Leonardo DiCaprio has played historical personages before, but his attachement to a pitch at Warner Brothers for a film about the Russian “mad monk” known as Grigori Rasputin may yield his flashiest true life role yet.

Deadline has reported that the studio has bought a pitch from American Sniper scribe Jason Hall about the mystic adviser to the Russian Tzar Nicholas II and his family that he will be developing for DiCaprio to star in.

Not much is definitively known about Rasputin as during the time he was associated with the Tzar and his family there were plenty of rumors that circulated about him. He was first invited to the Tzar’s palace as a healer with the hope that he could do something for Tsarevich Alexei’s hemophilia. Whether because of his growing influence within the Tzar’s family, his unorthodox views on religion and spirituality or some of both, Rasputin earned a number of enemies within the court in a short time and survived one assassination attempt before a second finally succeeded in December 1916, months before the Russian Revolution would begin.

While there are some who still see DiCaprio in terms of his pretty-boys, I think his best stuff is when he is playing a character that uses his looks to help him pursuit a nefarious goal. In Catch Me If You Can or Django Unchained he’ll flash a charming smile that will disarm a prospective victim without them even realizing it. So this sounds like a project that could conceivably play to that strength to the hilt.

1. Django Unchained (Weinstein Company, @3,010 Theaters, 165 Minutes, Rated R): I, for one, admire Quentin Tarantino. He is one of the few directors who career developed right when I became interested in film, and I have been a fan from the very beginning. He is never afraid to wear his influences on his sleeve (and, his critics say, lift entire sequences from them to put in his films), and he weaves completely new works stitched together from genres and styles he likes.

This film is Tarantino’s take on the western, with a blaxploitation twisted added on to it. Jamie Foxx plays Django, a slave turned bounty hunter, who tries to rescue his wife from her owner, the vicious Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

2. Les Miserables (Universal, @2,807 Theaters, 157 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Now, I have never read the book or seen the Broadway musical adapted from it, but from what I see of this film, it seems like the title is truth in advertising.

You have people starving. You have people thrown in jail. You have women selling their bodies to survive. You have corruption. You have revolution. You have turmoil. What you don’t have, at least in the ads I saw, is much happiness.

That’s just what you want to see over Christmas. Here’s something relentlessly bleak and gloomy! Happy holidays!

3. Parental Guidance (Fox, Wide Release, 104 Minutes, Rated PG): I have t0 say this. It might not be cool or hip, but I am a Billy Crystal fan, dating all the way back to his days as a stand-up comedian.

That being said, it is weird to see him in this role, his first starring role in a decade. I mean, Harry from When Harry Met Sally  and Mitch from City Slickers in a wacky family comedy? Man, that really makes me feel old. It probably doesn’t make Crystal feel young either, as he is playing a grandfather in this.

The plot, well, it’s about grandparents watching their grandkids, and having their approach to parenting not jiving with their kids approach to parenting. I just hope Crystal can bring something more to the rather formulaic plot.

In a multi-part series, Comic Book Film Editor William Gatevackes will be tracing the history of comic book movies from the earliest days of the film serials to today’s big blockbusters and beyond. Along with the history lesson, Bill will be covering some of the most prominent comic book films over the years and why they were so special. This time, we continue our four week “vacation” overseas with the most notable one-off comic films Japan has to offer.

If Europe is to be commended for so easily accepting comic books as art, then Japan should be given the gold star for the way it totally embraced the art form. Manga is read by all-ages in Japan, and by all social classes and has reached a level of cultural status unseen in the country.

Over the last quarter century, manga’s influence has grown into the United States, to such a point that if you were to walk into any bookstore (if any bookstores still exist when this post is published), you’d find the shelves dedicated to manga out numbering the shelves devoted to American comics by four to one. While Magna’s dominance of the American market is a relatively recent occurrence, American audiences were exposed to one of manga’s greatest characters decades before.

Osamu Tezuka has been called the Japanese Walt Disney for a variety of reasons. Both have had an indelible effect on the fields of animation and comic books in their respective countries. Both have inspired generations of fans and influenced generations of artists. And both have created characters that have touched the hearts of millions.

Tezuka created many characters in his lifetime, but perhaps the most popular in the United States was Astro Boy. Created by Tezuka in 1951, the character was a little robot boy who was created by a scientist named Dr. Tenma as a replacement for his dead son, Tobio. When Tenma realizes that the robot could never take the place of his dead son, he sells the robot boy to the circus. While at the circus, he catches the eye of another scientist who works at the same Science Ministry as the robot’s creator. The scientist, Professor Ochanomizu, adopts the robot, and becomes its legal guardian. The robot, now known as Astro Boy, would go on to have many adventures, striving to keep Japan safe.

American audiences were first exposed to the character when the Japanese anime adapted from the manga was redubbed and run in syndication on U.S. television. The U.S. cartoon originally ran from 1963 to 1965, although it has been rebroadcast at various times since then.

In 2009, the robot boy got computer animated with the film Astro Boy.

The film cost $65 million to produce and featured an all-star cast of voices, including Nicolas Cage, Freddie Highmore and Nathan Lane. However, it only grossed under $40 million worldwide.

If Astro Boy was the Mickey Mouse of manga/anime, then you can argue that Akira is the Citizen Kane of the mediums. Akira first appeared in 1982 in the pages of Young Magazine and was created by Katsuhiro Otomo. The story told the tale of a Neo-Tokyo, a new version of the city that sprung up after being destroyed at the start of World War III. A nuclear bomb was blamed for the blast, but it was really due to the powers of a telekinetic named Akira.

Neo-Japan is dominated by civil unrest, an oppressive government, and warring biker gangs. When a gang member by the name of Tetsuo Shima develops telekinetic powers similar to Akira’s, all hell starts breaking loose.

The manga was an epic story with various subplots and characters interwoven together. Some say that Akira is a parable for postwar Japan and the generation that was born after WWII. The story was brought over to the United States in 1988 by Marvel’s EPIC imprint, was part of the first wave of the manga invasion, and helped the cyberpunk genre take off. Otomo would write and direct a film version of his story, which would hit theaters in 1988.

The film differs from the manga to quite a degree, as it would due to trying to convey six volumes of story into a two-hour film, but the film made a lot of best-of lists and stands today as a cult classic. A live-action version of the story, with everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to James Franco to Zac Effron rumored to be attached to it, is in development hell even as we speak.  

Another manga turned film soon to be remade by Hollywood is Old Boy. The manga, which ran in Weekly Manga Action from 1996 to 1998, focuses on a man who was imprisoned in a private prison for 10 years and, upon his release, has to track down the people who kept him captive and the reason why he was held. The manga was the basis for the Korean film, Oldboy.

The film, while keeping the basic plot of the manga, makes a couple significant changes to make it darker than the source material. The character is locked up for 15 years, not ten, and still has to find a reason why, but the path he takes has more disturbing twists and turns. Incest is added as a plot point, the violence and gore is amped up, and the resolution is less positive. But, like Akira, even with the changes, the film Oldboy was very well received. It also is heading for an American remake, with Spike Lee tapped to direct the project.

Next up, the European comic book film franchises.       

It’s that time of year again. Tomorrow, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the nominees for the 84st Annual Academy Awards.

Every year there are snubs and surprises, thrills and controversies. There is no way of knowing who will be nominated, especially in a year when the Best Picture nominees could be 5 films, or ten films, or any number in between.  We here at FilmBuffOnLine, who believe the day nominations are announced should be a National holiday, are going to try and handicap the process for you.

We will try to tell you, in the most non-committal way possible, who we think are Almost Certain to get a nomination, who Definite May Be nominated, and whose nomination is a Outside Shot in the major categories (the four acting categories, Best Director, and Best Picture). We are trying to cover all bases, but don’t come to us if you lose money on your Oscar Nomination pool.

Best Actor:

Almost Certain:

George Clooney, The Descendants; Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Definite Maybe:

Michael Fassbender, Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class, A Dangerous Method or Shame; Leonardo DiCaprio, J Edgar; Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Outside Shot:

Demián Bichir, A Better Life; Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid Love, Drive, or The Ides of March; Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Clooney and Dujardin have won the most hardware this year, which not only make them a lock to be nominated, but also likely one of them will be taking home the award.

Fassbender has been great in a lot of films (listing X-Men: First Class was a bit of a joke, he’ll most likely get the nod for Shame, but I think he gave an Oscar worthy performance in that film) so he is practically a lock for a nomination. The next two are about 50/50 of getting in. The Academy seems to have something against DiCaprio, and his performance as J. Edgar Hoover while not horrible (he got a lot of nods for other awards for it), was not amazing enough to overcome that film’s lackluster performance critically or financially. Brad Pitt eked out a couple of wins along the way (most notably, the New York and Boston critics), and while Moneyball was well received, I don’t see it as 100% Oscar material.

If DiCaprio and Pitt don’t get nominated, there are worthy choices waiting to take a spot. Bichir was great in a small film with a limited release that opened over the summer. These all work against him, but he is deserving of a nod. Gosling, like Fassbender, was great in a lot of films this year, and has been nominated before, but none of the films he was in seem to pass Oscar muster. Oldman was flat out amazing in Tinker Tailor, but his subtle performance might be lost on Oscar voters.

Best Actress

Almost Certain:

Viola Davis, The Help;  Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady; Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin; Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Definite Maybe:

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Outside Shot:

Bérénice Bejo, The Artist; Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene; Charlize Theron, Young Adult

On paper, this seems to be the category that seems to have the least wiggle room. Davis, Streep, Close, Swinton and Williams are all in the type of roles that Oscar voters seem to trip over giving nominations to. But in every round of nominations, there are bound to be surprises, and this category is ripe for one.

Bejo and Olsen have the best chance of breaking in, in my opinion. But Bejo is getting pushed for Best Supporting Actress instead of Lead, even though she essentially had a lead role. Olsen got good notices in her role, but suffers from the same “too early/too small handicap” that Bichir has. Theron has received nods for Best Actress in the Golden Globes (where there are nominations for comedy and drama) and the Critic’ Choice Awards (where there are six nominees). She has an Oscar pedigree, but Young Adult could very well be seen as less than Oscar worthy.

Best Supporting Actor:

Almost Certain:

Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn; Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Definite Maybe:

Albert Brooks, Drive; Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Outside Shot:

Nick Nolte, Warrior; Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method; Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes or The Adventures of Tintin; Armie Hammer, J Edgar; Tom Hardy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Plummer has won the Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice award Supporting Actor, making him a lock for an  Oscar nomination, if not the actual award. Branagh has been consistently nominated for his apt portrayal of Laurence Olivier, so he could get the nod as well. Slightly less certain but highly possible are nomination of two actors best known for comedy, Brooks and Hill, for playing against type. After that, place your bets. Will Nolte’s “sports mentor” role make the grade? Will Mortensen’s change of pace role as Sigmund Freud catch the Academy’s attention? Will the Academy make a statement and move towards the future by giving Serkis the nod for his superior motion-capture work? Does the Academy like J Edgar more than the critics and the general public do, thereby swing the nod to Hammer? Will Hardy represent Tinker Tailor‘s stellar cast with a nomination? Will it be another cast member? Or will the film be ignored?

Best Supporting Actress

Almost Certain:

Octavia Spencer, The Help; Bérénice Bejo, The Artist

Definite Maybe:

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Outside Shot:

Jessica Chastain, The Help or Take Shelter; Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs; Carey Mulligan, Shame; Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

What I said for Christopher Plummer above also applies to Spencer. The only chance Bejo doesn’t get nominated here is if she gets nominated for Best Actress. But that race is crowded so I think she’ll land here. She is deserving.

The only thing keeping me from making McCarthy almost certain is the Academy’s apparent hatred of the comedy. They do not like to give nominations from comedies, no matter how good the role or film is. This time, though, I think they’ll make an exception.

After that, pick two. Chastain and Woodley might have a slight advantage, but McTeer has a good chance and Mulligan could sneak in.

Best Director:

Almost Certain:

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist; Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Definite Maybe:

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris;  Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Outside Shot:

David Fincher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life; Bennett Miller, Moneyball; Steven Spielberg, War Horse or The Adventures of Tintin; Tate Taylor, The Help

Hazanavicius is definitely most deserving and Scorsese won the Golden Globe, so they should both be nominated. After that, Payne is almost a lock, as is Allen, due to the number of nominations they received. After that, well, ot depends. Fincher got a Directors Guild nomination, Malick has been on a lot of west coast critics awards list, which might be a barometer of how the Academy will go. Miller might ride the surprising accolades Moneyball is getting this award season with a nomination. And months ago, it looked like it wouldn’t be a question if Spielberg would be nominated, but for which film. Now, here he is, a long shot for any nomination at all. Weird. And Taylor has to be consider taking into account the number of great performance that came from that film.

Best Picture:

Almost Certain:

The Artist; The Descendants

Definite Maybe:

Hugo; The Help ; Midnight in Paris

Outside Chance:

The Tree of Life; War Horse; Moneyball; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; The Adventures of Tintin; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or just about any other film out there that has a miniscule amount of buzz.

Not having a definite number of nominees beforehand really plays havoc with the prognosticating business. I tried to pick out the five most likely films to get nominated, but with the possibility of five more, well, it could be any film of a certain stature.

So, what do you think? Am I on to something, or totally wrong? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

1. Jack And Jill (Sony/Columbia, 3,438 Theaters, 91 Minutes, Rated PG): Like him or not, Adam Sandler usually doesn’t do the expected plot in his movies. Whether it be a grown man having to go through 12 grades of school to earn an inhertance, being a 1980′s wedding singer jilted at the alter, or being a man who receives a magic remote control that allows him to control his life, Sandler usually strays from the sterotypical comedy plot.

That’s what makes this one so disappointing, because Sandler is employing hackneyed and old comedy concepts–dressing in drag, twins, family who hate each other–and combining it into a wafer-thin plot.

Sandler plays Jack and Jill, a medically impossible pair of identical twins, who come together each Thanksgiving to give each other grief.

2. Immortals (Relativity, 3,112 Theaters, 110 Minutes, Rated R): I feel the tagline for this movie should be “Did you like Clash of the Titans? Then you’ll like this film! Thought Clash of the Titans would be better if it was more like 300? Then this film is for you! Didn’t like Clash of the Titans at all? Then this film is for you too!”

The plot is taken from the same Greek myths that Clash of the Titans was–Theseus must face off against the mad Titans to save all of humanity–but now with more slow motion, stop-and-go swordplay to keep your attention.

If anything, this will be your opportunity to see the new Superman, Henry Cavill, in action. He plays Theseus

3. J. Edgar (Warner Brothers, 1,910 Theaters, 137 Minutes, Rated R): This film opened on Wednesday, but it is getting a wider release today, so we’ll cover it here because it’s pedigree pretty much forces us to, and because it is essentially the film that kicks of the annual Oscar season.

This film has Oscar contender written all over it. It is directed by Clint Eastwood (2 Oscars for directing), stars Leonardo DiCaprio (3 time Oscar nominee) and is written by Dustin Lance Black (who won an Oscar for his script for Milk). And it’s a bio pic about a controversial, yet widely known public figure.

Normally, you would just had the statuettes over when a film has this much going for it. However, this is a bit early for a Oscar contender to be released, even with all the things this film has going for it. That gives me a little cause for concern.

Since J. Edgar has a great chance to do well at the forthcoming Oscars, I felt its about time to start this yearly feature of the new releases posts.

The most interesting thing to see about J. Edgar is if Leonardo DiCaprio will get a nomination, if not win, an Oscar. He is at the point of his career that he has done worthy work in the past (some that he wasn’t even nominated for, like The Departed) but his lack of accolades from the Academy is begining to take on the appearance of their being a bias against him. This role, where he ages 50 years on screen as a larger-than-life real person, should get him over the Oscar hump if he does it well. If he succeeds in the role and doesn’t even get nominated, then you’ll know someone at the Academy hates him.

In other Oscar contenders opening in limited release, Warner Herzog’s documentary look at the death penalty, Into the Abyss, opens in 12 theaters. On paper, this should be in the running for the Best Documentary prize, but that category never goes as expected.

Opening in New York and Los Angeles is Melancholia, the latest from Lars von Trier. von Trier has been a controversial figure in film, both for what he puts on the screen and what he says off it. But Kirsten Dunst supposedly gives an Oscar caliber performance in the lead role, and could be honored come nomination time.

Quentin Tarantino has found the last major piece for the casting puzzle that is his upcoming film Django Unchained. Kerry Washington has been offered the role of Brunhilda in the director’s paean to spaghetti westerns that is scheduled to start shooting in New Orleans in January.

Reportedly, Tarantino had been split between hiring Washington and casting an unknown actress in the part, which lead to the delay in getting the role filled.

Washington’s Brunhilda is the wife of former slave Django (Jamie Foxx) who is being held by the evil Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). With the help of a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz), Django sets out to free Brunhilda from Candie’s clutches. Already in the cast are Samuel L. Jackson, Gerald McRaney, Kurt Russell, Don Johnson, Tom Savini, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Via Deadline.

Has Quentin Tarantino found his lead for his next film, Django Unleashed, in Jamie Foxx? It is certainly appearing that way.

Originally, Will Smith was the favored choice for the role of a freed slave who seeks vengeance against a southern plantation owner who still holds the ex-slave’s wife. It now seems that he has passed on the project, with some theorizing that he doesn’t want anything to do with any Weinstein Company production due to their involvement with the Paul Tomas Anderson film The Master, which takes some shots at Scientology.

Idris Elba was also said to be in contention for the role should Smith pass. However, Elba just signed to be the lead in Guillermo Del Toro’s next film Pacfic Rim, leaving the field wide open for Foxx.

It should be noted that the role is not definitely Foxx’s yet. The Hollywood Reporter is quoting sources saying that “no offer has been made and that talks are in a delicate stage since Foxx has concerns about taking on the risky role.”

If Foxx joins the cast, he’ll find himself in the company of Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Leonardo DiCaprio is entering into talks to star in Quentin Tarantino’s next film, the spaghetti-western influenced Django Unleashed. DiCaprio would be playing the villainous Calvin Candie.

According to reports from those who’ve tread the script, Candie is a Mississippi slave owner who owns a club where female slaves are treated as forced into prostitution and male slaves compete in gladiatorial death matches. Freed slave Django squares off against Candie in order to free his wife.

Will Smith is in talks already to play Django, though Deadline states that his participation is not 100% certain. The gossip site is reporting that some other names are quietly being considered including Idris Elba, Jamie Foxx and Chris Tucker. While Tucker seems to be an odd choice considering he hasn’t been in a film since Rush Hour 3, he did have a small part in Tarantino’s Jackie Brown.

Once again, Tarantino seems to be gathering himself an impressive cast. Already in the cast is Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds co-star Christoph Waltz, who will play a German dentist who helps Django in his quest.  Another frequent Tarantino collaborator, Samuel Jackson, is expected to play the role of Candie’s valet who is also charged with keeping the slaves in line.

Travis McGee has been stuck in development for a while. Based on John MacDonald’s mystery novel The Deep Blue Good-By, the film has previously had Oliver Stone and Runaway Jury director Gary Felder attached to it. At one point it was one of a number of project that Robert Downey Jr. was contemplating. Currently, Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to play the title role. It looks like Paul Greengrass might finally be the one to get the project up on the big screen though.

Deadline is reporting that the film may be Greengrass’s next project in the wake of his Martin Luther King Jr. bio-pic Memphis suffering some set backs. Universal recently based on the script for that film and there are reports that the King family isn’t too happy with it either. Apparently it’s depiction of the slain civil rights leader is a bit too “warts and all” for their liking. Additionally, Dreamworks has a similar project in development.

The one thing that may delay the film from getting in front of cameras right away is DiCaprio’s availability. Currently he is shooting J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood’s bio-pic of the FBI founder and will be going immediately from that to Australia to do The Great Gatsby with Baz Luhrmann.

The Deep Blue Good-By is the first of a series of 21 books that MacDonald wrote featuring Travis McGee, a self-described “salvage consultant’ who specializes in the recovery of stolen property for people who often have no other legal recourse.

If Greengrass can’t wait for DiCaprio, he may instead choose to direct Here There Be Monsters for Legendary Pictures. Scripted by Brian Helgeland, the screenplay “focuses on British naval officer John Paul Jones, who’s wrongly stripped of his commission and is hired by a rich shipping magnate to investigate the disappearance of his merchant ships in the North Atlantic. Jones and his shipmates slowly realize that it’s the work of a sea serpent, and they use unconventional yet visionary naval strategies to battle the creature and stay alive.” Legendary, however, is considering several directors for the project.

1. Tangled (Disney, 3,603 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated PG): Ah, Thanksgiving! The time of year where we reunite with our families, immediately get sick of them and then go out and see a movie. Four are opening today, and they cover just about every member of the family.

There is a lot about this one that makes me skittish. First, it’s a non-Pixar CGI Disney film, which is always a dicey proposition. And while it is what Disney usually does best, a fairy tale adaptation (in this case, it’s Rapunzel), they are giving it a quirky, wacky comedic twist on it. And while the original story was aimed more at girls, the film seems aimed more at boys. There might be a little bait and switch going on there.

That being said, it still looks good enough for the young (and young at heart) to go see. I laughed out loud once or twice during some of the ads, so, that’s a plus.

2. Burlesque (Sony/ Screen Gems, 3,037 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Hey, moms! If you can trust your kids to go into Tangled by themselves, and you go to a showing of this film going up at the same time, you’ll leave the theater the same time they do.

But, would you really want to see it? On one hand, it looks like Oscar bait. Well, it looks like Chicago, but that film did win an Oscar. And it has an intriguing cast–Christina Aguilera making her film debut, Cher making her return to film, solid supporting actors like Stanley Tucci, Alan Cumming, Peter Gallagher, Kristen Bell and Dianna Argon.

But the plot is so old that it can remember a time before we had Social Security, televisions in every home and a second World War. A small town girl comes to the big city in hopes of becoming a star. She gets a job at a theater that is down on its luck and barely hanging on. Through pluck and determination, the farm girl gets to perform at the theater and, gosh darn it, isn’t she a hit! But does she have what it takes to save the theater! Ooh, I hope so!

3. Love And Other Drugs (FOX, 2,455 Theaters, 113 Minutes, Rated R): Here’s another one where I laughed out loud at the ads and yet have reservations about the actual film.

Whenever a film, especially a romance, is listed as a comedy and a drama, it usually never is really good at either or both at the same time. And this films is listed as a comedy and a drama.

Brokeback Mountain co-stars Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal reunite in this film. Hathaway plays a free spirit that will never be tamed. Gyllenhaal plays charming rogue who is more than a match for her. They’re in love, but will it last?

Sounds good if it was just a romantic comedy. But since drug abuse plays a role in the film, and Gyllenhaal plays a pharmaceutical rep, I can imagine where the drama comes in. And that’s a bit off putting.

4. Faster (CBS Films, 2,454 Theaters, 98 Minutes, Rated R): And then there’s this one. No fairy tale romances, no singing, no dramedy, just somebody killing a ;lot of people as fast as he can, the way the best revenge flicks work out.

Dwayne Johnson leaves the world of the kiddie flicks behind to return to the action genre he started out in. He plays an escaped ex-con who is tracking down the people responsible for killing his brother. He, in turn, is tracked down by a pair of cops and a pair of assassins.

See? That’s pretty much all you need for an action/revenge film. This one might not get great reviews from critics, heck, it might not be good at all, but it’s bound to be entertaining.  

Okay, quickly.

Tangled might have a chance in the already crowded Best Animated film category.

Burlesque does seem like Oscar bait, but is it really? Cher already has an award but could get a nod no matter how hackneyed the plot is.

Love and Other Drugs might seem like a long shot for any kind of nomination, but it is directed by Edward Zwick. Zwick has an Oscar as a producer for Shakespeare in Love), but as a director, he is good at getting his actors nods/awards (Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Wantenabe, Denzel Washington). Hathaway and Gyllenhaal both have nominations in the past. So them getting acting nods is not entirely unheard of.

It’s pretty safe to say the chances of Faster getting any Oscar nominations are pretty slim. Well, outside of the technical awards, that is.  

A film in limited release that could get some attention from the Academy is The King’s Speech (Opening Friday, 4 Theaters, The Weinstein Company, 118 Minutes, Rated R). It’s based on a true story (of the man who helped England’s King George the IV ascend to the throne), it’s the story of a man overcoming an affliction (granted, it’s stuttering, but still), it’s leads have had nods in the past and one victory to their credit (Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush), and it’s British.