Halfway Mark: Screen Hotties of 2010

I blame the heat and nothing good in theaters but for the holdovers from previous weeks (go see Winter's Bone, I Am Love, Toy Story 3 and I Am Love if you haven't. Uh... I Am Love you're required to see twice, apparently -- Freudian typo!) for this week's Towleroad article. After assessing the Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man announcement I obsess over the Year in Screen Hotties (thus far).

Click over!

Since Towleroad is all about the Gay the list is men but since I'm an actressexual and since all the best people are at least bi-curious when it comes to the movies, you know I can't ignore the silver screen sirens. I haven't seen all of these movie but here's an incomplete overview of the year thus far.

The Girlie Show

Jan: Portia Doubleday torments Michael Cera (both of him) in Youth in Revolt. Kristen Bell can't pick a man in When in Rome. Can't pick screenplays either. Niche hotness, GMILF Edition: Helen Mirren wants her man crowing like a cock in The Last Station.

Feb: Amanda Seyfried, Our Lady of Annually Increasing Beauty, stars in Dear John. The Wolfman follows Emily Blunt's scent no matter the consequence; Who wouldn't? Uma Thurman turns men, not just man parts, to stone as Medusa in Percy Jackson.

Mar: Double Team Alert! Amanda Seyfried rocks Julianne Moore's world in more ways than one in Chloe. Plus, Dakota Fanning unleashes her scandalous Cherry Bomb whilst Kristen Stewart works a Bad Reputation in The Runaways. Niche hotness, Macrophile/Microphile division: Mia Wasikowska can't pick a dress size in Alice in Wonderland.

April: Erika Alexander is a boho honey in La Mission. Zoë Saldana holds a hot piece in The Losers. Niche hotness, Gothic division: Christina Ricci gets yet paler (c'est possible?!?) as a perpetually nude corpse in After.Life.

May: Ari Graynor's tongue brings ecstasy, albeit in pill form, to Holy Rollers. Scarlett Johansson wears ringlets and leather for Iron Man 2 and may or may not have speaking lines though no one can recall. Naomie Harris handles the first part of sex & drugs & rock and roll with her usual style. Love the 'fro in that first scene. Niche hotness, The Alex Forrest "I'm Not Going to Be Ignored" New Generations Award to Naomi "seduce & destroy" Watts in Mother and Child.


June: Colin Farrell's little mermaid is full grown Polish beauty Alicja Bachleda in Ondine. Please note how many reviews of Winter's Bone describe Jennifer Lawrence's long tresses and full lips in as much loving detail as her performance, even though the movie is about as far from "sexy" as a movie can be. Marisa Tomei is still working the 'dream girl for losers' track in Cyrus. Can you blame the losers? Tilda Swinton is a prized pale gold Russian collectible in I Am Love. Cameron Diaz in primary colors, yellow bridesmaid, red bikini for Knight and Day. Gina Gershon is a whore! (not a dancer) in Love Ranch... the less said about the rest of the movie, the better.

Which actors and actresses grabbed your eyeballs this year?
It doesn't have to be for, uh, performance reasons.

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Top Ten: New Academy Members 2010

it's not Tuesday but it's time for a Top Ten anyway... as this is yesterday's news already!

AMPAS used to hide their membership roster like the vote tallies but in the information age, they've opened up. Now we get to see the whole list of new invitees each year. I wonder how they keep they're membership around 6,000 given how many people they invite annual. Maybe enough people reject the offer, stop paying their dues, or pass from this mortal coil each year to balance it out?

You can read the full list of recipients at Indiewire, but as is the Film Experience tradition, we like to pinpoint the newest (potential) members whose future ballots we'd most like to see. So let's have at it.

New Academy Member Ballots We Most Want To See

10 Bono & The Edge (music)
They're two separate people but we'd like to imagine them filling out their ballots together inbetween sets. We'd like to also imagine that they'll have better taste than the rest of the often confounding music branch.

09 Bob Murawski (editor)
We love his work on The Hurt Locker and the Spider-Man films and he's a fellow Michigander. Extra points for that. Plus editing happens to be the most fascinating category in terms of how one judges it? How do you know how well an editor is doing if you can't see all the unused footage? And are they really that obsessed with just choosing the movies they love as their nominees or are their individual ballots so very individual that only the absolute common denominators are able to rise up to snag nominations, the common denominators being the pictures people love most, regardless of editing skill (i.e. Best Picture nominees)

08 Laura Rosenthal (casting director)
It's the job I'm personally most jealous of in Hollywood. I assume the casting directors can only nominate in the Best Picture category but in a way, shouldn't they have a say in all four acting categories? Their very business is studying actors and deciding who is best... for the part. Some interesting things on her resume: The Messenger, Chicago, I'm Not There, Far From Heaven and Savage Grace. It's worth noting that this woman was smart enough to give Samantha Morton her first two American gigs (Sweet and Lowdown and Jesus's Son)

07 Janet Patterson (costume designer)
Her filmography is short but damned if her accomplishments aren't tall. Consider: Peter Pan, The Piano, Oscar & Lucinda, Bright Star, Holy Smoke!, The Portrait of a Lady. She should already be an Oscar winner by now but after four nominations, it's nice that they're extending an offer. Strangely, the Academy's costuming branch is so small that last I checked it wasn't even listed among their categories. Are there really more makeup artists in AMPAS than costumers (click here and scroll down to bottom of page). If so, why? But then again, maybe my numbers are out of date.


06 Peter Sarsgaard (actor)
He finally wore down their resistance. That Shattered Glass (2003) snub still stings years later. He works a lot and even if we're starting to want him to truly surprise us again (we fear he's going to become a Ben Kingsley i.e. a great actor who shamelessly phones it in for too many paychecks) we like him. Who will he vote for? Besides Maggie & Jake.

05 Adam Shankman (director)
He's had experience in producing, acting and directing and was a key player in this last Oscar ceremony. We don't mean this in a judgmental way but he strikes us as the type that will vote for his friends. But he seems to have so many of them that won't he have to snub most of them each time he votes? Does having a million friends, mean voting for your friends doesn't really compromise your ballot? Now, Academy members can only nominate in the category of the branch they're invited to join (as well as Best Picture... then they can vote for the winners in most other categories when the final ballots go out). So this means that he'll be able to have his say at who did the best directing job each year. We love Hairspray and we don't begrudge him Academy membership -- he's a serious power player -- but as a director? Wouldn't he be a better fit for the producer's branch?

04 Zoë Saldana (actor)
This All American beauty (of Dominican/Puerto Rican descent) was probably invited due to those back-to-back blockbusters (Avatar, Star Trek) but if you stop to consider that she's acted opposite everything from green screens (Avatar and the like) to wood (Britney Spears, Crossroads) and on to A grade thespians like Johnny Depp and Sigourney Weaver she probably knows a thing or two about the acting process in all its iterations. And having recently singled out Tang Wei in Lust, Caution as one of her favorite performances, we know the girl is discerning and willing to look beyond Hollywood for "best". AMPAS could use more of that. We would love to see her nomination ballot in all four acting categories this coming January.

03 Jacques Audiard (director)
This French auteur's last three features Read My Lips, The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet have all crackled with intelligence, electricity, fine acting and interesting choices. Now being great at something is not the same thing as being great at judging it... but it surely can't hurt. We're always curious about AMPAS's foreign outreach. How many of them say yes to membership and when they do, how international are their ballots compared to, say, Ron Howard's... or Adam Shankman's for that matter?

Audiard directs with his hands.

02 Vera Farmiga (actor)
Her breakthrough, critically speaking, came when she won the LAFCA Best Actress prize for Down to the Bone (2004). Incidentally that film was directed by Debra Granik, who's currently helping Jennifer Lawrence break through with Winter's Bone (2010). Will more actresses line up to work with Granik? That'd be a smart move. It took the Academy another five years to notice Farmiga. Given her frequently fine rapport with male co-stars, we're actually more curious about how she'll vote for the male acting categories than her own. We know she loves Michael Fassbender so... points for that. But the real reason she's ranked so high is those crazy eyes. What do they see? We like to theorize that people with crazy eyes are actually crazy. And crazy is way better than same ol' same ol' when it comes to awards balloting.

01 Mo'Nique (Actor)
Admit it, she'd top your list too. On account of what the hell would that ballot look like? Her already legendary performance in Precious showed previously hidden depths so maybe she'll be able to see it in others, too? In addition to her being an atypical Oscar winner (they don't usually go for female comics) we're intrigued by whether or not she'll take the process seriously given that when last year's race first began she seemed famously disinterested. Will that initial skepticism make her one of those types that just votes for her friends, or doesn't vote at all or even refuses membership? Or will she just crack herself up like she does onstage while she scribbles down outlandish performances? Or did the Oscar journey, which culminated in that beautiful shout out to Hattie McDaniel's history-making win for Gone With the Wind (1939), convert her to the importance of the legacy of Hollywood's High Holy Night?
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The rest of the lists if you're curious [source]

Actors:
 Tobin Bell (Saw), 
Miguel Ferrer (Traffic), 
James Gandolfini (In the Loop), 
Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), 
Mo’Nique (Precious), 
Carey Mulligan (An Education), 
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (Mother and Child), 
Peter Riegert (Traffic), 
Sam Robards (American Beauty), 
Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones, pictured left), 
Adam Sandler (Funny People), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Shaun Toub (Iron Man), 
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), 
George Wyner (A Serious Man)

Animators:
 Ken Bielenberg (Monsters vs Aliens), Peter de Seve (Ratatouille), 
Steve Hickner (The Prince of Egypt), 
Angus MacLane (Toy Story 3), 
Darragh O’Connell (Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty), Simon Otto (How to Train Your Dragon), Bob Pauley (Toy Story 3), 
Willem Thijssen (A Greek Tragedy)

Art Directors/Set Decorators/Production Designers:
 Kim Sinclair (Avatar), Dave Warren (Sweeney Todd), Maggie Gray (The Young Victoria), Douglas A. Mowat (The Sixth Sense), 
Caroline Smith (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), 
Kirk M. Pertruccelli (The Incredible Hulk), 
Edward S. Verreaux (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)

Cinematographers:
 Barry Ackroyd (The Hurt Locker), 
Christian Berger (The White Ribbon, pictured left), Hagen Bogdanski (The Young Victoria), 
Shane Hurlbut (Terminator Salvation), Tom Hurwitz (Valentino The Last Emperor), 
Dan Mindel (Star Trek), 
Tobias Schliessler (Hancock), 
Stephen Windon (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), Robert Yeoman (The Squid and the Whale)

Costume Designers:
 Catherine Leterrier (Coco before Chanel)

Directors:
 Juan Jose Campanella (The Secret in Their Eyes), Lee Daniels (Precious), 
Claudia Llosa (The Milk of Sorrow), Lone Scherfig (An Education)

Documentary:
 Nancy Baker (Born into Brothels), 
Rick Goldsmith (The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers), Davis Guggenheim (It Might Get Loud), Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water), 
Cara Mertes (The Betrayal), 
Frazer Pennebaker (The War Room), 
Julia Reichert (The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant), 
Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me)

Film Editors:
 Robert Frazen (Synecdoche, New York), 
Dana E. Glauberman (Up in the Air), Joe Klotz (Precious), 
John Refoua (Avatar)

Live Action Shorts: 
Joachim Back (The New Tenants), 
Gregg Helvey (Kavi)

Makeup Artists and Hairstylists:
 Kris Evans (X-Men The Last Stand), 
Jane Galli (3:10 to Yuma), 
Mindy Hall (World Trade Center), Joel Harlow (Star Trek), Jenny Shircore (The Young Victoria, pictured left)

Music:
 Christophe Beck (The Hangover) 
T Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart), 
Brian Tyler (Fast & Furious)

Sound:
 Frank Eulner (Iron Man 2), Adam Jenkins (I Love You, Man), Tony Lamberti (Inglourious Basterd), Dennis Leonard (The Polar Express), 
Tom Myers (Up), 
Paul N.J. Ottosson (The Hurt Locker), Resul Pookutty (Slumdog Millionaire), Gary A. Rizzo (How to Train Your Dragon), Michael Silvers (Up), Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (Avatar)

Visual Effects:
 Matt Aitken (District 9), Karen Ansel (Angels & Demons), 
Richard Baneham ( Avatar), Eric Barba (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Paul Debevec (Avatar), Russell Earl (Star Trek), 
Steve Galich (Transformers), 
Andrew R. Jones (Avatar), Dan Kaufman (District 9), 
Derek Spears (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), 
Steve Sullivan (Avatar), 
Michael J. Wassel (Hellboy II: The Golden Army)

Writers:
 Neill Blomkamp (District 9), Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker), Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious), Nick Hornby (An Education), Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek), 
Tom McCarthy (Up, pictured left. He's also an actor), Roberto Orci (Star Trek), Terri Tatchell (District 9)

At Large, Executives, Producers & Public Relations
 Christopher W. Aronson, 
Jim Berk
, Philippe Dauman
, Sheila DeLoach
, Donald Peter Granger
, Nathan Kahane
, Andrew Karpen, 
Ryan Kavanaugh, 
David Kosse
, David Andrew Spitz
, Emma Watts, Stephanie Allain, Gregory Jacobs, Jon Landau, Marc Turtletaub, Glenn Williamson, Dwight Caines, Suzanne M. Cole
, Tommy Gargotta
, Sophie Gluck
, Josh Greenstein
, Pamela Levine
, Wendy Lightbourn, 
Michele Robertson, 
Tony Sella, Darcy Antonellis and John Lowry

Which ballots do you want to see?
Do you think anyone will reject the offer?
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RCL: Dancers (Glee), Assassins (and Kick-Ass) and More

Red Carpet Lineup. Once weekly, we check in with random celebs who've been out and about, displaying their beautiful selves.


from left to right: Gillian Anderson is still so beautiful. Just saying. She attended a premiere wearing whatreminded me of a Project Runway gown. As in, I sense a theme. But which one? Uma Thurman, seen her crazythin in black at a benefit dinner has been taking too much flak lately for the box office failure of Motherhood. Her career has always been peaks and valleys; Flops can't kill it. I do wonder why she keeps trying her hand at comedy, though. Either her agent or the goddess herself must like her doing them. I think every auteur that has benefited from her screen presence (Kaufman, Frears, Nair, Niccol, Tarantino) really ought to offer her a good role soon to remind us of her inimitable razzle dazzle. After Kill Bill's assassin Bride you'd think she'd get more action offers at least. I regret to inform that Parker Posey did not become my BFF after we danced together at Sundance ;) She wore a leopard print to the Tribeca Ball. I was going to make a cougar reference but the term doesn't fit her as she seems ageless. I know that Parker had a great run in the 90s and don't wanna be greedy fan but I'd love to see her get another great comedic lead role.

Finally, Chloe Moretz went for the pink baby doll look for another Kick-Ass premiere. This is more girlie-girl than she ever gets in the film. I'm so pleased to report that Roger Ebert hates it. I don't normally worship Ebert the way 97.3% of online critics do but he's so widely read and respected it that I love it when he speaks something eloquently that needs to be spoken if you know what I mean. There's a lot to recommend in Kick-Ass but it's also another depressing reminder of how soulless, proudly violent (just listen to today's politicans) and gleefully sadistic the world is becoming. I hope all things are cyclical and we have another flower power generation around the bend. But I guess it would take catastrophic reality to end this particular en vogue fantasy of blood blood blood so...uh... be careful what you wish for. er... moving on. Anyway, I wrote a little bit about for Towleroad.


from left to right: Patricia Clarkson attended the premiere of the Mary Zimmerman (Metamorphosis) production of the opera Armida and really sells the black and white. I like it so much more than several Oscar dresses this year. Zoe Saldana always seems exuberantly happy, yes? Even when promoting a movie called Death at a Funeral. Was she this smiley before starring in two gargantuan hits back to back last year? Every time I see Ginnifer Goodwin I flash back to Win a Date With Tad Hamilton and Walk the Line. I'm not sure why. I like her on Big Love but since she became ultra thin she reads more generic to me. Are you fond of Ginny? This look seems very casual for the Opera but I'm no expert. I've only been thrice.

We end with Glee's adorable Harry Shum Jr. at one of their promotional events. This is the most obsessed I've been with a mute dancer since Cloud lept around in Madonna's Confessions era videos. Can they please give Harry as "Mike Chang" a storyline already! Spread the wealth. The highlight of Tuesday's return-from-hiatus episode was undoubtedly the new characters. Jonathan Groff and Idina Menzel? Our Broadway cup runneth over with this show and we lick up the spills.

Can you tell that I'm thrilled that Glee is back? Are you? I don't know why I got so very impatient for its return, though. Shoulda just rewatched the older episodes. Basically, I've come to realize, Glee is from the Golden Girls stable of sitcoms. It's essentially the same exact jokes every episode. The joy of watching is in which new ways they spin the old jokes. In what way will Rachel be deemed annoying? which particular crazy tic of Emma's? How will Sue Sylvester insult Will Schuester's hair? what femme or gay joke will spring from Kurt? etcetera.

Like everyone else I love Jane Lynch as the comic villain Sue Sylvester and I am desperate to see next week's Madonna episode (p.s. Madonna likes it). But I think they missed a few great opportunities here in this Vogue spoof/tribute.



Sue totally shoulda been doing the jogging-like part of the Vogue dance in her tracksuit and the extras doing the open shirt strobe lit dancers shoulda totally been the jock stars Finn and Puck.

Oscar Night in Review: The Fashions (Pt 1)

I promise this is the last post on Oscar Night 2010. Oh wait. There's 3 more. DAMNIT! It'll never be over.

also: worst & weirdest moments | wonderful moments | complete Oscar '09/10 season

Before we get to the best & worst, I would like to give out a shout out to the blacktresses that were working the red carpet on Sunday. Hollywood is even harder on them their white counterparts (so few roles to go around). So unless they're nominated -- like the Precious girls -- they almost never get any media attention. So let's take a brief looksie. I've omitted Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique because you've already seen the "money shot" and Mo'Nique got plenty of air time (but yes, I loved the Hattie McDaniel tribute with the dress color and the gardenia. I wish more people would do themes.)

Stacey Dash wasn't really there. I stole this from one of the parallel Oscar parties (a little more on those in part two) because I dig the slightly freaky spiderweb vixen dress. Anika Noni Rose (who we're always pulling for) didn't get to sing at the Oscars (boo! producers) so I wanted to feature her. She seems to be doing an inverted take on Carey Mulligan's favored look (the black poofy dresses with color hewhaw appliques on the bodice). Jennifer Lewis, who was also in the voice cast of The Princess and the Frog almost made my worst dressed list. But then I decided I loved that she was dressed as a cartoon super-villain that she made up in her own head "Cruela de Frill". Finally we don't usually see this much of Paula Patton (Precious's "Blu Rain") but there's more of her to be see since she's very pregnant! That's the most orange I've seen since Valentino: The Last Emperor.

BEST DRESSED

From left to right: Kristen Stewart finally looked great. And like the Fug girls said, she didn't have to not look like herself to do it. You have to give credit when it's due, so I have to say that she pulled it off. (I'm more surprised than you are). Jennifer Lopez seemed to be wearing a bubble-wrap wedding gown but it's breathtaking (and we don't normally go as gaga for her style choices as the rest of the media does). I thought Sandra Bullock was wearing silver and then somebody said "did you like her gold dress" and then I had to look again and whatever -- silver/gold/champagne -- it's the color of win. Vera Farmiga is #1 for me because this my berry-colored gown isn't "safe" and it's just BIG and confidently weird and beautiful enough to be an absolute head turner rather head scratcher.

Meryl Streep looked classy and pristine in white but I'm shocked to hear that this is by Chris March (who was always doing very over the top looks on Project Runway). I imagine Molly Ringwald will make the worst-dressed lists (I'm so behind on my interweb readings) but I think it's just weird enough with the curlicue accessories and the bold color and assymetry to be a daring choice that still totally works for her. Elizabeth Banks is as dreamy as she is funny. Are you following her on twitter? Finally, you knew I had to have my goddess in here: Michelle Pfeiffer wore red which is and always has been her very best color. This dress is saved from being too plain (she does always play it elegant/safe, that one) by it's interesting pattern and textures.

WORST DRESSED

From left to right: Virginia Madsen is stupendously beautiful but always look dowdy on awards night. The cut of the waist on Kate's dress is not flattering. That's right, cover it up Winslet. My friend Joe says that Miley Cyrus's dress is "dragging her down from the boobs" haha. I think that's just her posture. But you probably shouldn't be walking red carpets if you can't yet stand up straight. Faith Hill depresses me sartorially speaking...and otherwise speaking. Zoe Saldana looked like she was having a ball so points for that. But this belongs on top of a float or as the trim of a float since it's that type of pinata-esque fabric at the bottom. Different dress up top. For some reason SJP's outfit makes me think she was doing homage to A Single Man's era. I value her status as a fashion icon but I think this might be the worst she's ever looked. (Maybe if her hair hadn't have been sticking out all over the place?) I don't know what kind of fabric Melanie Griffith is wearing but it reminds me of a chain link fence trapped in an oil slick or perhaps the treated hide of The Blob. Hate it. And, oh Charlize... bra stuffing turned inside out? Really?

What did these dresses do to your eyes? And would you rearrange the best and worsts? I know there were a ton more but I can't stare at dresses all day. I had to draw the line at twenty.

Actors on Actors: Zoe's Lust, Tobey's Caution

I love New York Times "T Screen Tests". Thanks to In Contention for pointing out this beautifully minimalist video. I sometimes miss them. This one is hot actors of the moment talking about favorite performances from this past decade. It's pretty interesting.



I love reading between the lines on things like this. The questions it raises. Is Jake Gyllenhaal just a fundamentally unserious person? Is Tobey Maguire sincere when he chooses super close BFF Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator or just not committing to the exercize (though I love his acknowledgement that there needs to be more to biopic acting than mimicry)? Is Christoph Waltz hoping to be employed soon by the Coen Bros? Who is Sandra Bullock's hairdresser?

There's also Carey Mulligan freaking out over Saoirse Ronan's baby blues (don't we all?) and hip Vera Farmiga singing the praises of TFE's current It boy man Michael Fassbender in Hunger.

There's something about his face that is unlike anyone in the way it conveys emotion.

I also like imagining which actors might have totally whacky off-consensus Oscar nomination ballots (Jeff Bridges obviously) and which might be total conformists (Morgan Freeman, Julianne Moore?!?)

But my favorite of all has to be Zoe Saldana's left field praise of Tang Wei in Lust, Caution. You don't hear that performance brought up every day but it's simply beyond. God Tang Wei was great in that movie. And just this acknowledgement makes me love Zoe Saldana way way more. And the fact that she dwells on the physicality... I think she's telling filmmakers she's totally down with the sex scenes if anyone wants to offer her a truly meaty part.

Zoë Saldana Loves You

she sees you.

Have fun tonight wherever you're going for Golden Globe partying! Be safe.
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Golden Globe Predictions & BFCA Fashions

I'm doubling up because aren't predictions and fashion rundowns fall on the same level of disposable fun. They're both instantly irrelevant pleasures: the reality of the winners will render predictions obsolete in mere hours, and tonight red carpet's will be totally "in the now" as opposed to 'soooooo two days ago!'. Plus, I'm scrubbing the apartment for a Golden Globes party tonight and time is short. Are you hosting a party or attending one?

Golden Globe Predictions
Drama: Up in the Air (?????)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Sexy Locker
I know that people have stopped doubting The Hurt Locker as a potential Oscar Best Picture winner but for whatever reason I still can't buy it as a big winner there or especially here. Even though I love it. It's too small and tightly wound when awards bodies generally prefer big and roomy (i.e. bloated with hot air). Then again, nothing else really feels like a slam dunk. The only win that would surprise is Precious. I think Avatar, Basterds and The Sexy Locker -- yeah, I renamed it. Deal -- are all more than robust possibilities. If there's ever going to be another tie at the Globes wouldn't it be great fun, if it was tonight?

• BFCA Best Dressed
  Zoe Saldana reminded that she wasn't uptight Lt. Uhura in Star Trek or nature girl Neytiri in Avatar, but a rising movie starlet. She was one of the only stars to take a fashion risk. It's fun, flirty and just weird enough (is that plastic wrap?) to be memorable. Winning always looks good on people but at least Sandra Bullock's basic black had some fun detailing (patterns, fringe). Diane Kruger isn't exactly a movie star (yet) but she plays on on the movie screen. And almost played one on the red carpet, too. All this needed was better choices in hair and makeup to really sell the glamour.
  

Comedy: (500) Days of Summer
Animated Film: Up
Actress (Drama): Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Actress (Comedy): Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
I still think the Oscar will end the season in Meryl's hands on account of momentum (27 years of it... but especially the past 3) but the media will definitely try and tip the scales towards Bullock, because that's how they do. Once you're this far into the season the performances matter far less than the stardom and the campaign. The performances and films become abstractions. Essentially they're the limos which have driven to the curb of awards season, and dumped the star on the red carpet. The rest is up to them. This is a long way of saying that usually when the media gets too involved [sigh. Crash over Brokeback] they don't use their powers for good... they just use them to create drama where there doesn't need to be any. They have to sell papers, magazines and page views. I enjoy Sandra Bullock, I really do. But she doesn't need to be an Oscar winner, for a charming but inconsequential performance. The Blind Side has been more than rewarding enough for her at this point.

Actor (Drama): Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Actor (Comedy): Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
Ever since they decided to release Crazy Heart, Bridges was finally going to win his Oscar. So why not all the other prizes, too? As for JGL. Why not? it's a weird category. Could be anyone and if any awards body is least resistant to young thespians, it's the Globes. I'm just going for broke.

Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious
I keep making this Harrelson prediction and it keeps biting me in the ass. Waltz may be a true sweeper but I keep thinking that somebody somewhere is going to tilt for Hollywood stardom and maybe it'll be the Globes who are far more likely to surprise in their acting categories than other awards shows are. In fact, I don't really think Mo'Nique is safe either. If the Globes want some of their rising starlet flashiness, they could easily crown Anna Kendrick.

• BFCA Boredom
  Why did everyone play it so safe fashion wise. It was a night of seeing stars wear things we've seen them wear before (Emily Blunt loves the silvery sleek, Marion Cotillard loves the mermaid dresses) or basic white, black and red (Heather Graham, lovely as always). Of these dresses, Julianne Moore's is the most risky but its sculptural beauty only worked from certain angles. Botched Opportunity: Kristen Bell was at a movie star event and should've been trying to look like a movie star rather than a TV star since she's trying to make the transition.
  

Foreign Film: A Prophet (France)
Screenplay: Up in the Air
Song: "Winter" Brothers
TV Drama: Mad Men; Actor: Jon Hamm, Mad Men; Actress: Anna Paquin, True Blood
TV Mini: Grey Gardens; Actor: Brendan Gleeson, Into the Storm; Actress: Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens
TV Comedy: Glee; Actor: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock; Actress: Courtney Cox, Cougar Town
TV Supporting Actor: Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother; Supporting Actress: Jane Lynch, Glee

• BFCA - Worst Dressed
  Jena Malone & Carey Mulligan need several big meals before the Oscars. Slimming black when you need to eat might not be the best idea. The fussy flourishes don't help much. I still don't understand what Saoirse Ronan was wearing but at least she provided some of the only color of the evening (that wasn't red). Note to Abbie Cornish and her stylist: When someone is not nominated but they are invited anyway (presumably as "forgive us!", the best revenge is to look sensational and hit the best dressed list, not show up looking like you're attending a boring business event... even if that's exactly what it is.
  

The Golden Globe predictions above are not preferences though in several cases they overlap. On the TV front, since I rarely talk about it, I'm really hoping for a surprise win for January Jones in Mad Men (who doesn't get enough credit for that difficult-to-play character). And much as I delight in Glee I really think Modern Family absolutely deserves Best Comedy. I almost can't believe what an exquisite comic jewel it is week after week. It's got everything: brilliant writing, superb comic timing and great laughs per minute ratio.

Who are you rooting for tonight at the Golden Globes? What do you expect to see happen?

Review: Star Trek (XI)

"Star Trek" the franchise is 43 years old. If it was experiencing a midlife crisis for the past seven quiet years after Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) it has now emerged with a flashy new vehicle and facelift to restore an impression of vigorous youth. The flashy new vehicle in question is driven by JJ Abrams, the television wunderkind behind Lost, and the youthful sheen comes from new actors all of whom, save John Cho (as Lieutenant Sulu), are younger than the actors who originated the same characters were in 1966.


Since Star Trek is so long in the tooth, we bring a lot of personal history into the theater with us. For my part, I grew up with it in heavy rotation. My entire family and several of my friends loved it. I did not. Unless the Lieutenants, Uhura and Sulu, were prominently featured in an episode I despaired that I couldn't watch something else. Maybe it's hard for anyone under, hmmm 28 (?), to contemplate but it's true: in the 70s and for most of the 80s there were not 100s of channels, DVRs, plentiful home computers, internet television ... there really wasn't a way to not watch what everyone else wanted to watch. Unless you went without TV... GOD FORBID! So I grew up resenting Star Trek and I bailed as soon as I could. I've only seen a few episodes of Next Generation, never seen an episode of Voyager or Deep Space Nine. My knowledge of ends 'round about the mid to late 80s... and if the new film makes any reference to movies Star TrekVI-X, I wouldn't know. I can only assume it does. One could even title the new movie Star Trek XI: Deep Space Punchine because it's very interested in poking fun at its own history.

Which is not to say that Star Trek (2009) is an winking self parody. It finds the right balance between action, drama and comedy. Since we didn't need another Star Trek movie, we should be very grateful that this one isn't heavy with portent. So many gazillion dollar spectacles are. It has fun with the concept of this particular universe rebooting, quite literally at that, given the time warp plotting.

The rebooting happens by way of a prologue in which the evil Romulan Nero (an unrecognizable Eric Bana) emerges in the past (our future) from the future (even more futurey!) and kills Captain Tiberius Kirk, Kirk's father. Nero seems miffed at which Stardate he's returned to and we find out a little later that he was a bit earlier than expected. Sound confusing? That's time travel for you! See he wasn't out to kill Kirk's father (like some Terminator on a Sarah Connor mission) but to wreak elaborate revenge on Admiral Spock (Zachary Quinto). This murderous kickoff is dramatic, action packed and if it's a touch over the top (Kirk Jr's birth has to be shoehorned in to up the dramatic ante) it's still an effective opener.

Cut to: Key shorthand bits from Spock and Kirk's childhoods (a bit extraneous given our familiarity with the characters) and then we're on to several scenes which reintroduce us to the half dozen characters we presumably know and love detailing how they came to know each other and join Starfleet. This is a lot for a movie to juggle before it's even approached it's major plot conflict but Abrams and his screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman keep the pacing zippy and the introductions wisely spaced out and interwoven with the larger narrative of Kirk and Spock's journey towards the bridge of the Enterprise.

For instance, Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana) is slipped into our first true chance to study Chris Pine's Kirk but we don't get Scotty (Simon Pegg) for a good long while. There are too many origin stories in genre fare (as if audiences hate using their imagination for back story) but this time it doesn't feel like a burden, partially because it's broadly sketched but also because the actors are encouraged to have fun with these familiar and, let's face it, limited personae. Star Trek is often clever and though some jokes are obvious or purely nostalgia based ("Dammit Jim I'm a doctor not a..."), the movie doesn't stop to admire any of this fancy storytelling footwork. It's too busy leaping and running through the scenes.

The production design is also wisely calibrated. This world is light and airy, immediately setting it apart from all the heavy handed and darkly hued genre fare we've been seeing for several years. It's shiny and modern enough to feel jangly and fresh but bright and colorful enough to feel a bit retro. Again, they've achieved a crucial balance.

But back to the storytelling. By the time the Enterprise crew is in pursuit and then direct combat with Nero the movie has clearly formed its identity as an action film first, a nostalgic dramedy second. The pacing in the second half is a bit more questionable with two action sequences (an alien monster chase and a comic piece with an endangered Scotty) that could have been discarded without a single effect to the narrative -- which probably means they should have been. The one "break" from the action, the entrance of old Spock (Leonard Nimoy), is that rare "exposition" scene that doesn't overstay its welcome and also fuses the action plot with the character journey in a particularly pleasing way. More action films should make sure these two elements work in tandem.


There are a few hints that they were really read to rethink the franchise -- I loved the early (red herring) suggestion that the USS Enterprise would have a different heirarchy of power -- but the movie mostly works as revival rather than as a reimagining. I'm not sure how much staying power the new Star Trek installment will have (though it will definitely power future installments making the question moot) but it's a breezy and entertaining two hour blockbuster. And remember, I don't even really like "Star Trek." Buy lots of popcorn. B+
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We Can't Wait #4 Avatar

Directed by The King Of The World
Starring Sigourney effn' Weaver, and who the eff cares else. Okay, Sam Worthington is the star, and Zoe "Uhura" Saldana and Michelle Rodriguez are there too, in unknown quantities. Plus... aliens? Thingamajigs? Something.
Synopsis Something about a marine in the distant future recruited to lead an alien race... I'm purposefully keeping myself vague, yo. I don't wanna know more than I have to.
Expected Release Date December 18th, 2009


JA: Unknown is the buzzword. Most of us "plugged-in" types have probably seen the blurry images here and there of what these alien figures look like, and I've been keeping up with it myself despite my better intentions of keeping myself as pure as possible for what Mr. Cameron has in store for us... what can I say, the man is torturing me with the vacuum of information. Too secret, Jim! Too secret! I'm like a drug addict here just begging for something, anything, to keep me from scouring for more and spoiling it all for myself here.

The man has a legacy of blowing ur effing minds to live up too, and he really seems to be trying to do just that. He'd reinvent the wheel if he could. He'd teach us all to walk again! He wants to impress, and so far his record stands. I'm dyin here.

Whitney: And isn't Avatar supposed to change the face of cinema forever? Some kind of 3D-extravaganza that we'll never recover from?

Fox: OK. So, this is getting grittier as hit the final five. First I shrugged at Nathaniel & Whitney's beloved Jane Campion in the # 5 slot, and now I gag at seeing Sigourney Weaver's name (I can't "eff"ing stand her) ...

Nathaniel: Who are you? Sigweavie and Cameron make sacred pair! Do not diss.

JA: Who hates Sigourney Weaver? How is that even possible? That isn't even possible. You're just trying to get a rise out of me now Fox, with your crazy words and nonsense riddles. Ho ho ho, I just laugh heartily at such shenanigans and move along.

Fox: Still, I admit to buying into the hype over Avatar. JA is right that Cameron is one of those directors who can actually shoulder the expectations of a million blockbuster seeking maniacs. Who would want that? Who could succeed under that pressure? I can't think of many, but if I had to bet on someone, I would give James Cameron the best odds.

Joe: Cameron comes off like such an a-hole that I tend to want him to fail (bizarre considering all the other a-holes who I want to succeed), and I can't imagine how Avatar possibly lives up to the hype, but that's the same thing everybody was saying about Titanic only louder, and he shoved that one back in our faces too.

--- > Cameron with actor Sam Worthington, who will probably be a household name by the end of 2009. He's a crucial figure in would be summer blockbuster Terminator Salvation, the lead in sci-fi epic Avatar and Keira Knightley's husband in the romantic drama Last Night. And they all emerge this year.

Nathaniel: Have you bought into the hype yet, or are you to jaded to care? And do you think Cameron can unite the movie trifecta again: public/critics/Academy?

In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
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Beam Me Up, Oscar!

The new Oscar set makes me think of Star Trek's transporter. I know they're not allowed to advertise movies during the Oscar commercial breaks but wouldn't this be an ideal time for the Star Trek (2008) teaser with Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pine and the rest of the Starfleet?


The Academy should just beam all the presenters right on to the stage. Especially if there's a strike. You don't have to cross a picket line that way. If there's a malfunction and we happen to lose presenters like, say, Tom Cruise or Jessica Alba or [insert your arch-enemy star here] well, these things happen... technology isn't perfect. [Simon Pegg (the new Scotty) will be right on it. He's a whiz with those dematerializing /reassembling mechanics]
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An Incredibly Random Collection of Links

In the Company of Glenn "pop journalism will eat itself"
WG/WBINYT the vicious 'no one will read them' reviews of Disney's Broadway version of The Little Mermaid
Mutley the DrivelJournal 30 second withThe Curse of the Golden Flower. Hee
Being Boring on why he's voting for Hilary Clinton, explained through Disney movies and Kylie Minogue. I'm not making this up
NewsGroper's "Brett Ratner" on the WGA strike.
FourFour Mary J "Bligifs" She so crazy
Early Show Julie Christie got married. After 28 years with her beau, I guess it was time

And goddamnit. I had hoped to be done with my Vanity Fair retrospective before this new cover came out. But I'm not even close. Behold: pepto-bismo vanilla! or as they call it "Hollywood Girls" (from left to right): Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel (floor), Anne Hathaway, Alice Braga, Ellen Page, Zoe Saldana (leggy!), Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin (reclined) and America Ferrera
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