This year’s Snobbies had a fantastic turnout! We had almost 4,000 voters. Several categories were won by only a few votes (Bratz won over Norbit for Worst Movie with only five votes).
No one matched all 16 categories to win the grand prize, but we had a few other winners for the prizes of an iPod Touch, 3 DVDs of your choice, and 1 DVD. To see how many you matched enter your email address on this page and it will show you your votes and the winners.
Without any further ado, here are the winners of the 2008 Snobbies (don’t forget that some categories have spoilers):
After having seen I Am Legend at the premiere in New York City, I was thoroughly satisfied with the film. It had an elegant ending that left viewers with an explanation, if even a typical Hollywood one.
When the DVD release announcement was made, with the news that an alternate ending would be included, I was anxious to see the “controversial” ending. I had heard that the movie’s original ending was extremely different from the original Richard Matheson novel, so I picked up the book.
For those that don’t know the ending of the Matheson novel, and don’t mind me spoiling it, Show Spoilers
Neville realizes he is now the outsider, the abnormal one. The creatures fear him and hate him. Rightfully so, since he’s been hunting and killing them every day since the world ended. He accepts that he has become a legend, and that they must kill him, because he is no longer the way humans are supposed to be. This is a new species, one where he is the one that’s out of the ordinary.
The ending of the book intrigued me, mainly because I think Will Smith would have done a fantastic job with it. This isn’t the ending that the filmmakers made as the alternate ending, but it has similar themes.
The alternate ending is detailed below, behind spoiler hiders. Read on if you have seen the alternate ending, or don’t mind heavy spoilers.
When Neville, Anna, and Ethan barricade themselves behind the Plexiglass in Neville’s lab, we see the alternate ending. After realizing the creature has been cured, Neville doesn’t send Anna and Ethan away with the cure to find the colony of healthy people in Vermont, nor does he grab an old Army grenade and take as many creatures with him as he goes.
While watching the Alpha Male creature’s actions, he realizes that in taking a creature for his studies, he was intruding on their society. It’s a similar concept to that from the book – that the creatures are existing as they should, and Neville is interfering. The Alpha Male (played by Dash Mihok of Romeo & Juliet) hunted Neville down, not to kill him and satisfy his basic instincts, but to rescue one of his own. Contrary to Neville’s assumptions, the creatures have not completely devolved and lost all human traits.
Neville calmly opens the Plexiglass doors and rolls the subject out into the destroyed lab full of creatures. The Alpha Male screams at his subordinates, and while they hiss and growl at Neville, they do not harm him as he retrieves the injection to revive his subject. After reviving her, the test creature and the Alpha Male have a tender moment, showing that the creatures are still capable of love. The creatures take their rescued hive member back, and leave Neville, Anna, and Ethan unharmed.
The creatures weren’t after Neville to kill him and eat him. All they wanted was to take back what he stole from them. They go back to their existence as a new kind of society, a variety of the human species, while Neville, Anna, and Ethan start out on the road to Vermont.
The alternate ending has points that I prefer to the original, such as the fact that the creatures can still think, plan, and love. I also enjoy the open-ended feel to it. Rather than show the viewers that Anna and Ethan arrive at a colony in Vermont, and that the world will eventually be okay, all we know is that Neville and his new friends head towards Vermont, leaving the creatures behind to live their lives.
What did you think of the alternate ending of I Am Legend? Did you prefer it over the original ending?
Also available this week is the HD-DVD/DVD combo of I Am Legend. It contains both versions for only $19. If you happen to have an HD-DVD player, it’s a good deal. However, it looks gorgeous on Blu-ray.
March was a great month for DVD releases (I Am Legend and Hitman, among others) and a fantastic month for the Third Annual Snobbies awards. The Snobbies ended March 31st, and the winners will be announced on April 15th. For now, check out this month’s list of the most popular posts.
The Third Annual Snobbies – Each year since we started MovieSnobs, we have held our own movie awards, allowing our readers to vote on the best (and worst) movies of the year. The voting ends in March, so the Snobbies were our number one most visited page. The winners will be announced April 15th.
The Prestige Explained – Mike’s minute-by-minute explanation of the Christopher Nolan film The Prestige has our readers arguing the details of the very confusing plot.
40 Hottest Women Over 40 – Mike’s list of the hottest women in movies, TV, and music that are over 40. Complete with superhot pictures.
New Hitman Images – The DVD release of Hitman had everyone searching for images from the movie.
The Dark Knight Viral Marketing – As the campaign for Harvey Dent heats up, readers were looking for any news on the viral marketing for The Dark Knight. This post was Mike’s step-by-step of the scavenger hunt in San Diego during Comi-Con.
Babel Review – Mike’s review of the Brad Pitt / Cate Blanchett Oscar winning film draws lots of attention because it’s so negative. In fact, more than a few readers found the review by searching for “babel sucked.”
D-Wars Sequel Already? – Apparently some people actually liked Dragon Wars and are anticipating the sequel. Unlike me.
The Prestige Review – Mike’s explanation of The Prestige (see #2 on this list) has our readers heading over to his five-star review of the movie.
Special Effects in I Am Legend – The DVD release of I Am Legend had everyone talking about the alternate ending and the special effects used to create the creatures. This article has links to interviews with the special effects guys.
Eddie Izzard Actor Page – Comedian and star of The Riches Eddie Izzard received a lot of traffic this month thanks to his appearance in Across The Universe and his show’s second season starting.
That’s the list for this month. Come back on April 15th to see the winners of the Snobbies, and come back next month to see what was hot in movie news in April.
This week’s new releases are powerhouse films starring big stars. I Am Legend stars Will Smith as Robert Neville, the last man on Earth. Atonement stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy as lovers torn apart when he’s wrongfully accused of a crime. Enchanted stars the adorable Amy Adams in her own Cinderella-story, where Prince Charming could be James Marsden or Patrick Dempsey (I’m sold either way).
Bloody Disgusting has the details about the I Am Legend DVD release, which will have an alternate ending and loads of bonus features (no commentary though). Two special editions will be available – one-disc and two-disc. It will be available March 18th.
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