83rd ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS... Glad to see that Inception got major props (except for Best Director...sorry Christopher Nolan) this year, though with 12 Oscar nominations, methinks that The King’s Speech will win Best Picture next month. Nope— I never saw that film. In the wake of him preparing to don the Bat cowl once more for The Dark Knight Rises when it begins filming later this spring, it would be cool to see Christian Bale win for Best Supporting Actor. But with Geoffrey Rush of The King’s Speech up for nomination in the same category, that probably won’t be the case (despite the fact Bale won the trophy at the Golden Globe Awards almost two weeks ago). I hope Natalie Portman will win her first Oscar for her performance in Black Swan. No, I didn’t see that film either. I’m simply rooting for Queen Amidala to have a great awards season, haha. Props to Jeff Bridges and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld in getting nominations for True Grit. Great movie... The ending could’ve been better though.



I'm surprised to see that five movies (Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter 7, Hereafter, Inception and Iron Man 2) are up for nomination in the Best Visual Effects category this year. If only this were the case at the Oscars in 2006 (which, like every other year before this one, had only 3 flicks up for Visual FX nomination)... Maybe then, Revenge of the Sith would've been considered for the coveted special effects prize that year. Though this wouldn’t have prevented the first Transformers movie from being robbed of the Best Visual FX trophy in 2008 (The Golden Freakin’ Compass won it). Oh well. I think Inception will win the award. If not—then Iron Man 2. Too bad Jon Favreau won’t direct Iron Man 3... That is all.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, Part 2... I didn’t want to upstage yesterday’s news about Anne Hathaway being cast in The Dark Knight Rises, so I just thought that I’d post a separate journal entry about Inception's Tom Hardy officially playing Bane in next year’s Bat flick. While it’s too bad that he won’t play the Black Mask as mentioned in an earlier Blog, I see a lot of possibilities plot-wise in how Bane could be portrayed in Batman 3. In fact, I myself speculated about how Christopher Nolan could approach this villain back in summer of 2008. Even a recent Entertainment Weekly article had the same ideas that I did...with the proposal that Bane become the new head of the League of Shadows (which was led by Liam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul before he bit the dust in Batman Begins) in Batman 3. What’s missing from this scenario is Talia al Ghul (with Minka Kelly playing her, haha) being at Bane’s side as he wreaks havoc on Gotham City. Also missing, of course, from the characters that will show up in The Dark Knight Rises is Azrael himself. Oh well. What are the chances that Nolan will make up for this omission by having Bruce Wayne don armor that will come close to resembling the blue and gold mechanical suit that Jean-Paul Valley uses to defeat Bane at the conclusion of 1993's Knightfall comic book series? I hope the chances are good.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, Part 1... I just read online that Anne Hathaway has officially been cast as Catwoman in next year’s Batman flick. Niiiice. Considering that Christopher Nolan was able to turn the Joker into an Oscar-winning role for the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, I have absolutely no doubt that Nolan has great things in store for Selina Kyle and her feline alter-ego in The Dark Knight Rises. Of course, I’m still hoping that the Black Mask will appear in Nolan’s third Bat flick. That is all.

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES... Check out the newest trailer to this March's alien invasion film (starring Aaron Eckhart, Bridget Moynahan, Michelle Rodriguez and others) below. All I can say is, I AM STOKED to watch Battle: Los Angeles when it comes out in theaters less than two months from now. Hopefully, the actual movie will have that trippy song ("The Sun’s Gone Dim and the Sky Turned Black" by Icelandic musician Johann Johannsson) that's been played in the background of this clip as well as the teaser trailer that made its debut in front of the film Skyline last November. I saw the newest trailer in front of The Green Hornet after I watched it at an AMC theater yesterday (I might review Hornet on this Blog. Might). That is all.



The obligatory screencaps from B:LA:

PHOTO OF THE DAY... Just thought I'd post this image after it's been taking up space on my computer desktop since September.

JUST READ ONLINE today that Natalie Portman is pregnant. Well good for her. Now where's a Polis Massan droid doctor when you need one? (Yes... That was a Star Wars reference.)

TRON: LEGACY... I saw the movie today, and as expected, the visual effects (VFX) were AMAZING. From the gladiatorial fights between Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) and the programs to the Light Cycle race on The Grid, and then the aerial dogfight between Clu (Jeff Bridges) and Sam’s father Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges again) at the climax of this film, Tron: Legacy didn’t fail to entertain. There were two issues I had with the flick, but other than that, I’ll possibly buy this on DVD when it gets released.



Tron: Legacy wasn’t short on hot gals. Despite wearing a short black wig, Olivia Wilde still looked totally stunning. Heck, even the Light Runner (shown above) her character Quorra used to rescue Sam from The Grid was pretty awesome. Beau Garrett as the ‘Siren’ known as Gem looked gorgeous. And so was Elizabeth Mathis (who was last seen wearing a Hooters outfit in the recent Tony Scott action film, Unstoppable) as another Siren. I’m assuming if this film got at least a PG-13 rating, Gem’s outfit would’ve been even hotter. But hey, this is a Disney film... This is all wishful thinking.



In terms of the issues I had with the Tron sequel, it was the opening real-world scene and the ending that I took notice with. Granted, the whole premise of both this flick and the classic 1982 original was a total exercise in suspension of disbelief (humans get zapped by a laser projector and become digitized into a video game where the computer programs are so lifelike they dance and drink at bars). While I was waiting for Sam to get zapped into the world of Tron, I felt that the shot of him finally getting hit by the digitizing laser was too abrupt. In fact, we don’t even see him getting shot by the laser. One would think that dramatic music and some cool CGI sequence (like the shot where Jake Sully's mind connects with his avatar's body for the first time in Avatar) would accompany Sam’s entry into the realm that his father created, but nope. The movie wastes no time (if you didn’t think watching Sam parachute off that ENCOM skyscraper was a waste of time... What other expedient way could he have escaped the building?) in getting to the real—RE: digital—action. And now onto the ending.



While one can rationalize that Kevin and Sam Flynn are able to re-enter the real world from The Grid because they’re originally humans, Tron: Legacy doesn’t bother to explain how Clu and his army could convert to actual living organisms if they succeeded in entering that portal. Of course, Tron doesn’t need to bother explaining this particular plot-point...because it didn’t bother explaining how Quorra could become human after she joined Sam in the real world at the end of the movie (apparently, that laser projector is so advanced that it can create body organs even for non-biological things that leave The Grid). Also, the movie didn’t bother to show Sam and Quorra actually re-emerging from the digitizing laser in the finale...but this one isn’t really a criticism. I’m not one of those moviegoers who need everything spelled out for me in a film. Okay— That’s not really true. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have typed these last two paragraphs.


(By the way, am I the only one here who noticed that Kevin Flynn suddenly impersonated Obi-Wan Kenobi—complete with the hood—the minute he showed up at The Grid? Just being facetious.)



So will I watch Tron: Legacy at the theater again? Most likely...but definitely not in IMAX (since I spent $17.50 on the ticket today. Good grief). If I can watch Avatar numerous times at the theater last Christmas, I can re-watch Tron 2. Its story wasn’t as derivative as that of the James Cameron flick, but the VFX was just as awesome. That is all.

TODAY, Tron: Legacy finally comes out in movie theaters everywhere (in the U.S., that is). Of course, I'm probably not gonna watch it till this Sunday. What I will do today, however, is finish buying Christmas gifts and The Town on DVD. That film is awesome. That is all.

TRANSFORMERS 3 Update... In case you’ve been noticing the pattern regarding my last couple of journal entries (and my Blog as a whole for the past 4 years); this month has been very significant in regards to space-related news. From the astrobiology-related discovery that microbes may potentially thrive on deadly arsenic, the successful return of the Orbital Test Vehicle to Earth and the disappointment over Akatsuki at Venus, to yesterday’s historic launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft, any space geek out there would have lots of things to talk about since the beginning of December. And now, space exploration finds itself as a major theme in next year’s summer blockbuster movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It’s apparent in the teaser trailer (and obviously the title), which was released online yesterday and can be viewed below...



The new Dark of the Moon trailer should be shown at the theaters in front of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader this Friday and Tron: Legacy on December 17. So apparently, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had 21 minutes during the Apollo 11 mission to explore a derelict spaceship on the lunar surface. Presumably, this spaceship is The Ark—the Autobots’ mothership in the comics and original 1980’s cartoon, as well as the rival vessel to the Decepticons’ Nemesis...which was seen in last year's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (during that scene where a resurrected Megatron flies out to an alien planet and reunites with Starscream and The Fallen). And the Transformer that we see at the very end of this trailer is rumored to be Alpha Trion. Even if it ain’t Trion, it sure as heck ain’t Shockwave, the main bad guy in Dark of the Moon. Hopefully, we’ll take our first glimpse of this evil one-eyed purple ‘bot in the next theatrical trailer...or at least on a TV spot during next February’s Super Bowl XLV. That’s not too much to ask for. That is all.

REST IN PEACE, LESLIE NIELSEN (1926-2010) & IRVIN KERSHNER (1923-2010)... I'll always remember how much The Naked Gun movies cracked me when I watched them when I was young. That scene where Detective Lt. Frank Drebin (humorously played by Nielsen) accidentally knocked a wheelchair-bound O.J. Simpson off a stadium ledge at the end of The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!? Hi-larious. Though it's been a while since I've seen Airplane!. I should rent it on DVD.



As for Mr. Kershner... The Empire Strikes Back will always be the best film in the Star Wars saga. Always. I also found out that he directed Robocop 2. Even more awesomeness.

These two fellas will be missed.