It’s that time of year again. When everyone tries to pound out a marathon of Oscar nominated films in attempts to watch all the films before they fill out their Oscar Pool ballots. I’ve been pretty diligent this year to watch all feature films nominated. Phew!
Below are my picks for this year’s Oscars:
Best Picture: Argo Against history, I’m picking the most deserving of all nominated films. Despite Ben Affleck’s snubbing, his film will be honoured as a whole by being named this year’s Best Picture.
Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis This is really a no brainer. DDL’s method performance of Abraham Lincoln will again win him another golden statue.
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz This award can very well go to Tommy Lee Jones for his performance in Lincoln but my bet is on Waltz on yet another memorable and wildly entertaining role as The Dentist in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence I’ve bounced between Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain as my pick over the past few months but after surprise win at the Golden Globe, the tables tipped to her favour. Her comedic timing as the charming and strong headed Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook was fantastic and could earn Lawrence her first Oscar at 22.
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway Another sure thing at tomorrow’s Oscars, Hathaway blew the world away with his voice as Fantine. I don’t think anyone can touch her for this one. FUN FACT: Anne Hathaway’s mother portrayed Fantine in the first US tour of Les Miserables.
Best Director: Ang Lee Ang Lee was once again able to bring magic onto the screen and create a film like Life of Pi. Not even Yann Martel thought his story could be made into a film but did Ang Lee prove him wrong.
Best Cinematography: Life of Pi The many breathtaking scenes of Pi’s journey across the ocean should be more than enough if convince anyone that can very likely take home the hardware.
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Argo – Chris Terrio For me, this one could go either way between Argo and Silver Linings Playbook but Chris Terrio’s first big feature film screenplay could be great enough to earn him an Oscar tomorrow.
Writing (Original Screenplay): Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino Maybe I’m a little bias with QT’s writing, and after him getting robbed of an Oscar for his work on Inglourious Basterds, I definitely think he can take it home this year for Django. (#TeamTarantino)
Those are my picks for the big 9 categories, below are the rest of them:
Best Animated Feature: Brave Best Documentary: Searching For Sugar Man Best Documentary Short: Inocente Best Foreign Language Film: Amour Short Film (Animated): Paperman Short Film (Live Action): Curfew Best Film Editing: Argo Costume Design: Anna Karenina Production Design: Anna Karenina Music (Original Score): Life of Pi Music (Original Song): Skyfall by Adele Sound Editing: Life of Pi Sound Mixing: Les Miserables Make-up & Hairstyling: Les Miserables Visual Effects: Life of Pi
Well that’s all I’ve got for this year’s Oscars – Best of luck to you all!
Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel (2013) - CLICK TO ENLARGE
We finally have our first look at our new Superman in Man of Steel played by Henry Cavill!
After the critical and commercial bust of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns in 2006, a reboot was quickly suggested. Man of Steel will be produced by Christopher Nolan (Inception), written by David Goyer (The Dark Knight) and directed by Zack Snyder (300). This all-star group will surely redeem the Superman legacy and bring us another comic book film that can meet The Dark Knight gold standard!
Man of Steel is planned to be released June 14th, 2013 and will star Henry Cavill (The Tudors) as Superman and Amy Adams (The Fighter) as Lois Lane. The film also features a stellar supporting cast including Russel Crowe (Gladiator), Diane Lane (The Perfect Storm), Kevin Costner (The Untouchables) and Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire)
An amazing 4 minute trailer for the upcoming season of The Walking Dead!
The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic zombie horror series based on the graphic novel series of the same name. The AMC show first debuted on Halloween of 2010 and received critical acclaim from around the world and has surely turned many zombie haters into fans and zombie lovers into giddy school children.
The Walking Dead
Season 2 of The Walking Dead is slated to debut on October 16th, 2011! Enjoy!
Certain to be the nerdiest, most enjoyable horror film that you will find out there, Knights of Badassdom will bring out the nerd in all of us.
For those unfamiliar with the fantasy action role-play game, L.A.R.P was introduced to much of the world in the 2008 comedy Role Models. It is essentially a live action Dungeons and Dragons where nerds get to battle it out in costumes rather than sitting around a table. It’s much more hilarious than it sounds, if you don’t believe me, you’ll have to watch Role Models, pronto.
In Knights of Badassdom, a group of friends join together to take part in a LARPing battle (don’t hesistate to correct me if I misuse the term), and in a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand in battle, they accidentally summon a demon from the underworld. The horror comedy film will star many familiar faces including Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), the beautiful Summer Glau (Serenity), Community favourite Danny Pudi and of course, the great Peter Dinklage who many will recognize as Tyrion Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Knights of Badassdom: Peter Dinklage (Left) and Ryan Kwanten (Right)
This film is essentially a nerd’s version of Braveheart with badass fake armour and foam swords. There is actually a real LARPing community which I didn’t know existed but director Joe Lynch wanted to make sure this film accurately represented the LARPers of the world. He said this past weekend in an interview at Comic-Con that “if one person grabs a foam sword at the end of the movie, we’ve done our jobs.” I think it’s a very attainable goal considering how much fun these guys make it look but let me assure all of you…that it will not likely be me who picks up that foam Claymore.
But you never know, maybe Knights of Badassdom will change my mind! It is set to be released late 2011, so aspiring LARPers of the world, you have a few months to get your armour, shields and swords ready for the screening. Hizzah!
Ryan Gosling known for his versatile acting abilities will play an LA stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver in his upcoming action film, Drive.
Coming off one of his finest performances in last year’s Oscar nominated film, Blue Valentine, Ryan Gosling follows suit with yet another film worthy of public and critical praise. Drive was among the films nominated for the Palme d’Or, the Cannes Film Festival’s top award while Danish director, Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson) took home the award for Best Director.
Ryan Gosling in Drive
I’m certain that Drive will be hugely successful in the box office this year given the exceptional talents that the film hosts and the thrilling debut trailer we’ve just seen. The trailer premiered at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and will surely pick up momentum from here on out. The film stars Ryan Gosling as the LA stunt driver who takes his talents to become a getaway driver on the side. He will also be supported by award winning talents like Carey Mulligan (An Education) and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad).
Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan are probably among my favourite actors out there right now and so I am thrilled to see how good this film looks. Drive is set to kick off our Fall film season on September 16th, 2011 but hopefully it’ll be among the films featured at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival so I can catch it early!
What’re your thoughts on Drive? Are you excited or is it just me? – Haha
Emmy Rossum (Shameless) will star in a completely new and innovative Hollywood genre in the internet film Inside, which will integrate live social media to shape the path of the film.
This new style of film will use the power of social media channels like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to effectively allow the viewers to not just follow in what is happening in the film, but actually contribute to the film. DJ Caruso, who has directed thrillers like Disturbia and Eagle Eye is now taking it one step further and using the addictive, social personalities of our society today to create a brand new film experience with Inside.
The film is going to follow Christina Perasso, played by Emmy Rossum, who has been kidnapped and is being held in a room with a laptop computer. Her mysterious captor allows her to have periodic internet access on the computer in which she uses that time to reach out to people through social media platforms to try to solve the mystery of her kidnapping and location.
This is where we come into play.
I’m very interested to see how this plays out so I will definitely be following this as it goes along. The official launch begins TODAY (July 25th, 2011) at 2:00pm ET so lets follow them all on Twitter and Facebook and experience this together!
San Diego Comic Con came and went in a flash, just as it does every year but it always leaves us with some great teasers to give us something to look forward to!
Since Joss Whedon‘s The Avengers is slated to release in the Spring of 2012, they are already in the middle of production for the Marvel superhero epic!
This weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con, they had on display the new uniform that will be worn by Captain America himself! It is an updated and modernized version of what we will see in Joe Johnson‘s Captain America: The First Avenger since that film is set in the early 1940s.
Click any of the images below to get a closer look at Cap’s Avengers uniform!
The Avengers: Captain America Helmet with Wings
The Avengers: Captain America Close-Up (Chest)
The Avengers: Captain America Close-Up (Torso)
The Avengers: Captain America Full Avengers Uniform
Personally, I think this is one hell of a costume. It is sleek, modern and yet still represents the classic feel of Captain America with his trademark shield, wings and patriotic colours. I have all the faith in the world in Joss Whedon to pull off this film!
Yes folks, our fears or perhaps dreams for some has finally come true. Our favourite flying, green mullet planetary eco-hero is currently being scripted to become a live action (to the best of their ability) feature film!
The original cartoon series was created to inform younger viewers about the serious environmental issues in the world. The show was about a group of young people called “The Planeteers” who were granted abilities to control the Earth’s elements and when combined they can summon Captain Planet, an environmental superhero who would battle the world’s eco-villians.
Sadly, this was the type of shows out there during my childhood, thankfully I had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to keep me on my feet. The film will be produced by producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford, who is best recognized for their work on Michael Bay’s Transformers movies as well as the upcoming giant robot action film, Real Steel. (Yes – quite the resume, I know..)
No word on when or whether this movie is going to come to fruition but as of right now, it’s been given the green light to develop..but for now, and for nostalgic purposes…
The annual San Diego Comic Con is a massive 4-day convention for all things comic and graphic novel related and it begins TODAY!
You know what that means! A huge amount of great stuff being unveiled and released about all the upcoming movies including Marc Webb’s upcoming reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man that’s set to be released on July 3rd, 2012! We’ll start off comic-con with a couple new screenshots from the film of Spidey! We finally get our first look at a classically posed Spider-Man and a full look at the suit in all its superhero glory!
I look forward to seeing much more from this movie in these upcoming days! If you haven’t gotten a chance to check out the new trailer, officially released today! Check it out HERE!
a film lover's knowledge basket.. 