78th Annual Academy Award Nominees Announced
For those keeping up with this year’s Oscar race, by now you’ve probably seen the list of 2006 nominees that were released earlier today. For everyone else who might be curious, you can click the link below to see the full list now. Not really too many surprises this year; “Brokeback Mountain” tops out with 8 nominations. I didn’t expect “Crash” or “Good Night and Good Luck” to be as well represented as they are (6 nods apiece), and even Spielberg’s “Munich” was a bit of an underdog going in. I don’t know if Crash would have been nominated so many times if it wasn’t for Ebert’s constant and overwhelming praise this past year. It’s also interesting to see Terrence Howard get a nomination for “Hustle & Flow” (I haven’t seen the movie but as long as he wasn’t nominated for “Get Rich or Die Tryin” I’m okay with it). Werner Herzog definitely got dissed in the Best Documentary category, but there’s still some solid choices in there. As for the rest… meh, not really much to be excited about. But is there ever?
A pretty slow week for DVDs once again… lots of retro TV box sets though. Is anyone actually trying to collect the entire Magnum P.I. series? Seriously, inquiring minds want to know. Steven Soderbergh’s new movie “Bubble” hits DVD as part of his groundbreaking simultaneous release plan. From what I hear it’s pretty artsy and dull though… I’m not even sure how interested I am in it. What else are people are buying this week?
Looks like the makers of The Omen 666 weren’t the only ones eager to seize a golden marketing opportunity afforded by the 2006 calendar year. You see, not only is there a Friday the 13th on the horizon this year (aside from the one that just passed of course), but it just so happens it will fall in October: the ideal month to release a horror movie! You know where I’m going with this. On Friday October 13th, 2006, we will all be privy to the next installment in the neverending Friday The 13th series courtesy of New Line Cinema. Very few other details have surfaced as of yet… director, cast, plot… all of these are clearly secondary to the fact that this movie will indeed be released on Friday The 13th!!! What I want to know is, who will play Jason Voorhees? If it’s not Kane Hodder I flat out refuse to see it… no one can grunt like him. Hey, New Line, since you’re probably still trying to come up with ideas right now, how about giving Corey Feldman a call too?
On our 
Apple has the new trailer up for Mary Harron’s latest film “The Notorious Bettie Page”, a biopic about the controversial 50’s supermodel and sex icon. Harron and her writing partner Guinivere Turner are best known for their adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho”. Gretchen Mol stars as Bettie Page, who became the target of a government investigation into pornography before eventually quitting modelling and becoming institutionalized. This definitely sounds like an interesting and particularly relevant movie, exploring the history of pin-up models and no doubt showing how tame such a scandal would be by today’s standards. The Notorious Bettie Page hits theatres in a limited release on March 10th, 2006.
It only makes sense that one day we’d eventually see something like this on TV… I just didn’t expect Canada to be the first ones to think of it. “The Next Great Prime Minister” is a reality TV show that will air next month with 5 young candidates competing against each other in public speaking and debating to win $50,000 and a political internship. Former PM’s Kim Campbell, Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, and John Turner will be the judges who decide on the winner. This show is an extension of an annual competition called “
This week we review The Aristocrats on DVD, discuss the effects of MP3 downloading on the value of music, debate Kanye West’s controversial Rolling Stone cover, and play new music from The Meligrove Band and Mates of State. It’s back to strictly audio again this week suckas… our 30 seconds of TV fame has already worn off.
The original Omen movie has to be up there as one of the scariest movies of all time. It had the same gritty realism as The Exorcist, and of course, one creepy kid. Seeing as creepy kids are basically a prerequisite for horror movies nowadays (especially Japanese ones), it only makes sense that they would eventually pump out a remake of this classic. With John Moore (”Behind Enemy Lines”, “Flight of the Phoenix”) at the helm, I can’t say I have high hopes for it. But it is pretty cool that they are actually releasing it on the 6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year. Now that’s pure marketing genius right there. Check out the teaser trailer for “The Omen 666″ over at Apple Quicktime now.
According to a post from Harry over at Ain’t It Cool News, Fox head honcho Tom Rothman recently confirmed that a sequel to the abomination known as “Alien vs Predator” is actually in the works, believe it or not. The script has just been completed and they are aiming for an August 2007 release. Nothing else has been confirmed in terms of director, cast or any of that, but does it really matter who is involved? I only wonder if it’s possible to outdo themselves this time around. I have to admit, I feel somewhat responsible… I blame myself along with every other sucker who paid money to see the first one! Now look what we have to deal with.
Big Momma’s House. Part 2. The SEQUEL. Need I say more?
