By: Henry J. Fromage –

Today in Oscar news: The Garden of the Beasts has preemptively claimed all of them for whatever year it chooses to release in.  Based on an award-winning non-fiction book by Erik Larson (the excellent The Devil in the White City) and directed by Michel Hazanavicius (last year’s Best Director for The Artist), the story of American ambassador to Germany William Dodd, who gradually realizes this Hitler guy might be up to something, will star Tom Hanks and Natalie Portman as his handsome Nazi-enthralled daughter.  So yeah, Oscars.

If Tom Hanks doesn’t win one every five years or so he starts getting antsy

You might not know the name Luca Guadagnino, but you will.  The Italian director of the Tilda Swinton-starrer I Am Love displayed a nice visual style in that one, and now has a couple of high profile projects to build on that will.  The first is The Big Nowhere, a James Ellroy adaptation (L.A. Confidential) set in 1950s Los Angeles and tying into Ellroy’s most successful work, full of private eyes, Hollywood Blacklist history, and a serial killer of course.  The second is French thriller remake A Bigger Splash, which had Jeremy Renner and Mia Wasikowska set to star awhile back.

Provided Renner isn’t too busy taking over every blockbuster action series out there

It was just a year ago that it looked like Michael Douglas might never act again, and might in fact be lucky to survive at all.  These days he’s been lining up several intriguing roles, including playing Liberace in Steven Soderbergh’s supposed last film, but none may be higher profile than that of Ronald Reagan.  That’s right, he’ll be playing Mr. Bedtime for Bonzo himself in Reykjavik, a “Frost/Nixon”-style drama recounting the momentous meeting between Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that eventually led to nuclear disarmament.

If you didn’t get that reference, this is a thing.