There's a teaser trailer up for the new DVC movie (due out in 2006). There are no scenes for the movie in the website flash intro yet, but upon closer examination, there *are* some embedded puzzles, if it's gone through frame by frame. There are even controls at the bottom left corner which let you slow it down to take a closer look.

Intriguing . . . If anyone finds a website that lists everything that's in the Flash, let me know?

Elonka :)

Da Vinci Code Movie - Puzzles in the Flash

] Los Angeles, CA, Apr. 20 (UPI) -- Ian McKellen and Alfred
] Molina are joining the cast of director Ron Howard's
] adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code," Daily Variety reported
] Wednesday.
]
] Brian Grazer and John Calley are producing the Sony
] Pictures Entertainment project, from Akiva Goldsman's
] adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel. Goldsman
] won an Oscar for his adapted screenplay for Howard's "A
] Beautiful Mind."
]
] McKellen will play a wealthy benefactor who helps Harvard
] symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) but has his own
] designs on acquiring the Holy Grail. Molina will play
] Bishop Arigarosa. The cast also includes Audrey Tautou
] and Jean Reno.
]
] Production is scheduled to begin in June, with plans for
] a May 2006 release.

Ron Howard, Gandalf, Jesus, codes, and sex. Yum. :)

Ian McKellen joins cast of 'Da Vinci Code'

] OSCAR NOMINATIONS
]
] BEST ACTOR
] Don Cheadle, "Hotel Rwanda"
] Johnny Depp, "Finding Neverland"
] Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Aviator"
] Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby"
] Jamie Foxx, "Ray"
]
] BEST ACTRESS
] Annette Bening, "Being Julia"
] Catalina Sandino Moreno, "Maria Full of Grace"
] Imelda Staunton, "Vera Drake"
] Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby"
] Kate Winsletet, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
]
] BEST PICTURE
] "The Aviator"
] "Finding Neverland"
] "Million Dollar Baby"
] "Ray"
] "Sideways"
]
] BEST DIRECTOR
] Martin Scorsese, "The Aviator"
] Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby"
] Taylor Hackford, "Ray"
] Alexander Payne, "Sideways"
] Mike Leigh, "Vera Drake"

2005 Academy Award Nominations

] Be our guest! Be our guest!
] Put our service to the test
] Tie your napkin 'round your neck, cherie
] And we'll provide the rest
]
] Soup du jour
] Hot hors d'oeuvres
] Why, we only live to serve

] Try the grey stuff
] It's delicious
] Don't believe me? Ask the dishes
] They can sing, they can dance
] After all, Miss, this is France
] And a dinner here is never second best
] Go on, unfold your menu
] Take a glance and then you'll
] Be our guest
] Oui, our guest
] Be our guest!

I've been listening to this song nearly every day since I got the news about Jerry Orbach. :/

'Beauty and the Beast' Lyrics - Be Our Guest

] "Finding Neverland," a fictionalized
] account of the creation of children's classic "Peter
] Pan," was named best film of 2004 by The National Board
] of Review on Wednesday in the first major award of the
] Oscar season.

I saw "Finding Neverland" a few days ago, and *loved* it. The acting, writing, and effects all combined for a very satisfying emotional experience, full of wonder and human drama. My only beef about the movie is that they took some liberties with the actual timeline, similar to how "Braveheart" is a good movie even though they moved the actual dates and people around for dramatic effect. That complaint aside though, I give "Finding Neverland" an enthusiastic thumbs up, and look forward to seeing how the other contenders line up for the Oscars on February 27th.

Movies: Preview of Oscar Season

This movie is hard to describe, but I give it a *huge* thumbs up. When I do try to describe it, words and phrases come up like "unique", "quantum physics," "great visual effects," "a mix of a fictional storyline and interviews with real physicists," philosophy, comedy, pop music, metaphors, dance, biology, brain chemistry, spirituality...

The reviews of the movie are mixed, but I *loved* it, and I think that many of my intellectual friends would love it too.

If you're looking for mindless entertainment, don't go see this movie, because you'll probably be disappointed. But if you're looking for something fun and quirky and thought-provoking and educational and challenging and, yes, entertaining, I think you'll really really like this film. Personally, I walked out of the theater laughing and thinking. I didn't agree with everything in the film, but no matter what, I'm going to continue to be thinking about this movie for a long long time. And that's about the best I can ask for from any movie experience. :)

- Elonka

Movie Recommendation: 'What the Bleep Do We Know?'

] NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fay Wray, the shrieking blond beauty
] who earned fame as the frightened girl stalked by King
] Kong up the Empire State Building, has died at age 96.

'King Kong' Star Fay Wray: 1907-2004

I saw a sneak preview of this movie last night. The reviews that I'd seen ahead of time were not that great, but walking out of the movie, I wondered if the reviewers must have seen something different than I did. The movie I saw was absolutely amazing. It's also one of those rare films that I can't wait to see a second time.

As a quick summary, this film is a biography of the songwriter Cole Porter. It stars Ashley Judd and Kevin Kline (and I think they should *both* be nominated for Oscars), and covers decades of Porter's life, with song and dance and comedy and drama. All through the movie there'd be familiar music and I'd get that dawning realization of, "wow, Porter wrote that one too??" And through the many nightclub scenes, with different singers on stage, I'd peer at the singer because though they were dressed in styles from many decades ago, they'd look vaguely familiar, and then there'd be a shock of recognition as I figured out which modern singer that they really were: "Wow, that's Alanis Morissette! OMG, that's Elvis Costello. Hey, that's Sheryl Crow!" and so on.

If you *don't* like musicals or song and dance numbers, you may not care for this movie. But if you've enjoyed films such as "All That Jazz", "That's Entertainment", "Chicago", "Evita", or "A Chorus Line", you will probably love this one too. Any time I'm at a party from now on, and someone wants to pop in a video or DVD, I'm going to ask for this one.

Update: One of the recent reviewers who *did* like it is Roger Ebert. Here's his review: http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-delovely02f.html

Movie Review: 'De-lovely '

I walked into the movie with very low expectations, since I'd read such mixed reviews. But I walked out thinking, "Wow!" I truly enjoyed the movie, and thought it did a wonderful job on many levels -- pacing, sets, costumes, casting, acting, etc. I especially loved Peter O'Toole's part -- the scene with his heartfelt plea to Brad Pitt brought tears to my eyes.

And the romantic scenes (like Brad Pitt and his princess / slave girl) worked for me as well. I found the whole thing excellent storytelling. Now as for how much of it was *accurate*, I don't know yet. But as an analogy, "Braveheart" was still a great movie, even though it took huge liberties with historical accuracy. So I put "Troy" in the same category. It's a wonderful epic tale, and I recommend it.

Review - Troy

Here's a full list of nominees from the official Oscar site.

OSCAR.com - 76th Annual Academy Awards - Nominee List