BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Batman Begins – Wally Pfister Brokeback Mountain – Rodrigo Prieto Good Night, and Good Luck – Robert Elswit Memoirs of a Geisha – Dion Beebe The New World – Emmanuel Lubezki Think about your experience in a movie theater, as you sit and watch the feature presentation. The lights begin to dim, the popcorn is already half gone, and the background music of the film rises. What if the excitement that the soundtrack to a film brings was the only way the filmmaker could deliver his or her message to you, the audience? It would make for a fairly unique yet completely wasteful theater experience, right?

Love is a force of nature. This is a phrase that will long live in infamy due to the overwhelming popularity and hype surrounding our second “Best Picture” nominee of 2005. Brokeback Mountain has been described as a raw, powerful story of two young men, a Wyoming ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy, who meet in the summer of 1963 sheepherding in the harsh, high grasslands of contemporary Wyoming. The two men form a bond which is unorthodox, yet life-long, ecstatic, bitter and incredibly conflicted. This is the story of Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist. The Story The story behind Brokeback originated from the E. Annie Proulx short story about a forbidden and secret love affair between two cowboys that spans most of their lives. The film subsequently has caused a serious rukous in Hollywood due to its taboo subject matter and graphic man on man action.

Release Date: February 28, 2006 Based on Jane Austen’s 1813 novel, this is a story about the clash of English social classes during the Georgian era. Prejudice is what separates the classes, and pride is what draws two lovers together. The Film The story revolves around the Bennet family. The Bennet’s five daughters are all of age to marry, and the penniless state of the family increases pressure on all the girls to snag a suitor. In the class-conscious era of England, it was frowned upon to marry into a lower class. For the Bennets, it truly would be advantageous for the girls to marry into a life of wealth. The family of seven is jilted when the wealthy and handsome Mr. Bingley visits their small town. Bingley brings his best friend Mr. Darcy with him, who seems particularly snobbish and somber. The family has one daughter Jane, who is considered the beauty of the countryside, and would be the perfect match for Mr. Bingley. Jane’s sister Elizabeth, a sharp tongued and passionate woman, is at Jane’s side to support her during the inevitable courtship. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy clash again and again during fiery interactions that yield feelings of discontent between the two.

Here is what you should be picking up at your local retailer today: Walk the Line (Widescreen Edition) “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.” Joaquin Phoenix is country music legend Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon is June Carter in James Mangold’s labor of love biography of the early career of the man in black and the troubled road of the impossible love story between Johnny and June, a love that inspired Cash to clean up his life and kick drugs and booze. Both Phoenix and Witherspoon earned Oscar nominations for their performances. Our 2 Cents: This is a must own for any DVD lover. I will be reviewing the “Special Edition” later in the day. Pride & Prejudice (Widescreen Edition) Britain’s “It” girl Keira Knightley lands a role that she can sink her talent into: the headstrong and feisty Elizabeth Bennet, the second of five sisters with a good name but no fortune, in the adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel of love, class and social convention. Matthew Macfadyen is the starchy and severe Mr. Darcy, whose stiff adherence to class division is bent when he falls for the intelligent and strong-willed Elizabeth Our 2 Cents: Review on its way… The Ice Harvest (Widescreen Edition) Comedy specialist Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day) brings understated humor to this low-key heist thriller starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton as the small-time schemers dangerously out of their depth. This incarnation, set on Christmas Eve in a series of sleazy Wichita strip clubs and upscale bars [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

We must break for a moment from our Oscar Week coverage and bring you a sweet little tidbit of information: Kevin Smith has all but officially announced the theatrical released date of Clerks II: August 18th. Click here to check out the news direct from NewsAskew.com. The theatrical release is also being said to coincide with the DVD release of Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Even Harder. This gives all of the Kevin Smith fans like myself something to look forward to. Enjoy! Tags: Clerks 2, Kevin Smith, View Askew

       BEST VISUAL EFFECTS War of The Worlds – Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Randal M. Dutra and Daniel Sudick The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe – Dean Wright, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney and Scott Farrar King Kong – Joe Letteri, Brian Van’t Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor This list yields a significant amount of contention between the nominees. I will start off with the fact that the judges are fed a fifteen minute clip of the best visual effects the respective film has to offer. So when analyzing these three films, the real question is: Which film, if it were only fifteen minutes long, would kick the most ass?

The Monday Morning Buzz Machine is hard at work this week, bringing you a recap of Hollywood’s biggest and brightest news from the past weekend, with a little touch of Oscar mixed in for good measure. So without further ado, here is your news, ya savages:        Oscar Related: Brokeback Shirts sell big: Digital Spy (and everyone else under the sun) is talking about how the shirts from Brokeback Mountain sold at an Auction for more than $100,000. Unless it was Heath Ledger’s real blood, I wouldn’t pay more than $20 for that Canadian tuxedo. Let the countdown begin:Monsters and Critics are talking about the countdown to Oscar. Don’t forget to thank Mom: M&C is also talking about the speeches, and the preparation that “doesn’t occur.” Cinematical Predictions: Cinematical plays “Pin the Oscar on the Donkey,” a new game to hit shelves this spring…        Other Buzz: Braff looking for more: /Film is reporting this weekend that Garden State writer/director Zach Braff is working on his next film. It is an adaption of a foreign film. It will most likely be very good, as was his debut. Linklater speaks: Director Richard Linklater is talking to Cinematical about his next acid-trip of a film, A Scanner Darkly. Dobkin quits the Gay Firemen Film: Someone at Universal just ruined I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. Due to “creative differences” Director David Dobkin has left the project. And with him goes the edge the [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

[Editor's Note: This article was written by our very own Tara S. and previously posted here. We found it relevant for our site now, and she said we could post it... Enjoy!] For Best Director: Make a LOT of films and the Academy will eventually award you for your contributions to the arts, especially if you suddenly change genres or film something out of your usual norm. IE: Spielberg for “Saving Private Ryan.” Be an actor turned director like- Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford and Kevin Costner who have all won. Be the hot new director making one of your first directorial debuts, a.k.a Sam Mendes for “American Beauty.” Hope that your film wins Best Picture, and you’re more than likely to receive an award as well. Be a Man – As of yet a woman has never won Best Director :-)

For one to rationalize the life of Truman Capote is a far unachievable goal. One of the great American authors of all time, Capote was the Southern born New York Socialite author who penned the earth shattering novel In Cold Blood. This was his story of the emotional unraveling that led to one of the greatest works of non-fiction that the world has ever beheld. The Story The story brings us Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as he travels to the small town of Halcomb, Kansas with friend and confidant Nell Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) to research the murder of a family of four for an article in The New Yorker. And as Capote begins to unravel the senseless and horrific acts taken by the two murderers he begins to see that his article is much more, and it soon becomes his greatest work, the novel In Cold Blood. Capote begins to form a close relationship with one of the murderers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and even attempts to help the murderers so that he can have enough time to seek out the entire tale of the murders before Smith and Richard Hickock (Mark Pelligrino) are executed for their crimes. As Capote continues his work he is drawn into his relationship with Smith, and it nearly consumes him in the end as he awaits their execution so as to find a sense of closure for his work. The conflicts of his emotions and his motives as an interviewer make [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

It is an event that astounds us when we are young budding fans of film. It is a chance for Hollywood to show off its glitz and glamour. It is an opportunity to recognize the most prolific performances and feats of filmmaking in the past year. And above all, it is one hell of a party. Yes, the 78th Annual Academy Awards will be many things this year, but it is so often the criticism and hype leading up to the ceremonies that are what truly draw people into the spectacle that surrounds a little golden statue. It haunts the dreams of so many thespians and filmmakers, fuels the determination of Film School youths, and eludes even some of the greatest talents in cinema history. Due to this massive spectacle of events that lives and breathes as if to become an entirely separate entity from the world of film, we at Film School Rejects have decided to devote an entire week’s worth of our time to previewing, analyzing, and slicing through the buzz of the Oscars so as to give our readers a better perspective on who will win, and better yet, who should win. Our goal is to give a completely objective editorial view on the Oscars, and the people that will attend, win, and make oppressingly long speeches. So here we go, round one of our Oscar coverage. All we ask is that you cut us a miniscule amount of slack, as we have not done this previously. [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Here at Film School Rejects, we like to do many things. One is to give you a quick summary every Friday that shows what movies we reviewed and ultimately what we thought. So without further ado, here are our thoughts this week: [awesome content removed]

Our commitment to bringing you the information necessary to go forth and enjoy movies we have decided that even if we don’t get a chance to review a film right away, we should at least give you a heads up. So here it is, the  Weekend Warm-up. Here is what you should be going to see this weekend: Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion [Trailer] The Setup: Another hilarious romp through the comedic mind of Tyler Perry, Madea’s Family Reunion brings back the pistol packing grandma, played by Perry, who is forced to deal with not only planning a family reunion, but other dramatic instances that seem to form in her everyday life. Madea not only takes in a runaway but also has to deal with her love troubled nieces. The Acclaim: The critics seem to be a mixed bag here. Some love it, some hate it. My thoughts are that if you liked Perry’s previous work, then this one should entertain as well. Here is a differing opinion: “Madea is meant to be a communal experience. But a critic’s job isn’t to judge how a movie plays in an ideal viewing. It’s to look at the movie. Madea is dismal.” – Dan Feinberg, ZAP2IT.com After the jump we hit Running Scared and Tsotsi…

I Watch Stuff is reporting today that there has been a change announced to who will play Aquaman in the upcoming film set to being shooting later this year. It has gone from underwear model Will Toale to another no named actor: Passions sub-star Justin Hartley. Exactly what comic book fans are looking for, another soap opera comic movie… As IWS says: It’s like secretly replacing your Wal-Mart coffee with K-Mart blend. Even if you somehow notice, does it really matter? Enjoy! Tags: Aquaman, Justin Hartley, Comics, Comic Book Movies

On the streets of Memphis, DJay’s hustle was second to none. No problems were presented in his day to day of running the working girls from back seat to proverbial back seat, and bringing the hottest grown product to the locals. But DJay’s “mode” had never taken him any further than his day to day hustle, leading into his midlife crisis of questioning and unknown paths. His path, though crooked, crossed with that of an old school acquaintance, Key, a Church music record producer who shows key the difference between talking the talk and walking the walk. With the support of the tender yet resolute Shug and the innocuous and avid Nola, DJay takes on his destiny with vigilance and swagger. He soon realizes that his situation, though, is rooted heavily in the real world and that there is more to walking the walk than just having a dream. His realization is that in order to blaze your own path, you have to possess equal measures of both hustle and flow. The Film Craig Brewer’s inspirational tale of a Memphis pimp relentless in his pursuit of breaking through his midlife crisis by making his music dreams come to fruition, Hustle & Flow moves with rhythm and edge. It is truly a film with a “mode” that is all it’s own. When you envision the humble beginnings of most great icons of the rap culture, you think gangster or drug dealer, you don’t see a compassionate yet tenacious pimp from Memphis [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

(via ComingSoon.net) Dane cook is one of my personal favorite comedians. And now he is quickly becoming a hot commodity in Hollywood. He recently wrapped shooting on London, which is featured in our Super Trailer Thursday section, and he is also set to be starring in a film titled Employee of the Month. The film, set in a Costco-esque retail environment, centers around 2 friends (Cook and Dax Shepard) who compete with each other for an “employee of the month” award to impress a sexy new cashier, played by Jessica Simpson. It sounds mildly entertaining from the little amount of info we have so far, but Dane Cook rarely disappoints… Tags: Dane Cook, Dax Shepard, Jessica Simpson, London

Here is a quick hit on Trailers that you should be watching this week (links courtesy of IMDB.com): Superman Returns This is the one that everyone is waiting for, right? Superman Returns in a Brian Singer film, starring Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, and Kate Bosworth. Click Here to watch the Teaser. X-Men The Last Stand The X-Men are back in what they are saying to be the final mutated installment of this comic book extravaganza that has seemed to form a semi-cult-like following. They have added new characters Beast, played by Kelsey Grammer, and Angel played by Ben Foster. Click here to view the announcement teaser. London Jessica Biel stars in a film that “centers on a party in a New York loft where a young man is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend.” This one co-stars Chris Evans, Jason Statham, and is ripe with a role for funnyman Dane Cook. Click Here to view the trailer. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest The unwavering talent of Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow for another go at this whole swachbuckling thing. Almost the entire cast has returned for what looks to be the most anticipated sequel in a long, long time following it’s largely surprising predecessor. Click here to check out the Trailer. The Break Up Hollywood’s newest couple is Vince and Jen. Well at least Vince Vaughn can say that he has had “relations” with someone who Brad Pitt has dated, right? The relationship began on the [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Julia Jones has never been very lucky in love. In fact, she has not even been close. And the only one who will listen to her woes is her diary, and a three foot tall man named Hitch. With the help of Hitch, Julia is primed and ready to make her way towards her destiny of finding her long lost prince charming, but not without a few bumps along the way. In this buffet to lingerie tale, Julia finds her match in Grant Fonckyerdoder, a doctor whose ability to see that beauty is more than skin deep is a refreshing change for the young maiden. But their love is not supported by everyone, especially Julia’s father and Grant’s delightfully sexy ex-fiance Andy, who will stop at nothing to break up the wedding and steal Grant back for good. In the end Julia and Grant find their way back to each other, but not before running their way through countless date movie parodies and short-witted humor.

(via I Watch Stuff) It is being reported the Oscar nominee Terrence Howard is a very busy man of late. He is currently being courted by multiple different filmmakers to portray various historical icons. The first is a Spike Lee joint where Howard would play boxer Joe Louis, in the story of Louis’ life. And yet the two others are biopics depicting the life of super-freak Rick James and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. As the story reports: He’ll play a police officer helping (and loving) a grieving, revengeful Jodie Foster in “The Brave One.” He’ll portray an inspirational coach in the true-life “PDR” and a social worker in the ensemble drama “August Rush.” He has also been talking to the makers of three different biopics – on boxer Joe Louis, singer Rick James and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. It seems as if Mr. Howard is a very busy man. And rightfully so. Did you see his performance in Hustle & Flow? Tags: Terrence Howard, Rick James, Thurgood Marshall, Spike Lee, Joe Louis

Here is what you should be picking up at your local retailer today: Rent (Widescreen 2 Disc Edition) The Broadway phenomenon is now on DVD. Jonathan Larson’s award winning play turned film chronicles the lives of aspiring artists in New York City. They are forced to come to the reality of their surroundings, which are laden with drug addiction and AIDS. Our 2 Cents: We will have a full review for you in the next few days… North Country (Widescreen Edition) The true story of the nation’s first class-action sexual-harassment lawsuit is dramatized in this fictionalized take on history starring Charlize Theron as a single mom who takes on the bosses over her degrading treatment while working at a Minnesota steel mine. Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek, Sean Bean, Michelle Monaghan and Woody Harrelson co-star. Theron and McDormand both earned Oscar nominations for their performances. Our 2 Cents: We should also have a full review shortly on this film. The Weather Man, Domino and Ultimate Avengers after the jump…

Release Date: February 21, 2006 The Weather Man Dave Spritz is a man who is paid to predict the weather for the population of an entire city. His family has fallen through his grasp, and he is desperately trying to earn his father’s approval before it is too late. The Film Dave Spritz looks like a man who exhibits all the qualities of the great American accomplishment. He has a lucrative job, luscious condo, and an expensive car…but at what price? To know who Dave Spritz is, you must first look at what he has lost. His father is brutally honest and does not express much interest in his son’s life decisions, his wife divorced him, and his kids feel no connection to him whatsoever. When offered a lucrative job in a new city, Dave assumes that the new venue and salary will give him new opportunities to mend his past. What he soon realizes is that the opportunity to do so has been there the whole time, and that he has just neglected it.