With the Academy Awards still fresh in our minds, we can think of all the great films 20111 brought us. It is easy to forget that year also had tons of stinkers and flops, but the Razzie Awards are here to remind us.

The Razzie Award nominees have been announced, and their aren’t too many surprises. Adam Sandler has a record 11 nominations, and that’s not including nominations that are tied to his Happy Madison productions. Three films by the production company, Buck Larsen: Born to be a Star, Just Go With It, and Jack & Jill, all have multiple nominations each.

The Razzies, or Golden Raspberry awards, were created in 1980 as an antidote to the Oscars. They are usually held on the eve of the Academy Awards, but this year are moving to 1 April. Traditionally, stars do not turn up to collect their awards, but good sports over the years have included Paul Verhoeven in 1996 (worst director and worst picture for Showgirls), Halle Berry for 2005′s Catwoman and Sandra Bullock for 2010′s All About Steve.

Check out the nominations after the jump, and be sure to keep an eye out for these “winners” when they are announced on April 1.

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It’s hard to face it, but we are neck-deep in the heart of the Award-getting part of the film year. When studios and actors try their hardest to tug on the heartstrings of audiences and try to set their footing for this year’s Oscar race.

With that, one film that surely has reason to win some awards is the new 9/11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. The film stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock and just the synopsis alone may get you to choke up.

Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” tells the story of one young boy’s journey from heartbreaking loss to the healing power of self-discovery, set against the backdrop of the tragicevents of September 11. Eleven-year-old Oskar Schell is an exceptional child: amateur inventor, Francophile, pacifist.

And after finding a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11, he embarks on an exceptional journey–an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. As Oskar roams the city, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity, who are all survivors in their own ways. Ultimately, Oskar’s journey ends where it began, but with the solace of that most human experience: love.

Even the 11 year old protagonist’s name is Oskar, so there you have it. Take a look at the new trailer after the jump, and catch the film in limited theaters on Christmas Day.

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While it may not seem like it, MTV still appeals to kids. Though they aren’t the same cut of “kid” that was watching Twisted Sister music videos (or music videos in general), they’re still the #1 demographic for the network.

With that in mind, it was no surprise that Twilight: New Moon took home nearly half of the awards from last night’s MTV Movie Awards. A few other upsets included Ken Jeong winning for Best WTF Moment, and international superstar Rain being crowned Best Badass.

Aziz Ansari managed to hold together the night, bringing the same amount of energy and seniority that Andy Samburg brought to the awards show last year. A few fun surprises like Sandra Bullock and a drunk Peter Facinelli were entertaining. The newest go-to gag of Betty White and yesterday’s go-to gag Will Ferrell delivered, as usual.

Biggest surprise of the night has to go to Tom Cruise reprising his Les Grossman role from 2008′s Tropic Thunder. 2008! That would be two years ago. Long enough for it not to be relevant, but not far away enough for it to be retro. That would be like Owen Wilson doing a bit as Marmaduke 3 years from now. Not entirely necessary.

Check out the full list of broadcast winners from last night’s show, and be sure to catch the worthwhile clips of last night’s ceremony all over the web.

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The Blind Side is one of those movies that kinda sneaks up on you. When I first went into it I was ready to resist what I felt was going to be pretty blatant manipulation of my emotions. After all, the film deals with the uplifting story of a woman who takes in a virtually homeless giant of a man and helps turn him into a productive member of society and an NFL star to boot. That’s what I call a happy ending.

For a more in-depth review of the movie itself, Shannon Hood’s take is pretty much the same as mine. That said, I do like Sandra Bullock and find her appealing in almost any role. Also, Quinton Aaron as the young man she takes under her wing and turns into an NFL superstar does a great job without much previous experience. Sure, the film is, at times, blatantly manipulative, but that’s okay.

When you go into a film like this you expect to be pushed and pulled and unless you’re not human, you will feel emotion. I know I did. It’s a great story that reminds us all of the possibilities that life has to offer. And that’s something we should all try to remember, especially when things look bad.

The film is a times touching, poignant and also tends to hammer it’s points home a bit too hard once in awhile. Maybe the filmmakers thought the audience wouldn’t get the message? I hope not because the message seems right there on the surface for all to see. The film isn’t subtle and isn’t trying to hind anything, it just is.

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This week sees the release of several new movies and TV shows, some for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Of the ones coming out this week, we’re excited for The Blind Side, the new season of Mad Men, the Blu-ray release of The African Queen, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Fantastic Mr. Fox and the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Yojimbo, with Toshirô Mifune (pictured above). Yes, it’s black and white, get over it.

Check them out:

Movies

After Dark Horrorfest Vol. 4 (Dread / The Final / The Graves / The Hidden / Kill Theory / Lake Mungo / The Reeds / Zombies of Mass Destruction) ~ Don McManus, Ryanne Duzich, Teddy Dunn, and Daniel Franzese (Blu-ray and DVD)

Bigger Than Life (The Criterion Collection) ~ James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau (Blu-ray)

Brothers ~ Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman (Blu-ray and DVD)

Days of Heaven (The Criterion Collection) ~ Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard (Blu-ray)

Fantastic Mr. Fox ~ George Clooney, Meryl Streep (Blu-ray and DVD)

Red Cliff International Version – Part I & Part II ~ Tony Leung (Blu-ray)

The African Queen ~ Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn (Blu-ray)

The Blind Side ~ Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron (Blu-ray and DVD)

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The Winners

Just call her the giant slayer. Kathryn Bigelow and her modest little Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker beat out the behemoth box office champ Avatar for best picture, best director, best original screenplay, best editing, best sound editing, and best sound mixing. Bigelow made history, becoming the first female ever to win the award for directing.

James Cameron and company (Avatar) left with a total of three trophies: best visual effects, best art direction and best cinematography. The cinematography award seemed a little odd. After all, most of this film was computer generated, wasn’t it?

There were no real surprises in the acting categories. Best supporting actress went to Mo’nique for Precious, best supporting actor Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds, best actress was Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side, and Jeff Bridges finally won for Crazy Heart.

Up won best animated feature and best original score, while El Secreto do Sus Ojos (Argentina) won best foreign picture. The Cove won best documentary. For an expanded list of major category winners, scroll to the bottom of the article.

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The 82nd annual Academy Award nominations were announced this morning. This is the first year that the Best Picture category has been expanded to ten films. Here is a list of the major category nominees.

For a complete list of all nominees, visit the official site of the Oscars. The Awards take place on Sunday, March 7 at 8/5P on ABC.

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’nique, Precious

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibie, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia

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The SAG (Screen Actor’s Guild) awards aired on Saturday evening. As far as the actual awards given, it was largely a repeat of last week’s Golden Globes.  However, since Avatar was not nominated in any categories, another film  got to bask in the glow of the evening.

Inglourious Basterds won for best ensemble cast, and Christoph Waltz repeated last week’s Golden Globe win. Other repeat winners included Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Mo’Nique, Michael C. Hall, Julianna Margulies, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Bacon, and Drew Barrymore.

Despite the lack of  suspense, the show seemed quite a bit more lively and more entertaining than last week’s rather restrained Golden Globes. Here are a few highlights.

Sandra Bullock beat out perennial favorite Meryl Streep, and this was a vote by her peers.  She clearly has won the respect of a lot of naysayers this year. She gave an adorable acceptance speech, and was truly funny when she introduced Betty White for her lifetime achievement award.  This is shaping up to be the year of the Sandra.

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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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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HAFTA) announced its 2009 nominees for the Golden Globes this morning. The Golden Globes are considered a harbinger of the Oscar season, even though they  generally throw a few wacky choices into their slate.

For those keeping track, Up in the Air nabbed six nominations, followed by Avatar with four.  Sandra Bullock continues to enjoy a stellar year, as she was nominated for The Blind Side as well as The Proposal. Other double nominees include Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia, It’s Complicated), and Matt Damon (Invictus, The Informant!).  Directors Quentin Tarantino and Jason Reitman each got a nod for directing and screenplay as well.

The Golden Globes ceremony will take place on January 17th, 2010, and will air on NBC.

Here is a list of the nominees in major film categories:

Best Picture, Drama

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

Up in the Air

Best Picture, Musical/Comedy

500 Days of Summer

The Hangover

It’s Complicated

Julie and Julia

Nine

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The Blind Side pulled off a pretty nifty feat this weekend. After three weeks in wide release, it finally nabbed the top spot at the weekend box office, making about $20 Million and standing at about a $129 Million cumulative total. It is on track to become the highest grossing movie of Sandra Bullock’s career.

In second place, New Moon looks like it is finally cooling off a bit. In its third week, the movie made about $15.7 Million, and dropped another 63% (after a steep drop off of 70% last week.) Domestically, it crossed the $250 Million mark.

Newcomer Brothers made a modest $9.7 Million. Starring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhal, and Tobey Maguire, I thought the movie about an Iraq War veteran returning home would fare better. Holdover A Christmas Carol hung in for the number four spot, and made an additional $7.2 Million.  Its cumulative take now stands at about $115 Million. Old Dogs managed to land the fifth spot in the top  five.

Star-laden Everybody’s Fine (Robert De Niro, Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, and Kate Beckinsdale star) failed to find an audience, and brought in an anemic $4 Million. George Clooney’s critically hailed Up In The Air only played on 15 screens. but made over $1.1 Million, for an impressive $79,000 per screen average.

As far as I know, Paramount is testing the waters for this film, and they should be pleased with the weekend performance. Hopefully they will go ahead and open wide now rather than roll it out slowly. Overall, it was a soft weekend, which is typical of the after-Thanksgiving weekend box office.

This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt welcome special guest Shannon Hood and launch into a whole slew of new topics including the rise of fangirl power, the huge success of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the relative merits of Sandra Bullock and her film The Blind Side, some more interesting Thor casting news, what holiday movies they are looking forward to seeing, how the entertainment business is changing, and needs to change more, to stay competitive and a whole lot more.

Chris, Matt and Shannon also made some cool picks this week including Shannon’s pick of The Road, Matt’s pick of the new British series Misfits and Chris’ pick of the recent Blu-ray release of J.J. Abrams Star Trek.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.