♪ we're gonna sco-o-ore tonight ♪ ♫

Who would you rather go bowling with? 

Don't lie! Who would you have the most fun with?

poll by twiigs.com

Hot Docs: Paolo's Opening Reactions

Paolo here. All world class cities have a lot going on in arts and cultures and this is especially true of Toronto for film lovers. So here I am apologizing that I missed the Kathleen Turner Mini-Film Festival because it happened during Hot Docs, the largest documentary film festival in North America. Taking us northern movie lovers from our post-Oscar hibernation, this festival also begins our new movie year.

I first started going to the festival in 2010, a year full of political films, although not as preachy as the word implies. 2011 had creatively-filmed spotlights on the bittersweet lives of its subjects. But this year's docs are more difficult to enjoy, if that's even an option. Let me explain. An example is The Invisible War, which had its international premiere last Friday.

It's...

the latest groundbreaking investigative documentary by award-winning director Kirby Dick, is about one of America’s most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape -

No! Although it has 'prestige doc' potential.

Then there's Outing, also having its international premiere last Friday, its synopsis reading

Since turning 15, a shy, sensitive youth has struggled with a growing awareness of his own unimaginable desire: his sexual attraction to children.

"Jeff"Oh come on now, really? (UPDATE: the screenings for this movie have sold out, leaving its availability status for those who dare join the rush lines). These movies are just the tip of a creepy ass iceberg. There's a selection called Sexy Baby for Christ's sakes, adding another title to the trend of Docs That Make Me Uncomfortable. Then again why am I avoiding these movies but have no qualms on signing up for 'Nightvision,' a package of midnight screenings, that include passes for the Jeffrey Dahmer doc called...Jeff (I blame Jeremy Renner).

[Slushy thoughts, less depressing stuff and James fucking Franco after the jump.]

Click to read more ...

20:10 "A Difficult Person?" Oscar Trivia!

As we close out the film year, another couple of moments from the 20th minute & 10th second of 2010 cinema.

In this scene from Mother and Child, Karen (Annette Bening) has agreed to have coffee with an interested co-worker Paco (Jimmy Smits), who keeps asking her out. Having finally caved, she keeps stressing that it's not a date even though we sense that she likes him.

Paco: I just can't seem to say the right things around you. And I'm trying believe me.

Karen: What do you mean?

Paco: I just feel like I keep putting my foot in my mouth every time I talk to you. I... I just don't know why. Look I'm sorry forget I said that. I don't know what I'm talking about.

Karen: I'm not a difficult person.

Paco: No, I don't mean that.

Karen: You're not comfortable with me.

Paco: No, I am.

Karen: My words are too harsh for you.

And just like that she's out the door, their non-date barely begun. If Mother and Child, had been filmed with a different tone (for better and worse, it's stuck being emphatically sober throughout), this might have been a tragicomic scene. Karen IS a difficult person, her own worst enemy when it comes to her heart and what she needs from others. She likes the guy, but she's always ready to be hurt and therefore never ready to open up.

Do any of you remember when Mother and Child played in Toronto in 2009? There was briefly Oscar buzz suggesting that if it was released in time, Annette Bening would undoubtedly be one of the Best Actress nominees of 2009. Instead the film was held until 2010. It opened in the summer and in the shadow of The Kids Are All Right was quickly forgotten. I have one close friend to this day who swears she's way better in Mother and Child than she was in The Kids... (I don't agree but it's definitely fine work). Given that this performance has its champions, it makes you wonder. If Mother & Child won an Oscar qualifying release in 2009, would it have made a difference for her 2010 Oscar bid. So much of each Oscar competition is a complex set of factors including the very real power of "momentum". (Or was Natalie Portman in Black Swan one of those performances that was just going to win no matter what?)

Though my study suggesting that 50something actresses just don't win the big prize has gotten a lot of attention, I don't think it's impossible. It's just that the decks are stacked against them. Still, the ranks of actors with 4+ nominations and no wins is very slim.

Can Bening win if she follows up The Kids with another popular role right quick? Did any of Jeff Bridges' luck rub off on Bening at the Oscar nominee luncheon? It's been 21 years since her first nomination.

Very Frequently Nominated Actors Who Waited The Longest To Win

1. Jeff Bridges (won on his 5th nomination, 38 years after his first)
2. Geraldine Page (won on her 8th nomination, 32 years after her first)
3. Paul Newman (won on his 7th acting nomination, 28 years after his first)
4. Shirley Maclaine (won on her 5th acting nomination, 25 years after her first)
5. Al Pacino (won on his 8th nomination, 20 years after his first)
6. Gregory Peck (won on his 5th nomination, 17 years after his first)
7. Susan Sarandon (won on her 5th nomination, 14 years after her first)
8. Kate Winslet (won on her 6th nomination, 13 years after her first)
9. Susan Hayward (won on her 5th nomination, 11 years after her first)

Waited The Longest Never Won Despite 4+ Nominations

1. Richard Burton (7 nominations over a 25 year period) deceased
2. Charles Boyer (4 nominations over a 24 year period) deceased
3. Agnes Moorehead (4 nominations over a 22 year period) deceased
4. Irene Dunne (4 nominations over an 18 year period) deceased
5. Rosalind Russell (4 nominations over a 16 year period) deceased
   
6. Thelma Ritter (6 nominations over a 12 year period) deceased
7. Montgomery Clift (4 nominations over a 14 year period) deceased
   
8. Deborah Kerr (6 nominations over an 11 year period) deceased
9. Barbara Stanwyck (4 nominations over an 11 year period) deceased
   
10. Arthur Kennedy (5 nominations over a 9 year period) deceased
11. Claude Rains (4 nominations over a 7 year period) deceased
    

Only 10 Living Actors Have 4+ (Acting) Noms Without a Win

1. Peter O'Toole (8 nominations over a 44 year period)
2. Albert Finney (5 nominations over a 37 year period)
3. Glenn Close (5 nominations over a 6 year period)

4.  Seven other living actors have four (acting) nominations without a win: Warren Beatty ♥ Annette Bening though Beatty has a directing Oscar.  Plus: Jane Alexander, Ed Harris, Marsha Mason, Julianne Moore and Mickey Rooney

Will any of them ever win?

As we can see from the lists above, it's pretty rare not to be a winner if you're in the 5+ nomination club. Only 7 actors in Oscar's 83 year history have ever won 5 nominations without winning the gold. Chances seem good that if Close, Bening, Harris or Moore are ever nominated again, they'll win. The problem is being nominated again. It gets harder and harder to find good roles as an actor ages.

March of the (Oscar) Penguins

Oscar binge posting. Let's get it out of our systems. No thought must go unuttered. (Oh dear*) Well, until Sunday's podcast. You get it out of your system, too, in the comments!

Hulk and Puny Humans

I selected 9 men for display. You'll have to tell me who you think is best dresed as there's a dizzying amount of variation in men's formal wear. Would you like black with a blueish tint, black with a grayish tint, bow tie, white tie? Long tie? vest? The possibillites are ENDLESS.

Today Mark Ruffalo tweeted...

Hulk Smash. Hulk Destroy. Hulk Cuddle.

He's the only actor I can think of that would convince me to watch The Hulk again onscreen. But we're poll happy lately so let's convert it to suit (haha) this post.

poll by twiigs.com

Mr Penélope Cruz, Peter Parker, The King, Jude Law

So who do you think was best dressed: the Ruffster, Jakey, Armie Hammer, Hugh Jackman, Robert Downey Jr, Javi, Spider-Man, Jude Law or Colin Firth?

Before you decide try not to let that gold shiny accessory of Colin's sway your vote. That accessory always puts people on best dressed lists. Totally unfair advantage.

Yes, there were more men than this at the Oscars but I had to disqualify a few people right up front: Justin Timberlake because his suit looked too big on him; Jesse Eisenberg because he didn't step it up not one notch from previous awards shows; Christian Bale because of the beard; and Jeff Bridges because he's looking more and more like a muppet version of Jeff Bridges*

* There's almost nothing we love more than Muppets but we don't generally think of them as fashionistas. Also: if there is anything we love more than Muppets it is probably Jeff Bridges. Also and: perhaps Nathaniel is taking too many cold/flu medicines?

The Highs and Lows of Oscar Afterglow

Kurt here from Your Movie Buddy

Even barring the obvious perennial faves like Meryl Streep and Randy Newman, don't the Oscar nominations continually feel like class reunions? For every John Hawkes, there's an Amy Adams. For every Aronofsy, a Coen brother. Of this year's nominees in the eight major categories (that'd be producers, actors, directors and writers), 20 of them earned prior nominations within the last six years. Now, this is of course partly due to the fact many of these folks are indeed the best in the business (if Scott Rudin promises to produce a movie like The Social Network every year, I'll start digging a mine just for the purposes of throwing gold at him), but it also joins December's annual jam-packed awards-bait schedule as further proof that the Academy's short-term memory dictates much of their decision-making.

And that can yield some positive outcomes for Oscar-watchers. Harvey Weinstein's gag-me-with-a-doily campaign for The King's Speech aside, Colin firth deserves every bit of the praise – if not, perhaps, every freakin' award – he's received for his heroic star turn, and if his recognition for A Single Man helped that along, then all the better. Likewise, if a recent victory at the Kodak podium is what caused a performance like Javier Bardem's in Biutiful to derail a veteran bone-throw to Robert DuVall, I'm all for it.

YOU AGAIN: Bardem, Firth, Bridges

But then there's the issue of undeserved honorees who choke out the worthy competition because of who they are and how freshly familiar they are among the comfort-over-quality voters. I don't think there's any way Melissa Leo's LOOK AT ME!! white-trash theatrics weren't going to get the attention they demanded, so I won't waste sentences describing my personal distaste for the performance (I know Nathaniel feels differently)and the belief that a Frozen River paved her road. But how about Jeff Bridges? Isn't his Rooster Cogburn, however amusing, a rather snoozy portrayal that would have been passed over if not for the newly-Oscared man behind the eye patch?

The Coens: Oscar's power coupleAnd what about those Coens? It's thrilling that their richly deserved No Country For Old Men win has given them carte blanche in Hollywood, but did they really need to be in the running yet again? They already snagged a preposterous, space-filling Best Picture nod last year with their most outre effort to date, and now they've unseated Christopher Nolan, which they themselves have acknowledged with innuendos. What's it going to take for them to alleviate all the Academy swooning? A black-and-white, foreign-language documentary about black transgendered prostitutes? (Get crackin', boys!)

Of course, this whole phenomenon isn't new (one need only look at the careers of guys like Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp for evidence of Oscar's afterglow tendencies), but it does seem to be an increasing norm, and not just because the nominees are pros in their primes. Per the pattern, we don't exactly need a crystal ball to envision which of this year's hopefuls may well be back in 2012. David Fincher has The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which already has the combination of proven craft and surefire box office to make it a contender. If Like Crazy can ride the same Sundance-to-Oscar wave as Winter's Bone, then co-star Jennifer Lawrence could find herself in the discussion again. And we're certainly all familiar with James Franco's output. Who's to say he won't be the next to shine in the afterglow light?

Fincher, Lawrence and Franco: Future afterglow beneficiaries?

Do you think Oscar afterglow is good? Bad? Both? Some of this year's nominees will surely be benefitting soon.