The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.

Though many are busy finalizing their predictions for the Best Actor and Best Picture Oscar categories, the Costume Designers Guild today announced nominees for excellence in wardrobe. The nods are split into three categories: contemporary, fantasy, and period. Among the films singled out are superhero fare like X-Men: First Class and Thor, blockbusters franchises Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and dramatic critical favorites like Drive and The Descendants. Personally, I’m thrilled to see the excellent work in X-Men: First Class singled out, and I’m still waiting for a reasonably priced way to own Ryan Gosling’s ridiculously cool jacket from Drive.

Hit the jump to see the full list of nominees. The winners will be announced on February 21st, and the nominees for the upcoming 84th Annual Academy Awards will be revealed this coming Tuesday, January 24th.

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.

Literary adaptations are a mixed bag. A handful of such films (The Shining, for example) actually surpass the books upon which they are based.  Many more are plain awful.  And countless lit flicks—regardless of the films’ merits compared to those of the books—undergo such far-reaching changes, sacrifices and/or additions to make the stories more filmic as to be only loosely connected to their source material. Cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre, the latest of many filmed versions of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel, scores high marks both for quality and for being an extremely faithful adaptation. Hit the jump for my full Blu-ray review.

We sat down this week with talented filmmaker Cary Fukunaga to talk about Jane Eyre, his captivating movie based on Charlotte Bronte’s classic romantic novel, which he brought to the big screen this past year. The visually stunning period piece was shot on location in the English Midlands and has a darker Gothic tone to it than previous adaptations. Jane Eyre is set to release on DVD and Blu-ray on August 16^th and was the opening film at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Cary talked with us via Skype from Berlin about what inspired him to do his own fiery adaptation, why he enjoyed working with the film’s impressive cast, and how he collaborated with DP Adriano Goldman on the film’s gorgeous cinematography and with composer Dario Marianelli on its passionate score. He also discussed how the Sundance Institute and his multicultural background and experience have contributed to his success as a global filmmaker, and updated us on his upcoming projects including the Beirut musical he’s hoping to collaborate on with Zach Condon, two untitled sci-fi flicks – one of which is rumored to be in development with producer Gore Verbinski for Universal, and his Civil War heist film, No Blood, No Guts, No Glory, that he’s currently co-writing with Chase Palmer and plans to direct. It’s hard to predict what the eclectic writer/director will do next, but Cary revealed he might even consider an all out comedy in the future. Hit the jump for the full interview.

There’s a vast gulf between adapting a gothic period romance and connecting with a modern audience.  Director Cary Fukunaga doesn’t give a damn about that gulf and his adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a lush, confident, and powerful film as a result.  Fukunaga embraces the gothic atmosphere to create a haunting portrayal of a romance between a young woman who never loses her sense of self-worth despite the constant cruelty she receives and a man who has attempted to become aloof in order to hide a bizarre and horrifying secret.  Anchored by tremendous performances from lead actors Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, Jane Eyre plays on its own terms and audiences who understand the game will be richly rewarded.

This weekend, audiences will have a choice among a diverse group of headliners: the sci-fi invasion epic Battle: Los Angeles, the animated alien abduction flick Mars Needs Moms, and, if you prefer werewolves over extraterrestrials, Red Riding Hood will be playing in your neck of the woods. Hit the jump to check out our coverage (including trailers and synopses) on these headliners as well as the limited releases 3 Backyards, Black Death, Certified Copy, Elektra Luxx, Jane Eyre, and Kill the Irishman.

The classic tale of Jane Eyre has been given a bold new re-telling that is infused with a contemporary awareness that makes it easily relatable to a modern audience. With Cary Joji Fukunaga at the helm, and starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender in the lead roles of the romantic drama, the 19 Century-set story follows an orphaned girl who is mistreated and then cast out of her childhood home, and subjected to further harsh treatment at a charity school. A teenaged Jane (Wasikowska) is then sent to the vast Thornfield Hall, under the guidance of the housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench), where she works as a governess for a child under the brooding master of the estate, Edward Rochester (Fassbender). As the two engage in games of wit and storytelling, they develop a deep connection which both frightens and intrigues her.

At the film’s press day, Australian actress Mia Wasikowska, best known for her roles in Alice in Wonderland and The Kids Are All Right, talked about how much she wanted to play this role, why a story set in this era is still so universal, playing the subtleties of a woman in this time period, and how much she enjoyed working with co-stars Michael Fassbender and Jamie Bell. She also talked about her roles in the upcoming features Restless, directed by Gus Van Sant, and The Wettest County, directed by John Hillcoat. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

About a week ago I sat down with Jamie Bell for an extended video interview as he was in Los Angeles promoting director Kevin Macdonald’s The Eagle (synopsis and clips here).  During our fifteen minute conversation, he discussed how he got involved in the project, what kind of research he did and does research really matter, filming on location, and training for the role.  In addition, Bell also gave me updates on what it was like to make The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn for Peter Jackson and Steve Spielberg, the challenges of motion capture, what it was like to work with Andy Serkis (he says Serkis “is the Gandalf of motion capture.”), when does he think they might film Tintin 2, and he also discusses his work in Jane Eyre, Man on a Ledge.  Hit the jump to watch what he said:

A few days ago I sat down with Jamie Bell for an extended video interview as he was in Los Angeles promoting The Eagle (synopsis and clips here).  While I’ll have the full interview online in the next day or so, during the second half of our conversation, we discussed what it was like to make The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn for Peter Jackson and Steve Spielberg.  We also talked about the challenges of motion capture, what it was like to work with Andy Serkis (says Serkis “is the Gandalf of motion capture”), when does he think they might film Tintin 2 as Jackson is now on The Hobbit, and Bell also discusses his work in Jane Eyre, Man on a Ledge, and is he excited to promote Tintin all around the world at the end of the year.  Hit the jump to watch what he said:

The new original Showtime drama series The Borgias, created and executive produced by Oscar-winning director Neil Jordan, is a complex portrait of one of history’s most intriguing and infamous dynastic families.  Premiering on April 3, the series begins as the cunning and manipulative Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons) schemes his way into the position of Pope, causing him, his two Machiavellian sons Cesare (François Arnaud) and Juan (David Oakes), and his scandalously beautiful daughter Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger), to become the most powerful and influential family of the Italian Renaissance.

During a recent interview to promote the upcoming television series, British actress Holliday Grainger talked about taking on a role as complex as Lucrezia Borgia, working with acclaimed filmmaker Neil Jordan, acting opposite Jeremy Irons, and the lavish costumes that she got to wear. She also talked about her upcoming roles in the feature films Jane Eyre (opening March 11) and Bel Ami, working opposite Robert Pattinson, and her hopes of doing more work in the States.  Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Over the past year, we’ve brought you a lot of posters and a lot of trailers.  Yesterday, I gave you my picks for the top 10 posters of 2010.  Today, I have my picks for the top 10 trailers of the year.  While we’re a bunch of obsessives who track every phase of a movie’s production, your average moviegoer will only first become aware of a movie once they see the trailer.

Hit the jump to check out my picks for the ten best trailers of 2010.

Focus Features has released the first images from director Cary Fukunaga’s (Sin Nombre) Jane Eyre and Lone Scherfig’s (An Education) One Day.  Jane Eyre is based on Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel and it stars Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Holliday Grainger, Sally Hawkins, Tamzin Merchant, Imogen Poots, and Judi Dench.  One Day is adapted from the internationally praised bestselling novel by David Nicholls and it stars Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess as two people who meet on the night of their college graduation (July 15th, 1988).  “For the next two decades, every July 15th reveals to us how [they] are faring, as their friendship ebbs and flows with the passing of the years.”

Hit the jump for the images and the full synopses.

Yesterday, we brought you the poster for Cary Fukunaga’s upcoming adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.  Today, we have the trailer for the film, which stars Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Sally Hawkins, and Judi Dench.  The trailer makes the film look like it has a slight supernatural bent in addition to the expected drama culled from class struggles and forbidden romance.  It’s not easy to sell period pieces, but this trailer isn’t a bad attempt.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Jane Eyre is set to open on March 11, 2011.

Focus Features has debuted a striking poster for Cary Fukunaga’s adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.  The poster lets us know that the movie explores how we all have a Michael Fassbender face inside of us.  Actually, it’s a classic work of 19th century literature that explores themes of morality, social class, and love, but I like my interpretation more.

Hit the jump to check out the poster and the synopsis.  Jane Eyre stars Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, and Judi Dench.  It’s set to open on March 11, 2011.