Out On Video & Oscar News

Happy birthday to Jeremy Renner!
His Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunter in 3D will be opening January 25 and I am very much looking forward to it (for more, please scroll down at this link for discussion on the trailers); before then I plan (and we all know how well my plans turn out) to analyze the original Hansel and Gretel fairy tale; doing that with Snow White was, I felt very fruitful before seeing Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman. Opening this weekend is Gangster Squad, the critically celebrated Zero Dark Thirty (now controversial because of suspicion that director Kathryn Bigelow had access to classified documents and some supposed "glorification" of torture) and the "mocking of white people" A Haunted House, which complies numerous sequences from horror films, adds a big dose of raunchy, and calls it comedy. There is a point in how black Americans and white Americans prefer to view their films: blacks seem to prefer to comedy genre in film to analyze their problems, whereas whites seem to prefer the horror genre.  

Elisabeth Shue and Jennifer Lawrence in House At the End of the Street.

Out on video this week are several important films you might want to catch: Dredd (my review 96% Unemployment: Dredd & the Socialist State), House At the End Of the Street (my review Everything Is a Secret: House At the End Of the Street) as well as three films I haven't had a chance to see, Compliance (about a prank phone call at a fast food restaurant which gets out of control), Tim Burton's Frankenweenie and Bradley Cooper's Hit and Run. The reason to see Frankenweenie (which was out of theaters pretty quick because it only opened at $10 million) is because it has received critical notice and will probably be an Oscar nominee for Best Animated Feature, which brings us to the news of the week,...

Due to a plethora of problems with on-line voting, the Academy extended the voting period and it appears there won't be any short lists announcements, instead, this Thursday, bright and early, the Oscar nominees for the February 24 awards ceremony will be announced. Revving up to that announcement, the Producers' Guild has announced its nominees for Best Picture:
Argo
Beasts Of the Southern Wind
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Skyfall
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

It's interesting because it seems like The Hobbit is missing from this list even though it was appearing on earlier lists before it was released...? Their nominees for Best Animated Feature of the Year are:
Brave
Frankenweenie
Paranoman
Rise Of the Guardians
Wreck It Ralph

I am sorry for the long silence; as you have probably guessed, I have been sick, again. Thank you for your patience!
Eat Your Art Out,
The Fine Art Diner