The Last Station Trailer

Here is the trailer for Michael Hoffman's (The Emperor's Club) new film The Last Station. It stars Oscar winner Helen Mirren (The Queen), Christopher Plummer, James McAvoy and Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man, Sideways). What do you think?

New Nine Posters

Check out these new posters for Rob Marshall's next film Nine starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Guido Contini. As you can tell, the ladies that are featured will certainly steal the spotlight. Are they prepping for Oscar glory or what? Are you ready to be Italian? What do you think?

Oscar Music Director

It was announced today by Oscar producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic that 5-time Oscar nominee Marc Shaiman will be the music director for this year's ceremony. He will have a lot of work on his hands with 10 Best Picture nominees to parody. What do you think of the choice?

Animated Short Film Submissions

The Academy announced today the 10 films which will compete for the five spots in the Animated Short Film category. There were 37 films which were submitted for the first round of voting. Here are the films:

1. The Cat Piano - Eddie White, Ari Gibson
2. French Roast - Fabrice O. Joubert
3. Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty - Nicky Phelan
4. The Kinematograph - Tomek Baginski
5. The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) - Javier Recio Garcia
6. Logorama - Nicolas Schmerkin
7. A Matter of Loaf and Death - Nick Park
8. Partly Cloudy - Peter Sohn
9. Runaway - Cordell Barker
10. Variete - Roelof van der Bergh

What do you think will make the cut?

Documentary Feature Film Candidates

Earlier today the Academy announced the 15 films who are eligible to compete for the Documentary Feature Film category. Five will be selected to be nominees, so which ones do you think will make the cut? Here is the shortlist:

1. The Beaches of Agnes - Agnes Varda
2. Burma VJ - Anders Ostergaard
3. The Cove - Louie Psihoyos
4. Every Little Step - James D. Stern, Adam Del Deo
5. Facing Ali - Pete McCormack
6. Food, Inc. - Robert Kenner
7. Garbage Dreams - Mai Iskander
8. Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders - Mark N. Hopkins
9. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers - Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith
10. Mugabe and the White African - Andrew Thompson, Lucy Bailey
11. Sergio - Greg Barker
12. Soundtrack for a Revolution - Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
13. Under Our Skin - Andy Abrahams Wilson
14. Valentino the Last Emperor - Matt Tyrnauer
15. Which Way Home - Rebecca Cammisa

It would be important to note a couple of misses here, notably Anvil! which currently has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was the first film screened 'For Your Consideration' this year for the Academy. Other big documentaries missing are Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore and Tyson by James Toback. Do you think others were snubbed? Make your picks.

Golden Globes New Rule

This year, the Golden Globes will expand their Animated Feature Film category from their usual 3 nominees to 5 nominees this year. This, of course, will happen if at least twelve films qualify to be contenders. If there are less than 8 films that qualify, in that case there will be no award but the films will then run for Best Picture. If the number of films which qualify are between 8 and 12, then only 3 nominees will be presented at the ceremony. What do you think?

Crazy Heart Trailer

Here is the first trailer for Scott Cooper's directorial debut Crazy Heart. There is a lot of buzz for its star, 4-time Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges (Starman, The Big Lebowski). Also starring Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight), Colin Farrell (In Bruges) and Oscar winner Robert Duvall (Tender Mercies, The Godfather I & II). Do you think it has what it takes to make the top 10?

Nine Trailer #2

Here is a sample of this year's most talked about musical from director Rob Marshall (Chicago). Expect this song (sung from Kate Hudson no less) to be a favorite for this year's ceremony. What do you think?

Golden Globes Predix

With less than a month until the official announcement of the Golden Globes Award nominees, it is time to offer my first predictions for the ceremony in the movie categories. Here goes:

BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA
An Education
Invictus
The Lovely Bones
Precious
Up in the Air

BEST MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY/MUSICAL
(500) Days of Summer
In the Loop
The Informant!
The Men Who Stare at Goats
Nine

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Viggo Mortensen - The Road

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY/MUSICAL
Peter Capaldi - In the Loop
George Clooney - The Men Who Stare at Goats
Matt Damon - The Informant!
Daniel Day-Lewis - Nine
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - (500) Days of Summer

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Penelope Cruz - Broken Embraces
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY/MUSICAL
Marion Cotillard - Nine
Zooey Deschanel - (500) Days of Summer
Maya Rudolph - Away We Go
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Emma Thompson - Pirate Radio

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon - Invictus
Alfred Molina - An Education
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz - Nine
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Mo'Nique - Precious
Julianne Moore - A Single Man
Susan Sarandon - The Lovely Bones

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Lee Daniels - Precious
Peter Jackson - The Lovely Bones
Rob Marshall - Nine
Jason Reitman - Up in the Air

BEST SCREENPLAY
Nick Hornby - An Education
Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh - The Lovely Bones
Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - A Serious Man
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up in the Air

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Paul Englishby - An Education
James Horner - Avatar
T-Bone Burnett - Crazy Heart
Brian Eno - The Lovely Bones
Michael Giacchino - Up

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
''Time for Miracles'' - 2012
''The Weary Kind'' - Crazy Heart
''Cinema Italiano'' - Nine
''100 Percent'' - Precious
''Down in New Orleans'' - The Princess and the Frog

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Coraline
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
Up

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Broken Embraces (Spain)
Mother (South Korea)
Police Adjective (Romania)
A Prophet (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)

What do you think?

Honorary Oscars

For the first time in Academy Award history, the Honorary Oscars were handed out at a private ceremony and not during the telecast of the official ceremony. Among the winners, legendary B-movie producer/director Roger Corman, 2-time Oscar nominee cinematographer Gordon Willis (The Godfather trilogy, Zelig), Oscar nominee Lauren Bacall (The Mirror Has Two Faces) and producer John Calley was the recipient of the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award. The ceremony took place at the ballroom above the Kodak theatre this weekend.

The White Ribbon Trailer

Here is the trailer for this year's Palme D'Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival from director Michael Haneke (Caché). It is currently the favorite to take the Foreign Language Film Oscar. What do you think?

A Single Man Trailer

Here is Tom Ford's feature film debut gaining a lot of buzz for its main actors Colin Firth and Julianne Moore for nominations. Will the film itself make the top ten? What do you think?

Another Honor for Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese, the Academy Award winning director for The Departed and numerous classics of modern cinema (GoodFellas, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver to name a few) will receive the Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globe awards ceremony on January 17th. The nominations will be announced on December 15th and so, in three days time, I'll offer my first predictions for the Golden Globe nominees.

Animated Feature Film Submissions

Today the Academy announced 20 titles which will be competing for the five slots for Best Animated Feature Film for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. This will mark the first time since 2002 that there will be five nominees in this category. Here are the films who will be competing this year:

• Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
• Astro Boy
• Battle for Terra
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Disney's A Christmas Carol
• The Dolphin - Story of a Dreamer
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
• Mary and Max
• The Missing Lynx
• Monsters vs. Aliens
• 9
• Planet 51
• Ponyo
• The Princess and the Frog
• The Secret of Kells
• Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
• A Town Called Panic
• Up

Which films do you think will make the final cut?

Date Night Trailer

Here is the first trailer for Shawn Levy's (Night at the Museum) next comedy, Date Night, starring NBC's favorite headliners Steve Carell (The Office, 40 Year-Old Virgin) and Tiny Fey (30 Rock, Mean Girls). Also headlining the cast is Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg (The Departed), Mila Kunis, James Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Ray Liotta and Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). What do you think?

Salt Trailer

Here is the first trailer for Phillip Noyce's new thriller Salt starring Oscar winner Angelina Jolie. Expect loads of action, thrills and sexy moments. What do you think?

Host Announcement

It has yet to be confirmed by the Academy, but according to several reports, it would appear both Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, who will co-star in the upcoming Nancy Meyers romantic comedy "It's Complicated" alongside Meryl Streep, have been chosen to co-host the 82nd annual Academy Awards. These look like very interesting and good choices here. Baldwin is a former nominee for The Cooler and is enjoying success on his hit show 30 Rock (for which he won 2 Emmys and 2 Golden Globes). Martin is arguably "the" SNL alumni who has been nominated for 5 Golden Globe awards and will host the Oscars for the third time (this is his first co-hosting). This will be the first time since 1987 the Oscars will have more than one host, so another interesting change this year. What do you think?

Green Zone Trailer

Two Matt Damon trailers in one day! Reuniting with Bourne director Paul Greengrass, here is their next project slated for a March 2010 release. What do you think?

Hollywood Awards

The award season is officially underway with the announcement of the Hollwood Awards early this morning. So we finally have an idea of the early favorites for this year's Oscar race. Here are the winners:

Hollywood Film (as voted by Yahoo Movies! fans) : Star Trek
Hollywood Male Star of the year : Gerard Butler
Hollywood Female Star of the year : Megan Fox
Hollywood World Award : The White Ribbon
Hollywood Best Actor : Robert De Niro - Everybody's Fine
Hollywood Best Actress : Hilary Swank - Amelia
Hollywood Best Supporting Actor : Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Hollywood Best Supporting Actress : Julianne Moore - A Single Man
Hollywood Best Director : Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Hollywood Best Screenplay : Nora Ephron - Julie & Julia
Hollywood Breakthrough Actress : Carey Mulligan - An Education
Hollywood Breakthrough Actor : Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Hollywood Breakthrough Director : Lee Daniels - Precious
New Hollywood Award : Gabourey ''Gabby'' Sidibe - Precious
Hollywood Spotlight Award : Shohreh Aghdashloo, Zachary Quinto, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Schneider
Hollywood Comedy Award : Bradley Cooper - The Hangover
Hollywood Animation : Pete Docter - Up
Hollywood Film Composer : Alexandre Desplat - Julie & Julia, The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Hollywood Cinematographer : Roger Deakins - A Serious Man
Hollywood Film Editor : Dana Glauberman - Up In the Air
Hollywood Visual Effects : Scott Farrar - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Hollywood Production Designer : Rick Carter - Avatar
Hollywood Costume Designer : Colleen Atwood - Public Enemies, Nine

What do you think?

Invictus Trailer

Pardon the long absence, but now that Oscar season is about to begin, it is time to start posting again. Here I present the first trailer for Clint Eastwood's next film Invictus, starring Morgan Freeman as former South African president Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pineaar, captain of the national rugby team. Together, they sought to unite a nation after the apartheid which divided it for so long. Expect major buzz for both actors and Clint, and even possibly for the film now that the field is up to 10 nominees. What do you think?