Jean Dujardin to star in Skyfall, Die Hard 5, Jack & Jill 2, The Smurfs 2...

Jean Dujardin's charm offensive in Hollywood is in full swing. One of France's biggest film stars, he was a virtual unknown in the Anglo-Saxon world, bar a few fans of world cinema who had caught his wonderful spy spoof OSS117 films. Obviously all changed since that legendary morning screening of The Artist at the Cannes Film Festival this year where his suave charm was unleashed into the world of cinema.

The Most Exciting Film of 2013?

It is great news that the usual female Oscar's winner curse (ask Mira Sorvino and Mercedes Ruehl what happened to their career after their win) does not seem to have stricken this year's hopefuls Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, who, even before their potential win, have been offered a part in several high profile projects. Yes I said potential win as I have a feeling Viola Davis will create an upset at the Oscars. You have read it here first. And if I am wrong nobody will remember this post. But I digress. Among those, the most exciting one is certainly Bong Joon-Ho's Snow Piercer that Octavia Spencer has just joined. In fact, I would go as far as saying that this is my most anticipated film of 2013!

The Grey - The Thin Grey Line

Plot: The survivors of a plane crash in Alaska face an even deadlier situation when, stuck in the wild and far away from civilisation, they find themselves hunted by a pack of hungry grey wolves.

The magic of cinema will never cease to amaze me. In appearance, The Grey looked like a run of the mill survival/actioner that I could not muster any kind of enthusiasm for. Yet some great reviews hinted that there was a lot more to it and how right they were, this turned out to be a surprise and the first great film of 2012, with surprising depth and some unexpected philosophical undertones.

The French Oscars: The Cesars

France might have invented cinema, but it took them some time to come up with an awards ceremony. Indeed, their "Oscars", called the Cesars, only began in 1975, decades after the Oscars. By the way, the name is based on the sculptor of the same name who designed the actual award (which is basically a compacted car reduced to the size of a log, I kid you not), not the Roman emperor! Despite French cinema being one of the best in the world, their awards make little impact around the world, namely because they choose to only hand them over solely to French films. Which is what the BAFTA's should do rather than suck up to Hollywood, if they truly wanted to support homegrown cinema. But I digress.

Oscars Nominations: The World WILL End in 2012

The Oscar nominations have been announced today and it is an understatement to say that they have elicited some strong reactions. Surprises, snubs and shocks, given what has been written about them today, you would almost believe that these Mayans had based their end of the world predictions for 2012 when foreseeing those Oscar nominations. I will not cover them extensively as this has been done elsewhere by people with more time on their hands. I would rather focus on what really stood out for me.

Blue Velvette - David Lynch Rap

Mel Brooks once called David Lynch a Jimmy Stewart from Mars. It looks like the red planet has just offered us a new offspring as along came young comedian Daveo Mathias, AKA Cancer Merchant, who has written and is performing a rap tribute to the master himself. And after the Lee Hardcastle's Pingu/The Thing remake, this is the second best thing I have seen this year so far. Will 2012 be the year of fan tributes? Is somebody busy remaking David Cronenberg's Videodrome in their bedroom with a lot of plasticine and sellotape?

John Carter Preview - Out Of This World!

With its release date now a mere couple of months away, Disney held a special preview event in London a few days ago for their new blockbuster John Carter. While the film is not completed quite yet (with director Andrew Stanton not being present at the event, on the account of him being busy finishing it!), we were treated to a few clips from the film, a new trailer as well as a Q&A with star Taylor Kitsch and a couple of special effects specialists who worked on the film. I have had a good feeling about this film ever since the first trailer was released and all I saw more than confirmed that we should really get excited about this!