The 82nd Oscars

The 82nd Oscar’s were held during my absence. As last year's ceremony was exceptional I took it upon my self to watch it again this year. I didn’t see the recording of the event until my return, so now I can share my thoughts.

Firstly, I thought Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin's hosting was pretty good - but not as good as Hugh Jackman's last year. Strangely they didn't do their own opening number, this was instead provided by Neil Patrick Harris, which while adequate, also fell short of Jackman's effort last year. Martin and Baldwin's hand offs and jibes against each other were funny but it seemed a lot more subtle and controlled than usual, something was lacking...

There were a couple of good presentation moments, Tina Fey reprising her "role" from last year, but now partnered with the equally amusing Robert Downey Jr. to read paragraphs from and present the Oscar for screenwriting. However even their performance was overshadowed by Ben Stiller's appearance which delivered whoops of laughter from the audience. Last year you'll recall his "Joaquin Phoenix" bit, but this year he presented himself in full make-up as a Na'vi. When the initial laughter had died down, he delivered a paragraph in the Na'vi language and was generally Ben Stiller shaming himself until he presented those responsible for the Make-Up effects on Star Trek with their well deserved award. Watch the full 4.5 min bit on Youtube.

As for the awards themselves; it was very nice to see Jeff Bridges to finally get an Oscar after 4 previous nominations [but was he a little drunk, stoned or both? See his speech about 8:16 into this from Youtube]. It was also nice to see Sandra Bullock get her first Oscar especially considering her fellow nominees included Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep.

I mentioned Christopher Waltz' stellar performance in my Inglorious Basterds review. While nominated for some other awards – only Waltz really deserved an Oscar for that movie and thankfully the Academy ultimately recognised that..

Micheal Giacchino, a popular video game music composer who turned to TV and later - the silver screen was up against some intense competition from both Hans Zimmer and James Horner this year but the Star Trek movie and Lost TV show composer earned his first Oscar [following a recent BAFTA win] for his enchanting score to the animated movie Up.

The big news of the evening was of course the battle between The Hurt Locker and Avatar. I gave both movies 5 stars but clearly the Academy felt that Kathryn Bigelow's numerous military-related mistakes which I pointed out to them in Hurt Locker were less than the grave error James Cameron made by not including a script with Avatar, and let’s be honest here: they’re right.

In the end, The Hurt Locker took 6 Oscars for it's Screenplay, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Editing, Director and of course the most coveted Best Picture award. Avatar's 3 awards were mainly technical for Cinematography, Art Direction and Visual Effects which were all deserved as Avatar is indeed the greatest cinematic technology demo of all time.

It's still a shock to me however that the Academy choose to recognise Kathryn Bigalow, the first woman to win Best Director over Tarantino, Up's Reitman, "King" Cameron himself and also for only the second time in history, an African American - Lee Daniels. I was full sure that Cameron had it in the bag, but I'm thrilled that Bigalow won it for a brutal war-movie and not some "wishy-washy" tear-jerker, historical epic, true story or costume drama.

Overall I was shocked in a way by the trouncing that The Hurt Locker gave Avatar – don’t get me wrong - I agree with the awards and Hurt Locker was clearly deserving of all it got but I didn’t expect the Academy to actually deliver the respect to the movie it clearly deserved. It was refreshing to see people from so many movies actually worthy of Oscars than those normally nominated, namely: The Hurt Locker, Avatar, District 9, Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes and Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen. Long may this trend of recognising "real" movies continue.

I think I've seen everything worthy of my own accolades from 2009 myself now so I'll soon deliver the 5th Whopper Awards and a special The Whoppers Of The Decade soon enough.

The 4th Annual Whopper Awards - Winners!

There can only be one final winner in each category, and here are the winners of the 2009 Whopper Awards...


Best Supporting Actress
Christine Rose [Heroes]

While Kathryn Hahn gave an excellent performance as Alice Duff in Step Brothers she was pipped by Christine Rose for her protrayal of Angela Petrelli on Heroes. Christine has come to grips with the multi-faceted character of the Petrelli matriarch and during 2008 she displayed almost ones entire acting range as a protective mother, disgruntled wife and company chairman. She showed her dark cold blooded side expertly while convincing us her questionable deeds were for the greater good.


Best Supporting Dramatic Actor
Heath Ledger [The Dark Knight]

John Noble lends his extraordinary talent portraying the mentally troubled genius Doctor Bishop on Fringe, a character who delivers as much sympathy as he does laughs, but the award here must go to Heath Ledger, for crafting an even more disturbed and psychotic genius, the criminal mastermind - The Joker. It's regrettable that Heath will be the first person to never know he has won a Whopper as he died last January from a drug-overdose. R.I.P.


Best Supporting Comedy Actor
Robert Downey Jnr.

It is not until you see Robert Downey Jnr. portraying an Australian actor who in turn dons blackface to become an African American soldier in Vietnam do you understand how far modern comedy has evolved from the likes of Charlie Chaplin [whom Downey has also portrayed].

Best Score
The Incredible Hulk [Craig Armstrong]

Marvel Comics were so impressed with Armstrong's work on The Incredible Hulk that they authorised a two-disc edition from the first day of release! An unprecedented move that in all my years of collecting scores, I can't recall happening before. When you hear it you'll understand why.


Best Song
It’s A Good Day To Die (from Starship Troopers 3, Written by Bill Meyers, Kevin McCourt & Edward Neumeier, Performed by Stephen Hogan)

This was an easy decision. If only they could all be. Sing along with it after you watch if for the 10th time....


Best Special Effects
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Despite us believing that Robert Downey Jnr. as Tony Stark could don a suit of high-tech armour and become the superhero Iron Man. Hellboy II had an impressive array of visual effects lending credence to the bizarre mutant creatures, vast otherworldly mythological settings and culminating in an impressive display of CG mechanical combat that has probably sent a few idiots to Co. Antrim looking for a goblin named Alexander.


Best Art Direction
City Of Ember

It was a monumental undertaking for a film, to create an entire subterranean world melding some steam punk elements with evocations of a Victorian era. One can't imagine where to start, let alone being as successful as the Art and Design team for this Northern Irish film.


Best Writing
Frank Military (The Unit) [Segment 4-01 “Sacrafice”]

The fourth season of the CBS Special Forces military show, The Unit, opens with "Sacrafice" where in the pre-credits teaser, Colonel Ryan discovers that the President Elect and Vice-President Elect are the targets of an assassination plot leaving the Vice-President Elect dead and the President Elect missing! It gets even more gripping from then on...


Best Actress For Actually Acting:
Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica)

As President Laura Roslin in the hit Sci-Fi show, Battlestar Galactica; Mary McDonnell has brought her character through the trials and tribulations of leading her people away from home, avoiding annihilation, all while battling a cancer within her threatening to kill her before she accomplishes that which has been prophecised. During 2008 she has portrayed being held at gunpoint, discusses death with a fellow terminally ill cancer patient and survives being taken hostage by Cylons.


Best Action Actress
Angelina Jolie

As the character Fox during the magnificent action-movie Wanted, Angelina Jolie lies on her back, spreadlegged on the bonnet of a fast moving car, in a skimpy white dress threatening to be torn off by her velocity, while firing two pistols an oncoming bad guy and steering the car with her foot! No-one else came close this year.


Hottest Actress
Olga Kurylenko [Quantum of Solace]

Beating off stiff competition from returning hottie Madchen Amick and the current holder of FHM's #1 Hottest Woman - Megan Fox; relative newcomer Olga Kurylenko secures probably the most coveted Whopper Award by women on screen anywhere for her smoking hot protrayal of Bond-babe Camille in Quantum Of Solace.


Best Dramatic Actor
Josh Brolin [W.]

Following a somewhat different path to the one he explored with Nixon, Oliver Stone crafted W., the story of another of the greatest presidents of the United States. The the film failed to achieve the status of Nixon, more due to Stone releasing the movie just before the 2008 US Presidential Election and not due to the near-perfection that John Brolin portrayed the 43rd US President, which deserves the highest of praise.


Best Action Actor
Liam Neeson [Taken]

The big man from Antrim walks away with the Whopper for this category for his portrayal of the loving father, yet brutal ex-CIA "preventer" Bryan Mills who in order to rescue his daughter, single handedly tortures, maims but mostly kills everyone he meets in the putrid cesspool of pure evil known as: ... Paris.


Best Comedy Actor
Will Ferrell [Step Brothers]

Fighting the closest race of this years awards, Will Ferell's Brennan Huff beat Alec Baldwin's Jack Donaghy for sheer laughs. Ferrell has missed in comparison with most of his comedies since Anchorman but this movie put him back up there.

Best Director
Jon Favreau [Iron Man]

It was a colossal undertaking bringing Iron Man to be big screen for the fist time. Marvel took a big chance on a relatively inexperienced director to create something that they were counting on replacing the Spider-Man franchise in cinemas. They got it, and a whole lot more as Fraveau's attention to detail was all up there on the big screen.


Best Television Show of 2008:
Battlestar Galactica

From strength to strength, so matter how extremely bizarre it may get at times this has proven to exceed all expectations and the mullets, Moppets, pleasure planets and space-Nazi's of the original series have been left all but forgotten. This is unquestionably the benchmark for modern episodic science-fiction television and will be remembered long after it finishes up this year - so say we all!

Best Miniseries or TV Movie of 2008:
Generation Kill

Generation Kill was a series generated from a book written after an article I once read in Rolling Stone magazine about US Marines invading Iraq in 2003. It's fascinating to see the contents of that three part article spread out over hour-long episodes. The acting, military advising and photography is above standard for some of the shit on HBO. This series serves as a testament to the work done over there and it makes me drink to those who never returned. Semper Fi.


Best Video Game of 2008:
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warefare

Crysis may have had superior graphics and Half Life 2:Episode 2, a better story - but COD4 was just too good not to give it the highest accolade of the year. It's not brimming with innovation but you do get dozens of guns and fight clever enemies. You get to be a member of the SAS and even better: for half the game you get to be a US Marine! And as I was trained by the SAS in the mid '80's then this is the closest any of you of you will get to be like me! [excluding the part where your chopper goes down in a post-nuke EMP blast and you die horribly from the radiation - that's never happened me].


Best Comedy Movie of 2008
Step Brothers

Despite almost vomiting with laughter at the opening "fake trailers", a superb script, monumental acting and the sheer madness of a bizarre dancing sequence from Tom Cruise himself; Tropic Thunder was beaten by Adam McKay's Step Brothers, a superbly paced comedy with a bizarre concept. Step Brothers had you chuckling at the beginning, sniggering about a quarter of the way through which, in turn - became laughter at the half-way point and finished up with me collapsing and hyperventilating on the floor of the cinema.

Best Action Movie of 2008
Iron Man & Rambo

The standard of action movies was extremely high this year making it a daunting task to just whittle down the nominations list to five from over a dozen choices - so you can imagine how near-impossible it was to pick the final winner. Iron Man's big screen début deserved this honour for special-effects sci-fi action but the return of Sylvester Stallone's intense Vietnam war-vet John Rambo made a superb case for the almost forgotten jungle action movie. I must therefore, for the fist time ever - half the Whopper Award and acknowledge them both equally for different reasons.


Best Dramatic Motion Picture of 2008
The Dark Knight

"It is my great hope that the Batman legacy will continue in this fashion for years to come." - Colonel Creedon January 2006 after bestowing the Whopper Award on Batman Begins for Best Picture of 2005. My hope is confirmed. Now I desire a third film to complete a magnificent trilogy and let there be none to follow...


Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design in 2008
Legend of the Seeker

A special Whopper Award for Jane Holland and the Wardrobe department of the Fantasy series Legend Of The Seeker for their outstanding cosuming work, especially on Bridget Regan's character Kahlan Amnell [pictured].


Outstanding Comtribution to Entertainment in 2008

This special Whopper Award goes to Tina Fey for her work as both a writer and star of 30 Rock and for her contribution to the US Presidential Election portraying Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.

And what Whopper Awards would be complete with out a list of the worst productions and performances of 2008:

Worst Actor: Keanu Reeves [Street Kings]

Worst Actress: Mena Suvari [Day Of The Dead]

Worst Supporting Actor: John Malkovich [The Mutant Chronicles]

Worst Supporting Actress: Maggie Grace [Taken]

Worst Director: Jon Avnet [Righteous Kill]

Worst Video Game: Iron Man [Sega]

Worst TV Show: Sanctuary

Worst Movie: Dragon Wars

And that's it folks. Join me in 2010 for the 5th Whoppers and special awards given for the best work of the first decade of the 21st century.

The 4th Annual Whopper Awards - Nominations Part III

Continued from Part II

Best Director:

Jon Favreau [Iron Man]
Louis Leterrier [The Incredible Hulk]
Christopher Nolan [The Dark Knight]
Sylvester Stallone [Rambo]
Pete Travis [Vantage Point]

Best Television Show of 2008:

Battlestar Galactica
Chuck
Robot Chicken
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Unit

Best Miniseries or TV Movie of 2008

24: Redemption
Generation Kill
Knight Rider pilot
Stargate: The Ark of Truth
Stargate: Continuum

Best Video Game of FY2008:

Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare [Developer: Infinity Ward / Publisher: Activision]
Crysis [Developer: Crytek / Publisher: Electronic Arts]
Half Life 2: Episode 2 [Developer/Publisher: Valve]
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask Of The Betrayer [Developer: Obsidian / Publisher: Atari]
World in Conflict [Developer:Massive Entertainment / Publisher: Sierra]

Best Comedy Movie of 2008:

Get Smart
How To Lose Friends And Alienate People
Kung Fu Panda
Stepbrothers
Tropic Thunder

Best Action Movie of 2008:

Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Rambo
Wanted

Best Dramatic Motion Picture of 2008:

In Bruges
The Dark Knight
Street Kings
Tropa de Elite [Elite Squad]
W.

And there you have them; all the nominees for Whoppers this year. Come back on Monday 9th March for the Winners

The 4th Annual Whopper Awards - Nominations Part II

Continued from Part I

Best Actress For Actually Acting:

Joan Allen [Death Race]
Audrey Marie Anderson [The Unit]
Mary McDonnell [Battlestar Galactica]
Anna Paquin [True Blood]
Mary Steenbergen [Stepbrothers]

Best Action Actress:

Reiko Aylesworth [Aliens Vs. Predator]
Jolene Balock [Starship Troopers 3: Marauder]
Angelina Jolie [Wanted]
Mila Kunis [Max Payne]
Yvonne Strahovski [Chuck]

Hottest Actress:

Madchen Amick [My Own Worst Enemy]
Rachel Bilson [Jumper]
Megan Fox [How To Lose Friends and Alienate People]
Olga Kurylenko [Quantum Of Solace]
Natalya Rudakova [Transporter 3]

Best Dramatic Actor:

Josh Brolin [W.]
Hugh Dillon [Flashpoint]
Dennis Hayesbert [The Unit]
Wagner Moura [Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad)]
Ryan Phillippe [Stop Loss]

Best Action Actor:

Daniel Craig [Quantum Of Solace]
Robert Downey Jnr. [Iron Man]
Shia LeBeouf [Eagle Eye]
Liam Neeson [Taken]
Edward Norton [The Incredible Hulk]

Best Comedy Actor:

Alec Baldwin [30 Rock]
Steve Carell [Get Smart]
Will Ferrell [Step Brothers]
James Franco [Pineapple Express]
Ben Stiller [Tropic Thunder]

Continued In Part III

The 4th Annual Whopper Awards - Nominations Part I

Welcome to the 4th Annual Whopper Awards for 2009 where the best and... well the best achievers of the entertainment industry get the accolades they so richly deserve. You've all seen the travesty of the big Awards ceremonies where trash like Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button were showered with awards. Well you won't find any of those movies get awards here because 1. They're only coming out in this part of the world now and have passed the 2008 deadline for inclusion in the 4th Whoppers and 2. They all sound like utter boring shite and probably wouldn't be considered here anyway. The only proper movie the big Awards ceremonies nodded to was the Dark Knight probably only because they couldn't very well ignore the movie making $1Bn as of time of writing.

Brace yourselves now folks for the first of my 3 postings of the nominations for the 4th Whoppers...

Best Supporting Actress:

Kathryn Hahn [Stepbrothers]
Jane Krakowski [30 Rock]
Kelly McDonald [No Country For Old Men]
Helen Mirren [National Treasure: Book Of Secrets]
Christine Rose [Heroes]

Best Supporting Dramatic Actor:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt [Stop Loss]
Michael Hogan [Battlestar Galactica]
Chance Kelly [Generation Kill]
Heath Ledger [The Dark Knight]
John Noble [Fringe]

Best Supporting Comedy Actor:

Adam Baldwin [Chuck]
Robert Downey Jnr. [Tropic Thunder]
Bruce Campbell [Burn Notice]
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson [Get Smart]
Seth McFarlane [Hellboy 2]

Best Original Score:

The Incredible Hulk [Craig Armstrong]
Gears Of War 2 [Steve Jablonsky]
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles [Bear McCreary]
Bangkok Dangerous [Brian Tyler]
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull [John Williams]

Best Original Song:

Another Way To Die [from Quantum Of Solace, Written by Jack White, Performed by Jack White & Alicia Keys]
In the Darkness [from Gone Baby Gone, Written by Harry Gregson-Williams, performed by Lisbeth Scott]
It’s A Good Day To Die [from Starship Troopers 3, Written by Bill Meyers, Kevin McCourt & Edward Neumeier, Performed by Stephen Hogan]
The Little Things [from Wanted, Written by Danny Elfman, Performed by Trevor Horn]
Underdog Raps [from Underdog, Written by W. Watts Biggers, Treadwell Covington, Joseph Harris & Chester Stover, Performed by Kyle Massey]

Best Special Effects:

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Jumper
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor

Best Art Direction:

Babylon A.D.
City Of Ember
The Dark Knight
The Mutant Chronicles
Max Payne

Best Writer:

Tina Fey [30 Rock] [Segment 2.15 “Cooter”]
Martin McDonagh [In Bruges]
Frank Military [The Unit] [Segment 4.01 “Sacrafice”]
David Simon, Ed Burns & Evan Wright [Generation Kill]
Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux & Etan Cohen [Tropic Thunder]

Continued in Part II

The 81st Oscars - through the eyes of The Colonel

I've not watched the Oscars in some time and there was nothing in particular I wanted to see, but I said I'd check out Hugh Jackman's presentation as he seemed like such an odd choice to front the greatest event in Hollywood [I had no idea he had a background in stage musicals and even has a Tony for it - up to now I thought he was Wolverine, Van Helsing and a hacker that can break encryption in seconds while getting blown].

I wasn't disappointed. It seemed like a more intimate setting and there was none of the fake cash splashing visuals that turned previous years presentations into a plasticky [for want of a better word] borefest. I had no idea Jackman could sing and dance like that he seemed very comfortable up on stage with Anne Hathaway in the beginning and Beyoncé in the mid-programme show.

Some of the ceremony's highlights included:

+ Jackman's opening song with fabricated recession-inspired trash representing some of the movies up for awards and ending in his proclamation that he's WOLVERINE!!!! Inspired.

+ Steve Martin and Tina Fey's hilarious presentation of screenwriting awards especially their Scientology gag.

+ Ben Stiller appearing [and remaining in character] as a Ben Stiller who announced he was retiring from being a funnyman to take up cinematography - complete with sunglasses and a big beard, chewing gum akin to the recent appearance of Joaquin Phoenix and making a half-assed attempt at presenting a cinematography award with Natalie Portman. Portman, ever the true actor, managed to go along with this fairly straight-faced for over two minutes before beginning to laugh as Stiller had by then, "wandered off" in the background away from the podium admiring the show set pieces in stoned-like wonder.

+ Jackman's mid-show tribute to the resurgence of the musical with Beyoncé created by Baz Luhrmann [despite there being ABBA parts from that tripe Mama Mia].

+ and finally Queen Letifah's moving rendition of "I'll Be Seeing You" to movie clips of all the recently deceased stars and crew [including Stan Winston] and finishing with Paul Newman.

But it can't all be good. The 81st Oscars were marred by people like Bill Maher who presented the documentry Oscars - as if the category wasn't fuckin' depressing enough already than having that moron on stage for them. Naturally I fast forwarded through him...

- Mama Mia! was mentioned several times in a positive light.

- Ben Kingsley is still being introduced as "Sir Ben Kingsley". Anthony Hopkins stood on the stage beside him and despite their Queen also bestowing the title upon him as well, he doesn't "vehemently insist" on being introduced as "Sir Anthony Hopkins", but "Sir Ben" as he must be called, demands it.

- Sean Penn getting an award. I fuckin' hate Sean Penn, a class-1 wanker and his shoehorning of his misguided political agendas into award speeches. His death can never be too soon.

Now while I was pleased with the actual show, most of the awards themselves were as usual bestowed on some of the most torturous boring crap produced of all time. Who really gives a crap about the story of Benjamin Button, Harvey Milk, some Indian laddie who won a million rupies or a conspiracy within the catholic clergy or whatever Doubt is about [I honestly couldn't even be bothered to find out]. If the answer is you? Then you're on the wrong blog. But if you want so see proper recognition for The Dark Knight along with the likes of Iron Man, Aliens Vs. Predator 2, Rambo, The Incredible Hulk, Taken, Max Payne and other movies far more deserving than the tosh you saw at the 81st Oscars - then tune in here at the weekend for the nominations for the 4th Annual WHOPPER AWARDS!!!

The 3rd Annual Whopper Awards! ***WINNERS***

And now the moment you've been waiting patiently for 24 hours for:

Best Actor In A Dramatic Role:

Ashraf Barhom (The Kingdom)

That's right, Israeli actor Ashraf Barhom is the winner of the first coveted Whopper Award this year. In The Kingdom, portraying Colonel Faris Al Ghazi, he effortlessly out acted Oscar winners Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper. Cooper himself incidentally was just pipped to the Whopper for his role in Breach by Barhom.

Best Actor In An Action Role:

Gerard Butler (300)

"Tonight! We dine in HELL!"


Best Actress In A Dramatic Role:

Lena Headey (300)

As Queen Gorgo in 300, the Spartan queen as deadly as she is beautiful; British actress Lena Headey delivered an intoxicating performance that outshone her peers in this category.

Best Actress For Just Being Hot:

Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil Extinction)



Best Supporting Actor:

Samuel L. Jackson (1408)

"It's just an evil fuckin' room!" Only the great Sam Jackson can show up in a movie for 10 minutes, grab the best line in the script and walk out with a paycheck with his head held high knowing he's sill as cool as Shaft!

Best Supporting Actress:
Lauren Holly (NCIS)

Foremost because as NCIS Director Jenny Shepard she can play a woman of power and convincingly portray someone who can keep a former USMC Gunny like Gibbs in check. Not necessarily because she's a redhead and still super hot at 44.

Best Director:
Michael Bay (Transformers)

"Awesome!"

Below is the awesome special extended edition of the "Awesome" Verizon advertisement.





Best Score:

Steve Jablonsky (Transformers)

"Poor is the student who cannot surpass his master" is phrase I use when a Marine shoots better than I on the rifle range. Eventually someone will come along and break the records you set or do a better job than you could ever do, especially when you train them right. In 2007 Hans Zimmer had two fantastic scores, The Simpsons Movie and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At Worlds End, the latter of which was also nominated. However even the magnificent talent borne by Zimmer paled in comparison to the range of themes and musical emotion crafted by Steve Jablonsky whose knowledge was bestowed by Zimmer himself.

Listen to some of the score samples here at Amazon.com.

Best Dramatic Motion Picture:

The Bourne Ultimatum

Some folk may frown and call foul at the idea that a Bourne movie is a drama and you'd be right, it's more of a thriller however a chase thriller if you want to further categorise it into a sub-genre. However as it has a far more complex plot than a simplistic Action Movie (see below) and I have only three categories for best film, I'm going to lump Bourne's perfectly crafted 3rd outing into this category. Shut-up! They're my awards! I hope this is the end for Bourne as few trilogies end as perfectly as this movie.

Best Action Movie:

300

"THIS -- IS -- SPARTA!"

Special Note: I deliberately removed Transformers from the running as I have already declared it "The Greatest Movie Of The Decade", and so cannot be confined to an accolade for a single year.

Best Comedic Motion Picture:

Hot Fuzz

I preferred this to Shaun of The Dead as I prefer a Cop movie to a Zombie movie. Hot Fuzz is almost more homage than spoof and it works, it's funnier and all the better for it. Edgar Wright excellently crafted a buddy cop movie set in rural England and made it hilarious. Timothy Dalton makes a much better bad guy than a Bond, that's for sure.

Best Foreign Language Movie:

Letters From Iwo Jima

This was a hard one to pick as Days of Glory was so brilliant (and anti-french), but the second half of Clint Eastwood's spectacular Word War II masterpiece really does deserve the Whopper. Told from the perspective of the Japanese; it completes the saga begin in Flags of our Fathers as a whole entity showing both sides of the conflict in a historical context. Most impressive.

Best Television Show:

The Unit

Combining the most realistic military action scenes with what some call home-front soap-opera drama seemed like such a dumb idea to my 2IGTV Co-host Mark, that he was full sure it wouldn't last the first 13 episodes. The writers strike cut the current season short but the series stands at 34 episodes more than Mark original prediction. The series was created by David Mamet and features Denis Haysbert as Sergeant Major Jonas Blane. It's one of the few shows on television which has consistently and steadily improved with age. Long may it continue.

Best Video Game:

Neverwinter Nights 2

Even my love of John Woo or Tom Clancy couldn't topple this epic adventure from the top spot as my best gaming experience of FY07. The technical advances that have taken place in PC Gaming, and the RPG genre in particular are staggering when you compare this masterpiece to it's predecessor. I'm literally itching to play the expansion pack sitting on my shelf.

Best Special Effects:

Flyboys

Justs goes to show that you don't need hundreds of millions of dollars to convince someone what's on screen is real. The aerial combat here was the best I've ever seen in a movie. Top Gun is long forgotten now.

Best DVD:

Die Hard 4.0

Dialog as heard in cinema:
"Yippie Ki-Yay Mother-"*SOUND OF GUNSHOT DROWNS OUT END OF PHRASE*

Dialog as heard on DVD:
"Yippie Ki-Yay MotherFUCKER"

If this happens again, I'll consider not returning to the cinema. Don't mess with a screen legend's dialog.

Special Whopper Awards go to:

300 for Best Trailer Representing a 2007 Release

Iron Man for Best Teaser Trailer of 2007

Shoot ‘Em Up for Most Glorified use of Automatic Weaponry

Smokin' Aces for Best Choreographed Automatic Weaponry scene

300 for Most Delightful Use of Edged Weaponry

30 Days Of Night for Best Gore

War for Best Martial Arts

Die Hard 4.0 for Best Pyrotechnics


Special Mentions:

28 Weeks Later for use of Helicopter Rotor Blades to chop up moving Zombies.

I Am Legend for giving me the idea of hiding an M4 in an umbrella stand.

The Worst Movie of 2007
The Invasion

Yes, there was something even worse than Spider-Man 3.

The Worst Performance of 2007
Gina Holden for Flash Gordon

She's so awful it eclipses her hotness. Seriously, watch her I dare you.

That's it until 2009 folks...

Please note the absence of Best Writing and Best Cinematography from the previous Whopper Awards is not an error; the efforts of writing were sub par this year and so do not deserve to be awarded and I haven't a fucking clue what Cinematography really is so I don't think my opinion is valid on that particular subject.

*Rules: The 3rd Whopper Awards awards the entertainment industry with a worthless accolade for producing the "best" work released from Jan 1st 2007 to Dec 31st 2007 (and for FY07 (October 1st 2006 to September 30th 2007 for the interactive entertainment industry).

The 3rd Annual Whopper Awards!

I was in half a mind about not going to actually do awards this year, but I received so many begging letters, E-mails, comments here and on the 2IGTV forums etc. that I just had to do them.

Log in here in 24 hours time on (Friday Morning March 28th at 00:00 hrs GMT) for the results.

For now you can have a look at the nominees lists in their respective categories.

Best Actor In A Dramatic Role:
Ashraf Barhom (The Kingdom)
Russel Crowe (3:10 To YUMA)
Chris Cooper (Breach)
Liam Neeson (Seraphim Falls)
Ken Wanatabe (Letters From Iwo Jima)

Best Actor In An Action Role:
Gerard Butler (300)
Matt Damon (The Bourne Ultimatum)
Clive Owen (Shoot-Em Up)
Mark Whalberg (Shooter)
Bruce Willis (Die Hard 4.0)

Best Actress In A Dramatic Role:
Jennifer Decker (Flyboys)
Lena Headey (300)
Angelina Jolie (The Good Shepard)
Carice van Houten (Zwartboek)
Naomi Watts (Estern Promices)

Best Actress For Just Being Hot:
Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer)
Megan Fox (Transformers)
Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil Extinction)
Kristanna Loken (Painkiller Jane)
Kate Mara (Shooter)

Best Supporting Actor:
Adam Baldwin (Chuck)
Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice)
Robert Downey Jnr (Zodiac)
Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma)
Samuel L. Jackson (1408)

Best Supporting Actress:
Bryce Dallas Howard (Spider-Man 3)
Lauren Holly (NCIS)
Jane Krakowski (30 Rock)
Robyn Kramer (Neverwinter Nights 2)
Jewel Staite (Stargate Atlantis)

Best Director:
Michael Bay (Transformers)
Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum)
David Slade (30 Days Of Night)
Zack Snyder (300)
Len Wiseman (Die Hard 4.0)

Best Score:
Ilan Eshkeri (Stardust)
Steve Jablonsky (Transformers)
Trevor Rabin (Flyboys)
Alan Silvestri (Beowulf)
Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End)

Best Dramatic Motion Picture:
3:10 To YUMA
American Gangster
The Bourne Ultimatum
Breach
The Kingdom

Best Action Movie:
300
Beowulf
Die Hard 4.0
Shoot ‘Em Up
Shooter

Best Comedic Motion Picture:
Black Sheep
Blades Of Glory
Hot Fuzz
The Simpsons
Superbad

Best Foreign Language Movie:
The Curse Of The Golden Flower
Days Of Glory
Daywatch
Letters From Iwo Jima
Zwartboek (Black Book)

Best Television Show:
24
Chuck
NCIS
The Unit
Stargate: Atlantis

Best Video Game:
Medal Of Honor Airborne
Neverwinter Nights 2
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Stranglehold

Best Special Effects:
1408
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Flyboys
Pirates Of The Carribean: At Worlds End
Transformers

Best DVD:
Die Hard 4.0
Casino Royale
Family Guy: Blue Harvest
Hot Fuzz
Transformers

Please note the absence of Best Writing and Best Cinematography from the previous Whopper Awards is not an error; the efforts of writing were sub par this year and so do not deserve to be awarded and I haven't a fucking clue what Cinematography really is so I don't think my opinion is valid on that particular subject.

*Rules: The 3rd Whopper Awards awards the entertainment industry with a worthless accolade for producing the "best" work released from Jan 1st 2007 to Dec 31st 2007 (and for FY07 (October 1st 2006 to September 30th 2007 for the interactive entertainment industry).

2IGTV Episode 48

A spanner has been thrown into the works of the HD format wars. Mark has the details. Learn about Windows 7, 64bit computing and Second Life. Yes I said Second Life.

In the world of movies we have word on The Day The Earth Stood Still, Dallas, Star Trek XI, Bubba Nosferatu and the JLA movie.

On the small screen we have some info on the Battlestar Galactica: Razor DVD release, 30Rock, South Park, The Prisoner, Painkiller Jane, 24, and a yet another new Bruckheimer show.

We also discuss poor Owen Wilson and we have some interesting news about the greatest British comic book character of all time DAN DARE.

Download it now.