Movie, Actually

THE 83rd ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS

2011-02-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

So...... a little award show happened just now. Wasn't a big deal or anything. You know... it's just the Oscars. The greatest holiday ever since St. Patrick's Day. So anyway, I've been blogging simultaneously with the awards ceremony which was a fair distribution of prizes as predicted.

The King's Speech took home the Best Picture award along with 3 other awards in Directing, Actor in a Leading Role and Original Screenplay. Along with it was Inception packing in 4 awards all in the technical categories and The Social Network winning 3 in Music, Editing and Adapted Screenplay.

2 awards were given to Toy Story 3 for Best Animated Feature and Original Song while trashy underdog The Fighter took home awards for Melissa Leo and Christian Bale for their supporting roles. Alice In Wonderland also took home 2 awards for Costume Design and Art Direction. While Black Swan claims the Best Actress prize for Natalie Portman.

The full list of winners are below. And.... GO:

BEST PICTURE
•The King's Speech
•127 Hours
•The Social Network
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit
•Winter's Bone
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right

BEST DIRECTOR
•Tom Hooper- The King's Speech
•David Fincher- The Social Network
•Joel Coen and Ethan Coen- True Grit
•Darren Aronofsky- Black Swan
•David. O. Russell- The Fighter

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
•Colin Firth- The King's Speech
•James Franco- 127 Hours
•Javier Bardem- Biutiful
•Jeff Bridges- True Grit
•Jesse Eisenberg- The Social Network

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
•Natalie Portman- Black Swan
•Michelle Williams- Blue Valentine
•Annette Bening- The Kids Are All Right
•Nicole Kidman- Rabbit Hole
•Jennifer Lawrence- Winter's Bone

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
•Christian Bale- The Fighter
•John Hawkes- Winter's Bone
•Jeremy Renner- The Town
•Mark Ruffalo- The Kids Are All Right
•Geoffrey Rush- The King's Speech

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
•Melissa Leo- The Fighter
•Hailee Steinfeld- True Grit
•Jacki Weaver- Animal Kingdom
•Amy Adams- The Fighter
•Helena Bonham Carter- The King's Speech

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
•The Social Network
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit
•Winter's Bone
•127 Hours

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
•The King's Speech
•Another Year
•The Fighter
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
•In A Better World
•Incendies
•Outside the Law
•Biutiful
•Dogtooth

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
•Toy Story 3
•How to Train Your Dragon
•The Illusionist

BEST ART DIRECTION

•Alice In Wonderland

•Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Inception
•The King's Speech
•True Grit

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

•Inception
•The King's Speech
•The Social Network
•True Grit
•Black Swan

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

•Alice in Wonderland
•I Am Love
•The King's Speech
•The Tempest
•True Grit

BEST FILM EDITING

•The Social Network
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•The King's Speech
•127 Hours

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

•Inside Job
•Restrepo
•Waste Land

•Exit Through the Gift Shop
•Gasland

BEST MAKEUP

•The Wolfman

•Barney's Version
•The Way Back

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

•The Social Network

•How to Train Your Dragon
•Inception
•The King's Speech
•127 Hours

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

•We Belong Together from Toy Story 3

•Coming Home from Country Strong

•I See the Light from Tangled

•If I Rise from 127 Hours

BEST SOUND MIXING

•Inception
•The King's Speech
•Salt
•The Social Network
•True Grit

BEST SOUND EDITING

•Inception
•Toy Story 3
•Tron: Legacy
•True Grit
•Unstoppable

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

•Inception
•Iron Man 2

•Alice In Wonderland
•Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Hereafter

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

•Strangers No More
•Sun Come Up
•The Warriors of Qiugang

•Killing in the Name
•Poster Girl

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

•The Lost Thing
•Madagascar, A Journey Diary

•Day & Night
•The Gruffalo
•Let's Pollute

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

•God of Love
•Na Wewe
•Wish 143
•The Confession
•The Crush

It is slightly disappointing that misplaced heavyweights like True Grit, Winter's Bone and 127 Hours left empty handed. It's even more disappointing that The Social Network didn't win Best Picture, which was what I was hoping for. Now before anyone goes off on me about how great Speech was, let me explain.

The King's Speech is the better film, but Network is the more important one. Up until now, we haven't had a film immortalized in the Academy that captures our generation and our time. The old days had Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia and On The Waterfront. The 60's had West Side Story, Tom Jones and My Fair Lady. The 70's had The Godfather and The Sting. The 80's had Kramer Vs. Kramer, Ghandhi and Terms of Endearment. The 90's had Titanic and Forrest Gump.

We haven't had that movie yet that people 50 years from now will look back and remember the Internet generation and technology and youth revolution. The Social Network was our movie. That was supposed to be our time. The King's Speech is just yet another fantastic British film under the shadows of other fantastic British films that will be forgotten in a year or two. Seriously, name me another British period piece that will stand the test of time longer than the likes of Raging Bull or Avatar or Tootsie.

That's just my opinion. Would love to hear comments. Anyway, congrats to the winners and I'll see ya'll next year.

Oscar Special: Best Picture Winners From 1929-2010

2011-02-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

So last year I did this post where I had all the posters of every film that has won Best Picture since the Oscars started in 1929 and people seemed to love it, so I guess this is going to be a new blog tradition on Oscar time.

Personally I've only seen 56 of these, Yes shameful I know. Leave a comment below, whats your favorite Best Picture winner and why? I'll be back with the winners of the 2011 Academy Awards tomorrow!

1929

1930 1931

1932 1933

1934 1935

1936 1937

1938 1939

1940

1941 1942 1943

1944

1945 1946

1947 1948

1949 1950

1951

1952 1953 1954

1955

1956 1957

1958 1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964 1965

1966

1967 1968

1969 1970

1971 1972

1973

1974 1975

1976 1977 1978

1979 1980

1981 1982

1983

1984 1985

1986 1987 1988

1989 1990

1991

1992 1993

1994

1995

1996 1997

1998

1999 2000

2001

2002 2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Photos From The Hobbit Set

2011-02-20T18:38:00.000-08:00

You know, the more I think about the setbacks this movie has had since plans for it were first uttered from that Peter Jackson's mouth; the more I think the powers that be is telling us the new Hobbit movies are just not meant to be.

But anyway, TheOneRing.net has posted up a few pics from the set of The Hobbit as the crew awaits Peter Jackson who's recovering from surgery to begin principal photography next month.

Here's to the helming of a great new epic. Hopefully. *cough* The Lovely Bones *cough*

Adrianne Palicki Cast As Wonder Woman

2011-02-17T16:35:00.000-08:00

The Internet was abuzz last night with the recent announcement of Adrianne Palicki, star of Legion and Friday Night Lights will be returning to television as the titular character in David E. Kelley's Wonder Woman.

Now I'm a fan of David E. Kelley. Hey, the dude made Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal and Boston Public. He's friggin God. But when you hear about the details of the direction he's taking with this adaptation of the Amazonian warrior, you'd scratch your head to.

No joke. As Spill.com describes it:

Wonder Woman is a multiple personality Ally McBeal meets Carrie Bradshaw. Rather than focus on Wonder Woman's role as an Amazonian woman trying to find her place in the world while fighting crime, Kelley has written her as a sobbing, ice-cream eating, Katy Perry-singing man-stalker who juggles three different identities: Wonder Woman - a streetwise vigilante dressed in leather who makes wisecracks while beating up thugs, Diana Themyscira - a high powered executive and chairperson of Themyscira Industries (the company that funds her crimefighting), and mousy "everygirl" Diana Price - a frazzled and sexually-frustrated wageslave who just likes to "hang with her galpals".

And while I don't mind Palicki's casting, I was really hoping for Megan Gale to play her. Don't know who she is? Google Image her and set the moderate search off. Hu hu.

2011 BAFTA Award Winners

2011-02-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

Back from Ipoh ya'll. First of,big shout out to Arcade Fire for restoring some credibility to the Grammy's. And to Will Smith to stop putting his kids in embarrassing promotional crap. Anyway, back in movie world, the BAFTAs happened last night and here's the full list of winners:

BEST FILM
•The King’s Speech
•The Social Network
•True Grit
•Black Swan
•Inception

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•127 Hours
•Another Year
•Four Lions

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
•Chris Morris- Four Lions
•Gareth Edwards-Monsters
•Nick Whitfield- Skeletons
•Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan- The Arbor
•Banksy, Jaimie D’Cruz- Exit Through The Gift Shop

BEST DIRECTOR
•David Fincher- The Social Network
•Danny Boyle-127 Hours
•Darren Aronofsky- Black Swan
•Christopher Nolan- Inception
•Tom Hooper- The King’s Speech

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
•The King’s Speech
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
•The Social Network
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit
•127 Hours
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•I Am Love
•Of Gods And Men
•The Secret In Their Eyes
•Biutiful

BEST ANIMATED FILM
•Toy Story 3
•Despicable Me
•How To Train Your Dragon

BEST LEADING ACTOR

•Colin Firth- The King’s Speech

•James Franco- 127 Hours
•Javier Bardem- Biutiful
•Jeff Bridges- True Grit
•Jesse Eisenberg- The Social Network

BEST LEADING ACTRESS
•Natalie Portman- Black Swan
•Noomi Rapace- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
•Hailee Steinfeld- True Grit
•Annette Benning - The Kids Are All Right
•Julianne Moore- The Kids Are All Right

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
•Geoffrey Rush- The King’s Speech
•Christian Bale- The Fighter
•Andrew Garfield- The Social Network
•Pete Postlewaite- The Town
•Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
•Helena Bonham Carter- The King’s Speech
Barbara Hershey- Black Swan
•Lesley Manville- Another Year
•Miranda Richardson- Made in Dagenham
•Amy Adams- The Fighter

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
•The King’s Speech- Alexandre Desplat
•127 Hours – A.R. Rahman
•Alice In Wonderland - Danny Elfman
•How To Train Your Dragon- John Powell
•Inception- Hans Zimmer

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
•True Grit
•127 Hours
•Black Swan
•Inception
•The King’s Speech

BEST EDITING
•The Social Network
•127 Hours
•Black Swan
•Inception
•The King’s Speech

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•True Grit
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•True Grit

BEST SOUND
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•True Grit
•127 Hours
•Black Swan

BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
•Inception
•Toy Story 3
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1

BEST MAKE UP & HAIR
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham

BEST SHORT ANIMATION
•The Eagleman Stag
•Matter Fisher
•Thursday

BEST SHORT FILM
•Until The Rivers Run Red
•Connect
•Lin
•Rite
•Turning

ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING AWARD
•Tom Hardy
•Aaron Johnson
•Emma Stone
•Gemma Arterton
•Andrew Garfield

First Look At Conan The Barbarian

2011-02-13T17:54:00.000-08:00

I thought this was a joke until I actually saw the pictures. Really? You're serious about this? Okay then. Your funeral.

So imdb has revealed the teaser poster and first images of Jason Momoa as Conan the Barbarian in Marcus Nispel's adaptation the iconic warrior character. The film is said to mostly follow the character's origins from it's collection of 1950's short stories on the tale of Conan the Cimmerian and his adventures across the continent of Hyboria on a quest to avenge the murder of his father and the slaughter of his village.

There are two reasons why this film is not going to work. Number 1, the director Marcus Nispel hasn't had a single likable film in his resume. He's done the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the remake of Friday The 13th and Pathfinder. Guess what? All of them were shitty films.

Next are the writers. Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, who's credits include Sahara and A Sound of Thunder. Yeah.... boring films.

The only thing I'm looking forward to see is Rachel Nichols and Rose McGowan. These two girls are unbelievably hot and have a track record for taking off their clothes in films. And being that this is a movie where people walk around scantily clad, this should be one fine piece of cinema.

Conan The Barbarian premieres in August 2011.

Paranormal Activity 2 | Review

2011-02-11T01:05:00.000-08:00

Horror or no horror, this ghost is getting really boring.

I really hope this is the last I see of the Paranormal Activity series, because at risk of ending up like Saw trash, this genre of found footage and a nocturnal, lazy ghost has gotten old in just two films. Now I saw this movie in the dark and alone just like I did with it's predecessor and I was dead fucking bored.

So what we have here is generally the prequel to Paranormal Activity. We follow a family who's mom is related to Katie from the first movie. So we do see Micah and Katie here and there. The family brings home their newborn son but finds their house has been ransacked without anything taken. The dad sets up security cameras all over the house and over the next few weeks, boring ass ghost shit happens.

The gimmick may have worked in the last film thanks to the hype and the fact that the film actually had some genuinely creepy moments, but Paranormal Activity 2 is just dull. Everything that happens in the fist film happens here in painfully predictable jump scare scenes. Person is in kitchen, living room, bedroom. Person is alone. Person is sitting. Kitchen, living room, bedroom is quiet. A chair moves. Que audience screaming.

There's just nothing to be surprised of let alone scared of in this sequel. And the fact that we already know what plays out in Paranormal Activity makes this movie absolutely useless. It offers nothing new in terms of scares, and only squeezes in a tiny bit of information to the lore of the first film. This movie is the Saw 3,4,5,6,7 of the Saw series. It's all about how much money this dead horse can ring in before an angry mob is organized outside Lionsgates.

But I will say this, the actors were much better than the first movie. Certainly less annoying. I bought these guys as a family, who acted like rational, average people. Watching them interact and deal with this whole paranormal theme was enjoyable, funny at times. But this also meant that we have to sit through long periods of this family doing average boring stuff before a chair moves in the background.

And this movie actually had a climax! And a pretty good one. The storyline of the film ends in a pretty freaky basement scene with a whole lot of elements from The Blair Witch Project being referenced. That climax was pretty tight. Too bad it got ruined by the shittiest piece of bull ending that had horrible special effects and just a flat out laughable train wreck by Katie Featherston.

I mean... this movie isn't bad or anything. It's not Vampire Sucks but there's really nothing to look forward to here. Bor-a-ring.

RATING: 4/10

Sammy's Adventure: The Secret Passage | Review

2011-02-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

And the award for most blatant use of Bruno Mars songs in a movie goes to this one.

So Sammy's Adventure is this little known animated Belgian film that is making it's rounds through the international market hoping to fish for some foreign nominations I guess. It's practically Around The World In 80 Days set in the life of a sea turtle as it travels the oceans and meets different creatures as humans and global warming threaten to.... uhm... come to think of it, doesn't really threaten anything.

Don't believe the 3D hogs who are hounding this movie. I thought Sammy's Adventure looked fantastic in 3D. Sure they achieved the effect by very cheap means of having a fish or octopus swim to the screen but it was still effective. Certainly more believable to see something that is swimming in 3D than to have say..... a bribe taking demigod that's throwing a poorly animated coin in Clash of the Titans. I'm sure you'll forgive the shortcomings of the methods used in a kid's movie.

And for a non-Pixar, non-Hollywood studio film, the special effects and CGI of Sammy's Adventure were brilliant. The underwater scenes were just a visual opus of color and spectacle on par with Finding Nemo. There were a few scenes that were not as well animated than the rest and it did take me out of the story a little bit. But quite frankly there isn't much story to Sammy's Adventure to begin with.

The whole Secret Passage thing gets done in the first half of the movie to make way for a barrage of ecological, Green Peace PSA's that get communicated in the most blaring, cheap ways possible. Instead of actually winning over the audience's pathos with some heartbreaking scenes like.. I don't know.. have Sammy's friend die by being chocked by plastic or some Bambi shit, the filmmaker literally has these animated characters look to the screen in 3D and go, "It's up to you humans to ensure we don't go extinct." Uh... yeah. Die.

Wonderful visuals and 3D at the side, there really isn't much else to recommend about Sammy's Adventure. I felt that the green messages they were presenting in the film was the whole driving force of the movie instead of having some likable characters subconsciously drilling those messages in by having a good story with a lot of obstacles. It's the very basic of children movies. Hey, if a movie about dancing penguins can achieve that without sounding all too forceful on the green message, I was disappointed that Sammy's Adventure couldn't produce that same effect.

Sammy's Adventure may be a visually stunning happy affair, but it is unable to invoke the emotions necessary to make it anything other than an adequate Sunday child time waster.

RATING: 3/10

Latest Super Bowl XLV TV Spots

2011-02-09T03:57:00.000-08:00

First off.. Black Eyed Peas should die. So the Super Bowl's going on right now in the U.S and that can mean two things. Packers awesomeness and summer movie trailers! Paramount unleashed their TV spots for hell of a lot of their summer lineup including JJ Abrams super secret film, Super 8 and the two new additions to The Avengers universe, Thor and Captain America. I got all the TV spots right here. Enjoy!

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES

SUPER 8

THOR

BATTLE LOS ANGELES

COWBOYS & ALIENS

FAST FIVE

BREAKING NEWS | Cobie Smulders Cast As S.H.I.E.L.D's Maria Hill in The Avengers

2011-02-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

You probably know her as Robin Scherbatsky on How I Met Your Mother. Cobie Smulders is about to appear her first significant feature film role as Agent Maria Hill in Joss Whedon's 2012 comic adaptation of The Avengers.

Smulder's reportedly had screen tests with Samuel L. Jackson last week and Marvel confirmed yesterday that she will be playing Nick Fury's sidekick in The Avengers and maybe tie-in a few other Marvel films in the Avengers universe later on.

Cobie joins an already star-studded cast of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Oscar-nominee Mark Ruffalo as The Incredible Hulk, Smauel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, two time Oscar-nominee Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Chris Evans as Captain America.

The Avengers premieres in the summer of 2012. At least I'll watch something epic before the world ends.

Love And Other Drugs | Review

2011-02-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

Julie Andrews would have a heart attack watching this movie.

I can't even begin to count the number of times Anne Hathaway flashed her tits in butt naked nudity awesomeness in the film. It's like the director and Miss Hathaway were trying to find every possible random situation to have her boobs pop out. They weren't even being modest with it, suggestively covering them like in all those "sex" rom coms. No no no. This was a full on Anne Hathaway Showgirls movie, but still a pretty darn good romantic comedy.

So Love and Other Drugs follows Jamie Randall a pharmaceutical rep played by Jake Gyllenhaal who meets Maggie Murdock, a feisty, shallow photographer who suffers from early Parkinson's disease and the two spends the entire movie fucking each other's brains out while trying so hard not to fall in love but like in every romantic comedy, they ended doing so.

The film is based on a book and from what I've heard, the movie is a very unfaithful adaptation cause the real story of Love and Other Drugs was supposed to be about the life and times of a Viagra salesman. Instead, Love and Other Drugs the movie focuses more on a small segment of the book with it's two leading characters. Now, this is as generic as romantic comedies go. All the archetypes, set ups and conclusions are pretty much the same. The only difference is that the film was in the hands of a competent screenwriter and had two fantastic actors.

When Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal are together on screen, there is just a sparks fly chemistry that's going on between these two. You would not believe that them two aren't doing it in real life. It's a satisfying romance that builds with organic genuine growth and a whole lot of realistic sex. Plus they are just so funny to watch together. The first half of the movie was a shotgun of hilarious jokes being delivered in electrifying fashion between these two and how they react to each other is just as fantastic.

Jake Gyllenhaal was actually the strongest of the two. He plays a very slick, charming, asshole with the heart of gold character that doesn't take much effort to win over the audience. He was smooth, engaging, relatable and honest. I actually found myself wanting to be this character because he's just cool. That and also because he got to stick it in Anne Hathaway.

Anne Hathway does play a great love interest. Finally, a female character in a romantic comedy that acts like a real person and isn't falling over herself to make her look cute like Katharine Heigl in an array of shitty Katherine Heigl movies such as the ever-so-wonderful Killers and Life As We Know It. Hathway's character has great depth to her, wearing all her emotions on her sleeves, making it easier for the audience to understand and connect to some of the outrageous actions and choices her character takes.

Plus she is so naked in this movie............ What was I talking about again.

But I am slightly disappointed that the Viagra story only served as a minor plot device to the film. I would have loved to see a Social Network type movie about Viagra with the love story caught within it. For a romantic comedy, Love and other Drugs supersedes expectations but it still falls into that category of the usual, run of the mill love story. There's really nothing new to this movie. No (500) Days of Summer moment. This was just a well written, well acted romantic comedy that will nonetheless be forgotten in a week or two.

But still, do not let that deter you from enjoying the movie. It is good popcorn flick material, Certainly better than what's been coming out these days. Love and Other Drugs is funny, had moments of heart, had unbelievable chemistry between the two leads, a strong supporting cast and Anne Hathaway's breasts. What more can I say to convince you to see this?

RATING: 5.5/10

First Look At Kristen Stewart in Jack Kerouac's On The Road

2011-02-07T04:30:00.000-08:00

Thank God the Twilight shit is getting out of her system. It's been awhile since Kristen Stewart did anything that was worth a damn. First images of Stewart playing Marylou in Jack Kerouac's American classic On The Road has been released.

The film features a star studded cast, with Sam Riley, Garret Hedlund from Tron: Legacy, Amy Adams from The Fighter, Viggo Mortensen from The Road and Steve Buscemi from Boardwalk Empire.

It's gonna be pretty hard to mess up On The Road, the book is amazing so the film should be amazing. If it is any less, I'll skin the director personally. No release date has been planned yet but the film is due out this year.

The Kids Are All Right | Review

2011-02-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

Dude... let's pee on it's head.

I gotta say, this movie was more than pretty alright. I saw this a long time ago, right about the time when summer was just about to end and I was put through a ringer of really bad blockbusters. Never in a million years did I think this film would have been nominated for Best Picture but now that I think of it, there's really nothing more modern, current and better than The Kids Are All Right.

So what we have here is an episode of Modern Family on Valium. Joni and Laser played by Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson are siblings belonging to their lesbian mothers who both mothered one of them using a sperm donor's sperm. When Joni is 18, she and her brother seek out Paul, their sperm donor heir go a crazy relationship between Paul, the kids and their mothers.

First off.. Mark Ruffalo, dude.. you're awesome. He's actually my favorite character in here, beating out Annette Benning's fantastic performance. I did wish his character had more closure and had a more sweet ending but an indie comedy can only stay sweet for so long. His character is just such a cool guy, very laid back and sometimes awkward to the point that it's laugh out loud funny just watching him stone his way through the train wreck of the twisted plot of the film.

I'm not sure if Ruffalo intended this, but I loved the way he executed the comedy with his character. He doesn't go all out like Jim Carrey. but rather ground the humor in the subtle, awkwardness of his facial expressions and voice. His method reflects that of Ty Burrel and Julie Bowen of Modern Family. Respect.

Annette Benning's tight wired performance as Nic, juxtaposes Mark Ruffalo with uncomfortable flair. I don't think that she should have been nominated, because quite frankly this is the poorest out of all of Benning's nominated roles. She's pretty much playing a lesbian, over the top, one dimensional version of Carolyn Burnham and while it did make for some good laughs, I found myself being really annoyed by her.

But the scenes with her and Julianne Moore were amazing. You know, for a lesbian movie.. there's really not much lesbian content as far as sex goes. What we have with is just a very cute, genuine, organic relationship between these two characters doing average, normal cute things. The only difference is that they are homosexuals.

It's a really profound social statement this movie makes. And I'm afraid not many Malaysians will totally be into the idea. The Kids Are All Right depicts the conventional family in a very unorthodox setting of today's modern world. The film is riddled with current issues wrapped in a poignant, sweet comedy. And I for one appreciated it's content.

But even if you are liberal to the idea of homosexual relationship and families, The Kids Are All Right may still disappoint some viewers who may be yearning for a good laugh out loud comedy film. The comedy in the film is more implied and subtle than you would think and may be hard for some people to pick up.

The pacing was also a little draggy. The film could have shaved off a scene or two here and there, especially the ones with that chick from America's Next Top Model, but those are small complaints. The ending did leave much to be desired. I felt that the story developed too well to have an abrupt ending like that, mostly dealing with Mark Ruffalo's character. But other than those, I am in love with this film because the performances and writing is just that good.

So The Kids Are All Right rounds out the 10 Best Picture nominees at the Oscars and I'll say that it's the weakest out of the lot. It's the competitions dark horse and will most certainly leave empty handed. But hey, still a pretty darn good film.

RATING: 7/10

First Look At Captain America: The First Avenger

2011-02-02T21:55:00.000-08:00

So yesterday ComingSoon posted up new hi-res images of Captain America: The First Avenger featuring Chris Evans as the titular character and Hugo Weaving as Red Skull.o check it out:

I think it looks okay. They've done a good job wearing down the uniform into a more believable, realistic attire for the Avenger's universe. But what the heck are those things in the background of the first pic?

The film is being directed by Joe Johnston, who you may have probably seen helming movies like Hidalgo, October Sky, Jumanji and The Pagemaster. Personally I don't think this movie is going to be any good. Cause Johnston is literally incapable of making a realistic war character or movie without swaying into children fantasy. I always pictured this movie to be Saving Private Ryan-like but only time will tell.

Captain America: The First Avenger premieres in Malaysian cinemas on 21st July 2011.

Rabbit Hole | Review

2011-02-01T22:14:00.000-08:00

Secondhand Serenade would call this the feel good movie of the year.

This is a very strange yet welcoming departure for director John Cameron Mitchell. Rabbit Hole has been getting some criticism for it's story being unoriginal. Sure, the concept of Rabbit Hole has been done to death in other melodramatic movies in the 80's but what sets this apart from the rest and why I placed it in my Top 25 Films of 2010 is because Rabbit Hole is one acting powerhouse of a film lead by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart.

So Rabbit Hole is about Becca and Howie, a couple in a turbulent moment of their marriage as they deal with loss, guilt, grief and each other when their 10 year old son was accidentally killed in a car accident. Their relationship begin to shatter as they begin doing different things to cope with the loss. Howie begins a close friendship with a woman from their support group and Becca begins seeing Jason, the teenager who ran over her son. Everything later is family drama goodness.

This is a really well written movie. Rabbit Hole was formerly a play on Broadway being adapted by the same writer to the big screen. The emotional drama intentionally hammed up for the stage blasts through, almost traumatizing to watch at times. And I loved how it is all very real. The fights and drama in the movie all stem from the most stupid, unrelated events yet sort of reminds me of how most of my fights with family members start. The build ups are fantastic and the conclusions are desolate and heartbreaking.

And this wouldn't have worked without the actors. There is just this electrifying chemistry between Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart. This was certainly a Nicole Kidman tour de force. It's little roles like these that remind me that beneath the glamor, there is a reason why Nicole Kidman is regarded as one of the best actresses working today. Her portrayal was difficult yet inspirational to watch as her character's emotional trauma begin to crack through her facade of normalcy with painful yet cathartic consequences.

As a producer, Kidman did a great job at hand picking Aaron Eckhart to play her husband. Unlike Kidman's character, Eckhart wears his pain on his sleeve, unashamed of baring his wounded humanity. It's a rare pleasure to see Eckhart do a dramatic role every now and then because when he's in the zone, he's bloody marvelous.

The film does inject some much needed comic relief with Dianne Wiest who provides a lot of warmth and wisdom as Becca's mother, but doesn't really get a defining moment. And also Sandra Oh and Tammy Blanchard who I should really commend for making the most out of throw away characters to help advance the already paper thin shield of emotional baggage of Kidman and Eckhart's performance.

Ultimately what gives this film its power is that Mitchell's focus is always fiercely rooted in the reality of the situation, side-stepping the potential sentimentality of the subject matter, choosing to highlight the sorrow of Becca, Howie and Jason that strike quite a visceral chord. The scenes on the bench between Kidman and Teller contain moments of such purity as to be heartbreaking - and to me, the final montage is one of the most sublime and emotionally resonant endings I've seen in awhile.

Rabbit Hole isn't to be missed. It's a fascinating, deep, and moving film that will knock you on your feet. Kidman is terrific, but not without Eckhart, Wiest and Teller. At a nice, short running-time, Rabbit Hole will have an impact on your day

RATING: 8/10

Screen Actors Guild Award Winners

2011-02-01T01:04:00.000-08:00

So the SAG Awards were last night. Nothing that interesting to report here. The awards went to the predictables in every film category though there were some exceptions over in the television category.

The King's Speech were the big winners of last night, sweeping the top ensemble and male lead prize while The Fighter and Black Swan raked in 2 and 1 awards respectively. Boardwalk Empire continues to stump Mad Men with Steve Buscemi and the ensemble beating out the AMC's drama while Modern Family upsets Glee in the comedy ensemble category.

The full list of winners are as follows:

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE

•The King’s Speech

•The Social Network
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•The Kids Are All Right

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING CATEGORY
•Colin Firth- The King’s Speech
•James Franco- 127 Hours
•Jeff Bridges- True Grit
•Robert Duvall- Get Low
•Jesse Eisenberg- The Social Network

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
•Natalie Portman- Black Swan
•Hilary Swank- Conviction
•Annette Bening- The Kids Are All Right
•Nicole Kidman- Rabbit Hole
•Jennifer Lawrence- Winter’s Bone

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
•Christian Bale- The Fighter
•John Hawkes- Winter’s Bone
•Jeremy Renner- The Town
•Mark Ruffalo- The Kids Are All Right
•Geoffrey Rush- The King’s Speech

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

•Melissa Leo- The Fighter

•Hailee Steinfeld- True Grit
•Amy Adams- The Fighter
•Helena Bonham Carter- The King’s Speech
•Mila Kunis- Black Swan

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
•Inception
•Green Zone
•Robin Hood

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A DRAMA SERIES
•Boardwalk Empire
•The Closer
•Dexter
•The Good Wife
•Mad Men

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
•Steve Buscemi- Boardwalk Empire
•Bryan Cranston- Breaking Bad
•Michael C. Hall- Dexter
•Jon Hamm- Mad Men
•Hugh Laurie- House

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
•Julianna Margulies- The Good Wife
•Glenn Close- Damages
•Mariska Hargitay- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
•Elisabeth Moss- Mad Men
•Kyra Sedgwick- The Closer

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY SERIES SERIES
•Modern Family
•30 Rock
•Glee
•Hot In Cleeveland
•The Office

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
•Alec Baldwin- 30 Rock
•Ty Burrell- Modern Family
•Steve Carell- The Office
•Chris Colfer- Glee
•ED O'Neill- Modern Family

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
•Betty White- Hot in Cleveland
•Edie Falco- Nurse Jackie
•Tina Fey- 30 Rock
•Jane Lynch- Glee
•Sofia Vergara- Modern Family

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR SERIES
•Al Pacino- You Don't Know Jack
•John Goodman- You Don't Know Jack
•Dennis Quaid- The Special Relationship
•Édgar Ramirez- Carlos
•Patrick Stewart- Macbeth

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR SERIES
•Claire Danes- Temple Grandin
•Catherine O'Hara- Temple Grandin
•Julia Ormond- Temple Grandin
•Winona Ryder- When Love is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story
•Susan Sarandon - You Don't Know Jack

Casino Jack | Review

2011-01-31T23:58:00.000-08:00

Sunkmanitu Tanka Owaci. Yeah figure that one out. Muahahahahah.

So what we have here is kind of an on and off again entertaining movie. For those who don't know the true story this movie it's based on, this is the story of Jack Abramoff played by Kevin Spacey who was once a super lobbyist in Washington D.C until he was involved in this huge corruption scandal involving swindling tens of millions of dollars from Native American casinos amongst other wonderful wrongdoings like political bribery and murder.

For the most part, Casino Jack is an enjoyable satirical comedy. The problem is that I followed this story quite closely two years back and I know what really went down so I couldn't get the thought out of my mind on how inaccurate this movie was. One being that this is a really emphatic movie about Abramoff. Kevin Spacey here is playing this total douchebag in real life as a sweet, movie loving, wise cracking guy who just did some fucked up shit.

I did find myself loving the character Spacey was portraying but that's not how Abramoff is in real life. I mean he's the scummest of scumbags people. But with a bit of belief suspension, you'll find yourself drawn to Kevin Spacey's character because reality aside.. he is one funny guy to watch. When you have a movie where the bad guy is the lead, the director and Spacey did a good job to make Abramoff lovable. Charming really. He reminded me of Jake Gyllenhall's character from Love And Other Drugs where he's this asshole that gets what he wants by manipulating other people, but at the same time, he has such a flair and style to doing it that you can't help but love the guy. Spacey's version is more goofy than flair and it was jackass awesome.

Great to see Jon Lovitz back to doing good comedy. He was an unmitigated disaster in this. But that's not really a bad thing if you're Jon Lovitz. I thought he was actually what Casino Jack needed at times just to point the film back on the goofy path when things got too serious. Sure, it's a brain dead performance and even more brain dead story development but hey, I was brain dead watching it and I was loving the sillyness.

On the other hand, there are some disastrously misguided casting choices, beginning with Kelly Preston as Jack's wife and even though she exhibits some swagger towards the beginning to the film, she is unable to keep up with Spacey, Lovitz and Barry Pepper who developed a great camaraderie of goody sillyness while she's stuck playing the one-dimensional wife.

The story was all over the place at times. Again, this is coming from a guy who knew the case and I can tell you that these guy's really took an artistic license when writing the story. They probably went, "Hmm.. how do I make this funny? Oh I know.. I'll put in some shit that never really happened and have Jon Lovitz turn to the camera and go, ACTING!"

I think I would have liked Casino Jack more if it was a simple television movie. Many of it's gaping flaws would have been forgiven because it's production value terribly fits that of a cinema format.

Ultimately, this is a movie for people who aren't that into politics to watch, have fun and learn a small fraction of something. It's a joy watching Spacey and Lovitz interact here but Casino Jack is gravely mediocre at best. Average, amateurish filmmaking.

RATING: 4/10

Meet The New Superman: Henry Cavill

2011-01-30T17:51:00.000-08:00

Zack Snyder's production of The Man of Steel finally has it's Superman. British actor Henry Cavill, known for his TV role on the period drama The Tudors among other screen credits like The Count of Monte Cristo and Stardust.

He has apparently been super close to playing numerous iconic screen characters. He lost out to Daniel Craig for the Bond movies, The Green Lantern, Batman and even Twilight. Lucky he dodged that bullet huh? From the looks of it, this couldn't have happened to a better guy after hearing all the misses he's gotten. Still not all too convinced he can pull of Superman. I liked Brandon Routh.

The Man of Steel is written by David S. Goyer of FlashForward, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight with producer Christopher Nolan attached, as well as Zack Snyder of Watchmen and Legend of the Guardians helming. Watch out for it in 2012. This should be good.

The King's Speech | Review

2011-01-27T21:44:00.000-08:00

Them British and their stupid royal movies again. For once I just want them to make one bad royal movie. Oh do one about Prince Harry and get Simon Pegg to play him. Now that would be awesome.

So The King's Speech. The frontrunner of the Academy Awards with 12 nominations. Personally I loved this movie for everything it is but I don't want it to win Best Picture for several reasons. I'll talk about them later. But I can't deny that Speech is a beautiful film. Lovely. Wonderful. Masterpiece, really.

In the film, Colin Firth plays the soon to be King of England who is in a lot of ways fit to take up the role as leader of the nation. He's caring, responsible and always answers the call of duty. The only problem is he's a stammerer. I mean he can't talk for shit. He can't even tell his daughters a bedtime story without choking himself. So his wife played by Helena Bonham Carter seeks the help of a speech therapist played Geoffrey Rush and the three embark on a task to cure his speech impediment as the weight of responsibility to his family and nation becomes heavier and war with Germany draws closer.

This is a great movie. Wonderful testament to the subtlety and artistry of British filmmaking. There are many things I loved about The King's Speech. Every part was well envisioned, written, acted, shot and executed under the keen direction of Tom Hooper, who has succeeded in turning a 5 minute speech into a lighthearted and endearing buddy movie on top of a serious family soap opera drama.

Watching Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush play off each other was such a privileged to see. A buddy movie is really the best way I can describe The King's Speech because here's just such a great sense of camaraderie between these two and the film earns that with great development and acting from both these guys.

Colin Firth is going to win the Oscar for this role. He was phenomenal in this. I already felt he deserved to win for A Single Man if it wasn't overshadowed by Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart but he was absolutely wonderful playing a tormented, frustrated royal with such control and subtlety. People may say that it was easy for him to play a stammer but even the way he stutters through the dialog had such great emotion in it. You an literally feel his frustration, his disappointment in himself each time he chokes on a word and it's hard to watch sometimes.

Geoffrey Rush on the other hand is the Dickey Ecklund to Colin Firth's Micky Ward. He's just such a powerhouse maverick in this as the speech therapist who shoulders the King of England through one of the hardest times for him and his country. And he is so laugh out loud to watch. I think it's a shame Rush has been typecast-ed as a supporting role because this is also very much his movie.

But it's also hard to overlook the grand supporting performances in here. It's nice to see Helena Bonham Carter do something that isn't all Tim Burton-y like in Alice In Wonderland. You almost forget what a warm person she could be. Guy Pearce is wonderfully casted to carry on this whole side story of the royal family's struggle between protocol, love and duty in a great yet sublime soap opera drama. And Timothy Spall who surprised me the most playing a very convincing Winston Churchill.

Also great kudos to Tom Hooper who has matured as a director who really knows how to frame shots. The beginning of this film was amazing. It captures the feeling of stage fright right down to a T. And there's so many elements in here that usually would never work in a British period piece like the whole comic area of Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth's interaction. So good job Mr. Hooper. Now lose to David Fincher next month.

Now, why I say The King's Speech shouldn't the big gold is because quite frankly, it is just another generic, dry Oscar movie. The problem with The King's Speech is that, though it is a great film.. it is going to be forgotten in next year's Oscar. Just like The Hurt Locker. People are going to be talking about Avatar and District 9 for years to come but no one is going to remember that movie because it doesn't have that long of a shelf life. And the same applies to The King's Speech. I don't see this movie outlasting The Social Network or Toy Story 3.

But I can't deny t is a great film. And for what it's worth.. It does add another name to the list of great cinematic films. And as a final word to it, I say, "FUCK ASS. BALLS. BALLS. FUCKITY. SHIT SHIT. FUCKING WILLY. WILLY SHIT AND FUCK and…. tits."

RATING: 8/10

Howl | Review

2011-01-26T19:53:00.000-08:00

Oh how I missed weird art movies like this.

Now I'm one of those who appreciate the odd, stylishly weird art films that come around every now and then. But with Howl, there's just a lingering feeling of "I really don't see the point to this,' that's going over my head as the film babbles on cool sounding bullshit in my ear.

So for those who don't know, back in the 50's, Allen Ginsberg, famous American poet wrote an epic poem called Howl. Now for me personally, I always felt that Ginsberg was probably stoned when he wrote it but apparently it's contents were so awesome it broke ground for new modern literature. See how easily people are pleased with "art" these days. Anyway, the film inter-cuts between 3 stories.

The first is the poem itself which is depicted through animation and Ginsberg reading it to an audience for the first time, the second being Ginsberg himself who we see giving an interview with a faceless reporter and lastly the obscenity trial that tried to ban the publication of Howl and prosecute its publisher. All three aspects run the length of the film and are separated stylistically.

The blend between the three segments were beautifully done and was incredibly ambitious and I really felt the risk paid off. The variety helps when jumping between storylines and periods of time. The animation sequences in this isn't Pixar quality but it does it's job in bringing to life the whirlwind and bohemian underbelly tone of Ginsberg's poem. The one-on-one interview with Ginsberg was played brilliantly by James Franco who is continuing to impress me with every role he takes.

Franco is the star of this movie, his performance of a subdued, young Ginsberg is nothing short of refreshing to watch. I'd compare his performance in Howl to Ben Whishaw in I'm Not There who's just sitting on a coach and rambling off with a whirlwind of words and every now and then, he'll say something profound that blows your mind. I am only slightly disappointed that the courtroom segment took up most of the film when all I really wanted was to know more of Ginsberg's back story, because at times I felt Franco's segment was just a fancy transition scene between the courtroom and the animation.

But I did love the courtroom segment. David Strathairn and Jon Hamm provide a highly comical and exciting court battle, and yes Jon Hamm is essentially playing Don Draper but it does work well. There are cameos within the court scenes by Mary-Louise Parker and Jeff Daniels; Parker is fairly forgettable but Daniels’ brief performance is excellent.

All three segments work well and stands alone perfectly even out of the context of the film. Unfortunately, they were made to be intertwined with one another, going back and forth between segments that ultimately leaves the audience underwhelmed in the grand scheme of things.

I blame the pacing of the film. Though stylistically well done, the editing left the segments fragmented and disjointed; not allowing the audience much time to let it all sink in for them. We jump from dark animation with weird narrations to a James Franco speech to a comedy courtroom scene in a matter of minutes each time that it doesn't give you much time to process what you are suppose to be understanding or feeling about the movie. The segments in Howl were great, they just weren't that good together as a whole movie.

I wouldn't recommend Howl to general readers, because it does take that level of interest in art films and an open mind. But I still enjoyed it for the contemporary, smorgasbord mess it is.

RATING: 5.5/10

2011 Academy Award Nominations

2011-01-25T22:27:00.000-08:00

Boom baby! It's that time of the year again. It's my Christmas baby! The season of joy has come and I have the full list of nominees for the Academy Awards that's happening in exactly one month from now.

BEST PICTURE
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right
•The King's Speech
•127 Hours
•The Social Network
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit
•Winter's Bone

BEST DIRECTOR
•Darren Aronofsky- Black Swan
•David. O. Russell- The Fighter
•Tom Hooper- The King's Speech
•David Fincher- The Social Network
•Joel Coen and Ethan Coen- True Grit

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
•Javier Bardem- Biutiful
•Jeff Bridges- True Grit
•Jesse Eisenberg- The Social Network
•Colin Firth- The King's Speech
•James Franco- 127 Hours

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
•Annette Bening- The Kids Are All Right
•Nicole Kidman- Rabbit Hole
•Jennifer Lawrence- Winter's Bone
•Natalie Portman- Black Swan
•Michelle Williams- Blue Valentine

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
•Christian Bale- The Fighter
•John Hawkes- Winter's Bone
•Jeremy Renner- The Town
•Mark Ruffalo- The Kids Are All Right
•Geoffrey Rush- The King's Speech

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
•Amy Adams- The Fighter
•Helena Bonham Carter- The King's Speech
•Melissa Leo- The Fighter
•Hailee Steinfeld- True Grit
•Jacki Weaver- Animal Kingdom

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
•127 Hours
•The Social Network
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit
•Winter's Bone

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY'
•Another Year
•The Fighter
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right
•The King's Speech

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
•Biutiful
•Dogtooth
•In A Better World
•Incendies
•Outside the Law

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
•How to Train Your Dragon
•The Illusionist
•Toy Story 3

BEST ART DIRECTION

•Alice In Wonderland
•Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Inception
•The King's Speech
•True Grit

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

•Black Swan
•Inception
•The King's Speech
•The Social Network
•True Grit

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

•Alice in Wonderland
•I Am Love
•The King's Speech
•The Tempest
•True Grit

BEST FILM EDITING

•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•The King's Speech
•127 Hours
•The Social Network

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

•Exit Through the Gift Shop
•Gasland
•Inside Job
•Restrepo
•Waste Land

BEST MAKEUP

•Barney's Version
•The Way Back
•The Wolfman

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

•How to Train Your Dragon
•Inception
•The King's Speech
•127 Hours
•The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

•Coming Home from Country Strong
•I See the Light from Tangled
•If I Rise from 127 Hours
•We Belong Together from Toy Story 3

BEST SOUND MIXING

•Inception
•The King's Speech
•Salt
•The Social Network
•True Grit

BEST SOUND EDITING

•Inception
•Toy Story 3
•Tron: Legacy
•True Grit
•Unstoppable

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

•Alice In Wonderland
•Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Hereafter
•Inception
•Iron Man 2

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

•Killing in the Name
•Poster Girl
•Strangers No More
•Sun Come Up
•The Warriors of Qiugang

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

•Day & Night
•The Gruffalo
•Let's Pollute
•The Lost Thing
•Madagascar, A Journey Diary

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

•The Confession
•The Crush
•God of Love
•Na Wewe
•Wish 143

So this years nomination sees the academy falling back on the usual, safer kind of films in contrast to last years nominations which saw films like District 9, Ajami and The Secret of Kells being nominated. Here we have our same old predictables. The period drama, the epic western, the box office champ, the boxer movie, the indie gem and Pixar.

The King's Speech leads the nominees with a staggering 12 nominations while True Grit trails with 10 nominations. Inception and David Fincher's Golden Globe winning Social Network holds 8 nods while The Fighter earned 7 nominations. Character pieces like 127 Hours and Black Swan have 6 and 5 nominations each.

First off, I predict the Oscars will be fair game season this year. With all these films performing equally well with each other, and the critics awards being split between many of these films.. it's easy to say that all these films are going to walk away with wins come March. No film is going to pull a LOTR and sweep everything, all films are going to take home something.

My money is on The Social Network to win Best Picture, if not that then it should be The King's Speech. While I don't agree with The King's Speech, it's sheer number of nods is hard to overlook. David Fincher for Best Director. Colin Firth for Best Actor. Natalie Portman for Best Actress. Christian Bale for Best Supporting Actor. Either Melissa Leo or Hailee Steinfeld for Best Supporting Actress.

But for God sakes academy. No nomination for Chris Nolan again?? A fuuuuuuuuuk you.

The Last Exorcism | Review

2011-01-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

Seriously.. it's been almost 40 years since The Exorcist. Thought people would have figured it out by now. Those white nightdresses them girls wear are the demon magnets. You don't wanna get possessed, don't wear a nightdress. Problem solved.

So I wasn't too hyped up to see this movie, because really.. this kind of format and storyline has been done to death in the horror genre but I was pleasantly surprised by this film. For the most part, The Last Exorcism was a genuinely creepy, intense character drama. And then the ending happened.

So the film is about a pastor, Reverend Cotton Marcus who has been an evangelist and an exorcist for all his life, coming from a family of preachers. But he sees his job more of as a business than faith matters. He doesn't even believe spirits or demons are real. Overwhelmed with guilt for the people he's conned, he agrees to do a documentary where he performs and exorcism on a girl and shows the crew all the tricks he uses to make the ritual seem real. But then some strange things start to happen that throws Cotton, the crew and the girls family in a frightening struggle between faith and survival.

First thing gotta talk about is how awesome the two lead actors were. Patrick Fabian who plays the pastor in this is one hell of a character actor. In a way he is very charming in his portrayal but his character has levels of depth usually absent in most main characters in a horror film which probably is what made the story flow so well is because we had a main character that we connected with and like, thus adding great tension in the chilly scenes.

Speaking of chilly scenes.. Ashley Bell is the actress who plays the possessed girl named Nell and even when she's not all Lucifer-ish, her eyes are just creepy to look at. People are saying her performance here is Oscar worthy, and yes she has been getting a lot of indie award nominations but I wouldn't go that far to praise the performance. But definitely a great one, very physical yet subtle in execution in some of the most creepy facial expressions that were brilliantly shot in a found footage format.

And also the two actors who play Nell's father and brother. Which brings me to the whole dynamic storyline of Last Exorcism. See, these guys are batshit fucked up. They don't act like the big lunatics you'll find on Shutter Island, but it's pretty clear that they are just from the way they act and speak. And I thought those two delivered, especially the guy playing the brother.

The Last Exorcism kept me guessing, walking a very thin line between the psychological and supernatural. Throughout the movie, you're wondering if this girl is truly possessed or if she's just psychologically insane because her family and the people around her are just crazy. And the filmmaker does a really good job in leading you in all the wrong directions with some very clever plot twists and scares.

Everything about the two thirds of The Last Exorcism was so neat, and smart and cool. But then the ending happened and my hopes for a good horror film was shattered. Now I'm not going to spoil it, but the ending to this film is ludicrous bullshit. It totally destroys everything the film has been working up to in the first 2/3 of it. Really disappointed how this movie turned out, especially when I have been loving everything else so far only to have it end like that.

But still, this is a fresh take on found footage horror and it's abysmal ending is easily saved by the brilliance of the first two thirds. I'd love to see the director do another horror film.. this time.. don't fuck it up dude.

RATING: 6.5/10

International Poster For Winnie The Pooh

2011-01-24T01:19:00.000-08:00

The Irish website, Scannain published a new colorful poster for Disney Animation Studio's upcoming film, Winnie The Pooh. It premieres in Malaysia on 21st July 2011.

Death Race 2 | Review

2011-01-23T20:06:00.000-08:00

Poor Sean Bean. It's hard going from Lord of the Rings to be in... Death Race 2... Uh.. okay..

I don't really get why this movie is called Death Race 2 cause this isn't really Death Race 2. As in, this doesn't take place after Death Race, it's a prequel.. it's like calling that Star Trek movie Star Trek VIII: Namaste. Anyway so this movie is a prequel to the 2008 movie centering on the origins of Frankenstein.

So for those who don't know, here's a little recap; Death Race takes place in a universe where John McCain becomes President and fucks up the economy and prisons are now run by heinous corporations for profit by making inmates race to the death in gigantic cars with super guns promising the winner of 5 races his freedom. In the race's history, the most famous racer was Frankenstein; a mystery man who was said to have suffered so many scars from racing that he wears a mask but is a pretty badass racer. So Death Race 2 is his origin... A fucking lame origin.

Now boo me all you want but I'll stick by my young, less handsome self and defend my 2008 review that Death Race was a good movie. I liked Death Race. Sure it ain't no True Grit but what the hell do you expect from a movie called Death Race. For a B movie, it delivers what it promised to deliver and then some. So stop going ape shit about the rating I gave it and spam my email about how I gave it a 7 out of 10 but gave movies like Lovely Bones lower or something. It's all about the genre and expectation of the movie. So shut it and read the review.

Anyway, straight up let me just say that Death Race 2 disappointments in a big way. A smaller budget restrain doesn't give you the right to come up with an epic piece of shit that manages to surpass the awfulness of Skyline. Everything you've seen in Death Race; the style, tone, feel, races and action has been copied, ripped and pasted directly into this sloppy, incoherent mess.

Let's talk about the actors first of all.. Luke Goss seems to work out fine as Frankenstein if he just keeps his mouth shut. He's that kinda guy you'd be afraid of cause he's so big and scary but the second he opens his mouth and talks you quickly realize he either has one of two things. (1) Small genitals. (2) Mental retardation. His character speaks like how a geek speaks to a pretty girl. Which is how I speak to a pretty girl. Wise cracking, over-emphasizing jokes and laughing at himself while constantly changing the pitch of his voice. Doesn't help either that he acts like a whole buddy buddy dude trying to please his crew and then becomes totally cold and badass seconds later. It's almost bipolar in a way he's doing this; I'm not sure.. I haven't had my morning gin yet. Maybe he and the director was on gin when they were making the movie.

The next is Tanit Phoenix, who clearly got the role by sleeping with every male in the casting department. She somehow looks like a cross between Carla Bruni and plastic surgery with Natalie Martinez's body superimposed. This woman can't act, she can't even say lines right. I laugh so hard at the unbelievable number of times her voice was dubbed over by herself because the original was probably so bad but they can't reshoot so they resulted to her just saying her lines into a microphone while the editor try to paste it over the video and stitch it together so we won't notice. But I did. Editor fail.

Danny Trejo and Frederick Koehler were the better parts of the film. Both served more of the spine of the movie and brought most of the connection between this movie and Death Race. Also helps that they are great to watch paying off each other as this incredibly awkward yet organic team up. And then there's Sean Bean and Ving Rhames who are just in it for the cheque and poor Lauren Cohan who must be crying now after seeing herself put way too much effort into acting well in a movie that will probably derail her career.

The action scenes in this were boring. I've seen them done before in Death Race and in other movies and I've seen them done much better. While there was technically nothing wrong with them, I was left with this sense of unfulfillment. And that's strange for me, cause I like carcasses splattering all over my TV screen. It's really enjoyable. Perhaps the reason why the race scenes in this felt so hollow compared to Death Race because there was just more at stake in terms of story and character in the original than in this piece of shit.

In Death Race we root for Jason Stathham, a man wrongly accused for murder and is trying to win the race to win his freedom to find his daughter and take care of her. His motivation deepens when he uncovers a greater scheme behind Death race involving him and the warden and races to rebel. In this movie Luke Goss, who is unlikeable and deserves to be in prison is just racing because the word "race" is in the title. There's really no incentive or reason as to why he'd be doing this sort of thing.

So this movie pretty much blows and sucks balls from all angles I can think of. Oh well. See ya. Gonna pour some gin now.

RATING: 2/10

First Look At X-Men: First Class

2011-01-21T02:01:00.000-08:00

Jesus this series just won't die.

So on Wednesday ComingSoon posted the first teaser poster and a few photos of the newest installment to the X-Men series, X-Men: First Class.

The film is being directed by Matthew Vaughn who previously directed Kick-Ass and will star James McAvoy as Professor Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone as Mystique, Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, January Jones of The Boat That Rocked as Emma Frost, Lucas Till as Havok and Nicholas Hoult as Beast.

Pretty impressive line up of actors but I am so ready for this series to be dead and gone. Even the production seems troubled with filming still going on even as the movie is to premiere in just a matter of months from now.

Let's just hope for the best. X-Men: First Class premieres in Malaysian on June 2011.

New Images of Cars 2

2011-01-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

The end of the Pixar Renaissance could be neigh.

So two new hi-res pictures of Cars 2 has been posted on ComingSoon. The photos feature an Aston Martin voiced by Emily Mortimer of Shutter Island and another shows the Lightning McQueen, Doc and Mater cruising in Japan from the looks of it.

Cars was never my favorite Pixar movie, and the fact that this got a sequel over The Incredibles and Monsters Inc. really begs the question if Pixar is slowly running out of ideas. The only thing that is keeping my interest is that Cars 2 is being directed by John Lasseter, director of the original Toy Story.

Cars 2 opens on June 24th. Now let's pray.

BREAKING NEWS | Anne Hathaway Cast As Catwoman, Tom Hardy To Play Bane In The Dark Knight Rises

2011-01-19T23:16:00.000-08:00

I really don't know how to feel about this news really. I was really hopping for Black Mask or Hugo Strange for the threequel but as long as it's in the hands of Christopher Nolan, this is probably going to be badass.

Early this morning it was announced that Anne Hathaway of Get Smart & Alice in Wonderland, has been cast to play Selina Kyle or better known as Catwoman.
Director Nolan stated, "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story."

In other words, he can't wait to see her in the suit. Me neither.

Warner Bros. also dropped another bomb, this time with Tom Hardy, who previously worked with Nolan on the Oscar heavyweight Inception. It's been announced that he will be playing Bane, a steroid infused muscle freak who once broke Batman's back in the comics.

Interesting to see how Nolan grounds Bane's strength in reality. These two villains are definitely more flashy compared to the past two Batman villains who were more grounded in the cerebral and psychological. But hey, I questioned Heath Ledger before The Dark Knight, and I was dead wrong. Best is to sit back and let masterclass come to us.

The Dark Knight Rises will be the final installment in the Nolan Batman series and is slated to be released on July 20, 2012.

Never Let Me Go | Review

2011-01-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

Been reviewing so many mediocre movies this week. Nice to have awesomeness grace my blog again.

Michael Bay probably pissed himself watching this movie. Or maybe he fell asleep cause.. you know, movies need to have explosions and tits in his mind. But anyway, I listed this movie as one of the best films of 2010 and when I went back to watch it I feel like I should have placed it slightly higher.

Never Let Me Go follows three people, Ruth, Tommy and Kathy in different stages of their lives from childhood to young adults; in a dystopian future where children are cloned and raised to serve the public by donating their organs one by one before finally submitting to death. The movie chronicles the three of them as they are forced to face the horrifying truth of themselves and confront their feelings of love, jealousy, hatred and hope for each other.

Comparing this silent masterpiece to The Island is an insult really. The first time I saw this, I could never really wrap my mind around it. Because early in the film they submit to their role as intentional organ donors and willingly let them take their organs and slowly but painfully die. But after multiple viewings, I start to realize it wasn't so much about the logic of their decision (because really what logic is there for most violence and deaths in the world) and was more about the internalization of all three of them as they willingly face death and each other.

The highest praise of the film is the cast. Through the different age periods of the film, not a single one of the main actors faltered or was weaker than the other. quite an extraordinary lineup of three of the most talented young British actors. We have Oscar nominees Keira Knightley and Carrie Mulligan of An Education and also Golden Globe nominee Andrew Garfield of The Social Network banding together to create this dark, twisted yet heartfelt character piece.

Keira Knightley was actually my favorite of the three, though she's pretty much the villain. She starts out pretty much like a bitch, she's fucking the boy her best friend loves and rubs it in her faces by teasing her about it. But we see her character grow and at her arc, we realize she's insecure about herself, frightened and fragile. I felt m heartstrings snap when we find out how her character ends. The finale isn't as flashy or dramatic as most movies but it hit me on a more deeper level, like the loss of a real loved one.

Carrie Mulligan didn't have the pleasure of having a story arc like Keira Knightley but she was the driving force of the film. I'd liken her to a young Jo March; resilient in adversity and caring like a mother. Her character was narrated and played wonderfully. Andrew Garfield wasn't really given much to do until the end but when he get's there it's just heartbreaking.

And that's what Never Let Me Go can be summed up as. Heartbreaking. The film really struck a mournful chord with me. I haven't had such an emotional reaction to a film like this in the longest time. The film really makes you reflect on things. Life, love, the things that really matter. People are calling this science-fiction but I feel Never Let Me Go is just a very well told, well acted and well directed melancholy tale of death and love.

Definitely deserved to be higher on the list.

RATING: 8.5/10

Catfish | Review

2011-01-19T03:49:00.000-08:00

This could possibly be the most important review I ever post up.

People who know me well will tell you that the issues that played out in this documentary have been things I have been saying and saying again about the virtual world. And I think Catfish has so eloquently taken everything I have been concerned about and tells a riveting wake up call to many people who may still be in this age of naivety. Now I'm sounding really serious about this movie, and I am.. but at the very heart of Catfish, some would even call it a love story; in an unorthodox sense of the word.

Without spoiling too much for you, I'll just say that this is probably the only documentary people my age need to see right this instant and if you want it you can get it from me personally. Catfish documents Nev Schulman, a New York photographer who begins a Facebook relationship with an attractive girl he met online and while things seemed perfect and sweet in the beginning; strange twists and turns lead Nev, his brother and friend to drive out to the girls home in Michigan only to discover a very shocking and interesting truth.

Now there's been a lot of debate of whether Catfish is real or not. Personally I believe everything in this is 100% real on the count that the same experience has happened to a friend in college before and I have written many thesis' about this issue. I wish I could say what it is but I really don't want to spoil this movie for you.

The final 45 minutes of Catfish is just going to put you through a ringer of mixed emotions. You are going to go from mystery, to suspense, to horror, to shock and finally sadness. Honestly, I was in tears listening to the final interview of the movie.

And very well done to the filmmakers who were truly bold, inquisitive, creative and understanding during the process of this documentary. They way they framed this movie was to feel like some sort of mystery/horror genre type film with a very, very shocking reveal that is probably going to polarize audiences into feeling either disgusted or sympathetic. And quite honestly, I still don't know how I feel about the outcome of this movie.

I'm not going to say much more about the movie. Just that this film deserves my highest praise and will become the subject of many student debates about the Internet for years to come. Be prepared to be shaken to your very core.

RATING: 10/10

The King's Speech Leads 2011 BAFTA Award Nominations

2011-01-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

So the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced their nominees for the 2011 BAFTA Awards which is due to be announced next month, and as expected; they were balls deep in their local heavyweight The King's Speech which lead the nominations with a staggering 14 nods.

Inception trails with 9 nominations, followed by 127 Hours and True Grit; both with 8 nominations a piece. The Social Network, fresh off their Golden Globe sweep stands at 7 nods.

The awards will be hosted by Jonathan Ross on BBC One. The nominees are as followed:

BEST FILM
•Black Swan
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•The Social Network
•True Grit

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
•127 Hours
•Another Year
•Four Lions
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
•Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan- The Arbor
•Banksy, Jaimie D’Cruz- Exit Through The Gift Shop
•Chris Morris- Four Lions
•Gareth Edwards-Monsters
•Nick Whitfield- Skeletons

BEST DIRECTOR
•Danny Boyle-127 Hours
•Darren Aronofsky- Black Swan
•Christopher Nolan- Inception
•Tom Hooper- The King’s Speech
•David Fincher- The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right
•The King’s Speech

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
•127 Hours
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•The Social Network
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
•Biutiful
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•I Am Love
•Of Gods And Men
•The Secret In Their Eyes

BEST ANIMATED FILM
•Despicable Me
•How To Train Your Dragon
•Toy Story 3

BEST LEADING ACTOR
•Javier Bardem- Biutiful
•Jeff Bridges- True Grit
•Jesse Eisenberg- The Social Network
•Colin Firth- The King’s Speech
•James Franco- 127 Hours

BEST LEADING ACTRESS
•Annette Benning - The Kids Are All Right
•Julianne Moore- The Kids Are All Right
•Natalie Portman- Black Swan
•Noomi Rapace- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
•Hailee Steinfeld- True Grit

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
•Christian Bale- The Fighter
•Andrew Garfield- The Social Network
•Pete Postlewaite- The Town
•Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right
•Geoffrey Rush- The King’s Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
•Amy Adams- The Fighter
•Helena Bonham Carter- The King’s Speech
Barbara Hershey- Black Swan
•Lesley Manville- Another Year
•Miranda Richardson- Made in Dagenham

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
•127 Hours – A.R. Rahman
•Alice In Wonderland - Danny Elfman
•How To Train Your Dragon- John Powell
•Inception- Hans Zimmer
•The King’s Speech- Alexandre Desplat

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
•127 Hours
•Black Swan
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•True Grit

BEST EDITING
•127 Hours
•Black Swan
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•The Social Network

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•True Grit

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•True Grit

BEST SOUND
•127 Hours
•Black Swan
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•True Grit

BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Inception
•Toy Story 3

BEST MAKE UP & HAIR
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham

BEST SHORT ANIMATION
•The Eagleman Stag
•Matter Fisher
•Thursday

BEST SHORT FILM
•Connect
•Lin
•Rite
•Turning
•Until The Rivers Run Red

ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING AWARD
•Gemma Arterton
•Andrew Garfield
•Tom Hardy
•Aaron Johnson
•Emma Stone

Season Of The Witch | Review

2011-01-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

Yay! A subliminal Christian movie with Nicolas Cage and Hellboy..... how bad can it be?

What a way to kick off 2011. With shittyness. Tolerable, slightly enjoyable shittyness but shittyness nonetheless. I'm really torn up about Season of the Witch because there were things in here that I did like but there's also stuff in here that are just so dumb I can't wrap my head around it. So here we go. The first official 2011 movie review.

Season of the Witch is about Behmen played by Nicolas Cage and his friend Felson played by Ron Perlman who are these Christian knights who pillage and kill and destroy so called "enemies of God" under Jesus' name. Then they realize they're doing bad stuff and they desert the army and become outlaws and get captured and strikes a deal with the king to bring this girl who is suspected of being a witch who has brought the Black Plague across the country to stand trial.

I'm gonna list the bad things about this movie first. This film really had no idea what it wanted to be. If there was any project that really needed Sam Raimi to be the director, it's this movie. Season of the Witch would have worked so well if the filmmakers decided right off the bat that the material their working with is crap and that their just gonna turn it into a B grade movie that's for fun. A few scenes in the movie was like that, particularly with Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman; and that's when I enjoyed it the most. But then the movie get's all dark and mysterious until it drags and bores me and then it goes back to being dumb and cool. So it's really messy and choppy here and there.

But still everything about this movie was still somewhat okay until it got to the last 15 minutes of the film. Now I'm not gonna spoil it for anyone, but the climax and big reveal of this movie really made me start thinking that the whole build up and plot development I had seen before it were completely and utterly redundant. Matter of fact, the movie shouldn't even be called Season of the Witch anymore if the end of the movie turned out to be THAT. It's like suddenly switching from the witch scene from Monty Phyton to some episode of Charmed.

Now what is good in here is the pairing of Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman. These guys work great together, they play off each other so well and in a humorous way that really juxtaposes everything else in the movie. We start the whole movie with these two guys literally discussing who's going to buy drinks tonight while they are cutting down enemy soldiers like they were nothing. It would have been even better if Nicolas Cage started playing Angry Birds on his iPhone while killing people.

Season of the Witch worked best when they weren't trying to take themselves seriously. How can they? The entire premise of this movie is outlandish, they don;t have the big budget for an all-out epic medieval spectacle and their two leads are American accented jokers. And I actually appreciated when they were just having fun with the movie, that's when the film was actually interesting to watch for me.

But then they go into this other subplot which is a whole lot more serious and darker which was also good but clashed with the light tone of the two main characters and becomes redundant towards the end. I'm talking about the whole plotline of the group of escorts debating if the hot chick in the cage is really a witch or not. I liked this storyline, I really did. There will be moments when we make a real connection with the girl, we sympathize with her, identify her as a real person.. but then she will go and do something creepy and keeps us guessing what she really is. That's nice, well constructed and well drawn out. But then we get to the end and we find out all that drama was completely useless. Not to mention it displaced all the Cage/Perlman humor they build up to.

So it's a bag of mixed feeling with this movie. At one point, the movie is shitty but becomes so entertaining when they ham the lunacy up. And at another point, we have a dark mystery plot that is genuinely engaging but clashes with the earlier point. But both of them pretty much gets fucked once the whole movie is over and the audience is left sitting in their chairs feeling cheated and thinking, "So what the fuck is this movie supposed to be about?"

I reckon the screenwriter ran out of ideas, or was just too lazy to come up with an original ending so he opted to go with that climactic battle scene. Oh and may I just say; the special effects and CGI of that thing was absolutely horrendous.

So I wouldn't really recommend you to watch Season of the Witch in cinemas. it's not that good of a movie anyway. I think it'll work better for you if you came across it playing on HBO or something. Doesn't add anything to your life.

RATING: 4/10

The Social Network Wins Big at 2011Golden Globe Awards Plus Full Winners List

2011-01-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yes.. what a wonderful intern I am. Rushed back from an assignment, ate my breakfast and checked up on the ongoing Golden Globe awards. As I predicted, the awards distribution was pretty even.

The Social Network lead the winners with 4 wins including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Score. Followed by The Fighter with 2 wins by Christian Bale and Melissa Leo in the supporting role categories. The Kid's Are All Right won for Best Motion Picture- Comedy along with Annette Benning winning for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy. Black Swan, The King's Speech, Barney's Version each won 1 award for their lead actors.

Over in TV, Glee reigned supreme with 3 wins including Best TV Series- Comedy and acting awards for Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer. Mad Men's streak has been upset with Steve Buscemi's dark and gritty Boardwalk Empire which swept the dramatic awards.

The big WTF-ness in all of this is that Inception, one of the highest grossing movies and critically acclaimed movies of the year went home with zilch. Not a single win for Christopher Nolan and his cast. This is The Dark Knight all over again.Fuck you Hollywood Foreign Press!

Anyway here's the full list of winners:

Best Motion Picture - Drama
•The Social Network
•The King's Speech
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•Inception

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
•The Kids Are All Right
•Red
•The Tourist
•Alice In Wonderland
•Burlesque

Best Director
•David Fincher - The Social Network
•Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
•Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
•Christopher Nolan - Inception
•David O. Russell - The Fighter

Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
•Colin Firth - The King's Speech
•Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
•Mark Wahlberg - The Fighter
•James Franco - 127 Hours
•Ryan Gosling - Blue Valentine

Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
•Paul Giamatti - Barney's Version
•Jake Gyllenhaal - Love and Other Drugs
•Kevin Spacey - Casino Jack
•Johnny Depp - Alice In Wonderland
•Johnny Depp - The Tourist

Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
•Natalie Portman - Black Swan
•Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine
•Halle Berry - Frankie and Alice
•Nicole Kidman - Rabbit Hole
•Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone

Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
•Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right
•Julianne Moore - The Kids Are All Right
•Anne Hathaway - Love & Other Drugs
•Angelina Jolie - The Tourist
•Emma Stone - Easy A

Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
•Christian Bale - The Fighter
•Michael Douglas - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
•Andrew Garfield - The Social Network
•Jeremy Renner - The Town
•Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech

Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
•Melissa Leo - The Fighter
•Helena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech
•Mila Kunis - Black Swan
•Amy Adams - The Fighter
•Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom

Best Screenplay
•Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network
•Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy - 127 Hours
•Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg - The Kids Are All Right
•Christopher Nolan - Inception
•David Seidler - The King's Speech

Best Original Score
•Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross - The Social Network
•Hans Zimmer - Inception
•Alexandre Desplat - The King's Speech
•Danny Elfman - Alice in Wonderland
•A.R. Rahman - 127 Hours

Best Original Song
•You Haven't Seen the Last of Me (written by Diane Warren) - Burlesque
•Bound to You (written by Samuel Dixon, Christina Aguilera, Sia Furler) - Burlesque
•Coming Home (written by Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges) - Country Strong
•I See the Light (written by Alan Menken, Glenn Slater) - Tangled
•There's a Place for Us (written by Carrie Underwood, David Hodges, Hillary Lindsey) - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Best Foreign Language Film
•In a Better World
•Biutiful
•The Concert
•The Edge
•I Am Love

Best Animated Film
•Toy Story 3
•The Illusionist
•How to Train Your Dragon
•Despicable Me
•Tangled

Best Drama Series
•Boardwalk Empire
•Dexter
•The Good Wife
•Mad Men
•The Walking Dead

Best Comedy Series
•Glee
•30 Rock
•The Big Bang Theory
•The Big C
•Modern Family
•Nurse Jackie

Best Actor in a Television Drama Series
•Steve Buscemi - Boardwalk Empire
•Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad
•Michael C. Hall - Dexter
•Jon Hamm - Mad Men
•Hugh Laurie - House

Best Actress in a Television Drama Series
•Katey Sagal - The Closer
•Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer
•Julianna Margulies - The Good Wife
•Elisabeth Moss - Mad Men
•Piper Perabo - Covert Affairs

Best Actress in a Television Comedy Series
•Laura Linney - The Big C
•Lea Michele - Glee
•Toni Collette - The United States of Tara
•Edie Falco - Nurse Jackie
•Tina Fey - 30 Rock

Best Actor in a Television Comedy Series
•Jim Parsons -The Big Bang Theory
•Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
•Steve Carell - The Office
•Thomas Jane - Hung
•Matthew Morrison - Glee

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television
•Carlos - Sundance Channel
•The Pacific - HBO
•Temple Grandin - HBO
•You Don't Know Jack - HBO
•Pillars of the Earth - Starz

Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television
•Al Pacino - You Don't Know Jack
•Dennis Quaid - The Special Relationship
•Edgar Ramirez - Carlos
•Idris Elba - Luther
•Ian McShane - Pillars of the Earth

Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television
•Claire Danes - Temple Grandin
•Judi Dench - Return to Cranford
•Romola Garai - Emma
•Jennifer Love Hewitt - The Client List
•Hayley Atwell - Pillars of the Earth

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television
•Chris Colfer - Glee
•Chris Noth - The Good Wife
•Eric Stonestreet - Modern Family
•David Strathairn - Temple Grandin
•Scott Caan - Hawaii Five-O

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television
•Jane Lynch - Glee
•Kelly Macdonald - Broadwalk Empire
•Julia Stiles - Dexter
•Sofia Vergara - Modern Family
•Hope Davis - The Special Relationship

First Look At Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man

2011-01-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

Hard to admit, but I'm actually liking this reboot more and more as new details and previews start coming up about it.

Last week, SlashFilm posted the very first image of Andrew Garfield, star of the hugely successful The Social Network and Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in his Spider-Man suit.

I'm loving this whole dark and dirty look that director Marc Webb is going for, big contrast from his lighthearted first feature, (500) Days of Summer. The Spider-Man reboot has yet to have an official title but will surely hit cinemas in 2012.

Like what you see? Comment below!

The Switch | Review

2011-01-14T01:38:00.000-08:00

Hey! A Jeniffer Aniston movie I don't hate.

You know when Brad Pitt left her for the Jolie, something must have snapped in Jeniffer Aniston's brain cause she keeps doing these shitty romantic comedies man. The only difference between The Switch and her other dumb rom coms is that in here, she has a realistic and likable male counterpart in the form of Jason Bateman.

So the movie is about Kassie played by Jeniffer Aniston and her best friend Wally played by Jason Bateman. Kassie is desperate to get pregnant and is looking for a donor for artificial insemination. Wally is madly in love with Kassie but has been trapped in the friend zone with Kassie. After being rejected as a donor by Kassie and seeing how perfect and much better her donor was than him, Wally get's drunk one night and accidentally loses the donor's sperm and replaces it with his own and he forgets the night ever happened coz he's shit drunk. Kassie get's pregnant, moves away and comes back 7 years later with her son as Wally slowly begins to realize her son is exactly like him. Funny starts here!

This isn't much of a romantic comedy as it is just a plain good comedy with a romantic element as a subplot. This movie worked and only worked because of Jason Bateman who was absolutely hilarious in this. He is neurotic as shit and snaps back at everything with witty, dry humor that sometimes go a little overboard which will make people around him uncomfortable but the people watching laugh their asses off.

We have a scene where he's on a blind date with this girl. Hot girl, seems to like him and stuff. Then she says if they keep getting along so well they're gonna end up married. And then Jason Bateman goes, yeah but then I'll have to spend a lot of money keeping you happy and I'll get super busy with work, and our sex life will deteriorate and you'll start hating me and we'll fight and we'll rekindle every once in awhile but our relationship will probably end, and you'll end up drinking and depresed and I'll be guilty and probably kill myself. And he girl is all like... Imma go home now.

And Jeniffer Aniston is getting all the star billings here but this movie pretty much belongs Jason Bateman and the kid that plays his son. Thomas Robinson who plays Sebastian, Wally's mental neurotic son was so amazing in this movie. How fucked up is it when a 10 year old kid acts better than you Jeniffer Aniston hahaha. He walks that very fine line of being just this annoying, neurotic, Woody Allen type character and also a very charming, earnest and sincere little kid.

Watching Jason Bateman and this kid just interact with each other was one funny experience after another. Imagine one smartass guy making snap comments at people, and now imagine that smartass and a little smartass kid arguing with each other. But their relationship does grow and we get very much attached to both of them. Also gotta hand it to Patrick Wilson and Jeff Goldblum who were really good in this to.

But then the director realize, oh yeah... Jeniffer Aniston's in this to. And shoehorns a whole romantic comedy storyline into what was already a good movie for her sake in the last 15 minutes of the film. The ending to this just destroyed everything this movie was working up to be. It felt like, the film was doing everything right, good characters, good writing, funny dialog and suddenly... Hey everyone, Jeniffer Aniston is here! No.. just no.

But albeit the horrible final act, this movie was an enjoyable, surprising little flick. Die Aniston Die! Unagi!! UNAGIIII!

RATING: 6/10

First Look At Rooney Mara in David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

2011-01-12T20:30:00.000-08:00

Holy shit this girl is going places. Rooney Mara who was gone from being in the disastrous Nightmare on Elm Street to playing Mark Zuckerberg's muse in Oscar heavyweight The Social Network has reteamed with David Fincher to star as Lisbeth Salander in a remake of a popular Swedish crime film The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. One of the three in the series' franchise.

So W magazine has posted the first and rather racy photos of Rooney Mara as Lisbeth and it looks pretty awesome. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is set to premiere on Christmas 2011. Double Oscar season in a row for Fincher and Mara perhaps?

Gareth Edwards To Direct Godzilla

2011-01-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

So back in 2010 I reviewed an indie sci-fi called Monsters praising the director Gareth Edwards for being able to create a rich and beautiful dystopian alien world within to confines of a really small budget. The movie went on to become a huge success in the indie market and he's been getting loads of attention.

Now, CinemaBlend reports that Gareth Edwards is close to signing a deal with Legendary Pictures to direct a new version of Godzilla due out in 2012. And you know what, as far as talented young sci-fi directors go, this couldn't have happened to a better guy.

I'm really excited to see what the guy's gonna do with this legendary monster. Personally, I'd like to see a more darker Godzilla, not of it as a character but more in the style of Cloverfield where there is this air of mystery and horror about the monster.

Godzilla will begin production shortly and will be stomping Tokyo probably in the summer of 2012.

Saw 3D | Review

2011-01-10T19:02:00.000-08:00

Well... at least it's over.

See what happens to go good movie franchises when some idiot producer fucks it up? I'm just so happy this series is over and done with because Hollywood took one of the most salient and emphatic horror villain and series and turned it into just another torture porn pieces of shit.

So this movie follows Saw VI and just to show how fucked up his series is, the main character of Saw died 4 movies ago. Yeah. Anyway.. Saw 3D is about Bobby Dagen who claims to be a survivor of one of Jigsaw's traps and is starting some kind of Oprah television-like AA group for Jigsaw survivors. He finds himself in "another" Jigsaw trap and is in a race against time to save his wife. The film also picks up the storyline of Mark Hoffman in covering up his tracks and seeking revenge on John Kramer's wife.

What do you expect. it is what it is I guess. After 7 films, there's really little things the Saw series can do that can surprise me now. We have gotten to the point where the true message and style of Saw has been long gone replaced with mindless, desensitized violence for the sake of audience gratification. Leigh Whannel and James Wan are probably rolling in their graves. But their not dead yet so that reference does not apply. They're rolling in their beds. Yeah.... hurt you there didn't it Saw 3D producer.

I can't begin to say how painful it is wasting time talking about this movie, but thankfully it's the last I'll ever speak of this series so here we go. Saw 3D is a piece of shit. Don't be fooled with this movie. There is never a moment where you will feel bored what with all the gore, but underneath all that is production value at it's absolute lowest. The story of Bobby Dagen has been repeated, recycled and rechurned over the course of 4 movies. We've seen this again and again before. Person needs to go through a series of tests to get to something that is either important to person or person will die. A 7 year old who ha splayed Mario Brothers could come up with that plot device.

As for the Hoffman storyline,it is more of a matter of tying up the entire story rather than pulling out all the stops for a finale. But you really can't blame the writer. Unclimatic, sloppy and misplaced the whole storyline was, there's really nothing more he could probably think of after 5 films of shit. And to add on to the shittyness, the whole thing is driven by Costas Mandylor; the worst D grade actor in the world and Betsy Russel; probably a failed pornstar who got into the series by fucking the producer.

I can't begin to describe how bad, how awful their acting was. Remember how fucked up the acting was in The Last Airbender, well this is that on crack. Betsy Russel only has one expression, the-face-up-looking-down-whilst-mouth-gaping-open-as-you-try-to-look-dramatic look and she does it even when the scene nor situation commands her to do that. Costas Mandylor train wrecks through the script with no emotion and no energy. It's almost like he doesn't care anymore. And I really don't blame him.

The gore and violence of Saw 3D has gotten to the point where it's so ridiculous. They are just looking for any reason for blood and flesh to splatter all over the place. Get this, Chester Bennington gets massacred by a car seat. Yeah. A FUCKING CAR SEAT. In the original Saws, the gore was only an add on to the suspense that builds between the characters of the movie. The whole set up of Saw is pitting one human against another in their attempts to survive and at the same time test their resolve, will to live and their humanity. Now, it's just hey.. we need more blood and death. Boom. Splat. Yayyyy. Fuckers.

And just to show how fucked up this series has gotten, Cary Elwes, the original victim of Saw comes back and literally anal fucks the entire audience with a new accent, character, the works. Do they even care about continuity issues. Does Cary Elwes even care? it's not enough to fuck up a great series, they have to go back and take one of the best bits of the original Saw and massacre it in this piece of shit for "nostalgic" sake.

Seriously.. all the people behind Saw 3D and all the past 5 Saws... FUCK YOURSELVES. I'll sleep tonight imagining all of you in that carousel trap. And pleasuring myself to the thought of all of you dying one by one.

RATING: 1/10

Black Swan & The King's Speech lead films on BAFTA longlist

2011-01-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

The British Academy has announced the films longlisted for its 2011 awards, with Black Swan and The King’s Speech leading the pack, recognized in 15 categories each.

Inception and Made In Dagenham followed in 14 categories each, and The Social Network was listed in 13 categories. In 12 categories each are The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Alice In Wonderland, True Grit, Shutter Island, and The Fighter.

Among the surprises for longlisted films, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo had an unexpectedly strong showing in 12 categories (plus The Foreign Language nomination detailed below).

Anyway here’s the longlist:

Best Film
•127 Hours
•Another Year
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•Shutter Island
•The Social Network
•The Town
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit
•Winter’s Bone

Best Foreign Film
•Biutiful
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•I Am Love
•Of Gods And Men
•The Secret In Their Eyes

Best Adapted Screenplay
•127 Hours
•Alice In Wonderland
•Barney’s Version
•Brighton Rock
•Despicable Me
•The Ghost
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Never Let Me Go
•Rabbit Hole
•Shutter Island
•The Social Network
•The Town
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit
•Winter’s Bone

Best Director
•127 Hours
•Alice In Wonderland
•Another Year
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•Shutter Island
•The Social Network
•The Town
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit

Best Original Screenplay
•Another Year
•Biutiful
•Black Swan
•Blue Valentine
•The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
•The Fighter
•Four Lions
•Get Low
•Hereafter
•I Am Love
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•Of Gods and Men

Best Make Up & Hair
•127 Hours
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Brighton Rock
•The Fighter
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•I Am Love
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•Never Let Me Go
•Shutter Island
•The Social Network
•True Grit

Best Special Visual Effects
•127 Hours
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Hereafter
•How To Train Your Dragon
•Inception
•Iron Man 2
•Kick-Ass
•The King’s Speech
•Monsters
•Shutter Island
•Toy Story 3
•Tron Legacy

Best Sound
•127 Hours
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Brighton Rock
•The Fighter
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•Shutter Island
•The Social Network
•The Town
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit

Best Editing
•127 Hours
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•Shutter Island
•The Social Network
•The Town
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit

Best Costume Design
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Brighton Rock
•Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•I Am Love
•Inception
•Kick-Ass
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•Never Let Me Go
•Shutter Island
•The Social Network
•True Grit

Best Production Design
•127 Hours
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•Brighton Rock
•The Fighter
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•I Am Love
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•Never Let Me Go
•Shutter Island
•The Social Network
•True Grit
•Cinematography
•127 Hours
•Alice In Wonderland
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•I Am Love
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•Never Let Me Go
•Shutter Island
•The Social Network
•The Town
•True Grit
•Winter’s Bone

Best Animated Film (three will be nominated)
•Chico & Rita
•Despicable Me
•How To Train Your Dragon
•Illusionist, The
•Toy Story 3

Best Original Music
•127 Hours
•Alice In Wonderland
•Biutiful
•Brighton Rock
•Despicable Me
•The Ghost
•The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
•How To Train Your Dragon
•Inception
•The King’s Speech
•Made In Dagenham
•Never Let Me Go
•The Social Network
•The Town

Best Leading Actor
•Aaron Eckhart (Howie) – Rabbit Hole
•Ben Affleck (Doug MacRay) – The Town
•Colin Firth (King George VI) – The King’s Speech
•James Franco (Aron Ralston) – 127 Hours
•Javier Bardem (Uxbal) – Biutiful
•Jeff Bridges (Marshal Reuben J Cogburn) – True Grit
•Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg) – The Social Network
•Jim Broadbent (Tom) – Another Year
•Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter) – Alice In Wonderland
•Leonardo DiCaprio (Cobb) – Inception
•Leonardo DiCaprio (Teddy Daniels) – Shutter Island
•Mark Wahlberg (Micky Ward) – The Fighter
•Paul Giamatti (Barney Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
•Robert Duvall (Felix Bush) – Get Low
•Ryan Gosling (Dean) – Blue Valentine

Best Leading Actress
•Andrea Riseborough (Rose) – Brighton Rock
•Annette Bening (Nic) – The Kids Are All Right
•Carey Mulligan (Kathy) – Never Let Me Go
•Gemma Arterton (Alice) – The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
•Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe) – Tamara Drewe
•Hailee Steinfeld (Mattie Ross) – True Grit
•Jennifer Lawrence (Ree) – Winter’s Bone
•Julianne Moore (Jules) – The Kids Are All Right
•Michelle Williams (Cindy) – Blue Valentine
•Natalie Portman (Nina Sayers / The Swan Queen) – Black Swan
•Nicole Kidman (Becca) – Rabbit Hole
•Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth Salander) – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
•Rosamund Pike (Miriam Grant-Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
•Sally Hawkins (Rita O’Grady) – Made In Dagenham
•Tilda Swinton (Emma Recchi) – I Am Love

Best Supporting Actor
•Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Saverin) – The Social Network
•Andrew Garfield (Tommy) – Never Let Me Go
•Ben Kingsley (Dr Cawley) – Shutter Island
•Bill Murray (Frank Quinn) – Get Low
•Bob Hoskins (Albert) – Made In Dagenham
•Christian Bale (Dicky Eklund) – The Fighter
•Dustin Hoffman (Izzy Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
•Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue) – The King’s Speech
•Guy Pearce (King Edward VIII) – The King’s Speech
•Jeremy Renner (James Coughlin) – The Town
•Justin Timberlake (Sean Parker) – The Social Network
•Mark Ruffalo (Paul) – The Kids Are All Right
•Matt Damon (La Boeuf) – True Grit
•Pete Postlethwaite (Fergus ‘Fergie’ Colm) – The Town
•Vincent Cassel (Thomas Leroy / The Gentleman) – Black Swan

Best Supporting Actress
•Amy Adams (Charlene Fleming) – The Fighter
•Barbara Hershey (Erica Sayers / The Queen) – Black Swan
•Ellen Page (Ariadne) – Inception
•Geraldine James (Connie) – Made In Dagenham
•Helena Bonham Carter (Queen Elizabeth) – The King’s Speech
•Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen) – Alice In Wonderland
•Lesley Manville (Mary) – Another Year
•Marion Cotillard (Mal) – Inception
•Melissa Leo (Alice Ward) – The Fighter
•Mila Kunis (Lily / The Black Swan) – Black Swan
•Miranda Richardson (Barbara Castle) – Made In Dagenham
•Olivia Williams (Ruth Lang) – The Ghost
•Rebecca Hall (Claire Keesey) – The Town
•Rosamund Pike (Lisa Hopkins) – Made In Dagenham
•Winona Ryder (Beth Macintyre / The Dying Swan) – Black Swan

BAFTA does not have a longlist for these categories:
•Outstanding British Film
•Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Producer or Director
•Short Animation
•Short Film

The BAFTAs will be awarded on Feb 13.

127 Hours | Review

2011-01-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

By far, the greatest movie to ever be based on a dumbass.

You know... I feel for the guy and all having the balls to cut off his arm and being able to survive in the canyons for 5 days and all, but c'mon Aaron Ralston... going off without telling anyone where you were.. you're kind of a dumbass.

So everyone's heard this story before. This is a film adaptation of Between a Rock and a Hard Place which tells the true story of a mountaineer, Aaron Ralston played by James Franco; who in 2003 goes off into Blue John Canyon for a weekend hike but when a boulder falls loose and traps his hand deep in the canyon, he is faced with a gruesome challenge of survival.

I'm talking shit about the guy but seriously, 127 Hours is one fantastic film. People are comparing it to Buried being another bottled film but I see Buried as more of a thriller with a daring, creative director while 127 Hours is more of a character piece directed by Danny Boyle, the man behind Slumdog Millionaire.

127 Hours has two stars, the first is James Franco who has really given a breakthrough performance with this one-man piece. I never knew he had it in him. What with all the stoned and depressed characters he's been playing. No doubt he's gonna get nominated. But... this is kind of Colin Firth's year.. so... nice try.

Franco is eerily authentic in his portrayal. You can see the gradual exhaustion and desperation taking its toll on him; you can see the visible fear on his face as he faces life or death. Not many actors are able to drive a film by mainly interacting with themselves and the static objects around them, but Franco delivers in spades at every turn. Whether he is being devastatingly hilarious or dead serious, he still manages to ensure the realism and intensity of his performance never changes. You will be unable to take your eyes off this riveting portrayal at any time.

But this is still very much Danny Boyle's film. 127 Hours is just masterclass in every way thanks to his brilliance. It takes a lot to make a movie where the guy from Pineapple Express is talking to himself for 1 hour 30 minutes but damn it he did it anyway. The thing I loved is that Boyle finds very creative and somewhat humorous ways of switching between James Franco in the canyon and James Franco's internal interactions. Whether it be Ralston thinking of the hot chicks he saw the other day or intervewing himself, these scenes act specifically as our way into his life and his character dynamic, and overtakes the whole story with the boulder most of the time.

I have also gotta commend the cinematography in this. This film wouldn't have worked without these stylishly and crazily shot and edited set pieces. It does bother me somewhat that Danny Boyle used the same exact stop-motion style in Slumdog Millionaire here to and overused it quite a bit but it's a minor complaint. While I don't think the camerawork in here was better than Buried, it is undeniable that it took craftsmanship to do this.

It is no spoiler if I tell you that at the end of the movie, the dude cuts his damn hand off. You know it's coming and as the film builds and builds the audiences connection with Ralston, you begin to dread that moment where he has to do it. And when that scene comes, they hold nothing back. The scene is notorious for causing people to faint in the cinemas it's showing in but I didn't feel it was THAT bad. But it is still very gruesome, very gut-wrenching, very visceral.

I really don't have that much bad stuff to say about 127 Hours. This is a great film. A stunning tale of physical and internal survival portrayed by a great actor and driven by a greater director.

RATING: 8.5/10

First Look at Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in Spider-Man Reboot

2011-01-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

These people have had one awesome year. We have Andrew Garfield fresh of two of the most successful films of the year with The Social Network and Never Let Me Go. And we have Emma Stone who has emerged as the new teen queen with Easy A.

And under the direction of Marc Webb of (500) Days of Summer fame, I am really crossing my fingers that we will see a fresh and good reboot of the Spider-Man series. Tough act to follow though. The Sam Raimi has a special place in my heart. But if anyone can do it, these 3 can.

So check it out, set pictures of a scene between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy has been released on the Internet. Not much can say about them, just enjoy. The new Spider-Man movie is set to hit theaters next year.

The Fighter | Review

2011-01-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy for Christian Bale I could cry.

How many times has Christian Bale deserved a nomination? Well let's examine that. (1) Empire of the Sun (2) American Psycho (3) Equilibrium (4) The Machinist (5) Rescue Dawn (6) The Fighter. Who would have thought the role that's probably gonna win one of the greatest actors of our time his Oscar is that of an American bum. But hey, pretty darn good role and pretty darn good movie.

So The Fighter is a boxing drama based on a true story by David O Russell about Mickey Ward, an aspiring pro boxer and his older half-brother/trainer Dicky Eklund who was once the pride of the town for knocking down Sugar Ray Leanord but is now a crack addict. Ward deals with his overbearing family as he tries to grasp at one chance of boxing glory before his time is up.

I gotta say this and this has nothing to do with the review, but damn is Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale's family ugly in this. Every sister they have just get's uglier and uglier. Their house is like a clown car of ugly sisters. You'd think Melissa Leo would have burnt her vagina shut after the second one came out like that. It's like Mordor up in her uterus. Just sayin. Okay moving on.

The Fighter is a great film. A lot of people are comparing this to Rocky and Raging Bull but I wouldn't go that far in praising this film. The Fighter is more of a family drama than a boxing movie. There is only 2 fight scenes in here and the rest are just some really good well directed family struggles that is as realistic as it is comical and heavy.

This is Christian Bales movie, Mark Wahlberg gave a commendable performance in this, but I can't say enough of Bale's performance in this. There is a video that plays in the credits of the film that shows the man he was playing and the resemblance in speech patterns and body movements are almost identical between character and actor. Bale embodies Dicky Eklund. Even to the point of abusing himself to get as thin as he got to be the character. This is bravura method acting at it's finest being flashed out by Christian Bale here.

And it also helps that the character of Dicky Eklund is an interesting character anyway. He's that person in the family that is the life of the party, the most colorful person in the room. I can see why people love the guy. He's got his own style of charm to him. So put that character together with an actor who can handle it and boom we have ourselves one of the best performances of 2010. Oscar nom? Yes, Oscar win? Better be.

Another two who we're great in this were Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. Melissa Leo as usual is great in any role she plays, tackling the role of the matriarch of the Ward-Ecklund family almost in the same fashion as Barbara Hershey in Black Swan but not in a creepy kind of way. On some level her character reminds me of Edie Falco from The Sopranos.

And Amy Adams. Wow is she great in this. And honey, thank you for doing that scene in your underwear. Me like it. She plays one feisty woman who don't take no shit from nobody but has that gentle loving side to her that Mark Whalberg has been so lucky to see. My favorite scene in this movie was a very beautiful play between her an d Christian Bale talking about what they need to do for Micky on a porch. That I thought was a wonderful scene.

I do have a complaint though and that was the boxing scenes. I felt that O' Russel wasn't to keen on focusing on the boxing and was just trying to get over with it as soon as possible, so the scenes were poorly choreographed and shot. In both scenes we see Mark Whalberg get the shit beat out of him for the most part and towards the end he gets up and lays a few punches and wins. There isn't any tension, no drama, no internalization while the fights are going on. They were just fights for the sake that it was a boxing movie.

Although I feel The Fighter has zero chances of winning much Oscars with heavy contenders like Inception, Black Swan, Toy Story 3 and True Grit; I love this movie nonetheless.

RATING: 8/10

True Grit | Review

2011-01-04T00:50:00.000-08:00

John Wayne's up there right now going, "Oh well....." And Llyod Bridges is going "Ahahahahahahahahah"

Not since Unforgiven have I seen a ballsy Western. Thank you Lord! Thank you! In a decade where I've been stuck watching movies like Twilight, The Notebook, A Walk To Remember and Scott Pilgrim geeky movies; it's nice to finally see a man's man movie again. What? Hey I like testosterone movies to k.

People have got to get their heads straight and realize True Grit isn't a remake of the 1963 John Wayne film. It's a an adaptation of a novel that John Wayne's film was also based on, only this time; Rooster Cogburn isn't just some bumbling drunkard and Mattie Ross isn't Justin Bieber.

The film is about Mattie Ross a 14 year old girl who's father was shot and killed by a drifter whom they took in and showed kindness to. She travels into town seeking revenge by finding the roughest and meanest marshals to go after him. In comes Rooster Cogburn, a trigger-happy, drunkard marshal / marauder who deals with justice in his own unlawful way. The duo is joined by LaBaeouf, another marshal who also intends to bring the drifter into custody.

Who would have thought that the best Coen brothers movie was the most un-Coen brothers movie. True Grit had no trace of any of the Coens' trademarks. No real snappy dialogue exchanges, no exceptionally quirky side characters, no elements of film noir, and no peculiar set pieces with strange camera angles and general weirdness. Instead many people get shot and die. This is a positive change.

The Coen's have come roaring back with this film proving that amidst the mess like No Country For Old Men and A Serious Man, they are great genre directors who really understand story structure, character development and tension building. There is a scene in a cabin where everyone is just sitting and talking for 10 minutes and the tension that they build in this room harkens back to the first scene of Inglorious Basterds where you know that something's going to happen and they build and build until when they finally get to the pay off, it's not that much of a violent scene but it was satisfying to see it nonetheless. Finally, a Coen movie that doesn't lead you down a blind alley for art sake.

Jeff Bridges was great in this. He has produced a reincarnation of John Wayne's undeserving Oscar winning performance and turned it into one of bravura, real grit and with a sense of untold wisdom. If you've seen the original, you know that Jeff Bridges was better than John Wayne in this role. John Wayne looked like he was really drunk the time of shoot. Falling and spitting and making fun of himself. Here we have someone who is a drunk and a marauder but when it comes to doing his job, he knows what he's doing and he's damn badass in it.

I didn't care too much for Matt Damon in here, I really didn't appreciate the Coens using him as the comic relief of the film with him popping out one-liners and jokes every now and then, nothing wrong with it, it's just that I was so prepared to see True Grit as the heavy western I thought it would be and it turned out to be pretty funny at times. it just shattered my whole illusion of finally being able to see a full-on serious western. But the humorous parts weren't superfluous and at the very least, they were the moments in the film where all the characters developed the most. So while I didn't like the Matt Damon comic relief, I recognize that it was essential to the story.

But the star of this movie is Hailee Steinfeld. Everyone's seeing the poster and thinking Jeff Bridges is the star of the movie but really, this film is about her. She's the heart of the story and for a 14 year old actress in the presence of acting greats, she held her own and blew me away.

Mattie Ross kind of reminds me of Jesse Eisenberg from The Social Network in a way that she is very anal-retentive and obsessive and incapable of seeing other people's agenda other than her own to the point where she's literally talking Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon into submission until she get's what she wants. Out of all the characters in True Grit, Mattie Ross was the most interesting. And from Hailee Steinfeld I saw a performance well beyond her age with grace, ferocity and also vulnerability.

I love the fact that she beneath her hardened exterior, she is still a little girl. She is still very flawed and despite what most may believe, she doesn't fully know what she's doing. We get this idea that this girl is so business like and tough but then we get to moments of the film where she is around a pony and the little girl in her comes out completely. You kind of forget how vulnerable this little girl really is which gives you a sense of danger for her as the film progresses.

And just like in any Coen film, the cinematography of True Grit is amazing. While you may not appreciate their inventive camera shots in their normal films, guess when you put that same style in a period piece like a western, it takes on a new life for it. The tracking shots and the steadycam shots in this are really really good.

It is no surprise they are releasing True Grit in the heart of Oscar season. The storytelling is amazing, the performances top notch, the costumes realistic, the soundtrack haunting, the cinematography is brilliant and young Hailee Steinfeld's performance is one of the best I've seen this year, second to Natalie Portman in Black Swan.

I can't begin to say how much I recommend True Grit to people. This movie comes so close to cinematic greatness it blows my mind.

RATING: 9/10

Black Swan | Review

2011-01-01T20:49:00.000-08:00

Thank you Aranofsky for making Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis tongue each other.

Now I don't know about you, but this trend with Darren Aronofsky's films really worries me. With the exception of The Fountain, every single one of his main characters in every movie ends up going crazy. And Black Swan delivers that in full mind fuck bat shit crazy awesomeness.

So in Black Swan, Natalie Portman plays a ballerina who's out of her fucking mind. She get's cast to play both the White Swan and the Black Swan in a visceral adaptation of Swan Lake and with the help of her overbearing mother, her crazy instructor with wondering hands and her own paranoia over a new dancer that joins the company, she slowly finds herself slipping into insanity.

I ain't the biggest fan of ballet but this is one killer of a film. This is what you get when you put the raw and unflinching feel of The Wrestler and cross it with the cerebral horror and visceral mind fuck of Requiem For A Dream. This film is one creepy yet mesmerizing art movie.

I can't express how much credit I give to Natalie Portman. I never really cared when she was nominated for Closer but I can safely say she is going to get nominated for Best Actress and if there's nobody better, she should win. She trained her ass of for this role. I could tell. Anyone who has seen a ballet can tell. Just watching her disintegrate like that is such a pain to see and at the same time you can't take your eyes of her. The expressions on her face, the eyes, the movements of her lips and eyebrows, all these things don;t just come naturally for an actor playing such a difficult role. This demanded craft and huge amounts of control and Portman blew it out of the park.

And before I get to the other actors, I have one more thing to say that compliments Portman's performance and that was the camerawork of the film. The cinematography of Black Swan is kind of like watching ballet on LSD. We have Natalie Portman dancing and the camera is spinning around her, it's almost like she had a rig attached to her while she was dancing. And the camera never goes off her face. Matter of fact, it punches into it so tightly until we can see everything she's seeing and feeling. You're not watching Swan Lake when she dances, you are watching her literally disintegrating on stage in very uncomfortable close-ups.

The film's supporting cast is absolutely phenomenal. Vincent Cassel is great in this, Winona Ryder was great, amusing to cause I think Aronofsky deliberately cast her to have Natalie Portman steal her make up cause she used to shoplift muahahaha. Mila Kunis is great being Jackie Burkeheart in here. But the real good one here was Barbara Hershey who plays Natalie Portman's mom.

This woman is bat shit crazy. No wonder her daughter lost her fucking mind. She's that mother who's putting on tremendous amounts of pressure on her daughter while seemingly is trying to be the good guy. She's that character that was great in her prime but saw it all crumble when she had her daughter and is now in some form of competition with her and at the same time egging her on into this obsessive strive for perfection which ultimately leads to her downfall.

The sheer weight of this film is really overwhelming. It really is. Darren Aronofsky has succeeded in creating a nightmarish masterpiece that is going to leave people breathless. Be prepared to see this. It's going to take everything you've got.

RATING: 9/10

The Town | Review

2010-12-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

Who the hell would have thought Daredevil would direct one of the best films of the year?

The man has really risen from the ashes of being a joke of an actor to being this phenomenal director. With Gone Baby Gone and now The Town, Ben Affleck continues to solidify his talents in front of, and behind the camera.

The film takes place in Charlestown which the movie would have you believe is like the epicenter of crime in the United States. Criminal-ism is literally a profession passed from father to son. We follow a group of bank robbers led by Ben Affleck's character who at the beginning of the film robs a bank and takes Rebecca Hall as hostage. But in it's aftermath, Ben Affleck begins having a relationship with his hostage unbeknownst to her that h was her robber as dynamics in the group spiral out of control with the FBI closing in on them.

The Town is an electric heist film played out with an impressive ensemble cast, and grounded in a believably earnest sense of place. It portrays bank robbers in a way not many people will see, that beneath their twisted profession and violent nature, they are actually nice people who just chose the wrong profession.

All that applies except for Jeremy Renner who continues to amaze me. I didn't care so much for him in The Hurt Locker but he delivers a no holds barred, fuck-the-world, volatile insane character that was a joy to watch. I'd go as far as to compare him with Joe Pesci from Goodfellas. He walks that fine line as John Hawkes character did in Winter's Bone as in being an anti-hero type character where the audience loves him but is still afraid of him. Oh and he has one of the best end scenes I have ever seen a bank robber has. If I'm gonna go out, I'm going out like THAT. Minus the trashy drink.

However Renner's best scenes were always with Ben Affleck. These two have 3 really big bank robbery scenes in this and they play off each other so well, especially to the end. It's almost an orchestra in a way these two handle their heist scenes with great tension, build and clever but almost always gruesome conclusions.

But with all the hype surrounding the two, I feel it's also adequate I mention the great performances John Hamm, Rebecca Hall and Blake Lively gave as the film's supporting cast. I mean, it takes a hell lot to make Blake Lively look trashy but hell if they didn't do it. Still hot though. This is the first time I really saw Blake Lively act, and she's good! Really good. Jon Hamm is wonderful as an incorruptible cop as well as Rebecca Hall who plays a really torn up woman of conflicts and trauma because of her experiences in the film.

Some reviewers are dissing the climax of the film calling it misplaced and sluggish. But I wouldn't have had it play out any other way. The final shootout scene in the film is one of the absolute best I have ever seen since Michael Man's Heat. And I have also got to mention a brilliantly shot and edited car chase scene that is on par with The Dark Knight.

This is still far from a perfect film but it is one of the best I have seen all year long. The Town is a sharp heist film cum crime drama that will leave it's audience breathless.

RATING: 8/10