One of the most anticipated music biopics in years hits theaters tomorrow: Notorious, which portrays the story of murdered Brooklyn MC Biggie Smalls' youth and rise from drug dealer to one of the most influential rappers of his time. Rolling Stone's Peter Travers says the film's strongest link — aside from Big's own music, which is flowing throughout — is star Jamal "Gravy" Woolard's first-ever performance. RS spoke to Woolard about the role, and he admitted that making B.I.G.'s mother proud was his top priority. "I just wanted to read Ms. Wallace‚s face," Woolard said after B.I.G.‚s mother saw a screening. "She was taking her glasses off, with a tissue and wiping her eyes. I felt like I won my victory, because I wanted her to feel like her son was next to her. And we hugged. We didn't have to say anymore after that."

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Clint Eastwood wore a secret smile at last night's Golden Globe awards. Who cares if those schmucks from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn't nominate his career-capping performance in Gran Torino? Eastwood, 78, had the last laugh. Gran Torino, which opened nationwide this weekend after a month in limited release, scored $29 million at the box office. That's a record opening for an Eastwood movie, and way more than enough to trounce Bride Wars, the critically-decimated Kate Hudson-Anne Hathaway exercise in female self-loathing that was predicted to take the top spot. I guess the brides didn't count on Dirty Harry showing up and telling them to, "get off my lawn." Look out for Eastwood when the Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 22nd. All the talk is about Sean Penn (Milk) vs. Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler). Back in 1969 all the Oscar talk was about Dustin Hoffman duking it out for the gold with his Midnight Cowboy costar Jon Voight. But who rode off with the prize? John Wayne, then 62, delivering his career-capping performance in True Grit. It was a first acting Oscar for Wayne, just as a Torino win would be a first acting prize for Eastwood, who has a quartet of Oscars for directing and producing Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. So here's my question for today:

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Peter Travers is ready for a fresh start, but the first movie from a major studio in 2009 is ... Bride Wars, a film that makes 27 Dresses look like Citizen Kane. Could this horrific bomb actually hinder Anne Hathaway's chances of scoring an Oscar nod for her excellent performance in Rachel Getting Married? Don't we think it's just a bit insensitive to have two onscreen brides squabbling over an opulent wedding during a time of recession? And thus the Scumbucket has its first flick of 2009.

Fortunately, Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino is opening wide this weekend, as is Steven Soderbergh's Che. The nearly five-hour epic about Che Guevara starring Benicio del Toro focuses on the Cuban and Bolivian revolutions, and boasts del Toro's best performance since Traffic.

Watch every episode of our weekly Peter Travers video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Friday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

For Travers' complete reviews of these films, click here:

• Bride Wars (No Stars)
Starring: Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Kristen Johnson, Bryan Greenberg, Candice Bergen; Directed by: Gary Winick
• Gran Torino (Three and a Half Stars)
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Bee Vang, Brian Haley; Directed by: Clint Eastwood

To read all of Rolling Stone's current movie reviews, visit our Reviews Archive.

Photo: Rodriguez/Wireimage

Don’t get me wrong I love the Golden Globes TV show. You can see it this Sunday on NBC. What other awards telecast sits dressed-to-thrill stars at tables and serves up booze in large quantities prompting loose lips and the delicious possibility of embarrassing acceptance speeches? But, my God, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that distributes these globe-shaped dildos has for sixty six years now been perpetrating a scam that would make Bernie Madoff blush. The 82 voting members of this organization (the Academy has 6000) have had their credentials challenged year after year. Very few members are full-time journalists. The skinny is that they’re in it for the parties and the movie stars and, of course, the annual network TV show which nets them a tasty $6 million. The Globes are notorious for boneheaded decisions. Here are my nominees for their worst calls this year:

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What were the best movies of the year? What were the worst letdowns? Peter Travers explains what was so great about Gus Van Sant's Milk, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight — and why 007 flick Quantum of Solace, hideous epic Australia and vampire love story Twilight were massive cinematic bummers.

Watch every episode of our weekly Peter Travers video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Friday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an early Oscar frontrunner, but Peter Travers has some critical words for Brad Pitt's new film. What's better? The depressing but brilliant Revolutionary Road, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Plus, the final scumbucket of 2008: Adam Sandler's nauseating Bedtime Stories and Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson's dog Marley & Me. Full the full report — and Travers' last "aye, chihuahua!" of the year — click above.

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Photo:Doane Gregory
That would be three days actually—a Friday, Saturday and Sunday that amassed $31 million cash money for the inane, critically savaged Keanu Reeves remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still. If that weren't bad enough, Fox studios and a privately owned celestial communications network came up with an even stupider publicity campaign to hype the movie about an alien (Reeves) who visits earth to destroy us for destroying the planet through global warming. They utilized equipment at Cape Canaveral to beam the movie to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to Earth. Experts say it will take four years to receive the transmission. If there is life on Alpha Centauri, lord knows what revenge they might enact in 2012 for inflicting this crap on them. Me, I rushed home after the screening to watch the original Day the Earth Stood Still on DVD, in sparkling black-and-white, to get the bad taste out of my mouth. Am I wrong? Did you find something to like about the remake? I'm all ears.

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