The 67th annual Golden Globes awards took place last night, and Avatar walked away top honors of  Best Picture and Best Director, fueling speculation that it is gaining momentum going into the Oscar nomination race. Avatar and Crazy Heart picked up two awards each, but there were no lopsided wins this year.

Critical darling The Hurt Locker was shut out and went home empty handed.  The Hurt Locker has been cleaning up top honors at Critic Circle awards nationwide. Up in the Air was nominated for six awards, but only won for Best Screenplay.

Veteran actors Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep won acting awards, and delivered particularly elegant and classy acceptance speeches.

On the television side, Dexter fared well, with John Lithgow and Michael C. Hall both winning acting awards.  HBO’s film Grey Gardens won two awards as well.  Mad Men won for Best Television Series, Drama and freshman series Glee won for best Television Series, Comedy or Musical.

A complete list of winners follows. Also, be sure to check out our photo gallery of all the winners after the jump.

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Welcome to our very first live-blogging event on The Flickcast. If you are not familiar with live-blogging, basically it is a running commentary that you will be able to see in real-time.  Staff writers Elisabeth Rappe, Cortney Zamm,  John Muth, and myself (Shannon Hood) will be your commentators this evening.  In order to see the latest comments, scroll down throughout the evening, and refresh your browser often.

If you have any comments to make during the ceremony, feel free to use our comments section at the end of the post.  Now, let’s talk Golden Globes!

So our first arrival that we will comment on is….Fergie.

Shannon 6:05  It looks like Fergie is pregnant or had some work done

John 6:06 I guess it’s kind of inconsiderate to be like, “so Fergie, you going to have a little Gremlin soon?”

John 6:09 January Jones didn’t look that great…Whoa, but Marion Cottiard…

Shannon 6:09 She looks gorgeous. Very stunning.

John 6:10  NO!!! Ask about Inception!!! Dammit!

Cortney 6:10 Cannot wait for that movie. I have no idea what it’s about, but I’m excited.

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As hard as it may be to believe sometimes, someone (or someones) actually sits down and writes a movie or TV show before you end up seeing it at your local multiplex or on your favorite TV network. The people who do the sitting and the writing are, surprisingly, called writers and, like the Directors, the Golden Globes and the Oscars, they have their own awards show.

This week, the Writers Guild of America, which is the trade group and advocate for writers, announced its nominations for outstanding achievement in feature film and television, radio, news, promotional writing, and graphic animation during the 2009 season to be honored at the upcoming 2010 Writers Guild Awards on February 20, 2010, in Los Angeles and New York.

We realize that these nominations may not be as glamorous as the Golden Globes or the Oscars, but we kinda like writers around here and think they do a pretty important job. So, with that in mind, here’s a complete list of nominees.

Check out these names, these people are pretty important. Without them you wouldn’t get to enjoy your favorite TV show, movie or pretty much any other form of entertainment. The 2010 Writers Guild Awards will be held on Saturday, February 20, 2010, simultaneously at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City.

FILM NOMINEES

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

(500) Days of Summer, Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

Avatar, Written by James Cameron

The Hangover, Written by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore

The Hurt Locker, Written by Mark Boal

A Serious Man, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Crazy Heart, Screenplay by Scott Cooper

Based on the novel by Thomas Cobb

Julie & Julia, Screenplay by Nora Ephron Based on the books Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme

Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher Based on the novel Push by Sapphire

Star Trek, Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman Based upon Star Trek, Created by Gene Roddenberry

Up in the Air, Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon TurnerBased upon the novel by Walter Kirn

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While most of the “best of 2009″ lists are petering off in the new year, there are still a few statistics still rolling in. One being the most-illegally-downloaded TV program of the year, which also happens to be one of the least popular. NBC’s Heroes has been on the bubble since last year, which is why the network only ordered half of a season for this year, and will be spreading the episodes out until Spring sweeps.

With that in mind, it would be considered that fans wouldn’t be rushing to their torrent sites or DVD stores to catch up on the super-powered drama, seeing as how they didn’t give it enough of a chance when it was on the air in the past. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that’s just what they’re doing.

“This year, the buzz is that the show may be on the verge of cancellation thanks to dwindling ratings (it averages about 6 million viewers a week, down from nearly 14 million when the show first premiered in 2006).

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2009 has been a great year for TV. Everyone’s favorite shows like The Office, Lost, Weeds, and True Blood continued with some killer seasons, new shows like Trauma, Castle, and Lie to Me caught audience’s interests. We’ve got a list for you of our favorite TV shows of this year, including some of the latest and greatest of 2009 as well as some old favorites.

Glee – Fox

Glee has stolen viewer’s hearts this season not just with its love triangles and intense drama, but also the song and dance that the students in William McKinley High School’s glee club perform. The mid-season finale just aired, and it surely made “gleeks” even more anxious for the rest of the season, which will air beginning April 13th.

Not only has Glee swept the nation’s TV sets, but also it’s iTunes playlists. The first soundtrack to the season has already gone gold, while the second soundtrack is climbing the charts in the top 5.

True Blood – HBO

Where the Twilight series fails to thrill audiences, True Blood succeeds. Just finishing its action packed and hair-raising second season, the show, based off Charlaine Harris’ vampire mystery series continues to confuse us, surprise us, and make our blood boil with such storylines as an anti-vampire cult, a love triangle, and flying Eric, all in this season alone!

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Chestnuts are roasting and Jack Frost is nibbling. It’s December already, and here at The Flickcast we’ve got another TV digest for you, ready to keep you entertained in between all your caroling, pigging out, and gift exchanges this holiday season.

This month, we’ve got the season finales of some of our favorite shows.

Glee

After last week’s huge reveal and with sectionals ahead for the Glee kids, this is one mid-season finale you won’t want to miss.  Musical tracks on the bill for the episode, which airs December 9th on Fox, include The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, and “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from the musical Dreamgirls.

Glee will return for the remaining 9 episodes of the season April 13th, 2010.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The season finale of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia airs December 10th on FX. In this episode, the gang tries to reignite their old rivalry with another local bar in a local drinking competition appropriately named “Flipadelphia.”

Finding that they are in need of some serious practice, the guys head to Dennis’ old fraternity house at the University of Pennsylvania to get their game up to speed.

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Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray version of The Last Starfighter, Dexter Seasons 1-3 on Blu-ray and the debut of season one of Sons of Anarchy on DVD.

Check them out.

Movies

The 5 Deadly Venoms ~ Five Deadly Venoms (DVD)

Hannah Montana The Movie (3-Disc Combo Pack Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) ~ Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lucas Till, and Emily Osment (Blu-ray)

Husbands (Extended Cut) ~ Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, and Jenny Runacre (DVD)

Julia ~ Tilda Swinton (DVD)

Kagemusha – Criterion Collection ~ Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara, and Jinpachi Nezu (Blu-ray)

Last House on the Left (2009) ~ Garret Dillahunt, Monica Potter, Tony Goldwyn (DVD and Blu-ray)

The Last Starfighter 25th Anniversary ~ Lance Guest, Dan O’Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart (DVD and Blu-ray)

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Everyone’s favorite serial killer is back, as Showtime’s hit series Dexter is about to start its fourth season as well as a new animated series of webisodes. /Film brings us the Season 4 Trailer, as well as a peak at the new animated series, Dexter: Early Cuts, both of which debuted at the Dexter panel at Comic-Con.

The fourth season of Dexter revolves around Dexter and Rita’s new son, Harrison. Deborah, Dexter’s sister, will have a former flame return as the Miami Police Department attempts to track down the Trinity Killer, played by John Lithgow.

/Film mentioned that the producers and writers of Dexter reiterated that unlike the first season, this new season of Dexter would stray from the plotline originally outlined in the books.

Dexter: Early Cuts will be an animated series of webisodes, centered around Dexter and his ominous past. We’ll get to learn more about his first kills and follow him as he perfects his technique. The webisodes will surely give some insight into this awesome character.

Dexter returns to Showtime on September 29th. Dexter: Early Cuts debuts sometime in Fall 2009 on Sho.com. You can check out the trailer after the jump.

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Although it seems most every element of this film is “borrowed” from other films, it doesn’t make Gamer look any less cool. And now, there’s a new international trailer for the film to further confirm that fact. In case you’re not familiar with the film, Gamer is an action/thriller set in the near future where humans control other humans in a massive multiplayer online game.

Billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) has created the controversial form of entertainment called “Slayers,” a hugely popular game that allows millions to act out their secret desires and fantasies online. At the center is Kable (Gerard Butler), who is taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will. Now, he must survive long enough to escape the game, free his family, regain his identity and save mankind. Doesn’t sound that tough, right?

Like I said, lots of familiar elements but still cool. Plus, Butler does know his way around action, so that can’t hurt either. Can’t wait to see this one.

Gamer, directed by Neveldine/Taylor and featuring Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgwick, Alison Lohman and Milo Ventimiglia, hits theaters on September 4.

Check out the new trailer after the jump.

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