Prior to last weekend’s Oscar broadcast, we asked you which of this year’s ten Best Picture nominees was most deserving of the award. Now that we’ve “tallied the votes”, it seems that a large number of Film Junk readers believe that the Academy got it wrong, and that Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds should have won. The Hurt Locker did rank second in the poll, but it was District 9 that was voted #3 over Avatar. Interesting. I was a little surprised to see that Pixar’s Up didn’t get all that many votes and that Precious came in dead last (although I think a lot of people still haven’t seen it). What do you think, do these results accurately reflect the quality of the nominees?

1. Inglourious Basterds — 44.5%
2. The Hurt Locker — 20%
3. District 9 — 11.5%
4. Avatar — 9.8%
5. A Serious Man — 5.2%
6. Up in the Air — 3.8%
7. Up — 2.5%
8. An Education — 1.7%
9. The Blind Side — 0.6%
10. Precious — 0.4%

Well, I don’t think this is going to be the most shocking celebrity death in recent years, but for anyone who grew up in the ’80s, it will probably hit a bit close to home. Corey Haim, the teen idol turned reality TV star, collapsed in his mother’s apartment early this morning. After being rushed to the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, he was pronounced dead an hour or so later. It is believed that he died of an accidental drug overdose, and although he had been battling prescription drug addiction for many years prior, he was said to have been sober at the time.

Haim appeared throughout the ’80s in such films as The Lost Boys, Lucas, and License to Drive, before starring in a number of direct-to-video films in the ’90s and then falling on hard times. More recently, he had been experiencing a career resurgence of sorts, with roles in Crank: High Voltage and The Lost Boys: The Tribe. His long-time friend and reality show co-star Corey Feldman has yet to comment, but will no doubt be crushed by this loss. What are some of your favourite Corey Haim performances?

The SXSW Film Festival is just a couple of days away, and one of the movies that will be premiering there is a dark comedy called Barry Munday, from first-time director Chris D’Arienzo. Based on the novel Life is a Strange Place by Frank Turner Hollon, the movie stars Patrick Wilson (Little Children, Watchmen) as a total douchebag who wakes up in the hospital one day to find that his testicles have been removed, and a woman he doesn’t remember having sex with is pregnant with his child. Total bummer.

The pregnant woman is played by Judy Greer of Arrested Development fame, and the cast also includes Chloë Sevigny, Malcolm McDowell, Colin Hanks, Cybill Shepherd and Billy Dee Williams. The trailer for the movie looks pretty hilarious, and to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have even known it was Patrick Wilson if I hadn’t read his name on the cast list. I definitely hope this gets picked up at the festival, because I want to see it ASAP! Check out the trailer for Barry Munday after the jump and see what you think.

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We’ve all had our share of stories about inconsiderate moviegoers disrupting and ruining the theatre experience (some of us more than others), but I think this one takes the cake. A couple of weeks ago in Lancaster, California, there was a pretty horrifying incident that took place during a screening of Shutter Island. A man decided to voice his disapproval when a woman sitting near him was talking on a cell phone during the movie. The woman got up and left along with two men, but the two men eventually returned to stab the complainant. In the throat. With a meat thermometer!

Whether or not the two men were escaped mental patients themselves remains to be seen, but clearly this is not the kind of thing anyone wants to hear about happening at a movie theatre. It may even make some people think twice before complaining about disruptions… which is not right at all. About a year ago, the opposite situation occurred where a man was shot for talking during a screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We may soon need armed guards in every theatre to handle all the disrespectful moviegoers out there, as things are clearly getting out of hand! I do actually believe that it should be up to theatre employees to enforce silence during movies, and that it’s not something we should even have to worry about. Don’t you agree? (Thanks to Kevin for the heads up on this story.)

Are you looking forward to Kick-Ass? Hey — who isn’t? The movie doesn’t hit theatres until April 16th, but in the meantime, Titan Books have put out a pretty cool making-of book called Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie. It’s written by Mark Millar himself, and it just so happens we’ve got 3 copies to give away right here on Film Junk.

The essential companion to the movie, based on the bestselling comic book by Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr. When an average high school student sets out to become the self-styled superhero Kick-Ass, he soon finds himself in over his head after meeting “the real deal” in the shape of pint-sized lethal weapon Hit Girl and her intimidating mentor, Big Daddy. With Mark Millar as your guide, get the lowdown on the creation of the comic and the making of the film, with eye-popping art from the original comics, unseen John Romita movie artwork, script extracts and hundreds of movie photos! Adults only!

To enter, just send your name and mailing address to filmjunk@gmail.com with “Kick-Ass Contest” in the subject line. We’ll randomly pick a winner from all the entries we receive and notify them by next Wednesday (March 17th).

Good luck!

So last year I joined Twitter and desperately struggled to figure out a good use for it. Assuming most people following my account might come from the Film Junk podcast, I thought it might be an idea platform to keep track of what films I’ve been watching and what ratings I give them. My first post was March 9th, 2009 with David Cronenberg’s The Brood (3.5/4) and since then I’ve managed to check out a good number of great films over the last year. (Jacques Tati’s Play Time and Wim Wender’s Paris, Texas are definitely two stand outs on this list.) Many of these are first time viewings, but a there are also a lot of movies I just felt the urge to revisit. So what do you think? Any favourites? Have a look for yourself after the jump!

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With Jason Segel’s new Muppet movie currently in development over at Disney this year, and the 30th Anniversary of the original The Muppet Movie taking place last year, it seems like a perfect time for someone to put together a biopic about the legendary creator of The Muppets, Mr. Jim Henson. Of course, such an idea would probably not have crossed the minds of the folks at Disney if not for a relatively unknown screenwriter named Christopher Weekes, who decided to step up to the plate and take a crack at writing one himself. His spec script The Muppet Man ended up topping the 2009 Black List for hottest unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, at which point it managed to catch the attention of the people who actually own the rights to make it a reality.

According to Vulture, both Disney (owner of The Muppets) and The Henson Company (owner of the rights to Jim Henson’s life story) are currently in talks with director Michael Gracey to helm the film. Gracey is a visual effects guy with a background in music videos and commercials who was actually attached to direct The Dark Crystal sequel after Genndy Tartakovsky left. The Muppet Man script is reportedly quite unique in that it has darker scenes with The Muppets themselves acting out parts of Henson’s personal life. It’s unclear if these elements will remain once Disney is done with the project, but at the very least it seems like the movie now has a genuine shot at getting made, which is pretty awesome. Either way we’ll have more on this project as it develops.

Since 3-D movies are continuing to captivate and thrill moviegoers, I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone decided to combine the new technology with the most lucrative literary property of all time: The Bible. Paramount Pictures and former Walden Media co-founder Cary Granat (Journey to the Center of the Earth) are reportedly in the process of putting together a new, visually exciting take on the story of Adam and Eve called In The Beginning. A script has been written by John Fusco (Young Guns, The Forbidden Kingdom) and will be directed by David Cunningham (The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising).

Now obviously this could be a pretty successful venture, assuming that the various church groups get behind it, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily full-blown blockbuster material. The budget is reportedly in the $30 million range, and the visual effects are being done by Reel Fx, the same people behind the forgettable CG films Open Season 2, Everyone’s Hero and G.I. Joe: Valor vs. Venom. It doesn’t sound all that promising to me, but hey, I’m not exactly the target demographic. On the other hand, if we can get a 3-D version of The Origin of the Species greenlit, I’m definitely game.