Yes, the Oscars were last night and without putting too fine a point on it, Chris and Matt did reasonably well in predicting the outcome. The only real surprise of the night was Argo‘s win for Best Picture.

Sadly, this was probably a result of director Ben Affleck’s snub for a Best Director nomination. Still, it is nice to win Best Picture. Although, if you ask Argo producer Grant Heslov, who just couldn’t let it go, it wasn’t enough and we really need to know Ben Affleck was the Director of Argo.

No shit. Thanks for pointing that out. Look we get it, you’re angry your buddy didn’t get nominated. Sure, that hurts, but you need to let it go now. Ben is going to be just fine. . . and so are you.

We’re also glad Tarantino got a win for writing Django Unchained and it was nice to see Christoph Waltz take one for that movie as well. He did a great job in it. And lets not forget host Seth McaFarland. Great job Seth. You killed it.

Anyway, for a complete list of winners, click on through. Before that, however, take a look at the trailer for Jimmy Kimmel’s latest opus Movie: The Movie Part 2. It’s pretty funny.

It would seem like Oscar prediction articles should appear on a website like this one, especially if the predictor in question happens to be in charge around here. But for some reason, our Editor-in-Chief Chris Ullrich has decided to plant his predictions flag over at his personal website instead.

However, even if if we don’t understand his motives, we’re sure he has some. Well, pretty sure anyway. Some of his predictions are easy to understand and others are more of the “wish fulfillment” variety. But even if we don’t completely agree with his predictions, or his reasons for making them, the insignt offered into the whole awards “thing” is still quite interesting.

At this point this post probably seems a bit on the self-serving side, and in truth, it kinda is. However, that doesn’t mean the article doesn’t have actual merit. It does.

Check out some of his predictions, and the reasons behind them, after the break. For the rest, check out the full article.

As we’re a site covering the movies, it would probably be a disservice not to put up something about the Oscar (aka Academy Award) nominations which were announced this morning by Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone. So yes, the nominations are here and as always there’s a few surprises, a few “snubs” and the rest is rather predictable.

Here’s the nominations for your reading pleasure. Look for the actual ceremony, featuring host Seth MacFarlane, to air on Sunday, February 24th on ABC.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman in “Les Misérables”
Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master”
Denzel Washington in “Flight”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Alan Arkin in “Argo”
Robert De Niro in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones in “Lincoln”
Christoph Waltz in “Django Unchained”

In celebration of October and all things associated with Halloween, horror, and the macabre, this week’s pick is the John Landis comedy/horror classic An American Werewolf in London (1981). The film stars David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, and Jenny Agutter.

After making a name for himself in Hollywood with such comedy classics as The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), Animal House (1978), and The Blues Brothers (1980), director John Landis’ next project would further solidify him as one of Hollywood’s newest breed of film makers. An American Werewolf in London is a tongue-in-cheek film that has always been considered a comedy, but Landis says that it’s a horror film with comedic elements.

Landis had come up with the concept of the film while he was a production assistant in Yugoslavia working on the classic war film Kelly’s Heroes in 1970.  While driving through the Yugoslavian countryside, Landis and his driver/interpreter came to a crossroad where they witnessed a gypsy funeral. Landis and his driver watched as these gypsies performed rituals over the dead man’s corpse in an attempt to make sure that he didn’t come back to life and caused mischief.

Jaws (1975) is the first summer blockbuster and is considered by critics and fans alike as one of the greatest films ever made. After success with the TV thriller Duel (1972) and his first theatrical release of The Sugarland Express (1974), director Steven Spielberg set out to adapt Peter Benchley’s novel about a Great White shark which terrorizes a small New England beach community. The screenplay was co-written by Benchley, actor-writer Carl Gottlieb (M*A*S*H*), and an un-credited John Milius who helped with some of the film’s most memorable dialogue like “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” and the legendary U.S.S. Indianapolis speech.

The film opens with one of the greatest sequences ever shot. A young woman leaves a bonfire beach gathering to go skinny-dipping in the ocean while being chased by an inebriated young man. The young man ends up passing out in the surf while the woman swims out to the middle of the channel. An underwater low angle shot represents the point of view of the shark as it begins to stalk its prey. John William’s haunting score builds as the young woman is thrashed around and is pulled under by the shark. This scene did to ocean night swimming, what Psycho (1960) did for women’s showering.