Are Pixar's Best Picture Odd's Looking "Up?"

The movie has received a 96% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.com. It was the first animated film chosen to open the prestige Cannes Film Festival. Critics are calling it a revolutionary film. Roger Ebert loves it. It will likely open at number 1 this weekend and stay in the top five for months. Chances are it's already won the Best Animated Feature Oscar (though the competition in that category is looking more tough then it has in recent years). So now we ask the ultimate question: Will "Up" be the Pixar film that finally break into the Best Picture category? Boy I would love to think so. I loved the movie. I think it's excellent. This would easily be a Best Picture contender for any other film. But I'm going to go on a limb and say, no, it's not happening. Now I'm not saying I throw in the towel. I'm putting that title under my Best Picture Predix and I'll leave it there til the end of the year.

I think it's time the Academy stop mucking around and recognize that Pixar makes classics and it's nonsense that they haven't cracked the top category by now. The only reason I'm not fully backing this idea is simple: "Wall-E." If "Wall-E" couldn't crack the top category then I'm having a hard time thinking of any reason this one will. Is it THAT much better then "Wall-E." No. It's more of less of the same quality. But despite a lackluster year where we're considering an apocalyptic film that's based on a highly overrated book as a frontrunner for Best Picture shows just how much the Academy goes out of their way to keep animation out of the top category. It will get multiple nominations but will likely only walk home with Best Animated Feature. And really, if that happens again, that category is going to feel like such a shallow victory. I mean, more so then it already does.

Disney Enterting The Documentary Race?

Though Disney has popped up in various Oscar categories over the years the one category they rarely pop up in anymore is Best Documentary. I'm not even sure if they've won in that category yet. However their release of "The Boys: The Sherman Brothers Story" may change that. While Disney's official trailer has chosen to focus on songs and celebrities praise of those songs (most likely in hopes that they'll sell a few more CD's), the fact of the matter is "The Boys" is a terrible story of two brothers who creatively worked well together but through personal differences never had much of a family relationship. It's actually a very tragic movie, one that sticks with you long after the movie is over. I left wondering how two men who wrote such great songs of friendship and love could hate each other so much. Worth hunting down if you can find it.

Not Your Father's Sherlock Holmes

Now Sherlock Holmes gets a reboot. I'm doubtful this will be praised as much as J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" reboot was though. While Abrams showed great respect to the Star Trek franchise and rebooted it with the old shows spirit, Guy Richies "Sherlock Holmes" seems to be screaming "this is old, boring, and I can make it better." Can he do it? We'll see, but I'm skeptical. Robert Downey, Jr. looks good in the lead role but I feel Jude Law may be miscast as Dr. Watson.

"Funny People" Trailer

Will Judd Apatow finally be recognized at Oscar for his witty writing? Fortune says...don't count on it. The movie still looks funny though.

Disney's "A Christmas Carol" Poster

Though Disney may be returning to 2D animation with "The Princess & The Frog" they aren't going to throw in the towel with 3D animation yet either. In fact, they may have done one of the smartest things by signing a multi-picture deal with Oscar-winner Robert Zemeckis. Now Bob may be best known for "Forrest Gump" and the "Back To The Future" trilogy, but in recent years he's been perfecting motion capture technology. His most recent work was with "Beowulf," which took in so much more money with it's IMAX and 3D showings that Hollywood had to sit up and take notice. His most noticble work in recent years was "The Polar Express." Though the movie was snubbed an Oscar nomination in favor of Dreamworks (far more subpar in my opinion) "Shark Tale," Bob had the last laugh when word-of-mouth made his film a much bigger hit. Not only that, but IMAX found it could be a yearly tradition, and the thing was re-released for five years straight every Christmas at IMAX.

That said though "The Polar Express" is starting to run out of steam, and IMAX needs a new tradition to keep them alive during the holidays. Enter Disney's "A Christmas Carol." Bob has wrote the screenplay, directed the film, and Disney is finally coming home to IMAX after a long absense. What should make this a big hit is Jim Carrey providing the voice of not only Scrooge, but the three ghosts as well. If this movie is half as good as "The Polar Express" was we should have a new Christmas tradition on our hands. Oh, and hopefully the Academy won't blunder the nomination with this one.

"The Princess & The Frog" Poster

We now get a glimpse of the poster for "The Princess & The Frog." And it looks...

...very epic. Very classic. Very Disney. Getting more excited for this by the minute.

"Nine" Trailer

It's funny how this trailer business works out sometimes. I had watched the trailer for "The Road" before I watched the trailer for "Nine." I was expecting to be unimpressed by the trailer for "The Road" but to be blown away by "Nine."

Boy was I wrong.

How can a movie that has a cast of Oscar winners and nominees look so utterly dreadful. Yeah big stars make trash, but they rarely advertise the trash as such. "Nine" looks like trash right upfront. What's most puzzling is that I fully believed Harvey Weinstein was going to market the hell out of this thing for Oscar season. When you've got a musical starring Daniel-Day Lewis, Nicol Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, and Judi Dench, plus Rob Marshal directing, you'd think the trailer would exploit those names for all it's worth. Just mentioning that virtually all these people won Oscars would make the movie feel more credible right away (even if they themselves lose credit). But nothing. No star power. No event vibe. Not even any blurb's from film festivals. The movie, in fact, looks like a parody of "Cabaret." And THIS is The Weinstein Companies Oscar contender for the year (in theory)!?! Well...good luck Harvey.

"The Road" Trailer

And so the much delayed film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" is finally unveiled. And the movie...doesn't look bad. In fact, I'm pretty interested in seeing it now. I'm cautious though because I personally felt that this Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times best seller, and Oprah's Book Club selection was TERRIBLY boring! The movie looks to be a major step in the right direction. Unlike the book the movie looks like it's about something. Viggo Mortenson is also looking promising as the lead. Oh, and you can bet your momma's soul that the company is going to make sure everyone knows that the author of "No Country For Old Men" wrote this, all but ensuring it becomes an Oscar contender long before we see it. The road for Oscar won't be easy though (no pun intended): just ask delayed movies like "The Soloist" and "All The Kings Men" for prood that when a studio delays a film, they usually delay it for a reason.

I'm Officially An Author...

...kind of. See, I was bored one night when I had a sudden urge to write again. Rather then work on the final draft of my (much delayed) fantasy novel I wrote a short story about a man who has a dream of being a writer but just can't seem to reach that dream. It's not a very long story, just a few pages, but I was so happy with it I decided to share it with the world. Then I remembered how I was going to start selling my novels on Amazon.com as eBooks and figured this would be a great way to begin the account and establish a presence. So I put together a cover, converted the text, and have uploaded the book. Below is a picture of the cover. It's not expensive (as of this writing it's a mere $3.99) but if you could buy it and show you're support I would be most grateful. All you need to do is click on the cover art. More short stories and books will be coming. Thanks for reading and for all your support.

"The Princess & The Frog" Trailer

Here it is everyone! I can hardly wait. It's nice to see Disney embracing their legacy once again.

Set Phasers To 'Stun'

"Star Trek" is officially a hit. It has a unpredicted 96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It has a high Metacritic score of 84. It has made over $30 million on the first day and could very well cross the $300 million mark in a few weeks. Casual fans and hardcore fans love it. The production on the film is universally acclaimed. Frankly, the only thing that might not be in "Star Trek's" court is Roger Ebert (who gave it a lukewarm 2 and a half stars in his review). With a film this critically acclaimed combined with a strong box office usually leads to gold from the Academy. The question is how many Oscar nominations will it garner? 2? 4? 8? Will they all be tech awards or will one of the big five sneak in there? Who knows at this point. Right now I'm only willing to bet on some tech awards. The boldest prediction I'm going to make is Best Director for J.J. Abrams, as the Academy will usually honor the movies overall quality in this category more then anywhere else.

I'm not sure about the rest though. Makeup, sound, and visual effects seem like a given right now, but I don't forsee any acting or writing nominations. Chances are it won't even come close to touching Best Picture. Best Director though...that I have a funny feeling about. I'm going to be keeping an eye on that one for personal reasons. I'll also share my full review sometime with you next week (right now there are some legal issues with a former employeer that is eating up my free time).

Not A 'Ghost' of a Chance For Oscar...Right?

Okay folks we ALL knew "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" was going to be a stinker of a movie! Just the fact that Matthew McConaughey is in it should be reason enough to skip it. It's also gotten a low score of 36% at Rotten Tomatoes, so we know it wasn't made with quality in mind. So the movie really shouldn't even be discussed on this site. But then...


...Michael Douglas shows up in the movie and steals the show. Literally. It's kind of a testament to an actors ability when they can show up in a bad movie and make it enjoyable whenever their on screen. Douglas does this and makes it look easy. Here is a contender for one of the worst films of the year, and yet these scenes with Douglas are clever, witty, and fun. He takes a nothing role and MAKES something of it! That's impressive no matter how you slice it. He's to this movie what Penelope Cruz was to "Vicky Christina Barcelona." It's a shame it's not a better movie or else an Oscar nomination would be a sure thing at this point. But you know what...I'm going to predict him anyway. Yeah it probably won't happen as more worthy performances will come out, but it's difficult to argue with something that just makes you feel good all over.