1. 7 Quick Oscar Nom Notes

    So the Oscar nominations were revealed this morning, full list here. A few quick notes:

    1) No love for Scott Pilgrim. Not even a technical award. You’re seriously going to tell me Salt had better sound mixing? Or Hereafter had better Visual Effects? True Grit had better Sound Editing? It’s a western! The clock can’t tick fast enough for me on those old legacy voters.

    2) John Hawkes for Best Actor in a supporting role for Winter’s Bone is inspired, but Jeremy Renor in The Town? C’mon, he was fine in that role - but ultimately not a standout any more than anyone else in that film.

    3) Ditto Amy Adams for Best Supporting Actress. She did a fine job in The Fighter, but mostly her character is motivation fodder for the rest of the cast.

    4) In Achievement in Directing - swap out The Fighter for Edgar Wright’s tightly spun Scott Pilgrim or Danny Boyle’s vastly under-nominated 127 Hours, or (at minimum) Nolan’s Inception - and you would have a near perfect race.

    5) This is the first time in my 33-year life that I have seen all Best Picture nominee’s before announcements were made. That being said - Toy Story 3 has zero chance of winning and, along with The Kids Are All Right, is horribly misplaced on the list of 10.

    6) Since when is Toy Story 3 considered an “Adapted Screenplay”? Ok, ok - I get that Oscar grandfathers in all sequels as “adapted” from their preceding incarnations - but this is quite the stretch. I love me some Pixar, but TS3 is quickly becoming the Up In the Air of 2010 for me. Thank the maker cartoon characters can’t be up for any of the acting categories…

    7) In keeping with my “must see every film nominated in the major categories” creed, the only flicks I have yet to see are Biutiful, Blue Valentine, and Rabbit Hole. Expect two of those three to get watched come awards time on February 27th. (Hint: The two without the word “rabbit” in them.)

    On the plus side, this guy got nominated. Dude, hope you win!

    That’s it for me - anything I missed?

  2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The Matrix - This trailer mashup works on so many levels, it’s sickening.

  3. The RotCast Episode #84 - Scott Pilgrim -vs- Michael Cera

    Intro & News

    Review & Discussion

    • Scott Pilgrim -vs- The World

    What We Watched

    • James: Star Wars Celebration (Convention), Despicable Me, The Expendables
    • Andrea: Sound of Music, GiGi
    • Dave: Paranormal Entity, Weeds (TV S5)

    Full Runtime: 2hr 4min 26sec

    DOWNLOAD MP3 - SUBSCRIBE: iTunes / RSS

    Agree or disagree with something we said on the show? Have a movie recommendation? Want us to do a live impersonation of your choice? Send us an email at james@filmrot.com and we’ll read & discuss it on the next show! Don’t forget to include your URL if you want a plug!

    [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

  4. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Comic-to-Trailer Comparison - So the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World trailer came out last week and everyone seemed to be all wet over it. I seriously don’t get the appeal. It’s directed by Edgar Wright, whose previous work on Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz make this a must-see regardless, and Michael Cera in the lead-role doesn’t hurt, but what makes this film more anticipated than a movie like Kick-Ass? Learning that it’s based on a comic, and that judging by the trailer the film is faithful to the source explains a lot of the hype (see above comparison via Gamervision), but is it enough to justify the online word-of-mouth viral spread the film is receiving? What am I missing here?

    [via thedailywhat]