Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Watching Movies

It's the macho guys sporting wings week... both Legion and Tooth Fairy has a winged male lead... and the posters are shown side by side at GSC... marketing ploy or just a random coincidence?


Anyway, the two winged movies are on complete opposite of the spectrum. One's a heavy movie filled with religion, prophecy and doom while the other one is filled with comedy and gags.





I saw this movie on Thursday. At GSC Pavilion. It's not exactly groundbreaking but it's a pretty decent outing. Cool angel fight scene and cool wings effect.

The storyline goes like this. God lost faith in mankind and is sending an army of angels to get rid of humans (AKA the legion in the title). The last time God lost faith in mankind, he sent down a massive flood.

However, humanity has a glimmer of hope in the form of an unborn baby. An angel was dispatched to get rid of the baby but he refused to cooperate and sided with the humans. He got them prepared for the coming onslaught.

The movie starred Paul Bettany as the fallen angel Michael, Dennis Quaid, Kate Walsh and Adrienne Palicki as the girl carrying humanity's hope.

It's a little too Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight for me. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. :)


The Rock in a comedy? Is this his second attempt at it after The Game Plan?

Anyways, Dwayne Johnson plays Derek Thompson, a hockey player who's disillusioned enough and cynical enough to go and break kids' spirits and dreams.

So the higher-ups decided to punish him by having him serve as a tooth fairy. That's when the funny bits start...

I have to say that The Rock can do comedy quite well.

It's always nice to see Julie Andrews in a movie. So regal. :)

Monday, January 25, 2010

SAG Winners


Movies:
Best Ensemble
— Inglourious Basterds
Best Actress — Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side (shocker but yay! she actually beat Meryl for this one and got a lot of flak for it...)
Best Actor — Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Supporting Actor — Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress — Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Stunt Ensemble — Star Trek
TV:
Best Ensemble, Drama — Mad Men
Best Actress, Drama — Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Best Actor, Drama — Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Best Ensemble, Comedy — Glee
Best Actress, Comedy — Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Best Actor, Comedy — Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Best Actor, Miniseries — Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance
Best Actress, Miniseries — Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens
Best Stunt Ensemble — 24

Thursday, January 21, 2010

BAFTA Nominations

BEST FILM
AVATAR (predix)
AN EDUCATION
THE HURT LOCKER
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
UP IN THE AIR

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
AN EDUCATION (predix)
IN THE LOOP
MOON
NOWHERE BOY

DIRECTOR
AVATAR James Cameron
DISTRICT 9 Neill Blomkamp
AN EDUCATION Lone Scherfig
THE HURT LOCKER Kathryn Bigelow (predix)
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Quentin Tarantino

ANIMATED FILM
CORALINE
FANTASTIC MR FOX
UP (predix)

LEADING ACTOR
JEFF BRIDGES Crazy Heart (predix)
GEORGE CLOONEY Up in the Air
COLIN FIRTH A Single Man
JEREMY RENNER The Hurt Locker
ANDY SERKIS Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

LEADING ACTRESS
CAREY MULLIGAN An Education (predix)
SAOIRSE RONAN The Lovely Bones
GABOUREY SIDIBE Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
MERYL STREEP Julie & Julia
AUDREY TAUTOU Coco Before Chanel

SUPPORTING ACTOR
ALEC BALDWIN It’s Complicated
CHRISTIAN McKAY Me and Orson Welles
ALFRED MOLINA An Education
STANLEY TUCCI The Lovely Bones
CHRISTOPH WALTZ Inglourious Basterds (predix)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE-MARIE DUFF Nowhere Boy
VERA FARMIGA Up in the Air
ANNA KENDRICK Up in the Air
MO’NIQUE Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (predix)
KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS Nowhere Boy

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
JESSE EISENBERG
NICHOLAS HOULT
CAREY MULLIGAN (predix)
TAHAR RAHIM
KRISTEN STEWART


Full nomination list - http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=18197#more-18197

Monday, January 18, 2010

Golden Globes Winners

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Winner: Avatar (2009)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Winner: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (2009)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Winner: Robert Downey Jr. for Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Winner: Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (2009)
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Winner: The Hangover (2009)
Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Winner: "Glee" (2009)
Best Director - Motion Picture
Winner: James Cameron for Avatar (2009)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Winner: Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Chloƫ Sevigny for "Big Love" (2006)
Best Television Series - Drama
Winner: "Mad Men" (2007)
Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Winner: Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock" (2006)
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Winner: Up in the Air (2009/I) - Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Drew Barrymore for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Kevin Bacon for Taking Chance (2009) (TV)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Winner: Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (2009)
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Winner: Up (2009) - Michael Giacchino
Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Winner: Crazy Heart (2009) - T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham("The Weary Kind")
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Winner: Julianna Margulies for "The Good Wife" (2009)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Winner: Michael C. Hall for "Dexter" (2006)
Best Animated Film
Winner: Up (2009)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: John Lithgow for "Dexter" (2006)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Winner: Toni Collette for "United States of Tara" (2009)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Winner: Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Golden Globe Predix


BEST DRAMA PICTURE - Inglourious Basterds
BEST DRAMA ACTOR - Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
BEST DRAMA ACTRESS - Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL PICTURE - Julie & Julia
BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTOR - Michael Stuhlbarg, "A Serious Man"
BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTRESS - Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Mo'Nique, "Precious"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM - Up
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - The Maid
BEST DIRECTOR - Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
BEST SCREENPLAY - Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, "District 9"
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE - James Horner, "Avatar"
BEST TV DRAMA SERIES - True Blood
BEST TV DRAMA ACTOR - Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
BEST TV DRAMA ACTRESS - Anna Paquin, "True Blood"
BEST TV COMEDY/MUSICAL SERIES - "Glee"
BEST TV COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTOR - Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
BEST TV COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTRESS - Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
BEST TV MOVIE/ MINISERIES - "Grey Gardens"
BEST ACTOR TV MOVIE/MINI - Brendan Gleeson, "Into the Storm"
BEST ACTRESS TV MOVIE/MINI - Jessica Lange, "Grey Gardens"
BEST TV SUPPORTING ACTOR - Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
BEST TV SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Jane Lynch, "Glee"

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Superheroes

Spiderman 4 scrapped, the franchise reboots and none of the original cast and director returning...




Blake Lively and Peter Saasgard joining the cast of Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds




And Stuart Townsend left Thor...



Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Watching Movies

Over the long New Year's weekend, I caught a couple of movies. I know, I know, holidays equals many people. We went to catch the movies at MBO in Galaxy, Taman Dagang.


The first movie we saw was Did You Hear About The Morgans?, featuring a very type-casted Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker.




I did not really wanna watch this movie. Mostly because of Sarah Jessica Parker. I liked her before Sex & The City. She was in Hocus Pocus, one of my fave movies... :)



I have not seen Sex & The City. But I have this aversion for all the S&TC girls... I dunno why... I just don't get them... Kristin Davis was in Will & Grace and Friends but I don't get her. She was in Couples Retreat and I did not get her... sigh...


Anyway, I am glad I decided to go and watch The Morgans coz it's quite a good movie. Fish out of water stuff but not like the rest. The witty banter is enjoyable. I think it's due to the chemistry between SJP and Hugh and of course the script. The Sarah Palin joke had me laughing out loud.

SJP and Hugh Grant got ample support from Mary Steenburgen and Sam Elliott as the deputies in charge of putting up with them...



Next, and when I say next, I mean, the same night... we saw The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus or as I like to call it, Parnasium...

As most of you would know, this is the late Heath Ledger's final movie. This fact alone was reason enough to go catch the movie.


The first time we saw him in the movie, he was hanging by neck on a noose. Chills...


Terry Gilliam, who made 12 Monkeys, is the director. The movie also stars Christopher Plummer and Verne Troyer.

Again, as you may have known, Heath passed away before he could complete the movie so the movie had to be tweaked and his role was finished by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.

The movie itself is a bit trippy and weird but not in a bad way... in its own way, it's a movie about the eternal battle of good and evil...




After the weekend, I was at Times Square and had some time so I decided to watch Cirque De Freak (in English meaning Circus of Freaks, I think). This is the third movie in a row I've watched that I haven't at least read up on. Going in blindly worked quite well for The Morgans and Parnasium.


It worked well for this movie as well. I really enjoyed this movie. I hope there would be a part two in the works.


Cirque De Freak is about Darren Shan, a boy who volunteered to be a vampire to save his best friend.


CDF has plenty of star power and awards calibre actors, except for the lead, he's not really been in that many movies.

For example, we have Oscar nominees John C Reilly (Chicago), Salma Hayek (Frida), Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) and Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire)... then Emmy nominee, Jane Krakowski (30 Rock) and finally, Josh Hutcherson, who is all grown up now and was in Journey to the Center of the Earth and Zathura.

Movie-wise, it's a cross between drama and comedy, with some action and supernatural stuff thrown about. Quite nice.

All in all, this was a good way to start out the movie-watching year... :)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

#1 Box Office Star


Thanks mostly to movies like

and


Sandra Bullock has been named Top Box Office Draw for 2009, an honor usually dished out to an actor...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/movies/02arts-SURVEYSHOWSB_BRF.html