Trailer Alert: The Last Airbender

Check out the new trailer for The Last Airbender, due out July 2.

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Eagerly Anticipating 'The Last Airbender'

I just got through watching the final chapter of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. This is, hands down, one of the best animated series ever.

I hope M. Night Shyamalan doesn't fuck it up royally in his live action version scheduled for release this summer. So as not to be confused with James Cameron's uber-successful Avatar, Shyamalan's movie carries the truncated title The Last Airbender.

The scale of the mythology built into the series is bigger than anything Shyamalan has ever given us, not to mention the special effects necessary for the air, water, fire and earth bending.

So far, we've gotten a single trailer and three images from the set. The casting seems dead on and the trailer was kinda sick. But I've sat through more than my fair share of horrible movies that had awesome trailers.

The final chapter of the animated series is brilliant stuff ... rivaling the "Phoenix Saga" from the X-Men animated series. If you haven't seen it, dude, what are you waiting for. Netflix already!

82nd Annual Academy Award Nominations

Best Picture
"Avatar"
"The Blind Side"
"District 9"
"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"
"Up in the Air"

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney, "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan, "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"
Meryl Streep, "Julie and Julia"

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, "Invictus"
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, "Nine"
Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"
Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"
Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"
Mo'Nique, "Precious"

Best Director
James Cameron, "Avatar"
Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
Lee Daniels, "Precious"
Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"

Best Animated Feature
"Coraline"
"The Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"The Secret of Kells"
"Up"

Best Foreign Language Film
“Ajami," Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow," Peru
“Un Prophète," France
“The White Ribbon," Germany

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, “The Messenger”
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, “A Serious Man”
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter and story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy, “Up”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, “District 9”
Nick Hornby, “An Education”
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell,Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche,“In the Loop”
Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, “Up in the Air”

Oscarwatch: And the Nominees Are...

The biggest winner at this morning's Academy Award nomination announcements was the general movie-going public.

Avatar, Up, The Blind Side and Inglourious Basterds -- popular movies viewed and appreciated by more than the snoots who write movie reviews -- were all nominated for the top prize.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the morning was Up's nod for Best Picture.

Everything else seems as expected.

Up competes with Avatar, Up in the Air, District 9, The Blind Side, An Education, Inglorious Basterds, Precious and A Serious Man. Only five of these films have a serious chance at winning -- The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Up in the Air, Basterds and Precious. And with Hurt Locker taking the Director's Guild Award just two days ago, conventional wisdom tells us Kathryn Bigelow's war drama is the film to beat.

The award for Actor in a Lead Role will most likely go to Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), who already picked up Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe wins. He competes against George Clooney (Up in the Air), Collin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman(Invictus) and Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker). (Note to Academy voters, an upset here would be welcome news come award night. Bridges gives horrible speech.)

In the race for Actress in a Lead Role, the award is Sandra Bullock's to lose. Bullock (Blind Side) competes against Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia). Bullock already has a SAG and Globe on her mantel, clear signs as to which way the wind is blowing.

Mo'Nique's Supporting Actress Oscar is in the bag. The comedienne, who won every other major award this season for her work in Precious, "competes" against Penelope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart) and Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air).

And in the Supporting Actor race, Cristophe Waltz (who was genius in Inglourious Basterds), will defend his trophy from Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) and Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones).

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway announced the nominations for 10 of the 24 categories for the 2010 Oscars at 5:30 a.m. this morning.

For a full list, go to Oscar.com.