86th Academy Awards Analysis and Predictions: Best Actor and Best Actress

Andrew: Hello readers! Day Three of our coverage leading up to this Sunday's 86th Academy Awards is here. Yesterday we discussed the categories for Best Animated Feature, Best Song, Best Score and Best Visual Effects (which you can read HERE if you want to give those a gander), and today we'll be delving into the two big acting categories - Best Lead Actor and Best Lead Actress. 

Sarah, because of the film we just watched last night in our attempts to get caught up on Oscar films, let's kick things off with the Best Lead Actress category shall we?

Best Lead Actress

The nominees for Best Lead Actress are:

- Amy Adams, American Hustle

- Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

- Sandra Bullock, Gravity

- Judi Dench, Philomena

- Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

For a while now the consensus has been that Cate Blanchett is the easy front-runner in this category, Sarah. Last night we were finally able to see her performance as a woman having a bit of a mental breakdown following the arrest and death of her Bernie Madoff-like husband. After watching Blue Jasmine do you think she's the easy call here or does she have some true competition?

Snyder & Nolan Will Make You Believe a Man Can Fly: Our Review of "Man of Steel" (2013)

Directed By: Zack Snyder (300) 

Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction, and for some language

Run Time: 2 hours, 23 minutes

Synopsis: A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind. (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Last night Sarah and I were some of the few in a crowd of about 50 people who bought advance screening tickets through Walmart to see Zack Snyder's new Superman reboot, Man of Steel - starring Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane and a whole host of other famous actors that we'll get into during this review. This was a film that I know I was very much looking forward to ever since it was announced that Christopher Nolan would be producing and Zack Snyder would be directing.

But the interesting thing to me, and where I think the crux of this interview will come from, is that you, Sarah, told me as we were leaving the theatre that you did not know much about Superman and his story whatsoever prior to tonight!

Sarah: Yeah! I'm not very familiar with the storylines and characters of the DC Comics universe as much as I am with Marvel's. Before the Dark Knight trilogy I wasn't entirely familiar with Batman's backstory and his enemies and before this came out I was really under the impression that General Zod was his arch-nemesis throughout his entire history. And apparently I'm wrong! So yeah, I didn't know much about Superman, I didn't know much about his history and backstory, so everything in Man of Steel was very interesting for me to learn!

Man of Steel has the very clear DNA of Christopher Nolan's perfectly told origin story like we saw in Batman Begins, and I thought it was directed brilliantly by Zack Snyder. I love that it wasn't your typical origin story where you start at the beginning and move chronologically. I really liked that, because I assumed that's just how it would be. I loved that.

A: And what you mean is that Superman's backstory is told primarily through flashbacks. I mean, it starts at the beginning with the birth of Kal-El back on his home planet of Krypton, which is important because he's the first naturally born Kryptonian in hundreds of years. So that's a big part of the storyline. Then we see the destruction of Krypton, we see his parents sending him to Earth, all these things are are pretty well known to most people familiar with Superman. So I find it very interesting that this is your first exposure to all of this.

Five Reasons Why... "Man of Steel" Will Be The Highest-Grossing Movie of 2013!

Andrew: Hello readers! Zack Snyder's Man of Steel hits theatres nationwide tomorrow, and it's undoubtedly one of the most anticipated films not only of this summer, but of the year. And I, for one, believe that it will not only be the highest-grossing movie of the summer but of the year as well. When you think about it, that's a pretty bold claim, because Marvel's Iron Man 3 has already grossed a whopping $1,197,907,000 worldwide (as June 13th, 2013), making it the fifth-highest grossing movie of all-time (not adjusted for inflation.) Think about that! It's only been out for five weeks and it's already made that much cash, including an astounding $395,607,000 domestically. (Numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo)

So yeah, Superman has quite the hill to climb to catch Tony Stark's lofty perch at the box office, but I'm just crazy enough to believe that he'll be able to do it. So without further ado, here are Five Reasons Why... I Think "Man of Steel" Will Be The Highest-Grossing Movie of 2013.

1.) Christopher Nolan Is Producing & David S. Goyer Wrote The Screenplay

Nolan and Goyer is a bonafide tande, as we’ve seen with their collaboration on the Dark Knight Trilogy. No, Nolan isn’t directing the film this time, but it’s clear his fingerprints are all over this film despite insider claims that he was never really on or near the set during filming. His buddy Goyer wrote the screenplay based off a story that they both came up with, and while Zack Snyder is the director, it’s probably a safe assumption that Nolan and/or Goyer were right there with him along the entire creative process, filming and post-production in some way, shape or form. Hell, if you watch any of the trailers or TV spots for Man of Steel and they didn’t say Nolan only produced and didn’t direct, you probably wouldn’t notice the difference. When it comes to getting butts in the theatre, it doesn't hurt when you have the minds behind a trilogy that made over $2.46 billion at the box office.

Two Tickets For... Our Oscars Analysis & Predictions: Best Supporting Actor & Best Supporting Actress

Andrew: Hello readers! We're back with day three of our analysis and predictions for this Sunday's 85th Academy Awards! Yesterday we covered the two screenplay categories and BestDirector, and today we're going to dip our toes into the acting categories by discussing Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. 

Sarah, one of these categories is 100% more up in the air than the other, so let's start with the one that's more of a sure thing and get it out of the way. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are:

- Amy Adams, The Master

- Sally Field, Lincoln

- Helen Hunt, The Sessions

- Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

- Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

A: Sarah, which one is the shoo-in for the little golden man?

It's the First Full-Length Trailer for Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel!"

Andrew: Hello readers! Today is a good day for trailers. We'll be posting another here shortly to share with you, but this first one takes a little more precedence because of its sheer epicness.

If you saw The Dark Knight Rises in theatres, you probably saw one of two versions of a teaser trailer for next summer's new Superman film, Man of Steel. Today, Warner Bros. has released the first full-length trailer, and if this doesn't have Christopher Nolan's fingerprints all over it, I don't know what does. Check it out after the jump and we'll talk about it after you watch it:

Masterful Lead Performances, But Not Enough to Be a Modern Classic: Our Review of "The Master" (2012)

Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

Rating: R for sexual content, graphic nudity and language

Run Time: 2 hours, 17 minutes

Synopsis: After coming home from WWII in the Pacific, Freddie Quell (Phoenix) becomes a drifter, never quite holding on to a job and constantly staying drunk. One night he stumbles across an intellectual named Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman) who has created a faith-based organization called The Cause alongside his wife (Adams). Dodd makes Quell his right-hand man, but as The Cause grows, so does the tension between the two men.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Last night Sarah and I hit the local multiplex to see one of this year’s most anticipated dramas – The Master, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, this is his first film since 2007’s critically acclaimed There Will Be Blood, for which Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar.

This movie is getting a lot of Oscar buzz for the three leads. Phoenix plays Freddie Quell, a WWII vet who comes home from the Pacific and has no direction in life in addition to probably being crazy. Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd, the leader of a group (Religion? Cult?) called The Cause, who comes across Freddie and takes him under his wing. And Adams plays Dodd’s doting wife who is much more than she appears at first.

Sarah, this is a film I’ve been looking forward to because the three leads. I was not a big fan of There Will Be Blood (I liked No Country For Old Men way better that year) and Boogie Nights is about the only P.T. Anderson film I would consider buying. I don’t know how you felt towards seeing this, but that we have, what are your thoughts on The Master?

Eastwood's Latest Swings and Misses: Our Review of "Trouble With The Curve" (2012)

Directed By: Robert Lorenz

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman

Rating: PG-13 for language, sexual references, some thematic material and smoking

Run Time: 1 hour, 51 minutes

Synopsis: Gus Lobel (Eastwood) is a long-time scout for the Atlanta Braves whose eyesight is starting to fail, is on the verge of losing his job, and is sent to North Carolina to scout a highly-touted prospect just days before the draft. Gus's daughter, Mickey (Adams), joins her father on his scouting trip to possibly help save his job while risking hers, maybe get closer to her gruff father, and meet another scout (Timberlake) who takes a liking to her.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! We have Sarah’s mother visiting us this weekend and so to entertain her we hit up the local AMC to catch a showing of this weekend’s new baseball drama Trouble With The Curve. This is a film that we’ve seen the preview for a number of times and have been somewhat looking forward to it, mainly because it looks like it has a good cast in Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino), Amy Adams (The Fighter) and Justin Timberlake (The Social Network).

Trouble With The Curve is directorial debut of Robert Lorenz, who is Eastwood’s longtime assistant director, which makes this the first movie Eastwood has acted in that he didn’t also direct since 1993’s In The Line of Fire. So it’s been a while.

All that said, now that we’ve seen Trouble With The Curve, what did you think of it Sarah?

See Philip Seymour Hoffman as "The Master" in P.T. Anderson's New Trailer

Andrew: Hello readers! It's going to be a good day for movie trailers as not one but two trailers have hit the web today for a couple of the year's most highly-anticipated films. We'll post the other one in a little bit, but the one seen here is the latest teaser trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming film, The Master.


It's Anderson's follow-up to his highly-acclaimed There Will Be Blood, and it stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as the titlular "Master," an author who becomes the leader of his own religious group, which may or may not be a reference to L. Ron Hubbard.


Joaquin Phoenix also stars as a troubled man who becomes the right-hand man to Hoffman's character. This new trailer gives us a look at Hoffman's character, and I personally love the music. Check it out below!





The Master also stars Amy Adams and will be released by the Weinstein Co. later this year with a limited release in October.