Oscar Predictions: Final

Best Picture
Atonement
Into the Wild
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Alternate: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
If there was a righteous God: Hairspray

Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Alternate: Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild
If there was a righteous God: Russell Crowe, 3:10 to Yuma

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Ellen Page, Juno

Alternate: Amy Adams, Enchanted
If there was a righteous God: Jodie Foster, The Brave One

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Alternate: Tommy Lee Jones, No Country For Old Men
If there was a righteous God: James Marsden, Enchanted or Hairspray

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

Alternate: Catherine Keener, Into the Wild
If there was a righteous God: Romola Garai, Atonement

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Alternate: Joe Wright, Atonement
If there was a righteous God: David Fincher, Zodiac

Best Original Screenplay
Brad Bird, Ratatouille
Diablo Cody, Juno
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl

Alternate: Steven Knight, Eastern Promises
If there was a righteous God: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, Superbad

Best Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Sean Penn, Into the Wild

Alternate: James Vanderbilt, Zodiac
If there was a righteous God: Leslie Dixon, Hairspray

Happy MLK Day!

Effie: Tell me something, Curtis. Do you think it's right to promote an amateur performer over a professional?

Curtis: I'm not sure what this is about.

Effie: It's about fairness, Curtis. It's about people paying their dues. Isn't that what you keep telling me? 'Get in line, Effie. Wait your turn.' So why am I sitting here without so much as a B-side on a 45, when an amateur like Martin Luther King, Jr. gets his own freaking album. I mean, can he even sing?

Random Top 10: People I Fell in Love With in 2007

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but a few weeks ago I changed my banner from Dame Judi Dench (in honor of her birth) to the present banner of Adam Brody, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Hudson and Channing Tatum. I like to think of these four as the ones I "discovered" in 2006 andwith whom I quickly fell in love with. Well, now that 2007 has ended, it's time for a new batch of people to obsess about for a whole year.

10. Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen

Moment I Fell in Love: "Rehab" led me to discover Amy Winehouse, which led me to producer Mark Ronson, which led me to Version, which led me to Ronson's other protege Lily Allen.

9. Ellen Page

Moment I Fell in Love: "No, it's Morgan Freeman" and "WHOA dream big"...no can spin lines into gold the way she does.

8. Ashley Tisdale

Moment I Fell in Love: Her request for exit music...a diva dream of mine just came true

7. Casey Affleck

Moment I Fell in Love: I admit that it's only been 5 days since I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but, damn, that was one hell of a performance.

6. Paula Deen

Moment I Fell in Love: The episode where she deep fried butter and a bust of her head made out of butter was given to her.

5. Blake Lewis

Moment I Fell in Love: During the Top 24 on American Idol, when he sang Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know"

4. Diablo Cody

Moment I Fell in Love: Months before I saw Juno, I read an article about her in Entertainment Weekly and it was this quote that won me over: "If there's a female protagonist or a romance, they just assume it's up my alley. What, because I have a vagina?"

3. Brittany Snow

Moment I Fell in Love: When I finally saw John Tucker Must Die over the summer and realized that this woman can make anything work (well, not the film, but her performance)

2. Zac Efron

Moment I Fell in Love: "And I'm....Link"...I was practically squealing right along with Tracy and Penny.

1. James Marsden

Moment I Fell in Love: When I first heard him sing "The Nicest Kids in Town" on the Hairspray soundtrack, I knew it was love at first sight. Enchanted only proved that my love for him is never ending.

If I Were Colombo, I'd Peter Falk Her

American Idol has gotten off to a strong start. I have not been able to get this stupid song out of my head ever since last night. It's surprisingly well written, creative and really fucking funny...but also really creepy. It's so creepy it makes "Every Breath You Take" look like a wedding song.

It's Faye Dunaway's Birthday So Don't Fuck With Her, Fellas!

Today Faye Dunaway, one of the queens of late 60's and 70's cinema, turns 67. In case you don't know who she is, first of all you should be shot and secondly she has earned three Oscar nominations for her work in Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown and Network (for which she won the Oscar) and also starred in the original Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen. If you read my blog regularly, however, you know that I love her best as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest. She refuses to even discuss the film because she believes that it's negative reception caused her career to tank, but, looking back on it 25+ years later, it stands up as one of the most dynamic performances of all time. Dunaway transforms so fully into the Crawford that it's hard sometimes to even separate the two in my mind and it makes Oscar winning biopic performances like Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote or Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line look like nothing. I wish Faye a very happy day and I hope that one day she finds that right role to make her big comeback with.

Hell, I'm Practically Part of the Affleck Clan Now

The Affleck Clan- that is Casey, Ben and Jennifer Garner- are having one hell of a 2007. Ben directed the mightily solid, if not groundbreaking, Gone Baby Gone proving that he's not a joke anymore. His wife, Jennifer Garner, proved to me that she could act in Juno. And little bro Casey completely mystified me when I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford yesterday (is it not one of the best performances of the year, if not the decade?), not to mention how fantastic he was in Gone Baby Gone as well. Imagine my surprise at dinner tonight when my friends and I were talking about Jennifer Garner (one of them had seen The Kingdom this past weekend) when one of them told us this and how I pretty much know the Afflecks now:

This is me and this is my friend Shannon below.

Apparently, her vocal coach starred with none other than Jennifer Garner at the Barn Theater in Augusta, MI. They were totally BFF's and ate dinner together!

I know, I'm shocked as well.

As you all know, she's married to...

Ben Affleck (together, they are Bennifer Part Deux) and he is brothers with...

Casey Affleck!

Here's a couple more, because God knows I never get tired of looking at him.

I wish I was this connected to more famous families (like the Gyllenhaals...or the Spears).

So That Pretty Much Sucked

I'm, of course, referring to the Golden Globes "press conference" that just took place. Who the hell does that Billy Bush think he is- Roger Ebert? I don't even know who the hell he is, but I doubt he has any reason to be judging the winners in any of the categories. And what was with that low blow to Cate Blanchett after her win in Best Supporting Actress for I'm Not There? In case you missed it, he praised Amy Ryan to high heavens (which is probably the only decent thing he did all night) and then said something to the affect of "all she did was dress like a man" about Blanchett's win. What a douche.


Want to know what else sucked? My predictions. I got a ridiculously low 6 out of 14. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that I got some wrong (namely, Cotillard in Musical/Comedy and, to some extent, Atonement in Drama), but I wish I could have done better. Oh well. Atonement's big "upset" (I should have seen it coming, especially since Babel won here last year after receiving the same number of nominations and the most out of anyone) should push it into the Top 5 after the DGA/WGA snubs earlier this week. I hope that Cotillard's win closes the gap between herself and Christie in the race for Best Actress and it turns into a real bitchfest---that would be a dream come true. Here are the winners, in case you missed them:

Best Picture (Drama)- Atonement
Best Picture (Musical/Comedy)- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Best Actor (Drama)- Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Best Actor (Musical/Comedy)- Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Best Actress (Drama)- Julie Christie, Away From Her
Best Actress (Musical/Comedy)- Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Best Supporting Actor- Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Best Supporting Actress- Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Best Director- Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Screenplay- Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
Best Score- Dario Marianelli, Atonement
Best Song- "Guaranteed", Into the Wild (m&l: Eddie Vedder)
Best Animated Film- Ratatouille
Best Foreign Language Film- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

So, in the aftermath of the butchered ceremony, I'm watching the new American Gladiators and it's every bit as great as I remembered it when I was a child....but what the hell is with all the water? And, oh shit this final race is very dramatic.

Completely Unnecessary Golden Globe Predictions

Well, this year Golden Globe "press conference" is set to commence in a couple of hours, so I thought I would offer up my two-cents on who might win tonight. Don't expect many upsets, because the Oscar race is getting more set in stone by the minute and the winners are becoming clearer.

Best Picture (Drama)- No Country For Old Men

Best Picture (Musical/Comedy)- Juno

Best Actor (Drama)- Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Actor (Musical/Comedy)- Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Actress (Drama)- Julie Christie, Away From Her

Best Actress (Musical/Comedy)- Ellen Page, Juno

Best Supporting Actor- Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men

Best Supporting Actress- Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

Best Director- Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men

Best Screenplay- Diablo Cody, Juno

Best Score- Into the Wild

Best Song- "Walk Hard" (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story)

Best Animated Film- Ratatouille

Best Foreign-Language Film- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Top 20 Songs of 2007: #15-11

15. Eve "Tambourine"
With a fiesty and electrifying single every bit as hot as "Let Me Blow Ya Mind," the Eve comeback should be on its way. So why was this song completely ignored on the radio? And where the hell is her new album? (Listen here)

14. 50 Cent featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland "Ayo Technology"
It's possibly the strangest song on the countdown- in a million years, I never would have thought I'd see the day where the totally gangsta 50 Cent and the skinny white boy Justin Timberlake did anything, let alone collaborate on a song, together- but, for some strange reason, it works. I love the way Fiddy utters "50 Cent, Justin, Timbaland" in the very beginning and his first verse flows especially well. (Listen here)

13. Jordin Sparks "Tattoo"
This has to be a mistake- an American Idol contestant who's first single is actually worthwhile? Well, believe it. "Tattoo" is the finest AI debut since Kelly Clarkson's "Miss Independent." The song is nothing special, but Sparks sings it beautifully and finally proved to me that she was a worthy winner last season. (Listen here)

12. Rihanna "Shut Up and Drive"
With the best not-so-subtle sexual metaphor since Fergie wondered about people going down like London Bridge, Rihanna's follow-up to "Umbrella" is an inspired, rock-heavy to her usual sound and another reason why she had an amazing 2007. (Listen here)

11. Amy Winehouse "Rehab"
She may have just chopped off her famous beehive and has given Britney stiff competition in the "Breakdown of the Year" battle, but Amy Winehouse is a damn good singer and her breakthrough American single "Rehab" is a great way to discover for yourself. (Listen here)

Rants on "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" and "Juno"

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Jake Kasdan, 2007): Everything about Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is just begging for me to love it- a script by Judd Apatow, impressive performances from John C. Reilly and Jenna Fischer and it's parody of musical biopics- but, more often than not, the film ended up bugging me more than amusing me. My main problem was the beginning which, instead of finding a subtler way to mock Walk the Line and Ray, it hits the audience over the head with all the references in a way that makes the later installments of Scary Movie seem sly and clever. I mean, couldn't they have found a better way to kill the "good" son than with a machete? Thankfully, as Dewey Cox becomes famous the film finds its stride with the dead on parodies; the innuendo-laden "Let's Duet," the bad-ass outlaw song "Guilty as Charged," the protest song "Dear Mr. President," and the nonsensical Dylan parody "Royal Jelly" are all highlights. Walk Hard also gets bonus points for the cameos of Jack Black, Justin Long, Paul Rudd and Jason Schwartzman as the Fab Four- that scene was utterly hilarious.

Juno (Jason Reitman, 2007): I'm not going to lie, I was a little worried about the beginning of Jason Reitman's follow-up to last year's Thank You For Smoking, Juno. That phone conversation between Juno (Ellen Page) and Leah (Olivia Thirlby) in which one of them actually utters "Honest to blog?" was a little disconcerting and had me worried about the rest of the film. Fortunately for the film (and Diablo Cody's script) it eases back a little bit and the actors all make it work. Ellen Page is a revelation as the pregnant Juno, her cynicism and quick wit masking a needy girl, and Jennifer Garner finally proved to me what an amazing actress she is- that scene in the mall where she talks to Juno's baby in the womb trying to get it to kick was heartbreaking. And let me just add that Allison Janney totally stole every scene she was in as Juno's take-no-prisoners step-mother (leading Juno to proclaim at one point, "Wow Bren- you's a dick!"

My Ratings:
Walk Hard ***
Juno **** 1/2

Have I Ever Mentioned....

....how much I love Victoria Beckham? Back when I was a wee lad, Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton was my favorite Spice Girl because she was pretty and the closest to my age (only 12 years older, I believe). But now that I'm older, I think I love Victoria more because of her wit and self-deprecating humor (have you seen that great clip on Larry King where some viewer accuses her of always looking miserable because she never smiles and then she "tries" to smile for the camera...I love it!). Plus, she has that fabulous haircut that I loving refer to as the "Victoria Beckham" that I think only she can pull off.

So why do I mention this? Well, last night I had a really interesting dream involving old Posh Spice herself. I was at a runway show and Victoria was debuting her new line of clothes that she designed herself. The people in the audience were buzzing, but then Victoria herself came down the runway and the whole place went apeshit (I think even the judges from Project Runway were there as well, and they even liked it). She came back later on and the audience was ecstatic yet again. After the show, I was with a couple of friends, one of whom was a paparazzi, and we went all around town trying to get shots of Victoria after her hugely successful debut.

I apologize for the randomness of this post, but I just had to share it because...well, it's Victoria Beckham. Enough said.

Ummmm....Cool?

One of these is sexy, the other is Sanjaya.

Top 20 Songs of 2007: #20-16

It's time to start listing my favorite songs of 2007. I know you're totally excited and can't think of anything else you'd rather be doing, so I'll dive right in. Just let me say that I feel less guilty about my picks than I did last year because 2007 had considerably less trashy songs that I thought were amazing. None of the trashy rap songs really caught on with me (a lot of the big ones are on my "Worst of 2007" list) and, Britney aside, none of the pop princesses released anything worth mentioning.

20. Pink "Who Knew?"
I, for one, am glad that Pink is making a comeback. I've liked her ever since Can't Take Me Home but it grew to love with M!ssundaztood, possibly the finest pop album of my generation. So, imagine my dismay when Pink fell off the pop radar for a couple years. But now that's she's back, everything is fine again. I know that "U + Ur Hand" is technically her "comeback" single and as fine a song it is, I really love the the raw emotion Pink pours into "Who Knew?", her most mature song to date. (Listen here)

19. Maroon 5 "Makes Me Wonder"
Come on, you know you love to shout "And it really makes me wonder if I ever gave a FUCK about you" whenever they censor it on the radio. (Listen here)

18. Fergie featuring Ludacris "Glamorous"
I know that "Big Girls Don't Cry" was technically the Fergie song of the year, but for me "Glamorous," with all it's inane lyrics ("Taco Bell, drive thru, raw as hell") and contradictory nature (Take your broke ass home? Thirty seconds ago you just told me you didn't care about money and were still raw as hell) was a much more beautiful disaster. (Listen here)

17. Daughtry "It's Not Over"
His second single, "Home," immediately made him a success with American Idol/adult contemporary audience, but "It's Not Over" is a good old-fashioned pop-rock song that doesn't rely on the cheesy, uplifting message of "Home." (Listen here)

16. Lily Allen "Smile"
Initially, "Smile" sounds like a sweet little love song, but listen to the lyrics ("At first, when I see you cry, it makes me smile) and you quickly realize what an asshole Lily Allen is....and that's why I love her. (Listen here)

Top 5 Albums of 2007

5. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
All you need to do is listen to Winehouse on "Rehab" and you'll understand what makes the rest of the CD work.

4. Mark Ronson, Version
Normally I hate concept albums, but something about Mark Ronson's sophomore album Version really connected with me. From the sublime cover of Britney's "Toxic" to the double shot of Ronson's muses Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen on "Valerie" and "Oh My God" respectively, nearly every song is a weird amalgamation of electro, soul and hip-hop that somehow blends together and works.

3. Various Artists, Hairspray Soundtrack
Forgive my initial bitching about it- it often takes me many listens for me to truly love an album- because the Hairspray Soundtrack is one of the strongest of the year. Everyone brings their A-game and no song is completely butchered (the only meh song- "You're Timeless to Me"- is still listenable): John Travolta grew on me, his little idiosyncrasies becoming more tolerable and even loveable; James Marsden makes the insignificant role of Corny Collins all the more important with his fantastic and smooth voice; Michelle Pfeiffer lays into "Miss Baltimore Crabs" with all the divaliciousness she can muster; Elijah Kelly hits all the highs and lows in "Run and Tell That"; and newcomer Nikki Blonsky makes such a splash on this album that it's not blasphemy to compare her to J. Hud last year on the Dreamgirls Soundtrack.

2. Britney Spears, Blackout
How in the hell, amid public meltdowns, a high profile divorce, a bitter child custody battle and that horrid VMA performance, did Britney manage to pull of an album every bit as amazing as Blackout? I guess we'll never know the answer to that one, but what we do know is that Blackout is, hands down, Britney's best album to date.

1. Kelly Clarkson, My December
Why is Kelly Clarkson's My December the best album of the year? Because even though it's not compulsively listenable like Britney's Blackout, Kelly Clarkson took risks, pissed people off, alienated fans of Breakaway and American Idol and delivered the most all-around impressive album of the year. All of the songs compliment each other so well that you almost have to listen to the album in track order to get the most out of it.

Supporting Actress Blog-a-thon: Ashley Tisdale in "High School Musical 2"

For my entry in StinkyLulu's 2007 Supporting Actress Blog-a-thon, I chose a performance that you couldn't see at your local megaplex this year. Instead, this lovely young woman was actressing from the edges in the biggest cable event ever: High School Musical 2. You may have heard of it. That guy from Hairspray was in it and that chick who took naked pictures of herself was there too. But the one woman who stole the whole damn show was...

Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay Evans in High School Musical 2

Before I begin, let me just say that this post is in no way a defense of the travesty that is High School Musical 2. The first one was crappy as it is, but had a teensy bit of charm to make up for it. For the second one, it seems no one gave a shit anymore and decided to ride this cash cow for all it was worth. The choreography was stiff, the sound quality of the songs were dreadful (there was no attempt at all to make the voices sound like they weren't done in a studio), most of the songs could have been interchanged with ones from the original (I didn't like "We're All in This Together" the first time, why would I want to hear it reincarnated as "All For One"?) and the story was so contradictory and contrived it's not even funny (Zac Efron's Troy literally says at one point "I don't care about my future, I only care about what my friends think"...what kind of message is this for the tweens watching this?)

The one person to emerge from this car wreck unscathed was Ashley Tisdale. She's the only person in the cast, I think, who understands the whole point of the High School Musical series- she doesn't take herself too seriously and lets loose with reckless abandon all over the film. Tisdale steals every scene she's in with nothing more than a huge attitude, big sunglasses and a mission to land Zac Efron's Troy. If you thought she chewed the scenery in the original, in High School Musical 2 Tisdale doesn't chew the scenery, she devours it, ripping it apart like a savage animal and merely leaving scraps for her fellow castmates.

Now, anyone who reads my site knows about my obsession/fetish with divas. I can't get enough of them no matter how hard I try and Tisdale's Sharpay is easily becoming one of my favorites. One of the finest moments of her performance is, after discovering that her brother Ryan is working with the East High kids on a routine that might beat her in the annual country club talent show, Tisdale, with her lapdog in tote, looks over at the drummer, says "Give me a beat" and struts out of the room to her own exit music. I nearly died when I saw this because having exit music everytime I leave the room is one of my diva wet dreams.

Some of Tisdale's most winning moments come in the musical numbers, which is almost a miracle given the quality of the songs. Her first solo is the number "Fabulous," in which she laments about everything she needs to survive and why people aren't accommodating her every need. There is this tiny little moment during the song where she coos to her brother Ryan and three of her cronies "I need, I need" while drawing them in and then quickly shunning them out, toying with them like the chess pieces they are in the quest to fulfill her needs.

Troy and Gabriella sing the orignal, lame ballad version of "You Are the Music in Me" that I swore was that "Soaring, flying" song from the first film. Sharpay later decides that she needs Troy instead of her usual partner Ryan in the talent show, commandeers the song and makes it her own. He tells her to go easy on him, since he's not used to performing in public, so of course fireworks explode all around them, the music blasts from the live band and three backup singers chime in behind them. The song is supposed to be a duet, but Sharpay, in true diva fashion, manages to upstage Troy; there's no way she's letting a pesky boy get in the way of her shining moment (even if it is the boy she wants).

Since Sharpay is the so-called "bad girl" in High School Musical 2, she has to get her come-uppance. It happens right before her and Troy are supposed to head on stage for the talent show and he decides he doesn't want to do it with her anymore because "his friends are more important." What follows is probably Tisdale's finest moment in the film. Instead of having a massive meltdown, screaming and throwing things like you would expect, she quiets down for the first time and we see the vulnerability behind Sharpay's mask. She needs to perform and be the best in order to carry on, so when this falls apart, she doesn't know what to do. It's a beautiful moment on par with Meryl Streep's and Rachel McAdams' "come-uppances" in The Devil Wears Prada and Mean Girls, respectively.

Ashley Tisdale's achievement in High School Musical 2 is not something to just be dismissed as "over the top" or "good, for a kids movie." It's an ingenious performance that even her castmates try to steal a part of. In the beginning of the film, Vanessa Hudgens's Gabriella approaches Sharpay and tries to out-Sharpay Sharpay by imitating her hilarious vocal warm ups from the first film and then making this really strange war cry to scare her. Tisdale, ever the opportunist, steals the scene back from the lesser Hudgens with her reaction: backing into the locker and making this face that's a mixture between "Evaporate smart person" and "Please don't eat me!" It's moments like these where Ashley Tisdale really proves her worth.