We’ve talked much over the last couple years here at the site and on The Flickcast podcast about how much we really don’t care for the first trilogy of films in the Star Wars saga. For those of us who thought of the original Star Wars (before it was known as Episode IV) as an inspiration for what we do, the second trilogy of prequel films, beginning with The Phantom Menace, were better left alone and unspoken of as if they didn’t even exist.

Sadly, one man in particular seems determined to keep reminding everyone that the prequel trilogy does exist and also seems determined to squeeze every penny he can from it. That man is, of course, George Lucas. His latest transgression? The Phantom Menace in 3D, coming to a theater near you on February 10, 2012.

Yes, you read that right. We can now look forward to the exploits of Jar-Jar Binks, the “acting” of young Jake Lloyd and the excitement of discovering that a once gifted storyteller has clearly lost his way, all in the marvelousness of 3D. This information comes to us via a press release from Lucasfilm.

My favorite part of the press release? This gem: “Supervised by Industrial Light & Magic, the meticulous conversion is being done with utmost respect for the source material, and with a keen eye for both technological considerations and artistic intentions.” Excuse me while I throw up a little in my mouth.

Mr. Lucas, in the name of human decency, let it go.

This may be the biggest year for the Academy Awards, as some major Hollywood players are going up against some fresh newcomers. Eyeballs everywhere will be glued to ABC on Sunday, February 27th at 8PM E/5PM P when the awards show goes live. But before that, we decided to do some picking of our own with the staff’s predictions for each award.

For a full list of the nominees, check out our previous article on the subject. Now, on to the predictions.

Best Picture

Shannon Hood-The Social Network. It had early and consistent momentum all year, and the Academy appears to be trying to shake up their stodgy image. This would be the perfect film to put their money where their mouth is.

Matt Raub – True Grit. Not only are the Coens a regular in the “I Have an Oscar” club, but this testament to classic western films is definitely one for record books, between its all-star cast and gritty (no pun intended) visual style, this one definitely deserves the golden statue.

Chris Ullrich – True Grit. Even though this was a pretty great year for movies and there are many excellent choices in this category, True Grit stands on its own as my pick. As an example of pure movie storytelling, this Coen Brothers masterpiece excels on every level and delivers a pure entertainment experience you will want to revisit many more times in the future.

Cortney Zamm – The Social Network. There’s a lot of great films in this category, some of them from my favorite directors and starring my favorite people. But the one that combined all of the essential elements of filmmaking into a truly gorgeous, compelling, and memorable film was The Social Network.

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Okay, this is starting to look really good. I’m talking about, of course, Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming big screen adaptation of the Marvel comic Thor.

The studio has released a new trailer for the film and posted it over at Yahoo Movies. But because we like you and want to make it easier for you to find as much of the cool stuff as possible, we’ve gone ahead and put it up right here for you.

In this new trailer we get a much better look at the bad guys of the film, including Thor’s brother Loki and the giant mechanical being “The Destroyer”,  as well as a big helping of the humor we can expect. Fortunately, the film looks pretty funny. . . in addition to its awesome visuals of epic battle scenes, explosions and the like.

Check out the full trailer after the jump. Thor hits theaters on May 6th. I’ll be there on day one, how about you?

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the  nominees for the 83rd annual award ceremony this morning. The King’s Speech was the front-runner with 12 nominations. Overall, there weren’t too many surprises.

Many were disappointed  that Christopher Nolan did not receive a best director nod, but as a consolation prize, Inception was nominated as a contender for best picture.
True Grit did quite well, with Hailee Steinfeld nabbing a best supporting actress nod, and nominations for best picture, best director(s), best actor, and best adapted screenplay. Winter’s Bone was recognized for best actress, best picture, and best adapted screenplay. Dogtooth, Jackie Weaver, and Javier Bardem were nice surprises.

Here are the nominees in the order that they were announced.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld True Grit
Jackie Weaver Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale The Fighter
John Hawkes Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner The Town
Mark Ruffalo The Kids Are All Right
Jeffrey Rush The King’s Speech

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Natalie Portman continues to impress, as she has not one, but two films in the top ten this week.  The romantic comedy No Strings Attached, featuring Portman and Ashton Kutcher, nabbed the top spot at the box office over the weekend by selling about $20.3 M in tickets. The film is directed by Ivan Reitman, and is the first movie starring Portman to win the box office since 2006, when she starred in V For Vendetta. It attracted a mostly female audience, typical for a romantic comedy.

Black Swan, the psychological thriller, was her second film to place in the top ten. Coming in at number six, the movie picked up $6.2 M in its eighth week in release, bringing its box office total to $83.5 M. If the film picks up a few Oscar nominations (announced on Tuesday morning), it is sure to continue a steady march toward $100 M.

Last week’s winner, The Green Hornet, dropped off 46% from its opening week total.  It came in at number two this week with $18 M, bringing its two week total to $63 M.  It was a costly production to make ($120 M) so it still needs to sell quite a few seats to earn back its budget.

The Dilemma had an almost identical drop off, and made an additional $9.7 M. The King’s Speech is now in its 9th week of release, and only dropped 2% from last week. This is another film that will surely enjoy a boost from multiple Oscar nominations on Tuesday.

True Grit came in at number five with $8 M, making it the second highest grossing western of all time (Dances With Wolves holds the record).  The Housemaid, Barney’s Version, The Company Men, The Illusionist, and Another Year all fared nicely in limited release.

The 2011 Golden Globe Awards started off with a bang thanks to host Ricky Gervais, who wasted no time throwing some well deserved punches at some Hollywood bigwigs. Gervais poked some fun at Charlie Sheen, The Tourist’s inexplicable nominations, the allegations of bribery regarding The Hollywood Foreign Press, and closeted Scientology homosexuals.

Yowza, he’s got some balls. Was it sheer coincidence he disappeared for much of the show’s duration?

This show was noticeably tame for a Golden Globe telecast.  In fact, nothing really wacky or notable happened.  Here are a few observations:

• Worst dressed Tilda Swinton, wearing a potato sack.
• Best dressed January Jones in that red dress?  Hubba hubba.
• People who refuse to age Michelle Pfieffer (she’s 53!?) and Jane Fonda (74).
• Best presenter Robert Downey Junior
• Most charming flub Andrew Garfield
• Most shocking transformation Trent Reznor (who was a fresh scrubbed yuppie) and Melissa Leo, who is not really a bleached and teased hag. In fact, she’s quite fetching in real life.

Here are the awards, listed in the order they were presented. Glee came away a big winner with 3 awards.  The Social Network continuing to steam roll through the award season with a win for best director, best picture, and best screenplay. Lovable losers Paul Giamatti and Steve Buscemi both took home awards, and Natalie Portman is one step closer to an Oscar for her role in Black Swan. 

Boardwalk Empire beat out some stiff competition for best television drama. Here’s the rest of the night’s winners:

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So yesterday, we ran part one of this post.  In case you missed it, here were my picks:

• Waiting for Superman
• Winter’s Bone
• The Company Men
• Rabbit Hole/Blue Valentine (tie)
• The Fighter

Now, without further ado, are the rest of my picks for best movies of the year.

5. The Kids Are All Right

This quirky drama won me over in no time. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a lesbian couple raising two children who were the product of an anonymous sperm donor. When the kids are old enough, they seek out and find their donor, who is played by Mark Ruffalo.

His character Paul is a perpetually laid-back restaurateur who drives a motorcycle and lives a bohemian lifestyle. The kids are instantly captivated, and develop a relationship with the guy, much to the chagrin of their uptight mom Nic (Bening).

I admire writer/director Lisa Cholodenko for her sensitive handling of the subject matter. A lesser director could have turned this into a slapstick farce, but ultimately the film is funny, touching, and wholly original.  It is also universally relatable.  Bening is a standout in the film for her performance.

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I was surprised at how much trouble I had narrowing down my top ten movies this year.  My top 20 were all very close, but here are the movies that I ultimately enjoyed the most. I readily admit that I did not see near as many foreign films as I would have liked, but by the time I cover most of the mainstream fare, there is simply no time left.

Honorable Mentions: Fair Game, Tiny Furniture, Greenberg, Cyrus, The Tillman Story, The American, Mother and Child, Scott Pilgrim.

10. Waiting for Superman
This Documentary was equal parts frustrating, inspirational, and heartbreaking. Director Davis Guggenheim (No End in Sight) sheds light on the dismal state of our public school system. He follows the plight of several children who live in various geographic regions who are placing all of their hope for an decent education into lottery systems for charter or private schools. Guggenheim relies on their compelling stories for a narrative, while interspersing lots of graphics and cartoons illuminating some pretty harrowing statistics.

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The Screen Actor’s Guild has announced their nominees for best in film and television for 2110.  Since these awards are voted on by other actors, they usually carry a certain prestige. Rosario Dawson and Angie Harmon announced the guild’s nominees this morning in Los Angeles.

For those keeping score, The King’s Speech leads the film pack with four nominations, along with Black Swan. On the TV side, Modern Family came in with 4 awards, followed by Dexter, Glee, and Mad Men with three nominations each.

The awards will be  given on Sunday, January  30th on TBS. For a complete list of nominees, visit the official SAG website.

FILM

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

JEFF BRIDGES / Rooster Cogburn – TRUE GRIT

ROBERT DUVALL / Felix Bush – GET LOW

JESSE EISENBERG / Mark Zuckerberg -THE SOCIAL NETWORK

COLIN FIRTH / King George VI – THE KING’S SPEECH

JAMES FRANCO / Aron Ralston – 127 HOURS

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

ANNETTE BENING / Nic - THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

NICOLE KIDMAN / Becca – RABBIT HOLE

JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Ree Dolly – WINTER’S BONE

NATALIE PORTMAN / Nina Sayers – BLACK SWAN

HILARY SWANK / Betty Anne Waters – CONVICTION

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This is what happens when the entire office goes out for happy hour. We miss cool trailers that drop late on a Friday. Case in point is the new teaser trailer for Marvel’s upcoming sure-to-be-epic Thor.

In this new trailer, which is a mix of new bits and footage screened during Comic-Con last July, we get the basic premise of the film which is that Thor is banished from his home planet to earth by his father. Once there he meets up with a human girl and then discovers he will have to fight an evil that followed him to earth. Of course, there’s also going to be some giant battle scenes and several sequences with Chris Hemsworth, sans shirt, to appeal to the ladies.

We’ve gone back and forth on this one as it seemed like less of a sure thing than Iron Man. However, more and more it looks like director Kenneth Branagh, the cast and the rest of the team know what they’re doing. Will Thor be next year’s Iron Man? We’ll see. But as huge fans of what Marvel is trying to do with these films, we sure hope so.

Check out the new teaser after the jump. Thor arrives in theaters on May 6, 2011.

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By Shannon Hood / Originally posted on October 7, 2010

Darren Aronofsky has made a career of choosing interesting, non-traditional material and illuminating the unexpected aspects of his subject matter. Case(s) in point: The Wrestler (a down-trodden wrestler), Pi (mathematicians), Requiem For a Dream (middle-aged drug addiction), and now Black Swan (competitive ballet.)

His knack for taking something completely mundane and elevating it to something tense and dreadful is astonishing. Who would have ever thought that a movie about mathematicians could be exciting, much less sinister? It is no surprise that the man who brought us Pi delivers a dark, provocative, psychological drama, set in the cutthroat (who knew it?) world of competitive ballet.

Natalie Portman stars as Nina, a beautiful ballerina who dances for a New York City ballet company. Though technically gifted, she has never gotten her big break because the company’s arrogant art director thinks she is too bland to carry a performance.

The film opens with us being privy to some of the cattiness that takes place behind the scenes at the ballet. The troupe’s principal ballerina, Beth (Winona Ryder), is being forced into retirement at the ripe old age of 37. Nina finds it sad, and defends the dancer, while the other girls titter on about her age and diminished athletic ability. It’s immediately established that the women are highly competitive. There is no sense of camaraderie, everyone is out for themselves.

The perennial classic Swan Lake is set to be the season opener, and Beth’s departure leaves the principal role wide open. Director Thomas (Vince Cassel) pits the girls against one another as they audition for the coveted role of The Swan Queen.

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While director Darren Aronofsky may be focused on a certain metal-clawed mutant in the near future, he still has his upcoming supernatural thriller Black Swan hitting theaters in a matter of weeks.

The film stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as rival ballerinas who vie for the top spot in a brand new New York City production of Swan Lake. As Portman tries to show her darker side, she literally begins to personify the Black Swan she’s trying to get the part of.

It’s an Aronofsky film, which means you can expect to see some of the insanely trippy and metaphoric visuals that you got in such films like Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain. To get you into that mindset, the studio has released a brand new “music video” for the film.

Check out the video after the jump, and be sure to catch Black Swan in theaters on December 3rd.

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