As the 84th Academy Awards move closer, we’re starting to get a better sense of how things will pan out. We recently shared the 39 songs that will contend for the Best Original Song category, and now the Academy has announced the 97 original scores eligible for the Best Original Score award. AMPAS is notoriously picky when it comes to eligibility in this category, and as we feared the scores for both Drive and Attack the Block have been deemed ineligible. Also disappointing is the ineligibility of Alexandre Desplat’s mesmerizing score for The Tree of Life.

While it’s upsetting to see some of the year’s best work side-lined, there’s plenty to be happy about. I was a huge fan of Howard Shore’s work in Hugo and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as well as The Chemical Brothers’ brilliant work in the criminally underseen Hanna. Hit the jump for the full list, as well as who I think will make the cut.

The National Board of Review has announced their honors for 2011.  As always, the wide selection allows the NBR to technically have a say in directing awards season, and their picks remain solid.  While I didn’t go nuts over Hugo, a lot of people did and so it’s not surprising NBR gave it Best Picture and named Martin Scorsese as Best Director.  For the most part, I like all of NBR’s choices.  I’m glad any time Drive gets attention, the acting picks are all worthy, and I’m happy Crime After Crime and 13 Assassins got some love.  Notable snubs include Young Adult, Moneyball, and Martha Marcy May Marlene.  Of course, anything Clint Eastwood does has to make NBR’s Top 10 so that’s why a spot is wasted on J. Edgar.

Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

The premise of Cedar Rapids is familiar: small town boy (Ed Helms) goes to the big city, and discovers a lot about himself, and who he thought he was. But in Miguel Arteta’s take,  this story is both smaller and more perilous than previous versions. The big city is Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the peril is that the main character tries meth and hangs out with a prostitute. The film also has a killer line up of actors, with Helms playing alongside John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Root, Kurtwood Smith and Thomas Lennon. My review of Cedar Rapids on Blu-ray after the jump.

Fox Searchlight has sent over 5 clips from director Miguel Arteta’s (Youth in Revolt) Cedar Rapids.  Starring Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche, Stephen Root, Kurtwood Smith, Alia Shawkat, Mike O’Malley, Rob Corddry, and Seth Morris, the film’s about a small-town Wisconsin man who travels to the big city to represent his company at a regional insurance conference.  While the story isn’t groundbreaking, or something that you haven’t seen before, I thought the movie was really funny and it’s definitely worth checking out when it gets released February 11. The main reason is the chemistry between Helms, Reilly, Heche, and Whitlock Jr. Each one had a moment to shine and Whitlock Jr. got two of the biggest laughs during the premiere at Sundance.  However, John C. Reilly also has a few awesome lines that I loved.

Anyway, for a taste of the film, hit the jump for the clips.  And if you missed my extended video interview with Ed Helms at Sundance last week, click here.

With Fox Searchlight’s very funny Cedar Rapids premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival (watch the trailer here), I got to sit down with Ed Helms for an extended video interview.  As a huge fan of his work, I’ll admit that getting to speak to him in a one on one setting was something that I was really looking forward to.  Thankfully, he was super nice and willing to talk about anything.  During the interview we covered…

• What was it like for him to premiere his movie at Sundance
• Making Cedar Rapids and the awesome jokes that reference HBO’s The Wire
• What songs does he like to sing when doing karaoke. Says he would destroy me if we went up against one another.  I didn’t argue.
• Is he ever going to release an album
• He talked about the “nudity clause” in his contract
• The Mike Tyson tattoo he had to wear in The Hangover 2 and what it was like to walk around Bangkok with it
• His early work which included an episode of Arrested Development
• How he really wants to be in The Muppet movie
• His upcoming movie with Jason Segel called Jeff Who Lives at Home
• His thoughts on the future of The Office. Reveals most of the cast has one year left on their contracts
• And so much more

While I’ve done a lot of interviews recently, this was one easily of my favorites and I can’t recommend it enough.  Hit the jump to check it out.  I’ve time indexed it so you can watch the parts that interest you.

Fox Searchlight has released the first trailer for director Miguel Arteta’s (Youth in Revolt) Cedar Rapids.  Premiering at next month’s Sundance Film Festival and getting released nationally February 11, the film is loaded with an all star cast featuring Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche, Stephen Root, Kurtwood Smith, Alia Shawkat, Mike O’Malley, Rob Corddry, and Seth Morris.

While the premise of a small-town Wisconsin man who travels to the big city to represent his company at a regional insurance conference is nothing groundbreaking, I thought Youth in Revolt was very underrated and think Arteta is a director to watch.  Also, the trailer for Cedar Rapids has a line that absolutely killed me.  I won’t spoil it for you…but if you’re a fan of HBO’s The Wire, you will laugh out loud at the end of the trailer.  It’s an awesome moment – especially because of who is saying it.  Watch the trailer after the jump.

The Sundance Film Festival doesn’t take place until late January, but you don’t have to wait that long to check out images from some of the films that will have their premiere at the prestigious festival. Today, we bring you the first images from two upcoming star-studded comedies: My Idiot Brother and Cedar Rapids. My Idiot Brother stars Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Rashida Jones, and Adam Scott. The film centers on a ne’er-do-well brother who successively barges into the lives of his three sisters.

Cedar Rapids stars John C. Reilly, Ed Helms, Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche, Rob Corddry, Thomas Lennon, and Alia Shawkat.  The comedy tells the story of a small-town Wisconsin man who travels to the big city to represent his company at a regional insurance conference. Hit the jump to check out images and a brief synopsis for both films, which will be playing out-of-competition.  The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20 -30th.

Sundance has announced the premieres playing out-of-competition at this year’s 2011 Sundance Film Festival.  While we knew that Kevin Macdonald’s documentary Life in a Day and Kevin Smith’s Red State had already made the cut, we now have some other exciting films to add to the list.  Among the films in the “Premieres” category, I’m particularly stoked for Cedar Rapids (starring Ed Helms and John C. Reilly), My Idiot Brother (starring Paul Rudd), The Details (starring Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks), Margin Call (starring Kevin Spacey and Paul Bettany), Salvation Boulevard (starring Pierce Brosnan and Jennifer Connelly), and Tom McCarthy’s Win Win (starring Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan).

But I’m even more jazzed for some of the documentaries.  There’s a Reagan biopic from Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight), Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, and Steve James’ The Interrupters, just to name a few.  Hit the jump for the full line-up.  Click here for a list of the films playing in-competition and click here for a list of the other films playing out-of-competition.  The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20th – 30th.

Last week I got to talk to Thomas Lennon during a break from shooting A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas 3D in Michigan.  We spoke on the phone for around 30 minutes and he gave me a great update on who he plays in the third Harold & Kumar movie and what the films about.  He also gave me a huge update on the part-scripted/part-improvised science fiction comedy pilot called Alabama that he’s getting ready to shoot with Ben Garant (which sounds very cool).

But before we got off the phone, we also talked about what’s up with the 3rd Night at the Museum movie, Cedar Rapids, Bad Teacher, What’s Your Number?, How to Survive a Robot Uprising, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he said:

Currently playing in limited release and expanding into more theaters this week is Cyrus.  Written and directed by Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Baghead), the movie centers on John (John C. Reilly), a film editor who’s down on his luck and still emotionally attached to his soon-to-be remarried ex-wife, Jamie (Catherine Keener).  John’s prospects take a turn when he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) at a party. However, when her 21 year-old son/housemate Cyrus (Jonah Hill) enters the picture, he becomes an unexpected saboteur of John’s attempts at Molly’s heart.

While you might think going down the studio road might somehow change who The Duplass Brothers are, they stuck to their indie tricks.  The way they did that was to film the movie in order and to improvise much of the dialogue. What they ended up with was a touching, original story that blends humor & heartbreak.  Definitely recommended.

Anyway, I recently got to talk with John C. Reilly about how he got involved in the project and what it was like to work for the Duplass Brothers.  I also asked him about his future projects like Cedar Rapids and We Need to Talk About Kevin, as well as what will it take to get him paired up again with Will Ferrell.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say:

Rob Corddry will star alongside Jennifer Garner and Kate Hudson in the upcoming comedy Butter.  The script landed near the top of last year’s Black List (a list of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood) and centers on an Iowa woman (Garner) who attempts to win a butter-carving title formerly held by her husband (Ty Burell), only to be thwarted by a young black girl (Yara Ahahidi).  The premise is intended to mirror the 2008 Presidential Primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Hot Tub Time Machine is worth seeing for Corddry alone and it’s good to see that he’s getting some bigger roles as a result.  Butter sounds like a great film and hopefully Corddry will get another chance to shine.  The actor will next be seen in the indie comedy Cedar Rapids alongside his former Daily Show co-star Ed Helms. [24 Frames]

There’s always more to give and while we should all definitely be giving around this time of year*, we have five news stories than we didn’t have time to craft into a bigger article but still though they were worth a read.  After the jump you can find out what’s coming up on Parks and Recreation, where you can HBO’s John Adams on Blu-ray for less than $30, and Edgar Wright’s loving tribute to actor Edward Woodward who passed away today at the age of 79.

Sigourney Weaver and Alia Shawkat will join Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, and Anne Heche in Miguel Arteta’s upcoming comedy, “Cedar Rapids”.  The movie, written by Phil Johnston and co-developed with Helms, follows “a sad-sack insurance agent who goes to an industry convention to try and save the jobs of his colleagues.”  Weaver, who will next be seen in James Cameron’s “Avatar”, plays Helms’ 7^th-grade teacher.  As we previously reported, John C. Reilly plays a family man attending the conference but his character sees it as a chance to bust loose.  No word yet on Shawkat’s role. [Variety]

Opening tomorrow is “Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant”. The movie is directed by Paul Weitz and it’s an adaptation of “The Saga of Darren Shan”, a very popular book series by Darren Shan. Since the movie couldn’t combine all twelve books, they’ve taken the first three and used that as the story. Obviously if the film is successful, they’ll use the rest of the series to make more movies.

Anyway, Universal recently held a press day and I was able to speak with John C. Reilly. We talked about if he went after the role or did it come to him, what it was like to film in Louisiana, how familiar was he with the series, and he talked about his next project “Cedar Rapids”. Check out what he said after the jump:

A comedy starring John C. Reilly and Ed Helms?  Yeah, I think I’m on board.  THR is reporting that Reilly has signed on to co-star in “Cedar Rapids”, a comedy about a ” a wholesome and naive small-town Wisconsin man (Helms) who, when his role model dies, must represent his company at a regional insurance conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where his mind is blown by the big-town experience.”  Reilly would also play a family man attending the conference but his character sees it as a chance to bust loose.  Miguel Arteta is on board to direct which will take his mind off his previous film, “Youth in Revolt”, being unable to grab onto a release date.