Just before jumping into the holidays and spreading that yuletide brotherly love, let\u2019s pit the best movies of 2012 against one another in some of the must coveted awards competitions the industry has to offer. The Golden Globe, SAG and Critics’ Choice nominations are in, and it looks as though top honors will come down to \u201cArgo,\u201d \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables,\u201d \u201cLincoln,\u201d \u201cSilver Linings Playbook\u201d and \u201cDjango Unchained\u201d amongst others.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, new details have surfaced on one of Johnny Depp\u2019s next projects, Wally Pfister\u2019s directorial debut, \u201cTranscendence.\u201d Mark Wahlberg\u2019s \u201cTransformers 4\u201d co-stars have also been revealed, as has the possible plot for DC Entertainment and Warner Bros\u2019 \u201cJustice League\u201d movie.<\/p>\n
Sure that\u2019s a nice little sampling right there, but you want the details, right? Scroll down for all the goods in your weekly Movie News Cheat Sheet<\/B>.<\/p>\n
1. Golden Globe Nominations:<\/FONT><\/B> If the Golden Globe nominations are any indication of what to expect at the Academy Awards, get ready for a lot of \u201cArgo,\u201d \u201cDjango Unchained,\u201d and even more \u201cLincoln,\u201d \u201cArgo\u201d and \u201cDjango\u201d both taking five nominations and \u201cLincoln\u201d earning a total of seven. All three are up for Best Motion Picture \u2013 Drama alongside \u201cLife of Pi\u201d and \u201cZero Dark Thirty,\u201d while \u201cThe Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,\u201d \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables,\u201d \u201cMoonrise Kingdom,\u201d \u201cSalmon Fishing in the Yemen,\u201d and \u201cSilver Linings Playbook\u201d vie for the same honor for comedies or musicals. \u201cParaNorman\u201d sadly didn\u2019t make the cut for Best Animated Feature Film, the five nominations going to \u201cBrave,\u201d \u201cFrankenweenie,\u201d \u201cHotel Transylvania,\u201d \u201cRise of the Guardians,\u201d and \u201cWreck-It Ralph.\u201d Best Director is an exact repeat of the Best Motion Picture \u2013 Drama category, while the Best Screenplay one is the same save for David O. Russell and \u201cSilver Linings Playbook\u201d ousting David Magee and \u201cLife of Pi.\u201d Click here<\/a> to check out all of the Hollywood Foreign Press\u2019 nominees and tune in when the winners are crowned on January 13, 2013.<\/p>\n 2. SAG Award Nominations:<\/FONT><\/B> Sadly, as expected, \u201cBeasts of the Southern Wild\u201d didn\u2019t receive a single nomination, but, on the bright side, a number of deserving films did. \u201cArgo,\u201d \u201cThe Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,\u201d \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables,\u201d \u201cLincoln\u201d and \u201cSilver Linings Playbook\u201d are all in the running for Outstanding Performance By A Cast while the Best Male Actor category breaks down to Bradley Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, John Hawkes, Hugh Jackman and Denzel Washington. Sure enough, Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence are up for Best Female Actor alongside Marion Cotillard, Helen Mirren and Naomi Watts. In the supporting section Anne Hathaway is the favorite to Sally Field, Helen Hunt, Nicole Kidman and Maggie Smith, but it\u2019s more of a toss up in the male supporting role category, Christoph Waltz nowhere to be found leaving Alan Arkin, Javier Bardem, Robert De Niro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Tommy Lee Jones vying for the title. We\u2019ll see how it all plays out when the winners are unveiled on January 27, 2013. (via SAGAwards.org<\/a>)<\/p>\n 3. Critics’ Choice Award Nominations:<\/FONT><\/B> The Broadcast Film Critics Association has also released its nominations and while the list does consist of quite a few usual suspects, \u201cBeasts of the Southern Wild,\u201d \u201cMagic Mike,\u201d \u201cLooper\u201d and \u201cPerks of Being a Wallflower\u201d all make appearances. \u201cBeasts\u201d finds itself in the mix for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Young Actor\/Actress while Matthew McConaughey puts \u201cMagic Mike\u201d on the board for Best Supporting Actor. \u201cLooper\u201d got nods for Best Original Screenplay as well as some of the more unconventional categories including Best Actor in an Action Movie, Best Actress in an Action Movie, and Best Sci-fi\/Horror Film. \u201cPerks\u201d pulls a similar move, wedging its way into Best Adapted Screenplay while also putting Logan Lerman in the running for Best Young Actor\/Actress against Quvenzhane Wallis. Head on over to the Critic\u2019s Choice website<\/a> to take a look at the full list of nominees and find out who the winners are when the ceremony airs on The CW January 10, 2013.<\/p>\n 4. Johnny Depp to Lead \u201cTranscendence:\u201d<\/FONT><\/B> News of Johnny Depp\u2019s plan to star in longtime cinematographer Wally Pfister\u2019s directorial debut, \u201cTranscendence,\u201d has been around for a couple of months, but now The Wrap<\/a> offers more details. Apparently Depp is set to play \u201ca scientist whose brain is uploaded into a supercomputer.\u201d An Alcon spokesman did warn that any plot information made public could be dated and is also subject to change during the revision process. Regardless, here\u2019s the information The Wrap tracked down \u2013 Warning: This feels a lot like a beginning, middle and end, so this could be a major plot spoiler.<\/B> \u201cThree scientists – Max and the husband-and-wife team of Will and Evelyn – have been developing a programming code for the world\u2019s first fully self-aware computer.\u201d It goes on to say, \u201cA group of anti-technology terrorists assassinate Will, and Evelyn uploads his brain into a prototype supercomputer. Although she at first finds that the experiment seems to have gone wrong, before long, Evelyn finds Will responding in computer form. She goes on to connect Will to the Internet so he can help make further scientific breakthroughs. Will asks Evelyn to connect a microphone and a camera to the computer so he can see and speak to her as well. Will creates a backup of himself to every computer in the world, and furthers his work through accessing online indexes. When the anti-technology organization finds out, they try to steal the supercomputer and destroy it, but Will no longer needs the computer to survive.\u201d According to Deadline<\/a>, Rooney Mara, Emily Blunt and Rebecca Hall are all in the running for the film\u2019s female lead, which, should The Wrap summary be accurate, is Evelyn. No word on who\u2019s up for the role of Max, but also via The Wrap, Ewan McGregor passed on an early draft and Tom Hardy was approached, but isn\u2019t available.<\/p>\n 5. Wahlberg Gets Young Co-Stars for \u201cTransformers 4:\u201d<\/FONT><\/B> Trading Shia LaBeouf for Mark Wahlberg was a sweet enough deal; should Brenton Thwaites and Nicola Peltz be as good as Michael Bay is likely hoping, things could be looking up for the \u201cTransformers\u201d film franchise. As reported by Twitch<\/a>, Thwaites and Peltz have been chosen to star alongside Wahlberg in film #4, Peltz as Wahlberg\u2019s character\u2019s daughter and Thwaites as her biker boyfriend. Thwaites does have a small role in \u201cMaleficent,\u201d but otherwise, here in the US, the Australian actor is a fresh face. Peltz isn\u2019t exactly a household name either, but she does have a pretty major stain on her resume courtesy of \u201cThe Last Airbender.\u201d Perhaps an upcoming performance in \u201cBates Motel\u201d will clear up that blemish a bit before \u201cTransformers 4\u201d hits.<\/p>\n 6. \u201cParts Per Billion\u201d Gets Badgley, Bledel, Palmer and More:<\/FONT><\/B> Casting is clearly a top priority for writer-director Brian Horiuchi because not only has he lined up Frank Langella, Gena Rowlands, Rosario Dawson and Josh Hartnett for his directorial debut, \u201cParts Per Billion,\u201d but now he\u2019s added Penn Badgley, Alexis Bledel, Teresa Palmer and Hill Harper, too. All AKA\/Bow Street Films has to offer in the way of a synopsis is the following \u2013 \u201cThe story of three couples dealing with the same reality shaking event that threatens to tear them apart.\u201d The gang is due to shoot through Christmas in Detroit.<\/p>\n 7. Is This the Plot of \u201cJustice League?:\u201d<\/FONT><\/B> Now that the film community has calmed down from reports that Darkseid is the \u201cJustice League\u201d villain, how about even more information on the plot from Latino Review<\/a>? Again, the outlet doesn\u2019t reveal a source, so we\u2019ll have to relegate this to the rumor mill for now, but they\u2019re saying that screenwriter Will Beall is using Gerry Conway\u2019s \u201cJustice League of America\u201d issues 183-185 as source material. Considering I\u2019ve got little to no clue what I\u2019m talking about with these comics, I\u2019ll pull straight from the Latino Review write-up \u2013 \u201cIn a nutshell, plotwise, the three issue arc involves Darkseid planning the destruction of Earth by blasting it with a ray that\u2019ll move Apokolips into the Earth\u2019s place.\u201d<\/p>\n 8. Garrett Hedlund Confirmed for More \u201cTron:\u201d<\/FONT><\/B> Preparations for \u201cTron 3\u201d are underway and both Garrett Hedlund and Joseph Kosinski are here to prove it. While promoting \u201cOn the Road,\u201d Hedlund confirmed<\/a> he\u2019s in for round three, but couldn\u2019t confirm much more, but he did note that the studio is very excited about the project. Meanwhile, MTV<\/a> was busy chatting with Kosinski, the director revealing, \u201cWe’ve got an idea for the next movie that’s really exciting to me,\u201d and, \u201cYou look at what happened in the closing scenes of ‘Legacy’; I think it sets a clear direction for what could happen in the next chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n 9. Trailers: \u201cPacific Rim,\u201d \u201cMan of Steel,\u201d \u201cLone Ranger:\u201d<\/FONT><\/B> Need some alien destruction in your life? The new \u201cPacific Rim<\/a>\u201d trailer has all you could want and more courtesy of the actual aliens that arise from the sea and the giant man-operated robots used to take them down. Of course, \u201cMan of Steel<\/a>\u201d will have flying and fighting outside the bounds of reality, too, but the film\u2019s trailer also has this wonderful moody tone that grounds the hero in a great deal of emotion. We round out this section with the new trailer for \u201cLone Ranger<\/a>.\u201d Much of the footage matches that of the teaser, but this one does offer quite a bit in the way of the Lone Ranger legend and how he came to be.<\/p>\n 10. Box Office:<\/FONT><\/B> \u201cThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey\u201d may be trailing the \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d trilogy as far as reviews go, but at the box office, it\u2019s a much bigger winner. The first of three films scored $84.8 million opening weekend, easily taking out the first trilogy\u2019s highest earner, \u201cThe Return of the King\u201d with $72.6 million, and absolutely demolishing the competition. \u201cRise of the Guardians\u201d comes in at a very distant second with $7.4 million, which is just enough to edge out \u201cLincoln\u201d and its $7.2 million weekend six haul. Just behind that is \u201cSkyfall\u201d with $7 million and rounding out the top five is \u201cLife of Pi\u201d with $5.4 million. (via Box Office Mojo<\/a>)<\/p>\n