Why didn't Avatar win?

MTV asks "What went wrong?" for Avatar not winning more?

For me it's simple.

James Cameron has already won Best Director. For Titanic.

Avatar's story already won Best Picture. For Dances with Wolves.

I really enjoyed Avatar, but it's one of those movies you have to see on the big-screen in 3D. When 3D TV's are common-place in another 5-7 years, maybe it will seem like it was robbed.

I liked Avatar, one of my favorites of the year. But really, The Hurt Locker is one that will stand the test of time as Best Picture.

No Farrah in Memorium

So why would the Academy leave out Farrah Fawcett? Seems like there's weird omissions every year.

Academy Award Results

BEST PICTURE - The Hurt Locker
BEST DIRECTOR - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
BEST ACTOR - Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
BEST ACTRESS - Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Mo'Nique, Precious
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
BEST ANIMATED FILM - Up
BEST FOREIGN FILM - The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM - The Cove
BEST ART DIRECTION - Avatar
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Avatar
BEST COSTUME DESIGN - The Young Victoria
BEST FILM EDITING - The Hurt Locker
BEST MAKE-UP - Star Trek
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - Up
BEST ORIGINAL SONG - "The Weary Kind", Crazy Heart
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - Avatar
BEST SOUND EDITING - The Hurt Locker
BEST SOUND MIXING - The Hurt Locker
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT - The New Tenants
BEST ANIMATED SHORT - Logorama
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - Music by Prudence

Hopefully whoever directed this year's show will not direct next year's show. Martin & Baldwin fell flat as a team most times and the camera cutting was all over the place. How dare they screw up the In Memoriam!

Gamer - DVD Review

*1/2

Starring Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgwick, Amber Valletta, Logan Lerman, Ludacris, Alison Lohman, John Leguizamo, Terry Crews, Milo Ventimiglia, John DeLancie, Aaron Yoo, Zoe Bell and Keith David.
Directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor.

There's a dance sequence toward the end that the villainous Michael C. Hall does with some other people whose movements he controls, to the tune of Sammy Davis Jr.'s "I've Got You Under My Skin." Youtube it. That is the only worthwhile scene in this dark look at a near-future where humans have become so desensitized that they can control real people in shoot-em-up video-game scenarios.

(Okay, Keith David's one scene as an interrogating cop is cool too, but that's because he's Keith David.)

New York I Love You - DVD Review

**1/2

Starring Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, Andy Garcia, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci, Ethan Hawke, Maggie Q, Anton Yelchin, James Caan, Blake Lively, Rachel Bilson, Julie Christie, John Hurt, Irrfan Khan, Drea de Matteo, Robin Wright Penn, Chris Cooper, Eli Wallach, Cloris Leachman, Burt Young, Olivia Thirlby, Drea de Matteo and Shia LaBeouf.
Directed by Faith Akin, Yvan Attal, Allen Hughes, Shunji Iwai, Wen Jiang, Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Brett Ratner, Randall Balsmeyer, Shekhar Kapur, and Natalie Portman.

Some beautiful moments are to be found in this movie, a sequel in spirit to Paris Je T'aime, where a bunch of directors make a collection of shorts dedicated to a city. Standouts for me were the one where Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) takes a paralyzed girl to prom, and an old married couple (Eli Wallach, Cloris Leachman) just taking a stroll. And yet in some ways, it's like reading a bunch of high-quality Hallmark cards in a row.

A Serious Man - DVD Review

**1/2

Starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff, Simon Helberg and George Wyner.
Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen.

The movie's credits started to roll, and my head filled with questions. I went to the DVD extras seeking insight, and I got less than I expected. Maybe the movie isn't really saying anything grand after all.

Michael Stuhlbarg is Larry Gopnik, a put-upon physics teacher whose life starts falling apart, and he can't understand why. His wife wants a divorce, his kids don't respect him, he might not get tenure at his school, a Korean student is trying to bribe/blackmail him. "But I haven't done anything!" is his lament, and in a way, it seems to be what the Coens think God is saying to the people on Earth.

Larry searches for answers and goes to three rabbis looking for help. The first two offer empty advice, parables with no purpose. It boils it down to "there are no real answers," and the third rabbi is too "busy" to speak to him. The Coens are the God of this universe, and they keep telling their Job stand-in: "We're going to keep making bad things happen to you and not tell you why."

While Stuhlbarg gives a great lead performance, and there are other amusements to be had, but the usual knocks against the Coens, primarily their lack of humanity toward the characters they move around on their chessboard, is on full display. The script also has the same tone-deafness of The Ladykillers in thinking swear words are their own punchline. The point is that there's no point, and as such, it's a pointless movie, which makes me feel bad for Stuhlbarg after the closing credits run.

Where a climax and ending should have been.

Dancing with the Stars teams

I stopped watching this show, but here's the pairs for ABC's new season.

- ABC soap-star Aiden Turner and Edyta Sliwinska
- "Pussycat Doll" Nicole Scherzinger and Derek Hough
- "The Bachelor" Jake Pavelka and Chelsie Hightower
- NFL Bengal Chad Ochocinco and Cheryl Burke
- Comedian Niecy Nash and Louis Van Amstel
- Gold-medalist Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya
- Divorced mom Kate Gosselin and Tony Dovolani
- Actress Shannen Doherty and Mark Ballas
- ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
- Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson and Damian Whitewood (in his debut)
- Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Ashly Costa (formerly DelGrosso)

Law Abiding Citizen - DVD Review

**1/2

Starring Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, Bruce McGill, Colm Meaney, Leslie Bibb, Viola Davis and Gregory Itzin.
Directed by F. Gary Gray.

It's one of those maybe-worth-a-rental pulp movies. Gerard Butler is a normal guy whose wife and child are murdered in front of him after two men break into his house. The guy that actually killed the wife and child cuts a deal with the prosecuting attorney (Jamie Foxx) to testify against his partner, who actually just watched. As a result, the main killer only serves three years while the other guy gets death row.

Ten years later, the partner is scheduled to die. Foxx shows up to watch, and he's surprised Butler's not there but he doesn't really think about it. But then the guy's lethal injection goes wrong, and his death is painful.

Meanwhile Butler abducts the main killer. He awakens strapped to a table, surrounded by surgical equipment and power tools. Butler is there. He actually did contract work for the CIA and is quite resourceful. He's also gone a bit nuts over the past ten years. He explains what he's going to do to the man, turns on the camcorder, revs up the power saw... Next scene, please!

Butler is thrown in jail, but he's not done yet. The killer's defense attorney, the judge on the case, no one is safe. And people keep dying while Butler sits in jail. How is he doing it?

This takes the revenge flick one step farther. He gets his revenge against the killers, but he does it so gruesomely we can't really support him. And while "the system" let him down, do they really all deserve to die? And how far will Foxx go to stop him? What am I rooting for here?

The ending is over-the-top and illogical, but it's par for the course as to what led to it. And it kept my interest throughout.

Crazy Heart - Movie Review

***1/2

Starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell.
Directed by Scott Cooper.

Jeff Bridges has already won the Golden Globe and SAG award for his work here, and I hope he goes on to win the Academy Award for this. It's not just a gold-watch type win either (like Paul Newman in Color of Money or Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine). Bridges has been steadily good for four decades now, and while he's fine in stuff like Iron Man, this serves as a reminder of how good he can really be when given the room to let a character breathe.

Here he plays Bad Blake, a one-time famous C&W singer whose career has degenerated to him playing bowling alleys and saloons in towns like Pueblo. He's ornery, drunk, coasting on fame fumes. He gets a chance to make money again by opening for Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), a former protege who's hit it big. He also begins a romance with a Santa Fe reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

This was one where I really enjoyed the performances and was really nervous that any second, something tragic was going to happen. No one can drink that much and not have some consequences.

The music is a supporting player. They sound like songs that were hits at one time and can still be enjoyed nostalgically. I'm thinking this will have a Best Song win come Academy night too.

Pandorum - DVD Review

**

Starring Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue, Cung Le and Eddie Rouse.
Directed by Christian Alverte.

Sometimes when I watch blockbuster scifi's, I think to myself how cool it would be to see a midbudget spin-off that takes place in another corner of the universe they've created. This feels like one of those movies.

It all takes place on a spaceship headed for a new planet. The crew is placed in hibernation, awaking at intervals. Flight Crew #5, to be awake for years 9 and 10 of the flight, consists of two men, and one of the side-effects of waking up is temporary amnesia, but Flight Crew #4 is nowhere to be found.

At first, I was drawn in. The middle part gets bogged down with bad CGI-creatures running loose on the ship, and the end featured two twists, one cool and one I saw coming a mile away. Dennis Quaid and Jeff Bridges, whom I considered about equal acting-talent-wise and career-wise twenty years ago, have gone on separate paths. Bridges is a shoo-in for Best Actor this year while Quaid's doing supporting work in stuff like GI Joe, Legion, and this. Well, if Quaid wants to go the Jon Voight route, more power to him.

If I had to compare the movie aftertaste to anything else, it would be Event Horizon. Except this movie was better than that.

The Wolfman - Movie Review

**1/4

Starring Benecio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Geraldine Chaplin and Art Malik.
Directed by Joe Johnston.

This movie had a $150 million production budget, and every penny of $100 million of it shows up on screen. I don't know where the rest of the money went, maybe on scenes they wound up cutting and reshooting, but the final hodge-podge is cheesy Hammer-horror B-movie fun that was enjoyable as I watched it, but evaporated the second I left the theater.

For one thing, it's not scary ever. They might as well have cut the fifteen seconds of gore and aimed at a braoder PG-13 audience. The movie also kept going places that felt like a wasted opportunity. I kept thinking what I would have done with the same basic story.

Benecio Del Toro is Lawrence Talbot, heir to a fortune who comes home to his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins) after his brother is viciously murdered. Seems there might be a werewolf about. The movie makes it obvious from the start who that initial werewolf might be, and after a full moon, Lawrence himself is bit. One full moon later...

The moon aspect was fun. There's one part in the movie where it seems like three days have passed and suddenly it's another full-moon night. "I guess all of that took a month...?"

I enjoy Hopkins in anything. I had fun watching him chew scenery and thinking to myself, "He's been in Dracula and the Wolfman, so now we need a Frankenstein reboot..." There are times Del Toro has the look of the only actor in the room who didn't get a script but he'll be a good sport until someone yells "Cut!"

It is entertaining for what it is, but it by no means a good movie.

LTUE Day 3

I'm at the Life, The Universe and Everything Conference. Been here since Thursday but should've blogged about it sooner. It's the annual gathering for science-fiction/fantasy authors and aspiring writers. Got to meet Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica fame (1979's Apollo, 2009's Zarek). Sat right next to Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn trilogy, finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series) and felt stupid I didn't bring any of his books I'd borrowed from my neighbor so I could return them signed. Saw some friends/folks I haven't seen in months or years.

And my battery's getting low...

Michael Jackson's This Is It - DVD Review

***1/2

Starring Michael Jackson and Kenny Ortega.
Directed by Kenny Ortega.

This is the ultimate behind-the-scenes documentary, as we get to see dress rehearsal numbers we never would have seen had MJ lived to opening night. It's a tribute to the performer, and while it doesn't provide much insight into the notoriously shy entertainer, it is pretty cool to watch a professional at work. And for 110 minutes, the freak show that surrounded him the past 15-20 years disappears. It's just a testament to why he was the biggest pop star of the 1980's, and he looks as in shape as any 30-year-old dancer.

Edge of Darkness - Movie Review

**1/2

Starring Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone and Danny Huston.
Directed by Martin Campbell.

It's nice to see Mel Gibson back on screen. It's too bad it's in a standard vehicle like this.

Mel is a cop whose daughter is murdered right in front of him. This allows for many scenes of him grieving, followed by him bashing heads in trying to figure out who did it and why. Now that may sound action-oriented, but I was kinda tired when I saw this movie and there were slow scenes in the middle where I grew impatient and just wished for less talking and more action.

2009 Academy Award Nominations

Well I was 9/10 in my Best Pic guesses.

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2009 Academy Award Nominations
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BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami (Israel)
El Secreto de sus Ojos (Argentina)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Une Prophete (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Coraline
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess & the Frog
The Secret of the Kells
Up

BEST ART DIRECTION
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

BEST FILM EDITING
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America
Which Way Home

BEST MAKEUP
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Avatar, James Horner
The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer
Up, Michael Giacchino

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Almost There", The Princess & the Frog
"Down in new Orleans", The Princess & the Frog
"Loin de Paname", Paris 36
"Take It All", Nine
"The Weary Kind", Crazy Heart

BEST SOUND MIXING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers 2

BEST SOUND EDITING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
China's Unnatural Disaster
The Last Campaign of Gov. Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: The Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
French Roast
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
The Lady & the Reaper
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf & Death

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

My Last-Second Best Picture Nom Guesses

GUARANTEED
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Up
Up in the Air

PRETTY SURE
District 9

LAST THREE
An Education
Invictus
A Serious Man

BUT...
The buzz seems to have come and gone on those final three. For further populist appeal, I could see Star Trek or The Blind Side squeaking in. Maybe all the attention around Jeff Bridges's job in the title role pushes Crazy Heart in. (500) Days of Summer still has its fans. I'd be shocked if anything else made it.

Dead Snow - DVD Review

***

Starring Vegar Hoel and Lasse Valdal.
Directed by Tommy Wirkola.

This Norweigan horror/comedy knows its genre, doesn't aim high, and hits dead center. I don't know why they decided not to title it the more accurate "Nazi Zombies," but maybe they figured that was too much.

Eight med students (4 men, 4 women, all in early 20's) head out for a skip trip in a remote cabin. Horny hijinks ensue. One guy is a movie buff so he can be self-referential to other horror movies. An old man shows up for no other apparent reason that to give the backstory of these mountains so we know the plot of the rest of the movie. The tension builds. We get to know these characters and like some of them.

And then the Karo syrup pours. Apparently zombies drool dark blood. More than one character has their small intestines strung out like a garden hose. The longer certain characters live, the more caked they get with blood. Let it not be said they skimped on the splattering.

Unfortunately there's only so much you can do with zombies, and just because they're in Nazi uniforms doesn't really distinguish them. The movie has enough giddy fun though that it's worth it for those expecting it to be exactly what it is: Night of the Nazi Zombies.

Razzie Nominations

The Razzies unveiled their choices.

WORST FILM
All About Steve
G.I. Joe
Land of the Lost
Old Dogs
Transformers 2

WORST ACTOR
All Three Jonas Brothers, Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert
Will Ferrell, Land of the Lost
Steve Martin, Pink Panther 2
Eddie Murphy, Imagine That
John Travolta, Old Dogs

WORST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, All About Steve
Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana: The Movie
Megan Fox, Transformers 2
Beyonce Knowles, Obsessed
Sarah Jessica Parker, Did You Hear About the Morgans

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Billy Ray Cyrus, Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hugh Hefner, Miss March
Robert Pattinson, New Moon
Jorma Taccone, Land of the Lost
Marlon Wayans, G.I. Joe

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Candice Bergen, Bride Wars
Ali Larter, Obsessed
Sienna Miller, G.I. Joe
Kelly Preston, Old Dogs
Julie White, Transformers 2

WORST DIRECTOR
Michael Bay, Transformers 2
Walt Becker, Old Dogs
Brad Silberling, Land of the Lost
Stephen Sommers, G.I. Joe
Phil Traill, All About Steve

WORST SCREEN COUPLE
Any Two Jonas Brothers, Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert
Sandra Bullock & Bradley Cooper, All About Steve
Will Ferrell & Any Co-Star, Land of the Lost
Shia LaBeouf & Megan Fox, Transformers 2
Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson, New Moon

WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF OR SEQUEL
G.I. Joe
Land of the Lost
Pink Panther 2
Transformers 2
New Moon

WORST SCREENPLAY
All About Steve
G.I. Joe
Land of the Lost
Transformers 2
New Moon

WORST FILM OF THE DECADE
Battlefield Earth (2000)
Freddy Got Fingered (2001)
Gigli (2003)
I Know Who Killed Me (2007)
Swept Away (2002)

WORST ACTOR OF THE DECADE
Ben Affleck (Gigli, Surviving Christmas, etc.)
Eddie Murphy (Norbit, Meet Dave, etc.)
Mike Myers (Cat in the Hat, Love Guru, etc.)
Rob Schneider (Benchwarmers, The Hot Chick, etc.)
John Travolta (Battlefield Earth, Old Dogs, etc.)

WORST ACTRESS OF THE DECADE
Mariah Carey (Glitter)
Paris Hilton (The Hottie & the Nottie, House of Whacks, etc.)
Lindsay Lohan (I Know Who Killed Me, Just My Luck, etc.)
Jennifer Lopez (Gigli, Monster-in-Law, etc.)
Madonna (The Next Best Thing, Swept Away, etc.)

Personally I think they let the worst movie of the year - Miss March - off too easily. I'm also stunned Larry the Cable Guy didn't make the Worst Actor of the Decade list. I know Eddie Murphy doesn't choose good projects usually but he was great in Dreamgirls. And I like John Travolta in half his stuff. And hey, Mike Myers just won a SAG Award for being a member of Best Cast (Inglourious Basterds).

I haven't seen it yet, but I hear Mariah Carey was great in Precious.