12 Days of Christmas: A Christmas Story

The final day for the 12 Days of Christmas and the last movie I picked is a classic that everyone knows, so I won't explain the plot - A Christmas Story.

It's on 24 hours this Christmas on TBS and if you haven't seen it, go sit down and catch a showing of it. It has stood the test of time and remains a lot of people's favorite Christmas movie.

12 Days of Christmas: It's a Wonderful Life

It’s Christmas Eve and we’ve reached day eleven on the 12 Days of Christmas and today’s movie is the classic everyone knows – It’s a Wonderful Life.
The movie is set in the year 1946 and takes place on Christmas Eve. We meet George Bailey (James Stewart) a man who is suicidal and is on the verge of jumping off a bridge. As he prepares himself to actually do it, he’s stopped at the last minute by a man (who is an angel) named Clarence (Henry Travers).
The movie then takes us back to show us George’s past and how he got to the point of almost killing himself. We learn that George is married to a woman named Mary (Donna Reed) and he also has four children. We see him owning his own business, which he inherited by his father, all seems well, and then we start seeing what went wrong.
George’s Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) loses the money that Bailey Building and Loan owes the bank. This throws George’s life upside down and to make matters worse, the bank is owned by Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) a man who is as cold hearted as Scrooge.
Is Clarence able to help George back onto the right path? Well, that’s something you’ll have to find out for yourself.
If you haven’t seen this movie, you are truly missing out. The movie is very similar to A Christmas Carol in a lot of ways and that’s not a bad thing.
Jimmy Stewart always pulls off great performances, but this performance is fantastic and the role I always think of when someone mentions his name.
The movie is a true classic that has stood the test of time and will remain a movie that hits the heart for generations to come.

12 Days of Christmas: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

The 10th movie on the list is a film that follows the Griswold family as they entertain their relatives during the Christmas holiday. Today’s movie is Christmas Vacation.
Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) wants to have the greatest Christmas he’s ever had. He then decides to host all of his relatives in the effort to capture and share the holiday spirit. This only leads to slap stick comedy and also my favorite Vacation movie.
I don’t want to give a lot of the plot away, because if you haven’t seen the movie I want you to watch and see all the funny parts and enjoy them without any idea of what’s going to happen.
Randy Quaid returns to the series bringing back to life his famous Cousin Eddie, he delivers some of my favorite scenes in the movie.
I strongly recommend this holiday film, like all the other movies on this list.

12 Days of Christmas: A Christmas Carol "Scrooge"

I know this one is a day late, but today instead of one movie you get two. This movie that was supposed to make its appearance yesterday is what I like to call the best Scrooge movie, not as magical as the Muppets version but better on the drama. Today's movie is A Christmas Carol "Scrooge".

This movie, originally released in 1951, stars Alastair Sim as the cold hearted Ebeneezer Scrooge. The movie sticks to the plot of the book so faithfully, that this is considered the most faithful adaptation of the Dickens’ novel.
After watching several movies based off of the novel, I would say that this one really delivers the spirit of the book. After seeing it you’ll feel like you just read the classic once again.
Another great thing about this movie is the performance Sim gives as Scrooge; he delivers the role like no one as ever and succeeds tremendously.
The film has aged well, but younger audiences might just pass this one by with out ever looking at it and I advise everyone to give it a shot.

12 Days of Christmas: The Muppet Christmas Carol

With only four more days to Christmas I bring you a very well done re-telling of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” with Michael Caine as Scrooge and Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit in the 1992 film – The Muppet Christmas Carol.
The movie follows the story of the classic story, Ebenezer Scrooge is a heartless man who cares only about work and the money he’s making. On Christmas Eve he returns home to only be visited by three ghosts that show him Christmas’ of his past, present and yet to come. All told with Muppets playing key characters.
This is the yet another great holiday film with great music and also has this real magic to it – a unique magic that only the Muppets seem to be able to bring out in this classic story.
If you are looking for a good film based off of this material to watch with your kids or to just enjoy yourself I strongly recommend it. It’s a movie I watched when I was young and it’s still a movie I watch each year around Christmas time. I warn you though; the music will get stuck in your head.

12 Days of Christmas: Die Hard

It’s day seven of the 12 Days of Christmas and I bring you a movie that I was really hesitant on adding, but Brad Carroll insisted that it should be on the list. Today’s movie is Die Hard.
Yes, the movie is considered a holiday film by many people, because the film itself is set around Christmas.
The movie stars Bruce Willis as John McClane, a New York City detective who is traveling to Los Angeles to try reconciliation with his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia). When McClane meets up with his wife, she is attending a Christmas party thrown by her employer, Takagi, in Nakatomi Plaza (it’s a high rise building).
During this party a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) take control of the building and of course hold all the party goers hostage. McClane, being resourceful, is able to sneak away into the building’s maintenance areas. We then learn that Gruber is after $640 million in bearer bonds, which are stored in the buildings vault.
The film offers a great pace, great action and most likely the best holiday classic action film. The greatest thing about this movie is the villain Hans; he’s a great villain and a worthy advisory to put up against the common man McClane.
The movie spawned three more sequels, but as the series went on McClane became less and less of the common man and more of a superhero. If you saw Live Free and Die Hard, you know what I'm talking about. So, the first is the only one in the series that I really liked.
Do yourself a favor and check out Die Hard if you haven’t already.

12 Days of Christmas: Home Alone

Day six of the 12 Days of Christmas and today I bring you the holiday classic that made Macaulay Culkin a household name – Home Alone.
The film opens up with the McCallister family rushing around the house and getting prepared for their family vacation to Europe.
Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is the youngest of his family, the one that gets made fun of and the one that gets the bad end of the deal all the time. The night before their big trip, Kevin gets into a fight with his older brother Buzz, causing his mother to send him to bed up in the attic. He believes that his family has gone to far, so he puts a wish in place for them all just to dissapear.
The next morning the family all over sleep and are soon in a rush to catch their flight. With all the comotion they forget to wake up Kevin, which lead them to leaving him behind.
Kevin wakes up after they have left and discover that he is home alone and his wish must of worked. Little does he know that two robbers played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are lurking the neighborhood and have their eyes on the McCallister house.
A holiday movie that everyone should know about and love. The movie did give us three more sequels and those sequels weren’t as good as the original, which usually is the case in franchises such as this.The movie is a family film that keeps itself going through its runtime with any dull moments. I know some people are split on this movie and I don’t think you should be, the film captures the season of Christmas beatifully and also captures the meaning of family in a very heart tugging way. It’s a great holiday classic that everyone should have the chance to see.

12 Days of Christmas: The Bishop's Wife

It’s day five of the 12 Days of Christmas and today I bring you a movie that offers some great acting, a great story and a all around good holiday film. Today I bring you The Bishop’s Wife.
When Bishop Henry Brogham (David Niven) comes into trouble while building a new cathedral, he prays for guidance and his prayer is answered by an angel named Dudley (Cary Grant), who claims to be a clergyman.
We soon learn that Dudley’s true motives are not to help with the cathedral, but to guide Henry who has become obsessed with the new cathedral and his duties and marriage are suffering because of it.
We then meet Julia (Loretta Young), the wife of Henry, who becomes close to Dudley. He becomes very attracted to her and Henry becomes very jealous of the growing relationship.
I won’t give away what happens, but the movie has a very strong ending and one that makes you sit back and remember why you love the movies.
This film is another personal favorite of mine, like all the movies on this list, but this one is so well done, truly original and offers a great cast, Cary Grant and Loretta Young are more than outstanding in their roles and their true talents show.Many say that the movie only works because of the stellar cast and that’s not really true. I loved the cast, but another thing that makes this movie so great is how it’s a fantasy at heart, yet it feels more realistic and human then anything. So after you are done watching it, it feels like that could really happen, that when we are faced with hard time that Someone is constantly looking out for us and they’re going to make sure will find are way once again. Movies now a days just loose those solid messages and that’s why when Christmas time comes around these old classics are still the ones that truly hit the heart.

12 Days of Christmas: The Santa Clause

Welcome to day four of the 12 Days of Christmas and today’s movie stars Tim Allen as an ordinary man transforming into the Christmas icon, Santa Claus, in the holiday movie everyone should enjoy – The Santa Clause.
The film is about Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) a man who is divorced from his wife and also a father to Charlie (Eric Lloyd), who has lost his belief in Santa Claus.
That is all changed on Christmas Eve, while Charlie is spending the night; they are both woken up by a noise on the roof. They head outside to see what all the commotion is about and discover Santa on the roof. Scott yells at him causing Santa Claus to fall and become lifeless on the ground and then he magically disappears, leaving only the Santa suit behind.
Scott quickly goes through his pockets to find some sort of identification and comes across a business card that clearly stats that if something should happen to him, someone should put on the suit, get into the sleigh and leave the rest to the reindeers.
Scott puts on the suit and begins to deliver toys from house to house and at the end of their long trip, the reindeer bring them back to the North Pole. There they meet Bernard (David Krumholtz), the head elf of the North Pole and the person who brings The “Santa Clause” to Scott’s attention.
The clause is written very small on the card Scott took out of the Santa suit and says that upon the death of the previous occupant, whoever wears the suit assumes the identity of Santa Claus and all the responsibilities that go with it.
Now if you haven’t seen the movie you’ll have to now to find out how this affects his life.
The Santa Clause is the first movie in a Santa Clause trilogy and is the best out of the three. Yet, it took about eight years for a sequel to this movie to be released and it never lived up to the hype that it received over the years and the third movie should just be forgotten about.
What I enjoy most about this movie and the reason I placed it on this list is because it takes a lot of its style from older holiday movies. Also, Tim Allen’s performance as Santa Claus is great and there is one scene, where he’s being integrated by the police that is just hilarious.
If you haven’t been able to catch this movie on TV during one of its many showings, then I would recommend picking it up to watch.

12 Days of Christmas: Elf

Welcome to the third day of 12 Days of Christmas and today’s movie stars Will Ferrell as a human raised by Elves, who thinks he’s an Elf in a film called Elf.
It all begins in an orphanage on the night before Christmas. Santa (Edward Asner) has come down the chimney and as he’s placing presents under the tree, when an orphan baby is able to crawl out of his bed and into Santa’s sack. This causes Santa to take the baby all the way back to the North Pole, where he would be adopted by an older Elf named simply Papa Elf (Bob Newhart).
Fast forward the clock a few years and now that baby has grown into a full sized man named Buddy (Will Ferrell) and is unaware that he’s larger than all the other Elf’s that populate the world he lives in.
Soon Santa and Papa Elf decide it’s time for Buddy to go to New York City and find his real family. When Buddy arrives in New York he soon finds out that the life he led in the North Pole doesn’t apply to the real world.
After he has eaten gum off the street and twirled around in a rotating door, he decides it’s time to seek out his real father, Walter (James Caan), who is a publisher of children’s books that is addicted to his work.
Of course, Walter doesn’t think that this 6’3 elf is his son and takes him to get a blood test that proves that Buddy is who he says he is. This leads to Buddy meeting his step-mother, Emily (Mary Steenburgen) and his ten-year-old half-brother, Michael (Daniel Tay) who has no faith in the holiday and feels neglected by his father. Buddy then takes it upon himself to reintroduce the spirit of the holiday to everyone.
How can you not like this movie? It has Will Ferrell dressed up as an Elf in the role that made him into a movie star. There is just something really funny seeing a grown man running around New York as a Christmas Elf, if that's not enough to get you to watch the movie than I don't know if I can help you.
This would be my personal favorite Ferrell film, his stuff is starting to grow old; I mean Step Brothers was a total misfire and hopefully his upcoming movie Land of the Lost won’t suffer the same way.
Back to the movie, this is one of the best modern Christmas movies out there right now. Since 2003 I can name a few holiday movies that made me cringe (example: Christmas with the Kranks, Deck the Halls and Surviving Christmas) and also made me happy that we have movies like this.
If you are one of those people that haven’t seen this yet, I strongly advise you to watch it.

12 Days of Christmas: Scrooged

The second movie on my list is a movie that I’ve always considered to be a holiday classic. The movie puts Bill Murray into the role of a Scrooge like character and retells A Christmas Carol in Scrooged.
In the film Murray plays TV network president, Frank Cross, a man who has been turned from a nice guy to an evil executive that could care less about his family or employees. So because of his deeds he is visited by three ghost that bring the Charles Dickens Story A Christmas Carol into modern times and also create one my personal favorite Bill Murray movies.
I noticed three different things when I bring this movie up to people, they either love it, hate it or never seen it. I’ll be honest this movie might not be enjoyed by everyone; some of the material feels much uninspired. Yet, I think that’s all made up my Murray’s performance.
Besides Murray, another reason why I liked this movie is because of its sarcastic feel the movie carries, which makes for a very entertaining comedy.
All in all it’s an enjoyable holiday movie that everyone should check out.

12 Days of Christmas: Christmas in Connecticut

In 12 Days of Christmas I will be covering 12 different holiday movies that are on my must see list. I didn’t include any holiday specials (Example: Rudolph, Charlie Brown, The Grinch), I only included feature length films.
The first movie on the list is a classic from 1945 that stars Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan in a great Christmas story – Christmas in Connecticut.
The film is about Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) a writer who writes a cooking column for a women’s magazine, there is only one problem she has no experience in the kitchen. She is only posing as a happy housewife who has a husband and a very nice house in the country.
Soon her publisher, who believes that all she writes is true, arranges for her to entertain Sailor Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) over the Christmas holiday. This causes Lane to marry her boyfriend, find a house and prepare one of her wonderful meals that she always writes about. Things get even more complicated when Lane starts to fall in love with Jones.
The movie is a comedy and a very screwball type of comedy, that is all about mistaken identities and it’s actually done very well. Stanwyck performance is really the best reason to watch the movie; she is able to break out of what could have been a very linear performance and makes it a performance that overcomes its restrictions and boundaries.
If you don’t like older movies then you most likely will not like this movie. It’s a great comedy, but it also shows its age.

Stamos and Dino Projects Are Dead

If you're like me, then you have been looking forward to the long promised Jurassic Park IV, but according to sources the project has met it's end. Producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy have stated that they have no interest in continuing the franchise.
I can honestly say that I'm not to heart broken about this news, for the simple fact that I think the Jurassic Park franchise has ran its course. Let's be honest with one another, Jurassic Park: The Lost World and Jurassic Park III really didn't reach the excitement of the original and always left me thinking they could of did that better.
In other news that struck me as interesting, John Stamos had been trying to get a new Full House series off the ground, but his efforts proved to be futile. According to what I've read, the series would have brought back the Tanners. Everyone would have revived their old characters, but it was unclear if the Olsen twins would of made a reappearance.
I honestly don't know if this show would of been a hit, it might of been. I know that the CW is having great success with their new 90210 and because of its success the network is planning on resurrecting Melrose Place. So, it seems that bringing back retro TV shows is all the rage.
My opinion is the only way you can make Full House work is if you either remake it with an entirely new cast (which would most likely cause it to flop) or have it be a spin-off focusing on only a few characters from the original. Yet, we don't have to worry about it since that couldn't close the deal.

Golden Globe Nominations Announced

It's that day once again, the day where they announce the nominations for the upcoming Golden Globe Awards. There is a few things that I think these nominations were lacking, First, why is True Blood nominated for Best Drama Series? I admit I wasn't faithful to this series but for the episodes I saw they weren't really anything that special.
The other thing why isn't Christopher Nolan nominated for Best Director for The Dark Knight? It was one of the best directed movies I've seen this year and not even a mention of him. The nominations are listed below.

Best Motion Picture - Drama
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas – I've Loved You So Long
Kate Winslet – Revolutionary Road

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio – Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Best Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Mamma Mia!
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Rebecca Hall – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand – Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep – Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson – Last Chance Harvey

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy
Javier Bardem – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Colin Farrell – In Bruges
James Franco – Pineapple Express
Brendan Gleeson – In Bruges
Dustin Hoffman – Last Chance Harvey

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Kate Winslet – The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Tom Cruise – Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes – The Duchess
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight

Best Animated Feature Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
Everlasting Moments (Sweden, Denmark)
Gomorrah (Italy)
I've Loved You So Long (France)
Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

Best Director - Motion Picture
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes – Revolutionary Road

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Written by Eric Roth
Doubt
Written by John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon
Written by Peter Morgan
The Reader
Written by David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire
Written by Simon Beaufoy

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Composed by Alexandre Desplat
Changeling
Composed by Clint Eastwood
Defiance
Composed by James Newton Howard
Slumdog Millionaire
Composed by A. R. Rahman
Frost/Nixon
Composed by Hans Zimmer

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
"Down To Earth" – Wall-E
Music By: Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
Lyrics By: Peter Gabriel
"Gran Torino" – Gran Torino
Music By: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens, Clint Eastwood and Jamie Cullum
Lyrics By: Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens
"I Thought I Lost You" – Bolt
Music & Lyrics By: Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele
"Once In A Lifetime" – Cadillac Records
Music & Lyrics By: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarmon, Ian Dench, James Dring and Jody Street
"The Wrestler" – The Wrestler
Music & Lyrics By: Bruce Springsteen

Best Television Series - Drama
Dexter (SHOWTIME)
House (FOX)
In Treatment (HBO)
Mad Men (AMC)
True Blood (HBO)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama
Sally Field – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Mariska Hargitay – Law & Order
January Jones – Mad Men (AMC)
Anna Paquin – True Blood (HBO)
Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer (TNT)

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama
Gabriel Byrne – In Treatment (HBO)
Michael C. Hall – Dexter (SHOWTIME)
Jon Hamm – Mad Men (AMC)
Hugh Laurie – House (FOX)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers – The Tudors (SHOWTIME)

Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
30 Rock (NBC)
Californication (SHOWTIME)
Entourage (HBO)
The Office (NBC)
Weeds (SHOWTIME)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Christina Applegate – Samantha Who? (ABC)
America Ferrera – Ugly Betty (ABC)
Tina Fey – 30 Rock (NBC)
Debra Messing – The Starter Wife (USA)
Mary-Louise Parker – Weeds (SHOWTIME)

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock (NBC)
Steve Carell – The Office (NBC)
Kevin Connolly – Entourage (HBO)
David Duchovny – Californication (SHOWTIME)
Tony Shalhoub – Monk (USA)

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
A Raisin In The Sun (ABC)
Bernard And Doris (HBO)
Cranford (PBS)
John Adams (HBO)
Recount (HBO)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Judi Dench – Cranford (PBS)
Catherine Keener – An American Crime
Laura Linney – John Adams (HBO)
Shirley MacLaine – Coco Chanel
Susan Sarandon – Bernard And Doris (HBO)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Ralph Fiennes – Bernard And Doris (HBO)
Paul Giamatti – John Adams (HBO)
Kevin Spacey – Recount (HBO)
Kiefer Sutherland – 24 (FOX)
Tom Wilkinson – Recount (HBO)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Eileen Atkins – Cranford (PBS)
Laura Dern – Recount (HBO)
Melissa George – In Treatment (HBO)
Rachel Griffiths – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Dianne Wiest – In Treatment (HBO)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother
Denis Leary – Recount (HBO)
Jeremy Piven – Entourage (HBO)
Blair Underwood – In Treatment (HBO)
Tom Wilkinson – John Adams (HBO)

Ledger Receives Best Supporting Actor

The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association announces its winners of the year. The full list of awards is listed below.
Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Best Ensemble: Doubt
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Best Supporting Actress: Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married)
Best Breakthrough Performance: Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Original Screenplay: Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married)
Best Animated Feature: Wall-e
Best Foreign Language Film: Let The Right One In
Best Documentary: Man On Wire
Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Welcome Back To Crystal Lake

A new poster (that is on your left) and trailer have been released for the new Friday the 13th movie and both look interesting. Also, a synopsis has hit the internet and it’s listed below.
Searching for his missing sister, Clay heads up to the eerie woods of legendary Crystal Lake, where he stumbles on the creaky remains of rotting old cabins that lie in wait behind moss-covered trees. And that's not the only thing hiding under the brush. Against the advice of police and cautions from the locals, Clay pursues what few leads he has, with the help of a young woman he meets among a group of college kids up for an all-thrills weekend. But they are about to find much more than they bargained for. Little do they know, they've entered the domain of one of the most terrifying specters in American film history-the infamous killer who haunts Crystal Lake, armed with a razor-sharp machete - Jason Voorhees.
I’ve seen the new trailer and the story looks very similar to older Friday the 13th films. First, you have a group of teenagers at a cabin; partying and doing all the stuff we look forward to see in horror movies. Second, we have Clay, who is the main character, looking for his sister, he kind of reminds me of Tommy Jarvis (a character from the older Friday the 13th films).
Is it going to be good? Well, I don’t expect an Oscar worthy movie; Yet, I do expect it to be enjoyable and fun as the originals.
At the bottom of this post, I've posted the link to the new trailer. I wanted to post the whole thing right onto my blog but it won't let me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Phn-Ux2XJ4

The Dark Knight Returns

The Dark Knight is going to be re-released in U.S. cinemas in January.
The best Batman film to date, starring Christian Bale as The Dark Knight and the late Heath Ledger as the menacing Joker, was originally released in July and has grossed more than $996 million worldwide.
The studio bosses have decided to release the film back to U.S. theaters on January 23, which would be the day after this year’s Oscar nominations have been announced.
With this re-release I will say that the movie will surpass the $1 billion mark and Bale has stated that the success of the movie should earn or guarantee them Academy Awards. We won’t know this until the day of the announcements.
He also stated that Heath Ledger is a major Oscar contender and also that Christopher Nolan, the director, would also be a contender and he also thinks the film will be nominated for Best Picture.

The National Board of Review Announces Winners

Below is a full list of the awards given by the National Board of Review:
• Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Director: David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Best Actor: Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
• Best Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
• Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, Milk
• Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Best Foreign Foreign Language Film: Mongol
• Best Documentary: Man on Wire
• Best Animated Feature: WALL-E
• Best Ensemble Cast: Doubt
• Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
• Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Viola Davis, Doubt
• Best Directorial Debut: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
• Best Original Screenplay: Nick Schenk, Gran Torino
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire and Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Spotlight Award: Melissa Leo, Frozen River and Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
• The BVLGARI Award for NBR Freedom of Expression: Trumbo
• Top Ten Films: (In alphabetical order) BURN AFTER READING, CHANGELING, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, THE DARK KNIGHT, DEFIANCE, FROST/NIXON, GRAN TORINO, MILK, WALL-E, THE WRESTLER
• Top Five Foreign Language Films: (In alphabetical order) EDGE OF HEAVEN, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, ROMAN DE GUERRE, A SECRET, WALTZ WITH BASHIR
• Top Five Documentary Films (In alphabetical order) AMERICAN TEEN, THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON), DEAR ZACHARY, ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED
• William K. Everson Film History Award: Molly Haskell and Andrew Sarris

Role Models is Hilarious, Fun and Solid

Here is a movie that’s actually a funny comedy, as I write this review I’m actually still laughing.
When we begin the movie we meet Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) who are energy drink salesmen, their product is called Minotaur, which is a parody of Red Bull. They travel school to school and sell it to kids as a way to stay off drugs.
Wheeler, the man who dresses as the Minotaur, loves his job. Danny, his partner, has just celebrated his 10 year anniversary with Minotaur and he hate’s his job and feels he has wasted away years of his life.
Danny’s girlfriend Beth (Elizabeth Banks), who is a lawyer, dumps him because he thinks their relationship is getting close to marriage and this scares her, because he has such a negative outlook on life and she doesn’t want to be a part of that.
This send’s Danny into his own personal hell and when they are making a presentation at a local high school, they’re informed that their truck is being towed. To keep this from happening they both jump into the truck and try to drive away, in hopes that the truck will break loose from the tow truck. Yet, they end up crashing into a statue in front of the school.
They are then arrested for destruction of school property, assault of an officer and a host of other things. They are now faced with a choice, they can go to prison for 30 days or spend 150 hours with Sturdy Wings, which is a big brother type program.
Of course, they choose to join Sturdy Wings, which is led by recovering cocaine addict Gayle Sweeney (Jane Lynch).
Wheeler gets paired with Ronnie Shields (Bobb’e J. Thompson), the funniest and meanest little kid you’ll ever meet. Danny is paired up with Augie Farks (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, aka McLovin) who is shy kid who is obsessed with the live-action medieval game LAIRE (watch the movie to learn more about that).
Once they get paired with their “littles” as Gayle calls them, that’s where the movie really takes off and I found myself laughing through out the majority of this film.
The thing the movie really does well is what Superbad did so well, they have all this raunchy humor right up front and as the movie goes on you’re hit with its heart of gold. See that’s why these sorts of comedies work, because they don’t only have joke after joke with no story, they have a story and it turns out to be a really sweet one.
There is so much good this movie offers that I can’t really get into every single thing, but I’ll mention a few. First, Jane Lynch was funny in “The 40-year Old Virgin”, but she’s hilarious in this movie. Yes, she use to do coke and she doesn’t let you ever forget that, she’s very open about it and extremely open about almost everything else.
Paul Rudd was the perfect person to play a guy who hates life and makes fun of everything. He really does a great job in this role, even though he might be doing the same kind of acting he did in “Knocked Up”. Yet, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
Now the other thing I really liked was Ronnie and Wheeler’s relationship, the scenes where it’s just them are priceless and I’m still laughing thinking about it. I can’t really say too much about it, due to some of the material they talk about, but trust me it’s hilarious.
Ok, so there are a few things that keep this movie from getting a perfect score. First, in some places the movie seems underwritten and it also has lack of original concepts, but that’s all made up by its characters and in the long run it's a solid product. So, if you can over look those minor flaws, then you'll really enjoy it.
All and all do yourself a favor and see this movie, it’s a comedy that’s funny, has likable characters and also has a heart of gold.

B+