Not that I’ve ever been a big Tyler Perry fan or was in any way inclined to go see his latest film Meet the Browns, but some reading I’ve done in the last two days has pretty much solidified it for me. Some of these reviews are funnier than the movie apparently.
Call me a snob but I’ve never been a fan of overly-simplistic storylines, one dimensional characters and heavy-handed sermonizing. Plus I’ve never liked shelling out $10-12 (what we pay here in NYC) for movies that will be on cable by the summer.
This is a deleted scene from Knocked Up, the new film from Judd Apatow, director of The 40-Year-Old Virgin. It stars Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl. If the rest of the film is as funny as this, it should be a winner.
Business this morning caused me to be late with my entry, but since every other blogger seems to have posted their impressions of Sunday night’s Academy Awards telecast, I figured I might as well do so too.
In a year where I actually saw many of the nominated films and performances, I found myself watching with special interest. Awards shows by their very nature are exercises in self-indulgence, so while on the whole I thought it was a good show, it still suffered from excessive length and too many boring video tributes.
It actually opened with one. The Errol Morris montage of this year’s nominees talking about what the moment meant to them or any other innocuous thought that came to mind, needed to be a lot shorter. Do we really need to see sound mixers or cinematographers trying to be funny? The sad reality is the viewing public only cares about the actors and possibly a few better-known directors. The otherwise unknown yet very essential technical people are not why we watch. But it was nice to open the show with everyone being acknowledged.
I thought Ellen Degeneres was good both in her opening monologue and throughout. She was just doing her daytime show and standup act on a larger stage. If you’ve seen her before then you recognize her comedic sensibility. The host’s job is to keep it moving and stay out of the way of the real stars, and she did that. Her bits in the audience were funny, I thought. Giving a script to Martin Scorcese and getting Steven Spielberg to take a picture of her and Clint Eastwood for her MySpace page were both amusing.
I also thought the musical number with Will Farrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly, “A Comedian at the Oscars” was funny and ironically prophetic considering Eddie Murphy’s fate.
The honorary award to composer Ennio Morricone dragged on way too long. Ok, who the hell is he and why should we care? And then his acceptance speech droned on forever…IN ITALIAN!!! Mama mia! Good thing Eastwood did all those spaghetti westerns back in the day and learned to parli italiano or we never would have known what he was saying, not that we cared.
We got an equally meaningless video feature before the editing award was given out, as well as a kind of cute stunt with that sound effects “chorus.” But if they hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have missed it.
I was genuinely sad that Eddie Murphy didn’t get Best Supporting Actor, although if anyone else was going to get it, I’m glad it was Alan Arkin. I’ve been a fan of his for many years. (By the way, did you know Arkin co-wrote, “The Banana Boat Song” that Harry Belafonte made famous in 1956? “Day-yo!”)
Eddie’s not winning, probably means we’ll see more Norbits. If you watched his interview on the Baba Wawa pre-Oscar special, he said he considered “Coming to America” and “Dr. Dolittle” some of his best work. He also pointed out all the money he’s made from his pictures as a way of dispelling notions his career has been in a slump. I think Eddie sees himself first and foremost as a comedian, an actor second. Not having gotten the ultimate prize for his lone dramatic role, I fear he may never venture into the deep end of the pool again.
I was excited to see Jennifer Hudson get her Best Supporting Actress award. As we all know, the pressure is now on her to pick that next role very carefully. Anybody seen Halle Berry lately? J-Hud gave a belated tip of the cap to Jennifer Holliday on the acceptance stage, but in the interview room she thanked Holliday and the entire cast of the Broadway play for paving the way.
That was a nice touch, but I also have to tell you I’m growing tired of La Holliday and her demi-diva posturing. Miss Thing, your day was 25 years ago. Get over it. Or better yet, get a career of your own. Oh, I forgot. You’re the real Effie.
Speaking of divas, how about the Jennifer vs Beyonce death match? They weren’t singing together. Them girls were battling! This was Beyonce’s only stage since the movie wrapped and daddy told her to go for broke. Sorry, but I think she came in third, behind Jennifer and Anika Noni Rose.
Martin Scorcese finally got his due both as Best Director and with the film winning Best Picture. I saw The Departed when it opened and thought it was Oscar worthy then. I’m glad the Academy agreed. Some of us on this coast have speculated if there wasn’t a West Coast bias against him.
While their wins didn’t surprise anyone, I just admire the class with which Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker carried themselves. Conversely, did Eddie Murphy duck out once his category was awarded? We never saw him again.
You had to love the award for Best Documentary (Feature) given to An Inconvenient Truth, the Al Gore picture about global warming. As I IMed to a friend, that was a big ole “fuck you” from Hollywood to the Bush Administration. Their way of saying, not only should Al Gore have been our president, but even if you right wingnuts don’t understand the dangerous effects of climate change and aren’t doing anything about it, that doesn’t mean that the rest of the country isn’t behind it. And when Melissa Etheridge accepted for Best Original Song for the same picture—an out lesbian—it was a second middle finger thrust in Bush’s face.
Unofficially, I think Etheridge’s acknowledgment of her “wife” Tammy may have been the first such by a lesbian or gay artist at an Oscar ceremony. Such open displays of equality are common at the far more gay-friendly Tony Awards, but Hollywood has always been a big closet where gay stars usually bring opposite sex dates.
The show clocked in at almost four hours and 87 million viewers watched at least one minute of the telecast. As someone who has only ever watched the show end after midnight from the East Coast, a friend in LA reminded me that’s only 9:00 pm out there, early enough to go to lots of parties and still get home at a decent hour.
Nominations for the 79th Academy Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles, by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Academy member and past Oscar® nominee Salma Hayek.
Despite multiple category wins at the Golden Globes, “Dreamgirls” failed to receive a much anticipated nomination in the Best Picture category. However Best Supporting Actor and Actress nominations were handed out to Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson, respectively. The film received eight nominations overall, leading all contenders.
Golden Globes winner Forest Whitaker received a Best Actor nomination for playing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland” and is considered the frontrunner. Will Smith was also nominated in that category for “The Pursuit of Happyness.”
Best Actress nominee Meryl Streep received her 14th nomination for “The Devil Wears Prada.” She is a two-time winner.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented on Sunday, February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®. ??The Oscars® will be televised live on ABC at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST), beginning with a half-hour red carpet arrivals segment, “The Road to the Oscars.”
The Screen Actors Guild announced nominees for its 13th annual motion picture and primetime television acting honors this morning, and as I feared, my fellow SAG members slept on the best drama on television, failing to recognize the talented ensemble cast of The Wire.
Amazingly (totally fucking amazingly!), they included the cast of Boston Legal in that category. Give me a break! Boston Legal next to The Wire is like comparing a paper match to a raging forest fire. There is no comparison, but apparently the latter show is too deep for the limited attention spans of some actors.
ANYWAY, Dreamgirls received nominations in both individual and ensemble categories, as did a movie I thoroughly enjoyed, Martin Scorcese’s The Departed.
Because actors make up the largest contingent of Oscar voters, these awards are often seen as an indicator of likely voting for that award. The SAG Awards will be held Sunday, January 28 and broadcast on TBS and TNT cable networks.
