Resident Evil 6

The long awaited sequel in the brilliant Resident Evil series is coming to a console near you on 11/20/2012. The official trailer was just released and it looks awesome. The fan favorite character Leon is back in the mix after sitting out Resident Evil 5.

The game looks wonderful even though a lot of the original fanboys are bitching that it is now just a shooter and not enough horror. RE 5 was solid and six looks just as solid. I say wait for the demo before you start your bitching. Check out this trailer and tell me how pumped you are.

Calling All Writers!

Now accepting submissions of opinions, analysis, etc. about anything entertainment related, but especially about the Academy Award nominees.  Email to from.the.reservoir@gmail.com.  There is a possibility of becoming a permanent contibuter on this blog!

The Academy Awards: Multiple Nominations

Here is a breakdown of the movies that received more than one nomination.  At the bottom are some of my observations.

2 nominations

Bridesmaids

Actress in a Supporting Role

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Actor in a Supporting Role

Best Picture

The Iron Lady

Actress in a Leading Role

Makeup

My Week With Marilyn

Actor in a Supporting Role

Actress in a Leading Role

A Separation

Foreign Language Film

Writing (Original Screenplay)

3 nominations

Albert Nobbs

Actress in a Leading Role

Actress in a Supporting Role

Makeup

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Art Direction

Makeup

Visual Effects

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Actor in a Leading Role

Music (Original Score)

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Sound Editing

Sound Mixing

Visual Effects

The Tree of Life

Best Picture

Cinematography

DIrecting

4 nominations

The Help

Actress in a Leading Role

Actress in a Supporting Role

Actress in a Supporting Role

Best Picture

Midnight in Paris

Art Direction

Best Picture

Directing

Writing (Original Screenplay)

5 nominations

The Descendants

Actor in a Leading Role

Best Picture

Directing

Film Editing

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Actress in a Leading Role

Cinematography

Film Editing

Sound Editing

Sound Mixing

6 nominations

Moneyball

Actor in a Leading Role

Actor in a Supporting Role

Best Picture

Film Editing

Sound Mixing

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

War Horse

Art Direction

Best Picture

Cinematography

Music (Original Score)

Sound Editing

Sound Mixing

10 nominations

The Artist

Actor in a Leading Role

Acress in a Supporting Role

Art Direction

Best Picture

Cinematography

Costume Design

Directing

Film Editing

Music (Original Score)

Writing (Original Screenplay)

11 nominations

Hugo

Art Direction

Best Picture

Cinematography

Costume Design

Directing

Film Editing

Music (Original Score)

Sound Editing

Sound Mixing

Visual Effects

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

my observations

Surprises?

1.  The Ides of March is only nominated for one Academy Award (Best Adapted Screenplay), which is surprising because there has been a lot of hype, and it was nominated for 4 Golden Globes

2.  A pleasant surprise: "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets is nominated for Best Original Song, and if you are a Flight of the Conchords fan, it's written by Bret McKenzie!

3.  Adventures of Tintin is nominated for one award, but maybe not the one you expect.  It's not nominated for Best Animated Feature, but for Best Original Score

4.  Bridesmaids, the raunchy raunchy comedy, is nominated for two Academy Awards:  Best Supporting Actress AND Best Original Screenplay.

5.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is nominated for 5 awards.  This surprises me because it is an American remake of a Swedish movie that only came out in 2009.  And the American version is nominated for more awards than the original Swedish one was.  Is this right?

6.  Ryan Gosling isn't nominated for any Academy Awards, and some people are calling this a big fat snub.  He gave three great performances this year: in Drive, The Ides of March, and Crazy Stupid Love

7.  Hugo is nominated for the most Oscars.  Eleven!  This is surprising because family-oriented films don't usually get recognized like this.  I guess whenever Martin Scorsese is involved...

Non-surprises

Movies that received multiple nominations that were expected: The Artist, The Descendants, Moneyball, and Midnight in Paris.  Can't wait to see who wins what!

The 84th Academy Awards

Welcome to the nominees of the 84th Annual Academy Awards.  From now until February 26th when they air, we will be examining the nominees and trying to predict the outcomes.  Here are the nominees:

Documentary Short
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement.
God is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Documentary Feature
Hell and Back Again
If A Tree Falls:A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Animated Feature Film
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Short Film (Animated)
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Short Film (Live Action)

Pentecost

Raju

The Shore

Time Freak

Tuba Atlantic

Music (Original Song)

“Man of Muppet” from The Muppets

Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

“Real in Rio” from Rio

Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown

Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Music (Original Score)

The Adventures of Tintin

The Artist

Hugo

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

War Horse

Makeup

Albert Nobbs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The Iron Lady

Costume Design

Anonymous

The Artist

Hugo

Jane Eyre

W.E.

Sound Editing

Drive

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse

Sound Mixing

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse

Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Real Steel

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Art Direction

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

War Horse

Foreign Language Film

Belgium, “Bullhead”

Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar”

Iran, “A Separation”

Israel, “Footnote”

Poland, “In Darkness”

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

The Descendants

Hugo

The Ides of March

Moneyball

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Writing (Original Screenplay)

The Artist

Bridesmaids

Margin Call

Midnight in Paris

A Separation

Film Editing

The Artist

The Descendants

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo Moneyball

Cinematography

The Artist

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Actress in a Supporting Role

Berenice Bejo—The Artist

Jessica Chastain—The Help

Melissa McCarthy—Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer—Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer—The Help

Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh—My Week With Marilyn

Jonah Hill—Moneyball

Nick Nolte—Warrior

Christopher Plummer—Beginners

Max von Sydow—Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Actress in a Leading Role

Glenn Close—Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis—The Help

Rooney Mara—The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep—The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams—My Week with Marilyn

Actor in a Leading Role

Demian Bichir—A Better Life

George Clooney—The Descendants

Jean Dujardin—The Artist

Gary Oldman—Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt—Moneyball

Directing

The Artist

The Descendants

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

The Tree of Life

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Why? The Last Man

Y: The Last Man is a 10 volume series of graphic novels written by Brian K. Vaughan. In this series, he dares to imagine what would happen if every organism, animal, etc. with a Y chromosome suddenly dropped dead...except one male human and his male pet monkey.

I recently finished reading this series and enjoyed it quite a lot. I like the way Vaughan speculates on what would happen if women suddenly inherited the Earth. What he predicts could very easily happen. You have the extremist "Daughters of the Amazons" who willingly cut off one of their own breasts. You have those selfish women who take advantage of the situation for their own personal gain. But, you also have those women who rise up to the challenge. They become leaders and protectors.

Basically, just people. It's interesting what people will do when they are forced to stare down their own impending extinction. Like Captain Kilina, for example. She rationalizes smuggling Heroin because she thinks she's easing women's pain before the end of humankind.

It's even more fascinating to think about what people will do when the possibility of salvation is presented. Namely, Yorick Brown, last man on Earth. Countless women desperate in the face of their own mortality, and only one man...a man that is stubbornly determined to stay true to a girlfriend he doesn't even know is still alive.

My only complaint in this series is that so much time passes in the volumes, and so many big things happen that we only get snapshots of. We don't get to delve deep enough into the characters, their backgrounds, and their journey. It left me wanting more, which isn't the worst thing for a series of graphic novels to do. I highly suggest reading these; they'll definitely get you thinking.

Seeing double

While I was watching "The Tree of Life" the other day I thought to myself, "wow, Bryce Dallas Howard has really become a really good actress." It was kind of hard to believe but I was seeing it with my own eyes so it couldn't be denied. It wasn't until the credits rolled that it was made clear to me that the actress was not Bryce Dallas Howard but Jessica Chastain.

What?! I was so confused, but it's no wonder that I was, these two ladies look eerily similar. I have a theory that in the movie "The Help" which both of these actresses star in, they had to dye Jessica Chastain's hair so that the audience could tell them apart. It's weird. It haunts my dreams. Look at these pictures, and tell me I'm wrong.

The top one is Bryce Dallas Howard, the bottom one is Jessica Chastain. Or is it?

Why Community Season 2 BLOWS

The writers of Community are their own worst enemy; they seem determined to see themselves fail. But, instead of doing the normal thing and writing themselves into holes they can't get out of (aka Lost), instead they write themselves onto a dry and barren wasteland of nothingness. At least in the former, there's something going on, even if it doesn't make sense. 

At the end of Season 1, they manage to resolve every interesting conflict and character dynamic they have going for them.

Troy and Abed's weird, and sometimes awkward, friendship gives some of the funniest material. At the end of Season 1, Troy moves in with Pierce and all he seems to do is "Old White Man Says" twittering. Pierce isn't even saying the wildly inappropriate and wildly funny sexist/racist things he usually says so what's the point? Troy and Abed barely interact.

The study group decides to stop taking Spanish class. The writers try to compensate for denying us the creepy "Senor Chang" as professor, by keeping him around as a student. He morphs from a ball-busting and feared Senor Chang, into a sniveling "Golum," begging them to let him join their super cool study group. It's just annoying.

Jeff and Britta's relationship: feelings of mutual hatred and sexual tension, comes to an end when 1. They do it, and 2. Britta misguidedly declares her "love" for Jeff. There is nothing there anymore; it's all dispelled.

They morph into a 7-headed monster. There are no individual stories, personalities, or conflicts. They all go from place to place as one unit. Each character has been flattened out into a caricature of their former selves.

Finally, the show is not funny. There are elaborate and complicated scenes that are supposed to be situationally funny (such as when they get trapped in the Space Shuttle simulator) but it just comes out forced and flat.

And then they add in the "feel good lessons" to the ends of the episodes that are VERY not funny. Why are they channeling Full House and Saved By the Bell?

"The contest doesn't matter. What matters is that we have each other!" Annie

"The most important tool is respect because if we don't respect each other, we die." Jeff

This is the most intense, vertical, steep nose-dive I've ever seen a show take, and yes, I have seen Heroes.

Enough

"ENOUGH! Enough! You better start talking asshole! Because we got shit we need to talk about!"  Reservoir Dogs

I'm pleased to present, edit, moderate this blog.  It is dedicated to the discussion, analysis, and recommendation of any entertainment source, such as movies, books, television, etc.

So, start talking.