It’s time for you to go and buy some DVDs, but you don’t know what’s good or bad?  You want me to tell you what I’m getting?  Well, here you go: Read the full story

At the Academy Awards this past Sunday, The Cove, a documentary which details the annual killing of dolphins in a National Park at Taiji, Wakayama, Japan, took home the 2009 Oscar for Best Documentary. In a category that is often filled with heart-felt stories about important issues, this writer felt it important to highlight elements about the film that made it worthy of taking the trophy home. Read the full story

It’s that time of the week when we all head to our local stores to spend money on silly circular thingies that put moving pictures on our televisions whenever we don’t want to watch the news. Here’s what I’d buy, rent and ignore. Read the full story

It’s time to finally end this sucker. With the Academy Awards this weekend after a month filled with coverage, who will come out on top? Read the full story

With the expansion to ten Best Picture nominees, many thought that “anything has a shot now!” But that is, of course, horrifically incorrect seeing as how the still-five-nominees-Best Director category essentially reveals what the “real” Best Picture nominees are. Read the full story

Copy and paste the introduction from all the other acting awards, as Best Actor is as painfully easy to predict as the rest of them. Jeff Bridges will walk away with the golden statue for his performance as ‘Bad’ Blake in Crazy Heart. Though it might not be the crowning performance of his accomplished career, Bridges will receive a tardy feather-in-the-cap of a solid, yet often overlooked career. But Bridges will beat out a flock of well-deserving players that deserve some praise of their own. Read the full story

Many fans of the film Inglourious Bastards are wishing Quentin Tarantino much success at the upcoming Oscars. Aside from Christoph Waltz’s most deserved Supporting Actor nomination, the award the film is best positioned for is arguably Best Original Screenplay. It is undeniable that Tarantino’s writing talents shine through the final cut of the film, but in honor of the screenplay’s nomination, we will now highlight just a few sections from the final draft of the script that did not make it into the film (warning: if you have not seen the film, this will include spoilers): Read the full story

Another week gone and it’s once again time for me to take you through my DVD picks of the week: Read the full story

This year Meryl Streep is up for her 16^th Oscar nomination for her work in Julie and Julia. If you read my previous article on Streep you would know I don’t support this nomination or a win. Streep has been much better before and if she truly wants a third Oscar she is going to need to be much riskier in her acting choices. The last few years we have seen the actress slumming around in middle-of-the-road comedies and Oscar bait. Her Julia Child impersonation is adequate but it is not the type of role that calls for a third Oscar.

For months it seemed Streep was unstoppable, until her tie at the Critic’s Choice Awards with Sandra Bullock. Bullock then went on to claim both the Golden Globe and SAG award for her portrayal of the do-gooding, right-wing football fanatic Leigh Ann Tuohy in The Blind Side. Much has been said about whether or not Bullock’s performance is up to par with the title of Best Actress, but when considering previous wins for Reese Witherspoon, Gwenyth Paltrow and Halle Berry it hardly seems dubious to reward Bullock. She is a very likable star who has given great performances before (her turn in Infamous is much better than Catherine Keener’s Harper Lee in Capote, but unfortunately Bullock was in the other Truman Capote movie) and achieved incomparable success this year with The Proposal and The Blind Side. If it between Bullock and Streep, I would have to go with Bullock for the sheer fact that she will probably never have another opportunity at the golden guy and to send a message to Streep that she is going to have to do more than show up to the set to earn another statue. Bullock’s film gaining a Best Picture nomination over Julie and Julia doesn’t bode well for Streep’s chances either.

Newcomers Gabourey Sidibe and Carey Mulligan gave the two best performances out of the nominees but haven’t gained enough precursor support to have a real shot at winning the award. It is possible for one of them to pull ahead if Streep and Bullock cancel each other out much like the win for Adrien Brody over Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis in 2002. Mulligan benefits from being a demure, thin, white woman and should have no problem finding her way back into the Oscar race if she is given the right projects. I would love more than anything if the Academy would reward Sidibe, the best of the nominees, for her haunting portrayal in Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire but it is highly unlikely due the prejudices in place against someone of her race and size.

Helen Mirren’s nomination is similar to that of Charlize Theron in North Country or Jodie Foster in Nell; a recent Best Actress winner filing the fifth slot despite the quality of the work. She doesn’t stand a threat to win but serves more as a validation of her recent win. Filler nominations such as these make it hard to accept snubs of much greater work. It’s hard to believe they couldn’t find room for someone like Tilda Swinton in Julia or Michelle Pfeiffer in Cheri yet Mirren was able to squeak in with a film hardly anyone saw or seemed to have much passion for.

Will Win: Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
Should Win: Gabourey Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Should Have Been Nominated: Tilda Swinton for Julia

Few have done it blatantly (kudos to Gus Van Sant for trying, remakes of Rear Window and The Lodger are eternally forgettable), but many have paid enough homage to Hitch to warrant an uber-collection of pseudo-remakes, from Brian De Palma’s entire film career (Femme Fatale is his Vertigo) to Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, which takes a considerable amount of style, and even a little substance, from Hitch’s Spellbound. How many times has Rope been remade in concept? Murder By Numbers, Swoon, etc.

So why not remake Suspicion, starring Will Smith? The movie star, in many ways, is his generation’s Cary Grant: the charming good guy with a sweet smile and a hint of mischievousness. As much of a Cary Grant as George Clooney is anyway.

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