The Glamorous Life of a Movie Star

by Jason Adams

That there is a shot of the actor Tom Hardy on the set of Venom, the forthcoming Spider-man spin-off starring him as Eddie Brock, the dude who gets taken over by a gooey tar-like alien symbiote (we already saw this happen to Topher Grace in the third Sam Raimi movie) and proceeds to go a lil' wacky. Tom Hardy does good wacky! There have been a few brief videos popping up on social media this week (see here) that involve Hardy flopping around on the pavement in twenty degree weather - what a weird life actors have!

Venom is being directed by Zombieland and Gangster Squad's Ruben Fleischer and he's managed to gather up quite the killer cast for his comic-book film - besides Hardy there's Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Woody Harrelson, and Michelle Williams! Imagine these actors in a movie actually about something! There was a funny chat with Williams that popped up yesterday about the movie (which she can of course say nothing about yet because you know how these things roll) that just oozed with... enthusiasm? Sure, enthusiasm:

"I’ve done one other movie where I was asked to track a tennis ball with my eyes and pretend it was a giant creature thing. Not my favorite thing in the world to do, but it is a skill set and I’m trying to learn it."

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A "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" Trailer Leaked. What Did We Learn?

by Jorge Molina

On Saturday night, a descendant of Aphrodite herself decided to manifest amongst us mortals in the form of a Twitter user who leaked the first trailer for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the upcoming sequel to the hit musical (and yes, my most anticipated movie of 2018). 

The trailer was only up for around twelve hours (a blissful twelve hours!) before it was taken down. Expect a formal release of it soon, but until then, let’s put into use incognito screenshots and see what the trailer revealed about the movie. [Potential spoilers for the plot of Mamma Mia! 2 after the jump!]

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70 Original Songs Eligible for Oscar

Chris here. Though the conversation around Oscar's Original Song category sways negative these days, there is the potential this year to have one of the strongest lineups in some time. And we now have the massive list of 70 tracks eligible this year to support that claim.

While there are the annual "huh?!" titles among the contenders, the lineup has some strong outsider fare like Patti Cake$, Step, and The Meyerowitz Stories. Among the things you won't see in the longlist are "I Get Overwhelmed" from A Ghost Story or "Cut to the Feeling" from Leap, as both of those weren't explicitly written for their films. Also two musicals, Coco and The Greatest Showman, are only eligible for their biggest tracks - however both remain likely players here, though curveballs should be expected in this category at all times.

Let's take a look at the eligible songs/films:

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Visual Effects Race Narrows Further

Chris here, with a quick update on the visual effects Oscar race. Two weeks ago this year's longlist of twenty eligible CGI wonders dropped but the VFX branch is already down to the next bake off round, slicing those contenders in half. Those not tough enough to stick around included many of the early year releases (like Beauty and the Beast and Logan) and every superhero film with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

But fear not, humble porg, for you and the fish nuns of The Last Jedi are still in the hunt. Here's the ten films that advance:

• Alien: Covenant
• Blade Runner 2049
• Dunkirk
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• Kong: Skull Island
• Okja
• The Shape of Water
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
• War for the Planet of the Apes

Interesting to see smaller art house fare like Okja and The Shape of Water advance in a category that traditionally favors studio pictures. The win two years ago for Ex Machina (and to a much lesser extent last year's Deepwater Horizon nomination) suggests that supporting visual effects actually stand a chance against showier work. Along with the seemless, unflashy Dunkirk these make for curious potential nomination threats against the flashier sights of likely nominees Last Jedi and Apes. What five do you think are the eventual nominees?