Rolling Stone Top 10

Peter Travers' top 10 list is out. He has un uncanny knack for predicting the Best Picture nominees, with nine of his top 10 choices last year making the cut:

12 Years a Slave
Gravity
The Wolf of Wall Street
Before Midnight
Her
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Nebraska
Blue Jasmine
Inside Llewyn Davis

It looks to me like he's probably hit the mark again, more or less. My guess is all of these make it into the Best Picture lineup except Blue Jasmine and Before Midnight. That would leave one open slot for something else, probably Saving Mr. Banks.

TRAILER #3: "The Monuments Men"

The latest trailer for Monuments Men brings back the comedic tone, as the movie is now coming out in February and safely nestled away from Oscar season. Now coming out February 7th, 2014.

Time Magazine Top 10

Time has the honor of being the first publication to reveal its top 10 list for the year. From their film critic Richard Corliss:

Gravity
The Great Beauty
American Hustle
Her
The Grandmaster
Furious 6
Frozen
The Act of Killing
12 Years a Slave
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Ok, first of all, Furious 6? Really? But apparently Corliss has a thing for the whole Fast & Furious series in general. And I have to say this makes me a lot more curious about The Hobbit, which he describes as "a splendid achievement, close to the grandeur of Jackson's Lord of the Rings films." Here's hoping!

TRAILER: "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"

The first trailer for the Spider-Man sequel is here. The movie is coming out May 2, 2014.

CLIP #1: "Veronica Mars"

Good news fellow VM fans! The first clip from the new movie is out, along with a release date and official title, so I can finally stop calling it the Veronica Mars movie. They went with the smart choice, which is to simply call it Veronica Mars- easy to remember. Veronica Mars is coming out on March 14, 2014 and I'm already counting down the days. The first scene is familiar in tone and Kristen Bell seems slide back in to her role with ease- looks like they got it right so far.

December Movies Are Here

It's Christmastime and the new batch of movies for the month of December are here! This time it's ten great choices for Christmas, including one of my favorites, The Muppet Christmas Carol, which is really just as good as some of the earlier versions of the Dickens classic. Visit our Movie of the Month page to check out the description for December and click here for the complete list of ten holiday flicks to kick back and enjoy this Christmas season. Happy Holidays everyone!

NBR Names "Her" the Best Film of 2013

Another surprise result! The National Board of Review announces their winners and has feted Spike Jonze's Her as the best film of the year. The rest of their winners, as you can see below, match nothing of what won the NYCC yesterday. Looks like we have a wide open Oscar race, people:

Best Film: Her
Best Director: Spike Jonze (Her)
Best Actor: Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Best Actress: Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks)
Best Supporting Actor: Will Forte (Nebraska)
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (Fruitvale Station)
Best Original Screenplay: Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Male Breakthrough Performance: Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station)
Female Breakthrough Performance: Adele Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Color)
Best Directorial Debut: Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station)
Best Foreign Language Film: The Past
Best Documentary: Stories We Tell
William K. Everson Film History Award: George Stevens, Jr.
Best Ensemble: Prisoners
Spotlight Award: Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Dicaprio
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Wadjda
Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award: Gravity

NBR also releases a top ten list of the best films of the year. Here they are, in alphabetical order:

12 Years a Slave
Fruitvale Station
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Nebraska
Prisoners
Saving Mr. Banks
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Wolf of Wall Street

As you can see, no trace of American Hustle anywhere, and this group seemed to appreciate The Wolf of Wall Street more than the NY critics did. Others snubbed are Captain Phillips, All is Lost, Blue Jasmine and The Butler. Gotta say though, I'm loving how much the critics are coming through for Fruitvale Station so far. Here are the rest of NBR's top film lists, also in alphabetical order:

Top 5 Foreign Language Films:

Beyond the Hills
Gloria
The Grandmaster
A Hijacking
The Hunt

Top 5 Documentaries:

20 Feet From Stardom
The Act of Killing
After Tiller
Casting By
The Square

Top 10 Independent Films:

Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Dallas Buyers Club
In a World...
Mother of George
Much Ado About Nothing
Mud
The Place Beyond the Pines
Short Term 12
Sightseers
The Spectacular Now

Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman

Gal Gadot, the 28-year-old Israeli model and actress best known for appearing in Fast & Furious 6 is set to star as Wonder Woman in the upcoming Zack Snyder-helmed Batman/Superman movie. At long last, Wonder Woman is finally coming to the big screen, although in what capacity is still unknown. She may just be a glorified cameo. I'm on record as hating Man of Steel and expecting this movie to be a complete disaster, so frankly, I'm a little sad that Wonder Woman's first appearance on the big screen isn't going to be in her own movie, but I suppose this is better than nothing. Right? What do you think?

TRAILER #2: "Her"

The second trailer for Spike Jonze's Her is out- the movie is a lonshot contender for Best Picture and is coming out Dec. 18th.

Oscar Documentary Shortlist

The Academy has announced the 15 documentaries shortlisted for Oscar contention. This means that the five nominated films for Best Documentary will come from the following list:

The Act of Killing
The Armstrong Lie
Blackfish
The Crash Reel
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
First Cousin Once Removed
God Loves Uganda
Life According to Sam
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
The Square
Stories We Tell
Tim's Vermeer
20 Feet From Stardom
Which Way is the Line From Here? The Life and Times of Tim Hetherington

My wild stab in the dark at the five chosen are The Act of Killing, Blackfish, Stories We Tell, Tim's Vermeer and 20 Feet From Stardom. We'll see how close I am when the nominations come out. In the meantime, here's the trailer for one of the most acclaimed documentaries of the year, 20 Feet From Stardom:

New York Film Critics Circle Winners- "American Hustle" Tops

One of the oldest and most prestigious film critics groups in the country announced their awards today. In a very surprising result, they voted American Hustle the top prize, along with Screenplay and Supporting Actress. This provides a major boost for American Hustle in the Oscar race, and this, along with the Gotham awards shutting out 12 Years a Slave last night, seems to indicate some surprising resistance to the film, despite its amazing reviews, although Steve McQueen was touted as Best Director.

Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary): Stories We Tell
Best First Film: Fruitvale Station
Best Cinematography: Inside Llewyn Davis
Special Award: Frederick Wiseman
Best Screenplay: American Hustle
Best Animated Film: The Wind Rises
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Foreign Language Film: Blue is the Warmest Color (France)
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Best Director: Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor: Robert Redford (All is Lost)
Best Picture: American Hustle

Gravity was totally shut out by the New York critics (not even cinematography, really?), but it has a chance to rally with other groups, most notably the L.A. film critics (the second most prestigious critics group), who vote this Sunday, and often go out of their way to vote the opposite of New York. Other boons from this are Robert Redford's chances in Best Actor and Jennifer Lawrence in Supporting Actress. But American Hustle is the big story, and a possibility here is that the New York critics just set it up as the lightweight "alternative" to 12 Years a Slave in Best Picture, ala Argo last year. We'll see. Next up it's the National Board of Review, which announces their winners tomorrow.

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Nashville" (1975)

Robert Altman's masterpiece Nashville is on blu-ray today, and you owe it to yourself to check out this film, which is one of the most visceral and immediate representations of America ever made. It follows five days leading up to a country music concert in Nashville, TN and no less than 24 characters are chronicled as their stories interweave themselves in and out of the frame. When it all comes together it achieves greatness in ways you couldn't possibly predict ahead of time. Nominated for 5 Academy Awards and my favorite Altman film.

Original 1975 Trailer (this is another goofy '70s one):