Neil Patrick Harris > Seacrest + Probst + Klum + Mandel + Bergeron

by Linda Holmes

After last year's very bad decision to turn the Emmy telecast over to the five nominated reality-show hosts -- all of whom flopped, with the exception of the always-lovely Tom Bergeron -- the show planners seem to have regained their senses: Reports say they're trying to make a deal with Neil Patrick Harris to host the show in September.

While he didn't get to do as much at the Tony Awards as I was hoping -- with the exception of the fantastic closing number, which you can watch above -- Harris was a lovely host and would undoubtedly make the Emmys a whole lot more watchable.

He also probably won't be upstaged this time by a guy who gets clocked by the scenery, so that's good news.

Make that deal, Emmy planners! If I have to liveblog three hours of Ryan Seacrest, I will be very upset.

9:05 AM ET | 07- 2-2009 | permalink

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Bret Michaels: He Couldn't Have Waited Five Minutes For This?

by Linda Holmes

You know, there are sayings in the theater. The show must go on, and so forth.

Another one of them emerged from last night's Tony Awards, and it's this: Whenever it takes five minutes to sort out a tech issue at the beginning of, say, a live-blog, you can guarantee that those will be the five minutes during which Bret Michaels, lead singer of Poison, will be standing his ground instead of retreating and will get conked on the head by a descending stage segment.

You can sort of see the other guys run back behind what turns out to be the problematic piece of scenery the minute the music stops, because they clearly remember from rehearsal that it's time to hustle and get out of the way. Michaels, however, was enjoying his moment (probably unlikely to appear on the Tonys too many times in the future, even before this happened), and he forgot to dash behind the backdrop. Gotta wave to the fans! Give 'em a wave! Love you!

[BONK.]

(His publicist seems to be suggesting he's okay and even hoped to "hit some after-parties," and he didn't break his nose, don't worry.)

The other notable thing, I think, is that while she clearly didn't have any idea what was happening, Stockard Channing managed to launch into "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" in a manner that unavoidably comes off like she's giving you her best exasperated "Aaaanyway..."

Best headline goes to the Times-Picayune, for this: "Opening the Tony Awards, Bret Michaels of Poison chews scenery on Broadway."

9:40 AM ET | 06- 8-2009 | permalink

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NPR's Oscars Post-Mortem, with Linda Holmes And Bob Mondello

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger — is that how the saying goes? With that in mind, we returned to the Oscar well one last time this morning for a live chat with our favorite film critic.

And now that it's over, no kidding, it's time for us to have a little nap. So enjoy the chat (you can replay it in the widget below), and we'll be back soon. Maybe tomorrow, but soon.

11:45 PM ET | 02-22-2009 | permalink

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Armchair Oscar Party: Live-Blogging The Academy Awards

The live-blogging is done, But you can relive all 4 hours of it by clicking 'Replay' below, and add your thoughts in the comments. And don't forget: More NPR Oscar goodness is collected for your convenience at NPR.org/oscars.

8:00 PM ET | 02-22-2009 | permalink

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Counting Down To Liveblog, And Backstage Tweets!

by Linda Holmes

Hey, all -- we're only a couple of hours or so away from the liveblog, which will start at 8 p.m. To tide you over until then, check out the live backstage tweets from NPR's Mandalit del Barco and Carrie Kahn, who are already up and running in the press section. Once we get a little closer to showtime, you'll be able to see both the liveblog and the backstage tweets on the same page (you'll see how it works); until then, because they're underway and we're not, please follow @nprlive or just browse the widget above.

And we'll see you at eight.

5:38 PM ET | 02-22-2009 | permalink

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A Marathon Of Movies, Not A Sprint

by Linda Holmes

Update: The day has come. I am doing jumping jacks with my mind. In a mere couple of hours, I will begin the long day ahead, which will feature, in order: Milk, The Reader, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, and Frost/Nixon. Will I bail and spend the afternoon at Starbucks? I don't think we know. But now, we're going to find out. The suspense is killing me, and soon, I suspect that my spine will be also.

I've always been kind of fascinated by the AMC Best Picture Showcase. That's the special deal where, for $30, you can watch all the Best Picture nominees...in a row. It's happening today (Saturday), and they may be doing it at a theater near you -- check the site to find out.

This year, I'm actually going. I've already seen four out of five of the movies (sorry, The Reader!), but I don't mind a refresher before the big ceremony on Sunday night, and I'm kind of curious about what that much exposure will do to me -- I mean, for me.

To follow my adventures, follow me on Twitter at monkeyseeblog, or if you're not a Twitter person yourself, watch it roll by here.

What I think will happen, after the jump...

Continue reading "A Marathon Of Movies, Not A Sprint" »

10:09 AM ET | 02-21-2009 | permalink

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Preparing To Unveil Oscar Weekend

Oscar: This statue is waiting for Sunday night's ceremony and not, as it might appear, waiting to get married. Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

 

So you've been here all week, right? We talked about whether the Oscar show is doomed, and we questioned the wisdom of trying to tone down the glamour out of sympathy for the broke.

We talked about some of the movies up for major awards -- we compared two very different movies with very different endings, and we got more specific about what ails the most-nominated movie of the year.

We even looked back with pity and pleasure at Oscar fashion with the Fug Girls. And now we're ready for our very big weekend. To pull it all together, here's what's on tap for the next few days.

• Follow us on Twitter to see whether I survive the all-day Best Picture marathon tomorrow, or come back and watch the updates go by right here.

• On Sunday night, we'll be liveblogging the Oscars starting at 8 p.m. -- that will be me and two of my favorite speed-talking writer pals, Stephen Thompson and John Ramos. You can also check in with the rest of NPR's Oscar coverage Sunday night for backstage tweets, red-carpet photos, and all of the rest of the awards-ceremonial goodness you need.

• Come back Monday morning at 10 a.m., where NPR's Bob Mondello and I will chat and take your questions and comments about the ceremony, the winners and losers, and whatever else you dream up during the awards show and its many commercial breaks.

We'll see you then.

5:17 PM ET | 02-20-2009 | permalink

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What's So Curiously Wrong With 'Benjamin Button'?

Benjamin Button: The rarely active, usually acted-upon central character is only one of his story's major problems. Paramount Pictures

 

by Marc Hirsh

Ever since 1996 -- when I'd seen Apollo 13, Babe, Sense And Sensibility and, yes, even Il Postino only to watch Braveheart win the Oscar -- I've seen every Best Picture nominee before the ceremony. Since I can't go to AMC's brilliant/horrifying all-day Best Picture marathon tomorrow [Ed. Note: HEY!] I've been catching up slowly. And so, on a full night's sleep, I somewhat reluctantly saw The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

I found myself baffled by Button's massive nomination haul. Here before me, on the verge of being festooned with highest honors, was a genuinely bad movie.

How bad? Allow me to count the ways. [Warning: the spoilers will fly fast and furious.]

The framing device. Button unfolds as Daisy's daughter, Caroline, reads Benjamin's journal to her on her New Orleans deathbed, with Hurricane Katrina looming. That's two entirely unnecessary elements added to the story. The dying woman looking back on her life is cheap sentimentality, while the Katrina aspect is rife with symbolic weight, but symbolizing what? It's a storytelling gimmick that Means Something, without the slightest indication of what that Something might be.

Moreover, the device invites pointless exchanges that stall the movie. My personal favorite: an agitated Caroline steps out into the hospital hallway for a smoke, where she's promptly told, "You can't smoke here." Thank you, Oscar-nominated, three-hour screenplay!

Much more that went wrong, after the jump...

Continue reading "What's So Curiously Wrong With 'Benjamin Button'?" »

2:35 PM ET | 02-20-2009 | permalink

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The Fug Girls: The Ghosts Of Oscar Fashion Past (And Future)

The All-Time Classic: Bjork swans her way into the 2001 Oscars. Lucy Nicholson, AFP/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

The fashion blog Go Fug Yourself is one of the sharpest and funniest destinations on the Internet, and your hands-down best bet for red-carpet fashion critiques.

It's won a boatload of awards, and it's been written up in Time and Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal and Entertainment Weekly, and there's just not time to list the accolades — but they are all deserved. There's even a book, The Fug Awards, perfect for the analog fashion critic in you.

So we're glad to report that The Fug Girls, Heather and Jessica, were kind enough to take time out of one of their busiest weeks — they're covering New York's Fashion Week for NYMag.com — to answer some Oscars 101 questions, and to warmly (?) recall the terrifying ghosts of red carpets past.

Be sure to explore the photo gallery above to see most of the outfits Jessica and Heather mention here — you may have blocked out the memory of the Demi Moore bike shorts, and it's just not the same if you can't see them for yourself.

What's your favorite Oscars outfit of all time? What made it successful?

JESSICA: I think mine would be Bjork's swan dress. I would not say it was successful, but that dress has given people comedic fodder — not to mention Halloween costumes — for literally years, and there's something to be said for that. On the other side of the coin, it's very hard to say what I think is the all-time most beautiful gown, as there have been so many, but I loved Marion Cotillard's white Gaultier from last year. I am looking forward to seeing what she wears this year.

HEATHER: I'm lousy at remembering this stuff year-to-year. Half the time I can't even remember stuff I fugged a week ago. My mind is a lousy archive. I do remember thinking Penelope Cruz's pink strapless dress with that feathered train — she wore it the year she was nominated for Volver, and I think it was Versace — was stunning. It was exactly the kind of dress I feel like a girl ought to wear to the Oscars, because when else can you go that big, that dreamy? The gown wouldn't really be possible at any old movie premiere, so I admired her for living the kind of red-carpet princess fantasy I feel like all little girls have when they dream of being actresses. You know, before they learn the business is all about rejection and sadness and pills.

Disasters, up-and-comers, and why Freida Pinto may be luckier than Jennifer Hudson, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Fug Girls: The Ghosts Of Oscar Fashion Past (And Future)" »

12:07 PM ET | 02-20-2009 | permalink

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'Slumdog Milk-ionaire'

Milk: Might this man have a more uplifting story than even an instant millionaire? Focus Features

 

by John Ramos

Note: John Ramos is a film producer and a longtime writer at Television Without Pity. Happily, he will be joining me and Stephen Thompson (NPR Music Editor and the creator of The Onion A.V. Club) for our live Oscar coverage on Sunday night, beginning at 8 p.m.

-- Linda Holmes

Okay, I'll admit that portmanteau in the title doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Superficially, Slumdog Millionaire and Milk are similar in that they deal with utter unknowns who become beloved figures. But beyond that, they're radically different. They're almost polar opposites in many ways, including the emotional states they left me in -- and not in the way their apparent happy-ending/sad-ending alignment might suggest.

As told in Sean Penn's (if you'll excuse the expression) Oscar-worthy performance, Harvey Milk's journey began with a simple desire to be seen, to stand up and be counted. He thrived on both the satisfaction he got from fighting for the rights of his gay constituents and on the attendant attention. The famous message he recorded to be played in the event of his assassination is featured prominently in the film as both a storytelling device and a reminder to the audience not to get too comfortable.

Furthermore, even if you go in not knowing the story, the film opens with Dianne Feinstein announcing his murder (and Mayor George Moscone's) at the hands of Dan White, so the viewer is intimately aware that Milk's story is going to come to a tragic end.

Why both sad endings and happy endings are often not as they appear, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Slumdog Milk-ionaire'" »

8:20 AM ET | 02-20-2009 | permalink

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Why Hollywood Should Never Try To Be Tasteful

Jennifer Lopez: Dressed oh-so-modestly at the Golden Globes, in deference to the economy. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Entertainment

 

by Linda Holmes

Oscar week continues! I am limbering up in preparation for the AMC Best Picture Showcase on Saturday, and on Sunday night, I will be joined by NPR Music Editor Stephen Thompson as well as writer and film producer John Ramos to discuss the awards live. I'm particularly happy to be teaming up with John -- we were colleagues at Television Without Pity (where you might have known him as the Couch Baron) and I am sure he is just as pitiless as I recall.

One of the big questions surrounding this year's Oscars seems to be whether there will be less flash at Sunday's Oscars because everyone wants to be sensitive about the economy.

It's a reasonable idea, in theory, to tone down the ostentatious overindulgence to keep people from concentrating on awkward thoughts like, "Hey, I could get my house out of foreclosure if I could have one of your earrings." But when it's done consciously -- when it's a bunch of stylists talking about simplifying celebrity jewelry out of respect for people who've been laid off -- it sounds outrageous. Check out this quote from the L.A. Times piece linked above:

"It used to be chic to say, 'I'm wearing $16 million worth of jewels,' " said publicist Howard Bragman, who specializes in crisis counseling for celebrities. "That's distasteful right now."

It's distasteful "right now"? (Not to mention, "crisis counseling for celebrities"?)

A unique use of the word "job," and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Why Hollywood Should Never Try To Be Tasteful" »

7:01 AM ET | 02-19-2009 | permalink

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The Great Oscar Panic Of 2009

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button: Who cares? (Sorry, too blunt?) Paramount Pictures

 

by Linda Holmes

We're getting into the swing of Oscar season here, so look for coverage to continue this week. On Saturday, I will be sacrificing my posture and possibly my sanity to perform selfless acts of live Twittering from the all-day, multi-hour, good-for-your-soul AMC Theaters Best Picture Showcase, and on Oscar night, we'll be having live commentary on the show, which we'll discuss in more detail very soon.

Generally speaking, Oscar night is a frothy cocktail of pretty dresses and teary speeches, and it's unusual for the occasion to feel quite as fraught with tension as it does this year.

First, you have the pressure created by the failure to nominate The Dark Knight for major awards outside of Heath Ledger's Best Supporting Actor nomination. There was immediate disdain for that decision, particularly in combination with the failure to nominate WALL*E, another very popular movie that was very well reviewed and also didn't snag a Best Picture nomination.

More generally, the five films that were nominated for Best Picture had, as of the beginning of this week, grossed a little less than $275 million between them. While that's a large amount of money for a randomly selected group of five films, it's not a lot for a crop of five Best Picture nominees, and as Variety points out, it's in the neighborhood of $40 million less than last year, which already wasn't about nominating blockbusters.

Not only that, but the movies that did get nominations didn't get as much of a post-nomination boost as might have been expected, with the exception of Slumdog Millionaire, word-of-mouth about which had already boomed before the nominations came out. So on top of the fact that smaller films were nominated, it doesn't even seem to have done those small films very much good.

Furthermore, it's my sense that not only are people not excited about the Oscar nominees because they haven't made a lot of money; they're not excited about them because with at least a couple of them, even many people who have seen them don't think they're all that good and will tell you so.

Does seeing Benjamin Button mean you care whether it wins awards? After the jump...

Continue reading "The Great Oscar Panic Of 2009" »

8:08 AM ET | 02-17-2009 | permalink

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NPR's Oscars Past And Present Polls: Best Supporting Actor

By Trey Graham

There's been no shortage of experts handicapping the Oscars horse-race — in fact it started at roughly 8:31 a.m. on Jan. 22.

But even the most wonkish insider analysis focuses on the outcome of this year's Oscars. We say: Why limit yourself to whether Heath will trounce Hoffman, or whether The Reader will come from behind to skunk Slumdog Millionaire?

And so we offer you the first of five Oscars Past and Present polls, in which this year's nominees are forced, completely arbitrarily, to compete for your affections with Oscar winners from the past five decades — specifically the winners in their categories from 1999, 1989, 1979, 1969 and 1959.

We'll start with the roundup for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The poll's below — pick your favorite, whether he's from this year or from a classic.

And yes, we know, you've probably forgotten what part the Welsh-born actor Hugh Griffith played in Ben-Hur.

(Why, it was Sheik Ilderim, the Arab horse-racing fanatic, of course! 'Cause it was Old Skool Hollywood, and that was how ... oh, wait, that's still how they roll. )

God bless the Internets.

4:45 PM ET | 02- 4-2009 | permalink

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Ten Can't-Do Dresses From The SAG Awards Red Carpet

The red-carpet dress: Beauty is one thing; tripping is another. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

I like to look at pretty dresses. How luscious is the color of that dress on Kate Winslet? But the older and grumpier I become, the more difficult it gets for me to just look at a dress without thinking about logistics. What about walking? What about breathing? What about sitting in an auditorium seat for a couple of hours?

Not all these things are concerns for the people in attendance at the major festive celebrations of Hollywood, but they are concerns to me.

This is the lens through which I see beautiful dresses on celebrities now; I analyze what you can't do in that dress.

Can't Go To Best Buy Without Being Stopped By Security And Accused Of Smuggling Out A Nintendo Wii: Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

 

Can't Get Anyone To Pay Attention To Your Very Pretty Face: Emily Blunt

Emily Blunt Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

 

Can't Find A Competent Train-Wrangler: Claire Danes

Claire Danes Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

 

The rest of the list, after the jump...

Continue reading "Ten Can't-Do Dresses From The SAG Awards Red Carpet" »

4:01 PM ET | 01-26-2009 | permalink

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Join Us: Oscars Live Chat With NPR Film Critic Bob Mondello

UPDATE: The live chat has ended -- but you can play it back to see what Linda thinks about Angelina Jolie's lips. And your Oscar-noms observations (questions, frustrations, etc.) are still more than welcome in the comments.

5:11 PM ET | 01-21-2009 | permalink

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Golden Globe Wrap-Up: A Good Night To Be Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet: Sure, she talks too much, but those two Golden Globe awards look pretty good on her. Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

Maybe Kate Winslet knew she was going to win two Golden Globe awards last night for her lead performance in Revolutionary Road and her supporting performance in The Reader. Maybe that explains why she was one of the only actresses on stage who had combed her hair.

Winslet's two big-shot acting trophies made her the most visible individual winner of the evening, but the hulking powerhouse of the ceremony on the movie side was Slumdog Millionaire, which took home the award for outstanding drama, as well as awards for its screenplay, score, and director. As we noted when the nominations came out, the Hollywood Foreign Press snubbed Milk pretty brutally from the outset, and the one big chance they gave it passed last night when Sean Penn lost out to Mickey Rourke of The Wrestler in the closely-watched race for Best Actor.

Heath Ledger's supporting performance as the Joker was The Dark Knight's one big win, which only adds to the perception that his Oscar is probably inevitable. Not only because the performance is spectacular, but because it's the only aspect of the stupendously popular film has any awards momentum at all, and the Academy is unlikely to let it walk away with nothing.

The television side and 30 Rock's continuing roll, after the jump...

Continue reading "Golden Globe Wrap-Up: A Good Night To Be Kate Winslet" »

8:23 AM ET | 01-12-2009 | permalink

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'The Times Of Harvey Milk,' Yours For The Asking

If the attention that went to Sean Penn's performance in Milk made you curious about the real Harvey Milk, you'll be glad to see that Hulu has gotten hold of The Times Of Harvey Milk, the 1985 documentary that not only won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, but also won a Special Jury Prize at the very first Sundance Film Festival.

Hulu has moved slowly into acquiring worthwhile theatrical films, compared to its early strength with television, but they're getting serious now.

2:31 PM ET | 12-30-2008 | permalink

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Golden Globes Snub 'Milk,' Love Everything On HBO

James Franco: His Golden Globe nomination for Pineapple Express (that's him in the front seat, with concerned Seth Rogen in back) is a nice surprise. Sony Pictures

 

by Linda Holmes

Golden Globe nominations are out, and there are a few surprises on the list.

Movie Nominations

First and foremost is the lack of a Best Drama nomination for Milk, which lost out to The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, and Revolutionary Road. It picked up a nomination for Sean Penn, but that's it. That gives Milk the same number of nominations as the far inferior The Duchess, which got its sole nomination for Ralph Fiennes' performance as a repressed, unfeeling nobleman.

(To be honest, Fiennes in The Duchess left me utterly cold -- to me, it was every unfeeling aristo in every "married to the king, but in love with another" story ever told, but I was in the emphatic minority on that point, so the nomination is not a surprise.)

Does this mean Milk won't get an Oscar nomination? It's hard to imagine. Not only has the critical praise bordered on outlandish, but the film is full of people Hollywood has loved in the past: Penn, Josh Brolin, and director Gus Van Sant among them. It's been a robust November-December for dramas, but look for Milk to get its Best Picture nod.

Note that not one of the Best Drama nominees has been in wide release as of nomination day, which again brings up the annoyance of shoving every award hopeful (other than summer blockbusters) into the last six weeks of the year, creating a false sense of despair for the other 46 weeks.

In any event, the other Milk news that's most interesting is that James Franco was passed over for that film, but was rather delightfully nominated for Best Actor in a comedy or musical for Pineapple Express. Milk is a more important movie, obviously, but Pineapple Express would have been in far more trouble had James Franco broken a leg and dropped out than Milk would have been.

Not so welcome is the silly nomination of Tom Cruise for his wildly overpraised cameo in Tropic Thunder, which was a prosthetics stunt, and not acting. Robert Downey, Jr. is also nominated for his supporting work in that same film, and would be infinitely more deserving. Because comedy and drama are combined in this category, Cruise's nomination comes at the expense of the aforementioned James Franco and Josh Brolin in Milk, to name just two. Badly done, Hollywood Foreign Press.

Heath Ledger did get the nomination for The Dark Knight that many expected, but it was the only recognition the film received.

Note also the strong showings for Doubt, which got acting nominations for Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Viola Davis, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, in addition to one for John Patrick Shanley's script; Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the top-nominated comedy, and Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, which received nominations for Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and an original song from Bruce Springsteen.

What's up on the TV side, after the jump...

Continue reading "Golden Globes Snub 'Milk,' Love Everything On HBO" »

10:14 AM ET | 12-11-2008 | permalink

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