Double Threats

Those of you who follow the Billboard Hot 100 every week (and of course who doesn't?) will have no doubt noticed that quirky little hit that just won't quit "Cups (Pitch Perfect's When I'm Gone)" by Anna Kendrick from the movie "Pitch Perfect" has made it all the way to an astounding #10 on the charts. Now those of you who follow this blog (and of course who doesn't?) will recall that I posted about my strange fascination with the song in April back when it was at #59 on the charts; which I had thought at the time was equally unbelievable. Despite the movie having been released in September of last year, this unusual tune just keeps on steadily climbing up the charts for one reason or another. Apparently this latest surge was due to the premiere of the film on HBO. Also, I'm sure Billboard's recent move towards counting Youtube views didn't hurt them either.

That being said, I started to wonder if there were any other cases of an Academy Award nominated actor/actress (from the four major acting categories) with a top ten hit in the modern Billboard era to their credit. So I spent the better part of the end of work last Friday thinking up and checking out possible nominees.There were a bunch of nominees/winner that came to mind who were originally successful musical artists (I think they've all had at least a #1 hit) that also successfully dabbled in acting: Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, Barbara Streisand, Cher, and Will Smith (who I guess is now primarily an actor at this point). I didn't count them.

Then there were a few notable borderlines cases. Best actress winner Gwyneth Paltrow had an Adult Contemporary #1 with her cover of "Crusin" with Huey Lewis in 2000 and just missed when the Glee Cast's "Forget You",which she was a featured artist, topped out at #11 on the Hot 100 in 2010. Dan Aykroyd (would you believe he got a best supporting actor nomination for "Driving Miss Daisy"?) was technically part of charity super group USA for Africa of the chart topping "We Are The World" fame, but I don't think it's fair to count charity singles (this also disqualifies Oscar winner Jeff Bridges who was part of Artists for Haiti which took "We Are The World 25 for Haiti" to #2 in 2010. I assume the lack of Dan Aykroyd this time around caused it to stall at #2). To his credit Aykroyd did have a #1 album with the Blues Brothers and their cover of "Soul Man" was a #14 hit. UK #1's also don't count for Oscar winner Nicole Kidman who had one with a duet of "Somethin' Stupid" with Robbie Williams in 2001 and nominee Telly Savales whose insane, Shatner-esque spoken word cover of Bread's "If" somehow was a chart topper in 1975.

This leaves five actors that I believe fit my requirements. Two time nominee John Travolta had a #10 hit with "Let Her In" in 1976 and of course "You're the One That I Want" with Olivia Newton-John from Grease was a #1 in 1978. Best actor winner Jamie Foxx probably has the most successful music career for someone that is primarily an actor. He as two featured #1's ("Gold Digger" with Kanye West in 2005 and "Slow Jamz" with Twista featuring Kanye West in 2005) in addition to two top 10 hits of his own ("Unpredictable" at #8 in 2005 and "Blame It" at #2 in 2009). Eddie Murphy's lone top 10 hit "Party All the Time" in 1985 came 22 years before his Oscar nomination for "Dream Girls" in 2007. Then you get to two personal favorites of mine. Two time nominee, the late Richard Harris and his gloriously ridiculous #2 hit from 1968 "MacArthur Park". And then there's legendary character actor Walter Brennan who won a record three Best Supporting Actor Oscars between 1936 to 1940, including the first one ever given, whose single "Old Rivers", an old timey mostly spoken word story song, bafflingly reached #5 in 1962.

Kudos to you Anna Kendrick, you're in some distinguish, and strange, company.

GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!

Another generally ho-hum Oscar ceremony has come and gone. This year's recession special edition seemed even less memorable than most. There were no major surprises nor any really enduring moments from the participants. Out of my 12 predictions, I got a commendable 8, however I went a miserable 1 for 4 in the major acting categories (that's what I get for following my heart). In a way, I sort of mirrored "Slumdog Millionaire"'s performance, racking up all the major non-acting awards.

Probably the most memorable thing to take from the 81st Oscars was the whole bizarro "random past winners giving a monologue of the nominees" gimmick they did for all the major acting categories. While at times actually generating genuinely compelling sentiments, the shtick as a whole felt like an awkward and weird circle jerk of empty praise. It reminded me of creative writing classes in college where we all had to first go around and say something positive about a highlighted work. Also the fact that all the presenters, in reading their pre-scripted Oscar back patting praise, kept referring to the specific nominee they were lauding by their full name, didn't help to create a sense of authenticity. It felt like some sort of grand tribunal, where the past members of Oscardom passed judgement on their fellow Oscarless actors (of course that image is slightly altered when referring to a past winning nominee like Meryl Streep or Sean Penn). Was I the only one who thought the whole thing was eerily similar to the beginning of Superman II where the Kryptonians pass sentance on General Zod ("For your transgressions Mickey Rourke, we the five Oscars, sentence you to an eternity in the Phantom Zone")?


Despite how borderline creepy it came off, the whole thing was insane enough that I kind of want them to do it again next year, with even more random presenters. I mean when was I ever going to see Joel Grey on a prime time telecast? Maybe they'll extend it out to directors. I wouldn't mind seeing how John G. Avildsen and Milos Forman are holding up.

Everybody In the Pool: Oscar Edition 2009

Is that your final answer?

With the 81st Annual Academy Awards right around the corner, it's time for the second edition of my uninformed, hastily prepared, completely unscientific major Oscar picks! For my first time out last year, I ended up with a respectable 7 out of 11 (roughly 64%) correct predictions including the best picture winner so if you're one of those compulsive types or those easily overwhelmed by your Oscar party pool sheets, then look no further. Of course, keep in mind, when you're right 64% of the time, you're wrong 36% of the time.

One prediction, however, that you can take to the bank will be that this year's Academy Award will overtake last year's as the lowest rated Oscar telecast yet. I found last year's nominees to be probably the most interesting slate of nominated films in recent memory, which also in turn may have been a bit too weird for the general audience. In contrast, there seems to be so little buzz going around with little to no surprises outside of the usual Oscar bait. There also seems to be an anticlimactic feeling going around as the consensus seems to agree that the feel good film of the year, "Slumdog Millionaire" is set for a big night. How will it fare on my list?

Best Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Special random bonus prediction! I figured I'd throw out an extra prognostication to one of those less glamorous catagories where people who look like your next door neighbors go up and awkwardly accept trophies from fancy movie star presenters. While the two other films had more than admirable makeup work, "Benjamin Button"'s ambitious backwards aging work deserves some Oscar gold. That old man kid was freaky!

Best Animated Feature
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Once again, why can't they nominate a couple extra films to round out the category? There are plenty of animated films out there and it'll make the creators of the two other films tremendously happy just to be brought in to lose to Pixar. "WALL-E" winning is probably the biggest lock of the evening. If Pixar keeps this up they'll just have to scrap the nomination process altogether and just give the award to them outright every time they make a big release.

Best Documentary Feature
Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

This is the category where I have the least amount of substantive knowledge to base my picks on. Off the bat it really all comes down to "Encounters" and "Man on Wire", since those are the only two documentaries I have heard of. From a strictly objective standpoint I'd have probably gone with "Encounters" because it had the pedigree of being directed by a big name acclaimed director like Werner Herzog. However, I heard a lot of good second hand praise for "Man on Wire", so it gets the edge.

Best Cinematography
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

"Benjamin Button" has that vast, sweeping visual story that's prime territory for Oscar gold. Ironically if I went by the logic that since "Benjamin Button" is essentially the same film as "Forrest Gump" it should win all the categories that "Forrest Gump" won, then it would actually lose this catagory (while sweeping all the really big ones). The Dark Knight may be an upset candiate based on sympathy support for getting shafted on best picture.

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Doubt

If I went by the Forrest Button formula, then "Benjamin Button" should win. However, I think this will be the first stepping stone to a potential big picture showdown for "Slumdog Millionaire". In many cases the best picture showdown ends up becoming a two horse race between the best adapted screenplay winner and the original screenplay winner. Cold logic would dictate at least one of the two films with the best scripts should be in theory the best picture.

Best Original Screenplay
WALL-E
Happy-Go-Lucky
Frozen River
In Bruges
Milk

If the Academy is looking for this year's Diablo Cody to give the statute to, then they need not look any further than Dustin Lance Black, the 29 year old writer of "Milk". He's young, he's gay, it's his first major film writing job (although he did write and co-produce a bunch of episodes of "Big Love"); it's a solid opportunity for the Academy to show how "with it" it is. The era of established, long time insider screenwriters is over; twentysomething, counter cultural, first time scribes please report to the dance floor!

Best Director
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry - The Reader
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Gust Van Sant - Milk

Actually I'd be happy to see Fincher or Van Sant win this award as well. Despite being some of the most unique and visionary directors of the last two decades, the three have been almost completely overlooked by the Academy (save for Van Sant's director nomination for "Good Will Hunting" in '98). Boyle's been racking up best director awards like a machine all award season long, so he appears to be the heavy favorite here. Best adapted screenplay? Best director? Are the stars lining up for "Slumdog Millionaire"?

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - Doubt
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

This is probably the most wide open of all the acting races. I figured Adams and Davis end up splitting the voting between them. Penelope Cruz was just too damn good looking in the film to win since history has shown that the Academy rarely gives out awards to exceedingly beautiful actresses unless they hag it up (Charlize Theron, Nichole Kidman). Every Oscar nominated performance by Marisa Tomei seems to just be the same trashy woman character except older, more dire, and more naked. So, by default Henson comes away with an award winning performance as Sally Field in Forrest Gump.

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Aside from "WALL-E", this is second biggest lock in an Oscar category. Could you imagine the awkward shock throughout the auditorium if somehow it went to someone else? It'd be the worst possible way to win a best supporting actor Oscar. Even though he is getting some support via the dead card, Ledger really does deserve the posthumous win, that Joker was a monster performance.

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Last year's best actress winner, Marion Cotillard, was a bit of an upset and I'm calling and hoping for another one this year. Anne Hatheway has been getting some serious buzz and acclaim for her performance so it wouldn't be totally unexpected for her to win (although she does have the good looking handicap on her). Melissa Leo reminds me of this year's Amy Ryan; she'll get plenty of buzz still won't win. Meryl Streep is Meryl Streep. Actually any other winner except Kate Winslet would be worth it just to see Kate's head explode in frustration after failing to win an Oscar for the 6th time.

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

If there is any justice in this universe, Mickey Rourke should get his much deserved Oscar, if only for the fact that there's probably no chance that he'll ever get to this point again. He'll probably never get another juicy role that is so perfectly made for him. He'll probably never make another choice for a role as wisely as this. Besides, if he wins we will get to see whatever insane acceptance speech he's got in the hopper AND we will get to see him present next year! It's win win!

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

I could say that all the supposed guilt over "Brokeback Mountain" losing and the passage of Prop 8 may compel enough Oscar voters to recruit "Milk" for an upset victory. I could say that enough Oscar voters will elect for the safety and security of the comfortable Oscar trap of "Benjamin Button". I could say that the highly cynical view of the process would lead to the always poignant Holocaust themes of "The Reader" giving it the dark horse win. I could also say that the impeccably detailed, thoroughly professional cinematic play that is "Frost/Nixon" would impress enough voters. However, I'm going to have to stick with the masses on this one with "Slumdog Millionaire". It's got the momentum, the positive vibes, the general appeal, and all other beneficial Oscar mojo working for it right now. Who am I to bet against it? It is written.

"Communism was just a red herring..."

My little, borderline excessive, exploration into Oscar casting a few days back got me thinking. If we are indeed headed towards a new era of light comedies filled with past-Oscar winners a la the disaster flicks of the 1970s, what sort of casting combinations and scenarios are possible? Outside of some sort of sweeping, extended length epic or elaborate casino heist movie; how else would a Hollywood studio reasonably insert all these big stars and their bigger egos into one feature film?

Two words: Clue remake.

The Clue set up is perfectly tailored for maximum ensemble filmmaking. You have six fully developed, totally unique characters, all working equally together to create a murder mystery. That's six opportunities for all-star, Oscar winning casting, not counting possible secondary characters like the Butler or Mr. Boddy or whatever random characters that could be shoehorned in. Despite the heavy subject matter of homicide, the tone, as with nearly all murder mysteries, is lighthearted and fun. It's a perfect piece of cinematic fluff to throw out around the holiday time. If they polish it up enough, it may even get a random pity Oscar nod or two of its own. It's a can't miss situation.

Apparently there's even some historical precedence for an all star murder mystery movie. There were a string of star packed Agatha Christie adaptations from the 70s to the early 80s like "Murder on the Orient Express" (3 Oscar winners, 3 future winners) and "Death on the Nile" (5 winners!) that turned out to be fairly successful. They were even enough of a genre that a parody movie was made, "Murder by Death" (with a respectable 3 Oscar winners of their own); which joins "Fatal Instinct" as one of the most esoteric and unnecessary genre spoofs in film history. Of course what all those Agatha Christie murder mysteries lack is the wealth of quality story material that can only come from the most detailed and richly written of Parker Brothers games (seriously does "Monopoly" even have a plot? How about that exercise in existential absurdity known as "Sorry!"?).

So as a Christmas favor to all the big Hollywood studios, here is my personal casting list of six former Oscar winners and their respective Clue characters. To note, I've tried to keep things economical by selecting past winners that haven't exactly been getting top billing as of late (it is a recession after all, we can't be filling all our films with Clooneys and Kidmans). Also, in terms of likenesses and artistic interpretations I've tried to keep it close to the characters from the 1992 version of the game I found in my basement. Finally, I must emphasize that this is strictly a theoretical thought exercise and that in reality I consider it a futile effort by any studio to improve upon the comedic masterpiece that was the original 1985 "Clue". Why it hasn't reached maximum Rocky Horror/Lebowski-esque cult status is truly the real mystery.

as played by:

F. Murray Abraham

The age and the hairline steam to be matching up quite nicely. Slap a pair of glasses on him, throw in a pipe and mustache, wrap him up in tweed and you've got yourself a quality Professor Plum. You know off the bat the audience is going to be suspecting something is up with the good professor when F. Murray strikes that trademark maliciously scheming Salieri smile. If he's willing to lend his Oscar shine to such works as "Muppets From Space" and "Th13een Ghosts" (yes that's actually the official spelling), you'd figure he'd get right on board.

as played by:

Geoffrey Rush

Sure he's definitely not hurting for work after serving a tour of duty in the Pirates series, one of the most lucrative trilogies in movie history. However after a nearly 5 year stretch of almost back to back blockbuster shooting, I'm sure he'd be more than eager to take a juicy little theatrical-like role playing opposite some of the most accomplished Hollywood thespians as opposed to a wooden Orlando Bloom and a monkey. I've always considered Mr. Green to be the most suspicious, evil looking character and we all know Rush can definitely do evil (Quills, Pirates, even Mystery Men).

as played by:

Robert Duvall

I originally considered Richard Dreyfuss for the role, but I figured him to be a bit too weak and whiny to play a tough military man. Duvall might be just slightly older than I'd like to be an ideal Mustard, but he makes up for those extra years with a forty plus year career of playing grizzled figures (they even had an SNL sketch about it). Basically if he can just do his asshole, military hero character from "The Great Santini", we'll be in business. As for his willingness to get on board, obviously a look at his filmography this decade ("The 6th Day", "Kicking & Screaming", "Gods and Generals", "Four Christmases") shows that he has long since given up on any discretion over film roles.

Now for the ladies...

as played by:

Brenda Fricker

This was hands down my most obvious selection. Maybe Kathy Bates had an outside shot at the part, but really no other past Oscar winner screams British (although she's Irish) maid than Ms. Fricker. She's got that motherly, yet slightly suspicious character to her that's absolutely perfect. Also, given her classic performance as the mom in "So I Married and Axe Murderer", you know she's game for lighthearted murder movies. On a totally random note, doesn't that picture of Mrs. White look sort of a like an old Britney Spears?

as played by:

Emma Thompson

Ideally, I think Helen Mirren would have been a better fit for the role, but she's only two years removed from an Oscar and five years from becoming a "dame", you know she'll demand the big bucks. I figure Emma Thompson to be a fairly affordable, under the radar Oscar winner (until recently I had forgotten that he had an acting Oscar. She even has an additional one for writing!). In contrast to Duvall's Mustard, Thompson's Peacock will be a little younger then usual, but it's a willing trade off for her talents. The woman has built her career on critically acclaimed ensemble, period piece roles: Howards End, The Remains of the Day, Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually (hey 2003 is a period).

as played by:

Rachel Weisz

As much as it pains me to publicly acknowledge that yes, Rachel Weisz, has indeed won an Oscar, I think she'd probably be the best fit to play the young femme fatale, Miss Scarlet. Ideally, considering the asian Scarlet is the only sliver of diversity in an otherwise completely whitewashed game, I would have liked to have cast an asian actress. Unfortunately, the only actress of East Asian descent to have won an Oscar, Miyoshi Umeki, was far too old and far too dead. I also considered Cathreine Zeta-Jones (she has one too, isn't that nuts?) but she seemed like a bit too big of a name to fit under budget. Rachel Weisz, on the other hand, seems well on her way to joining fellow forgotten best supporting actresses Mira Sorvino and Marica Gay Harden as Oscar trivia stumpers.

So there you have it, six roles, six stars, maybe throw in the Jonas Brothers as a bumbling trio of house servants, and you've got yourself the biggest film (for at least the first week or two of release) of the 2009 holiday season.

Four Christmases, Five Oscars

I was originally going to make this post around late November/Early December, in the weeks following the theatrical release of the above "Four Christmases", however I was distracted by this whole unpleasant law school finals business. I know it'll be difficult for all you readers out there to attempt to put yourselves back into the mindset of that long past age of innocence before crooked Illinois governors, $50 billion dollar ponzi schemes, and completely unnecessary remakes of classic science fiction movies; but we can all at least try to dream of simpler times.

If you haven't already heard, numerous reviews of "Four Christmases" made mention of the fact that no less than five acting Academy Award winners were cast in this film: Robert Duvall, Jon Voight, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, and Reese Withersoon (sorry Dwight Yoakam, the Academy never truely appreciated your masterful supporting role in "Crank"). I found this casting factoid to be all the more fascinating given all the cramming of major entertainment award winners I did for the World Series of Pop Culture back in '06; and then I got to thinking: were there any other relatively recent films that contained at least five previous Oscar winners?

This was of course not counting Oscars won for being in that same movie or movies where the actors eventually won Oscars for future performances (like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" which, to date, has three Best Actor Award Winners: Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, and Nicholas Cage (still waiting for that fourth statute, Judge Reinhold)). Massive ensemble efforts like the "Ocean" movies, the Lord of The Rings Trilogy, "Saving Private Ryan", "The Thin Red Line", "Pearl Harbor", "Gosford Park","Rat Race", "Bobby", all surprisingly enough haven't had more than two winners at most in one film. Movies with three winners were more difficult to find but not exceedingly rare. Some of the more random recent movies off the top of my head that ended up having at least three winners were: "Deep Impact" (Robert Duvall, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell); "The Royal Tenenbaums" (Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow)"; American Gangster" (Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Cuba Gooding Jr.); "Meet the Fockers" (Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand, and Robert DeNiro); "Gone in 60 Seconds" (Robert Duvall, Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie); "Something's Gotta Give" (Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Frances McDormand). The last three seem to provide clear evidence that there is little correlation between having Oscar winning actors and movies being actually good.

The only movie within the last ten years or so that rivals "Four Christmases" was the 2006 Robert De Niro directed spy snoozer "The Good Shephard" which required an extended supporting cast and a 167 minute running time to fit in its five stars (Robert DeNiro, Angelina Jolie, Timothy Hutton, William Hurt, and Joe Pesci). In terms of cheap celebrity cameos, the film borders on "Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet" territory; whose gigantic cast of superfluous actors (which only manages to have an equal 5 winners as well) automatically disqualifies it in my book. The same goes to notable all star cavalcades like "Around the World in 80 Days"(5 winners, 4 future winners), "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (6 winners, 1 future winner), and "JFK" (4 winners, 1 future winner). Technically if brief cameos were allowed, I'm pretty sure the all time champ would be Robert Altman's "The Player" which has a grand total of 8 Oscar winners in addition to 4 future Oscar winners, most of whom are just playing themselves.

"Four Christmases" even stacks up well against the excesses of the genre that invented washed up Oscar winner packing, the 70's disaster movie. Despite its reputation, "The Towering Inferno" actually only had 2 Oscar winners at the time (William Holden and Jennifer Jones) along with 2 future winners (Paul Newman and Faye Dunaway). "Airport" had an impressive 4 winners (Burt Lancaster, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes, and Van Heflin) and by the second sequel, "Airport '77", had 5 (Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Olivia De Havilland, James Stewart, George Kennedy). The original "Posieden Adventure" had 5 winners as well (Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Shelley Winters, and Jack Albertson). It also somehow took 5 Oscar winners (Olivia De Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, Jose Ferrer, Patty Duke) and 2 future winners (Michael Caine and Henry Fonda) to make the killer bee disaster epic, "The Swarm".

Despite the lackluster reviews, the undeniable success of "Four Christmases" makes one wonder: is this the start of another disaster movie era of faded Oscar gold? However, in this case, instead of disaster movies it's fluffy, disposable comedies? Could "Meet the Fockers" and "Something's Gotta Give" be the "Earthquake" and "Hindenberg" to "Four Christmases"'s "Poseidon Adventure"? Should we expect a wave of aging Oscar winners playing the dysfunctional parents of today's "it" actors and actress? Should Louis Gossett Jr. and Mercedes Ruehl be polishing up their resumes?

At least they didn't bring up "One Night at McCool's"

So Michael Douglas, being the socially conscious Hollywood celebrity that he is, decides to go to the United Nations to speak his mind about some issues that he finds of pressing global concern. Douglas feels strongly about the banning of nuclear testing (and after witnessing firsthand the nuclear horrors of "The China Syndrome", who wouldn't be?) and held a news conference to urge the United States and some other holdout countries to get in on the test ban treaty. As he was fielding questions, one reporter apparently got their facts slightly wrong.

Sure it's easy to laugh at the idea of how ill informed a reporter must be to address an actor by the character they played in a film over twenty years ago about a topic related to that character; however this was not the first time an academy award winning actor or actress was confused with their award winning film role.

Did you know?:

• Marlon Brando was once brought up on Racketeering and Corruption Charges by the New York State D.A.
• John Houseman was offered a tenured position teaching first year Contracts at Pepperdine University Law School.
  
• George C. Scott was briefly given full command of the Third United States Army.
  
• Faye Dunaway had to testify in front of the FCC regarding ethical programming practices of the major broadcasting networks.
• Sissy Spacek was nominated for the 1981 CMA Entertainer of the Year award.
• Jeremy Irons is still under suspicion for the attempted murder of millionaire heiress Sunny Von Bulow.
  
• Tommy Lee Jones was brought into assist in the nationwide manhunt for serial killer Andrew Cunanan.
• Cuba Gooding Jr. was offered a 2 year deal to play WR for the Denver Broncos in 2001 after losing Ed McCaffrey for the season.
• Angelina Jolie was interred at an undisclosed psychiatric institution for a three month period.
  
• Javier Bardem was arrested for the murder of dozens of individuals in the southern Texas area during the early 1980s.

If it's on the internet, it's a fact!

Everybody In the Pool: Oscar Edition

Call it, Friendo...

Well the Razzie winners were announced earlier today and as many predicted it was a banner year for "I Know Who Killed Me" and "Norbit" as the two dominated the awards. "IKWKM" apparently set a new Razzie record by bringing home 8 awards; one wonders if any movie will top this historic haul (although I'm placing a lot of hope on you next year "Meet the Spartans"). My predictions turned out to be equally successful coming in at an impressive 9 out of 11, far above expectations.

So emboldened by my recent success I now turn my powers of prognostication towards that other movie awards show. I know you'd all like to know my two cents on the always heated races in makeup and sound editing, for the sake of brevity and interest I'll stick to the more publicized categories:

Best Animated Feature
Persepolis
Ratatuille
Surf's Up

Are the standards for even being nominated so high that only three movies even got nominated? I mean they could have padded this list up a little bit like they do with all the other categories. You could probably throw in a respect "Simpsons Movie" nomination up there just out of respects a la Ruby Dee. Of course I haven't seen any of these movies but from what I hear, "Ratauille" is as money as Carl Lewis at the Special Olympics so I gotta go with the Pixar pic.

Best Documentary Feature

No End in Sight

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

It seems that the Iraq war is providing ample fodder for recent documentarians, and ironically it's not Michael Moore. I feel like all the war documentaries will cancel themselves out in a fatal Mexican standoff of shocking truth and gritty realities. I would go with "Sicko" but I don't know if the academy likes to award multiple documentary Oscars. So I guess it's the dark horse "War/Dance."

Best Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

I actually did see "No Country" so there is a little bit of a bias here. However, I must say that there was some grand sweeping cinematography that made something as dull and ugly as 1980s bumblefuck Texas look like this majestic, hypnotic, epic landscape. I heard some good things about all the other ones too, "There Will Be Blood" and "Atonement" definitely looked expensive and meticulously filmed so they have a puncher's chance as well.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Atonement
Away From Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

I think they should give an extra statue as a little extra "kudos" to the people (or the families of those) who wrote the original screenplays. It all starts with great source material after all. I'm going to go with "No Country" since I think it's a pretty difficult task in capturing the uniqueness of a Cormac McCarthy novel and they actually pulled it off quite nicely here.

Best Original Screenplay
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatuille
The Savages

Everybody keeps saying how great that Juno screenplay is. I personally am rooting against it. Not only do I not find it all that well written but I hate it when people (that aren't me) get immediate success right off the bat. Give it to the people that have put in their dues and have the experience. Alas, the the urge for the old fossils of the Academy to try to appear hip and with it by cozying up to chic Diablo Cody appears too great.

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman - Juno
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

I think the Academy will find this to be the best opportunity to award the Coen Brothers their long deserved Oscars. The movie itself is also well deserving, I could see that every scene seemed painstakingly rendered. It really works out well for them since they directed the movie together, instead of taking turns as director or producer, so they can be rightfully praised at the two headed iconoclastic directing monsters they are.

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not Here
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

Ah the supporting actor categories where children, foreign actors, and the really old go win surprising awards. I heard Amy Ryan's the inside favorite here, with a strong meaty Oscar-tastic role. However, I fear she's too obvious for the crazy world of supporting actress Oscars who Ruby Dee and her 10 minutes of screen time could very well come out and Herbie Hancock the whole thing.

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of...
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton

I think Bardem's got this one fairly locked up. His frightening performance was the kind of work the Oscars just eat up. I would like to see Tom Wilkinson win one one of these days and I'm fairly sure Hal Holbrook will die Oscar-less if he doesn't win here, but alas this is the same hard ass Academy that told 87 year old Gloria Stuart to sit on it in 1997. Also, who hasn't been seduced by this ruggedly handsome, sexy, suave, Spaniard?

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney - The Savages
Ellen Page - Juno

I'm going to with the old school Oscar favorite Christie, but basically I hope anyone but Ellen Page wins this one. Part of it goes back to my wait your turn philosophy, but another part just doesn't think it was all that great of an acting job. Her super sassy teen portrayal was great but had all the subtlety and nuance of a brick to the face. Christie's role seems adequately difficult, heartbreaking, and melodramatic for the Academy.

Best Actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

I'm sure Daniel Day-Lewis puts his pants on one leg at a time, except when they're on he wins Oscars. Basically this guy disappears and shows up every couple of years to put on some powerhouse awards worthy performance. If one was attempting to win an acting Oscar they would be best served to mimic all the elements of Day-Lewis' performance in "There Will Be Blood"; the accent, the screaming, the super intensity, the weirdness, it's the stuff Oscars are made of.

Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

This is really a crap shoot as any one of these movies have a legitimate chance of bringing home the bacon (yes even upset special Juno which would fill me with such sadness). Atonement seems Oscar friendly to a fault as does Michael Clayton. I think it is likely to come down to "No Country" and "There Will Be Blood"; with the Oscar going to "No Country" for being slightly less crazy, a little more brilliant. Plus, they probably want some symmetry with the best directing winners.