Avatar

Avatar and Inglourious Basterds have picked up five nominations apiece to lead the pack at the 2010 Jameson Empire Awards. The James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino helmed features will battle for the 'Best Film' prize along with Star Trek, District 9 and Oscar-tipped war drama The Hurt Locker. Avatar stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana both score acting nominations, while the blockbuster's helmer James Cameron is also nominated for 'Best Director' alongside Tarantino, J.J. Abrams, Neil Blomkamp »
- By Simon Reynolds

Read the full article on digitalspy.co.uk

Nicolas Chartier asked 'friends who vote for the Oscars' to support the Kathryn Bigelow-helmed film over 'Avatar.'
By Adam Rosenberg

Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker"
Photo: First Light Production
Oscar campaigning took a dark turn earlier this week when it was revealed that "The Hurt Locker" producer Nicolas Chartier e-mailed a group of industry players in an appeal for Best Picture votes. And rather than touting the quality of the Kathryn Bigelow-directed, Oscar nomination-leading Iraq War story, Chartier based his plea on his film's indie roots, indirectly but quite obviously slamming "Avatar" in the process.

Chartier called for the e-mail's recipients to tell their "friends who vote for the Oscars," and to have them tell their friends, to support "The Hurt Locker" instead of "a $500M film," according to the Los Angeles Times. He went on to say that "we need independent movies to win, »

Read the full article on mtv.com

It might not be Oscar bait, but last year's found footage thriller "Paranormal Activity" remains an unparalleled achievement. The low-budget indie which first screened for festival audiences in 2007 finally got a wide release in the fall of 2009. The wide opening came after Paramount's weeks-long campaign appealing for fans to "Demand It" by signing onto a website and clicking their home city. The end result: a record-breaking success story, which saw the film take in a 434,000 percent return on its initial investment of $15,000, making it the most profitable movie of all time.
As you might expect, there will be a sequel. Of course there will be. "Paranormal Activity 2" has been the subject of some discussion in recent months. Original director Oren Peli will not return. "Saw VI" director Kevin Greutert was at one point set to do it, but he was ultimately shuffled back to work on "Saw VII" instead. »
- Adam Rosenberg

Read the full article on moviesblog.mtv.com