For this edition of Funny Business, I have something for you that I found while browsing through some IGN videos yesterday. It’s a very well put together and edited mock-trailer of Disney/Tim Burton’s current 3-D box-office smash remake of Alice in Wonderland. This time, it’s not Alice spiraling out of control down the rabbit hole, it’s that lovable freak show that is, Lady Gaga, hence Gaga in Wonderland.

The mock-trailer features clips from Alice and the plethora of Lady Gaga’s freaky deaky music videos, which, due to her bizarre and flashy style, actually seem to fit in Tim Burton’s bizarre and flashy world. One particular part of the mock-trailer that had me rolling on the floor, features a great cameo by none other than Mugatu from Zoolander. It’s not Superbad, but it’s good for a laugh. Check it out.

What Do you Think? Discuss.

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“And here, we…go!” It’s official. It’s true. And man is it a great day to bee a comic-book movie fan. About a month ago we posted news that not only was Warner Bros. getting their crap together for a much needed Superman reboot, but that Batman savior Christopher Nolan was going to have an integral part in its development. At that time, it was not confirmed, it was just industry chatter. It is now a fact. And we know this, because the man of the hour has said so himself.

Geoff Boucher of the L.A. Times’ Hero Complex blog visited Mr. Nolan and his producing partner/wife Emma Thomas at his super secret editing suite attached to his Hollywood home, where he’s currently putting the finishing touches on Inception, opening worldwide July 16. While there, he was finally able to get Nolan to talk about those spiraling internet rumors regarding the “Will he/won’t he?” speculation of his involvement in a Superman reboot and the inevitable sequel to The Dark Knight; currently referred to by us movie bloggers as Batman 3.

The Man of Steel Begins…Again

Speaking the first time about Superman, Nolan shares where he’s at with making Supes fly:

It’s very exciting; we have a fantastic story. And we feel we can do it right. We know the milieu, if you will, we know the genre and how to get it done right.

This quote isn’t going to make Marvel execs jump out their windows due to panic and fear (maybe it will), but the fact that he is actually stating that they have an idea and is reiterating his team’s confidence in their comic-book adaptation abilities, is indeed very exciting.

Nolan then went on to elaborate on the conception of Team Nolan’s idea for this epic project in the DC movie universe. The idea came from Nolan’s friend and collaborative partner David S. Goyer (co-writer of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, creator of ABC’s Flash Forward). As they were brainstorming ideas for Batman 3, Goyer paused for a minute and asked Nolan his thoughts on an idea he had for Superman:

He basically told me, ‘I have this thought about how you would approach Superman. I immediately got it, loved it and thought: That is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way.

So as of now, Goyer is currently in the beginning stages of writing the script for Superman, which will be based on the story he and Nolan come up with together. Nolan will also undoubtedly be consulted constantly as Goyer’s screenplay develops.

Another huge thing that Nolan revealed regarding his visions for the respective DC movies is that they will be completely separate; they being Superman and Batman. Nolan’s entire ambitious and unique vision for his take on Batman was to ground him in complete reality, where movie-goers could actually imagine a rich billionaire using his money to buy gadgets and fight crime. This approach, unfortunately for many, should spell a “No go” for the much talked about possibility of a Batman/Superman cross-over film:

Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other.

Now, as I’ve made the respective rounds around the blogosphere today, a lot of fanboys and comic-book fans are spitting mad with such anecdotes as, “how can he say Superman and Batman have nothing to do with each other? There’s Justice League, and Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent often interact within the comic realm.” Well, I think it’s quite easy to infer from Nolan’s statement that he simply means, in his film adaptations of each character, they will have nothing to do with each other, as that is the superhero universe that has already been constructed with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. So for now, it seems like a Justice League movie would be out of the question. FOR NOW.

The End of Nolan’s Batman Saga

As much as Warner Bros. wants to get a Superman reboot up and running, their first priority is getting going on Batman 3. I mean, all Nolan did was give WB over $1.3 billion, 10 Oscar nominations and and eternity of credibility. And I also think it’s safe to say that fans are willing to sacrifice their children for another Nolan Batman film, not sure the same can be said for a Superman reboot. With that said, Nolan confirmed that his brother Jonah Nolan (co-writer of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) is currently hard at work on the script for Batman 3. He also spoke a little on where he is with the project and where envisions (kind of) the rewards of being able to end the Batman tale he started over six years ago:

Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third film a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story. And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story. We have a great ensemble, that’s one of the attractions of doing another film, since we’ve been having a great time for years.

I’m very excited about the end of the film, the conclusion, and what we’ve done with the characters. My brother has come up with some pretty exciting stuff. Unlike the comics, these things don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling. And it harkens back to that priority of trying to find the reality in these fantastic stories. That’s what we do.

Geoff did try and probe Nolan on possible Batman 3 villains, to which Nolan of course did not even dare go into. He did say flat out that Mr. Freeze is “out of the question. ” Thank god! “Chiiiilllllll!!! Chiilllll!!!”

So there you have it Movie Mashers. Batman 3 IS being written as you read and Christopher Nolan is FOR SURE going to be involved, although he did not confirm that he is going to direct it. However, that means absolutely nothing as Nolan has proven to be a filmmaker who shows great respect for the films he makes and never publicly commits to DIRECT a future project until the one he’s currently working on is blowing the minds of audiences in theaters. Inception doesn’t come out for another four months. Look for an official confirmation from his own words around that time.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

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Oliver Stone’s sequel to his critically acclaimed film Wall Street, is now being pushed by Fox from its original April 23rd release date all the way til September 24th. No official word has been released on the “why?” Money Never Sleeps was pushed back five months. The April release date pitted the sequel up against MacGruber and The Back-up Plan; much easier competition than the films to be released on the newly planned fall debut in September.

The new opposition is Zack Synder’s (Watchmen) owl narrative Legend of the Guardians and You Again, which stars Kristen Bell, Sigourney Weaver, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Also being released that weekend is Kevin Macdonald’s (State of Play, Last King of Scotland) adaption of the 1954 historical adventure Eagle of the Ninth.

Eagle of the Ninth is set in the second century and follows a young Roman officer’s search to discover the truth about the unexplained disappearance of his father’s legion in the north of Britain. The story is based on the legend of the Ninth Legion. Intriguing? Yes.

Unfortunately the film stars Channing Tatum (how does he continue to get leading roles?) as the film’s lead character Marcus Aquila. That could equal disaster already. The rest of the casting decisions are pretty strong with Jamie Bell, Mark Strong, and Donald Sutherland rounding out the bill.

Anyway, back to the Money Never Sleeps date change. I thought it was necessary to go into the details of the other film’s this movie is now up against because the logistics of the decision don’t seem to make sense competition-wise. MacGruber, while a popular SNL skit, most likely would not take box office receipts away from the grandeur of an Oliver Stone project; though both films have similar target audiences. 

The Back-up Plan starring Jennifer Lopez: is that even considered competition? Kick-Ass is being released the week before April 23rd, and Iron Man 2 two weeks after, so that could affect box office earnings for MNS. The September movies that Money Never Sleeps will have to contend with are not similar genres, but in my opinion seem like more competitive projects than MacGruber and The Back-up Plan.

Seeing the the two first Money Never Sleeps trailers (seen here, and here) I was pumped to see what Oliver Stone had in store for the legendary but fallen Wall Street connoisseur Gordon Gekko. Throw Carey Mulligan into the mix as Gekko’s daughter and Shia LaBeouf as Mulligan’s boyfriend/understudy to Gekko, and you have yourself a movie filled with drama. Not even mentioned are Frank Langella and the film’s antagonist, the great Josh Brolin.

The decision seems based around Fox Studios and Stone gambling that the film will get into the Cannes Film Festival, a move directly related to the film being released closer to awards season. The competition for summer films is already lively, not to mention the world spending more time watching fútbol this summer than visiting the theater (notice I said world, not United States).

Stone also has been said to want to cut down the running time of the project with some edits, so the changed date works in that regard as well. Despite there being no official announcement discussing the reason for the date change, the surrounding details seem pretty clear on why Fox and Stone collaborated on the decision to push back a movie that I consider a must see of 2010. But will it be award worthy?

What Do You Think? Discuss.

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It’s been several days since this was unveiled to the world, but I needed some time to gather my thoughts. If you saw Alice in Wonderland this past weekend, you got to see the breathtaking new trailer for Disney’s other upcoming 3-D baby, Tron Legacy. The first footage we saw of Tron Legacy was way back this past summer when Disney premiered those three minutes of footage at Comic-Con. That clip didn’t show much, but was just supposed to get people talking, which it did. But man, this new trailer has got people SCREAMING for December to hurry the hell up already.

The trailer hit the web on Monday and boy does it look amazing! The visuals look absolutely brilliant; crisp, eye-popping imagery. We also get a little more into the story of the film. It’s obviously over 25 years later since the first Tron left off, however it should be noted, in an interview Jeff Bridges did state that you wouldn’t need to have seen the first film in order to grasp the plot of Legacy. That is obviously a good move since most movie-goers aren’t going to Netflix TRON, a movie that came out in 1982, in order to understand it’s sequel that comes out in 2010. Not gonna happen. Before I continue, first watch the awesome official trailer for Tron Legacy.

From this trailer we see Kevin Flynn’s (Bridges) 27 year-old son Sam (Garrett Hedlund), returning to his father’s arcade where he spent his cyber-racing days. At the end of the trailer with the “Dad it’s been a long time”/”You have no idea” dialogue exchange, I think it would be safe to assume that Kevin Flynn has been stuck in this cyber-world for 27 years and his son is going to suit up, grab his cyber-bike and try to save his father; thus carrying on his “LEGACY.” Just guessing of course. Oh, and the smokin’ hot Olivia Wilde makes a nice little cameo in the trailer, sprawled out on a neon glow couch. She plays a veteran cyber-racer (for the bad guys) who is given the task of getting close to Sam to get to turn him/kill him, but in the process she falls in love and then has to decide whether to follow her heart or follow orders. Again, just guessing.

A few more things I find intriguing about Tron Legacy:

1) This is director Joseph Kosinski’s directorial debut. You heard me right, this is his first time directing a movie. EVER! And somehow he’s come out of the furthest part of left field and put together a seemingly ground-breaking, visually stunning, 3-D blockbuster. It’s just really impressive and also very unusual. Which is also why those recent rumors of Chris Nolan’s co-writer/brother Jonah Nolan making his directorial debut with a Superman reboot for Warner Bros., not so far-fetched. Shit! Stay focused Barrett.

2) I mentioned this when I posted the Comic-Con footage in July, but when was this film completed and why is Disney taking so long to release it? They showed over three minutes of footage that looked amazing in July of 2009, and now they have a full-length trailer, which also looks amazing, in March of 2010. But Tron Legacy isn’t coming out until December 17, 2010? Man the technology involved must be extremely difficult to edit in post-production. Perhaps Tron Legacy is Disney’s Avatar, technologically speaking, and they want to make sure all the wrinkles are ironed out before unleashing it upon the world? That seems about right.

3) Boy Disney is getting darker and more serious aren’t they? I mean, Tim Burton doing Alice in Wonderland isn’t going raise comparisons to Seven, but it’s certainly a very creepy/gothic take on a classic children’s tale. And did you see that trailer for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice a few months back with Nic Cage? That seemed like it had a lot of dark, dangerous, deadly, supernatural elements to it. Although, IT IS set to go toe-to-toe with Inception on July 16th, so maybe Disney is trying to up their street cred and appeal to the badass junkies. And then we have Tron Legacy, which is a film, by all accounts, about cyber-racing TO THE DEATH. Man they’ve come a long way since Bambi.

Ah well. All I know is that I’m going to be at the Minnesota Zoo IMAX theater on Thursday, December 16 at 8 p.m. to get in line for the midnight showing of Tron Legacy.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

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So we now have the latest casting “development” surrounding the almost decade-long “in-the-works” Men in Black 3. But before we get to that, lets recap what’s been going on with the project in recent months. Back in October it was reported that Tropic Thunder screenwriter Etan Cohen had been officially hired by Sony to pen the script for MIB 3.  That report also semi-confirmed that MIB 1 & 2 director Barry Sonnenfeld, as well as stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were all “uncertain” about their participation in the project. So there’s that.

Then a couple months later in December, there was a report by the L.A. Times’ Hero Complex Blog, claiming the “Hollywood chatter” of Josh Brolin being brought on board to play “a new single-monikered government agent, with Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K passing the baton to Brolin’s character. Or he could play Agent K as a young man. Or something else entirely.” Within that report it was stated that Will Smith was indeed “expected to return.” So there’s that.

Now, BloodyDisgusting.com is reporting that funnymen Sacha Baron Cohen (Bruno, Borat) and Jermaine Clement (Flight of the Concords) are apparently each being seriously considered for the role of “Yaz,” an unconfirmed character in MIB 3. But since is these two goofballs, you’d imagine that it would be some quirky alien. Honestly, I love both these guys and find them both to be hilarious, so it’s a win-win for me.

Look, the first MIB from 1997 was awesome. I always stop and watch it when I’m channel surfing. It’s funny, has lots of good action, cool characters and is just overall thoroughly entertaining. But then in 2002, the same team came out with the awful MIB 2, with Laura Flynn Boyle as the unconvincing and annoying main alien villain. Come on! And Steven Spielberg made sure his name was stamped on the credits under “executive producer” and it still ended up like crap. Tssk tssk Stevie.

Hopefully Sony, Sonnenfeld, Spielberg & Co. have had a few years to dust off the creative Sci-Fi parts of their movie-making minds (or use that memory eraser thingy), and MIB 3 will turn out to be a fun summer hit. Sony said that the ball for MIB 3 could get officially rolling by as early as this Spring for a potential summer 2011 release. Fingers crossed.

What Do You Think Discuss.

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This week on Netflix This, I’ve got a great recommendation to add to your queue. The film is 25th Hour, and is, in my opinion, the best, most powerful and most compelling film from director Spike Lee’s 30+ year career. I know, I know, “but what about Malcom X, Do The Right Thing, He Got Game, etc.?” Nah dude. 25th Hour is not only Lee’s crowning achievement as a director, but it is also one of the most powerful dramas I’ve ever seen. It’s THAT good.

The cast is absolutely amazing, featuring: Edward Norton, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson, Brian Cox, Barry Pepper and Anna Paquin., all of whom give powerhouse performances. The story is simple, Norton plays Monty, a 30-something drug dealer living in New York City who gets busted by the DEA. With the amount of cocaine Monty is caught with, he is set to go to prison for a long time. The film then follows Monty as he tries to salvage the tattered relationships with his friends (Hoffman and Pepper), his girlfriend (Dawson) and his father (Cox) during his last 24 hours of freedom. Not to mention try and convince the Russian mob boss he works for that he didn’t snitch.

The film was shot in 2002 and highlights the post-9/11 New York City atmosphere. As always, Lee stirs up deep-seeded racial issues and holds up a mirror to society and every movie-goer’s stereotype perceptions, whether they would like to admit them or not. It’s a truly powerful experience that should quence any film fan’s thirst for great acting, a great story and a truly great film.

Netflix This: 25th Hour

What Do You Think? Discuss.

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“Kin ta uuuna masupa kalosi ttttttt ssssssssmmmmmmpapapapa.” This was without a doubt the best moment of last night’s horrifyingly boring Oscar show. About mid-way through the awards, Ben Stiller came out on stage to present the Best Makeup category dressed up in full-on Na’vi makeup, poking fun of the blue aliens from Avatar. He then spouted complete gibberish, making fun of the fake Na’vi language James Cameron came up with for the film and hilarity ensued. I literally almost peed my pants and was on the floor laughing for almost 10 minutes.

Cameron didn’t seem too amused at first. Come on Jim, lighten up will ya? He did chuckle a little bit towards the end, probably because he realized that cameras were zoomed in on him. Stiller was actually set to perform a similar funny Na’vi-related sketch with Bruno/Borat/Ali G Sacha Baron Cohen, that was unfortunately cut from the show because the Academy apparently felt it was too risky. Here’s the description of how this goof was originally supposed to go down:

Baron Cohen planned to appear onstage as a blue-skinned, female Na’vi, with Stiller translating “her” interplanetary speech. As the skit went on, though, it would become clear that Stiller wasn’t translating properly, because Cohen would grow ever more upset. At its climax, an infuriated Baron Cohen would pull open “her” evening gown to reveal that s/he was pregnant, knocked up with Cameron’s love child, and would go on to confront her baby daddy as if s/he were on Jerry Springer.

Damn you uptight conservative middle-class America! Oh well, Stiller’s solo Na’vi performance was good enough for me. Check out the video below.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

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The second trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has just hit the web, and I must say that this trailer has me anticipating the film’s May 28th release. I was skeptical after seeing the first trailer that featured little reference to a plot and nothing but overblown typical Bruckheimer action sequences. But this new trailer has dialogue that caught my attention, some reference to appealing story arcs, and was also comical.

The biggest reason I have been so cynical towards this movie is because of Jake Gyllenhaal’s skin color. He is not Persian, or even Middle Eastern for that matter; but is playing the role of a Persian Prince. The Caucasian character choice is obviously based solely on Gyllenhaal’s marketability compared to that of a no name actor that fits the dark skinned profile.

I can’t even think of any prominent Middle Eastern actors, or actors that even look from that part of the world. Naveen Andrews comes to mind who plays Sayid Jarrah on the hit (& awesome) show LOST. Dev Patel hit the scene last year in Slumdog Millionaire, but he hardly looks like an action hero (despite actually holding a black belt in Tae Kwon Do). You could also make a case for the star of the Harold and Kumar films, Kal Penn. But that brings me back to the not looking like an action hero point. So with those things considered, Gyllenhaal looks like the best choice despite my early annoyance with the casting decision.

I think this second trailer strengthens the case for this movie actually being a decent flick. Whether a proper screenplay has been composed to accentuate the stunning action is yet to be known. Plus this movie features one of the hottest females on the entire planet in Gemma Arterton. She could be in an eight hour movie that featured her working an entire shift as a McDonald’s employee and I’d pay to watch it all.

If one thing is certain, it’s that I will be at a midnight showing checking this movie out to see if it is for real like the first Pirates of the Caribbean or a computer generated piece of junk like the third.

And finally, with the May 7th release looming just around the corner, a new Iron Man 2 trailer, or the feature trailer as it is called, was bound to rear it’s nasty head. Behold, a trailer so epic the words to describe it cannot even escape my mouth, or fingers that is. Before viewing this trailer for the first time anticipation was pumping through my veins; after, it was a cataclysm of euphoria.

If the last 30 seconds of this trailer doesn’t fuel your desire to get yourself tickets to the midnight showing of Iron Man 2 then you either are not an actual movie fan or are unfortunately blind. Iron Man and War Machine vs. the army of robots has legendary written all over it.

This feature trailer unravels plot details exposing the many avenues of conflict coming out of this story. We see Tony and Pepper’s advanced relationship, but Tony’s new assistant, the sexy but deadly Scarlett Johansson, trying to wedge herself in between them. The government wants the Iron Man suit, but Tony still refuses to give up his prized possession.

Tony’s success also leaves “blood in the water,” which soon brings the sharks circling. This ultimate conflict comes from the villain Whiplash played seemingly flawlessly by Mickey Rourke. He devises a way to get Stark’s attention by showing off his own rendition of the suit. The stakes are raised when Whiplash catches more than just our hero’s attention, but also a wealthy scoundrel with nefarious plans of an Iron Man-like army of robots.

This trailer alone has “great story” written all over it, not to mention the magnificent dialogue displayed (If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in him). Are the visuals enough for your appetite? I know that a whole movie with those mind bending visuals will leave me feeling stuffed like I’m watching Thanksgiving Day Thursday Night Football. Besides the obvious GLORY of the July release of Inception, the second Iron Man seems ripe for second place behind it in box office receipts this summer.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

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Where in the hell did this from? After getting no love from The Golden Globes or the SAG Awards, The Hurt Locker came out of left field to win six Academy Awards including Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow) and Best Picture. I thought it was a solid film, but NO WAY did it deserve Best Picture. Avatar and Inglourious Basterds were the only worthy nominees for the biggest award of the night in my opinion. I guess the Academy is still too conservative and/or short-sighted to give props to any film that wins big at the box-office.

Say what you will about Avatar and it’s simplistic and recycled storyline, but it should have at least ran away with every technical category. I mean, IT IS the most ground-breaking film of all time in that regard. Yet it still lost to The Hurt Locker in the Sound Mixing/Editing, Film Editing and Art Direction categories. What is your deal Academy?! And Quentin Tarantino’s script for Inglourious Basterds is without a doubt superior to The Hurt Locker, yet the Academy thought The Hurt Locker’s was more compelling…or something. Even District 9 would have been acceptable. I didn’t mind that Kathryn Bigelow won for Best Director, making her the first woman ever to win that award, as her direction in that film was very good, but still.

Then we come to the acting categories. Of course, Mo’nique was a shoe-in, having won every award on Earth previously for Best Supporting Actress in Precious. I was rooting for Anna Kendrick for her performance in Up in the Air, as I found that performance to be much more memorable, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it. Thank god that Inglourious Basterds got some love with Christoph Waltz winning Best Supporting Actor for his brilliant role as “The Jew Hunter.”

I never saw Crazy Heart, but Jeff Bridges seemed destined to win Best Actor for his performance. Like Mo’nique, he had won pretty much every award imaginable for his role, as Mr. Deery applauded in his review of the film. But Sandra Bullock winning for Best Actress? Are you kidding me?! I thought The Blind Side was a decent film at best, and thought Bullock’s performance was okay, but in NO WAY Oscar-worthy. Every other nominee in that category, I thought, gave a much more powerful and compelling performance than Bullock. I mean, it’s not like it was a “we owe you” award, such as last year when Kate Winslet won for The Reader. This was her FIRST NOMINATION!!! I mean come on! Uggghh.

The show itself was mind-numbingly boring. I was expecting so much more from hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, but they were reading off their cue cards like they were hosting SNL. They jokes were flat, for the most part, and it just felt so scripted and forced, not entertaining whatsoever. Bring back Hugh Jackman next year will ya? At least he’s talented and versatile enough to sing, dance and do things other than, uh, read!

And man they need to work on their timing for this thing. This year’s Oscars ran over 30 minutes late, clocking in at just under four hours. FOUR HOURS! And when the acting categories arrived and they had all these actors who had previously worked with the nominees give 10-minute speeches on their buddy’s grace and character. It made me want to gouge out my eyeballs and stuff my ears with dynamite. They’ve got to do a lot more next year to make up for this poop-filled gala event. Anyway, check out the full list of winners from last night’s 82nd Academy Awards below. Thanks to FirstShowing for the list compilation.

PICTURE:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Pixar’s Up
Up in the Air

DIRECTOR:
James Cameron – Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels – Precious
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air

ACTOR:
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

ACTRESS:
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Penélope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman – The Messenger
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
Bob Peterson & Pete Docter – Pixar’s Up

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell – District 9
Nick Hornby – An Education
Armando Iannucci & Simon Blackwell – In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air

ANIMATED FEATURE:
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Pixar’s Up

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Ajami (Israel)
El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Un Prophète (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)

ART DIRECTION:
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Mauro Fiore – Avatar
Bruno Delbonnel – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Barry Ackroyd – The Hurt Locker
Robert Richardson – Inglourious Basterds
Christian Berger – The White Ribbon

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America
Which Way Home

DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin

ANIMATED SHORT:
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

LIVE-ACTION SHORT:
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

VISUAL EFFECTS:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

COSTUME DESIGN:
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

MAKEUP:
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

FILM EDITING:
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

SOUND MIXING:
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

SOUND EDITING:
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Pixar’s Up

ORIGINAL SCORE:
James Horner – Avatar
Alexandre Desplat – Fantastic Mr. Fox
Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders – The Hurt Locker
Hans Zimmer – Sherlock Holmes
Michael Giacchino – Pixar’s Up

ORIGINAL SONG:
“Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog
“Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog
“Loin de Paname” from Paris 36
“Take It All” from Nine
“The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart

What Do You Think? Discuss.

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Roger Ebert is undoubtedly THE most respected film critic/entertainment author that ever lived. Ebert has been writing about movies for the Chicago Sun-Times for over 40 years. He’s written 15 books about film and became the first person to win the Pulitzer Prize for film criticism in 1975. Last year he was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Director’s Guild of America, the first film critic to ever receive such an honor. And of course, along with his dearly departed former co-critic Gene Siskel, Ebert provided movie fans all over the world with the iconic catch-phrase “Two Thumps Up!” The guy is a pretty big deal in the movie industry.

Back in 2006, Ebert lost his ability to speak and the lower part of his jaw (causing him to wear a scarf at all times) due to thyroid cancer-related surgeries. The tragic loss of his voice left him unable to continue his weekly TV show “Ebert & Roeper at The Movies,” with fellow Chicago critic Richard Roeper. However, Ebert’s horrible circumstances have not slowed him down one bit when it comes to seeing and reviewing films. Ebert is still going to the theater several times a week to write reviews for his Chicago Sun-Times/movie blog RogerEbert.com, while simultaneously showcasing hope and triumph to millions of people who can no longer use their voice because of cancer.

Since his surgeries, Ebert has been using a computerized voice system that allows him to audibly communicate with others, similar to that of genius physics scholar Stephen Hawking. That simulated voice has a very mono-tone and robotic sound, something that Ebert obviously got tired of. Then one day, he was just surfing around the internet and stumbled across a Scottish speech technology company called CereProc. They provide a very unique service that allows people who are unable to speak, to find their voice again…literally. What they did for Ebert is copied the audio from his years of TV appearances, took his speech patterns and tones and applied them to his personal voice system. So instead of that mono-tone robot, it’s Roger Ebert that’s speaking, without actually speaking.

It’s a really cool story that’s probably going to change a lot of other people’s lives who deal with similar unfortunate circumstances. Ebert appeared on Oprah this week to showcase the new technology, as well as give his Oscar predictions; which should be considered definite locks.

I’ve always had great respect for Roger Ebert. When a new film is released, I go to his website first just to gauge what to expect. He’s the most rationale and intelligent analyzer of film today, which is why movie-goers should care about this promising time in his troubled life. Check out this pretty sweet video from CBS News that shows just how Ebert got his new voice.

Also check out this video featuring Ebert showing the new technology with his wife Chaz.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

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