WAR HORSE (2011)

RATING: 2/5

Once upon a time, Steven Spielberg used to be one of the most influential directors ever lived in the modern generation who spawned hits after hits that impresses the critics as well as many viewers around the world. But in 2011, his much-anticipated return to the director's seat after the 2008's INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL proves to be a mediocre year for him. First off, he made the highly-anticipated animated adventure THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, which is fairly entertaining in parts but rather predictable in its overall execution. The second one is WAR HORSE, a would-be epic tale that combines a heartwarming children's drama mixed with World War I undertones. Spielberg should have no problem executing such genre, but it's really surprising that WAR HORSE is all about great visuals but falls terribly short in narrative structure and emotional factor.

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THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2011)

RATING: 3/5

Plastic surgery takes a bizarre turn-of-event in Pedro Almodovar's latest psychodrama THE SKIN I LIVE IN. Think of it like an episode of TV's Nip/Tuck mixed with the usual Almodovar's pet themes of sexual identity, death, betrayal and loneliness wrapped in a warped fashion. Not only that, it's refreshing to see Almodovar reunites with Antonio Banderas after they had successfully collaborated together in 1990's TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN!

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MELANCHOLIA (2011)

RATING: 2/5

After attracting a sizable amount of controversy in 2009's ANTICHRIST, Danish bad-boy director Lars von Trier continues to explore his theme of depression with an unconventional take of end-of-the-world disaster drama called MELANCHOLIA.

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DEATH WISH 5: THE FACE OF DEATH (1994)

RATING: 0.5/5

In this final DEATH WISH series and also Charles Bronson's last theatrical appearance, it's a slight of relief that DEATH WISH 5: THE FACE OF DEATH is considerably restrained in term of sex and over-the-top violence that characterized the previous sequels. But it's hardly any good either, as this fifth installment transcends from mindless action genre to a contemporary splatter flick and worst of all, it's so butt-numbingly pathetic.

Paul Kersey (Bronson) returns to New York City, where he is now resumed to normal life who is about to marry his girlfriend Olivia (Lesley-Anne Down), a fashion designer. But Olivia has a bad past -- she has an ex-husband Tommy O'Shea (Michael Thomas Parks), a notorious gangster wants to gain custody over their daughter Chelsea (Erica Lancaster). Tommy isn't particularly pleased with Olivia going out with Paul, and vows to make her life a living hell. Nevertheless Olivia ends up being badly disfigured by Tommy's violent henchman, Freddie Flakes (Robert Joy) who is a master of disguise donning a woman's clothes. Paul feels devastated about the incident, and hopes that the law will catches up on Tommy and his men ever since he decides to lay down his old way of personal vigilante. However not even his trusted D.A. Hoyle (Saul Rubinek) and his associate Hector Vasquez (Miguel Sandoval) can do anything to stop Tommy. Things start to get out of hand when Olivia finally ends up dead, and Paul is forced to take justice into his own hands.

As mentioned earlier, DEATH WISH 5: THE FACE OF DEATH is a radical departure from the previous series. The whole movie is akin to those splatter flick in the vein of FRIDAY THE 13TH or HALLOWEEN series. Need proof? How about dispatching the victims by getting wrapped plastic cocoon machine, hangs on a mobile clothing transport hooks, contaminate the cannoli with cyanide, a soccer ball rigged with bomb (yes, you read that right) and also gets shoved into an acid bath? It's really odd to see then 72-year-old Charles Bronson agrees to commit such ridiculously absurd role. Not only that, he appears to be so weary and frail which isn't surprising to see his Paul Kersey role more like a wooden mannequin.

Stephen Peters's screenplay is awfully routine, while the pace drags a lot with uninteresting characters and banal dialogues. While Allan A. Goldstein does display some sense of style in direction, particularly during the action sequences, the overall movie feels like a tired slog.

No doubt this is the worst DEATH WISH series ever made, and I'm glad it's finally over. In case you like to know, producer Menahem Golan (who was originally planned to direct this movie) was planning to make DEATH WISH 6: THE NEW VIGILANTE without Charles Bronson. However, due to their subsequent fallout, the movie was never made.

DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN (1987)

RATING: 2/5

Over-the-top lunacy continues in the wildly exploitative DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN. It's still formulaic and preposterous, but in term of guilty-pleasure entertainment, this fourth installment wins as one of the most outrageously entertaining action movies ever made back in the 1980s.

Charles Bronson reprises his role as Paul Kersey, who is now back in Los Angeles and dating beautiful reporter Karen Sheldon (Kay Lenz). Likewise, things is going well for Paul until he finds out that Karen's daughter, Erica (Dana Barron) is died of drugs overdose. Not long after, Paul finds himself back into the one-man vigilante crusade again as he gets hired by a wealthy publisher Nathan White (John P. Ryan) who shares the same fate like Paul does, to wipe out the drug trade currently mushrooming in Los Angeles. Paul is soon learns that there are particularly 2 major drug gangs lording over by Ed Zacharias (Perry Lopez) and another one are brothers Jack and Tony Romero (Mike Moroff, Dan Ferro). With enough information and weapons supplied by Nathan, he goes on a mission to bring down the two gang at all cost. But little he does know that there is a hidden agenda behind all the madness.

From killing muggers, thugs and street gangs, it's wildly unbelievable to see Bronson's Paul Kersey has now "graduated" into a professional vigilante that carries the same action persona like Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger (read: one-man killing machine), who is in charge to kill two drug gangs. Replacing original director Michael Winner (who made the first three DEATH WISH series) is J. Lee Thompson, who continues tweaking the formula with more implausible manner. While his direction is equally fast-paced, everything else are just plain routine. Even Gail Morgan Hickman's screenplay is haphazardly written with lots of cheesy, if strangely entertaining one-liners. The action is unsurprisingly over-the-top, and even laughable (particularly in the climactic finale where a character gets blown off into pieces by a grenade launcher).

Strictly for die-hard fans.

DEATH WISH 3 (1985)

RATING: 1/5

Genre exploitation and excessive factor takes on a shockingly absurd level in DEATH WISH 3 -- the third series of the surprisingly profitable franchise which is as mindless as the second movie. But at least it's fast-paced enough to warrant this as a guilty-pleasure exercise.

This time, Paul Kersey returns to New York City to visit his old Korean war buddy, Charley (Francis Drake) is being attacked by a gang of street thugs in his apartment at Brooklyn. He is dead by the time Paul arrives, and the police mistakenly arresting him for the murder. The police-in-charge, Chief Richard Shriker (Ed Lauter) immediately recognizes Paul as "Mr. Vigilante" and hates him so much he shoves him into a holding cell. This is where Paul meets Manny Fraker (Gavan O'Herlihy) in the same cell. Apparently he's the leader of the gang who was responsible for Charley's death. Upon release, Manny threatens to kill Paul one day when he has a chance. In the meantime, Paul is given a chance to go scot-free as Shriker offers him a deal -- to kill all the street thugs he wants, as long as he informs Shriker of any gang activity so that the police can make a bust.

Upon arrival back into Brooklyn, Paul moves into Charley's apartment and gets to know Bennett Cross (Martin Balsam), a WWII veteran who is also Charley's best friend, elderly Jewish couple Mr. and Mrs. Kaprov (Leo Kharibian, Hana-Maria Pravda) and a young Hispanic couple, Rodriguez (Joseph Gonzalez) and his wife (Marina Sirtis). While Manny and his gang are routinely harassed and assaulted the neighborhood, Paul subsequently plans his way to kill them off by setting up booby traps and even purchasing a brand-new, high-calibered .475 Wildey Magnum gun.

While the sex is considerably toned down if compared with the first two installments, director Michael Winner upped the ante by depicting more excessive violence. Forget about plot and characterization either, since DEATH WISH 3 is all about genre formula that goes as exploitative as possible. Not only that, this third installment is more of an outrageous action movie which marks a complete departure in the DEATH WISH series. Here, Bronson's Paul Kersey is depicted as a one-man vigilante in the vein of Rambo-like style and his character is no longer convincing (mind you, he's 63 years old when he appeared in this movie). And if that's not insulting enough, the movie ends up with a bloody and over-the-top 20-minute finale filled with lots of shootouts and explosions (at one point, a character gets killed by a missile launcher shot in close range).

This is an extremely mindless movie with no social context, and even so, it still made enough money at the box-office. Ironically, this is also the last movie Charles Bronson and Michael Winner made together.

DEATH WISH 2 (1982)

RATING: 1/5

A sequel that is wholly unnecessary, DEATH WISH 2 is basically a poor rehash of the original with added sex and violence.

Charles Bronson returns as Paul Kersey, a well-known vigilante who was once a public sensation back in New York City. In this sequel, he is now settling down at Los Angeles and dating KABC news/radio reporter Geri Nichols (played by Bronson's real-life wife Jill Ireland). His catatonic daughter, Carol (Robin Sherwood) who was previously left traumatized after being brutally raped in the first movie, is starting to heal better and finally able to go home. But history repeats again when Paul's Spanish maid, Rosario (Silvana Gallardo) is brutally gang-raped by four crazy muggers -- Nirvana (Thomas Duffy), Stomper (Kevyn Major Howard), Jiver (Stuart K. Robinson), Cutter (Laurence Fishburne III -- yup, that Laurence Fishburne) and Punkcut (E. Lamont Johnson) -- after she was alone preparing dinner at home. When Paul and his daughter comes back home, they witness the incident and ended up being assaulted. Paul gets knocked out by the muggers, while Carol is held captive. Not surprisingly, Carol gets raped again, and this time she ends up dead after plummeting down from the building.

During this first 20 minutes, DEATH WISH 2 has certainly earned its high controversy mark for showcasing one of the most sickening rape/sex scenes ever made in mainstream Hollywood cinema. Unfortunately the movie immediately nosedives with subsequently simple-minded plot and lazy direction by returning director Michael Winner. Upon the heartbreaking news of Carol's death, Paul goes back to his old ways again -- by stalking down the four muggers and kill them one at a time. This time the pace is more deadening than the first movie, while the characters are as despicable as they can be. Even Bronson's Paul Kersey is reduced to an emotionless killing machine. It is as if the whole movie is clearly lack of artistic interest to make this at least worthwhile.

Despite being a yawner over the majority course of the movie, DEATH WISH 2 managed to become profitable at the box-office. Strictly for die-hard fans.

DEATH WISH (1974)

RATING: 2.5/5

One of the most influential movies of the 1970s, DEATH WISH was a landmark genre that chronicles on a man who takes the law into his own hands, which was better known as vigilante.

In this movie that propelled Charles Bronson into stardom, he plays Paul Kersey, a mild-mannered architect living in New York City. He has a beautiful wife Joanna (Hope Lange) and a daughter named Carol Anne (Kathleen Toran). One day, three crazy thugs (among them is Jeff Goldblum, in his first screen debut) break into his apartment while he's gone, ends up killing his wife and brutally raping his daughter. With the police unable to locate the culprits and his daughter is left heavily traumatized, Paul begins to arm himself with a gun and patrolling the streets during nighttime. He kills muggers and thieves whenever he encounters them. At first he feels sickening in his quest for street justice, he is gradually enjoying doing it until he becomes a hunted man himself. News about his one-man vigilante eventually made him a public sensation, but Police Detective Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) desperately wants him to be arrested at all cost.

Wildly controversial at the time of its release, DEATH WISH was heavily panned by (many) critics (even source author Brian Garfield openly discredited this movie) for its sensationalistic subject matter about vigilantism as well as its excessive violence. But this landmark revenge thriller went on becoming a cultural phenomenon and even ended up as a box-office smash. Stoic-faced Charles Bronson is perfectly typecast for a mild-mannered everyman-turned-vigilante, even though his acting performance consists mostly on mumbling his lines. Michael Winner's direction (a role that was originally intended for Sidney Lumet but dropped out to direct SERPICO instead) is gritty especially the way he depicts New York City as a bleak place filled with despicable criminals and particularly shows little restraint in term of executing violence and sex (especially the brutal rape scene at the beginning of the movie).

As iconic and sensational as this movie was, DEATH WISH remains heavily flawed in term of its overall execution. The plot is predictable and the pace is mostly deadening. Personally I found this movie is overrated.

THE GREY Director Joe Carnahan Is Hired For DEATH WISH Remake!

Director Joe Carnahan is currently at the top of the world with his latest survival thriller, THE GREY (due here on February 2), starring Liam Neeson, holds No. 1 position in this weekend's U.S. box-office. Now Carnahan is being offered to write and direct a remake of DEATH WISH, the popular 1974 vigilante thriller that made Charles Bronson a screen icon. MGM and Paramount are in charge for the remake.

In the original version, Bronson plays Paul Kersey, a mild-mannered architect who is gradually becomes a vigilante after his wife and daughter are brutally assaulted. Despite the harsh criticism for its strong violence and provoking subject matter, the movie became a phenomenal success as a new breed of modern action genre. Four sequels were subsequently made, until the franchise ran out of idea in 1994. At one point, Sylvester Stallone attempts to reboot the franchise but the project remained in limbo about five years ago.

No production date has been set yet for the DEATH WISH remake.

ANTICHRIST (2009)

RATING: 3/5

During the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, no other movies has arrived more scandalized and controversial than Lars von Trier's new movie called ANTICHRIST. When his movie was first premiered at the festival, it was reportedly that four people were fainted due to the movie's explicit violence. Not only that, many of the audience members who watches it ended up either booing or laughing at the movie. Well, after finally watching the movie, I strongly agrees that ANTICHRIST is indeed everything you have read or heard of from the 2009 Cannes Film Festival -- a difficult movie that is both sickening, misogynistic, provocative and downright offensive. It's also the kind of movie that alienated those conventional viewers and I'm sure even some of the arthouse movie fans will find this a bit too much to watch for. But as Lars von Trier's first true foray into the horror genre, ANTICHRIST is strangely mesmerizing as long as you have an open mind. More on that later.

The movie opens with a glorious slow-motion montage shot beautifully in black-and-white and scored to Georg Friedrich Handel's Lascia ch'io pianga as we follows two nameless couples known only as He (WIllem Dafoe) and She (Charlotte Gainsbourg) making passionate love at the bathroom before continuing at their room. Little they do realize their toddler son, Nic (Storm Acheche Sahlstrom) climbs out of the crib and ends up falling off from a window to his death on the snowy ground below.

Shattered and ridden with guilt, the married couple are grieving over the death of their toddler son. She ends up collapsing during Nic's funeral and spends the next month in the hospital. When she is finally awakened, she drowned herself nothing but grief. Her husband, who is a therapist, opted to take her out of the hospital to treat her on his own. At first she relies on the psychiatric drugs to ease herself from the pain she's been grieving all this while but her condition gets worse from time to time. Realizing the drugs technique isn't working, he ends up treating her with his exposure therapy method where he questions her about the thing she's afraid the most. She replies, "The woods", which is actually meant to be Eden, a secluded location in the wilderness of Washington State where they own a summer cabin. Sensing that could be the answer to heal her grieving pain, they decide to spend time together at the Eden. However their decision gradually turns out to be an eventual nightmare.

ANTICHRIST was made when Lars von Trier suffered from depression, and it's clearly shown in this movie. His script, which is reportedly being written as part of the exercise to cure his depression, is both well-intentioned and mind-boggling. Unfortunately his movie is terribly oppressive and unfulfilled with strangely lacking of plot and heavy on psychobabble dialogue.

However the movie, as mentioned earlier, is a strangely mesmerizing movie worth checking out for. The first five minutes is both stunning and bewitching enough to keep you occupied (mind you, there is a few seconds of hardcore shot during the lovemaking scene), and some of the provocative images (e.g. the deer which carries a dead fawn stuck halfway out of its womb) which shown in the subsequent length, are just as dreamy. Anthony Dod Mantle's atmospheric cinematography which is shot one style in black-and-white and another style in a rugged, often handheld camerawork in the cabin and throughout the green mountain location (which is filmed in Germany, standing in for Pacific Northwest), is so beautifully framed it leaves you spellbound.

But of all the stunning visuals provided here, ANTICHRIST remains infamous for its now-legendary third act during the last 45 minutes. I must say, it is one of the most sickening scenes I've ever seen in a long while (which also makes me understand the fact about the four people ended up fainting while watching the movie). There are scenes of graphic mutilation (especially the one involving Gainsbourg cutting off her own genitals with a pair of scissors) and the way how certain tools are used in such horrifying ways imaginable. No doubt von Trier has successfully crafted the scene as extremely squeamish as possible I'm sure a lot of viewers who have seen this will find this very repulsive.

The two primary cast, Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, are exceptionally magnificent with their fearless performances. But it is Gainsbourg who really steals the show here and she is particularly captivating the way how she is willing to go as far as bearing her soul and especially her body that I'm sure no other actress would dare to do so. No wonder she is well-deserved for the best actress award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

THE PUNISHER (1989)

RATING: 2.5/5

After being left disappointed watching two big-screen reincarnations of THE PUNISHER (2004) and PUNISHER: WAR ZONE (2008), I'm really surprised those filmmakers couldn't even made a straight-up revenge movie in the right way. So here I am, revisiting the first movie attempt of THE PUNISHER which was created back in the late '80s. Unlike those two versions, this long-forgotten original attempt is surprisingly more entertaining and action-packed. But at the same time, it is also heavily flawed with plenty of hammy acting, poor production values as well as some questionable choice of directions -- with the most obvious reason like how come the filmmakers choose to ditch the trademark "skull" T-shirt and changes the origin of the character from ex-Vietnam vet to an ex-cop?

In this 1989 take, Frank Castle (Dolph Lundgren) is a shadowy vigilante who calls himself as "The Punisher". He's an ex-cop turned vigilante who sets out to eliminate the mob and he has been doing that successfully over the last five years ever since the Mafia, lead by the notorious crime lord Gianni Franco (Jeroen Krabbe), killed his family by planting a car bomb. He lives in the sewers, and relies on his drunken informant, Shake (Barry Otto) to provide him necessary information regarding about the various activities of the organized crime. The police force, especially Frank's ex-partner Jake Berkowitz (Louis Gossett, Jr.), has been working around the clock trying to solve the never-ending murder case (125 body count, to be exact) related to the bloody massacre executed by "The Punisher".

When Franco returns to town to head the Mafia family, he plans to unite all the Mafia families and overthrow the Yakuza, lead by Lady Tanaka (Kim Miyori). However Tanaka is hardly a pushover, as she and her well-trained Yakuza men manage to bring down the Mafia easily. Not only that, Tanaka also plans to overtake Franco's business by gaining the most profit and also ends up kidnapping the Mafia sons and daughters, including Franco's son Tommy (Brian Rooney), all in an effort to sell them as slaves. The Mafia families realize they are outnumbered, and not even Franco can do a thing to make things right. However, his only chance is rely upon "The Punisher" to save their innocent children, in which Frank is forced to get involved one way or another.

The good thing about this movie is the fast-paced direction set by Mark Goldblatt, a former film editor who previously worked with James Cameron in blockbuster movies like THE TERMINATOR (1984), TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991) and TRUE LIES (1994). His extensive experience has certainly serves him well to stage some fairly decent action sequences with an entertaining mix of martial-art duels and violent gunfights.

However, the plot by Boaz Yakin, is sadly cut-rate and disjointed. Thanks to the harsh decision made by producer Robert Mark Kamen, he has unwisely rewrote Yakin's original screenplay to omit some crucial scenes especially the one involved the prologue where Frank is used to be a cop. That dramatic omission (which was reportedly being trimmed down 15 minutes in the post-production from the beginning of the movie) has certainly weakened the story further than they already are. What's left in the movie is nothing more than a (very) brief flashback showing the death of Frank's family, which is hardly enough to make us understand deeply what drives him so vengeful at the first place.

Not surprisingly, Dolph Lundgren's screen presence as Frank Castle/"The Punisher" is more of an empty shell. But the good thing about him is that Lundgren is definitely looks the part even though there's nary a sight of that trademark "skull" T-shirt. Standing tall at an incredible 6'5", he is downright imposing and athletic enough. Too bad Lundgren is also an inexperienced actor who broods a lot and looking very dull throughout the movie. It's a shame that his lackluster acting is constantly upstaged by other supporting actors, which in turn, a blessing in disguise. Veteran actor Jeroen Krabbe is perfectly typecast as the sleek Mafia boss while Louis Gossett, Jr. provides some noteworthy performance in an otherwise thankless role as the relentless cop Jake. Unfortunately the rest of the characters, especially the depictions of the Mafia and the Yakuza, are presented as cheesy and cartoonish as possible.

Technical credits are average at best, which is obviously ruined by its low-budget production values. Not only that, the movie is also hampered by poor lighting and shoddy sets. The location setting, which is shot in Australia, does a poor stand-in as New York City. If you are expecting the true grit of the Big Apple will be sorely disappointed by the inauthentic setting here.

No doubt THE PUNISHER was badly greeted by critics and viewers when it was first released back in 1989. The movie was actually made in 1987 but only released theatrically worldwide two years later except in the United States due to New World Pictures' bankruptcy and ended up in a direct-to-video instead. But despite the fact this 1989 take is hardly a faithful version of the Marvel comics character, at least the movie knows how to have some guilty-pleasure fun. Yes, it's a forgettable run-of-the-mill action flick but certainly worth a look for those who are curious how the first movie attempt of THE PUNISHER is started out.

Will Nicolas Winding Refn Makes A Sequel To DRIVE?

DRIVE was considered by (many) critics as among the best movie of 2011 (even though I personally thought it was overrated). Despite being a festival darling (especially at Cannes), DRIVE has failed to make an impact as the movie managed only one Oscar nomination for Best Sound Editing. Now director Nicolas Winding Refn is currently hard at work on the Thailand-set ONLY GOD FORGIVES, in which he reunites with his DRIVE lead star Ryan Gosling. He is also recently given a brief interview regarding about the possibility of a sequel to DRIVE, in which I'm sure a lot of fans are eager to see whether Nicolas Winding Refn agrees to commit or not. Here's what he had to say below.

Well I think that… hmm. Let me just say that I haven’t made up my mind yet. Stranger things have happened…

As for now, it seems that Refn isn't keen to helm a sequel to DRIVE yet but at least there is still a slight chance he might do it sometimes in the future.

DRIVE, which was actually adapted from James Sallis's 2005 novel of the same name, has a follow-up novel called Driven. In the sequel, the story takes place six years after the events of the first book, and centers on someone who wants Driver (Gosling) dead.

R-Rating Makes A Comeback In TERMINATOR 5!

When TERMINATOR SALVATION (2009) was reportedly to be shown in a PG-13 rating, I'm sure a lot of die-hard fans are shocked with the watered-down version. After all, the previous three TERMINATOR movies are R-rated version. However, with the proposed TERMINATOR 5 sometimes in the future, fans will be relieved that the fifth installment is back with the much-deserved R-rating version! Here's what Megan Ellison, owner and president of Annapurna Pictures, had to say about the promise of a R-rated version of TERMINATOR 5 right below.

We can't really tell you guys anything about Terminator 5 . But it will be an R rated film as God and James Cameron intended.

TERMINATOR 5 is still under the early stage of development, with Arnold Schwarzenegger slated to return and it will be directed by Justin Lin.

Steven Spielberg To Unleash Moses Biopic In GODS AND KINGS!

More than fifty years ago, legendary director Cecil B. DeMille has made one of the Hollywood's biggest blockbusters of all-time in a grand epic about Moses in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956), which was of course famous for Charlton Heston's immortalized role as Moses.

Now Warner Bros. was eyeing Steven Spielberg to direct a biopic about Moses, which will be titled as GODS AND KINGS. According to Deadline, Spielberg has committed to the project which will be completely different than what THE TEN COMMANDMENTS has presented before. Instead he will reimagined Moses' s life as a gritty war movie in the vein of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Here's the description below.

A movie like a Braveheart-ish version of the Moses story. Him coming down the river, being adopted, leaving his home, forming an army, and getting the Ten Commandments.

Steven Spielberg is certainly the right choice to direct such grand epic about Moses, and it will be interesting to see him doing it sometimes in the future as the studio is aiming to start production either on March or April 2013.

Lily Collins No Longer Leading THE EVIL DEAD Cast!

Lily Collins was supposedly in talks to lead THE EVIL DEAD remake, in which she will plays a young woman trying to cope with her drug addiction, but unfortunately she is forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

So who would you think will be a better replacement?

THE EVIL DEAD is scheduled to scare up the viewers on April 12, 2013.

Oscar 2012: Who Gets Nominated And Who Gets Snubbed?

After months of anticipation, nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards were finally revealed.

Martin Scorcese's highly-praised children's fantasy HUGO lead the pack with an astounding 11 nominations, while Michel Hazanavicius's much-beloved THE ARTIST is close second with 10 nominations. This year, the Best Picture category is slotted with a total of 9 nominations. Check out the complete list of the nominations right below.

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

It's kind of surprise that two dark-horse nominees, Terrence Malick's THE TREE OF LIFE and especially Stephen Daldry's critically-panned EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE managed to be slotted into the Best Picture category. It's a shame that other movies like Nicolas Wending Refn's DRIVE and Steve McQueen's SHAME could have been shortlisted instead.

BEST DIRECTING

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Martin Scorcese - Hugo

All the five nominees above aren't surprising anyway, even though it will be nice to see other deserving directors like Nicolas Wending Refn for DRIVE or David Fincher for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO gets slotted in.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Demian Bichir - A Better Life

George Clooney - The Descendants

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Gary Oldman - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

In this tricky Best Actor category, a lot of surprises have poured in. Expected nominees like George Clooney for MONEYBALL and Jean Dujardin for THE ARTIST are here, but I guess a lot of people will be shocked to see dark-horse nominees like Demian Bichir for A BETTER LIFE and Gary Oldman (ironically this is his first Oscar nod) for TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY. Among the biggest snubs of all are actors like Ryan Gosling for DRIVE and Michael Fassbender for SHAME failed to make the cut.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis - The Help

Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Rooney Mara - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn

Another tricky category. All five nominees are deserved to be slotted here but still, Charlize Theron's pitch-perfect bitchy role for YOUNG ADULT is sorely missing here.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn

Jonah Hill - Moneyball

Nick Nolte - Warrior

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

With the exception of Christopher Plummer for BEGINNERS, the rest of the four (dark horse) nominees are unexpected. Where's the love for Andy Serkis who deservedly to be nominated for his expressive motion-capture performance in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and of course Albert Brooks for his shockingly villainous role in DRIVE?

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Berenice Bejo - The Artist

Jessica Chastain - The Help

Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer - The Help

I'm surprised that Berenice Bejo is placed under this category, instead of "Best Actress in a Leading Role" category (but then again, I'm still glad she gets nominated anyway). It's a cause for celebration that Melissa McCarthy's spontaneously hilarious role in BRIDESMAIDS is well-deserved to be nominated in this category.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants - Alexander Payne

Hugo - John Logan

The Ides of March - George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon

Moneyball - Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan

Ahem, Steven Zaillian for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is not here? No doubt a big snub.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius

Bridesmaids - Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig

Margin Call - J.C. Chandor

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen

A Separation - Asghar Farhadi

Surprise nominees? Asghar Farhadi for A SEPARATION and J.C. Chandor for MARGIN CALL.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Bullhead (Belgium)

Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)

A Separation (Iran)

Footnote (Israel)

In Darkness (Poland)

Two highly-anticipated nominees from Asian countries (SEEDIQ BALE from Taiwan and THE FLOWER OF WAR from China) failed to make the final cut here.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

A Cat in Paris

Chico & Rita

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

What a surprise! Despite the fact that Steven Spielberg's THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN won Best Animated Feature in this year's Golden Globe, the movie fails to make a cut here.

BEST ART DIRECTION

The Artist - Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 - Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

Hugo - Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

Midnight in Paris - Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Helene Dubreuil

War Horse - Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Jeff Cronenweth

Hugo - Robert Richardson

The Tree of Life - Emmanuel Lubezki

War Horse - Janusz Kaminski

Wait a minute... no Newton Thomas Sigel for his seductively atmospheric cinematography in DRIVE?

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Anonymous - Lisy Christl

The Artist - Mark Bridges

Hugo - Sandy Powell

Jane Eyre - Michael O'Connor

W.E. - Arianne Phillips

BEST FILM EDITING

The Artist - Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius

The Descendants - Kevin Tent

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker

Moneyball - Christopher Tellefsen

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Hell And Back Again - Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner

If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front - Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory - Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

Pina - Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel

Undefeated - Daniel Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

BEST MAKE-UP

Albert Nobbs - Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 - Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

The Iron Lady - Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Adventures of Tintin - John Williams

The Artist - Ludovic Bource

Hugo - Howard Shore

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - Alberto Iglesias

War Horse - John Williams

Seriously both John Williams' score for THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN and WAR HORSE should be omitted and make better way for more creatively inspiring score for Trent Raznor and Atticus Ross for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, The Chemical Brothers for HANNA or two Cliff Martinez's score for either CONTAGION or DRIVE. What a load of biggest snubs here!

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets - Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

"Real in Rio" from Rio - Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson

Hugo - Tom Fleischman and Midgley

Moneyball - Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin

War Horse - Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

BEST SOUND EDITING

Drive - Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Ren Klyce

Hugo - Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl

War Horse - Richard Hymms and Gary Rydstrom

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 - Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson

Hugo - Robert Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning

Real Steel - Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

All five nominees here are well-deserved, even though I would like to see COWBOYS & ALIENS gets a nod as well.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement - Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin

God Is the Bigger Elvis - Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson

Incident in New Baghdad - James Spione

Saving Face - Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom - Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Dimanche - Patrick Doyon

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore - William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

La Luna - Enrico Casarosa

A Morning Stroll - Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe

Wild Life - Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Pentecost - Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane

Raju - Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren

The Shore - Terry George and Oorlagh George

Time Freak - Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey

Tuba Atlantic - Hallvar Witzø

The winners will be announced on February 26 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Jadin Gould Is Added As Young Lana Lang In SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL!

A new cast has been added in Zack Snyder's upcoming reboot of SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL. The name is Jadin Gould, a 13-year-old actress who has been confirmed to play young Lana Lang. She will be seen in a flashback scene while Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) is growing up in Smallville.

Jadin Gould has recently appeared in last year's BATTLE: LOS ANGELES and also starred in a few guest starring roles in TV series including Chuck and The Mentalist.

Giant Stone Head Looms Large In Ridley Scott's PROMETHEUS International Poster!

An international poster for Ridley Scott's highly-anticipated ALIEN prequel, PROMETHEUS, has released online. Take a look at the new one-sheet below, which offers a closer look at the mysterious giant stone head.

PROMETHEUS will be revealed on June 7, 2012.

Animated Feature TERMINATOR 3000 Might Featured Arnold Schwarzenegger's Voice?

Last year, it is widely speculated that FAST FIVE director Justin Lin and Arnold Schwarzenegger has been working on to develop TERMINATOR 5 sometimes in the future. However that might be postponed a little while longer since an animated feature movie titled TERMINATOR 3000 might comes first.

It is rumored that Arnold Schwarzenegger is interested to voice the lead character, which will be shot entirely in CG ala motion-capture animation just like James Cameron's AVATAR (2009). Check out a concept artwork below, which served as a marketing pitch for TERMINATOR 3000.

Hannover House and Annapurna Pictures are currently holding the rights to THE TERMINATOR franchise. Here's what the Hannover House President and TERMINATOR 3000 developer Eric Parkinson had to say about the upcoming project.

It's in the time being in the hands of Annapurna Productions, whether or not they want to proceed. We reached out to them, communicated with her council and expressed our outline with the basic story structure with the proposed principal creative team and how it can be financed and how Annapurna Productions can make a lot of money with upfront licensing. But there are issues at play that I am not privy to. I think that most people are aware of how long this ticking bomb that this The Terminator licensing exists before it goes back to James Cameron.

As for the possible involvement of Arnold Schwarzenegger, here's what he had to add.

I had the opportunity to talk about it with Arnold at the MidCOM Market, when they announced his proposed cartoon series. So I was there and he remembered me from Hemdale and I told him, I am still trying to develop an animated thing, but that's about when the bad news came out. But my feeling is, he is and will always be one of the biggest stars in the world. I think he'd do the voice of the T-800 in this proposed Terminator 3000. We're excited about it, and we think it makes perfect sense and with all due respect to Arnold, I think this would be another great and quick way for him to get another movie out with just a short time in a recording studio.

We can create a character of him in his absolute peak. What we have in mind is something very similar to what James Cameron utilized in Avatar in that we would use motion capture to create the base files of the bulk performers, including The Terminator. But yeah, it would be more of a 3D style motion capture proposed to live actors.

We have a good outline. We have a great story, and we potentially don't want to turn it into a script now, because there's going to be some creative input and we don't want to paint ourselves into a corner and say, no, we envision it a different way. But we've got a pretty good framework for what we think will work. Who knows if this concept fits their overall plan for the franchise? Personally, I think it's kicks-ass and would be a boost to the Terminator brand by introducing a new generation of viewers.

As for now, TERMINATOR 3000 is currently in an early stage of development.

Justin Bieber Is Interested To Remake FEAR?

Like it or not, the phenomenal success of Justin Bieber is simply hard to ignore. From YouTube singing sensation, to a pop singer superstardom and he's already on Hollywood stint, having previously appeared on the popular TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He is, of course, appeared as himself in the 2011's well-received concert movie JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER.

Now Bieber wants to go further by starring in a feature-length movie. According to Movieweb, Bieber is interested to star in the remake of James Foley's FEAR (1996), a R-rated suburban thriller played by Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon. It is believed that Bieber is going the same approach Mark Wahlberg, who used to be a controversial rapper before he becomes a highly-respectable actor, did in the past as his launching pad in acting career.

Seriously? Justin Bieber to play a psychopath in FEAR? As for now, it's hard to imagine him in such a demanding role.