I actually have early commerical photos that look frighteningly similar to this image...
We had our usual Academy Awards gathering last night and there were several nice moments, like Sean Penn winning Best Actor, along the way (like these hilarious framed images that my friends Joel and Sheldon suprised a few of us with during the red carpet pre-show).
I thought Hugh Jackman did a suprisingly good job hosting the show and really enjoyed his opening number.
Who knew Wolverine could sing that well?
As you can see, Oscar was very suprised that Meryl Streep didn't win for Best Actress. However, she was her usual gracious self and really looked beautiful in her elegant gown.
She's a classy lady, that one.
Joel enjoyed Ben Stiller's Joaquin Phonenix impression at the podium. We're all hoping that Joaquin is just being a lunatic these days as a publicity stunt for his upcoming mockumentary.
If not...I hope he enjoys doing regional theater.
My friend John was disappointed that Jennifer Aniston didn't suddenly leap off the stage and start bitch-slapping Angelina Jolie, who sat there (looking stunning as always) smiling up at her while clinging to Jenn's ex-husband, Brad Pitt.
Angelina would have easily won, so Jenn made the right decision.
Sheldon cheered for all of the "Slumdog Millionaire" awards, mainly because it meant that we'd likely be seeing a lot more Bollywood dancing in the near future.
Sheldon always enjoys a good dance number with colorful costumes and lots of jazz hands.
It was also my friend Andrew's 40th birthday yesterday, so we celebrated that as well. Just like Benjamin Button, Andrew appears to be aging in reverse.
With the Academy Awards airing this weekend, my ex-roommate from California (Joel, above) has worked on another set of fun theatrical posters that integrate some of our friends for his Academy Awards party. I'll have the rest of the new ones posted on Monday after he has his official unveiling Sunday.
Now that I'm living in Atlanta, it's kind of sad that this will be the first year that I won't be a part of that or any of the other gatherings I've had with friends there over the past 28 years I lived in Los Angeles.
Time does fly...
I also just realized that tomorrow will mark my Third Year Anniversary writing this blog, which began with my trip to Australia (which Kathy Griffin hosted).
The blog started out as more of a travel journal for me and a way for my friends to follow along while I was out of the country and ended up becoming that and more once I returned from that trip in 2008.
I've been to a lot of very interesting and fun places over the years and have met some amazing people along the way who have continued to follow my life and perverse sense of humor through the blog. I want to let you all know how much I appreciate it and hope that it has brought you at least a smile or two when you found the time to stop by.
I have no idea what the future brings, but I look forward to it and hope that you'll all be along for the ride.
The Academy Awards nominations were announced today and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie each got one (he for "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and she for "The Changeling"). I really liked both of their films and performaces, so that should be an exciting and hectic night at the Pitt-Jolie household (I need the mascara now....NO, I need the mascara now").
I had only one "she better get nominated" person who I was hoping didn't get overlooked...Taraji P. Henson (she played Brad Pitt's mother in "Benjamin Button"). Thankfully, she wasn't dissed...so I am very excited about her nomination!
Every once in a while, the academy gets it right.
It's also nice that Meryl Streep got nominated for "Doubt" (I have to see that soon!). This is her 15th nomination, which is a record for any performer. She's always so good in any role...it's almost wrong when she doesn't get nominated.
I'm glad that the academy got "Milk" (4 nominations). You just never know how the kids are going to swing for voting with gay-themed films.
Other nominations that are well-deserved are comeback kings Mickey Rourke and Robert Downey Jr., everything for "Benjamin Button" (13 Nominations) and "Slumdog Millionaire" (10 Nominations), Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Amy Adams, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, and Viola Davis (all three nominated for "Doubt"), Heath Ledger, Marisa Tomei (who was really good and quite naked in "The Wrestler), and Anne Hathaway.
The Academy Awards were actually a lot of fun tonight. I thought Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin's opening was hilarious. The writing was funny and they really played off of each other nicely. That Paranormal Activity spoof they did was a riot!
There were some obvious winners (Mo'Nique and Jeff Bridges) and some interesting surprises (TheHurt Locker winning over Avatar and Sandra Bullock winning over Meryl Streep).
Plus, my roommate Joel redesigned, printed out, and framed some really fun movie posters to include a few of our friends who came over to watch the show tonight. So, of course, I have to share those here too.
Another nice surprise was Star Trek winning an award for Best Makeup. It is the first Academy Award that any Star Trek movie has ever won (and there have been ten other Treks before this one). So, naturally I was very excited about that (as you can see by my smile in the poster above).
Unfortunately, not everyone who is nominated can win. Like Colin Firth in A Single Man (which is a great movie, if you haven't seen it).
Matt Damon didn't win for Invictus (although it's always nice to see him).
Sherlock Holmes didn't win either, but I thought Robert Downey Jr. was quite entertaining while presenting with Tina Fey (who I always enjoy) for the writing awards.
Even though Hugh Jackman did a nice job hosting last year, I kinda hope they let Steve and Alec host again next year. Or Abe Vigoda and Betty White...they were sure funny together in that Snickers commercial.
I also think that Sean Penn might have been tipping the hooch backstage before he presented tonight. Otherwise, can someone please explain to me what the hell he was rambling on about before he finally handed out his award?
I haven't seen Inglourious Basterds yet, but I hear that Christoph Waltz (the guy who won Best Supporting Actor) was really good. Although, I'm just not sure I can sit through the scalpings and other bloody stuff that is supposed to be scattered throughout the film.
Has anyone seen Young Victoria? I do enjoy Emily Blunt (she was so funny in The Devil Wears Prada), so was happy that it at least won an award for Costume Design.
Because...without costumes, everyone would be naked in every movie.
And, as we learned from Harvey Keitel in The Piano...that isn't always a good thing.
The Artist really racked up the Oscars (literally in this poster) on the Academy Awards show last night. I haven't seen it yet, but most folks I have spoken to who have said that it was kinda boring and, although good, just not that great. However, I do enjoy watching Jean Dujardin, so we'll see what I think when I finally catch it OnDemand one day soon.
I don't care what anyone says, I'm really happy that Meryl Streep finally won for Best Actress! She constantly gives great performances and should have won several other times over the years. I liked Billy Crystal's line about how she deserved an award just for having to sit through the other 14 nominations in the past and acting like she didn't care that she lost again.
Here is a great article on the Art of the Meryl Streep Acceptance Speech from The New Yorker (thanks for posting Kerry!). I think many people assume Meryl wins Oscars all the time, but she doesn't...
What you may not realize is that Streep has not won an Academy Award since 1982, for “Sophie’s Choice,” and before that she had won only for “Kramer vs. Kramer.” Yes, she’s been nominated a record-breaking seventeen times, but that means she’s lost fourteen times, which puts her firmly in Susan Lucci territory.
I'm glad The Descendants won for best adapted screenplay. It was one of my favorite movies of last year.
My Week With Marilyn didn't win anything, but I've heard it's good and my friend Joel did such a good job with this poster that I didn't even realize that it's my friend Andrew. Hilarious!
Hugo won five awards and, again, most people I know thought the movie looked good, but was too long.
I haven't seen this...
or this...
or this (nor did I recognize my friend John in this poster)....
It seems I will be using OnDemand a lot over the next few months.
I did see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and really enjoyed it. I also enjoy that my friend Chris (featured here in the poster) will be moving to Atlanta very soon!
Overall, I thought Billy Crystal was a fine host and, although he seemed a bit off than in years past, it was nice to see his opening movie montage again. I always enjoyed those in previous years.
I also enjoyed Ellen's new JCPenney commercials. Here are some fun outtakes:
Jimmy Kimmel also had his Oscar follow-up show and presented his Movie: The Movie that "packs everything moviegoers love into one spectacular motion picture event" and includes all of these actors: Ryan Phillippe, Jessica Alba, Taylor Lautner, Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Colin Farrell, Jeff Goldblum, Bryan Cranston, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Cameron Diaz, JJ Abrams, Martin Scorsese, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Jessica Biel, Chewbacca, Helen Mirren, Steven Tyler, George Clooney, Charlize Theron, Tom Hanks, Ed Norton, Meryl Streep, Matt Damon as a bunch of grapes, and Gabourey Sidibe.
Chewbacca and Helen Mirren in one movie!
Here is a Behind-The-Scenes video of the making of Movie: The Movie:
As always, thanks to my friend Joel's hilarious Oscar Party posters for this post. They always make me laugh and remind me how much I miss attending that party and seeing all of my friends at his house each year. He started making these posters a few years ago and they quickly became the anticipated highlight each year to see which friend would be featured and how.
Click on these links to see the fun posters from 2011, 2010, and 2009.
Actor Peter O'Toole died peacefully Saturday in a hospital, his agent Steve Kenis said Sunday. He was 81. O'Toole's first major film role in the title role of T.E. Lawrence in "Lawrence of Arabia" in 1962 was "absolute genius," British film critic Richard Fitzwilliams told CNN. It earned him the first of eight Academy Award nominations and propelled him to world stardom. O'Toole was presented an honorary Oscar by Meryl Streep during the 2003 Academy Awards. The engraving on the gold statuette reads: "Whose remarkable talents have provided cinema history with some of its most memorable characters."
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are taking on the Oscars. The two Hollywood veterans will share hosting duties at the 82nd Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday.
They're both very funny and should be able to slip enough humor and sarcastic digs in between the windy speeches and musical numbers to keep everyone entertained.
Maybe they can convince Tina Fey to write their jokes...that would be heaven.
You may not know his name, but anyone who watches movies and television knows the squat, tough-faced character actor Charles Durning, who died on Christmas Eve, according to his family.
The 89-year-old decorated World War II veteran had an award-winning career that spanned 20th Century entertainment, from the burlesque stage and theater to television and film, playing roles as diverse as society itself.
Durning was the gruff father smitten by Dustin Hoffman's female impersonation of "Tootsie," the Southern politician dancing on stage with George Clooney's Soggy Bottom Boys in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and the corrupt cop caught up in the "big con" by Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "The Sting." He won Tony and Golden Globe awards and was nominated for Academy Awards two times as a supporting actor. He also received nine Emmy nominations and was honored in 2007 with a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild.
He was always good in everything he did, but I really enjoyed him in Tootsie!
Jack Klugman, best known as messy sports writer Oscar Madison in TV's "The Odd Couple," died Monday at his California home, his son Adam said. He was 90. Klugman, who won two Emmys for his role in the early 1970s sitcom, also starred in "Quincy, M.E." as medical examiner Dr. R. Quincy from 1976 to 1983.
Some of the coolest spaceships ever filmed came from Gerry Anderson, who died today after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Anderson did more for space opera on television than almost any other single creator, launching space show after space show from the 1960s to the 1990s. But Anderson is probably best known in the United States for creating Space: 1999, a live-action show about the crew of a Moonbase who must survive after the Moon is thrown out of Earth's orbit.
Space 1999 is still one of my all-time-favorite Sci-Fi shows.
Neil Patrick Harris revealed he will host the Academy Awards next February by tweeting a video of him checking "Host the Oscars" from his "bucket list." Harris hosted the Tonys four times and Emmys twice. If he can also land the Grammys gig, then he would be the first person to host all four top showbiz award ceremonies.
He has done a great job hosting the Emmys and Tonys over the years...so I have no doubt he'll do a dandy job with the Oscars.
At least I now know when to run to the bathroom if I go see 127 Hours in the theater.
theShiznet site created some hilarious "this-is-what-you-should-really-expect" versions of the posters for the Top Ten films nominated for Academy Awards this year.
Here are a couple more:
Winter's Bone
Toy Story 3
Love and Other Drugs
If more studios stuck to this format, it would certainly make choosing a movie to see SO much easier.
You can check out the other six posters on their site by clicking here.
Joel's Oscar posters (with Oscar featured above) are perfect for my overview, as always.
Well, the King's Speech really swept the awards last night. I haven't seen it yet, but plan to soon. The Brits usually do a great job with movies like that (I loved The Queen), so I'm sure it'll be fun to watch.
The Social Network was also up for a variety of awards and won several, but didn't have enough votes to beat out the King. I also need to see this too.
The Black Swan did pretty well, considering the competition. Of course, I had the same reaction to that movie as Cate Blanchett did to The Wolfman clip. "That's Gross" may have been my favorite quote from last night's show.
I was kind of hoping Inception would do better, but was glad it won the visual effects awards that it did. I really liked that movie and thought they did an amazing job all around. I would have been happy if it had won Best Picture too. But, it didn't.
I didn't think James Franco would win for 127 Hours (and he'll certainly not win anything for hosting the Oscars last night), so that might have explained why he was so "blah" during the entire show. Maybe if he had cut off his own arm during the telecast it would have made for at least one memorable moment of the night.
My favorite musical selection was "He doesn't own a shirt." from Twilight. That was probably the best bit of the night, which isn't saying much.
I think Anne Hathaway is lovely and certainly looked good in her vast array of dresses throughout the night, but she and James Franco are hardly Martin and Lewis. Carrot Top's gig in Vegas is certainly not in danger of being replaced by the comedy stylings of Franco and Hathaway.
Hopefully the Academy has learned a good lesson. A good host needs to be more than young, pretty and breathing to keep the show interesting.
Bob Hope got more laughs dead than Anne and James did all night alive.
Hmmm...if they just pieced together clips of dead hosts from shows past as "hosts" of next year's Oscars, THAT would be creepy fun and might just be what the the network needs to grab that youth demographic they feel like they desperately need.
