well so far and both have a shot at an Animated Feature nomination. Other than that there hasn't been a real stand out film this year. There were good reviews for CEDAR RAPIDS and WIN WIN, both are unlikely to be mentioned during awards season.

    August 22nd is when the Oscar films really start coming out to coincide with all of the film festivals.

    Sunday, May 1, 2011

    WELCOME BACK!


    It is May 1st already and I am ready to start talking about this years awards season. Obviously it is way early to begin making picks although some websites have. I will begin writing about some possible contenders, but only time will tell how they will perform.

    Some things have happened since The Academy Awards in February...

    -The reviews for Anne Hathoway and James Franco as hosts were horrible. Franco agrees that he might not have given it his all. The ratings were poor with no surprise winners.

    -The body double for Natalie Portman in the Black Swan claims that she did 95% of the dancing in the film. She Claims that Portman is not the great ballerina dancer that everyone has given her credit for. Ballerina dancers spend all of their lives learning to dance. They also have very unique bodies that only years of dancing could make. It only makes sense that a professional ballerina would do most of the dancing. Portman's performance out shined any dancing that she did. She still deserves the win.

    -Alice Ward, the mother and one-time manager of retired boxing champion Micky Ward, died Wednesday in Boston.  Actress Melissa Leo won a best supporting actress Oscar earlier this year for her portrayal of Alice Ward in 2010's "The Fighter," which itself was nominated for best picture.

    -The Academy announced the date for next years show.  It will be held February 26th, pretty much relying on the same schedule as this year