Tuesday, January 04, 2011

The Razzies Are Coming! The Razzies Are Coming!

Why so glum Christina?

"and you're in my mirror AGAIN?"
Oh right, you suspect that a Razzie nomination is coming your way for Worst Actress for Burlesque? Happily the movie, though, is not on the longlist for a potential Worst Picture bid.

Worst Picture LonglistThe Bounty Hunter, Clash of the Titans, The Expendables, Grown Ups, Jonah Hex, Killers, The Last Airbender, Little Fockers, Sex and the City 2, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Vampires Suck and Yogi Bear.

Nominations will be announced on Monday, January 24th. You can still join up and be a voter for $25 [begging] but if you have $25 to throw around, I'd prefer you donate it to The Film Experience. I work hard for you all year and the Razzies only spring up once! [/begging]

The Razzies are rarely discussed in a serious way on the web as it's mostly an opportunity for free-form mocking. It's good that Burlesque missed this longlist. Burlesque is NOT a bad movie; it's fully aware of what it is and it's totally entertaining. If you get a good helping of entertainment out of a movie, it is not worthy of Worst Picture gong.

But in some ways, the Razzies reflect just as much laziness in groupthink voting as any of the "Best" focused precursors do year in and year out. Both actresses are on the longlists for Worst Actress. There is nothing about Cher, as an actress, that one could conceivably view as worst; she's fully aware of what she's capable of and she's totally entertaining (I'm sensing a repetitive theme here). More inexplicably, since Cher is an easy/visible/lazy target, is that Cam Gigandent is on the longlist of Worst Supporting Actor for his best performance to date... which is not saying much, but throw a guy a bone! If you can watch Easy A and Burlesque and think he's worse in the latter, you are probably missing your eyeballs altogether. (In which case: How are you watching movies, silly!?)

16 comments:

Anthony Mai said...

Ok, Nathaniel...
You just got 25 dollars richer, so go slave away!

Looking forward to seeing your new site :)

Anonymous said...

I hope Alice in Wonderland gets nominated.

Seriously, worst 'movie' of the year.

/3rtfu11 said...

I thought we were feeding you through our posts in the comments section. Now I hear you want my money instead of my heart – I’m crushed! Sorry, love -- don’t have the additional[s] to throw in your direction, but my best thoughts are with you to interview all of your favorites (the living ones). If it makes you feel any better I do support your politics (Give Meryl her 3rd – Return to prominence Michelle Pfeiffer – Give Kathleen Turner a break Hollywood).

Laika said...

I've always thought the Razzies are actually a hell of a lot lazier and more conventional than AMPAS, even. Just look at the long list - lowbrow comedies, action movies, unwanted sequels, M. Night Shyamalan. Eclipse is the only choice that feels like it has any edge to it - the rest is shooting fish in a barrel. Would a more prestigious movie like 'Alice in Wonderland' ever end up with a nomination for worst picture?

The Pretentious Know it All said...

I'd love to see more diversity in the Razzies. It seems they go after lowbrow movies, where the filmmakers are in no way deluding themselves into thinking they're creating high art. I'd love to see them go after the highminded, but ultimately just as offensive failures. And what about bad performances in good films? They should think outside the box and not just go after the same Razzie-bait projects. Seriously, we all know that Cat vs. Dogs movie was bad, but they could go after something smaller like It's Kind of a Funny Story, which fancies itself as profound, but is no less banal and offensive.

pomme said...

please "clash of titans" & "skyline" &"killers"...& "the tourist"(just because even if it's really bad,it's better than the 3 other movies)

Liz said...

@The Pretentious Know It All

I don't know. That's kind of one of my pet peeves. I really, really hate it when people see a sure-to-be-shitty movie like "Transformers" and just shrug their shoulders, like "Hey, what're you gonna do?" And then they rip the living daylights out of things that actually have some ambition, like the big end-of-the-year movies that have clear Oscar ambitions. Maybe this is why I'm slightly annoyed by the term "Oscar bait." It's used as some kind of prejorative, like the filmmakers should be embarassed. Moreso than Michael Bay. Seriously?

I would much rather see a didn't-even-try-to-be-good movie get slammed than a movie that tried to do something, anything. Even a super-mild and seemingly unambitious movie like "The King's Speech" has something to say.

adam k. said...

My money's on Grown Ups, The Last Airbender, Little Fockers, SATC2, and Twilight.

I think everyone except Xtina is actually quite good in Burlesque. And even Xtina isn't bad so much as just hopelessly bland. But she hits her marks adequately enough. It's no crime to look boring and amateurish next to Cher. It's not like the role afforded her all that much room for brilliance.

If anything's not up to par (and it is), it's the script. Oh well.

Lex said...

I'll take Oscar bait that tries and fails over mindless summery shit that has no ambitions more than being loud and obnoxious work any day of the week. I think the Razzies are a crass and vile organization, so I don't care which way they go with what films they "honor," highbrow or lowbrow.

NATHANIEL R said...

Liz & Lex -- good points actually. it's true that it shouldn't be a pejorative anymore than "would be blockbuster"

Volvagia said...

Vile? Vile? Vile? They do their job. Their job is to watch bad movies. Yet, their policy of "every thing they did this year is on the nomination ballot" is probably the most disgusting thing about them. (Was Ben Kingsley really bad in The Wackness?)

Walter L. Hollmann said...

I thought Cam was good in both, honestly. Maybe that phone call scene is clunky, but that's the writing, surely.

The Razzies *do* get lazy, though. Paris Hilton elevated Repo: The Genetic Opera; to get a Razzie for that performance is questionable. Giving the Actor Razzie to the Jonas Brothers for a CONCERT MOVIE, though? Just plain dumb.

Lex said...

Yeah, that's what I said. Vile. They don't nearly go for the "worst" worst movies, but instead the films and celebs that will get them the most press and publicity. The "award" should be destroyed and everything's that associated with that crap.

billybil said...

I agree. I HATE how lazy they are and how much of it is about what Lex wrote - the films and celebs that will get them the most press. There is no way that TWILIGHT ECLIPSE should be on this list. That's just plain bulls---. And GROWN UPS? Why? I even have some quibbles with seeing SEX AND THE CITY 2 included here. So predictable. Barf!

Anonymous said...

Can't wait for the Razzie's! If you want a good laugh, check out Virgin Radio's 'Fake Film Fest' contest. The entries are hilarious! Winner takes home $10,000, and even if you aren't up to making one, check out the entries: http://bit.ly/hZThmQ The one minute A Night at the Roxbury is so funny! http://bit.ly/fkEqZt

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for the Razzies! If you want a good laugh at a movie's expense, check out Virgin Radio's 'Fake Film Festival' contest. The entries are hilarious! Check out A Night at the Roxbury - the one minute cut. http://bit.ly/fkEqZt If you are ambitious enough to enter, check out details at: http://bit.ly/hZThmQ Winner takes home $10,000!