In an interesting combination, Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington have agreed to appear in David Cronenberg’s next film, an adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s Matarese Circle. This is an interesting combination, mostly because of Cronenberg’s involvement. Matrarese Circle is a traditional spy thriller – something you don’t envision Cronenberg being part of.

Inglourious Basterds trailer is online. Can’t wait for all the misspellings of this film title.

Joaquin Phoenix is either doing his best Borat or he conducted one of the most stoned interviews ever last night on David Letterman. Check out the full clip.

The Dark Knight’s music score was declared ineligible for the Oscars because five people are listed as composers.

Word is out that reshoots on the Wolverine pic are to add more stuff with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool character.

Sly Stallone has buffed up huge time for his new film, the Expendables. Still, take at look at the photo of Sly and even with the chemistry, he looks awesome.

Rotten Tomatoes has a ‘Five favorite films of Ernest Borgnine’ article by – Ernest Borgnine. Fraking cool. Dude, it’s Ernest Borgnine, how can you not love that! Borgnine is 92 yet is still working, doing voice work on SpongeBob SquarePants. All hail the freaky looking man!

The recent best picture nomination of The Reader only confirms to many people that Hollywood is out of touch with the world, filled with old farts who don’t see/get films for younger audiences. The film received mediocre to good reviews, yet finds itself on the ‘best’ list. /Film speculates this kind of attitude – the rejecting of clearly superior films such as WALL-E and Dark Knight – will lead to crappy ratings for the Oscars. I mean, after we find out if Heath Ledger wins (which will be one of the first awards), a lot of TVs will get turned off.

Many kudos for the hugely deserving nomination for Ledger – he was the Dark Knight – and it’s a fitting tribute to his memory. Also, more kudos to the academy for recognizing Robert Downey Jr. for his brilliant comic role in Tropic Thunder. The accolades for Danny Boyle’s superb Slumdog Millionaire are great. On the down side, WALL-E was easily one of the best picture last year – and it gets shoved aside because it’s ‘only’ an animated film. Much like Ratatouille was in 2007, it may well be the best film of this year. And finally – the Reader for best picture? Where the hell did that come from. (The Full List Is Below).

On the first anniversary of his death, Heath Ledger received a huge tribute: The late actor is an Oscar nominee for best supporting actor for his role as The Joker in “The Dark Knight.” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” notched the most nominations with 13, including best picture, best director for David Fincher, best actor for Brad Pitt and a best supporting actress nod for Taraji Phenson. – From NY Daily News

Batman and Clint Eastwood? Forget about it. Instead, the far more serious Holocaust-themed The Reader slipped into the race for a best-picture Oscar and its director, Stephen Daldry, also managed to sneak into his category. The other nominees announced for top prize in the 81st Academy Awards Thursday morning in Los Angeles followed the script of the prognosticators: the era-spanning fable The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which led the crowd with 13 nominations; gay-themed political biopic Milk; TV-landmark drama Frost/Nixon; and romantic crowd-pleaser Slumdog Millionaire. – From USA Today

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” led all films with nominations for the 81st annual Academy Awards on Thursday morning, picking up 13. The film, about a man who ages in reverse, earned nods for best picture, best director (David Fincher), best actor (Brad Pitt), best supporting actress (Taraji P. Henson) and best adapted screenplay as well as several other picks. The record for Oscar nominations is 14, held by “All About Eve” and “Titanic.” Both films won best picture. – From CNN

Frost/Nixon:

Milk:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:

Slumdog Millionaire:

The Reader:

Performance by an actor in a leading role:
* Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
* Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
* Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role:
* Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year:
* “Bolt” (Walt Disney) Chris Williams and Byron Howard
* “Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney)

Achievement in directing:
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.) David Fincher
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal) Ron Howard
* “Milk” (Focus Features) Gus Van Sant
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company) Stephen Daldry
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight) Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature:
* “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild) A Pandinlao Films Production Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
* “Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment) A Creative Differences Production Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
* “The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production Scott Hamilton Kennedy
* “Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures) A Wall to Wall Production James Marsh and Simon Chinn
* “Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films) An Elsewhere Films Production Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best foreign language film of the year:
* “The Baader Meinhof Complex” A Constantin Film Production – Germany
* “The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Haut et Court Production – France
* “Departures” (Regent Releasing) A Departures Film Partners Production – Japan
* “Revanche” (Janus Films) A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production – Austria
* “Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production – Israel

Best motion picture of the year:
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
A Kennedy/Marshall Production Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
* “Milk” (Focus Features)
A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)
A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production Nominees to be determined
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight)
A Celador Films Production Christian Colson, Producer

Late Australian actor Heath Ledger won a posthumous Golden Globe award here Sunday for his performance as psychopathic villain The Joker in Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight.” Batman director Christopher Nolan collected the best supporting actor award on behalf of Ledger, who died of an accidental overdose in January last year at the age of 28. “For any of us to enjoy his performance he will be eternally missed, but he’ll never be forgotten,” Nolan told guests at the Beverly Hilton hotel. – From ABS CBN News

Get a full list of this year’s Golden Globe winners.

But by modern standards, “The Dark Knight’s” DVD package and extras are—with apologies to the Joker—laughably thin.

A few of the features (especially “Batman Unmasked” on the Blu-ray version) appear to be repackaged TV pieces meant to promote the movie before its release.

Nevertheless, a few minutes of behind-the-scenes footage of the armored car chase on Lower Wacker Drive on the feature “Evolution of the Knight” will be of interest to Chicagoans. Shots of an outdoor dry run of the Batpod chase sequence stunts (possibly in rural England), including a test of the famous end-over-end flip of a semi, later duplicated on LaSalle Street, are worth watching.

But that’s about it. Other mildly interesting components include six larger-format IMAX scenes, and a featurette with composer Hans Zimmer talking about crafting the Joker’s musical cue.

- from Chicago Tribune

Plenty of fans shelled out to see The Dark Knight in theaters multiple times. They might wind up doing the same on home video, given how the studio is skimping with the extras on the initial DVD and Blu-ray releases. The Blu-ray also has a featurette on Batman’s gadgets and a psychological study of the conflicted hero. A single-disc DVD ($28.98) version comes with just the movie. – from Balt

Warner Bros. will re-release “The Dark Knight” on Jan. 23 in a nationwide launch, guaranteeing that it will become the fourth film to take in more than $1 billion in worldwide box office.
“Knight” has cumed $530.3 million domestically and $465.9 million internationally, leaving it less than $4 million short of the billion-dollar milestone. Only “Titanic,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” have topped that mark. “Knight” also is the second-highest domestic grosser of all time, trailing only “Titanic.”

- from Variety