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Back to the real world: The website for the Razzies has crashed because so many people want to know what got nominated. At least the BBC gives us a hint of who is in line for Razzie glory.

Excellent article calling out the Razzies for being BS. http://tinyurl.com/8a5u5u

Apropos of nothing: Does anyone out there know what happened to Tucker Carlson? I thought he was still under contract at MSNBC – but I didn’t see him during any of the Inauguration coverage yesterday. I’m not exactly a big fan, but I was kinda-sorta looking forward to his contributions to the commentary.

I could do without Tucker Carlson referring to Obama as "the Messiah."

Gee whiz! Things are getting testy in Park City!

http://blog.spout.com/2009/01/21/sundance-fistfight-dirt-gets-dirty/#comment-119817

OK, the Oscar nominations will be announced tomorrow. Any off-the-wall predictions? Anyone? Bueller?

BYOB - President 0, Day One

I assume you meant President O (oh) and not President 0 (zero).

The Razzies really do mostly suck - they always pick the same usual suspects, over and over again, like some mirror-image People's Choice Awards or Golden Globes. Sharon Stone and Sylvester Stallone just have to make a movie, any movie, to get a nomination, right?

All that said, I notice that the Razzies ceremony is going to be taking place within walking distance of where I live, so I might need to go.

Put that way, Bart, it does look a bit like a soccer score between President and Day.

Glad to see the Razzies nominating Friedberg and Seltzer multiple times, but I wouldn't have said this was the year to give Uwe Boll a career award. Postal had some deliberate laughs, and Tunnel Rats is genuinely a decent movie. Ah well.

Joe, I'm going to go out on limbs and say - Kate Winslet gets one nominated. For The Reader. In lead actress. Hmmm. Probably wrong, but I'll learn to cope while switching out Angelina Jolie for Melissa Leo (that's a personal wish more than anything). Also, Cadillac Records as a surprise in Costume Design and Original Song (if there are five nominees, which there mightn't be). Other than that I think we can expect them to go like clockwork, but I hope they don't.

I'd personally love Courtney Hunt to somehow sneak into Best Original Screenplay, but don't see her overcoming the seven major contenders that are already going to produce disappointing snubs (although is it classed as a "snub" if there are just too many great contenders for five spots?)

The one surprise I'm rooting for is our man Richard Jenkins. But I'm guessing Leo or Clint will nab it first.

Kate W. will get two nods tomorrow. And she'll win for the Reader.

The big story will be the lack of nods for Frost / Nixon, is my bet.

Slumdog will get the most nods too. Button will come up short.

Slumdog getting the most nods will be a joke. I hope the Academy are not this dumb, but they are homophobic. So who knows? Here's hoping that film gets what's coming to it... zero point zero.

Oh yeah... I will end it like this: Slumdog is shit. It's shit with a great beat, that you can dance too, but it's still SHIT. I hope it gets shit all for nominations, I hope it gets bad-mouthed and pummelled by WARNERS MUSCLE during voting season, and I hope it gets kicked in the nards by a Bat. So here's to it sucking all with awards, and that's it until after the Oscars. I'm finished with this venting.

Of course the Academy would be inclined to reward "Slumdog Millionaire". A slumdweller in old Bombay is suing the film's stars for insulting the poor.

Razzies.com is still offline at this moment, so it might not be a crash but a denial-of-service attack.

The website was working just fine when I went to look at it less than an hour ago.

CROSSING MY FINGERS that K-STEW sneaks into Best Actress and steals a spot from some fat and/or old ham that isn't even hot.

Hathaway, K-Stew and Hawkins, yay!

IOIOIOI met LEX G, LEX G this is IOIOIOI. You two will get along.

See, this is what I don't understand: We all know Lex is providing more or less an act. Lex knows that we know it's an act, and so on.

Why this kabuki-like, ceremonial, annoying-for-the-sake-of-annoying persistence? Why does someone go so far out of their way to lower the quality of other peoples' lives (in this case, by insulting Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Kristin Scott Thomas, Melissa Leo, and/or others).

Is it just the (negative) attention? Are there any psychologists out there who can rationalize this for me? Because that's what grates on me the most - the irrationality, which I can only perceive as being underlaid by petty meanness.

Other alternatives?

Razzie site is working for me.

Worst Picture:
Disaster Movie/Meet the Spartans
The Happening
The Hottie and the Nottie
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Saga
The Love Guru

Worst Director:
Uwe Boll
The Guys behind Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans
Tom Putnam
Marco Schnabel
M Night Shyamalan

Worst Actor
Larry the Cable Guy
Eddie Murphy
Mike Myers
Al Pacino
Mark Wahlberg

Worst Actress:
Jessica Alba
Cameron Diaz
Paris Hilton
Kate Hudson
The Cast of The Women

Worst Supporting Actor:
Uwe Boll
Pierce Brosnan
Ben Kingsley
Burt Reynolds
Verne Troyer

Worst Supporting Actress:
Carmen Electra
Paris Hilton
Kim Kardashian
Jenny McCarthy
Leelee Sobieski

Worst Screen Couple
Uwe Boll/Anyone
Diaz/Kutcher
Hilton/Lakin/Moore
Cable Guy/McCarthy
Murphy/Murphy

Worst Prequel/Sequel/Remake/RipOff:
The Day the Earth Blowed Up Real Good
Disaster Movie/Meet the Spartans
Indiana Jones
Speed Racer (technically not a prequel, sequel, remake or rip-off)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Worst Screenplay:
Disaster Movie/Meet the Spartans
The Happening
The Hottie and the Nottie
In the Name of the King
The Love Guru

Career Achievement: Uwe Boll.

...in case anyone was actually interested.

I want to bang every single woman on the Razzies' Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress lists. (Excepting the non-Mendes/Pinkett members of THE WOMEN.)

They should change it from "Razzies" to "Anti-Squack Awards."

Every member of that committee ought to get down on their knees and bow that they are allowed to inhabit the same planet as those hot-ass chicks.

Jeff, I wasn't slighting any actress in particular, and didn't have a single one of those women in mind when I made that (brilliant. hilarious) comment. I'd totally bone Winslet. And Melissa Leo was great on "Homicide."

But I'd rather see K-STEW win; At least K-STEW will be in movies for the next FORTY YEARS like Jodie Foster with her feral intensity and incredible magnetism. Unlike, say, Dev Fucking Patel, who'll pop up 21st-billed in some Linklater indie nobody sees before going back to London to do dinner theater in anticipation of VH1's "We Love the 00s" Where are they Now? retrospective on him in 12 years.

She's really quite a bland actress, Lex.

And of course, when you said "some fat and/or old ham that isn't even hot" it was HILARIOUS and not intended to be about any particular people, which is why my sides are now held together with rubber bands, having earlier split.

KIM KARDASHIAN OWNS.

Hey what is this SODERBERGH MOVIE with pornstar Sasha Grey playing an escort? HOLY FUCKING SHIT that sounds AWWWWWWWESOME but watch Icy Soderbergh keep her in longshot and not even show anything, though seeing some awesome porn chick lit in that BLUE "TRAFFIC" TINT is going to RULE.

I wish all big directors would make a porno at least once; It would if Bay did a porno with his usual lighting and cuts and golden sun and oversaturated colors. GOOD IDEA.

Every movie Michael Bay has ever made has been a porno.

After reading through the posts in this entry, I just know in my heart that this country is going to pull itself out of its troubles in no time flat.

Nothing like a table read from the movie "Idiocracy" at all...

hey, that reminds me, i still haven't seen 'idiocracy' and i want to!!! (i have a long-suffering crush on luke wilson, ever since 'bottle rocket')

I hope The Dark Knight is up for best pic.
How about Ahney Her for supporting actress for Gran Torino? Off-the-wall prediction, maybe.

My guess (not my personal picks)

DARK KNIGHT
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA
BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE WRESTLER

snubs - FROST/NIXON (shouldn't be considered for best pic anyway -- very average film) - REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, MILK (which most deservedly belongs in the big 5)

actress snub - ANNE HATHAWAY - just a gut feeling

Okay. I stand corrected. I hadn't seen the last couple of days from BYOB 11709 yet. Wow.

I like Idiocracy very much, although a lot of its same ground got covered by Wall-E so if you're just seeing it now, it won't have as much thunder.

Much of IDIOCRACY is brilliant. I'd like to hear the whole story on the making of the film.

My favourite gag in Idiocracy was that even however many years into the future it is set idiots will still be wearing croc footware.

As a whole it was generally quite funny I though. certainly nothing bad enough to warrant the shellacking it got in the distribution department.

well, after having read those comments i just made a leap of faith and purchased 'idiocracy' on line for ten bucks! a sci-fi comedy about idiots sounds like my cup of tea

Idicoracy was pretty good...the opening is awesome. Although after 45 minutes or so it seemed to lose steam, which I also think happens with Office Space, when the actual plot kicks in.

How the F- did Cloverfield not come out unscathed from the Razzies? They should've just told them to bring a shopping cart and park in the loading section for that one.

What would it take to get that event televised? I do remember one year seeing a clip when Halle Barry showed up for her award and she dropped it. Makes ya wonder if it wasn't fixed since, you know, she coulda be bad but not horrendous. How much would it suck to show up on a goof and not get it. You'd feel like an even bigger loser.

They've got that whole website w/winners and past noms. I'd think they could put on some hour long show for Comedy Central. It'd have more than the awards but some parody, maybe. Maybe some audience reactions. Clips from reporters and online quotes. I bet it could be really funny. At least mildly amusing and relatively cheap to put together once a year.

leahnz, make sure to watch the credits sequence of Idiocracy, imo it has the best gag of the movie.

will do!

End credits I mean. Sorry.

TO, I think it was quite obviously planned that Halle would show up. Maybe the best out of a bad situation for Halle, I think.

i knew what you meant, pastepot. ever since almost walking out in the end credits of 'dawn of the dead' (remix), i've learned to stick it out in case of hidden goodies

I wish I was Bill Hader.

I would love to be on SNL. Anyone here casting for it next season? I got 11 years of unpaid open mike experience during which I was NEVER ONCE invited to perform on an actual bill or for money. That must say something about my avant garde skillz.

Anyone watch that Tim Roth show tonight? God, that was a shitty pilot, hilarious how every line of dialogue was some explanation about how to read people for signs of lying. Terrible.

But it had some subplot about high paid escorts. I always love shit like that, so fascinating.

I'd QUIT THIS BLOG FOREEEEEEEEEEEEVER if any of you highrollers had the hookup on something like that. No bullshit. Wanna get rid of the Lex? Help arrange a date for me with some upscale chick like that, you'll NEVER see me on here again.

For realz.

Only one (predictable) nomination for Repo! The Genetic Opera? Jumping on the Uwe Boll hate-wagon about half a decade too late? (Yes, he's been nominated before, but this is the first year they've really gone all-out against him.) I know the Razzies are basically a big joke, but going after the soft targets year after year after year after year isn't very amusing.

A friend of mine is hired by The Razzies organization to shoot their ceremony every year. It's basically a press conference, I think. Yes, Halle Berry agreed to accept in person -- good p.r. to show what a good sport she is. I think the only other "winner" in the awards' history to appear at the ceremony was Tom Green, the year Freddy Got Fingered swept.

Paul Verhoeven showed up in person, too. IMDB trivia claims he was the first to ever do it, when he was awarded for Showgirls.

No Sally Hawkins.
No Dark Knight
No Wall-E

...wow. I don't get into the whole "the oscars are irrelevant" stuff, but did the Oscars just become irrelevant?

Aha! No Best Picture nomination for The Dark Knight. Wish I'd had the balls to predict that yesterday, because no one today will believe I suspected the snub would happen. Guess IO will be even rowdier than usual today. LOL.

Ben Lyons just said "Benjamin Button" will win Best Picture because "it's made soooo much money" and that's what Best Picture nominees have to do, "make some coin." What a douchebag.

Not only did they nominate five films that guarantee incredibly low ratings. They nominated another Oscar class guaranteed to make future scholars look at one another and say; "WHAT THE FUCK?"

TDK is apparently a TECHNICAL achievement, but these motherfuckers cannot even nominate the second highest grossing film over THE READER! THE READER? REALLY? I've had my fill of these people. My the fall into the obscurity that they deserve.

And when was the last time that all five Best Director nominees matched all five Best Picture nominees?

And I'm sure David will take time out from his Sundance coverage to congratulate Robert Downey Jr.

BTW: Looks like the Academy members weren't buying that "Best Supporting Actress" crap about Kate Winslett in The Reader. They put voters of some other awards to shame.

Joe: Kamel just made the point for me. The Oscars are irrelevant. They did it to themselves by making nominations, that exclude any regular moviegoer from watching the show. It is a show after all, and who wants to watch a show where the one movie everyone wanted to be nominated was snubbed for the Reader? They are irrelevant. They did it to themselves.

So after the awards happen, and Drudge goes on about the ceremony having the lowest ratings of all-time. Well, hey, I will be happy. I will be happier if Fincher wins, but I will be happy when they fail.

The Downey nomination might just be my favorite (since Hawkins didn't get one).

I like The Dark Knight better than any of the the nominated films that I've seen; but I can't get too upset.

But TDK made more money! So it's better! People liked it! Low ratings! No no no noooooooo

Although I must admit, I'd rather watch The Dark Knight over those other movies.

You know, the comments about The Dark Knight not getting the nod just kind of write themself - I thought it deserved it, too, but Slumdog is my personal favorite and though it would have been nice for some acting nods, that film has not been hurt at all.

Two thoughts about why this happened:
- NEVER underestimate Harvey Weinstein again, the man can take any film to a Best Picture nod. Think about Chocolat, for Christ sakes.
- The fact that Benjamin Button has made $100 million absolved the Academy from nominating another blockbuster. I doubt it will still even crack $150 million, but they just don't want to nominate too many successful films, never have. That said, Slumdog is looking increasingly likely to crack $100 million, so that could leave 2 blockbusters in the pack, which is the best you could hope for at this point. Milk, The Reader (I love Kate Winslet, but give me a break about that one), and Frost/Nixon will not even make $100 million combined.

The one pleasant surprise is that they didn't cowtow to Clint Eastwood which is pretty shocking - can't believe Clint didn't get an acting nod, but GOOD for Richard Jenkins.

One other nice surprise is the two song nominees for Slumdog Millionair - I have been playing that soundtrack non-stop and those two nominated songs are damn catchy.

Jeff: it's just another example of the older voters of the Academy not getting the hint. TDK got a lot of nominations. It got like eight nominations, that declare it to be a technical marvel. Since it doesnt have a gay guy, an Indian, a nazi, a reversed-aging dude, or poor historic accuracy, it apparently does not deserve anything. So, once again, the Oscars are irrelevant. Put a fork in them. They are done.

It's nice of them to want to be as irrelevant as the Tony's! Who knew that the older members of the Academy would be responsible for bringing the whole thing down?

"Since it doesnt have a gay guy, an Indian, a nazi, a reversed-aging dude, or poor historic accuracy..."

Man, I really want to see this movie, like the ultimate Village People project, it sounds amazing.

Which one is supposed to be historically inaccurate?

Ah, no Dark Knight. Huge sigh of relief. I would've preferred Wall-E over The Reader, and Rosemarie DeWitt in Supporting, but whatever. Jenkins, Michael Shannon and the In Bruges/Wall-E screenplays all got in, huzzah for that. Not a great Best Pic list, but not a great year either. I'm satisfied.

Frost/Nixon is apparently a complete and utterly lie compared to what actually happen Jeff.

IOIOIOIO, it's ok - I know you're disappointed. I pretty much shouted at the screen when I saw Daldry get the Best Director nod - that was the sign! It's upsetting, but not shocking - life will go on. The Dark Knight has made a ton of money and its influence will really not be diminished by a lack of a Best Picture nod. The film has raised the bar for mainstream entertainment from this point on and studios are falling all over themselves to imitate it. The Reader will be forgotten in six months, no worries.

But.....The Dark Knight was not Titanic, it was still not in theaters and has not been for months. I seriously doubt nominating that film would have juiced ratings that much. That said, does any one LOVE Benjamin Button, at all? I saw it and was left cold - I hate to admit because I love Fincher, but I think he was the wrong guy to direct it. Spielberg would have knocked this same story out of the park in his heydey. It just never grabbed me.

IOI, re: Frost/Nixon, what are you basing that on? Do you have a link?

Utter lie and how is it a huge sigh of relief that one of the best reviewed films of the year was snubbed? I agree that Wall-E should have been in there, but we are dealing with older people. So we have to deal with people who have seen the world of film change to such a point, that Bat and a Robot could be seen as being two of the better films of the year.

Again; I am not really angry about this. I just find it incredibly funny that given everything that has been written about the Oscars over the last few years. They once again shoot themselves in the foot, ignore two clearly populous pics for art house fare. Hell Slumdog is not even responsible for this because it is at least trying to be populous. How many screens will the Reader ever get?

Jeff: it was over at the Huffington Post entertainment section. I am sure if you used the search engine there. It would provide the link you desire.

Geoff: Directors and Best Picture do not always coincide. We also have to deal with an Academy that could screw over Ledger again for Downey. I would not put it past them.

Your Titanic analogy is also not apt because that movie was released in December of 96 and was still going on into 97. It's a different business model these days, and the Bat had one of the better looking BD ever made. So the Academy had all sorts of opportunities to see this film. They simply think like Mark, and ignored the second highest grossing film of the year for The Reader. Seriously... the Reader... a flick that will be hardly remembered in a few months. Let alone the future.

re: frost/nixon -- while not a complete and utter lie, ron howard acknowledged while doing press for the film that the depiction of frost's lack of preparedness and (at times) interest was greatly exaggerated for dramatic purposes... as a result, david frost was given a deal to release the actual interviews on dvd the same week as the release of frost/nixon....

He was saying that Titanic, by still being in theaters at this time in 1998, had a momentum that TDK does not have now.

I sincerely doubt that any contender will have a lot of momentum over Ledger, though. What's a BD?

Have you seen The Reader, IOI? (I have not).

re: wall-e --- i've said all along that if the second half of the film had been as well done as the first, it could have gotten a bp nom... in it's present state, not a chance....but it'll, of course, take the ba award (imo).....

Jeff: I understand what he was stating, but the BD (Blu-ray Disc) came out in December. It's one of the more stunning disc to come out on the format. So the Dark Knight was still around. I do agree with Heat that the lack of a nomination for TDK looks bad for Warners, but what are they supposed to do? It's just hard to convince certain voting blocks to vote for what's right, when they want to vote for what they want. Again... lowest rated ceremony ever... and the discussion about CHANGING things will happen. If not... irrelevant. WOO!!!

It's not an apology about Titanic, just a fact - the film opened in December and was still number one at the box office when the Oscars aired. In recent years, that's a pretty unique phenomenon to juice the ratings.

And The Dark Knight is a directors movie - if they weren't going to nominate Nolan, then the film wasn't going to get in, either. That pisses me off the most - Nolan is one of the most gifted filmmakers out there. Still smarting that they gave Best Original Screenplay to freaking Gosfard Park(!) over Memento back in 2002!

And no worries - Downey is not going to beat Ledger. The audio disappointment from the audience in the Kodak would be too much - they're not going to take it away from Ledger.

Forgot, but I am also disappointed that DeWitt didn't get nominated - she was as good as Hathaway in that movie.

btw-- has anyone noted that today is the anniversary of ledger's death?...nice day for a nom...

Scoot: I at least had a point a year ago, when I stated Ledger would be nominated a year after his death. He was and it was deserved. It still pisses me off that he's fucking gone.

Geoff: I would go one step further -- to milk it for all it's worth, the Best Supporting Actor announcement will be delayed until the final half-hour of the Oscarcast.

BTW: As far back as when Frost/Nixon premiered as a play, nobody involved made any secret of its frequent invoking of dramatic licence. Sorry, haters, but that's very old news. For me, though, what's always been amusing is that some of the play's (and movie's) funniest lines come straight from Frost's own 1978 book about the Nixon interviews. Yes, even the "Did you do any fornicating?" line. It really happened.

Geoff, DeWitt was better, best thing in the movie IMO. The scene in Rachel where she cleans up Hathaway after her breakdown may have been the most genuinely moving single scene in a fiction movie I saw last year (I only qualify it with "fiction" because I'd put a number of scenes in Man on Wire up against it).

IO, it's no use arguing with you, but I will say that I liked TDK fine, but BB better - TDK overreached, had major third act problems, etc. Good movie, but Best Pic it wasn't.

Joe: Haters? I just stated it lacked historical accuracy. Which it does. I like Ron Howard. He gave the world GUNG-HO. So I am never going to hate on the guy. Nevertheless; I was just making a point.

Geoff: ANALOGY not APOLOGY. One more time for those at home: ANALOGY not APOLOGY. I also reiterate that TDK had momentum going for it all year, but Harvey got another mediocore film into the top 5. Good for them, but bad for Warners.

Mark: there's no point for a reason, and it has nothing to do with me. Again; third act problems for some are not third act problems for everyone. If you can explain to me how The Reader is better, then please explain it to me. If not; TDK is still one of the better reviewed movies of 08. So your problems with it, are not problems at all. They are just yours.

I agree re: DeWitt, and I'd say her role was more difficult, as well.

IOI, you said that F/N was "a complete and utterly lie". That suggests a certain editorial opinion on the part of the author well beyond "making a point".

Jeff: no it does not. It is a fictionalized account of what happen. Fictionalized in a way means a LIE in terms of what happened. The article over at Huffingtonpost.com goes into detail that makes it come across as even more as a lie. Hell; Frost had to get those interviews out in order to show the truth. So, yeah, it's a lie compared to what happened. If you have a problem with that Jeff. Well, that's you, and I am not you. So you and I different. Yay.

IO, I won't say The Reader was better than TDK, but I can think of a number of movies that were - Man on Wire, Wall-E, In Bruges, The Wrestler, Rachel Getting Married, etc. So I can't get too worked up about it not getting in, and the fact that it was severely overpraised by the geekboy contingent (and a number of critics) makes its exclusion just a little more satisfying.

IOI, are you familiar with the concept of "connotation"?

I'm still not clear on your intention: is it "the movie is a complete and utterly lie" or is it "I am never going to hate on Ron Howard"? Because those two are not easily reconciled.

Mark: so you did not want a movie to get nominated because you hate geeks? Really? Are you still stuck in 2004? Come to the light man! Come to the light!

Jeff: it's a fabrication, and I am a fan of Ron Howard. Why is it so hard for you to connect the dots? I never come across anyone who lacks that ability as much as you. It's befuddling.

Okay, so how about this: when you say a movie is "a complete and utterly lie" it makes it sound like you have an intense dislike for it, and that you specifically blame the filmmakers for lying to you, in no uncertain terms. Are you blaming Peter Morgan for lying to you, instead of Howard? In which case Ron Howard would still be culpable, but to a lesser degree, but you forgive him for reasons unknown to me?

And do you really not understand how these concepts sound to your intended readership?

IO I don't hate the geeks - I've had my share of geeky obsessions in my day (Star Wars, Buffy, LotR, etc.) I just kind of like it when they get all hot and bothered over something that doesn't really warrant the praise, then are disappointed (or surprised) when something like this happens. Makes for good sport.

Mark: that's more understandable, but LOST did come back last night. So this should make people a lot more calm later in the day, because LOST does indeed rule.

Jeff: you are taking them this way. If we have something that's on DVD THAT WE CAN SEE. SHOULD THE MOVIE BASED ON IT LINE UP WITH IT? Seriously; it's a lie, maybe more deception, but it's a misleading of a recorded event. So you work things out with you. I am fine over here.

So you _are_ hating on Ron Howard.

Uh no! Thanks for playing! Bye bye NOW!

Your thought process is chaotic and irrational. Either that, or you're a poor communicator (or both).

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