Don't let it be a tie break!

So I looked at the results of my poll and saw that we are in a tie break situation! Please do not let this be! There can only be one victor!! Vote away people. the five lovely ladies who were up for Best Actress in 1986 need an out come.

Left to right we have Jane Fonda - The Morning After, Marlee Matlin - Children of a Lesser God, Sissy Spacek - Crimes of the Heart, Kathleen Turner - Peggy Sue Got Married and Sigourney Weaver - Aliens.

"Be gentle, I'm not out"

Well the rumor mills are wonderful things are they not? Especially when we hear of a sexy male star and his homosexual leanings. It seems that sex hunk Wentworth Miller is having a loving gay relationship with "Brothers & sisters" star Luke MacFarlane. I love closeted gay celebrities.
Since this is just a RUMOR and not an outing I will refrane from any overtly pornographic commentary.
I will just give Wentworth some advise.
Relax, use loads of lube, breathe into it, and email me so you can get my address to send me the video.
Ta.

Hotty Mc Hot - Eric Balfour

I have no real knowledge of Eric Balfour other than his brief appearance in the very first two episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slater” as Xanders best friend. Looking at his IMDB page, I am pretty sure why I haven’t seen him in much (still trying to remember who he was in “In Her Shoes”).
HOWEVER, I do like a nice bit of rough. He has that ugly sexy look about him. Like he would be that garage mechanic you would end up giving a good root to, in the alley way up against the chain link fence, as you are waiting for your motorcycle to be repaired………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………I need to get transport.

Big fat pay cheque and the City.

Ok, I own all six seasons of “Sex and the City” and have probably watched then from beginning to end about four times, I loved this show so much. I can see how some people felt it was unrealistic, but it was a TV show, and it was supposed to be a fantasy. How people did not get that is beyond me.

The news that this is being made into a movie gives me pause. On the one hand I miss Miranda, Charlotte, Samantha and Carrie so much, but on the other hand I like where it was left off.

The idea of the feature film just sounds like a bad idea. Had they decided to do a seventh season, I would be on board, but a movie? Will it translate into a two hour running time?

I am not convinced this will work, even though Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon are all set to reprise their roles, with longtime exec producer Michael Patrick King directing a script he wrote.

I do find it interesting that Cattrall, who originally backed out of the movie because she wanted a big ole salary hike, has finally agreed on the basis of getting a huge salary and a series deal with HBO. What ever the series is going to be, nothing she does or did, will be as good as her Samantha (especially series six).
Full story is here.

La Vie En Rose - Eventual Best Actress nomination.

Now I am sure when I get around to seeing the movie, I will be impressed. Mimicry is an impressive art form for me, hence why I loved "Little Voice" (watch that clip!!), but I in particular need more.
Perhaps Marion Cotillard will blow me away, and more than likely make it all the way to Oscar night as a nominee (yet another victory for foreign actors so - YAY), and who knows, she may even win (alot of critics are saying so).
Anyway here is the trailer if you have not seen it already.

Least we forget

It is easy to forget fantastic performances in smaller movies that come out early in the year. The only ones that tend to survive are the ones from bigger movies with enough money behind then for a strong campaign.

The Namesake came and went with little noise despite a grade of 82 on Metacritic and a whopping 85% on Rotten Tomatoes . (I doubt “Babel” got close to that).
So I decided to look at the reviews and was struck by the reviews for the performances.

First the supporting:

”Tabu's Ashima, though, is the film's most extraordinary performance and one of the great acting jobs of the year so far. With incredible subtlety, Tabu ages her character from period to period, carving character without dialogue, playing the scenes as much between the lines as through them.” - Chicago Tribune

”Veterans Khan and Tabu, tap into considerable reserves of depth and subtlety”- L.A. Times

”The assured performances by Khan and Tabu, are powerfully arresting. Their believable transformation intensifies the poignancy and depth of their characters and mirrors the trajectory of their relationship from tentative to loving.”USA TODAY

”Tabu was apparently not the first choice, but after watching her in the role it's hard to imagine anyone else -- she's heartbreakingly good. If anything, it is her story that is the key to the film.”Paula Nechak – Seattle Post

Then for the lead:

”So well does Penn capture the callowness of youth that I felt annoyed at the character as I watched him. It's a terrific performance.”- Chicago Tribune

”This should be a breakout role for Kal Penn, holding the dramatic center of a film for the first time. His Gogol is a funnier and more believable creation than the books”- Los Angeles Times

” The film has a crackling star performance by Kal Penn” - The New York Times

”What might have been a blurry central figure becomes both specific and universal, deepened by the small ironies of life. Penn could turn out to be the Desi Tom Hanks. Scratch that -- he could be the next Tom Hanks,”- Boston Globe

”Penn's transformation from petulant teen to smoothed-out, capable, but still self-absorbed adult could be one of the year's finest pieces of acting.”- Premiere

These are better reviews than a lot of actors who end up getting nominated receive.
I can imagine these reviews on campaign print ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, but sadly I doubt the studio will spend the money. You need BIG performances and BIG names and BIG movies. No one wants real anymore.

The Namesake (trailer)
Uploaded by Eddie111

Where is the passion?

It seems that is recent year, there has been a noticeable lack of passion when it comes down to movies and the awards race. Sure there are a few performances that get people excited here and there, but on the whole, with Best Picture, it is all very blah.
Sure there have been the films in recent years that have captured the imagination, and expanded the limited range that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences considers to be Best Picture material, but those are very limited.

Sure there have been those films that make us jump up for joy, that make it to the Oscar beauty pagent.
2000 saw Ang Lee’s martial arts epic “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” break the foreign film and martial arts barrier in a very big way. And of course from 2001 to 2003 we not only had Peter Jackson’s brilliant fantasy trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”, but we also saw the hyper active musical love story “Moulin Rouge!” and again Ang Lee came to the rescue to bring us the heart breaking gay love story of “Brokeback Mountain”.
This is all wonderful but that is only six films out of thirty five. Something is up with the movie world.
Sure we can blame conservative Oscar voters, and smaller films getting crap distribution, but is that really all there is to it?
Is convention celebrated so freely, or is it just forced upon us?
Well there is a president in the white house who can barely work a speak-n-spell, and leans more to the K.K.K. side of thinking than is comfortable, and this may explain why films that make us question power (governmental, religious, racial, media even sexual) are few and far between in the main stream.

Then again in the 1970’s Nixon and Ford were both conservative republican presidents, and the Vietnam war was happening, and the movies being celebrated were worth getting sticky white love juice in your pants for. We had “M*A*S*H”, “A Clockwork Orange”, “Deliverance”, “Sounder”, “The Exorcist”, “American Graffiti”, “The Conversation”, “Jaws”, “Network”, “Taxi Driver”, “All the Presidents Men”, “Star Wars”, “The Deer Hunter”, “Apocalypse Now” and many others.
What a great list of movies, from a great decade. They posed questions, excited the imagination and some even acted as a form of protest to the way things were. What has happened? Where is the edge today? Where are all the passionate film makers?

Are people so afraid of practicing freedom of speech these days that they silence themselves?
Sure, we all know that freedom of speech is just a term people like to throw about. When you use it against the conservative masses you get booed, censored, become a public pariah and if you are a singer, you can get your CD’s steam rolled over. Some freedom.
We are living in scary times, and cinema/TV is our only escape from it.

Yet that is controlled by the MPAA, a group of conservative puppets who are watch dogs fighting sex (gay and straight) and nudity in case they corrupt Americas children. Ha!! I doubt the HUGE gun control problem has much to do with Heath Ledger giving Jake Gyllenhaal the ole spit and stick.

How sad is it that conservative politics/greed/and corruption have such a far reach that it has ensnared art in its grasp. If we cannot express ourselves through the arts anymore then we are nothing more than the plot outline in 2002’s “Equilibrium”.

”In a futuristic world, a strict regime has eliminated war by suppressing emotions: books, art and music are strictly forbidden and feeling is a crime punishable by death.”

A bit extreme, but you get the picture. I know I may seem a tad too preachy, touching on a lot of major social problems to explain why the silly Oscar race has seemed so boring as of late, but there is a truth to it all.
So far, all we have in mainstream media is Michael Moore flying the flag for freedom of speech.
We need more of him.
We need more filmmakers out there to get a dialogue going on the social, political and economic injustices in the world, and not just with documentaries.
Make things interesting, challenge yourselves and the world will be a better place. Make me passionate about the movies and not just the performances.

Box - Love my box

Kate Nash has been called a Lily Allen rehash, but I like her so much better. Where Lily sounded dull and boring, like a drunk singing high pitched in church, Kate has some verve behind her voice. Able to sell a song with humor and zest, and the song writing is much stronger. Singing is about telling a story, so vocal performance is important to me regardless of the quality of the voice. Here is "Foundations". ”You'll go along with it then drop it and humiliate me in front of our friends. Then I'll use that voice that you find annoyin' and say something like "yeah, intelligent input, darlin', why don't you just have another beer then?"”

From her fourth studio album ”Big”, Macy Gray returns to form. Gone are the sleek studio productions, and back to a more bluesy, soul juke joint feel. And Macy's signature voice is still there and still as intoxicating as always. This is the lead off single featuring Nathalie Cole called Finally Made Me Happy. ”Walking through my door bringing jewelry and stacks. You tell me you'll give it all to me if I take you back.
But I'm in my bedroom baby moaning oooooooooooohhh baby.
That's my new lover under my covers hollering UH UH UH”

Amy Winehouse – In My Bed This is a track taken from her first album ”Frank”. Now that she has become HUGE, I wanted to take a look back at what she was doing before we all started chanting “No, No, No” like we were hip. This is like Jill Scott meets Portishead, proving that Amy is suited to all ranges of music. Very trip hop, and very very sexy. ”oh, its you again listen this isnt a reunion, so sorry if i turn my head. Yours is a familliar face, but that dont make your place safe in my bed my bed my bed”

I loves you, God knows I do…

…But I kill you dead for not giving me my Oscar!

Yes the results are here from my second poll. I asked who you felt deserved the Best Supporting Actress Oscar back in 1985. The results were hardly surprising, most people agree. A total of 63 peeps voted!

So in descending order:

5) With 0% of the votes we have Amy Madigan – Twice in a Lifetime (poor thing)

4) With 5% of the votes we have Meg Tilly – Agnes of God

3) With 14% of the votes we have Margaret Avery – The Color Purple

2) With 29% of the votes we have Angelica Houston – Prizzi’s Honour

1) With a whopping 52% we have Oprah Winfrey – The Color Purple.

I cannot really say it better than Stinky Lulu did here.

As for Ms. Winfrey, well she deserved to win, but the Oscars are full of actors who did not win when they should have. What is sad is that winfrey never really persued acting like she should have, so they can never give her a make up Oscar.

As for the Performance?
Judge for yourself:


Check out my new poll to the right. This time Best Actress from 1986. The ladies are:

Marlee Matlin - Children of a Lesser God
Jane Fonda - The Morning After
Sissy Spacek - Crimes of the Heart
Kathleen Turner - Peggy Sue Got Married
Sigourney Weaver - Aliens

Blog abuse.

So, I have totally been getting abuse from this scary woman called Hannah Greene about a certain blog post I did about Angelina Jolie (well more about the casting process in Hollywood), which you can read here.

The comment of the post went:

I can't fathom why it would be offensive that Angelina Jolie (whose complexion mirrors the real life complexion of Mariane Pearl) would play this role.
Halle Berry is was given the role of Tierney Cahill (a white woman - not a bi-racial woman) and there's no uproar on that. Or is there? Are you equally offended?

So you insist that a woman such as Pearl (who has some African blood in her, no matter how slight) must be played by a black woman although her heritage is as much Chinese and Dutch. But when a white woman is played by a half black woman (Tierney/Berry), you're A-Okay on that front.
Now who is the racist?! You're a pathetic hypocrite!

Lovely eh? I removed her email, but it is cleary in the comment so....do what you will. I guess when you have opinions on things that you post on your blog, you leave yourself open to criticism, but not really abuse like this (and it gets worse).
The reason I picked Rosario Dawson is because her heritage is of Puerto Rican, Cuban, African American, Irish and Native American descent and not one ethnicity. Guess Ms. Greene totally missed that point. (I picked Joy Bryant because she has talent and I want her to get a juicy role). Fun thing is, Hanna Greene knows nothing of my ethnic back ground, or where I was bought up, so I told her so that should could have an understanding of where I was coming from.....fell on deaf ears.

No matter how I tried to argue with this women, even pointing out that I did comment on the Halle Barry casting . She would have none of it.

"I find it both troubling and....well...telling that you seem incapable of following my very clear message - that which is your flagrant hypocrisy.

You see no conflict with Halle Berry (a half black/white woman) playing a white woman but you have much conflict with Angelina Jolie (a white woman) playing the part of a multi-racial woman. I mean, it's the exact opposite scenario, just one you don't like. And that is what exposes your hypocrisy. As long as the bias is in favor of the black part of the individual, all is well with the world.

Furthermore - and you clearly stay away from this - Mariane Pearl is NOT a black woman and her complexion is EXACTLY that of Jolie's. She is, at most, 1/4 African. Otherwise, she is Chinese, Dutch and Jewish. I haven't read an illogical rant from the minister of China denouncing A Mighty Heart project over Jolie not being a Chinese actress so maybe they're not as offended as you clearly are over her 25% black not being represented.

In the future, you might want to consider opinions with...umm....integrity? If you also denounced the Berry project, then you'd make some headway here. But you can't understand that, can you?"

WHOA!!! Easy girl!!! So anywhoo, I replied, even linking to the post where I commentated on Halle, but nothing got through. It was like trying to have a discussion with a child who was in the middle of a violent hissy fit. The mind was made up, and no amount of proof was going to get though.
The whole argument on complexion is also insane. Should Nicole Kidman have been cast in "Memoirs of a Geisha" because she is of similar complexion to Japanese women? My email hater seems to think so. Send Cate Blanchett to Hawaii for a month to get a nice tan before she takes the lead in the big screen version of "Caroline, or Change", cause it is not about race, but about complexion. HA!!! Mac would make a killing.
I was hoping that I would get a break through like with the racist, prejudice juror in "Twelve Angry Men" who would not budge, but at the end saw the light and realized they may have been wrong. But no...Hanna Greene was not going to budge.

I started to get snarky and said she should write for Fox news (she was at this point sounding very very pro white) and mentioned that Angelina did have make-up applied to portray Pearl, which is a way is 'Black Face'. BIG Mistake. Hanna Greene was crazy mad.

"Seems pretty clear you're just going to deflect, deflect, deflect.
#1 - Jolie was not "donning a black face" as Mariane Pearl is NOT black. What part of that is difficult for you to understand. Mariane Pearl is less than 25% black. She's also Chinese, Dutch, French, Cuban. Why do you focus on the slice that's black and insist that the actress that plays her be black but not any other of her races? (and you don't think that demonstrates patent bias and hypocrisy?!)

#2 - Your post NEVER spoke against Berry (a bi-racial woman) playing a white woman. Why say you did?

I have never commented on the other "issues" in your post - only the race issue you raised and how it was clearly biased towards the black race.

But I don't expect you to understand any of that, much less accept it. I'm sure my views are far too left for Fox News though I think you'd be right at home in the Sharpton camp - the man who passionately speaks out against discrimination when it's aimed at a black person. When discrimination is aimed at a white person, it's called Affirmative Action.

Gotta love it!"

Oh dear. Hanna Greene is very upset with me. She is now abusing me in odd and incoherent ways.
If any of you have read my blog, you know I am gay so being told I would be at home in the Sharpton camp (a man who even though is a Baptist minister, supports gay rights) is a HUGE compliment to me. THANK YOU HANNA GREENE!
Perhaps I should have been more specific. 'Black face' is a common term. When white people played black characters many moons ago, it was called black face. Even now when an actor darkens their skin to play the role of a different ethnicity, it is commonly called black face. Ms. Greene did not get it. My bad. I should have said "Chinese, Dutch, French, Cuban face". Me still thinks it would have done no good.

I have decided to block all emails as getting hate mail is never fun, and neither is trying to have a civilized argument with a person who does not take the time to see anothers point of view.
Ok, so I have made fun of Ms. Greene enough. I guess the point I am wanting to make is this. There are so many of us with blogs out there, where we express our views, and it is a wonderful thing. It is getting a dialogue started. But please, when posting comments where you disagree with an author, please show respect. There is enough hate in the world already without the Hanna Greene's having to place attacks behind the safetly of email.