The Hot Blog

I do know that nobody cares about this so-called embargo except the high and mighty D-Po himself.

Is there ever a holiday from Oscar talk? C'mon, I'm sure you're about to publish "65 Weeks to Oscar," highlighting frontrunners "Hairspray" (the "Dreamgirls" of 2007!) and "Charlie Wilson's War."

If the race goes as you predict, DP, it will be a very boring year for me. I have to hold out faith, though, that you don't know everything. :-)

Well, this settles that mystery. Iwo Jima at #2 on Poland's Guru Prediction list.

What is the status of "Goya's Ghosts" as far as US distribution?

Will we see it in 2007? Will it be a factor in our Oscar Talk this time next year?

Dreamgirls is going to need to be very good indeed, to live up to its year-long hype.

Wow. Stephen Holt needs to get Penelope Cruz off his dirty mind and start voting with his brain.

Well, Josh... it is hard for me to get away from right now... tis the season...

I hear you though... I'd rather be writing some reviews and discussing, but in spite of bucket's weird supposition, I am having conversations like, "You can discuss the film on the charts on Thursday, but not write in depth until Friday." And that's one of the saner conversations.

Why not write some reviews of some titles that you aren't embargoed on?

I'd like to see more of your reviews, too.

I think that by far the highest Mortal Lock right now is POTC:DMC for Best Visual Effects. It doesn't even have any real competition from anything. Superman? X3? Nowhere near as good. I can just assume that as it's a tech category, most of the guru's simply didn't bother to mention it.

Also, I was surprised to see Pan's Labyrinth rise to #7 on David's list. Everything I've heard has been phenomenal, but you never listed it very high until now. Any reason?

Charlotte's Web would seem like a possibility to compete for effects, assuming that it's a "visual effects" live action film and not an "animated" film under Academy rules. Recall Babe beat Apollo 13 in the category in the year of Casper, Goldeneye, and Jumanji. Also, "Eragon" and "Night At The Museum" would seem to be competitors.

I haven't seen The Fountain, but from the trailer and the reviews, it might compete, and there could be a left-field nomination like "Little Man," which is basically an effects movie.

"From the people who brought you the Academy Award nominated Little Man."

Based on the trailers, I would say that the FX in Charlotte's Web look sub-par, not as good as those in Babe. But I'm no expert.

And I kind of expect Eragon to bomb, am I alone in thinking this or is it tracking well?

My original point was basically that even though it is still somewhat debateable as to whether or not Pirates 2 will win for Visual Effects, it is absolutely 100% certain to be nominated. It not being nominated would be more of a shock than if Little Man was nominated.

As for The Fountain, while the effects are wonderful, the film isn't effects-heavy enough to be nominated, and its box office is just the nail in the coffin.

I was wondering, are the Gurus' 'locks' meant to be locks for nominations, or for wins? It's not clear to me.

By the way, everyone knows that The Fountain is Aronofky's highest-grossing film, right? Imagine if WB had actually given him a Batman movie.

Eragon looks to me like a bomb as well Jeff. The trailers make it look like the sequel to Dungeons & Dragons. There's just nothing compelling there at all. I don't think it has any name recognition outside of the fans of the books, and those are too few to make it a hit.

Plus, dragon movies just tend to flop. Dragonheart and Reign of Fire were both hugely disappointing.

I'm predicting somewhere between 50-75 mil for Eragon. I might be wrong, wouldn't be the first time, but that's what my gut is telling me.

Ok, when we start talking about the Oscar possibilities of "Little Man," it's time to move onto a new conversation. ANYTHING NEW.

Finally saw "Casino Royale" last night, by the way. And yes, Oscar talk is absurd - even though it's a better film than the last seven Best Picture winners. What a world.

I haven't seen "Little Man" (nor am I likely ever to), but it seems like the category winds up being as much about quantity of effects as it is about quality. I believe every shot of one of the two principal characters in the film is CGI composited, and that probably puts it up there with Pirates in terms of quantity of effects work.

"highlighting frontrunners "Hairspray""

I don't think even David will have that as a contender next year.

After "Phantom of the Opera" and "Dreamgirls," who knows? (No, that's not a shot).

I have no idea on Eragon but I think the popularity of the books is greater than has been assumed on the few mentions the film has received on The Hot Blog.

Everything about the film points to a disaster, Dire.

The Alex Rider books were popular too.

I saw the Eragon trailer before Happy Feet last night... was pretty well done and will manage to pull in anyone with the slightest interest in fantasy. Heck, I'd go just to see/hear Jeremy Irons (I love the fact that his voice is so expressive)! Looks a lot better than Dungeons and Dragons ever did...

Did WETA do the special effects by any chance? My friends and I thought it looked awefully Lord-of-the -Ringsy in the preview (animals, scenery etc).

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: