Links for you: Blue Smurfs and Red Sonja

Get your first look at what CGI Smurfs will look like. (Hint: awful) [The Movie Blog]

ABC releases a 2 minute sneak peek of FlashForward. [ComingSoon]

New photos of the Volturi from The Twilight Saga: New Moon are online. The photos include Michael Sheen as Aro and Dakota Fanning as Jane. [Empire]

The Fantastic Four franchise gets a reboot. [Film Junk]

How would Marvel reimagine Disney heroines? [Jeffrey Thomas's Portfolio via In Contention]

A handy user's guide to the Academy's new best picture voting rules. [Film School Rejects]

Get your first look at Amanda Seyfried in Chloe. Seyfried plays Chloe, an escort hired to seduce Julianne Moore's husband (Liam Neeson). The film is on the Toronto Film Festival lineup. [FirstShowing]

Rose McGowan says Red Sonja begins shooting in 2010. Don't hold your breath. [Get The Big Picture]

The Academy changes the rules

Only this time it's infinitely more confusing than the last time. I only understand the voting rules during January of each year - Steve Pond over at The Wrap (via Awards Daily) explains the new rules:

Instead of just voting for one nominee, the way Academy members have almost always done on the final ballot, voters will be asked to rank all 10 nominees in order of preference -- and the results will be tallied using the complicated preferential system, which has been used for decades during the nominating process but almost never on the final ballot.

As a result, a film could be the first choice of the largest number of voters, but find itself nudged out of the top prize by another movie that got fewer number one votes but more twos and threes.

It sounds crazy, but there’s good reason to make the change at a time when dividing the vote among an expanded slate of 10 nominees could otherwise allow a film to win with fewer than 1,000 votes (out of the nearly 6,000 voting members).

LiC makes it a little easier for us to understand:

According to a new post from Steve Pond over at The Wrap, instead of simply voting for their favorite film for best picture next year, Academy voters will rank all 10 nominees in order of preference. If a single film receives more than 50% of the #1 votes, it will be the winner. If there is no such film, the film receiving the fewest number of #1 votes will be eliminated and that film’s ballots will be redistributed to the film marked #2 on each ballot. This procedure will continue until one film has more than 50% of the votes.

It’s a procedure similar to that used during the nomination process and, according to Academy executive director Bruce Davis, it’s being instituted to ensure that the expanded nominee pool doesn’t allow for a film with only a small percentage of votes to win. With a membership of less than 6000, it’s conceivable a film with 600 votes could win the Oscar under the 1-vote system with ten nominees.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing, or a bad thing. I suppose it depends on what wins anything but The Hurt Locker.

Oscars expand Best Picture category to 10 nominees

So, the inevitable debate begins. Is the Academy doing this to make up for snubbing The Dark Knight and Wall-E (and In Bruges while we're at it) last year? Is this for ratings?

Academy president Sid Ganis (who's about to leave his position anyway) was really excited, regardless of the reason:

“Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize.” [Variety]

This just opens up the floodgates. If you think the Oscar campaign at the end of the year is a circus, just wait until this year's campaign. In a typical year Star Trek would just be placed in the tech categories in For Your Consideration ads. Now it'll be right up there with everything from The Hangover, to Bruno, to Invictus, to Bright Star.

I like the idea. At least for now. It's easy to love something before the actual nominations. That could all come crashing down if something insane happens like Transformers getting nominated. Where there are pros to this move, there are also cons.

The good thing about this announcement is that at least the Academy recognizes that it has a problem. Over the last decade, the Academy has gotten more and more insignificant and out of touch. For a body that has nominated a Star Wars movie and an Indiana Jones movie, snubbing all the Bourne films and the The Dark Knight is just sad. So, now we get a greater number of films, and hopefully greater diversity, which means more mainstream films, and maybe more people will actually have a movie they've seen to root for.

The problem with opening the floodgates is that the pool of films could end up being just mediocre. Yes, there were ten nominated films during the 1930s and 1940s, but that era arguably had better films to choose from. I expect that there won't be nearly as many blockbusters as people are hoping for because, let's be honest, most of them suck. Outside of Start Trek and The Hangover, is there a mainstream movie so far that anybody really gives a damn about? And with Transformers and G.I. Joe approaching, I expect mostly middling films on the blockbuster front. The smaller movies, I suspect, even if they aren't spectacular will have an easier time of slipping in, especially if they have vocal advocates. Instead of one Juno-like film we'll get three (ugh!) But, there are awful films nominated when there are just five slots, and seeing as how that won't change with ten slots, one can hope that some great stuff slips in too. If this had existed a few years ago maybe The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada or Children of Men would have gotten some well earned recognition. We could also get an animation film in, and even a foreign film.

There's one thing that I don't agree with when people argue against this move. Some say that having ten films will only remove the prestige and luster of the actual winner. Sorry, but I don't buy it. I think if anything, it'll dilute the films that win in years with five nominations. Why? Because, it mathematically just looks better if you beat out nine other films, rather than four. But in the end, nobody will care. Casablanca and All About Eve are both brilliant films - does anyone remember which film beat out nine other films and which film beat out four? Besides, most critics release a top 10 of the year, and the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs leave room for ten nominated films, so it isn't as if the Academy is doing anything particularly shocking.

And oh, the possibilities: Bright Star, Shutter Island, Up, Precious, Broken Embraces, Avatar, Where the Wild Things Are, Nine, Invictus, The Road, Amelia, Brothers, The Lovely Bones, The Hurt Locker. Hey look, 14 movies and I haven't even gotten to the blockbusters yet.

Whether folks like this move or not, this certainly keeps things interesting. Now my predictable little best picture list has been thrown totally out of wack, and I kind of like it. And, at least we're talking about the Oscars again (and in June!).

A 1986 movie retrospective

I was born in 1986, and I've been curious about the movies that made an impact that year. My mother isn't much help on 1980s films mostly because she spent a great deal of her time studying in France and then taking care of yours truly. I did a hell of a lot of digging and ironically I'm more familiar with the French films from 1986 than the English language ones.


Events
Turner Broadcasting starts colorizing black and white classics (of course this blasphemy would happen in my birth year)

Legendary stuntman Dar Robinson, is killed on the set of Million Dollar Mystery

Johnny Depp appears briefly in Platoon and the world swoons

Notable Births
Brittany Snow
Jamie Bell
Amanda Bynes
Robert Pattinson
Shia LaBeouf
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Lindsay Lohan
Emmy Rossum
Camilla Belle

Deaths
Cary Grant
Heather Angel



Top Grossing Films
1. Top Gun ($176,786,701)
2. Crocodile Dundee ($174,803,506)
3. Platoon ($138,530,565)
4. The Karate Kid Part II ($115,103,979)
5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ($109,713,132)
6. Back to School ($91,258,000)
7. Aliens ($86,160,248)
8. The Golden Child ($79,817,937)
9. Ruthless People ($71,624,879)
10. Ferris Bueller's Day Off ($70,136,369)

Notable Films Released
9½ Weeks
About Last Night
Aliens
An American Tail
At Close Range
Back to School
Big Trouble in Little China
Blue Velvet
The Boy Who Could Fly
The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation
Castaway
Children of a Lesser God
Club Paradise
The Color of Money
Cobra
Crocodile Dundee
Le Déclin de l'empire américain, (The Decline of the American Empire)
The Delta Force
Down and Out in Beverly Hills
F/X
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Fly
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords
The Golden Child
Gung Ho!
Hannah and Her Sisters
Heathcliff: The Movie
Highlander
The Hitcher
Hoosiers
Howard the Duck
Invaders from Mars
Iron Eagle
Jean de Florette
Jumpin' Jack Flash
The Karate Kid, Part II
Labyrinth
Little Shop of Horrors
Manhunter
Manon des Sources
The Mosquito Coast
The Mission
Mona Lisa
The Money Pit
My Little Pony: The Movie
'night, Mother
The Name of the Rose
No Mercy
Peggy Sue Got Married
Pretty in Pink
River's Edge
Ruthless People
Shanghai Surprise
Sid and Nancy
Something Wild
Stand by Me
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
That's Life!
¡Three Amigos!
Top Gun
The Transformers: The Movie
Wildcats
X :The Unheard Music



Sundance Film Festival (17 January - 26 January)
Jury Members: Hector Babenco (dramatic), Molly Haskell (dramatic), Krzysztof Zanussi (dramatic), Martha Coolidge (dramatic), Bobby Roth dramatic), Julia Reichert (documentary), David Fanning (documentary), Ron Mann(documentary), Dennis O'Rourke (documentary)

Awards Grand Jury Prize:
Documentary: Private Conversations: On the Set of 'Death of a Salesman' (Christian Blackwood)
Dramatic: Smooth Talk (Joyce Chopra)

Berlin International Film Festival (14 February - 25 February)
Jury Members
Gina Lollobrigida (head of jury), Rudi Fehr (co-head of jury), Lindsay Anderson, August Coppola, Werner Grassmann, Otar Iosseliani, Norbert Kückelmann, Françoise Maupin, Rosaura Revueltas, Naoki Togawa, Jerzy Toeplitz

Awards Golden Berlin Bear: Stammheim - Die Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe vor Gericht (Reinhard Hauff)
Silver Berlin Bear: Caravaggio (Derek Jarman) and Yari no gonza (Masahiro Shinoda)
Best Actor: Tuncel Kurtiz (Hiuch HaGdi)
Best Actress: Marcelia Cartaxo (A Hora da Estrela) and Charlotte Valandrey (Rouge baiser)]
Best Director: Giorgi Shengelaya (Akhalgazrda kompozitoris mogzauroba)
Berlinale Camera: Gina Lollobrigida, Giulietta Masina, Sydney Pollack, Fred Zinnemann

Cannes Film Festival (8 May – 19 May)
Jury Members
Sydney Pollack (president), Charles Aznavour, Sonia Braga, Lino Brocka, Tonino Delli Colli, Philip French, Alexandre Mnouchkine, István Szabó, Danièle Thompson, Alexandre Trauner

Awards Palm d'Or: The Mission (Roland Joffé)
Special Jury Prize: The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky)
Jury Prize: Thérèse (Alain Cavalier)
Best Actor: Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa)and Michel Blanc (Tenue de soirée)
Best Actress: Barbara Sukowa (Die Geduld der Rosa Luxemburg) and Fernanda Torres (Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar/Speak to me of Love)
Direction: Martin Scorsese (After Hours)
Palm d'Or for Short Film: Peel (Jane Campion)

Venice Film Festival (30 August – 10 September)
Jury Members
Alain Robbe-Grillet (head of jury), Chantal Akerman, Jörn Donner, Pál Gábor, Román Gubern, Pontus Hulten, Alberto Lattuada, Nanni Moretti, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Eldar Shengelaya, Fernando E. Solanas, Peter Ustinov, Bernhard Wicki, Catherine Wyler

Awards Golden Lion: Le rayon vert (Eric Rohmer)
Grand Special Jury Prize: Chuzhaya belaya i ryaboy (Sergei Solovyov) and Storia d'amore (Francesco Maselli)
Best Actor: Carlo Delle Piane (Regalo di Natale)
Best Actress: Valeria Golino (Storia d'amore)

Toronto International Film Festival (4 September – 13 September)
Awards People's Choice Award: Le déclin de l'empire américain (Denys Arcand)
Best Canadian Feature Film: Le déclin de l'empire américain (Denys Arcand)

Golden Globes



Best Film – Drama: Platoon
A Room with a View
Children of a Lesser God
Mona Lisa
Stand By Me
The Mission

Best Actor – Drama: Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa)
Harrison Ford (The Mosquito Coast)
Dexter Gordon (Round Midnight)
William Hurt (Children of a Lesser God)
Jeremy Irons (The Mission)
Paul Newman (The Color of Money)

Best Actress – Drama: Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God)
Julie Andrews (Duet for One)
Anne Bancroft ('night, Mother)
Farrah Fawcett (Extremities)
Sigourney Weaver (Aliens)

Best Film - Musical or Comedy: Hannah and Her Sisters Crimes of the Heart Crocodile Dundee Down and Out in Beverly Hills Peggy Sue Got Married Little Shop of Horrors

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy: Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee)
Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
Jeff Daniels (Something Wild)
Danny DeVito (Ruthless People)
Jack Lemmon (That's Life!)

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy: Sissy Spacek (Crimes of the Heart)
Julie Andrews (That's Life!)
Melanie Griffith (Something Wild)
Bette Midler (Down and Out in Beverly Hills)
Kathleen Turner (Peggy Sue Got Married)

Best Supporting Actor: Tom Berenger (Platoon)
Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters)
Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet)
Dennis Hopper (Hoosiers)
Ray Liotta (Something Wild)

Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith (A Room with a View)
Linda Kozlowski (Crocodile Dundee)
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (The Color of Money)
Cathy Tyson (Mona Lisa)
Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters)

Best Director: Oliver Stone (Platoon)
Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters)
James Ivory (A Room with a View)
Roland Joffé (The Mission)
Rob Reiner (Stand by Me)

BAFTAs



Best Film: A Room with a View
Hannah and Her Sisters
The Mission
Mona Lisa

Best Actor: Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa)
Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee)
Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters)
Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters)

Best Actress: Maggie Smith (A Room with a View)
Mia Farrow (Hannah and Her Sisters)
Meryl Streep (Out of Africa)
Cathy Tyson (Mona Lisa)

Best Supporting Actor: Ray McAnally (The Mission)
Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa)
Simon Callow (A Room with a View)
Denholm Elliot (A Room with a View)

Best Supporting Actress: Judi Dench (A Room with a View)
Rosanna Arquette (After Hours)
Barbara Hershey (Hannah and Her Sisters)
Rosemary Leach (A Room with a View)

Best Direction: Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters)
Roland Joffé (The Mission)
Neil Jordan (Mona Lisa)
James Ivory (A Room With A View)

Best Original Screenplay: Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)
The Mission (Robert Bolt)
Mona Lisa (David Leland and Neil Jordan)
Crocodile Dundee (Paul Hogan, Ken Shadie and John Cornell)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Out of Africa (Kurt Luedtke)
The Color Purple (Menny Meyjes)
A Room with a View (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala)
Children of a Lesser God (Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff)
Ran (Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni and Masato Ide)

César Awards
Best Film (Meilleur film): Thérèse
37°2 le matin
Jean de Florette
Mélo
Tenue de soirée

Most Promising Actor (Meilleur espoir masculin): Isaach De Bankolé (Black Mic Mac) – interesting sidenote: Isaach De Bankolé is the star of The Limits of Control (how 'bout that?)
Rémi Martin (Conseil de famille)
Jean-Philippe Écoffey (Gardien de la nuit)
Cris Campion (Pirates)

Most Promising Actress (Meilleur espoir féminin): Catherine Mouchet (Thérèse)
Dominique Blanc (La femme de ma vie)
Julie Delpy (Mauvais sang)
Marianne Basler (Rosa la rose, fille publique)

Best Actor (Meilleur acteur): Daniel Auteuil (Jean de Florette)
Jean-Hugues Anglade (37°2 le matin)
Christophe Malavoy (La femme de ma vie)
André Dussollier (Mélo)
Michel Blanc (Tenue de soirée)

Best Actress (Meilleure actrice): Sabine Azéma (Mélo)
Béatrice Dalle (37°2 le matin)
Jane Birkin (La femme de ma vie)
Juliette Binoche (Mauvais sang)
Miou-Miou (Tenue de soirée)

Best Supporting Actor (Meilleur second rôle masculin): Pierre Arditi (Mélo)
Gérard Darmon (37°2 le matin)
Jean-Louis Trintignant (La femme de ma vie)
Claude Piéplu (Le paltoquet)
Jean Carmet (Les fugitifs)

Best Supporting Actress (Meilleur second rôle féminin): Emmanuelle Béart (Manon des sources)
Clémentine Célarié (37°2 le matin)
Marie Dubois (Descente aux enfers)
Danielle Darrieux (Le lieu du crime)
Jeanne Moreau (Le paltoquet)

Best Director (Meilleur réalisateur): Alain Cavalier (Thérèse)
Jean-Jacques Beineix (37°2 le matin)
Claude Berri (Jean de Florette)
Alain Resnais (Mélo)
Bertrand Blier (Tenue de soirée)

Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger): Der Name der Rose
After Hours Hannah and Her Sisters Out of Africa The Mission

Razzies




Worst Picture: Howard the Duck and Under the Cherry Moon (This was the first time two films tied for Worst Picture)
Blue City
Cobra
Shanghai Surprise

Worst Actor: Prince (Under the Cherry Moon)
Emilio Estevez (Maximum Overdrive)
Judd Nelson (Blue City)
Sean Penn (Shanghai Surprise)
Sylvester Stallone (Cobra)

Worst Actress: Madonna (Shanghai Surprise)
Kim Basinger (9 1/2 Weeks)
Joan Chen (Tai Pan)
Brigitte Nielsen-Stallone (Cobra)
Ally Sheedy (Blue City)

Worst Supporting Actor: Jerome Benton (Under the Cherry Moon)
Peter O'Toole (Club Paradise)
Tim Robbins (Howard the Duck)
Brian Thompson (Cobra)
Scott Wilson (Blue City)

Worst Supporting Actress: Dom DeLuise (as Aunt Kate - Haunted Honeymoon)
Louise Fletcher (Invaders from Mars)
Zelda Rubinstein (Poltergeist II)
Beatrice Straight (Power)
Kristin Scott Thomas (Under the Cherry Moon)

Worst Director: Prince (Under the Cherry Moon)
Jim Goddard (Shanghai Surprise)
Willard Huyck (Howard the Duck)
Stephen King (Maximum Overdrive)
Michelle Manning (Blue City)

Worst Screenplay: Howard the Duck (Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz)
Cobra (Sylvester Stallone)
9½ Weeks (Patricia Knop & Zalman King and Sarah Kernochan)
Shanghai Surprise (John Kohn and Robert Bentley)
Under the Cherry Moon (Becky Johnston)

Worst New Star: The six guys and gals in the duck suit (Howard the Duck)
Joan Chen (Tai-Pan)
Mitch Gaylord (American Anthem)
Kristin Scott Thomas (Under the Cherry Moon)
Brian Thompson (Cobra)

Worst Original Song: "Love or Money" (Under the Cherry Moon)
"Howard the Duck" (Howard the Duck)
"I Do What I Do" (9½ Weeks)
"Life in a Looking Glass" (That's Life!)
"Shanghai Surprise" (Shanghai Surprise)

Worst Visual Effects: Howard the Duck Invaders from Mars King Kong Lives
Worst Career Achievement Award
Bruce the rubber shark from Jaws (1975), Jaws 2 (1978) and Jaws 3-D (1983)

Oscars



Best Picture: Platoon
Children of a Lesser God
Hannah and Her Sisters
The Mission
A Room with a View

Best Direction: Oliver Stone (Platoon)
David Lynch (Blue Velvet)
Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters)
Roland Joffé (The Mission)
James Ivory (A Room with a View)

Best Actor: Paul Newman (The Color of Money)
Dexter Gordon (Round Midnight)
William Hurt (Children of a Lesser God)
Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa)
James Woods (Salvador)

Best Actress: Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God)
Sigourney Weaver (Aliens)
Sissy Spacek (Crimes of the Heart)
Jane Fonda (The Morning After)
Kathleen Turner (Peggy Sue Got Married)

Best Supporting Actor: Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters)
Dennis Hopper (Hoosiers)
Tom Berenger (Platoon)
Willem Dafoe (Platoon)
Denholm Elliot (A Room with a View)

Best Supporting Actress: Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters)
Piper Laurie (Children of a Lesser God)
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (The Color of Money)
Tess Harper (Crimes of the Heart)
Maggie Smith (A Room with a View)

Best Original Screenplay: Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)
Crocodile Dundee (Paul Hogan, Ken Shadie and John Cornell)
My Beautiful Laundrette (Hanif Kureishi)
Platoon (Oliver Stone)
Salvador (Oliver Stone and Rick Boyle)

Best Adapted Screenplay: A Room with a View (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala)
Children of a Lesser God (Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff)
The Color of Money (Richard Price)
Crimes of the Heart (Beth Henley)
Stand by Me (Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans)

Full list of 2009's Oscar winners

Best Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Actor: Sean Penn, “Milk”
Best Actress: Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Best Adapted Screenplay: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Original Screenplay: “Milk”
Best Art Direction: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Best Cinematography: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Costume Design: “The Duchess”
Best Film Editing: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Makeup: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Best Music (Original Score): “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Music (Original Song): “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Sound Editing: “The Dark Knight”
Best Sound Mixing: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Visual Effects: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Best Animated Feature Film: “WALL-E”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Departures”
Best Documentary Feature: “Man on Wire”
Best Documentary Short: “Smile Pinki”
Best Short Film (Animated): “La Maison en Petits Cubes”
Best Short Film (Live Action): “Toyland”

2009 Oscar highlights

I can't believe there are Oscar highlights. I fully expected to be miserable and bitchy over the lack of Dark Knight and Revolutionary Road love, but this has been one of the most fun ceremonies I've seen in a long time. I'm glad I watched.

Hugh Jackman hosting
He's great at hosting the Tony Awards and I thought he was great tonight. He was charming and spontaneous. He sang beautifully, the bit he did with Anne Hathaway was hilarious. I hope they have him host again.

The speeches

• Penelope Cruz's speech was touching and I'm not ashamed to admit that she made me cry.
• Dustin Lance Black looked gorgeous and his speech was incredible. I hope one day soon, his dream and Harvey Milk's dream comes true.
• Heath Ledger's family accepting for him was so moving. It's heartbreaking he didn't live to see this day, but his family has decided to celebrate his life. I hope his movies live on for a very long time.
• Kate Winslet won with a gorgeous speech. All the critics who have been hating on her for giving speeches without a script can rant all they want over her win. She won and she deserved it.
• Sean Penn's win was my favorite of the night. Mickey Rourke was the favorite but I thought Sean would win, and he deserved it. You can watch his speech below before it's pulled from youtube:
  
  
  
  

Red carpet highlight
All the young actors from Slumdog Millionaire arrived and they were adorable. They looked so excited to be there.

Random highlight
Chris Nolan looked really hot tonight.

What's your opinion on the ceremony? I can't tell if I'm too giddy about the whole thing because Sean Penn won, so I'd love to get other perspectives.

An Oscar plea to Dark Knight fans

Today is Oscar day. Most years I wake up with butterflies in my stomach and I watch the mindless cooing over free diamonds on the E! network. Right now I'm watching Debbie Snuffleupagus help a bag of bones model (dressed in some neon pink nightmare) put on lipgloss.

There are no butterflies this year. There is no Dark Knight best picture nomination. No Christopher Nolan or Jonathan Nolan nod. It's enough to make you want to boycott. I understand the anger, bitterness, and feeling of betrayal. It's enough to make you understand how Harvey Dent went batshit crazy.


Within the first hour of the ceremony, Heath Ledger will win the Oscar he also deserved three years ago. If you love the Joker, and if you respect Heath Ledger's work, then you know that this is bigger than hurt feelings. Five years from now nobody will remember or care what was nominated for best picture, or what picture won. Heath Ledger's Joker, however, can't be forgotten; the maniacal laugh, the leering at a panicked Rachel Dawes, that magic trick. Watch the Oscars for that.

Watch it to support the crew that created Chris Nolan's masterpiece. Watch it because Jonah Nolan is a classier man than any member of the Academy could hope to be. Watch it because even though in your heart of hearts you want to watch the Oscars burn, you also want to honor the people who gave us one of the most memorable crime dramas in recent memory. Keep watching even as the nominees lose to someone else. Making a film takes blood sweat and tears, and two people involved with The Dark Knight did not live long enough to see this moment. Watch the Oscars for all of them.

These movies do not direct themselves

Ben Lyons points out the obvious charade that is this year's directing Oscar nominations. The Dark Knight has 8 Oscar nominations - among them are nods for Special Effects, Editing, Cinematography, and Sound Mixing. The film's Best Picture snub at the Oscars is easily explained, but the nominees did not direct themselves. Christopher Nolan deserved a nomination.


Ben Lyons might be a hack and a tool, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. It's a crying shame that the only thing that interests me about this year's Oscars are seeing Heath Ledger win and swooning over Hugh Jackman. I'd upload the rest of Lyons' mindless ramblings, but I don't want to make your ears bleed.