IT’S 2006 ALL OVER AGAIN! What I mean by that is that Revenge of the Sith got robbed of a Best Visual FX nomination that year, and this time around, Transformers got robbed of the Academy Award by freakin’ The Golden Compass...whose effects looked like nothing that we hadn’t already seen in other fantasy flicks such as The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. And Transformers also went empty-handed in the Sound Design and Editing categories as well. Darn you, Academy. And I’m also peeved that There Will Be Blood didn’t win the top award...since that’s the only Best Picture nominee I saw, haha. Here’s hoping Transformers 2 makes up for this outrage. Of course, if you hate Michael Bay and his latest film, then this was a very good night for you. Darn you too.


UPDATE (February 25): Last night's ceremony got horrible TV ratings, according to Nielsen. Take THAT, Academy.

UPDATE #2 (February 25): The Calendar section in today's Los Angeles Times newspaper mentions how The Bourne Ultimatum is the one film (actually seen by a mass audience) that won three Oscars...trailing only the four that was won by No Country for Old Men. Thanks for rubbing it in. Transformers could've won at least two with Visual Effects and Sound Design. Friggin' Oscars.

Also, how ironic that The Bourne Ultimatum won Best Film Editing...when the fast-paced cuts that helped it win the award is the one thing that most critics attack Michael Bay for. That's hypocrisy for ya.

IRON MAN... ScreenRant.com revealed this cool new poster from the upcoming film that was given out at the WonderCon expo in San Francisco. It features all three armors--Mark I, II and III—that scientist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) wears in the movie. Pretty awesome. Also... I’m almost a month late, but here are screencaptures from the 30-second spot that was aired during this year’s Super Bowl:




Images courtesy of Marvel Characters, Inc. / Paramount

What if HALO became a movie... A totally awesome video clip. Also, this is a good example of why Steve Jablonsky's music from Transformers kicks ass. Particularly the "Skorponok" theme.

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS... Just found out through ComingSoon.net that George Lucas will release the feature film version of the long-awaited television series in North American theaters on August 15. The movie, along with the TV show, take place in the time period between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Unlike the 6 live-action Star Wars films, however, The Clone Wars will be distributed at the cinema by Warner Brothers, and not Twentieth Century Fox. The TV show itself will premiere on the Cartoon Network [which aired 25 "minisodes" of The Clone Wars (hand-drawn) animated series from 2003 to 2005...before Revenge of the Sith came out in theaters], and then followed by airings on TNT.

Of course, unlike the Star Wars prequels, I don’t intend on looking up spoilers for the film and TV show...since they take place during events already conveyed in Episodes' II and III. That, and they’re animated. A CGI version of Padme will not look as sexy as the live-action Padme. Though the CGI version could possibly act better than Natalie Portman did in the prequels. Just kidding. You’re hot, Natalie.


All images courtesy of Lucasfilm Animation