Anne and James sweet as pie -- F is for Leo...

So how about that, a pretty decent Oscar broadcast, very tastefully done and produced with an eye on keeping the pace moving at a decent clip. Anne Hathaway and James Franco did a surprisingly good job as hosts, not trying to be anybody that they're not, they kept it simple and had fun and won me over on pure likability.

On the other end of the spectrum, the evening's most awkward moments came at the beginning, when Dick Clark -- I mean, Kirk Douglas presented the Best Supporting Actress award to Melissa Leo for The Fighter. Her acceptance speech was bad enough, a virtual parody of faux-surprise narcissism as she struggled to squeeze the entire pantheon of human emotions into her brief time onstage, no doubt for the benefit of any potential casting agents in the room --which is to say, all of them. But then she actually dropped the F-bomb, trying to somehow show she's just a regular gal. Color me outta there. The harpie actually took Kirk Douglas' cane away from him as they left the stage -- way to convince us you're not really all that old Melissa. The look on James Franco's face afterwards was priceless.

Poor Christian Bale actually forgot his wife's name, and even after he -- and everyone else -- realized he'd done it, he still couldn't seem to remember her name. Amnesia, thy name is Oscar.

Of the seven main awards, I missed two -- Best Supporting Actress and Best Director -- I somehow spaced that Tom Hooper had won the DGA, effectively locking his win. But I guess five out of seven ain't bad.

A much tighter show this year, the song nominees were presented economically and quickly with not a single production number and and attempts at bits-of-business were brief. Not a bad job this year, guys. You kept it moving. Now somebody please move Melissa Leo.

Get thee to the UK: Frankenstein: Unbound!

If there's one theatrical performance I wish I could see right now, it's London's National Theatre production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, directed by none other than Danny Boyle (fresh off of 127 Hours).

Frankenstein is poised to be this year's live performance sensation. Starring Jonny Lee Miller -- Boyle's own Trainspotting and so terrific last year on Dexter as a maniacal motivational speaker -- and Jeremy Cumberbatch -- The Beeb's stupendously reinvented Sherlock Holmes.

One of the things that makes this production such a captivating concept is that the roles are alternately played by both actors who take turns playing Victor Frankenstein and The Creature. A dynamic that's likely to make audiences feel that they haven't seen this Frankenstein unless they've seen it twice.

The play begins with a show-stopping birth scene, as a bloodied, naked Creature pushes through a membrane, embodying the state that all lives face as they emerge unprepared into the strangeness of our world, capturing the terror and awe of being born, staged like a surreal ballet. A sulfurous locomotive even takes the stage at one point, as Boyle offers up Shelley's 19th Century, an era of industrialization where man's aspiration to become God steams ahead of the moral compass necessary to control his creations.

Frankenstein marks a return to live theatre for Danny Boyle, who directed at the Royal Court Theatre before beginning his amazing filmmaking career. Exploring themes of innocence, parental and scientific responsibility and the nature of good and evil, Boyle and playwright Nick Dear have taken Mary Shelley's 1818 classic and rebirthed it as a timely and suspenseful Gothic tale, seemingly more relevant than ever.

Here's hoping these performances are captured permanently for audiences beyond the U.K. to enjoy. It just sounds astonishing!

What rhymes with store? THOR!!!

The first Hasbro Thor figures have materialized! There appear to be several sizes, with the 3 & 3/4" series (read Iron Man 2 scale) being the most common, sized to match their Marvel Universe line. No sign of Loki yet (who appears to be the short-pack), but the hammer-wielding one is staring to show up in Targets across the land. Not too shabby! The weapons are absurdly over-sized, but the overall sculpt and likeness is better than I'd feared. Can Cap' be far behind?!

The Greatest Day of the Year!!!

Ya know, movies and such rock, but MY SON'S BIRTHDAY trumps everything for consummate coolness and absolute joy! Anthony is TWO today, and all devices throughout the cosmos must grind to a halt to pay homage!!! Taking the day off to celebrate his miraculous little self and have family fun!

I'm not Red Skull yet, but I will be...

Hugo Weaving before he needs the SPF 5,000. Looks like a certain Cosmic Cube is about to inspire all kind of Uber-skull-strum-und-BANG!
Come on, July, get here already!!!

Another reason to upgrade your home theater

A man was shot and killed in a dispute over popcorn during a showing of Black Swan in a theater in Latvia. The victim, a 43-year-old male, accused a man of chewing his popcorn too loudly, which the accused did not take kindly to.

The shooter was a 27-year-old police academy graduate with a law degree.

Nice work, Fringeophiles!!!

The ratings for this Friday's episode of Fringe have improved! Averaging 4.1 million viewers, up 7% from the previous week. Any increase is a positive sign, as those on the show, including Joshuah Jackson, have been very vocal that we all need to be watching right now if we want the show back for a forth season. Since Fox moved the series to Friday's (aka The Death Slot), it's done well in the ratings, but it's an uphill battle to survive as Friday is a showkiller.

We live in an era where the overwhelming number of us DVR series television or wait for boxsets to have a Netflix binge. But unfortunately, shows still live and die by their overnight numbers and the power of the live audience. Fringe is simply way, way too good right now not to keep this saga going. It's just sensationally well told -- Friday's episode was a gem -- and each week is only seeing us become more and more invested in these characters.

Let's all keep watching!

Your Oscar Bookmaker stakes a claim...

With a week to go, I'm ready to tell you who will win the Oscars next Sunday night. In some cases it might not be who I want to win, these choices reflect who will win...

Best Picture - The King's Speech

Best Director - The Social Network

Best Actor - Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress -Natalie Portman, The Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress -- Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Yes, it will be a rare split for Picture/Director. Fincher will be rewarded for his dedication to technique but The King's Speech will carry the day for it's bravura humanity.

I'm also sold on young Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit. The Fighter's Melissa Leo has won a lot of prizes so far, but I think she burned a lot of bridges with some her more fiery talk of merging SAG and AFTRA and this is not a good time of the year to get controversial. But she also took out her own trade ad (Consider me!), a very alienating move.

So there you have it. Think of me as a very confident time traveller.

Guys what like loosin' your money, ya know where to find me...

Team-building Crypto Pickles in the U.K.???

As someone who grew up in a magical era that seemed populated by Sasquatch, the Loch Ness Monster and UFOs, it warmed the cockles of my cryptozoological heart to hear the tale of Tom Pickles and his galpal Sarah Harrington, off on a team building work outing in the wilds of Cumbria.

The pair was kayaking across 11 mile long Lake Windermere when abruptly a creature the size of three automobiles rose up from the depths of the water. "Each hump moved in a rippling movement and it appeared to have a huge shadow around it, suggesting it was much bigger underwater," exclaimed Pickles. "We watched for about 20 seconds before it plunged out of sight. It was petrifying." Quick-thinking Pickles managed to snap the picture seen here with his phone camera.

This is actually believed to be the eighth sighting in the last five years of what's been dubbed "Bow-Nessie," after the nearby town of Bowness. Windermere is England's largest lake, located in the North. The photo matches descriptions of earlier sightings.

A relative of The Loch Ness Monster? Some theorize that the British Isles are teaming with subterranean caves and a Swiss cheese labyrinth of aquatic tunnels, which could allow a large beast to hide or migrate in search of a fresh food supply.

The boy in me (who runs practically everything) prays this doesn't turn out to be a hoax. The idea of a prehistoric creature that never became extinct, a Plesiousaur perhaps, can't help but capture the imagination of anyone who's ever picked up a little Edgar Rice Burroughs or Arthur Conan Doyle.

Ah, Cumbria! What secrets do you hold? And is there a pub there called the Pickled Hump? I suspect there soon will be.

"I'll fund THAT for a dollar!"

Art imitates life imitates robots?! A couple of strange stories in the cybernetic universe today. First, thanks to the project fundraising website Kickstarter, there will be a statue of Robocop located in Detroit. While originally pooh-poohed by Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, contributors took the dismissal as a call to arms, with one law abiding citizen donating $25,000 to match the collective group donations, topping the fundraising goal and guaranteeing that Robo's visage will be there to baffle our descendants.

That is, assuming we have any descendants, as the the idea of computers dominating mankind got a little more personal last night when Jeopardy savant Ken Jennings got his clock cleaned by IBM supercomputer Watson, culminating the end of a three day tournament. My wife and I used to watch Jeopardy regularly (like old people!), but since having a baby and coordinating tuck-in time, Alex Trebek has had to take a back seat. So imagine my surprise at hearing how the worm has turned!

Is the future of the Terminator movies one step closer to being here? Will Watson now decide he has to best all humans and look to squash us? Is Skynet even now creating latex covered "Trebekinators" to hunt down anyone with a fondness for trivia?

Perhaps a resigned Ken Jennings put it best, as he scrawled this phrase alongside his Final Jeopardy answer: "I for one welcome our new computer overlords." So the next time you're interacting with a phone prompt or a systems problem at work, maybe pause for a moment and ask yourself what the next ten years is going to look like.

Just be sure to phrase your answer in the form of a question.

Shiver me timbers -- Toy Fair wraps up today.

Finally, a good look at the Frost Giants from Thor, foremost enemies of the Gods of Asgard.

Not bad, a little similar to the Twiligh Ringwraith -- just not how I'd pictured them...

I was holding out hope that they'd resemble the Norse berserkers of old, a bit more like these chaps...

Here's another Thor denizen, Destroyer, wearing the enchanted armor forged by Odin, presumably unleashed by Loki to give Thor a really bad hair day.

And while it's too soon to know if there'll be an arctic scene in Captain America, that's not stopping Hasbro. Here's Cap' in his cold weather duds, just in case he has to get a little frosty.

Virtually no Star Trek at Toy Fair this year -- guess we'll be waiting until the next movie in 2012. Come on, Diamond Select Toys! Anything?!?

Toy Fair: Marvel Mania!

That's right, True Believers, Marvel shows no sign of slowing down, making a big splash with more unveiling at New York Toy Fair!

This one should make my good friend Jon P. in the U.K. very happy indeed -- it's Dr. Strange, Jon! Classic!!!

Look out! It's Skaar -- son of Hulk!!!

Darkhawk is looking very cool...

Here's a view of the whole bloody menagerie...

...and a better look at the enormity of the deluxe Sentinel. Other than him, everyone else is 3 & 3/4"! Okay, that's all I can get away with for today! Valentine's dinner beckons! Hope you all had a great one, we'll get back to the plastic and movie mayhem tomorrow!

Toy Fair underway!

The curtain has begun to draw back over at Toy Fair. Here's a look at another McFarlane figure from The Walking Dead, Sheriff Rick Grimes, seen here in his comic incarnation.

Some fun from Hasbro's Marvel Universe -- a look at their next behemoth, the X-men Sentinel figure. Size-wise on a par with last year's Galactus.

A look at the new three-packs, including a very old school Hulk and the first-ever appearance of Fantastic Four's Sue Storm! Hopefully more shenanigans tomorrow!

Prometheus rising...

2012 is looking mighty interesting. John Carter of Mars, The Avengers (Marvel), Star Trek II, The Dark Knight Rises, Bond 23, Superman: The Man of Steel, The Hobbit and Prometheus.

Wow, I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Better make plans to take the year off.

Of all those must-see pictures, Ridley Scott's Prometheus remains one of the most intriguing. After being away from science fiction for decades, the man who made Alien and Blade Runner has got our attention, returning to the genre with a strange, quasi-prequel to Alien.

It's sounding like this won't be a straight-up Alien movie or prequel, but something original set in that same universe. The screenplay has seen a lot of work from Lost veteran Damon Lindeloff, though apparently the bones of the initial Alien prequel script by John Spaihts remain.

Casting is in high gear, with Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the etc. etc.), Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, X-Men: First Class) on board and now most recently, apple smoker Charlize Theron.

What Prometheus ultimately turns out to be is anyone's guess. But they have a release date, Spring of 2012. I'm definitely excited to see Ridley return to deep space - it's been a long while. But I think that what I'm most excited for is 2012 as a whole. Wow! That is one hell of a slate.

Toy Fair preview and TV recap!

Expect lots of explosive enthusiasm and mega-geek-outs here this week, as the stage is set for Toy Fair 2011 in New York, February 13th - 16th in New York, a veritable Valentine's day trade show extravaganza for the rabid toy collector. Here's a preview: Check out this saucy fellow! It's the first peek at McFarlane's new toyline from The Walking Dead!!! There will be two series, covering both the TV series and the comic! Michonne is confirmed, comic fans!!! Watch this space for more mayhem as the show unfolds. Let the games begin!










On the FX network, Justified is back with a vengeance, with the great Jeremy Davies featured as a hillbilly from hell! The second season premiere was sensational. Highly recommended.














Last night's Fringe was spectacular -- and packed a major twist. Things are bugging out over on the other side. Anna Torv continues to astonish. There's no denying this fantastic show. By all means, seek it out. Fauxlivia!!! Fauxlivia!!!

"Carousel is a lie!!!"

Guess I'll have to add Bronson to my Netflix queue, as the director of this early Tom Hardy prison flick, Nicolas Winding Refn, has been signed by Joel Silver to direct the long-in-development reboot of Logan's Run. Logan has been lurching into being for ages, Bryan Singer having been attached the longest. Matt Damon flirted with it for a while, but a screenplay by 28 Days Later scribe Alex Garland evidently sealed the deal, luring Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, The Notebook, Blue Valentine) to star -- his first real action opus. Gosling and Refn just finished Drive together, about a Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver who finds himself with a price on his head.

Michael York and Jenny Agutter starred in the wonderful (miniatures be damned!) 1976 original about an idyllic future society where the only crime is trying to live past 30. Those who do are hunted down by Sandmen like Logan -- until one day, Logan finds his own lifeclock has turned against him. In a hamfisted way, Michael Bay's The Island liberally borrowed from Logan. It's like a not-so-subtle remake.

The fact that Gosling has been so gun-shy about blockbusters in the past bodes well for this project. Smells like at long last the right script has found the right director. Wow, it has really been remake week here lately, what with The Stand, Dark Shadows and Fantastic Voyage all seeing a flurry of activity.

I actually just watched Logan not that long ago. It holds up really well and is well worth checking out if you've never seen it. If I ever needed a sign that it's time to check out Bronson, this is it!

Winter is coming...

As someone normally loathe to discuss a book when he's in the middle of it, I find myself unable to keep my bloody yap shut any longer about A Game of Thrones. George R. R. Martin's first book in this Song of Ice and Fire series came out in 1996 and since then there have been three others, with the long anticipated fifth book still to come.

I had embarrassingly never heard of these books until word began arriving that HBO was prepping a massive adaptation for cable starring Sean Bean, Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage. It's a fantasy series like no other, aimed squarely at adults. A sprawling pseudo-medieval saga of the conspiracies between the rival Stark and Lannister clans, I'm just over 400 pages into the first book and I'm ready to call this the best fantasy series I've read in decades. If you can imagine a fusion of I, Claudius, Lord of the Rings and The Sopranos, you'll have a fair notion of what's in store.

The series debuts in April and promises to be truly epic. If the show is as addictive as the books, look out. I promise to talk more once I've actually finished the first book, but if you are in need of a satisfying, irresistible read that just hooks you deeper with each chapter, you are doing yourself an enormous disservice if you don't grab this book today and get started!!!

The Mysterious Mr. Del Toro...

Brew a cup of tea for this one, it'll take a little time, but so worth it. The New Yorker has posted a very in-depth interview with Guillermo del Toro that is simply fascinating.

It's a long and full of revealing details of his youth, his work on The Hobbit and his plans to at last mount a production of Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.

Del Toro is one of the great visionaries working today. Definitely check this out!

So who's Raquel Welch?

Director Shawn Levy (the Night at the Museum movies) must have really put some mojo into his latest as yet unreleased battlin' 'bots movie Real Steel with Hugh Jackman, as he's just been hired by Fox and producer/overlord James Cameron to take the helm of their long gestating remake of Fantastic Voyage. Directors from Roland Emmerich to Paul Greengrass have flirted with this remake of the beloved 1966 film about a team of scientists and their submarine, miniaturized and injected into the body of an ailing scientist to destroy a blood clot in his brain. God only knows how many kids in the sixties were inspired to go to medical school because of this movie!

The effects in Fantastic Voyage may seem a little dated today, but the concept was a wild one, the film forever immortalized in a scene with Raquel Welch fighting off giant attacking white corpuscles.

As the remake train continues to run amok, can Land of the Giants be very far off?

Kneel before Zod...?

Word has it that one of the roles that's being cast for Zak Snyder's new Superman movie is that of Ursa. Which means (dare I say it?) that there's a pretty fair chance that Supe's antagonist in this movie will be General Zod.

Commence speculation. Me, I'd be very happy with Tom Felton. He's matured so much as an actor in the last two Potter films and damn if he doesn't look like Terence Stamp!

First look: RED SKULL!

Thanks to the miracle of the Super Bowl we got our first glimpse of Hugo Weaving as Red Skull from the incredibly, brain-fryingly fantastic looking trailer for Captain America -- The First Avenger. Looking extremely faithful to the comic here! The film looks terrific and seems steeped in that same WWII era vibe that we enjoyed in the first Hellboy prologue. It seems rippingly faithful to the comic yet immediate and action packed. My biggest complaint is that I can't figure out how in the heck we're going stand having to wait until July 22nd for this thing! That seems a long way off, sitting here in February!