Neil Patrick Harris Will Host the Oscars & Complete His Life

SPOILERS TO GONE GIRL BELOW

 Do you want to know what is so weird?

I literally just returned from a second screening of Gone Girl. I turn on twitter and I see Neil Patrick Harris's name everywhere. 

So while I was watching him being gruesomely murdered whilst orgasming the rest of you, he was announcing to the world that he'll host the Oscars with a simple video in which he pans to his Bucket List, all of which he's now completed except "Host the Oscars". Let's hope his list continues on the next page of the legal pad because it's way creepy to be done with your Bucket List at 41. And even creepier that NPH's final act will be hosting the ceremony that pays homage to the movie in which he gets his throat slit with a box cutter!

Here are eight items he forgot to include on his list:

 ☑ Beat the odds and survive childhood stardom
 ☑ Win 3 People's Choice Awards
 ☑ Win 4 Emmys
 ☑ Become friends with Elton John
 ☑ Work with Joss Whedon twice
 ☑ Slather penis in fake blood for David Fincher
 ☑ Host the Tonys 4 Times
 ☑ Host the Emmys 2 Times

The Oscars probably want to play down his previous hosting gigs else it looks like sloppy sevenths. Still, we already know he's a perfect emcee for showbiz backpatting so, let us rejoice. The Oscars are just 130 days away on Sunday February 22nd, 2015.

135 Days 'til Oscar: Remember the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion?

Occasionally while typing about the Oscars I accidentally type in the Shrine or the Kodak and especially "The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion" when I mean The Dolby Theater. It's an honest mistake since the Oscars are a bonafide institution and one tends to associate locations with events. The Dolby Theater, the "permanent" home now for Oscar (whatever permanent means considering things such as contracts, name changes, and rights battles for broadcast and whatnot) was once the Kodak Theater and for the last dozen years that's where the Oscars have been held. But until the new millenium, I associated the event with the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. That music hall hosted the Oscars the longest from Oliver! (1968) through Shakespeare in Love (1998) though it should be noted that the Shrine auditorium stepped in as substitute for six years during that three decade stretch. 

I've never actually been to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion but for a young movie mad boy in the suburbs of Detroit in the Eighties, 135 North Grand Avenue was the most important address in the world, way cooler than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I still think of it as way more glamorous than the Dolby... but maybe that's because I've been to the Dolby and though it looks great on TV it's inside a shopping mall. Perhaps that's appropriate for a golden idol that's really only gold-plated. 

Previously on our countdown that's really just begun...
138 Days - Average Best Picture Length
170 Days - Best Actor Trivia 
182 Days - What did Pickford & Fairbanks start?! 

It's Happening Again... Dates For The Next Awards Season

Just when you thought you were safe... it's happening again. No sooner has Oscar season ended than the powers that be are setting dates for next season. Dates which will determine the schedules of virtually everyone in Hollywood. Do we already have to start thinking about this? Yes. Yes, we do.

SAG Awards® Committee Chair JoBeth Williams agrees that it's terrifying...

Click to read more ...

And The Podcast Goes To... The Oscars

Season Finale
Nathaniel R, Katey Rich, Nick Davis, and Joe Reid discuss Oscar night in detail, with lots of commentary on all the stars and a few reader questions to help guide us 

00:00 Introductions & the musical performances
05:00 Liza Minnelli, Ellen DeGeneres, presenters & "relevancy"
15:00 The Selfie & how Oscar treats its own history
24:00 Our own standing ovations for Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett and more...
37:00 Reader Questions: creative casting, snubs, selfie swaps
53:00 Matthew McConaughey's speech & Randomness
1:00:00 What we did after the Oscars 

Suggested Supplement Reading:
Joe on the "2013" Oscars, Katey talking to the Make-up winners, Vanity Fair's Leonardo DiCaprio piece, those Acceptance Speeches, Jennifer Lawrence's Bestie's Diary and Nathaniel's Oscar Wrap / TFE Funding Drive.

You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of the post or download the conversation on iTunes. Continue the conversation in the comments... which of our ballots most closely resembles yours?Hunger, Shame, I Heart Huckabees, Taxi Driver, King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambíen, 

Oscar Nite Finale

Oscar Coverage. It's a Wrap!

Still so cold. Perhaps a tropical vacation post Oscar? Whew. We made it through another season (but for one last podcast - see below). Kisses. Hugs. No-Doz. Please stay with us throughout the year as 2014 WILL be our best yet.

2013 was a breakthrough year starting with a spot on CNNi, joining the Gurus of Gold, doing TIFF (and then Sundance) and the Critics Choice event officially, and the best year yet for ad sales. But a breakthrough is not, unfortunately, quite the same thing as 'making it'.

I recently made a tough life choice to make writing my sole income  -- yes, believe it or not, I've been juggling a second career for most of the 8 years that The Film Experience has been a daily endeavor (TFE existed before 2005 but that was before all sites needed daily content to stay competitive - the speed of content has increased exponentially all over the web). But now I'm just writing about the movies. Juggling the two became more and more difficult and right here is where the passion lies. To help me prove that it wasn't the worst decision of my life: read, share, link, tweet articles you like, donate, or best yet subscribe (see "Keep TFE Strong" in your right hand sidebar) and for the price of a cup of coffee each month (or more if you're flush) you can make sure a roof stays over my head. I feel enormous gratitude that people read at all much less so many of you. I'm particularly grateful to those who are already subscribing but just 300 hundred more of you and things get substantially easier (i.e. [cue Pet Shop Boys/Destiny's Child/] i love you you pay my rent ♫! / Can you pay my telephone bills? Do you pay my automo* bills? ♫ / )  

Complete Oscar Week Coverage 

• Red Carpet Lineup (pt 1) - The Golden Ladies
• Red Carpet Lineup (pt 2) - Everyone Else
• The Night in Liza - because she deserves better!
• "A Pizza Ranks the Celebrities Who Ate Him"
• "Speech! Speech!" - Cate reigned benevolently over us all while Matthew worshipped himself
• Second Nominations? Which first-timers will be right back?
• Backstage at the show - bon mots from the press room
• The Big Show reviewed - crumbs, mysteries, endearments
• Winning Moment / Loveable Losers - slo-mo fantasies of victory & defeat
  Oscar Foods & Frozen Cake  - What did you serve at your party?
• "2013" - Let's get the date right. Plus photos
• The Beautiful People - Cate, Matthew, Lupita & Jared
• Order of Presentation - Performance Order & Winners List
• Arrivals - Live Blogged

PODCAST !? GOT ANY QUESTIONS FOR US? As an addendum to all of this and for the Season Finale, Katey, Nick, and Joe join Nathaniel for the final podcast of the season. (The podcast will be on hiatus until mid to late April but I think you'll love next season even more)

P.S. BRAD PITT HAS AN OSCAR NOW. xo

* I do not actually have automo' bills. I take the subway