Forget Oscar—Who Were 2008's Rainmakers?

First directing honors for a woman as Iraq thriller reaps 5 awards

(AP) - The Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker earned the Best Picture Academy Award tonight, and Kathryn Bigelow won for best director. Bigelow is the first woman in the 82-year history of the Oscars to earn Hollywood's top prize for filmmakers. Among those Bigelow beat were ex-husband James Cameron, the best director winner for 1997's Titanic, who was nominated this time for his sci-fi spectacle Avatar. Bigelow and Cameron were married from 1989 to 1991. More»

Jeff Bridges, Mo'Nique, 'Mad Men,' 'Glee' also among winners

(NEWSER) - Avatar and The Hangover captured the top film awards, Meryl Streep and Drew Barrymore charmed with stream-of-consciousness acceptance speeches, and host Ricky Gervais generally behaved at tonight's Golden Globes ceremony. Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock established themselves as Academy Award favorites with victories in the leading dramatic role categories, as did Mo'Nique and Christoph Waltz of Inglourious Basterds in the supporting categories. More»

Food, drink, and fashion flubs start awards season off right

(NEWSER) - Awards season unofficially begins with tonight's Golden Globes ceremony, an alcohol-addled free-for-all that makes the Oscar telecast feel like a prayer meeting. Breeanna Hare of CNN runs down 10 reasons the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's shindig beats the Academy Awards:

• Booze: "The Globes would not be the Globes if the nominees weren't loose enough to potentially shirk their handler's instructions and drop an F-bomb or two during an acceptance speech."

Funny and un-funny moments abound at ceremony

(NEWSER) - Oscar night was filled with highs and lows, from the predictably inspirational moments when Kate Winslet finally won and Heath Ledger’s family received his posthumous award, to the cheap shot of producers cutting to Angelina Jolie’s face during Jennifer Aniston’s presenter speech. More from the Los Angeles Times. Best:

• Sean Penn opened his acceptance speech by greeting “you Commie, homo-loving sons-of-a-gun.”

(NEWSER) - The annual ranking of movie stars based on exhibitors' sentiment is out. Thing is, the Quigley Poll bases its list on what industry insiders think the stars brought in, not on hard numbers. Gina Serpe of E! takes a look at the discrepancies.

• Will Smith: Theater owners had a lot of confidence in the Hancock actor, putting him first in the poll. But his movies brought in just $271.8 million, paltry in comparison to the runners-up.