LOS ANGELES – Kathryn Bigelow played field commander to bring her raw, relentless Iraq War thriller The Hurt Locker to the screen.

The Oscars this year brought big wins for The Hurt Locker, Bigelow, Bullock, and Bridges.

After her film triumphed at the Academy Awards with six prizes and made her the first woman ever to win the directing Oscar, she graduated to diplomat with her deft handling of some uncomfortable personal questions from reporters after the show.

Bigelow’s rivals included a man from her past — ex-husband James Cameron, whose science-fiction epic Avatar also was nominated for the best picture and director that she won.

Backstage, Bigelow judiciously handled reporters’ queries about Cameron, who was seated right behind her at the Oscars and joined the standing ovation she received, clapping heartily and saying, “Yes, yes” after she won best director.

“Jim is very inspiring. I think he inspires filmmakers around the world, and for that, I think I can speak for all of them. We’re quite grateful,” Bigelow said.

Asked what she might say to Cameron about winning over him, Bigelow gave a big laugh and shrugged off the question.

“You left me speechless,” Bigelow said. She and Cameron were married from 1989-91, and Cameron won best director and picture for his 1997 blockbuster Titanic.

First-time winners took all four acting prizes: Sandra Bullock as best actress for The Blind Side; Jeff Bridges as best actor for Crazy Heart; Mo’Nique as supporting actress for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire; and Christoph Waltz as supporting actor for Inglourious Basterds.

Bigelow downplayed descriptions of herself as a female filmmaker throughout awards season. After the Oscars, she reiterated that sentiment but made it clear she was eager for other women to follow her lead in winning Hollywood’s top filmmaking honor.

“I hope I’m the first of many, and of course, I’d love to just think of myself as a filmmaker. And I long for the day when that modifier can be a moot point,” Bigelow said. “But I’m very grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female filmmaker and have them feel that the impossible is possible, and never give up on your dream.”

Bullock’s win came a day after she won worst-actress for her romantic comedy flop All About Steve at the Razzies, a spoof of the Oscars that mocks Hollywood’s low-points of the year.

The Razzie win makes Bullock the only actress to receive that dubious prize and an Oscar on the same weekend. Bullock became one of the few Razzie winners ever to collect her trophy in person, showing up at the ceremony Saturday pulling a little red wagon filled with DVDs of All About Steve for the audience there.

Where will she keep her Oscar and Razzie?

“They’ll sit side by side on a nice little shelf somewhere. The Razzie maybe on a different shelf. Lower,” said Bullock, who was a great sport throughout awards season, joking about her worst-actress Razzie nomination. “You take the good with the not-so-good.”

The Oscar marks a career peak for Bridges, a beloved Hollywood veteran who had been nominated four times in the previous 38 years without winning. Describing his long career, he borrowed some lines from one of his most endearing and enduring characters, the laid-back bowler the Dude from The Big Lebowski.

“Ups and downs. What does the Dude say? Strikes and gutters, man,” Bridges said backstage. “I’m big on the Dude. I love him.”

Known mainly for brazen comedy routines and roles in lowbrow films, Mo’Nique startled audiences with a dark turn as a reprehensible welfare mother in Precious.

Asked backstage if things would change for her, Mo’Nique declared, “I am a standup comedian who won an Oscar.”

Austrian-born Waltz, a veteran TV and stage actor in Europe but virtually unknown in Hollywood before Quentin Tarantino cast him in Inglourious Basterds, reflected on his sudden Oscar celebrity.

“It’s mind-boggling. It’s fantastic. It’s very intense,” Waltz said. “And tomorrow I’ll probably be sorry it’s over,” he said.

The Hurt Locker scored a victory for war-on-terror dramas, which until now had found little favor with audiences shell-shocked by nightly news coverage of the action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The film stars Jeremy Renner as the ace leader of a bomb-disposal unit in Iraq, a man whose addiction to the adrenaline rush of war endanger his colleagues (Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty).

War films normally are the arena of male directors, but Bigelow has made action and stories about tough men a specialty, her films including the Keanu Reeves-Patrick Swayze thriller Point Break and Harrison Ford’s submarine adventure K-19: The Widowmaker.

K-19 was a 2002 flop, and it took Bigelow years to get back in action with The Hurt Locker, which premiered at the Venice and Toronto film festivals in September 2008.

While it pulled in $12.6 million domestically, a respectable showing for an independent film without big stars, The Hurt Locker is the lowest-grossing best-picture winner in this modern era of detailed box-office bookkeeping.

It took in less than one-fourth the haul of 2005 best-picture winner Crash, itself one of the least commercially successful recipients of the top Oscar.

Along with Avatar, the biggest modern blockbuster with $720 million domestically, the best-picture competition included the $200 million smashes Up and The Blind Side and the $100 million hits District 9 and Inglourious Basterds.”

Like Crash, The Hurt Locker was a rare film that swooped in from outside the Hollywood studios to earn the industry’s highest tribute. The Hurt Locker was acquired by Summit Entertainment after the film played at the Toronto festival, where Crash also was bought by distributor Lionsgate.

Joining Bigelow to collect the best-picture Oscar were Hurt Locker producers Mark Boal, who also won the prize for original screenplay, and Greg Shapiro.

A fourth producer — financier Nicolas Chartier, a key money man behind the film — was barred from attending as punishment for violating awards rules by sending e-mails to Oscar voters urging them to back The Hurt Locker over Avatar.

Oscar overseers said Chartier still will receive his best-picture Oscar, but at a later time.

“We haven’t spoken to him yet,” Shapiro said. “He sent me a very beautiful e-mail. He had a party thrown for him, and I think he’s very pleased.”

First thing’s first, “Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?” Make sure to get out to see Alice in Wonderland to find out the answer to this riddle!

Alice in Wonderland is a novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under pseudonym Lewis Carroll in 1865.

Alice’s [Adventures] in Wonderland is a novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under pseudonym Lewis Carroll in 1865. The popular story is about a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic in ways that has given the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children.

Tim Burton’s 2010 Alice in Wonderland is a fantasy adventure film written by Linda Woolverton. The movie stars an eccentric cast, including Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Michael Sheen, and Stephen Fry.

In the film, Alice is now 19 and accidentally returns to Wonderland. She is told that she is the only one that can slay the Jabberwocky, a dragon controlled by the Red Queen.

Burton doesn’t see this as a sequel to previous films or as a re-imagining; he believes the original Wonderland was only about a girl wandering around from one character to another without an emotional connection. Burton wanted to make his feel more like a story than a series of events. The film uses a technique of combining live action and animation into unusual graphic scenes.

Alice in Wonderland will open to more than $100 million in the U.S. and Canada alone after audiences packed theaters on its opening Friday. The 3-D adaptation of the classic fairy tale sold approximately $41 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada on Friday according to distributor and financier Walt Disney Studios. Assuming the film follows the path of a normal PG-rated Disney-family movie, it should collect about $110 million this weekend. With this goal in sight it will reach the second-highest opening ever outside of summer, (not accounting price inflation) after November’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Altogether, whether you’re a nonsensical fan, Johnny Depp fan, a Tim Burton fan, or an Alice in Wonderland fan, this film is a must see: but save your bucks and skip the expensive 3-D option. The only thing worth seeing was the Cheshire Cat (he’s my favorite) and very few others.

NEW YORK – Early indications are that an Academy Awards telecast where The Hurt Locker topped the popular Avatar for best picture was popular with viewers.

The Nielsen Co.’s overnight measurement of the nation’s 56 biggest markets gave ABC’s telecast a 26.5 rating and 40 audience share. That’s a 14 percent increase over the same rating for last year’s telecast, when Slumdog Millionaire was named best picture.

Nielsen is expected to give an estimate of the audience size later Monday. Last year’s telecast was seen by 36.3 million people. Each rating point represents 1,149,000 households, and the share means that 40 percent of the televisions being used at the time were tuned into the Oscars. The Oscars had a 29.4 rating in the New York market, Nielsen said. That was 11 percent above the average for other big cities and No. 13 among those cities.

Let’s meet The Crazies.

Eisner and writers Scott Kosar and Ray Wright want us to think that something on par with the Ogden Marsh contamination could easily happen tomorrow…

There are only 1,200 residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa, but it’s 100% American soil and all about Main Street. Everyone knows everyone, and local sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) and his deputy sheriff (Joe Anderson) keep its gravel roads and small businesses in line. On opening day of baseball season, the local drunk wanders onto the field with a strange look in his eye and a shotgun in hand, leaving Dutton no choice but to shoot to kill. He’s got “the crazies,” and soon enough the whole town’s infected. After quarantine, the immune try to escape the massacre but are thwarted by the masses of their crazy – insert ironic giggle here – neighbors.

HELLO? Does this sound like a mixture of Dawn of the Dead/Shawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later? That’s because it is. Mix in what I think the ending of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening looked like and some gore scenes from the Saw series and you’ve got The Crazies. I’ll give it to director Breck Eisner however, for while The Crazies did have some pitfalls, it wasn’t nearly as horrible as the above mentioned films. The cinematography was well planned out and the horror aspect, attributed to heightened sound effects, worked out well as the other people in the theater screamed! Eisner’s use of close ups and jerky jump cuts intensifies the scenes that really gnaw at your adrenal gland.

A strength of Eisner’s new film that makes it more believable is it gives the audience a sense of reality. The Crazies set design was exactly like a small quiet little town of a thousand people.

The film can be scary on many levels, from its gore Saw-like scenes to it’s underlying message of government secrecy. Eisner and writers Scott Kosar and Ray Wright want us to think that something on par with the Ogden Marsh contamination could easily happen tomorrow…

The age old dilemma stands before movie-goers time after time. What do I want to see? Comedy, action, drama…there are just way too many to pick from! Well, movie fans, it seems that there is a movie out there for you right now with this past weekend’s release of the new Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan film, Cop Out.

Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan star in the action-comedy Cop Out

The movie takes place in the great New York City. Heroes Paul and Jimmy are detectives for the NYPD working the beat together, case after case, for nine straight years. But things don’t stay like that for long when a drug bust goes south and the two are put on suspension.

This is not good at all for Jimmy, as he needs the money for his daughter’s dream wedding. He decides to get the money by selling one of the most valuable cards in his collection that should receive double what he needs.

Things go south for him once again though when, while trying to sell the card, the store is robbed by the cunning and nimble thief Dave (played by Sean William Scott). Jimmy must go on a long hunt for the very valuable card: a hunt that brings laughter, action, and drama to the screen.

On a scale from one to ten I would give this movie an eight. It was bust-a-gut-laugh-out-loud funny and packed with plenty of awesome gun fights for you to keep your adrenaline pumping. Cop Out is a must see this time of year so if you are looking for a night out and something to do.

It’s 1954 and United States marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo Dicaprio) and his new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) are assigned to investigate the disappearance of a murdering patient from Boston’s Shutter Island, the location of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Although Teddy has been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, before long he begins to question if he has been brought there as part of a twisted plot by the government and hospital doctors for their unethical and illegal treatments. Teddy’s cunning investigative skills quickly provide a potential lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records that may break the case. As a hurricane cuts off mainland communication, more dangerous criminals escape in the confusion, perplexing and improbable clues multiply, and Teddy begins to doubt everything: his partner, his memories, and even his own sanity.

Shutter Island is Leonardo Dicaprio’s fourth and most intense collaboration with director Martin Scorsese, the previous three being Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed.

Shutter Island is based off of Dennis Lehane’s 1954 novel and was adapted for film in 2009 by Scorsese with Alfred Hitchcock’s work of the mid-20^th century in mind. The film stars DiCaprio, who is known for his roles in all genres, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Elias Koteas, Emily Mortimer, and Max von Sydow. Scorsese is of the “movie brat” generation – the first group of American filmmakers to have emerged from actual film education programs – and has continued directing well into his sixties quite successfully.

As Scorsese’s fourth consecutive collaboration with DiCaprio it seems their partnership defines Scorsese’s late period. Scorsese makes wise directing choices as always, twisting, turning, and thickening the plot until no end – to a point beyond unimaginable conception – of course until the reveal. His cinematography is also well thought out but there are some lapses in acting. Although Dicaprio is a multifaceted actor and has held other roles that were mentally distraught (Catch Me If You Can or The Departed), throughout Shutter Island DiCaprio seemed too lightweight an actor in particular scenes to follow through with the necessary haunted character Scorsese desired. Ruffalo also seemed to fall through on his part, while he has also had strong roles in his past (The Zodiac), throughout his scenes all I could see him as was the best friend/ boyfriend from 13 Going on 30.

Howling its way into theaters this Friday, I must say that I was thrilled to go see The Wolfman. Upon leaving the theater however, I couldn’t help but feel let down. The movie was overall mediocre and never elevated past that level.

Cast member Anthony Hopkins, right, and Stella Arroyave arrive at the premiere of "The Wolfman" in Los Angeles on Feb. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

With a cast consisting of Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving, and Emily Blunt, you would expect to see a spectacular remake to the 1941 horror movie of the same name. However, the film’s weakness does not lie within its actors, although I could honestly say that this was not Del Toro’s best performance.

Rather, the film’s flaws lie within its storyline and in its attempt in trying to blend two genres together. I understand that the film is trying to maintain its horror roots, and in many ways it does, but when director Joe Johnston thought of horror for 2010, I think gore came more to mind. Surely gore is entertaining; especially in horror, but only when it is used correctly and at many times throughout the film the gore seems a bit unnecessary. The story for the movie also seems to be a bit too much. Anthony Hopkins is without a doubt a legend, but I feel that his role was used incorrectly. The movies storyline clearly reveals how writers have trouble successfully adopting older films into modern times.

To be fair, The Wolfman has overall good graphics, and I even admire that the graphics are not completely CGI like many movies today. I respect the fact that they tried keeping the appearance of the Wolfman traditional, and when he’s finally revealed, he looks amazing. The wardrobe and scenery also adds to The Wolfman’s gothic horror look, but even with all of this, you never truly feel part of the world portrayed on the screen. Though the movie does a good job in setting the mood, it fails in captivating its audience, and no matter what happens in the film, you never forget that you are still watching a group of actors pretending to be in a crazed cursed town.

In all, The Wolfman had a bigger bark than its bite, and I would recommend waiting till DVD to watch it. Although enjoyable and entertaining, the film’s story lacks creativity and it never truly captivates its audience. The Wolfman gets a C+ in my book.

When you think of a Greek god, you think of someone strong, poised, and confident. You would likely expect the same characteristics of their offspring. Instead, Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is a daydreaming, spacey high school student who is confused with why his life has the problems that it does. When he is thrust into the middle of a potential divine power struggle for being the prime suspect of stealing the mighty Zeus’s lightning bolt, he comes to realize why he is so different from the rest of his peers: he is the son of Poseidon.

In this film publicity image released by 20th Century Fox, Pierce Brosnan, left, and Brandon T. Jackson are shown in a scene from, "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief." (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, Doane Gregory)

The general plot of the story itself is somewhat uninspired – Percy is being framed for doing something he didn’t do, and he must go to great lengths to prove this, all the while trying to save his mother. As he, fellow demigod (a half-mortal, half-god) Annabeth (Alexandria Daddario) and his best friend/protector Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) set out to accomplish the goal, they are faced with a number of challenges tying into Greek mythology. These challenges include a hydra, the lotus flower, and Medusa. There are several plot issues that can be found throughout the movie that flaw the story, like how a trio of high-school aged teenagers manage to get into a casino and gamble among other things. Also, some major plot points are brought up and then never touched upon again, which is border-line frustrating.

The movie does have its pluses, however. The special effects were very well-executed, giving a very realistic feel to some of the scenes that would seem more implausible. Also, the mythological ties are very well done, and are very nicely intertwined into the 21st century. Finally, the supporting cast is very strong, with a number of recognizable faces and names, such Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, and Joe Pantoliano.

Overall, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief isn’t a complete flop. While it is somewhat geared towards a younger audience, it is still enjoyable. Not a movie that necessarily everyone has to see, but not a movie you should stay away from by any means either. With a strong supporting cast and the potential storyline from the Greek mythology, the movie could have done much better, but it could have been done much worse as well.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Sandra Bullock spoke of maintaining a good work ethic for years to come. Woody Harrelson spoke of soldiers. Carey Mulligan spoke about bumping butts with Quentin Tarantino.

This season’s Academy Awards elite gathered Monday for the annual nominees luncheon, with table talk ranging from weighty matters such as the war on terror to lighter chatter like what to wear to the big show.

Before sharing a meal of poached pear gorgonzola salad, marinated chicken breast and apple tarts, nominees dropped by a news conference to talk about the whirlwind leading to the March 7 Oscar ceremony.

Bullock has been considered the front-runner to win best actress for the football drama “The Blind Side” but said didn’t take her nomination for granted.

“Does anybody expect a nomination? I certainly didn’t,” said Bullock, an enduring box-office draw who had never before been nominated for an Oscar. “I’m really very amazed and thankful to be here, because I’d like to work hard for another 10, 15 years. So if this is what that means, bring it.”

Harrelson, a supporting-actor nominee for the homefront war drama “The Messenger,” and Jeremy Renner, a best-actor contender for the Iraq war saga “The Hurt Locker,” said their roles instilled fresh respect for troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I walk up to any military personnel I can find, and I shake their hand and I thank them for their service,” Renner said.

Before “The Messenger,” Harrelson said he generally had viewed the war and the troops fighting it in the same light.

“I always kind of lumped it all together, and it wasn’t until I had the opportunity through the shooting of `The Messenger’ to spend a lot of time with people in the Army that I started to realize how amazing these people are,” Harrelson said. “As much as I have come to love the warrior, I still loathe the war.”

Harrelson had a concise reply when asked if he ever expected to earn an Oscar nomination for a film released the same year he played a gleeful slayer of flesh-eating fiends in “Zombieland.”

“Short answer, no,” Harrelson said.

The Oscar show had its best TV ratings ever when Cameron’s blockbuster “Titanic” dominated the awards 12 years ago. Oscar organizers hope that having “Avatar” and hits such as “Up,” “The Blind Side” and “District 9″ in the mix will coax more viewers to tune in to a show that saw ratings fall to an all-time low two years ago.

“He said, `There isn’t actually anything at the end of the rainbow,’” Gyllenhaal said. “He said, `It’s a lot of fun and enjoy it in that spirit. If you make it mean too much more than that, you’ll probably go astray.’”

So, here’s the deal. I went to see Valentines Day with my roommate this past Friday night. The critics have been slamming it, it’s been getting trashed everywhere, and the only people who really seem to like it from all that I’ve read are the famed Twilight Moms who consider New Moon Oscar-worthy and drool at the very thought of Taylor Lautner. But one must remember, the critics loved Closer (talk about awkward situations; if you’re going to film sexually-charged situations, leave the uber-seriousness and grotesquely filthy dialogue out and rub in some comedy, ok?!). On the flip side of all this, I liked the film.

Cast member Bradley Cooper gestures at the premiere of "Valentine's Day" at the Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California February 8, 2010. The movie opens in the U.S. on February 12. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Sure, it’s no Love Actually, with its cast of about twenty well-known stars, but it wasn’t trying to be. Any movie that is released Valentines Day weekend can’t trump the holiday, and this film did not set out to do that. The purpose, if you must ask, was simply to be entertaining. I wouldn’t go see it in theaters again, but I may rent it for a giggle or a girls night. It’s a simple movie, with fairly simple, clichéd characters from various walks of life.

There were really only two things that bothered me about this film. First, all the characters in the film were somehow connected to one another. A cool concept, but the scenes flashed from one character to the next so quickly, I often found myself thinking, “OK, so this person knows this one that way, and that one….I think they just met, and that one does this for another one…” It was a little confusing, to say the least. Second, the demographic issue. Yes, there are a lot of different people and different issues in the US, but do they really have to be jammed into one film? I appreciated Grey’s Anatomy star McSteamy (Eric Dane) as the macho football player who came out of the closet on-air once let go from his team, but was the “I’m behind you, metaphorically” joke really necessary?! It’s been done far too many times, and is getting quite old. Also, the whole rich-girl-poor-boyfriend cliché of Ashton Kutcher and Jesica Alba? Yeah, I’ve seen that one before, too.

There were many parts of the movie that were surprising, and I liked that. It definitely kept me on my toes, which a lot of so-called chick flicks fail to do any more. The polite but very honest babysitter *ahem* nanny (Julia Roberts’ niece, Emma Roberts) was quite refreshing as a character. It was cute, heartwarming, blunt, clichéd, and surprising. And I recommend it. It’s worth the cost of the ticket, no more, and a good date-night movie if you’re looking for an uncomplicated film that induces easy laughter. I’ll leave it at that. I went into the film expecting not much more than I’ve written here, and was pleasantly surprised. I won’t ruin it for you, like most critics who seek to tear a film apart for their readers, but leave you with this. Those three words that “everyone” wants to hear at the end of Valentines Day: they’re damn hilarious but not for everyone.