The Top 10 Most Embarrassing Projects from the 2011 Oscar Nominees

The Huffington Post have come up with a list of the 10 most embarrassing projects that some of the nominees from the 2011 Oscars have been in. Take a look and see if you have seen any of them…

Christian Bale in ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’
I bet you didn’t know Christian Bale was in ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.’ Maybe that’s why he’s so angry all the time.

Michelle Williams on ‘Dawson’s Creek’
I get it, it’s where she got her start. But did anyone think Jen Lindley would end up becoming one of her generation’s most nuanced actors? Unfortunately we can’t say the same for James Van Der Beek.

Jeff Bridges in ‘Tron: Legacy’
It’s embarrassing enough that ‘True Grit’s Jeff Bridges was in the first ‘Tron’ 20 years ago, but he had to go and do it again?

Natalie Portman in ‘No Strings Attached’
If Natalie Portman loses the Best Actress Oscar, fingers will start pointing to this rom-com with Ashton Kutcher. There’s a reason why A.O. Scott calls her “the only Golden Globe-winning actress to simulate sex on screen with two former members of the cast of ‘That 70s Show.’”

James Franco on ‘General Hospital’
It’s really hard to fault James Franco for this since it’s all part of his larger performance art master plan.

Nicole Kidman in ‘Batman Forever’
It would have been fine if she played opposite Christian Bale’s Batman, but she got stuck with Val Kilmer.

Mark Ruffalo in ‘Rumor Has It…’
Before he was seducing Julianne Moore away from Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo was playing opposite Jennifer Aniston in this movie that irresponsibly associates itself with The Graduate.

Amy Adams in ‘The Wedding Date’
In this movie that apparently came out in 2005, Amy Adams was billed under Debra Messing.

Javier Bardem in ‘Eat Pray Love’
Somehow I don’t think Javier Bardem’s immense acting skills landed him this role in Eat Pray Love.

Helena Bonham Carter in ‘Planet of the Apes’
When your husband is Tim Burton and you star in all of this movies, some of them are bound to be terrible.

Popularity: unranked [?]

The 2011 Oscar Nominations

The nominations for the 83nd Academy Awards were announced earlier this morning by Mo’Nique and Academy President Tom Sherak and as usual there was no big surprises.

The only surprises was the likes of Julianne Moore, Andrew Garfield, Christopher Nolan and Ryan Gosling all getting snubbed and left out in the dark.

The King’s Speech leads the pack with twelve nominations, True Grit comes in second with ten while The Social Network and Inception have eight each.

Anne Hathaway and James Franco will host the ceremony when it airs live February 27 on ABC. Who do you think will win each category?

Nominations after the jump!!!

Popularity: unranked [?]

5 Of The Weirdest Oscar Hosts Ever

Now we know that Anne Hathaway and James Franco are hosting the 2011 Academy Awards, NY Mag decided to take a look at the 5 weirdest people to ever taking the hosting duties at the Oscars and here they are…

Paul Hogan

Will it be awkward for James Franco to host the show the same year he’s expected to receive an Oscar nomination? At least a precedent has been set: In 1987, Paul Hogan co-hosted the ceremony and he, too, was up for an Oscar that night. Yes, that Paul Hogan. Yes, the star of Crocodile Dundee and noted tax dodger. Yes, he began his hosting patter with “G’day, viewers.” Alas, Hogan lost in the Best Original Screenplay category to Woody Allen (sure, why not).

Donald Duck

Animated characters often make a cameo at the Oscars (think of the tuxedo-clad Pixar characters who turn up when the nominees for Best Animated Film are called), but in 1957, Donald Duck was an actual co-host, appearing at the ceremony on film. Like Franco and Hathaway, Donald proved that the Academy is quick to reward actors who frequently go bottomless.

Bob Hope, David Niven, Tony Randall, Mort Sahl, Laurence Olivier, Jerry Lewis

Why have one Oscar host when you can have six? In 1959, the ceremony went with the odd combination of five funnymen and the dead-serious Olivier. Even with six hosts, the ceremony finished twenty minutes early — a near-inconceivable feat in the modern-day era of bloated award shows — and NBC had to cut to a sports rerun to fill the dead air.

Frank Capra

When the Oscars were in their infancy, there wasn’t any conventional wisdom on who should host (nor was there a telecast to worry about), and so it was that one of the biggest directors of the era, Frank Capra, ended up presiding over the eighth Academy Awards in 1936. It may have been a good career move: Capra had taken home the Best Director award the year before for It Happened One Night, and he got another one the following year for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. (Capra also hosted the first ceremony where the trophies were actually dubbed “Oscars,” a nickname that became officially enshrined three years later.)

No Hosts

The Oscar-hosting gig might be a prestigious one, but for three of the most pivotal years in American history, no one took it. From 1969 to 1971, the Oscars went host-less (this, after a four-year run from Bob Hope), meaning no one was around to comment on unlikely victories like Midnight Cowboy’s X-rated triumph or the 1969 Best Actress tie between Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand. The ceremony has forgone a host only once since; unfortunately, it was in 1989, when the show instead opened with a famously misbegotten musical number starring Rob Lowe and Snow White. (At least the Oscars recovered quickly: The next year, Billy Crystal hosted for the first time.)

Pretty good list in my opinion.

source: The Five Weirdest Oscar Hosts Ever [NY Mag]

Popularity: unranked [?]

Anne Hathaway and James Franco To Host The Oscars

Anne Hathaway and James Franco have been announced as the hosts for the 2011 Academy Awards and both are highly tipped to be nominated for best actor and actress at the awards show.

Franco is expected to be nominated for best actor for his role in 127 Hours while Hathaway is expected to be nominated for her role in Love and Other Drugs, which you can see her naked in. A press release says…

“James Franco and Anne Hathaway personify the next generation of Hollywood icons— fresh, exciting and multi-talented. We hope to create an Oscar broadcast that will both showcase their incredible talents and entertain the world on February 27,” said Cohen and Mischer. “We are completely thrilled that James and Anne will be joining forces with our brilliant creative team to do just that.”

The Oscars will take place on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Kind of a random selection but it makes sense, what do you think of this years hosts?

source: Franco, Hathaway to Host Oscar® Show [Oscars]

Popularity: unranked [?]

10 Actors That Are Overdue An Oscar

Ever since the Oscars started there has been debate over people winning for certain roles, most people agree that a lot of actors win just because they are overdue an Oscar for previous roles instead of the role they actually win for. Here is a list of 10 actors who are way overdue an Oscar.

10. Glenn Close:

Nominated For: The World According to Garp (1982), The Big Chill (1983), The Natural (1984), Fatal Attraction (1987), and Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Why She’s Overdue: One of the best actresses of the 1980s, she’s had a resurgence of fame and awards recognition through her excellent work on FX’s Damages. Does anyone think that if she got a juicy role like Patty Hewes on the big screen that she wouldn’t excel? She may have gone through a career lull pre-FX, but she’s back in a big way and when Damages ends, a young writer/director could help her find Oscar glory by writing a role specifically for her, much like Scott Cooper did for Bridges with Crazy Heart. She clearly hasn’t found a big screen role worthy of her dramatic ability in years but as she continues to take up mantle space with her Damages work, it only seems like a matter of time before someone taps her for something important on the big screen.

Next Project(s): Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2010)

9. Leonardo DiCaprio:

Nominated For: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), The Aviator (2004), and Blood Diamond (2006)

Why He’s Overdue: Is it possible for an actor in their mid-30s to be considered overdue? Leo’s Titanic co-star certainly was when she finally won her Oscar and DiCaprio has proven that he has the dramatic chops to be considered one of the best actors of his generation and not merely for his nominated work. He was robbed of nominations for both Titanic and The Departed and is currently delivering spectacular work in Shutter Island. If things had gone a little differently and he had been nominated for Titanic and The Departed and Shutter Island had come out last Fall as originally planned, we could be talking about Leo’s SIXTH nomination and just how overdue he is no matter his young age. It only seems a matter of time before he finally gets the part that lands him the Oscar. I bet it happens before he turns forty.

Next Project(s): Inception (2010) and Prisoners (2010)

8. Annette Bening:

Nominated For: The Grifters (1990), American Beauty (1999), and Being Julia (2004)

Why She’s Overdue: Because I’m tired of her taking stupid roles in junk like Running with Scissors and The Women and an Oscar would get her the parts she deserves. Bening is clearly more talented than the parts she’s been offered but she also clearly takes time between Oscar-ish films. It’s time for #4 and if she continues working to #5, she’ll have to be considered overdue merely by being in so many great films. Like a lot of people on this list, Bening has to be considered overdue merely for the breadth of her long, varied career. Like Bridges, she may need someone to write a juicy dramatic role for her specifically to finally get to the podium.

Next Project(s): The Kids Are All Right (2010), Hemingway & Fuentes (2010), and State of the Union (2010)

7. Ralph Fiennes:

Nominated For: Schindler’s List (1993) and The English Patient (1996)

Why He’s Overdue: Is anyone else surprised that Fiennes didn’t find a part for at least one more nomination in the 2000s? He arguably should have been more widely considered for a supporting nod for In Bruges but, unlike a lot of actors (although like several on this list), he didn’t seem that concerned about taking Oscar bait roles, choosing more complex films like Spider, The Constant Gardener, and The White Countess (we’ll ignore Maid in Manhattan like everyone should). But Lord Voldemort never lost his acting chops and is clearly one of the best alive at his craft. This is merely a case of a great actor waiting for a great part. I have a feeling the next time he gets nominated, he wins. With several major 2010 films, he’ll be back in the public eye in a big way and maybe the right producer will finally find him that part, although he may have found it for himself with his directorial debut of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, in which he’ll play the lead, Oscar-friendly role.

Next Project(s): Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010), Clash of the Titans (2010), Cemetery Junction (2010), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I (2010), and Coriolanus (2010)

6. Laura Linney:

Nominated For: You Can Count on Me (2000), Kinsey (2004), and The Savages (2007)

Why She’s Overdue: Because it needs to happen now. I’m worried that Linney is passing that threshold where she’ll stop getting juicy dramatic roles much like Glenn Close did in the 1990s. It’s tough for actresses of a certain age to find parts as good Linney did in the 2000s, including in un-nominated but great work like Mystic River and The Squid and the Whale, along with her amazing performance on HBO’s John Adams. Laura Linney is one of those rare actresses who makes everything she’s in just a bit better. This one seems like a needed director/actress match-up. If the right writer/director could find the right way to exploit Linney’s remarkable sensitive intellectualism, she could easily start writing an acceptance speech.

Next Project(s): Sympathy for Delicious (2010), Morning (2010), and The Details (2010)

5. Johnny Depp:

Nominated For: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Finding Neverland (2004), and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Why He’s Overdue: Much like DiCaprio, Depp could have easily been nominated for more than three to date with several great performances ignored, especially in the 1990s before he started making big money for Hollywood. He may only have three nods, but when you add in a career that also includes great work in films like Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, and Public Enemies (all three better performances than the three for which he was nominated), it becomes clear that Depp is overdue for an acceptance speech. Like several names on this list, Depp winning an Oscar seems nearly inevitable. It will be more surprising if his career ends without one. It’s just a matter of time, although continuing to do Pirates movies and sticking with Tim Burton through the less impressive second half of his career may make that time a little longer.

Next Project(s): Alice in Wonderland (2010), The Rum Diary (2010), Rango (2011), The Tourist (2011), and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

4. Tom Cruise:

Nominated For: Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Jerry Maguire (1996), and Magnolia (1999)

Why He’s Overdue: Are we over the couch insanity yet? I know you think Tom Cruise is crazy and I’m not going to argue that but there are plenty of mentally unhinged actors with well-deserved Oscars and Cruise has delivered with very few career rough patches for a quarter-century now. It seemed likely to happen in the 2000s after the one-two punch of Jerry Maguire and Magnolia raised the actor’s critical profile significantly but Cruise had some hurdles in the last decade, ones that it seems would be easy to overcome in the next decade if he makes the right career decisions and stops going on daytime talk shows. Cruise has always been a director’s actor – he delivers when paired with talented filmmakers like Oliver Stone, Barry Levinson, Cameron Crowe, or P.T. Anderson. He needs to pair up with those kind of talented artists more often and he’ll find the part that finally gets him the Oscar he should have won for Magnolia.

Next Project(s): Knight and Day (2010) and Mission: Impossible IV (2011)

3. Joan Allen:

Nominated For: Nixon (1995), The Crucible (1996), and The Contender (2000)

Why She’s Overdue: With three nominations in six years, it seemed like Joan Allen was merely tallying them up until she would finally win a trophy. Sadly, the 2000s didn’t turn out that way but this actress is far too talented to retire without an Oscar. Allen didn’t help herself by limiting her film work and popping up in disasters like Death Race, but high acclaim for her TV work on Georgia O’Keeffe will hopefully put her back on the radar of producers that are producing Oscar bait films. Allen isn’t much older than Susan Sarandon was when she got her “overdue” role in Dead Man Walking. That kind of tough intellectual role would be perfect for Allen to finally get her date with Oscar.

Next Project(s): Good Sharma (2010)

2. Peter O’Toole:

Nominated For: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982), and Venus (2006)

Why He’s Overdue: Seriously? Because he’s 77, been nominated eight times already, and has been a part of the film industry for five decades. He’s one of the few true living legends and he probably should have won for Venus a few years ago (and probably would have if they hadn’t already given him an actual Honorary Award for career achievement). The only question with O’Toole is if someone will write him the right part again. Here’s all I have to say about that – Christopher Plummer is older and he got his first nomination this year and starred in a Best Picture nominee in Up. There’s definitely still time for O’Toole. The only question is which filmmaker out there is willing to write him the ninth nomination?

Next Project(s): Eager to Die (2010), Katherine of Alexandria (2011), and Mary Mother of Christ (2011)

1. Julianne Moore:

Nominated For: Boogie Nights (1997), The End of the Affair (1999), The Hours (2002), and Far From Heaven (2002)

Why She’s Overdue: Because she’s one of the best actresses alive and should have won at least one already for Far From Heaven and been nominated at least one more time for A Single Man. Moore made some bad career choices in the second half of the 2000s that derailed what seemed to be a Winslet-esque run where she’d be nominated every two to three years but if anyone thinks she can’t climb to that level of regular nominee again in the 2010s, they’re crazy. Moore delivers every single time and her raised profile this year with her nearly-nominated work in A Single Man and even her hilarious guest appearance on 30 Rock. Getting her back in the public eye will hopefully put her amazing talent in the mind of a writer out there currently crafting the next great female role. In short, she’s overdue.

Next Project(s): Chloe (2010), Shelter (2010), and The Kids Are All Right (2010)

I always thought Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio already won Oscars, I don’t necessarily agree wit DiCaprio or Tom Cruise being overdue an Oscar but I agree with the rest of them.

source: The Top 10 Actors Overdue for an Oscar [Movie Retreiver]

Popularity: unranked [?]

Actor Michael Avmen Sues Oscars For False Imprisonment

Hollywood newcomer Michael Avmen thought attending the Academy Awards would be the highlight of his burgeoning career.

Instead, the actor claims that he and his wife were “tentatively confirmed” guests, but were “held against their will” for six hours in the Academy’s “detention center,” interrogated about how they were able to get onto the red carpet without tickets and accused of lying and trespassing.

FOXNews reports that Avmen has now filed a $50 million lawsuit against The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for illegal false imprisonment and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Avmen has small roles in three upcoming films this year — ‘Broken Blade,’ ‘Battle: Los Angeles’ and ‘Straw Dogs,’ starring Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard.

According to a suit filed in Central District Superior Court in California, Avmen was told he’d been offered a tentative invitation to the event, but despite several attempts by Avmen and his publicist, they were unable to locate the tickets. It’s not unusual for the Academy to hold tickets inside the venue; actors such as Robert Downey Jr. also received their tickets on the day of the event. Avmen claims he was led to believe his tickets were waiting for him there.

On the afternoon of March 7, Avmen and his wife dressed up for the Oscars and an usher for the event took them from their hotel to a “resolution desk,” where Avmen met an Academy employee with whom he’d been in contact.

After six hours of interrogation, Avmen says uniformed Los Angeles police officers arrived and took them to the station, but no charges were filed. Avmen claims that the officer apologized profusely for how they were treated by Academy officials.

Avmen’s lawsuit states that he and his wife were “injured in health, strength and activity” and “sustained injury to his and her body and shock and injury to their nervous system” and have since suffered “humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical distress.”

“If I or some ‘REGULAR’ individual acted as the Academy did, we would be in prison right now. I will show that these people aren’t above the law. Security is one thing, but this was outside the realm of excessive. My wife and I have suffered, and there has been a great injustice enforced.”

I hope you win… because you’ll probably never act again.

source: Actor Files Lawsuit Against Oscars For False Imprisonment in Academy ‘Detention Center’ [popeater]

Popularity: unranked [?]

Sandra Bullock Pulls Out of Premiere Amidst Infidelity Rumors

Looks like the curse could be true!

Sandra Bullock pulled out tonight’s premiere of The Blind Side in London, reportedly because her husband Jesse James did not pull out of his mistress.

Sandra Bullock recently won an Academy Award for her role in The Blind Side, but her win has been tarnished by the news that tattoo model Michelle “Bombshell” McGee was mounting her husband while she was away filming.

Bombshell told In Touch magazine that she and James had an affair for months while Bullock was filming in Atlanta in 2009, and claims that she thought that the couple had separated. She claims to have had sex with Jesse James at least once a week, and had originally contacted him seeking a modeling job at West Coast Choppers.

Sandra Bullock issued the following statement today:

“Due to unforeseen personal reasons a trip abroad to support ‘The Blind Side’ has been deemed impossible at this time, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your continued support of the film.”

I have a lot of respect for Sandra Bullock, and I think she’s a very charming, talented woman. I hope that these rumors are untrue, but I’m cynical enough to know that they probably aren’t.

Check out some pictures of Jesse’s (alleged) sperm bucket below.

(Click thumbnails for larger images)

Source: Tattoo model says she slept with Sandra Bullock’s husband while actress filmed ‘Blind Side’ [Fox News]

Popularity: unranked [?]

Oscar Curse – Win Best Actress Then Get Divorced

Yesterday it was announced that Kate Winslet and her husband of seven years, Sam Mendes, were divorcing. As we all know that if you win an Oscar there is a curse, it seems for women on top of their career dying they tend to end up divorcing. Here are some of the famous ones:

Benjamin Bratt was the lucky man on Julia Roberts’ arm when she won the Oscar for her role in “Erin Brockovich” in 2001. Three months later their relationship was over—he went on to marry Talisa Soto, while she’s had three kids with husband Danny Moder. She’s yet to be nominated for a second time, so hopefully this relationship is safe.

The second actress to fall victim to this trend? Halle Berry, who won Best Actress in 2002 for “Monster’s Ball.” She’d been dating hot musician Eric Benet for years, and the two got hitched in 2001. Shortly after winning her Best Actress Oscar, Benet started cheating on her and allegedly went to sex addiction rehab. But it wasn’t enough—the couple separated in 2003 and divorced in 2005.

Infamously, Hilary Swank forgot to thank her hubby Chad Lowe, brother of Rob, when she won Best Actress in 2000 for her role as Brandon Teena in “Boys Don’t Cry.” Still, Chad seemed ultra supportive of her, and they were the ultimate down-to-earth Hollywood couple. They had just crossed the 13-years-together mark when Hilary won again in 2005, for “Million Dollar Baby,” and she made sure to thank him, first thing. The two divorced a year later. Rumors circulated that he couldn’t handle the level of success she’d found.

Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Philippe met at her 21st birthday party—she supposedly walked up to him and said, “I think you’re my birthday present”—and got married less than a year later. Reese had already popped out two kidlets seven years later, when she won Best Actress for her role in “Walk the Line,” and the pair seemed forevers. Nope. They split eight months after she gave her acceptance speech. Many assume Ryan was cheating on her with Abbie Cornish.

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise had already shocked the world by getting divorced when she won the Best Actress Oscar for portraying Virginia Woolf in “The Hours.” But she was clearly still having a hard time with the split at the time of her win. “He was huge; still is. To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge,” she told Ladies Home Journal. “But he was lovely to me. And I loved him. I still love him.” After rumored flings with Jude Law and Robbie Williams, Nicole allegedly gave Best Actor winner Adrien Brody her number backstage at the Oscars, and the two dated for a little while. She, of course, ended up getting remarried to Keith Urban.

Charlize Theron‘s relationship with actor Stuart Townsend seemed solid when she awed the Academy with her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos and won the Oscar. The two never officially tied the knot because they were waiting for same-sex couples to have the right to do the same. But Townsend said, “I don’t need a certificate or the state or the church to say otherwise. So no there’s no big official story on a wedding, but we are married … I consider her my wife and she considers me her husband.” Until the two sadly split up in January.

I guess that means Sandra Bullock should be worrying about her marriage to Jesse James could end up with the same faith since she won the Oscar this year.

source: Oscar Theory #5: Win Best Actress, Get Divorced [The Frisky]

Popularity: unranked [?]

Howard Stern Calls Gabourey Sidibe ‘Fat Black Chick’

Howard Stern has decided to add his two cents on Gabourey Sidibe, who he keeps referring to as the “fat black chick“, being nominated for an Oscar and what kind of future career she could have. Well as far as he is concerned she couldn’t have a career because she is too fat.

Stern and his sidekick Robin Quivers talk about Oprah being a liar for saying Gabourey will have a successful career. They then go on to call her an enormous woman the size of a planet and discuss how everybody in Hollywood is pretending that she’s going to succeed and that they have roles for her. He then says the only part she could play is the big football player in The Blind Side 2.

The two of them also go on to say that she should use her money from Precious to get thin, because she is sick and it’s a terrible thing what she has done to herself (they mean it’s terrible she is fat). They also say that she was seated in an aisle seat because she is too big for regular seats.

Now I’m not going to pretend that Gabourey Sidibe won’t have a hard time in Hollywood because she doesn’t look like the rest of them, but to say she won’t have a career is ridiculous — there are a lot of roles that she could do. The things that Howard Stern is saying disgust me. It takes a lot to pick on an easy target doesn’t it?

Popularity: unranked [?]

Oscars Bosses Defend Farrah Fawcett Montage Snub

Bosses at the Oscars have defended their decision to leave Farrah Fawcett out of the memorial montage – insisting it’s impossible to pay tribute to every star who passed away in the last year.

The Charlie’s Angels actress, who died in June (09), was absent from the Academy Awards’ Tribute Montage section on Sunday night (07Mar10), which marked the deaths of stars including Brittany Murphy and Patrick Swayze.

The snub sparked speculation she was left out because of her predominant television career, with some online critics slamming the ceremony heads for not adding her to the clip. Jane Fonda was also shocked Fawcett was left out, and wrote on Twitter.com:

“Where was Farrah Fawcett? She should have been included. #oscars #FAIL”

Screenwriter Roger Ebert added,

“No Farrah in the memorial. They have a whole lot of ‘splaining (sic) to do.”

And U.S. TV personality Star Jones is fuming the actress was not included, because she appeared in movies including The Cannonball Run and The Apostle and was even nominated for a Golden Globe for 1987 film Extremities.

Jones writes on her Twitter page,

“FYI (for your information)… Farrah had a very diverse career… that included Broadway, TV & Film. She even received a Golden Globe nom (sic).”

But Oscar bosses have defended their decision. Bruce Davis, the executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, says,

“It is the single most troubling element of the Oscar show every year. Because more people die each year than can possibly be included in that segment. You are dropping people who the public knows. It’s just not comfortable.”

Hey Bruce, you also forgot Bea Arthur!

This isn’t rocket science people! Make the video long enough, or go through the celebrities who died faster. Don’t leave ANY of them out!

source: Farrah Fawcett – Oscars Bosses Defend Fawcett Montage Snub [contact music]

Popularity: unranked [?]

• Tabloid Prodigy  linked with  Freaks N’ Links
• Moonage Webdream linked with Snubbing Farrah

George Clooney Was Drunk!

George Clooney, all cute at the Oscars with shaggy hair and his sparkly girlfriend, was hiding a secret on the red carpet. And no, it wasn’t a wedding ring, dream on!

Instead, still über-hunky Clooney was hauling around a different kind of silver accoutrement…

It was a flask!

Handsome George was reaching out to kiss this foxy femme and that gorgeous star, right and left, when he proudly displayed the goods.

Who knew this was George’s lady-killing secret weapon? Surely he doesn’t need liquid courage to charm all those Hollywood beauties?

I’m sure it was just an off night, king of like Kanye West.

source: What’s George Clooney’s Secret Sauce? [e! online]; That Explains It [dlisted]

Popularity: unranked [?]

Fighting Over an Oscar

Bigelow vs. Cameron? Streep vs. Bullock?

Forget it.

The most riveting face-off during Sunday’s Oscar ceremony came early: When producer Elinor Burkett wrestled the microphone away from director-producer Roger Ross Williams after their film, “Music by Prudence,” won for best documentary short.

What really happened? We reached both shortly after by cell phone, and got both sides of the story. We first reached Burkett – a onetime Salon contributor who spends much of her time in Zimbabwe – as she took a smoking break as the proceedings continued inside:

People are already saying you “pulled a Kanye.” What happened?

BURKETT: What happened was the director and I had a bad difference over the direction of the film that resulted in a lawsuit that has settled amicably out of court. But there have been all these events around the Oscars, and I wasn’t invited to any of them. And he’s not speaking to me. So we weren’t even able to discuss ahead of the time who would be the one person allowed to speak if we won. And then, as I’m sure you saw, when we won, he raced up there to accept the award. And his mother took her cane and blocked me. So I couldn’t get up there very fast.

Can you explain the reason behind the conflict?

BURKETT: The movie was supposed to be about the entire band, Liyana. And the [band members] were very clear they did not want to participate if it ended up being just about one person. The director and HBO decided to focus solely on Prudence . . .

About 15 minutes later, Salon reached director-producer Roger Ross Williams by cell phone as he celebrated backstage with family and friends.

How did that happen?

WILLIAMS: Only one person is allowed to accept the award. I was the director, and she was removed from the project nearly a year ago, but she was able to still qualify as a producer on the project, and be an official nominee. But she was very angry — she actually removed herself from the project – because she wanted more creative control.

But couldn’t you decide ahead of time who would speak?

WILLIAMS: That was handled by the publicist for the academy. I don’t know what they told her. The academy is very clear that only one person can speak. I own the film. She has no claim whatsoever. She has nothing to do with the movie. She just ambushed me. I was sort of in shock.

You seemed to run up there pretty fast. Didn’t you see her coming up the aisle? What did you think was going to happen when she got there?

WILLIAMS: I just expected her to stand there. I had a speech prepared.

She claims she found the movie’s story, that she brought it to you.

WILLIAMS: No, not at all. The truth is that she saw the band perform [in Zimbabwe], and told me about that, and then I opened up a dialogue with the [King George VI School & Centre for Children with Physical Disabilities] school and went on my own – which you would’ve heard about in my speech — and spent $6,000 going to Africa shooting myself. And when people expressed interest in the film, I asked her to come on board. And then I regretted that decision. Then she sued.

They’re saying it looked like she pulled a Kanye.

WILLIAMS: She did! She pulled a Kanye. And it’s a shame, because this is such positive, happy film.

source: The story behind Oscar’s “Kanye moment” [salon]

Popularity: unranked [?]

The 2010 Oscars Winners List

You may have heard that the 2010 Oscars took place at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood last night and for once they picked out all the right winners, well in my opinion at least.

Unlike most other websites I’m not going to babble on for hours about who wore what or what the speeches were like because frankly I don’t really care, I’m just happy that The Hurt Locker beat Avatar for the best picture award.

As predicted Sandra Bullock picked up the award for Best Actress, Jeff Bridges for Best Actor and Mo’Nique won for Best Supporting Actress. While perhaps a surprise win was Kathryn Bigelow being the first woman ever to pick up Best Director and beating out her ex James Cameron. The full winners list:

Best Picture – The Hurt Locker
Best Actor – Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Actress – Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress – Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Best Director – Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Original Screenplay – The Hurt Locker
Best Adapted Screenplay – Precious
Best Animated Film – Up
Best Foreign Language Film – El Secreto de Sus Ojos
Best Art Direction – Avatar
Best Costume Design – The Young Victoria
Best Sound Editing – The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Mixing – The Hurt Locker
Best Cinematography – Avatar
Best Original Score – Up
Best Visual Effects – Avatar
Best Editing – The Hurt Locker
Best Documentary Short – Music By Prudence
Best Makeup – Star Trek
Best Short Film (Animated) – Logorama
Best Short Film (Live Action) – The New Tenants
Best Original Song – “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart

And there it is – the award season is over, well for a few months at least.

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The Top 10 Oscar-Nomination Snubs

The 2010 Academy Awards take place next month but Time Magazine have gone ahead and put up a list of the biggest 10 Oscar nomination snubs.

Best Actor: Fred Astaire, Top Hat (1935)

The Academy has traditionally thought of movie acting as dramatic acting: tearing a passion to tatters, preferably while speaking in an accent and wearing eccentric makeup. That excluded the swellegant, elegant Mr. Fred Astaire; all he did was sing and dance with greater craft and feeling than anybody in movie history. His duets with Ginger Rogers — “Isn’t This a Lovely Day” and “Cheek to Cheek” in Top Hat and “Never Gonna Dance” in Swing Time — are not just superb examples of Terpsichore’s art but among the most powerful expressions of courtship, love and loss in screen history. Astaire was never nominated for these musicals, or for any other — though the Academy did insult his dance legacy by nominating him for Best Supporting Actor for a nothing role, played long past his prime, in the 1974 disaster pic The Towering Inferno.

Best Actor: Cary Grant, His Girl Friday (1940)

Golden-age Hollywood promoted glamour all year long and then, when it came to the Oscars, rewarded anti-glamour. To understand the Academy’s prejudice against its richest resource, consider that by 1941 Walter Brennan — who specialized in playing cunning, toothless galoots — had won three Oscars, while Cary Grant had not even been nominated. By then Grant had starred in The Awful Truth, Topper, Holiday, Bringing Up Baby, Gunga Din, Only Angels Have Wings and The Philadelphia Story — fashioning the indelible template of the attractive, self-deprecating movie male, and doing it with superb comic timing or action-adventure gruffness, as the role demanded. In His Girl Friday he’s a ruthless newspaper editor who browbeats his writer-wife (Rosalind Russell), all other journalists, the city’s mayor and cops and a condemned killer, just because … he’s Cary Grant. It’s a fast, gorgeous comic turn, for which Grant got no nomination. He would be cited for two dramatic performances, in Penny Serenade and None but the Lonely Heart, yet Hollywood’s greatest comic actor was never nominated for a comedy role.

Best Actor: Bill Murray, Groundhog Day (1993)

Selfish and snarky, Bill Murray’s Phil Connors is a Pittsburgh weatherman who plans to be in Punxsutawney, Pa., for just one day: Feb. 2, Groundhog Day. Except that the day repeats itself, with infinitely minute variations, until Phil gets it right. In a minor scandal, the film got no nominations. An Oscar should have gone to Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin for the script, which deftly balances comedy and philosophy (Is God a groundhog? Discuss), and another to Bill Murray for acting. From Caddyshack to What About Bob?, Murray had refined his amiable doofus into the minimalist modern man: his posture a question mark, his face a concrete poem of anticipated disappointment. In Groundhog Day he rises to romance and sinks to despair — and is wonderfully funny — all in the same day after day after day.

Best Actress: Barbara Stanwyck, The Lady Eve (1941)

The Hollywood screen’s all-time toughest, smartest dame, Barbara Stanwyck played comedy and pathos with equal agility, yet she never won a competitive Oscar. Her scheming adulteress-murderess in Double Indemnity, for example, lost out to the harried wife played by Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight, as Hollywood chose to reward the noble victim rather than the brilliant predator. Some of her tangiest roles flew right under the Academy’s radar, like the career gal who literally screws her way up the corporate ladder in Baby Face. Her sharpest comedy performance, no question, was playing the cruise-ship con artist who seduces a hapless Henry Fonda in Preston Sturges’ The Lady Eve, probably the all-time top screwball comedy. She is the devil every man would gladly play the sucker for; but neither she nor Sturges got a nomination. The movie’s only reward was immortality.

Best Director: John Ford, The Searchers (1956)

It is now widely regarded as the greatest western of the 1950s, the genre’s greatest decade. The tale of a loner searching for a missing daughter has been remade scores of times (most recently in Mel Gibson’s Edge of Darkness). But John Ford’s darkly profound study of obsession, racism and heroic solitude was shrugged off when it first appeared. Though Ford was Hollywood’s most honored auteur, with four Oscars as Best Director, he got nothing when he made his masterpiece. The Academy also ignored the towering performance of John Wayne as the scarred Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards, who either exorcises his demons or surrenders to them in violent revenge. Wayne would finally get an Oscar for his assured but much less complex performance as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. But reward his most powerful role? That’ll be the day.

Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver (1976)

The movie got a Best Picture nomination (losing to Rocky) — as well as nominations for Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster (Best Actor and Supporting Actress) and for Bernard Herrmann’s creepy score — but its gifted director was ignored. Like Hieronymus Bosch working with spray paint, Martin Scorsese visualized a Manhattan hellscape with steam, blood and vomit everywhere, and in the center a crazed cabbie who literally gets away with murder. By rights, Scorsese could have been nominated three times in the ’70s: for Mean Streets and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore as well as Taxi Driver. But America’s most astute and passionate picture maker had to wait until 2007, and The Departed, to get a Best Director statuette. By then it might as well have been a lifetime achievement award — or the Academy’s public apology for more than 30 years of myopic calls against him.

Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Jaws (1975)

The opposite of Sally Field’s gushing “You like me, you really like me” upon winning an Oscar was Steven Spielberg’s response when his first big movie, Jaws, was nominated for Best Picture but stiffed in the Best Director category. Jaws had only become the top-grossing film since The Sound of Music a decade before, and Spielberg had managed to wrangle Bruce — the production’s balky mechanical shark — into a creature of demonic intent and satanic power. The tarring of Spielberg as a maker of “just movies” would continue through Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, for which he was nominated but lost. The year of E.T., the Academy gave the Best Picture and Director prizes to Richard Attenborough’s worthy but plodding Gandhi. Spielberg had to make his only true-life epic, Schindler’s List, before he finally won an Oscar.

Best Picture: King Kong (1933)

In 1934, for the first time, the Academy allowed 10 Best Picture nominations. All those slots, and not one of them could be filled by the greatest fantasy in Hollywood history? Cavalcade, the stately, starchy filming of a Noel Coward play, took the Best Picture award, and King Kong received no nominations at all, not even in the technical and engineering categories. So much for Willis O’Brien’s construction and stop-motion animation of the 18-in.-tall ape, which gave Kong gravitas as he battled dinosaurs on a jungle island and soul as he wooed Fay Wray and took her to the top of the Empire State Building. King Kong inspired generations of boy geniuses, from Steven Spielberg to Peter Jackson (who did a loving though oversize remake in 2005), while Cavalcade slipped into oblivion.

Best Picture: Some Like It Hot (1959)

Voted the best American comedy of all time in an American Film Institute survey 10 years ago, Billy Wilder’s fizzy farce earned nominations for screenplay, direction and Jack Lemmon’s performance as a Prohibition musician who goes on the lam disguised as a woman. (Tony Curtis, Lemmon’s partner in drag, deserved a nod too.) But the movie was denied one of the Best Picture slots, which were filled by two religious epics (Ben-Hur and The Nun’s Story), two “daring” melodramas (Anatomy of a Murder and Room at the Top) and The Diary of Anne Frank. Back then, elevated sentiments and hot-button social issues seemed so much more important than an ephemeral comedy starring Marilyn Monroe and two guys in dresses. Today, it’s the ephemeral that has lasted.

Best Picture: The Dark Knight (2008)

Why did the Academy decide to reinstate the 10-film field for Best Picture in 2010? Because the year before, The Dark Knight wasn’t voted into the top five. At the time the second biggest dollar earner in movie history (now passed by Avatar), Christopher Nolan’s saturnine fantasy was a film that kids and critics alike appreciated, less as a live-action comic book than as a triangular battle of stern Good, giggling Evil and two faces in between. The Academy members didn’t go bats for this Batman; instead, they filled out their Best Picture cards with their favorite fallen President (Frost/Nixon), a Nazi warden (The Reader), a civil rights martyr (Milk), an old guy who gets younger (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and the eventual winner, Slumdog Millionaire. Except for a Heath Ledger memorial citation (Best Supporting Actor), The Dark Knight was ignored in all major award categories, earning only doorstop prizes like Best Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. Safe to say that the Academy won’t shut out the big action-adventure movie of 2009. Avatar is a sure nominee for Best Picture, and a likely winner.

I agree with the majority of these, I enjoyed The Dark Knight but I really don’t the movie should have gotten a nomination so I would take that off the list. Instead I would put on Alfred Hitchcock, it’s a disgrace he never got an Oscar. What do you think? Any movies or people who should have received nominations?

source: Top 10 Oscar-Nomination Snubs [Time]

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