Posts Tagged ‘directors’

Officially Nominees Announced For 83rd Academy Awards

The complete list of nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards, the most prestigious award in Hollywood, have been announced today (via Oscars.com). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the nominees this morning live from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. There’s no need to spend any more time introducing this, so let’s get right down to it! This is the second year since 1943 that 10 films are nominated for Best Picture and they’ve revealed an interesting set of nominees, as expected. But there are plenty more great selections hidden within, so without further ado, take a look at the full nominees list.

The 83rd Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, February 27th at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood with a live telecast airing on ABC starting at 8PM5PM (PST). This year’s ceremony is being hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway. The full list of 2011 Academy Awards nominees can be found below. (EST) /

PICTURE:
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

DIRECTOR:
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
David Fincher – The Social Network
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
Joel & Ethan Coen – True Grit
David O. Russell – The Fighter

ACTOR:
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours

ACTRESS:
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Christian Bale – The Fighter
John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner – The Town
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Mike Leigh – Another Year
Scott Silver & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson – The Fighter
Christopher Nolan – Inception
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg – The Kids Are All Right
David Seidler – The King’s Speech

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy – 127 Hours
Aaron Sorkin – The Social Network
Michael Arndt – Toy Story 3
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – True Grit
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini – Winter’s Bone

ANIMATED FEATURE:
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dogtooth (Greece)
In a Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Outside the Law (Algeria)

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Matthew Libatique – Black Swan
Wally Pfister – Inception
Danny Cohen – The King’s Speech
Jeff Cronenweth – The Social Network
Roger Deakins – True Grit

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

ANIMATED SHORT:
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, a Journey Diary

LIVE-ACTION SHORT:
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

VISUAL EFFECTS:
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

ART DIRECTION:
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

COSTUME DESIGN:
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

MAKEUP:
Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

FILM EDITING:
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

SOUND MIXING:
Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

SOUND EDITING:
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

ORIGINAL SCORE:
John Powell – How to Train Your Dragon
Hans Zimmer – Inception
Alexandre Desplat – The King’s Speech
A.R. Rahman – 127 Hours
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – The Social Network

ORIGINAL SONG:
“Coming Home” from Country Strong
“I See the Light” from Tangled
“If I Rise” from 127 Hours
“We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3

Like with the Golden Globes, I’m actually quite happy with this year’s nominations, there were a lot of great films in 2010 and a lot of them are getting recognized. However, as always they’re missing some good noms like Andrew Garfield from Social Network and Daft Punk’s Tron Legacy score. That said, I’m still looking forward to seeing who wins on February 27th. Only 33 days until the ceremony – not too long! What’s your Thoughts?

Paul Verhoeven’s Thriller ‘Surrogate’ is Still A Go.

Earlier this week we wrote about a new project that director Paul Verhoeven (seen above) is working on (an adaptation of the video game The Last Express), but we weren’t sure if that meant he was ditching his other project The Surrogate. Announced last year, The Surrogate is a thriller about a couple desperate to have a child who find themselves in an unbearable position when they find out the surrogate they hired to carry their baby is insane. Not the most interesting concept, but in the hands of Verhoeven, you never know. MTV ran new quotes from their recent chat with Verhoeven and word is The Surrogate is still in the works.

“That’s still in the works,” Verhoeven told MTV. “Halle Berry is attached to the project and we discussed it all. The question is where do we get the $30 million to do a project that includes a lot of things that have to do with abortion and… surrogate mothers.” Good question, but maybe it’s an early sign that no one wants to invest in this. We don’t want another Showgirls, now do we? While Berry is attached (as of June ‘09) to play the mother/wife, they still haven’t found someone for the husband or the surrogate yet. Verhoeven does also promise this will be “provocative and sexual,” which reminds me of Showgirls again. Speaking of which:

“There are nearly no movies anymore with sex clearly in it,” Verhoeven told MTV. “If you look at what’s there, it’s all PG-13. There is really no R anymore.” The plan is for The Surrogate to change all that.

He’s right – the way we treat sexuality and nudity in movies in the US is shameful. But that doesn’t mean he needs to overdo it to prove a point. Verhoeven’s always been an edgier filmmaker who sometimes takes that sexuality a bit too far (I heard more complaints about that “scene” in Black Book than I did compliments) and, well, I don’t think I need to mention Showgirls again, but I will anyway. Then again, I am usually a fan of Verhoeven’s crazier work, which it sounds like this could be, especially with an “insane” baby mama that Halle Berry has to fight. The Surrogate is in development at Fox through GG Filmz and Winter Road. It’s based on a book of the same name by Kathryn Mackel. We’ll keep you updated on its progress. Thoughts?

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Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass

Now that you’ve seen it, what did you think? Its been exactly 2 years, 27 days since we first learned that Matthew Vaughn would be adapting John Romita Jr and Mark Millar’s ultra-violent comic book series Kick-Ass. The finished movie arrives in theaters this weekend and it’s time to hear your thoughts about it. How does it compare to the comics? Is it better or worse? Is the movie as awesome as everyone is saying it is? Is Hit Girl the best character in the movie? Was Roger Ebert wrong to give it 1 star in his review? Or is it not that good? If you’ve seen it, then leave a comment below and let us know what you thought of Kick-Ass!

To fuel the fire, Kick-Ass is currently my favorite movie of the year so far. I’ve seen it twice and I completely and thoroughly love it. It packs a punch from start to finish, transcends the family friendly nature of most comic book movies in the wildest of ways, and is just the perfect bit of cinematic entertainment. My favorite scene was the strobe light fighting scene, which blew me away for being both beautifully shot and incredibly intense at the same time. I loved all of the characters, even Red Mist and especially Hit Girl and Kick-Ass, and I can’t wait to see the sequel. Kick-Ass really was one of the best recent comic book movies I have seen!

What did you think of Kick-Ass? One of the best comic book movies ever or one of the worst?

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Chinese Earthquake Movie ‘Aftershocks’

I’m pretty damn sure no one has heard of this film before today, but you won’t forget about it after watching this trailer. Twitch first discovered this extraordinary teaser trailer for a disaster film called Aftershocks coming out of China about the devastating 1976 Tangshan Earthquake that killed over 240,000 people. This trailer reminds me of Schindler’s List with the little girl and the way it uses the red to accent the terror and chaos of the situation. I would say this is China’s big disaster film in response to 2012, but since this is about an event that already happened, it’s very different and much more emotional. Check out the teaser below. 

Watch the teaser trailer for Xiaogang Feng’s Aftershocks:

When a mother is informed by a rescue team that, since her 7-year old twins are buried under the debris close to each other, digging one out would result in the collapse of the wreckage on the other, she is forced to make the most difficult decision of her life. Based around the devastating Tangshan Earthquake of 1976.

Aftershocks, originally titled Tangshan Dadizheng in Chinese, is being directed by Beijing-born filmmaker Xiaogang Feng, of other Chinese films like The Dream Factory, Happy Funeral, A World Without Thieves and The Banquet previously. The film will be released in China in July of this year, but it does not have a US release date. In fact, it doesn’t even have a US distributor yet. We’ll let you know if we hear more about it!

WB’s Remake of Snabba Cash Zac Efron Plays Drug Smuggler.

You’re not the only one who doesn’t know what’s up with wacky that title. Heat Vision reports that remake rights to this Swedish thriller sparked a huge bidding war in Hollywood and it looks like the winner is Zac Efron (also attached to star) and Warner Bros (the home of Efron’s new production company) along with producers Charles Roven (The Dark Knight) and Richard Suckle (The International) of Atlas Ent. Snabba Cash is a new Swedish film based on a novel by Jens Lapidus that follows three interconnected storylines involving drugs and organized crime, and would have Efron as a financial wiz who becomes drug runner.

Apparently the property sparked interest at the Berlin Film Festival. Later, filmmaker Daniel Espinosa and his film were showcased to bring in offers and luckily they poured in like “snabba cash,” which apparently just means easy money. This project is so in-demand (Universal, Summit, Paramount, Fox, the Weinstein Company, and Mandate were all bidding on it) that the deal has a “progress to production,” or “short fuse” clause, which means that if Warner Bros sits on it for too long, the rights will revert back to the producers. But with WB’s big move to make Efron their next big action star, I don’t think getting this project off the ground with him attached will be too hard. Sound good? Anybody seen the original Snabba Cash?

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James Mangold My Direct Gyllenhaal’s Joe Namath Biopic

Back in 2007, it was announced that Jake Gyllenhaal would play football quarterback Joe Namath in a feature film about his life that was being put together. Jump to today and, well, no progress has been made. However, Pajiba says they’ve heard that James Mangold (of Kate & Leopold, Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, Knight & Day) may have just landed this directing gig, which makes them (and us) wonder if Universal may actually be trying to get this into production as Gyllenhaal’s next big film following Duncan Jones’ Source Code (which he is already shooting). It all makes sense, and I won’t be surprised if this actually happens.

The project was originally setup with David Hollander (“Heartland”, “The Cleaner”) attached to write the screenplay. Namath himself approved of the movie after a “strong pitch” from Hollander and a belief that the “athletic” Gyllenhaal was the right actor to play him. This is an approval that the studio doesn’t want to let go of, which is probably why they’re keeping Gyllenhaal out in front while moving forward. Universal does want to take another pass at David Hollander’s script before it moves into production, though, and knowing them this means it could probably get shelved just as quickly, especially if the budget is too high.

Joe Namath was one of the first football players to achieve a “rock star” status in the NFL. This biopic will tell the story of how the golden-armed kid from Beaver Falls, PA became “Broadway Joe,” the New York Jets quarterback who became a ’60s cultural figure. “Most of the stuff you saw in Forest Gump, Joe lived through all of it,” producer and friend Jimmy Walsh said about Namath and his life. Namath played for 11 years with the New York Jets, from 1965 to 1976, and was the first to pass more than 4,000 yards one season. You can read up on all of his stats on his biography at Pro Football Hall of Fame. We’ll let you know what happens.

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Joss Whedon to Direct The Avengers!

This a fanboy dream come true. I don’t think anyone thought they’d ever wake up and read a headline saying that Joss Whedon, the geek creator of TV shows like “Buffy” and “Firefly”, would be directing the first big superhero team-up movie to ever hit the big screen – The Avengers. Deadline has confirmed the big news of the day: “Marvel Studios is in final negotiations for Joss Whedon to direct Marvel Studios’ The Avengers.” Earlier this month, it was rumored that Whedon was on the shortlist to direct, but no one seemed to believe it would actually happen. Joss Whedon’s The Avengers will hit theaters the first weekend of May in 2012.

Fleming lists a few confirmed superheroes that will be a part of the team: Iron Man ((Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and SHIELD agent Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson). “Other signature superheroes” will be involved, but haven’t been announced yet. Whedon’s background is perfect for this movie, as he’s worked at Marvel before, specifically on the Astonishing X-Men series and a number of other comics. This is most certainly surprising news, but definitely good news. If there’s anyone who’ll be able to handle an immense cast of superheroes, it’s Joss Whedon. I just hope he doesn’t cast Eliza Dushku in this. What do you think of this? Will Joss Whedon do a good job with The Avengers?

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