Guess which one’s an Oscar winner

With lots of new films hitting DVD today, there’s something for every discerning fan of cinema.  Besides The Paperboy (pictured above) we’ve got new films with Jake Gyllenhaal, Patton Oswalt, Danny Trejo, and Olivia Thirlby.  There’s films about universal soldiers, imposters, fat kids, phone-sex workers, and samurais.  There’s warriors of witchcraft and witch’s brew, and even one of this year’s Oscar-nominated films.

The DVDs:
End Of Watch
The Paperboy
Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning
Nature Calls
Death Race 3: Inferno
Searching For Sugar Man
For A Good Time, Call…
Nobody Walks
The Imposter
Officer Down
Tai Chi Zero
Fat Kid Rules The World
Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai
Hansel & Gretel: Warriors Of Witchcraft
Night Of The Templar
Derby Dogs
Hold Your Breath
Dead Sushi
Witch’s Brew
Zombie Ed

Streaming: Check out your choices here.

Can’t remember which one of these films is an Oscar-nominee?  Continue reading to find out.  Want to know why nobody walks?  Maybe it’s because fat kids rule the world, but you should continue reading just to be sure.  If you don’t really care and just want something to stream on Netflix, click the link above, but you’ll be missing out on a movie that gets the Dove Seal of Approval, despite featuring attempted vehicular manslaughter and scenes of people being covered in human excrement.  The choice is yours. Read the rest of this entry »

With our America-centric media industrial complex, it’s easy to forget that in addition to all the regular movie awards – the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the SAGs, the People’s Choice (the Rolls Royce of movie awards) – our cousins across the pond also hold their own little awards show, called the BAFTAs. The Bartleby Applewick Foxhunt of Thropwichshire Aristocrats, so named for a family of 15th century English lords who would honor the peasant with the finest turnips by naming him “fox” for the day and hunting him. These days, the BAFTAs choose a “barristre of ceremonies,” – past BCs have included Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, and Peter Postlethwaite – who then dons the ceremonial wig and does an elaborate drag number before presenting the best films and actors of that year with a yorkshire pudding. It’s all very traditional.

This year’s nominees include:

BEST FILM
ARGO Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
LES MISÉRABLES Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh
LIFE OF PI Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark
LINCOLN Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy
ZERO DARK THIRTY Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
ANNA KARENINA Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster, Tom Stoppard
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL John Madden, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Ol Parker
LES MISÉRABLES Tom Hooper, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh, William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin
SKYFALL Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer) The Imposter
DAVID MORRIS (Director), JACQUI MORRIS (Director/Producer) McCullin
DEXTER FLETCHER (Director/Writer), DANNY KING (Writer) Wild Bill
JAMES BOBIN (Director) The Muppets
TINA GHARAVI (Director/Writer) I Am Nasrine

Read the rest of this entry »

Hilarious.

Opening Everywhere: Ice Age: Continental Drift 3D, Red Lights

Opening Somewhere: The Imposter

FilmDrunk Suggests: I’m going to take a nap now that Vince is back from his Meatball Summit at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You should all go see Magic Mike so it makes $100 million.

Read the rest of this entry »

Before we get to the rest of this week’s posters and stills, I wanted to highlight this comparison between the Snow White and the Huntsman poster and this book from 2008, as tipped off by reader Matt. Poster designers copy themes all the time (diagonal horizon lines, the rom-com lean, floating heads, etc.), but this one seems pretty egregious. Also, I saw Snow White and the Huntsman a few days ago and was distressed to find that it’s NOT about a sassy gay crow. “Did you see Snow White? Like, ugh, have you heard of tanning? She’s pastier than one of my eggs. Fairest indeed. I don’t want to ruffle any feathers, queen, but you’re much prettier. Quoth this raven: Caw! You’re fabulous!”

Read the rest of this entry »

I love documentaries, and I tend to think anyone who says they don’t is probably an idiot, but even I have to admit that documentaries don’t always cut the most exciting promo material. Maybe that’s why you can rarely just go catch a doc at your local multi-plex, which is a shame. But I have to think all that would change if more of them cut trailers as dramatic as The Imposter. And all it took was a few cranked up sound effects. This thing is like if The Dark Knight and Inception had a BRAAAAAHM baby. See what I mean after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »