There is a new poster for the Amazing Spiderman which just got released (via Cine-1). Have a look at it, how hideous is that!!!

It is hilarious to see how desperately Sony wants us to believe that this is the UNTOLD STORY, whatever that is. It has gone a bit too far, to plug that in bold white on the body of the poster. And there is pretty much nothing else than that, except for that red spider logo. C’mon Sony/ Marvel. Pull your socks up, and spend a bit more energy on this. The smudgy fonts aren’t helping either.

9E3K Rating: 1 Venom Out Of 5

The Deathly Hallows 3D wasn’t one of the best 3D that we have seen onscreen. But having said that, the Voldemort disintegrating climax did stand out. The disintegrating confetti effect benefited from the technology certainly. But from these new released concept images by artist Andrei Riabotvitchev, it could’ve been a notch darker and more brutal. The original movie shot is shown above. Just have a look at the ones after the jump for the alternative concepts of Voldy’s climactic end.

 It shows of a very Raiders Of The Lost Ark style face melt. Perhaps, David Yates thought it was too much for a PG-13 movie.

And this one, shows Voldy going kaput like Agent Smith in The Matrix. Couldn’t handle too much power huh!

Are you happy with what David Yates went with?

The Oscar Nominations were announced this morning in Hollywood. The Oscars ceremony has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, with director Brett Ratner and host Eddie Murphy quitting. But all’s well now, as we will see Billy Crystal hosting the awards show after a long gap. It will surely be a good show nonetheless, when the show airs from the Kodak theatre on Feb 23. Until then, have a look at the full list of nominees, and our take on it. We have serious issues with some inclusions, and more so, with some obvious exclusions. Go on, hit the jump!

Our predicted winners are marked.  [X], (These are what we think the winners will be, not the winners we think should be. )

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
War Horse [X]
Moneyball
The Tree Of Life
The Help
Midnight In Paris
Hugo
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close

Best Actor
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
George Clooney (The Descendants) [X]
Demian Bachir (A Better Life)
Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Best Actress
Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) [X]
Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)
Viola Davis (The Help)
Rooney Mara (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh (My Week With Marilyn)
Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
Nick Nolte (Warrior)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners) [X]
Max Von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bijou (The Artist)
Jessica Chastain (The Help)
Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
Octavia Spencer (The Help) [X]

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo) [X]
Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris)
Terrence Malick (The Tree Of Life)

Animated Feature
A Cat In Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss In Boots
Rango [X]

Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo [X]
Midnight In Paris
War Horse

Cinematography
The Artist
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [X]
Hugo
The Tree Of Life
War Horse

Costume Design
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E. [X]

Documentary Feature
Hell And Back Again
If A Tree Falls Short: A Story Of The Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Documentary Short
The Barber Of Birmingham: Foot Soldier Of The Civil Rights Movement
God Is The Bigger Elvis
Incident In New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami And The Cherry Blossom

Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [X]
Hugo
Moneyball

Foreign Language Film
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar
A Separation [X]

Music (Score)
The Adventures Of Tintin
The Artist
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse [X]

Music (Song)
The Muppets [X]
Rio

Short Film (animated)
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Short Film (live action)
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
War Horse [X]

Sound Mixing
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo [X]
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
War Horse

Visual Effects
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo [X]
Real Steel
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Writing (Adapted)
The Descendants
Hugo [X]
The Ides Of March
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Writing (original)
The Artist [X]
Bridesmaids
Margin Call
Midnight In Paris
A Separation

Thoughts on the Nominations:

Inclusions: The Academy seems to be extremely impressed with a movie called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Currently it holds a 48% rating on RT, and 6.2 on imdb. For an annoying movie which was clearly made with an intention of being Oscar bait, it is equally annoying to see it in the 10 film nominations. Speaking of Oscar bait, who knows it better than Spielberg, and his underwhelming and soppy War Horse is a clear example of that. I just hope none of them win.

Glad to see the other deserving ones in the list such as  - The Artist, Descendants, Moneyball, and The Help. And also deserving nods to the actors who showed their craft in these amazing movies. Pleasantly surprised to see Gary Oldman in the list of Best Actors for Tinker Taylor, and am very happy for Rooney Mara (Girl with Dragon tattoo).

Exclusions: This is where it gets really pissing me off. Obvious ones – Brendan Gleeson (The Guard), Michael Fassbender (Shame), Charlize Theron (Young Adult), Joseph Gordon Levitt (50-50), and Ryan Goslin (Ides of March) – all deserved a nomination, but the Academy thought otherwise. And what is with the no love for Drive in any of the sections. There are 9 nominees, so there was indeed space for one more. WTF AMPAS? And why isn’t Senna nominated for Best Documentary? Have mixed feelings about Tintin getting the snub in the animation category, but this leaves a better change for Rango to win. And thank you for not nominating Madonna.

Let’s talk some stats:

The number of nominations for the Best Movie category:

Hugo – 11
The Artist - 10
Moneyball – 6
War Horse – 6
The Descendants – 5
The Help – 4
Midnight In Paris – 4
The Tree of Life – 3
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close - 1

We’ll review the winners, when the envelopes are opened on Feb 23rd.

Please share this post using the buttons below. Follow me on twitter, or be our Facebook chum. 

The first major movie award of the season got handed out last weekend, and in true 9e3k fashion, we’re here with this year’s stream of GIFs to rewind you with the best and the worst of the awards. We’ve got plenty of stuff for you to go gaga about, and some that you’ll leave you chuckling for hours. And some to just say – meh! Just like every other year [ Have a rewind of last year's Golden Globe here]. So, hit the jump to let the awesomeness melt your face! Beware, image heavy post; let your post load completely for 100% pleasure

Ricky Gervais’ routine started a bit more adventurous and edgy than what he managed to sneak in in the latter part of the show. The intro was by far the funniest part of his entire act, which I think clocked not more than 14 minutes or so, in a 3 hour show. All signs lead to how the HFPA have been paranoid with the Brit bloke’s drunk rants on National TV. But none of them were spared – HFPA, NBC, Mel Gibson or Jodie Foster’s “Beaver”. Check out the reaction below from Ma’am Foster.

And continuing last year’s rant about the Tourist, Gervais asks presenter Johnny Depp if he’s finally got around watching The Tourist. LOL.

Moving on, we had one of the most awkward moments in awards shows history – Seth Rogen announcing about concealing his willy woody. Poor Kate, just kept giggling away.

Madonna won an award for the Best Movie Soundtrack, and clearly, Elton John wasn’t happy about it.

Christopher Plummer thanked Ewan McGregor and called him a scene stealing wine, all in good spirit

Peter Dinklage seemed to be hardly impressed, and uncomfortable on and off the stage. But he did mention a victim of “dwarf tossing”- Martin Henderson. Martin soon became the big hashtag trend on twitter.

Although the Best Actress in TV Comedy went to Laura Dern, the “Photobomb Like a boss” award went to Tina Fey for THIS. And it remains the biggest highlight of the show for me.

And the runner up award for Photobomb goes to <drumroll> Jesse Tyler Ferguson(Mitch), pulling out a “WHATEVER” when the nomination camera hovered over  Eric Stonestreet (Cam).

Due to the image heavy nature of this post, we will break here, and continue it in page 2. Because there’s loads more – George Clooney’s dick jokes, more Ricky Gervais and Meryl Streep.

CONTINUE HERE TO PAGE 2

Follow me on twitter, or be our Facebook chum. Please share this post using the buttons below.

We continue the list trend with the best 5 TV series of 2011. I have been watching a lot of TV this year. Mostly sitcoms such as Parks and Recreation, and How I Met Your Mother. But there is nothing really as great as genre television done absolutely well. True Blood started well for me, but the last few series have been a bit of chore for me to follow. And then there’s the surge of shitty telly that is showered upon us. Falling Skies was a bit too boring for me to follow, Terra Nova was trying to mashup Twilight with Avatar, and I gave up on The Event after episode 2.

So, it is indeed, with great relief, that I have been able to manage this complete list of 5 awesome TV series in 2011. They aren’t flawless – far from it. But it did bring a whole lot of excitement back into our living room. So, here it is people, presenting -

TOP 5 TV SERIES IN 2011

#5. The Walking Dead – Season 2

After the cracking season 1, Episode 2 was a bit of a slacker, to be honest. It focussed on a very stupid subplot of the most stupid girl that ever lived – Sophia. Shane grew his wings to become the complete Scumbag that was promised in Season 1. Rick and Lori’s dysfunctional family continues to struggle, and Andrea and Dale have some more to talk about. Glenn gets some action with barn girl, and T-Dog, well, he just shows up once in a while. So why is this on my list.

Two reasons -
I.  This is the season where Daryl rose to prominence as the super badass that he is. And his crossbow got more screentime than T-Dog.
II. That climax when zombie Sophie walks out of the barn, and Rick shoots her – absolute TV gold.

Check out our coverage of Walking Dead Season 2 here and here.

#4. Torchwood – Miracle Day

Yes, I can hear you shouting at me right now. For all it’s flaws, and it’s deviation from the previously successful “Children of Earth” format, Miracle Day was something we were compelled to return to. Whether we loved it, or loathed it, RT Davies’ expansion of canvas with funding from Starz, was brilliant on many levels, and yet, quite a bit of foolish on a lot others. And yet, by the end of it, you have reams of questions all answered to your satisfaction. Now, that in itself is a feat. Jack Harkness got an immortal buddy to hang out with, and Gwen teaches us some 101 lessons on how to be a badass mum. I say bring on the next series please. (Check out our coverage of Miracle Day episodes : ).

#3. Doctor Who – Series 6

Matt Smith’s second series as the Doctor began with a big mindfuck and ended with even a bigger one. In forum lingo, we called it “Being Moffucked”. Steven Moffat continued to pull off one trick after another, as he chuckled away at the end of each episode. Rory continued to die. Amy got her heart broken several times. And River Song’s origins were revealed. We got to know more and more about the Doctor and River, and also about Sexy, the Tardis. Now, THAT is why it is featured on our no.3. (Check out our coverage of Series 6 here and here)

#2. Suits – Season 1

Tough to beat Doctor Who? Welcome to the world of Suits. This is where Wallstreet meets The Social Network – a world of the smartest guys in the room, walking the walk, talking the talk and living the life. And Mike, the new apprentice to lawfirm hotshot Harvey, has photographic memory. But there’s more. Love triangles, jealous scumbag mates, and office rivalry, and a whole lot of speaking at break neck speed. New York never looked so classy even in Sex and the City. You know what, this could be the male version of Sex and the City. Season 2 – Bring it on.

And our no.1 is ..

#1. American Horror Story – Season 1

No surprises here. This could probably be the most twisted, demented and exciting piece of television that I have ever seen. From the makers of Glee and Nip/Tuck, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, comes this story of a haunted house, set in present day L.A. There’s enough flashbacks to give you a migraine, enough dead people to make a graveyard suffer from inferiority complex, and no shying away from any sort of gore or twisted imagery. And then, there is the award deserving performance by Jessica Lange in every friggin episode. And that title sequence, well, let’s just say that don’t watch it with a full stomach.

_____________________________________________________

And that was our Top 5 TV Series of 2011. Feel free to express your agreement or disagreement with our top 5 in the comments section below.

P.S. You can share this post using the buttons below. Also, you can follow me on twitter, or be our Facebook chum.

January will be the month when I will be rolling out plenty of lists of the best movies of 2011, and also probably looking forward to the great movies to be hitting screens in 2012. First up on the list is my favourite genre, unsurprisingly, SciFi. 2011 was a great year for SciFi, as we saw plenty of offerings – from the alien comedy Paul, which involved a lot of swearing and pot smoking, to the lovey dovey Adjustment Bureau chemistry of Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. We saw Justin Timberlake getting all barcoded, and even Bollywood had its fair share of spandex. And yes, the Thing prequel came and went. It is easier to just point out the garbage ones, as these keep hitting the screens with an alarming regularity. But at 9e3k, only the best make it through. So behold, as we announce the..

TOP 5 SciFi Movies of 2011.

Limitless

Amongst the many book adaptations, and the sequel to the successful Hangover, we saw Bradley Cooper actually acting as a proper character, and making us sit, think, and keep guessing. Limitless was a winner through and through, as it engages us with its speedy dialogues, and its wink wink nudges at the possibilities of a drug that can empower the brain to almost 100% state of awareness.

Source Code

It was always going to be difficult to follow a smashing debut. But Duncan Jones’ second directorial feature (after the widely appreciated Moon), although might be a weaker movie, but it is still much stronger than your average Hollywood fare. With a mind/time bending storyline, and a parallel universe twist, it is a perfect example of scifi meets edge-of-the-seat thriller. It’s unpredictable and intriguing and has layers to be discussed upon, and it leaves you with plenty of material to be discussed at length.

Super 8

JJ Abrams takes us back to the beautiful world of Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment scifi cinema of the 80′s, and adds flares, aliens and a lot of heart to give us one of the best family friendly scifi movie in a very long time. It reminded me of the movies I grew up with such as E.T., Close Encounters and the like. But Super 8 does not feature here just for its novelty value. It is here, because it instils the fact that even in the year 2011, family friendly scifi movies with wonderful child actors, can be made and can still warm your heart. I’d like some more of this please!

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

I have already written a lot about the Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes in my review. And I cannot stop saying how much I love this movie. Whether it is the amazing Mo-Cap work done by Andy Serkis, or the touching human story of Caeser and his rejection from the human world, or the heartbreaking sub-plot of John Lithgow’s character struggling with dementia – Rise.. hits all the right notes, and even manages to cover almost every explanation on the genesis of the Apes regime. The story gives us characters to root for, even though we are left confused about our loyalty to our own species. That’s the power of scifi.

Attack The Block

And our number 1 SciFi movie of 2011 is.. Attack The Block. A great British monster movie set in one of the roughest South London districts, and on bonfire night, depicts a group of mugging gangster boys trying to save their block from the alien invasion. It is an almost perfect film for me, as it brings a gang of wicked characters and their colourful language let loose onscreen. Unlike other alien movies, these aliens have a reason to be here. And even though by the end of the movie, we end up rooting for these gangster kids, we are never exposed to any gratification of the violent lives that these kids lead, by choice or otherwise. There’s wise cracking humour, Nick Frost’s UV-lit marijuana cultivation green house, and proper foggy suspense, and enough swishing bike chases and machete slashing. It is a genuinely fun, and incredibly well executed concept movie, and by the end of it, you are left pumped to watch it one more time.

__________________________________________________

And that was our Top 5 SciFi Movies of 2011. Feel free to express your agreement or disagreement with our top 5 in the comments section below.

P.S. You can share this post using the buttons below. Also, you can follow me on twitter, or be our Facebook chum.