Expanded Universe newsbits: Drew Karpyshyn, Chris Avellone, The Clone Wars, Eisners

Clone Wars Adventures, Red 5, Buffy all up for Eisner Awards

The Eisner Awards are the ‘Oscars’ of comic books, and several familiar names have shown up on the 208 nominee list: Chiefly, the Clone Wars Adventures, edited by Jeremy Barlow, has been nominated for for Best Publication for Kids. Another familiar nominee is Red 5’s Atomic Robo with two, Best Limited Series and Best Coloring. Meanwhile, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 was nominated for for four awards, including Best New Series and Best Continuing Series. Joss Whedon and Brian K. Vaughan are both up for Best Writer.

ILM dominates VES with giant robots, tentacles

IMAGE: Not the Japanese porn film youIndustrial Light & Magic was the big winner at the Visual Effects Society awards Sunday. They received six awards: Four for Transformers and two for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

Transformers got Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture, Best Single Visual Effect of the Year (for the Desert Highway Sequence,) Outstanding Models or Miniatures in a Motion Picture, and Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture. At World’s End took Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture (for Davy Jones) and Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture (for the Maelstrom.)

Other genre winners included Battlestar Galactica – Razor (Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special) and Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix (Outstanding Special Effects in a Motion Picture.)

Oscar nominations!

Yeah, I wrote that movie post at 4am knowing full well that the Academy Award nominations were coming out today. Clearly, I fail.

Anyway, some surprises. The one that knocked me over was Johnny Depp and Viggo Mortensen both up for Best Actor (For Sweeney Todd and Eastern Promises, respectively.) Cate Blanchett is up for both Actress categories for The Golden Age and I’m Not There. In Animated Feature, Ratatouille and Persepolis are going head to head.

As for actual genre releases, The Golden Compass is up for Art Direction, as well as battling ILM’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Transformers for Visual Effects. Transformers also got a Sound Editing nod, while At World’s End is up for Makeup.

Movie News: Razzies, Cloverfield, Jumper

IMAGE: Razzies!2007 must have been good for sci-fi, because the only genre films to get Razzie nods were known crudfests Ghost Rider (Nicolas Cage, Worst Actor,) Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Jessica Alba, Worst Actress, Worst Screen Couple with three of her co-stars, including Hayden Christiansen for Awake and F4’s Ioan Gruffudd.) and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (Worst Prequel or Sequel, Worst Excuse for a Horror Movie.) And let’s not forget poor Orlando Bloom (Worst Supporting Actor) in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Cinematical has the full list.

Those looking for something with less pointing and mocking can check out the 9th Annual Golden Tomato Awards, where Harry Potter and Stardust lead the best-reviewed sci-fi films of 2007.

In the news: Monday morning reading list

  • Cloverfield smashes January box office records, including the one held by the ANH Special Edition.
  • Lightsaber named top movie weapon in 20th Century Fox poll. (Huh.) The Death Star and Indiana Jones’ whip also made the list, and Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones are among the favorite weapon-wielding heroes.
  • Skywalker Sound up for BAFTA for There Will Be Blood.
  • AICN has a report from the cancer-free Fanboys.
  • Ewan McGregor claiming Trainspotting had more influence than Star Wars prequels. On his career, perhaps.