Nominees for the 81st Academy Awards

The following are the nominees for some of the major awards for the 81st Annual Academy Awards:

Best Motion Picture of the Year
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Christian Colson

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams for Doubt
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis for Doubt
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

Best Achievement in Directing
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry for The Reader
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant for Milk

Best Original Song
Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman, Gulzar ("Jai Ho")
Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman, M.I.A ("O Saya")
WALL·E: Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman ("Down to Earth")

Best Animated Fim
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL·E

Golden Globe updates (4): Slumdog wins top honor

"Slumdog Millionaire" has lived up to its underdog theme at the Golden Globes, sweeping all four of its categories, including best drama and director for Danny Boyle.

The movie also won best screenplay and musical score.

Featuring a generally unknown cast in a story set on the streets of Mumbai, the movie follows a young Indian man who appears on a game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and exceeds people's expectations, raising the suspicions of the game show host and law enforcement.

Golden Globe update (3): 30 Rock sweeps TV comedy awards

TV series "30 Rock" gained awards for Best Comedy, Best Actor (Alec Baldwin) and Best Actress (Tina Fey). The series won in all three of the categories in which it was nominated.

Golden Globe updates (2): Wall-E is best animated film

Disney/Pixar's "Wall-E" has been named Best Animated Film at Golden Globes. The movie beat off competition from "Kung-Fu Panda" and "Bolt."

Other winners so far include:

1) Sally Hawkins (Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy): Happy-Go-Lucky
2) Heath ledger (Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture): The Dark Knight
3) Kate Winslet (Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture): The Reader
4) Slumdog Millionaire (Best Screenplay - Motion Picture)
5) Waltz With Bashir (Israel)(Best Foreign Movie)

Golden Globe updates (1): Ledger wins award

Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes Sunday night. Kate Winslet won the first Golden Globe of the night for her supporting role in "The Reader".

'Ghajini' breaks box-office

The Bollywood movie "Ghajini" became the only Indian film to earn one billion rupees (RM71.9mil) at the box office across the country in less than a week of its release on Christmas.

At a time when every industry is hit by recessionary trends and Bollywood did not fare quite well at the box office, the film starring lead actor Aamir Khan broke all the previous records and set the cash registers ringing within a few days of its release.


"Ghajini" is a remake of a Tamil film of the same name. The film is a romantic action thriller that explores the life of a rich businessman who suffers from 'anterograde amnesia' following a violent encounter. With the aid of Polaroid Instant camera images and permanent tattoos on his torso, the man tries to avenge the murder of his girlfriend, Kalpana, who has been murdered.

However, to all those who have been calling the movie a remake of Christopher Nolan's "Memento", actor Aamir Khan says the movie is just inspired from the Hollywood flick and is not a copy or remake of it.

Besides, raking in huge profits in domestic markets, "Ghajini" has done well in the overseas market as well. The movie opened with $0.92 million in the Middle East, followed by North America with $1.4 million and Australia with $254,000.

The 15 Big Movies Coming in 2009

Here is Entertainment Weekly's list of "15 Big Movies Coming in 2009":

1) Public Enemies
2) Terminator Salvation
3) The Ugly Truth
4) Where The Wild Things Are
5) Watchmen
6) Taking of Pelham 1-2-3
7) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8) Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
9) Julie & Julia
10) Up
11) Obsessed
12) Year One
13) Land Of The Lost
14) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
15) Angels & Demons

10 reasons why I hate 'Quantum Of Solace'

I believe 'Quantum of Solace' is one of the worst Bond movies that I've seen. I will tell you why.


10) Daniel Craig is not a bad actor, But can we see a smile once in a while? And what's with the disheveled look? Where's the tuxedo? And there's no humour and one-liners either.
9) What happened to the gun barrel sequence at the beginning of the film? Maybe the director does not want to remind us that we are watching a Bond movie. Instead the gun barrel sequence appears at the end of the movie.
8) The title song sung by Alicia Key and Jack White is possibly one of the worst Bond songs ever. The tune is so monotonous and boring. Give me Shirley Bassey or Sheena Easton anytime.
7) The opening car chase sequence made me nauseous. The poor shooting and editing of the scene made it look like an MTV video.
6) Bring back Moneypenny and Q! What's a Bond movie without the gadgets and the firtations.
5) Dominic Green must be the worst villain in Bond history. There's nothing evil about him at all. While the villains in the other Bond movies plan to destroy earth or detonate nuclear bombs, Greene's crime is stealing water! And in the final fight scene between Greene and Bond, did you notice how Green keeps squealing like a girl.
4) And what about the henchman?! With a name like Elvis, who could be afraid of him? He looks like a sissy with his toupee. Remember Jaws and Oddjob?
3) Even though it's a supposed to be a sequel from 'Casino Royale', must Bond keep reminding us of how sad he is of losing Vesper? "Boo-hoo, Vesper is dead, and I'm so sad. Boo-hoo-hoo." Get over it, dude!
2) There's no chemistry between Bond and the female leads. Rolling Stone magazine calls Camille "perhaps the dullest Bond girl ever." Whatever happened to the final scene where Bond always nails his leading lady?
1) James Bond is NOT Jason Bourne! QOS is trying to imitate something which is not meant to be. And like Jason Bourne, who has forgotten his identity, had Bond or maybe the producers acquired amnesia too?

Nominations for the 66th Golden Globe Awards

Here are the nominees for the 66th Golden Globe Awards. Winners will be announced on Sunday January 11th 2009.

The biggest surprise of the list is Tom Cruise who earned a Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 'Tropic Thunder'. Personally I'm disappointed that 'The Dark Knight' was not nominated for Best Motion Picture, and neither was director Christopher Nolan nominated. Anyway my prediction is that 'Benjamin Button' will sweep the awards this year with Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Actor (Brad Pitt) and Best Director(David Fincher).

Best Motion Picture - Drama
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Mamma Mia!
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio for Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas for Il y a longtemps que je t'aime
Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Javier Bardem for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Colin Farrell for In Bruges
James Franco for Pineapple Express
Brendan Gleeson for In Bruges
Dustin Hoffman for Last Chance Harvey

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Rebecca Hall for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand for Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep for Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson for Last Chance Harvey

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Tom Cruise for Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes for The Duchess
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Amy Adams for Doubt
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis for Doubt
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler
Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Director - Motion Picture
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry for The Reader
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes for Revolutionary Road

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt: John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon: Peter Morgan
The Reader: David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire: Simon Beaufoy

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Bolt ("I Thought I Lost You")
Cadillac Records ("Once in a Lifetime")
Gran Torino ("Gran Torino")
WALL·E ("Down to Earth")
The Wrestler ("The Wrestler")

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Changeling : Clint Eastwood
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button : Alexandre Desplat
Defiance : James Newton Howard
Frost/Nixon : Hans Zimmer
Slumdog Millionaire : A.R. Rahman

Best Animated Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL·E

Best Foreign Language Film
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany)
Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick (Sweden/Denmark)
Gomorra (Italy)
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (France)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

Best Television Series - Drama
Dexter
House M.D.
In Treatment
Mad Men
True Blood

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Californication
Entourage
The Office
30 Rock
Weeds

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Bernard and Doris
Cranford
John Adams
A Raisin in the Sun
Recount

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Ralph Fiennes for Bernard and Doris
Paul Giamatti for John Adams
Kevin Spacey for Recount
Kiefer Sutherland for 24: Redemption
Tom Wilkinson for Recount

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Judi Dench for Cranford
Catherine Keener for An American Crime
Laura Linney for John Adams
Shirley MacLaine for Coco Chanel
Susan Sarandon for Bernard and Doris

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock
Steve Carell for The Office
Kevin Connolly for Entourage
David Duchovny for Californication
Tony Shalhoub for Monk

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Christina Applegate for Samantha Who?
America Ferrera for Ugly Betty
Tina Fey for 30 Rock
Debra Messing for The Starter Wife
Mary-Louise Parker for Weeds

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Gabriel Byrne for In Treatment
Michael C. Hall for Dexter
Jon Hamm for Mad Men
Hugh Laurie for House M.D.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers for The Tudors

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Sally Field for Brothers & Sisters
Mariska Hargitay for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
January Jones for Mad Men
Anna Paquin for True Blood
Kyra Sedgwick for The Closer

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Neil Patrick Harris for How I Met Your Mother
Denis Leary for Recount
Jeremy Piven for Entourage
Blair Underwood for In Treatment
Tom Wilkinson for John Adams

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Eileen Atkins for Cranford
Laura Dern for Recount
Melissa George for In Treatment
Rachel Griffiths for Brothers & Sisters
Dianne Wiest for In Treatment

Bolt Caption & SMS Contest

Mittens talking to Bolt: "Have you ever wonder how he does his business in there?"

Astro Boy teaser trailer

How many of you remember Astro Boy? This Japanese anime is currently being made for the big screen and will be released in 2009.

The story tells of a young robot created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, the robot embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him.

The movie will feature voices of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Nicholas Cage and Nathan Lane.

Will the world end in 2012?

With the Mayan calendar ending in 2012, it is believed that the world will end then. This movie is based on this prediction. See the trailer below:

David Cook - The Time Of My Life

This is the studio version (as well as the first single) from American Idol David Cook.

(Please wait while the widget loads.....)

Why didn't David Archuleta win American Idol?

If you are a fan of David Archuleta, you would be crying your heart out that he lost the title to David Cook. The following article from MTVAsia explains what went wrong for the early front-runner:

In a shock to pretty much everyone, it was Cook who walked away with the Idol title, and his margin of victory wasn't even close. The Comb-Over King trounced Archuleta by more than 12 million votes, leaving many Arch-aholics to clutch their Precious Moments figurines tightly, gaze heavenward and wonder just what went wrong.

Well, we're glad you asked. Because we were about as shocked as you were. So we convened an emergency meeting of the MTV News American Idol brain trust, and came up with the following list. It may not lessen the pain of his defeat, but it may get you through the tough times. Or it may just make you mad. You know, whatever.

1. He Was the New England Patriots
More than 97.5 million people tuned in to watch Super Bowl XLII, which featured the undefeated, incredibly hyped (and heavily favored) Patriots take on the New York Giants. And of that audience, do you think more people wanted to see the Pats win and secure their rightful place in history, or lose epically, in a big, bursting ball of flames? Basically, ever since February, when he took a seat behind the big black piano and belted out a version of John Lennon's "Imagine" Archuleta was the Idol version of the Patriots: constantly hyped, shoved down everyone's throats and crowned long before the season was over. Also like the Patriots, none of this was really Arch's fault. Still, the damage was done. America hates a front-runner, which is why there was much rejoicing when the Giants upset the Patriots, and why, in the end, 12 million more people decided to cast their vote for David Cook.

2. He Was Incongruous
David Archuleta mid-note? Graceful, skilled, soulful and powerful. David Archuleta mid-conversation? Gawking, stammering, awkward and goofy. In the history of Idol, there has perhaps been no other contestant who displayed such a disparity between the personal and the professional, and in the end, that cost him. We all loved Archuleta the performer, but after his 47th "aw, shucks" interview (highlighting his bizarre breathing pattern), we were ready to show Archuleta the person the door. This is basically the same thing that did in Melinda Doolittle last season.

3. He Was Al Gore
Or, more specifically, his supporters were Florida Democrats. During the 2000 election, all five major networks called the state of Florida for Democratic candidate Al Gore at 7 p.m. EST, despite the fact that the panhandle of the state actually falls in the Central time zone, meaning that polls there would remain open for another hour. Theoretically, the fact that Gore was the presumed winner could've discouraged Democrats in the panhandle from heading out to the polls, since their candidate had already carried the state. Gore ended up losing Florida by a total of 537 votes. Could Tuesday night's Idol telecast - in which all three judges basically crowned Archuleta as the Idol champ before polls had even opened - have had the same effect? Were Archuleta fans discouraged from voting because they assumed he already had the competition in the bag?

4. He Has a Creepy Stage Dad
There's no nice way to say this: Arch's dad gave pretty much everyone the heebie-jeebies (the goatee, the hat, the resemblance to Kevin Pollak in The Usual Suspects) and his constant presence - not to mention the rumors that his brazen careerism made Joan Crawford and Dina Lohan look like concerned, caring parents - ruined the whole "diamond in the rough" thing for his son. Instead, many came to see Archuleta as a robotic singing machine that had been trained (forced?) to perform since the age of 12 (you know, when he was on Star Search) by his taskmaster father. And when Idol producers banned his father from the backstage area, well, let's just say that didn't help matters any.

5. He Was One-Dimensional
In the end, the biggest knock against Archuleta was that he never showed he had range outside the majestic world of balladry. His choices of songs never strayed much from tried-and-true schmaltz (Robbie Williams' "Angels," the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road," Neil Diamond's "America"), and when he did try to stretch things a bit, the results were disastrous, like his take on Chris Brown's "With You." While all this may have made him a mortal lock for the cats-and-cardigans set, it didn't endear him much to anyone between the ages of 12 and 40. There's a reason the show isn't called Adult Contemporary Idol.

Scarlett Johansson & Penelope Cruz's lesbian kiss

Scarlett Johansson & Penelope Cruz will share a hot and steamy lesbian sex scene in Woody Allen's upcoming movie "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". Apparently there's also a threesome scene with actor Javier Bardem ("No Country For Old Men").

Just as New York City was the backdrop in Woody Allen's "Manhattan," the stunning city of Barcelona is the setting for the romantic adventures of Vicky and Cristina. These two young Americans spend a summer in Spain and meet a flamboyant artist (Javier Bardem) and his beautiful but insane ex-wife (Penelope Cruz). Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is straight-laced and about to be married. Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is a sexually adventurous free spirit. When they all become amorously entangled, the results are both hilarious and harrowing.

Cool 'Kung Fu Panda' widget

The Incredible Hulk - Behind The Scenes

After 'Iron Man', the next superhero movie to hit our screens this summer will be 'The Incredible Hulk'. Marvel Studios thought that the Ang Lee's version released in 2003 was crap, so they decided to make another one on their own. This version stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner aka Hulk. Tim Roth stars asEmil Blonsky aka The Abomination.

Here's a behind-the-scenes clip of the movie which will be released on 13th June 2008.

Marvel announces Iron Man sequel and more!

With 'Iron Man' soaring into the box office records with a $100.75 million opening weekend debut, Marvel Studios have already started planning the follow-up. The following is taken from Marvel.com:

Fans can expect a second film to hit theaters on April 30, 2010! And a few months later in July, the mighty Thor himself will wield his enchanted hammer across the big screen courtesy of director Matthew Vaughn!

Pumped yet? You should be—and you haven't heard the best part! The summer of 2011 will kick off in style with a Captain America movie, followed just two short months later with the July-debuting Avengers!

Iron Man 'hidden' ending

I know most of you missed the 'hidden' ending which came on after 10 minutes of the credits. So here's a low quality clip for all of you taken from YouTube:

Movie endings that you might have missed

Are you one of those people who walks out of the cinema immediately once the credits start rolling? Or are you one of the few who stays behind and read the credits until the end? If you are the former, you might have missed some great endings to some of the movies.

Nowadays, the directors tend to put additional scenes during or after the credits as an inside joke or a teaser for a possible sequel.

Here's some recent blockbusters with "hidden" endings:

(**Beware: Spoilers Alert**)

Pirates of the Caribbean

We see Captain Barbossa dead in the cave. The monkey is swimming through the water up to the ground and scurries up to the chest of gold. He picks up one of the pieces and you see him turn into a skeleton in the moonlight. The monkey shrieks and lunges towards the camera as the film ends.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

The cannibals are dancing on the island. We see the dog that was left behind sitting on the throne with a bone in his mouth. He has been made chief of the cannibal tribe.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End

The words 'Ten Years Later' is shown on the screen. We see a little boy of about ten years old running through the fields by the shore, followed shortly by Elizabeth (Kiera Knightley). The pair walks to the edge of the cliff. Elizabeth puts her hand around the boy as both of them watch the sunset. Both of them are humming the tune of "A Pirate's Life for Me". Suddenly there's a green flash of light and both Elizabeth and the boy looks at each other and smile. The scene cuts to Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) hanging on the mast of his ship and he smiles.

The Simpsons Movie

During the rolling of the credits, the Simpsons appear discussing why they are watching the credits. As they get up to leave, Marge tells them that she thinks Maggie is going to say her first word. The word turns out to be "sequel".

At the end of the credits, a cinema worker appears moaning that he spent so many years at film school to sweep up the rubbish and that being assistant manager is not all its cracked up to be.

Constantine

Constantine (Keanu Reeves) visits the gravestone of Chas Kramer (Shia LaBeouf). He leaves his ornamented lighter on top of the stone and says "You did good, kid". As he walks away, Constantine sees Chas' angelic form pause on top of the gravestone. Chas spreads his wings and flies up to the sky.

Daredevil

A couple of guards stand outside a room. Inside, Bullseye (Colin Farrell) lies on a bed in a full-body cast. A fly is buzzing around his face. He starts to reach for a hypodermic needle on a nearby table. The scene cuts back to the guards outside the room. Then we hear a swishing sound. Next, we see the fly pinned to the wall with the hypodermic needle. Bullseye smiles and says "Bullseye."

X-Men 3: The Last Stand

We see Dr Moira MacTaggart and a catatonic patient. (The patient is the same one that Xavier showed on the screen during one of his lectures.) The patient wakes up and says, "Hello Moira," and she says, "Charles?". (This implies that Xavier's mind has transferred into the catatonic patient.)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Lucy sneaks back into the room with the wardrobe. She opens it up and is about to go in when we hear the professor say, "It won't work." He tells Lucy that he's been trying to get back in for a long time with no luck. Lucy asks if they'll ever be able to go back, and he says that they just need to keep their eyes open for the right door. As the two leave the room, the door starts to close by itself, but before it does we can see sunlight shining out and hear a lion's magnificent roar.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The scene returns to Diagon Alley, and the 'Flourish and Blotts' bookstore, where a new book is shown in the front window. "Who Am I?" by Gilderoy Lockhart, featuring a wizard photo of the man in a straitjacket, smiling and looking about happily.

Cloverfield

Technically this is not really an additional scene, but a sound which is heard - some static filled, garbled sort of transmission that lasted a couple of seconds. It sounded like somebody saying "Help us". But when played backwards, it says, "It's still alive!".

and finally, the latest blockbuster to hit town.....

Iron Man

Tony Stark comes home and catches sight of a figure in his living room facing the balcony glass window. The figure says "You think you're the only superhero in the world? Mr Stark, you're part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet".

"Who the hell are you?" Tony asks. The figure slowly turns around, and we see it's Samuel L.Jackson wearing an eye-patch. He answered "Nick Fury, director of SHIELD. I'm here to talk to you about the Avanger Initiative".