2010 Diva Cup Awards: The Oscar Categories

Best Director

Maren Ade

Everyone Else

Andrea Arnold

Fish Tank

Derek Cianfrance

Blue Valentine

David Fincher

The Social Network

Giorgos Lanthimos

Dogtooth

And the Diva Cup Goes to: Andrea Arnold, Fish Tank

Best Original Screenplay

Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis & Cami Delavigne

Blue Valentine

Ruba Nadda

Cairo Time

Maren Ade

Everyone Else

Eric Johnson, Scott Silver & Paul Tamasy (screenplay); Keith Dorrington, Eric Johnson & Paul Tamasy (story)

The Fighter

Andrea Arnold

Fish Tank

And the Diva Cup Goes to: Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis & Cami Delavigne, Blue Valentine

Best Adapted Screenplay

Robert Harris & Roman Polanski

The Ghost Writer

David Lindsay-Abaire

Rabbit Hole

Aaron Sorkin

The Social Network

Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

True Grit

Debra Granki & Anne Rosellini

Winter's Bone

And the Diva Cup Goes to: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best Cinematography

Matthew Libatique

Black Swan

Yorick Le Saux

I Am Love

Benoite Debie

The Runaways

Jeff Cronenwerth

The Social Network

Michael McDonough

Winter's Bone

And the Diva Cup Goes to: The Runaways

Best Editing

Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Dogtooth

Nicolas Chaudeurge

Fish Tank

Shilpa Sahi

The Last Exorcism

Sae-kyoung Moon

Mother

Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall

The Social Network

And the Diva Cup Goes to: Dogtooth

Best Art Direction

 Therese DePrez

Black Swan

Phillip Barker

Chloe

Helen Scott

Fish Tank

Guy Dyas

Inception

Mark White

Winter's Bone

And the Diva Cup Goes to: Inception

Best Costume Design

Amy Westcott

Black Swan

Antonella Cannarozzi

I Am Love

Jeffrey Kurland

Inception

Rachael Fleming & Steven Noble

Never Let Me Go

Carol Beadle

The Runaways

And the Diva Cup Goes to: I Am Love

Best Score

John Adams

I Am Love

Hans Zimmer

Inception

Nigel Godrich

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

The Social Network

Carter Burwell

True Grit


And the Diva Cup Goes to: Inception

Best Song
(Only one nominee because I couldn't even begin to think of another song that even comes close to this)

"You Haven't Seen the Last of Me"

Burlesque

Music and lyrics by Diane Warren

Performed by Cher

And the Diva Cup Goes to: Burlesque

Best Sound

127 Hours

Fish Tank


The Last Exorcism

And the Diva Cup Goes to: The Last Exorcism

Best Makeup

Black Swan

The Runaways

Splice

And the Diva Cup Goes to: The Runaways

Best Visual Effects

 
Black Swan

Inception

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

And the Diva Cup Goes to: Black Swan

So GLAAD to Be a Gay

As I'm sure you ascertained from this recent blog post, GLAAD and I are not on very good terms. We often disagree on what constitutes a "positive" portrayal of gay life in movies and TV--they either like nice, quiet gays coming out of the closet or loud, in-your-face crusaders while I tend to prefer characters with a little more shading or, heaven forbid, an evil gay--so it pisses me off that this lousy group is supposed to be "representing" me and my best interests. Anyways, they recently announced the nominees for their Media Awards, so I thought it would be fun to take a gander at what they thought was the best in gay cinema this past year.

Outstanding Film - Wide Release

• Burlesque
• Easy A
• The Girl Who Played With Fire
• The Kids Are All Right
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

I haven't seen The Girl Who Played With Fire--hell, I barely made it through The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo--but I have seen the rest so let's tackle them in alphabetical order. As a film, Burlesque is a heaping pile of shit. Not even Cher in all of her Cher glory nor an impressive star turn from Cam Gigandet can save this Fosse-wannabe from being anything but a joyless, soulless imitation of far better films. With that being said, the depiction of homosexuality in Burlesque, even the "gay stuff" that extends far beyond Stanley Tucci's character, didn't offend me in the slightest. Actually, I quite enjoyed the films enthusiasm for treating Cher like the God of the Gays she is and for giving into every cliché you'd expect from a Gay Romp like this: Glitter? Check. Belting divas? Check. Catfights? Check. Cher being a bitch? Check. Cher looking fiercer in outfits than many women half her age? Check. For once, I believe GLAAD is looking beyond the surface as to what a "gay" film means and for that I must, gulp, applaud them.

Know we are up to Easy A and I'm afraid this love fest must end. I know, that was quick. Listen, I thought Dan Byrd was hilarious and his chemistry with Emma Stone made their witty repartée that much funnier, but to suggest that his character's representation of a gay male is either positive or progressive is grossly offensive. This is a character who asks a friend to help make other people in his school think he's straight by pretending to have sex with him because he's too much of a pussy to ignore the haters and thinks that things will get magically better when he goes to college. The whole scene where he asks Emma Stone to help him was so uncomfortable for me to watch both times I've seen the movie. Maybe it's because my own personal philosophy has always been to either come out or shut up but never, ever pass for straight, but I can't stand behind him as any sort of positive role model.

I wasn't a big fan of The Kids Are All Right, but even I can't argue about it's importance as a gay film. Sure, I do have a reservation or two about that fact that when Julianne Moore's character has an affair it is with a man and not another woman, but I obviously understand why it happens and it's necessity to the story. Doesn't mean I have to agree, though. Either way, this film is on it's way to an easy win so congrats!

And, finally, we have Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I liked this film far more than I ever thought I would. The trailer made it seem overly quirky, even by my standards, but in the finished product, everything sort of fell into place. Keiran Culkin plays the gay roommate of Michael Cera's Scott Pilgrim and while I liked the character, once again I'm not sure if it was entirely a "good" gay creation. Culkin's character Wallace is wickedly funny, yet he also steals his female best friend's date, has sex with him while in a relationship with another guy and then tells Scott when he questions it that, basically, it's okay for him to do it because he's gay. In the words of Cher Horowitz, "As if!" How revolting. With that being said, I did enjoy that Wallace and Scott's friendship was never once threatened by his homosexuality; Scott could care less either way. That's quite a big leap forward in the depiction of gay/straight male friendships in the movies.

So, all in all, not exactly a bad batch of films here. The only one I would be quick to replace is Easy A, although I'm not exactly sure what to replace it with. Black Swan, perhaps? And as much as I bitch about GLAAD, let's all be grateful that they didn't go for something completely horrible like, as Glenn suggests, Kick-Ass or even Valentine's Day for that dumb "twist" ending.

2010 VMA Wrap Up (via Twitter)

There are two reasons why I'm not doing a "proper" write up of last night's VMA's: (1) I'm lazy and (2) The show was so incredibly dull. I was bored during the first part of the awards, so I got drunk and started tweeting like a mad man. So, here is everything you need to know about last night's show courtesy of my Twitter.










And here are some of my favorite tweets from some other awesome twatters out there.

10 Films I'm Excited for in 2010

I realize April has now approached us, but I feel it's never too late in the year to anticipate (hopefully) good upcoming films. One thing I noticed when trying to come up with this list was that I was more drawn to run-of-the-mill studio films than any Oscar bait or prestige pictures. Also, these films are very gay; either they star a hot guy or a fabulous female. Needless to say, I think 2010 is going to be an interesting year. So, in no particular order, here are ten films I'm positively dying to see.

Special Mentions: Before we get started with the list, I have to pay a special tribute to two films I couldn't add for various reasons. The Runaways has already been released, even though it won't be anywhere near my area until this weekend. When my friends recently asked me why I wanted to see this, my response was, "Kristen Stewart, in all of her hard edged indie glory, as a drugged-out lesbian rocker is like porn for me." The Loved Ones isn't supposed to get an Australian release until summertime, so I'm not holding my breath America will get it this year (if at all). This horror film, which stars Australian hottie Xavier Samuel, received ecstatic reviews at Toronto last fall. I'm hoping that after the release of Twilight Saga: Eclipse this June, American audiences will be clamoring for more Xavier and this film will see the light of day here.

Black Swan

Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis play rival ballerinas. I'm expecting a lot of bitchiness and cat fights. Plus, Sebastian Stan plays a ballerina. Hopefully in tights. I apologize in advance to whoever sees this movie with me. There will be a lot of sighing and passing out.

Burlesque

Christina Aguilera plays a "burlesque" dancer (aka stripper). Cam Gigandet plays her boyfriend. CHER PLAYS THE BURLESQUE CLUB OWNER AND A FORMER "DANCER". What self-respecting gay man isn't excited for this movie?!

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

Zac Efron in his first serious role. This will either be great or flop horrendously. Can't wait to see which it is.

The Eagle of the Ninth

Jamie Bell plays Channing Tatum's slave boy. Channing Tatum is Jamie Bell's master. I swore after the twin disasters of G.I. Joe and Dear John my obsession with seeing every Channing movie in theatres was going to end, but I just can not say no to this movie.

The Fighter

This is going to sound incredibly shallow (even by my admittedly low standards) but I'm primarily interested in this film for Mark Wahlberg's torso. When I saw this picture around the interweb some months ago, my ticket was already bought.

Inception

I enjoy Christopher Nolan's films, but I'm mostly excited for this eccentric cast. I just can't even imagine what Ellen Page, Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are going to do in their scenes together. Their acting styles are on totally different planets so it will be interesting to see what Nolan does with them to make it work.

The Kids Are Alright

The last time Julianne Moore played a lesbian was in The Hours. Remember how I felt about that one?

Love and Other Drugs

My Jakey and My Annie reunited after Brokeback Mountain. This sounds like Jake's most promising project in ages (probably since Brokeback) while Annie has already received rave reviews for her performance as a woman with Parkinson's Disease. As with Charlie St. Cloud, this could either be majorly good or completely bomb. Either way, I'll be there supporting my loves.

Rabbit Hole

I read the original play over the summer and, if this adaptation is done properly, Rabbit Hole will be fantastic. I love Nicole Kidman long time, so it's nice to see her once again with a strong role to sink her teeth into. Plus, Dianne Weist!

The Roommate

Leighton Meester plays a psychotic killer roommate. I'm hoping that all the energy she's been sorely lacking on Gossip Girl this season has been channeled into her performance here.