2014 DGA Award Nominations Announced

The next step to the Oscar nominations is upon us - the Directors Guild of America or DGA Award for you non-movie dweebs not following this stuff (You and your day jobs and lives! Bah!) A reliable indicator of how the race shapes up for Best Director. It's not scientifically accurate, granted. Ben Affleck who won last year for Argo wasn't even nominated come Oscar time. A year on and that snub is still surprising.

This year the nominees are Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity, Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips, Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave, David O. Russell for American Hustle and Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street.

General rule of thumb: whoever wins the DGA Award is a shoe-in for victory at the Oscars. Still too soon to put money but I see a repeat of last year; a Spread the Wealth ceremony including a split between Best Picture and Best Director. 12 Years a Slave for the main prize and Alfonso Cuaron for directing.

The Lego Movie - Batman Character Poster

The Brothers Warner may be depending too much on the Dark Knight to pay the bills in Burbank. But he was the highlight in the trailers for The Lego Movie, a trailer full of highlights.

Not one to miss an opportunity to showcase their prized pig.. err.. bat, the studio has released a Batman character poster for the fantasy adventure opening next month.

Channing Tatum Looks Less Weird in New Jupiter Ascending Photo

Oh come on Entertainment Weekly. This is not a first look. We got a good clear look at Channing Tatum in the Jupiter Ascending trailer last month. You want to show off this new photo to the Wachowskis' latest is fine. Don't lie so blatantly for the hit-counts.

Here are the Guardians of the Galaxy

Here is the first full on look at our intergalactic protagonists in Guardians of the Galaxy, courtesy of The Film Stage.

The Raid 2: Berandal Indonesian Trailer

The Raid, the Indonesian action thriller from Gareth Evans, was one of the pleasant surprises to come out of 2012 and the best action film to hit screens in years. He is back with a vengeance with the sequel The Raid 2: Berandal and he made sure to bring back all the bone-crunching, hand-on-hand combat.

Draft Day Trailer

"On the day of the NFL Draft, general manager Sonny Weaver (Kevin Costner) has the opportunity to save football in Cleveland when he trades for the number one pick. He must quickly decide what he's willing to sacrifice in pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with dreams of playing in the NFL. Also featuring Jennifer Garner and NFL & ESPN on-air talent Jon Gruden, Mike Mayock, Deion Sanders, Rich Eisen, Mel Kiper and Chris Berman."

Teaser Trailer to Wally Pfister's Transcendence

Here is the Transcendence teaser trailer. The directorial debut of Christopher Nolan-certified Cinematographer of choice Wally Pfister, has our attention on that fact alone.

Don't have a minute to waste? The hook is Johnny Depp goes all HAL 9000. Not "Colorful weirdo" Johnny; the one Tim Burton and Gore Verbinski Okayed and, as a result, insured their great grandkids are going to med school. Not a trace of bug-eyes, gibberish and "Is he or isn't he?" homosexual and/or pedophile undertones in this would-be blockbuster.

He seems to be playing a normal guy. Who happens to get put inside a computer. Not sure he's up for that challenge.

The (Real) Expendables 3 Teaser Trailer

Below is the second teaser for The Expendables 3 this morning. One dropped earlier with foreign subtitles that came across more as a TV spot. They say that was a fake but I can't point fingers and laugh. It looked real to me. I wanted to put both up as a comparison. The fabricated one looked better to tell you the truth but it's kinda vanished.

There's not much to digest here anyway. An announcement teaser serving as a roll call for how many "Macho" thespians Millennium paid in cash to appear for 5 minutes screen time.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Teaser Trailer

"A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species."

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier.  They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.
Read more at http://collider.com/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-trailer/#BdhFGRlMFBv0KeBO.99

22 Jump Street Red Band Trailer

Good pal of mine worked several days on 22 Jump Street. I spent most of the time during this new trailer looking for him. No success, but a few more views, and cranking the speed down, may change that.

The trailer itself feels like a case of sequelitis. More of the same, just bigger; even callback jokes from 21 Jump Street. Heard some of the gags are filthy. There was an open casting call for Beaver Shots. So I have something to look forward to.