Amidst the pinky-out prestige of awards season sits the manic pixie of The People’s Choice Awards. Perhaps they can easily be dismissed by the cinephile crowd for not being nearly well-rounded or interesting enough, but looking at the nominees and the winners can provide a bird’s eye view into the abyss of mass-entertainment. With over 200 million votes cast, according to a press release, the winners included Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds as The Green Lantern, Adam Sandler‘s comedy and Bridesmaids. To put that into perspective, that’s a ridiculous amount of people. To really put it into perspective, it’s 7.6 million more people than the entire population of Brazil, and it’s 2/3rds the population of the United States. The giant, faceless wad of “the people” have made these their movie champions of 2011:

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr gets his grading done early because school is off for the rest of the week. With three family movies opening in theaters for the Thanksgiving weekend, Kevin tries to keep things respectable. Reliving his childhood, he sings and dances his way into the theater for the revival of The Muppets, then takes a serious look at 3D and avant-garde filmmaking with Martin Scorsese’s latest film Hugo. Finally, he bundles up and heads to the North Pole on a search for Santa and his family, knowing it has to be exactly like it is depicted in Arthur Christmas. Movies don’t lie, after all, do they?

We continue our journey through a month of frightening, bloody and violent films. For more, check out our 31 Days of Horror homepage. Synopsis: Based on the novel “Let the Right One In” by John Ajvide Lindqvist the film Let Me In is relocated from Sweden to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a friendless boy, a victim of bullies at school. Not a day goes by when he isn’t pushed, shoved, harassed and threatened. With no one to turn to, not a friend, or teacher, not even his parents who are consumed by a bitter divorce, Owen retreats into  violent fantasies of revenge. One night a man (Richard Jenkins) and his daughter Abby (Chloe Moretz) move into the apartment complex and Owen becomes curious about the girl who only comes out at night, sits in the cold with no shoes or coat, but seems untouched by the frigid New Mexico winter. She looks ragged, she smells bad, her hair is lank and her are eyes dull. But even so, Owen is drawn to her. The next time he sees her she’s been transformed, no longer sickly looking, she looks like a pretty little girl. Owen will learn she’s without a doubt different from any girl he’s ever met.

Like many of my fellow Rejects, I am currently recovering from the insanity that was Fantastic Fest 2011. Over the course of four days I viewed a relatively tame amount of films (10 – I’m not a champ this time around), each one, even the crap ones, expanding my movie watching mind. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I selected the most sexually involved films I could, pausing briefly for a palate cleanser of adorable in A Boy and His Samurai, and I look forward to sharing some of my insights on the loneliness of loving a sex doll in the coming weeks. But for now, let’s jump right into the eccentricities of loving something we shouldn’t. As a sex writer, I’m constantly asked to voice my opinion on any frisky business ranging from the sweet nibbles of a new lover all the way to the “am I weird for liking this and that?” Typically, I provide a sort of get-out-of-jail-free card by giving a basic of sex-positive response along the lines of “you like what you like” or “your kink isn’t my kink, but your kink is okay” (unless the kink involved is so taboo I have to flip a table and walk away). But last week the same topic kept coming up: The sex appeal of the bad girl. Yes, there’s nothing new in feeling attracted to a girl who can beat you up, take your money, and then kiss you on the cheek before she leaves [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]

Having not spent my childhood as an eyeliner-wearing outcast, my knowledge of the Emily the Strange character is quite limited, leading to lots of personal speculation, such as “how do you find narrative in a lunchbox?” The truth is, you don’t, but luckily for fans of Ms. The Strange, there’s actually a wealth of material to mine for a feature film that goes far beyond cheap tee shirts from Hot Topic (but I don’t put it past anyone to make a film about based on a tee shirt). That’s good news for screenwriter Melisa Wallack, who has just signed on to write the Emily the Strange feature film script. Wallack most recently penned the script for Tarsem Singh’s untitled Snow White project over at Relativity (that’s the one with Lilly Collins, Armie Hammer, and Julia Roberts), but she’s also got two Black List projects under her belt, 2007’s Meet Bill (which she also co-directed) and Science Fair (currently in development). If you’re going to turn a logo into a film, signing on a talented screenwriter is a good way to start.

It’s fascinating that the director of Taxi Driver is the man who put this together. Martin Scorsese once again shows his versatility by tackling Hugo, an adaptation of the popular children’s novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.” Interestingly, it look like he’s channeling Chris Columbus here with a healthy dose of Lemony Snicket. Yes, it looks fun and silly, but this trailer makes it look a bit too childish (and features far, far too much of Sacha Baron Cohen falling down and smashing into things Kevin James-style).

This editorial features some spoilers for Hanna and Kick-Ass. Consider yourself warned. In preparation for this post I ran a quick Internet search on child assassins and found this video from New York Magazine. While I wasn’t promised a video exclusively on child assassins here, and instead got something that explores the notion of child killers at large, this video conflates two categories of child killers that I think deserve remarkably different types of consideration. The great majority of killings performed by children in this video are from horror movies. From Rosemary’s Baby to The Omen to The Brood to Firestarter to the other Omen and beyond, the child/killer is an exhaustively repeated horror trope to the point of cliche (and is often confused with the simple overlapping category of “scary children,” like in The Shining and The Sixth Sense). But every so often a child-killer horror film comes along that works in line with the formula (The Children, anyone? Bueller? Okay, how about Let Me In?), reminding us why child killers still have the capacity to be engrossing and entertaining even if they’ve lost the ability to be outright horrifying: because they play on our society’s veneration of childhood innocence, replacing the ignorant bliss of childhood with benevolent, malicious intent to do harm to the much taller individuals that surround them. But child assassins are quite different from the overall category of child killers. And while two recent films in two subsequent spring movie seasons that feature child assassins, [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]

The possibility of a return to Ed Wood sensibilities has been a major reason to keep an eye on Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows adaptation that sees Johnny Depp fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming the second best actor to portray Barnabas Collins. The cast is the other major reason. Amidst the usual gang of idiots that hover around Burton and Depp are Eva Green, Michael Sheen, and Jackie Earle Haley. According to JoBlo, we can add Chloe Moretz‘s name to that list. She’ll play the daughter of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (who’s being played by Michelle Pfiefer) – a spoiled, bratty rich princess named Carolyn. Sort of a Veruca Salt for the vampire crowd. Sounds like Moretz can thank that blonde girl from Addams Family Values for blazing the path.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr strikes out against… well, pretty much everyone reviewing movies by taking issue with The Social Network. Sue him if you don’t agree, or friend him at Facebook.com/FatGuysattheMovies. But while he cringes under the weight of Jesse Eisenberg’s smug Michael Cera impression, he also rejoices in October being officially here and all the horror movies the month of Halloween promises to bring. Up first, he cowers in a dark theater to the likes of Let Me In and Case 39.

It’s cold, and there’s blood on the ground. There are empty streets to get lost in, but there’s a monster on the loose. Let Me In is nearly relentless in its tone of isolation and the chance of finding friendship in the eye of the puberty hurricane. There are few warm moments that emerge out of the kid’s eye view, and they’re as beautiful as the silence. In fact, the whole movie is an exercise in the careful crafting of something we can all relate to by using something none of us can. Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is bullied at school, left alone by a mother more wrapped up in her own impending divorce, and concerned mostly with eating Now And Laters and acting tough with a kitchen knife in front of his mirror. Abby (Chloe Moretz) moves into the building, and Owen’s life changes. He has finally found a friend. And that friend needs blood to survive.

Filling up seconds with paragraphs of words, director Matt Reeves impressed a full Comic-Con crowd with his technical knowledge and his film fandom. Those who could keep up with him, at least. The man spoke in the knowing pace of a hundred miles a minute with an audience fortunate to catch words like Hitchcock, Kino, and Dutch Angle like pennies from Heaven amongst the strikingly long statements. It was his expertise and passion that held everyone captive, but it was also the names he dropped. Not in the form of famous talent he’s sat down to lunch with, but in the form of the films that truly inspired him while working on Let Me In. After some impressive footage, it seems like these films sunk in deep. Thus, by way of a mini-Masters class on the subject, here are the four films that Matt Reeves kept in the forefront of his mind while shaping his coming-of-age vampire film.

Movie-savvy audiences might be in for a surprise soon. I’ve spoken with several trusted sources who have seen the film, and who can articulate their opinions without grunting, and they’ve unanimously praised Let Me In. While the original is aching and beautiful and heart-warmingly cold, the American remake might do what horror remakes struggle to do: be worth it. The positive praise comes with something else today. A new, glorious poster is online and ready to be loved. Just try not to step in the blood:

For Cloverfield director Matt Reeves, the road to remaking one of the most prized international thrillers of the past decade has been a bumpy one. Speculation, skepticism and the ability of fankind to hold tight to the original has caused unrest over the mere idea that they would remake Let The Right One In so soon. That, and how can you improve upon near-perfection? But with this first international trailer for the remake, titled Let Me In, he’s taking a big step in the right direction.

Remember Kick-Ass? The movie that set the internet ablaze with vulgarity, violence and a delicious disregard for appeasing mainstream audiences (a disregard that ultimately cost is dearly at the box office). It hit theaters in April and promptly fizzled out thanks to an underwhelming marketing effort and content deemed too hard for the moms and dads of America. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good movie — it was great — it’s just a sad story.

Kick-Ass star Chloe Moretz is about to escape. She has signed on to the upcoming coming-of-age drama Hick, for director Derick Martini, who debuted his first film Lymelife at Sundance in 2008.

“Anyone expecting the frenetic pacing and whiplash visuals of Cloverfield . . . will be shocked by his new film’s stillness, as well as the patient and exacting mood that Reeves is working to create.”

Overture Films has released the first image of Chloe Moretz in the upcoming remake Let Me In. It’s not the most exciting image in the world, but those who remember the way Let the Right One In played out will not that the best parts of the film will probably be left unseen until the full film is available.

As Cole Abaius pointed out late last week, a hyperbolic debate has occurred regarding the alleged potential of Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass to “kill” the superhero movie by subverting its conventions, or whether or not such subversions and the very existence of this film stand as evidence that audiences have tired of the conventional superhero film, or the superhero film as a whole. This post attempts to answer such questions by briefly examining Jacques Derrida’s philosophy of deconstruction and applying it to genre film theory and, specifically, Kick-Ass.

So, it’s finally out in theaters. That hyper-violent, uber-hyped, hypnotically action-packed movie that everyone’s been talking about. Now it’s your turn to talk and tell us what you thought…

Just as Kick-Ass’ Hit-Girl has quickly stormed the internet, Chloe Moretz has quickly become one of Hollywood’s busiest little actresses. And despite being busy, she took some time to sit down and match wits with our Rob Hunter.