At the end of the 90s, famous Oscar show writer and Celebrity Fit Club contestant Bruce Vilanch claimed that, “Generally with the Oscars…there isn’t much you can do until the nominations are announced. Then you know what kind of year you’re dealing with – what’s been overlooked, what the issues are.” He was talking about preparing to write the show, but it applies to everyone from the directors, producers and stars on down to the fans. It’s fun to guess around the water cooler (your office still has a water cooler?), but until now, it’s all been speculation. Thankfully, almost all that speculation has been spot on, so we can all continue our conversations about whether Black Swan will beat The Social Network for Best Picture. Whether Natalie Portman has any true competition for Best Actress. Whether, most importantly of all, Colleen Atwood will beat Mary Zophres for Best Costume Design. Here they are. The 2011 Academy Award nominees:

Yeah. Now get that song out of your head. Good luck with that. When you’re done, head on out to see a movie. There isn’t much new to partake in this weekend, but, if you’re a big fan of Natalie Portman, Bruce Willis’ son, or Olivia Thirlby (we can just assume on that last one), then you might want to check out the lone candidate for new releases. You enjoy the rest of the report. I’m gonna continue to sing Pinocchio songs to myself.

Yeah. You read that right. It’s got sting. Like a bee. Like a bee that stings. And all the other movies just got stung. That’s right. The Green Hornet didn’t beat out Cloverfield’s record-setting opening for January, but it did succeed in having the biggest opening for any Seth Rogen film that isn’t animated. It also had a bigger opening this weekend than all of Michel Gondry’s other openings combined. I guess that says something. I can’t help but think The Green Hornet would have had an even bigger opening had it released in Summer where it truly belongs. It’s a fun, Summer, blockbuster that got unjustifiably dumped here in January. That knocked its opening numbers down by at least $10 million, a complete guesstimate on my part. It didn’t help that the film was being shot down by critics and moviegoers alike before anyone had even seen it. It’s hard to get past that type of prejudgment, and this opening isn’t necessarily a clear indicator of hit or bomb in any capacity.

I know. I know. The Green Reject Report? That’s the best you can come up with? It’s not like it’s a title we might not use every again. When Green Zone hit last year, it opened against a few other notable titles that took the headline (This Week’s Reject Report Is Out Of My League). With Green Lantern hitting this coming June, another opportunity to use this week’s title might present itself. But we don’t think about the future. We cross those bridges when we come to them. So, while we’re eating our red meat and smoking our cigarettes, we’ll just do with The Green Reject Report for this week. Onto the movies.

No, this ain’t no coon hunt, but the Coens fought tooth and nail. Here in its third weekend of release, True Grit has taken the top spot from Little Fockers, and the Western has effortlessly become the Coen Brothers’ most successful film of all time.

We made it! As birds fall dead from the sky, fish show up dead around the world, politicians are being shot while picking up the produce, you and I have made it, dear reader. What a wild week it has been around the world — the apocalypse could very well be right around the corner. So if we’re all going to go out in a blaze of glory, lets take a moment for some delightful diversion. My suggestion — read the work of the FSR staff as we continue our ongoing coverage of the world of film. It may not be a homeless guy with the perfect radio voice, but it’s worth a look either way.

It rolls with the tides, changes with every season, and just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger, Nicolas Cage’s hair turns into an alien and runs rampant. It might even begin killing people at any moment, so best be prepared. This new hairstyle stands alone as the only new kid on the box office block, but that doesn’t mean it will come out the winner. It will have Rooster Cogburn, Fockers, and Gwyneth being Country Strong to fight off before it can rest easy, awaiting Ghost Rider 2 when it will awaken from its slumber and go back on the defensive

Robert Duvall turns 80 today, and that’s an achievement all on its own. It’s also important to keep in mind that Duvall has been in the filmmaking business for 49 years. That’s 61% of his life. The last thing any of us dedicated that much time to was our Regarding Henry action figure collection and doing the math for that problem. Duvall is an icon amongst icons, a living legend that has put just as much love into his craft as he’s gotten back, a cinematic luminary that still continues to make great films. Attempting to pay tribute to him is a difficult task not only because there’s not enough space on the internet to do it, but because his career is a difficult one to wrap one’s mind around. He’s done just about everything except compose a film score, and he’s done so while staying at the top of his game through almost five decades of Hollywood evolution.

The Producers Guild of America is known for aligning its picks with the Oscar nominations with the startling regularity that can only come when two groups share the same voting pool. That’s why groups like, say, the Hollywood Foreign Press (who I think actually nominated a nip-slip video this year) doesn’t match up at all. The PGA, which announced its award nominees today, went 9 for 10 last year, and by the looks of this list, they might just do it again in 2011.

It’s become common wisdom to say that the best remakes are those made of non-canonical, non-classic films; that is, it’s typically better to give a second go to a film that – while possibly venerated, is hardly deemed a work of perfection that can’t be improved upon – than to redo a classic. Such a rule isn’t set in stone, of course, but it can be argued through example via some of the most celebrated of remakes (like The Thing or, in a more modest and more recent example of improvement-on-imperfection, The Crazies), and are often a result of a genuine inspiration from the source material rather than a simple means of capitalizing from its name. With the Coen brothers’ quite popular and much celebrated remake of True Grit, however, the distinction of what kind of a remake it is isn’t exactly so clear, as what kind of movie the original is proves to be something of an enigma in of itself.

It’s not necessarily a high one with Little Fockers (read our review), a film with deservedly little recommendation coming from critics, topping the box office charts. With less than a 15% drop from its first weekend, it was able to snake its way over True Grit, which did anything but bow out its second go at a weekend take. Both films led the charge on the final weekend of 2010/first weekend of 2011.

As I expressed earlier in the week as our 2010 Year in Review began, I take it as a great honor that I am able to put together my list of the Best Films of the Year as part of my Editor’s Picks entry. And while I’m a massive fan of my own perspective and opinions, I’m an even bigger fan of the writing and ever-diverse tastes of the Film School Rejects reviewing staff. These are the folks who, through their sensational (and often divisive) review-writing, keep you coming back for more each and every day. They travel the world and brave the crowds at festivals, conventions, preview screenings and special events to bring you some of the industry’s sharpest, most honest film coverage. And I for one am honored to have them all on this team. Just as I did last year, I couldn’t wait to see which films each writer would put on their Top 5 lists as the best films of the year. And just as they did last year, they didn’t disappoint with their unique, ever-fascinating selections. So read on dear reader, as we present the crown jewel of our 2010 Year in Review: The Staff Picks.

With the year drawing to a close this very weekend, there isn’t much in the way of new releases to talk about. Only two films are opening this weekend, both of them in limited, and only one of those really worth mentioning in any amount of detail. The rest of the cards have been set. Many of them will be falling into the same slots where they were dealt last weekend save for a few shakeups here and there. The Fockers might get knocked down a peg or two. Rooster Cogburn might fill those theaters, you son of a bitch. The King’s Speech could hold onto its numbers just well enough to squeak onto the charts. All in all, it seems like good weekend for some Four Loko, a few friends, and a dropping ball that may or may not hold Snookie inside.

Some folks love trailers while others think they’re the devil’s work made to foil your plans of avoiding spoilers, but regardless which side of that particular fence you land on, few people would argue that trailers are an art unto themselves and deserve their own recognition. It’s for that reason that we present the ten best trailers of the year. They’re in alphabetical order, but in the spirit of trailers being too often filled with spoilers these days, let me just reveal right now that the best trailer of the year is the red-band one for Hobo With A Shotgun.

Those Little Fockers and the way they can pull in the coinage. Sure the latest outing from Gaylord Focker and his overbearing father-in-law didn’t muster up the same type of business as the last entry in the Focker franchise. Meet the Fockers made $46.1 million in its opening, Christmas weekend. It was able to hurdle just over the debut of 2001’s Meet the Parents, which made $28.6 million in its first three days. Despite this lack of bravado when it comes to opening numbers, Little Fockers is doing just fine, already at $80.4 million worldwide against a reported $100-million budget. Fockers Four might be in our future, and whether the cinematic world is rejoicing or not is yet to be seen.

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, we have 1st Lt. Travon Boykins – massive film geek and fightin’ force for the US Army – calling in live from the (un)active war zone of Iraq. Advisin’ and assistin’, baby. Shunning our usual format, we ramble on coherently for a while, give a one-sentence review of True Grit and figure out what Californication looks like without any sex. Listen Here: Download This Episode

Fill your hands, you son of a bitch! Sure, it’s the Christmas season, and everyone in the family is huddled around the computer reading this. Sure, you probably don’t abide by adult language when the kids are around, but this is the Old West, people, and raw dialogue is the least of your worries. Besides, sons of bitches is the least of your worries when you’ve got Little Fockers roaming the cineplexes, and that movie will probably come out on top here.

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. Today’s trailer features a stubborn young girl, the alcoholic Marshal with one good eye she’s hired, and the Texas Ranger whose britches are one size too big. If it was good enough for the Coen Brothers, and good enough for Glen Campbell’s first film appearance, it’s good enough for us. Think you know what it is? Check out the trailer after the jump.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr dresses up in a big red suit and sneaks into people’s houses. The only difference is that he sneaks into the houses of all the naughty girls. But before he can manage that undertaking, he sets his sights on the last wash of movies hitting the multiplexes this season. He travels with Jack Black to the Bermuda Triangle in Gulliver’s Travels then heads out west to catch a killer with True Grit. Finally, he brings his Christmas movie watching to a close by stabbing himself in the face with Little Fockers. Ho ho ho, the humanity!

There’s a core lesson somewhere inside the remake (or novel re-adaptation) of True Grit about pulling on bootstraps, feeling the bitter cold of the ride, and doing what needs to be done. Of course, that lesson is buried beneath a lot of snide remarks and funny moments. Even if the lesson is hard to find, the film itself is a reminder that there are few things quite as entertaining as seeing a snotty little girl and an eye-patched drunkard go exact a little buck shot revenge. Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is desperate to track down the man who killed her father, so she enlists the reluctant help of sodden U.S. Marshal Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) who takes every opportunity to brag about himself. Through a tough ride in Indian Territory, Mattie comes gun barrel to gun barrel with murderer Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) with a chance to pull the trigger and right his wrong.