Tag: Live Blog

Welcome to the Live Blog of the 88th Academy Awards from fabulous downtown Hollywood or, in my case, on the couch in the family room with my lap top, a pitcher of martinis and Parmesan popcorn, Oh, and lots of napkins. I will be appropriately dressed for the occasion in light blue sweat pants and tee shirt by LL Bean and wearing my sequined blue suede pumps and diamond earrings

Feel free to critique the couture, I am sure there will be plenty of tastefully “coutured” ladies and gentlemen in designer gowns and tuxedos, as well as, well as the faux pas, unintentional and otherwise.

After last years hosting flop by Seth MacFarlane, this year Ellen Degeneres takes the honor for the second time. I haven’t been to any of the movies that were nominated this year but I did watch Disney’s Best Animated Picture nominee “Frozen” on Netflix. Everyone is talking about the nominated song “Let It Go” which will be sung by actress and singer Idina Menzel who was the voice of the “Elsa” in the movie. If it’s anything like the movie, it will be a show stopper.

I’m also hoping that investigative journalist, author and the producer of the “Dirty Wars which is nominated for the Best Documentary Feature award.

So on with the show. The nominees are:

Welcome to the Live Blog of the 85th Academy Awards from fabulous downtown Hollywood or, in my case, on the couch in the family room with my lap top, a pitcher of martinis and Parmesan popcorn, Oh, and lots of napkins. Feel free to critique the couture, I am sure there will be plenty of tastefully “coutured” ladies and gentlemen in designer gowns and tuxedos,  as well as, well as the faux pas, unintentional and otherwise. I always look for Helena Bonham Carter, who although not nominated this year, gave a memorable performance as Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables, along with Sacha Baron Cohen as her swindling innkeeper husband. She is the epitome of bizarre fashion. I’m looking forward to seeing her in this Summer’s Lone Ranger along with Johnny Depp as Tonto, The Lone Ranger‘s “faithful companion.”

My picks for the top four awards are:

Best Picture:Les Misérables because I’m French;

Best Director: Ang Lee for Life of Pi becuase he’s been nominated 11 times and never won;

Best Actor: Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables. He won this year’s Golden Globe Best Actor for his role as Jean Valjean and this is his first Oscar nomination.

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty because I think the Academy voters are just dumb enough to believe she “nailed” Osama bin Laden.

My other favorites to win awards are Brave for Best Animated Feature; Mirror Mirror for Best Costume Design (disclaimer: I know someone who has a friend with a family member in the cast); and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey for Best Visual Effects.

So, let’s go on with the show and the nominees are:

Best Picture:

Again this year, following the original format, there are nine nominees for the award:

• Amour – Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, and Michael Katz
• Argo – Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney
• Beasts of the Southern Wild – Dan Janvey, Josh Penn, and Michael Gottwald
• Django Unchained – Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin, and Pilar Savone
• Les Misérables – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh
• Life of Pi – Gil Netter, Ang Lee, and David Womark
• Lincoln – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy
• Silver Linings Playbook – Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen, and Jonathan Gordon
• Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, and Megan Ellison

Best Director:

• Michael Haneke – Amour
• Ang Lee – Life of Pi
• David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
• Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
• Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor:

• Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
• Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables
• Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
• Denzel Washington – Flight

Best Actress:

• Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
• Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
• Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
• Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Naomi Watts – The Impossible

The other nominations are below the fold.

“And the winner is”. With those words there will be at least 5 people holding their collective breath, while a finely coiffed and swathed celebrity tears open a sealed envelop with the closely guarded secret. Welcome to the Live Blog of the 84rd Academy Awards from fabulous downtown Hollywood or, in my case, on the couch in the family room with my lap top, a pitcher of martinis and Parmesan popcorn, Oh, and lots of napkins.

I used to chuckle at the introduction of the tuxedoed men carrying the brief case with those envelops and the silly ritual of reading of the “Rules” on how the votes were cast and who voted on what. Do they even do that any more?

The first Oscars were presented on May 19. 1929 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood at a private brunch for 270 people. My how far they have come. Now it is the “hottest” ticket in town and the parties after for winners and losers are elaborate affairs that would keep food pantries in business for a year. I shouldn’t be too critical many of the industry’s actors, directors and producers do wonderful humanitarian work for causes that would be easily forgotten.

In 2009, the Academy decided to return to its roots. When the award for Best Picture was presented in 1934 and 1935 there were 12 nominees, and from 1935 to 1943 there were 10. This years there are nine nominated movies contending for the golden guy with a sword. Over at the New York Times, Melena Ryzik, a k a The Carpetbagger, gives her predictions for the winners:

Best picture: “The Artist”

Best director: Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”

Best actor: Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”

Best actress: Viola Davis, “The Help”

Best supporting actor: Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Best supporting actress: Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

Best adapted screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, “The Descendants”

Best original screenplay: Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”

Best animated film: “Rango”

Best foreign language film: “A Separation,” Iran

You can cast your ballot for your favorite in this poll let us know how well you do during the course of the show. h/t to our reader seakit.

There was a lot of revealing stories recently about the diversity of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and who votes for the awards. Low and behold, the Academy voting panel is overwhelmingly white, male and over 50. The other revelation was why there were only two song nominated from a list of 39 songs that were given Academy voting members. It’s the rules:

As it turns out, the sheer number of songs in the running split votes to the point that only two songs could be featured on the ballot, per current Academy rules. Basically, voters had to sort through the 39 songs and score each on a scale of 6 to 10 points, and only songs that received an average of 8.25 points could be nominated. Hence, only two songs made the cut.

There are pro’s and con’s for this. The pro, it will mercifully spare us from some really bad productions. The con, a lot of really good artists like Elton John, Lady Gaga, Chris Cornell, Mary J. Blige, and Willie Nelson did not make the cut. Now that’s a rule that needs to be revised.

One of the categories the Academy needs to create is “Best Animal in a Featured Film.” Some of the scene stealers this year are a Jack Russel terrier named, Uggie, “The Artist“, who won an inaugural Golden Collar from Dognewsdaily.com. He beat out his competition for cute, a fellow Jack Russell, Cosmo, “The Beginners”. The Dobermans that appeared in “Hugo” appeared to be quite fierce but, according to the trainers, in reality were quite timid and shy. As the late actor Lee Marvin said when he accepted his 1965 Oscar for Best Actor, “I think I should be sharing this award with a horse somewhere out there in the San Fernando Valley,” a reference to the horse Kid Shelleen rode, who appeared to be as drunk as Shelleen was.

The annual Razzie nominations were announced last night. The Razzies honor the worst movies and performances of the year. Adam Sandler was nominated for a record 11 awards for everything from worst actor to producer for three movies, “Jack and Jill,” ”Just Go with It” and “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star.” He takes that title from Eddie Murphy who had 5 awards for just one picture, “Norbit,” in 2007.

Along with “Bucky Larson” and “Jack and Jill,” worst-picture contenders are “New Year’s Eve,” ”Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.”

“Jack and Jill” led with 12 nominations, with “Transformers” second with nine and “Breaking Dawn” right behind with eight. [..]

For worst actor, Sandler is up against “Bucky Larson” star Nick Swardson, along with Russell Brand for “Arthur“; Nicolas Cage for “Drive Angry,” ”Season of the Witch” and “Trespass“; and Taylor Lautner for “Abduction” and “Breaking Dawn.”

Swardson also was nominated for worst supporting actor for “Jack and Jill” and “Just Go with It.”

For worst actress, Sandler is joined by another cross-dressing actor, Martin Lawrence in “Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.” Also nominated were Sarah Palin for her documentary “The Undefeated”; Sarah Jessica Parker for “I Don’t Know How She Does It” and “New Year’s Eve“; and Kristen Stewart for “Breaking Dawn.”

Appropriately, the winners will be announces on April Fool’s Day.

I will be your fashion and performance critic as we watch the parade down the red carpet and the main event. BTW, I always cry at the memorial tribute. Below the fold is the list for all the nominees. On with the show.

“And the winner is”. With those words there will be at least 5 people holding their collective breath, while a finely coiffed and swathed celebrity tears open a sealed envelop with the closely guarded secret. Welcome to the Live Blog of the 83rd Academy Awards from fabulous downtown Hollywood or, in my case, on the couch in the family room with my lap top, a pitcher of martinis and Parmesan popcorn, Oh, and lots of napkins.

I used to chuckle at the introduction of the tuxedoed men carrying the brief case with those envelops and the silly ritual of reading of the “Rules” on how the votes were cast and who voted on what. Do they even do that any more?

The first Oscars were presented on May 19. 1929 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood at a private brunch for 270 people. My how far they have come. Now it is the “hottest” ticket in town and the parties after for winners and losers are elaborate affairs that would keep food pantries in business for a year. I shouldn’t be too critical many of the industry’s actors, directors and producers do wonderful humanitarian work for causes that would be easily forgotten.

So have you all placed your bets on the winner? if you haven’t you’re out of the loop, since the Oscars are the most gambled on non-sporting event in the US. Even Nate Silver has gotten in on the action with four tips to win your Oscar pool but the kicker this year that even Nate admits are throwing off the odds is that there are now 10 films in the Best Picture Category. Yes, dear hearts, 10, in case you hadn’t noticed. In 2009, the Academy decided to return to its roots. When the award for Best Picture was presented in 1934 and 1935 there were 12 nominees, and from 1935 to 1943 there were 10. So adjust your pools accordingly, there are more “fish in the pond”

Here’s some more answers to those questions about the award you never thought to ask:

Bored? You haven’t seen the production or heard the speeches yet.

I will be your fashion and performance critic as we watch the parade down the red carpet and the main event. I can’t wait to see what get up Helena Bonham Carter wears. BTW, I always cry at the memorial tribute. Below the fold is the list and links for all the nominees. Bring on the show.