The 2006 Oscar nominations were released today. I know a lot of people hate the Oscars… but for some reason it’s my favorite time of year. Here’s the nominieees list with who I think should win bolded. Leave your predictions in the comments section below.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Philip Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE
Terrence Howard - HUSTLE & FLOW
Heath Ledger - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Joaquin Phoenix - WALK THE LINE
David Strathairn - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
George Clooney - SYRIANA
Matt Dillon - CRASH
Paul Giamatti - CINDERELLA MAN
Jake Gyllenhaal - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
William Hurt - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Judi Dench - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
Felicity Huffman - TRANSAMERICA
Keira Knightley - PRIDE & PREJUDICE
Charlize Theron - NORTH COUNTRY
Reese Witherspoon - WALK THE LINE

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams - JUNEBUG
Catherine Keener - CAPOTE
Frances McDormand - NORTH COUNTRY
Rachel Weisz - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Michelle Williams - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE
TIM BURTON’S CORPSE BRIDE
WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
PRIDE & PREJUDICE

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
BATMAN BEGINS
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
THE NEW WORLD

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTSPRIDE & PREJUDICE
WALK THE LINE

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MUNICH

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE
ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS
MURDERBALL
STREET FIGHT

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
THE DEATH OF KEVIN CARTER: CASUALTY OF THE BANG BANG CLUB
GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA
THE MUSHROOM CLUB
A NOTE OF TRIUMPH: THE GOLDEN AGE OF NORMAN CORWIN

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
CINDERELLA MAN
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
CRASH
MUNICH
WALK THE LINE

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
DON’T TELL
JOYEUX NOèL
PARADISE NOW
SOPHIE SCHOLL - THE FINAL DAYS
TSOTSI

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
CINDERELLA MAN
STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SCORE)
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
MUNICH
PRIDE & PREJUDICE

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SONG)
“In the Deep” - CRASH
“It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” - HUSTLE & FLOW
“Travelin’ Thru” - TRANSAMERICA

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MUNICH

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
BADGERED
THE MOON AND THE SON: AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION
THE MYSTERIOUS GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS OF JASPER MORELLO
9
ONE MAN BAND

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
AUSREISSER (THE RUNAWAY)
CASHBACK
THE LAST FARM
OUR TIME IS UP
SIX SHOOTER

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
WAR OF THE WORLDS

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
WALK THE LINE
WAR OF THE WORLDS

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
KING KONG
WAR OF THE WORLDS
**** THIS IS AN OUTRAGOUS JOKE THAT STAR WARS REVENGE OF THE SITH IS NOT NOMINATED. LIKE IT OR HATE IT, IT’S EFFECTS BLEW EVERYTHING ELSE ON THIS LIST AWAY HANDS DOWN WITHOUT QUESTION. AS A FORMER VISUAL EFFECTS PRODUCER ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT THIS CONFIRMS THAT HOLLYWOOD HATES GEORGE LUCAS***

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
MUNICH

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MATCH POINT
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
SYRIANA

So there you have it. Your thoughts?

Good morning -or afternoon for our European friends- Movie fans. It is I, your estranged semi-critic Brad. I have been watching from afar in a bungalow off the coast of the Dominican Republic; well not really, simply busy with the real world -one has to feed the monkey-. I wanted to follow up a post from the past on the upcoming stop motion animated film Live Freaky Die Freaky.

Finally today this sure to be cult classic is being released on DVD. It only took a shade over two years to make but now John Roecker’s vision will be shared.

To be honest with you friends I just got finished watching the trailer and I think it is culminating to be a disappointment. Which is to bad because it has a grand cast of punk rock personalities. For example, Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day is the voice of Charlie Manson. Joining in on the fun are names like Tim Armstrong (Rancid), Tre Cool, Benji Madden and Jane Wiedlin. Unfortunately many seem to think the efforts are lacking;

√¢‚Ǩ≈ìNot for the easily offended,√¢‚Ǩ¬ù reads the title card that opens LIVE FREAKY! DIE FREAKY!, followed quickly by the logo for You Got Bad Taste Productions. To some fans of sick cinema, that kind of thing sends up a warning sign√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùthe best such films tend to be not those that set out to deliberately offend, but those that just do their own thing and don√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t give a damn whether anybody√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s offended or not. This puppet-animated phantasmagoria dealing with the Charles Manson murders had the potential to be a twisted laugh machine, but squanders it by taking the easy way out with a puerile, lowest-common-denominator approach … The stop-motion imagery and lighting are occasionally quite expressive, suggesting that something really could have been achieved here if the material wasn√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t so regressively coarse. As it stands, if you want to see a genuinely shocking film about Charlie and his crimes, see Jim VanBebber√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s THE MANSON FAMILY; if you√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re partial to puppet sex, stick with your bootleg of MEET THE FEEBLES; and if you want to watch animation that pushes the taste boundaries and actually has a point to make in doing so, keep watching SOUTH PARK.

~Fangoria Magazine

I’m not going to pass total judgment as of yet but my optimism has greatly diminished. Better luck next time Roecker. It was only two years of your life.

I didn’t love Fantastic Four. As a matter of fact it’s a bad film… however I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I had some fun watching it.

As we mentioned a couple of months back, Fantastic Four 2 has been green lit and is already in pre-production. There has been some speculation floating around about who the bad guy in the sequel will be. Well wonder no longer… It’s Doom again. The good folks over at SuperHero Hype give us this:

Fantastic Four director Tim Story told Latino Review this weekend that Doom will indeed be back for the sequel:

Before I hopped on my ride to the airport back to NYC I asked him when does shooting start, Story replies, “August 1st up in Vancouver” And finally I asked Story that towards the end of the film it left wide open that Doom will be back, so will he? “Yes that I can tell you. He will be back in full DOOM, not like we had him in the first film.”

So there you have it. Now, most people hated the Doom character in the first film… but I actually thought he had some great potential. Here’s hoping they tap some of that better than they did in the first. He could be a fantastic screen villain… if used right.

I love Julia Ormond. She is that rare package of stunning classic beauty, and filled with talent to the ears. Sadly, this gem of an actress has been invisible for years. As a matter of fact, back in 2003 I wrote the following article about her… wondering where the hell she went:

In the mid 90’s Julia Ormond was as hot a commodity as Julia Roberts ever was. From 1994 to 1995 she appeared in three hit films in a row that got her the public’s attention and critical acclaim. Legends of the Fall, First Knight and Sabrina (which was my personal favorite of the three) where all released within 20 months of each other and it looked like this talented and stunningly attractive actress was going to be Hollywood’s ‘it’ girl for years to come.

Then, inexplicably, she just disappeared. It’s not as if she was in a series of films that did poorly at the box office which caused her star to fade. She just dropped off the face of the earth as far as movies are concerned.

I’m still not sure where she’s been, or why she disappeared so quickly, but according to the good folks over at MovieHole she’s back in the Che movie project:

The “Legends of the Fall” beauty will co-star alongside Benicio Del Toro in “Che”, Steven Soderbergh’s biopic on the Latin American Political revolutionary. Ormond will give life to a female reporter in the film, currently shooting in the Big Apple. The film also stars Javier Bardem, Ryan Gosling, Franka Potente, Benjamin Bratt and Alex Manette.

THis is great news. I’m suddenly really interested in this project. I hope she’s back for good.

The Screen Actorsw Guild gave out their annual awards last night. It was a pretty boring show… but all the winners seemed deserving. One interesting note is taht Oscar favorite Brokeback Mountain (which I think is a solid movie… but a tad overrated) got shut out.

So here are your list of movie related nominees and the winners in bold courtesy of CNN:

Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture:
“Brokeback Mountain”
“Capote”
“Crash”
“Good Night, and Good Luck”
“Hustle & Flow”

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role:
David Strathairn — “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Heath Ledger — “Brokeback Mountain”
Joaquin Phoenix — “Walk the Line”
Philip Seymour Hoffman — “Capote”
Russell Crowe — “Cinderella Man”

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role:
Charlize Theron — “North Country”
Judi Dench — “Mrs. Henderson Presents”
Felicity Huffman — “Transamerica”
Reese Witherspoon — “Walk the Line”
Ziyi Zhang — “Memoirs of a Geisha”

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role:
Don Cheadle — “Crash”
George Clooney — “Syriana”
Jake Gyllenhaal — “Brokeback Mountain”
Matt Dillon — “Crash”
Paul Giamatti — “Cinderella Man”

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role:
Amy Adams — “Junebug”
Catherine Keener — “Capote”
Frances McDormand — “North Country”
Michelle Williams — “Brokeback Mountain”
Rachel Weisz — “The Constant Gardener”

I like Jon Heder as much as the next guy… I enjoyed Napoleon Dynamite… and the guy has some charm. But let’s face it folks, he’s not going to have a long career. Yes, he has 7 movies in production right now, but this is a classic case of studios wanting to strike while the iron is hot and pump films with him in them out as fast as possible to capitalize in the Dynamite success.

He really wasn’t very good in Just Like Heaven, and I haven’t liked what I’ve seen of him so far in The Benchwarmers (but then again I haven’t liked anything I’ve seen from that yet). His movie with Will Ferrell about competing figureskaters (Blades of Glory) sounds funny, but I fear Heder will just be horrible out matched on screen with a guy like Ferrell.

So now come more schtick news for Heder. He’s going to star in a movie about the worlds lightest Sumo Wrestler. Yeah… that sounds funny for a 8 minutes Saturday Night Live skit… but 2 hours? I think it’ll wear thin pretty fast. The good folks over at Cinema Confidential give us this:

The film will be penned by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher (“The Wedding Crashers”) and will loosely be baesd on a true story. The true story is based on the experiences of Joshua Davis, who wrote the book “The Underdog: How I Survived the World’s Most Outlandish Competitions.” Davis was the lightest man ever to compete at the US Sumo Open two years ago.

Well like I said, I like Heder… but after this initial rush of fast production movies I don’t really see him being around for long. Hopefully I’m wrong.

Here is some of the other news making it’s way around the web today:

- Omen 666 to be released on 6-6-6

- Another Friday the 13th movie coming Friday October 13th

- David Duchovny to direct and star in “Bucky F*cking Dent” Best title for a movie I’ve heard in a long time

- Newest AudioBlend online after short hiatus The second best damn movie related Podcast on the internet

- McG and Matthew McConaughey sign up for football movie - The story revolves around the 1970 plane crash that killed nearly the entire football team and coaching staff of the West Virginia college.

- Fried Green Tomatoes Anniversary DVD Hey don’t laugh… I liked this movie

- Andy Serkis Joins The Prestige The movie (being directed by Batman Director Christopher Nolan already has Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Cain and Scarlett Johanson.

- Paul Bettany (the next Joker?) talks Batman sequel

- Superman Returns a “Can’t Miss”

- Ang Lee wins Director’s Guild Award for Brokeback Mountain. He should have won it for Hulk (Ok ok ok… don’t stone me! I really liked Hulk!)

Hey there folks. As you all know, blogging is a growing and international trend giving a voice to anyone who wants to shares their thoughts and opinions with the rest of the world. It is a true communications revolution.

So it’s not surprising that even some of our favorite film stars are blogging too! I finally came across the blog of the great Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a true statesman for the digital world today. I found his insights and articles deep and insightful. I didn’t realize how much passion for culture and world events he had.

So go on over and see Chewbacca’s blog. Once you start reading it, you’ll feel a little more educated. Found via Doug’s site.

What a huge, massive and stupid mistake. The producers of the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, have cast one of the worst actresses I’ve seen in a LONG time as the new Bond girl… Thandie Newton.

I’m totally baffled by this. Newton has just wrecked every role she’s been in. Her “performance” in Mission Impossible 2 was easily one of the biggest disasters on screen I’ve ever seen. She was horrible in The Chronicles of Riddick, and amongst titans and fantastic performances around her, she even managed to screw up her role in Crash.

There are other films… and other disasters. I can’t not for the life of me understand why she is now a Bond Girl. Yes, the girl is drop dead beautiful… no doubt… but she’s also talentless.

Look, I don’t like sounding so harsh… I really don’t. But unless she’s taken some massive acting lessons, this beautiful girl is just painful to watch on the screen.

The good folks over at M&C give us the following:

Several leading actresses, including Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron, had been wanted by bosses to star opposite Craig but all reportedly turned down the role. Earlier this month, it was reported that producers had narrowed down their search to just four actresses. Rachel Stirling, the daughter of former Bond girl Diana Rigg, was one of the screen beauties said to be on the shortlist with Thandie.

Well, here’s hoping she has little enough screen time to prevent her from dragging the film too far down.

Robin Williams has joined an already amazing cast for the new Ben Stiller comedy Museum.

Believe it or not, Robin Williams is one of most purely talented actors alive today (easily in the top 5… maybe even #1 or #2). The man can do it all, and do it all well. Here’s what I said about him before:

Many people think of comedy when they see Robin Williams, and that’s fair. But we often forget that this man has more pure range and as actor than I think I’ve ever seen. He can be wild and wacky (Death to Smoochy, The Bird Cage, Mrs. Doubtfire) but he can turn it on and floor you in a dramatic role too (Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting which he won an Oscar for, Dead Poets Society) and he can freaky you out as a villain (One Hour Photo or the much underrated Insomnia). There is literally nothing that this man can’t do as an actor. He’s been nominated for Oscars 3 times, winning once. And with all due respect to Mike Myers or Jim Carrey, he is still hands down the funniest man in Hollywood.

But anyway, we’re here to talk about Museum. Not sure what Museum is all about? Here’s a little synopsis from the good folks over at Coming Soon:

Directed by Shawn Levy, the big-budget, live-action/CG comedy centers on a night watchman (Stiller) at a museum of natural history who discovers that its many exhibits awaken at night under the spell of a pharaoh’s tablet. The exhibit of President Roosevelt, who founded the American Museum of Natural History in New York, is one of those that comes to life.

Carla Gugino, Kim Raver, Mickey Rooney, Dick Van Dyke and Bill Cobbs already have joined the cast.

I think this sounds amazing. Williams, Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney… holy crap. Lots of potential here… let’s see if it pans out or not.

I’ve always been really taken with Piper Perabo… true… almost nothing she’s been in has been worth writing home about… but I find her to be pretty talented and damn cute too!. So now here comes her new film Imagine Me & You trailer. And it could be her best project yet (at least from just looking at the trailer.

Here’s a quick synopsis of the movie:

Heck and Rachel are a happy young couple about to embark on life together. But at the church, Rachel catches the eye of an unexpected guest. In that moment, she realizes that maybe Heck isn’t the one for her. What follows is the romantic, humorous and sometimes poignant journey familiar to anyone who’s ever been lucky (or unlucky) enough to be under love’s spell.

Ok, forget for a moment that the “other” love interest is a lesbian one… this trailer looks really clever. Not at all like you typical romantic comedy. The characters seem rich, the dialog is quick and the feel is great. I’m really looking forward to this one.

You can go see the Imagine Me & You trailer here.

Man, when I’m wrong, I’m wrong. I had been predicting that James Franco (Harry in the Spider-Man films) was going to be a big huge star as soon as he started getting his own leading roles. Well… after seeing Tristan and Isolde… and now after seeing the Annapolis reviews, I may be eating my words.

I’ve commented on this site before that Annapolis looks like nothing but a poor man’s An Officer and a Gentleman (Awesome fricken movie if you haven’t seen it yet). As a matter of fact… it look EXACTLY like it… except James Franco is no Richard Gere and Tyrese Gibson is no Louis Gossett Jr.

So now the Annapolis reviews are floating in… and they don’t look pretty:

“Annapolis is so gung-ho about the United States Naval Academy’s ability to turn boys into fighting men and rebels into scrappy team players that it could easily be confused with a military recruiting film.”
Stephen Holden, NEW YORK TIMES

“… an exhausted wheeze of bankrupt cliches and cardboard characters, the kind of film that has no visible reason for existing, except that everybody got paid.”
Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

“The only impressive thing about it is the monotony and thoroughness with which it replicates cliches from older, better movies and hammers them into pop alloy to an up-with-me beat beat beat of its musical score.”
Stephen Hunter, WASHINGTON POST

“Actually, the lyrics to In the Navy are more sophisticated than Annapolis, which was assembled by the handy-dandy Disney make-a-movie kit and is loaded with parts borrowed from other films.”
Bill Muller, ARIZONA REPUBLIC

As of this moment, Annapolis is carrying a pitiful 12% on Rotten Tomatoes. Don’t bother… not going to. What a waste of potential. Franco should fire his agent and hold out for better roles to try to launch his “leading man” career… because crap like this isn’t going to hack it.

Oh good grief. I don’t have to see this movie to know it’s stupid. But I won’t say it’s stupid until I do indeed see it (after all… I’ve been surprised before). However, the Big Momma’s House 2 reviews are now coming in… but a bunch of people who HAVE seen it… and you guessed it… they say it’s stupid.

I’ve always been up front about my opinion as far as Martin Lawrence goes. The man is a decent stand up comedian.. but he sucks in film. I’ve yet to see him in a single movie that made me say anything but “Why the hell is then guy in the movie business?!?!” But hey, that’s just my opinion.

So here come the Big Momma’s House 2 reviews and as I said earlier, they don’t look pretty:

“Painfully unfunny slapstick takes precedence over would-be satire.”
Sheri Linden, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“… the family film vibe doesn’t suit a manic-tempered comic such as Lawrence, whose fat suit and septuagenarian makeup can’t hide his obvious boredom in delivering more of the same wheezing insults and down-home advice.”
Robert Abele, LOS ANGELES TIMES

“As absurd and blatantly offensive as Momma purports to be in its bloated skin, there’s not one genuine funny tidbit to behold in this chunky comedy.”
Frank Ochieng, MOVIE EYE

“If you thought Big Momma’s House was funny, then two things are probably true: 1) You are stupid. 2) You will also think Big Momma’s House 2 is funny.”
Eric D. Snider, ERICDSNIDER.COM

As of this moment Big Momma’s House 2 has a pathetic 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But come on folks… is anyone really surprised at all? Not me.

I haven’t been this pumped about seeing a Pierce Brosnan movie since… well… ever. The Matador trailers and commercials hooked from the early days of it’s campaign. Add Greg Kinnear to that list (yes… still one of my favorite actors working today) and I’m there.

Brosnan plays an aging hit man who starts falling apart in several ways. To me this thing looks hilarious and I can’t wait to see it. Not all the critics seem to support my enthusiasm… but most of them do. Here are some of The Matador reviews:

“The movie has a nicely modulated mix of comedy and pathos, but succeeds as much because of the two lead performances as Richard Shepard’s writing and directing.”
James Berardinelli, REELVIEWS

“The movie’s writer-director, Richard Shepard, balances the macabre and the sentimental, and understands that although his film contains questions like ‘don’t successful people always live with blood on their hands?’ its real subject is friendship.”
Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

“Never as good as you’d hoped or as bad as you’d feared, The Matador is one of those of up-and-down experiences.”
Rick Groen, GLOBE AND MAIL

“The Matador gets a 151-proof tequila shot of sharp comedy from the droll byplay between Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.”
Kirk Honeycutt, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

As of this moment, The Matador is carrying a nice 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Good reviews or bad, I can’t wait to see this one. I’ll give my review of it over the weekend once I’ve seen it.

When I first saw the trailer for Nanny McPhee, I didn’t quite know what to think. It looked like a bit of a knock off of current kids friendly flicks in theaters… and yet by the end of the trailer I was kind of charmed by it. And now the Nanny McPhee reviews are starting to filter in.

The biggest thing Nanny McPhee has going for it is the presence of Emma Thompson. The woman can just do no wrong when she’s on screen. Although I must admit this role seems like a bit of a stretch for her… but then again that’s what good actors do.

So here’s was some of the Nanny McPhee reviews are saying:

“… an appealing tale of youthful empowerment and whimsy.”
Claudia Puig, USA TODAY

“A spicy little pastry with just the right proportions of flakiness and gooeyness.”
Gene Seymour, NEWSDAY

“Thompson never allows Nanny McPhee to become cute or cuddly, but manages to make the children — and us — love her, warts and all.”
Bruce Newman, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

“Occasionally sparkles with a promise of becoming something more than it ever really is.”
Dustin Putman, THEMOVIEBOY.COM

As of this moment, Nanny McPhee is carrying a solid 76% on Rotten Tomatoes… which to be honest is a bit better than I was expecting from it. I’ll see if for myself tonight and let you know what I think of it.

Here are some of the other Headlines floating around the web today:

- British Documentaries claim Spielberg’s “Munich” was flawed Spielberg himself said it wasn’t a “Documantariy, but rather a story BASED on real events. Should there be a responsibility to do historical films 100% historically acurate?

- Wachowskis, bring ‘V for Vendetta’ to IMAX

- The Equalizer (Another TV-to film project) gets it’s director

- Real-life army medic pacifist gets biopic

- Director Eli Roth talks about Hostel 2

- Early Pulse Review

Yay!!!! It looks like the Pixar take over of Disney is already producing fantastic results! Now you might be thinking “But wait… I thought Disney bought Pixar”??? They did… but with Steve Jobs now the single largest shareholder, and John Lasseter the new Chief Creative Officer, we’re going to see a lot of Pixar influence over at the Mouse House.

And what was John Lasseter’s first major decision? To axe that unholy abomination known as Toy Story 3!!!! Yay!!!!! our good friends over at Cinema Blend give us the following:

The word is Lasseter said progress on the movie will end effective Tuesday, and that sequels should only be made when demanded by the story and should remain the domain of those who created the original film.

Damn right John!!! Make the film when the story says it should be made and when the script is right… not just to cash in on the Toy Story name.

If this is the kind of influence the Pixar guys are going to have over at Disney… then there may be reason to have faith in the Disney animation name again very very soon.

For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting Jurassic Park 4 (are there actually any of you out there?), the following news will cause a little bit of disappointment. According to Producer Frank Marshall (who works a lot with Steven Spielberg), Jurassic Park 4 has been put on the backburner for the time being.

For now, two other projects have priority over the next Jurassic Park. The Bourne Ultimatum and Indiana Jones 4 (that’s good to hear), with Bourne being at the top of the list at the moment. The good folks over at Filmforce give us this:

Jurassic Park IV] is kind of off the radar. We’ve got [The Bourne Ultimatum] here [he indicates at the top of the table he's sitting behind], we’ve got [Indiana Jones 4] here, [indicates a little further back] and we have Jurassic back here [far back - almost at the edge of table]. Steven’s obviously been pretty busy the last year, so we haven’t focused on that yet. But we will.”

So maybe the rumors about Indy 4 being “close” are more true than we thought. Well that IS good news.

As far as Jurassic Park 4 goes… you can bet they’ll get around to doing it eventually… it’s a guaranteed $200 million boxoffice flick. But waiting a while isn’t hurt that. I’m not really sure what else they can do with the franchise though. They’ve been on the Island.. they’ve been on ANOTHER Island, they’ve been in the city… what’s next? Dinos in space?

Despite the stupid title “X-Men: The Last Stand“, Fox Head Tom Rothman has all but confirmed that there will indeed be an X-Men 4, and probably more after that as well. Now it’s all well and good for him to say that now… but if X-Men 3 is a bomb (which we all know it won’t be… even if it sucks) then those words will be quickly eaten.

So why the title “The Last Stand” then? Well, according to the good folks over at Movie Hole, Rothman offers the following explanation:

“It’s the conclusion of this trilogy. These three movies work as a trilogy. These characters in this relationship, it’s the culmination of that saga. It’s the culmination and the resolution of those relationships laid out in the first two movies. That doesn’t mean never, I would ever say never again, but I will say that this brings that saga to an end. It’s quite the way the last Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, brought that trilogy to a conclusion in terms of those characters, that’s what this movie does. It goes all the way back to the first one and rounds off and completes that three-part story”.

Perhaps someone should tell Rothman that the end of the Lord of the Rings was indeed actually the end of the whole series. He might have missed that part.

So all this talk of “this is the end of THIS saga”. This particular story line in X-Men is indeed finished… but there are more to come. Heck… the Wolverine spinoff is basically going to be X-Men 4 with a new title. Make no mistake… there will be MANY more X-Movies.

I personally still have major reservations about the next X-Men film… but my hope has risen over the last month. Let’s hope it works out. Thus far the X-Men have been my favorite comic film franchise (yes, even more than Spider-Man) and I’d hate to see it go down the toilet.

Here are some of the other Movie Headlines making their way around the web today:

- Wes Craven talks Scream 4 and Red Eye 2

- Initial Lady In The Water review doesn’t look so good The site pulled the review… but the comments to the review are still there and don’t look too good.

- Sex Machine official site now online

- Scanner Darkly pushed back to July My reaction? I couldn’t care less.

- Katie Holmes sex scene mysteriously disapears from “Thank You For Smoking” This will teach you not to screw with the power of L. Ron Hubbard!

- Gaslight gets a remake

Way back in November of 2003 we reported the rumblings of a Magnum P.I. movie that could be in the works. However, in the last couple of years there’s been an eerie sort of silence around the whole thing. At one point, George Clooney was even attached as the hero (which I thought would have been a great choice).

But now that silence is broken and it looks like an actual director has been attached to the project, and it’s none other that Dodgeball (a film that I LOVED) director Rawson Marshall Thurber.

Now I know what some of you are thinking… “PLEASE DON’T TURN MAGNUM INTO SOME STUPID WACKY COMEDY LIKE THEY DID WITH STARSKY AND HUTCH!” I totally agree with you. Not that the movie about Magnum shouldn’t be funny (because the show had laughs).

But the good news is that apparently (according to our friends over at Cinema Blend) Thurber has publicly said he wasn’t to make a “Serious” Magnum P.I film. That bodes well for fans of the show. I still haven’t heard about who will play Thomas Magnum… but I sure hope it’s still Clooney (but it probably won’t be).

Actor Chris Penn has passed away at the age of 43. Sad day.

My favorite Chris Penn role (and this will surprise a lot of you) was NOT Reservoir Dogs (although I loved that film), but rather an under the radar little goofy karate movie called “Best of the Best” which also stared Eric Roberts and James Earl Jones. Man I LOVED that move as a kid. The ending where to Korean team puts their gold medals on the American team still chokes me up. No… I’m serious.

The folks over at ABC7 give these nice words:

Chris Penn’s credits included “Rumble Fish,” “All the Right Moves,” “Footloose,” “Rush Hour,” “Corky Romano” and “Starsky & Hutch.” He also played Nice Guy Eddie Cabot in the 1992 Quentin Tarantino crime drama “Reservoir Dogs.”

Although he was not as well known as his brother Sean, 45, critics said he often was underrated.

“Just as talented as Sean - just a lot less cocky,” Slate magazine critic Cintra Wilson wrote of him last year. He “makes you seamlessly believe in characters so much you barely even notice them.”

Here here. I always liked Chris Penn. Thoughts and prayers out to Sean and the rest of his family. No word yet on cause of death other than they don’t suspect “foul play”.

The Davinci Code has some new pictures up and online for all the world to see.

Now, I’m not that big of a fan of the book, but I must admit that what I’ve seen of Davinci Code so far has impressed me and I’m actually quite looking forward to seeing this puppy. What? You still don’t really know what The Davinci Code is about? Well here’s a little synopsis:

Whilst in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci — clues visible for all to see — yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion — an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory’s ancient secret — and an explosive historical truth — will be lost forever.

You can see much larger versions of the pictures thanks to our good friends over at Dark Horizons by going here.

Looks like X-Men 3 has been given it’s official release title. X-Men: The Last Stand.

Now, as far as names go that’s not too bad. But it’s almost a little anti-climactic. I mean, is this REALLY the X-Men’s last stand? It honestly sounds more like a title for a final film in the franchise. And, as we all know, unless this movie tanks at the box office (which it won’t) there is going to be more X-Men films.

But keep in mind, I’m throwing all of that out there without having read the script or seen the film… so X-Men: The Last Stand could very well be the perfect title for the film. Come to think of it… I wasn’t thrilled with the title for X-Men 2 either. X-Men United was a stupid title that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the movie (except for the fact that they teamed up with Magneto for like 10 minutes in the movie near the end… but Magneto isn’t an X-Man).

Meh, maybe I’m just nitpicking. Your thoughts on the title?

Here are a few of the other movie headlines making their way around the web today:

- James Franco Talk Annapolis Is it just me or does this just look like a poor man’s Officer and a Gentleman?

- Theresa Russell Cast To Play Sandman’s wife in Spider-Man 3

- Atom Films Makes Sundance Distributin Announcement

- Graphic Novel “Priest” Getting Turned Into A Movie

- More Disney Purchase of Pizar details

- Tom Hanks Voted America’s Favorite Movie Star

Tonight a momentous event occurs. For the first time in the history of the universe, there will be a Movie Blog reunion. Well.. I guess it’s not really a “reunion” per se.. because we’ve never actually met before.

You see… Richard (who lives in Scotland) is in Toronto with his lovely girlfriend Zoe, and to celebrate, Doug and I are heading there now to meet them for dinner. Let the festivities begin. Firefly Ho!!!!

Oh yeah… one other thing. After dinner, for those of you in the Toronto area, Doug Nagy is performing at Yuk Yuk’s comedy club at 9:30pm. If you go, make sure to grab one of us and say “hello”.

Let the good times roll.

The French site DVDRAMA has posted up some sweet Dark Phoenix pics from the upcoming X-Men 3 film. Man does she look NASTY and ready to kick some serious heads in.

Most of you will remember that little fire in Jean Grey’s eyes in X-Men 2, and silhouette of the Phoenix flying over her watery grave at the end of the film… well… all this was foreshadowing what comic geeks knew to be the introduction of Dark Phoenix. A good starter for understanding who and what The Phoenix is can be found here, but for starters here’s an excerpt from the page:

The Phoenix Entity is an ancient, ageless cosmic force of life. It came to Earth in X-Men 100, when Jean was prepared to sacrifice her life to save her team mates and friends. They were on a space shuttle spiralling helplessly back into the Earth’s atmosphere. The only person on board who could pilot the shuttle was a human astronaut, who couldn’t possibly survive the heat and radiation of re-entry long enough to guide the craft to a successful landing. Only Jean, who could get the knowledge from the pilot’s mind telepathically, and protect herself from the heat and radiation with her telekinesis stood a chance. It was enough to get the ship and the occupants back safely, but Jean’s powers weren’t enough to save herself. At the moment before her death, the Phoenix Enitity entered her body, made an exact replica of it, and placed the original Jean in a protective cocoon at the bottom of the ocean. The Phoenix copied Jean so well, that it didn’t even realize what it had done, and truly believed itself to be Jean, taking her place in the X-Men

So Jean actually died at the lake and not in space… it’ll be interesting to see what they do from here with the original story. Is this just a Phoenix copy of Jean Grey… or is it actually Jean Grey gone looney? I can’t wait to find out. Man… seeing her standing there with Eric (Magneto) just makes me think “Holy SH$T… They’re ALL SCREWED!”

You can see the bigger and better versions of these pics here.

Could it be that some sanity is actually peaking it’s head up?!?! I’ve mentioned here on The Movie Blog for some time that there are just too many films being produced to be sustained by the current market. At the rate of 3-4 major releases each week, the films have too much competition, AND little chance of sustaining revenue as 3-4 new films open again the following week.

It’s also inevitable that with this many films being released… worse films (that wouldn’t have been produced a few years ago) are being made and released… souring the movie going audience even further. It’s just a bad idea.

Well according to the good folks at Hollywood North, it looks like some studio execs might finally be clueing in:

According to Variety’s Peter Bart, the major media companies are reducing their financial commitment to the motion picture sector, with ‘fewer’ films being produced over the next two years.

Bart said too many movies have been crammed into a market whose appetite for new product has ‘leveled off’, with Sony believing a cutback is vital to clear the ‘clutter’ and Warners looking to focus more on ‘big event’ movies.

Gee… YA THINK? The math here shouldn’t be that hard. Cut down the worst films that are getting released (like anything with Rob Schnieder in it), invest more time, energy and finances into the better projects with slightly less competition and you’ll earn more money.

So why am I not getting paid millions to sit around and think of this?

Looks like that great divorce between Pixar and Disney is about to get some Dr. Phil love and reconcile. The word is that the board of Pixar is meeting on Monday to vote on the $7 Billion Dollar (said in my best Dr. Evil voice) purchase offer. That’s a lot of mouse my friends.

How does the deal break down? Will Steve Jobs still have control of the company? The good folks over at Digital Spy give us this:

The deal will make Steve Jobs - who created Pixar in 1986 - Disney’s largest shareholder. The Apple boss created Pixar with a $10m purchase of the computer animations division of Lucasfilm. He will make around $3.5bn from the deal.

I’d say making over 30x your investment isn’t a bad day at the office. Good grief. My mind can’t even comprehend that number!

The 2 big questions I have about this are:

1) Will the current Pixar brain trust still have creative control without Disney interference when it comes to making their movies? Pixar has already shown it’s film beat the Mouse House by a MILE when it come to quality of their films.

2) Most importantly at this point… does Pixar take over the Toy Story 3 project from the Disney in house team? If so, that in my books makes this whole deal worth it (as a fan that is).

If any of you know the answers to these questions, please let me know. Cheers!

The Cannes film festival will host the world premiere of the highly anticipated book-to-film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code on May 17th, just 2 days before it’s world wide release date.

To me The Da Vinci Code is ok… but what makes me look forward to this is Ron Howard. I’ve loved Howard’s last couple of project (especially Cinderella Man) and can’t wait to see what he does with this on. Oh yeah… Tom Hanks ain’t gonna hurt it’s chances either.

So… anyone got spare tickets to France they wanna send my way?

Despite the fact that it’s getting hammered by the critics, Underworld Evolution just plain old has far more market appeal than anything else in the theaters this weekend (come to think of it… when is Kate Beckinsale in tight leather ever NOT the most appealing thing you can think of?) and EASILY took the #1 spot at the boxoffice almost making more than the number 2,3 AND 4 films combined.

All in all, Underworld Evolution took in $27.6 million, which makes it the 4th largest January opening in history after 1997’s Star Wars (Special Edition), Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down and the comedy Along Came Polly (go figure).

The film cost under $50 million to make… so you might as well get ready for Underworld 3 (something I won’t complain about). via

I know some people weren’t thrilled, but right from the get go I was happy with the casting of Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut (not withstanding that there ARE too many characters in the film already). The man may not be able to act all that well… but you can’t deny the screen presence he brings with him (oh man he was hilarious in Snatch).

Vinnie was on TV the other day dishing a little in Juggernaut and his possible future in X-Men films. The following is from the good folks over at AICN:

When asked about the film he said he had go through 4 hours of makeup every morning to get ready for the role of juggernaut, which included the boots. He also said that he had some good 1 liners in the movie, & that his character, although he didn’t have much screen time, played an important role in the film.

Move importantly he revealed that he has signed for Xmen 4 & 5 !!!!!!!!

Now… as I’ve said in other posts about actors who sign up for future sequels…. THAT DOESN’T MEAN THAT THEY’LL BE IN THEM! All it means is that IF (and that’s a big if) the studio decides they WANT him in X-Men 4 or 5 then Jones is contractually obligated to appear… but the studio has no obligation to use him is they don’t see fit.

Still… I can’t wait to see the big guy in action. It’ll still probably suck… but I’ve got more hope for it these days than I have in a long long time. We’ll see.

It may be a whole lot of nothing… but at least there is some stirring on the Indiana Jones 4 front. For a while we heard nothing… and now quotes seem to be coming out again. The latest is from George Lucas who is actually now saying he doesn’t just want to START Indiana Jones 4 by next year… he actually hopes it’s ready to be RELEASED next year.

The good happy folks over at M&C give us the following:

Lucas says, “We just keep working on it. You know, we just write and write and write and write and write.” How many scripts are they writing? Are they at least close? “..we are getting closer,” he assures, “and hopefully this year we will have a start date and we will have a script that we all love and hopefully it will come out next year.”

Ok, so this is good news for any film fan really. Could it be? Could production on Indiana 4 ACTUALLY happen. To be fair, it’s not like Lucas/Spielberg and co. have just been sitting around picking their noses. Getting the right script is important… REALLY important. Let’s just hope they’re really as close as they suggest they are now.

Let’s see Indy crack the whip one more time… oh… and bravely shoot unarmed enemies too… that’s always hilarious.

From the good folks over at Guardian:

“Kung Fu Hustle” was named outstanding film and Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim, who star on the hit TV show “Lost,” were honored for outstanding male and female TV performance at Thursday’s 2006 Asian Excellence Awards.

“Kung Fu Hustle” beat out other nominees “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Saving Face” and “2046.” In the female TV category, recent Golden Globes winner Sandra Oh of “Grey’s Anatomy” and Kristin Kruek of “Smallville” were nominees.

I said before that I think Kung Fu Hustle gets a little more credit than it deserves… but it was still an enjoyable flick from the master mind who gave us Shaolin Soccer. I look forward to seeing whatever Chow gives us next.

On a slightly related note…. how does Canadian beauty Kristen Kreuk get a nomination? Is she part Asian? I never noticed it before… but I guess now that I look closer at her picture… yeah this is a hard job… looking closely at Kristen Kreuk’s picture.