-9-

Plenty of news from last week, I'll try to be brief this time, see how that works. Now that the award season is over, it's time to start planning this year's awards. Early this week Cannes Film Festival released its new poster for the 65th Awards. Poster features Marilyn Monroe in honor of 50th anniversary of her death. The famous sex icon has received lot of media coverage lately with biopic My Week With Marilyn and in TV series Smash, which adapts Marilyn's story to Broadway.

Talking about Smash, stars Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee revealed some future plans for the show. With season one almost wrapped, it's no wonder they feel like talking. In addition to this weeks guest star Nick Jonas, Uma Thruman will be appearing in five episode arc starting from 10th episode, playing difficult Hollywood star joining the musical. It was also revealed that Florence and the Machine's song Shake It Out will be covered on the show. With just under 7 million viewers this week, Smash is far from the expectations of NBC, but still running strong.

I never really liked The Office after Steve Carell left the show and was "replaced" by James Spader, so I was actually a bit excited to hear that he is leaving the show. When Carell left the show it already gave more room to other great characters, but this will open up the game even more.

Next weeks Raising Hope is really something I'm looking forward to since Katy Perry will be appearing in it. And not as usual girly persona. Katy also covered Interview Magazine this month looking amazing, it's hard to even recognize her. Which one do you prefer? (The actress Katy's holding is Shannon Woodward, one of the stars of Raising Hope)

HBO's Game Of Thrones, the epic fantasy drama, also got a new trailer for its season two, which starts in April. Season one left a lot of open plot lines, and I don't want to ruin them for myself by reading the book yet, but by the looks of the trailer it will be even greater than the previous season where all character's were new. Now that we already know them, the characters may gain some more depth. Winter is coming:

TheWrap reported that Charlie Sheen's new comedy Anger Management, an adaption of the 2003 film of the same name starring Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler. Sheen will play a non-traditional therapist specializing in anger management. The show will air on FX and feature stars like Selma Blair

Lucy Liu is making a strong return to TV. The Ally McBeal star recently had an arc on Southland, and now she has scored a role on the new series Elementary. The show is a modern-day reboot of Sherlock Holmes. Liu was cast as Watson, while Holmes will be played  Jonny Lee Miller, who will also appear in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows later this year.

I also mentioned few weeks ago the new prequel TV-series for Sex And The City called  The Carry Diaries. Now the show has revealed its main star. AnnaSophia Robb scored the coveted role of young Carrie Bradshaw. She has starred in plenty of movies, but I still remember her mostly as Violet Beuregarde in 2005 movie Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Will be fun to see how audiences response to the new show.

My favourite TV stars Sophia Grace and Rosie were back on Ellen again last week. The shared their video of their visit to Disneyland and also performed their first original song, a rap called Princess Swagger. Pretty impressive for 8 years old. Here is the video of their trip, and you can find the song on Ellen's Youtube channel.

Then some movie news.  An upcoming movie from Glee-creator Ryan Murphy really caught my eye, mainly because of its superior ensemble cast. The musical comedy One Hit Wonders stars among others Reese Witherspoon, Beyonce, Adam Samberg,  and Cameron Diaz. Can't wait to see the results! But before that Myrphy will tackle the movie adaption of a popular Broadway show The Normal Heart. The show won Tony Award for Best Revival of Play among others. The movie version will star Alec Baldwin and Julia Roberts. The movie focuses on 80's HIV/AIDS "crisis".

Then some more kid friendly subjects. Disney's Pixar released new video of their newest animation Brave. The 2-minute clip is directly from the movie. Kelly McDonald voices princess Merida (first Pixar's female lead) who refuses to adapt to her role as a princess, as featured in the clip. You can see the scene here and it is really worth looking for. The film will open in June and as a little trivia, this year's Oscar nominated animated short La Luna will air in theaters before the film.

Speaking of Oscar nominated shorts, I found this year's winner The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore thanks to /Film from YouTube. Now it is in high risk of being removed since I doubt the producers like people to see it without paying, it is also available at iTunes. I don't wonder why it won, with references to hurricane Katrina and classic Hollywood movies like Wizard of Oz. It is also very beautifully made with 2D animation, miniatures and CGI.

DreamWorks is also coming up with new animated feature film Turbo, about a snail with a real need for speed. This makes him an outcast in his society and  embarrassment to his brother. The plot sounds like a mix between Rataouille  and Cars. Voice cast includes Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Samuel L. Jackson and Maya Rudolph among others.

Marvel's Avengers got a new poster, and a new title for UK release Avenger's Assemble. Now I don't know what caused this weird change to Marvel's biggest flagship movie, but I seems weird for me to change title, since everyone will call it Avengers anyways. The poster looks cool though. Not the first time UK does something stupid to set them apart from the rest of the world. 

I'm really looking forward to the premiere of Wanderlust opening March 3rd in Ireland, check your local cinemas for dates. The new comedy stars Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd as a couple who is forced to move out of Manhattan due to money shortage. On their way to her sister's, they stop at B&B, which turns out to be a hippie commune. With this plot line and supportive cast of Alan Alda, Ken Marino, Justin Theroux and Malin Åkerman,  comedy is assured. So far the movie has received mixed reviews in US, but I'm sure I'll like it.

At the end I'd like to feature Movie: The Movie, a short spoof by Jimmy Kimmel which aired at his After Oscar's Special at Sunday. The "trailer" features a slew of Hollywood's A-list stars and is about a movie which features every aspect of movies imaginable. See the hilarious result below:

 

-Oscars-

The 84 Annual Academy Awards were held yesterday at LA. The biggest night of movies celebrated 2011 in film. As a huge Oscar fan, the night was super exciting for me. I'm dividing the post in to 3 parts: red carpet, ceremony and award, to make it maybe a little more easier to read. But first, here is the full list of WINNERS

Red Carpet

I watched the red carpet show by AP before the official ABC telecast started, so I'm basing this on both of them. Oscars Red Carpet is one of the greatest nights for fashion, the Superbowl of Award Shows some say, and celebs brought their A-game to the event. A good slide show of the dresses celebs donned at this 500ft long red carpet you can find here at Huffington Post. My favourites were Penelope Cruz (Old Hollywood elegance), Tina Fey (I did not see that coming) and Natalie Portman (all time favourite looked smashing in her vintage Dior from 1954).

One of the first to arrive, and maybe the funniest man on the carpet, was nominee Nick Nolte. When asked if he was nervous, he replied "I'm scared my teeth will fall out, I'm seventy you know?". He also showed the interviewer how one tooth wobbles, and it really did. He also said, he wouldn't wanna win, since he might swallow his teeth if he gasped. So he was all about the teeth.

Another representative of the older attendees was James Earl Jones (recipient of Honorary Oscar this year). When asked if he is going to party hard that evening, his wife Cecilia Hart responded laughing: "Yeah right, maybe room service!".

Judd Apatow (attended as the producer of Bridesmaids) represented with his wife Leslie Mann who told Tony Bennet stood at her dress for over five minutes, but she let him since it was nice. The couple also shared their secret to red carpet stamina, power bars. Apparently power bars were in favour of Bridesmaids cast, since Maya Rudolph also carried them with her. She also said good under garment helps at the red carpet.

Among the first big stars to arrive, was another Bridesmaids star, and a nominee, Melissa McCarthy. She was wearing shoes designed by her good friend Brian Atwood. The two attended same school and it was Brian who pushed Melissa to try stand-up, thank god! He had also engraved her shoes with a special note, which Melissa didn't share, I guess it was something personal.

I've been wondering why The Help director Tate Taylor and star/nominee/winner Octavia Spencer attended all red carpets together, but she told that the two used to be roommates, and she cheered him on while he adapted The Help as a movie.

Emma Stone, Octavia's co-star, looked great as well, and before she could be interviewed, she ran to hug the camera man who was an old friend of hers. Still very down to earth after all the success she's had. Her dress was similar to the one Nicole Kidman wore at the 2007 Oscars 

And as reported, Sasha Baron Cohen attended the Oscars as the dictator after all. During his pathetic publicity stunt, he threw the ashes of "Kim Jong-Il" on Ryan Seacrest. Halle Berry must've been happy she couldn't attend the event, since the ashes were originally meant for her. See the video of the "accident" here. He was escorted out right after that. I still can't believe they let him attend, anything for the viewers, eh?

Some real royalties did attend the event though. Prince Albert II of Monaco with his wife Princess Charlene were present at the awards as the guests of the previous CEO of ABC. They are the good kind of royalty who can appear in these kind of events without it being too much of an issue.

Royalty of Comediennes, Tina Fey, looked astonishing. I was so happily surprised. I'm glad she chose that over the fanny pack and biker shorts she jokingly said were her second choice.

Another beautiful lady of the evening was Michelle Williams who was nominated for her role as Marilyn Monroe  in My Week With Marilyn. She said that to prepare for the role, she practiced her skills on his mailman in full Marilyn mindset. Her gal-pal Busy Phillips (Cougar Town) was present of course, as she has during the whole award season.

Towards the end of  the Red Carpet Show, ABC aired small video of Rico Rodriguez  ( Manny from Modern Family) about how he watched all the Best Picture nominees in one day. Funniest part was when he was watching The Help shit-eating scene, and he look disgusted since he was eating chocolate covered ice cream at the time. His face was priceless.

Overall the red carpet was full of classy ladies and handsome gentlemen. And like Sandra Bullock said, it was "sexy times all the times".

The Show

The ceremony itself was pretty mediocre I think. I never really liked Billy Crystal, in anything, but he is a safe host with certain quality. The opening spoof focused on getting Crystal to host again with nominated movies as the background. He even got a smooch from George Clooney in the video. During his monologue he performed his standard "Oscar,Oscar" song about this years nominees. Safe start.

The start of the show was kind of slow, many technical awards. Then Octavia Spencers win speeded things up a bit. The first time nominee gave an emotional speech without being boring, score! Soon after Christopher Plummer won his Oscar and got the audience go "aaaaw" when he thanked his wife. 

In midst of the awards, Cirque De Soleil performed their gravity defying show, with people flying every which way, though they could have made the show bit more modern and with nominated films, instead of old classics like Metropolis and North By Northwest.  You can watch the performance here.

The Memoriam part was very beautiful, with the audience finally realising that its better if they don't clap to everyone separately, especially since it would've covered Esperanza Spalding's beautiful singing. She was the winner of Grammy for Best Newcomer last year.

Among the funniest moments of the evening, was Chris Rock, who presented Best Animated Feature (Kermit and Miss Piggy got demoted to a small joke on the balcony). Rock made fun of the process of animation, saying it was the easiest thing, referring only to his voice-over part. "We just do few lines and get millions". One of the highest paid voice-over actress Cameron Diaz at least seemed amused in the audience.

Will Farrel and Zach Galifianakis, who presented the Best Original Song, were the best presenters of the evening. They came out with cymbals and matching white tuxes and fumbled with the cymbals while trying to open the letter, comedy gold, especially with the girl who brought the awards as she tried to help the comedians.

Among the highlights of the show was Angelina Jolie in her own statuesque way, when she kept posing with her leg shown. Jim Rash tried to recreate the scene when he accepted his award for best Adapted Screenplay, but didn't quite match the sex-appeal of Jolie.

Jennifer Lopez also brought the hotness to the stage, when she "had a wardrobe malfunction". Now I've studied the pictures a lot, and even after lot of sites say it was a nip slip, I don't see a nip anywhere. The nip slip even got its own twitter account, where it declared "I've seen the light".

To surprise of many, Meryl Streep won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Iron Lady. And as always, she gave a great speech, remembering to thank his husband and loyal make-up artist of 30 years (Also a winner that night). Streep got the audience laughing with her comment: ''When they called my name, I had this feeling that I could hear half of America going, Ohhh, no, not her'' she said. ''But you know, whatever.'' With 17 nominations and last win in '82, this win was well deserved.

And as reported Uggie was present at the show, though in very minor role. He was part of Crystal's mind reading joke, and later when the Artist won for Best Picture, he was up on the stage with his co-star and Best Actor winner Jean Dujardin.

Overall the show was good, but not great, mainly because of the hosting. The presenters actually got more laughs than Crystal I think. And the most annoying thing about him, was how he had to keep fishing for the laughs with awkward breaks and laughing at them himself. Well maybe next year will be more successful, I say bring back Ellen or Steve Martin.

The Awards

The awards provided some surprises. My predictions were 2/3 right, with 18 right guesses, I'm pretty proud, since the misses mostly came at doc categories.

I was so sure The Artist  would get Best Editing and Cinematography, since they usually go for the Best Picture winner, but not this time. Girl With The Dragon Tattoo got the award for editing to the surprise of the winners, since they seemed pretty speechless on the stage, saying " We did NOT expect this".

Cinematography award went for Hugo which pretty much ruled the tech awards, though I do think The Artist made better job in this category, but I'm guessing the  3D won the voters over.

Now the short films and doc's were a total miss for me, since I didn't see any of them, so I don't blame me for getting them wrong, though I got 1 right, yay! To me the documents and shorts have always been the dull part of the Oscars, mainly because they hardly ever run in cinemas anywhere else except NY and LA, so it's not like I can see them very easily.

The shocker (or not) of the evening was Merly Streep's win. It could have been foreseen with the adoration the Academy has shown to Mrs. Streep in the past years. Nevertheless I was still rooting for Viola Davis up to the last second. But Streep deserves her win, she did amazing job, but then again so did Davis. Makes me question again the Academy's racial values, since as reported in the past week, majority of the members are white elder males. But as always Davis was very gracious even though she didn't win.

~~~

And in case you still haven't seen the nominees or winners, here is a cute video of them as remade by kids.

 For more great pictures, go to http://oscar.go.com/photos

That concludes my Oscar recap, hope you enjoyed!

Weekly post coming in few days too! 

Photos from Celebuzz, Huffington Post, Socialite Life, TheWrap, Pleated Jeans and Oscar Official Site.

 

  

-Pre-Oscar-

It's time for my favourite awards show of the year, the Oscars. In the 84th Academy Awards, AMPAS (Academy of Motion Pictures Sciences and Arts) honors the best films of 2011 in 24 different categories.  The polls closed on Tuesday and the academy is now counting the votes for Sundays show. Event will be hosted by Billy Crystal, making this his ninth time on hosting duty. Here is a small trailer for the E!News Red Carpet Show:

Here are some facts I've picked up about the event:

Cirque Du Soleil will be giving us a three-minute performance. Last time they performed at Oscars was at 74th Awards ten years ago.

Uggie, the dog from The Artist, will make an appearance with  Crystal before retiring from show biz.

Kermit & Miss Piggy will be presenting an award. They will most likely hand out the award for Best Animated Feature

EP Don Mischer tries to keep the show in 3 hours, so hopefully the long boring speeches will be cut short

Kodak Theater is no longer the name of the venue, after Kodak pulled its sponsorship due bankruptcy. The venue will be called Hollywood & Highland Center, until a new sponsor is found.

Sasha Baron Cohen was reportedly banned from the Oscars, but Academy Spokeswoman confirmed that he is still welcome, just not as the character of his upcoming movie, The Dictator. He received the invitation due to his role in Hugo. UPDATE: Apparrntly the Academy is now OK with him. I don't think the Dictator has any place in the Oscars

The Green Room, designed by Waldo Fernadez, will look something like this: 

The stage itself is still a bit of a mystery, but here is a small peek:

 And now for the awards themselves:

Here you can find all the nominees! If you haven't seen all the nominated films, you can check out these cool (slightly altered) posters briefing what the movies are really all about, like this one from The Descendants:

  

Here are my predictions:

 (who I think will win, who I think deserves to win)

Best Picture: The Artist, The Artist

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Michel Hazanavicius

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Jean Dujardin

Best Actress: Viola Davis (The Help), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginners), Christopher Plummer

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (The Help), Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)

Best Original Screenplay: Midnight In Paris (Woody Allen), Midnight In Paris

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants (Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Animated Feature: Rango, Puss In Boots

Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation (Iran), A Separation

Best Documentary - Feature: Undefeated

Best Documentary - Short Subject: God Is Bigger Than Elvis

Best Live Action Short: Pentecost

Best Animated Short: A Morning Stroll, La Luna

Best Original Score: The Artist (Ludovic Bource), The Artist

Best Original Song: Man Or Muppet (The Muppets), Real In Rio (Rio)

Best Sound Editing:  Hugo, Drive

Best Sound Mixing: Hugo, War Horse

Best Art Direction: Hugo, Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Part II

Best Cinematography:  The Artist, The Tree Of Life

Best Makeup: Iron Lady, Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Part II

Best Costume Design: The Artist, The Artist

Best Film Editing: The Artist, The Artist

Best Visual Effects: Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes

For those who care to read, here are my reasons:

And remember that the Academy members will vote on their respective field of expertise, so Sound Mixers vote Sound Mixing etc. Except Best Picture, which is a whole different mess after past year's changes (which explains 9 nominees)

Best Picture is pretty much sure bet at the moment. The Artist has already won Producer's Guild Award, which is pretty much the best predictions for the winner. The film has also won BAFTA and a Golden Globe among others. And I think it really deserves to win, because it really stands out from the other nominees. The viewing experience is truly extraordinary with the B&W and silence. Best Director award has almost always gone to the winner of Best Picture, and I don't think this year will be any different. Michel Hazanavicius has already won Director's Guild Award, and so far 57 of 63 DGA winners have taken home an Oscar too.

Best Actor should/will go to Jean Dujardin. His amazingly expressive performance is really stunning, and Geroge Clooney's role in Descendants which is close second on the awards, doesn't compare at all. With Screen Actor's Guild in his pocket, Dujardin will most likely become the first Frenchmen to win Oscar for Best Actor.

Best Actress is bit more shifty. Davis has won Critic's Choice and SAG, while Streep took home BAFTA and a Golden Globe. Streep's awards are bit more commercial, so that dips the scale for Davis. Also The Help is nominated for Best Picture when Iron Lady failed to score a nom.  And Streep managed to anger few academy members when her producers from Weinstein Company send mass email advertisement for her. From all five nominees I'd like to see Michelle Williams win, simply because she really made me fall in love with her interpretation of Marilyn Monroe, plus she nailed the appearance and she is long overdue to win an Oscar (but then again so is Davis).

Best Supporting categories have been pretty much carved in stone since the start. Both Christopher Plummer and Octavia Spencer have won SAG, BAFTA and Golden Globes. From the male nominees, I didn't really find anyone that great, all were literally supporting and didn't make a splash, but Plummer did a great job as the bit confused elderly who came out as gay at his seventies. Octavia Spencer deserves all the praise she's gotten, with her sassy performance as the maid who makes Bryce Dallas Howard eat her shit. But I was so happy to see a comedy role represented at the Oscars, that for that shear fact (and her hilarious performance) Melissa should win the award.

As for the screenplays. AMPAS has prove its love for Woody Allen in the past, making his the most nominated writer in Oscar history, and Midnight In Paris is really beautifully written story that is the basically the indie version of Inception when Owen Wilson's character gets sucked in to the magic of the 1920's. The  Artist did win at the BAFTA's for writing, which was a bit surprising taking into account that it is a silent movie. Descendants will most likely score at Best Adapted category (which might be its only award). I personally liked Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I haven't read either of the originals, so I base my decision on the overall writing of the movies. Midnight In Paris and The Descendants also won at the Writer's Guild Awards.

Best Animated Feature is pretty safe too. Rango has scored almost all the awards it has been nominated, except at the Golden Globes, where Adventures of Tintin won the prize. To be honest I was surprised that Tintin didn't get nominated, at first I thought it just wasn't eligible for the category, since it's motion capture, but it was on the short list. I think some voters opted for it as a Best Picture, reducing its chances at Animated Feature. For my taste Rango was bit too dry (not just because the story is basically about water shortage), but it didn't make me laugh or feel much at all. Now Puss In Boots is a whole different story, I went to see it with my sister (there were no kids at the audience btw) and we just kept laughing and it was really entertaining overall.

Then there are some categories, where I rely on the things I've read. Since I haven't seen any of the doc's and only one Foreign Language Film, I just go with what the other critics have said. A Separation is a pretty sure thing, since its biggest competition The Skin I Live In didn't even get nominated. Documentaries are apparently a lot harder to predict, since almost all the sites I've read have different picks. As for the Animated Short Subject: Pixar has been for long overlooked since it started dominating at the Animated Feature, but based on the trailers La Luna seems like so heartfelt and adorable story it should win. Guess I'll just have to wait for the next Pixar full feature Brave (more on next weekly issue). 

 

Best Score is hopefully a sure bet too. John Williams might have two nominations, and two great scores, but the score in The Artist plays so great part, it should be nominated as an supporting actor. It is what brings the movie to life. With only two nominees (RAGE, Academy has promised  "a hard look at the issue"), the Best Original Song is really a 50:50 game. Muppet is a beloved franchise and the song is really vowen into the movie. where as Real In Rio song is made by popular south American artists and  a great vibe on the song.

The most nominated movie of the evening Hugo gets its chance to shine at the technical awards. Hugo has already won plenty for Sound Editing and Mixing, and so it will at the Oscars too.  With the 3D technology and visuals Scorsese has crated for Hugo, it will most likely take home Best Art Direction and Visual Effects. Now since I can't stand Hugo, I've picked other favourites for winners. No comments on them, since this post is running pretty long already, except that my picks are the best and Hugo should lose at all of them.

With the amazing job the make-up artists made in Iron Lady, its no wonder it might win Best Makeup. But I think Harry Potter did even better job, but it is being overlooked by the academy, even Daniel Radcliffe says so. And also, in the past the winner of Best Makeup has also been nominated for Best Picture, so that kinda rules the rest out.  Best Costume Design might be hard to guess, facts (most costume winners are Best Picture nominee/winners, and time pieces), but I'm guessing The Artist, since it relies on the visuals, which costumes are a part of. Madonna's W.E won at the Costume Designer's Guild, so that gives it a bit of momentum, but I still believe The Artist will win.

And for those who still like to read after all that, you can find a great piece about 100 Oscar Facts at EW.com.

~~~

In case you ever happen to win an Oscar, here are some tips what not to do when accepting an award.

I'll be writing a post-Oscar post too, lets see how my predictions went!

-8-

Now that I still remember, since I saw the ad on the way home: remember to watch the BRIT Awards this evening if you can, or look for videos on YouTube tomorrow.  Performers include Rihanna, Coldplay and Adele. Here is a pic of the stage while under construction form the official BRIT Awards site

TV first this time. Last week I was introduced to another new comedy, Happy Endings. It's a story about six friends living in Chicago,very similar to Friends and How I Met Your Mother. It has a great and diverse cast, which includes Elisha Cuthbert (24), Casey Wilson (Saturday Night Live) and Zachary Knighton (FlashForward), definitely worth checking out.

It was announced  that Lindsey Lohan will return to host Saturday Night Live for the 4th time at March. Even though she still has some community service to do, she really is trying to make her way back to the top, with a LOT of rumours of what will be her new project after she is "free" again in May.  I think she will do an awesome job as a host, and I really feel for her, I don't think she is a lost cause yet. Though it will be hard to top Maya Rudolph hosted episode, which IMO was the best of the season so far.

During last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother, the viewers could spot a familiar face. It was no other than Conan O'Brien. In one of the scenes during the second half of the episode the red-headed late night host could be seen on the background of a bar scene. More info at vulture.com

Last week was also kinda historical, The Simpsons aired their 500th episode. With 23 seasons under its belt, the super successful show holds the records for the longest running sitcom, animated series and scripted primetime show. The episode itself was actually pretty great, since they didn't fall for the classic memory-lane trap, but instead it was a full episode of new adventures, where the family was kicked out of Springfield. The couch gag was frame-by-frame montage of all the previous couch gags, which was pretty great actually. The photo below was shown just before end credits: 

Then some movie deals again. Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) was confirmed as the new cast member of the untitled Osama Bin Laden movie. The movie is directed by Kathryn Bigelow (first woman to win Oscar for Best Director for Hurtlocker few years ago). Other cast members include woman of the hour Jessica Chastain (Tree of Life, The Help) and Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation).

Another huge success of 2011, Michael Fassbender (Shame, X-Men: First Class), had some casting news too. He will be a part of new movie Irish Myths, playing a hero: Cuchulain. Maybe then I have to learn something about my current home country. Next Fassbender will be starring in the upcoming  movie Prometheus, a prequel to the Michael Scott's classic Alien.

 Among upcoming sequels was one, that I really want to turn out well:  Percy Jackson & The Olympians: Sea Of Monsters. The fist part failed spectacularly to capture the feeling of the book, that I really liked as a kid. I hope new director Thor Freudenthal will do honor for the books. Now that Harry Potter and Twilight have come to an end (I know there is one more Twilight movie coming, but I kinda hope there wasn't), there is a void for fantasy movies. Hunger Games are doing their share on filling it, but this five-part series would do nicely for the rest. Basically the series combines Ancient Greece mythology and modern day, with big plot lines.

And for those of us, who were wondering what Rufus Wainwright has been doing while his hiatus of recording studios. Well he has been writing a french opera of course. Titled Prima Donna, currently running in New York, it’s about an aging opera star named Régine Saint Laurent, who’s hiding out in Paris in the 1970s, anxiously preparing for her comeback after losing her voice six years previously. That might be fun to see.

~~~

Since the Oscars are this Sunday, I'll post tomorrow or the day after that a big post about it, with my picks for winners, what to expect at the show, and some bits about the nominated films.

 

-7-

Few things I forgot to mention on my last post. First of all, huge congratulations to Scott Rudin who got EGOT, meaning he has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards. He is the 11th person ever to do so, joining the ranks of Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Mel Brooks and Audrey Hepburn.  Rudin won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2008 for No Country For Old Men. He won a Tony Award for Best Musical for Passion in 1994. His Emmy he got for a documentary  He Makes Me Feel Like Dancing  back in 1984. And now with his most recent win Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, he is the 11th person to receive EGOT, and first producer to do so.

 And I forgot to post these two golden videos from the red carpet. First there is the one from BAFTA, where beloved Muppett Miss Piggy got to interview all the greatest stars attending the evening, she even had few ideas for her upcoming projects, take a look! 

The second video is from the Grammy Red Carpet, the result of Sophia Grace and Rosie's Grammy adventures. Now they were back on Ellen to share their video. On the video they got to meet some of  their old friends, like Rihanna, who paid special visit to them when the girls were guests at Ellen few months ago. They also met Lady Antebellum and Katy Perry, who they previously got to interview at the AMA's.

A new award show was introduced Monday, when the 1st Annual Golden Collar Awards were held in LA. Full list of winners, like the one playing Stella on Modern Family, you can find here. Special action were taken to held this event, like places for the animals to eat and relieve themselves. With all the cat videos online, I wouldn't be surprised if cats got their own show too.

Few stories about my fav Adele. First of all, here you can find the full video of her interview with Anderson Cooper, which I mentioned in my pre-grammy post. Based on the video, I think I like her even more.  According to her Vogue interview, the songbird is planning an even longer hiatus from the business than her last one, she says she might take up to 5 years break. She says she needs at least 3 years to write a new album, but this all was before her triumphant return at the Grammys, and I wish she would release new material sooner than in three years. UPDATE: She wrote on her blog: “I’ve a few days off now, and then it’s the Brit Awards here at home and then I’m straight into the studio. BOYYAHH! 5 years? More like 5 days!”, YAY!

And now we are on to the movie news. Director  Andrew Stanton revealed  that his upcoming movie John Carter (Based on Edgar Rice Borroughs' character) would be a trilogy. The following movies depend a lot on the success of the first movie, with the rumored budget of over 250 million dollars. That is a lot, compared to the most expensive Finnish movie, which had a budget of 7,5 millions. The movie I'm talking about is the upcoming Iron Sky, an action-parody about Nazis who have stayed hidden on the moon. Go here for the trailer, and to shed maybe some light on the idea of the movie.

Another movie which has just released its trailer, is the new Bourne movie, called The Bourne Legacy. Matt Damon is now replaced with Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker, The Town).  See the mysterious trailer here.

A lot of castings were confirmed last week too. The most talked about was perhaps the casting of Naomi Watts (King Kong, Fair Game) to play Princess Diana in Caught In Flight, which focuses on the princess's last two years.  Angelina Jolie also confirmed that she would take on the role of Maleficent in the Disney's upcoming Robert Stromberg directed Sleeping Beauty. No other cast has yet been announced. With the fairytale genre booming at the moment, it was no wonder that the classic Beauty And The Beast would get a new film treatment too. The new version is to be directed by Guillermo Del Toro, and starring Emma Watson.

Lots going on in the world of TV too. I have to mention the last episode of Saturday Night Live, because it was hilarious. It was hosted by New Girl-star Zooey Deschanel, and had Karmin as musical guest. You can find nice recap at EW.com, the Clint Eastwood commercial parody was especially good. 

Like in SNL, Glee too remembered Whitney Houston, when character Mercedes (Amber Reilly) sang I Will Always Love You. The song came with good timing, since the episode was filmed well before the passing of the singer. The episode was full of romance, when the students tackled their love life, que the cheesy love-songs.

The new musical drama Smash, which premiered last week, lost a lot of viewers after its well promoted record breaking pilot. But I think the show still has a lot of potential, and its not like it is under a cancellation threat. Episode featured a new song 20th Century Fox Mambo, which to me sounded a lot like Miss Baltimore Crabs from the musical Hairspray, here performed by Michelle Pheiffer in the 2007 film version.

Yesterday one of my favourite shows returned, FINALLY, Cougar Town. The 3rd season pilot was full of hints on what to expect on the show, spoiler warning, like the engagement of Jules (Courteney Cox) and Grayson (Josh Hopkins). In an interview with Vulture, one of the stars Busy Philipps, who plays Laurie on the show, revealed that Laurie will start her own business and fall in love.  Can't wait to see the future of the self proclaimed Cul-De-Sac crew.

And here is the video from the past SNL, of Karmin performing their new single Brokenhearted from their upcoming first record. Can't wait next weeks SNL with host SNL-alumni Maya Rudolph, she is maybe the funniest actress ever.

(And like I predicted, the last post's Adele video has been removed from YouTube, but I think you can find some versions of the event still on YouTube)

-Grammy&BAFTA-

Weekend is over, and so are the parties. And busy it was, overall 104 awards were shared between these two events, and even more overall with the Irish Film Academy holding its event Saturday.

-BAFTA Winners- 

BAFTA evening was pretty uneventful, like they usually are, it is all about the awards and not about the event itself.  Evening was hosted by Stephen Fry, who has done so for several times in the past. BAFTAs have never been so into the red-carpet business, and now with the temperatures in UK, the attendees seemed very reluctant to stay outside with the reporters. Then after few hours of waiting, the show started.

The Artist took home seven awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor. And like in SAGs Octavia Spencer, Christopher Plummer won in the supporting acting categories.  I was bit surprised that Meryl Streep won for leading actress, after some scepticism from the British, but I guess she has won them over with her magnificent performance as Margaret Thatcher in Iron Lady.  She gave a bit startled acceptance speech after her shoe fell off and Colin Firth retrieved chivalrously. And that was about the most exciting happening of the evening.

And as predicted, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy received the award for Best British Film. Even Harry Potter got some love in the form of Best Special Visual Effects. And for good overall gallery of the red carpet, I suggest you check out this link to Hollywood Reporter

-Grammy Winners-

As a total opposite to the BAFTAs, the Grammy's are all bout the event. And due to the passing of Whitney Houston it also served as a memorial of sort, with people remembering her on stage and the red carpet. Since there are so many categories, even the interviewers on CBS Red Carpet had some difficulties recognising everyone. The red carpet lasted all throughout the pre-event up to the main event.

As for the winners, my predictions were pretty accurate, see the link above to see the full list. Adele won in all 6 categories she was nominated, and as such tied for the record for most wins in one night for female with Beyonce's record year 2010. She also made her triumphant return to the stage belting out her mega hit Rolling in the Deep. She received standing ovation, and remembered even to thank her doctors for giving her voice back during one of her many acceptance speeches.

Adele on the cover of the brand new Vogue

As a close second for the best performance of the night, was Jennifer Hudson. She paid tribute to Whitney by singing her hit I Will Always Love You. Jennifer looked divine while giving the most emotional performance. Chaka Khan was also rumored to be part of the tribute, but I was glad that they kept it simple. And after all we got to see one Disco Diva when Diane Ross presented the award for Best Album.

As for the rest of the performances, it's really hard to compare to the previously mentioned. Legends Paul McCarthy, Bruce Bringsteen, and the Beach Boys all gave audiences something to cheer about, but fell kinda low in my opinion. Rihanna's We Found Love was totally opposite to her glamorous self on the red carpet where she wore a very plunging Armani dress, on stage she was more white trash than Tailor Swift's redneck performance later on the evening. James Brown inspired show by Bruno Mars really got the audience moving, and Chris Brown amazed with his incredible moves (so amazing he had to lip-sync the whole time though). And there really are no words to describe what Nicki Minaj did on stage, it was more like bad acting than good singing, compared to her VMA performance, she really blew it, and I'm guessing got the hate of the catholic church upon her. Katy Perry premiered her new song Part of Me, which was officially released today. 

As for the fashion, the ladies and gentlemen kept it surprisingly classy. See Huffington Post for their Best and Worst Dressed list. 

Since it was the best performance of the night, I'll only post this video of Adele. And because CBS can be a hard mistress, I wouldn't be surprised if they delete almost all Grammy videos, hopefully not this one. But anyways, she is super amazing, enjoy! (And look how slim she looks)

I'll post weekly update later this week, since I don't have time now.

Happy Valentine's Day!! <3

-RIP Whitney Houston-

Her publicist confirmed the news of the singers passing away today. Houston was only 48 years. Here is her probably most well known song (originally by Dolly Parton):

-Pre-Grammy and BAFTA-

Just a quick post before Sunday, when both British Academy Film Award and the Grammy's will be held. BAFTA's take place in Royal Opera House in London honoring British and foreign film, and Grammy's in L.A awarding the top of the music industry. Now I can't say I'm expert on either of the awards, since I don't follow British film's that much, and the Grammy's with over 50 categories are just too much for one guy to cover, so  here is a bit of an overall package.

-Full list of BAFTA nominations- 

 See the BAFTA trailer below:

Even though Oscar nomination leader Hugo didn't fare so well in BAFTA's, director Martin Scorsese will not be leaving empty handed for he is to receive the Academy Fellowship award for his contributions to cinema. John Hurt will be honored with a special award too for his acting contributions, he recently starred in the second most nominated film of the evening: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He is also well know for his role from Harry Potter-series and V for Vendetta .

BAFTAs can be hard to predict due to the differences in categories. Will Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which alongside with The Artist are the major combatants in the awards, take home the trophy for Best Film or British Film, or both? BAFTAs also tend to have a little different opinions in acting categories, such as Berenice Bejo who is nominated for Leading Actress as her role has so far been nominated as supporting in most other awards. That is one reason I like BAFTAs, since sometimes they represent the audiences opinions better, the Oscars can be bit snobbish sometimes though I still love them.

This will also be sad occasion, since it is probably the last big happening for the cast of Harry Potter which includes so many British acting legends, they tend to get invited anyways. Another sad thing was that no woman got nominated for Rising Star Award, wich is just wrong with keep last year in mind. I mean does the name Jessica Chastain ring a bell? They nominated Chris "Thor" Hemsworth for god's sake. No wonder British drive on the wrong side of the road.

-Full list of Grammy nominations- 

I know you might think that video has nothing to do with the Grammys, but it's the best part of it! The amazing Sophia Grace with her hype-girl Rosie will be covering the red carpet of the event for Ellen Degeneres.  They were hilarious at AMA's. So I can't wait to see the results. They are living every little girl's dream.

Well anyway, the second thing I'm looking forward to, is the long waited return of Adele!! She will be making her return to stages after going through throat surgery. Thank god it went well and we get the hear her again. She even gave little preview to Anderson Cooper, sounding good! And with 6 nominations, she might have the greatest night ever. She is expected to take home at least the awards for Best Album and Best Song (Rolling in the Deep). 

Kanye West leads the nomination with seven and Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars and Adele all have six. I'm really waiting to see who wins the award for Best New Artist after last year the audiences felt snubbed when Justin Bieber didn't win. Bon Iver has been mentioned as the pick in lots of sites, but I don't see why Nicki Minaj or Skrillex couldn't win after they both took over the world during last year. Amy Winehouse will most likely receive a post-humous award shared with Tony Bennet for their beautiful duet Body And Soul, which I think deserves to win even without the sorry votes. 

As for Rock category, Foo Fighter is a pretty sure bet for the winner after fighting their way back to the top. Bon Iver rules at the alternative categories. Jason Aldean can easily take the award for Best Country Album, so Taylor Swift might not take home an award, shocking! She can do her trademark surprised face either way. Best Rap Album is really between Jay-Z&Kanye West and Nicki Minaj. The voters might prefer Nicki if they overlook her in New Artist category, but it will most likely go to the super-duo.

~ ~

Next weeks post will be pretty full if I write about Grammy and BAFTA winners and other topics, so I might have to break them down a bit, but let's see :)

 

-6-

In the past few posts I mentioned upcoming new shows, and the kind people at Hollywood Reporter have made us a great guide to all new series, so check it out! The list includes among others the adaption of novel "Scuples", the new series tells the story of a women who starts her own store after losing a lot of wight and becoming successful. The show will be EP'd by one miss Natalie Portman!! The guide also includes the newest additions like the comedy about a cosmopolitan woman adapting to the suburbs, with Judy Greer cast as lead.

And Judy Greer's old cast mates on Arrested Development (one of the most brilliant TV comedies) had some great news to share too. The too-early-cancelled series will be getting a whole new season and a film according to the writer Dean Lorey. Revival has been talked about ever since the shows cancellation and the new seasons is set to premiere in 2013 on Netflix.

One of my new favourite comedies Raising Hope  also announced that actress Vivica A. Fox (Kill Bill) will be guest starring in the hilarious comedy as a enthusiastic church goer who clashes with Burt (played by Garret Dillahunt). The show focuses on Chance family who struggles with low income especially after the son's one stand leaves them raising a little baby Hope. Show is currently on its second season. My favourite person on the show is Maw Maw, played by Cloris Leachman, here is a small video about the character, only way to describe her is to watch this:

Then some movie news:

One of the movies of 2012 I'm most looking forward to see is Les Miserables. And the ensemble cast got new additions last week when Samantha Barks was confirmed to play Eponine by Universal. Barks played Eponine in one of the London productions of the beloved musical which celebrated 25th anniversary back in 2010. The rest of the cast includes Russel Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried and recent breakout star Eddie Redmayne. Film is premiering in December.

And the new sequel to the movie X-Men Origins: Wolwerine finally got a release date according to Entertainment Weekly. Named The Wolverine, the sequel is coming out July 23th 2013. Hopefully the film wont be overshadowed by the sequel to X-Men First Class, but then again, that sequel hasn't even been fully scripted yet.

Also the upcoming comedy, starring Bridesmaids-alumni Kristen Wiig, John Hamm among other well known comedians, called  Friends With Kids, released its new poster. You can find the trailed here.

And I'd be fool not to mention the Super Bowl held last week (New York Giants won), but since I don't follow American Football, I'll just focus on the entertainment. The much anticipated halftime show by Madonna lived up to the expectations, but not everyone thought so, judge yourself: 

I thought the video projected on the ground was a great idea, since it is a huge stadium, and the people over there need entertainment too and they might not see all the little things on screen. And there wouldn't be Madonna without a little controversy, but hold on, this time it wasn't Madonna, the spark was  caused by M.I.A when she flipped the audiences during the performance of her collaboration with Madonna. Madonna also revealed the album covers of MDNA scheduled for release on March 26th. Judging by the looks of it, she is going to defy laws of aging once more. In my opinion the new single was a little bit too young for her.

And it wouldn't be Super Bowl without the movie trailers. Among others was this amazing trailer for the Marvel Comics epic collaboration the Avengers. Looking good guys!

And NBC spot made me realise how many great series they have, with the likes of 30 Rock, SNL, Parks And Rec, Community, The Office, Up All Night, Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno, Chelsea and the list goes on and on. See all your favourites in this great spot by NBC:

At the end I want to share a very disturbing first look at the new Lord Of The Rings Lego toy line. I wouldn't have wanted that Gollum on my night stand as a kid. And for those of us who have already started losing sleep thinking about the upcoming Hobbit movie, here is the trailer, just to tease us all, have a great week!