Mini Review: "Love and Other Drugs"

A brilliantly understated performance from Anne Hathaway combined with a surprisingly strong supporting Jake Gyllenhall and a great role from Oliver Platt lift this one above typical rom-com fare into a wonderfully engrossing film.

A

Mini Review: "Let Me In"

While Matt Reeves' remake of the Swedish classic "Let The Right One In" is creepy enough and packs a wonderful performance from Chloe Moretz, it tells the story in a less beautiful and engrossing manner.

Think of it as flying to a destination in an experimental aircraft and the Concorde...sure both get you there, but one is so much more elegant than the other.

C+

83rd Annual Academy Awards Nominees

Here are my picks, there are still a couple films I have to review (mainly in the short film category), but I'm proud to say I've seen everything in the "big 6" categories. My picks are in bold.

Best Motion Picture of the Year

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King's Speech

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter's Bone

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem for Biutiful

Jeff Bridges for True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network

Colin Firth for The King's Speech

James Franco for 127 Hours

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right

Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone

Natalie Portman for Black Swan

Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale for The Fighter

John Hawkes for Winter's Bone

Jeremy Renner for The Town

Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams for The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech

Melissa Leo for The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit

Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom

Best Achievement in Directing

Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for True Grit

David Fincher for The Social Network

Tom Hooper for The King's Speech

David O. Russell for The Fighter

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Another Year: Mike Leigh

The Fighter : Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson

Inception: Christopher Nolan

The Kids Are All Right: Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg

The King's Speech: David Seidler

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

127 Hours: Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy

Toy Story 3: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich

True Grit: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Winter's Bone: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Biutiful: Alejandro González Iñárritu(Mexico)

Dogtooth: Giorgos Lanthimos(Greece)

In a Better World: Susanne Bier(Denmark)

Incendies: Denis Villeneuve(Canada)

Outside the Law: Rachid Bouchareb(Algeria)

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Black Swan: Matthew Libatique

Inception: Wally Pfister

The King's Speech: Danny Cohen

The Social Network: Jeff Cronenweth

True Grit: Roger Deakins

Best Achievement in Editing

127 Hours: Jon Harris

Black Swan: Andrew Weisblum

The Fighter: Pamela Martin

The King's Speech: Tariq Anwar

The Social Network: Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

Best Achievement in Art Direction

Alice in Wonderland: Stefan Dechant

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1: Andrew Ackland-Snow

Inception: Guy Hendrix Dyas

The King's Speech: Netty Chapman

True Grit: Stefan Dechant

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Alice in Wonderland: Colleen Atwood

I Am Love: Antonella Cannarozzi

The King's Speech: Jenny Beavan

The Tempest: Sandy Powell

True Grit: Mary Zophres

Best Achievement in Makeup

Barney's Version

The Way Back

The Wolfman

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

127 Hours: A.R. Rahman

How to Train Your Dragon: John Powell

Inception: Hans Zimmer

The King's Speech: Alexandre Desplat

The Social Network: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

127 Hours: A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong, Dido("If I Rise")

Country Strong: Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges("Coming Home")

Tangled: Alan Menken, Glenn Slater("I See the Light")

Toy Story 3: Randy Newman("We Belong Together")

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Inception

The King's Speech

Salt

The Social Network

True Grit

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Inception

Toy Story 3

TRON: Legacy

True Grit

Unstoppable

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Hereafter

Inception

Iron Man 2

Best Documentary, Features

Exit Through the Gift Shop: Banksy

GasLand: Josh Fox

Inside Job: Charles Ferguson

Restrepo: Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger

Waste Land: Lucy Walker

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

Killing in the Name

Poster Girl

Strangers No More

Sun Come Up

The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Short Film, Animated

Day & Night

The Gruffalo (TV)

Let's Pollute

The Lost Thing

Madagascar, a Journey Diary

Best Short Film, Live Action

The Confession

The Crush

God of Love

Na Wewe

Wish 143

2010 Razzie Nominations

The official list for the worst of the year, my picks are in bold.

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Worst Picture

The Bounty Hunter

The Last Airbender

Sex & The City 2

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Vampires Suck

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Worst Actor

Jack Black (Gulliver’s Travels)

Gerard Butler (The Bounty Hunter)

Ashton Kutcher (Killers and Valentine’s Day)

Taylor Lautner (Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Valentine’s Day)

Robert Pattinson (Remember Me and Twilight Saga: Eclipse)

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Worst Actress

Jennifer Aniston (The Bounty Hunter and The Switch)

Miley Cyrus (The Last Song)

The Four “Gal Pals” (Sex & The City 2)

Megan Fox (Jonah Hex)

Kristen Stewart (Twilight Saga: Eclipse)

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Worst Supporting Actor

Billy Ray Cyrus (The Spy Next Door)

George Lopez (Marmaduke, The Spy Next Door and Valentine’s Day)

Dev Patel (The Last Airbender)

Jackson Rathbone (The Last Airbender and Twilight Saga: Eclipse)

Rob Schneider (Grown Ups)

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Worst Supporting Actress

Jessica Alba (The Killer Inside Me, Little Fockers, Machete and Valentine’s Day)

Cher (Burlesque)

Liza Minnelli (Sex & The City 2)

Nicola Peltz (The Last Airbender )

Barbra Streisand (Little Fockers)

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Wors Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3-D (Special category for 2010!)

Cats & Dogs #2: Revenge of Kitty Galore

Clash of The Titans

The Last Airbender

Nutcracker 3-D

Saw 3-D (aka Saw VII)

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Worst Screen Couple / Worst Screen Ensemble

Jennifer Aniston & Gerard Butler, (The Bounty Hunter)

Josh Brolin’s Face & Megan Fox’s Accent, (Jonah Hex)

The Entire Cast of The Last Airbender

The Entire Cast of Sex & The City 2

The Entire Cast of Twilight Saga: Eclipse

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Worst Director

Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer (Vampires Suck)

Michael Patrick King (Sex & The City 2)

M. Night Shyamalan (The Last Airbender)

David Slade (Twilight Saga: Eclipse)

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Worst Screenplay

The Last Airbender (Written by M. Night Shyamalan, based on the TV series created by Michael Dante Dimartino and Brian Konietzko)

Little Fockers (Written by John Hamburg and Larry Stuckey, based on characters created by Greg Glenna & Mary Roth Clarke)

Sex & The City 2 (Written by Michael Patrick King, based on the TV series created by Darren Star)

Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer )

Vampires Suck (Written by Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer)

The 31st Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominees for 2010 Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel

Clash of The Titans

The Last Airbender

Sex & The City 2

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Vampires Suck

Mini Review: "I Spit On Your Grave"

This little noticed (and released) remake of the controversial 1978 cult classic features the same storyline (attractive female writer goes into the woods to write, becomes the victim of a vicious gang rape) tones down the attack on her (which isnt entirely a bad thing), but increases the "ick" factor on her vengeance.

Surprisingly good

B

Whats coming?

Good question readers! Well, things are going to be slowing down a bit with only two reviews coming in the next few days. Once the Oscar noms come out next week (25th), we'll be busy reviewing the field of candidates to make informed choices on this end, thus limiting review writing time.

Reviews coming are:

Let Me In, and the remake of the controversial I Spit On Your Grave.

Stay tuned!

Mini Review: "Paranormal Activity 2"

Not so much a prequel or sequel as it is the rest of the story, both before and after, Paranormal Activity 2 manages to be every bit as creepy as its predecessor....and then some.

B+

Mini Review: "Saw VII"

Also known as Saw 3D, this (hopefully) final entry to the series brings things full circle and shows how silly the entire concept was to begin with.

D

Mini Review: "Conviction"

A shamelessly manipulative true story (glosses over many of the facts of not only her life but the events following her brothers release) is propped up by two brilliant performances from Hillary Swank and especially Sam Rockwell.

A+

Mini Review: "The Horde"

In France, a group of obnoxious cops and obnoxious gangsters join forces when zombies suddenly appear.

D

Coming Soon to this Ace38 station

Are reviews of:

"The Horde"

"Saw VII" (aka "Saw3d")

"Paranormal Activity 2"

"Conviction"

Also will be the annual picks in the Oscars, the Razzies and the joblo.com Golden Schmoes, the annual Oscars blog AND the continued updating of the top film picks for this year.

Mini Review: "Tomorrow, When the War Began"

A 2010 Australian film based on a series of books very popular down under, which appears to at least be influenced by "Red Dawn", this poorly acted and (even by movie standards) somewhat hard to believe film somehow holds it all together to make a partially intriguing film.

C

Mini Review: "And Soon The Darkness"

The only highlight to this thrill-less thriller will be the lovely Amber Heard and Odette Yustman's sunbathing scene.

D-

Mini Review: "You Again"

1, then 2, then 3 generations of women find theyre suddenly related when the youngest daughters high school tormentor is to be her brother's bride.

Yup, it sucked.

D

Mini Review: "127 Hours"

Taken from the true story of Aron Ralston, this Danny Boyle production proves that everyone can stumble occasionally. We're working on our "rifftrax" submission now.

D

Movie Review: "True Grit"

True Grit, 2010: Starring Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin. Running time 110 minutes. Rated PG-13. Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.

Remaking a film is always a risky proposition, but remaking a classic is tougher and even harder when you consider that its the film that won another Hollywood legend his only Oscar. The Coen brothers, however, have the credentials needed and packed not only a tightly reworked script but a stellar cast into the prototype on how to successfully remake a film.

Plotline is this: A 14 year old girl (Steinfeld) arrives in Ft. Smith, AR. to tend to the final affairs of her murdered father. Unknown to her family though, she has other business in mind....revenge. After some questioning she turns to, and finally convinces, US Marshall "Rooster" Cogburn (Bridges) to hunt down the murderer (Brolin). Reluctantly joining forces with a Texas Ranger (Damon) who is after the same man, the three set out on a journey that will define their very existances.

Acting is literally nothing short of brilliant. Bridges does "The Duke" proud with his crotchety, hard drinking, rough edged interpretation of Cogburn. Matt Damon gives us a very rich LaBoeuf and Josh Brolin, sadly, doesnt get a very full character with Tom Chaney, but he does make good with what little time he has. The high point of the film is newcomer Steinfeld as young Mattie Ross. With her first major role she knocks it out of the park, and given the sheer cinematic talent she worked with, this young girl will be one to keep an eye on as possibly the Natalie Portman of her generation.

Direction is solid, as you'd expect from Joel and Ethan, creating interesting new angles and visions of a usually generic genre.

As I'm not much of a fan of westerns, they usually don't get much attention from me, however having seen the original and enjoying it, the changes in this one (and you'll have to remember the original well to see them) make it one of the finest films (and without doubt the best remake) in quite some time.

A+