Screen Rant » the curious case of benjamin button

2009 Scream Award Nominations

Ross Miller — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:37:08 +0000

The nominees have been announced for the fourth annual Scream Awards, held every year by Spike TV. The decisively more “fan-friendly” award ceremony (compared to the Oscars) honors films from the sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic-book genres of movies, TV shows and comic books. The awards are described as, “the first and only global event of its kind,” to honor those genres.

The Scream 2009 nominees were chosen by the Advisory Board of Hollywood and Genre Leaders, a list which this year includes the likes of Wes Craven, Roland Emmerich, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Eli Roth and Zack Snyder, plus many more. The event will be taped on Saturday, October 17th this year at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles, and will air on Spike TV ten days later on Tuesday, October 27th (check for local times).

Along with the awards, the show will also be airing some exclusive, world premiere of footage of some of the most anticipated movies of 2010! Presenters and musicians for the event are to be announced shortly.

Below is the list of a selection of the 32 categories from this year’s Scream nominations. For those of you (all of you?) who want to have YOUR say on which film should win, you’re in luck! Public voting for the awards has opened already and will run right up to October 17th. But before you head off to vote, here are some of the nominees:

BEST FANTASY MOVIE

“Coraline”

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

“Twilight”

“Up”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST HORROR MOVIE

“Dead Snow”

“Drag Me to Hell”

“Friday the 13th”

“Let the Right One In”

“My Bloody Valentine 3D”

“Splinter”

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE

“Dragonball Evolution”

“Punisher: War Zone”

“The Spirit”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST VILLAIN

Eric Bana as Nero; “Star Trek”

Cam Gigandet as James; “Twilight”

Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush; rag Me to Hell”

Liev Schrieber as Victor Creed/Sabretooth; “X-Men”

Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman; “True Blood”

BEST DIRECTOR

J.J. Abrams; “Star Trek”

Tomas Alfredson; “Let the Right One In”

Michael Bay; “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson; “Up”

Duncan Jones; “Moon”

Sam Raimi; “Drag Me to Hell”

BEST TV SHOW

Battlestar Galactica

Dexter

Fringe

Lost

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

True Blood

BEST ACTOR IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Ed Asner, “Up”

Hugh Jackman, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

Robert Pattinson, “Twilight”

Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Michael Sheen, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

BEST ACTRESS IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Scarlett Johansson, “The Spirit”

Jamie King, “The Spirit”

Rhona Mitra, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

Kristen Stewart, “Twilight”

Emma Watson, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

For the rest of the nominees you can head over to Spike.com, where you can also cast your votes.

Although some of the awards are truly suspect (how the hell The Spirit got nominated for ANYTHING is beyond me), I still like the overall celebration of the type of sci-fi, fantasy, comic book and horror films we here at Screen Rant revel in Although I won’t go into a specific rundown of who I think should win, I’d like to throw my opinion in the ring for a few of them:

Lost should win Best TV Show (I love Dexter, but it’s no Lost); Best Horror Movie should go to Let The Right One In (I would say Drag Me To Hell, but since that’s a comedy too, Let The Right One takes it for me); Best Actor in a Fantasy Movie Or TV Show should go to Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; and Best Comic Book Movie should (EASILY) go to Watchmen.

But enough from me, what and who will YOU vote for? As stated, you can cast your votes over at Spike.com, and you can see if the winners match your picks when the Scream Awards 2009 air on October 27th this year on Spike TV.

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Oscar Winners/Nominees Coming To Video On Demand

Heath McKnight — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:20:47 +0000

TVN Entertainment, one of the leaders in Video On Demand (VOD) technology, will be presenting eight 2009 Oscar winners and nominees, some of them day-and-date with DVDs. The movies include Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire, and others.

So why is this a big deal? Because although studios embraced VOD with devices such as the VUDU and the Roku with access to thousands of Netflix titles and cable/satellite companies’ on demand services, they wouldn’t always allow rentals or even purchases day-and-date (when DVDs are released for sale and rental).

Things are changing and that’s a good thing. However, I think studios can do better: create some sort of “virtual DVD experience” and offer VOD services like TVN the opportunity to have DVD features, like commentary, documentaries, bloopers, etc., along with menus, in SD (standard definition) or HD (high definition). I believe this will push more people to choose VOD, though Broadband Internet service is a must.

Anyway, TVN also has some release dates of these Oscar winners/nominees and other movies:

April 21, 2009: Frost/Nixon: (Day and date), The Wrestler

April 24, 2009: Rachel Getting Married

April 29, 2009: Slumdog Millionaire

May 6, 2009: Bolt

May 7, 2009: Doubt

May 14, 2009: The Reader

June 3, 2009: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I certainly hope to see more exclusives like this, along with day-and-date releases of VOD movies. I truly believe this is the future of home movie entertainment. And if we can “carry” these movies around with us on our mobile devices, like you can with Apple and movies from the iTunes Store, we’ll all be able to enjoy movies at home and abroad. Hey, it worked for music!

To see the nominees and award winners of this year’s Academy awards, check out our play-by-play coverage of the 81st Oscars ceremony.

Source: TVN Entertainment

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81st Oscars Play-By-Play

Rob Keyes — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:21:36 +0000

Oscar Night 2009 is upon us with first-time host Hugh Jackman. Join us as we give almost-live coverage!

To start the awards, Jackman provided viewers with a solid opening that was effective and not too over-the-top. Then we moved right into the ceremony with five previous Best Supporting Actress winners coming on stage to say something nice about of this year’s five nominees. Tilda Swinton who was last year’s winner was the quarterback for this segment and she had the honor of announcing the winner.

1) Winner for Best Support Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

This was unexpected but not undeserved – It was a rather difficult category to pick this year with all five nominees being almost equally likely winners. Personally, I would have gone with Taraji P. Henson from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Next we have Steve Martin and Tina Fey giving a good little skit to present the nominations for best Original Screenplay.

2) Winner for Best Original screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk

It was a touching acceptance speech and well-spoken (arguably the best acceptance of the night). Not wasting any time, Fey and Martin continue on to announce the nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay.

3) Winner for Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Next, Jennifer Anniston and Jack Black came out and tried to be funny and it didn’t work too well. However, Jack Black did made a joke about animated films and how he earns his money and it was pretty good. After playing a video of all the major animated features of the night, they eventually got to announcing the nominees for best animated feature and best animated short of the year.

4) Winner for Best Animated Feature: Wall-E (which was no surprise at all)

Andrew Stanton accepted the award and again we were a treated to a quick and efficient acceptance speech.

5) Winner for Best Animated Short: La Maison En Petits Cubes

So far, the awards have flown by and I think the Academy’s years of rushing people off stage have paid off (as cruel as that is). They’ve also had some of the presenters do multiple awards to keep things quick as opposed to constantly switching celebrities to announce each of the 24 categories. So far, they’ve tried to keep a light atmosphere with comedic presenters.

After the Commercial Break, Hugh announced the next presenters Sarah Jessica Parker and Daniel Craig (in James Bond attire) who gave a boring presentation just reading off the prompter. They announced the nominees and winners for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Makeup.

6) Winner for Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This was the first category we see The Dark Knight involved in and the winner was a no-brainer as this movie clearly had the most extensive set design and behind-the-scenes work involved. The acceptors of the award gave much respect and recognition to director David Fincher.

7) Winner for Best Costume Design: The Duchess

It was almost painful to watch Craig and Parker making multiple mistakes reading off the prompter and missing their cues. As for the winner, it’s not my pick personally but this award does tend to go to the period pieces.

8 ) Winner for Best Makeup: Greg Cannom, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Next we have the Academy desperately trying to appease presenters the younger demographics with Robert Pattinson and Amanda Seyfried on stage to present a vignette of romance films of 2008 which hit many of the mainstream flicks of the year.

After the commercial break, Jackman introduced the presenters for Best Cinematography and to my delight Natalie Portman and Ben Stiller (sporting a funky beard to parody Joaquin Phoenix’s presence on the recent David Letterman show) came on stage. Stiller even re-enacted the gum incident by putting his chewing gum on the stand after Portman confronted him about it.

This was definitely one of the funniest moments of the night and as the beautiful Natalie Portman announced the nominees, Stiller walked around the stage with his cellphone out acting as if he was lost.

9) Winner for Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire

Next we have another highlight of the night with James Franco and a skinnier Seth Rogen re-enacting a scene from Pineapple Express where they’re now watching all the non-Oscar nominated films and loving it while high on their drug of choice.

It was pretty funny watching them laughing their way through serious moments and terrible films like The Love Guru and it got even funnier when Franco noticed the film crew in his room and invited cinematographer to sit with them and watch. After the video, the three of them came out to announce the nominees for best Live Action Short.

10) Winner for Best Live Action Short: Spielzeugland (Toyland)

After the commercial break we have host Hugh Jackman back to discuss musicals and give a little one himself where he was joined by Beyonce Knowles in a classy red dress doing some great dancing accompanied by mediocre lip-syncing. The performance was later joined by Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical Fame as well as Amanda Seyfried from Mamma Mia.

Another commercial break and we are given a similar to the setup for The Best Supporting Actress award, where five previous winners of the Best Supporting Actor award came out to praise this years nominees of the same category.

Alan Arkin, Christopher Walken, Cuba Gooding Jr. Kevin Kline and Joel Grey were the presenters and Cuba Gooding stood out by harping on (and at the same time praising) Robert Downey Jr.’s performance from Tropic Thunder.

11) Winner for Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (obvious).

Next we have a nice video showcasing the directors of 2008’s best Documentaries.

12) Winner for Best Documentary: Man on Wire

This was an awesome acceptance by the star of the documentary who gave us a nice little magic trick with his lucky coin followed by a balancing act involving the Oscar award and his chin.

13) Winner for Best Documentary Short Subject: Smile Pinki

Next, Jackman presented a video of many of the big action scenes of 2008 followed by welcoming Will Smith to the stage to present the nominees for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Editing.

14) Winner for Best Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

15) Winner for Best Sound Editing: The Dark Knight

16) Winner for Best Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire

The Dark Knight earns its first award of the night and Benjamin Button wins another. They’re really trying to get these awards for behind-the-scenes work out of the way quick.

17) Winner of Best Editing: Slumdog Millionaire

Next we have Eddie Murphy come out on stage to announce the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Jerry Lewis who received an honorable standing ovation from the star-studded audience.

Continuing the need to meet the youth quota, Zac Efron and Alicia Keys came on stage to present the nominees for Best Original Score and Best Original Song.

18) Winner for Best Original Score: Slumdog Millionaire (an obvious winner for its outstanding soundtrack and score)

19) Winner Best Original Song: “Jai Ho”, Slumdog Millionaire (another given for me, this song was awesome in the film and when presented live on stage before the winner was announced).

Next on stage are Liam Neeson joined by Freida Pinto from Slumdog Millionaire to present best Foreign Film.

20) winner for Best Foreign Film: Departures

After a song by Queen Latifah Hugh Jackman honors the present of the Academy Awards who’s stepping down this year. After this, Reese Witherspoon is introduced by Hugh Jackman to announce the nominees for Best Director.

21) Winner for Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Mr. Boyle gave a nice little dance to keep a promise made to his kids. It was cute and he deserved this award.

As we’re in the final stretch of the show, the next major award is for Best Actress and again they brought out five previous winners including Halle Berry and Nicole Kidman to honor this year’s nominees. I like this strategy and it’s better than just having a winner from the Best Actor/Actress category of the previous year.

22) Winner for Best Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader

Finally, Kate has won! Meryl Streep was amazing in Doubt but she’s had 15 nominations and several wins before. It’s time for Ms. Winslet to share in the glory and you can tell from her speech that she really wanted it.

For the Best Actor award, presenters Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Sir Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins and Adrian Brody (all past winners) have come on stage to praise this year’s nominees. Robert De Niro was especially funny in talking about Sean Penn and Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley had very nice things to say about Brad Pitt and Mickey Rourke, respectively.

23) Winner for Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk

Sean Penn wins another for his outstanding performance in Milk and he gave a funny opening line in his acceptance speech. He ended his speech touching on a serious note and preaching for equal rights for which he received a loud applause. He also gave credit to Mickey Rourke whom I thought may win this award.

Stephen Spielberg is next on stage to present the nominees and award for the final and most important category of the night: Best Picture.

24) Winner for Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

I’m happy that Slumdog Millionaire beat out The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I thought Button was great but it was missing some elements that Forrest Gump had and that’s what it is always compared to. I thought Slumdog was the best overall film of the year and it did deserve this award.

So there you have it folks, the summary of this evening’s 81st Academy Awards and all of the winners.

All-in-all, the night was a slight improvement over previous years. I think the big problem this year was with the nominations and certain omissions in certain categories.

What did you think of this year’s Oscar awards and what would you like to see improved for next year’s?

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Fincher Feels The Pinch

Niall Browne — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:31:28 +0000

On the surface, David Fincher is riding high on the commercial and critical success of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but if you delve beneath the surface things don’t appear to be that rosy for the director.

For the last couple of years the Fight Club director has been trying to make a film based on the graphic novel Torso, which features real life hero Elliot Ness after he took down Al Capone. However, Paramount Pictures has recently let the rights lapse, even though it has garnered the attention of stars like Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.

The reason for this?

The high cost of Benjamin Button.

Fincher is a director who likes to get things perfect – really perfect. He spends time on single, simple shots that most directors would probably farm out to the second unit. He’s a perfectionist who will not compromise and with perfection comes a price. The price of Benjamin Button being in the $150-$175 million range, which for a non-summer, no action prestige picture is a lot of money. According to the LA Times the film’s worldwide marketing budget is around $135 million, meaning the true cost of the film is $300 million. Now, so far the film has grossed around $110 at the US box office alone, a pretty decent sum, however considering that the studios (Warner and Paramount) will only get about half of this, it would appear that the film would have to go a long way to go before it sees profitability. That’s not even taking into account Brad Pitt’s profit participation.

Button’s 13 Oscar nominations should ensure that the film has legs and Brad Pitt’s name and visage should also pull in the punters – but it just goes to show that big stars, big budget and big awards nominations does not mean a happy ending for the studio. Although, once DVD and television rights are factored in the film should be profitable.

So where does this leave Torso?

Paramount has had the rights to the film since 2006, and Fincher has been developing the adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Andreyko’s graphic novel at the studio with a current shooting script by Ehren Kruger. However, the studio let their option to the rights lapse when they would have had to hand over more to buy the property outright. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Andreyko now own the rights to the property and Fincher is still attached to the project so it may have a happy ending at another studio. It may take a while, and I can only assume that the director will have to work on a (relatively) lower budget than his last project. Considering Fincher’s success in the serial killer genre with Seven and Zodiac most studios will be chomping at the bit to try and get onboard, and now that Fincher has critical acclaim for Button, so Torso might be a project that straddles the line between art and commerce.

I can’t imagine the rights sitting around for long, but Fincher likes to take a while to develop his films; Button took almost a decade for example, so this won’t be hitting the multiplex anytime soon.

More news on Torso as it develops.

Sources: LA Times Via CHUD and The Hollywood Reporter

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2009 Oscar Nominations & The Dark Knight

Rob Keyes — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:47:21 +0000

It’s Oscar Nominations 2009 Day!

The Oscar nominations were released this morning for the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Already, we’re seeing feedback and debates over this year’s picks, much of relating to the most popular movie of 2008: The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight - the most talked about and hyped movie of the year… possibly even of the last decade – is noticeably absent from two important categories many felt it deserved being a part of. These are of course: Best Picture and Best Original Score. Also of note is that Christopher Nolan was not nominated for Best Director, but I never expected him to for this so we won’t discuss that.

Approaching the nominations seasons, Warner Brothers made a strong effort to market The Dark Knight for a big push at the Oscars – for 28 people in 15 different categories to be precise. While they were very successful in earning eight nominations, the heavy supporters and fans of the film are sure feeling the emptiness of not being awarded a Best Picture nomination.

And therein lays the question.

Does The Dark Knight deserve a Best Picture nod at this year’s Academy Awards?

This prestigious honor of the best picture nomination instead went to:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire.

Browsing around the movie blogosphere, it seems the people are split on the question of The Dark Knight’s deservedness. Even behind the scenes here at Screen Rant we have a bit of a for-or-against discussion occurring and I hope we get a lot of discussion on this here as well.

Where do I stand on this? Well, I can go either way so the easiest answer would be that I am not upset that it was snubbed in this category but I do think it is a missed opportunity. For its purposes, The Dark Knight did not perfectly do what it was supposed to story-wise in my opinion (it still did it very well though). While it is one of my favorite movies of the year… one of my favorite movies ever – I did have some minor issues with it. The obvious counterpoint is that the argument can be used against the other nominees, but I’ve not seen some of them so it’s hard to say. But that is another argument for another day.

It would have been awesome to see a superhero/comic book film make it into the Best Picture category, especially nowadays with the ever-increasing popularity and success of these genre films. This year alone we had several amazing movies of the sort (Iron Man anyone?).

At the same time, many hold angst against the Academy for how it awards its prizes and see it as more of a personal lobbying type of popularity contest. It seems it is nearly impossible for the main categories to be loaded with movies everyone has seen – instead we see the tendency of the art-house type flicks of a more serious nature.

A big problem for me (and we see it here with the five nominees for Best Pic), is that no matter how good these films are, as soon as we see information about the movie or promotional materials, people and critics see it and can easily label it as “Oscar bait.” Right there is the problem: This sort of approaches pretty much “locks out” certain genres of ever having a real shot, or at least presents them with a very large uphill battle. For example: Comedies, Fantasy films, Sci-Fi movies and yes, even superhero films.

That tells you that the Academy is locked into this tradition and I think it prevents younger folks from caring about the biggest film awards event in the world. Movies are such a big part of so many people’s lives that it’s too bad for their sake that more mainsteam films are not recognized at this event. I guess that’s what the MTV Movie Awards are for.

It would have been a good year for the Academy to give more praise to the industry-leading mainstream films – in this case the most popular film, since they are trying so hard to increase ratings and popularity of the televised event. As I said earlier, I think this is a lost opportunity for them in regards to the Best Picture. They could have made the Oscars more mainsteam, and broke new ground having this type of movie in the running for that award. However, it’s very good to see Iron Man getting a few nods and better yet, to see Robert Downey Jr. getting nominated for his performance in Tropic Thunder.

The other category The Dark Knight was skipped over where it was arguably deserving was for Best Original Score. The funny thing about this snub is how originally, The Dark Knight was disqualified from this category because there were too many composers listed on the music cue sheet. This was a bit of a blow as many thought score of this film is pretty epic and helps create that feel of the movie right from the opening minute up till the end.

Strangely enough, a month later, that decision to disqualify The Dark Knight from this category was reversed and Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard were all of a sudden back into the running for Best Original Score. I bet when that happened, the other hopefuls were worried. Long story short, The Dark Knight didn’t even get nominated for this and all that controversy was for naught.

I wonder if that mess had anything to do with the voting in this category that ultimately ended with a snub for the beloved Batman and his background beats. I think this is one category most can agree on where The Dark Knight excels and is deserving – less debate there, I’m sure.

On the bright side, the nominations today for The Dark Knight are a huge improvement over the recognition it received at the Golden Globes – where is was awarded only one nomination. That nomination of course, was for Heath Ledger as Best Supporting Actor, where he easily won.

To make a push at gaining some Oscar attention, The Dark Knight is being re-released in many theaters tomorrow. For those of us who need to celebrate the nominations or get away from the rage of the snubs, you can spend that time watching Batman, Joker and Two-Face again on the big screen.

Enough talking, here are all the nominees:

Best Picture
‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
‘Frost/Nixon’
‘Milk’
‘The Reader’
‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Best Director
Danny Boyle, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
Stephen Daldry, ‘The Reader’
David Fincher, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Ron Howard, ‘Frost/Nixon’
Gus Van Sant, ‘Milk’

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins, ‘The Visitor’
Frank Langella, ‘Frost/Nixon’
Sean Penn, ‘Milk’
Brad Pitt, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Mickey Rourke, ‘The Wrestler’

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway, ‘Rachel Getting Married’
Angelina Jolie, ‘Changeling’
Melissa Leo, ‘Frozen River’
Meryl Streep, ‘Doubt’
Kate Winslet, ‘The Reader’

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin, ‘Milk’
Robert Downey Jr., ‘Tropic Thunder’
Philip Seymour Hoffman, ‘Doubt’
Heath Ledger, ‘The Dark Knight’
Michael Shannon, ‘ Revolutionary Road’

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, ‘Doubt’
Penelope Cruz, ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’
Viola Davis, ‘Doubt’
Taraji P. Henson, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Marisa Tomei, ‘The Wrestler’

Best Animated Feature Film
‘Bolt’
‘Kung Fu Panda’
‘Wall-E’

Best Foreign Film
‘The Baader Meinhof Complex’ (Germany)
‘The class’ (France)
‘Departures’(Japan)
‘Revanche’ (Austria)
‘Waltz With Bashir’ (Israel)

Best Original Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black, ‘Milk’
Courtney Hunt, ‘Frozen River’
Mike Leigh, ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’
Martin McDonagh, ‘In Bruges’
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter, ‘WALL-E’

Best Adapted Screenplay
Eric Roth, Robin Swicord, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
John Patrick Shanley, ‘Doubt’
Peter Morgan, ‘Frost/Nixon’
David Hare, ‘The Reader’
Simon Beaufoy, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Best Documentary Feature
‘The Betrayal’
‘Encounters at the End of the World’
‘The Garden’
‘Man on Wire’
‘Trouble the Water’

Best Original Score
‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
‘Defiance’
‘Milk’
‘Slumdog Millionaire’
‘WALL-E’

Best Original Song
‘Down to Earth,’ WALL-E
‘Jai Ho,’ ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
‘O Saya,’ ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Best Film Editing
Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Lee Smith, ‘The Dark Knight’
Mike Hill, Dan Hanley, ‘Frost/Nixon’
Elliot Graham, ‘Milk’
Chris Dickens, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Best Documentary – Short Subject
‘The Conscience of Nhem En,’ Steven Okazaki
‘The Final Inch,’ Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant
‘Smile Pinki,’ Megan Mylan
‘The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306,’ Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde

Best Cinematography
Tom Stern, ‘Changeling’
Claudio Miranda, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Wally Pfister, ‘The Dark Knight’
Chris Menges, Roger Deakins, ‘The Reader’
Anthony Dod Mantle, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Best Costume Design
Catherine Martin, ‘Australia’
Jacqueline West, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Michael O’Connor, ‘The Duchess’
Danny Glicker, ‘Milk’
Albert Wolsky, ‘Revolutionary Road’

Best Sound Mixing
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick, ‘The Dark Knight’
Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt, ‘WALL-E’
Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt, ‘Wanted’

Best Sound Editing
Richard King, ‘The Dark Knight’
Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes, ‘Iron Man’
Tom Sayers, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood, ‘WALL-E’
Wylie Stateman, ‘Wanted’

Best Live Action Short Film
‘Auf der Strecke (On the Line),’ Reto Caffi
‘Manon on the Asphalt,’ Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont
‘New Boy,’ Steph Green, Tamara Anghie
‘The Pig,’ Tivi Magnusson, Dorte Høgh
‘Spielzeugland (Toyland),’ Jochen Alexander Freydank

Best Animated Short Film
‘La Maison de Petits Cubes,’ Kunio Kato
‘Lavatory – Lovestory,’ Konstantin Bronzit
‘Oktapodi,’ Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand
‘Presto,’ Doug Sweetland
‘This Way Up,’ Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes

Best Makeup
Greg Cannom, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
John Caglione, Jr., Conor O’Sullivan, ‘The Dark Knight’
Mike Elizalde, Thom Flout, ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’

Best Art Direction
James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis, ‘Changeling’
Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando, ‘The Dark Knight’
Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway, ‘The Duchess’
Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt, ‘Revolutionary Road’

Best Visual Effects
Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin, ‘The Dark Knight’
John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick, Shane Mahan, ‘Iron Man’

There you have it. What do you think of the nominations and The Dark Knight’s faring?

The Dark Knight returns to the big screen tomorrow, January 23, 2009 and The Academy Awards presentation airs February 22nd, 2009.

Source: The Oscars

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: January 11, 2009

Niall Browne — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:54:23 +0000

In this Weeks Weekend Movie News Wrap Up::

Clint Eastwood drives to the top of the box office with Gran Torino; Ewan McGregor is Pierce Brosnan’s Ghost; Sienna Miller will not be visiting Nottingham; Morricone is not a Basterd; Moore, Neeson and Seyfried know Chloe; the Joker may have the last laugh in Batman 3 and Farrell, Weir and Harris are on their Way Back.

Box Office

Clint Eastwood showed his star power by capturing the number one position at the box office with a fantastic $30 million gross for Gran Torino. Clint’s Oscar touted movie was making good bank on limited release but it looks like the American masses love the ageing action icon. The film should have good legs and a final gross of $100 million is not out of the question.

Bride Wars should claim the runner-up position with about $20 million showing that women will watch Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson in just about anything. David Goyer’s The Unborn had a good start and should gross about $18 million. Okay David – you have Monday to celebrate and then it’s down to getting Chris Nolan to start writing the next Batman movie.

Not Easily Broken surprised many and should bank $6 million by Monday, which isn’t bad for a movie that’s only showing in 724 screens. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Bedtime Stories inch closer to the magic $100 million mark and Tom Cruise shows that he’s a bigger star than Will Smith as Valkyrie has out grossed Seven Pounds.

Movie News

1. We thought that The Ghost was going to be a Pierce Brosnan and Nicolas Cage team-up, but it looks like Cage has dropped out and Ewan McGregor has stepped in as the ghostwriter for the former British Prime Minister in the Roman Polanski helmed thriller.

Source: Pierce Brosnan

2. There’s more trouble in Nottingham as it appears that Sienna Miller has dropped out of the next Russell Crowe, Ridley Scott team-up. Miller was due to star as Maid Marrian in the re-imagining of the popular legend. The film has had numerous delays because of weather, script troubles and reported fights between Crowe and Scott.

There’s no official reason as to why Miller made (maid?) the descision but if you believe the unreliable Page Six then it’s because of Crowe’s vanity:

“Originally the movie was about a love triangle between Maid Marian, Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. It is now all about Russell’s Robin Hood. Literally, 40 pages of script were redone and now are just devoted to him and his massive ego. It’s amazing.”

Sounds to me like it’s all a lot of Crowe bashing, but I’m sure we will find out more in the near future.

Source:IMDB

3. It was previously reported that master soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone would be scoring the music for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, however he will now be composing Giuseppe Tornatore’s Baaria instead.

It could be worse, he could have gone on to score Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables.

Source: Playlist

4. Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried will star in director Atom Egoyan’s Chloe.

Accpording to Variety:

“Moore will play a successful doctor who suspects her husband (Neeson) of cheating. She tests his fidelity by hiring an escort (Seyfried) to seduce him. The move creates complications that put her family in danger.”

It sounds very 1990’s and that’s not a bad thing!

Neeson will next be seen in Taken while Seyfried was in the smash hit Mama Mia – yikes!

Source: Variety

5. The Dark Knight producer Charles Roven spoke with MTV about the follow-up to the mega grossing film. The producer (although coy) did indicate that The Clown Prince of Crime may appear in future instalments of the Bat-franchise. Roven said:

“We have to separate the actors from the role. On a personal level, Heath (Ledger) was a friend of mine. We had worked together before The Dark Knight, but I still think that The Dark Knight is its own thing, and we have to separate them.”

If they decide to recast I think Joaquin Phoenix woul be a good choice – it’s a shame that he has “retired.”

Source: MTV

6. Colin Farrell and Ed Harris will star in Peter Weir’s The Way Back alongside Jim Sturgess and Saoirse Ronan. According to Variety:

“The thesps are in final negotiations to star for Weir in the fact-based story of a group of soldiers who engineered a grueling escape from a Siberian gulag in 1942. Weir wrote the script, based on the memoir by Slavomir Rawicz. Farrell plays a tough, tattooed Russian; Harris an American; and Sturgess portrays a young Polish inmate. Ronan will play a Russian on the run who meets up with the fugitives.”

Sounds interesting, Weir is always one to watch and both Harris and Farrell are talented actors – could be one to watch next awards season. Although, I don’t know if I could buy the Irish Farrell as a Russian.

Source: Variety

That’s it for now. See you at the movies!

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Review

Kofi Outlaw — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:28:42 +0000

Short Version: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a technical masterpiece that plays like a dream in motion – but it’s a dream that drags on just a bit too long.

Screen Rant Reviews The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a film adapted from the 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, about a man who is born old and proceeds to age in reverse until his death. The film adaptation takes this interesting premise and stretches it out (way, way, out) into a lengthy meditation on the nature of life, death, and everything human that is crammed in between.

The meditative tone is quickly established at the onset as the film opens on a hospital room in which a dying woman asks her daughter to read to her from the diary of a man named Benjamin Button, hoping that Button’s reflections on the reverse-course of his life will give her some kind of perspective on life in her own final moments. The rest, as they say, is flashbacks. The thing is these flashbacks have the effect of making us feel as though we are moving through a kind of dream remembered. Thank superb director David Fincher for that.

The principle cast is relatively small: Brad Pitt plays the titular character (with the help of some superb F/X and makeup); Cate Blanchett plays Button’s long-sought love, Daisy; and the way underrated Taraji P. Henson plays Benjamin’s adoptive mother, Queenie. Over the course of the movie some other familiar faces (like Tilda Swinton) come and go, as Benjamin makes his way through life, one adventure at a time. I have no criticisms of the actresses in the film. Blanchett excels a usual, and Henson once again takes what could’ve been a peripheral character and imbues her with light and life (many of the film’s best lines are hers).

The only debatable actor in the ensemble is Pitt himself. While his scenes as young (aged) Benjamin are fantastic, by the time Benjamin is middle aged and Pitt appears onscreen sans the liver spots, the celebrity’s all too familiar face stares back at us, blank as a mask that never really cracks to let even the slightest hint of emotion escape. I understand that there is a very zen tone to the film, but Benjamin shouldn’t have been portrayed as such the zen master. The whole point of the story (we’re told) is that he is as human (ie confused and flawed) as any of us.

The “over-zen” problem doesn’t end with Pitt, either. David Fincher may be my favorite director: his craftsmanship is so ambitious, accomplished, flawless and slick that certain sequences in this film look like paintings in motion that will never fade from memory. Having lauded all that praise, however, problems arise when the director’s technique overwhelms the heart of the story–as is the case, unfortunately, in this film.

Somewhere around hour 2.5 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button loses its heart: Benjamin inevitably gets younger and younger while those around him age and die. The F/X are cool and the climatic moments of Benjamin’s regression are quietly moving, however the emotional impact is left up to Cate Blanchett’s (thankfully able) acting. It is her graying, wrinkling, face that offers the only emotional tether for the audience, as she struggles to adapt her love in a very human way to circumstances that are almost too fantastic to imagine (or watch). And, for all of Ms. Blanchett’s massive talent, regrettably it’s not enough to keep most movie goers from getting antsy for a pee break around hour 2.75.

The other criticism Benjamin Button has received is that it is little more than Forrest Gump with a better F/X budget. This criticism I do not agree with. Gump was a character blissfully unaware of his own place in the course of life and history. Benjamin Button is a character all too aware of his place: an oddity to the rest of the world, yet never feeling anything else but human while ‘looking out of his own eyes.’ And while some critics might see reverse aging as a sort of cheap narrative device, it nonetheless serves to prove the point that no matter which direction we are headed along the spectrum of life and death–no matter which path we are taking– we are all on a journey that ultimately delivers us all to the same fate. It is powerful, poignant, profound and (as my grandmother said to me after) sad. Forrest Gump was just an entertaining story.

Go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, if for no other reason than the fact that you’re going to be hearing about it for weeks to come as award season approaches. It is a phenomenal piece of cinema, one weighted with an emotionally gripping story. It could have used an intermission, though, and don’t expect Brad Pitt’s name to get tossed into the award categories this year. Just enjoy the film for its crated beauty and let it take you on its journey–it’s worth the ticket price.

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: January 4, 2009

Niall Browne — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:00:09 +0000

It’s that time of the week again. Sunday is here and therefore we must be due a Weekend Movie News Wrap Up. This week we look at the box office as well as:

No Cleo for Hugh Jackman; Mars attacks G.I. Joe; Thor lands in present day and Zombie unleashes a look at Michael Myers in Halloween 2.

Box Office

Marley And Me was top dog at the box office again. The Owen Wilson/Jennifer Aniston pic should bark up another $25 million over the weekend taking its total over $100 million. Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories should bank another $23 million bringing the film’s gross to around $88 million. It looks like Sandler has another $100 million grosser on his hands. Ainiston’s ex, a Brad Pitt is next with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The David Fincher film should manage another $18 million. For a film that wasn’t expected to be a huge hit it’s doing pretty darn well. Yes Man and Valkyrie should both bank another $15 million each, proving that Jim Carrey and Tom Cruise are still viable movie stars. Meanwhile Will Smith’s Seven Pounds should manage another $10 million. Overall it’s a pretty A-List – centric time at the box office. In fact it could be 1999 and nobody would bat and eyelid.

Movie News

1. Hugh Jackman has pulled out of Steven Soderbergh’s forthcoming musical Cleo. Jackman was in negotiations to star as Marc Antony, however he has dropped out due to “scheduling conflicts”. I can only imagine that the rehearsing for the film somehow conflicts with Jackman’s hosting of the Oscars or another unknown film or stage role. As the film is looking for financing at the moment expect a replacement to be announced soon. Catherine Zeta-Jones will play the titular character.

Source: Variety

2. G.I Joe is an unknown quantity of a film. It’s got a great concept and an interesting cast (come on, it has Dennis Quaid) but Stephen Sommers did not earn a lot of fans with Van Hesling. In fact word on the street is that Sommers’ own mother disowned him following a private screening of the film. That was a joke

Anyway, here are a couple of images of the Mars Troopers from the film.

I still have no idea if this is going to be great or terrible, but the fact that it opens this August and we haven’t seen ANY footage from the film sounds like a bad sign.

Source: HissTank.com

3. News is slowly starting to leak out on Kenneth Branagh’s forthcoming Thor movie. The character of Donald Blake (Thor’s alter ego) has now been written into the current draft of the script. This is pretty big news as the film was previously going to be 100% set in the land of the Norse Gods.

Branagh will also act in the film – it’s not certain what role, but I’d bet money on it not being Thor.

Thor is due to open July 16, 2010.

Source: iesb.net

4. Rob Zombie has released an early picture of Michael Myers’ mask for Halloween 2. Well, considering the loathing of The Love Guru I’m guessing that Myers needs a disguise. Geddit? Mike Myers – The Love Guru…oh never mind.

I’m guessing at some point they’ll paint the mask and add hair. Or maybe in the new film Myers has discovered a loving of fake tan. Check it out below:

Source: Rob Zombie

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.

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Talking During A Movie? Say Allo To My Leetle Friend

Ross Miller — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:14:46 +0000

We’ve all been there – we’ve paid for our overpriced movie tickets, purchased our popcorn and drink of Coke priced as if I had a double shot of Jack Daniels in it, made our way into the inevitably packed screening and made our way to our seat. But we soon forget about those troubles and settle in to watch a movie that hopefully makes that all go away.

But just as we’ve settled in comfortably to relax and watch what we’ve paid too see, we hear some ignorant fellow moviegoers start talking, either on their phones or to the people next to them, ruining our movie viewing experience.

We might proceed to give them a harsh “ssshhh” or even go as far to politely ask them to shut the hell up. Now assuming that fails (which it usually does) most of us would just let it be out of politeness, while some will complain to theater staff. But no doubt we’ve all gotten to the point where we have thought, even if just for the briefest of moments, of shutting up the offending moviegoers by pure brute force. But a thought is all it amounts too, nothing more.

Well it seems that not all people are able to restrain their anger…

It’s been reported that 29-year old James Joseph Cialella Jr, who went to a screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Christmas Day, pulled out a gun and shot another man in the arm because he and his family (yes, that’s right, his family was there) for being too noisy. The incident took place at the UA Riverview Stadium 17 theater in South Philadelphia.

Cialella became annoyed when the family, which was sitting near the front, wouldn’t stop talking. He told them to be quiet, but because of this apparently the young son decided to be a smart ass and became even noisier, making comments and the like. Cialella then threw popcorn at the young boy in an attempt to get him to stop annoying him. But since that failed he decided that next logical step must be to pull out his gun (a Kel-Tec .380 handgun to be precise) and shot the father in the arm.

But one of the most shocking things is (beyond the obvious, of course) that Cialella didn’t try to run away – but sat down to continue watching the film, even as people around were fleeing the theater. The police soon arrived on the scene and arrested him. He is up on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and weapons violations. The victim, who remains unnamed, was sent directly to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and is reported to be “okay.”

Oh, and if the quote in the title of this post is throwing you, it’s by Al Pacino in Scarface, referring to a machine gun he’s holding just before he starts shooting up a room.

So what do you think? Do you think this is completely outrageous, or in some dark little corner of your mind are you thinking “damn straight, about time someone taught people to shut up during a movie?”

Source: /Film

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Golden Globe Nominations: Little Love For The Dark Knight

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:35:24 +0000

The 2009 Golden Globe Nominations have been officially announced and it looks like The Dark Knight has been almost totally snubbed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

That’s right folks, The Dark Knight received just one nomination: a Best Supporting Actor nod for Heath Ledger’s groundbreaking (and freaky) turn as The Joker. No Best Director nomination for Chris Nolan; no Best Screenplay nomination for Chris and Jonathan Nolan; no Best Original Score nomination (although Dark Knight composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard are both nominated in that category for work on two other films).

So, want to see which films stole the slots that rightfully belong to TDK? Check out the list of the 2009 Golden Globe Nominees in film:

BEST DRAMA
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

ACTOR (DRAMA)
Leonardo DiCaprio – Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

ACTRESS (DRAMA)
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas – I’ve Loved You So Long
Kate Winslet – Revolutionary Road

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Mamma Mia!
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges

ACTOR (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Javier Bardem – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Colin Farrell – In Bruges
James Franco – Pineapple Express
Dustin Hoffman – Last Chance Harvey
Brendan Gleeson – In Bruges

ACTRESS (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand – Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep – Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson – Last Chance Harvey
Rebecca Hall – Vicky Cristina Barcelona

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Gomorrah
I’ve Loved You So Long
Waltz with Bashir
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Everlasting Moments

ANIMATED FILM
Wall-E
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tom Cruise – Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Ralph Fiennes – The Duchess

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Kate Winslet – The Reader

DIRECTOR
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes – Revolutionary Road

SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy – Slumdog Millionaire
David Hare – The Reader
Peter Morgan – Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley – Doubt

ORIGINAL SCORE
James Newton Howard – Defiance
Alexandre Desplat – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
A.R. Rahman – Slumdog Millionaire
Hans Zimmer – Frost/Nixon
Clint Eastwood – Changeling

ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth” by Peter Gabriel / Thomas Newman – Wall-E
“Gran Torino” by Clint Eastwood / Kyle Eastwood – Gran Torino
“I Thought I’d Lost You” by Miley Cyrus – Bolt
“Once in a Lifetime” by Beyoncé Knowles – Cadillac Records
“The Wrestler” by Bruce Springsteen – The Wrestler

So there’s a lot on this list I’m OK with (like Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise receiving Supporting Actor Comedy nominations for Tropic Thunder, or Kung-Fu Panda getting a nod for Best Animated Film); there are some things on this list I couldn’t care less about (Best Musical or Comedy, anyone?); and there definitely some things on this list that make my head just want to explode.

Forgetting my obvious (and aforementioned) problem with the fact that The Dark Knight has been shut out of nearly every relevant category, I think that a film as wonderful as Let The Right One In was should have earned a Best Foreign Language Film nomination. And how Colin Farrell got a Best Comedy Actor Nod for In Bruges (which also got a Best Picture Comedy nod) will forever be beyond me.

On the flip side, James Franco getting a Best Comedy Actor nod for Pineapple Express is just plain awesome; it’s also good to see Mickey Rourke back on the rise, earning a nomination for his apparently soul-wrenching turn as a washed up athlete in The Wrestler (which I have yet to see). However it’s strange as hell that after so much early buzz Clint Eastwood’s old-man-turned-vigilante drama Gran Torino only got one nomination… for Best Original Song.

Other than that, it seems to be award season as usual. No surprise that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is leading the pack in nominations (after all the tremendous buzz), or that a Sam Mendes domestic life drama (Revolutionary Road) is also raking in the nominations. I haven’t seen Frost/Nixon, but it seems to have impressed the right people, because it’s coming out of left field to grab up a handful of nominations. Might have to get out and see that before Oscar season rolls around.

Speaking of the little gold guy, what do you think about The Dark Knight’s chances at the 2009 Academy Awards, now that you’ve seen the Golden Globe nominations? Do you agree with the list of nominees, or do you feel some great films didn’t get the recognition they deserve? Sound off and let us know.

(You can read the full list of Golden Globe Nominees (Film and Television) by clicking here)

Source: First Showing

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New International Trailer For ‘The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button’

Rob Keyes — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:03:44 +0000

Here we have the new international trailer for the The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – it’s not much different than the first trailer if you saw that in theaters, but it does include some new footage.

We haven’t really covered this movie yet here on Screen Rant other than in my recent post on new movie posters, and there are a lot of folks that don’t know much about it. In that post are the two brand new posters for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; one featuring Brad Pitt and the other, Cate Blanchett.

Although I don’t expect sky-high box office results from this flick and I can’t see it hitting the younger teenager demographic, I have high hopes for it. The trailers show off a very high quality heartfelt film that will no doubt be a big player in next year’s Academy Awards – and I look forward to seeing it over the holidays.

Watch and see what you think:

[See post to watch Flash video]

The film is directed by David Fincher and is adapted from a 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. You probably figured out the plot from the trailer so I won’t explain it. If you’ve seen the posters before seeing any trailers, the reversed text on Brad Pitt’s probably makes more sense now.

What do you think of trailer? Are you interested in this film?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button opens this Christmas Day, December 25th 2008.

Source: /Film

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A Big Pile Of New Movie Posters

Rob Keyes — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:43:31 +0000

Today we have a pile of new posters we’ve been collecting throughout the week from a variety of sources.

These include the final poster for The Spirit, the first posters for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and new posters for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Lost: Season 5, Red Sonja, and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

That’s a lot of posters!

Without going into too much detail about what I like/dislike about each one, I’ll say that they’re all pretty good, actually.

Take a look and see what you think:

For Underworld, this poster definitely serves its purpose with Bill Nighy’s character Viktor sitting on the throne – simple, but epic for fans of the first two installments. As always, the poster is dark and drenched with a blue overlay.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans poster

For Benjamin Button, the posters are a little bland but together are pretty clever with the reversed text on the one featuring Brad Pitt, referring to his reversing age in the film. I’m not too sure the movie will be a massive box office hit, but it will probably be Oscar material and I’ll definitely be seeing it.

Cate Blanchett featured in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Spirit poster references earlier posters which were not good but I actually dig this one a bit (don’t hurt me, Vic!). The prior posters weren’t cool on there own but put together with this better color-scheme and design, it’s pretty cool and aesthetically pleasing I think.

Final Poster for The Spirit

As for Lost, I love that show and this poster simply shows off what the next season will be about – the split of on-island and off-island characters.

Poster for Lost Season 5

Ice Age 3 and Red Sonja serve their purpose (and respective target audiences) fine I suppose.

Red Sonja poster

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs poster

So, any thoughts or favorites?

Sources: The Movie Blog (Red Sonja), Shock Till You Drop (Underworld), Aint It Cool News (Lost), First Showing (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Filmofilia (Ice Age 3), Coming Soon (The Spirit)

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