Three confirmed for The Hobbit!

According to Guillermo Del Toro in a recent interview, it appears that Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Andy Serkis (Gollum) and Hugo Weaving (Elrond) have confirmed to participate in The Hobbit films in their original roles, so that is great news for LOTR fans who will be looking forward for the two films. What do you think?

Whiplash premiere

Here is your first look of Mickey Rourke as Russian baddie Ivan Vanko a.k.a. Whiplash in the upcoming Iron Man 2 opposite Robert Downey Jr. It is still unclear if this character will be employed by Tony Stark's competitor Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell, but you can see his Russian tattoos and a design of his suit and whips, so we'll see how much he'll be able to pound Iron Man. What do you think?

A new Expendable?

According to Moviehole, Steven Seagal recently turned down an offer to participate in one of the biggest action projects in years, Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables because of disagreements with Avi Lerner, one of the film's producers. Fans shouldn't be too disappointed, because it is now rumored that none other than Bruce Willis is currently in talks to participate in the film. Adding John McClane to an all-stellar action cast (Sly, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Eric Roberts, Danny Trejo and Randy Couture, not to mention a cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger), this should promise to be a great hit. What do you think?

Monsters, Inc. Sequel?

With Pixar's tenth hit at the box-office in Up, director Pete Docter is rumored to be working on a sequel to the 2001 Monsters, Inc. which was nominated for a Animated Feature Film award (Shrek won the award). The film went on to make over 250 million dollars at the domestic box office. It would be fun to see if the original characters would be involved. We'll keep you updated.

Full House Film?

Rumours are currently circulating that John Stamos is working to adapt the television series in which he starred in into a motion picture event. A TV series turned into a movie is often a big risk, especially when younger audiences haven't seen the series run, but Get Smart was a good comedy last summer, so we'll see if this project becomes a reality in the near future.

Invictus release date

According to Variety magazine, Clint Eastwood's next pic Invictus will be released on December 11th, just on time for Oscar season. The Nelson Mandela biopic starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, once called the Human Factor, should be a heavy favorite especially for Freeman if Clint continues his hot streak. What do you think?

R.I.P. David Carradine

The actor who made his fame with the series Kung Fu and was recently seen as the titled character Bill in the Kill Bill movies, passed away today at the age of 72. You will be missed.

Toy Story 3 Teaser Trailer

Here is the teaser for Pixar next project, the much anticipated third film of the Toy Story franchise and from the looks of it, this will be one of the best films of 2010. Enjoy!

Cannes Curse?

As you've no doubt read or heard by now, Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon took home the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival after 4 previous nominations (though he took the Best Director award for Caché in 2005). The win places the film as one of the early contenders for Foreign Language Film, but a Palme d'Or win doesn't necessarily carry all the way to the Oscars. Indeed, only 5 films since the beginning of the Festival went on to win the Foreign Language Film Oscar, the last one being over 20 years ago : Pelle The Conqueror from Bille August (only one film won both the Palme d'Or and the Best Picture award, Marty in 1955). The movie will undoubtely be seen by many moviegoers in months to come and it will be interesting to see if it ends in the top 5 come Oscar season. What do you think?

The Road Trailer

Shortly after announcing an October release, Dimension Films releases the first trailer for Cormac McCarthy's rendition of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road. Enjoy!

Nine Trailer

Here is the trailer premiere for Rob Marshall's next musical starring no less than 6 Oscar winners in the main cast. Daniel Day-Lewis headlines in this remake of Fellini's 8 1/2 as Guido Contini and posing as the women are Nicole Kidman, Pénelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Oscar nominee Kate Hudson, Stacy Ferguson and Sophia Loren as Guido's mother. A heavy contender... What do you think?

The Road

Sorry for the long absence from the blog, but now that the summer season has kicked off with an 87M$ opening from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it seemed fitting this piece of news would be my first article back. After the film was pushed from last year's Oscar season, it has been announced that The Road starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron and Kodi Smit-McPhee will finally be released on October 16th of 2009. This film will probably be one of the favorites heading into this year's season pending positive reviews, but fans of the book will be ravishing for this adaptation from director John Hillcoat. Will you go see it?

Public Enemies Trailer

Here is the first trailer from one of the early favorites for next year's awards, the John Dillinger biopic starring Johnny Depp (another Oscar nom, who knows?), Christian Bale and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard. From director Michael Mann. What do you think?

2009 Box Office Champs

This is a little thing I always love to do when Oscar season is over and it's time to look to the films due this year, and that is to predict who will be the biggest draws at the domestic box office. I'd like to invite my fellow colleagues to participate in predicting the top 10 at the box office this upcoming year, and for you to offer a list as well. Here are my picks:

10. New Moon
9. Angels & Demons
8. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
7. Night At the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
6. Star Trek
5. Up
4. Terminator Salvation
3. Watchmen
2. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

What do you think?

2008 Academy Awards Recap

These Academy Awards saw the film nobody saw coming until its release, Slumdog Millionaire, dominate the ceremony taking home 8 Oscars out of 10, the most by a film since Return of the King. Hugh Jackman was a very warm and charming host giving us so many dance and song numbers we're bound to see again on YouTube. A very good call by the Academy on that front. No big surprises on the Acting awards. Some people will be upset Mickey Rourke did not win, but Sean Penn was wonderful as Harvey Milk. By the time Hugh started his first number we have forgotten The Dark Knight was not in contention for Best Picture, but everyone stood on their feet when Heath Ledger's name was called for Best Supporting Actor and his family gave a very moving speech of his memory. Jerry Lewis was very humble in his speech for the Jean Herseholt Award. Perhaps a slight problem in this year's ceremony might have been its predictability for the winners. Indeed I'm sure a lot of critics and bloggers will have a very high score in predicting the award recipients. I had a score of 17 out of 24 myself, but I missed 2 of the categories I usually have no idea who'll win, being Animated Short and Documentary Short Subject. I did however miss 2 of the acting categories, predicting Viola Davis instead of Cruz and prefering Rourke to Penn. A nice concept was born tonight, with 5 winning actors presenting the nominees and giving a short description of their performances. I hope this will continue for many years to come. I hope next year's ceremony will be as entertaining as this year's.

Well, what did you think?

Best Picture

And the Oscar goes to... Christian Colson for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor

And the Oscar goes to... Sean Penn for Milk

Best Actress

And the Oscar goes to... Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Director

And the Oscar goes to... Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Language Film

And the Oscar goes to... Departures (Japan)