The 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations were announced today, and while it was the usual predictable affair there were a few surprises to be found. Winter’s Bone doesn’t deserve a nod for Best Picture, but it’s great seeing John Hawkes’ brutal and brilliant performance get some love alongside Jennifer Lawrence. In news more relevant to this particular column the disturbing and darkly funny Greek movie, Dogtooth, has been nominated for Best Foreign film. It will lose to Biutiful, but it’s great to see it make the top five. And since it hits DVD (and Netflix Instant) today you can check it out for yourself! Titles out this week include James L Brooks’ classic film Broadcast News from the Criterion Collection, the visually rewarding and seizure inducing French flick Enter the Void, the all-star action romp that is Red, Ryan Kwanten’s Red Hill, the complete series box set of The Family Channel’s Zorro, and more.

Back at Fantastic Fest, Rob Hunter came out of his screening of Red Hill – featuring Ryan Kwanten from True Blood – and immediately walked from Austin back to San Francisco on a mission to clean up the filth of his town. He, of course, succeeded, and now San Francisco has 2000% fewer snarly-mouthed gangsters who think they “run things.” Now, you can win Red Hill on DVD and find your own inspiration.* (*FSR does not endorse actual vigilante justice.) How to win: Head over to our Facebook Page and hit the “like” button (since there’s no “love” button). Then proceed to find the post asking how you’d bring justice to your town, and…explain how you’d bring justice to your small town. Clean up the (US-based) town by January 26th, and you could have a shot at snagging this DVD for yourself.

Halloween has past. October is no more. We have now entered the cool, gray month of November, and with it comes the Fall holiday movie season. They’re kicking it off early this year, right here at week number one with two big releases. Both of them, Megamind and Due Date, will surely come out of the gate full force. Even Tyler Perry’s new film will add to the collective change being pulled in this weekend. The theaters are going to be jammed packed this weekend, and it probably won’t matter who comes out on top. Everyone’s sure to be a winner.

The FSR crew got a chance to see Red Hill at Fantastic Fest, and the film is now seeing the darkness of theaters in Austin, New York, and Los Angeles on November 5th (that’s tomorrow (and, seriously, go buy a calander)). With all that money you’re spending on calendars, you won’t be able to afford a poster for the film. That’s a shame. Fortunately, we’ve got three of them that happen to be signed by star Ryan Kwanten and director Patrick Hughes. Three posters means three lucky winners. Find out what you can do to win inside.

True Blood stud and rising star Ryan Kwanten‘s newest film, the Australian revenge flick Red Hill, premiered during Fantastic Fest giving us the opportunity to sit down with the star and writer/director Patrick Hughes. We managed to keep our questions serious for nineteen of our twenty minutes before grilling Kwanten about his ab routine (at Cole Abaius’ insistence), but before things went sexily downhill, we scored up a bit of news.

With the exception of Gentlemen Broncos, we were spot on with our Must See Films of Fantastic Fest 2009 list last year. While we’d love to take the credit for it, the truth is that it’s Fantastic Fest that came through with a large slate of winners from the weird world of genre. Fantastic Fest is the movie festival for movie lovers, and as the FSR Death Squad assembles yet again, we’re gearing up to attack the event with a renewed fervor by shining the spotlight on the films we’re anticipating the most. We’re pleased to have Adam Charles, Robert Fure, Brian Salisbury, Rob Hunter and Cole Abaius (led by the slightly inebriated and deep fried Neil Miller) comprise the Squad this go ’round. As for the Must See movies, this year, we’re enlisted four members of the Squad to choose 5 films each, and the result is a list full of blood, Hong Kong action, gritty Santa Claus stories, geriatric Kung Fu, Dystopian societies, ninjas from Norway, slasher follow-ups, mental trips, creepy clowns, and little girl vampires. A truly sprawling feast for the eyes and ears. Hopefully you’ll be sitting next to us, but if not, we aim to make you feel that way with our coverage. It’s time to get excited. Here are the 20 films that have got us running to the famous Alamo Drafthouse for Fantastic Fest 2010.

Fans of Fantastic Fest (which should include all human beings and several species of extra-terrestrials) always look forward to the wanton violence and downright weird imagery on display during the festival. On the eve of Comic-Con, in a truly wise marketing move, the freaky folks at Fantastic Fest released their first fireball toward the castle of our minds. That fireball consists of 13 films that look like a collective 24 hours of awesome. Cannes favorite Rubber and martial arts follow-up Ip Man 2 are just the tip of the iceberg.