In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Next years academy awards will be feature ten nominations for Best Picture instead of five. It seems as though this is a response to people’s outrage at the snubbing of popular films like WALL-E and The Dark Knight last year in favour of more “worthy” movies like The Reader and Frost/Nixon. I think this new plan is a good one, as it should allow for more mainstream movies to be nominated, as well as comedies and maybe even foreign films and documentaries. That being said, it’s unlikely that additional nominations will have any effect on the actual winners.Speaking of winners, The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films announced the winners of the Saturn Awards this week. The major takers were as follows:
Best Science Fiction Film: Iron Man
Best Fantasy Film: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Horror Film: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film: The Dark Knight
Best Actor: Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man)
Best Actress: Angelina Jolie (Changeling)
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
For a complete list of the award winners click here.
Two very bland character posters from Guy Ritchie’s upcoming Sherlock Holmes film have been released; the movie stars Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson (as should be made clear by the posters, above). The bizarre trailer for the film can be viewed here.A bunch of trailers hit the web this week, including the teaser for M. Night Shyamalans adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender (the movie is simply titled The Last Airbender) Keeping in mind that Shyamalan hasn’t made a good movie in at least five years, it’s hard not to be sceptical about this project, but I have to say that the teaser (which can be seen here) is pretty sweet; I love how it's only two continuous takes.
Other trailers released include ones for Ponyo (the latest film from critically acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki), 2012 (a new disaster movie from the director of Independence Day), Zombieland (an action horror comedy starring Woody Harrelson), Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino’s new WWII film), The Box (a high concept sci-fi thriller from the director of Donnie Darko), World's Greatest Dad (an ultra-black comedy staring Robin Williams) and The Pacific (an upcoming WWII miniseries from HBO).
Some concept art from Tim Burton’s upcoming adaptation of Alice in Wonderland has been released, and it is freaking creepy! A lot of people seem to really love these pics, which include artists renditions of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter (above), Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Mia Wasikowska as Alice. Personally I don’t like them, although to be honest I’m not a fan of Burton’s style, period. To see all the images, click here.
Finally, the above poster is reportedly a teaser for the upcoming fourth season of Dexter. I've only seen the first two seasons of the show, both of which I absolutely loved. I am a bit concerned about the alarming regularity of serial killers in Miami, but I will still definitely check out Season 3 on DVD, and the same goes for Season 4 (especially as John Lithgow will be playing the villain!). Also, I love the poster.DVDs
The only major film released on DVD in Australia this week was The Reader. However, some people might be interested in the complete three season collection of Beast Wars, that computer animated Transformers spin-off from the nineties. I was a huge fan of the show when I was little, and am seriously considering buying this just for the nostalgia.
Sources: /Film, First Showing, Not all Texans ride horses to school, EzyDVD
