“Avatar” vs. “The Hurt Locker” – 2010 Oscar Nominations

( UPDATED ) Oscar nominations announced Tuesday, February 2nd.  The big difference for this year’s Oscars is the Best Picture category expanded from 5 nominees to 10 nominees.

“Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” received the most nominations with 9 each… “Inglorious Basterds” has 8 noms… “Precious” and “Up in the Air” have 6 nominations… “Up” has 5… “District 9″, “Nine”, and “Star Trek”
 have 4 noms each.

“Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” will go head-to-head in 7 categories, including Best Picture and Best Director, where James Cameron (“Avatar”) faces off against his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”).

Bigelow becomes just the 4th woman to be nominated for Best Director (“The Hurt Locker”)… she could become the first ever to win.  “Up” becomes only the 2nd animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture (1992- “Beauty and the Beast”).

Some noticeable snubs:  Clint Eastwood and “Invictus” left out of Director and Best Picture categories.   The popular and critically acclaimed “Star Trek” didn’t make it on the Best Picture list – just in 4 smaller, technical categories.   “500 Days of Summer” had attention at the Golden Globes but was locked out of the Oscars… where it received acting and writing nominations.  The popular summer comedy “The Hangover” that many thought could make it into Best Picture… but I’m not surprised it didn’t.  The critic friendly “Where the Wild Things Are” also got some love at the Golden Globes but was shut out of the Oscars.   And the horribly underappreciated “Moon” was also overlooked by Oscar voters.

The “The 82nd Annual Academy Awards” will air Live Sunday, March 7, 2010 on ABC.
(Links to more reviews coming soon)

Best Picture:
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglorious Basterds”
“Precious”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

Best Actor in a Leading Role:
Jeff Bridges – “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney – “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth – “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman – “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner – “The Hurt Locker”

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
Matt Damon – “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson – “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer – “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci – “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz – “Inglorious Basterds”

Best Actress in a Leading Role:
Sandra Bullock – “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren – “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan – “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe – “Precious”
Meryl Streep – “Julie & Julia”

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
Penelope Cruz – “Nine”
Vera Farmiga – “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal – “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick – “Up in the Air”
Mon’Nique – “Precious”

Best Animated Feature Film:
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Up”

Best Directing:
James Cameron – “Avatar”
Kathyrn Bigelow – “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino – “Inglorious Basterds”
Lee Daniels – “Precious”
Jason Reitman – “Up in the Air”

Best Foreign Language Film:
“Ajami” – Israel
“El Secret de sus Ojos” – Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow” – Peru
“Un Prophete” – France
“The White Ribbon” – Germany

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay):
“District 9″
“An Education”
“In The Loop”
“Precious”
“Up in the Air”

Best Writing (Original Screenplay):
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglorious Basterds”
“The Messenger”
“A Serious Man”
“Up” (more…)

MY TOP MOVIES OF 2009

1. “500 Days of Summer” – available on DVD

2. “Up”  ( review coming soon ) – available on DVD

3. “The Hurt Locker” – out on DVD 1/12/10

4. “Precious” - playing in theaters

5. “District 9″  – available on DVD

6. “Up In The Air” - playing in theaters

7. “Star Trek” - available on DVD

8. “Moon” - out on DVD 1/12/10

9. “Avatar” - playing in theaters

10. “Paranormal Activity” - available on DVD (more…)

New in Theaters:
Wednesday 12/23: “Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”, “Up In The Air”
 
Friday 12/25 – 1/7/10:  “Sherlock Holmes”, “It’s Complicated”, “Nine”,
“An Education” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon 12/25-12/31),
“The Messenger” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon 12/25-12/31),
“The Young Victoria” (Celebration North)

Moving to Woodland Mall this week ($4.00 shows) on Friday 12/25 – 1/7/10: 
“Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day”
“Where The Wild Things Are” 
“An Education”
“Planet 51″
“The Hurt Locker”
“Everybody’s Fine”

NO NEW MOVIES NEXT WEEK
New Movies 1/8/10: “Leap Year”, ”Daybreakers”, ”Youth in Revolt”, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Celebration North), ”The Road” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon), ”35 Shots of Rum” (UICA)
 
Future Scheduled Movie Release Dates for Grand Rapids Market:
1/15/10: “The Lovely Bones”, “Spy Next Door”, ”The Book of Eli”, “Antichrist” (UICA), ”Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon)

1/22/10: “The Damned United” (UICA), ”A Single Man” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon)

2/5/10: “The Messenger” (UICA)

–

New on DVD (Tuesday): “500 Days of Summer”, “District 9″, “Extract”, “All About Steve”, “American Pie Presents: The Book of Love”, “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”, “It Might Get Loud”, “Staten Island”, “Family Guy Presents: Something, Something Dark Side”  (more…)

New this Week on DVD: “500 Days of Summer”, “District 9″, “Extract”, “All About Steve”, “American Pie Presents: The Book of Love”, “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”, “It Might Get Loud”, “Staten Island”, “Family Guy Presents: Something, Something Dark Side” 

Best Bets: My favorite movie of the year so far and certainly best romantic comedy of the year “500 Days of Summer” is soo good, I almost gave it my first ”10″.   One of the best sci-fi films of the year “District 9″… is probably the most underappreciated for being more than just sci-fi/action because of its story and themes of prejudice and seperation… it was a great surprise for how good it was.  Either would make a great DVD gift for the appropriate audience.  

Altough I didn’t rave about it when it was in theaters, “Extract” should find an audience on DVD much like its creator Mike Judge’s “Office Space” did after its theatrical release… it was good quirkly humor – just didn’t hit me the same as “Office Space”.  DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR RENTAL MONEY WITH  “All About Steve” one of the most disappointing films of 2009.  Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper both had 2 other movies that were much better this year (Bullock: “The Blind Side”, “The Proposal” and Cooper: “The Hangover” and “He’s Just Not That Into You”).

Next Week on DVD: “9″, “Jennifer’s Body”, “The Marine 2″, “Paranormal Activity”, “A Perfect Getaway”, “Weather Girl”

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT/BUY:  (more…)

For second week, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” tops the box office, new movies struggle

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” overshadowed the weekend, with nearly $10 million more than new movie “Surrogates” in 2nd place, “Fame” was 3rd, and “Pandorum” was a distant 6th.

Overall, the weekend was down 5% from last weekend and with $82.77 million, it ranks as the 2nd lowest total revenue of 2009 (September 4-6 was $81.12 million).

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” – $24.60 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 19% of audience from last week)

2. “Surrogates” – $15.00 million (1st week)

3. “Fame” (2009) – $10.03 million (1st week)

4. “The Informant!” – $6.92 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 34% from last week)

5. “Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself” – $4.75 million
(3rd week, was #3 last week, lost 52% of audience from last week)

(more…)

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” wins box office, makes overall weekend sunny for studios and theater owners

The very good family 3D movie “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” soared above the box office this weekend, winning with nearly 3x the revenue of 2nd place’s “The Informant!”, but the Matt Damon movie’s box office gross was a good showing, considering it nearly returned half of its $22 million budget.

“I Can Do Bad All By Myself” lost nearly 60% of its audience and slipped to 3rd place.   Other newbies “Love Happens” and “Jennifer’s Body” at least made the top 5… perhaps a surprise to some: “Love Happens” had the 3rd highest per screen average of the weekend, so it was pretty strong, but played in fewer theaters (only “The Final Destination” played in fewer theaters of the top 10).

Overall, the weekend was up about 15% from last weekend.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” – $30.10 million (1st week)

2. “The Informant!” – $10.55 million (1st week)

3. “Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself” – $10.06 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 57% of audience from last week)

4. “Love Happens” – $8.46 million (1st week)

5. “Jennifer’s Body” – $6.80 million (1st week)

(more…)

Fall season opens with two bangs and two blips at box office

“Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself” continues the success of all movies with the Director/Actor’s name in the title, earning at least $10 million on opening weekend.   The highly promoted animated action movie “9″ gained $15 million… not a ton considering that includes its Wednesday opening and Thursday box office returns.

Last weekend’s top 3 (“The Final Destination”, “Inglourious Basterds”, “All About Steve”) changed spots but out grossed newcomers “Soroity Row” and “Whiteout”.   Overall, the first weekend of fall was down just 4% from the last weekend of the summer season.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself” – $24.03 million (1st week)

2. “9″ – $10.86 million (1st week)

3. “Inglourious Basterds” – $6.55 million
(4th week, was #3 last week, lost 44% of audience from last week)

4. “All About Steve” - $5.80 million
(2nd week, was #4 last week, lost 48% from last week)

5. “The Final Destination” – $5.50 million
(3rd week, was #1 last week, lost 56% from last week)

(more…)

2009 Summer box office breaks records, ends with horror on top

“The Final Destination” held on to number one, “Inglourious Basterds” held on to second place while Sandra Bullock’s new movie “All About Steve” did the best of the three new movies.

Normally last weekend would have been the final weekend of summer, but due to late Labor Day, the summer is now over, but summer 2009 had already broken records before Labor Day weekend.  Yesterday, Variety reported “Summer revenues topped out at an estimated $4.31 billion through Monday, up 4% over summer 2007, the previous recordholder at $4.16 billion. Admissions were essentially even with summer 2008.”

Summer 2009’s top movie revenues:
1. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”  - $400.65 million
2. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – $297.59 million
3. “Up” – $290.92 million
4. “The Hangover” - $272.17 million
5. “Star Trek” - $257.18 million

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “The Final Destination” – $12.32 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 55% of audience from last week)

2. “Inglourious Basterds” – $11.67 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 40% of audience from last week)

3. “All About Steve” - $11.23 million (1st week)

4. “Gamer” – $9.12 million (1st week)

5. “District 9″ - $7.10 million
(4th week, was #4 last week, lost 31% from last week)

(more…)

 Horror storms the box office

“The Final Destination” beat out Rob Zombie’s “Halloween II”, but last week’s number one “Inglourious Basterds” split the two finishing in second place.   Three movies held their ground the best losing less than the average: “Julie & Julia” (lost 16% of audience from last week)  “(500) Days of Summer” (lost just 9% from last week), and “The Hangover” (lost just 2%).
Overall, the final weekend of summer movie season was up, turning around a two week slide, but it was only a 3% improvement… still clocking in as one of the lowest earning weeks of summer.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “The Final Destination” – $28.33 million (1st week)

2. “Inglourious Basterds” – $20.04 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 47% of audience from last week)

3. “Halloween II” - $17.40 million (1st week)

4. “District 9″ - $10.70 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 41% from last week)

5. “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” – $8.00 million
(4th week, was #3 last week, lost 35% from last week)

(more…)

“District 9″ is the best summer sci-fi action movie of 2009… a great way to escape from reality.

This isn’t a movie that will win or even get nominated for any of the main Oscar categories, but… it is powerful, gripping, intense, unique, visually stunning, and full of action.

“R” rating – parents/weak stomachs beware: lots of violence, graphic death scenes, etc.
 
  (Spoiler-free !!)

“District 9” is a successful cross between “Cloverfield”, “Independence Day”, “Transformers”, “Alien”, “Signs”, and “2001: A Space Odyssey”.   But its also not completely like any of those science-fiction classics… just the imaginative qualities of all of them… with a great mix of action and drama.

The ”Cloverfield”-esque style of shooting like a documentary may bother some, but the filmmakers made a wise choice of not using the style for every shot or through the entire movie.   The alien ship over the city has the modern feel of “Independence Day” without the typical cliche invasion that follows.   The movie’s high-tech futuristic elements are like “Transformers” without the potentially confusing backstory and product placement.  The focus on one character’s amazing efforts in extraordinary situations is reminiscent of “Alien”, but it is set mostly outdoors and not borderline-horror.  It has the world is watching/media perspective of “Signs” without the late reveal of the aliens that makes them a little corny.   It wisely samples the isolationism of man, humanity versus technology, and futurism in “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

“District 9″ wastes little time explaining the backstory and setting up “where we are”, this movie shows the aliens early so there’s no struggling with what some may see as an odd/goofy look.  The aliens are humanized in a way that may have you both cringing at them and worrying for them at the same time.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

(more…)