Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard are among the big names starring in this Summer’s cops & robbers film Public Enemies which tells the tale of the notorious crime wave that gripped the nation back in 1930 … making pseudo-celebrities out of criminals like John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. Here is our first look at a new movie poster which features Johnny Depp, who stars as John Dillinger in the film:

I used to be fascinated with the notion that bank robbers could become celebrities in this country but never quite could believe it … of course, this was in the days before the Internet and Reality TV took over the public consciousness. Now I can understand how something like that could happen very easily … tho, it still amazes me that this celeb status could so easily spring up back in the 1930s. I can’t wait to see this film … I hear it’s going to be amazing. After the jump, check out two more posters from Public Enemies — one which features Christian Bale (as Melvin Purvis) and one which features Marion Cotillard (as Billie Frechette) …

The 81st Annual Academy Awards were given out at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, CA last night and pretty much everyone on Earth tuned in to watch the show … or, at least, they should have because last night’s Oscars were the most entertaining of any show in recent memory. A bunch of tweaks to the traditional format, coupled with an energetic and engaging (ie. HOT) host conspired to give us, IMHO, THE best Academy Awards ever. Here are a few photos from the red carpet arrivals last night:

God bless Brangelina, they showed up to last night’s awards with the biggest smiles they could muster to try and show the world that they were honored “just to be nominated” because, judging by their collective track records during this year’s awards show season, they knew they were going home empty-handed … which is exactly what ended up happening by night’s end. Sarah Jessica Parker looked like a DREAM in that beautiful dress … it was a little Carrie Bradshaw but she pulled it off wonderfully. Generally, I was quite pleased with what I saw on the red carpet … Sophia Loren didn’t scare the hell out of me until she showed up on the Oscar stage to present her award. In HD, she was not treated too kindly.

For me, tho, the big star of the night was Hugh Jackman. He really turned in an amazing performance and totally made the show. His opening number (and subsequent numbers, I must add) really showed that there is life yet in the old Academy Awards and they are worth watching:

I was also very impressed with the way the Academy chose to honor the acting nominees by having former winners in their categories come on stage to say nice things about them. I know I was touched by some of the nice things said about the actors who were nominated this year … I can only imagine what an honor it was for the nominees to hear those same things being said about them, to them. I hope they will continue to honor the nominees in this way in future shows … it was my second favorite thing about the show after Hugh‘s job hosting.

And how about those winners! I think everyone was pretty surprised by that “shocker” of a winner. After the jump, check out some photos of some of the winners posing with their shiny new Oscars and read about what went down last night — oh, and watch Hugh Jackman‘s amazing Oscar opening one more time — it’s deffo worth it …