‘Twas even after Oscar night (technically 12:10 AM Eastern) and Martin Scorsese finally got a best director Oscar after all these years. Somehow it was fitting (or maybe rigged?) that Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Stephen Spielberg would be the presenters that would give Scorsese his long lost best directing Oscar. They were, after all, his contemporaries and it was only fitting that they present him with the Oscar. Weather or not you thought Scorsese deserved it for ‘The Departed’ you have to admit he was certainly owed it for any number of motion pictures in the man’s filmography. I mean ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Raging Bull’, ‘Goodfellas’... Anyone? That is not even mentioning ‘Gangs of New York’, ‘Mean Streets’, and ‘Bringing out the Dead’ (and several others you may or may not know.) Is the ‘The Departed’ another classic in the Scorsese’s oeuvre? Only time will tell. I for one loved the movie and am simply glad the guy finally got his Oscar.

Danny Boyle, director of ‘Millions’, ’28 Days Later’, and ‘Trainspotting’, etc has a new movie coming out called ‘Sunshine’. While the title might suggest Sunday morning children’s television, the film is far from that. ‘Sunshine’ is described on IMDb as: “A team of astronauts are sent to re-ignite the dying sun 50 years into the future.” The film stars Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, and Cliff Curtis (amongst others.) The teaser trailers look great but they are certainly aided by the theme from the film ‘Requiem for a Dream’. It is a great piece of music by the Kronos Quartet and frankly would make footage of pudding looking moving. Still the teasers look good and I definitely got the impression that this film is going to be either a) pretentious nonsense or b) a gripping sci-fi flic. Then again, what do I know? The film is set to be released March 16. The teasers can be seen HERE and HERE. The official site for ‘Sunshine' is HERE.

In my last post I was babbling about a “what happen too...” as I called it. Another ‘what happened too’ is a movie that coincidentally also stars Mr. James Gandolfini. The film is none other than ‘Romance & Cigarettes’. “What exactly is ‘Romance & Cigarettes’?” you say. Well, it is none other than a musical written and directed by John Tutoro. I have never been that big a fan of musicals but the prospect of seeing Gandolfini singing and dancing is too good to pass up. Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Mandy Moore, Eddie Izzard, Amy Sedaris and of course, Christopher Walken also appear in the film. The trailer for 'Romance & Cigarettes' looked pretty spiffy but as far as I can tell the film has been on the shelf since it was completed in 2005. I guess the suites at the major studios can’t figure out a way to market the more musical side of Mr. Gandolfini and company. There is no official site that I could find and no future release date listed for ‘Romance & Cigarettes’ in theaters or on DVD. It is a shame because even if the movie is not that great it can’t be any worse than something like ‘Date Movie’ and that got released. The trailer for the film can be seen (via Youtube) HERE. The IMDb page for the movie can be found HERE.

 ‘Lonely Hearts’. What ever happened to ‘Lonely Hearts’? I had been under the impression that this film was going to be released last year but it never came out. The film stars John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek, and Jared Leto and is the story of the murderous couple dubbed the “Lonely Hearts Killers”. The pair got their name after they met each other via a lonely-hearts correspondence service and proceeded to go on a violent crime spree. This seemed like a fitting if not somewhat twisted post to be making on Valentines Day. Plus I have been curious to see this film for quite awhile now and recently watched the great film ‘The Honeymoon Killers’. That film is a disturbing, low-budget gem, that followed the murderous pair whereas the film ‘Lonely Hearts’ looks to follow two homicide detectives (Travolta and Gandolfini) as well as the couple (Hayek and Leto). I am particularly interested in Hayek’s and Leto’s take on their roles. The film is written by Todd Robinson, a filmmaker whose work I am not familiar with. Oddly enough, he is related to one of the detectives (played by Travolta) involved in the apprehension of the Lonely Hearts Killers. Anywhew’, while ‘Lonely Hearts’ has screened at some festivals (and had been released on DVD in Brazil???? (this is according to IMDb) the film has yet to be released in the ‘States. The only current release I have listed is a limited one in April.The trailer for 'Lonely Hearts' can be seen HERE. The official site can be seen HERE. The 'Lonely Hearts' page on IMDb is located HERE. Oh, and yes, Happy Valentine’s Day.