At The Movies

Avatar
Avatar takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. Jake Sully is a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where corporations are mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth's energy crisis. Because the atmosphere of Pandora is toxic, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human "drivers" have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora, the Na'vi. Reborn in his avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, and this changes everything. Jake is taken in by her clan, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. As Jake's relationship with his reluctant teacher Neytiri deepens, he learns to respect the Na'vi way and finally takes his place among them. Soon he will face the ultimate test as he leads them in an epic battle that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.

On DVD

The Hangover
Two days before his wedding, Doug and his three friends drive to Las Vegas for a blow out bachelor party they'll never forget. But, in fact, when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning, they can't remember a thing. For some reason, they find a tiger in the bathroom and a six month old baby in the closet of their suite at Caesars Palace. The one thing they can't find is Doug. With no clue as to what transpired and little time to spare, the trio must retrace their hazy steps and all their bad decisions in order to figure out where things went wrong and hopefully get Doug back to L.A. in time to walk down the aisle.

The Buzz...

Lady Gaga is all glammed up for her new ad with Cyndi Lauper for Mac's Viva Glam Spring 2010 campaign, to debut in February. Each songstress will tout her own new shade of lipstick, Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi. The product won't hit stores until March 18, so you'll have to wait until then to have Gaga lip color. Gaga and Lauper are the newest faces of the Mac AIDS fund, which has raised over $150 million since 1994. Previous spokesmodels include Fergie, Pamela Anderson, Christina Aquilera, Missy Elliot and Chole Sevigny.

Taylor Swift gave a whopping $250,000 gift to education. "The schools that I went to and the amazing people I got to learn from really turned me into who I am, and I wanted to give back." She has donated $250,000 to schools where she's been a student or worked with in the past. The donation will help pay teachers' salaries, buy books and fund other educational programs.

Chris Brown is unhappy with the distribution of his new CD, Graffiti. He took to his Twitter page to unleash a profanity laden rant upon the retailers who "r blackballing" him by refusing to stock it. According to estimates, Graffiti has sold fewer than 100,000 copies in its first week. Two years ago Brown's last album, Exclusive, sold over 295,000.

Green Day is following in The Beatles' footsteps with their own Rock Band video game. Much like the Fab Four's game, Green Day: Rock Band will include songs from the band's catalogue and recreate specific moments in the career of Billie Joe Armstrong and company. The game, which was announced at the Spike Video Game Awards over the weekend, will be released sometime next year on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

Tiger Woods has lost his sponsorship with global consulting firm Accenture Ltd. because the company feels the pro golfer is "no longer the right representative" following the "circumstances of the last two weeks." Accenture is the first sponsor to drop Woods following allegations of infidelity and his announcement to take an indefinite leave from golf to work on his marriage.

Jay wins! Nielsen's annual list of product placement heavy television puts The Jay Leno Show squarely at No. 1. American Idol came in a distant fourth. Jay's 1,015 product mentions give him a commanding lead over WWE Monday Night Raw (787 mentions) and The Biggest Loser (704). Even with the everpresent Coke glasses at the judges' table and those awful Fordbased skits, Idol had only 553 mentions in 2009.

Mariah Carey has announced a North American tour. The opening act for the tour is RydazNrtist, who just so happen to be signed to Nick Cannon’s label NCredible Entertainment.

Taylor Swift and Kanye West have been forced to stand side by side again. Billboard has named them the Top Female and Top Male Artists of 2009. Luckily they won’t have to share a stage together to receive the honour, this one’s only on paper since the awards ceremony was cancelled back in 2007. Both are up for Grammys next month, however, so maybe we’ll get to see some awkward interaction if they cross paths.

Coldplay is selling off a bunch of their memorabilia. The band is auctioning off instruments, platinum records and even some of their clothing for charity. The guys call it an End of Decade Clearout Sale and even posted a mock commercial advertising the sale on their website.

Miley Cyrus has been stripped of a Grammy nomination. Miley’s hit The Climb was shortlisted for best song written for a motion picture, but it turns out the song was not specifically written for Hannah Montana: The Movie. The Grammy Academy says that it goes “to great lengths to review submissions through a meticulous and rigorous screening process."

Rolling Stone has named Radiohead’s Kid A the top album of the decade. A panel of judges including Coldplay, Lil’ Wayne and M.I.A. picked the top albums. Also in the top five are The Strokes’ debut Is This It, Blueprint by Jay-Z and Elephant by the White Stripes.

Beyonce may be taking a page from Celine Dion. She’s in talks to launch her own Vegas show. Officials at the Wynn Hotel Las Vegas say they’re in early negotiations with B to have her sign a long term lucrative contract with them.