Early Oscar Buzz!

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Most of these movies aren't even out yet. But that hasn't stopped Academy voters from already talking Best Picture.

J. Edgar: Clint Eastwood's last four films failed to make the Best Picture cut. But there's no genre that's more Oscar friendly than the biopic.

(December 14)

The Iron Lady: Meryl Streep's turn as British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is said to be a career highlight for the Academy favorite.

(December 16)

The Artist: The delightful black-and-white silent film was the crowd-pleasing sensation of Cannes.

(November 23)

We Bought a Zoo: Cameron Crowe and Matt Damon's true-life tale of a family man who, yes, buys a zoo could be one of the holiday season's breakout hits.

(December 23)

War Horse: Steven Spielberg's helming a period piece set during a time of war? On paper, this adaptation of the acclaimed stage production seems like a slam dunk.

(December 28)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Stephen Daldry (The Reader), has earned Best Director nods for all three of his films so far. This time he's got acting winners Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock on board.

(December)

Cat Burglar Is.....Actual Cat!

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A prolific cat burglar has stolen precious possessions from homes near San Francisco. But police are staying off the case--the burglar really is a cat. Dusty, a 5-year-old feline from San Mateo, has taken hundreds of items during his nearly nightly heists. Dusty's owner tells the San Francisco Chronicle he has pilfered gloves, towels, Crocs, grocery bags and more since she adopted him from the Humane Society four years ago--more than 600 items total.

His owner, who started keeping a record of his haul, says he tends to snag three or four items a night, his record is 11 within 24 hours. Dusty has a special love for swimsuits. A neighbor says he stole her bikini--on two separate trips. Experts say Dusty's predatory instincts have gone astray, leaving him hunting for people's stuff. The cat's thieving has made him a minor celebrity, he has appeared on "Letterman" and "Animal Planet."

"The Tree of Life"

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

"The Tree of Life" chronicles the origins and meaning of life, through the eyes of a 1950s Texas family, while also featuring some Stanley Kubrick like sci-fi and surrealist themes and imagery through space and the birth of life on Earth.

Directed by Terrence Malick, the film premiered in competition a the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d'Or, after being in development by Malick for decades.

The film opens with a quotation from the Book of Job, when God asks, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation...while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" A mysterious wavering light that resembles a flame emerges. The film cuts to Mrs. O'Brien (Jessica Chastain) as she receives a telegram informing her of her son's death at age 19. Mr. O'Brien (Brad Pitt in a winning performance), is notified by telephone. The family is thrown into a world of grief as they try to cope in their tidy suburban Texas home.

Jack O'Brien (Sean Penn) is adrift in his modern life as an architect. On the phone with his father, he confesses that he thinks about his dead brother every day. The film then cuts to a dramatization of the Big Bang. As the galaxies expand and planets are formed, Jack's voice is heard asking various existential questions. At other points in the film, these questions and observations are voiced by other members of his family as well as his younger self.

On the newly formed Earth volcanoes erupt and microbes begin to form. The film's surreal style reminds one of director Stanley Kubrick's famous 70's sci-fi film "2001 Space Odyssey."

I found the film enthralling, while others in the theater shrugged and didn't know what to make of it, yet I highly recommend it.

"The Devil's Double"

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A chilling vision of the House of Saddam Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of Hussein's sadistic son Uday.

A film loosely based on the real-life events of Latif Yahia, "The Devil's Double" explores a story of corruption, drugs, scandal, rape and utter lunacy. This Lionsgate flick takes a white-knuckle ride deep into the lawless playground of excess and violence known as Bagdad 1987.

Yahia spent years as the double of Saddam Hussein's sadistic son Uday Hussein--a man described as completely psychotic. The film does an amazing job of capturing this utter chaos with precision and in horrific detail.

Many parts of the film have been dramatized and exaggerated for Hollywood purposes, but the main ideas and many of the actual events are from Yahi's own page-turner book "The Devil's Double."

Featuring a riveting double performance by Dominic Cooper (An Education and Mama Mia), in the roles of Latif, "The Devil's Double" is a dynamic ride into the viper's pit of corruption and brutality.

In theaters July 29, 2011.

"The Third Man"

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

In "The Third Man"--probably the greatest British thriller of the postwar era--director Carol Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene set a fable of moral corruption in a world of near-Byzantine visual complexity: the streets and ruins of occupied Vienna. It is a Vienna far removed from the rollicking erotics of Ernst Lubitsch or the wistful elegance and melancholy beauty of Max Ophuls.

Decadence and rot have seeped into the city's very world, poisoned it, left almost nothing unstained. This Vienna is a movie milieu as densely evocative and haunting as "Casablanca" or "Morocco"--yet unlike them, it is primarily the real Vienna, the real streets, the real rubble: shot by Reed in such a striking style that it takes on a patina of nightmare.

The tale unwinds with a naive and foolishly romantic American novelist, Holly Martins, who pursues the murderers of his best friend, Harry Lime; spars with the cynical British police major, Calloway; hunts for the mysterious "third man" who witnessed Harry's death and falls hopelessly and unrequitedly in love with Harry's mistress, Anna. Finally, in two symbolic settings-- a ferris wheel towering above the city and the shadowy chaos of the sewers--Holly comes face to face with the supreme evil, the supreme betrayal: both Harry's and his own.

"The Third Man" is one of those rare films that captured its audience immediately and was regarded as a classic almost from it's first release. Graham Greene's script based on his novel, is a brilliant evocation of the urban battleground of good and evil, with just the right proportions of drama, atmosphere, action, rich character and tense construction.

Because the two great set pieces in "The Third Man"--the ferris wheel confrontation and the chase through the sewers of Vienna--both revolve around Orson Welles. Reed the director, is the hero and dominating influence--insisting that it be shot in Vienna, insisting that Welles play Harry Lime, discovering Anton Karas and his zither in a tiny beer and sausage restaurant and finally rejecting even Graham Greene's suggestion of a climatic rapprochement between Anna and Holly.

Reed assembled and marshaled a brilliantly talented company as by the power of his own vision. Together he and Greene and Welles, Cotten, Karas, Krasker, Korda and all the others--created a portrait of postwar corruption and the death of idealism that has lodged ever since in our collective consciousness. Together they made a rich, moody masterpiece of guilt, love and ambivalent redemption.

Schwarzenegger heading back to Austria

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Austrian born actor turned politician Arnold Schwarzenegger looks set to be in Vienna this month at a conference organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

The topic of the conference is green energy in Vienna and Schwarzenegger is expected to make the opening address.

Schwarzenegger is expected to arrive on June 21 for the "Vienna Energy Forum" that is expected to last until June 23.

Also on the agenda is a meeting between Arnie and Ex-presidents from Brazil and Nigeria Fernando Henrique Caroso and Olusegun Obsanjo as well as Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

But according to local media any meetings with the press and private questions have been verboten!