Sure, it's the time of Sundance, and the push towards the Oscars, but it is also the time of the Razzies! There's a million and two fests and awards ceremonies that tout all that is good in the world of cinema, but sometimes, you just want to revel in the bad. So, enter the yearly Golden Raspberry Awards.

Last year, the big, battling losers were Basic Instinct 2 and Little Man. This year, LiLo's I Know Who Killed Me is battling I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and Eddie Murphy's Norbit. Miss Lohan's film has scored the first hurrah by grabbing the most nods (9 over Larry and Norbit's 8), but Eddie got the personal title with a record-setting five nods just for himself.

Rounding out the top stinker nomination-grabbers was Bratz, Daddy Day Camp, and Captivity. On the actor side of things, we've got talent wasting their abilities like Jim Carrey, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Julia Ormond, while others aren't so surprising -- Carmen Electra, Dane Cook, or Jessica Alba. (The last on this list, Alba, also scored herself romantic doom -- she hit the worst on-screen couple nod three times for her work in Awake, Good Luck Chuck, and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer).

Also, I give big props to the Razzie folks for their Patty Duke reference. See what I mean after the jump.

Since he films all of his movies in and around my beloved home town of Philadelphia, I've always had a real soft spot for M. Night Shyamalan. I still believe that The Sixth Sense is a damn good film, that Unbreakable is a still-unheralded masterpiece, and that Signs is a pretty slick "reality-based" sci-fi thriller. But after suffering through The Village and Lady in the Water, I'm beginning to wish the guy would move on to Baltimore, Boston or another east coast city. (Nah, not really. It's pretty cool to have a "local filmmaker" of Shyamalan's talent and influence.)

But a few weeks back M. Night "won" a pair of Razzies for worst director and worst supporting actor, one of which I don't think he really deserved ... but that supporting actor slap, yeah, I can get behind that one. Apparently the self-admiring movie-maker didn't even hear about his Lady in the Water Razzies (yeah, right) and it took a reporter from New York Magazine to spill those beans. And Nighty got just a little bit defensive: "Look, I loved that movie. It's a beautiful, beautiful movie. So there's some disconnect from the intention to the perception of it. I hope, just with time, that will ease. All of my movies have benefited from time."

OK, so maybe in 62 years Lady in the Water will be the new Casablanca ... but I really freaking doubt it. It's a ponderous, indulgent and (bottom line) silly movie that the critics disliked and the audiences pretty much ignored. But hey, one or two failures in a row can often lead to a big-time comeback project that everyone rallies behind and adores. For the record, Shyamalan is presently working on adaptations of Avatar: The Last Airbender and (yes) He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ... so I wouldn't exactly hold my breath waiting for that big comeback love-fest.

[via Hollywood Wiretap]

I'm sure that the weekend had you anxiously awaiting Sunday night's 3+ hours of Academy goodness -- fiery discussion over who is the most deserving, coordinating diamonds and flamboyant gowns for your own Academy party and carefully concocting your own Oscar pool. Or, more likely, you went on with your weekend as usual, perhaps trying to remember the last time you enjoyed the Academy's night of awards. Either way, you might have missed one of the awards ceremonies that wrapped up the night before. No, it wasn't the Spirit awards. It was the Razzies.

The big winners of this year's Razzies are, not surprisingly, the two films who grabbed the most nominations -- Basic Instinct 2 and Little Man. Sharon Stone's saucy comeback as Catherine Tramell got herself a win as The Worst Actress of 2006, and the movie also grabbed Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay and Worst Sequel. Considering all the crappy sequels out there, you know your film is bad when it's considered the worst of the worst. The Wayans horror came in second, with three wins ffrom Worst Actor for Marlon and Shawn Wayans, to Worst On-Screen Couple and Worst Remake/Rip-Off.

Our current Hollywood trainwreck, M. Night Shyamalan, didn't get through his Saturday night unscathed. He grabbed two Razzies for Lady in the Water, one for Worst Supporting Actor and one for Worst Director. This can't help his current film's struggle, unless he learns to embrace the bad like some others do. Rounding out the Razzie list, Carmen Electra grabbed a win for Worst Supporting Actress for Date Movie and Scary Movie 4, and RV was the Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment. If you're scouring this post for mention of everyone's favorite directorial disaster, Uwe Boll or his multi-nominated BloodRayne, look no further. The man and his movie slid by without big Raspberries to add to his collection! However, while he narrowly escaped this year, I have this funny feeling that we haven't seen the last of Boll's Berries.

With great achievement comes great schlock, and luckily we have awards to recognize that. Floating in the wake of the Golden Globes, with the Academy Awards are barrelling towards us, its time to turn our attention to the Razzies and their choices for the cinematic crap of 2006. Last year, Jenny McCarthy's Dirty Love was the big winner, stealing the top (or is it bottom?) honor from the likes of the Dukes and The Son of the Mask. This year, there's a great collection of obvious trash and serious disappointments.

In a complete coup, or more accurately, not surprising in the least -- Basic Instinct 2 and Little Man are battling for the most crappy cred with 7 nods each. "Basically, It Stinks, Too," as the Razzies call it, nabbed nominations in everything but Worst Actor and Worst Supporting Actress, while Little Man dominated the Worst Screen Couple category with nominations for Shawn Wayans twice with either Kerry Washington or Marlon Wayans. Not to be completely out-done, Bloodrayne comes in a close second with 6. The film has scored Uwe Boll his second Worst Director recognition in two years, and Guinevere Turner's screenplay nod suggests that she's better off working on collaborations with Mary Harron.

The Razzies also didn't forget to give credit to the shocks from high-profile directors. Ron Howard and M. Night Shyamalan both scored a fighting spot as Worst Director, for the disappointment suffered by many at the hands of The DaVinci Code and Lady in the Water. Having even more to complain about, there's even a new category -- Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment -- that lets the likes of The Shaggy Dog and Santa Clause 3 duke it out. Check out the full list of catty goodness after the jump, and let us know what The Razzies got right, and what they missed.

Since the initial and unexpected news of the total flop that was BloodRayne, we've been rather short on Uwe Boll news. While this break may be considered a blessing, the man has finally shown up in the news again in response to his Worst Director Razzie nomination (for Alone in the Dark). Normally, the Golden Raspberry is a mark of scorn, although in the past a handful of actors have used the award as a platform to apologize or attempt to explain the failure of their films (such as the notorious Halle Berry Catwoman speech). Uwe, however, does not seem to be running in this direction; rather, he sounds genuinely pleased to receive the nomination in a category in which some consider him to be the frontrunner. "It is a great honour," Boll told the folks over at EuroGamer. "I take every prize I get."

I love this man, because he makes my job so easy. And honestly, even though I (along with the rest of the world) think his films are awful, the man is doing what he loves. Maybe we'll get lucky, and he'll show up in person to receive his award - you know that'd be fun to watch.

[via eurogamer]

Getting the jump on the Oscars by about 24 hours, the Razzie nominations were announced this morning at a lavish ceremony featuring multiple Hollywood stars and live media coverage via a press release and a website update. Leading the pack of those with multiple nods for their less-than-stellar work this year was Tom Cruise, who is in the running for both worst actor (for hanging out with Dakota Fanning in War of the Worlds) and - twice - in a new, highly competitive category, Most Tiresome Tabloid Targets. Also recognized three times are Jenny McCarthy (turns out Roger Ebert wasn't the only one who really, really hated Dirty Love) and Jessica Simpson, who's not only a tabloid annoyance but also  - just maybe, the year's worst supporting actress.

The best thing about the Razzies (which, naturally, will be handed out the day before the Oscars) is that we, the huddle masses, get to decide who wins! All it takes is $15 to become a voting-only member of the The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation - and, really, isn't that a small price to pay to hate on Tom Cruise in an official capacity? Love Tom? Well, what about Jenny McCarthy? See? It's pretty damn tempting.