This Week's Theatrical Releases.

1. The Eye (2,436 Theaters, 97 Minutes, Rated PG-13): In the movie Twins, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito starred as twins: one, a genetically altered perfect man, the other, a lesser genetic offshoot.

A month or so back, Jessica Alba co-starred in Awake, a horror/thriller partially set in a dank and dingy hospital based on the real life phenomenon of being awake while being under anesthesia. This phenomenon plays out as the main character, who is under for heart surgery, discovers that he can hear that the doctors are intending to kill him.

This week, Jessica Alba stars in this movie, a horror/thriller partially set in a dank and dingy hospital based on the real life phenomenon of transplant recipients experiencing similar likes, dislikes, traits and qualities that their donor had. This phenomenon plays out as the main character, who received an eye transplant, realizes that she can see dead people who might be trying to kill her.

So, in essence, this movie is Danny DeVito to Awake’s Arnold. Or at least it seems that way.

It does show some originality in the fact that it is a remake of a Chinese horror film, Jian Gui, which is a break for the numerous remakes of Japanese horror films.



2. Over Her Dead Body (1,977 Theaters, 95 Minutes, Rated PG-13): In Hollywood, they say that the biggest sin is the lack of originality. And much like certain versions of Hell, this sin of unoriginality has levels. It starts off with adapting things from other mediums, Like TV (Miami Vice), comics (Spider-Man), or books (Harry Potter). Then there’s the remake, such as The Departed or All the Kings Men. Then there are the remakes that aren’t remakes, but are darned similar, like Vice Versa, Freaky Friday and Like Father, Like Son.

If there is a level below that one, it would have to be a remake that is not quite a remake of a movie that originally starred Shelley Long, which this one is. This film bears some similarity to the Cheers actresses’ 1987 film, Hello Again.

It is also quite coincidental that both Shelly Long and Eva Longoria both started off in television in casts of an ensemble comedy. Both play the role of a woman who is deceased and comes back to find their husband/fiancée dating another women. Long, however, was a kinder and gentle spectral cuckold than Longoria. The film wasn’t originally titled Ghost Bitch for nothing.



3. Strange Wilderness (1,208 Theaters, 87 Minutes, Rated R): One of the things I find most funny is when a joke goes on too long. What I mean by this, is when a show like Family Guy, has a gag that is funny, lets it run until it is no longer funny, then keeps it going until it becomes funny again.

The TV ad for this movie when they make fun of the shark is like that. It starts as being funny, becomes awkward, and then becomes funny again. Just on the basis of that, this movie might win my movie dollar this week.

The movie appears to be a gathering of the tribes, a veritable Woodstock, of actors from the latest trend in “dumb” movies. You have Steve Zahn (Saving Silverman), Jonah Hill (40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Knocked Up), Justin Long (Accepted, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story), Broken Lizard’s Kevin Heffernan (Super Troopers, Beerfest) and Allen Covert (Just about every Adam Sandler movie).

The story revolves around a team for an outdoors program who head off into the woods in search of Bigfoot (and higher ratings). Not very complex, but these movies usually aren’t.



Now to the predictions. This is what I predicted for last week:

1. Cloverfield
2. Rambo
3. Meet The Spartans
4. 27 Dresses
5. The Bucket List

And this is how it ended up.

1. Meet the Spartans
2. Rambo
3. 27 Dresses
4. Cloverfield
5. Untraceable

Wow. Meet the Spartans was number one. It terrifies me that there are that many stupid, stupid people in the United States today. It chills me.

This week, I went 1 for 5, for a total of 47 for 120 after 24 weeks. My average is now 39%.

This is what I think this week’s top 5 will look like:

1. Strange Wilderness
2. The Eye
3. Rambo
4. 27 Dresses
5. Meet the Spartans.

What do you think?

PRINCE CASPIAN Poster

The Pevensie children return to Narnia in November for Walden Media's second installment of their adaptation of C. S. Lewis Chronicles Of Narnia, Prince Caspian. The story finds the children returning to the magical land of Narnia several hundreds of years after their last visit to find that things have once again descended into darkness and that they must fight to restore the right ful ruler, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), to his throne.

This new poster (click to enlarge) for the film definitely plays up the darker elements of the new film, though I'm not sure I like how the Pevensie children have been relugated into the background though.

Family Portrait From INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

What's the old saying? "The family that shoots bazookas together, stays together"?



Perhaps not, but this is our first look at the entire Jones clan - Indy (Harrison Ford), Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) - that will be featured this May in Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. Yes, LaBeouf's name is Mutt. Hey, his dad took his name from the family dog Indiana, so why not the kid?

The picture (click to make bigger) comes courtesy of Empire Magazine's upcoming latest issue.

More NIGHTMAREs For ELM STREET

If you live on Elm Street, you might want to think about stocking up on your favorite caffeinated beverages because that haunter of nightmares, Freddy Krueger is set to be making a comeback.

New Line Cinema has announced that it will be joining with Platinum Dunes productions, the people behind the recent Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hitcher re-dos, to revamp the 80s classic Nightmare On Elm Street franchise originally created by horror maestro Wes Craven. New Line and Platinum also have remakes of Friday The 13th and Hitchcock's classic The Birds currently in the production pipeline.

Due to the ongoing Writers Guild strike, no scribe has been hired for the project and it is very probable that they will recast the entire film, meaning no more Robert Englund as Freddy.

While I haven't seen the their Hitcher remake, I have to admit to not be very impressed with Platinum Dunes Chainsaw Massacre revamp, it striking me as more flash than substance. Nightmare On Elm Street is one of those few horror films where the concept allowed for some interesting character exploration, showing their fears and flaws through dream imagery that Freddy would manipulate to torture his victims. Let us hope that this is not forgotten when development of the film gets underway.

Adam Carolla's THE HAMMER Trailer

Adam Carolla, the funny guy from MTV's old Lovelines series and the one half of The Man Show duo who didn't become a late night chat show host, has a new indie comedy called The Hammer coming out March 21st. And no, it is not a bio-pic about '80s pop star M C Hammer or '70s blaxploitation star Fred Williamson.

Instead, Carolla plays an amateur boxer who realizes on his 40th birthday that his life hasn't gone quite the way he thought it would. Hilarity, hopefully, ensues after he is given a real shot at a professional boxing career.

The folks at Independent Film Circuit have just released a trailer for the film, which is being hosted over at MySpace, but we're letting you see it here.

GI JOE Casting Updates: Duke, Hawk and Zartan

More casting news is coming out of Stephen Sommer's big screen adaptation of cartoon-based-on-a-toy-line series GI Joe.

Variety has reported that Channing Tatum has been cast in the role of Duke, the Joe team's field leader. If you're scratching your head and asking yourself, "Who is Channing Tatum?" you're probably not alone. He has appeared in the indie films A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints and Havoc, but we'll get a preview of Tatum as a soldier in the upcoming Iraqi War film Stop-Loss, which is due for release March 28.

The same Variety article also reposrts that Dennis Quaid will be filling the role of General Hawk, the Joe team's commander.

Meanwhile, IESB is reporting that Arnold Vosloo has been cast as the mercenary Zartan. This makes the fourth major villian from the 80s cartoon series to be announced as in the film. Previously Sienna Miller was announced as playing the Baroness and Byung-hun Lee will be playing the ninja Storm Shadow. Script reports have confirmed that weapons dealer Destro is also in the film, though no casting has been announced yet for the part. With so many villians, a number of members of the Joe team also being featured, it is starting to look as if Sommers is trying to pack the movie with as many fan favorites as possible, which might not be a good thing.

Paramount hopes to have the film in production next month and in theaters on August 7, 2009.

First Bond QUANTUM OF SOLACE Poster? Probably not.

It seems that while most of us were sleeping, a poster purporting to be the teaser for the new James Bond adventure Quantum Of Solace, and yes the title is starting to grown on me a bit, has begun to surface. You can see it here at the right, click on it to make bigger.

I say purported poster because I don't think it is legitimate for two reasons, besides the fact that the poster just looks ugly and cluttered for a teaser poster.

First and foremost is the possessive credit for the film's director Marc Forster. No director in the past has ever received such a credit on a Bond film and I don't see producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli starting to hand them out now. The only time there has been a possessory credit on a Bond film has been in relation to Bond's creator, author Ian Fleming- "Ian Fleming's Casino Royale or Ian Fleming's James Bond in Casino Royale."

Second, the font used is for the title is obviously different from the one used at the film's official website and at last week's press confrence announcing the title-



It appears as if the poster first showed up over at ToxicShock, but it looks as if they've been had.

AMC Plan Best Picture Oscar Nominee Marathon

If you haven't seen any of the five movies nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards but have no plans for February 23 and have 30 bucks burning a hole in your pocket, AMC theater chain may be able to help you out.

On that Saturday, 80 AMC Theatres in 35 cities around the country will be screening all five nominees - Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood - in one day. Tickets are $30 for the day long event and includes a large popcorn with unlimited refills.

To see if you are lucky enough to be near one of the towns where AMC is screening the marathon, check out their website.

Cleese To STAND STILL With Reeves

John Cleese has been added to the cast of the Keeanu Reeves-starring remake of the classic The Day The Earth Stood Still. Cleese will be playing Dr. Barnhardt, a scientist who will help explain to the world the importance of the arrival of the alien Klaatu (Reeves) on Earth.

This is one film I am not looking forward to very much. The original Day is a masterpiece of filmmaking. While its message of the need for peace or suffer annihilation is as timely as ever, I don't think that current-day Hollywood can remake the movie and keep it as plot and dialogue driven as the original was. I fear that the temptation to include rediculous and bloated action and visual effects sequences will be too much. We'll find out for sure in December when the film is scheduled to hit screens.

Also in the cast are Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates and Jaden Smith.

Via SlashFilm.

HELLRAISER Remake Pushed Back To 2009

It looks like that forthcoming remake of Clive Barker's Hellraiser, may not be as forth coming as thought. The folks over at Bloody Disgusting are reporting that the folks at Dimension film who are producing the movie aren't particularly thrilled with the script turned in by the project's directors, the French team of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury. Dimension now wants to farm the script out to another writer(s), but with the Writer's Guild strike still ongoing, nothing can be done at this time.

Del Toro To Direct HOBBIT?

In an ideal world, Peter Jackson would right now be deep in the production on the two Hobbit films that he has been wanting to make, further exploring the world of J.R.R Tolkein that he already brought to the screen with the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. However, we live in a world where New Line Pictures held up production because they didn't wish to share their arcane accounting methods which somehow proved that despite pulling in over a billion dollars at the box office but, Jackson's Lord Of The Rings trilogy still might not have made quite the profit as one might think.

But now Jackson and New Line have made up and are moving forward on the films. Though, with him currently working on finishing his current film The Lovely Bones and his commitment to doing one installment of Steven Spielberg's upcoming Tintin trilogy, it looks like he won't have time to write and direct the films himself.

Enter Guillermo Del Toro, the director who has shown his skill in creating smart fantasy films such as Pan's Labyrinth as well as fantastical adventure films such as Hellboy and Blade 2. The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Del Toro is currently in talks to helm the Hobbit movies, with Jackson serving as executive producer, overseeing the production.

Although the current Writer's Guild strike has prevented any hiring of screenwriters for the films (though we wouldn't be surprised if Rings' scribes Fran Walsh and Phillipa Bowens were involved), New Line has already budgeted the films at $150 million a piece and would like to get them into production for a 2010 and 2011 release.

This Week's Theatrical Releases.

1. Rambo (2,751 Theaters, 93 Minutes, Rated R): I'm not going to make the jokes you expect me to, the same that were made when Rocky Balboa came out, about Sylvester Stallone being too old for this type of role. Because I believe a 60 year old mercenary is more believable than a 60 year old prize fighter.

But if you are expecting the similar returns that moderately financially successful and mildly critically acclaimed Rocky Balboa got, you maybe disappointed. Quality-wise, the Rambo franchise was always a step below the Rocky franchise. I don’t think this movie will change that at all.

The plot involves John Rambo going into the jungles of Thailand to rescue some missionary workers. Expect a lot of violence, plenty of explosions, and some cringe-worthy pontificating about the nature of war and warriors.

The Rambo movies were a product of the Reagan 80’s, a hawkish era with nary a war in sight. How will they translate now, with the very real war in Iraq still on our TV screens and there is no need for a fantasy war on movie screens.



2. Meet the Spartans (2,605 Theaters, 87 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Listen, get up close to your computer screens. I am going to do you an immense favor. It is favor that you’ll want to buy me a house to repay. But you won’t have to. I do it only because I care.

Do not, I repeat, do not go see this movie.

Now, I don’t mean “don’t go see this movie in a theater, wait until video”, because it probably will not be worth the price a rental, even if you belong to Netflix.

How do I know this? Because this movie was originally titled Epic Movie 2. It’s made by the same people who made Epic Movie. And Epic Movie was the worst movie I have ever seen in my entire life.

The makers think that all you need for a parody movie is accurate costumes. No need for a story. No need for it to be funny. No need for it to poke fun on movie conventions. Just pack as much pop culture phenomenon as you can find look-a-likes for and arrange them so they kind of resemble a story.

Seriously, you might watch the trailer and chuckle a time or two, and think more laughs would be coming in the actual movie. There won’t be. All you will be doing is feeling embarrassed for all the people involved in making the movie. Trust me, you will be much happier if you just stay away.

And because I love the FilmBuffOnline readers so much, you'll only get the Teaser and not the Full Trailer. You're welcome.



3. Untraceable (2,368 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated R): Diane Lane has had an interesting career. She started off as a teen star with a lot of potential, hit a lull in her career, built herself back up to eventually get an Oscar nomination for her work in 2002’s Unfaithful. Now she is in this derivative mix of Silence of the Lambs and The Net.

She plays an FBI agent who is tracking a serial killer who posts videos of his victims on the Internet. The more clicks the site gets, the quicker the person dies. When she gets too close, the killer targets her friends and family, narrowing in on her as the final victim.

It seems that any movie with a female law enforcement officer usually involves them becoming the victim at some point or another. Why can’t we see Harrison Ford cowering in fear as the killer breaks into his house? Tom Cruise crying as he discovers the body of his drinking buddy? No, that will never happen. But women law officers quickly turn from being the hunters to being the hunted.



4. How She Move (1,531 Theaters, 98 Minutes, Rated PG-13): I don’t understand the popularity of the dance movie. I mean the modern forebears of Saturday Night Fever, Flashdance, and Footloose. It seems every year there is at least two of them. If not more, they all seem to run together.

This one contains many elements of the dance movie formula. There is the death of a loved one (a sister), an upheaval as the main character changes from a familiar location (she moves from private school to an inner city public school) and she adjusts to her new status quo by bonding with others through competitive dance (in this case, step dancing). And I’m sure she’ll come out triumphantly in the end.

I guess the fans of this type of movie can tell the difference. But the similarities between this movie and others of the genre is a turn off. Why go see this when you can rent Dance With Me or Step Up or Stomp the Yard or You Got Served. I am certain that there are subtleties that separate all of them, but not enough for my tastes.



Now, the predictions:
This is what I called for last week:

1. Cloverfield
2. The Bucket List
3. 27 Dresses
4. Juno
5. First Sunday

And this was how it turned out:

1. Cloverfield
2. 27 Dresses
3. The Bucket List
4. Juno
5. National Treasure: The Book of Secrets.

Cloverfield did as good as I thought it would, and 27 Dresses did better. This means I was 2 for 5, 46 for 115 after 23 weeks, and my accuracy percentage is 40%.
This is what I am predicting for this week:

1. Cloverfield
2. Rambo
3. Meet The Spartans
4. 27 Dresses
5. The Bucket List

I think Rambo might have an outside chance to beat Cloverfield, and Meet the Spartans might duplicate Epic Movie’s number one debut, but I'm hoping the top five will look like this. What do you think?

IMAGINARIUM Status Uncertain In Wake Of Ledger's Death

In the 48 hours that have elapsed since the unexpected death of young actor Heath Ledger, speculation has already started to turn as to what will happen to The Imaginarium Od Dr. Parnassus, the film he was in the midst of shooting.

The Terry Gilliam-directed fantasy had already completed its London location shooting and was prepping in Vancouver for the remainder of its production schedule. As of now, the production has been shut down until a decision is made on how to proceed. It is a decision that will most likely be rendered by the film's insurance company, a decision which could come as early as tomorrow.

Whomever makes the decision has three options- Replace Ledger in the role, restructure the film, or shut down the film permanently.

Knowing Gilliam's strong commitment to telling the story that he sets out to tell, I don't imagine he would want to change his script around the accomodate the loss. But would Gilliam want to resort to body doubles and digital trickery to somehow "complete" Ledger's performance? Does the film's budget allow for such an additional expense?

At the same time, Gilliam might find it hard to replace Ledger and reshoot where needed both from a personal standpoint and from the fact that Ledger's participation in the film was instrumental in getting the $30 million indie project the investors needed.

I think the option that no one wants, though, is shutting the film down permanently. It is a situation that Gilliam already went through once during the initial week of shooting on his The Men Of Killed Don Quixote and heartbreakingly chronicled in the documentary Lost In La Mancha. I can not begin to imagine the intense storm of emotions he must be dealing with right now.

And The Title For The 22nd James Bond Adventure Is...

Quantum Of Solace.

The title was announced by producers today during a press conference at Pinewood Studios, the British production facility where the film is currently being shot. The title comes from one of the short stories written by Ian Fleming in the 1960 collection For Your Eyes Only.

While no plot material has been taken from the Fleming story, series star Daniel Craig was quick to point out that the title still related to the film's storyline-

Ian Fleming had written about relationships. When they go wrong, when there's nothing left, when the spark has gone, when the fire's gone out, there's no quantum of solace. And at the end of the last movie, Bond has the love of his life taken away from him and he never got that quantum of solace. So he's looking for revenge, you know, to make himself happy with the world again.

The film's co-producer Michael Wilson said the name had only been decided "a few days ago" and that the film would pick up "literally an hour after the last film left off".

While I like the literary quality of title, I am not entirely sure that it works for a cinematic Bond title. Is it something that the average moviegoer will find themselves remembering at the box office, or will they just ask for tickets to "that new Bond flick"?

Via BBC.

International Trailer For Wood's OXFORD MURDERS

One of my favorite directors is Alex de la Iglesia, the great, mad Spaniard behind the films Mutant Action, 800 Bullets and Ferpect Crime. After bukilding up a cult audience for his Spanish-language work over the last years, he completed work on his first English-language film, The Oxford Murders, last year.

Based on the international bestseller, the film stars Elijah Wood as an Oxford graduate student who joins forces with a professor, played by John Hurt, to solve a series of gruesome murders. When they discover that the killer is basing his crimes on certain mathematical theories, the two are in a race to solve the equations before the killer can strike again.

Unfortunately, while it was just released in Spain last Friday, the film has yet to find either a US or UK distributor. But to tease you a bit, here is the film's international trailer-




Via StalePopcorn.

X-FILES 2 Spoiler Photos Leaked

The folks over at JoBlo.com have landed a series of three photos that definitely spoil what could be the storyline for the upcoming X-Files 2 film. Headed over there to check them out quickly on the chance that the lawyer-types at 20th Century Fox decide they need to come down.

Personally, while I'm thrilled that the film is going to stand apart from the television series' rather convoluted government conspiracy and alien visitation plotlines, I think that if this is the sum total of X-Files 2 stand alone plot, it will be a bit of a letdown. Hopefully, what is being shown in the pictures is just the starting point of something bigger, plotwise.

2008 Academy Award Nominations Announced

The nominations for the 80th annual Academy Awards were announced this morning and two of the most critically well received films of the last year - No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood - lead the pack of nominees with nods in eight categories each.

The two films will go head-to-head in six of those eight categories including Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay. In addition, There Will Be Blood nabbed a Best Actor nomination for star Daniel Day Lewis, while No Country For Old Men’s Javier Bardem received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Right behind No Country and Blood is the George Clooney legal thriller Michael Clayton, which received seven total nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Original Screenplay for Tony Gilroy, Best Actor for Clooney, Best Supporting Actor for Tom Wilkinson and Best Supporting Actress for Tilda Swinton. When released last fall, the film did steady but unremarkable business. However, Warner Brothers announced last weekend that it was going to re-release the film in approximately 1,000 theaters this Friday. These Oscar nominations should certainly help boast the film's box-office.

The World War Two drama Atonement also received seven nominations including nods for Best Supporting Actress for Saoirse Ronan, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design, and Adapted Screenplay.

Rounding out the Best Picture nominees is this year’s indie hit Juno, which captured four nominations- the expected Best Original Screenplay nod for Diablo Cody, a Best Actress nomination for star Ellen Page and Best Director for sophomore helmer Jason Reitman.

Several films managed to score three nominations including La Vie En Rose, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford and Transformers. Disney’s animated/live-action mashup Enchanted dominated the Best Original Song category, taking three of the five nominations.

The complete nominees are-

Best Actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones - In The Valley Of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises


Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook - Into The Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton


Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose
Laura Linney - The Savages
Ellen Page - Juno


Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Rudy Dee - American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton


Best Animated Feature
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf's Up


Art Direction
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood


Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood


Costume Design
Across The Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie En Rose
Sweeney Todd


Best Director
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Jason Reitman - Juno
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country For Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood


Best Documentary Feature
No End In Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing The Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi To The Dark Side
War/Dance


Best Documentary Short Subject
Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother


Best Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Into The Wild
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood


Best Foreign Language Film
Beaufort
The Counterfeiters
Katyn
Mongol
12


Best Makeup
La Vie En Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End


Best Music Original Score
Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 To Yuma


Best Music - Original Song
“Falling Slowly”- Once
“Happy Working Song”- Enchanted
“Raise It Up”- August Rush
“So Close”- Enchanted
“That’s How You Know”- Enchanted


Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood


Best Animated Short Film
I Met The Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Même Les Pigeons vont Au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & The Wolf


Best Live Action Short Film
At Night
Il Supplente (The Substitute)
Le Mozart Des Pickpokets
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman


Best Sound Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers


Best Sound Mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 To Yuma
Transformers


Best Visual Effects
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers


Adapted Screenplay
Atonement
Away From Her
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood


Original Screenplay
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

William Hurt Lets Slip (Really cool!) HULK Cameo

This is a pretty cool spoiler and if you've some how managed to avoid most of the other sites and their spoiler-filled headlines for this story and also wish to remain spoiler-free for this May's Marvel Comics adaptation Incredible Hulk film, click away from this story NOW!

In an interview with MTV Movies Blog, Incredible Hulk star William Hurt, who will be playing General "Thunderbolt" Ross in the upcoming film, let slip that an another Marvel Comics character will be making a short appearance in the film- Tony Stark! Stark, as most comics fans know, is the alter ego of Iron Man, who has his own motion picture hitting the screens a few months after Incredible Hulk, in July. Playing Stark in both the Iron Man film and in the Hulk cameo will be Robert Downey Jr.

I have a scene with Iron Man, with Robert Downey Jr. It's a funky scene. I don't know how it'll work. I know it's weird [to work with a character from another movie], and to know it's a device. We did something; I don't know what that's going to be like [to watch].

Ummm... How about it'll be pretty darn cool, Bill!!

Marvel Comics' tight continuity between their comic books comes courtesy of their mutual Manhattan setting and has often meant that the various heroes and their supporting casts would appear in each other's series.

The unfortunate result was that a character like Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, a supporting character in the Daredevil comic, had to be "reassigned" to a new newspaper for the 2003 Daredevil movie, as the rights to use the Daily Bugle in movies were tied to the Spider-Man property and the Spider-Man movies were being produced by a different studio.

But now, Marvel has opened their own film production shingle, with several of their characters being developed for films including the Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor. All of these characters have at one time or another been members of Marvel's main superhero team The Avengers. Marvel has been vocal about wanting to ultimately produced an Avengers feature film. There has already been rumors that Samuel Jackson will be making an appearance in Iron Man as spy chief Nick Fury, the man who initially brings the Avengers together in the Ultimate Avengers comic series. Downey's appearance in Incredible Hulk looks like Marvel's next step in the cross-pollination of their films and another step closer to that desired Avengers feature.

STAR TREK Teaser Trailer (Officially) Online!

Last Thursday we gave you the heads up that the teaser trailer for J. J. Abrams' new franchise re-invention of Star Trek should be showing up attached to the front of Paramount's big Cloverfield release. Wellabout, twelve minutes after the teaser started screening in theaters, it showed up in bootleg form over on YouTube, to no one's surprise.

Now, Yahoo has the trailer's official online release, and you can check it out here.

The clip reveals absolutely nothing, just some interesting shots of construction culminating in the reveal that the thing under construction is the fabled USS Enterprise. Things are being held under tight wraps, and while Cloverfield showed that Abrams can keep a secret pretty well guarded, that movie didn't have a built-in fan base that was four decades in the making salivating for information on the film. It should be interesting to see if whatever is next revealled is officially released or leaked from various unauthorized sources.

At Home With The (Indy) Joneses (Plus Trailer Speculation)

Over at the official site for the upcoming Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, a new production video has gone up featuring a brief tour through the Indiana Jones' home, or at least the set they created for the film. The clip is hosted by production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas who shows how the decor of Indy's residence has changed and evolved since we last saw his home all the way back in Radiers Of The Lost Ark. I really like the collection of pictures that have been scattered about the set, and I have a feeling that there will be lots to explore and discover with the inevitable DVD on "pause."

You can view the clip at the film's official site here.

While this clip is fun, I think everyone is anxious to see some actual footage from the film. The folks over at CHUD seem to think that there will be a teaser trailer released on Valentine's Day, with it going online, officially, not bootlegged onto to YouTube, the next day at the movie's official site.

Zack Snyder Reveals Some WATCHMEN Storyboards

As production continues on Zack Snyder's adaptation of the landmark Watchmen graphic novel, Snyder infrequently posts little tidbits of information on the film over at the film's website.

Yesterday, he wrote about his process of creating storyboards, the comic book-like series of drawings that often map out a film's actions and even posts two from one action sequence involving the vigilante Rorschach. You can check out the one board to the right (click to make bigger) or you can head on over to the film's original site to see both.

Get Teased For Some SEX AND THE CITY

If you like your cinematic Manhattan a little less devastated than you'll find in Cloverfield, than you might be looking forward towards to this spring's Sex And The City, the feature film sequel to the popular HBO cable series. Fans of the series will have to wait another four months to find out what the latest was happening with writer Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her friends. In the meantime, here's the film's first teaser poster. (Click to make bigger.)


Via Cinematical.

Review: TEETH

Acrtor turned writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein brings us the curiously horrific story of Dawn (Jess Wiexler), the head of a local teen celibacy group who discovers that she is the possessor of a certain condition that grants her a strange empowerment over men.

Part horror, part satire and part cautionary tale, Teeth is that rare horror film- one that smartly uses its genre conventions to actually say something.

You can check out the full FilmBuffOnLine review here.

TEETH Opens In NY, LA Today

While Sundance 2008 is just getting underway, the film that won the festival's best special dramatic award last year, Teeth, is just making its way to theathers this month. Starting today, the film will open in New York City and Los Angeles, opening wider in the following weeks. For a little taste as to what the film may be about, Roadside Attractions has sent along the following trailer-

This Week's Theatrical Releases

1. Cloverfield (3,411 Theaters, 90 Minutes, Rated PG-13): I really don't have to say anything about this movie. Rich already said all there is to say about it in his review here. But since I have to write about three paragraphs to make it past the poster to the left. So, I will have to say something.

I am glad, from what Rich said, that there is a pay off to the trailer. I really didn't want to see the monster. I really don't want it fully explained. I just want to get lost in the moment.

Because if we are to believe the story--a group of friends spanning the length of Manhattan to rescue another friend--you might not see the monster. It would be less likely for it to be explained. It would fall into horror movie conventions, sure, but in this context it wouldn't make for a believable story.

The question now is whether the loads of advanced hype will translate into ticket sales. There has been buzz that a Snakes on the Plane-type backlash in store. But the difference is, that most of the buzz for Snakes was a more mocking buzz. There is more genuine curiosity about this one. We shall see.



2. 27 Dresses (3,057 Theaters, 107 Minutes, PG-13): This is Katherine Heigl's attempt to parlay her Knocked Up success into a long and varied movie career. I say good luck.

This is a chick flick. Not all chick flicks are bad. I consider When Harry Met Sally a chick flick and a great movie. But this film seems to be, well, not very good.

First off, being a bridesmaid 27 times? I have not attended 27 weddings as a guest, let alone as a groomsman and I am way older that Heigl. So, right off the bat, my suspension of disbelief is strained.

And the story strains it even further. Heigl plays a character who is in love with her boss (Ed Burns). Unfortunately, her sister meets Burns, falls in love with him, and they will soon be married, adding another bridesmaid dress to Heigl's character's collection.

Okay, I don't have any siblings, but would the fact that Heigl was pining for her boss come up in conversations with her sister? Maybe this will be a plot point, but if it was discussed between them, wouldn't the sister be, well, evil?

We know what will happen. Burns' character will do something to make Heigl fall out of love with him, she will fall for James Marsden's character, and they will live happily ever after. And Heigl's movie career might be over even before it began.




3. Mad Money (2,470 Theaters, 104 Minutes, Rated PG-13): 27 Dresses seems like Shakespeare next to this one, however.

This appears to be the classic caper movie, dumbed down, and pumped with fake laughs. At least, that's the impression I got from watching the trailer.

It is about three women who work somewhere where they have the responsibility to destroy out of circulation money. Since the money is going to be destroyed anyway, they decide to steal it for themselves because surely the US Treasury won't have any way to track that down those old bills still being used.

Maybe I was raised wrong, but I am not feeling all that happy about having to root for a bunch of thieves. They want this to be a feel good, underdog kind of movie, but, in reality, they are stealing. I wonder if they figured out a way for the girls to avoid prison time when the movie ends.



Now the predictions. This is what I picked for last week:

1. Juno
2. First Sunday
3. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
4. The Bucket List
5. I Am Legend

And this was how the top 5 actually looked.

1. The Bucket List
2. First Sunday
3. Juno
4. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
5. Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Wow. People really wanted to see a comedy about two guys dying of cancer. Who knew?

I was 1 for 5 last week, making me 44 for 110 after 22 weeks, and an average of 40%. This is my prediction for this week.

1. Cloverfield
2. The Bucket List
3. 27 Dresses
4. Juno
5. First Sunday

I think the hype will be good enough to launch Cloverfield to the top spot, and I think that 27 Dresses can only muster a 3rd Place finish. What do you think?