'The Lord of the Rings' Used In Iranian Conflicts

Over at Cinematical.com an article talks about how 'The Lord of the Rings' is either being used to calm protestors or to support one of the candidates.

"The latest political controversy that the series finds itself embroiled in is the Iranian electoral protests. Time has a piece from an anonymous Iranian resident reporting that the government is using film to try and quell public unrest. "In normal times, Iranian television usually treats its viewers to one or two Hollywood or European movie nights a week. But these are not normal times, so it's been two or three such movies a day. It's part of the push to keep people at home and off the streets, to keep us busy, to get us out of the regime's hair. The message is 'Don't worry, be happy.'"

It goes on to explain how the death of Boromir portrays dying to defend humanity and that Shadowfax draws the image of "Rakhsh, the mythical horse of the Rostam, the great champion of the Shahnameh".
I knew that all throughout LotR there is a green message; Sarumon was industry that was destroying the Earth. Especially in The Two Towers. I did not know that others used it to promote their own ideals. When couples used LotR as a theme for their weddings, Tolkien was upset. I don't think he would be very happy with this either.
The rest of the article is over at Cinematical.com.

Brazilian Job Update

Wowzers, finally something to confirm an awesome sequel isn't dead. I have to go to class... here's the link - Brazilian Job is NOT Dead

And I have not seen Watchmen yet, and refuse to read any reviews until I do.

Academy Award Nominations 2009

View the list in its entirety at Oscars.com
Just for fun I underlined who I believe will (or want to) win. In most cases I haven't seen the movie. XD Just for fun.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
* Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in "Doubt" (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)
-No Emma Thompson?-

Performance by an actor in a leading role
* Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)
* Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)
-Clint Eastwood? Leo Dicaprio? Dustin Hoffman?-

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
* Amy Adams in "Doubt" (Miramax)
* Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in "Doubt" (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
* Josh Brolin in "Milk" (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder" (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) -So funny-
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Best animated feature film of the year
*"Bolt" (Walt Disney) Chris Williams and Byron Howard
*"Kung Fu Panda" (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) John Stevenson and Mark Osborne -I love this movie-
*"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction
*"Changeling" (Universal) Art Direction: James J. Murakami Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
*"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Nathan Crowley
Set Decoration: Peter Lando
*"The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films) Art Direction: Michael Carlin
Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
*"Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage) Art Direction: Kristi Zea Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography
*"Changeling" (Universal) Tom Stern
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Claudio Miranda
*"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
*"The Reader" (The Weinstein Company) Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
*"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design
*"Australia" (20th Century Fox) Catherine Martin
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Jacqueline West
*"The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films) Michael O'Connor
*"Milk" (Focus Features) Danny Glicker
*"Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage) Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) David Fincher
*"Frost/Nixon" (Universal) Ron Howard
*"Milk" (Focus Features) Gus Van Sant
*"The Reader" (The Weinstein Company) Stephen Daldry
*"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Danny Boyle

Achievement in film editing
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
*"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Lee Smith
*"Frost/Nixon" (Universal) Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
*"Milk" (Focus Features) Elliot Graham
*"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Chris Dickens

Achievement in makeup
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Greg Cannom
*"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
*"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Universal) Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures
(Original score)
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Alexandre Desplat
*"Defiance" (Paramount Vantage) James Newton Howard -<--JNH rocks-
*"Milk" (Focus Features) Danny Elfman
*"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
*"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Thomas Newman -<--As does this guy-
-I'm still really bummed Hans couldn't be nominated for The Dark Knight-

Achievement in music written for motion pictures
(Original song)
*"Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
Lyric by Peter Gabriel
*"Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman
Lyric by Gulzar
*"O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Achievement in sound editing
*"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Richard King
*"Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment) Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
*"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Tom Sayers
*"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
*"Wanted" (Universal) Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
*"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
*"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
*"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
*"Wanted" (Universal) Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
*"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
*"Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment) John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Screenplay by Eric Roth Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
*"Doubt" (Miramax) Written by John Patrick Shanley
*"Frost/Nixon" (Universal) Screenplay by Peter Morgan
*"The Reader" (The Weinstein Company) Screenplay by David Hare
*"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay
*"Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Courtney Hunt
*"Happy-Go-Lucky" (Miramax) Written by Mike Leigh
*"In Bruges" (Focus Features) Written by Martin McDonagh
*"Milk" (Focus Features) Written by Dustin Lance Black
*"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon
Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

Best motion picture of the year
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
A Kennedy/Marshall Production Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
*"Frost/Nixon" (Universal)
A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
*"Milk" (Focus Features)
A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
*"The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)
A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production Nominees to be determined
*"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)
A Celador Films Production Christian Colson, Producer
-The Dark Knight?-

Feature Films with two or more nominations-

(This list does not include Short Films or Documentary Short Subjects.)

Picture		Nominations
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"		13
"Slumdog Millionaire"		10
"The Dark Knight"		8
"Milk"		8
"WALL-E"		6
"Doubt"		5
"Frost/Nixon"		5
"The Reader"		5
"Changeling"		3
"Revolutionary Road"		3
"The Duchess"		2
"Frozen River"		2
"Iron Man"		2
"Wanted"		2
"The Wrestler"		2

Just in case you missed it at the top of the post-
View the list in its entirety at Oscars.com

The 81st Academy Awards airs February 22nd.

Barack Obama's Inauguration Speech

Just in case you missed it.

Hugh Jackman to host new-look Oscars

"By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Australian actor Hugh Jackman was named on Friday as host of February's Oscars in a departure from the tradition of picking U.S. comedians on Hollywood's most prestigious night.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which hands out the world's top film honors, said Jackman, 40, star of the romantic epic "Australia," will host the televised ceremony for the first time.

The actor, who also starred in the three "X-Men" movies and is an award-winning musical theater performer, has hosted Broadway's Tony awards three times and last month was named 2008's "sexiest man alive" by People magazine.

"Hugh Jackman is a consummate entertainer and an internationally renowned movie star," said Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, the new producers of the televised show.

"He also has style, elegance and a sense of occasion. Hugh is the ideal choice to host a celebration of the year's movies -- and to have fun doing it," the pair said in a statement.

Oscar nominations for the best movies and performances of 2008 will be announced in January. The awards will be handed out on February 22 by the Academy at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and will be televised in the United States by the ABC network.

Jackman's choice heralds a new direction for the 81st Oscar ceremony after recent years of falling TV ratings.

Typically, the program has been hosted by U.S. comedians, and in recent years, show organizers have experimented with a variety of hosting styles ranging from political satirist Jon Stewart, to edgy Chris Rock and popular Ellen DeGeneres.

Mark and Condon have axed the famous opening monologue for the February 2009 show, hoping for more spontaneity overall. They said there may be a stronger element of music and dancing than previously.

"We want it to be more of a party and a celebration and a departure from the late-night talk-show format," Mark told Reuters. Mark and Condon have a background in musicals and worked together on the 2006 film hit "Dreamgirls".

Jackman, who can sing and dance, was "genuinely thrilled" at the offer, Mark said, but "he wanted to make sure the format would mesh with his skills."

The February 2008 three-hour plus broadcast, hosted for the second time by Stewart, hit a low 32 million U.S. viewers and entered the record books as the least-watched Oscars ever.

Still, even an audience of that size makes the telecast annually one of the most-watched U.S. TV shows. The broadcast also is televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Mark said he and Condon planned to get the telecast under three hours, yet still keep the live presentations of awards and acceptance speeches."

Article came from reuters.com

Twilight Opening Weekend

Holy shnikies! This is crazy! I didn't expect the movie to do so well, then again I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. I guess filmmakers have finally got the clue that the movie needs to follow the book. And this movie does, to a T. Without the book though, I think the movie wouldn't be as good. I did go see it at midnight, and it was sold out until Sunday... BUT WOW!
*Edit* 75% of the audience were female haha.
Check out these articles-
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"'Twilight' sucks up $70.5M in debut
By CHRISTY LEMIRE – 13 hours ago AP.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The vampire romance "Twilight" has drained the box office in its opening weekend with ticket sales totaling $70.5 million.

Catherine Hardwicke's film also enjoyed the biggest opening ever for a female director, blowing away the previous standard of $41.1 million set by Mimi Leder's "Deep Impact" in 1998.

The movie draws from a huge fan base of teenage girls who fell in love with Stephenie Meyer's novel of forbidden love between vampire Edward Cullen and bookish high schooler Bella Swan.

"Twilight" has made a whopping $20,636 per theater, according to Sunday morning estimates." -->AP.com
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"Nov 23 2008 9:58 PM EST MTV.com
'Twilight' Takes A Big Bite Out Of The Box Office With Record-Breaking Opening Weekend
Miley Cyrus' animated flick 'Bolt' couldn't keep up, earning only $27 million.

"A huge weekend for "Twilight" fans has drawn to a close, and star-crossed lovers Edward and Bella are now rolling around on top of a pile of $70.55 million instead of in a flowery field.

That estimated total is enough to nearly double the film's budget in its first three days, making it 2008's biggest surprise blockbuster. A sequel, in the form of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling "New Moon," has already been green-lit. The film opened at the top spot in the box-office race, despite lukewarm reviews, capturing the fourth-best November opening of all time and the best opening weekend since "The Dark Knight" this past July. "Twilight" is also on pace to become the highest-grossing vampire film of all time and has already set a record for Catherine Hardwicke as the biggest opening for a solo-directing female.

For those of you who've been living under a rock the size of Bella Swan's '53 Chevy truck, "Twilight" is based on the best-selling novel by Meyer, which tells the story of a klutzy human (Kristen Stewart) and a sexy vampire (Robert Pattinson) who find themselves falling recklessly into a forbidden love affair. Fans have been breathlessly counting down the days to the film for more than a year, making headlines as they swarmed the movie's young stars, launched the film's soundtrack to #1, and blew out eardrums last week at the jam-packed premiere.

The "Twilight" opening is one of the most successful ever recorded for an independent film. The film's average Cinema Score grade was "A-." The audience skewed 75 percent female, and 55 percent of the moviegoers were under the age of 25. According to polling by Fandango.com, 63 percent of the "Twilight" audience plans to see the film again.

The cultural phenomenon simply proved to be too much for Disney's action-hero talking dog "Bolt," whose film of the same name earned itself a disappointing $27 million. The movie, which features the vocal talents of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, was expected to open stronger but may have been caught up in the "Twilight" crossfire, as both films were counting heavily on attracting a teen audience.

The bad news for "Bolt" was good news for Bond, James Bond. In its second weekend, 007's "Quantum of Solace" was able to shake and stir $27.4 million from the box office, giving it a whisker-thin lead over the Disney flick for second place. With the gap between the two films being so close, however, the official silver medalist might not be sorted out for a few days.

Similarly holding strong in their follow-up weekends were the Ben Stiller cartoon "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" ($16 million) and the Paul Rudd/ Seann William Scott comedy "Role Models" ($7.2 million). Other films filling out the top 10 were "Changeling" ($2.6 million), "High School Musical 3" ($2 million) and "The Secret Life of Bees" ($1.2 million). Looking past "Twilight," however, the most eyebrows may have been raised by limited-release Oscar hopefuls "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" ($1.6 million, ninth place) and Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire," which should enter the top 10 next week after pulling in a huge per-screen average of $31,063 — nearly 50 percent more than the enormous total for "Twilight."
-->MTV.com

Bourne 4 2010 Update

"Although the ending to The Bourne Ultimatum last summer was ranked by EW as one of 40 perfect endings, that's not stopping Universal from continuing on the franchise. Late last year there were early rumblings of a fourth Bourne movie being in the works, but nothing major was confirmed until this year, when Universal announced that they were trying to make it happen. Now we have some new details from producer Frank Marshall courtesy of IESB." Read the whole article --> More Sequels: Fourth Jason Bourne Film on Track for 2010

"Trilogies are no longer the big thing in Hollywood. Universal is moving forward with a fourth Jason Bourne movie, tentatively titled Bourne 4. Although this news was first confirmed back in June, Variety announces today that Universal has hired a writer and is giving full support to the production in hopes of having it ready by 2010. Interestingly, Universal really did intend to end the series with The Bourne Ultimatum (as we saw with the ending of the film), but after it made $227 million at the box office, they decided to go ahead and make another. Ultimatum writer George Nolfi has been hired to pen the sequel." Read the whole article --> It's Official - Jason Bourne Back in Action in Bourne 4

Del Toro on The Hobbit

This is a great update on The Hobbit right from Guillermo del Toro.

Due out late 2011 and 2012!

"Stephenie Meyer's 'Midnight Sun' postponed indefinitely"

From Entertainment Weekly-
"It's a dark day for Team Edward. Stephenie Meyer, bestselling author of the Twilight franchise, has announced on her website that she will no longer continue writing Midnight Sun — a companion novel that describes the Twilight events from hunky vampire Edward's perspective — after an early, incomplete draft was posted illegally online.

As Meyer writes on her website, "I'd rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun...My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn't like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely."
Read the rest and user comments on EW.com

'Dark Knight' hauls in big, breaks box office records

From the LA Times -

"'Dark Knight' hauls in an estimated $155.3 million in three days and leads the industry to its best weekend ever.
"The Dark Knight," the long-awaited sequel from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, sold $155.3 million in tickets this weekend, according to early estimates from its distributor, setting a record for the biggest three-day take and cementing the primacy of superhero movies at the cineplex.
Batman's haul surpassed the bar set last year by Sony Pictures Entertainment's "Spider-Man 3" by $4.2 million and set the pace for what turned out to be the top-grossing overall box-office weekend in U.S. history, with an estimated $253 million in sales. The previous No. 1 weekend brought in $218 million two years ago, when..."

Read more about The Dark Knight's opening weekend here

I don't usually just repost news, but this is huge! The movie really is brilliant, but long and violent. Nobody at the midnight showing I went to had anything bad to say about this 152 minute long film. Heath Ledger deserves whatever accolades he is awarded.

UPDATE: "The film grossed $158.355 million during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada -- a $3 million improvement over Sunday's estimate from the Time Warner Inc-owned studio. That brings its worldwide total to $199.655 million. Source - Reuters

New Bourne Film!

"Their ears ringing with the sound of three Oscar wins for the Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass have reportedly committed to add a fourth film to the critically acclaimed action franchise."
Read the rest at eonline.com

The Hobbit Is On!

Instead of rewriting this article about The Hobbit from E! Online, I am going to restate some key points.

Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are going to be involved in the making of the Hobbit

PJ will probably not be directing with his busy schedule

The Hobbit will be delivered in two installments beginning 2010

Both will be filmed at the same time like LotR

Nothing has been said so far, including casting

The first film will cover material in The Hobbit while the second will go through the 80 years between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring

Articles covering much of the same information, and some new

WorstPreviews.com

BusinessWeek.com

Time.com

ABC News

"Angels & Demons" To Begin Filming In February In Europe

Columbia has formalized a February start in Europe for "Angels & Demons," the Ron Howard-directed sequel to "The Da Vinci Code" that will be released in December 2008.

Related links:

Read the rest of the article

Internet Movie Database

ANGELS & DEMONS a Christmas 2008 flick?

Rowling launches U.S. book signing tour

"Harry Potter might have waved his wand and cast a spell, but author J.K. Rowling sat down and cheerfully signed 1,600 books for schoolkids Monday as she launched her first U.S. book tour in seven years."more Rowling news...