But which upcoming blockbuster are you anticipating the most?

After 56 votes, it looks like the Harry Potter juggernaut is showing no sign’s of slowing six films in.

Out in front, by what is comparatively a considerable margin, is Harry Potter 6. With a consistent flow of new material released each week – from character posters to new trailers – I’m starting to feel like I’d have seen all there is to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince before it’s even released. However, the market saturation certainly paid off; buzz has managed to continuously surround this film ever since it was delayed last year. It helps that the film looks great; the darkness and maturity expressed through the trailers has done well to appeal to a wider demographic.

At no surprise in second place is Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. The box office success of the original, which was an impressive technological showcase if anything, was certainly going to see a sequel fast tracked. Personally, I think the film looks too similar to the original, but to be fair, the teaser wasn’t about to give much away other than an orgy of effects.

A close third sees my pick of the list, Terminator 4: Salvation. As a fan of the first and second films, I’m excited to see Christian Bale, one of the best action heroes currently in the biz, portraying John Connor. The trailer even looked like a better robot film that what I’ve seen of Transformers 2, whilst also having a distinct human element. Here’s hoping Director Mc G doesn’t go all Charlie’s Angels on us….

After a surprisingly large jump, Pixar’s new film Up sits in forth. After the phenomenal success of Wall-E, it’s surprising to see Up gain only 4 votes…but at the same time, it isn’t. Is it just me, or is anyone else finding it hard to get excited from the trailers? This is Pixar, so I’m sure it will be good, but it just doesn’t have the raw appeal Wall-E had as soon as I caught wind of it.

Trailing off the end of the list is Star Trek, Ice Age 3 and Angels and Demons. I’ve never been a Star Trek fan, but I must admit, this reboot has me excited.  The trailers show some off spectacular CGI and I think Abramas has the ability to pull it off. As for Ice Age; it feels like a franchise past its prime, but I might just eat my own words considering  I did laugh aloud during the trailer. God knows how many ticket sales are provoked from that antics of that hilarious squirrel.

As last place on the poll suggests, Angels and Demons has a lot to do in order to make up for the disappointment that was The DaVinci Code.

New Poll

With Wolverine’s approaching release date, the biggest news has been the internet leak of a DVD quality ‘Workprint’, meaning it feature incomplete effects, sounds and other post production alterations. Whilst it’s rare these days for a film to be prematurely leaked on the internet a month before release such as with Wolverine, the case has increased media attention once more on the piracy issue.

So the question is; Do you download pirated films?

Please note that the results of this poll are completely anonymous. We’re not looking to convict anyone, just hoping to gain an accurate representation of the truth.

Well it turns out I, like a lot of you, were pleasantly surprised; the general consensus from last month’s poll being that Hugh handled the gig well.

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Surprisingly, only two people seemed to think that Hugh truly wasn’t suited to the role. I say surprisingly because after the Oscar’s I read quite a few blog entries that didn’t speak to favourably of his efforts, whilst many news sites seemed to swing in the opposite direction. Either these people didn’t vote, or they gave Hugh the benefit of the doubt, and were one of the 8 people who voted in the middle. I’m willing to bet that the 9 people who didn’t see the Oscar’s were mostly Australian, where little coverage or build up is given to the event.

Yet at the top of the tally, with 12 votes, are those who thought he did a great job. I am one of these voters. His opening performance was great; I loved the “recession” theme, and I think his undeniable charm and stage presence made up for the deliberately tacky set pieces. His joke about not seeing The Reader, because he was too busy seeing Iron Man again, certainly made me chuckle. In fact, it felt like to me that nearly all of his jokes hit the mark (bar the one aimed at Brad Pitt about being the world’s sexiest man, but he quickly recovered with the “contracted to mention Angelina and Brad five times tonight” joke). I also thought it was good how he never overstayed his welcome; they didn’t overuse him, instead his presence just tied it all up nicely.

But the Oscar’s are done and dusted now, so who really cares anymore, right?

That’s why this month’s poll looks ahead towards the next big releases of ’09. The blockbusters that Hugh Jackman will be seeing instead of Oscar contenders. So the question is; what blockbuster release are you most looking forward to?

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After 32 votes, here are the results!

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Tropic Thunder easily topped the poll, which I tend to agree with. Whilst Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise were great, the rest of the film was not nearly as good as many claimed it to be.

In second place is the Oscar favourite Slumdog Millionaire. This comes as no surprise, as a film so widely raved about is always going to have a more outspoken dissenting minority.

In equal third place is Iron Man, which was my vote on the poll. As a summer popcorn flick, it was a bit of fun, but I never quite understood the high praise this film received.  Once again, Robert Downey Jr. was the best part of this film. Yet the overall story, the climax and supporting cast were all sub-par, especially when compared to its comic rival The Dark Knight. Coincidently, The Dark Knight also had 4 votes to its name, expected for a film that had so much buzz surrounding it.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I expected to rank much higher, has only 3 votes. The films select target audience lead me to believe it would not be as popular as many of the other films on the list. However, it’s good to be wrong.

Frost/Nixon got 2 votes (which I think is overrated), Wall-E and Revolutionary Road got 1. Gus Van Sant’s Milk escaped the poll entirely, possibly because it only made it’s way into Australian cinemas last Thursday.

NEW POLL:

With the Oscar’s coming up, of course this next poll was going to be about predictions! But I’d rather not be conventional and go with a Best Actor or Best Picture poll, instead I would like to see what film people think will take the Best Cinematography Oscar.

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Given their exceptional streak of quality, I’m sure you’d agree that this is no easy task!

After 29 votes, here’s the results:

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No surprises come from Toy Story ranking a the top, as it’s the landmark film for digital animation. I was pleasantly surprised to see Monsters Inc. fair so well. I was actually torn between it and WALL-E when voting (eventually swinging towards WALL-E). I actually expected to see Finding Nemo do better, given how commercially successful it was.  No surprises comes from seeing Cars near the bottom of the list, easily their weakest animated feature…but no votes for A Bugs Life? I thought it was a good film, but certainly not their best. I guess when you ask “which is you’re favourite”, mediocre films will generally be left behind.

Next poll is based on unnecessary remakes and sequels in 2008. If you had a chance to turn back time and hit the producer who came up with the idea to make the film square in the noggin, which 2008 sequel/remake would you pick?

Were you disappointed with the revival of classics like Indiana Jones, Get Smart and Rambo? Did The Clone Wars feel like a cheap shot at milking the franchise? Is it torture to sit through yet another Saw film?  Was The Incredible Hulk remake unnecessary given that Lee’s recent attempt wasn’t that bad?

Or if you’re like me, you’d rather your time back for having to sit through the disaster that was The Mummy 3.