Last year, when we were still only a blog, Julie tried a fun (and I think successful) experiment, posting her commentary on the Academy Awards ceremony in real-time. Well, since Julie is currently gallivanting around South America, this year the live-blogging honors have been bestowed upon our very capable writer, Rachel.

So hopefully you guys will come back to the site around 8pm EST and play along with us. Rachel’s a very witty girl, and I have no doubt that her running commentary will be nothing short of transcendent (not to put any pressure on her or anything).

The live-blogging will take place on this page here. It’s blank at the moment, but soon it will be filled up. Oh yes, it will most definitely be filled up.

Oh, and if you guys would like to respond to anything Rachel says, or point out some of your own insightful observations, please feel free to use the comments section of this post as your own personal microphone. We here at TrailerSpy love some good audience participation.

Enjoy the Oscars everyone!

Here’s another movie to test my theory that Judd Apatow can’t lose. A pair of stoners, played but Apatow’s usual suspects Seth Rogen and James Franco, are forced to go on the lam when one of them witnesses a murder committed by none other than Bill Lumbergh, I mean, Gary Cole. Hilarious hijinx ensue. And a lot of pot is smoked.

While I’ve been thoroughly entertained by Apatow’s recent films, I’m not quite as stoked about this one as I was about last summer’s offerings of Knocked Up and Superbad. I have no doubt it will be fun and have its hilarious moments, but a stoner movie just seems like a way to get easy laughs. In Knocked Up, Apatow managed to make an unplanned pregnancy hilarious…so why is he now going for the obvious joke of, “hey, look, stoned people are funny!”? Yes, they are, and we all know that, so give us something new.

Normally an Apatow movie would be an automatic ‘see it’ for me, but for Pineapple Express, I think I’ll wait to RENT IT. I have no doubt it’ll be funny, but I’m not sure it’ll be $11 funny.

Pineapple Express is rated R and opens August 8. (IMDB site)

As with any movie website worth a damn, we here at TrailerSpy think we are informed enough to make predictions about who the big winners will be come February 24. So here are our picks for the 2008 Academy Award winners:

Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

As much as I loved Juno, the Academy Awards has yet to truly warm up to quirky independent comedies (as far as Oscar is concerned, quirky indies, you are always a bridesmaid, never a bride). Plus, the heartwarming tale of a pregnant teen can’t really stand up to these heavy-hitters. Atonement has too many mixed reviews, and I haven’t heard any substantial buzz about Michael Clayton. So that leaves No Country and Blood… If I were a betting girl (and I’m not), I’d put money on No Country for Old Men taking the prize, but I won’t be surprised in the least if There Will Be Blood gets it.

Best Actor
George Clooney-Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis-There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp-Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones-In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen-Eastern Promises

Like I’m going to bet against Daniel Day-Lewis (despite the fact that Viggo showed his junk in Eastern Promises).

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett-Elizabeth:The Golden Age
Julie Christie-Away From Her
Marion Cotillard-La Vie En Rose
Laura Linney-The Savages
Ellen Page-Juno

Tricky, tricky, tricky…I’d take out Linney and Page, due to stuffy Oscar and him not liking the indies so much. And Blanchett already had her shot to win as the Queen in the superior first Elizabeth movie. So that leaves Christie and Cotillard…they each won a Golden Globe, since the Globes are smart enough to split drama and comedy/musical into separate categories. I’ll give Julie Christie my vote, but who knows? This is probably the hardest category to predict; I wouldn’t be surprised if any of them took the award.

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck-The Assassination of Jesse James…
Javier Bardem-No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman-Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook-Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson-Michael Clayton

I’d love to see Holbrook win, simply because he seems like such a cool grandfatherly type guy. But I predict Bardem will get it. For wearing that hairdo (and, you know, striking fear into the hearts of millions), the man deserves something.

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett-I’m Not There
Ruby Dee-American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan-Atonement
Amy Ryan-Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton-Michael Clayton

Man, the ladies are hard to predict this year! My guess would be the Oscar goes to Blanchett, but there has been a lot of buzz about Ryan’s portrait of a drugged-out loser with a missing kid. Then Ruby Dee went and won the SAG Award (seriously). And Oscar has had a fondness for rewarding youngsters like Ronan for their first big movie role… Screw it; I still say Blanchett gets it.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Atonement
Away From Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

No Oscar for anyone but the Old Men.

Best Original Screenplay
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

Screenplay seems to be the one category where it’s OK to be a quirky independent film. So here’s hoping this is where Juno wins it’s (likely) only award of the evening.

Best Director
Julian Schnabel-The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman-Juno
Tony Gilroy-Michael Clayton
Joel & Ethan Coen-No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson-There Will Be Blood

The Coen brothers. There’s probably no point in even discussing the other nominees.

Best Animated Feature Film
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf’s Up

Can anyone explain to me how The Simpsons Movie didn’t get a nomination here? Anyone? Seriously, Surf’s Up got a nomination, but The Simpsons didn’t? Well, I know better than to go against the House of Mouse, so I’ll go with Ratatouille.

Most Missed Dead Celebrity

OK, it’s a bit crass and morbid (and not an official award other than in my head), but each year when the Oscars run their “In Memoriam” slide show of celebrities who passed away in the previous year (or as I call it, “The Celebrity Death Parade”), I like to guess which dearly departed star is the most missed (this can be judged by who gets the loudest and/or longest round of applause when their headshot appears). My guess for this year is either Deborah Kerr or Ingmar Bergman (but I secretly hope it’s Robert Goulet).

Feel free to tell us your opinion here.

The more trailers I watch, the more I feel like it really ain’t that hard to make a good one. For those aspiring trailer makers out there, I’ll tell you what I think are the three most important things to consider while making your trailer: Music, Music, and Music.

There’s a misconception out there that movie trailers are supposed to be mini-movies. In other words, you take the best dialog and drama and comedy from your movie, and you cram them into a two and a half minute short. However, in my opinion, a good movie trailer isn’t a mini-movie; it’s a Music Video.

Trailers are a medium far different than a movie. They’re not meant to teach you anything or move you or surprise you. They’re just meant to pump you up for the future film. So I say, leave the heartwarming drama and the intriguing twists for the actual movie, and instead, just make a fun little music video. Pick out a couple catchy tunes, throw in some flashy scenes, finish it off with a witty one-liner, and vuala, a sure seat-filler.

And with that, I give you the trailer for Street Kings. It’s the best trailer I’ve seen in a long while (which automatically makes the movie a SEE IT for me). And I don’t say that because I like the Speed/Training Day feel they got going on, nor because I’m a die-hard House fan and love the idea of seeing Hugh Laurie on the big screen. The real reason I love this trailer is because of the music. It’s perfect.

And speaking of music, if you’re like me and you just have to know what songs are playing in a trailer, I’ll clue you in.

The song in the beginning is Lupe Fiasco’s “Put You On Game.” And the song at the end is RZA’s “Fatal,” from the Blade:Trinity soundrack.

Street Kings is rated R and opens April 11. (Official Site)

Oh, and as always, you can leave a comment here.

It’s hard to believe, but there was a time (not that long ago) when divorce wasn’t the result of more than half of all marriages. Sure, people were still married to partners they couldn’t stand, still cheating, still abusing their spouses, and still generally miserable together, but they stayed together and bore the unhappiness. Because divorce wasn’t an option. It was a scandal and a humiliation, which seems crazy now, in a time when being sent to rehab is a status symbol. But there was a time when people would rather die than go through the disgrace of getting a divorce.

Or at least they’d rather just have their partner die.

In Married Life, set in the 1940’s, Chris Cooper is married to Patricia Clarkson, and having an affair with the much younger Rachel McAdams. I’m not sure in what universe Chris Cooper could get both Patricia Clarkson and Rachel McAdams, but whatever. When he decides to leave his wife for his mistress, he figures it’d be better to have her killed than humiliate her with a divorce. Enter Pierce Brosnan as the man to do Cooper’s dirty work…if he can keep his own hands off of McAdams, of course.

Married Life looks like it could be entertaining and darkly funny, plus I’m a fan of the four main players, so I’ll RENT IT when it’s out on DVD. And afterwards, I’ll breathe a sigh of relief that my father was decent enough to simply divorce my mother, rather than having her “taken care of”.

Married Life is rated PG-13 and opens in limited release March 7. (Official site)

As even the most casual of movie fans knows, Oscar season is here. And while the fate of the actual ceremony is up in the air, tiny gold men will still be awarded, so there’s still reason to get excited about this year’s Academy Awards. But if you’re like me, you haven’t gotten around to seeing all five of the Best Picture nominees yet, so how can you make an informed decision on which one to root for?

Luckily, the fine people at AMC Theatres are again offering their Best Picture Showcase: One day. Five films. Unlimited popcorn. Bring it on!

On Saturday, February 23 (the day before the Oscars) certain AMC Theatres around the country will be showing all five of the movies nominated for Best Picture. For $30 you get to see Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood, Atonement, Juno, and No Country for Old Men; a large popcorn with unlimited refills; and a collectible pass that allows you to come and go from the theater all day. You can’t even see three movies in the theater for $30, and the price of a large popcorn now requires a withdrawal from your 401K, so it’s a pretty good deal. I’ve already ordered my ticket online and am looking forward to having a movie-centric weekend at the end of February. I’ll do double time at the gym the following week to make up for it.

To see which theaters are showing the Best Picture Showcase and to order tickets online, check out AMC Theatres’ official site.

As with any good movie website, we here at TrailerSpy are big fans of The Academy Awards. And even though the fate of the actual ceremony is a bit uncertain at the moment, that shouldn’t detract from the significance of the Oscar awards themselves. Especially the Oscar for Best Picture.

Therefore, for the second straight year, we thought we’d post the trailers for the five films nominated for Best Picture and ask you a simple question: which one do you think is the best?

Granted, having the best trailer isn’t exactly indicative of which movie will win the actual award; however, since trailers are our business, that’s what we’re choosing to focus on. Plus, it’s a fun way to jump-start the Oscar hype that is sure to follow in the coming weeks.

So here they are…

The Atonement Trailer

The Juno Trailer

The Michael Clayton Trailer

The No Country for Old Men Trailer

The There Will Be Blood Trailer

Tell us which one you think is the best here.

Every once in a while, a trailer comes along that makes me giddy with delight. A huge grin spreads across my face as I clap like a four-year-old on Christmas morning. The trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is one of these trailers, a trailer that reminds me why I love going to the movies.

Prince Caspian, like its predecessor The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, is a faithful adaptation of the saga written by C.S. Lewis. I read The Chronicles of Narnia annually during my dorky childhood, and so far the movies are even better than I had ever imagined in the books. In this installment, the Pevensie kids return to Narnia one year later to find that an eon has passed and their kingdom is in turmoil. The battle scenes alone will be worth my $11.

Prince Caspian is unmissable. For everyone who loves an epic adventure on the big screen, SEE IT. For everyone who wishes there could be another installment of Lord of the Rings, SEE IT. For all you Harry Potter fans in withdrawal, SEE IT. For all the fellow dweebs who still hope to find Narnia waiting behind the next door, SEE IT.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is not yet rated and opens May 16. (official site)

P.S. This installment comes to you from Puerto Iguazú, Argentina. Check Globestompers.com for the latest on my trip around the world.

Feel free to comment on Julie’s post here.