Matt Damon Returns as "Jason Bourne"

The Super Bowl premiered the first look at the new Bourne movie coming out this summer, and hey it's Matt Damon returning to his signature role, and we can mercifully forget all about Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy. Director of the second and third films Paul Greengrass is back as well, although he surprisingly doesn't look like he's reprising his own signature shakicam style, which became associated with the franchise. I always loved this original trilogy, so I'm excited. This is a sucky title though- seriously, you couldn't think up anything more creative than his just name? How about Bourne Again? Even that seems more obvious that this.

BOX OFFICE 2/05-2/07: 'Kung Fu Panda 3' Stays on Top of Super Bowl Weekend

The box office was slow this weekend, as expected, with none of the new releases making much of an impact, allowing the third Kung Fu Panda movie to stay on top with 21 million. The Coen Brothers' Hail, Caesar only pulled in a paltry 11 million and a dreadful "C-" Cinemascore, so expect a huge dropoff on that one in the coming weeks, while Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was a total bust, coming in with a mere 5 million for the three day frame.

The Nicholas Sparks movie The Choice managed to make it into the top five, but with just 6 million, making it the first Sparks adaptation to make less than 10 million on opening weekend. Meanwhile, Star Wars stuck around in the top five, bringing its new total to a whopping 905 million and crossing the 2 billion mark worldwide, and Oscar hopeful The Revenant earned another 7 million for a 149 million total domestic.

Top 5:

1. Kung Fu Panda 3- 21 million
2. Hail, Caesar- 11.4 million
3. The Revenant- 7.1 million
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens- 6.9 million
5. The Choice- 6.1 million

Again this week there's not much to report in limited release, so let's just move on to what's coming next week, shall we? Finally, we have a couple of films with a real chance to break out, and that's Deadpool and Zoolander 2, so we may have a real dude bro audience out in force next week. See you then.

Alejandro Inarritu Makes History By Winning the DGA Two Years in a Row

Wow- we have a real Oscar race, people. For the first time since 2004, every major guild has chosen a different film as the year's best. PGA went with The Big Short, SAG went to Spotlight, and now the all important Directors Guild has gone with Alejandro Inarritu for The Revenant. Which of course means Inarritu is the first person in DGA history to win the award two years in a row, and likely means he will go on to win Best Director at the Oscars. Best Picture however, is another story. If Inarritu wins director, as now seems inevitable, he will join John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz as the only directors in Oscar history to win the award in back to back years. But neither of those director's films won Best Picture two years in a row, so if The Revenant were to win that, it would be unprecedented. It's not impossible, but the signs to me say we're looking at a split year. And in a split year, I still think that the PGA is the most important precursor, simply because they use the same preferential ballot that Oscar uses for Best Picture, and none of these other guilds do. So I'm going to go with The Big Short for Picture and Inarritu for Director- but there is a chance for The Revenant to catch some momentum to make this interesting in the final voting, which hasn't started yet. One of the most unpredictable Oscar years in recent memory.

• Feature: Alejandro Inarritu, The Revenant
• Documentary Feature: Matthew Heineman, Cartel Land
• First Time Feature: Alex Garland, Ex Machina

'Inside Out' Dominates the Annie Awards

The animated feature Oscar has been an open and shut case for months now, and Inside Out's utter dominance of tonight's Annie Awards just laid it out even more plainly. It won just about everything it was up for- one of the biggest nights for any movie at this ceremony in its history, in fact. By the way, I'm rarely invested in this category, but World of Tomorrow won the Best Animated Short here, which I really hope repeats at the Oscars, and if anyone is curious to check that out, it's currently streaming on Netflix. It's a beautiful, visionary short and you won't regret watching it, trust me.

• Best Animated Feature: Inside Out
• Best Animated Short Subject: World of Tomorrow
• Best Animated Feature-Independent: Boy and the World
• Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in an Animated Production: The Good Dinosaur
• Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in a Live Action Production: Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Feature Production: Inside Out
• Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production: The Revenant
• Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out
• Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production: Pete Docter – Inside Out
• Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production: Michael Giacchino – Inside Out
• Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out
• Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out
• Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production: Phyllis Smith – Inside Out
• Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out
• Outstanding Achievement for Editorial in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out

'Straight Outta Compton,' 'Creed' Win Top NAACP Image Awards

The Image Awards last night honored films like Straight Outta Compton, Creed, and Beasts of No Nation with its top picks- in other words, movies that should have been nominated at the Oscars, but weren't, at least not in top categories. Interestingly, when Sylvester Stallone showed up to introduce Creed he was greeted with yet another standing ovation from a genuinely adoring crowd, much to his surprise. Yeah, I think that Oscar is already engraved with his name on it, don't you? People really just want to see him win.

• Best Film: Straight Outta Compton
• Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan, Creed
• Best Actress: Sanaa Lathan, The Perfect Guy
• Best Supporting Actor: O'Shea Jackson, Jr., Straight Outta Compton
• Best Supporting Actress: Phylicia Rashad, Creed
• Best Independent Film: Beasts of No Nation
• Best Director: Ryan Coogler, Creed
• Best Screenplay: Creed

'Star Wars' Picks Up Most VES Awards

The Visual Effects Society anointed Star Wars: The Force Awakens as their designated winner of the most visual effects guild prizes- that's something of a surprise, since I kinda thought it would go to Mad Max. In fact, MM didn't even come in second- that was The Revenant with its amazing animated bear. So yeah, I would pay attention to this when it comes to predicting the Visual Effects Oscar- normally they pick a Best Picture nominee, but Star Wars' dominance here is nothing to wave aside. They may want to give it something to acknowledge all of its success this year, and this would be the place.

2016 VES WINNERS

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature: The Revenant

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature: The Revenant

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature: Mad Max: Fury Road

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature:Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature: The Revenant

10 February Romances for Valentine's Day

Happy February everyone! As usual, it's time to celebrate movie love with my favorite romances put on film. From romantic comedies to tearjerkers and Jane Austen classics, this is one of my absolute favorite months of the year, because I'm such a sucker for a great romance. And they don't really make too many anymore- the most recent on my list is 2005's Pride and Prejudice, which, if you can believe it, now came out over 11 years ago. So head on over to the Movies For Every Month page to read more about the theme, and click here for the full list of ten romantic films to sweep you off your feet this month. Happy Valentine's Day!

'Mad Max' and 'Revenant' Win ADG Awards

The art directors guild bestowed its top production design awards to Mad Max, The Revenant and The Martian, leaving no real clues where Oscar will go in this category, since it was thought to be between The Revenant and Mad Max anyway. My guess is Mad Max, since Revenant is mostly natural locations and less actual production design- but if they adhere to that description than frankly, Bridge of Spies and Carol were robbed for this. We'll have to see what Bafta chooses for this one.

• Best Production Design- Period: The Revenant
• Best Production Design-Contemporary: The Martian
• Best Production Design-Fantasy: Mad Max: Fury Road

BOX OFFICE 1/29-1/31: 'Kung Fu Panda 3' Injects Some Life Into the Box Office

The third Kung Fu Panda movie opened below its predecessors but still scored the biggest weekend of 2016 so far. The kids movie earned 41 million from Friday to Sunday and an "A" Cinemscore, as there's not a lot else in theaters for the family audience at the moment. It managed to crush the other new releases, one of which was Disney's The Finest Hours, which earned just 10 million for fourth place, while the Marlon Wayans' spoof Fifty Shades of Black fell flat as well with only 6 million. The biggest flop though, belonged to Natalie Portman's long-delayed western Jane Got a Gun, which made just 803k in 1200 locations, for an average of 664 dollars per theater. Yikes.

Meanwhile, the holdovers continue to stay the course, with The Revenant earning another 12 million for a 138 million total, as Leo continues to cruise towards his inevitable Oscar win, and Star Wars made another 10 million this weekend for an 895 million total, well on its way to the landmark 900 million domestic gross. Globally it's getting closer to 2 billion, but still behind Avatar and Titanic, worldwide. Ride Along 2 rounded out the top five, bringing its total to 70 million domestic.

Top 5:

1. Kung Fu Panda 3- 41 million
2. The Revenant- 12.4 million
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens- 10.8 million
4. The Finest Hours- 10.3 million
5. Ride Along 2- 8.3 millon

In limited release, there's not a lot to report, except for the various Oscar nominees' respective totals. Spotlight is at 34 million, while Brooklyn is chasing its total, having just crossed 30 million. Room has doubled its gross since the nominations, having now gotten to 9 million total, and The Big Short crossed 60 million this weekend. Next week sees the release of Hail, Caesar and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, so tune in then- but of course it's Super Bowl weekend as well, so the box office might be down for another reason.

'Spotlight' Wins SAG Ensemble Award

Well, this keeps things interesting. I went 3 for 5 in my predictions tonight, but the big surprise was Idris Elba winning for Beasts of No Nation, which served as a huge fuck you to the Academy, since he became the first SAG winner to not even be nominated for an Oscar. His snub, by the way, was by all measures the most egregious of the acting nominations, since he was nominated for the Golden Globe, SAG and Bafta, and should have been in there at the Oscars too. But AMPAS clearly does not want to recognize the legitimacy of Netflix yet- I'm positive that if that film had been released by a major studio in theaters Elba would have for sure gotten in. As for Spotlight roaring back tonight, I actually wouldn't put too much stock in that, because the SAG ensemble winner only matches Best Picture about 50 percent of the time. It's not a great record- remember, American Hustle won here just two years ago and then won nothing at the Oscars. But it means The Big Short doesn't have it wrapped up yet, as all eyes move on to the next guild, which is the DGA, now as important as it's ever been. It's still a competitive race.

2016 SAG AWARDS WINNERS

• BEST ENSEMBLE: Spotlight
• BEST ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
• BEST ACTRESS: Brie Larson, Room
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Vikander winning this puts her in frontrunner status for the Oscar, and I believe the rest of the acting winners are now officially locked as well. Supporting actor could still be open, but Elba winning as a non-Oscar nominee was the best possible news for Stallone's chances in hanging onto that award.

'Spotlight' cast wins top prize

New Trailer for 'Secret Life of Pets' Shows the Story of Lost Dogs

Okay, so this is like a cross between Homeward Bound and Toy Story, right? Combine that with the over 50 year history of kids and family movies about adorable dogs and this really seems like a movie that can't miss with audiences. Every beat is familiar, yet comfortable. I predict that it's a huge hit.

'Big Short' and 'Mad Max' Take ACE Eddie Awards

Well, the Editors Guild gave its two main prizes to the movies that were expected to win it, so no surprises here. Still, it's another guild win added to the The Big Short's total, and PGA + ACE isn't too bad a combination. The editing Oscar is expected to be between these two films as well, so no hints yet for that one.

• Best Edited Feature- Comedy: The Big Short
• Best Edited Feature- Dramatic: Mad Max: Fury Road
• Best Edited Feature- Documentary: Amy