Too busy last week to go through all the movie news?  Here’s a look at what you missed!

Since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 opened last week, who can think of anything else?  Here’s an all-Harry, all the time edition.  Think of it as a last hurrah for The Boy Who Lived….

* Box office: as you might expect, Harry Potter dominated this weekend, with a record-breaking first day and weekend.  Sweeping up after Harry are the Transformers, Horrible Bosses, Zookeeper and Cars 2.

* Haven’t seen the movie yet?  The wonderfully talented gals at Forever Young Adult have a Harry Potter drinking game that will get you (thrown out of the theater if you’re busted) “in the spirit”.  So sneak in a small flask and…drink!

* Wonder how real witches and wizards feel about Harry?  Well, there may not be flying broomsticks or a Room of Requirement, but some very real pagans weigh in on how their lives have been changed.  As if by magic….

* MTV has been pulling out all the stops for the final Harry film, and now that it’s in theaters they have five reasons you need to see it, the ten best Harry scenes, and ridiculous spin-off ideas  (none of them fanfic.  Yet.)  Total Film weighs in on the fifty greatest Harry Potter characters.  Yes, fifty.

* Not to be outdone, Slate has everything you need to know about Harry in six minutes.  Accio, awesomeness!

* Love the stars as much as the story (Neville, Fred & George — FTW!!!)?  HuffPo gives you a peek into what’s next for the gang.

* Speaking of our gang, like Harry?  Of course you do.  Like classic rock album covers?  Who doesn’t, they’re awesome.  Combine the two, and you have…something I’d like on my wall please.  And thank you, Nextmovie.

* If you’re still sad about the series coming to a celluloid end, there are very good reasons why you shouldn’t be, courtesy of Nextmovie.com.

* And, of course, you can now feel free to obsess over Twilight: Breaking Dawn or Hunger Games.  It won’t be the same, but it’ll do.  It’ll do.

While most movie fans are anxiously awaiting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, I’ve been wondering how Harry, Hermione and Ron will fare once this beloved francise finally draws to a close.  Not that I won’t be front and center for Part 2, but moviegoers everywhere have seen these kids grow up into full fledged actors.  What will be next for them?

So far, Rupert Grint is becoming quite the indie actor, Emma Watson is the face of Burberry and Lancome while juggling school and her own movie career…and Daniel Radcliffe?  He’s on Broadway with John Larroquette in  How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.  Daniel hasn’t given up movies though.  His next film, The Woman In Black, is based on the well-known play touted as “the most terrifying live experience in the world”.  Having seen the play in London years ago, I have to agree.  The play delivers quite a shock, even though the cast is limited to two actors, and the set is nothing more than black curtains and a trunk. IMDb describes the movie as “[a] young lawyer travels to a remote village to organize a recently deceased client’s papers, where he discovers the ghost of a scorned woman set on vengeance.”  Intrigued?  Here’s the trailer they showed at Kapow! Comic Con:

What should get any horror movie buff drooling is the fact that The Woman In Black is made by Hammer Films, the legendary movie company that launched a thousand Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing films.  Okay, maybe not a thousand, but close.

The movie is slated to open in February, 2012.

Harry Potter has become a magical experience on the big screen. Kids and Adults alike flock to the theaters in droves to see Harry and his next adventure. I am fan, not of the books  (I don’t know how to read), but of the films, they have steadily gotten better as the years at Hogwarts have gone on. I really enjoy the story that has become Harry Potter and his story.

With the above precursors on who I am as a Harry Potter fan, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 left a lot to be desired in my eyes. For what it was a setup film, it was great. As a Harry Potter film, not so much. The critic next to me woke himself up multiple times by snoring loudly during the film, tells you a bit about what he thought.

The movie itself as a bridge movie was a great film. Knowing that it’s only that, the film production, special effects just raised the bar for the finale. The dialogue was a lot compared to the other films, rightfully so, but was indeed a very large part of the film. The magic is lacking. The action is missing. The dialogue was heavy.

The storyline follows Harry as they confront Voldemort head on and it’s an interesting spin on the fight between good and evil. We see Harry and his friends come together to fight the evil that is taking over the wizard world along with confronting the Muggle’s . From learning about the Deathly Hallows to investigating the Horcruxes the landscape of the film was bland in my eyes.

The content of the film has gotten more and more dark. This film brings about a sexual tension that is newly introduced, and portrayed in a way that isn’t for eyes of the younger Potter fanbase. A dark aura of death and destruction also plays a large part in this looming conclusion to the series. In my fatherly voice I would advise no kids to see this. Honestly I would be appalled if a 13 year old or under saw the film. What makes me sad is that they made a HUGE franchise that most folks have seen and love to death and now made the ending something that some folks shouldn’t. I am aware the books have been written already!

I know this review will get flamed by the majority of folks out there, I honestly wanted to love this film. It just isn’t that great, well for a Harry Potter film that is.

With all of the above said, I will NOT be skipping the Blu-Ray release, it’s a must have in your collection, BUT just know it’s possibly the weakest link.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

The above rating comes strictly for what this movie was on it’s own, trying not to compare it to other films or what is to come!

Today at Comic-Con saw less news, but much more high-profile announcements. Most of the action took place in Hall H, which was bogged down with some serious line management problems, but we’ve got it all summed up right here for you.

The first big presentation of the day was from Warner Bros. First, the first footage from Green Lantern was screened. Although nothing spectacular, the fans enjoyed it overall, but were disappointed with the lack of Reynolds in the suit. This only confirms the fact that the suit is a work-in-progress. Still, I am looking forward to this film and hope that it can be a simple, fun superhero origin story, which we haven’t seen a lot of recently. Also, I’m looking forward to the more fantastical elements of the hero. Producer Donald DeLine said that many other Green Lanterns are featured and that the movie is part space opera, which is a good sign that they’re not ignoring that area of the Green Lantern mythos. And although the Green Lantern announcements are cool, DC has really not stepped up their game to challenge Marvel’s cinematic dominance. Geoff Johns is now in charge of their creative decisions moving forward, which is a great move, but the company has not centralized their film properties as Marvel has to such enormous success. Also, there was no word on Batman, which was a huge missed opportunity. Still, I’m hoping that after Green Lantern DC gets their act together and makes something great, maybe a Justice League movie? (Although I’m torn on whether or not Chris Nolan’s Batman should be a part of anything like that.) After a short Harry Potter trailer and panel, Zack Snyder came onstage for Sucker Punch. This new movie is based on his idea and stars an ensemble cast of women who are breaking out of a mental institution and includes Carla Gugino, Jamie Chung, Vanessa Hudgens, Jena Malone and Emily Browning. I’m not sure what to think about this movie, but the footage got a fantastic reception and it sounds truly unique. Hopefully the trailer gets released online soon so we all can see it.

Let Me In, the American remake of the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In, has had an enormous 360 when it comes to the public’s view. After a period of resenting the fact that such a movie was being remade, it seems like every detractor has been shut up by footage from the upcoming movie. I know I wasn’t too excited for this, but now its definitely on my radar. Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), from what I can tell, is doing a fantastic job helming the movie. He talked about how Steven Spielberg gave him tips for interacting with young actors, and that is what has me most excited for this film. Both Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) and Chloe Grace Moretz ((500) Days of Summer, Kick-Ass) have a lot of potential to give amazing performances and I hope they both pull it off. Check out this trailer for the film:

At this point, Hall H screeched to a halt after a fight broke out. It’s still unclear what actually happened, but the prevailing rumor is that someone asked another guy to move and when he didn’t, he stabbed him in the face with a pen. That’s speculation, but the scene was pretty grisly with blood everywhere and the victim being taken out on a stretcher, all with 8 or 9 cops in the vicinity.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost then introduced their new film, Paul. In the movie, the duo travel to Comic-Con and then embark on a road trip to Roswell, New Mexico. On the way they meet an alien named Paul, who is voiced by Seth Rogen. Paul is directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad) and the supporting cast includes Sigourney Weaver, Jason Bateman, and Jeffrey Tambor. I am really looking forward to this movie as Pegg and Frost are consistently hilarious and the story is pretty original. Paul is not your typical alien – he basically thinks of himself as an everyday Joe. Road trips are always pretty fun so having one with this trio of comedians and an alien should be awesome.

Once again Jon Favreau showed his skill at captivating the geek demographic by creating huge anticipation for Cowboys & Aliens, his new movie starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, and Sam Rockwell. Although the idea is great, it takes skill to blend such two very different genres, but Favreau is going for a very Western feel. After explaining that he is trying to emulate the Sergio Leone/John Ford films of the 40s and 50s, while using practical effects from the 80s as well as CGI for the aliens, he decided to just screen some early footage. Although the crew has only been shooting for three weeks, attendees were very impressed by the scene. In a surprise appearance, Harrison Ford was brought on stage in handcuffs by two security guards. It was his first appearance at the convention and the crowd went nuts. This a natural reaction, of course, to the man who played Han Solo and Indiana Jones, as well as many other awesome characters. I hope Favreau can really nail the Western feel and deliver a really fun, interesting film due out next summer, July 29th.

Now the presentation you’ve all been waiting for: Marvel. What Marvel is doing with their properties on film is incredible. By going independent and forming Marvel Studios where writers can collaborate and come up with great, interlocking stories for all of their superheroes, the company shows that it knows what its doing. Hopefully the result will be incredible, but there are a lot of moving parts, and all of them must come together perfectly. Captain America was first, as a short teaser showed Chris Evans in full costume throwing the iconic shield at the camera. After some discussion, the filmmakers actually had some footage to show which involved Hugo Weaving as Red Skull searching for an artifact that has something to do with Odin. I really like the Indiana Jones/World War II period piece vibe I’m getting for this movie. I hope Joe Johnston can create a very good atmosphere and seeing Cap killing Nazis is going to be sweet. Next up was Thor, which is much farther into production. A lot of footage was shown, and I can’t wait to see the trailer. Apparently the costumes are not nearly as cheesy as they looked in the first images we were shown. Reactions were very positive, which is a relief. Finally, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige brought on The Avengers. After years of rumors, this movie is finally actually happening. The final lineup was announced: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman/Black Widow, Chris Hemsworth as Donald Blake/Thor, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk (see the full cast in the photo from the event). It’s going to be insane seeing so many heroes on screen at the same time. I hope Joss Whedon can bring together all of this madness and deliver an amazing film.

Behold the cast of "The Avengers"

Well that was a very big day at Comic-Con, and while we knew most of this going in, it was still awesome to see all of these projects materializing before our eyes. Its going to hard, but we can’t fuel the hype too much. I’m looking forward to all of these films as much as anyone, but I’m not going to let the anticipation ruin my enjoyment of the movies as movies.

Atomic Popcorn has a GREAT giveaway for you today! Want to read the fastest selling book of all time and experience the adventure from the beginning! Enter to win the complete Harry Potter box set in paperback!

One (1) winner will receive:

• $50 VISA CashCard
• The complete paperback box set (books 1-7)

One (1) winner will receive:

• The complete paperback box set (books 1-7)

To enter, simply become a fan of Atomic Popcorn on Facebook and tells us which Harry Potter book is your favorite and why RIGHT HERE. You must use that link to tell us your favorite book or else you will not be entered into the contest! It’s that simple.

Please don’t forget to check out Scholastic’s national sweepstakes. They are giving away 4 family trips to Universal Orlando Resort’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which opens June 18th!

Check out the Harry Potter book trailer below:

Shipping Guidelines:

The Harry Potter giveaway is open to participants with a United States mailing address only (international readers can enter if they have a friend in the States who can accept their prizes by mail.)

Retail Value:

Box set retail value is $86.99

The contest will run through Friday, April 30th at 11:59 EST. Winners will be notified via facebook and twitter.

Take the above tagline with as much salt as you need but the fine folks over at the Harry Potter fan site of Snitchseeker have a tidbit of information you may want to hear about. Matthew Lewis, the actor better known as Neville Longbottom, has gone on record saying “It’s bloody and it’s gory and it’s very real.” in speaking of Deathly Hallows.

Without much thought I think this is great. As we have seen the friends at Hogwarts growing up together so sneaks in real life and much more mature situations etc. I am sure this is something we were all aware of after reading the final chapter of Harry’s life in the Deathly Hallows.

Here is what he had to say:

The previous ones have had a formula: You go to school, bad things happen and he [Harry] sorts it out and jobs a good en’ nice ending. But in this year it’s all completely different. They’re [the trio] not in the school for a start and, literally, it’s such an epic battle. It’s like something from the Lord of the Rings. And David [Yates, director] as well and Steve Kloves [screenwriter] haven’t shied away from the more severe stuff in it that was in the book. It’s bloody and it’s gory and it’s very real. But it’s been cool and it’s not like anything I’ve had to do before. So I think you’re going to enjoy it.

“It’s something that we’ve not tried before. We’re trying to keep as much stuff as they can from the book in the film. We want to hit all the points and no one’s making it into a good film everyone enjoys – we’re going to stick to the book and we’re gonna say, ‘Look, some of it is quite harrowing, some of its quite serious. People do die and you’re just gonna have to …’ It’s not sugar-coated. It’s right there, it’s quite raw and all the performances have had to step up.”

Here are a few videos to go along with it.

What do you think? When do you want to see a trailer? I honestly am excited to get to November!

Here it is at last! The 2010 Academy Awards! Who’s bringing home the Oscars? James Cameron or Kathryn Bigelow, or will Tarantino stage an upset? Will The Dude Lebowski have a best actor win under his belt? The stars are crossing the Red Carpet right now and in a few hours Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will be hosting 82nd Academy Awards.

Prior the main event, you can check out the AP staff picks for all of the winners and check back often as I’ll be updating all the wins with my own commentary as the evening progresses. Feel free to drop your own guesses and thoughts on the evening as it progresses.

Me, I’m pulling for District 9 for best screenplay!

See you at the Oscars!

Updated! The entire list of winners with my thoughts and earlier predictions below:

— Motion Picture: “The Hurt Locker.”

— Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart.”

— Actress: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side.”

— Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds.”

— Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

— Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker.”

— Foreign Film: “El Secreto de Sus Ojos,” Argentina.

— Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

— Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, “The Hurt Locker.”

— Animated Feature Film: “Up.”

— Art Direction: “Avatar.”

— Cinematography: “Avatar.”

— Sound Mixing: “The Hurt Locker.”

— Sound Editing: “The Hurt Locker.”

— Original Score: “Up,” Michael Giacchino.

— Original Song: “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart,” Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

— Costume: “The Young Victoria.”

— Documentary Feature: “The Cove.”

— Documentary (short subject): “Music by Prudence.”

— Film Editing: “The Hurt Locker.”

— Makeup: “Star Trek.”

— Animated Short Film: “Logorama.”

— Live Action Short Film: “The New Tenants.”

— Visual Effects: “Avatar.”

Best actor in a supporting role:

Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Matt Damon in Invictus
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Woody Harrelson in The Messenger

Updated:  And the first award of the night goes to Christoph Waltz! No surprises there, but it’s nice to see him win. Waltz was a fantastic villain and it’s good to see new fresh faces take home awards. A nice short acceptance speech that thanked his  fellow filmmakers on ‘embarking on this journey.’

My guess: With the exception of Tucci, who was one-note in a revolting role, all of these performances were good. But it’s Waltz who really zings in Inglorious Basterds and elevates the movie he’s in with his presence. Waltz also doesn’t come with the baggage these others have, allowing the Academy to really focus on the singular work he’s done here.

 Matt’s Pick: Christoph Waltz

Creth’s Pick: Christoph Waltz

Brett’s Pick: Christoph Waltz

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Animated feature film

 
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

Absolutely loved the way they introduced this award, with each of the animated protagonists briefly talking about being nominated. Great way to quickly showcase the films and give the Oscar telecast some pep it’s lacking in the awkward Baldwin/Martin team-up. As I watched this I was reminded how great all of these movies are. And Up wins of course! Nice to see Pete Doctor thank his wife and family! Nice, touching moment with a cutaway to his wife in the audience.

My pick: Up has this one in the bag. The fact it was nominated for a best picture it has no chance of winning pretty much clinches it. Pixar is almost always an unstoppable beast in this category. Confession though: It’s not even close to being my favorite of the five choices. I’m a much bigger fan of Mr. Fox and Coraline, which were both odd and brilliant in equal measure. Disney had a great return to form with Princess and Secret of Kells, the mysterious visitor to the list, is a great little bit of art.

Matt’s Pick: Up

Creth’s Pick: Up

Brett’s Pick: Up

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Music (original song)  

Almost There, from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans, from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname, from Paris 36 by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
Take it All, from Nine by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind, from Crazy Heart by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

The Weary Kind wins the award and takes home the Oscar! Interesting though, have they stopped performing Oscar nominated songs? Usually this one comes far later in the evening after all have played. Must have missed that. Loved this song and it makes me want to grab the soundtrack. Nice perf by Colin in the film as well.
 
Nate’s pick: The Weary Kind. Bingham and Burnett are a hard team to beat and the song is part of the film itself and related to Bridges performance. No one saw Paris, and I think the two Princess songs will cancel each other out. Although I loved Princess and the Frog, none of the songs were particularly memorable.

Matt’s pick: Down in New Orleans

Creth’s pick: The Weary Kind

Brett’s pick: The Weary Kind

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A John Hughes tribute? The classiest thing the program has done all night! Bravo! Nice to see all of those actors up there all these years later giving Hughes his due.

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Writing (original screenplay)

 The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Petersen)
The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)

Mark Boal wins for The Hurt Locker. Not too surprising. This is the first win of the night for the film, and a good sign. Let’s see how the rest of the night goes.

My pick: The work that Mark Boal did here is very good in movie terms but recently there’s been plenty of discussion as to how much of it was journalistically accurate. Will that hurt its chances? In a different year, probably, but the truth is that Bigelow’s final film speaks more loudly than anything else (including the recent producer scandals) and the other nominees, save for Basterds, don’t have the gumption to best it. If the Academy does decide it wants to punish Boal, expect them to give it to Tarantino.

Matt’s Pick: The Hurt Locker

Creth’s Pick: Inglorious Basterds

Brett’s Pick: Inglorious Basterds

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Short film (animated)
French Roast (Fabrice O Joubert)
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell)
Logorama (Nicolas Schmerkin)
The Lady and the Reaper (Javier Recio Gracia)
A Matter of Loaf and Death (Nick Park

Logorama? I hadn’t heard of this one prior to the win. What a cool idea! Love the strange animation style and the basic premise; characters running about in a world made up of brand names, icons and slogans. Definitely gonna have to seek this out.
 

My pick: A Matter of Loaf and Death. The Lady and the Reaper is a really fantastic bit of animation, but I suspect that voters are more than happy to welcome Park and his animated characters back into the Oscar fold.

Matt’s Pick: French Roast  

Creth’s Pick: French Roast

Brett’s Pick: A Matter of Loaf and Death

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Documentary (short subject)

China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill)
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner (Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher)
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert)
Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett)
Rabbit à la Berlin (Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra)

Music by Prudence wins and it certainly was a worthy film. I have to say though, that was a terribly rude and awkward moment where one of the winners interrupted the other and then steamrolled them by using the excuse “they always let the man talk first’. Totally unprofessional, but then that seems to be the theme this year.

My pick: Music by Prudence: I’ve seen exactly one of these short films, and by default that’s the one I picked. It helps that Music By Prudence is a delightful little movie and may actually have a shot at it.

Matt’s pick: Music by Prudence

Creth’s pick: Music by Prudence

Brett’s pick: Music by Prudence

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Short film (live action)

 
The Door (Juanita Wilson and James Flynn)
Instead of Abracadabra (Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström)
Kavi (Gregg Helvey)
Miracle Fish (Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey)
The New Tenants (Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson)

Never seen the New Tenants but it looks interesting. I was just eager to wash the taste of that last embarrasing display away but then the technical team goes right ahead and plays music over one of the recepients as he’s talking. I’m pretty sure they did this two years ago too when Stewart was hosting. If I remember correctly, it was for ‘best song’ when Falling Slowly from Once won.

My pick: Miracle Fish is a perfectly quirky bit that I enjoyed very much. Will it win? Hard to say. The Door might have a shot as well. Kavi’s worth seeing too. Hoping to see a collection of these released soon so I can catch up with the rest.

Matt’s Pick: Kavi  

Creth’s Pick: Kavi

Brett’s Pick: Miracle Fish

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Makeup

Il Divo (Aldo Signoreti and Vittorio Sodano)
The Young Victoria (Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore)
Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow)

Star Trek wins! Awesome. Loved the work they did here and feel they captured the ST universe in a way it previously hadn’t been. For a franchise that started out with the worst kind of pancake makeup, they have come a very long distance. Must say though, after five seconds Stiller’s Na’vi routine wasn’t working for me.

My  pick: Star Trek. Granted, the makeup in Young Victoria is fantastic, but Trek isn’t just giving us the best conceivable version of these characters, visually speaking, it’s also delivering subtle suggestions of the older actors in the younger actors and that’s really hard to pull off. My personal favorite makeup job is the little alien who looks like he’s made out of Cabbage but let’s give some shout outs to the green gal too.  

Matt’s pick: The Young Victoria

Creth’s pick: Star Trek

Brett’s pick: The Young Victoria

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Writing (adapted screenplay)

 
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)
An Education (Nick Hornby)
Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)
In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche)

Precious wins the award! I didn’t see this one happening at all, but you know, at least this throws in some surprises. Precious was a difficult work to translate to film and Fletcher managed it beautifully. A great script for a great movie and a pretty darn good acceptance speech too. Maybe Precious will have a bigger night than we guessed.

My pick:  District 9. Although I loved the wonderfully witty screenplay for In the Loop, I don’t believe it has any sort of chance at winning. That may be true too for District 9, but if you consider the fact that it’s one of two big sci-fi pictures nominated this year and the other has been chastised for a lackluster script and generic story, it might pull an upset. The script had all the nuance and originality lacking in Avatar, but it’s highly probable that Up in the Air could gum up the works. I can see this going either way and I’m pulling for Blomkamp. If the Academy wants to honor him at all, this is probably the only feasible chance to do so.

Matt’s Pick: Up In The Air

Creth’s Pick: Up In The Air

Brett’s Pick: Up In The Air

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Actress in a supporting role

Mo’Nique in Precious

Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Penélope Cruz in Nine
Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart

Mo’Nique taking the award and doing it with some class and style. I liked this moment a lot. Maybe the best one so far. Go Precious!

My pick:  Mo’Nique

Vera Farmigia is definitely my personal favorite of five and the work she does in Up In The Air is mostly very subtle for long stretches of the film. Ultimately though, it’s Mo’Nique who makes the biggest leap forward from previous roles and hers is also the performance that is most emotionally commanding. I think she’s got this one.

Matt’s Pick: Mo’Nique

Creth’s Pick: Mo’Nique

Brett’s Pick: Mo’Nique
 

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Actress in a leading role

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

Bullock takes the award! I can live with that. She had a cute little acceptance speech. Loved the line “Did I deserve this, or did I just wear you down?” Nice addition of shouting out to all the mothers who “take care of the babies” and the tribute to her own late mother. Good for you Sandy!

My pick: There’s probably a very good chance Bullock will walk away Sunday with the Oscar. Part of it may come from the fact she’s surrounded this role with several lackluster comedies that aren’t very flattering to her acting ability. Where that worked against Eddie Murphy back in 06, it works for Bullock because Blind Side came after those other films and aimed at and surprised her fan base. However, I’m going with Gabourey Sidibe because it stands to reason that if Mo’nique can win for Precious than certainly the big beating heart of the movie, Sidibe, has a shot. Add to that the fact that Sidibe is a first-time actor who takes a problematic, easily-botched role and gives us a completely plausible and sympathetic human being. She should win and I think she’s got more of a chance than most think.

Matt’s Pick: Meryl Streep

Creth’s Pick: Sandra Bullock

Brett’s Pick: Sandra Bullock

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Actor in a leading role

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

My pick: Bridges, no contest. Jeff has been doing great work all through his career and I’ve got a soft spot for his performances in Fearless and Starman. Even if you aren’t as familiar with Bridges past work or aren’t a fan, it’s hard to argue with how completely he embraces the character of . You couldn’t ask for a more plausible grizzled, world-weary country singer, even if Kris Kristofferson was playing the part himself. I suppose Clooney has a shot, but I’m pretty sure we are gonna get to hear The Dude give his acceptance speech.

Who didn’t guess that Bridges acceptance speech would be the most fun. It’s always great to hear a winner use terms like ‘groovy’ and the ‘biz’ in the middle of a big spiffy event like the Oscars and be completely sincere about it. Bridges is the man and his few minutes on stage were genuinely more heartfelt than a good bit of the rest of this. Entertaining too.

Matt’s Pick: Jeff Bridges

Creth’s Pick: Jeff Bridges

Brett’s Pick: Jeff Bridges

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Foreign language film
Ajami (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel)
A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France)
The Secret of Her Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina)
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, Germany)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)

The Secret of Her Eyes takes the award! I rather like that something I’m not familiar with won. Every time that has happened in the past in this category. I find myself seeking it out and being rewarded with a treasure. I’m looking forward to catching up with this one. Seriously, though, see A Prophet if you can, it’s fantastic.

My pick: This is a hard one because I’ve only actually seen two of these, A Prophet and The White Ribbon. My guess is that both of them are the primary contenders and both are worthwhile movies. The Academy has gone flipping for Haneke before and he won big accolades at Cannes last May, so Ribbon has that going for it. For my money, A Prophet is possibly the best film of the year and after Sunday I’m confident that it will have the same kind of unexpected publicity that previous winners like Lives of Others and Departures got.

 Matt’s Pick: A Prophet

Creth’s Pick: The White Ribbon

Brett’s Pick: The White Ribbon

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Directing

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

Bigelow gets the award! This sets Hurt Locker up for the big win! I expected this, but it’s really shaping up to be a steamroll for Locker vs. Avatar. Add in that sort of ridiculous Stiller moment and I think it’s safe to say Cameron’s reception here isn’t what it was some 12 years ago. Kudos for Bigelow giving a modest acceptance speech that never referred to herself as queen or included a line about her dominion over the planet.

My pick: This is a really interesting category. Kathryn Bigelow battling it out with ex-husband James Cameron? How ‘bout the fact both have atypical Oscar juggernauts that feature men of war in pictures awash in adrenaline and action? That being said, I think this one belongs to Kathryn. Balancing realism, exhilaration and escapism (even if we are ready to get back out five minutes in) is hard to do and she excelled at it. There are suspense pieces in this film that Hitchcock would be proud of. Bigelow deserves it and I think she will easily dethrone the King of the World on this one.

Matt’s Pick: The Hurt Locker

Creth’s Pick: The Hurt Locker

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Best picture

Avatar (James Cameron and Jon Landau, producers)
District 9 (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, producers)
An Education (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, producers)
The Hurt Locker (nominees to be determined)
Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender, producer)
Precious (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, producers)
A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, producers)
Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, producers)
The Blind Side (nominees to be determined)
Up (Jonas Rivera, producer)

And The Hurt Locker claims the big prize! Awesome and nicely done. In the end, I think this was the right choice. A pretty strong close to an evening I felt was otherwise rather haphazard. All in all, I guess it’s about what one expects from The Oscars.

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Art direction

 
Avatar (art direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; set decoration: Kim Sinclair)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (art direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; set decoration: Caroline Smith)
Nine (art direction: John Myhre; set decoration: Gordon Sim)
Sherlock Holmes (art direction: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer)
The Young Victoria (art direction: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Maggie Gray)

What? Avatar won? How did this happen? Amazing acceptance speech though from Robert Stromberg, who shared the award with Rick Carter and Kim Sinclair. “You know, 13 years ago, the doctors told me I wasn’t going to survive and I thought that this dream of standing here would never come true,” he said. “And here we are…” This is perhaps the most well deserved award of the night, save for the vfx guys. Cameron and the rest wouldn’t even be here without them.

My pick: Avatar. This is where the movie is going clean house. Half the reason it’s been nominated for the big prizes is because of how breathtakingly ground-breaking it is on the technical end of things. If you can point out a more stunning elaborate use of art direction this year, I don’t think it will be found on that list. The other films are fine, but none of them frankly come close to what Cameron’s team put together. Pandora was an entire world and culture that felt organic as you were watching it.

Matt’s Pick: Avatar

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Cinematography

 
Avatar (Mauro Fiore)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bruno Delbonnel)
The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)
Inglourious Basterds (Robert Richardson)
The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)

My pick: Avatar. The man invented his own camera specifically for the film. Nuff said. Unless of course, you feel that what was done on the movie is less ‘cinematography’ then special effects editing. Still, some of the best and most effective 3-D shots in the films were captured on the ship and inside the human compound. I’m guessing the only potential competition is Hurt Locker, which found fresh, harrowing ways to visualize the explosions.  

Finally, some reliable Avatar love! Still, I don’t think the movie got the traction it expected. Oh well, it’s not like a lack of awards is going to keep Cameron awake at night. I hear it’s easy to get back to sleep on a bed of money.

Matt’s Pick: Inglorious Basterds

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Costume design
Bright Star (Janet Patterson)
Coco Before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)
Nine (Colleen Atwood)
The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)

Yawn. The Young Victoria wins. Deserving? sure. Best work of the nominees? No. SandyPowell doing faux modesty while name dropping her three wins is pretty much par for the Oscar course.

My pick: Bright Star. Period pieces always stand a great chance in this category but there is something wholly refreshing and authentic about the work done in Bright Star, the touching biopic about John Keats and his love Fanny Brawne. Fanny herself was a fashion designer and made many of her own clothes which are highlighted extensively in the picture. But it isn’t just that, it’s the perfect way in which all of the clothing/wardrobe choices accentuate and define the characters. The cinematography on the film was deeply sumptuous and the costume work managed to keep pace with it. Fabulous stuff.

Matt’s Pick: The Young Victoria

Creth’s Pick: The Young Victoria

Brett’s Pick: Bright Star

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Documentary (feature)

 
Burma VJ (Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller)
The Cove (nominees to be determined)
Food, Inc (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein)
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith)
Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)

The Cove wins the award! Good form and perhaps it will lead others to discover this great film. As usual, there are those pesky shots of the other nominees looking on longingly as the winners take the stage. If I were Daniel Ellsberg, I think I’d look at those cutaways of me and feel like I had just shown up to school naked.

My pick: The Cove. Easily one of the most entertaining documentaries I’ve seen in some time, The Cove plays out like a narrative adventure while also drawing alarming attention to its subject. There’s a really fine line it walks between trying to give us a story we can follow and deliver a fair and intelligent look at all sides of the issue. There’s an odd mash-up of Jacques Cousteau meets Ocean’s Eleven. I’m counting on this one to take home the gold.

Matt’s pick: Food Inc.

Creth’s pick: The Cove

Brett’s pick: The Cove

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Film editing

 
Avatar (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron)
District 9 (Julian Clarke)
The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)
Inglourious Basterds (Sally Menke)
Precious (Joe Klotz)

This is the death blow to Avatar. The Hurt Locker grabs the film editing award.

My  pick: The Hurt Locker. Yes, this is another significant technical achievement that seemingly Avatar should scoop up. There’s more going on here though. Typically if a film wins film editing it also wins best picture. There have been very few deviations from this theory. If the Academy goes for Hurt Locker in the best pic and directing category, which I suspect they might, then it’s not a big stretch to give it this too. It’s also helpful that Hurt Locker may actually be more deserving of the editing award than Avatar. The suspense scenes are integral to the Hurt Locker and it’s the way all of those elements are cut together that makes those scenes work.

Matt’s pick: Avatar

Creth’s pick: Inglorious Basterds

Brett’s pick: The Hurt Locker

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Music (original score)
Avatar (James Horner)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
Up (Michael Giacchino)
The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders)
Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

Up wins? I can certainly live with that. Afterall, Michael Giacchino did some great work, not just on this but the Star Trek score as well. Nice job Giacchino!

My  pick: Avatar. A fine epic score that sometimes scoots over into new age ambient chanting a bit too much for my taste, but is engaging all the same. Is it the best score? Nah. That’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, hands down. But Avatar’s score is integral to the overall effect of the movie and that’s going to work in its favor. Plus, a lot more people saw Avatar than Fox.

Matt’s pick: Avatar

Creth’s pick: The Fantastic Mr. Fox  

Brett’s pick: Avatar

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Sound editing

 
Avatar (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson)
Inglourious Basterds (Wylie Stateman)
Star Trek (Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin)
Up (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers)

More awards for The Hurt Locker! Expect the sound mixing to follow suit then.

My pick: Avatar. Cameron is a technical guru and in addition to the slamming visuals his film has some of the finest sound design I’ve ever heard. This, perhaps as much so as the 3D, goes a long way to making the movie an interactive experience. Nothing else comes close.

Matt’s Pick: Avatar

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Sound mixing

 
Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson)
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson and Ray Beckett)
Inglourious Basterds (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano)
Star Trek (Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J Devlin)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Greg P Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson)

My pick: Avatar. Duh.

Matt’s Pick: Avatar

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Visual effects

 
Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones)
District 9 (Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken)
Star Trek (Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton)

Avatar. As far as the Academy is concerned, I tend to think awarding Avatar’s visual effects is to honor it for everything they valued about it. I can’t see it having gotten nominated for best picture without that massive box office. Again, it little matters about the lack of other awards. People will be watching this for years to c0me on home video I think and Cameron and his artists landed a grand achievement.

My pick: Avatar. All of these are great looking movies and best of all, each also happens to be a stellar science fiction movie. Back in 99 there was an upset where Matrix bested Phantom Menace for visual effects, mostly because voters thought of Matrix as the better movie. Could that happen again with District 9? Not a chance.

Matt’s Pick: Avatar

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

Percy Jackson desperately wants to be Harry Potter.

He’s got a duo of friends like Harry, a magical school and a patient tutor, a fabled quest for a magical object, and a movie with a title nine miles long. For the film, he’s even snagged Harry’s original director, Chris Columbus. The good news for Percy is that his first outing on the big screen is an exciting and enjoyable fantasy feature that plunges headlong into the kind of delicious matinee daydreams Ray Harryhausen delivered in his prime.

Based on a series of novels by author Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief tells the story of teenage Percy who learns he is a little more than your average high-school student when the world of Greek mythology comes crashing into his reality. Turns out he’s actually a demi-God, half mortal and half divine, conceived by the philandering deity, Poseidon (Kevin McKidd), whose aquatic abilities he’s inherited.

Apparently, Captain Trident picked up Jackson’s mother on the Jersey Shore and then headed off to the nearest Day’s Inn to shake the pillars of heaven, leaving shortly after. Years later, Percy is living in anonymity with his mom (Catherine Keener) and belligerent stepdad (Joe Pantoliano) when Zeus’ lightning bolt goes missing and he targets the young half-breed as the thief.

Now, the people closest to Percy are revealing themselves as mythical forces both benign and malevolent, and when he’s attacked by a monster hiding in human form, his guardian, Chiron, steps up to protect him. Chiron (Pierce Brosnan), who is confined to a wheelchair in his mortal guise, is actually a centaur and tutor to the demi-gods, whose ranks also include Percy’s pals Grover Underwood (Brandon T. Jackson) and Annabeth Chase (Alexandra Daddario). All three have superhuman powers, and Chiron’s school at Olympus will teach them how to harness those abilities.

As you can see, it’s a little bit X-Men, a whole lot Rowling and both mixed with a healthy dash of Clash of the Titans. The story isn’t terribly original, and I imagine it has been further simplified from the novel in order to cram an inordinate number of big fantasy action set pieces into the two hour running time.

None of this is really a problem, because Columbus demonstrates a sure hand in the direction and the pacing of the film, both things he hadn’t yet mastered when he directed the first two Potter pictures. This one flies right along, giving us as many monsters, magical beings and thunderous battle scenes as can be achieved without losing sight of Percy and his comrades.

When all manner of special effects are being flung across the scene, Lerman, Jackson and Daddario play stabilizing center with performances that aren’t extraordinary but contain exactly the energy the parts call for. Brosnan walks around with a horse’s rear attached to his bottom half and wears it well enough that no one bats an eye while Sean Bean is appropriately petulant and authoritative as Zeus. My two favorite characters, however, are Uma Thurman’s daffy Medusa, whose snake-hair is kind of beautiful in a late 90’s Madonna kind of way, and Steve Coogan’s always amusing Hades, who can be menacing when he isn’t channeling an aged rock star.

What actually distinguishes Olympians as a worthy piece of adventure filmmaking is its light and amusing tone. There’s not as much pomp and circumstance here as there is in the Twilight films, and the mythological element is refreshing because it actually plays into the storyline while remaining true to the thematic gist of the old Greek legends.

There’s even a kind of poignancy to the plot threads involving absentee parents and familial bonds that prove stronger than celestial wrath. On the outside, The Lightning Thief may look like one more cookie-cutter fantasy movie, but instead it’s a wonderful and pleasing matinee adventure.

Hey, there’s also a fire-breathing Hydra. You really can’t ask for much more than that.

Rating: ★★★½☆