Prince William's fiancee Kate Middleton fuelled rumors the couple has chosen London's Westminster Abbey as their wedding venue after she was seen paying a late night visit to the building on Wednes...
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Thursday, November 18, 2010
Kate Middleton Pays A Visit To Westminster Abbey
Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas Photographed on a Double Date
Katie Price Dedicates New Perfume To Her Kids With Lots Of Cleavage & In A Flesh Tone Bodysuit (Pictures)
Katie Price used pure sex appeal to launch her new fragrance at The Worx in London on Wednesday. The supermodel showed off plenty of cleavage in a bedazzled flesh tone bodysuit accompanied by a pin...
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Wednesday, November 17, 2010
First Teaser Trailer of 'Cowboys and Aliens' Arrives
Monday, November 15, 2010
Olivia Wilde Flattered by Megan Fox's 'Mountain Ox' Comment
Fashion Fail: Ginnifer Goodwin's Black Lace Disaster
"Big Love" star Ginnifer Goodwin attended MOCA's Annual Gala "The Artists Museum Happening" over the weekend. She looked like a hot mess in a black lace dress. What do you think?
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Our Analysis of the 15 Films Eligible For The 2010 Best Animated Feature Oscar
Let the battle for second and third Best Animated Feature of the year begin. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has just announced their short list of 15 features that are eligible to be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards and right out of the gate, competition is fierce. Due to Academy rules, if up to 15 films qualify for the nomination, there will be only three nominees. If there are 16 or more films eligible, five films get nominated. So this year only three films, out of a very strong group, will get to call themselves Oscar nominees. But, really, we know there's already a clear cut favorite.
Of the nine years this award has existed, Pixar films have won five Oscars (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up) against only two losses (Monsters Inc., Cars). And with the unprecedented critical and financial success of Toy Story 3, chances are everyone else is just vying for a nomination. Check out the full list, which includes several films that have yet to be released, as well as our detailed analysis/predictions, after the jump.
Here's the full list.
- Alpha and Omega
- Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
- Despicable Me
- The Dreams of Jinsha
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Idiots and Angels
- The Illusionist
- Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
- Megamind
- My Dog Tulip
- Shrek Forever After
- Summer Wars
- Tangled
- Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
- Toy Story 3
Before I get into my dissection of these nominees, one of the films on the list which has not yet been released for a qualifying run, but you need to know about is Summer Wars.
Summer Wars played at Fantastic Fest 2010, where many of us were lucky enough to see it. Basically, it's a Japanimation about a global social network (think Facebook, but bigger) that runs everyone's lives, until it gets infected with a deadly virus. It's then up to a large, very well connected family, to plug into the network and battle to save the world. Think of a colorful, avatar filled mash-up of The Matrix and The Social Network if it was directed and conceived by Hayao Miyazaki. It's not directed by Miyazaki, nor do I feel it lives up to his films or either of those movies, but the comparison gives a small hint of what kind of movie this is. Here's the trailer to help.
Cool, right? That said, it doesn't have a chance in hell at a nomination. Let's talk about what does.
I think we can all agree that Toy Story 3 is a lock for at least a nomination, if not the victory. That leaves two spots to fill out of 14 movies.
If you look at the history of this award it seems like they regularly try and nominate a highly praised foreign film, and there are several here. The leader is probably The Illusionist directed by Sylvain Chomet, who has already been nominated for The Triplets of Belleville. The Dreams of Jinsha, a 3D Chinese film, has yet to have its qualifying run, but feels like it could be a dark horse much like The Secret of Kells last year. The only difference is that last year, there were five nominees.
Besides that one foreign wild card, the other nominations are usually given to box office successes. And if those successes have great reviews too, all the better. This is where things get scary. Despicable Me was a huge hit as was How to Train Your Dragon, but Dragon got better reviews. Megamind is doing very well, but isn't really generating any real buzz around it (same thing with Shrek Forever After) and then there's Disney's Tangled, which has a lot of buzz but won't open for another few weeks. Disney has gotten multiple nominations before, though, so just because Tangled is released by the same people as Toy Story 3, don't completely rule it out.
If I had to guess, I'd say the foreign wild card is out this year. The Hollywood competition is simply too strong. I feel like Toy Story 3 is a lock, How to Train Your Dragon is a distant second, and the third slot will mo
Celebrity Birthdays - November 14, 2010
Happy Birthday to: Transformers tough guy Josh Duhamel (1972) Rapper Lil Boosie (1983) Detroit rapper Obie Trice (1977) Blink-182 drummer and reality TV star Travis Barker (1975) Actor David M...
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Sunday, November 14, 2010
Exclusive Set Photos: 'The Muppets' New Movie
After returning from London, I was tipped off by /Film reader Mr Furley that the new muppet movie, The Muppets, was being filmed close to /Film HQ. Jim Henson Studios on La Brea Avenue in Hollywood has been transformed into Muppet Studios, a real life movie studio where the Muppets use to film shows and invite the public in to witness their craziness. The Henson Studios sign had been replaced with a old beaten-up rusted and falling apart Muppet Studios sign. Hit the jump to see more.
The security stand has been transformed into an abandoned admission booth, complete with an old sign which reads "Muppet Studios Tours 50 cents" with the 50 cents turned into $1.50 with a sharpie marking. A small Muppet sized chair sits inside. A sign to the right lists studio attractions, including Fozzie's Joke Room (Closed), Gonzos Cannon (Closed For Repair), Rowlf's Music Parlor (Under Renovation), and Dr. Honeydew's Laboratory of Fun (Out of Order).
Looks like the studio has indeed come upon hard times. Could it be that in a world obsessed with computer animated features, our puppet friends are no longer of interest? On the right you can see the Electric Mayhem Bus which has been featured in the other Muppet productions, starting with The Muppet Movie. The psychedelic colored bus belongs to the Muppet house band Electric Mayhem, which consists of Dr. Teeth, Floyd Pepper, Zoot, Janice, Animal, Lips and others. The bus is completely run down and has definitely seen better days, relegated as a tourist attraction (complete with a red rope surrounding the vehicle).
I was pushed out of the area in front of the studio because they began shooting a sequence at the entrance which looked to involve either the film's new Muppet star Walter (to be voiced by Paul Rudd) or another Everypuppet-looking character. The Henson puppeteers controlled the Muppet while driving a go-cart looking contraption, which allows the muppeteers to sit close to the ground and let the muppet appear to be walking.
I was unable to get close for this sequence as the production crew cleared the way of people traffic. I was able to get a couple snaps with my iPhone, but they are incredibly zoomed and low res.
I think it's pretty awesome that they have included the La Brea Avenue-based Henson Studios as part of the film's storyline. For those of you who might not know the history, the studio was built by Charlie Chaplin in 1917 (formerly The Charlie Chaplin Studios) to shoot some of his classic films including The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times and The Great Dictator. In the early 60′s, Hanna Barbera housed their famous cartoon studio on the lot. Caplin Studios became home to The Jim Henson Company in 1999, and you will notice that a large statue of Kermit the Frog stands on the roof of the main building, featuring the frog in a costume and pose paying homage to Chaplin.
Even though we really didn't see much, I was amazed at just how much detail was put into making the Muppets Studio location feel like it existed within the continuity of the previous films. I wish I could have gotten closer to the action and seen more — hopefully we'll get a chance to officially visit the set sometime during the shoot.
Here is a full image gallery with more photos:
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Robbins Barstow, Home-Movie Maven, Dies at 91
Mr. Barstow's tenderly shot documentaries, many of them travelogues, chronicled the ordinary doings of ordinary people in mid-century America.
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