Final Fantasy XIII Helps PS3 Sales

Square Enix has just released their highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII in Japan and it has sold a little over 1.5 million. 1.1 million of those copies were first day sales.
The game, which comes to the United States in March, is a PS3 exclusive title in Japan but when it’s released outside of Japan it will also be available for the Xbox 360.
Being a PS3 exclusive for Japan the game was also able help sell PS3 consoles. PS3 sold 240,000 consoles over the week, including “Lightning” edition PlayStation 3 bundles. Many believe a lot of PS3 sales were because of the games release, because a week before that Sony was only able to sell 74,000 consoles.

Golden Globe Nominees Are Here

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Nominees:
Avatar (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Up in the Air (2009/I)

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
The Hangover (2009)
It's Complicated (2009)
Julie & Julia (2009)
Nine (2009)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Nominees:
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (2009)
George Clooney for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Colin Firth for A Single Man (2009)
Morgan Freeman for Invictus (2009)
Tobey Maguire for Brothers (2009/I)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Nominees:
Emily Blunt for The Young Victoria (2009)
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (2009)
Helen Mirren for The Last Station (2009)
Carey Mulligan for An Education (2009)
Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Matt Damon for The Informant! (2009)
Daniel Day-Lewis for Nine (2009)
Robert Downey Jr. for Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt for (500) Days of Summer (2009)
Michael Stuhlbarg for A Serious Man (2009)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Sandra Bullock for The Proposal (2009/I)
Marion Cotillard for Nine (2009)
Julia Roberts for Duplicity (2009)
Meryl Streep for It's Complicated (2009)
Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (2009)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Matt Damon for Invictus (2009)
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger (2009/I)
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station (2009)
Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones (2009)
Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Penélope Cruz for Nine (2009)
Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Julianne Moore for A Single Man (2009)

Best Director - Motion Picture
Nominees:
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2008)
James Cameron for Avatar (2009)
Clint Eastwood for Invictus (2009)
Jason Reitman for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Nominees:
District 9 (2009): Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
The Hurt Locker (2008): Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds (2009): Quentin Tarantino
It's Complicated (2009): Nancy Meyers
Up in the Air (2009/I): Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Nominees:
Avatar (2009): James Horner, Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell("I Will See You")
Brothers (2009/I): U2, Bono("Winter")
Crazy Heart (2009): T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham("The Weary Kind")
Everybody's Fine (2009): Paul McCartney("(I Want To) Come Home")
Nine (2009): Maury Yeston ("Cinema Italiano")

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Nominees:
Avatar (2009): James Horner
The Informant! (2009): Marvin Hamlisch
A Single Man (2009): Abel Korzeniowski
Up (2009): Michael Giacchino
Where the Wild Things Are (2009): Carter Burwell, Karen Orzolek

Best Animated Film
Nominees:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
Coraline (2009)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Up (2009)

Best Foreign Language Film
Nominees:
Los abrazos rotos (2009)
Baarìa (2009)
Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)
La nana (2009)
Un prophète (2009)

Best Television Series - Drama
Nominees:
"Big Love" (2006)
"Dexter" (2006)
"House M.D." (2004)
"Mad Men" (2007)
"True Blood" (2008)

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
"Entourage" (2004)
"Glee" (2009)
"The Office" (2005)
"Modern Family" (2009)
"30 Rock" (2006)

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) (TV)
Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
"Little Dorrit" (2008)
Taking Chance (2009) (TV)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Kevin Bacon for Taking Chance (2009) (TV)
Kenneth Branagh for "Wallander" (2008)
Chiwetel Ejiofor for Endgame (2009)
Brendan Gleeson for Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
Jeremy Irons for Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) (TV)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Joan Allen for Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) (TV)
Drew Barrymore for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Jessica Lange for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Anna Paquin for The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009) (TV)
Sigourney Weaver for Prayers for Bobby (2009) (TV)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock" (2006)
Steve Carell for "The Office" (2005)
David Duchovny for "Californication" (2007)
Thomas Jane for "Hung" (2009)
Matthew Morrison for "Glee" (2009)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Toni Collette for "United States of Tara" (2009)
Courteney Cox for "Cougar Town" (2009)
Edie Falco for "Nurse Jackie" (2009)
Tina Fey for "30 Rock" (2006)
Lea Michele for "Glee" (2009)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Nominees:
Simon Baker for "The Mentalist" (2008)
Michael C. Hall for "Dexter" (2006)
Jon Hamm for "Mad Men" (2007)
Hugh Laurie for "House M.D." (2004)
Bill Paxton for "Big Love" (2006)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Nominees:
Glenn Close for "Damages" (2007)
January Jones for "Mad Men" (2007)
Julianna Margulies for "The Good Wife" (2009)
Anna Paquin for "True Blood" (2008)
Kyra Sedgwick for "The Closer" (2005)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion
Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Michael Emerson for "Lost" (2004)
Neil Patrick Harris for "How I Met Your Mother" (2005)
William Hurt for "Damages" (2007)
John Lithgow for "Dexter" (2006)
Jeremy Piven for "Entourage" (2004)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Jane Adams for "Hung" (2009)
Rose Byrne for "Damages" (2007)
Jane Lynch for "Glee" (2009)
Janet McTeer for Into the Storm (2009) (TV)Chloë Sevigny for "Big Love" (2006)

Critics' Choice Nominees Are In

Best Picture
Avatar (2009)
An Education (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Invictus (2009)
Nine (2009)
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
A Serious Man (2009)
Up (2009)
Up in the Air (2009/I)

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (2009)
George Clooney for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Colin Firth for A Single Man (2009)
Morgan Freeman for Invictus (2009)
Viggo Mortensen for The Road (2009)
Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker (2008)

Best Actress
Emily Blunt for The Young Victoria (2009)
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (2009)
Carey Mulligan for An Education (2009)
Saoirse Ronan for The Lovely Bones (2009)
Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (2009)

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon for Invictus (2009)
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger (2009/I)
Christian McKay for Me and Orson Welles (2008)
Alfred Molina for An Education (2009)
Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones (2009)
Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Best Supporting Actress
Marion Cotillard for Nine (2009)
Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Julianne Moore for A Single Man (2009)
Samantha Morton for The Messenger (2009/I)

Best Acting Ensemble
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Nine (2009)
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Star Trek (2009)
Up in the Air (2009/I)

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2008)
James Cameron for Avatar (2009)
Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Clint Eastwood for Invictus (2009)
Jason Reitman for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Best Original Screenplay
(500) Days of Summer (2009): Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
The Hurt Locker (2008): Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds (2009): Quentin Tarantino
A Serious Man (2009): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Up (2009): Bob Peterson, Pete Docter

Best Adapted Screenplay
District 9 (2009): Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
An Education (2009): Nick Hornby
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009): Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009): Geoffrey Fletcher
A Single Man (2009): Tom Ford, David Scearce
Up in the Air (2009/I): Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

Best Animated Feature
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
Coraline (2009)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Up (2009)

Best Young Actor/Actress
Jae Head for The Blind Side (2009)
Bailee Madison for Brothers (2009/I)
Max Records for Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
Saoirse Ronan for The Lovely Bones (2009)
Kodi Smit-McPhee for The Road (2009)

Best Action Movie
Avatar (2009)
District 9 (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Star Trek (2009)

Best Comedy Movie
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
The Hangover (2009)
It's Complicated (2009)
The Proposal (2009/I)
Zombieland (2009)

Best Foreign Language Film
Los abrazos rotos (2009)
Coco avant Chanel (2009)
Chi bi (2008)
Sin Nombre (2009)
Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)

Best Documentary Feature
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008)
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)
The Cove (2009)
Food, Inc. (2008)
This Is It (2009)

Best Song
Crazy Heart (2009): T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham("The Weary Kind")
Everybody's Fine (2009): Paul McCartney("(I Want To) Come Home")
Nine (2009): Maury Yeston("Cinema Italiano")
The Princess and the Frog (2009): Randy Newman("Almost There")
Where the Wild Things Are (2009): Karen Orzolek, Nick Zinner("All Is Love")

Best Composer
The Informant! (2009): Marvin Hamlisch
The Princess and the Frog (2009): Randy Newman
Sherlock Holmes (2009): Hans Zimmer
Up (2009): Michael Giacchino
Where the Wild Things Are (2009): Carter Burwell, Karen Orzolek

Best Picture Made for Television
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) (TV)
Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
Taking Chance (2009) (TV)

Best Cinematography
Avatar (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
The Lovely Bones (2009)
Nine (2009)

Best Art Direction
Avatar (2009)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
The Lovely Bones (2009)
Nine (2009)
A Single Man (2009)

Best Editing
Avatar (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Nine (2009)
Up in the Air (2009/I)

Best Costume Design
Bright Star (2009)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Nine (2009)
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
The Young Victoria (2009)

Best Makeup
Avatar (2009)
District 9 (2009)
Nine (2009)
The Road (2009)
Star Trek (2009)

Best Visual Effects
Avatar (2009)
District 9 (2009)
The Lovely Bones (2009)
Star Trek (2009)
2012 (2009/I)

Best Sound
Avatar (2009)
District 9 (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Nine (2009)
Star Trek (2009)

Halo: Reach Unveiled

Doesn't look like Master Chief is in the game, instead we're getting a whole new group of Spartans to follow around.
The trailer looks interesting and I will play the game, but it didn't blow me away.

Tom Savini Returning to Friday the 13th?

The rumor is that Tom Savini will return to the Friday the 13th franchise and create special effects for the sequel to the reboot that came out this year.

Savini worked on the original Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. He is the man that created Jason Voorhees, giving him that deformed look that we all know now.

To see Savini return to the franchise would be great, his work in the original movie was classic and he's one of the most talented special effects artist in Hollywood.

So hopefully this rumor is real and we can see Savini return to Crystal Lake.

Facebook on Xbox 360 - Coming Tuesday!

What Happens When You Sleep? Apparently Nothing

A door opening and closing, sheets moving and a demon that can summon a sonic boom make up the majority of scares in Paranormal Activity.
This was the directing debut of Oren Peli who filmed the movie in his own house and on a budget of $15,000. The movie uses the same camera work as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield and uses unknown actors to try and drag you into the world.
The movie revolves around these two unknown actors, Katie (Katie Featherson) and Micah (Micah Sloat) who just moved into a new home in San Diego. Since they moved in, Katie has been complaining about strange things happening and that causes Micah to buy a video camera.
They then start to document their home through this new camera and over the course of several nights they start to record strange things happen and hear footsteps and whispers. Then we learn that Katie has been followed by a demon since she was a child and he wants her.
That’s basically as deep as the story goes, because it’s not a movie that’s trying to get you that way it’s trying to get you with it’s scares. Because, if you sit back and think about the story after you watch it really is dumb.
Now the scares in this movie are not good or scary, I know there is going to be a lot of people sending me comments and emails about this, but the fact of the matter is that I was not scared at all. I laughed a lot, I mean if you don’t laugh at somebody getting dragged out of their bed, then what’s wrong with you?
Yes the scares are boring and we’ve seen it all before. The movie is also repetitive, the “scary” things only happening at night and the camera always has the same angle of the couple’s room. There is not much variety here and it caused me just to become bored. I wish the theater had a fast forward button so I could have gotten through the day parts quicker, they just went on forever and really never offered anything remotely interesting.
The movie does take some pointers from The Blair Witch Project mainly the camera work and the night and day system, but Blair Witch did it more effectively. When you sat down and watched Blair Witch you were going through an intense experience with the characters. Even when the sun came up in the Blair Witch you still saw the characters fighting for survival but in Paranormal Activity when the day time came it just seemed like they weren’t too fazed by what happened the night before. This could have been because the performances from the two stars was never believable at any point in the film and is one of the reasons I was dragged out of the experience the moment Katie pulls into the driveway in the beginning.
I do have to give the film credit for trying though. Even though I didn’t like it, there is going to be people out there who will love it and be scared out of their minds, but after watching hundreds of horror movies this one just doesn’t hold up.
To sum everything up the movie lacks in so many areas for me. It’s night and day system is boring and repetitive, the whole demon story line is just dumb and the actors really didn’t deliver much of a performance to make me believe in their world. I don’t understand why so many people are given this a high score it’s doesn’t deserve this much praise. It was over hyped and the movie is lackluster.
Save your money, wait for DVD or TV.

D