Quentin Tarantino has teased a third film to complete his Rewritten History trilogy, following up on Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. Last night, Saturday Night Live made a strong pitch for what that film could be with the parody Djesus Uncrossed.  On the third day after his crucificxion, Jesus returns to life, rolls away the stone in front of the tomb, and sets out on a vendetta against the Romans who crucified him.  Or “Row-Maans,” as St. Peter (Taran Killam impersonating Brad Pitt) calls them when he leads the apostles to join in the fight.

It works in large part because I could see Tarantino making a revenge-based version of the Christ story that would be just slightly less wacky.  The production designer gets in a lot of nice stylistic touches in, too, including more blood and gore than I was expecting for a broadcast comedy, even after midnight.  Check it out after the jump.

Three additional titles piled into theatres on Christmas Day, capping off the busiest box office week of 2012. As expected, Universal’s Les Miserables was Tuesday’s clear winner, earning an estimated $18.2 million from 2,808 locations. Django Unchained placed second with just over $15 million from 3,010 locations – beating the $14.3 million debut of Inglourious Basterds to become the best opening ever for director Quentin Tarantino. After eleven days on top, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey fell to third place with $11.3 million, though that still placed it well ahead of Christmas Day’s final gift. The Fox comedy Parental Guidance had the widest release of the day (3,358 locations) but still wound up in fourth with an estimated $6.4 million.

It’s no secret that many of writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s films are interconnected.  John Travolta’s character in Pulp Fiction is the brother of Michael Madsen’s character in Reservoir Dogs, the synopsis of Kill Bill is described as a TV pilot in Pulp Fiction, and just recently we learned that Inglourious Basterds may also fit perfectly into Tarantino’s movie universe.  Now the director himself is commenting on a new connection, revealing that Basterds and the upcoming Django Unchained may eventually form 2/3 of a trilogy.  Hit the jump to see what he said.

Quentin Tarantino has been on the block for twenty years now, so Lionsgate has collected all of the director’s films, and thrown them into one giant box set.  Tarantino XX: 8-Film Collection will include Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, and Inglourious Basterds as well as True Romance (which Tarantino wrote), and his half of Grindhouse, Death Proof.  The 10-disc box set also includes a critics discussions piece exploring Tarantino’s work, a retrospective of Tarantino’s career, and a tribute to Tarantino’s late editor Sally Menke.

While all of the movie have been released on Blu-ray before and these discs will have all the same special features, it’s still nice to have them all in one place.  Hit the jump for the press release, and to check out the Mondo-designed box art.  Tarantino XX: 8-Film Collection is due out November 20th.  Tarantino’s new film, Django Unchained, is due out December 25th.

Tugg, the web-based platform that allows you to bring fan-selected films to a theater near you, has added an extensive list of features from The Weinstein Company.  Now available are Best Picture Oscar-winners, The Artist and The King’s Speech, along with award-winning films Inglourious Basterds, The Reader and more.  Boasting over 500 titles, Tugg allows fans to relive the theatrical experience of some of their favorite blockbusters and sought after indies. Hit the jump to read the full press release.

By now, most Quentin Tarantino fans are aware of the connections interlaced throughout all of his films.  John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction is the brother of Michael Madsen’s Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs, Harvey Keitel’s Mr. White worked with Alabama from True Romance, the plot basis for Kill Bill is described as the synopsis for a TV series in Pulp Fiction, etc.

Now the epiphany that Eli Roth’s character of Donny Donowitz aka “The Bear Jew” in Inglourious Basterds is the father of the movie producer Lee Donowitz in True Romance has inspired a truly mind-blowing theory that the rest of the films (chronologically speaking) in Tarantino’s filmography take place in a world where [Inglorious Basterds spoiler] World War II came to an end when Adolf Hitler was brutally murdered in a movie theater by the Basterds.  Hit the jump for more.

If conventional wisdom says that Sylvester Stallone and Julia Roberts are has-beens, than someone clearly forgot to tell their audiences. Both stars are looking like winners today – especially Sylvester Stallone and his oldies action-hero reunion tour, otherwise known as The Expendables.

Inglourious Basterds burst onto theater screens around the world last year with heaping doses of gunpowder and star power, namely Brad Pitt, to set box offices on fire.  But while familiar faces like Pitt, Mike Myers and others lit up the screen, two actors all but unknown to American audiences left an undeniable impression.  Christoph Waltz’s Oscar-winning performance as the diabolically delicious Col. Hans Landa has been well documented.  However, Mélanie Laurent’s portrayal of the main heroine Shosanna Dreyfus gave the film its conscience and heart.

Collider caught up with Laurent on the phone recently about her newest film, The Concert, which is in the midst of a national rollout.  Hit the jump for the interview’s transcript and audio, along with news of her post-Basterds work, comparing careers with her good friend Marion Cotillard and Quentin Tarantino’s advice for going behind the camera.

On the Set of The Green Hornet, everyone knew that Christoph Waltz was going to be an academy award winner, but – in December of 2009 – he had yet to be nominated. His performance was just that good. It was undeniable. But at that point Waltz had just started getting work from the heat of that performance, and so in some respects – even with a body of work that spans decades – he was a newcomer. An irony Waltz himself appreciated. The Green Hornet role came from Inglourious Basterds, and as Rogen said he thanked Tarantino for the gift his film had been given.

Christoph wasn’t shooting that day, but came to the set to talk to us, regardless, which is a great show of professionalism. With Waltz, he had to keep some secrets so he daintly danced around some probing questions about his character, and talked about making the film, Basterds, the award season, his newfound celebrity, and more. My interview with Christoph Waltz after the jump.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts added momentum to The Hurt Locker awards train tonight as they award the film Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Sound.  Hurt Locker‘s awards in the technical categories are particularly interesting because perhaps Academy-thinking that usually awards those categories to the big blockbuster movies, i.e. Avatar.  But perhaps BAFTA and Oscar voters on the same wavelength and despite the massive box office of Cameron’s tech demo, the Academy could recognize the impressive editing, sound, and achievement in other technical categories (although Avatar won the BAFTA for best visual effects and it’s a lock to win the Oscar in that category as well).

Other nice victories included Colin Firth for Best Actor (A Serious Man), Carey Mulligan for Best Actress (An Education), and my personal favorite: Outstanding British Debut to Duncan Jones for Moon.  He gave a very sweet acceptance speech and I’ve included video of it after the jump along with the full list of winners.

Despite opening up the Best Picture race from five nominations to ten, this morning’s announcement of the 2010 Oscar nominations hardly had any surprises.  When the biggest shocker comes from the widely-unseen The Secret of Kells being nominated for Best Animated Feature, then the prediction system worked as it should.  That’s not to say that there’s nothing to be happy or disappointed about.  It’s just that with no surprises, that happiness or disappointment has probably been felt well in advance.  Personally, I’m jazzed that District 9 picked up a Best Picture nomination and I’m really bummed that Peter Capaldi wasn’t nominated for Best Supporting Actor for In the Loop.

But the race between Avatar and The Hurt Locker remains close.  Each film picked up nine nominations and so there’s no clear favorite to win the award.  Right now, Hurt Locker would seem to have a slight edge with its victories from both the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild.  But Avatar‘s box office numbers contribute to its status as does the mainstream acclaim for the film.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees.  The winners will be announced at the 82nd Academy Awards on Sunday, March 7th at 8pm EST on ABC.

More homes would have movie posters on their walls if studios made them as eye-catching as what artist Ibraheem Youssef has done with the films of Quentin Tarantino.  They remind me of the “I Can Read Movies” series with their minimal designs that cause fans to grin and make the uninitiated want to get in on the joke.  I’ve seen all of Tarantino’s movies, but I can’t seem to grasp the reference Youssef’s making for Inglourious Basterds even though I’ve seen that movie twice and recently.  Help me out in our comments section.

Check out all the posters after the jump.  You can purchase them as 12×18 prints or 24×36 posters at shop.ibraheemyoussef.com.  All prints and posters are limited editions, hand-signed, and numbered.

The Screen Actors Guild cast their votes for the best performances of 2009, and the results were announced on Saturday night.  Virtual Oscar locks Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique were honored for their supporting turns in Inglourious Basterds and Precious, respectively.  Golden Globe winner Jeff Bridges repeated here for his lauded role in Crazy Heart.  Sandra Bullock took home the award for best female lead in The Blind Side, adding some drama to what is now ostensibly two-horse race between her and Meryll Streep for the Oscar.  Poor Carey Mulligan.

On the TV side, critical darlings 30 Rock and Mad Men took home three awards: the duo of Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey swept the lead comedy awards, while Mad Men was deemed to be television’s best drama ensemble.  Michael C. Hall, fresh off a Golden Globe win, won for being the only great part of Dexter.  Freshman shows also found some love, as the youthful cast of Glee is the SAG’s favorite comedy ensemble, and Juliana Marguiles turned some heads with a starring role on The Good Wife.

Hit the jump for the full list, which also includes wins for Star Trek, 24, Kevin Bacon, and Drew Barrymore.

The WGA has announced their nominees for Best Original, Adapted, and Documentary screenplays today and because so many great films were ruled ineligible, these nominees are kind of a joke.  Avatar is getting way more love for its spectacle than its story (protect the Hometree from the Sky People), (500) Days of Summer‘s structure is impressive but the characters and story are completely vanilla, Julie & Julia is half a good movie, and Crazy Heart is a two-hour commercial for Alcoholics Anonymous.

Now here’s a list of movies that were rule ineligible:  Inglourious Basterds, District 9, In the Loop, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up, and A Single Man.  I suppose the only bright spot of all this is that The Hangover received a nomination, which is hilarious.

Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.  Winners will be announced on February 20th.

The 2009 film industry highlight reel is fun to watch. You are reminded of the $10 billion in ticket sales. The negative impact of the economy on specialty films. The $4 billion Disney-Marvel acquisition. But a highlight reel, while succinctly packaged and easy to reference, lacks the most essential element of film-a story. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen co-writer Roberto Orci stressed the necessity of crafting a solid story in order to create a compelling film. “If you can’t take out the gimmick and still have a story, then you don’t have anything,” he said. Setting aside for the time being the fact that Orci seemingly ignored his own advice during the writing of Transformers 2, he is right-a good story is essential if viewers are to remember the film after the lights are raised. So, what story can be told of the film industry in 2009? The story, as I see it, is Hollywood’s realization that it must do a better job of protecting the financial viability of franchise films from being undermined by an increasingly voracious and savvy viewing public that is constantly searching for a greater degree of access to and control over the film properties to which they have become attached.