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Would a studio rather have an Oscar winning movie or a big blockbuster?  That seems to be a big question out of Hollywood studio execs and although it may seem that studios would want the best quality movie possible, the answer is they don’t care.  Cause like anything else, it’s all about money, and big blockbusters are big money.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen just won the 2009 Razzie award for Worst Movie of the Year.  Well it also was one of the top money making movies of the year, so as bad as it was, it made a ton of money, and already a 3D third movie is in talks.

But recently a ton of big blockbusters have been very bad.  Sure they have crazy CGI technology and may be entertaining, but they are terrible.  It seems the new trend over the past few years is there is always a few movies each year that goes under the radar, then suddenly blows up around Oscar time and beats out some big time movies.  Crash (2005), Slumdog Millionaire (2009), and now The Hurt Locker (2010) are three small budget movies that have won the Oscar for Best Picture recently.  Event No Country For Old Men (2008) could even be considered a smaller budget movie as well.

In a time when the economy is in a recession, paying millions for big name actors and big names stunts may not be the best way for a studio to get the biggest ROI out of their product.  It may be better for studios to produce smaller budget films but those of better quality and push those.  It won’t require the big money to make, clearly it doesn’t need the big names to draw fans in, and when the positive press gains, the studio will clearly have a great money making movie, and a quality movie on top of it.  They will increase DVD/online sales, TV rights, and additional positive press for the studios.  I hope studios can learn from these smaller movies like The Hurt Locker and can produce better movies for movie fans in the future.

Would you like to see studios produce more small budget but quality movies?

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We are finally here. This Sunday night, March 7th, is the big night: Oscar Night. I for one am extremely excited for the Oscars.  I think it’s the best of the entertainment award shows probably due to the magnitude of what is on the line.  The past couple years might have been a little dull in terms of the show itself, but I am extremely excited nonetheless. I guess the media does a good job at promoting the show.

The Oscar’s is where history is made and trivia questions are created. My friends and I often try to list backwards the past 10 best actors, 10 best pictures etc. You guys know what I mean.  We all have those great trivia questions to see who knows the most useless movie knowledge. For example, can you name the 5 best picture films since 1985 that start with the word “The.” No cheating.

Anyways, this year we have some interesting battles. The first, the battle of the ex’s. Kathryn vs Cameron – former husband and wife go head-to-head for best director. Cameron got the Globe but the Bigelow got the DGA. What will the Academy have to say?

The other big matchup involves the same movies. The Hurt Locker takes on Avatar as a real-life war movie takes on a fantasy war movie. Again, both movies have received awards during the season, so it is still a toss up. I think the Academy will lean towards the Hurt Locker here, but we shall see.

Then we have plenty of locks. Waltz is a lock for Best Supporting Actor for Inglorious, Bridges is a lock for Best Actor for Crazy Heart, Mo’Nique seems to be  a heavy favorite for Best Supporting Actress, and Bullock is a lock for Best Actress. Also, UP is a complete lock for Best Animated Feature.

The media build up is all for this Sunday night. The big show is upon us. It should be one hell of a night.

Will you be watching this Sunday?

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Matt Damon, you are a talented actor with a very dynamic on-screen range. We have seen you as a bad-ass in the Bourne’s, a love interest in Good Will Hunting, a punk in School Ties, a funny crook in The Ocean’s, an athlete in Invictus, and a villain in The Talented Mr Ripley and The Departed.  However, of late, you continue to play the same exact role. Whenever you star in a movie by yourself, you play an employee of the military who is on a mission to expose corruption.   It seems you are some personal mission to show your discontent with the US Government.  This role is getting old.

“Green Zone,” Matt Damon’s new movie, comes out next Friday March 12th, and is directed by Paul Greengrass.  Greengrass also directed the second and third installments of the Bourne series.   Here is the IMDB plot of the movie – “Discovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.” We all have seen the trailer for this movie. It looks exactly the same as every other Bourne movie. Yet this time, it’s not a Bourne movie.

I don’t know why but this movie is just getting under my skin. Watching the trailer has me asking myself a ton of questions that I don’t know the answer to. Why is Matt Damon doing this movie? Why is he playing the same role? Why do him and Greengrass feel obligated to do military thrillers about the corruption of the government?

What is going on here? Both Greengrass and Damon have overly milked this genre.  Damon’s personal mission to show his discontent with the US Government is getting annoying.  While of course I do not condone US Government corruption, I just feel Matt Damon’s personal mission is old.

It’s like he feels personally obligated to do this. As fans of your movies, we understand you have a thing against the US Government. Your insistence on continuing to hammer home your message is old. You don’t need to tell us anymore.  If I am wrong here and you aren’t on a mission than I apologize, but this role is old nonetheless.  I hope to see if you different roles in the future.

Are you seeing Green Zone on next Friday?

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I’m a diehard Kevin Smith fanboy, for better or for worse. But every movie he’s written or directed has been worth seeing to me. I was even one of the few who embraced Zack and Miri Make a Porno for the admirable piece of genius that it was. Point being that Smith has gathered a rabid fan base over the 15 years since Clerks made him more than just another face. On February 26^th, Smith will break tradition and release his first directorial that he did not write the script for.

The first title for Cop Out, about a retired New York police officer who hires his partner to sniff out a rare baseball card to fund his daughter’s wedding, was A Couple of Dicks. However due to the title issue with Zack and Miri (the “Make a Porno” suffix was cut off when the comedy hit DVD for mass appeal) the heading sadly had to change. What I love about Smith is that he’s fearless, and creates movies he knows will stir up controversy. Hell, we were talking about Dicks before, weren’t we?

Cop Out seems all too safe a name, and for that matter all too safe a movie. I can’t help but be unimpressed by both green band and red band trailers released for the film. The jokes seem tired, the premise is lame and has Bruce Willis played anyone in a movie lately who wasn’t a retired cop? The blame can’t be placed on Kevin Smith’s shoulders. That’s the burden of Robb and Mark Cullen, brothers-turned screenwriters with Cop Out. I’ve never heard of these two, although they have no experience at all doing anything movie-wise. They produced 17 and wrote four episodes of the Josh Duhamel-starring television crime drama Las Vegas. Should we be rest assured because they’ve written a few who-done-it TV episodes? I don’t know, but if their definition of a good case is something with Josh Duhamel then I think the Cullens have the same mindset as Michael Bay.

I’ll see Cop Out just because Kevin Smith directed it and, as it was also recently announced, took an 80% pay cut so the flick would get an R-rating. Even if this movie is a total bomb I won’t mark this is Smith’s failure. Up next he’s trying to make the horror Red State and a hockey film entitled Hit Somebody which some are insinuating is a passion project for him. Big-budgeted or not, this can’t be Kevin Smith selling out.

Check out the trailer below and tell me: is Cop Out worth seeing?

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On the most romantic day of the year, well at least according to Hallmark, it is only fitting to go through some of the most romantic movies of our time.  Listing off some of these genre specific movies is something I constantly find myself doing especially since its fairly appropriate on themed days. This being Valentines Day makes me think of movies I’d bust out on a date. Though plenty of romantic all-timers might immediately come to your mind (i.e When Harry Met Sally, Gone With the Wind), those really do not come to mine.

Perhaps I am stuck in a different generation that thinks of modern day beauties (i.e. Keira Knightley), over-watched love stories that have come out in the past 1o years, 80’s movies that are a good watch each time they are on TV, and recent romantic comedies that are pure feel-good watches.   No, I am not thinking of tacky teen movies like “She’s All That” or “10 Things I Hate About You (RIP Heath Ledger),” no offense if you are into those, but there are others that just come to mind.

Here are 5 of some of the more romantic Valentines Day appropriate movies. These are in any order.

1. Love Actually - this movie is awesome – if you think otherwise you are lying to yourself

2. The Notebook – I’ve never seen it, but from word of mouth alone this movie screams Valentines Day. One of these days I’ll have to sack up and watch it.

3. Sixteen Candles/Pretty in Pink - take your pick, 80’s classics that will never get old

4. Say Anything -this movie made John Cusack a star. Lloyd Dobler holding up that boom box and blasting “In Your Eyes” is among the best scenes from any movie.

5. Hitch – all of my friends love this movie. This movie is the guys romantic movie and is a pure feel-good watch.

What movies do you throw in on Valentines Day?

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Patrick Ewing entered the 1985 draft as the best player in the country.  this also happened to be the first year that the NBA turned to their new ping pong ball style way to determine the order for the draft.  Sure enough out of nowhere, the New York Knicks, a struggling team, ended up with the #1 overall pick and selected Patrick Ewing who went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Knicks.  A lot of people thought that in 1985 that there was a conspiracy behind the fact that the biggest market “somehow” got the #1 pick in order to select Ewing.

Now it’s 2010 and Oscar season.  This was a very weak year of movies, so the Academy decided as a way to create more buzz to extend the Best Picture category to 10 nominees.  This isn’t out of left field being at times in the 20’s and 30’s there were years that had up to 12 nominees.  But suffice it to say, there are more movies that although may be fun and entertaining, have no shot at winning.

So how does Patrick Ewing and Avatar have some sort of weird connection?

With a long running time for the Oscars, poor movies, the rise of MTV, and a viewership that cares more about the red carpet than the actual event, the Oscars have been hurting over the past few years with ratings.  They have looked at ways to get the audience and generation Y demographic more interested, and even with hosts like Chris rock and Jon Stewart, they still failed.

I think The Hurt Locker should win the award for Best Picture.  This little war movie that came out of nowhere has made a big push and has grown a huge following.  The unique perspective of the war following a bomb squad in Iraq and the psychological repercussions they have unfortunately won’t win.

Avatar will win Best Picture.

It shouldn’t.  Many believe it shouldn’t have been nominated, that it’s not an Oscar movie.  Although it has unbelievable visuals and is an extremely fun and exciting movie, is it really in the realm of a Best Picture movie?  Many think that if Avatar got a nomination, how come Star Trek got snubbed?

Because the Academy is going to use Avatar the same way the NBA, David Stern, and the NY Knicks used Patrick Ewing.

Avatar will win the Oscar to bring more buzz and controversy which will raise ratings for the show in future years, the way Patrick Ewing brought more attention and fans to the NY Knicks.  Just the fact that it’s in the running, there have already have been tons of articles written about this, and more to follow.  If it wins, this will be controversial, many believing it will be part of a conspiracy.  Following the Oscars, articles, videos, and more will be posted on the internet, shared on multiple social networks and through email and will garner tons of PR.  The Academy and Hollywood will benefit from all the buzz with increased DVD sales, and will lead to higher ratings for next years Oscars show.  Because once they get away with this, they will certainly add another movie next year which will cause some sort of controversy, maybe even people will start calling it the “Avatar” affect.  We may be having another conspiracy on our hand.

Do you think Avatar deserves to win Best Picture?  Do you think it may be considered a conspiracy if it does?

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In a year that the Academy expanded the Best Picture pool to 10 films, they had an opportunity to really change the framework to which so-called popcorn movies are judged. The films up for Best Picture are The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Up in the Year, Precious, Inglorious Basterds, Up, The Blind Side, An Education, A Serious Man, and District 9. Of the 10 listed only the first 3 even have a chance. To go even further than that The Blind Side, Up, Inglorious, and District 9 are all great movies however they are simply there to receive the accolades of being nominated. Do they have a prayer? Nuh uh. Only Precious belongs to be in the category. I won’t say anything for or against A Serious Man or An Education because I do not know enough about either film.

Now, films that have no chance of winning are being grouped into this heavily coveted category. This gets me thinking that were there other films this year that were better than the 4 (The Blind Side, Inglorious, Up, and District 9).  I do not want to diss any of these films so please don’t take this post the wrong way. I liked that the Academy is trying here but I’m not sure they got this right. J.J Abrams’s Star Trek masterpiece, a film that dominated the Summer and rebooted the franchise, belonged to be nominated.

Here is my analysis:

Star Trek > UP

Star Trek > District 9

Star Trek > Inglorious

Star Trek = The Blind Side

I really think what J.J Abrams did was brilliant. The ultimate finished product was a perfect popcorn movie that actually turned into something more. We had non-sci fi fans running to the theaters.  The year’s Star Trek changed the face of the franchise entirely. Regardless of what it did, the film itself was amazing. The script was great, original and the movie was perfectly casted.

So, we come to the result that if there were certain popcorn movies being nominated, did the Academy get the right popcorn movies in the mix. I think they missed one. Star Trek really belonged in the mix here. Sure  it would stand no chance of winning, but still the category expansion was to make things more exciting and entertaining, and not necessarily to win.  Sorry Star Trek, you got screwed.

Star Trek was snubbed.

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The Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild Awards…no award quite compares to the consciousness of receiving an Oscar. We had a load of great movies in 2008, so I had numerous problems with last year’s show. Slumdog Millionare over Milk and you nearly completely ignore The Dark Knight, Academy? Please.

It was 2009, folks; a year of relatively decent movies. Let’s face it, compared to the past two junctures ’09 was nothing special. (Though really, when you have both No Country for Old Men and Gone Baby Gone in the same sun rotation, that’s something pretty damn unique.) The nominees for the 82^nd Annual Academy Awards were announced by Anne Hathaway and Academy president Tom Sherak Tuesday morning at 8:30 EST/5:30 PST. I guess even if you crap out as giant monstrosities as Bride Wars and (probably) Valentine’s Day, since you made that one good movie all sins are percolated.

Anyway, the usual flicks were nominated in their respectable categories. The Hurt Locker and Avatar lead with nine nominations each, including best picture. I’m not sure why Avatar is suddenly receiving Oscar buzz. It’s more of an event rather than an actual movie worthy of awards of other breeds than technical. Nine, for some bizarre reason, contends in four categories; and the Academy continues to tease by nominating Up in the Air for five awards including best picture.

What surprised me was that District 9, after being tragically ignored by every other determining awards group, is up for best picture. I loved the movie and I assumed all of its chances were no more. Speaking of pleasant surprises, Armando Iannucci’s fantastic political comedy In The Loop was nominated for best original screenplay. I went gaga over it after a special screening in July, but was saddened when I found that no one had even heard of it. What I love about the Academy’s announcing Oscar nominations in early February is that it gives people a chance to see all of the contenders before the big night. Hopefully everyone reading this will be smart and, if you haven’t yet, give In The Loop a chance.

The White Ribbon was another standout. The more I contemplate Michael Haneke’s black-and-white period piece, the more terrified I become of it. The film has a serious chance at taking home the gold in March. I haven’t seen Un Prophete yet, which is also nominated in the same category and an added one I’m dying to see, however as of this writing I’m rooting for Ribbon. As happy as I am for Haneke’s film making the list, I know some people who really enjoyed Il Divo, which was for some reason snubbed.

Now onto the bad stuff on the nomination list. Number one, Marvin Hamlisch’s marvelous score for The Informant! is nowhere to be found. Glad that Up’s score by Michael Giacchino is up for an award, howbeit The Informant! was terribly overlooked by seemingly everyone. While we’re on the subject, Matt Damon is nominated for best supporting actor for Invictus? I know I’m not the only one who adored him as the pudgy Mark Whitacre in Steven Soderbergh’s corporate spoof.

(500) Days of Summer was one of the rare occurrences where I actually read the script for it. And wow, was I on the verge of tears. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s screenplay is emotional and tragic. Above everything, it’s real. I wasn’t expecting a best picture nomination for (500) Days, but I thought for sure it would be up for best original screenplay. Sadly, it was not.

Star Trek only nominated for technical and makeup; that’s just not right. J.J. Abrams brought new life to the famed television and movie series, and opened it up to a larger, younger fan base. It’s a shame to see the Academy turn a deaf ear to it. One of my biggest concerns, the amazing Michael Stuhlbarg not recognized for his turn as a deteriorating devout Hebrew in the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man. Come on, people. You nominate Sandra Bullock and ignore this fresh face?

I’m not too big a fan of the expanded best picture category. Only if the year is full of enough phenomenal films should that change have taken place. I mean, filling leftover five spots with The Blind Side, Up, A Serious Man, An Education and District 9; the Academy knows as well as I that none of them have any chance of winning. As great as those films may be, it’s groveling to them. Nevertheless, I’m pretty excited for this year’s show. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin tag-teaming a three hour time slot? I’m so there.

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The month of January is widely known as the crap month, where movie studios dump the flicks with the most uncertainty. Movies like Legion and The Lovely Bones are dug their own graves, while the studios are forced to sit back and watch them be buried under the mess of bad critic reviews, bad audience reaction and bad box office.

This past month nothing has even caught my eye to make me want to actually go out and spend $11 on a two-hour train wreck, and the movies I did see in January 2010 were major bombs (The Lovely Bones, cough cough). January is never a good month for Hollywood overall. It’s the month between December, the slate set for epic end-of-the-year blowouts (Avatar, Sherlock Holmes) and the last real bid for Oscar consideration; and February, ready for romantic comedies (Valentine’s Day, Dear John) and the nearly-departed (Shutter Island, for reasons unknown). In January, we were graced with Legion, The Spy Next Door and Leap Year for wide releases. This Friday doesn’t look too good either, with the release of When in Rome and Edge of Darkness. Though I’m hoping Mel Gibson and Martin Campbell are able to prove me wrong.

Despite the moronic trash playing at your local cinema, we were rather lucky this year: we had Avatar. On Monday it broke the all-time world record that Titanic previously shattered to become the highest-grossing movie of all time. Because of its success, nobody is talking about Legion or Tooth Fairy; everyone’s been raving about CGI blue people. There’s nary been a movie nearly as gargantuan as this in the January Graveyard. If you haven’t seen Avatar yet (which I’d be really surprised if you haven’t), I highly suggest you do. Lucky for us, the movie that’s banking more than six zeros on its worldwide sum is actually good.

Of course, there’s also the Little Movies That Could in January, the tiny little indies playing in remote theaters nowhere near the giant AMC with the ticket line out the door. Yes, these are the movies such as The White Ribbon, Fish Tank, and Youth in Revolt. (I know, Revolt had a wide release this month, but come on, did you go to see that or “Avadon” again, as the California governor so sweetly butchered its title at the Golden Globes.) The flicks never do too well with delivering distributors the cha-ching, but they’re the ones that critics recommend you see over the famed Legions out there.

Say you are an invested filmgoer. January is the time of month to catch up on movies you didn’t have time to see when they were originally released, or maybe just want to see again. This could explain Avatar’s success, but it could also explain why Fish Tank was so popular a few weekends ago. There are no real event films to weigh it down. So pass the lines for When in Rome this weekend and spend time with The White Ribbon for a change. Don’t worry, in a few weeks we can all go back to obsessing over whether Channing Tatum leaves or stays with Amanda Seyfried.

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This past Saturday night, while I was stuck on Martha’s Vineyard (“MV”) with no ferry going back to Cape Cod, I caught the end of the SAG’s at the steamship authority. I crowded around the only TV there along with all the authority attendants, and we all watched Inglorious Basterds take home the top prize for Best Ensemble.  If you don’t know by now I am a huge Hurt Locker fan, and being loyal to my fanhood, I was pulling for Kathryn Bigelow’s masterpiece to take this trophy.  One of the attendants was screaming for Nine and another was clearly pulling for Precious but wasn’t so overly emotional about it.

After the Basterds was announced as top dog, I immediately felt a sigh of defeat. At this point, I’m pretty emotionally invested in the Hurt Locker.  However, being stranded on MV allowed me to really think about this. Hey, I had nothing better to do. Hurt Locker really had 3 people in it, Precious had only a handful, An Education was dominated by Carey Mulligan, and Nine wasn’t going to win. Let’s just be honest, that attendant was going nuts for basically nothing. The Basterds had lets say between 12-15 people that all had fairly important roles in the movie. The star of the movie wasn’t Waltz, as much as it was Tarantino.   The Basterds was a true ensemble movie.

Christoph Waltz, who will win Best Supporting Actor, was still supporting. He’s as much a lock as Brett Favre’s dramatic tussle with whether to return or not next season.  Sure, he had the best performance of the movie but his screen time did not dominate the film. Only those scenes where he actually was in, did his presence really dominate.  Each personality in this film played an important role and added to the dynamic and wit that made the Basterds great.   I think that handling such a large cast and producing such a great result was what put this movie over the top from the SAG voters.  Clearly actors know good acting, and I think they got it right here.

Judging from results alone, it is apparent that actors clearly think that managing a cast of 15 people is a lot harder than managing a 3-5 person cast.  I’m not taking anything away from The Hurt Locker or Precious but managing a large cast has got to be straight tough. While I think The Hurt Locker is a better movie than the Basterds, the top prize at the SAG is best Ensemble performance, not Best Movie. The ensemble performance for Basterds was second to none and deserved the trophy. SAG got it right.

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