Billy Crystal Hosting 2011 Oscars!

So, to recap:

• Brett Ratner makes homophobic slur.
• Academy and gay community get pissed off (rightfully so).
• Ratner quits.
• Eddie Murphy quits.
• Brian Grazer (who produced "Tower Heist") steps in.
• Billy Crystal comes back as host.

Alright, got all that?  Good.  Now then, all that aside, now that Billy Crystal is back on board, I'm feeling pretty good about the Oscars again.  I don't want to belittle any of the current hosts, but I truly feel that Billy Crystal and Steve Martin have made for the best modern day Oscar hosts, so this just made my day.  I would have been interested in seeing what Murphy was going to do with the show, but with Crystal back...well, I'm not so curious anymore.  *phew* Well, THAT was a mess the Academy got themselves into, but it looks like they might just pull out of it just fine now!

Brett Ratner Resigns As Oscar Producer

Looks like Brett Ratner's thoughtless remark that rehersing was for "fags" finally caught up with him.  Despite a public letter apology, he resigned as producer today.  The Academy had this to say:

“He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself,” Sherak said. “Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent.”

No word yet on whether or not this incident will hurt his current film "Tower Heist," or whether or not Eddie Murphy will still be interested in hosting with him.  I wish him luck in the future, but he really needs to be careful of what he says from this day on.

29th Golden Raspberry Awards Nominations

Though this site tends to focus more on Oscar and other awards shows that award excellence in film making, I do like to make an exception in mentioning the Golden Raspberry Awards. Now in case you don't know what the Raspberries are, they are basically the anti-Oscar, giving awards to movies that have the least artistic merit to them. This year the nominees are:

Worst Picture:

• "Disaster Movie" and "Meet the Spartans"
• "The Happening"
• "The Hottie and the Nottie"
• "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale"
• "The Love Guru"

Worst Actor:

• Larry the Cable Guy, "Witless Protection"
• Eddie Murphy, "Meet Dave"
• Mike Myers, "The Love Guru"
• Al Pacino, "88 Minutes" and "Righteous Kill"
• Mark Wahlberg, "The Happening" and "Max Payne"

Worst Actress:

• Jessica Alba, "The Eye" and "The Love Guru"
• Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith and Meg Ryan, the Cast of "The Women"
• Cameron Diaz, "What Happens in Vegas..."
• Paris Hilton, "The Hottie and the Nottie"
• Kate Hudson, "Fool's Gold" and "My Best Friend's Girl"

Worst Supporting Actor:

• Uwe Boll, "Postal"
• Pierce Brosnan, "Mamma Mia!"
• Ben Kingsley, "The Love Guru", "War, Inc." and "The Wackness"
• Burt Reynolds, "Deal" and "In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale"
• Verne Troyer, "The Love Guru" and "Postal"

Worst Supporting Actress:

• Carmen Electra, "Disaster Movie" and "Meet The Spartans"
• Paris Hilton, "Repo: The Genetic Opera"
• Kim Kardashian, "Disaster Movie"
• Jenny McCarthy, "Witless Protection"
• Leelee Sobieski, "88 Minutes" and "In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale"

Worst Screen Couple:

• Uwe Boll and ANY Actor, Camera or Screenplay
• Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, "What Happens in Vegas..."
• Paris Hilton and either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore, "The Hottie and the Nottie"
• Larry the Cable Guy and Jenny McCarthy, "Witless Protection"
• Eddie Murphy IN Eddie Murphy, "Meet Dave"

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel:

• "The Day the Earth Stood Still"
• "Disaster Movie" and "Meet The Spartans"
• "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
• "Speed Racer"
• "Star Wars: The Clone Wars"

Worst Director:

• Uwe Boll, "Tunnel Rats", In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" and "Postal"
• Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, "Disaster Movie" and "Meet The Spartans"
• Tom Putnam, "The Hottie and the Nottie"
• Marco Schnabel, "The Love Guru"
• M. Night Shyamalan, "The Happening"

Worst Screenplay:

• "Disaster Movie" and "Meet The Spartans" - Both Written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer
• "The Happening" - Written by M. Night Shyamalan
• "The Hottie And The Nottie" - Written by Heidi Ferrer
• "In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" - Screenplay by Doug Taylor
• "The Love Guru" - Written by Mike Myers and Graham Gordy

Worst Career Achievement (Special Category!): Uwe Boll (Germany's Answer to Ed Wood)

Nice to see Uwe Boll getting a special award. I hope he walks away with more Raspberries then anyone.

"Valkryie" Trailer Released

So we finally get a look at "Valkryie," Tom Cruises big comeback. I admit that I was skeptical of this movie. Neither Cruise nor director Bryan Singer have been worth talking about recently (movie wise that is), but this project is shaping up to return both men to some of their former glory. But will it be nominated for Oscars? I'm going to go out on a limb and give a very firm no. I'm sorry, but Cruise has been doing little more then destroying his career these past few years. He destroyed it in a few short weeks with the couch incident and the arguement about chemical imbalance, and he's been kicking the corpse ever since. Now, after he's killed and mutilated his corpse for a career he wants to revive it. Well, in Hollywood it can be done (ask Robert Downey Jr.) but it's going to take one hell of an effort.

I think the proper steps were taken when he took that cameo role in "Tropic Thunder" to shake things up, and if this movie is any good he'll have set the path for a full career revival. But I think the Oscars are going to pass this film on principle alone. His next project maybe...but there is one unwritten rule with the Academy: If you screw up in your career, you've got to prove you still want it before they give you an Oscar. And if you don't believe me on this, just go ask Eddie Murphy where his locked in Oscar went after "Norbit" was released.