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Showing posts from February, 2010

Video: special effects from 26 ground-breaking films

These days, half of the commercials we see on TV have special effects that beat anything George Lucas could do in the late 1980s, but that doesn't make the achievements any less impressive. This video shows clips from 26 films that had groundbreaking special effects for their time. The more recent films even offer a behind-the-scenes look at how the filmmakers produced the effects. These days, the original King Kong looks primitive compared to Peter Jackson's 2005 remake, but it was positively awe-inspiring to audiences of the time. Watch the video below and click through for the full list of movies included. How many of the films have you seen? Leave a comment below.

Bigelow vies for Best Director award against ex-husband

Kathryn Bigelow is playing with the "big boys" at this year's Oscars, as she is the only female director nominated in the Best Director category, for her award-winning film "The Hurt Locker". She is only the fourth woman in the history of the Academy Awards to be nominated for Best Director; the others include Lina Wertmüller for "Seven Beauties" (1976), Jane Campion for "The Piano" (1993) and Sofia Coppola for "Lost in Translation" (2003). None of these women won, although some came close, but based on the accolades that "The Hurt Locker" has received, I believe Bigelow has a good chance at the Oscar.

The BAFTA Awards: Britain's top movie awards

That BAFTAs are essentially Britain's version of the Oscars—the British Academy of Film and Television arts picks the best British and international films. The awards often serve as a decent prediction of how the Oscars will turn out. Click through for the full results, and see our Oscar picks here.

"Shutter Island" movie review

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"Shutter Island" won't surprise most filmgoers: I predicted the ending of "Shutter Island" before I even saw the film. That being said, the roads that lead to the ending keep the movie semi-interesting. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Federal Marshal who is called to the island to investigate the disappearance of one of the mental facility's patients. Fellow Marshal Mark Ruffalo goes with him, and while there they meet the facility's overseer, played by Ben Kingsley, and the residents that live there. On his search for the missing patient, Teddy has numerous flashbacks from when he was a soldier in World War II, which appear to stem from his migraine headaches.

"Brooklyns' Finest" movie review

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Based solely upon the trailer, "Brooklyn's Finest" looked like it was going to be a good cop movie, but it definitely disappoints. The film revolves around three separate storylines which I expected to converge at the end, but which never did. Richard Gere ("Amelia") stars as a cop who is retiring in a week; Don Cheadle ("Oceans" movies) as an undercover cop who is entangled with Brooklyn drug lords; and Ethan Hawke ("Daybreakers") as a dirty cop who is stealing drug money so that he can move his pregnant, asthmatic wife and his thirty children (seriously, we're shown at least six or seven and it seems like a lot more) to a nicer house that isn't mold-infested. The movie mostly focused on Cheadle and his story but it also shows Gere trying to get through his last week of being a cop and Hawke stealing "dirty money" whenever he can.

"Valentine's Day" movie review

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All you have to know about the movie "Valentine's Day" is that you should ignore the critics' reviews. If you're female, you will love it. If you're a guy who gets dragged to see it by your girlfriend/wife/crush, you'll probably still love it. I can see why the critics hated "Valentine's Day"—I agree that a few of the plot lines could have been left out—but then the film wouldn't have been able to bag all those A-listers that made you want to go see the movie in the first place. Don't deny it—whether it's Jennifer Garner or Taylor Lautner, the presence of these A-listers made you want to go see the movie.

"The Wolfman"—in theaters today!

" The Wolfman " is in theaters today! Read our review to decide whether you should see this new movie!

"The Wolfman" movie review

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With an A-List cast, I was expecting more from "The Wolfman," but it failed to meet my expectations. Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic") plays actor Lawrence Talbot, who is summoned home when his brother Ben goes missing. Lawrence meets up with his father, Sir John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins, "Fracture"), and his brother's fiancee, Gwen (Emily Blunt, "The Young Victoria"), at their manor home, but he is too late—his brother's body has already been found. Judging from its "unnatural" look, they deduce Ben was attacked by a vicious beast.

"Dear John" movie review

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I was looking forward to seeing this movie because I had read the 2006 Nicholas Sparks book on which it is based. The film ended up surprising me in a good way in some cases, but mostly in how they changed so much from the Sparks novel on which it was based. It's the summer of 2001, and John (Channing Tatum, "She's the Man") is home in South Carolina for a two-week leave from the Army Special Forces. There he meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried, "Mean Girls"), who is spending her spring break in South Carolina. The two fall in love but soon John has to go back overseas to Germany, and Savannah must return to school. He promises her that they will be together in 12 months when John gets out. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, John's entire unit re-enlists—and he does as well. The two write back and forth but eventually Savannah will write the dreaded "Dear John" letter, saying that she is breaking up with him.

VOTE: How will we rate "Valentine's Day" and "Hot Tub Time Machine"?

You've read the reviews. You've subscribed to our RSS feed. You're following us with your Google account. Based on our reviews so far, how do you think we'll rate the following two films? Below the jump are the trailers for "Valentine's Day" and "Hot Tub Time Machine"—and don't panic, it's the G-rated trailer for the latter. Check out the trailers and leave a comment with your prediction of our rating for each film: yes, no, or maybe.

Oscar nominations—our predictions for winners

The nominations for this year's Oscars awards have been announced. The official results will be announced Sunday, March 7. We won't bore you with the entire list of nominees (see it here ), so here's the official Yes/No Films guide to what will win awards at the Oscars. Check back March 8 to see if we were right or wrong!