X-Men Origins : Wolverine [2009] Trailer

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an upcoming superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Wolverine, due for release on May 1, 2009. The film is directed by Gavin Hood and stars Hugh Jackman as the title character. It is a prequel to the X-Men film trilogy, focusing on the mutant Wolverine and his time with Team X, before Wolverine's skeleton was bonded with the indestructible metal Adamantium. The film was mostly shot in Australia and New Zealand.


Plot :
Set roughly twenty years before X-Men, the film will focus on Wolverine's violent past, and his early encounters with William Stryker (Danny Huston). The Weapon X program and his interactions with other mutants will be explored,including his complex relationship with Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber).
Also features Rogue Mutant Gambit.

The 81st Academy Awards Nominations

Nominations


Best Picture

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

• Frost/Nixon

• Milk

• The Reader

• Slumdog Millionaire


Best Director

• Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire

• Stephen Daldry – The Reader

• David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

• Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon

• Gus Van Sant – Milk

Best Actor

• Richard Jenkins – The Visitor

• Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon

• Sean Penn – Milk

• Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

• Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Best Actress

• Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married

• Angelina Jolie – Changeling

• Melissa Leo – Frozen River

• Meryl Streep – Doubt

• Kate Winslet – The Reader

Best Supporting Actor

• Josh Brolin – Milk

• Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder

• Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt

• Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight

• Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams – Doubt

• Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona

• Viola Davis – Doubt

• Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

• Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Best Original Screenplay

• WALL-E - Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter

• Happy-Go-Lucky - Mike Leigh

• Frozen River - Courtney Hunt

• In Bruges - Martin McDonagh

• Milk - Dustin Lance Black

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Roth and Robin Swicord

• Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgan

• The Reader - David Hare

• Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy

• Doubt - John Patrick Shanley

Best Animated Feature

• Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard

• Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson

• WALL-E – Andrew Stanton

Best Foreign Language Film

• Revanche (Austria) in German - Götz Spielmann

• The Class (France) in French - Laurent Cantet

• The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) in German

• Departures (Japan) in Japanese

• Waltz with Bashir (Israel) in Hebrew - Ari Folman

Best Animated Short

• La Maison En Petits Cubes - Kunio Kato

• Lavatory - Lovestory - Konstantin Bronzit

• Oktapodi - Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand

• Presto - Doug Sweetland

• This Way Up - Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best Art Direction

• Changeling – James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo

• The Dark Knight – Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando

• The Duchess – Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway

• Revolutionary Road – Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

Best Cinematography

• Changeling – Tom Stern

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Claudio Miranda

• The Dark Knight – Wally Pfister

• The Reader – Chris Menges, Roger Deakins

• Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle

Best Costume Design

• Australia – Catherine Martin

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Jacqueline West

• The Duchess – Michael O'Connor

• Milk – Danny Glicker

• Revolutionary Road – Albert Wolsky

Best Documentary Feature

• Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)

• Encounters at the End of the World

• The Garden

• Man on Wire

• Trouble the Water

Best Documentary Short

• The Conscience of Nhem En – Steven Okazaki

• The Final Inch

• Smile Pinki

• The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306

Best Film Editing

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

• The Dark Knight – Lee Smith

• Frost/Nixon – Mike Hill, Daniel P. Hanley

• Milk – Elliot Graham

• Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens

Best Live Action Short

• On the Line (Auf der Strecke)

• Manon On the Asphalt

• New Boy

• The Pig (Grisen)

• Toyland (Spielzeugland)

Best Makeup

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Greg Cannom

• The Dark Knight – John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan

• Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Best Original Score

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Alexandre Desplat

• Defiance – James Newton Howard

• Milk – Danny Elfman

• Slumdog Millionaire – A.R. Rahman

• WALL-E – Thomas Newman

Best Original Song

• "Down to Earth" from WALL-E – Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman (music), Peter Gabriel (lyrics)

• "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman (music), Gulzar (lyrics)

• "O Saya" from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman and M.I.A.

Best Sound Editing

• The Dark Knight – Richard King

• Iron Man – Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes

• Slumdog Millionaire – Tom Sayers

• WALL-E – Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood

• Wanted – Wylie Stateman

Best Sound Mixing

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten

• The Dark Knight – Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick

• Slumdog Millionaire – Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty

• WALL-E – Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt

• Wanted – Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt

Best Visual Effects

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron

• The Dark Knight – Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin

• Iron Man – John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick, Shane Mahan

Academy Honorary Award

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

• Jerry Lewis


Films with multiple nominations

• 13 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

• 10 Slumdog Millionaire

• 8 The Dark Knight, Milk

• 6 WALL-E

• 5 Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader

• 3 Changeling, Revolutionary Road

• 2 The Duchess, Frozen River, Iron Man, Wanted, The Wrestler

Jessica Biel hosts Sci-Tech Oscars

By RYAN PEARSON, AP Entertainment Writer

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Host Jessica Biel wore Oscar de la Renta, but it was bearded, buttoned-down Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull who got whoops and whistles at the first Academy Awards presentation of the year.

Attendees yelled and stood for Catmull, president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, as he accepted an Oscar statuette Saturday night for a lifetime of work in computer animation. He said he was inspired by early Disney films "Peter Pan" and "Pinocchio," then name-dropped collaborators George Lucas, Steve Jobs and Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter.

"In each of the communities that I've been in, we know that when we make the movies look good, we make each other look good," Catmull said. "It's really been a great adventure."

Pixar celebrates its 23rd birthday this year and is set to release "Up" — its 10th feature — in May. Its "WALL-E" is favored to win the animated feature category at the main Oscars ceremony Feb. 22.

Nine other men were honored at the annual scientific and technical awards ceremony, which put a spotlight on the geekier side of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Biel, who was not accompanied by boyfriend Justin Timberlake, picked her way through tricky jargon like "anamorphic de-squeezers" and got cheek-peck greetings from European honorees.

Philippe Parain, CEO of French lens maker Angenieux, checked with a cameraman to ensure that his company's product was being used to record the host of the black-tie ceremony.

"I just want to make sure Jessica's image is as perfect as she is beautiful," he said. "Vive le cinema!"

Biel, 26, who starred most recently in "Easy Virtue" and "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," said she's far from tech-savvy but has been steadily learning about equipment used behind the scenes on her films.

"The older I get, the more movies I do, the more aware I am," she said. She praised "WALL-E" and said animated films deserve a place among best picture nominees.

"They're so emotional," she said. "And most of the Pixar films, I usually laugh, cry, am frightened. Those types of movies could and should — if they're good enough — win an Oscar. Why not?"

Among the other honorees Saturday: the makers of the Arrimax lighting system, the Hylen lens system, and Transvideo monitors. Computer scientist Mark Kimball, formerly of Disney, glanced from Biel to the medallion he'd been awarded for his technological achievements on films ranging from "Tron" to "Beauty and the Beast."

"What a gorgeous thing!" he said, smiling broadly.

Link : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090208/ap_en_ot/oscars_tech_awards

Slumdog Millionaire, Milk Have Write Stuff at WGA Awards

Joal Ryan

Los Angeles (E! Online) – If this award season were a quiz show, Slumdog Millionaire would be the final answer.

The much-honored indie love story took yet another honor—Best Adapted Screenplay—at tonight's 2009 Writers Guild Awards. Milk scored the Original Screenplay prize.

30 Rock, Mad Men, In Treatment, Breaking Bad, Recount, John Adams, The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live were among the TV winners. Tina Fey's 30 Rock was honored for both best writing on a comedy series and best writing of a single comedy episode ("Succession").

Slumdog's Simon Beaufoy defeated the writers of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, all of whom he'll face at the Oscars, and The Dark Knight, whom he, of course, won't.

The win for Milk's Dustin Lance Black reiterates his front-runner status in Oscar's original screenplay race: He was the only WGA nominee to even score a like Academy Award nod.

Slumdog's win means the film swept top prizes from the directors', producers' and actors' guilds. Its fairytale could end happily—or not—in just about two weeks. At the 81st Academy Awards.

Link : http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20090208/en_movies_eo/99003

Disney's The Princess and the Frog

By The Animation Powerhouse Disney, A fairy tale centered on a young girl named Princess Tiana who lives in New Orleans' French Quarter during the Jazz Age.

To Be Released in 2009