Academy Selects 15 Documentary Hopefuls to its Shortlist

The AMPAS has chosen 15 films from the qualifying 89 documentaries to its shortlist. The hopefuls, vying for a final spot in the Documentary Feature category of the 82nd Academy Awards, are listed below, but the list is not without a bit of controversy. Some prominent omissions include the acclaimed smash Anvil! The Story of Anvil, James Toback's Tyson, and, most notably, Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. Moore's previous film Sicko was nominated in 2008 and his documentary Bowling for Columbine won an Oscar in 2003. However, the 15 documentaries listed below are still all more than deserving of a selection.

Brandon's Word: 2012 Will Send Your Eyes and Brain to War

"It's the end of the world as we know it… [again]." -R.E.M. (Except that last part, of course.)

I'm very tempted to make this review comprised of a single sentence. That review would read: 2012 is delicious candy for the eyes, brain-boggling insanity for your mind, and tooth-rotting idealism for your superego; and it's a film not to be missed in theatres.

Since you all are so used to my verbosity, though, (and because 2012 does actually deserve more than a single sentence) I won't leave it to just that line. So let's get to it, shall we? This is Roland Emmerich's third

Rambo V's Crazy Sci-Fi Man vs. Elite Soldier Plot is No More

A while back, Stallone announced that Rambo V was in the pipeline. It's plot was to take a decidedly sci-fi turn that previous Rambo films had not yet ventured towards. The film was to center around a US Military installation experimenting on its soldiers to "tap into [the] savagery that we have deeply embedded [inside] us." Basically, these elite soldiers are to become purely instinctual killing machines without a shred of regret, with nary a single qualm about taking a human life. Rambo was going to be the guy who'd have to bring one of these monstrosities down. The one hunting, instead of being hunted. And I was oh so excited!

It's Aliens, I Tell You! It's Aliens Who've Sunk My Battleship!

But seriously. We already know that the classic Hasbro board game, Battleship, is being adapted into a live-action feature film to be directed by Peter Berg. We know that Universal is planning on releasing it on August 5th, 2011. We know that the film will be shooting next Spring. What we didn't know, until now, however, is just who the international five-ship fleet (discussed by Berg) would be fighting. Well, according to Latino Review, we do now. Aliens. Sorry. Let me have another go at that. ALIENS! Oh yes. Sweet Zuul, yes. There's no word on what type of aliens, where they'll be from (aside from OUTER! SPACE!), or which

Brandon's Word: The Fourth Kind is Outright Malarkey!

DISCLAIMER - Please Read Before Continuing:
So, here's the thing. This past week I found myself in Orlando, Florida. (I'll spare you the details, but it had something to do with me turning yet another year older, a seven-hour game of Monopoly, and a hedgehog.) While in Orlando, William Goss invited me to attend a screening of The Fourth Kind with him. Since I was missing all of the Los Angeles screening dates, I thought, Why not? Truth be told, the trailer was (hell, still is) one of my favorites of the year. It's creepy in all the right ways. It's intriguing without giving too much away, and it's visually stunning. That said, I was pretty damned excited to see The Fourth Kind.

Wicked Awesome Wicked Series Ignites DreamWorks' Wick

DreamWorks has acquired the rights to the Wicked book series, written by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie, according to Variety. No, not the musical Wicked. Or the book said musical was based on. But the young adult book series centered on a young woman who discovers she's the descendant of a powerful coven of witches. But, in a cruel twist of fate, she falls in love with a boy who just so happens to be a member of a rival coven! Oh no! Written by Aaron and Matthew Benay (whose screenplay 1906 is being brought to the screen by director Brad Bird), Wicked is as of yet unknown to be but a single film or the start of a franchise.

Hold Steady, Letterman Writer Collaborates on Fargo Rock City

Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota, Chuck Klosterman's 2001 memoir chronicling his time growing up in North Dakota and banding together with the few other metal-heads in his high school, has been acquired by Craig Finn, frontman of The Hold Steady, and Tom Ruprecht, longtime writer on "The Late Show with David Letterman." The duo will be co-writing and producing the feature, a screenplay set in the 1980s revolving around a group of high school senior social misfits who attempt to break out of their geeky stereotype by living the life of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll.

Ewan McGregor Calls Roman Polanski a 'Completely Brilliant Director'

It's been a while, nearly a month, since we last heard about anything major regarding Roman Polanski's continued imprisonment after his arrest in Switzerland back in September. The LA Times recently sat down with Ewan McGregor, the star of Polanski's now interrupted film The Ghost, in order to talk with him about his role and his experience with Polanski. "He's also got quite a brusque manner, so you have to have a thick skin. That said, I'm very fond of him. He's one of the very few completely brilliant directors that I've worked with. There aren't really very many, I have to say, or it's a shame to say," McGregor revealed.

Brandon's Word: Law Abiding Citizen is an Explosive Thrill

The grammar stickler in me has an immediate problem with Law Abiding Citizen. The words "law" and "abiding" are not supposed to be separate, but rather combined as a hyphenated adjective modifying the noun "citizen" like so: Law-Abiding Citizen. But when William Goss pointed out that, perhaps, the title's lack of a hyphen is intentional, my brain unfurled and drank in this radically tasty nectar. As Goss explained to me, it's not the citizen who is abiding the law, instead, it's the law that's abiding the citizen. And it's in this simple, innocuous distinction that the seed of my fondness for F. Gary Gray's film was planted.

Brandon's Word: Where the Wild Things Are is a Profound Adventure

This film, Where the Wild Things Are, directed and co-written by auteur Spike Jonze, based on the seminal children's book authored by Maurice Sendak, is not for you. Rather, its very existence and purpose is meant not for you as you are now, today. Its themes and breathtaking visuals and deep, inky explorations aren't for you, the twenty/thirty/forty-year-old. Where the Wild Things Are is, instead, for the angst-filled, confused, whimsical nine/ten/eleven/twelve-year-old inside us all. For the part of us that feels directionless. For the part of us that is without. That's yearning, learning. That's wayward and possibly even hopeless.

Brandon's Word: The Invention of Lying is a Landmark Comedy

Sometimes there are film premises, mere loglines, that cause me to clench my jaw and flush green with jealousy due to their brilliance. Usually, the premises' brilliance is born of its simplicity. And The invention of Lying is brilliant. And, on the surface, it is simple. The film takes place in an alternate world where humans have not evolved with the capacity to lie. Humans are incapable of saying anything that is not — no matter how callous, inappropriate, or self-deprecating. That is, until Mark Bellison, played by the incomparable Ricky Gervais, tells humankind's first lie. Simple. Deceptively simple.

Brandon's Word: Whip It, Whip It… Not So Good

Whip It, the first film directed by Drew Barrymore, above all else, feels like a directorial debut. Though, that's not to say that it's a complete failure — but it certainly is not a resounding success. The film, set just outside Austin, Texas, is yet another remark on the metamorphosis from childhood to adulthood where Bliss Cavendar, played by forever-to-be-a-teenager Ellen Page, is struggling to become her own person, follow her own path while attempting to reconcile with the person she so recently was — and most importantly, the person her parents still believe her to be. This coming-of-age story, like all of them, is framed by a unique

Brandon's Word: Zombieland is Like an Unexpected One-Night-Stand

Zombieland is not Shaun of the Dead. It isn't supposed to be; it isn't trying to be; it's a film unto itself. There. Now that that's out of the way, we can continue.

Zombieland is, above all, a lot of fun. In a world overrun by zombies (the fast, sentient kind), a group of archetypes have found a way to survive using their respective talents, whether that be running away and limbering up before said running or confronting each flesh-eating problem head-on through the sight of an AK - whatever works to stay alive. It's a horror comedy that's heavy on the comedy, light on the horror

Cinematic Discussion: What Makes a Great Female Role Model?

Note: As this cinematic discussion is meant for contemporary audiences, these examples will be equally contemporary. Just as women and men are different, we've all evolved with the times. And one's role model, for the most part, often represents one's contemporary outlook for their future self.

Believe it or not, a man can discuss and write about issues of feminism. While some may be woefully ignorant or just banefully uninterested, take notice, guys, you shouldn't be. And not all of us are — completely, anyway. So, with that in mind, there's one particular issue of feminism, of the representation

Larter, Miller, and Kodjoe Ready for Resident Evil: Afterlife

The Paul W.S. Anderson film you've all been waiting for, Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth film in the franchise based on the popular video game series, has nearly rounded out its cast already - and thanks to The Surrogates star Boris Kodjoe and BlackFilm.com, we've got the names and some plot tidbits for you. When sitting down with Black Film, Kodjoe revealed (read: spilled) that "Prison Break" star Wentworth Miller has joined the cast along with "Heroes" sexy vixen Ali Larter will be returning as Claire Redfield (from the third film). As for Kodjoe's character and the plot of RE: Afterlife, he went into a bit more detail.