"I am an actor"

The best tradition of the Screen Actor Guild Awards each year, beyond their decision to keep the lifetime achievement award on air (are you listening Oscar?), is their opening bit wherein a random collection of thespians give little weird speeches that end with "I am an actor." Sometimes they're funny. Sometimes they're serious. Sometimes they're headscratching. Regardless, it's always something to look forward to each year. Here are the five actors they chose this year in ascending order of how well they pulled it off.

05 Ashton Kutcher
Kutcher read from a teleprompter. Noooooo.

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27 days until Oscar

Here are 27 ways you can celebrate today...

Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill01 Ponder Winston Churchill's awards pull after John Lithgow's SAG win last night for the crown and Gary Oldman's upcoming portrayal in Darkest Hours... will we be talking about that next year at this time? The beloved Prime Minister's very big deal state funeral was held on this day in 1965
02 Go see Fences which won two SAG awards last night
03 Then read some more August Wilson and decide which upcoming adaptation you're most excited to see
04 Send out those invites to your Oscar party - time's a wastin'. Or
05 ...RSVP to that Oscar party if you're not hosting one.
06 Go see Hidden Figures which took the "outstanding cast" prize
07 Wish two time Oscar winner Gene Hackman a happy 87th birthday and beg him to come out of retirement
08 Watch Vanessa Redgrave's Oscar winning turn in Julia (1977) on her 80th birthday today because it's streaming on Netflix 

19 more ways to celebrate today after the jump...

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SAG Winners List

Movies
Lead Actress Emma Stone, La La Land
Lead Actor Denzel Washington, Fences
Supporting Actress Viola Davis, Fences
Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Ensemble Hidden Figures

Lifetime Achievement
Lily Tomlin 

TV
Leading Actress, Comedy Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Veep
Leading Actor, Comedy William H Macy,  Shameless
Ensemble, Comedy Orange is the New Black 
Actress, Limited Series/Movie Sarah Paulson, People vs OJ Simpson 
Actor, Limited Series/Movie  Bryan Cranston, All the Way 
Leading Actor, Drama John Lithgow, The Crown 
Leading Actress, Drama Claire Foy, The Crown 
Ensemble, Drama Stranger Things 

For commentary on the awards, check out "10 takeaways from SAG night" and "I am an actor" 

Ask Nathaniel

Okay, It's past time to bring back the Q&A column. Now might be a good time. You know what to do in the comments and I'll choose a handful or two to answer on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Box Office Boom for Best Pictures...

Hidden Figures and La La Land both crossed the $100 million mark this weekend.

This weekend saw three Best Picture nominees re-expanding (Moonlight, Fences, Arrival) to capitalize on their Oscar nominations each adding a million plus to their already successful grosses. Arrival is so close to $100 million now ($97.3) but it will be still be a stretch to hit that milestone with its Blu-Ray release just two weeks away. In fact every Best Picture nominee that's still in theaters experienced a boost at the box office this weekend except Hidden Figures (which was already roaring) but that drama's neglible 11% drop continues to suggest a very long run to come.

The shadow side of this equation? That's what's happening to the prestige pictures that weren't nominated...

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