'Harry Potter,' 'Inception' and 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' earn multiple nominations for MTV Movie Awards

The nominations for the 2011 MTV Movie Awards were announced Tuesday morning, with "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" snagging the most with eight, followed by "Inception" with seven, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1" with six and "The Social Network" garnering five.

The unconventional award show will air June 5 from the Gibson Amphitheatre with "Saturday Night Live" regular Jason Sudeikis as host.

Among the nominations announced Tuesday morning are:

Best movie

"Black Swan," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1," "Inception," "The Social Network" and "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse"

Best female performance

Emma Stone, "Easy A"; Emma Watson, "Harry Potter";  Jennifer Aniston, "Just Go With It";  Kristen Stewart, "Eclipse"; and Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"

Best male performance

Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter"; Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"; Robert Pattinson, "Eclipse"; Taylor Lautner, "Eclipse"; and Zac Efron, "Charlie St. Cloud"

Best breakout star

Andrew Garfield, "The Social Network"; Chloe Grace Moretz, "Kick-Ass"; Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"; Jay Chou, "The Green Hornet"; Olivia Wilde, "Tron: Legacy"; and Xavier Samuel, "Eclipse"

Best comedic performance

Adam Sandler, "Just Go With It"; Ashton Kutcher, "No Strings Attached"; Emma Stona, "Easy A"; Russell Brand, "Get HIm to the Greek"; and Zach Galifianakis, "Due Date"

Best villain

Christoph Waltz, "The Green Hornet"; Leighton Meester, "The Roommate"; Mickey Rourke, "Iron Man 2"; Ned Beatty, "Toy Story 3"; and Tom Felton, "Harry Potter"

Best kiss

Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "Inception"; Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter"; Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, "Eclipse"; and Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, "Black Swan"

Voting in these and other categories begins today at http://www.MovieAwards.MTV.com and closes on June 4. However, voting for the best picture winner will continue throughout the ceremony.

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— Susan King

Photos, from top: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in "The Twlight Saga: Eclipse"; Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1." Credits: Kimberly French / Summit Entertainment; Warner Bros. Pictures

Poll: Will Robert Pattinson win a Razzie for 'Water for Elephants'?

Razzie Award voters slobber over Robert Pattinson so often that it's almost impossible to imagine they won't pour it on for "Water for Elephants."

RPattz has been nominated three times over the last two years, but, alas, mysteriously, he keeps losing. When he was nominated for worst actor of 2010, he got trounced by Ashton Kutcher ("Valentine's Day," "Killers"). The previous year, when Pattinson was up for worst supporting actor for "Twilight: New Moon," he got beat by Billy Ray Cyrus ("Hannah Montana: The Movie"). He and Kristen Stewart lost worst screen couple that year to Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper ("All About Steve").

This year, Pattinson has a new "Twilight" installment due out –- "Breaking Dawn - Part 1" –- that could result in his next Razzie nom, but he sometimes earns bids for two films at once -– like last year when he was nommed for both "Twilight: Eclipse" and "Remember Me."

Arguably, RPattz doesn't deserve to be nominated for "Water for Elephants," which scores a respectable 54 at Metacritic. The film even received a socko review from Variety, which hailed it as "a splendid period swooner that delivers classic romance and an indelible insider's view of 1930s circus life." The L.A. Times enjoyed it too, but added a caveat: "There is quite a bit to enjoy in a film that certainly qualifies as broad-based popular entertainment. But because the ingredients are so promising, there hangs over this serviceable project the wish that it had turned out better still."

However, "Water for Elephants" was panned by the New York Post, Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal. Salon blamed Pattinson for "glowering" too much, but the New York Times noted, "Mr. Pattinson is only partly to blame for the fatuity of a character who even in the novel is really a generic male ingénue with no personality."

To a large degree, RPattz gets picked on by Razzie voters just because he's a heartthrob, like recent champs Hayden Christensen and the Jonas Brothers. Surely, that means he'll "win" someday soon.

-- Tom O'Neil

Photo: Robert Pattinson in "Water for Elephants." Credit: 20th Century Fox

'Water for Elephants': Oscar runs off to join the circus?

"Water for Elephants" sends conflicting Oscar signals. On one hand, it seems like, well, maybe it's derby fare considering it stars past Academy Award champs Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz and is based upon a beloved book.

But then you consider its popcorn costar (Robert Pattinson), the director (music video virtuoso Francis Lawrence, who helmed "Constantine" and "I Am Legend") and the book's pulp fiction plot: Downtrodden boy (Pattinson) joins the circus and falls in forbidden love with the wife (Witherspoon) of evil boss (Waltz). "Water for Elephants" might be peanuts for the masses and that's all. It certainly doesn't have an Oscar-friendly release date: April 22.

-- Tom O'Neil