Daniel Day Lewis as LincolnI took another look at Lincoln with Daniel Day Lewis recently. He was so good (he received his third Oscar for Best Actor) I wanted to savour his acting skills a second time round.

Roger Ebert called him the best actor of his generation, bar none. Sir John Guilguld said of him: "He has what every American actor wishes for: talent; and what every British actor wishes for: looks." He is considered by many to be the British Robert de Niro, but to me that is not an apt comparison. I like de Niro (especially the earlier years) but DDL to my mind is far superior.

A method actor extraordinaire he is well known for his total immersion into a character. For the role of Christy Brown (his first Oscar win) in My Left Foot he learned about his paralyzed character by taking up residence in a wheelchair, even off-camera,requiring the crew to move him around.

For the role of one of the most memorable and heinous of villains, Bill the Butcher from Gangs of New York, he rarely got out of character and took actual lessons as an apprentice butcher. He could even be seen sharpening his knives at lunch. Yikes!

My Left FootDuring The Last of the Mohicans (1992) he built a canoe, learned to track and skin animals, and perfected the use of a 12-pound flintlock gun, which he took everywhere he went, including a Christmas dinner.

For the eight month shoot for Unbearable Lightness of Being, he learned to speak Czech.

In preparing for his role in The Boxer, he sparred a total of 350 rounds, acquiring a broken nose in the process. The consultant for the fight scenes was alarmed and told him, "Daniel, it doesn't have to be this tough." DDL replied "I want to understand what a fighter goes through. I want to in some way simulate what it has to be like." Along with the amazing boxing scenes watch for the scene where he is jumping rope.

Gangs of New York

He was repeatedly offered the role of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and repeatedly turned it down. Much as I love Viggo Mortenson in the role I would have loved to see DDL's perspective.

Following The Boxer, Day-Lewis took a leave of absence from acting by going into "semi-retirement" and returning to his old passion of woodworking. He moved to Florence, Italy, where he became intrigued by the craft of shoemaking, eventually apprenticing as a shoemaker. So if this whole acting thing doesn't work out for him, he's got a fall back career. But being the only person to ever win three Oscars for Best Actor I think his career is safe.

Watch him also in There will be Blood, his second Best Acting Oscar and a truly amazing performance. My Beautiful Laundrette, The Name of the Father, The Crucible are three more worth seeing. Well, actually everything he does is worth seeing.

There Will Be BloodThe Boxer

There they go for another year and although I watched them I thought they lacked any real 'oomph'. Seth M was decent enough as host, better than I was expecting and certainly way better than James Franco and Anne Hathaway in 2011. He has some personality, a decent voice and a share of charm, but the writing was mediocre and the majority of the jokes were flat.

It was nice to see production numbers return, but having the orchestra in another building didn't work. It was supposed to be a tribute night to musicals, but really all they featured was Les Mis and Chicago, and Chicago went on far too long. Streisand was good- when is she not, and the same for Adele and Bassey. The Ted skit was just a nightmare and the sock puppets were lame. Notably missing from 'In Memoriam' was Andy Griffith. The Christopher Plummer skit was fine and I thought the intro with Captain Kirk and MacFarlane worked, but could become a self-fullfilling prophecy (MacFarlane worst host ever! one headline read). But when the biggest thing people are talking about the day after is Jennifer Lawrence tripping on the stairs, obviously they weren't terribly memorable. Best speeches of the night were Daniel Day-Lewis and Ang Lee but they really needed to bring in the hook to get Affleck and company off the stage. As for the Oscar pools I entered, I did well here at work, getting 18 of the 24, then 'rethunk' it all too much and only got 12 out of 24 for my next effort on Oscar night! Oh well, next year! For a complete listing of winners, follow this link.

Now, what does CPL have in the way of nominees and winners? Well as always, we've got you covered. Currently available or on order:

Argo; Skyfall; Les Mis; The Master; Flight; Zero Dark Thirty; The Sessions; Beasts of the Southern Wild; Life of Pi; War Witch; Brave; Frankenweenie; Paranorman; The Pirates! Band of Misfits; Wreck-it-Ralph; Mirror Mirror; Snow White and the Huntsman; 5 Broken Cameras; The invisible War; Prometheus; Marvels The Avengers; Moonrise Kingdom.

And of course as more titles are released to dvd and blu-ray, we will add them to our collection so check back regularly---holds are building even as I write. As soon as you see them in our catalogue they are available to hold, even if they are not yet in.

In spite of considering myself a movie maniac maniac and in spite of watching 100’s of movies a year, I have a pretty mediocre track record for picking Oscar winners and expect the same will hold true for the 85th’s. Probably because I eschew the pollsters and pundits and go with my gut, or said another way, what I hope will win. So this year I'm doing two choices---what I would like to see win, and what I think will win. Check back next week and we`ll see what actually happened....

We just finished the Golden Globes and for the most part, as an event I rate it as mediocre. I was not happy to see Argo get best picture nor Ben Affleck best director. I have a real problem with this typical Hollywood rewriting of an historical event, all done with far too much flag waving and the down playing of the important part that Canada played in the real story. Largely retold as a chase caper I thought it a disappointing choice given some of the other really remarkable films in this category. I'll hope for better from the Oscars.

The nominees for this years Oscars were just announced on January 10th. The 85th annual event airs on Sunday February 24th with Seth MacFarlane (creator Family Guy) and Emma Stone (The Help) acting as hosts.

Closer to the date we will have a more detailed post with links to titles that CPL carries. If you want to get a head start, pop in to the nominees link above, grab the titles and then cruise on back to our catalogue to see what we have available right now. As you know we constantly add new titles so remember to check back regularly.

And speaking of coming soon................................

Trevor has been guest blogging with us for awhile now, and Movie Maniacs is pleased to announce that he has agreed to be a regular contributor. I've popped in and had a peek at some of what he has ready to go for us and you won't be disappointed. If you want to catch up on some of his previous posts you can find them here, along with the always fun '6 degrees' by our other guest blogger, Alex. Or just jump in fresh and watch for his new insights and suggestions. Either way, we're happy to have him on board.

The world premiere of The Hobbit took place in Wellington New Zealand last night. The capital city spent over one million dollars to host the event, with fans lining up in costumes days ahead. As to the movie itself there's not really much that I can write about The Hobbit that you won't be able to read elsewhere. It's either on your radar or it's not. So let's take a look instead at Peter Jackson. He's actually been at this awhile, although most people only started hearing about him with his epic achievement of bringing the Lord of the Rings trilogy to the big screen.

Also in his filmography is Heavenly Creatures, a truly bizarre film of a bizarre event that took place in the 50's in New Zealand. Two teen girls become so obsessed with the fantasy world they have created that it leads to a real world murder. Want more bizarre? One of the girls grows up to become international best selling mystery author, Anne Perry. I kid you not!

District 9- another bizarre movie- this one's about Aliens forced to live in detention centres on earth. ET as the protagonist and mankind as the heavy.

Lovely Bones- Peter Jackson's attempt to bring the very popular Alice Sebold novel to the big screen. Wasn't my cup of tea, but then neither was the book.

King Kong- now this one I did like. Over the top, excessive and just a huge amount of fun. I'm a sucker for the big ape, and have seen him in all his incarnations.

And of course the Lord of the Rings trilogy: Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Return of the King.

CPL also carries a biography, fetchingly titled Peter Jackson: from Prince of Splatter to Lord of the Rings.

Is The Hobbit on my radar? You better believe it. This time last year we were on a touring holiday of NZ when we stumbled upon a Hobbit set. We got a pretty good look-albeit from quite a distance-before we got chased away by security. Can't wait to look for it in the film.

Like a lot of rabid fans I am counting the days to the release of Prometheus on June 8^th. This is Ridley Scott’s—SIR Ridley’s that is—highly anticipated latest movie and it looks epic. It may or may not be a prequel to his iconic film Alien---they---as in the actors, the Studio, and almost anyone associated with it are playing it pretty close to the chest. Alien was the first instalment of the Aliens quadrilogy and the movie that launched Sigourney Weaver’s career, made kick butt heroines acceptable, and upped the ante for filmmakers for years to come.

Scott got his start 35 years ago working as a high powered ad-man. He then tried his hand at movies and had just finished making a feature film called The Duellist (actually pretty good) that hardly anybody saw because they were all lined up to go see another new release – Star Wars. Scott’s next release was to be a retelling of Tristan and Isolde, but after he himself saw Star Wars, he is quoted as saying “this changes everything – it’s time to get down to business”.

6 weeks later he signed on to direct Alien—he was actually 20^th Century Fox’s fifth choice. With its wonderful tag line 'in space no one can hear you scream' it was a phenomenal success. The franchise had a total run of 4, with the first sequel, Aliens (directed by another developing heavy weight – James Cameron) being even slightly better than the original. Unfortunately 3 and 4 ran out of steam. Out of all his movies since, Scott says that Alien is the one that has called to him over the years as unfinished business.

He has had a hugely successful career and any movie with him at the helm is an event. Here are some of his titles which are available at CPL: Thelma and Louise; Gladiator; Kingdom of Heaven; Robin Hood; Body of Lies; American Gangster; Blade Runner.

Prometheus features an excellent cast including Michael Fassbender (X-Men First Class); Noomi Rapace (Dragon Tattoo trilogy – original Swedish version); Charlize Theron – currently having quite a resurgence in her career with another big draw having just opened – Snow White and the Huntsman (here's the trailer). Check out this excellent teen zone post from earlier; Idris Alba (Luther) and Guy Pearce (Mildred Pierce).

Next on Scott’s plate – a prequel --- or maybe a sequel --- again, he is not saying, to his other cult classic—Blade Runner.

For many years when looking for a sure fire hit, film makers turned to the Bible. As a result a lot of truly classic films were born, with great casting, wonderous sets and stunning live action sequences. There were also some epic mistakes- serious miscasting and barely recognizable interpretations. Now I know you can find these perennial favourites on t.v. espcially as Easter approaches but why not watch them commercial free, and at a time of your choosing. And if you have a large screen with surround sound you're in for a treat.

Grand daddy of them all - Ben Hur. This is one of my favourite movies of all time and I would not be exaggerating if I said I have seen it 30 times (at 3 hours and 32 minutes that's a lot of Ben!). And I've had the joy of seeing it on the big screen. The sets are real- no CGI's here and the chariot race really is Chuck and Stephen Boyd tearing around the track. Still considered one of the greatest action sequences ever captured, the race took 3 months to film and used 15000 extras on the largest set ever built (see the picture- that's a set - with real people- and I can't get the whole thing to fit!). It won 11 Oscars, equaled only by Titanic and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy- and think of all the CGI in those films. It is a brilliant movie.

Spartacus- Kirk Douglas, Jean Simmons (not the lead singer of Kiss- the other Jean Simmons!). This was made the year after Ben Hur as compensation to Douglas for being turned down in favour of Heston for Ben Hur (Kirk was offered Messala in Ben Hur but did not want to play second banana). Again a cast of 1000's (10,000 plus for the battle scene). Co-produced by Douglas, he got so many great actors to appear in smaller roles by showing them each a different script that emphasized their character over the others.

 The 10 Commandments- again with Charlton Heston- this time playing Moses, and Yul Bryner as Ramses. This is a movie that has so many truly epic scenes-parting of the Red Sea/erecting the giant obelisk- it is hard to count. This is also one of the most financially successful movies ever made- adjusting for inflation its North American box office revenue is around $977 million. It is grandiose. We have over 20 new copies coming shortly.

We also have a good animated offering of the Moses story. From 1998- Prince of Egypt. And while we are on animated stories there is also 2000's Joseph, King of Dreams. Also the charming Veggie Tales, which convey moral themes based on Christianity.

The Robe- Richard Burton and Jean Simmons again, in the imagined tale of the Roman centurion who comes into posession of Christ's robe after His crucifixion.

Quo Vadis- Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr and Peter Ustinov doing a wonderfully mad Nero.

The Passion of The Christ- this is Mel Gibson's bloody, violent and to my mind over the top re-telling of the crucifixion. Of course crucifixion was bloody and violent and most movies do sanitize it, but Gibson seems to relish it. I recommend it with reservations and mostly because it was so popular and controversial at the time of its release. Heads up- for authenticity Gibson has everyone speaking Latin, Aramaic and Hebrew with English sub-titles. Completly financed by Gibson (at around $30 million) it made him a fortune-best estimations are around $580,000,000.00.

Greatest Story ever Told- anyone who was anyone in 1965 seems to have been in this movie. Not the best retelling, but worth a look.

Jesus Christ Superstar---is one of the very first rock operas by the wonderful team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. First staged on Broadway in 1971 it too was highly controversial. A musical about the crucifixion-what were they thinking? I think it works.

Jesus of Montreal- by Canadian director Denys Arcand and on Mel's must have list when stranded on a desert island.

by Moe

The 84^th Oscars are airing on Sunday Feb 26^th on every other station. So gather your friends, organize your pool and settle in for 3 plus hours of everything movies. This years host was scheduled to be Eddie Murphy, which I thought was a bold and daring choice- if you know Murphy live, you know how he rolls. This was hoped to revive his career, but in a show of uncommon solidarity for Hollywood, he opted out after his buddy Brett Ratner stepped aside after some controversy. Now Murphy has more to lose from this move than Ratner, who has a pretty solid string of hits under his belt, while Murphy has been flagging for years.

Anyway---enter Billy Crystal. This is his 9^th turn at the wheel and to my mind there is no one better suited to the job. Think of last year’s disaster with Anne Hathaway and James Franco- both talented actors, but clearly out of their depth. Even very accomplished ‘live’ performers can struggle with the format/venue-remember Steve Martin who was marginal at best, and David Letterman who was one of the worst ever. So with Crystal as host and heavyweight Brian Grazer producing, I expect a great evening.

For decades there were only 5 nominations for best movie, but a few years ago they changed that. This year, they have chosen the seemingly random number of 9. Now a lot of these movies are still in the theatre at the time of this post, and some are still too recent to be out on DVD, but rest assured that CPL’s crack team of selectors will have these ordered as soon as they become available. We do however have 4 of the 9 on the shelves at the moment- well, maybe not on the shelves so much as available to place holds on. The 9 nominees are:

The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse.

There are some real heavyweight producers/directors/usual suspects in these 9 choices- Spielberg, Woody Allen, Scorsese, Fincher, Columbus, Kennedy. There are also some more obscure and unknown---and the movies of course have spawned nominations in many other categories. Interestingly, although they chose 9 nominations for best picture, they only chose 5 for best director. I guess the other 4 movies directed themselves ! But this isn't unusual. Sometimes best picture doesn't win best director and visa versa - think of 1972 where The Godfather won for movie, but Coppola didn't for director. It went to bob Fosse for Cabaret. 2005's best picture was Crash, but Paul Haggis lost on best director to Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain. And Roman Polanski won for best director for The Pianist,- in 2002, but Chicago won for best picture.

I have two left to see and plan to get through them before the 26^th. From where I sit right now, I am hoping for Spielberg's War Horse, but I think it will go to The Artist- which was something different than usual and sometimes different gets the Academy's attention.

If you took my recommendation and saw Ben Hur at the theatres back in November when it was re released in digital, you know how amazing these epics look on the big sceen.

So try not to miss The Bridge on the River Kwai which is playing at Crowfoot and Scotia Centre on Wed Jan 11 at 7:00. Winner of 7 Academy Awards in 1957 including Best Actor- Alex Guiness, Best Director- David Lean, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Musical Score, Best Writing, and of course you couldn't win all of these and not win Best Picture.

This is on every 'best list' you can imagine (including my own) and has been for over 50 years. It is a magnificent movie- self sacrifice, madness, obsession, heroism. Oh man I love this movie and although I have seen it 40 plus times (that's another list of mine it is on- movies I have seen more than 25 times!) I have not yet seen it on the big screen. I know what I am doing on Wed the 11th.

The Golden Globe nominations have just been announced and thus begins the awards seasons--- all which culminates with the 84th Oscars on February 26, 2012.

A lot of the nominees are very current releases, but you will likely recognize many of the titles- The Help, Ides of March, Moneyball, Bridesmaids to name but a few. Lot of the usual suspects for personal awards ---Clooney, Leo di, Meryl, Tilda, Brad, Scorcese and Branagh. For a full listing of the GG's follow this link- the awards will be given on Jan 15/12. Also just announced are the Critics Choice Awards (Jan 12/12) and the Screen Actors Guild Awards or SAGS on Jan 29th,2012.

It's actually been a great year for any movie maniac---lots of worthy nominees. I know what I am going to be doing on any days off over Christmas.