MTV Movie Award Nominations 2007: the battle for the golden popcorn.

The MTV Movie Awards Nominations were announced this week. You can you can take a look at them over here, and if you feel inspired by the nominees you can vote for your favorites over here.

By looking at the categories I just found it hilarious that Anne Hathaway wasn't even able to get an MTV Movie Award nomination. Her two Devil co-stars, Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt were the ones getting all the awards attention back in January and February, and here it was no different. Meryl got a nod for Best Villain and Emily got two nods, one for Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Comedic Performance. I'm really happy that Emily is getting all the accolades she deserves and the she is being recognized by the general public. She's got a great career ahead of her. Also I'd love to see Meryl win an award for what was my favorite performance of last year.

Aside from those, the nominations overall were pretty bad. The Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet category is just plain stupid, why vote for something I haven't seen? Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix is probably going to turn out to be the best film in that category.

300 got plenty of nominations as well, including one for Best Movie and Best Performance for Gerard Butler; Jack Sparrow and company also are up for Best Movie and the great Bill Nighy is up for Best Villain.

If you want to find out who wins, tune in to watch the awards on June 3rd on the MTV network.

The Silence of the Lambs (52 Films in 52 Weeks)

Hannibal Lecter: "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

The Story: Clarice Starling, an FBI agent in training, is given the task to interview Hannibal Lecter, to see if she can extract from his some information regarding the serial killer Bufallo Bill. A relationship develops between the two characters when Hannibal asks Clarice to give him details of her personal life in exchange for clues on Bufallo Bill.


Review: This movie is so engraved into popular culture and I've heard and read much about it that I felt like I knew everything about Silence of the Lambs without even watching it. But, thankfully, that wasn't the case. I really enjoyed every bit of it and was surprised by all the twist and turns that this awesome movie has.

Much has been said about the two main performances, Hopkins and Foster, and I thought they were every bit as good as everybody says they are. Hopkins is just terrifying with his calm poise, his emotionless expression, his quirky remarks and his voice. He just gave me the chills. Although I do have to admit that it really isn't a leading performance since the film is mainly about Buffalo Bill; Lecter is only the means by which the transvestite killer is found. But, as it happened with Whitaker this year, the performance is so powerful and good that it was considered lead. I really don’t have a problem with that, his Oscar was well deserved.


Jodie Foster is very good too. I loved how Clarice changes throughout the movie. At first she’s very vulnerable and scared but as the movie progresses she finds her inner strength and is able to confront her own demons (with Lecter’s help) and go after a very dangerous serial killer on her own. Foster has this special charm that helps the audience identify with her character. I also loved the fact that most of the movie is seen through Clarice’s eyes.

The music and cinematography really help to create the eerie mood of the film. The scene were Clarice goes into a dark warehouse is especially spooky and the final confrontation between Clarice and Buffalo Bill when everything goes dark is terrifying as well.

A-

Evening trailer

If this summer you happen to get bored of all the Shreks, Spidermans, and Jack Sparrows in the cinemas, and find yourself somewhere in the United States, check out the film Evening.

Evening tells the past and the present of Anna Grant, a 65 year old woman dying of cancer. As she lays in bed she tells her two daughters, Constance and Nina, the story of her life. Anna also confesses her fondest memory, a weekend in the 1950's when she met the only true love of her life. The film is based on a book by Susan Minot and it is adapted to the screen by Pulitzer Price winning author Michael Cunningham.

(Claire Danes and Mamie Gummer)

Ok, granted, the plot doesn't sound all that exciting, but what really makes me want to see this movie is the impressive cast it has. Evening stars, (hang on), Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha Richardson, Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, and Mamie Gummer (Streep's daughter). Add to that mix the name of Michael Cunningham, whose novel inspired one of my favorite films, and we could potentially have a very good movie. I just hope it won't turn out to be disappointing.

The film opens on June 29 as a limited release in the United States and below you can find the trailer...

Yo ho yo ho a Pirates Life for Me! The New Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Trailer!

Well here it is. The trailer for the eagerly anticipated Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which opens on May 25th in the United States.

Since I couldn't upload it directly to the blog you can watch it here.

As you all remember, Dead Man's Chest, the second movie in the franchise, was a huge hit last summer. It made $423 million at the US box office alone and another $642 million worldwide, combined to a total of approximately $1 billion last summer. Needless to say it ran away with the competition at the box office even though it wasn't a critics favorite since it got bad reviews all around.

When I went to see the first movie I really went in with low expectations but in the end I was surprised at how much I liked The Curse of the Black Pearl. I thought it was funny, very charming, it had a great story, and was just a blast to watch. Fast forward to last summer, when Dead Man's Chest opened. That time I really wasn't expecting anything and I have to say that I did enjoy it. There were many problems with the film: the convoluted plot, it was 30 minutes too long, at the end I got tired of too many special effects, and Jack Sparrow wasn't as funny or interesting as in the first. But nevertheless I enjoyed it. I especially liked the ending where they brought back my favorite character from the first film.

Hopefully At World's End will be more like The Curse of the Black Pearl and less like Dead Man's Chest. The trailer promises more of the pirates stuff, I hope this time they can tighten the plot a little bit more, and come to a satisfying conclusion.

But.... if At World's End makes the same amount of money or more than Dead Man's Chest did, then don't expect these pesky pirates to go away anytime soon. Disney is going to continue to milk this franchise until they can. Hopefully not to many movies or these pirates run the risk of overstaying their welcome.

Confirmed: Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight

About a month ago I posted this concerning the rumor that Emily Blunt might replace Katie Homes in the new Batman film, The Dark Knight.

Well, as it turns out the role won't go to Blunt. According to Variety, Maggie Gyllenhaal will be Holme's replacement. She will play the character of Rachel Dawes who is Bruce Wayne's childhood friend and now lover.

The film is set to open in the summer of 2008 and the cast also includes some of the players from Batman Begins like Christian Bale reprising the role of Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, and Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon. The new faces are Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart who will play The Joker and Two Face respectively.

I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with this news. I think Gyllenhaal is a terrific actress and hopefully her casting is an indication that the Rachel Dawes character will have more depth to it and plays a more important role in the story than just being Wayne's love interest.

The Remains of the Day (52 Films in 25 Weeks)

Mr. Stevens: "In my philosophy, Mr. Benn, a man cannot call himself well-contented until he has done all he can to be of service to his employer. Of course, this assumes that one's employer is a superior person, not only in rank, or wealth, but in moral stature."

*There could be some mild spoilers*

So I finally watched my third film on the list: The Remains of the Day. I loved it.

The Story: Mr. Stevens has always served as a butler under Lord Darlington. His existence is shaken up when the new housekeeper, Miss Kenton, arrives at Darlington Hall. The two of them have clearly fallen in love, although neither of them will acknowledge it. The film is told through a series of flashbacks in which Mr. Stevens remembers what his life was like living in Darlington Hall.

Commentary: As Mr. Stevens, Anthony Hopkins is a revelation. It was heartbreaking to see this man repress all his feelings in favor of servitude. His blind devotion to his master prevented him from living, from mourning his father, from realizing that history was being written at Darlington Hall, from loving, etc. Mr. Stevens lived like this because at that time he thought he was serving a good master who was worth it, so it was even more heartbreaking to see Mr. Stevens realize that all the sacrifices he made were for nothing. But at least he had this revelation and decided to make things up with his loved one, Miss Kenton. Hopkins performance is very measured and he conveys Steven's inner feelings with just his eyes and the expression of his face. Even though he doesn't show any emotions you know that he is suffering deep inside.

Emma Thompson is fantastic as Miss Kenton. She brings a wit and an intelligence to the characters that is characteristic of her. Besides, she has great chemistry with Hopkins.

Overall the movie is great, very subtle. It makes me want to check out the other Ivory film: Howard's End.

A-

Premiere Magazine (1987-2006)

I am deeply saddened to announce that the wonderful Premiere magazine will cease to exist in a matter of a month. The April issue will be the last one to hit newstands.

Both Advertising Age and Variety have picked up this news and they basically agree on one thing. As technology continues to advance, consumers nowadays want to get their news faster and easier. So, they go over to internet sites like Defamar or Movie City News to get all the film industry scoop, with the benefit that these sites are updated hourly and daily. Both websites say that Premiere's content was becoming stable due to the fact that readers were already aware of the industry news by the time the magazine hits newsstands.

They both go on to say that the magazine's pages declined from 25% to 27% compared to last year and that Hachette Filipacchi, the editorial, tried to sell Premiere.

I am really sad by this news since I think Premiere is one of the best movie magazines, if not the best, and I've been reading it every month for 6 years now. Premiere's content was not becoming stale. They still had pretty good damn articles that gave you great insight on the industry and the actors. I especially liked Tom Roston's column Notes from the Dream Factory, the reviews by critic Glenn Kenny, and the Women in Hollywood issue.

From now on Premiere will exist only as a website, which will not be the same. I will miss the magazine enormously.

RIP Premiere Magazine (1987-2006)