1. Gangster Squad (Warner Brothers, 3,103 Theaters, 113 Minutes, Rated R): If you read Rich Drees’ column on Movies and Tragedies, you’ll know that this film was originally scheduled to hit theaters in September of last year. Unfortunately, the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado caused a skittish Warner Brothers to reshoot a scene where gangsters shoot up a movie theater, which caused a delay until today.

Of course, this adds something to the film that it really doesn’t deserve. It casts a pall over the film that makes it hard for fans to judge it in its own merits.

Although, that in and of itself might not be a bad thing. The film seems like a whole lot of great actors in a script that has been done over and over again (anybody remember 1996′s Mullholland Falls? That too starred Nick Nolte, only he shared the screen with Chris Penn and not his brother Sean. Similar premise and adapted from the same true-life source). The less you think about that, the better.

2. Zero Dark Thirty (Sony/Columbia, 2,937 Theaters, 157 Minutes, Rated R): So, who wants to guess that the timing of this film going into wide release today was meant to capitalize on what the powers that be thought would be a slew of Oscar nominations?

Well it got five, including Best Picture and Best Actress. But the buzz after nomination day is all about the fact that Kathryn Bigelow got snubbed by the Academy for Best Director.

I don’t know if that slight will have any effect on how it does in the theaters. I can see the subject matter–the hunt for and the killing of Osama Bin Laden–as both bring in the curious and keeping the skittish away. But the fact that the Academy chose not to recognize Bigelow for the great job she did has no bearing on the quality of the film, which I understand is quite good.

3. A Haunted House (Open Road Films, 2,160 Theaters, 86 Minutes,Rated R): Back in 2000, when the Scream franchise was at the height of its popularity, the Wayans Brothers came out with a parody of that genre called Scary Movie. That franchise is still going although the Wayans have long left it behind. A fifth installment of that parody franchise is imminent.

Nowadays, the “found footage” horror film is all the rage,and, at least for one Wayans, ripe for parody.

Marlon Wayans wrote and stars in this film, which apes the current state of the horror genre in a similar way that the first two Scary Movies did to the horror films of their generations. But will films like Paranormal Activity be as good fodder as Scream was?

1. The Three Stooges (Fox, 3,477 Theaters, 92 Minutes, Rated PG): I hate this movie. It is an unfair hatred. I have not seen a frame of the film outside of the trailer. It could be a loving tribute to the classic comedy team. The actors could channel Moe, Larry and Curly to the Nth degree. And it could be laugh out loud, pee your pants funny. It doesn’t matter. Such is the illogical nature of my hatred.

See, I’m a Stooges fan. The afternoons of my youth was spent watching the nuckleheads beat the snot out of each other on my TV. I could see how people could hate them. I didn’t. I loved them. They were perfect just the way they were.

Now, this film doesn’t erase those classic short films out of existence. They are still there and I can watch them anytime I choose. But that’s the reason why this film is unnecessary. I can guarantee you that they will not be able to improve on the original. Yet, for an entire generation, this film might be their first exposure to the Stooges. And, for me, that just ain’t right.

While I would admit that examining how the vaudville syle of comedy would work in the world of today’s raunchy and risque film comedy might be fun, and my opinion might have changed if the original cast (Sean Penn as Larry, Benicio del Toro as Moe and Jim Carrey as Curly) was still involved, becausem heck, who wouldn’t want to see that film. But as it stands now, I’ll rely on my Stooges DVD’s

2. The Cabin In The Woods (Lionsgate, 2,811 Theaters, 95 Minutes, Rated R): Friday the 13th typically is a good day to release a horror film. The superstitious day that creeps so many people out sets the perfect mood for a scary flick. However, the true horror story behind this witty and inventive take on the “teenagers trapped in a remote cabin” genre has to be its trip to the screen.

The film finished shooting in 2009 and was originally supposed to be released in February of 2010. The film was delayed a year to convert it in to 3D. Before that process could be completed, its studio, MGM, underwent major financial difficulties and eventually sold the film to Lionsgate. The film was originally targeted to Halloween 2011, but instead it’s coming out this week.

Typically, when a film is bumped back two years, that’s the sign of a bad film, regardless of the extenuating circumstances. However, this film acts as a deconstruction, almost to the level of parody, of horror conventions and was co-written by Joss Whedon. Don’t let its long and winding road to theaters scare you off.

3. Lockout (FilmDistrict, 2,308 Theaters, 95 Minutes, Rated PG-13): You can call it Die Hard in Outer Space, or Escape From New York in a less realistic future, but whatever you call it, this film appears to be a familiar, yet innovative take on the one man against an army rescue mission genre.

Guy Pearce stars as a man falsely convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. He is offered absolution if he rescues the President’s daughter from a prison orbiting the Earth after the inmates take over the facility.

Again, the plot isn’t anything new. But Pearce is a greatly underrated actor and I’m digging the hard-boilded action in a sci-fi setting

Nick Nolte has joined the cast of director Ruben Fleischer’s crime drama Gangster Squad. Nolte will be playing incoming chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, Bill Parker, who finds that his department is rife with corruption.

Based on the true story of the LAPD’s attempt to curtail organized crime in the 1950s, Gangster Squad tells how Parker, who received a Purple Heart for wounds he received during the Battle of Normandy, organized a special unit to specifically target the likes of known gangsters like Mickey Cohen.

Already in the cast are Sean Penn as Cohen, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Mireille Enos and Anthony Mackie.

The film is set to begin shooting next month.

As he doesn’t make many, a new film from Terence Malick is always something to look forward to and the fact that the auteur has a new feature coming next spring is one of the things that has us excited about the new year. Fox Searchlight has just released the first two views of that film The Tree Of Life, which stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. The studio’s official descpition of the film is as follows -

From Terrence Malick, the acclaimed director of such classic films as Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950′s.  The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt).  Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.  Through Malick’s signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.

Click on each picture for a larger version.

The Tree Of Life is scheduled to open on May 27, 2011.

Earlier this week, we here at FilmBuffOnline handicapped the Oscar race as we saw it. As we all know, the nominations have just been released. How did we do?  Well, let’s find out. And the nominees are…

Performance by an actor in a leading role-

• Richard Jenkins in The Visitor
• Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon
• Sean Penn in Milk
• Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Number of Nominations We “Called”:  4 out of 5

The One We Didn’t:Do we get any credit for saying the academy might snub Leonardo DiCaprio? No, because Richard Jenkins should have been a no brainer. His performance was one of the most critically acclaimed of the year. This is what Jenkins had to say about the nomination:

“This nomination is such an unexpected honor and I am grateful to the Academy for the recognition. I’ve been awed by the work of my fellow nominees this year and am truly humbled to be in their company. Having been an actor for many years now, I am moved by the fact that something like this can happen at this point in my career, particularly for a film that has meant so much to me.”

 

Richard Jenkins, THE VISITOR

Performance by an actor in a supporting role-

Number of Nominations We “Called”: 4 out of 5.

The One We Didn’t: Nobody from Frost/Nixon got the call. Strangely, this was the only acting nod Revolutionary Road received. Shannon got good notices for his role, but was he the most deserving of the cast?

Performance by an actress in a leading role- 

• Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married
• Angelina Jolie in Changeling
• Melissa Leo in Frozen River
• Meryl Streep in Doubt
• Kate Winslet in The Reader

Number of Nominations We “Called”:  3.5 out of 5

The One Point Five  We Didn’t: We are taking partial credit for Kate Winslet. We predicted she would be nominated and that her role in The Reader should be lead. I think that should be good enough for a .5. Leo, like Jenkins, was an early year, yet still worthy performance that we goofed on not including. Althought ignoring Sally Hawkins was a major snub.

This is what Kate Winslet said on her nomination for The Reader:

• Amy Adams in Doubt
• Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Viola Davis in Doubt
• Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler 

Number of Nominations We “Called”:  4 out of 5

The One We Didn’t: We were going to list Henson, but the Oscar’s not following the Golden Globes’ lead on putting Winslet in this category through us off. Yeah, yeah, that’s what happened.

Achievement in directing-

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher
• Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard
• Milk, Gus Van Sant
• The Reader, Stephen Daldry
• Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle

Best motion picture of the year-

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  
• Frost/Nixon
  
• Milk
  
• The Reader
  
• Slumdog Millionaire

Number of Nominations We “Called”:  4 out of 5

The One We Didn’t: In what is becoming a rare occurance, the Best Picture nominations match up with the Best Director nominations. This means that The Reader gets the nod over Revolutionary Road. And, yes, The Dark Knight and Wall-E too. But the Best Animated Film was created so the “real film” don’t have to mingle with the animated riff raff. And, really. A comic book movie? For Best Picture?

Stay tuned to FilmBuffOnline, because, as we get closer to the ceremony, the staff will bring you our Oscar picks.

It’s that time of year again. This Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the nominees for the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

Every year there are snubs and surprises, thrills and controversies. There is no way of knowing who will be nominated, but 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 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:

Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler; Sean Penn, Milk

Definite Maybe:

Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon; Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road; Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Outside Shot:

Colin Farrell, In Bruges; Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino

It seems that this year, if Mickey Rourke didn’t win a Best Actor award, Sean Penn won it. Both men seem to be all but a lock for a nomination. Benjamin Button seems to be role that screams “nominate me,” so Pitt has a good chance. Langella won a Tony for originating the role of Nixon on Broadway, so it seem logical that he’d at least get a nod. The Academy might have something against DiCaprio, since he has been snubbed more than once in the past. That could work against him here. Farrell won the Golden Globe for this role, which gives him a chance. And the Academy might want to reward Eastwood for what could be his last acting role with a nomination.

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His name was Harvey Milk and he wanted to recruit you.

He didn’t want to recruit you in the way that his detractors would want you think. He didn’t care if you were gay like he was or straight and he had no interest in getting straight people to convert to homosexuality, if such a thing were possible. He was interested in recruiting to the cause of civil rights for gays, one the last segments of society in the 1970s who were still being legally denied them.

Director Gus Van Sant’s film Milk examines the activist’s life, from his rise as a community activist in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood to his election to the city’s Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to hold a major public office in the United States to his tragic death at the hands of fellow supervisor Dan White, played with a lantern-jawed intensity by Josh Brolin, in his City Hall office. That’s not really a spoiler, as the movie reveals this in its opening moments for anyone not already familiar with his story. It is an interesting narrative decision and one that permeates each of Harvey’s victories with a subtle sense of foreboding as his path slowly leads him to his fate.

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