makes nice with the stylized visuals giving us the most lush, chiseled, half-naked warriors and warrior wives ever depicted on screen. In particular the actors playing the Spartan queen and king, Lena Headey and Gerard Butler look like they were carved from stone. Word to the wise though, the flick is long on gratuitous, baroque violence and short on three dimensional characters. more ›

The reviews are out, and Chris Rock is getting a mixed bag of feedback for his duties as the MC of the Oscars. The NY Daily News' David Bianculli says he wasn't edgy or funny enough, Variety says his opening monologue was great (subscription required), the Hollywood Reporter says that Rock wasn't on a roll, and the Washington Post's Tom Shales says Rock was strangely lame and mean-spirited. Gothamist wonders if there's a generational divide between the reviewers, because we thought Rock was the best thing about the Oscars. It's like some of these reviewers weren't familiar with Rock's material before. At least Tim Robbins (left, photo AP), whom Chris Rock made fun of, could take a joke ... we think. As for the show, sure, it seemed to move quickly and was "well-produced," and, yes, we were happy certain people won, but since there wasn't much enthusiasm for any one nominee, the whole show was boring. And Gothamist doesn't care what Gil Cates's "producer's blog" says! more ›

You know it's the Oscars when P. Diddy busts out the velvet suit! Gothamist loves the Oscars, and we're going to attempt to do a little liveblogging. We might need to order a vat of caffeine and an EMT team at the ready; not because Chris Rock will be boring, but because we think that Gil Cates might kill us with his newfangled ideas and because we're meh about this year's nominees in the big categories. Anyway, onto the show. more ›

And The Aviator crew: What is it they say about the sum of the parts? You bore us with your "prestige picture with ensemble cast" glow. All the nominations bore us. Sure, there are interesting bits (the strong showing for Hotel Rwanda and Vera Drake; a screenplay nomination for Brad Bird and the Incredibles, Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and the Before Sunset team, though who knew that Ethan Hawke would ever get two, let alone one, nominations; nominations for Born Into Brothels and Super Size Me in the documentary category), but overall, meh. Where's Peter Sarsgaard for Kinsey? more ›

In the TV categories, Desperate Houswives cleaned up with five nominations (all the MILFs are nominated, except for the MILFiest one, Eva Longoria!). Desperate Housewives is fun and everything, and God knows that Marcis Cross must have a TV show, but Gothamist knows why the Hollywood Foreign Press Association betstowed so much love on them: They want hot ladies in hotter dresses at the ceremony. That's why Debra Messing keeps getting nominated. Then it's a lot of the usual "HBO gets lots of nominations stuff." Meh. And with three nominations (one for best actor for Ray, one for best supporting actor in Collateral, and one for a TV role), the HFPA really wants Jamie Foxx to win SOMETHING. more ›

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