It's Groundhog Day!

A quote from 'Groundhog Day', one of my favourite films.

(Lines shamelessly taken from the IMDB...)


First D.J.: Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.
Second D.J.: It's coooold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach?
First D.J.: Not hardly. And you know, you can expect hazardous travel later today with that, you know, that, uh, that blizzard thing.
Second D.J.: [mockingly] That blizzard - thing. That blizzard - thing. Oh, well, here's the report! The National Weather Service is calling for a "big blizzard thing!"
First D.J.: Yessss, they are. But you know, there's another reason why today is especially exciting.
Second D.J.: Especially cold!
First D.J.: Especially cold, okay, but the big question on everybody's lips...
Second D.J.: - On their chapped lips...
First D.J.: - On their chapped lips, right: Do ya think Phil is gonna come out and see his shadow?
Second D.J.: Punxsutawney Phil!
First D.J.: Thats right, woodchuck-chuckers - it's
[in unison]
First D.J.: GROUNDHOG DAY!
Second D.J.: GROUNDHOG DAY!

So it is actually Groundhog Day today (yes, it is a real festivity!) and news just in says that Phil the Groundhog saw his shadow, which for the uninitiated, sadly means six more weeks of winter!
However with all the snow that hit the UK today, you would never guess that there would be MORE snow out there, this event being such a news worthy event on Yahoo.com that it even surpassed a story on Bruce Springsteen 'croching' a cameraman at the Superbowl!

The entire UK was shut down today due to this 'blizzard type thing' and it meant that I worked from home. Which was nice, but to be honest I kept thinking about 'Groundhog Day'. In fact, I think this is actually the first February 2nd in which I have experienced heavy snow...

Moreover it makes me wonder if I will be re-living the same day over again tomorrow. Tune in this time tomorrow to find out!

Otherwise I might end up looking something like this...

Oscar Nominations - A Curious Case of Forrest Gump

At 13:30 GMT, the 2009 Oscar nominations were finally announced. AMPAS President Sid Ganis and his co-host Forest Whitaker finally named the nominees, each of whom are hoping to prove victorious in precisely a months' time.

Was this going to be the year where the unthinkable happened? Could popular outsiders such as 'WALL-E' or 'The Dark Knight' be named as nominees for 'Best Picture'? Could Benicio Del Toro be named as 'Best Actor' for Soderbergh's epic 'Che' and could Mike Leigh's 'Happy-Go-Lucky' continue to dazzle American audiences despite pulling a big fat 'zero' nominations at BAFTA?

Everyone (well Ok, a couple...) had their collective breaths held and waited for the shock nomination, the feel-good story of the year, the year that changed the face of the Academy... and it never happened.

The nominations came and it was the selection equivlent of 'painting by numbers'.

Yes folks, once again the Academy voters prove that they are incapable of selecting films that are anything but 'prestige pictures'. The type of film that screams out like an attention seeking brat. Pictures like 'Benjamin Button', 'The Reader' and 'Frost/Nixon' are always going to get in simply because of the fact that they were all released in December and it is a fact universally acknowledged that most Academy voters have short-term memory!

The bulk of the nominations went to David Fincher's fantasy fable, 'Button' which features Brad Pitt as the eponoymous hero, as a man who ages through life backwards. Earning a (quite frankly) ludicrous 13 Academy Award nominations, it looks like 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', will be the film to beat, but I am struggling to see why it earned so many... If I am honest, I think it will have a hard time winning even a couple on the night. With the film even being a far cry from competing with its spiritual predecessor 'Forrest Gump'. In fact, in a rather odd coincidence, Gump also received 13 Oscar nods in every single category that 'Button' also received, with the exceptions of 'Best Supporting Actress' and 'Best Costume Design'. Instead 'Gump' was nominated for 'Best Supporting Actor' and 'Best Sound Editing'. If ever there was a sign that the Academy is immune to change, this is it!

Then there were the nominees that should have been, including Christopher Nolan for direction on 'The Dark Knight'.
Nolan's film was THE most impressive blockbuster that I have ever seen and in my opinion was a far better effort at directing than Daldry's restrained touch on 'The Reader'.
Perhaps my favourite film of these Oscar nominations has been Darren Aronofsky's heartbreaking 'The Wrestler' and as expected it was shunned by the Academy on all but 'Best Actor' and 'Best Supporting Actress'.
It was expected that Bruce Springsteen would get a nod for fantastic original song on the soundtrack, but even he was shunned in place of two 'Slumdog Millionaire' tracks. Great going Academy! You change the rules for eligibility and end up shooting yourself in the foot!

Which brings me to 'Slumdog', the little 'indie that could'. Boyle's film is fun, but certainly not the 'Best Picture' and I honestly can't see the Academy giving the film award of the year to an Indian/ United Kingdom co-production. However I would love to be proved wrong!

Despite all my irritation at boring nominations, there were some welcome (surprise) nominations including Michael Shannon's scene stealing turn in 'Revolutionary Road' (The only actor in the entire film I actually enjoyed watching...), Richard Jenkins' fine portrayal of a good Samaritan professor in the underrated 'The Visitor' and finally the original screenplay nod for Martin McDonagh's superb 'In Bruges' which I still rate as one of my favourites in 2008.

So the results will be announced on February 22nd and I fully the press to hype the event to high Heaven.
They will be talking about what Kate Winslet will (literally) cry out when she wins her Oscar or how people will react when Heath Ledger wins the award and if Slumdog can prove to overcome the odds. Quite frankly after months of hearing nothing but endless P.R. for this set of nominations, I would be quite happy for them to announce the winners now and be over with it!

But I suppose I am being cynical. After all, i'm still bitter that 'WALL-E' wasn't given a 'Best Picture' nomination! ;)

Tom Waits to tour the UK?

It seems that Mr. Tom Waits may be flying over to the UK for only his second series of gigs since 2003 in nearly 20 years! It seems that Waits has a new album coming out and is going to be travelling across Europe playing in a number of venues including some tents in Dublin! How incredible would it be to get a ticket for that show?
Anyways whilst the dates have still not been confirmed, there is a rather ingenious video of a 'press-conference' that Waits held in recognition of announcing his tour dates!
Check it out...

New Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull trailer!

Just a mere 19 days until the brand new Indiana Jones movie hits cinemas and the buzz is finally beginning to hit me. Part of the festivities in conjunction with the release of the film include the original trilogy being shown on the BBC, Empire Online having an entire month devoted to all things Indy and even the numerous Sunday papers have been getting into the act with supplements devoted to the upcoming film.
Although I have some concerns that the film might be up there with the 'God-awful' Star Wars prequels, I have some hope that this one will be good. Firstly Harrison Ford is back (and looking pretty active for his age), there is a score from John Williams (which advance reviews say is great), Karen Allen finally returns as Marion, Cate Blanchett is looking great as a Soviet agent and finally Spielberg is there to prevent Lucas from going wild and putting in too many CGI creatures.
Not convinced? Take a look for yourselves at the brand new trailer which hit the net just a few short hours ago!

Wesley Snipes = Bad Man

So everyone's favorite faded action star is now a jailbird!
Yes, Wesley Snipes was recently convicted of three misdemeanors and sentenced to a rather harsh three years imprisonment. (You know that things are particularly grim when even character references by morally upright friends including Denzel Washington and Woody Harrelson can't even save you.)
Snipes had also been charged with a more serious charge of tax evasion, but those five counts were dropped and the three misdemeanors remained. Which, at the end of the day still results in three years for 'petty crimes'. Harsh!
Still, there is a certain part of me that wonders whether the judge gave him the prison time as a result of his recent movies.
There was of course his memorable turn as Lucky in 'Hard Luck'. (ha,ha... geddit?) Didn't see that one? Oh well, then there was also his moving turn as hitman turned target in 'The Contractor'...
I guess what i'm trying to say is, I feel sorry for Snipes. After all he provided us with some memorable turns in 'New Jack City', 'Demolition Man' and even the rather pointless 'US Marshals'. The man deserves better than a three year prison sentence and part of me wonders whether he was a suitable star to be made an example of, owing to his straight to video schlock. (Let's face it, Tom Cruise would never be jailed for a similar offense because his films are just too profitable.) And although he is probably only going to serve a short time of his sentence, a part of me will miss his crummy films with only Van Damme and Seagal left to fill the void.
Godspeed Wesley Snipes. Hope that you get out soon!