"Julie & Julia" Trailer

Well we've gotten our first look at the upcoming Nora Ephron film...and strickly speaking it doesn't look like much. Certainly not the Oscar bait many of of us (myself included) thought it would be. But it's got Meryl Streep in it. Will she get her mandatory Oscar nomination anyway? I guess we'll see.

'Soloist' Fails To Inspire

Well, the much delayed Joe Wright film "The Soloist" has finally been released to theaters with a big thud. It's opened at number 5 at the box office and the reviews haven't been much kinder. This was originally supposed to be released last year for Oscar consideration, but the studio decided to push it back to this year.

Looks like we know why now.

The only thing that has been resonated with people are the lead performances of both Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Right now though it's too early to see whether only won can get nominated (much less both). If I were to bet money though I'd bet on Downey, Jr. getting the nomination. Right now he's Hollywood's golden actor, the guy who does great work and makes a difficult job look easy. If one of these men are getting the nomination it is. But gee, only 61% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes? If that doesn't make you pause with anxioty then I don't know what will.

No Ladies: Zac Efron Is NOT Winning An Oscar!

So I saw "17 Again" last week. I'll be posting my full review of it on The Movie Wizard.com tomorrow (if not the following day), but I just want to mention something to all my girlfriends who were holding their breath on my opinion of this film; yes, I liked this movie. And yes, Zac Efron was very good in this film. But girls, he's NOT getting an Oscar for this movie! In fact, it's laughable to think he'd even get nominated for this film. I know that Tom Hanks got an Oscar nomination for "Big," a movie that shares a similar story with this film. But not only was that movie directed by Penny Marshall with a complexity you don't normally find in crowd-pleaser films, it starred Tom Hanks. Tom is such a likable and talented actor that even in his bad movies he can squeez out a good performance ("The Ladykillers" anyone?). Zac Efron, despite being cute and likable, is NOT Tom Hanks!

If anything his performance in "17 Again" is much like Matthew Broodricks performance in "Ferris Buelure's Day Off": Cute, sweet, and most likely the highlight of his career. "17 Again" IS better then most movies like this are! Truth be told I'll probably be buying the BluRay when it comes out because it's a movie that is so easy to like that I'll end up watching it several more times down the road. But Oscar worthy? I think you girls need to educate yourself on what a real young actor can do. If you want to see kids and teens in award nominated roles check out Justin Henry in "Kramer vs. Kramer," "Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense," Leonardo DiCaprio in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?," and Anna Paquin in "The Piano" (this role actually took home the gold). But if Efron gets a nomination it will only be because it was a slow year.

Harry Going Home With Oscars?

I know that, technically, Harry Potter has not been a big hit at the Oscars. It has never been nominated in any of the big categories. It has been nominated for three of the five films but has yet to win (not even for John Williams now classic score). It hasn't shown any promise of ever touching Best Picture. But is it naive to think that maybe -just MAYBE - "Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince" will get close to that top category?! I have no idea if the movie is Oscar worthy, but after watching the new trailer three times...man, I'm sold. I'm more excited about this movie then I ever was before. It just screams epic. As the series gets closer to the end the movies (despite the PG-rating for this one) will likely stop being kids films and be more for adults then anyone else. That's how the books worked and that's how the movies will likely work. I didn't think I'd say this, but keep an eye out on this one. With a lack of movies coming out this one could be a contender. Let me stress the "could be" part one more time.

I've Been Waiting For This: 'Ponyo' Gets Dated

As mentioned above, this is the announcement I've been waiting for:

Walt Disney Pictures has announced the U.S. release date of Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, PONYO, a story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale THE LITTLE MERMAID. Fans of the animation master will only have to wait until Aug. 14th to see what is already a hit in Japan.

The story of a young and overeager goldfish named Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus) and her quest to become human. The voice cast includes Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Frankie Jonas as Sosuke, a young boy who befriends Ponyo.

Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall are producing the English-language dub with Steve Alpert. Exec producers are Miyazaki and John Lasseter, who also exec produced the English dubs of Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY and HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE.

The English screenplay was written by Melissa Mathison.

As you can read above Disney has dropped the overlong "Ponyo On A Cliff" title for the shorter "Ponyo." Maybe that will help and maybe it won't. It's hard to tell at this point. But good news is good news: "Ponyo" is coming to America!

Time To Start Predicting Once Again

Hey everyone, I'm back! I took some time off this blog to set up my own personal business, as well as to take a break from Oscar blogging. The months of February and March tend to be slow ones for the site, as people tend to move on from the Oscar scene (and Oscar news is scarce to begin with), so I figured this would be a good time to take a break myself. There are a few news items I'm going to be playing catch-up on tonight, but starting tomorrow it should be business as usual.