Podcast: The Elephant in the Room

For this final podcast of the 83rd Oscar season, we've misplaced Katey. Oops? Where she go? But Nick, Joe and myself (Nathaniel) are back to close out the season.

We had fun chiming in weekly and after a  break will be back with Off-Season cinematic musings.  While we normally have quite a laugh during these, and there's a fair bit of that againe, we do get a bit serious on a couple of topics. "The End" always brings a smidge more sober take-it-all in perspective.

Topics covered include:

• Kirk Douglas & Melissa Leo. The early peak.
• Dressing like a winner / Dressing like a nominee
• Cate Blanchett, Sharon Stone and other fancy dressers
• Nobody ever likes the hosts of the Oscar show. But Anne Hathaway & James Franco?
• Ovearching themes and production confusion: Old or Young?
• Why no visual gags for non-comedian hosts?
• Colin Firth, Christian Bale and Natalie Portman speeches
• Awards Fatigue (and strategies for coping)
• Next?

Listen in and join in the conversation in the comments.

Podcast: The 83rd Annual Oscars. Season Finale

Best Actress Finale: Dresses, Reactions, Questions

Like we did with supporting actress, I've displayed the most lauded ladies of 2010 in the order of your preference: Natalie Portman stabbed all competition with a nail file "IT'S MY TURN" to the tune of 47% of your votes; Annette Bening (19%) just barely edged out Nicole Kidman (18%) in the last day of voting for second place and second place is always where Bening seems to end up (more on that tomorrow); Michelle Williams (11%) and Jennifer Lawrence (2%) followed. But look at Lawrence. She doesn't care. She had a grand time at the Oscars apparently, turning heads in the red tank dress and relaxed enough to quip to the press about bringing her brother as her date.

I'm from Kentucky, so that's normal.

It's interesting that her distinction  "Second Youngest Best Actress Nominee Ever" has been so ignored by the media; She's only 20. We might be seeing a lot more of her on Oscar's red carpet. She's already too old to nab the "fastest to two nominations in any acting category" since Angela Lansbury was 20 when she accomplished that. But theoretically Lawrence could still beat Joan Fontaine's record of fastest to two Best Actress nominations (Fontaine did the double by 24 and won) if good lead roles come soon. Up next are three supporting roles: The Beaver, Like Crazy and X-Men First Class.

Reaction shots, questions for readers and Portman's speech after the jump.

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Best Actress. Final Notes

My favorite category didn't disappoint this year, offering up the strongest overall lineup in quite some time. In fact, though these 2010 Best Actress roles won't prove as iconic in the long run as 2006's primo batch, I actually think as an entire range of performances, it might be that year's equal. Would you agree?

Should Natalie Portman be nervous about her chief rival? Or is it all in her head?

The question in terms of who will win is whether Natalie Portman's long lead is going to pay off or if a recent arguable passion / mood to finally crown The Bening has grown enough in the industry to yank that shiny gold man away. If that happens, Natalie, not Annette, will be the one yelling "Interloper!"

But I don't think it's going to happen. The Bening can console herself with the knowledge that she is one of my 33 all time favorite actresses. ;)

THE UPDATED BEST ACTRESS PAGE
includesPOLL "Who Should Win?" and the reader requested "how they got nominated? silliness. Which is actually not ever entirely silly even though it's meant for fun. We all know Oscar is not only about the performances. And if you don't know that, you must have slept through Sandra Bullock's win last year.

Link Man

E! whaaaaa. No way. Natalie Portman doing "Don't Tell Mama" from Cabaret ... as a teenager!
Serious Film Tilda Swinton as "the Anti-Streep"
Inside Movies another look at how Oscar ballot counting works. Every time it's explained it sounds more complicated than the time before. But it's cool that EW staged a mock nomination with readers.

Towleroad me sounding off about the Oscars again. I can't shut up. I'm Unstoppable. I'm nominated for best Sound Editing, bitch.
Cinema Blend Saoirse Ronan joins The Hobbit (but the book supposedly has no female characters. I haven't read it since I was like 11 and it bored the shit out of me. But then, if it didn't have any female characters that's probs why.
Adrian's Film Music listens to Alexander Desplat's The Ghost Writer
Gold Derby more on the Burlesque snubbing in Best Song. I'm still so pissed about this. What I don't understand about the music branch's voting structure is why it's practically an invitation to sabotage potential nominees if you hate them. In what other Oscar category can you vote AGAINST a potential nominee? That voting system needs serious rethinking.

Montreal Gazette has a fairly well reasoned piece on the lack of people of color in this year's Oscar nominations. I was just discussing this on twitter. My basic feeling on this, though I realize it's not a popular one, is that the Academy is unfairly blamed for this year in and year out. Too many people view "The Academy" as interchangeable with "Hollywood". But in truth the Academy is a tiny minority of Hollywood reflecting Hollywood back at itself with some deep filtering (i.e. favoring dramas, message movies, biopics, period pieces,). When actors of any color get good roles in the types of movies that everyone understands Oscar will honor, then they end up fighting it out for nominations.

"It’s the role that wins the Oscar, not the actor."
-several smart people throughout time.

The problem lies in getting the roles in the first place. And that's where things gets complicated and worth arguing about. Too many great actors of color don't get the career opportunities their talent merits. But that's a different discussion than the Oscar nominations.

On a happier note to wrap up ~ the first Oscar Promo!

Live Blog Golden Globes

8:01 SEE PREVIOUS POST FOR WACKY ARRIVALS.
I'd start there as some of the narrative threads continue into this live blog below

8:03 Ricky Gervais has already decimated The Tourist. Ouch. and even brutalized my Cher. "Why don't you want to see Cher?" Because it's not 1975." Ouch 2. And this wasn't part of the joke BUT when he said "The Walking Dead" they cut to Steve Buscemi. Ouch 3

8:04 My "comedy" in the arrivals was much kinder. Well but for the Silence of the Lambs joke.

Bale wins the night's first award

8:04 I don't know if you read Friday's Towleroad article but I devised a Golden Globe Drinking Game which goes like so.

Drink every time...

• Someone makes a Black Swan joke.
• Someone makes a Facebook joke.
• Cher licks her lips.
• Every time a presenter arrives that has absolutely no business being there other than as shameful attempt at attracting young viewers who won't be watching anyway. (Justin Beiber et. al)
• When "Miss Golden Globe" is introduced.
• Another swig if she's totally awkward about it. Having celebrity parents is SO mortifying!
• You spot a closeted gay. (Kevin Spacey et. al)
• Every time there's a closeup reaction shot of someone who clearly did not get Ricky Gervais's joke. (Even if they're laughing)
• You see two celebrities you'd otherwise never see together sharing a table. (The seating arrangements are so bent sometimes.)
• A winner is announced. Keeping chugging until they make it to the stage!

GOOD LUCK.

A Drinking Opportunity: Captain America with "The Fighter"?

8:14  BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - CHRISTIAN BALE. The speech is great and I loved that he singled out Mark Wahlberg's work and mentioned that the stoic character never reaps the benefits. Like so.

Mark, really got a give a shout to Mark. You can only give a loud performance like the one I gave when you have a quiet anchor, a stoic character. I've played that one many times and it never gets any notice... thank you buddy. Kudos to you for that. Otherwise we wouldn't have gotten away with it.

8:16 Katey Sagal wins BEST ACTRESS IN DRAMA SERIES for "Sons of Anarchy" but we were ordering pizza so I missed her speech.

8:17 Miss Golden Globe already? "Gia Mantegna". She was not awkward about it at all so you only get one drink not two. Don't be greedy about it. You'll be drunk in no time even if you're VERY strict about the roles.

8:22 Ricky Gervais just introduced Bruce Willis as "Ashton Kutcher's Dad." HEE. But then Bruce made the evening more absurd by saying the word "fabulous". I somehow didn't expect that word out of Bruce's mouth.

8:25 BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR TV - CHRIS COLFER "GLEE"
Oh he's so shook up. And he's way back there, table-wise. Beautiful speech.

I think I dropped my heart between Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore so if anyone sees that please return it to me.

You know every gayboy in the world would love to say that line. It's "fabulous" as... uh... Bruce Willis might say.

8:30 UHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh

8:31 I don't even know what to say. They bring La Pfeiffer out to present and she is the one who gets the "honor" of introducing Tim Burton's Eyesore in Wonderland. 

Let this be a lesson to us all: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.

complete post -- you see there's more: Brad & Angie 'they're just like us!', shiny new Globe toys, The Bening's crazy ass hair, Pfeiffer's exhaustion, Portman's cuteness, and more.

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