Best Movie

Winner Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a 2006 adventure film of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the sequel to the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film was directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

The story picks up from where the first film left off when Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) discovers his debt to the villainous Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is due, while Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) are arrested by Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) for helping Jack Sparrow escape execution.

The film was shot back-to-back with the third film during 2005, and was released in Australia and the United Kingdom on July 6, 2006, and in the United States and Canada on July 7, 2006. The film received mixed reviews, with praise for its special effects and criticism for its complex story and lengthy running time. Despite this, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest set several records in its first three days, with an opening weekend of $136 million in the United States, and became the third movie to gross over $1 billion in the worldwide box office.

The East India Trading Company arrives in Port Royal, Jamaica to extend its monopoly in the Caribbean and purge piracy. Leading the expansion is Lord Cutler Beckett, a powerful and ruthless EITC agent who arrests Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner shortly before their wedding. Beckett threatens to execute them and the absent ex-Commodore James Norrington for aiding Captain Jack Sparrow's escape, but he offers clemency if Will agrees to search for Sparrow and his magical compass. An informant in Tortuga leads Will to the Black Pearl run aground on Pelegosto, a cannibal-inhabited island where Jack and his crew are captive. Jack hid there after he was visited by his former crewmate, "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, who is now an indentured sailor aboard Captain Davy Jones' ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman. Bootstrap delivered Jack the Black Spot, a mark that signifies his debt to Jones is due. Thirteen years before, Jones raised the Black Pearl from the ocean depths and made Jack its captain. In exchange, Jack must now serve aboard the Flying Dutchman for 100 years.

Will, Jack, and the crew escape their Pelegosto captors, unexpectedly recruiting Pintel and Ragetti as they are attempting to commandeer the Black Pearl, and head for sea. Jack has been searching for a key that leads to untold riches, but his magical compass has failed. He agrees to give Will the compass if he helps him find a key and what it unlocks. Seeking assistance from Tia Dalma, a voodoo priestess, Jack learns the compass will not work because he does not know what he truly wants, or is unable to claim it as his own. The key, Tia tells him, unlocks the Dead Man's Chest containing Davy Jones' beating heart. When the pain of lost love became too much to bear, Jones carved the heart from his chest, burying it in a secret location. Whoever possesses the heart controls Davy Jones, thereby controlling the world's oceans. Back at sea, the Flying Dutchman encounters Sparrow, who deviously attempts to barter Will in exchange for himself. Jones demands 99 souls within three days for Jacks freedom and keeps Will as a "good faith payment".

In Port Royal, Governor Weatherby Swann frees Elizabeth. Confronting Beckett at gunpoint, she forces him to validate a Letter of Marquea royal document with which Beckett intends to recruit Sparrow as a privateer, and which Elizabeth wants for Will. Stowing away on a merchant vessel, Elizabeth lands in Tortuga where she finds Jack and Gibbs desperately recruiting unsuspecting sailors in a pub to pay off his debt. A disheveled Norrington also applies. Blaming Sparrow for his ruin, he tries to shoot the captain and ignites a brawl. Elizabeth knocks him out to save him from the angry mob. At the pier, Jack reveals the compass' secret to Elizabeth; it points to what the holder wants most in the world. When he convinces her that she can save Will by finding the chest, she gets a bearing. Once the ship is underway, an attraction arises between Jack and Elizabeth.

On Isla Cruces, Jack, Norrington, and Elizabeth find the Dead Man's Chest. Will, who has escaped the Flying Dutchman with help from his father, Bootstrap Bill, arrives with the key that he stole from Davy Jones. Will wants to stab the heart to free his father, but Jack cannot allow that in fear of the Kraken being uncontrollable if Jones is dead, and Norrington desires it to give to Lord Beckett as a way of regaining his rank as well as using Elizabeth's Letters of Marque. The three, each desperate to gain the chest, begin a three-way duel; the arrival of Jones' crew and Pintel and Ragetti's attempt to make off with the chest further complicate matters. It is Norrington who ultimately escapes with the heart and the Letters of Marque while Jones crewmen retrieve the now-empty Dead Man's Chest.

The Flying Dutchman pursues the Black Pearl, but with the wind behind them, the Black Pearl outruns her. Jones ends the pursuit and instead summons the Kraken. In a moment of cowardice, or perhaps in an attempt to retrieve the heart of Davy Jones, Jack abandons the Black Pearl in a longboat and starts rowing back to Isla Cruces; but unable to desert his crew, he returns in time to save them. He gives the order to abandon ship before the Kraken makes its final assault. ?Realising the Kraken is only hunting Jack, a deceptive Elizabeth passionately kisses him while handcuffing him to the mast. Racked with guilt over her betrayal, she tells the others Jack chose to remain behind, unaware Will saw the kiss and now believes she loves Sparrow. Freeing himself from the shackles, Jack charges the Kraken; the colossal beast drags him and the Black Pearl to a watery grave.

Watching from his ship, Davy Jones declares their debt settled, although he soon discovers the chest is empty. Norrington, meanwhile, makes his way to Port Royal and delivers the heart and the Letters of Marque to Cutler Beckett in a bid to regain his career. Elizabeth, Will, and the surviving Black Pearl crew seek refuge with Tia Dalma. She asks if they would be willing to save Jack from Davy Jones' Locker. When all say, "Aye," Tia Dalma sends the crew on their next journey to World's End to rescue Jack with a captain who knows those waters - Captain Barbossa.

Best Villain

Winner Jack Nicholson - The Departed

The Departed is a 2006 crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio (in his third movie with Scorsese), Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg. It is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2007.

This film takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, where notorious Irish Mob boss Francis "Frank" Costello (Nicholson) plants his prot?g?, career criminal Colin Sullivan (Damon) as an informant within the Massachusetts State Police. Simultaneously, the police assign undercover cop Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) to infiltrate Costello's crew. When both sides of the law realize the situation, each man is ordered to discover the identity of the other informant before they are found out.

The film begins in South Boston and Charlestown during the Boston riots featuring a montage of documentary footage with voice-over narration by Irish mob boss Francis "Frank" Costello (Jack Nicholson). In the 1970's, Costello is in a local store to collect his pay-off money from the owner. A young boy is there, Colin Sullivan, who Frank takes a liking to. Using his influence, he has the owner give Colin two bags of groceries and tells him to come look for him, if he ever wants to "earn" some extra money.

Many years later, an older Sullivan, now in his mid twenties, (Matt Damon) is finishing his training for the Massachusetts State Police with classmates, including fellow cadet Barrigan (James Badge Dale). In another class are cadet Brown (Anthony Anderson) and Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio). All four men graduate to become state troopers. Sullivan is a sergeant, and has just passed the state trooper detective test. He goes in to meet with the calm and collected Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen), and the aggressive and cynical Staff Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) of the Special Investigations Unit. When Sullivan exits, Costigan goes in. The undercover division of the Special Investigations Unit wants to assign Costigan, whose family has long had ties with the Boston underworld, to infiltrate Costello's crew. For his service, he gets a "bonus", tax-free payment upon completion of his assignment. To make his assignment believable to everyone, especially Costello, they create a false conviction on Costigan for assault. He will get a four month jail sentence and afterwards probation with mandatory sessions with a psychiatrist. His police academy record and file are concealed from the public, and even the department itself, and the only ones who can access Costigan's file are Queenan and Dignam.

Sullivan, along with Barrigan and Brown, is now in an elite task force of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) headed by the sardonically humorous Captain Ellerby (Alec Baldwin). They are after Costello and are coordinating with the FBI. Staff Sergeant Dignam introduces himself to the group but does not reveal whether or not they have a mole in Costello's gang. They briefly go over what it is that the department is targeting: Francis Costello and micro-chips that are presumably used in military equipment. The authorities expect that Costello intends to sell the chips to China. A freelance thief had stolen the twenty micro-processors, but he was found dead in a dumpster.

Costigan is out of jail and uses his drug-dealing cousin as a back-handed way of attracting Costello's attention and fights a man in a bar. He then becomes a member of his crew, pairing up with his right-hand man Mr. French (Ray Winstone). Costello tells Costigan that he knew, respected, and feared his father and Uncle Jackie, both of whom were heavily involved in the criminal underworld. It is therefore these two family connections which really motivate Costello more than anything else to try to assist Costigan in his own questionable way.

Meanwhile, Sullivan begins a romantic relationship with criminal psychiatrist Madolyn (Vera Farmiga), who also happens to be the assigned psychotherapist for Costigan as a part of his probation for the fabricated assault conviction. Although she wants to keep their relationship professional, a romance develops, but Costigan and Sullivan remain oblivious to each other's identity.

During one of his heists Costello, through Sullivan's information, discovers that there is a police informer in his organization. To catch the insider, he requires each member to fill in his particulars in a form, including social security numbers. Costigan knows that this envelope will end up in the hands of Costello's man at the police. He follows Costello (who has the envelope) into a pornography theater, where he witnesses Costello handing over the envelope to Sullivan, whose face is hidden in the darkened auditorium. Attempting to disclose the mole's identity, Costigan shadows Sullivan into the streets, only to eventually lose him in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Sullivan is assigned to uncover the mole in SIU (himself). This makes for some tension between Sullivan and Dignam, whose suspicion of Sullivan rises. Above suspicion, Sullivan focuses instead on finding the police snitch in Costello's crew. Sullivan orders the SIU to trail Queenan and eventually follows him to a meeting with Costigan on the rooftop of a run-down building on the harbor. Having become insomniac, dependent on Valium and suffering from panic attacks, Costigan explains he wants out, to which Queenan assures him that while it cannot be done overnight, he will get him out of it. Sullivan tells Costello's men that the snitch is most likely at the building. As the men approach, Costigan flees, but Queenan stays behind and is confronted by them and thrown off the building to his death. In the ensuing gunfire, between Costello's men and the police, the officer who tailed Queenan is wounded and Delahunt, one of Costello's men is critically wounded. Later on, when the men return to their hideout, Timothy Delahunt (reported later by the local media to be yet another undercover officer, possibly made public by the state police to throw suspicion off of Costigan) reveals to Costigan - just before he succumbs to his wounds - that he knows he's the mole.

Sullivan orders Dignam to hand over the information regarding his undercover, which Dignam refuses. Ellerby, who has taken over the department for Queenan, orders Dignam off duty with pay for two weeks. Guilt-ridden over having indirectly caused his senior officer's death, Sullivan finds Queenan's cell phone in his homicide file and calls Costigan, pretending to be the new agent assigned to replace Queenan. After Costigan hangs up, Sullivan finds information in Queenan's file indicating that Costello is an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and immediately begins to fear betrayal.

Costello and his crew are being tailed to an old warehouse where they are to pick up a shipment of cocaine. Sullivan disengages the tail at Costello's demand and sets up a police ambush at the scene instead. Costigan, wary that the police potentially know of the situation, manages to slip away unnoticed. Costello's entire crew is killed in the ensuing shoot-out, and a wounded Costello abandons the car in which Mr. French and he were driving and escapes to another part of the warehouse, only to end up in a tense confrontation with Sullivan. Costello admits to his informant status and denies telling anybody about Sullivan's connection to him as he feels Sullivan is like a son to him but Sullivan doesn't believe Costello and insults him before Costello attempts to shoot him. After an exchange of gunshots Costello is killed by Sullivan.

Later at the station Sullivan arrives to praise from his co-workers and meets Costigan, who asks to simply receive his payment and be allowed to leave. While Sullivan retrieves Costigan's information in another office, Costigan notices Costello's envelope on Sullivan's desk and quickly flees. Sullivan realizes that Costigan has discovered his true identity and erases Costigan's police file. Following his flight from the station, Costigan appears outside of Madolyn's office. He gives her an envelope, telling her to open it if anything should happen to him, or if he calls and tells her to open it. On a subsequent morning, Madolyn is at the apartment she shares with Sullivan, and finds an envelope from Costigan in his mail. It contains recordings of Sullivan and Costello's conversations, along with a phone number. Madolyn reveals the recordings to Sullivan and immediately ends her relationship with him. Sullivan calls the phone number and speaks to Costigan, who reveals to Sullivan that Costello kept the recordings as insurance to use as a possible legal immunity if he was arrested. He also reports to Sullivan that Costello's lawyer came to Bill with the recordings, meaning that Costello trusted Costigan the most of all of his men. They arrange to meet where Queenan died.

On the rooftop where Queenan was killed, Costigan confronts and handcuffs Sullivan, intending to arrest him regardless if the charges don't stick. Trooper Brown appears and tries to talk down Costigan, who, claiming that he has substantial proof that Sullivan is the rat, quickly flees into an elevator, holding his gun to Sullivan's head. The elevator reaches the bottom floor, and just as Costigan begins to exit, he is shot in the head by Barrigan. Barrigan starts to uncuff Sullivan but then Trooper Brown arrives and sees Costigan's body and is caught off guard, allowing Barrigan to shoot him in the head and remove the only witness to Sullivan's guilt. Barrigan reveals to Sullivan that he is also a mole in the police force and aware of Costello's informant status. Being that they are the only ones remaining, Barrigan says they need to look out for one another. As the two begin to manipulate the crime scene, Sullivan asks for the gun to clean the fingerprints, and as Barrigan looks away, Sullivan shoots him in the head. To save himself, he blames everything on Barrigan and recommends Costigan for a posthumous Medal of Merit in a later testimony. At Costigan's funeral, Madolyn, now pregnant presumably with Costigan's child (due to Sullivans problem in bed which is briefly mentioned earlier), walks away from Sullivan in silence - shot in an homage to the iconic final scene of The Third Man.

Following the funeral, Sullivan returns home to find Dignam waiting there. Dignam shoots him in the head and quickly leaves. As Sullivan's corpse lies in the apartment doorway, the camera pans out and a lone rat crawls conspicuously across the balcony railing, silhouetted against the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House.

Sources

Movies / Films Links

Best Performance

Winner Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an Academy Award nominated actor, best known for his frequent portrayals of offbeat and eccentric characters such as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy or the titular character of Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands.

Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, the son of Betty Sue (n?e Wells), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp Sr., a city engineer. He has one brother, Danny, and two sisters, Christie (who was formerly Johnny's personal manager) and Debbie. Depp has German, Cherokee (from a great-grandmother), and Irish ancestry. The book Johnny Depp: A Kind of Illusion (ISBN 1-905287-04-6) states that the Depp family originated with a French Huguenot Pierre Deppe or Dieppe who settled in Virginia around 1700. Depp has said he doesn't know the origin of his surname, but jokes that the name translates to "idiot" in German (it is actually a minor insult meaning fool or hungry). The family moved frequently during Depp's childhood, and he and his siblings lived in more than twenty different locations, settling in Miramar, Florida, in 1970, when he was 7. In 1978, when Depp was 15, his parents were divorced. He engaged in self-harm as a child, due to the stress of dealing with family problems and his own insecurity. He has seven or eight scars from practicing self-harm. In a 1993 interview, he explained his self-injury by saying, "My body is a journal in a way. It's like what sailors used to do, where every tattoo meant something, a specific time in your life when you make a mark on yourself, whether you do it yourself with a knife or with a professional tattoo artist".

Depp married Lori Anne Allison, his makeup artist and sister of his band's drummer, on December 24, 1983. During Depp's marriage his wife worked as a makeup artist while he worked a variety of odd jobs, including a telemarketer for ink pens. Later, his wife introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised Depp to pursue an acting career. In 1985, Depp and Allison divorced.

Depp's mother bought her son a guitar when he was twelve, and Depp began playing in various garage bands. His first band was in honor of his girlfriend Meredith. A year after his parents' divorce, Depp dropped out of high school to become a rock musician. As he once explained on Inside the Actors Studio, he attempted to go back to school two weeks later, but the principal told him to follow his dream of being a musician. Depp called the remark "really sweet." He played with The Kids, a band that enjoyed modest local success. The Kids set out together for Los Angeles in pursuit of a record deal, changing their name to "Six Gun Method." As Depp's marriage caused friction between the band members, the group split before signing a record deal. Depp subsequently collaborated with the band Rock City Angels and co-wrote their song "Mary," which appeared on Rock City Angels' debut for Geffen Records titled Young Man's Blues.

Depp starred in a lead role on the FOX TV television series, 21 Jump Street, which premiered in 1987. Depp accepted this role because he wasn't getting much work in the business and wanted to work with actor Frederic Forrest, who inspired him. Later in the season, Depp's long time friend Sal Jenco joined the cast as a semi-co-star as the janitor named Blowfish. The series' success turned Depp into a popular teen idol during the late 1980s. He found the teen-idol status an irritant, noting that he felt "forced into the role of product" and that it was "a very uncomfortable situation and I didn't get a handle on it and it wasn't on my terms at all." Depp promised himself that after his contract on the series expired, he would only appear in films that he felt were right for him.

Johnny Depp's first major role was in the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, playing the heroine's boyfriend and one of Freddy's victims. In 1986, he also appeared in a secondary role as a Vietnamese speaking private in Oliver Stone's Platoon. Depp has since stated that he felt Platoon was the first 'proper' film in which he appeared. Depp then left his teen idol image in 1990, playing the quirky title role in the Tim Burton film, Edward Scissorhands. The film's success began a long association with Burton, as Depp starred in several of his films, including Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Corpse Bride (2005). Depp, an avid fan and long-time friend of writer Hunter S. Thompson, played a version of Thompson (named Raoul Duke) in 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on the writer's pseudobiographical novel of the same name. Depp also accompanied Thompson as his road manager on one of the author's last book tours. In 2006, Depp contributed a personal foreword to Gonzo by Hunter S. Thompson, a posthumous visual biography of the writer's legacy published by ammobooks.com. A close friend of Thompson's, Depp paid for most of Thompson's memorial event, complete with fireworks and the shooting of Thompson's ashes by a cannon, in Aspen, Colorado, where Thompson lived.

Depp's film characters have been described by the press as "iconic loners," and Depp has noted that this period of his career was full of "studio defined failures" and films that were "box office poison," stating that he believes film studios never "understood" the films he appeared in and did not know how to market them properly. Depp has also said that he specifically chose to appear in films that he found personally interesting, rather than those he thought would succeed at the box office.

Depp's status as a major star was solidified with the success of the 2003 Walt Disney Pictures film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, for which his lead performance as the suave pirate Captain Jack Sparrow was highly praised. The performance was initially received negatively by the studio bosses who saw the film, but the character became popular with the movie-going public; in 2006, Depp's co-star from the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean, Bill Nighy, described the role as probably being "one of the most popular performances of recent times." According to a survey taken by Fandango, Depp was also considered to be one of the main reasons why audiences want to see the movie. The film's director, Gore Verbinski, has said that Depp's Jack Sparrow character closely resembles Depp's own personality, although Depp himself said that he modelled the character after Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Depp, who has noted that he was "surprised" and "touched" at the positive reception given to the film, was nominated for an Academy Award for the role. In 2004, he was again nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, this time for playing Scottish author J. M. Barrie in the film Finding Neverland. Depp next starred as Willy Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was a major success at the box office.

Depp returned to the character of Jack Sparrow for the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which opened on July 7, 2006 and grossed $135.5 million in the first three days of its U.S. release, breaking a box office record in reaching the highest weekend tally ever. The next sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean named At World's End was released May 24, 2007; Depp has mentioned his attachment to his Captain Jack Sparrow character, specifying that Sparrow is "definitely a big part of me," and expressing his desire to portray the character in further sequels. Depp voiced Sparrow in the video game, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.

Depp and Gore Verbinski are executive producers of the album "Rogues Gallery, Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys".

As a child, Depp was obsessed with Dark Shadows. Warner Brothers pitched the idea of making another film to Johnny, and he accepted. In July 2007 a rights deal was closed with the estate of Dan Curtis , the producer/director who created the soap that aired weekdays on ABC, from 1966 to 1971. Depp and Graham King will produce with David Kennedy, who ran Dan Curtis Productions inc. until Curtis died in 2006 of a brain tumor. Infinitum-Nihil's Christi Dembrowski served as the point person on the deal.

It has been confirmed that he will portray Paul Kemp, the main character in a film version of writer Hunter S. Thompson's book, The Rum Diary. Depp will next play the title role of Sweeney Todd in Tim Burton's film adaptation of the musical Sweeney Todd. Depp's production company has picked up the rights to the story of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

In 2003, Depp was quoted as criticizing the United States in Germany's Stern magazine, commenting that "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." Although he later asserted that the magazine misquoted him and the quotation was taken out of context, Stern stood by its story, as did CNN.com in its coverage of the interview. CNN added his remark that he would like his children "to see America as a toy, a broken toy. Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out." The July 17, 2006 edition of Newsweek reprinted the "dumb puppy" quotation, verbatim, within the context of a Letter to the Magazine. Depp has also disagreed with subsequent media reports that he says paint him as a "European wannabe" who enjoys the "simpler" life and anonymity that living in France provides.

Depp has been arrested several times, with his first arrest in Vancouver B.C. for a late-night altercation in a hotel lobby. He was accused of allowing the sale of illegal drugs in his club The Viper Room after actor River Phoenix died of a speedball overdose in front of the club in 1993, despite the fact that the owners were not held responsible for the death. In 1994, Depp was arrested and questioned by police for allegedly causing serious damage to a New York City hotel suite He was arrested again in 1999 for brawling with paparazzi outside a restaurant while dining in London with his girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis.

Breakthrough Performance

Winner Jaden Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness is an Academy Award-nominated 2006 drama film produced by Overbrook Entertainment, Escape Artist, and Relativity Media, in association with and released by Columbia Pictures on December 15, 2006. Based on the true story of Chris Gardner, who secured an internship with a stock brokerage firm while homeless, the film stars Will Smith as Gardner and Smith's real-life son Jaden Smith as Gardner's son Christopher. Although the film differs from Gardner's real-life experiences in various respects, it recounts many of the challenging events faced by Gardner while pursuing the internship and caring for Christopher. The title of the movie is derived from the words of Thomas Jefferson in the United States Declaration of Independence; the misspelling of "happiness" refers to a theme in the movie where Gardner is upset that a mural decorating his son's daycare is incorrectly spelled. The film was directed by Gabriele Muccino, an Italian director making his English-language directorial debut.

The Pursuit of Happyness garnered positive reviews from critics with a 66 percent approval rating on the site Rotten Tomatoes. Michael Medved gave Pursuit of Happyness four stars (out of four) saying "..not even the most jaded movie goers will be able to resist this film's emotional pull with an ultimately inspiring message about the implacable power of love and determination." Jaden Smith in particular has been praised, due in part to "his natural, low-key quality" that is "both astounding and moving."

The film debuted at number-one at the box-office, making $27 million during its opening weekend and beating out such heavily-hyped films as Eragon and Charlotte's Web. It was Will Smith's sixth number-one opening in a row. It has made $162,586,036 as of 3/29/07.

Throughout the film, Will Smith's character is often shown on the BART system, but even though the train network opened on September 11, 1972, it was not yet fully built out in its present form in the year the movie was set, 1981 (although at that time, all of the main BART subway lines within the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley were in daily revenue service). In 1981, most of the buildings shown in the San Francisco skyline shots were not completed yet. Although in the film Chris is selling Bone-density scanners the equipment for this technology was not invented until 1987, while the film is set in 1981. When Chris is running in the city you can see a man on a cell phone. When Chris runs from the taxi cab driver, he gets in modern subway trains. In another scene involving Chris running through the city, you see him pass a billboard for Zack Snyder's 300. This movie was released in 2007.

Most significantly, Gardner's internship was a $1,000 monthly stipend, but the film claims "there was no salary." Linda never existed. The mother of his child was "Jackie", his mistress whom he left his wife for when she became pregnant. Also, she initially took Chris Jr. away for many months before bringing him to Chris to raise. They were never married but eventually had another child together. While the film shows Chris Jr. at the age of five, he was only two years old at the time of the events of this film. Because of the age of Chris Jr., the interactions in the film did not occur. However, the scene where Chris tells him, "you're a good poppa" did, in fact, occur. The Rubik's Cube incident never happened. Smith came up with that idea, because he has always been fascinated with Rubik's cubes. He actually spent ten days in jail for not paying his parking tickets. He eventually started at Bear Stearns. The actual events and his homelessness happened over the course of a few years rather than a short time as shown in this movie. He sometimes spent the night underneath his desk when the shelters were full. Gardner quit his job as salesman before entering the stock broker training program. Gardner's medical equipment was never stolen from him. In the movie Gardner states that he is from Louisiana, but Gardner is actually from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, Gardner's book indicates that his father resided in Louisiana at that time. Gardner was not hit by a car. The IRS going into his account to take his money did not happen. He met with the "red Ferrari" man after the initial meeting to learn more about what the job involved. It was not simply a 1-minute conversation.

Best Comedic Performance

Winner Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English comedian, writer and actor most noted for his comic characters Borat (a Kazakh reporter), Ali G (a junglist-hip hop gangsta wannabe from suburban Staines) and Bruno (a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter).

All three characters are featured in Da Ali G Show, a program in which Baron Cohen conducts interviews while posing as one of his three characters. His interviewees believe that the ostensible interviews are sincere and legitimate.

His work has been recognized with several Emmy nominations, an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, a BAFTA award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his work in the feature film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

In 2009 he is scheduled to star in the feature film Dinner for Schmucks, based on a screenplay by comedian Andy Borowitz.

Sacha Baron Cohen was born in Hammersmith, London, England, to an Orthodox Jewish family. He is the youngest of three sons of parents Gerald Baron Cohen and Daniella Weiser. His father, originally from Wales, owns a menswear shop in Piccadilly. His paternal grandfather was born in Pontypridd. His mother, who teaches at a school of movement, was born in Israel. His maternal grandmother, who now lives in Haifa, Israel, was an acclaimed ballet dancer from Germany. His brother Erran Baron Cohen, a composer and trumpet player with Middle Eastern influences and a founding member of the British electronica world-music group Z?har, lent his talents to the Borat film with the song "O Kazakhstan" and others. Sacha Baron Cohen's cousin British psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen is a leading researcher in the study of Asperger syndrome.

The Baron Cohens enjoyed a comfortable standard of living. Sacha attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, a private school in Elstree. The same school was also attended by fellow Jewish comedians Matt Lucas and David Baddiel. He also attended Dulwich College (Dulwich - South London). He then attended Christ's College at the University of Cambridge where he studied history under Niall Ferguson and wrote his thesis on Jewish involvement in the American Civil Rights movement, with emphasis on the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi.

At the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club, Baron Cohen acted in plays such as Cyrano de Bergerac and Fiddler on the Roof, in which he played Tevye. His long-time collaborator Dan Mazer also attended the University of Cambridge and was a member of the Cambridge Footlights, and although Baron Cohen himself was not a member, he performed in at least one Footlights presentation as well as other shows (including singing the part of Guy Fawkes in the musical Gunpowder, Treason and Plot).

Baron Cohen first acted in theatrical productions featuring the Socialist-Zionist youth movement Habonim Dror.

He spent a year in Israel at Kibbutz Rosh HaNikra and Kibbutz Beit HaEmek as part of the Shnat Habonim Dror, before matriculating to university.

According to Baron Cohen, "I wouldn't say that I am a religious Jew, but I'm still proud to be Jewish." However, he keeps kosher and generally observes the Jewish Sabbath, refusing to answer the phone on Shabbat.

Baron Cohen frequently speaks in Hebrew while playing the anti-Semitic character Borat. He also sings the lyrics from an old Hebrew folk song in the Borat film, and identifies his country's greatest scientist, who he says discovered that a woman's brain is the same size as that of a squirrel, as "Dr Yarmulke". (A yarmulke, or kippah, is the skullcap often worn by observant Jews.)

Baron Cohen is engaged to Australian actress Isla Fisher, and the pair plan to wed in a traditional Jewish ceremony. After several years of study, Isla has converted to Judaism, and has received the approval of Baron Cohen's observant Jewish parents. On 19 October 2007 Isla gave birth to a baby girl named Olive in Los Angeles, California.

In the early 1990s Baron Cohen was hosting a weekly program on Windsor cable television's local broadcasts alongside Carol Kirkwood, who has become the BBC anchor for weather broadcasts. He was fired by Windsor TV for broadcasting a lewd presentation for St. Valentine's day. In 1995, Channel 4 was planning a replacement for its series The Word, and disseminated an open call for new television presenters. Baron Cohen sent in a tape of himself in the character of Kristo, a fictional television reporter from Albania (who developed into the Kazakhstani Borat), which caught the attention of a producer. Baron Cohen bided his time by working for a Swindon-based television company; during this period he made his first feature film appearance.

After a brief office-work career which included a stint as a quantitative analyst specialising in index arbitrage at investment bank Goldman Sachs, Baron Cohen went back into acting, appearing during 2-minute sketches as his fashion reporter Bruno on The Paramount Comedy Channel during 1998. He shot to fame when his comic character Ali G, an idiotic Junglist, started appearing on The Eleven O'Clock Show on Channel 4, which first went to air September 8, 1998.

Da Ali G Show began in 2000, and won the BAFTA for Best Comedy in the following year. Also in 2000, Ali G appeared in Madonna's music video "Music".

In 2002, Ali G was the central character in the feature film Ali G Indahouse, in which he is elected to the British Parliament and foils a plot to bulldoze a community centre in his hometown, Staines. His television show was brought to the United States in 2003 (with new episodes set in America) for HBO.

Ali G's interviews with famous people (often politicians) gained notoriety partly because the subjects were not privy to the joke that Ali G, rather than being a real interviewer, was a comedic character played by Baron Cohen. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Baron Cohen would always enter the interview area in character as Ali G, carrying equipment and appearing to be an insignificant crew-member. He would be with a suited man, who the interviewee naturally thought was the interviewer. Baron Cohen, as Ali G, would sit down to begin conducting the interview by asking the interviewee some preliminary questions. The interviewee, however, would remain under the impression that the smartly-dressed director would be conducting the interview until short notice prior to cameras rolling: this would grant an advantage of surprise, whereby the interviewee would be less likely to opt out of the Ali interview prior to its commencement.

On at least one occasion, the interviewee was merely told that Ali G had a popular show on MTV that kids watched. The resulting willingness of Ali G's targets to answer his frequently risqu? questions often created surprising conversations.

Baron Cohen's second alter ego is 'Bruno' (sometimes written Br?no), a gay Austrian fashion show presenter, who often lures his subjects into unwittingly making provocative statements and engaging in embarrassing behavior, as well as leading them to contradict themselves, often in the same interview. Bruno asks the subjects to answer 'yes or no' questions with either "Vassap" (yes), or "Ich don't think so" (no), or sometimes "Ach, ja!" (oh yes!) or "Nicht, nicht" (not, not). In at least one segment on Da Ali G Show he encouraged his guest to answer questions with either "Keep them in the ghetto" or "Train to Auschwitz". Bruno's main comedic satire pertains to the vacuity and inanity of the fashion and clubbing world, so for instance the aforesaid indifference towards potentially upsetting Holocaust references is intended to reveal a certain insularity surrounding the cultural context of the interviewee.

Plans are underway for Baron Cohen to bring Bruno to the big screen, and after an intense bidding war that included such Hollywood powerhouses as DreamWorks, Sony, and 20th Century Fox; Universal Pictures paid a reported $42.5 million for the rights to the movie. According to insiders, Baron Cohen himself is getting paid $13 million upfront, and will also receive 15% of the box office take. That means if the film (tentatively titled "Br?no") does as well as "Borat", Baron Cohen stands to make approximately $30 million.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, a feature film with "Borat" at the centre, was screened at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and released in the United Kingdom November 2, 2006, in the United States on November 3, 2006 and Australia November 23, 2006. The film is about a journey across the United States in an ice cream van, in which the main character is obsessed with the idea of marrying Pamela Anderson. The film is a mockumentary which includes interviews with various American citizens that poke fun at the hobgoblins of American culture, including sexism, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, jingoism and Baywatch.

It debuted at the #1 spot in the US, taking in an estimated $26.4 million in just 837 theatres averaging $31,600 per theatre, the third highest per-theatre average of all time for movies opening wide (500 screens or more), behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Spider-Man. It easily outdistanced the expected #1 movie of the weekend, Disney's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, which earned an estimated $20 million in 3,458 cinemas.

Baron Cohen won the 2007 Golden Globe in the "Best Actor - Musical or Comedy" category, his sixth such award. Although Borat was up for "Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy," the film lost to Dreamgirls. On 23 January 2007, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He shared his nomination with the film's co-writers, Ant Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer, and Todd Phillips.

Aside from the comic elements of his characters, Baron Cohen's performances are interpreted by some as reflecting uncomfortable truths about his audience. He juxtaposes his own Jewish lineage with the anti-Semitism of his character Borat. In one sketch from the TV show (and as such, not included in the film), Borat performs at a small-town USA bar singing an anti-Semitic song called 'In My Country There is Problem' (including lyrics such as "Throw the Jew down the well!", "You must grab [the Jew] by his horns" and "[The Jews] take everybody['s] money; they never give it back"), with many in the bar singing along.

Although the character Borat is Kazakh, he frequently begins segments with Polish expressions "Jak si? masz?" (How are you?), "Dzie? dobry" (Good day) and "Dziekuj?" (Thank you). His use of "Boutrous" was used on BBC's The Fast Show sketches, and Mahir "I Kiss You" ?a?r? publicly claims much of the Borat character was based on him. Borat's favorite singer is Korki Buchek. He sings the famous song "Bing Bang". In one scene of the film, Borat encounters some men from Atlanta, Georgia. When asked of his favorite music, he shares the name Korki Buchek and proceeds to sing a song, which causes the men from Atlanta to laugh at him.

Flying Dolphin Press announced on May 23, 2007 that Cohen would be publishing a travel guide as Borat, with dual titles: Borat: Touristic Guidings To Minor Nation of U.S. and A. and Borat: Touristic Guidings To Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. No release date has been announced.

Best Kiss

Winner Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen - Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a 2006 American comedy film about NASCAR racing. The film is directed by Adam McKay, who co-wrote the film with actor and former Saturday Night Live cast member Will Ferrell. The film stars Ferrell with John C. Reilly, Michael Clarke Duncan, Amy Adams, Sacha Baron Cohen, Leslie Bibb, Gary Cole and Jane Lynch. Various Saturday Night Live alumni also make appearances.

The film was primarily shot in North Carolina including Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius, Cabarrus and Gaston counties. Additional filming was done at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Racetrack scenes at Texas Motor Speedway were shot at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, using a Chevy El Camino outfitted with camera mounts on all four corners of the car.

Talladega Nights tells the story of a NASCAR stock car racing sensation Ricky Bobby Sagehorn whose "win at all costs" approach has made him a national hero. He and his loyal racing partner and childhood friend Cal Naughton, Jr. (Reilly), are a fearless duodubbed "Shake 'N' Bake" with the ability to finish most races in first and second place, with Cal always in second. When a gay French Formula One driver, Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), challenges "Shake 'N' Bake" for the supremacy of NASCAR, Ricky Bobby must face his own demons and fight Girard for the right to be known as racing's top driver.

"I wanna go fast"

Ricky Bobby Sagehorn was born to "go fast". He was born in the back seat of his race car-driving father's car in the town of West River, North Carolina. He was raised by his mother Lucy Bobby (Jane Lynch). Reese Bobby (Gary Cole), his alcoholic, "pot-dealing daddy", wasn't around. One morning, while his mother goes into the grocery store to "get some whiskey and pull her hair out," Ricky climbs into the driver's seat and, using a whiffle ball bat to press the pedals, takes his mother's station wagon on a high-speed joy ride.

After ten years, Ricky finally meets his father when he shows up for Career Day at Ricky's school. He tells Ricky, "If you ain't first, you're last," a motto that sticks with Ricky for the rest of his life.

In 1996, while working on a pit crew as the jackman for a race team sponsored by Laughing Clown Malt Liquor, he replaces an uninterested driver named Terry Cheveaux (McKay) and ends up finishing third despite starting mid-race in last place. Ricky soars to the top of NASCAR very quickly, achieving both fame and fortune in the no. 26 Wonder Bread car at Dennit Racing. Ricky then arranges to get his best friend, Cal (Reilly), a job driving the No. 47 Old Spice car. Ricky uses Cal as the starter of a slingshot technique that allows Ricky to pass cars easily. It is this mechanism that allows Ricky to consistently win races.

While on top of the racing world, Ricky is challenged by a Formula One driver named Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen). Girard is an effete gay Frenchman (sponsored by Perrier in the No. 55 car) who reads the French existentialist novel The Stranger by Albert Camus and sips macchiato as he races. He also smokes women's cigarettes

Girard outperforms Ricky on the track and becomes NASCAR's top driver. Ricky, desperate to regain his dominance, pushes himself too hard and ends up in a spectacular wreck; after which Ricky runs around the track in his underwear, thinking that he is on fire. After this, he persists in the belief that he is paralyzed, though he clearly isn't. When Lucius tells him he is not paralyzed, Ricky tells him and Cal that he hopes that they both have "beatiful, athletic, articulet" sons and that they have their legs taken away. In anger Lucius says, "Don't you put that evil on me, Ricky Bobby! Don't you put that evil on me! You are not paralyzed!" Ricky ends up stabbing himself in the leg to prove that he is paralyzed. Fortunately, Cal and Lucius, are able to pry the knife out of Ricky's leg with another knife. Though he eventually recovers from his crash, he loses his ride at Dennit Racing after a disastrous testing session that echoes the wreck prior (including him running around in his underwear and helmet thinking he is on fire), where he runs around in his underwear and helmet, thinking his crew members are "ninjas" that are "trying to get" him. Carley (Bibb), Ricky's wife, yearning to be married to a top NASCAR driver, divorces Ricky before he gets home that night and marries Cal, whom Ricky refused to let finish first in races. Cal then tells Ricky that he's finally getting the chance to become #1, dropping the "Shake 'N' Bake" nickname for "The Magic Man."

Ricky takes his two kids, Walker (Houston Tumlin) and Texas Ranger (Grayson Russell), and moves back home with his mother and takes a job as a pizza delivery driver for Hugalo's Pizza. He is soon reduced to a Huffy bicycle, as his recent loss of confidence has effectively stopped him from controlling a car, causing him to lose his license. With his life at its lowpoint, Reese suddenly reenters Ricky's life. With the retraining and guidance of his father, Ricky gains his confidence back, but still refuses to race after Reese walks out. Reese later confesses that he was high when he told Ricky's class "If you ain't first, you're last!" Ricky then runs into his former assistant, Susan (Adams), at a bar. Susan convinces Ricky to get back into racing at the Talladega 500. Susan then professes her love for Ricky, and they end up making love in the bar as Ricky warns the other customers to look away, because "we're gonna start makin' animal noises." Ricky later meets with Jean Girard, who is having tea with Elvis Costello and Mos Def. Girard confesses that he wants to retire to Sri Lanka with his husband Gregory (Andy Richter) "to train lizards to perform 'Hamlot'" but before he does, he wants Ricky to beat him. However, he refuses to simply let Ricky win. Ricky returns to the track and tells Cal he's sorry for always making him come in second. But Cal is confused by Ricky's "tactics," and vows to "keep actin' tough" until he figures it out.

Despite being un-sponsored, underfunded, and starting in the back of the pack, Ricky quickly climbs through the field and passes Cal (who barely notices him because of his confusion over the apology), moving into second place behind Girard. As Ricky unsuccessfully attempts to pass Girard, Larry Dennit, Jr., (Greg Germann) Ricky's former boss, orders Cal to wreck Ricky. Cal refuses, and does the traditional slingshot move to get Ricky side by side with Girard. Dennit orders his third driver, Brian Wavecrest (who replaced Ricky in the Wonder Bread car), to wreck Cal. The ensuing wreck destroys the rest of the field, leaving only Ricky Bobby and Jean Girard. On the final lap, the two drivers slam into each other numerous times, until they both have a long, spectacular wreck in the tri-oval. So long, in fact, that the race goes to a commercial for Applebee's while the wreck is still taking place. The television broadcast team of Bill Weber, Wally Dallenbach, Jr., and the late Benny Parsons, seeming disinterested, declare the race over.

However, Girard and Ricky both get out of their cars and race on foot to the checkered flag, to the tune of Pat Benatar's "We Belong." They both dramatically dive for the finish line. Ricky's fingers cross the line, while Girard comes up a bit short. Girard wishes to shake Ricky's hand, but Ricky kisses him passionately instead. Both drivers are disqualified for violating race procedures (the NASCAR rule is drivers must drive their own cars, by their own power, to the finish line on the last lap) and Cal wins the race by finishing third. Ricky and Cal repair their friendship, but when Cal asks to say "Shake N' Bake," Ricky says "No, never again," stating that Cal will remain "The Magic Man" and Ricky's new nickname is "El Diablo," which he mistakenly thinks means "fighting chicken." Reese watches from the distance and walks away to his car, satisfied. The family (consisting of Ricky, Susan, Walker, Texas Ranger, and Ricky's mother) meet Reese in the parking lot, and all climb into his old Chevelle to go get kicked out of Applebee's again.

The film was released on standard DVD and Blu-ray on December 12, 2006. The menu gives the viewer the choice of Super Speedway (with footage of the film used as intros when Special Features, Scene Selection, etc. is chosen) or Short Track (without video intros.) The film is presented on standard DVD in four different configurations, giving consumers the choice between either theatrical or unrated versions and anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1 aspect ratio) or pan & scan presentations. As for the audio, each standard DVD carries Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in English and French with optional English and French subtitles. Extras for the standard DVD editions include a retrospective '25 Years Later' commentary track featuring most of the main cast, deleted and extended scenes along with bonus race footage, featurettes, interviews with Ricky, Cal, and Carley, a gag reel, a 'Line-O-Rama' feature with alternate dialogue from the film, and DVD-ROM content. The unrated discs contain additional deleted scenes ("Cal Calls Ricky" and "What'd You Do Today?"), an interview with Jean and Gregory, and commercials. However, the "Unrated & Uncut" DVD omits two scenes that are present in the theatrical version; the scene where young Ricky steals his mother's station wagon, and the scene which shows what happened to Ricky's pit crew. The scenes are not present in the deleted scenes either.

The Blu-ray release is available on a dual layer disc with the majority of features presented in high definition including: nine deleted/extended scenes, three interviews, gag reel, Line-O-Rama, bonus race footage, Ricky & Cal's Commercials (However, Cal is not seen in any of the commercials), Ricky & Cal's PSAs, Walker & Texas Ranger, Will Ferrell Returns to Talladega and a theatrical trailer. There are also three extras not presented in high definition: Daytona 500 Spot, NASCAR Chase for the Nextel Cup Spot, and Sirius and NASCAR Spot. In terms of technical aspects, this edition carries the unrated cut and presents the film with an anamorphic widescreen transfer at its 2.40:1 theatrical aspect ratio and includes Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in English and French and an uncompressed PCM 5.1 audio track in English, along with English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, and Thai subtitles.

Best Fight

Winner Gerard Butler vs. "The Uber Immortal" - 300

300 is a 2007 film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller, and is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film is directed by Zack Snyder with Frank Miller attached as an executive producer and consultant, and was shot mostly with bluescreen to duplicate the imagery of the original comic book.

Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fight to the last man against Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his army of over one million soldiers, while in Sparta, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) attempts to rally support for her husband. The story is framed by a voice-over narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios (David Wenham). Through this narrative technique, various fantastical creatures are introduced, placing 300 within the genre of historical fantasy.

300 was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters in the United States on March 9, 2007, and on DVD, Blu-Ray and HD DVD on July 31, 2007. The film broke box office records, although critics were divided over its look and style. Some acclaimed it as an original achievement, while others criticized it for favoring visuals over characterization and its controversial depiction of the ancient Persians.

A Spartan named Dilios narrates of the young Leonidas undergoing his childhood training, explaining the rigors of Spartan life. Leonidas is cast out into the wild, and survives the harsh winter to return to his home, when he is crowned King. Dilios then tells the story of the Persian messengers arriving at Sparta and demanding Sparta's submission to King Xerxes. Outraged and offended at their behavior, King Leonidas kicks the messenger into a pit; the other messengers suffer the same fate. Resolving to face the Persians, Leonidas visits the Oracle, proposing a strategy to repel the numerically superior enemy, and offers the priests a customary payment in gold. The priests, called Ephors, having already been bribed by Xerxes, interpret the Oracle's message to mean that Sparta should not go to war, so as to not interrupt the sacred Carneian festival.

Despite the warning, Leonidas gathers 300 of his best soldiers to fight the Persians, selecting only those who have already sired male children, so that their family name can continue even after their death. As they march north, they are joined by a group of Arcadians and other Greeks. Arriving at the narrow cliffs of Thermopylae (referred to as the "Hot Gates"), in sight of the Persian army, they build a wall to contain the Persians' advance immediately in front of their position. Ephialtes, a hunchbacked Spartan whose parents had fled to save him from customary infanticide, approaches Leonidas, requesting to redeem his father's name in battle, and warning him about a secret goat path that the Persians could use to outflank them, and surround them. Leonidas turns him away because he is unable to properly hold the shield, and would therefore create a weak spot in the phalanx.

Before the battle starts, the Persians ask that the 300 drop their arms. Leonidas responds; "Persians! Come and get them!" The Spartans use the phalanx formation, the narrow terrain, and their fighting skill with shield, spear and sword to effectively fight off numerically superior waves of attackers, driving the regular Persian infantry off of a cliff and withstanding a cavalry charge without any losses. Xerxes, impressed after the two armies' first engagement, personally approaches Leonidas and attempts to bribe him with wealth and power in exchange for his surrender. The Spartan king declines, saying that he will instead make the "God King" bleed. The Spartans then face the Immortals, losing a few of their number to the Persian elite guards but still defeating them, with Leonidas personally killing the Uber-Immortal. The Spartans prevail over other types of troops from the vast reaches of the Persian empire, including Mongolian barbarians and their rhinos, soldiers with explosive grenades, and Indian war elephants. However, their last victory is overshadowed by the death of Captain Artemis' eldest son Astinos. Two days after the fighting begins, an embittered Ephialtes reveals the location of the goat path to Xerxes, having been promised a lucrative and powerful position in the Persian Empire.

Back in Sparta, Queen Gorgo, upon the advice of a loyal councilman, attempts to enlist the influential Theron to help her persuade the Spartan council to send reinforcements to Leonidas. Theron agrees to help, but demands that Gorgo submit sexually to him; Gorgo reluctantly consents to his advances. Meanwhile, the Greeks realize that Ephialtes has betrayed them, and the Arcadians decide to retreat in the face of certain death. The Spartans refuse to follow, obedient to their law. Leonidas orders only one man, Dilios, to retreat and use his rhetorical skills to tell the story of the 300 to the Spartan people, ensuring that they be remembered. Dilios reluctantly leaves with the Arcadians. At Sparta, Queen Gorgo appears in front of the council, but is not supported by Theron, who furthermore accuses her of adultery. The Queen, enraged at this betrayal, snatches a sword from a nearby soldier and kills Theron. When Persian coins fall from his purse, the Council denounces him as a traitor and unites against Persia.

At Thermopylae, the Persians have surrounded the 300 on all sides. Xerxes's general demands their surrender, saying that Leonidas may keep his title as King of Sparta and become warlord of all Greece, answerable only to Xerxes. Ephialtes begs him to do so as well; Leonidas quips back "may you live forever" (the ultimate Spartan insult, as they wish to die in battle). After feinting submission Leonidas orders his man to cut down the general, causing Xerxes to order his troops to attack. The remaining Spartans are killed in the hail of arrows; Leonidas finally falls, but not before delivering on his promise to "make the 'God King' bleed", wounding him on the cheek with a thrown spear. The Persian king is visibly shaken at this reminder of his own mortality. Dilios eventually returns to Sparta and inspires the council with the bravery of the 300.

Dilios finishes his tale on a new battlefield surrounded by raptly listening soldiers. He concludes that the Persian army, who lost countless numbers defeating a mere 300 Spartans a year earlier, must now be terrified to face 10,000 Spartans and 30,000 Greeks from the other city-states. The roused Greek host charges the Persian army, beginning the Battle of Plataea.

Producer Gianni Nunnari was not the only person planning a film about the Battle of Thermopylae; director Michael Mann already planned a film of the battle based on the book Gates of Fire. Nunnari discovered Frank Miller's graphic novel 300, which impressed him enough to acquire the film rights. 300 was jointly produced by Nunnari and Mark Canton, and Michael B. Gordon wrote the script. Director Zack Snyder was hired in June 2004 as he had attempted to make a film on Miller's novel before making his debut with the remake of Dawn of the Dead, Snyder then got Screenwriter Kurt Johnstad to rewrite Gordon's script for production and Frank Miller was retained as consultant and executive producer.

The film is a shot-for-shot adaptation of the comic book, similar to the film adaptation of Sin City. Snyder photocopied panels from the comic book, from which he planned the preceding and succeeding shots. "It was a fun process for me... to have a frame as a goal to get to," he said. Like the comic book, the adaptation also used the character Dilios as a narrator. Snyder used this narrative technique to show the audience that the surreal "Frank Miller world" of 300 was related from a subjective perspective. By utilizing Dilios' gift of storytelling, he is able to introduce fantasy elements into the film, explaining that "Dilios is a guy who knows how not to wreck a good story with truth." Snyder also added the sub-plot in which Queen Gorgo attempts to rally support for her husband.

Two months of pre-production were required to create hundreds of shields, spears and swords, some of which were recycled from Troy and Alexander. An animatronic wolf and thirteen animatronic horses were also created. The actors trained alongside the stuntmen, and even Snyder joined in. Upwards of 600 costumes were created for the film, as well as extensive prosthetics for various characters and the corpses of Persian soldiers.

300 entered active production on October 17, 2005 in Montreal, and was shot over the course of sixty days in chronological order with a budget of $60 million. Employing the digital backlot technique, Snyder shot at the now-defunct Icestorm Studios in Montreal using bluescreens. Butler said that while he didn't feel constrained by Snyder's direction, fidelity to the comic imposed certain limitations on his performance. Wenham said there were times when Snyder wanted to precisely capture iconic moments from the comic book, and other times when he gave actors freedom "to explore within the world and the confines that had been set". Headey said of her experience with the bluescreens, "It's very odd, and emotionally, there's nothing to connect to apart from another actor." Only one scene, in which horses travel across the countryside, was shot outdoors. The film was an intensely physical production, and Butler pulled an arm tendon and developed a foot drop.

Post-production was handled by Montreal's Meteor Studios and Hybride Technologies filled in the bluescreen footage with more than 1500 visual effects shots. Visual effects supervisor Chris Watts and production designer Jim Bissell created a process dubbed "The Crush," which allowed the Meteor artists to manipulate the colors by increasing the contrast of light and dark. Certain sequences were desaturated and tinted to establish different moods. Ghislain St-Pierre, who led the team of artists, described the effect: "Everything looks realistic, but it has a kind of a gritty illustrative feel." Various computer programs, including Maya, RenderMan and RealFlow, were used to create the "spraying blood." The post-production lasted for a year and was handled by a total of ten special effects companies.

In July 2005, composer Tyler Bates had begun work on the film, describing the score as having, "beautiful themes on the top and large choir," but "tempered with some extreme heaviness." The composer had scored for a test scene that the director wanted to show to Warner Bros. to illustrate the path of the project. Bates said that the score had "a lot of weight and intensity in the low end of the percussion" that Snyder found agreeable to the film. The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and features the vocals of Azam Ali. A standard edition and a special edition of the soundtrack containing 25 tracks was released on March 6, 2007, with the special edition containing a 16-page booklet and three two-sided trading cards.

The score has given rise to some controversy in the film composer community, garnering criticism for its striking similarity to several other recent soundtracks, including James Horner and Gabriel Yared's work for the film Troy. The heaviest borrowings are allegedly from Elliot Goldenthal's 1999 score for Titus. "Remember Us," from 300, is identical in parts to the "Finale" from Titus, and "Returns a King" is similar to the cue "Victorius Titus." Commentators have also noted that the melody of "Message for the Queen" is identical to the song "Zajdi, zajdi" by composer Aleksandar Sarievski. Macedonian portal On.net published a response by Tyler Bates, who claims that he "can't say there is a specific source of inspiration for the cue.". However, on August 3, 2007, Warner Bros. Pictures acknowledged in an official statement, "a number of the music cues for the score of 300 were, without our knowledge or participation, derived from music composed by Academy Award winning composer Elliot Goldenthal for the motion picture Titus. Warner Bros. Pictures has great respect for Elliot, our longtime collaborator, and is pleased to have amicably resolved this matter."

The official 300 website was launched by Warner Bros. in December 2005. The "conceptual art" and Zack Snyder's production blog were the initial attractions of the site. Later, the website added video journals describing production details, including comic-to-screen shots and the creatures of 300. In January 2007, the studio launched a MySpace page for the film. The Art Institutes created a micro-site to promote the film.

At Comic-Con International in July 2006, the 300 panel aired a promotional teaser of the film, which was positively received but despite stringent security, the trailer was then leaked on the Internet. Warner Bros. released the official trailer for 300 on October 4, 2006 and later on it made its debut on Apple.com where it received considerable exposure. The background music used in the trailers was "Just Like You Imagined" by Nine Inch Nails. A second 300 trailer, which was attached to Apocalypto, was released in theaters on December 8, 2006, and online the day before. On January 22, 2007 an exclusive trailer for the film was broadcast during prime time television. The trailers have been credited with igniting interest in the film and contributing to its box-office success.

In April 2006, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced its intention to make a PlayStation Portable game, 300: March to Glory, based on the film. Collision Studios worked with Warner Bros. to capture the style of the film in the video game, which was released simultaneously with the film in the United States. The National Entertainment Collectibles Association produced a series of action figures based on the film, as well as replicas of weapons and armor.

Warner Bros. Pictures promoted 300 by sponsoring the Ultimate Fighting Championship's light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, who made personal appearances and participated in other promotional activities. The studio also joined with the National Hockey League to produce a 30-second TV spot promoting the film in tandem with the Stanley Cup playoffs.

In August 2006, Warner Bros. announced 300's release as March 16, 2007, but in October the release was moved forward to March 9, 2007. 300 was released on DVD, HD DVD and BD on July 31, 2007 in Region 1 territories, in single-disc and two-disc editions. 300 was released in single-disc and steelcase two-disc editions on DVD, HD DVD and BD on August 2007 in Region 2 territories, albeit not in every Region 2 country such as the United Kingdom and Germany.

On July 9, 2007, the American cable channel TNT bought the rights to broadcast the film from Warner Bros. TNT will be able to start airing the movie in September of 2009. Sources say that the network paid between $17 million and just under $20 million for the movie. TNT agreed to a 3 year deal instead of the more typical 5 year deal.

Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet

Winner TRANSFORMERS

Transformers is a 2007 live action film adaptation of the Transformers franchise. Directed by Michael Bay and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the film stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, a teenager involved in the war between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons for the All Spark. It also stars Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight and John Turturro, and it features the voices of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Hugo Weaving as Megatron. Cullen voiced Prime in the 1980s cartoon.

Producers Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto developed the film, and Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote the script, aiming for a realistic interpretation of the characters. Though not a Transformers fan, Bay was convinced by Spielberg to direct, and he created an intricate design aesthetic for the computer-generated robots. General Motors and the United States military lent their support during filming, to keep the budget under $150 million. Armed with an enormous marketing campaign including comics, toys and tie-in deals, Transformers was a hit, becoming the twenty-eighth most successful film released, despite mixed reviews. A sequel is expected for release on June 26, 2009.

The film begins with Optimus Prime explaining Cybertron's destruction at the hands of Megatron, and his quest to obtain the All Spark. He finds it on Earth, but crash-lands in the Arctic Circle, and is frozen in the ice. Captain Archibald Witwicky and his crew of explorers stumble upon Megatron's body in 1897. Megatron's navigational system is activated by Captain Witwicky, and Archibald's eye glasses are imprinted with the All Spark's coordinates. Sector 7, a secret United States government organization, discovers the All Spark and builds the Hoover Dam around it to mask the energy signal. The still-frozen Megatron is moved into this facility, and is reverse engineered to further advance human technology.

In the present day, the rest of the Decepticons Blackout, Scorponok, Frenzy, Barricade, Starscream, Devastator and Bonecrusher have landed on Earth and assumed the disguise of Earth vehicles (except Scorponok, who keeps his scorpion-like alien form). Blackout and Scorponok attack a U.S. military base in Qatar and try to hack into the military database to find where Megatron and the All Spark are, but fail when the network is manually shut down. While Blackout destroys the rest of the base, Scorponok chases a small group of survivors, but is eventually repelled. After their failure, Frenzy infiltrates Air Force One to hack again into the military database. He finds the map imprinted on Captain Witwicky's glasses, which his descendant Sam intends to sell on eBay for money. Frenzy and Barricade begin tracking Sam's location.

The Autonomous Robotic Organism (shortened to "Autobot") Bumblebee is also on Earth, disguised as a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro, is bought by Sam. He helps him try to woo his crush, Mikaela Banes. Bumblebee leaves at night to send a homing signal to the rest of the Autobots, and Sam sees him in robot mode. Barricade confronts him and demands Archibald's spectacles. Bumblebee rescues him and Mikaela from Barricade. They leave to rendezvous with the rest of the Autobots. The Autobots Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet land on Earth and take on the forms of Earth vehicles. Sam, Mikaela, and the Autobots return to Sam's home to retrieve the glasses. Although the Autobots manage to get the glasses, agents from Sector 7 arrive and capture Sam, Mikaela and Bumblebee.

Frenzy, disguised as a cellphone, secretly accompanies the group to the Hoover Dam and releases Megatron from suspended animation. Locating the All Spark, he sends an alert to the other Decepticons. Sam convinces the Sector 7 agents to release Bumblebee so that he can get the All Spark to Optimus Prime. Megatron awakens, and leads the Decepticons to chase the Autobots and the humans, as well as the All Spark, into Mission City. In the ensuing battle, Optimus beheads Bonecrusher, Frenzy accidentally decapitates himself, Megatron kills Jazz, and both the Autobots and the military take down Devastator and Blackout. Sam rams the All Spark into Megatron's chest, slaying him and ending the battle. Optimus takes a fragment of the All Spark from Megatron's corpse, but realizes that with it destroyed, Cybertron cannot be restored. He sends a signal to other surviving Autobots in the universe, directing them to Earth. Bumblebee decides to remain with Sam, while Sector 7 is closed. The dead Decepticons are dumped into the Laurentian Abyss, but the surviving Starscream escapes into space.

Producer Don Murphy was planning a film adaptation of G.I. Joe, but when the U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003, Hasbro suggested Transformers instead. Tom DeSanto joined the project because he was a big fan of the characters, and they wrote a treatment. Steven Spielberg, a fan of the comics and toys, signed on as executive producer in 2004, and John Rogers was hired as screenwriter. Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, fans of the cartoon, were hired in February 2005 to start a new script. Spielberg read every draft of their script and gave notes on improvement. Spielberg asked Michael Bay to direct on June 30, 2005, but he dismissed it as a "stupid toy movie". Nonetheless, Spielberg's premise of "a boy and his car" made Bay curious, and upon visiting Hasbro, the director gained a new respect for the mythology.

DeSanto and Murphy had met with comic book writer Simon Furman, and researched the Generation 1 cartoon and comics for their story. They decided to explore why Transformers exist, focusing on the Creation Matrix, though Murphy felt the plot device would have to be renamed because of the film series of the same name. DeSanto chose a human point-of-view in his treatment to engage the audience. Spielberg suggested to the screenwriters a focus about "a boy and his car" which appealed to them as adulthood and responsibility are "the things that a car represents in [the United States]." Sam and Mikaela were the sole focus of the first draft. Murphy wanted it to feel realistic, with the tone akin to that of a disaster film. Bay similiarly stated that the film to feel realistic with the presence of the military which would lead into the main story, as he considered the first draft "too kiddie". The Transformers had no dialogue in the first draft of the script, but this was changed as the writers felt that even if the Transformers speaking could look ridiculous, having them not speak would betray the fanbase. Inspired by Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Bumblebee was kept mute to stress his friendship with Sam as going beyond words.

The treatment included the Autobots Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee, and the Decepticons Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, Skywarp and Shockwave. Rogers' script pitted four Autobots against four Decepticons, and featured the Ark spaceship. Throughout Orci and Kurtzman's rewrites, Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream were the only robots included in all of them. The female Autobot Arcee was cut because she was too small, being a motorcycle, and the writers were finding it difficult to explain robotic gender. More Decepticons were added to increase the sense of threat, and the law enforcement-based Autobot Prowl was removed as Orci and Kurtzman loved the perverseness of a Decepticon using a police car form. Bay admitted most of the Decepticons had their designs done before their names and roles were chosen as Hasbro needed to get started on the toys. Soundwave was conceived in early drafts in roles that would become that of Blackout and Frenzy. Hasbro rejected him as a helicopter, but the writers felt Frenzy would not pass for an interpretation of the character, so they left him to a sequel.

In keeping with Michael Bay's desire to make Transformers realistic, the robots were designed with thousands of mechanical pieces to look more exciting, and to reflect their alien origins. Morphing in transformations was restricted, unlike the cartoon or comic books, where a character becomes larger or smaller during transformations. Every character stayed the same size in both forms, which in turn explained the robots' choice of Earth forms during the story. Optimus Prime's original cab over truck form was rejected because it would make him only twenty-feet tall, so Bay decided to use the Peterbilt, so Prime would look like he was twenty-eight feet tall as a robot. The idea of travelling protoforms was developed as Roberto Orci wondered why "aliens who moonlight as vehicles need other vehicles to travel."

Bay also added flame artwork to Prime to make him distinctive, and gave him a mouth to emote more. For the remaining Autobots, Bay made a product placement deal with General Motors for their alternate forms, which saved $3 million. Bay rejected Bumblebee's original form, the Volkswagen Beetle, which reminded him of Herbie the Love Bug. Bay chose the Chevrolet Camaro instead, which he described as having a friendly quality. He was, however, disappointed with the choice of the Pontiac Solstice for Jazz. In contrast to Optimus's faithful design, Megatron's alternate mode was changed from a Walther P38 pistol to a Cybertronian jet to avoid morphing.

To save money, Michael Bay cut his fee by 30%, and planned an eighty-three day shooting schedule. He kept up the pace by doing more camera set-ups per day than usual and chose to shoot the film with a crew he was familiar with in the United States. He had the support of the United States military, who supplied aircraft and vehicles for the alternate modes of the Decepticons, including F-22s, F-117s, and two V-22 Ospreys, the first time any of these have been used for a film. Two Ospreys were used, out of three that were in the U.S. Air Force inventory. Such cooperation led Transformers to be the first film shot at The Pentagon since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

A pre-shoot took place on April 19, 2006, and principal photography began on April 22 at Holloman Air Force Base. The Holloman shoot also included White Sands Missile Range. On June 9, filming was onsite at the Hoover Dam, making the film crew the first to shoot there since 9/11. The crew then based themselves at Hughes Aircraft in Playa Vista, including six weekends of filming the climactic battle in Los Angeles. Production wrapped on September 24, and second unit shooting continued in the Arctic and Detroit, which finished on October 4.

Work on the animatics began in April 2005. Industrial Light & Magic created computer-generated transformations over six months in 2005, looking at every inch of the car models. Initially they were designed to follow the laws of physics, but it did not look exciting enough and was changed to be more fluid. One decision made was that the wheels should stay on the ground for as long as possible, allowing the robots to cruise around as they changed. Bay stated ILM made 3/4 of the film's effects, while Digital Domain made the rest, including the Arctic discovery of Megatron, Frenzy's severed head, a vending machine mutated by the Allspark, and the Autobots' protoforms.

Michael Bay shot his 14 action sequences live to keep the budget below $150 million, with Spielberg encouraging him to only occasionally use computer-generated imagery for backgrounds. General Motors made three versions of each car in case some of them crashed; stunt drivers wore black balaclavas to blend in with the darkened interiors, to make the vehicles appear sentient. On-set, a 17-foot-tall Bumblebee model by FXPerts, a Frenzy puppet by KNB, Scorponok's damaged tail, Optimus Prime's head, and Megatron's frozen legs were used. The props amount to 12 out of 630 effects shots.

Bay rejected a liquid metal surface for the character's faces, instead going for a "Rubik's Cube" style of modelling. Due to the intricate designs of the Transformers, even the simplest notion of turning a wrist needs 17 visible parts; each of Ironhide's guns are made of ten thousand parts. Bumblebee uses a piece below his faceplate as an eyebrow, and pieces in his cheeks can swivel to resemble a smile. All the characters' eyes are designed to dilate and brighten. Such detail needed 38 hours to render each frame of animation, which meant ILM had to increase their processing facilities. Each rendered piece had to look like real metal, shiny or dull. Photographs were taken of each set and had a lighting environment produced within a computer so the robots would look like they were convincingly moving there.

Numerous simulations were programmed into the robots, so the animators could just focus on animating the particular areas needed for a convincing performance. Ultimately, the complex mechanics are an attempt to make the characters feel dynamic and quick rather than lumbering beasts. Bay instructed the animator observe two martial artists to make the fights look graceful, and they also looked to actor Liam Neeson's performances to inspire Optimus's mannerisms. Bumblebee's behaviour were based on Michael J. Fox's performance in Back to the Future. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman observed unexpected quirks in ILM's animation, and added new dialogue and re-edited scenes to adjust it to the robots' performances.

mtvU Best Filmmaker on Campus

Winner Josh Greenbaum - Featured Film: Border Patrol

Winner Josh Greenbaum - Featured Film: Border Patrol

Best Movie Spoof

Winner United 300

United 300 is a short film that spoofs United 93 (2006) and 300 (2007). It won the MTV Movie Spoof Award at the MTV Movie Awards 2007. The short was created by Andy Signore along with some of his friends. During his speech, he said, roughly, "The film was not making fun of a tragedy; it was a tribute to those who stood up against tyranny".

The film is about the 300 Spartans defending the passengers against German terrorists.

MTV Generation Award

Winner Mike Myers

Michael John Myers (born May 25, 1963, in Scarborough, Ontario) is an Emmy Award-winning English-Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter and film producer perhaps best known for his comedy work in Saturday Night Live and the films including the title characters of Wayne's World, the Austin Powers series, and Shrek.

Both of his parents, Eric and Alice, are from Liverpool, and Myers has British, American, and Canadian citizenship. His ethnic heritage is English, Scottish, and Irish. He is a big Liverpool F.C. fan and watches them often. He quoted that skipper Steven Gerrard was the best in the world and will one day become a Sir. His autobiography states "Gerrard is quality, superb, brilliant and such an inspiration to the team". Mike Myers is also a huge fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, so much in fact, that he is making a movie involving the team entitled The Love Guru.

The character of Linda Richman was based on Myers's mother-in-law, a woman of New York Jewish extraction who is actually named Linda Richman. In 1993, Myers married Linda Richman's daughter, Robin Ruzan. They filed for divorce in 2005.

One of Myers' first acting jobs was in a TV commercial when he was nine years old. Myers graduated from high school in 1982 and was immediately accepted into the Second City Canadian Touring Company, after which he moved to the UK where in 1985 he was one of the founding members of The Comedy Store Players, an improvisational group based at The Comedy Store in London. The next year, he starred in the British children's TV program Wide Awake Club, parodying the show's normal exuberance with his own "Sound Asleep Club", in partnership with Neil Mullarkey. He returned to Toronto and Second City in 1986 as a cast member in the Second City's Toronto main stage show. In 1988 he moved from Second City in Toronto to Chicago. He made numerous appearances, including as Wayne Campbell, on Toronto's Citytv in the early 1980s, on the alternative video show "City Limits" hosted by Christopher Ward. Myers also appeared as his Wayne Campbell character in the music video for Ward's Canadian hit "Boys and Girls". Later, Ward would appear as one of Austin Powers' band members in Ming Tea in Myers' popular movie series.

He was a member of the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live television program from 1989 to 1995, where he performed characters such as Dieter, Linda Richman, and Wayne Campbell from Wayne's World.

In 1992, Myers and comedian Dana Carvey adapted Wayne's World into a full-length motion picture based on the SNL sketch. It was among the most successful movies of the year and the following year a sequel was released - Wayne's World 2.

In 1997, Myers introduced Austin Powers in the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Myers played both the title role and the villain in the film. In 1999, he played one of his rare non-comedic roles in the film 54 where he played Steve Rubell, proprietor of New York City's famous Studio 54 (a 1970s discoteque). The film was moderately successful, and Myers' performance was widely praised. Myers later parodied the club as "Studio 69" in 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember. Myers has been said to give complete credit to his nephew, Jeff Myers, for the inspiration of all the characters in the Austin Powers series.

In June 2000, Myers was sued by Universal Pictures for $3.8 million for backing out of a contract to play Dieter, the SNL character, in a feature film. Myers said he refused to honor the $20 million contract because he didn't want to cheat moviegoers with an unacceptable script - one that he himself had written. Myers countersued, and a settlement was reached after several months where Myers agreed to make another film with Universal. That film would be The Cat in the Hat, released in November 2003 and starring Myers as the title character.

In 2001, Myers played the title character in the DreamWorks animated film Shrek (2001). He reprised this role in Shrek 4-D in 2003, Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek The Third, and the Christmas special Shrek The Halls, both in 2007.

Myers is a member of the band Ming Tea along with Bangles guitarist and vocalist Susanna Hoffs. They performed the songs BBC and Daddy Wasn't There for the Austin Powers movies.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. As of September 29, Myers has been signed on to play the lead role in the upcoming biopic of The Who drummer Keith Moon. The film will be produced by Roger Daltrey, Nigel Sinclair, and Paul Gerber.

Myers noted during a May 17, 2007, interview on CBS that it normally takes three years between films. He spends one year "living his life" and then writes multiple screenplays, develops characters, practices them in front of live audiences, and then selects one of the screenplays to film. Myers noted that this was the Marx Brothers' procedure for developing their film material. Myers noted that he is working on a fourth Austin Powers film that will focus on Dr. Evil and will be the beginning of another multi film sequence.

On June 3, 2007, Myers received the MTV Generation award, making him the 2nd Canadian to win the award (Jim Carrey was the first in 2006), for bringing his unique style of comedy to the small and big screens alike.

Myers has spawned many catch-phrases from both his Saturday Night Live characters and subsequent films. Some lines from the Austin Powers films including "groovy baby", "Oh, behave!", "Yeah Baby, Yeah", "Shall we Shag now or shall we shag later" and "Well, that's not right". His character Wayne from "Wayne's World" also popularized phrases such as "NOT!", "..that's what she said", "Schwing!", "asphinctersayswhat", "...and monkeys might fly out of my butt."