AFTERTHOUGHTS (104)
SCREAM, BABY, SCREAM 2008 (2)

And the noteworthy winners at this year’s Scream Awards are…


The Dark Knight
The Ultimate Scream
Best Sequel
Best Comic Book Movie
Best Director (Christopher Nolan)
Best Screamplay (Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, & David S. Goyer)
Best Superhero (Christian Bale as Batman)
Best Villain (Heath Ledger as The Joker)
Best Actor in a Fantasy Movie or TV Show (Heath Ledger)
Best Supporting Performance (Gary Oldman)
The Holy Sh!t Scene of the Year (The Big Rig Flips Over)
Best F/X
Best Line (“I believe whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.”: The Joker)


Dexter
Best TV Show


Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Best Fantasy Movie


Iron Man
Best Science Fiction Movie
Best Actor in a Science Fiction Movie or TV Show (Robert Downey, Jr.)


The Strangers
Best Actress in a Horror Movie or TV Show (Liv Tyler)


Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Best Horror Movie
Best Actor in a Horror Movie or TV Show (Johnny Depp)


Teeth
Most Memorable Mutilation (Bitten By Vagina With Teeth)


Wanted
Best Actress in a Fantasy Movie or TV Show (Angelina Jolie)

Rob Zombie’s Halloween was also pronounced Best Remake.
Congratulations, one and all. (All the winners can be accessed from here.)
Reviews of all the above films (as well as episodic recaps of Dexter) can be found in the Archive.

Parting shot: Congratulations must also go out to His Scottish Brilliance, Grant Morrison, for taking home Best Comic Book Writer, and to Gabriel Ba, for scooping up Best Comic Book Artist for his work on The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite.

(Images courtesy of aintitcool.com, empireonline.com, impawards.com, and rickbrotherton.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (81)
HITCHHIKING TO SATURN 2008 (2)

So this year’s Saturns (held last night at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Universal City) have come and gone, and the notable wins are:

300:
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
Best Direction (Zack Snyder)

Blade Runner:
Best Special Edition DVD Release (5 Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition)

Cloverfield:
Best Science Fiction Film

Dexter:
Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series

Eastern Promises:
Best International Film

Heroes:
Best Television Series on DVD (Season 1)

Lost:
Best Network Television Series
Best Actor on Television (Matthew Fox)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Michael Emerson)
Best Supporting Actress on Television (Elizabeth Mitchell)

The Mist:
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Marcia Gay Harden)

No Country For Old Men:
Best Supporting Actor, Film (Javier Bardem)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Best Horror Film
Best Costume (Colleen Atwood)

Twin Peaks:
Best Retro Television Series on DVD (The Definitive Gold Box Edition)

I’m happy for Lost, naturally, though Elizabeth Mitchell’s win for Best Supporting Actress on Television was actually a tie with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ Summer Glau.
For my money (and the tremendous work she’s put in on Lost), Mitchell should have taken the category, lock, stock, and barrel.
And, as with any other awards night, there were the disappointments: El Orfanato, Stardust, Battlestar Galactica, and Pushing Daisies, all getting shut-out, as well as a bunch of other criminal calls (Jennifer Love Hewitt over Anna Friel and Evangeline Lilly?!), but hey, there’s some awfully neat stuff up there, so I’ll just accentuate the positive…
Oh, and aside from Guillermo del Toro receiving the George Pal Memorial Award for his “visionary genius,” Matt Reeves was also recognized with The Filmmakers Showcase Award, for directing Cloverfield.

To all the nominees and winners at this year’s Saturns, congratulations. (You can find a complete—and downloadable—list of winners here.)

Parting shot: Reviews of 300, Cloverfield, Eastern Promises, The Mist, No Country For Old Men, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, can be found in the Archive, along with episodic recaps/reviews of Dexter, Heroes, and Lost.

(Images courtesy of impawards.com [Lost]; bloody-disgusting.com [Cloverfield OS]; ew.com [Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men]; filmz.ru [Marcia Gay Harden in The Mist]; and empireonline.com [Guillermo del Toro].)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (21)

21.1 First, some good news.
This took me a while, but I’d just like to congratulate the following, for winning at this year’s Scream Awards:

28 Weeks Later: Best Horror Movie
300: The Ultimate Scream; Best Comic-to-Screen Adaptation
Kate Beckinsale: Scream Queen (for Vacancy)
Grindhouse: Most Memorable Mutilation (Dismembered In Car Crash); Best Director (Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez); Best Scream-Play (Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Jeff Rendell, Eli Roth, Edgar Wright, & Rob Zombie)
Heroes: Best TV Show
Shia LaBeouf: Sci-Fi Star (for Transformers); Scream King (for Disturbia)
El Laberinto Del Fauno: Best Fantasy Movie; Best Foreign Movie (Spain)
Hayden Panettiere: Breakout Performance (for Heroes)

Harrison Ford and Neil Gaiman were also honoured, with The Hero Award and the Comic-Con Icon Award, respectively.

Again, to one and all, congratulations.

(Reviews of 28 Weeks Later, 300, Death Proof, Disturbia, El Laberinto Del Fauno, Planet Terror, Transformers, and Vacancy can be found in the Archive.)

21.2 Now, some bad news.
The WGA strike that many have feared has come to pass. Depending on how long this strike turns out to be, its effects could still be felt as far ahead as next year’s fall television season. (If the impending Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild strikes next year also go into effect, it’ll make matters all the worse.)
It’s my understanding that Heroes should have new episodes all the way up to the December break, so we should get to see all 11 episodes of Volume Two. After that, all bets are off, particularly if the WGA strike stretches out over the next few months.
As for the other shows I keep track of here at the Iguana, I’m uncertain where they are in terms of their production schedule for their current seasons.
And as far as series kicking off their new seasons next year (like Lost and Battlestar Galactica), their start dates could conceivably be pushed farther away, should this strike prove to be a protracted one.

Apparently an early casualty of the weeks leading up to the strike, the spin-off Heroes: Origins, which I’ve talked about here at the Iguana, has been shelved by NBC.
It’s been pulled off the schedule at the moment (it was set to air at the end of Heroes’ current sophomore season), though I certainly hope it’s not entirely dead. Maybe when the WGA strike has been settled, and provided next year’s impending strikes can be averted, NBC can resuscitate production on Origins.

Meanwhile, film studios were busy for most of this year gearing up for the possibility of a writers’ strike, and went into hyperdrive on a whole slew of pre-strike priority projects, like the Justice League live-action film—which I talked about in Afterthoughts (19) and (20)—in preparation for next year’s strike possibilities. Scripts for high-profile projects scheduled to shoot next year for a 2009 release (like the aforementioned Justice League) were also stockpiled by the studios.
While some projects are getting fast-tracked though, others could get shelved or side-tracked, depending on where they are in the development phase.
We’ll also be seeing some of the films originally scheduled for a 2007 release (like Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘R Treat and David Moreau and Xavier Palud‘s redux of The Eye) hit cinemas next year.

There are a whole lot of other ramifications and intricacies to the WGA strike that go well beyond what I’ve mentioned here, so if you want to know more, get on over to variety.com, which has a host of articles covering the strike.
And let’s hope this one gets resolved soon.

(Images courtesy of bloody-disgusting.com [Scream Awards 2007 and Michael Dougherty] and yahoo.com [Heroes].)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (18)

18.1 The winners for the 40th Sitges Film Festival have been announced, and here are some of the awards that have me stoked:

Best Motion Picture
The Fall (directed by Tarsem Singh)

Best Director (Jaume Balaguero & Paco Plaza);
Best Actress (Manuela Velasco);
Audience Award El Periodico de Catalunya – Best Motion Picture;
Jose Luis Guarner Critic Award (unanimous);
and Special Mention, por cumplir con mano maestra nuestra fantasía de ver morir en directo a un irritante presentadora de televisión (for making possible our fantasy, by letting us watch dying live an upsetting TV presenter)*:
[Rec]

Best Actor (Sam Rockwell);
Special Mention, por la sutilidad con la que hace presente el miedo en la cotidianidad (for its subtle way of expressing the fear to today’s everyday life)*:
Joshua (directed by George Ratliff)

Best Script (Chong Seo-Kyung, Park Chan-Wook)
I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Ok (directed by Park Chan-Wook)

Best Cinematography (Toyomichi Kurita);
Best Production Design (Takashi Sasaki)
Sukiyaki Western Django (directed by Takashi Miike)

Best Make Up FX;
Best Motion Picture FANTASTIC;
Silver Méliès for Best European Motion Picture;
Citizen Kane Award to an up-and-coming director (Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo):
À L'Intérieur (Inside)

Best Special Effects;
Best Original Soundtrack (Kuniaki Haishima):
Mushishi (Bugmaster) (directed by Katsuhiro Otomo)

Though I haven’t seen any of these films yet, they’re all either done by directors I greatly admire, or, like Joshua and À L'Intérieur, movies I’ve heard some good things about. And the Balaguero co-directed [Rec] (already on its way to a Hollywood remake) was the big winner! For those of you who’ve been to the Iguana before, you all know I love me my Balaguero!
Congratulations to all involved with these films. You can check out the complete list of winners at the official English-language website of the Sitges Film Festival.

18.2 In related news, À L'Intérieur directors Maury and Bustillo are currently working on the script for the upcoming Hellraiser remake (though they’ve described it as more of an adaptation than anything else). They’ve apparently got Clive Barker’s blessing and supposedly have a new Pinhead waiting in the wings…

Parting shot: Reviews for Jaume Balaguero’s Los Sin Nombre, Darkness, and Fragiles, can be found in the Archive.

* All English translations are from the Sitges official website.

(The Fall image courtesy of outnow.ch; OS’s courtesy of cinemasitges.com/uk [40th Sitges Film Festival], dreadcentral.com [[Rec]], alinterieur.fr [À L'Intérieur], and truemovie.com [Mushishi].