Trailer Watch: Project X
Not a film about rescuing chimpanzees. This is a movie about an out-of-control kegger. Not nearly as interesting.
Project X
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Plot Summary: A teenager's attempt to throw the greatest birthday bash in history turns into one of the loudest, drunkest, most brash parties ever. Release Date: March 2, 2012 |
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Rating: C Commentary: A rather simplistic poster featuring a raging party in the background and the sky-exploring hosts sprawled on the ground gets an added boost of pointlessness with a balloon-launched dog added for purported amusement. |
Rating: C; F Commentary: Trailer #1: The first trailer makes for an innocent romp. When I first saw the title, I thought the studios had once again dipped into the murky '80's water and pulled out the cute, anti-animal testing, Matthew Broderick drama for a modern update. This is not that. / Trailer #2: Relying too much on the producer credit to The Hangover director Todd Phillips already turns me away from the film, but the trailer merely exists to excite pre-pubescent minds about what constitutes a rocking party. It's going to be a hit simply by all the youngsters it draws in, but that doesn't make it a well crafted trailer. |
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Preview Link: CLICK HERE for link to the trailer, more posters (if available) and other commentary not featured here. Oscar Chances: None. |
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What to See: Jan. 27-29, 2012
On Sundays, we list the weekend's upcoming films along with previews of trailers and posters. On Wednesdays, we preview all of the upcoming new wide and limited releases hitting the theaters the coming weekend. On Fridays, we'll now tell you what you should see. We pose two questions each week to our contributors and their responses are posted below.
Wesley Lovell
1. Which of the three new wide releases would you choose to recommend above the others?
It's so hard to decide between three different types of cheese. So, I'm going with Man on a Ledge because I like Sam Worthington better than modern Liam Neeson or any kind of Katherine Heigl.
2. Are there any limited release features this week that you would recommend (and why)?
The premise is interesting enough to make Declaration of War a solid choice for this weekend.
Peter J. Patrick
Friday Face-Off #5
Time for another week of the Friday Face-Off. It's a simple affair in which you are given a choice between two Oscar winners in specific categories. You choose which of the two is best. When the game concludes, we'll have the ultimate winner in each category. For example: If you were to choose between Oscar Winner A and Oscar Winner B, the winner would face off against the winner of the contest between Oscar Winner C and Oscar Winner D. Think of it like championship brackets but with an Oscar style. If this is popular enough, we may do it for other types of films, events and such. Each week we may even have different categories to keep things spicy.
Here is this week's ten face-offs. So, let's get started.
2011 Precursor Predictions: DGA & SAG
Saturday and Sunday, two of the major Oscar precursors present their awards. The DGA will announce first on Saturday at a gala dinner that we'll get snippets from, but won't be able to see. If you see anyone with a giant medallion plaque in the media, be wary. The first four silver ones will be given to the nominees. It's the final gold one that will be handed out to the winner.
Then, on Sunday, the SAG Awards will be presented live on TNT. Yes, the DGA winner is 95% likely to win the Oscar, but the SAG Awards are slowly building a reputation as an influential precursor. The winners here (outside of Best Cast) will be seen as frontrunner going into the Oscars. Here are our takes (and predictions) on the various races from each guild announcing over the weekend.
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Oscar in Box Office History (Week 4, 2012)
Every week, we'll take a look back 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years into the box office past to explore how Oscar's nominees were doing at the box office that weekend historically. All data is taken from Box Office Mojo. The first section under each year is the positioning of all Oscar nominees during that weekend at the box office. The second section is an alphabetical list of those films and the categories in which they were nominated. And to start each week off, we'll be looking at the films releasing over the weekend that have the best chance of getting Oscar nominations and specifying the categories where we think they have the best chance at this stage of the game. Please let us know if you like our new feature or if you want to see more information and we'll see what we can do!
This Year: Potential Oscar Nominees Releasing This Weekend
None
This Day in Oscar History: January 27
Here's what happened today in Oscar History.
Ceremonies
2004: 76th Annual Academy Awards
(Nominations Announcement) {for the films of 2003}
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84th Presenters: ‘Bridesmaids’ Cast
The "Bridesmaids" Cast – Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig – to Present at 84th Academy Awards®
Beverly Hills, CA (January 26, 2012) – Six actresses – Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig – from the hit comedy “Bridesmaids” will be presenters at the 84th Academy Awards, telecast producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer announced today. McCarthy received her first Oscar® nomination this year for her supporting role in the film, and Wiig also became a first-time nominee for the film’s original screenplay. All six will be making their first Oscar show appearances.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.
Trailer Watch: Thin Ice
This could be described as Fargo-light.
Thin Ice
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Plot Summary: Having maxed his credit cards and found himself in thick financial danger, a businessman attempts to steal his father's prized, valuable violin; however, the man he hires to secure the house and set up the heist to steal the violin turns out to be a psychopath not afraid to kill to protect himself and his quarry. Release Date: February 17, 2012 |
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Rating: B Commentary: Attempting to build on the popularity of Fargo's homespun trailer from 1996, the poster designer does a decent, but not exceptional job. |
Rating: C Commentary: This black comedy, like the Coen Brothers' Fargo, seems to be running on the fumes of its stars presenting nothing original or exciting that would wow potential viewers. |
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Preview Link: CLICK HERE for link to the trailer, more posters (if available) and other commentary not featured here. Oscar Chances: None. |
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Feed the Queue #82
Here are the results of last week's poll.
- The Blue Angel (1930)
- Body Heat (1981)
- Gilda (1946)
- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
- The Killers (1946)
- Sea of Love (1989)
I swear you guys are screwing with me. Four films tied for #1 for the first time in the Feed the Queue series. Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich and Kathleen Turner. That's a powerful bunch of blondes. And I'm really quite torn on this one. None of them have Oscar nominations to their names. On top of that, the plots are all fairly similar. So, I'm going with the one that sounds most interesting. The Blue Angel wins and goes into my queue.
Oscar Profile #70: Donna Reed
Born January 27, 1921 in Denison, Iowa as Donna Belle Mullenger, the future Donna Reed was discovered by a Hollywood talent scout while attending Los Angeles City College.
Signed by MGM, she was in three films in 1941, her first year in films, including a major supporting turn in Shadow of the Thin Man with William Powell and Myrna Loy. In 1942 she would appear in major roles in two other films from long-running MGM series in The Courtship of Andy Hardy with Mickey Rooney and Calling Dr. Gillepsie with Lionel Barrymore. She made a strong impression that same year as Edward Arnold’s daughter in Eyes in the Night. Important roles in major MGM films soon followed, including 1943’s The Human Comedy and 1945’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and They Were Expendable.
While returning from Mexico in 1945 where she went to obtain a quickie divorce from makeup artist William Tuttle, her husband of two years, she was bumped from her flight by an American serviceman. All on board the flight were killed. She then married producer Tony Owen with whom she had four children.
On loan to RKO, she starred opposite James Stewart in Frank Capra’s now classic 1947 film, It’s a Wonderful Life. From there it was back to MGM for one of that studio’s best films of 1947, Green Dolphin Street based on an enormously successful best-seller.
In fairly routine films until 1953, she was in two standout films that year, the domestic drama Trouble Along the Way in which she played her customary nice girl opposite John Wayne and From Here to Eternity in which she played against type as a hard-bitten prostitute, for which she won an Oscar.
This Day in Oscar History: January 26
Here's what happened today in Oscar History.
Click here to continue reading this article
Poll: What Are You Watching? (Jan. 27-29, 2012)
Return Links
What Are Yuo Watching? Poll Archive
What Are You Watching? (Jan. 27-29, 2012)
Trailer Watch: The Flowers of War
Is this even a foreign language film? The trailer does not make it seem that way.
The Flowers of War
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Plot Summary: An American priest in China finds himself protecting a group of troubled women as the Japanese invade China in 1937. Release Date: January 20, 2012 |
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Rating: B- Commentary: It's a pretty design, but fairly vacuous. It has plenty of film-centric images to tie it into the picture without finding an inventive method of execution. |
Rating: B- Commentary: The film refuses to avoid conventional storytelling elements pitting war against "innocence" with the potential for betrayal and redemption. The trialer doesn't suggest anything more than a passive historical saga that will be engaging without being foreward thinking. |
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Preview Link: CLICK HERE for link to the trailer, more posters (if available) and other commentary not featured here. Oscar Chances: The film was submitted for the Foreign Language Film Oscar, but the film didn't make the final short list, which could be a testament to the fact that there's too much English language dialogue. Maybe they used it all in the trailer, but it doesn't sound like a foreign lingo pic to me. Although it wasn't on the Academy's nine-film final shortlist for the Foreign Language Film Oscar, it did release in time to be considered for other categories. Only Art Direction and Costume Design seem like feasible categories and even that is pushing it. |
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Game: 2012 Spring Box Office Week 4 & Week 3 Results
For a full list of rules, click here: 2011 Spring Box Office Predictions Game Rules.
Submit Your Predictions for This Week
- Top Ten Films at the U.S. Box Office of the week in order from most money to least.
- Individual monetary predictions for each film.
- Final box office tally for all new wide releases.
- Awards predictions for any film you think has a shot at an end-of-year awards nomination.
This Week's New Wide Releases
The Grey (2,700-3,000 screens)
Man on a Ledge (TBD screens)
One for the Money (2,700 screens)
The Descendants (expanding) (900 screens)
Last Week's Results
Memberships
Categories
84th Oscars
Most Recent Comments
- Peter J Patrick on Friday Face-Off #5
- Tripp Burton on Friday Face-Off #5
- Wesley Lovell on Friday Face-Off #5
- Zachary Hardy on Friday Face-Off #5
- Minas on 2011 Precursor Predictions: DGA & SAG
Polls
Update Schedule
Administration
A.M.P.A.S. (The Oscars Feed)
- The "Bridesmaids" Cast to Present at 84th Academy Awards® January 26, 2012
- Oscars App is Now Live on the App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch January 25, 2012
- Academy Partners with Everyone Counts - Electronic Voting System to Launch for 2013 Oscars® January 25, 2012
- 84th Academy Awards Nominations Announced January 24, 2012
- Academy and OnTheRedCarpet.com Announce Oscar® College Journalist Contest January 23, 2012
Contributors
Donations
Amazon Product Links
Calendar
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