The Oscars to have 10 Best Picture Nominees.

The Motion Picture Academy announced Wednesday that for the first time in more than 65 years, the field of best picture nominees will be expanded to 10 contenders for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards according to Variety.

“Having 10 best picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” said Academy President Sid Ganis in announcing the shift. “I can’t wait to see what that list of 10 looks like when the nominees are announced in February.”

The last time the Oscar race featured 10 best pic contenders was the 16th annual contest in 1943, when "Casablanca" emerged with the top prize. There were 10 best picture nominees for most of the Academy Awards' first decade. In 1935 there was a bumper crop of 12 nominees.

The Oscar nominations will be announced on 2nd February 2010 with the awards handed out 7th March 2010 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

When I first heard this news I thought "Great, lots of films in the running." Then my second thought was "Hold on a minute." If there are more nominess for best picture then doesn't that sort of devalue the prestige of having a Best Picture Nominee?

It brought to mind that bit from The Incredibles when Dash is talking to his Mum.

Helen: Everyone's special, Dash.
Dash: [muttering] Which is another way of saying no one is

What if there are not 10 films worthy of a nomination? What do you think of the news? Have we seen any films in the first half of the year that should be nominated for Best Picture - Moon, The Hurt Locker, Let the Right One In?

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UK Film Release Dates

Friday 3 April 2009

Cherry Blossoms
I Can't Think Straight
Modern Life (PG)
Monsters Vs. Aliens (Also3D)
Religulous (15)
Waveriders (PG)
World Unseen, The

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Dragonball Evolution

Friday 10 April 2009

17 Again
400 Blows, The (Reissue)
50 Dead Men Walking (15)
Fast and Furious
Let The Right One In (15)
Race To Witch Mountain
Tony Manero (18)

Friday 17 April 2009

Before I Forget
Crank 2: High Voltage
Everlasting Moments
Good
I Love You Man
In Search Of Beethoven (U)
In The Loop
Not Easily Broken

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Let the Right One In - French Poster

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Let the Right One In DVD to be released with correct subtitles

Yesterday I posted the news that the DVD release of Let the Right On In had dumbed down subtitles. Today The Digital Bits spoke to Magnet about the news and it looks as if they will be releasing the correctly subtitled version.

"We've been made aware that there are several fans that don't like the version of the subtitles on the DVD/BR. We had an alternate translation that we went with. Obviously a lot of fans thought we should have stuck with the original theatrical version. We are listening to the fans feedback, and going forward we will be manufacturing the discs with the subtitles from the theatrical version."

I still find it bizarre that they didn't automatically include the correct subtitles as per the cinema release.

However, there is some bad news if you have already bought it on Blu-Ray or DVD.

"There are no exchanges. We are going to make an alternate version available however. For those that wish to purchase a version with the theatrical subtitles, it will be called out in the tech specs box at the back/bottom of the package where it will list SUBTITLES: ENGLISH (Theatrical), SPANISH."

Do you feel that this mess will impact on the sales of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray?

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Let the Right One In - DVD has dumbed down subtitles

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, the Swedish independent film has ben favoured by critics and fans alike. It is most definitely a cool cult movie. Director Tomas Alfredson has done wonders for the vampire tale. I' m hoping to catch it on the big screen soon.
Now Icons of Fright have discovered that the subtitles on the DVD release have been redone to the detriment of the feature. They have lots of examples and I've included a couple to give you an idea (original version at the top, DVD version below it).

Over to Icons of Fright for more on what is quite a shocking story for fans of film.

I personally decided to host a screening of the DVD with a handful of friends that had yet to experience LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. (Mind you, I'd already had an advance early screener copy of the movie for months and had seen it twice during it's limited theatrical run, so it's safe to say that I knew the film rather intimately. We were all excited to watch a top quality DVD version though in the comfort of my own home.)

About 20 minutes into the screening, I was absolutely horrified.

The subtitles had been drastically changed since the last time I saw it, and dare I say... had been completely dumbed down? Sure, the basic gist of what the characters were saying was kind of there, but missing completely was the dark humor, subtleties and character nuances which made the movie so powerful and a favorite amongst audiences last year. I tried to carry on and ignore it, hoping that only a few of the translations were off... but... I was wrong. Just about the intent of every single line of dialogue was completely off and ruined the movie.

Here's a theory: The original screener attributes that the subtitles were done by Ingrid Eng. (Multiple kudos to Miss Eng for doing an amazing job.) My guess is that in order to re-use them for the American version of the DVD, Magnolia/MAGNET probably had to pay Ingrid again for her services. Rather then do that, perhaps they hired someone else to do the translations for real cheap.

And cheap they are!

I don't think I will be getting it on DVD until I know I'm getting the proper translation. How do you feel about the news?

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Let the Right One in - UK Quad Poster

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Edgar Wright's Top 29 films of 2008

Edgar Wright, director of the excellent Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz has got in on the end of year best films thing by giving his top 29 of 2008. A better mix than many of the same old same old lists that have been doing the rounds. How many of them have you seen?

1 - LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
2 - SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK
3 - IRON MAN
4 - NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF OZPLOITATION
5 - MAN ON WIRE
6 - HUNGER
7 - FROST / NIXON
8 - THE DARK KNIGHT
9 - BURN AFTER READING
10 - WALL-E
11 - RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
12 - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
13 - HAPPY GO LUCKY
14 - GRAN TORINO
15 - KUNG FU PANDA (IMAX)
16 - REC
17 - CLOVERFIELD
18 - JCVD
19 - SON OF RAMBOW
20 - RAMBO
21 - THE RUINS
22 - HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
23 - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
24 - THE FOOT FIST WAY
25 - TROPIC THUNDER
26 - MILK
27 - W.
28 - ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO
29 - PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
30...

The 2008 RIKI OH award for insane, senseless violence - RAMBO
Runner up - PUNISHER : WAR ZONE

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Let the Right One In - Red Band Trailer

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Tomas Alfredson talks about Let the Right One In

The always excellent Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has posted an audio interview he had with Tomas Alfredson, the director of Let the Right One In. Here's a little of what Jeffrey has to say about the film and here's the mp3 file. Everything I read about this film makes me want to see it more and more.

Let The Right One In doesn't compose with the usual brushstrokes. The vampire (Lina Leandersson) is a tweener girl and the male lead, a mortal, is a wimpy blond male (Kare Hedebrant) who's in love with her. It has about 50 CG shots but very few are "noticable." The violent moments happen suddenly and sometimes off-screen. And it hasn't been shot like a typical horror film (i.e., in a spooky-sexy-dreamscape way) but with a flat, over-bright, industrial texture. And everything in the film is surrounded -- blanketed -- with lots and lots of snow.

I spoke with Alfredson earlier today, and if the film doesn't make clear it hasn't been directed by a horror film buff, Alfredson repeatedly emphasizes this. He's not Guillermo del Toro , not by a long shot. The only significant Dracula movie he's seen, he says, is the old Bela Lugosi version from the early '30s. That means he hasn't seen Francis Coppola's Dracula or any of the Hammer Dracula films of the '50s and '60s or anything else along these lines.

Just listen to our conversation -- you'll understand where he's coming from soon enough.

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Let the Right One In - US Trailer for Tomas Alfredson's masterpiece

A fragile, anxious boy, 12-year-old Oskar is regularly bullied by his stronger classmates but never strikes back. The lonely boy´s wish for a friend seems to comes true when he meets Eli, also 12, who moves in next door to him with her father. A pale, serious young girl, she only comes out at night and doesn´t seem affected by the freezing temperatures. Coinciding with Eli´s arrival is a series of inexplicable disappearances and murders... One man is found tied to a tree, another frozen in the lake, a woman bitten in the neck. Blood seems to be the common denominator - and for an introverted boy like Oskar, who is fascinated by gruesome stories, it doesn´t take long before he figures out that Eli is a vampire. But by now a subtle romance has blossomed between Oskar and Eli, and she gives him the strength to fight back against his aggressors. Oskar becomes increasingly aware of the tragic, inhuman dimension of Eli´s plight, but cannot bring himself to forsake her. Frozen forever in a twelve-year-old´s body, with all the burgeoning feelings and confused emotions of a young adolescent, Eli knows that she can only continue to live if she keeps on moving. But when Oskar faces his darkest hour, Eli returns to defend him the only way she can...

Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson weaves friendship, rejection and loyalty into a disturbing, darkly atmospheric, yet unexpectedly tender tableau of adolescence. The feature is based on the best-selling novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, which the U.K. press qualified as "reminiscent of Stephen King at his best." (Independent on Sunday)

Director Tomas Alfredson :"I have always had the impression that a fantastic book should stay being a fantastic book, without being brought to the screen, until I read John Ajvide Lindquists´ "Let the Right One In"I was totally overwhelmed by the sceneries that came in front of my eyes and I couldn´t leave the book for the twelve hours it took me to read it the first time. I couldn´t stop thinking of bringing it to moving pictures - and now, three years and twelve hours after the first page, I´m very proud of changing my mind."

I mentioned this a while ago, but here is the latest trailer. Really looking forward to seeing this. Have any of my Swedish bretheren seen it? Is it as good as everyone is making out?

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Light the Right One In up for a Hammer Films remake

We featured a review of this Swedish gem a few days ago and now it looks like it is already getting an English language remake by Hammer Films and Spitfire Pictures. Variety announced that Cloverfield director Matt Reeves has signed on to helm the film. Overture Films is fast-tracking the project, so expect the movie to be released sometime next year.

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Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In), 2008 - Movie Review

Director: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Running Time: 114 minutes
Score: 8 / 10

This review by consuelo-holtzer-1. Spoilers ahead.

I don't think it does but a warning just in case. Be wary of genre classifications here: to call this a mere vampire film without qualification would be a disservice. A vampire film it is, but one that belongs to a very select club. Midway through, I imagined the ghosts old Bela and Tod Browning hobnobbing with a Mr Bergman, all three of them living up every moment of this elegant little tale of horror. With minimal special effects, no flashy editing and cinematography that leaves its imprint on your mind for days, Alfredson's layered film about cruelty and goodness, exclusion and marginality – for both vampire and human alike – is told through the unlikely friendship of two 12-year-old loners. One, Oskar, albino-like in his white blondness, is bullied at school. The other, Eli, a dark, unkempt and unorthodox girl vampire, teaches him to stand up for himself. In the background is the strange, devoted, slightly bumbling Hakan, Eli's human protector and blood gatherer. He strings his victims up, cuts them open then siphons their blood into jerricans for Eli to drink. He passes as her father. (Is he?)

The film has a strong physical impact. The fatigue and drudgery (and silent anguish) of Hakan's attempts to find refurbishment; the confinement of Eli's agelessness ("I have been 12 for a long time"); the isolation of the dreary suburban setting in the dead of a Swedish winter – all of these are as palpable as the burden of eternity felt by Wenders' two angels watching over Berlin. The film's cadence is that of a macabre Bolero: slow and tame at the beginning, but relentlessly progressing, louder and louder until the film starts to explode in a series of horrific scenes towards the end.

Troubling questions left unresolved only add to the film's richness and depth. Eli's labia stitched shut, her relationship with her protector. Why does he kill in her place? – because she is young? … to avoid a proliferation of vampires? When Eli finally has to find her own blood, thus turning a bitten woman into a vampire herself, the sequences that follow – the cat attack, willed self-destruction – are some of the most striking in the film, frightening enough to make your heart skip a thump. There are two "endings". Alfredson lures us into a false one when he circles the film back to a scene almost identical to that at the opening. But then he playfully tacks on another 10 or 15 minutes in a very different tone. At first this rattled me a bit, but then I came to better terms with it and decided that after all, its black humour was far from a cop out. Reviewers have predicted the film will have a solid festival and art house audience. Personally, I cannot imagine any kind of film-goer not being dazzled by this icy trip through bloodied woods, and where, according to the many reactions to the film, a light "supposedly" shines through. It does and doesn't. The film may be about friendship but the relief provided by the ending is only an isolated moment in time that has resolved nothing. The future that one is left to imagine for the survivors is disturbing at best.
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