Reel Facts & Opinions: An Oscar Disqualification, M. Night Reunites, and the Super Trailers

Fact: With just over a month to go before the Oscars, we already know which film will not be winning anything. In a rare occurrence, the Academy has rescinded the Best Original Song nomination from the film ALONE YET NOT ALONE. The yanking of the nomination comes after it was revealed that the song’s composer, Bruce Broughton, e-mailed members of the voting board. Broughton is a former member of the board and any perceived campaigning is considered to be a rules violation.

Opinion: With all the criticism the Academy receives, no one can say that they don’t stick to their own rules. Although Broughton has stated that he thought he was within the rules and didn’t intend to violate any, the Academy needed to stick to its guns and maintain precedence. The sad part is that ALONE YET NOT ALONE, an independently produced film which many people had never heard of until the nominations were announced, won’t have a chance to make an Oscar run. However, there is no such thing as bad publicity, and perhaps this incident will spark an interest in the little film.

Fact: Former award-contenders and current turkey-basters M. Night Shyamalan and Bruce Willis will reunite for another film. Shyamalan, who directed Willis in his wildly successful THE SIXTH SENSE (1999) and UNBREAKABLE (2000), has dusted off one of his screenplays from the early 1990’s entitled LABOR OF LOVE. Willis will play the main character; a widower who decides to walk across the country in honor of his deceased wife.

Opinion: The most important aspect of this story is the project is based on a script Shyamalan wrote in the 1990’s; an era in which he was great at character-driven films and before he lost all of his goddamn marbles. Shyamalan has been in desperate need of a hit for nearly a decade, so going back to his roots is a good place to start. Willis could also use a fresh start. The 58 year old had a great turn in Wes Anderson’s MOONRISE KINGDOM in 2012, but then snored his way through utter drek such as the fifth and worthless DIE HARD sequel, another dumbass EXPENDABLES movie, RED 2, and the intolerable G.I. JOE RETALIATION. This Blogger cannot think of another case where two filmmakers needed each other more.

Fact: The list of movies which will debut new trailers during the Super Bowl has been finalized; stop reading now if you want to be surprised. The trailers to be seen are:

DRAFT DAY

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION
NEED FOR SPEED
ROBOCOP
THE EXPENDABLES 3
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Opinon: It feels a little ho-hum this year, as every film, with the exception of TRANSFORMERS, has already debuted at least a teaser…so at the very least we would be seeing little new footage from the rest. There are also noticeable absences from major releases such as Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, GODZILLA, and NINJA TURTLES. But the movies, just like the Super Bowl, can be full of surprises.

What say you?