First Poster Released for "The Dark Knight Rises"

Christopher Nolan is just amazing. The first poster for "The Dark Knight Rises" has just come out, and it's already too much for me. I can't wait for this movie and the depth and symbolism of the poster are just awesome. Batman as a symbol of hope? Gotham City crumbling? A Knight who must rise from the depths? Who knows. Nolan always keeps things close to the chest, and this time should be no different. A teaser will be attached to the new "Harry Potter" but don't expect to see much footage. Ugh, I already can't fucking wait for this movie.

Some Academy Awards Thoughts and Predictions...(in case you were wondering)

Ah the Academy Awards. Everyone has a prediction, and while I don't claim to be an expert, here are some predictions for the big night.

Best Picture



Nominees: "The King's Speech," "True Grit," "Inception," "The Social Network," "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "The Kids Are All Right," "Toy Story 3," "127 Hours," "Winter's Bone"

Breakdown: It's really hard to argue against any of these nominees, but it's clearly a two-horse race right now between "The King's Speech" and "The Social Network," although it wouldn't be a major surprise at all to see box-office favorite "True Grit" pick up the award.

Who Should Win: "The Social Network" There's just something about this movie that I can't shake. David Fincher's directing, Aaron Sorkin's writing, Trent Reznor's score, the acting of Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake all combine together to create what in my opinion is the best all around movie of the year. While some people have called the film "The Facebook Movie," it's really about much more than just the website, and it says a lot about culture and the generation we live in now.

Who Will Win: "The King's Speech" At the beginning of awards season it looked as if "The Social Network" could not be stopped. It seemingly was winning every critics award imaginable and was starting to have the feel of an Oscar lock. But the race got interesting late in the game as "The King's Speech" started to rack up awards and after winning the award for director Tom Hooper from the DGA, the historical drama looks to be the front runner.

Snubs: "The Town," While I think "Winter's Bone" is completely deserving a nomination in this category, Ben Affleck's Boston crime drama easily could have slid in to (what was most likely) the tenth slot.

Best Director



David Fincher ("The Social Network"), Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech"), Darren Aronofsky, ("Black Swan"), David O. Russell ("The Fighter"), Joel and Ethan Coen ("True Grit")

Breakdown: It's truly hard to argue with any of the five nominations in this category, but it's a two horse race again with Fincher and Hooper. Both films, "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech," have gotten high praise everywhere, and if one of these two didn't win the award I would be surprised. While the Coen's have past pedigree in the category, I think it's between Hooper and Fincher.

Who Should Win: David Fincher has directed some truly great films in the past, including "Seven," "Fight Club," and "Zodiac," and I think he made the best picture of the year in "The Social Network." It should be his award.

Who Will Win: Fincher has it. His film and his work on it have earned widespread praise and although Hooper won the DGA Award (making him sort of a frontrunner) I still think Fincher will pull away with it.

Snubs: Christopher Nolan! "Inception," In one of the most glaring snubs in recent memory, Nolan was shut out of this category again (after another snub for "The Dark Knight). Conspiracy theories are abound, but I think the reason is because some voters maybe just didn't understand "Inception" (which means they are dumb), but whatever the reason he deserves to be miffed. Hopefully with "The Dark Knight Rises" Nolan will get his due.

Best Actor



Colin Firth ("The King's Speech"), Jeff Bridges ("True Grit"), Jesse Eisenberg ("The Social Network"), James Franco ("127 Hours"), Javier Bardem ("Biutiful")

Breakdown: While all five actors gave amazing performances, this feels like it's Firth's award to lose. He won the Golden Globe award and his performance has been unanimously praised for it's realistic portrayal of a character suffering from a stammer. Both Franco and Eisenberg were fantastic, and if not for Firth, either of these two would be deserving.

Who Should Win: Whenever an actor is nominated two years in a row for Best Actor, I think that is truly an amazing accomplishment. Both Firth and Bridges pulled it off this year (Bridges won for "Crazy Heart" last year, while Firth was in "A Single Man") and while I think Bridges was great as Rooster Cogburn, it's Firth's year.

Who Will Win: Firth is the frontrunner, and he will take it home.

Snubs: Robert Duvall of "Get Low" and Ryan Gosling from "Blue Valentine" to Mark Wahlberg of "The Fighter." All three have legitimate beef with the Academy, but I can't argue with any of the five nominated. Gosling was truly exceptional though.

Best Actress



Annette Bening ("The Kids Are All Right"), Natalie Portman ("Black Swan"), Jennifer Lawrence ("Winter's Bone"), Nicole Kidman ("Rabbit Hole"), Michelle Williams ("Blue Valentine")

Breakdown: Another category which seems as if it's down to two nominees: Annette Bening and Natalie Portman are the frontrunners for this award. Portman was previously nominated as a supporting actress for 2004's "Closer" and Bening has been nominated four times without winning.

Who Should Win: I thought both Bening and Portman were fantastic, but i think it's Portman who should win this year, because "Black Swan" totally fell on her shoulders and she was just great in it. It was a physically and mentally demanding role, and she took it head on.

Who Will Win: While I think Portman could easily take this, I actually think the Academy will finally call on Bening for the first time.

Snubs: Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit", I should call this the "Sort Of Snub". While I think it's great she was nominated for Supporting Actress (which she has an actual chance to win), her character was more of a leading role, and I think she deserved a nomination for Best Actress, although I understand the voters reasoning.

Best Supporting Actor



Christian Bale ("The Fighter"), Geoffrey Rush ("The King's Speech"), Jeremy Renner ("The Town"), Mark Ruffalo ("The Kids Are All Right"), John Hawkes ("Winter's Bone")

Breakdown: While obviously every Oscar category is "deep" in the sense that the nominees are all deserving, this category is probably the strongest of any from top to bottom this year. While Bale was a knockout in "The Fighter" and is the front runner, in any other year each four of these actors could take home the award. Ruffalo gave an amazing performance years ago in "You Can Count On Me" which was Oscar-winning-worthy, and while I don't think he'll win this year he was fantastic.

Who Should Win: I do think Bale was amazing, and he should win the award, but for the sake of it, and because I am a huge fan, I'll say John Hawkes should win. He has been spinning great performances for years (including in "Deadwood" among many others) and after seeing "Winter's Bone" I was floored by his performance.

Who Will Win: Bale is the frontrunner and after a slew of great roles in his career, deserves this award.

Snubs: Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield ("The Social Network"), the snubs of either of these two shows how much voters liked "Winter's Bone," which I admit I was a fan of as well. Although I loved Hawkes in the film, I think both these actors could have received a nomination. Timberlake was great and Garfield was even greater, playing the emotional and sympathetic center of the year's best film.


Best Supporting Actress



Melissa Leo ("The Fighter"), Amy Adams ("The Fighter"), Helena Bonham Carter ("The King's Speech"), Hailee Steinfeld ("True Grit") Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom")

Breakdown: When a film has two nominations in one category, it sure says a lot. While Carter gave an amazing performance, as did Weaver, it seems to be Leo's award to lose (apart from her strange Oscar campaign photos).

Who Should Win: Steinfeld was amazing in "True Grit" and based on pure performance, she should win.

Who Will Win: Leo most likely will take home the award for her loud and realistic portrayal of boxer Micky Ward's mother.

Snubs: Mila Kunis ("Black Swan"), Julianne Moore ("The Kids Are All Right"), Both were absolutely deserving but were shut out in a strong year for the category. Kunis was truly great in "Black Swan" and has a definite gripe here.

Other stray thoughts and observations:

-Snub: Lee Smith - Editing - Inception. Come on, that last act when the movie is jumping through three different levels of dreaming isn't Oscar worthy? Please.

-I hope Christopher Nolan wins for Best Original Screenplay for "Inception." The film was truly fantastic and do you get a script more original than that? Don't think so.

-Sunb: Daft Punk - Score - Tron: Legacy, I'm probably biased because I am a Daft Punk fan, but their electronic and transy soundtrack to the new "Tron" film definitely deserved a nomination. But if Trent Reznor loses the Award that is an injustice.

-I don't care if they thought the film wasn't that great overall, but "Tron: Legacy" getting shut out of an Effects Oscar just doesn't make sense.

The Academy Awards air on Sunday February, 27, 2011.

Bale Drops Weight Again For "Concrete"

Before actor Christian Bale bulked up to 200 pounds of pure muscle to play Bruce Wayne in 2005's "Batman Begins," the actor transformed his body in the opposite way, slimming down to 90-something pounds to play the lead role in "The Machinist."

Bale was literally almost unrecognizable, but anyone who has followed the actor over his career knows that he is dedicated to method acting and will shed or gain weight whenever needed.

According to We Got This Covered Bale will apparently do that once again and re-team with his "The Machinist" director Brad Anderson for the project "Concrete Island."

Based on the novel by J.G. Ballard ("Empire of the Sun"), the story follows an architect who finds himself stranded on a man made island in the middle of a highway intersection after a car crash. Surviving only on what is in his car, his mind begins to deteriorate before realizing that he wants to spend the rest of his life on his concrete island.

The site describes the film as: "A twisted adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, the story’s protagonist, Robert Maitland, a wealthy architect, finds himself stranded in a manmade ‘island’ (a section of fenced-off wasteland in the middle of a motorway intersection) between the Westway and M4 Motorway in West London, forced to survive on only what is in his crashed Jaguar and what he is able to find. As his condition degrades, it soon becomes difficult to determine whether Maitland is finding sanity or watching his mind fall apart as he finds companions on the island and eventually decides to remain there and forsake his former life."

Bale is already familiar with Ballard's work, having starred in "Empire of the Sun" many years ago, which was an adaptation of one of the author's novels. The project sounds very interesting and Anderson seems like someone who could turn an obscure story like that into something great, ala "The Machinist."

Over the years Bale has proven to be one of the best actors in Hollywood and I'm thrilled to see him finally receive his first Oscar nomination this year. He probably will win the award for his role in "The Fighter," which was another instance of the actor having to drop weight for a role.

The writer of "The Machinist," Scott Kosar has adapted the script for "Concrete," which will shoot later this year.

Bale, Bardem Cast In Terrence Malick Pic

Terrence Malick has his next film, an untitled romantic drama, lined up and ready to start shooting this fall says The Hollywood Reporter.

According to The Hollywood Reporter: Terrence Malick has lined up Christian Bale, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Olga Kurylenko for his next film, an untitled romantic drama that will start filming this autumn.

The director, known for his massively long breaks between projects, is looking to shoot films pretty much back-to-back for the first time in his career. Like other Malick projects, plot details are being kept under wraps.

Nicolas Gonda, Sarah Green and Bill Pohlad are producing. Pohlad is producing Malick’s The Tree Of Life, which the filmmaker is currently editing and will be released in North America later this year through Apparition Films.

Malick’s credits include “Badlands”, “Days Of Heaven”, “The Thin Red Line” and “The New World”. While not the most prolific filmmaker in terms of numbers, Malick has produced some of the poignant and thoughtful films of all-time.

Either way it’s fantastic that Malick was able to bring in such talent as Christian Bale, Javier Bardem, and Rachel McAdams, who are all actors I happen to like. Malick is already familiar with Bale, who had a role in his 2005 film “The New World.”

Bardem recently starred in “Nine” and also picked up an Academy Award for his memorable role in “No Country For Old Men”. Working with Malick could be a breakthrough for McAdams in terms of awards consideration. Most recently seen in “Sherlock Holmes,” she was also great in “State of Play”, and this role should fit her perfectly.

Malick wrote the script and will direct. Shooting begins this fall.

Brand New Pictures: Public Enemies, Watchmen and More

It's the new year, and that can mean only one thing: brand new photos! Entertainment Weekly has a gallery full of pictures previewing some of the biggest releases of 2009 including Will Ferrell in Land of the Lost, the Michael Mann directed Public Enemies and Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are.

Christian Bale geared up as the grown up John Connor in Terminator Salvation.
Another one of Bale sneaking up on an unsuspecting Terminator.
John Travolta (mutton chops and all) taking charge in the Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.
A very blue collar looking Denzel racing down the streets of NYC.
Johnny Depp looking dapper as infamous criminal John Dillinger in Public Enemies.
Christian Bale as the dashing federal agent Melvin Purvis.
Depp contemplating his next move, with a nice souvenir on his arm.
A beautiful shot of Max chasing a monster in the long awaited Where the Wild Things Are.
A tender moment with Max and his crown.
Jeffery Dean Morgan as Edward Blake, aka The Comedian, in Zack Snyder's Watchmen.
Michael Cera and Jack Black in the sure to be absolutely hilarious, Year One.
Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel watching as danger lurks above in Land of the Lost.
Hugh Jackman looking rather angry as Logan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.