The Nominees Are...

...as follows. Not a lot of thoughts, although the expanded Oscar list seems pretty OK by Oscar standards. I actually thought all four of the nominated films I've seen (Serious Man, An Education, Inglorious Bastards, Up In The Air) were at least good, which is unusual. I'm hoping this will get The Hurt Locker on the big screen in the provinces before I have to resort to watching the Blu Ray, am intrigued by Precious and District 9, am sure that The Blind Side ruins the excellent book, and will probably continue to pass on the inevitable winner Dances With Expensive Smurfs. I'm also happy to see Vera Farmiga get nominated...

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But Will Terence Stamp Reprise?

Could this be any good?

The original falls comfortably into the "hopelessly flawed yet endlessly entertaining" category. I suppose that the biggest problem I have with the trailer is the implication that Gordon Gecko could actually be broke upon leaving prison...

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Eric Rohmer, R.I.P.

Sad news. Glenn has some nice quotes and images.

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Not Your Father's Predator

You've got to be kidding me:

Could he kick Dutch's ass? Probably not. I just hope he fights dirtier than he sails.

By casting Adrien Brody in PREDATORS, producer Robert Rodriguez and director Nimrod Antal have opted for an action lead somewhere between the ripped Arnold Schwarzenegger and the physically unspectacular Danny Glover. For those of you hoping Rodriguez and company would go the body-builder route (hey there, AB King!), they did bring in noted ass-kicker Oleg Taktarov! Is that enough beef for ya?

This, my friends, is not change that we can believe in. Predator was spectacular because, among other things, Carl Weathers played the geeky, pencil-necked bureaucrat. It was not a film that would tolerate Adrien Brody. Bill Duke would bleed him real quiet and just leave him there, just for the presumption.

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