Steve Martin will co-host the Oscars with Alec Baldwin. They'll be fine, but it's an awfully safe choice. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

by Linda Holmes

When it was announced yesterday that the Oscar hosts next March would be Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, I felt oddly disappointed. They're both great at what they do -- I think Martin did a very fine job as host in 2001 and 2003, and Alec Baldwin is certainly wonderful on 30 Rock -- but I can hardly think of a less interesting choice the producers could have made. Other than going back to Billy Crystal.

The fine line between good hosting and bad, after the jump.

Continue reading "The Oscars Play It Ultra-Safe With Steve Martin And Alec Baldwin" >

Hugh Jackman had to do a few undignified things at the 2009 Oscars -- are you fit to take his place next year? (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

by Linda Holmes

Okay, so no matter what happens with the Oscar-hosting business, there are plenty of awards shows that need help. Emmys, Tonys, Oscars, Golden Globes, something with "Blockbuster" in it, that one where they give everything to Twilight, the MTV Movie Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, the MTV Inappropriate Hot-Tub Moment Of The Year ... it's a crowded field, and many hosts are needed.

Always eager to help, we have developed the following quiz to help you determine whether you would be a good awards-show host and to decide, What Color Is Your Parachute?-style, whether this is an avenue you should pursue.

1. Do you own a tuxedo and/or formal gown?

A. I do, and I wore it to the grocery store just the other day to bring some glamour to the frozen-pizza section.
B. I do, and I'm fairly sure it's in a bag under my unopened action figures.
C. I own several tuxedos and formal gowns. You may know me as The Wax Museum Bandit.
D. That's not how we roll in my grunge band.

2. How do you feel about performing scripted banter written by Bruce Vilanch?

A. He's the professional, right? If scripted banter were unsuccessful, or, say, had bombed fifty years in a row, they would have stopped using it.
B. It's okay, but I'd like to get someone a little less highbrow.
C. That would be great! I was really upset that he wasn't available to ghost my Christmas letter last year.
D. I'm not sure I see how excelling in the decathlon qualifies anyone to write jokes, but I guess that's our devotion to celebrity culture for you.

3. If I asked you to complete the sentence, "Jack Nicholson is here tonight, and ... ," how would you respond?

A. " ... his date is younger than my socks, ho-ho-ho!"
B. " ... he ... can't handle the truth. Um. Anyway. Here's the cast of Twilight: New Moon."
C. I would definitely not point out that he hasn't really worked that much in a while, or that I'm not sure why he still gets to sit in the front row, and I would definitely not question his choice of indoor eyewear or suggest that he has become a caricature. I absolutely would not. In fact, we never had this conversation.
D. I would explain how overpraised many American actors are, using the words "the underrated Kurt Russell."

4. What is your position regarding parody songs?

A. They are the highest form of humor. My "Eine Kleine Yachtmusik," which tells the story of a man thrown overboard during a boating excursion, is considered a classic, if I do say so myself.
B. I only own Weird Al on vinyl.
C. I once rewrote "You Raise Me Up" as a McDonald's commercial. It wasn't exactly funny, but it was really uplifting. In one part, there was a grease burn that magically healed itself.
D. I hate music. And humor. And puns. Go away and leave me alone.

5. When you introduce a presenter you do not really respect, you should do what?

A. Smile hard, emphasizing your incisors, which ancient cultures believed were the keys to communicating forced merriment.
B. Make a face as if you can smell something, but you are not sure what it is.
C. Sarcastically say, "I just couldn't be happier to introduce this brilliant thespian."
D. Boo lustily while making exaggerated "thumbs down" gestures.

Five more questions, after the jump.

Continue reading "Take Our Quiz And Know For Sure: Would You Be A Good Awards-Show Host?" >

Neil Patrick Harris is hosting this year's Emmys, and we'll be watching live. (Cliff Lipson / CBS)

by Linda Holmes

You can relive last night's Emmy liveblog right there in that box above. Find out whether Mad Men repeats as Outstanding Drama, whether Tina Fey keeps raking in the Emmys, and whether anyone has been taken in by a rogue stylist telling her, "It's going to look great. In Paris, everyone goes to formal events dressed as giant chickens, believe me."

If you have comments, leave them in the comments to the post below. You can also check out your fellow Monkey-Seers responses to our poll questions, including whether it was time to get over Jon Cryer's victory, already.

Elisabeth Moss, who plays Peggy Olson on Mad Men, is just one of our predicted winners who probably won't pan out. (AMC)

by Linda Holmes

As you know, the Emmys will be here on Sunday night, and I'll be covering them live with the help of Joe Reid (who has written for Monkey See, works at SOAPnet, and was my dear pal and colleague at Television Without Pity) and Marc Hirsh (who writes in a couple of capacities here at NPR and writes regularly at The Boston Globe). We are all very opinionated. It should be fun. We'll be getting underway at 7:30 p.m., ahead of the ceremony at 8:00.

But if you can't wait that long and you want to know what will happen, I will do my best to tell you, with the understanding that my prognosticating abilities are notoriously sketchy, as are everyone else's. That's why you should add your own predictions in the comments; it's possible that we can reach some kind of consensus that will approach reality. (Dare to dream, and so forth.) Follow along with the nominations here, using the handy dropdown menus.

Outstanding Drama Series: I see Mad Men repeating here. I think the most likely upset is Breaking Bad (AMC's other prestige show), which could sneak past exactly the same way Bryan Cranston grabbed last year's Outstanding Actor In A Drama trophy that I think 99 percent of pundits thought Jon Hamm was a cinch to take home. Dark horse: Big Love, which has been gaining in critical appreciation and has what is, by all accounts, an outstanding and huge cast.

Lots more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Fearless Emmy Predictions That Are Probably Wrong! Add Your Own!" >

Neil Patrick Harris is hosting this year's Emmys, which might be surprisingly interesting. (Cliff Lipson / CBS)

by Linda Holmes

Now that Tina Fey already has an Emmy and Mad Men has already lost a couple of them, it may seem like the suspense of the Emmys is over -- but it's not. On Sunday night, in fact, it could be a far happier occasion than it's been at times.

Emmy night has an annoying tendency to get into ruts in which it does the same dances over and over: it does the West Wing Shuffle, the Boston Legal Mambo, the Frasier Cha-Cha, and Jeremy Piven's Cool Dude Club Moves. And it does them over and over, year after year, until you think, "I want to see something else."

Some of that will undoubtedly continue this year. Some winners will be of the "Ugh, that guy, again" variety, but it looks like most of them won't. Piven didn't get his usual nomination. Neither did James Spader for the last season of Boston Legal.

In fact, in the major categories, there are very few nominations that hang over the ceremony with the Emmys' characteristic note of dull inevitability. Short of Entourage winning Outstanding Comedy -- and I've never been able to tolerate that show long enough to develop a strong critical opinion of it, just a gut reaction that it's unspeakably obnoxious -- there's very little in the big categories that would make me wildly frustrated if it happened. The closest would be Kevin Dillon or Jon Cryer beating out Neil Patrick Harris, Rainn Wilson, Tracy Morgan, and Jack McBrayer for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy, and even those guys aren't repeat-winning award hogs.

It might be one of the better sets of winners, actually, providing that you put aside the heartbreak of who was nominated in the first place. The big snubs already happened -- Battlestar Galactica isn't going to win anything on Sunday, but you can prepare for that now and get your crippling grief and/or frothing-mouthed anger out of the way.

And if you do, you will be rewarded with several hours of Neil Patrick Harris, who was an underused but perfectly fine host at the Tony Awards earlier this year, and who is not only hosting the ceremony but might even finally win this year for his role on How I Met Your Mother.

If you'll be watching -- or perhaps even if you won't -- please join us here, where we'll be live-blogging the ceremony, beginning at 7:30 p.m. I'll be joined by Monkey See contributors Marc Hirsh and Joe Reid, both of whom, I will tell you, have some strong feelings about television. It should be a good time, and it's less likely than usual to be an intensely frustrating experience, and what more, really, can you ask from an awards show?

This Tina Fey performance (that's Amy Poehler next to her, of course) won an Emmy at tonight's Creative Arts Awards. (NBC)

by Linda Holmes

The standard prime-time Emmy telecast isn't until next weekend, but tonight they handed out the Creative Arts Awards, which cover everything they choose not to include in the big show. That includes lots of very important but little-recognized production categories as well as guest actors, reality programs (not reality-competition, mind you, which are separate), children's programming, and more.

The most famous winners of the night are undoubtedly Tina Fey and Justin Timberlake, who took home Outstanding Guest Actor and Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy, both for their performances in last season's Saturday Night Live. (She did an impression you might have heard a little bit about; he continued his well-regarded record of hosting.)

Ellen Burstyn won Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama for her work on Law & Order: SVU, while Michael J. Fox was Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama for his appearances on Rescue Me. (That's Fox's fifth win in eleven nominations over almost 25 years.)

But some of the other interesting news was a little lower in profile.

Victories for an already-canceled show, after the jump...

Continue reading "Fey, Fox, Timberlake, 'Pushing Daisies,' And 'Dr. Horrible' Win Early Emmys" >

You might have seen less of the presentation of a few of this year's Emmys -- but that plan was shot down after intense criticism. (Vince Bucci / Getty Images Entertainment)

by Linda Holmes

What have we learned from the dust-up over the Emmys' proposal to time-shift and slightly edit down the presentations of awards in eight categories, by presenting them just before the show and editing the footage a little? We have learned that people who are nominated for Emmys are very sensitive about the perceived slights in the way those awards are not only handed out, but televised. And now, they're getting their way.

The TV Academy has dropped the time-shifting plan, reportedly under threats from various guilds that if the awards in question weren't shown live -- and if every moment of clapping, hugging, standing around, and thanking your lawyer weren't televised -- the Academy would be punished with hefty license fees to use clips in future telecasts.

On the one hand, it seems ungracious to complain that not enough time is being spent televising yourself and those like you getting awards. It is a universe in which most of us simply don't live, where you can complain about the terms under which an award that's supposed to be an honor must be not only given but publicized. So much for "it's an honor just being nominated." Or even "It's an honor just actually winning the award."

But on the other hand, as previously discussed, how stupid was it to choose writers of dramas as one of eight awards you were seemingly demoting? It's all well and good to ask people not to take things as personal slights, but nerves are raw in Hollywood as much as they are everywhere else, and this is exactly how writers have often felt anyway -- that they are underappreciated compared to actors and directors. It's just about the most foolish and politically ham-handed way this could have been approached, for my money, and it's no surprise that it blew up in their faces.

by Linda Holmes

In an effort to control the length of the Emmy telecast, the television Academy recently announced that it would be pre-taping the presentation of eight awards earlier in the evening and then showing edited versions during the live broadcast. The idea is to, as this year's host Neil Patrick Harris put it, "edit down the standing and the hugging." In other words, the presentation of the award will still be shown during the live broadcast, but in a sort of "Earlier tonight, this happened" kind of way.

The eight awards affected will include two each in acting, directing, writing, and producing, and the time saved will be devoted to showing highlights from the year in television -- including shows that aren't nominated.

On the one hand, it's odd to devote time during an awards show to things that aren't nominated for awards. But on the other hand, the Oscars have done this forever in their various clip packages of the year in movies, and both the Emmys and the Oscars understand that it hurts them when the big shows and movies that people actually watch don't have a presence.

The decision has actually spawned a large protest among TV writers, who already feel shafted by the lack of attention they get during the telecast and feel further slighted now.

Indeed, while most of the categories apparently under discussion involve miniseries and movies, which is at least an understandable choice, there is something particularly off-putting about adding Outstanding Writing In A Drama Series to the list, considering that it may be the single award that has more to do with the recognition of genuinely good dramatic television than any other.

It's not especially flattering to stage a protest over a reduction in the attention given to your own award, in principle, but in this case, the writers would seem to have a point. There ought to be somewhere else to find the extra seconds that writers spend hugging each other.

Well, it's about time: How I Met Your Mother nabs an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. CBS

 

by Linda Holmes

For me, the most surprising Emmy nomination of the day (here's the list of major nominations) is Simon Baker for The Mentalist, who nudged James Spader out of the Lead Actor In A Drama category. It just goes to show you, I think, how much networks are struggling right now and how much of a premium there is on headlining a new network show that's actually successful. Other than that switcheroo, the other five nominees were, indeed, exactly the same as last year.

Also: No Piven! No Piven! Jeremy Piven lost his spot in Supporting Actor In A Comedy, and both Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan were nominated for 30 Rock. I never, ever would have guessed that Piven's spot would be lost before Kevin Dillon's, but that's why I don't put down money on these predictions. Perhaps the "mercury poisoning" publicity didn't reflect well on him.

Other surprises?

Surprises, my Category Of Shame, and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Emmy Nominations: Did Inevitability Jinx Jeremy Piven?" >

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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" >

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.

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'?" >

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)" >

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'" >

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" >

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" >

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.

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" >

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.

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" >

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.

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" >