The Oscars attempt (emphasis on the word, “attempt”) to recognize cinemas greatest achievements each year. The Razzies, on the other hand,  recognize cinema’s greatest underachievements each year.

After seeing the nominees for this year’s Razzie Awards, I’m beginning to think that the Razzie judges need to be given jobs on the Oscar selection committee. Maybe then the Oscar noms would be a little bit more spot-on.

Here are the 2008 Razzie Award nominees for your viewing displeasure.

WORST PICTURE

• Disaster Movie & Meet The Spartans (Two bad movies, one tired-ass concept)
• The Happening (Ouch, M. Night that’s gotta hurt!)
• The Hottie and The Nottie
• In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
• The Love Guru (Like no one saw that one coming.)

WORST ACTOR

• Larry The Cable Guy, Witless Protection
• Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave
• Mike Myers, The Love Guru
• Al Pacino, 88 Minutes & Righteous Kill (double ouch!)
• Mark Wahlberg, The Happening & Max Payne

WORST ACTRESS

• Jessica Alba, The Eye & The Love Guru
• The cast of The Women, (Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Meg Ryan)
• Cameron Diaz, What Happens In Vegas
• Paris Hilton, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Kate Hudson, Fools Gold & My Best Friend’s Girl

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Uwe Boll, Uwe Boll’s Postal
• Pierce Brosnan, Mama Mia!
• Ben Kingsley, The Love Guru & The Wackness
• Burt Reynolds, Deal & In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
• Verne Troyer, The Love Guru & Uwe Boll’s Postal
  

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Carmen Electra, Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie
• Paris Hilton, Repo: The Genetic Opera
• Kim Kardashian, Disaster Movie
• Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
  
• Leelee Sobieski, 88 Minutes & In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

WORST SCREEN COUPLE

• Uwe Boll and any actor, camera or screenplay
• Cameron Diaz & Ashton Kutcher, What Happens in Vegas
• Paris Hilton and either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Larry The Cable Guy & Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
  
• Eddie Murphy IN Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave
  

WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF OR SEQUEL

• The Day The Earth Blowed Up Real Good
• Disaster Movie & Meet The Spartans
• Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull
• Speed Racer
• Star Wars: Clone Wars

WORST DIRECTOR

• Uwe Boll, 1968: Tunnel Rats, In The Name of The King & Postal
• Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie
• Tom Putnam, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Marco Schnabel, The Love Guru
• M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening
  

WORST SCREENPLAY

• Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie
• M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening
• Heidi Ferrer, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Doug Taylor, In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
• Mike Myers & Graham Gordy, The Love Guru

WORST CAREER ACHIEVEMENT (SPECIAL CATEGORY)

• Uwe Boll (”Germany’s answer to Ed Wood”)

Personally I’m just happy that I didn’t see most of the movies on this list. The Happening caught me off guard, though; if I could get my time and money back for that one, I would. And poor Uwe Boll–The Razzies are really raking him over the coals, creating a special category just to highlight his failures.

On a side note, I’m glad to see that the debacle that was Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull is also getting the recognition it deserves: as a steaming pile of…well, you know.

Do the 2008 Razzie Award Nominations seem about right to you? Let us know.

Source: The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation Official Website

• Is ‘Rampage’ Uwe Boll’s First Good Movie?
• Will Sean Connery Return For Indy 5?
• Harrison Ford & Karen Allen Talk Indiana Jones 5
• Indiana Jones 5 To Hit Screens By 2011?
• Shia LaBeouf Says Indiana Jones 5 Is ‘Gearing Up’
• ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ Writer Tapped for Houdini Film

I can’t believe that it’s now the end of August! Soon the winter blockbusters will be knocking at our door and the next thing you know it’ll be Oscar time again. Where does time go? Is it playing like a re-run somewhere, can you just flick to another dimension to a time where you are still awaiting a fourth Indiana Jones movie? Who knows, but I do know that it’s another Weekend Movie News Wrap up featuring a new aspect: a weekend box office update.

This week:

After our box office round-up we see what George Clooney and Jason Reitman are doing Up in the Air, we find out what former superhero is joining the Toy Story franchise, we look at who might be helming the Poltergeist movie and the Voltron film and what is new on the Inglorious Bastards casting front.

Weekend Box Office

It looks like Tropic Thunder will retain its box office crown and gross another $14-16 million over the Labor day weekend. Fox’s tinkering with Babylon A.D. didn’t do any good as the film will only bank $11-13 million this weekend. Ouch – what a summer Fox has had!

Don Cheadle’s Traitor did a modest $2.2 million on Friday and it should bank $10 million when all is said and done over the weekend. Meanwhile Disaster Movie was a disaster coining only $2 million on Friday – look for an $8 million weekend.

Death Race crashed an burned on its second weekend dropping a mighty 63% grossing just $1.7 million on Friday. Look for a little over $8 million by the end of Labor Day weekend.

Art house hit The Dark Knight will have crossed the $500 million barrier and the Caped Crusader epic should bank about another $11.5 million. Holy legs, Batman!

Movie News

1. Speaking of Batman, former Dark Knight George Clooney has signed on to Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air. The comedy film follows a business man who is addicted to collecting air miles. Sounds strange and quirky so it should be up Clooney’s street. I imagine it’ll fly high in awards season!

Source: Variety

2. Another former Batman, Michael Keaton has signed on to Toy Story 3. Keaton will play Ken (of Ken and Barbie fame). His other half will be voiced by Jodi Benson. Benson was also the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. I didn’t know that already. Seriously.

Source: IESB

3. It looks like the Poltergeist remake has snagged itself a director. Vadim Perelman director of House of Sand and Fog is in talks to direct the horror film. Nothing is set in stone yet, so this could change. Heck, they could even give Brett Ratner a call.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

4. More Bastards have landed (that’s a Peter Jackson reference for you). Christoph Waltz has joined Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards as the main evil-doer of the film, Colonel Hans Landa. Meanwhile National Treasure star Diane Kruger has also come on-board the film, in the role first intended for the much older Nastassja Kinski.

Source: CHUD

5. The Voltron movie has nabbed a director in the form of Max Makowski. The film is a Transformers-esque giant robot movie.  Makowski has in the past brought us One Last Dance (a film that I have sitting on DVD but have never watched), as well as episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

No, seriously, he did. I have nothing to say about this. Nothing at all.

I will say that there’s probably a joke in there somewhere.

Source: Latino Review

That’s it for another week. See you at the movies!

• Poltergeist Remake Gets A Release Date
• Poltergeist Remake Delayed
• Movie News Wrap Up: May 25, 2009
• Movie News Wrap Up – July 27, 2009
• Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: February 22, 2009
• Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: March 22, 2009