I vote for these, even if I didn’t get to see quite as much as I would like, but I felt pretty confident I wouldn’t change much come February when I write up my year end list.  For now this will have to hold you over till then as to where I fall, and I will say I don’t agree with most of these picks; though many are close.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE INTERNET FILM CRITIC SOCIETY ANNOUNCES 2011 AWARDS

The IFCS Releases List of Winners for the Fifth Consecutive Year, Honoring Both Big Budget Films and Independent Masterpieces

Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life Takes Top Prize

Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris Honored with Best Comedy Award 

LOS ANGELES, CA (January 1^st, 2012) – The Internet Film Critic Society announced the winners of their 5^th Annual Movie Awards, giving the top honor (Best Drama) to Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Malick also won the Best Director prize. Other awards went to Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (Best Comedy), Drive (Best Action Film), and Attack the Block (Best Horror or Science Fiction Film). George Clooney picked up the award for Best Actor for his performance in The Descendants and Rooney Mara won Best Actress for her role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

The Fifth Annual Internet Film Critic Society Awards:

Best Drama: The Tree of Life

Best Comedy: Midnight in Paris

Best Horror or Science Fiction Film: Attack the Block

Best Action Film: Drive

Best Actor: George Clooney for The Descendants

Best Actress: Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Director: Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life

Best Experimental Film: Bellflower

Most Underrated Film: Meek’s Cutoff

Worst Film of 2011: Jack and Jill

About the Internet Film Critic Society

The Internet Film Critic Society is an international association of online film critics and journalists. Our members provide expert opinions, analyses and criticisms on all forms of cinema, primarily or exclusively through online outlets. The IFCS is designed to stimulate awareness of the internet as a respectable and professional source of film critique and studies. The IFCS has given year-end awards for excellence in filmmaking annually since its founding in 2007. Additional information and previous awards can be seen at www.InternetFilmCritics.com.

CONTACT:

Allen Suzuki                                                          

The Internet Film Critic Society

Accounts Executive                                                            

Allen@InternetFilmCritics.com

Sometime within the last year my sister bought the three books that make up this trilogy.  Starting with book 1, The Hunger Games hooked me right away, and I was already tearing up 20 or so pages in because of how quickly I had attached myself to the characters.  It is an addictive read, to say the least, as the kids fight for their lives within The Hunger Games, and 3 days later I had already read the complete trilogy.  And now it is being brought to the big screen, with the first full-length trailer released today following the initial teaser.  Building the world up around the games, this trailer sure doesn’t disappoint for the fans of the novels, and should bring plenty more bodies to the seats when the film opens early next year.

• -The trailer starts with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) leaving the fenced in area of District 12 to meet Gale (Liam Hemsworth) in the forest.  They talk of running away together to live in the woods, but her response shows that there isn’t really any hope to trying to leave the forced lives they have come to know.  The greens of the hills and serenity will definitely come to contrast the next time Katniss finds herself in a wooded area.
• -Early glimpses of Katniss’s proficiency with the bow foreshadow things to come, before being interrupted by just what she was referring to when she mentioned not being able to make it five miles as an aircraft hovers about the trees.
• -On to the lottery to choose which teenagers will take their shot at the games.  Though we get a glimpse of Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) in her made up frivolity and bright colored clothes as she excitedly reads the names pulled in the lottery, the most important thing to note the way in which District 12 has been built, and the visual ways in which the nature of its relation to The Capitol is shown.  The kids are herded together by men wearing protective gear, and their downtrodden looks and dull clothing have a look that reminds me of images of concentration camps.
• -Katniss volunteers to save her sister, who was chosen as their female tribute, which is the exact moment in which I broke down in the book for the first time.  The characters had already been built so well in their reliance on each other as sisters, and Prim’s screams in this trailer as she is carried away from Katniss will probably bring tears to my eyes again.
• -The Capitol is a CGI spectacle of buildings and streets that Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) have never see before.  The dirt and run down world of their home district has nothing on the harsh lines and cleanliness of the city.
• -In the ceremonies that precede the game, we get a brief glimpse of Katniss as the “Girl on Fire” as the tributes are further introduced to the districts.  During these scenes a voiceover plays to further explain the premise of the film, and we get to see the tributes showing their skills to the judges and prepare for the games.
• -As a voice counts down, the whole world has stopped.  All eyes are on the screens set up in the districts, inner-cut with shots of those who fail to see the entertainment value as they wait to hear the fate of their loved ones.
• -And they’re off!  The Hunger Games have started, but we are left waiting for more as the emblem of the mockinjay comes burning onto the screen.  Way to build the anticipation!

So what did you guys think of the trailer?  My excitement for the film has only increased after seeing this, and as much as I questioned the casting of the boys (I thought that they should have switched roles), I am really pleased with the brief glimpses of their acting I have seen so far in their respective roles.  Plus, if anyone was afraid that Jennifer Lawrence could not bring their beloved character to life in a truthful way to the protagonist of the books, then this trailer should put their fears to rest.

Last night the ALCS game ran long on FOX due to extra innings, so neither Nate or myself got more than 8 minutes of Terra Nova’s episode recorded.  Lucky us, if FOX is still doing their “make you suffer” game of posting shows 8 days after airing, we’re gonna have to wait a while to see the rest of the episode.

To make up for this horrible act of treachery on our part by not having a write up of the episode this morning I have a gift for you all, and it comes in the awesome form of the trailer for The Avengers.  AKA Marvel’s costumed finest coming together to fight crime as a team! Yay!

Here are my highlights from the trailer:

-Loki (Tom Hiddleston) voices over some smack-talk that only a God would pull out as we witness a city street going up with explosions as cops and military forces look on / inefficiently fight back at whatever is causing the mayhem.

-Captain America (Chris Evans) has a new suit to bring him into the modern age.  It still has allusions to his past stars and stripes war garb, but the mask has more of a cowl and it looks a little less soldier-esque and more superhero costumey.  However, he still has the symbol of America down pat.

-Still don’t get to see that much of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and I am really excited to see what he brings to the mix considering all we have seen of him so far is a short glimpse in Thor.  Can he do more than just shoot a bow?  I’m hoping so, or else his recon and long distance fighting tactics and what not will be sure to get lost in the mix.  Granted Joss Whedon has a knack for making everyone special, so I still have plenty of faith.  Especially considering you don’t get an actor like Renner for a part that gets lost in the background.

-Iron Man takes to the streets in flight, and I am sure we will get plenty of moments of glory that have been saved for Spider-man when it comes to Marvel’s city life, or Evans’ other roll as the Human Torch.

-Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is back still thinking that he is a pretty awesome human being, standing up for himself as Captain America questions who he is.  These clashes in ideals, narcissism, and what not will be sure to bring about some great character moments, as well as some conflict within the team.

-Speaking of conflict within the group, why is Thor (Chris Hemsworth) about to hammer slam Captain America!?

-One of my favorite action bits from Iron Man 2 was when Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) takes down a group of men in a hallway, pepper spraying the last guy on the way out.  We get to see some more acrobatic / wrestling moves from her, but on the whole I really hope they continue to keep comedic bits in the action as well.

-After almost no footage of him within the meat of the trailer, we get to see Mark Ruffalo in another great dialog bit with Downey Jr. before he hulks out.  Is he going to be their worst-case scenario defense?  “Oh no, we’re getting beat, it’s Dumbo Drop time!”  Like Hawkeye, I can’t wait to see how he works in with the group, especially considering how uncontrollable the green guy can be when he’s angry.

Long story short:  This trailer is just what we needed to help the questions subside about whether or not this film would work.  But let’s face it, with Whedon at the helm, I am not so much scared for the possibility of disappointment so much as just completely geeking out at the moment.  So what’d you guys think?

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Now that my Best Films of 2010 article is out of the way I can focus on writing up the Oscars and focusing in on the performances and technical categories individually.  I will do a will win/should win plus throw in some thoughts on what I thought were the snubs and list my favorite performances of the year.  So without further delay let’s jump into the categories!

Best Picture
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception” – Should Win
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network” – Will Win
“Toy Story 3″
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

For what my Top 10 of the year were you can check out my list so I was just comment on the list as a whole.  They say that The King’s Speech is a lock to win and why it is a fine film there are a lot of films here that are more deserving.  Swan, Inception, Toy Story, Social Network, I would pick all of those films before Speech with 127 Hours nipping at its heals.  If Speech wins I won’t complain all that much but I think for fun I won’t pick it.  The Fighter is far and away the worse film of the bunch, finely acted but nothing interesting beyond that; and it’s shockingly considered the 3^rd runner in the pack.  If that is the case it really is a shame as there is so many more interesting films for the Academy to get behind and they seem to gravitate towards standard fare; not that surprising though.  Picking Social Network though to root for something different.

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan”
David O. Russell, “The Fighter”
Tom Hooper, “The King’s Speech”
David Fincher, “The Social Network” – Will Win
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, “True Grit”

Zac’s Should Have Been’s

Christopher Nolan, “Inception” – Should Win

Edgar Wright, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”

Mark Romanek, “Never Let Me Go”

Again, David O. Russell is getting nominated for a film I didn’t love and for work that I feel pales compared to his previous works, Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees.  So throw him out.  Christopher Nolan not being in here is just a travesty, nobody else working today could make Inception.  Nolan should be here and winning if you ask me.  Edgar Wright should also be in the mix as Scott Pilgrim is just an incredibly assembled vision that never falters in its goals, give him Hooper’s spot.  Going to throw out the Coens too as they have done better work and Mark Romanek’s vision in Never Let Me Go was haunting and will not soon be forgotten.  Fincher is grasping on to the lead here, and Hooper might swoop in if Speech sweeps, but I would have put Fincher behind Aronofsky and should have won, Nolan.

Best Actor
Javier Bardem, “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges, “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network” – Should Win
Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech” – Will Win
James Franco, “127 Hours”

Zac’s Should Have Been

Ryan Gosling, “Blue Valentine”

I really like the actors in this category and wouldn’t make much of a change. This is basically Firth’s award this year, but I think he was more deserving last year for his work in A Single Man.  I personally would have gone with Eisenberg who is just phenomenal as Mark Zuckerberg and commands the screen while trying to hide in it; remarkable work.  Bardem is great in Biutiful but has been better before.  I would replace him with Ryan Gosling who is mesmerizing as Dean in Blue Valentine.  Ryan Reynolds’ work in Buried was almost as impressive as Franco’s this past year in a similarly contained film. I would actually put Gosling’s work second to Eisenberg.  Jim Carrey was fantastic in I Love You Phillip Morris but the Academy doesn’t really like him for some reason. DiCaprio is a just miss for Inception and Shutter Island as he went to some dark places this year.

Best Actress
Annette Bening, “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman, “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan” Should and Will Win
Michelle Williams, “Blue Valentine”

Zac’s Should Have Been

Chloe Moretz, “Kick-Ass” and “Let Me In”

The big missing piece here is Chloe Moretz for her work in Kick-Ass and Let Me In.  Raw, fun, and adult material played wonderfully by a 13 year old who delivers some of the most grown up work from the calendar year.  Julianne Moore was also the more deserving of the Kids Are All Right stars if you ask me as she delivered a far more ranged and nuanced performance.  Emma Stone was also quite good in Easy A as she basically broke out to star status with the film.  Portman is going to win here, probably deservingly, but I think that Moretz, Kidman, and Moore weren’t that far behind.

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, “The Fighter” – Will and Should Win
John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner, “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo, “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush, “The Kind’s Speech”

Zac’s Should Have Been

Vincent Cassel, “Black Swan”

Bale, like Firth, is close to a lock here, but Rush could play spoiler if the Academy gets Speech crazy.  I love that John Hawkes’ Tear Drop made it into this group as he was fantastic.  Vincent Cassel’s work in Black Swan was damn good and was sadly overlooked for the ladies by just about everyone it seems.  Timberlake and Hammer were great in Social Network but I think they both fall short here.  Sam Rockwell was great, per usual, in Conviction but he seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle as he was thought to have been an early front runner here.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter, “The King’s Speech”
Melissa Leo, “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit” – Will and Should Win
Jacki Weaver, “Animal Kingdom”

Zac’s Should Have Been’s

Leslie Manville, “Another Year”

Mila Kunis, “Black Swan”

Jacki Weaver is over rated here I think, but I might have just hated her character so much that I don’t want her to win at anything.    Steinfeld is the best work in this category but she should have been in lead actress.  Leo is way over rated here for basically being mean and evil and not much else.  Carter as well is fine in Speech but I don’t know why she ended up nominated as well.  Leslie Manville was fantastic in Another Year and she, like Sally Hawkins a couple years back, seems to have gotten the shaft in a Mike Leigh film.  One or both supporting women in Black Swan should have been nominated, Kunis getting my support.  Weird category this year, just hope Leo doesn’t win over the amazing Steinfeld.

Best Adapted Screenplay
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network” – Will and Should Win
“Toy Story 3″
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

The Social Network’s script was great and Fincher took it to a next level, but without Sorkin’s ground work we wouldn’t have had the amazing film.  Toy Story 3 was a fantastic conclusion to arguably the best trilogy ever.  I think Scott Pilgrim would have been a really cool option here as well but I can’t argue to much with those choices.  Alex Garland’s work on Never Let Me Go would have been a pleasant surprise though.

Best Original Screenplay
“Another Year”
“The Fighter”
“Inception” – Should Win
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King’s Speech” – Will Win

Zac’s Should Have Been

“Cyrus”

Another really great batch of scripts here but again The Fighter doesn’t fit for me.  Cyrus by the Duplass brothers would be a good pick as it delivered some great humor and drama with a lot of heart.  Other than that, I don’t know.

Less Talk, More Picks

Best Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I”
“Inception” – Should WIn
“The King’s Speech” – Scouting gay porn sets (Google at own risk) is a bold move and probably will win.
“True Grit”

Best Cinematography
“Black Swan” – Should Win – No other film kept doing as many cool things with the camera than this.
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“The Social Network”
“True Grit” – Will Win – It’s time for Deakins to finally win and I won’t complain.

Best Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland”
“I Am Love” – Should Win – People looking sharp in this film.
“The King’s Speech” – Will Win – It’s a foreign period piece, duh
“The Tempest”
“True Grit”

Best Film Editing
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network” – Will Win

Zac’s Should Have Been

“Inception” – Should Win – Seriously? Did you guys not watch this movie?

Best Makeup
“Barney’s Version”
“The Way Back”
“The Wolfman” – Will and Should Win – The Makeup was awesome, the movie, not so much

Best Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech” – Will Win, ok with Desplat getting an Oscar for a ton of great work lately
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network” – Should Win, Reznor and Ross’ score helps elevate the film

Zac’s Should Have Been

“TRON: Legacy” – Daft Punk did some awesome work in this film

Best Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong”
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours”
“I See the Light” from “Tangled”
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3″ Will Win – Who doesn’t like Randy Newman

Best Sound Editing
“Inception” – Will and Should Win
“Toy Story 3″
“TRON Legacy”
“True Grit”
“Unstoppable”

Best Sound Mixing
“Inception” – Will Win
“The King’s Speech”
“Salt”
“The Social Network” Should Win for the club and opening scene alone
“True Grit”

Best Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I”
“Hereafter”
“Inception” – Should and Will Win, did you see the Joseph Gordon-Levitt scenes?  That hallway is burned into my brain.
“Iron Man 2″

Best Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”
“Toy Story 3″ – Will and Should Win, other two are great in their own rights though

Best Foreign Language Film (only saw two films)
“Biutiful” (Mexico) – Should Win
“Dogtooth” (Greece) – Will Win
“In a Better World” (Denmark)
“Incendies” (Canada)
“Outside the Law” (Algeria)

Best Documentary Feature (Only seen Exit)
“Exit Through the Gift Shop” Will and Should Win, its amazing
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”

Best Documentary Short
“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Comes Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”

Will update if I get to see these later today, which I have access too.

Best Short Film (Animated)
“Day & Night”
“The Gruffalo”
“Let’s Pollute”
“The Lost Thing”
“Madagascar, a Journey Diary”

Best Short Film (Live Action
“The Confession”
“The Crush”
“God of Love”
“Na Wewe”
“Wish 143″

Enjoy the show!

September!! What else do you need to know! Pre-order at Amazon now! Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-Ray!

As for details, they haven’t trickled out a whole lot yet but the Complete Saga Set will include 30 hours of extensive special features including never-before-seen deleted and alternate scenes, an exploration of the exclusive Star Wars archives, and much much more.

There will also be box sets for each individual tilogy if that is your fancy and no word yet on if the extra 3 bonus discs are exclusive to the Saga Set or not. Either way you should be picking up the Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-Ray!

You can preorder the individual trilogies by hitting the following links: Star Wars: Original Trilogy Blu-ray and Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy Blu-ray.

Check out the set’s trailer here. Press Release after the jump:

“Pre-order Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray Now!

January 6, 2011

The most anticipated Blu-ray release ever — the Star Wars Saga — emerges from light speed this September 2011. For the first time, all six of George Lucas’ epic films (Episodes I-VI) are united in one complete set. Fans worldwide are able to pre-order now with online retailers.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release Star Wars in three distinct sets to meet the needs of every Star Wars fan:

• Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray (9-disc Set includes all six films)
• Star Wars: Prequel Blu-ray Trilogy (3-disc set includes Episodes I-III)
• Star Wars: Original Blu-ray Trilogy (3-disc set includes Episodes IV-VI)

Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray will feature all six live-action Star Wars feature films utilizing the highest possible picture and audio presentation, along with three additional discs and more than 30 hours of extensive special features including never-before-seen deleted and alternate scenes, an exploration of the exclusive Star Wars archives, and much more.

Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray will be available for $139.99 US/$179.99 CAN and the Star Wars: Trilogy Sets for $69.99 US/89.99 CAN. Pricing for each set will vary by international territory.

Flanked by a legion of his finest Imperial stormtroopers, Darth Vader himself joined Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment President Mike Dunn at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to announce the release, vowing “The forces of the Empire will be at your disposal to assure the success of this endeavor.”

“The Star Wars Saga is the most anticipated Blu-ray collection since the launch of the high-def format,” Dunn said. “The epic franchise pioneered sound and visual presentation in theaters and is perfectly suited to do it again in the home, with a viewing experience only possible with Blu-ray.”

“With all six episodes available for the first time in one collection, this is a great way for families and home audiences to experience the complete Saga from start to finish,” said Doug Yates, Vice President of Marketing, Online, Distribution, Lucasfilm Ltd. “And with the quality of high-definition, Blu-ray provides the most immersive home experience possible.”

“The Star Wars franchise has been the most anticipated Blu-ray release by Amazon’s customers,” said Bill Carr, Vice President of Music and Video at Amazon.com. “We think that Star Wars will be incredibly popular with our customers, and we expect pre-orders to be very strong.”

Pre-order Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray and the Star Wars: Trilogy Sets at Amazon.com today!”

This is a critics circle that I contribute to and they have posted their year end list of winners.

Check out the results at the Internet Film Critics Society site.

Well you can stop looking and start waiting as I do not post it until the week of the Oscars. If you have been reading my lists for the last few years you know why, if not, this strategy allows me to see a lot more movies to consider in my list.

Movies like Rabbit Hole, Made in Dagenham, Another Year, Casino Jack, Enter the Void, Carlos, a ton of documentaries, The Illusionist, and some foreign language titles have not been made available to me. I don’t feel a list is very authoritative having not seen some of these widely praised films.

So hold tight and celebrate the official close of the 2010 film year with my Best of… list in February!

Until then I will start banging out 2011 titles as they hit cinemas as well as review as many of my catch up 2010′s as well.

So I have already been excited for the upcoming film adaptation of The Tempest for a while now for more than a decent amount of reasons.  Let’s just go down the list.  1 – Say what you will about Shakespeare re-appropriating stories and using crazy language that needs Sparknotes’ No Fear Shakespeare section to understand, that man is ridiculously awesome.  Not relevant enough for you though?  2 – Julie Taymor is directing.  Most probably know her for Across the Universe, but this isn’t her first time with Shakespeare based films.  Oh, but you care about actors?  Fine:  3 – This film stars Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, Alan Cumming, Russell Brand, and Helen Mirren as magic man (or woman, as the case may be) Prospera.  HELEN MIRREN!  (Sorry, but after seeing RED I am having trouble not getting overly excited for her).  So that compilation of facts was enough to get me on the bandwagon, and today things got even better when I saw the poster.  So awesome!

So Cartoon Network has animated a brief prequel segment for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World which goes into Scott and Kim’s high school romance. The animation is pretty simple but captures Bryan Lee O’Malley’s panels almost frame for frame as you can find this segment in the beginning of Vol. 2.

This scene was probably one of my favorites in the books and one I sorely missed in the film. Now we have it here though and this kind of makes me wish they would do this to the whole series! Come on Universal!

Check it out and get pumped! Only a week away now! After the jump to save annoyance.