Why don't we have characters like this any more?

Han Solo is pretty much the greatest character ever. This is what I have learned in rewatching the original Star Wars movies. That, and Mark Hamill seriously gives like, the worst performance ever. Sorry, Luke.

Oh, no...

not Antonioni too... ;_;
I think this weekend, it's high time for rewatches of Blow-up and Persona...

Severus Snape says

"Bitch please."

But speaking of directors...

...today I was in Starbucks getting coffee and MOTHERFUCKING SPIKE LEE WALKED IN.

It seriously took all my New York savvy to NOT run over and hug him and scream and cry in joy. It was amazing. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped for a second.

Rest in peace, Ingmar.

I love Spike.

I seriously doubt this film will ever get the recognition it deserves, but hey. More for me.

So bored...

What is this bullshit Departed backlash as of late? Oh gee, I'm sorry it won the Oscar. IMDb users are idiots.

Antici...

...pation

I still say/hope this movie is an action movie masterpiece.

This is fucking awesome.

Please, please, please, please don't suck...

and the rest of my awards...

...with the Oscar nominees cut out (yeah yeah I know, I'll comment on the guys later)

2004
Best Picture
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Bad Education
Mean Girls
Dogville

Best Director
Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Michael Gondry, Eternal Sunshine...
Lars von Trier, Dogville
Michael Mann, Collateral
Alfonso Cuaron, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Best Actor
Paul Giamatti, Sideways
Kevin Bacon, The Woodsman
Jeff Bridges, The Door in the Floor
Gael Garcia Bernal, Bad Education
Jim Carrey, Eternal Sunshine...

Best Actress
Nicole Kidman, Dogville
Uma Thurman, Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Laura Linney, P.S.
Abbie Cornish, Somersault (2005?)
Vera Farmiga, Down to the Bone (2005? And yes, I saw these both very recently)

Best Supporting Actor
Jude Law, I Heart Huckabees
Steve Carell, Anchorman
David Carradine, Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Peter Sarsgaard, Kinsey
Paul Bettany, Dogville

Best Supporting Actress
Kirsten Dunst, Eternal Sunshine...
Kyra Sedgwick, The Woodsman
Daryl Hannah, Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls
Lily Tomlin, I Heart Huckabees


2005
Best Picture
The Constant Gardener
A History of Violence
Pride and Prejudice
The Squid and the Whale
Sin City

Best Director
David Cronenberg, A History of Violence
Michael Haneke, Cache
Fernando Meirelles, The Constant Gardener
Robert Rodriguez et al., Sin City
Woody Allen, Match Point

Best Actor
Viggo Mortensen, A History of Violence
Ralph Fiennes, The Constant Gardener
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mysterious Skin
Steve Carell, The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Robert Downey Jr., Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Best Actress
Q'Orianka Kilcher, The New World
Yeong-ae Lee, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Gwyneth Paltrow, Proof
Embeth Davidtz, Junebug
Claire Danes, Shopgirl

Best Supporting Actor
Jesse L. Martin, Rent
Clifton Collins Jr., Capote
Mickey Rourke, Sin City
Michael Pena, Crash
Donald Sutherland, Pride and Prejudice

Best Supporting Actress
Laura Linney, The Squid and the Whale
Maria Bello, A History of Violence
Rosario Dawson, Rent
Ziyi Zhang, 2046
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Happy Endings


2006
Best Picture
Marie-Antoinette
Children of Men

Inside Man

Borat

The Fountain

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, The Fountain
Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men
Sofia Coppola, Marie-Antoinette
Spike Lee, Inside Man
Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth

Best Actor
Hugh Jackman, The Fountain
Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat
Matt Damon, The Departed
Clive Owen, Children of Men
Daniel Craig, Casino Royale

Best Actress (still far from 100% sure about my final lineup)
Laura Dern, Inland Empire
Naomi Watts, The Painted Veil
Rachel Weisz, The Fountain
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sherrybaby
Kirsten Dunst, Marie-Antoinette

Best Supporting Actor
Steve Carell, Little Miss Sunshine
Robert Downey Jr., A Scanner Darkly
Alec Baldwin, The Departed
Michael Sheen, The Queen (cuz everyone hearts category fraud)
Clive Owen, Inside Man

Best Supporting Actress
Mia Kirshner, The Black Dahlia
Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson (again, yay category fraud)
Claire Hope-Ashitey, Children of Men
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stranger than Fiction
Julianne Moore, Children of Men

More lovely manly types.

^ The very very lovely #21

So... the only people who blog are gay men (I kid, but seriously. It seems that way sometimes), so several of them have mentioned a list that a notable gay site did of the 100 hottest men, as voted by gay and bisexual men (I'm like the only straight girl that would have gone and looked at it, oy). Of course, I feel the need to make comments. Here's the list, it'll be updated with my comments and such later:

1. jake gyllenhaal - Predictable, but yeah. Jake's about 27 billion different kinds of hotness. Not quite my #1, but he's up there.
2. chris evans - OH YES. He's likely in my Top 5. I love him because he looks like a man, not like a prepubescent boy. Chris, who the hell would ever think your chest is too hairy? I sure as hell don't mind... In fact, I very may well be at this very moment watching Not Another Teen Movie just cuz you're in it (though he's not as hot in that as he is now).
3. daniel craig - #3? Sure, his body is smoking. But his face is...well, the fusion of face and body don't work quite as well as some other men far below him on this list.
4. gale harold - Who? Oh, he's apparently on Queer as Folk and Deadwood, two TV shows I don't watch... cute, but not anything special.
5. taye diggs - Hot, but not this hot.
6. ryan reynolds - SUPER HOT without facial hair, and still pretty hot with it. He dated Alanis Morissette... that's weird.
7. hugh jackman - OH YES.
8. t.r. knight - very cute, and I totally admire his bravery, and him and Katherine Heigl totally remind me of me and my best friend, so I love them. But, I mean...he's kind of only here because he's an out gay man. He's not hotter than a lot of people listed lower than him on this list. Still, love him to pieces.
9. ryan phillippe - Mmm, yes.
10. john barrowman - OH YES. I realize like T.R. Knight, he's only here because he's gay too (IE, I seriously doubt he'd make the top 100 list if just women were doing it), but THANK GOD.
11. christian bale - In the running for the hottest man alive.
12. brad pitt - A tad too boring for me now, but I can't deny he's very attractive.
13. christopher meloni - Mmm. I love him.
14. robert gant - Another Queer as Folk actor. Just by Googling 'em, I find him better-looking than the guy at #4.
15. patrick wilson - mmm, yeah.
16. mario lopez - hot, but not this hot.
17. gael garcia bernal - Ugh. He's one of few men considered "hot" that do nothing for me.
18. ian somerhalder - Mm, so very pretty, maybe even a little too pretty...
19. justin timberlake - I love him. I feel like I need to do some sort of tribute post to him soon. Ridiculously hot, and one of the only people putting out any sort of good pop music.
20. heath ledger - Only so high because he was in Brokeback, but yeah, he's gorgeous and all of a sudden out of nowhere, awesomely talented. Go Heath!
21. paul rudd - See the picture at the top of this post. Hot, adorable, incredibly talented, and he just seems like an all-around great guy. Probably in my Top 5.
22. jonathan rhys-myers - So gorgeous, it frightens me.
23. channing tatum - Oh my lord, yeah.
24. ryan gosling - Wasn't I just talking about this? He is quite gorgeous though.
25. jamie bamber - I've never watched Battlestar Galactica but I just Googled him and...oh my goodness, yeah.
26. wentworth miller - Yeah. Those eyes!
27. tom welling - I don't watch that much network TV but I really tried to watch Smallville because of him...
28. shemar moore - No clue who he is. Weird face. Nice body though.
29. eddie cibrian - I was very surprised I didn't pass out during that scene in Living Out Loud. Oh wow...
30. david boreanaz - I understand he has a large gay fanbase. As I never really got the hype behind Buffy, I'm not that big a fan.
31. chad allen - Unattractive, probably only on the list because he's gay himself.
32. anderson cooper - GORGEOUS. I've had a giant crush on him since The Mole which I totally watched and which was awesome don't judge me.
33. josh duhamel - Incredibly hot, but loses points for dating Fergie.
34. randy harrison - Had to Google him. Too girly, and I hate his hair.
35. jensen ackles - Cute.
36. cheyenne jackson - Absolutely gorgeous.
37. jared padalecki - Cute, but I'm not a fan of his hair. Plus, according to Google, he was in House of Wax which deducts points from him.
38. matthew mcconaughey - He's hot, yes, but I'm more amused by how frickin' weird he is. I thnk if you're dating him you must never have an uninteresting day.
39. david beckham - Possibly the most gorgeous man on the entire planet. Sorry, boyf (actually, that sentence could probably apply for this entire post, couldn't it).
40. jason statham - Hot, definitely the best thing about Transporter 2 which I was forced to watch.
41. milo ventimiglia - Cute, but I heard he physically abused Alexis Bledel, and YOU DON'T DO THAT.
42. eric mabius - Totally adorable. Michael Urie is also sooo cute from Ugly Betty too.
43. jensen atwood - I dunno. His face is weird.
44. eric bana - SO HOT
45. paul walker - Also incredibly hot, too bad he's really really lacking in any sort of acting ability
46. matthew fox - "Fox" is right.
47. josh halloway - His hair is too long for my taste and his facial hair looks weird. He's still attractive, though.
48. tyson beckford - Hot, hot, hot.
49. zachary quinto - He's okay.
50. orlando bloom - Gorgeous, too bad he can't act. Whoo halfway done!
51. joseph gordon-levitt - Not that hot, but incredibly talented.
52. neil patrick harris - Again... not that hot. I admire his bravery though, and he's just fuckin' awesome.
53. ben mckenzie - SO CUTE. And I'd love to see his O.C. costar, Adam Brody, on this list too.
54. gerard butler - Gorgeous, but his huge fans are insane.
55. clive owen - OH MAN. YES. HIGHER. NOWWWWW.
56. eric dane - Hot.
57. jeremy piven - OH MAN! I loooove him. Seriously, I don't know who I'd pick in Entourage between him and *sigh* Adrien...
58. andy roddick - He is so hot. He is hot even when crying and making other various ridiculous faces during tennis tournaments!
59. jason behr - Who? His jawbones kind of scare the shit out of me. I like good jawbones (it's a wonderful quality of the boyf's.), but his are probably used to grate cheese when he's not acting.
60. j.p. calderon - Cute, with a nice body, but one of those people that's probably only on the list because he's gay.
61. johnny depp - I do find him extremely attractive at times, when he doesn't look like a meth addict or a washed-up lounge singer.
62. keanu reeves - There's a reason why he kept working despite being an awful actor, and that's his looks. He never really did it that much for me, but he's very attractive.
63. matthew rhys - Cute, but I dunno.
64. christopher gorham - Too skinny.
65. ll cool j - Sick body.
66. adam levine - Gorgeous.
67. sendhil ramamurthy - Eh, not really.
68. daniel dae kim - Very attractive. These people...really like Lost.
69. thomas roberts - Clearly the third hottest anchorman after #32 and Matt Lauer.
70. kevin zegers - Yummy.
71. cristiano romaldo - I can't say I really follow soccer but he's probably the hottest player, after David Beckham.
72. wilson cruz - I hate his little mustache thing.
73. alexandre despatie - Mm yeah. He looks a little like Gael Garcia Bernal gone right.
74. timothy olyphant - Sexy, though I expected more of him from Live Free or Die Hard...
75. jake shears - He's pretty hot, but if you're going for ridiculously flamboyant musicians, Rufus Wainwright please!
76. matt damon - YES. Gorgeous, talented, and charming, and let me not mince words here: NICE ASS. His BFFL should be on here too, though.
77. jay hernandez - Mmm yeah. I mean, Grindhouse provided lots of fodder for those who love the ladies, but I appreciated Jay...
78. jon krasinski - So adorable and I don't even watch The Office.
79. ewan mcgregor - As I said recently, he's the most totally lovable actor on the planet, as well as gorgeous.
80. enrique inglesias - Gross...
81. b.d. wong - Unattractive, but I do love his theater work.
82. adrian pasdar - His head is shaped weirdly, but yeah, he's attractive.
83. peter sarsgaard - OH YES. There's just something incredibly sexy about him, and I didn't realize it until Kinsey. It wasn't even that he was naked, he's just got this aura of, like, sex. Lucky, lucky Maggie.
84. john amaechi - Not very attractive, but incredibly brave. I have to admire him.
85. jesse bradford - WHY ISN'T HE HIGHER?????
86. peter paige - Too pretty.
87. jesse l. martin - A gorgeous man, and incredibly talented.
88. brady quinn - Aw, wow! I have no clue who he is (apparently some kind of athlete, thanks Google), but he's so cute!
89. billy campbell - Apparently he's an actor? He's hot.
90. jeremy bloom - Hot. You gotta love football players.
91. ben browder - Wow, now, see, he has nice cheekbones...
92. george clooney - WHY IS HE NOT HIGHER??!??!?!?!?! I know a lot of gay men that think he's far too smarmy, though. Oh well. More for us ladies, yay!
93. tom ford - He's very attractive, but his ego really turns me off...
94. cillian murphy - Too girly. Everyone goes on and on and on about his eyes, but... they really look like girl eyes.
95. sufjan stevens - Oh he's so cute! And I love his music.
96. darryl stephens - Really good body, really weird hair.
97. james purefoy - Mmm, yeah.
98. dwayne johnson (the rock) - He's way too muscular for my taste, though I see how you could be into it...
99. seth green - Nonononononono.
100. zach braff - He's adorable but shouldn't be on this list over Jude Law, Russell Crowe, Vince Vaughn, Ben Affleck, Billy Crudup, Topher Grace, Hayden Christensen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Colin Firth, Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett, Patrick Dempsey, Chris Noth, Dane Cook (I know he's the most obnoxious person in the world, but he's gorgeous), Nathan Fillon, Mark Wahlberg, James McAvoy, Tom Brady, Hugh Dancy, Dan Futterman, Aaron Eckhart, John Stamos, Paul Bettany........

Gee, how can you tell I got bored toward the end. I can't. BUT I DID IT!!! Again, many apologies to the boyf, but he's probably used to it by now :P

Also, there's a list for those that're into the ladies. I'm not, but it's a good list (Keira Knightley is #15 and Emily Blunt is #21, which are the only unfortunate entries on the list); it reads like a buncha people I wish were my Hollywood best friends: kate winslet (#3? yay), tina fey, salma hayek, natalie portman, scarlett johansson, mariska hargitay, mary-louise parker, america ferrera, helen mirren, jessica alba (i'd rather have one jessica alba than fifteen keira knightleys, when it comes to movies. seriously), drew barrymore, rachel weisz (girl-crush alert!), maggie gyllenhaal, meryl streep, queen latifah, kristen bell, rachel mcadams, catherine zeta-jones, katherine heigl, jennifer garner, emma thompson, sarah michelle gellar, jennifer connelly, kelly clarkson, lindsay lohan (if only to smack some sense into her REALLY HARD), sara ramirez, michelle williams, liv tyler, sandra oh, nicole kidman (actually she probably wouldn't be that fun to hang out with, but let's face it. she is godly!), susan sarandon, etc...

+ Everyone's favorite Razzie nominee

It's his birthday too! I hate, hate, hate his backlash (almost as much as I hate the obnoxious cinephiles who consider him THE ONLY GOOD AMERICAN DIRECTOR TO EVER LIVE). If you love cinema, you are incredibly indebted to him. Period.

It's also about a million other peoples' birthdays...

I couldn't ask for a better trio.

Happy birthday to the queen...

The king of the '90s, who I may still forgive if he ever decides to do any good movies again...



...and of course, one of my favorite TV characters of all time, ARI GOLD!

My personal awards

As of right now (they'll change in 15 seconds), with all Oscar nominees in their respective categories taken out. Sometimes, I don't nominate any of the Oscar nominees (Best Picture 2004). Sometimes, I nominate several of the Oscar nominees (Best Actress 2006). Note that if a person was nominated for an Oscar for one performance while also having another strong one in that year (like Nicole Kidman in '01), I didn't let the actor into my lineup for that year; also, I didn't count TV movies, notably Angels in America, Wit, and Something the Lord Made. In preference order. For now, up to and including 2003, I'll do the rest later:

2000
Best Picture
Requiem for a Dream
You Can Count on Me
Best in Show
Wonder Boys
The House of Mirth

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Requiem for a Dream
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Amores perros
Lars von Trier, Dancer in the Dark
Sofia Coppola, The Virgin Suicides
Kenneth Lonergan, You Can Count on Me

Best Actor
Christian Bale, American Psycho
Billy Crudup, Jesus' Son
Clive Owen, Croupier
Forest Whitaker, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Michael Douglas, Wonder Boys

Best Actress
Renee Zellweger, Nurse Betty
Ziyi Zhang, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Cate Blanchett, The Gift
Gillian Anderson, The House of Mirth
Michelle Pfeiffer, What Lies Beneath

Best Supporting Actor
Mark Ruffalo, You Can Count on Me
Jeffrey Wright, Shaft
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Almost Famous
Jack Black, High Fidelity
Bill Murray, Hamlet

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Connelly, Requiem for a Dream
Samantha Morton, Jesus' Son
Kirsten Dunst, The Virgin Suicides
Kate Winslet, Quills
Goya Toledo, Amores perros


2001
Best Picture
In the Mood for Love
Lantana
Shrek
Memento
Zoolander (ask me how serious I am.)

Best Director
Wong Kar-Wai, In the Mood for Love
Christopher Nolan, Memento
Stephen Spielberg, AI: Artificial Intelligence
Todd Field, In the Bedroom
Alejandro Amenabar, The Others

Best Actor
Ewan McGregor, Moulin Rouge!
Haley Joel Osment, AI: Artificial Intelligence
Tony Leung, In the Mood for Love
Jake Gyllenhaal, Donnie Darko
Anthony LaPaglia, Lantana

Best Actress
Naomi Watts, Mulholland Dr.
Charlotte Rampling, Under the Sand
Maggie Cheung, In the Mood for Love
Lena Endre, Faithless
Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom

Best Supporting Actor
Steve Buscemi, Ghost World
Jude Law, AI: Artificial Intelligence
Brian Cox, L.I.E.
Will Ferrell, Zoolander
Justin Theroux, Mulholland Dr.

Best Supporting Actress
Laura Elena Harring, Mulholland Dr.
Gwyneth Paltrow, The Royal Tenenbaums
Kerry Armstrong, Lantana
Scarlett Johansson, Ghost World
Uma Thurman, Tape


2002
Best Picture
25th Hour (this movie was so robbed, in so many categories)
Talk to Her
Minority Report
Adaptation.
Y tu mama tambien

Best Director
Spike Lee, 25th Hour
Spike Jonze, Adaptation.
Stephen Spielberg, Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can
Alfonso Cuaron, Y tu mama tambien
Todd Haynes, Far from Heaven

Best Actor
Campbell Scott, Roger Dodger
Edward Norton, 25th Hour
Leonardo DiCaprio, Catch Me If You Can
James Nesbitt, Bloody Sunday
Robin Williams, One Hour Photo

Best Actress
Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Secretary
Isabelle Huppert, The Piano Teacher
Meryl Streep, The Hours
Catherine Keener, Lovely and Amazing

Best Supporting Actor
Dennis Quaid, Far from Heaven
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Punch-Drunk Love
Barry Pepper, 25th Hour
Ray Liotta, Narc
Brian Cox, 25th Hour

Best Supporting Actress
Toni Collette, The Hours
Samantha Morton, Minority Report
Miranda Richardson, Spider
Emily Watson, Punch-Drunk Love
Michelle Pfeiffer, White Oleander


2003
Best Picture
Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Big Fish
Finding Nemo
City of God
Love Actually

Best Director
Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Robert Altman, The Company
Andrew Jarecki, Capturing the Friedmans
Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later
Tim Burton, Big Fish

Best Actor
Hayden Christensen, Shattered Glass (lol?)
Kevin Spacey, The Life of David Gale
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dirty Pretty Things
Russell Crowe, Master and Commander: And the Rest of This Title Got Lost Somewhere
Robert Downey Jr., The Singing Detective

Best Actress
Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation *
Uma Thurman, Kill Bill, Vol. 1 *
Zooey Deschanel, All the Real Girls
Evan Rachel Wood, thirteen
Cate Blanchett, Veronica Guerin
* tied.

Best Supporting Actor
Peter Sarsgaard, Shattered Glass
Bill Nighy, Love Actually
Kevin Bacon, Mystic River
Bobby Cannavale, The Station Agent
Hugh Grant, Love Actually

Best Supporting Actress
Natalie Portman, Cold Mountain
Laura Linney, The Life of David Gale
Lucy Liu, Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Catherine O'Hara, A Mighty Wind
Emma Thompson, Love Actually

TBC when I'm not so darn tired

someone please explain this thing's appeal

Yes, that's a purposefully bad picture. You're not gonna find ALL THAT MUCH better if you look online, though.

Keira Knightley. I don't think she's particularly pretty, though she can be if she really really tries. She's certainly not sexy. And here's the important thing, people: she has one really good performance. She was awesome in Pride and Prejudice, but in everything else she's been nothing better than serviceable (Bend it Like Beckham) to terrible (pretty much everything else). Look, I hope she's great in Atonement. I want someone, anyone, to kick the Blanchett's ass this year. But this chick's got massive hype and unlike the Blanchett, she hasn't done very much to deserve it (I don't wanna hear "Pirates makes a gazillion dollars blah blah blah." You know they could cast ANY actor/actress as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann and nobody would care).

Dear Maggie Gyllenhaal,

You are awesome and you're right, of course, but why do you gotta kick a girl while she's down? Also, I've got the feeling The Dark Knight is going to be an action movie MASTERPIECE. Then again, I thought Hairspray was going to be trash and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry was going to be "not totally horrible," so you might want to ignore me...

Love, me.

PS: You're much better at this whole "acting" thing than your brother, but he's much better at that whole "being really ludicrously hot" thing.

notable British/Irish/etc actors NOT in Harry Potter

with a great deal of help from IMDb, presented without bias (IE "yay" or "boo"):
natasha richardson
julian sands
helen mirren
judi dench
emily watson
clive owen
ian mckellen
anthony hopkins
liam neeson
hugh grant (i believe he was supposed to be in it as gilderoy lockhart, but had to drop out)
kristin scott thomas
sean connery (and all the other bonds)
elizabeth taylor (though she doesn't really do films any more)
rachel weisz
kate winslet
sean bean
christopher lee
samantha morton
jude law
daniel day-lewis
michael caine
jeremy irons
ewan mcgregor
emily blunt
gerard butler
christian bale
jeremy northam
albert finney
jennifer saunders
peter o'toole
brenda blethyn
ben kingsley
jonathan rhys-myers
jonathan rhys-davies
sacha baron cohen
tilda swinton
keira knightley
orlando bloom
sienna miller
bill nighy
cillian murphy
elizabeth hurley
vanessa redgrave
lynn redgrave

OMG!

So Hairspray may have started out the year as one of my least anticipated movies, but once again I shall admit defeat. It's totally fun. I think a lot of that fun, however, comes from the source material; the set designers really could have used more flash, glitter, and SHINY NEON COLORS!!!!! (yeah, I know, most of it took place in '60s Baltimore, but even the set of the Corny Collins Show was rather dull), and the movie could have been more campy overall. Still, it's just so much fun (how many times have I said "fun" here) that you're willing to overlook its flaws. The movie is definitely more than worth your time, and it's just nice to see a musical that's just willing to revel in itself, instead of desperately clutching for Oscars (I liked Dreamgirls a lot and all, but...). B+

PS: Zac Efron surprised me by not sucking!

my Ewan post made me realize...

I've never had a proper Jude/Ewan roommate gratuitous post!!

In fact, I've never had a gratuitious Jude post at all. I should remedy this soon.

I just wanna hug him!

(...and okay maybe some other things too)

Most lovable actor on the planet, seriously. He's not particularly talented (he's talented, but not as much as say, his former roommate [hot!] Jude Law), and he's often in crap crap crap. But he's ludicrously lovable.

Snape and other Harry Potter thoughts

RIP, honey.

I guess he won't win Best Supporting Actor cuz he's in the book for like 5 minutes, but still. He's awesome. As for Deathly Hallows? Besides the fact that JK felt the need to kill off all the remaining characters, and some of her deaths just seemed horrible and senseless (Tonks? Lupin? Fred? Dobby? HEDWIG?!?!?! Why did you have to kill the owl?), I felt it was a satisfying and actually pretty darn good ending to the series. Yes, some parts were very fanfiction-y, and the epilogue was pretty cheesy, but I appreciated it.

awesome kwinslet quote of the day.

"I'd rather be his whore than your wife!"

(oh man how much do I love that picture and this movie and this actress? so much)

July awards

So the boyf is one of those guys that sees most movies, even the small and "insignificant" indie ones (and errr. sometimes he downloads them. don't look at him like that!). At his place, I was able to see the 14080846086 movies I've missed so far this year. Hooray. Major nominations at this point in time:

Best Picture
Breaking and Entering

Grindhouse
Jindabyne

Ratatouille *
Zodiac

Have I mentioned that Ratatouille is awesome yet? RATATOUILLE IS AWESOME. The rest of the movies are pretty damn good too.


Best Director

everyone, Grindhouse * (I miiiight need to split this up. It's not really fair. =/)
David Fincher, Zodiac
William Friedkin, Bug
Anthony Minghella, Breaking and Entering

Sarah Polley, The Sweet Hereafter

Yeah, I really need to split up the Grindhouse directors.


Best Actor
Steve Buscemi, Interview
Chris Cooper, Breach
Jude Law, Breaking and Entering *
Ulrich Muhe, The Lives of Others
Gordon Pinsent, Away from Her

I know, like half these guys are "technically" 2006...


Best Actress
Julie Christie, Away from Her *

Marion Cotillard, La vie en rose
Ashley Judd, Bug
Laura Linney, Jindabyne
Sienna Miller, Factory Girl/Interview

A lineup of OWNAGE. It looks like another good year for actresses - I already have 13 that are worthy of consideration! I consolidated Miller's performances, which I never do, because I didn't want to kick Judd out cuz she was so damn good. Speaking of Sienna, when the hell did she turn into an awesome actress?! If this lineup stays the same at the end of the year, I'll be pretty darn happy (so basically, it can only get better). Cotillard was indeed great, but she is highly overrated.


Best Supporting Actor

John Carroll Lynch, Zodiac
Jeff Daniels, The Lookout

Robert Downey Jr., Zodiac
Jeremy Piven, Smokin' Aces *
Paul Rudd, Knocked Up

empty lolz. Yes, I'm serious about Piven (he's awesome, but if that's the best we get by the end of the year...well. Oh, and Robert Downey Jr. is officially in my Fairly Holy Quadrangle of Awesome [him, Bill Murray, Alan Rickman, Bruce Campbell]).

Best Supporting Actress
Rosario Dawson, Grindhouse (Death Proof)
Deborra-Lee Furness, Jindabyne *
Leslie Mann, Knocked Up
Imelda Staunton, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Kerry Washington, I Think I Love My Life

Go see Jindabyne now. SO GOOD. Ms. Hugh Jackman really proves herself ;) At least two of the others are just fantastic too, but two of the others I fully expect/hope to be gone by the end of the year.

IMDb posters

Is it just me, or do about 35% of them just sound like...robots or something? I have such a hard time believing some of them are real people.

I could have gone through my life without reading this sentence

"Mr. Travolta explores the exhibitionistic and sensual sides of her personality."
- from the NY Times review of Hairspray

Also, Emmys: I... don't care. Go anyone that's not Tony Shalhoub because SERIOUSLY HOW MANY EMMYS DO YOU NEED. Oh, and suck it, Hugh Lawrie, your show sucks.

That Harry Potter leak?

Real. I mean, the NY Times just reviewed the actual book and...yeah, it all matches up.

Knowing this, and without even having read it but knowing what happens, I can say: ALAN RICKMAN FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR '10 IN Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. JULIE WATERS FOR BEST DELIVERY OF A LINE '10 in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

*sound of $10 million British in security flushing down the toilet*

I was wrong.

^ See? I can admit it.

Hairspray: 26 reviews and one is negative? Wow. I still have to see it to believe it, but...I'll be willing to believe it.

The supposed Harry Potter leak.

I don't know what to think. I know that before today all the publishers were like "ha ha ha look online all you want but they're all fakes" and now they're like "OMG COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT!!!!! PLEASE DON'T SPOIL IT FOR EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!!!!!" I do know this: if it's fake, it wasn't done by anyone other than the publishing company. Nobody else has that kind of time on their hands (and I don't want to hear "waah! it's not that hard/time-consuming!" Yeah, it is.). So either it's real (I haven't read it yet, but I know generally what happens in the leak), or the publishing company purposefully put it out as a hoax, to which I say, if it's true, well done publishing company!

Since it's unofficial Harry Potter week

woohoo here we go!!!

Ranking the books:

Goblet of Fire
Half-Blood Prince
Prisoner of Azkaban


Sorcerer's Stone
Chamber of Secrets
every other book ever written







































































Order of the Phoenix (AKA Harry Potter and the Stuck Caps Lock Key)


Ranking the movies:

Order of the Phoenix
Prisoner of Azkaban


Goblet of Fire



Chamber of Secrets
Sorcerer's Stone

I think I'm the only one

...that doesn't think I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry looks that bad. I mean...Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor are writing the script! Have either of them failed us yet? We'll just really, really, really, really, really ignore the director though.

Update: Yeah, reviews are in and I guess it is that bad...

Pretty damn magical

Why'd I wait so long to see this?

I may claim to hate Burton - I know I hate Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow and a great deal of his other stuff - but with this and Ed Wood on his side, I may have to reconsider.

You don't always fuck up, IMDb.

The correct person won this poll. Though it's been established that my thoughts tend to vary on La Blanchett, at no point did I ever think she was better than, or even just as good as, The Goddess Winslet.

Yup...

...this one sucked too, Apatow! (let me just say though, that much like the terrible 40-Year-Old Virgin cemented my love for Steve Carell, I now know I LOVE KATHERINE HEIGL. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. LOVE.)

this movie makes me cry so much...

the best of '97 easy, and '97 was a really good year

best picture *
best director (p.t. anderson)
best actor (mark wahlberg)
best supporting actor (burt reynolds)
best supporting actress (julianne moore)
best original screenplay *

philip seymour hoffman, john c. reilly, and alfred molina are, respectively, my #6, 9, and 11 for supporting actor. heather graham's my #9 for supporting actress. i haven't finalized the rest of my '90s awards, but it'd easily take adapted score and probably editing as well...

And on that note...

this is seriously the worst cover ever, wtf is going on?

I totally know how Harry Potter will end.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione go out for dinner at a diner before the final battle with Voldemort. Ginny walks in to the diner. The last lines of the novel are "DON'T STOP ---"

...or that's definitely not how it will end. But, you know.

Last night, something shocked me.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? REALLY GOOD movie. I consider that book to be the worst in the series by MILES (it's horrible), so I was shocked. It is too dark. I mean this in both the scenes they choose to show (death, death, death, doom, destruction, blah), and the actual cinematography/lighting (there's sunlight in the wizarding world too); remember, at heart, these are kids' books, but this is really the only complaint I have (that, and Voldy was kind of unintentionally funny...if you've seen the movie you know what I mean). They made extremely wise decisions of what to cut out (there was like one scene of Harry being obnoxious, not 300 pages of him talking in all capitals), and while the final battle was just boring in the book, it was totally thrilling here. The special effects are pretty damn amazing too.
OH MY GOD, THE ACTING! Daniel Radcliffe isn't going to get nominated for a Pulpy or anything like that, but he actually gives a good, non-laugh-worthy performance. Emma Watson, for the most part, isn't acting with her eyebrows. Rupert Grint isn't mumbling all the time. It's amazing. Obviously, Imelda Staunton is incredible (and incredibly scary) and is currently #2 in my Pulpy lineup in Best Supporting Actress for the year, and Helena Bonham-Carter is just fricking awesome (I can't believe I just said that either; I can only hope she's half as good with about 3 million times the screentime in Sweeney Todd). I'm so psyched for Book 7 now. The best summer blockbuster yet, Ratatouille excluded. B+

So I saw Infernal Affairs.

SHUT UP FILM SNOBS. The Departed was much better.

I also LOVE how the film snobs go on and on about how Marty "sold out" to the Academy with The Departed. Uh, yeah. Because the Academy goes for extremely violent remakes of Asian action movies all the time. That's their favorite genre, all right. Gangs of New York and The Aviator, especially the latter, no matter what you think of them in comparison to The Departed (I know some people think The Aviator is better than Raging Bull. SHUDDER), are far more "Academy-friendly" than The Departed.

Dear No Reservations,

You actually look like kind of a cute romcom, probably because your cast is actually good. However, your trailer pretty blatantly rips off the music for both American Beauty and Love Actually. I just thought, you know. You'd like to know.

Love,
Me.

Yay, Toni!!

I'm sure ya'll are aware, but the woman who rocks at playing mothers (and everything else) is pregnant. Yay!

(I'm all alone while the boyf goes to work. boo. I'm like ScarJo in Lost in Translation. No, that's not what we're like at all, and the fact that he actually made that comparison, jokingly, proves that it was meant to be. Huzzah.)

And, hey!

It's this hottie's birthday!

The Devil Wears Prada, for like the fifteen millionth time.

Ranking the Performances:

Meryl Streep









Stanley Tucci (underrated [remember when EW said Emily Blunt was subtle? Excuse me for a minute - HAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAA - but he is the definition of subtle comedy], but not really nom-worthy)
Emily Blunt's eyeshadow (it was damn fantastic)















Emily Blunt (I've said it before. I'll say it again. I thought she was fine at what she was doing, which was, and pardon my oversimplification here [but it's called for in this case.], wearing some really heavy eye makeup, putting an expression on her face as if there was a foul-smelling odor right behind it, and then reading some lines off a script with some better-than-average [that's all the credit I'm giving her] readings. I doubt she'd inspire the bile in me that she does if it wasn't for the Globe nod and the batshit crazy reaction to her)
Adrien Grenier (whenever Emily is on screen, I sort of glare. When Adrien is on screen, though, I smile. sigh)
























































Andy's other friends
Traci Thoms
"weird eyebrow man"
(infinity and a half)
Anne Hathaway

Find Me Guilty

I may have just put this movie on my Netflix so I could see that hotness up above in it. He's probably in it for like 3 seconds and has a line that's like "yeah" but I'm still really excited.

Oh by the way: off to the boy's for a little while on Monday (awesome. how I got my parents to agree and his to agree, separately, I'll never know). I dunno how constant posting will be...I'm sure I have a loyal reader out there that'll be really upset about this right?

Not enough love for these guys.

^ the lovely and talented Ms. Collette is pretty much the definition of underappreciated (by the Academy, not by bloggers and the like), no? (Though I'm pretty sure none of her performances appear anywhere in this entry. WHOOOOPS) So being a dork of all types, I have nominees in all acting categories for every year beyond the top 5. Because I'm oh so very cool, I have decided to list my "not enough love" nominees. No, these people weren't as good as the people I nominated (that's why I nominated them... but yeah, some of my nominees for various years are here as well), but these represent good performances that I feel were ignored by both Academy-types and online-types. Please note, I needed 5, so sometimes I just went with the 5 least noticed performances, even if one or two of them may have indeed garnered widespread acclaim and nominations.

1995
Best Actor - Robert De Niro, Heat; Ethan Hawke, Before Sunrise; Al Pacino, Heat; Linus Roache, Priest; Bruce Willis, 12 Monkeys
Best Actress - Victoria Abril, French Twist; Toni Collette, Muriel's Wedding; Julie Delpy, Before Sunrise; Gong Li, Shanghai Triad; Alicia Silverstone, Clueless
Best Supporting Actor - Don Cheadle, Devil in a Blue Dress; Robert Downey Jr., Home for the Holidays; Val Kilmer, Heat; John Leguizamo, To Wong Foo...; Tim Roth, Rob Roy
Best Supporting Actress - Ileana Douglas, To Die For; Anjelica Houston, The Crossing Guard; Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dolores Claiborne; Ashley Judd, Smoke; Mia Kirshner, Exotica

1996
Best Actor - Philip Baker Hall, Hard Eight; Chris Cooper, Lone Star; Liam Neeson, Michael Collins; Stanley Tucci, Big Night; James Woods, Killer: A Journal of Murder
Best Actress - Laura Dern, Citizen Ruth; Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma; Lily Taylor, I Shot Andy Warhol; Reese Witherspoon, Freeway; Robin Wright Penn, Moll Flanders
Best Supporting Actor - Derek Jacobi, Hamlet; Kevin Spacey, A Time to Kill; Noah Taylor, Shine; Vince Vaughn, Swingers; James Woods, Ghosts of Mississippi
Best Supporting Actress - Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Secrets and Lies (Oscar nominee, I know...); Rose McGowan, Scream; Gwyneth Paltrow, Hard Eight; Natalie Portman, Beautiful Girls; Kate Winslet, Hamlet

1997
Best Actor - Aaron Eckhart, In the Company of Men; Kevin Kline, The Ice Storm; Clive Owen, Bent; Al Pacino, Donnie Brasco; Mark Wahlberg, Boogie Nights
Best Actress - Cate Blanchett, Oscar and Lucinda; Pam Grier, Jackie Brown; Jennifer Lopez, Selena; Julia Roberts, My Best Friend's Wedding; Victoire Thivsol, Ponette
Best Supporting Actor - Rupert Everett, My Best Friend's Wedding; Samuel L. Jackson, Eve's Bayou; Jude Law, Gattaca; Alfred Molina, Boogie Nights; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Boogie Nights
Best Supporting Actress - Stacy Edwards, In the Company of Men; Linda Fiorentino, Men in Black; Bridget Fonda, Jackie Brown; Sarah Polley, The Sweet Hereafter; Parker Posey, Waiting for Guffman

1998
Best Actor - Javier Bardem, Live Flesh; George Clooney, Out of Sight; Robert Downey Jr., Two Girls and a Guy; Jason Schwartzman, Rushmore; Ray Winstone, Nil by Mouth
Best Actress - Jane Adams, Happiness; Samantha Morton, Under the Skin; Gwyneth Paltrow, Sliding Doors; Christina Ricci, Buffalo '66; Chloe Sevigny, The Last Days of Disco
Best Supporting Actor - Dylan Baker, Happiness; Matt Dillon, There's Something About Mary; Brendan Frasier, Gods and Monsters; Steve Martin, The Spanish Prisoner; Bill Nighy, Still Crazy
Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Clarkson, High Art; Kimberly Elise, Beloved; Scarlett Johansson, The Horse Whisperer; Meryl Streep, Dancing at Lughnasa; Olivia Williams, Rushmore

1999
Best Actor - Brad Pitt, Fight Club; Terrence Stamp, The Limey; and everyone else on my list is either an Oscar nominee or very widely acclaimed
Best Actress - Elodie Bouchez, The Dreamlife of Angels; Elaine Cassidy, Felicia's Journey; Heather Donahue, The Blair Witch Project; Sigourney Weaver, A Map of the World; Kate Winslet, Holy Smoke!
Best Supporting Actor - Rhys Ifans, Notting Hill; Spike Jonze, Three Kings; Bill Murray, Cradle Will Rock; Alan Rickman, Dogma; Peter Sarsgaard, Boys Don't Cry
Best Supporting Actress - Lara Belmont, The War Zone; Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Shut (nobody talks about this performance for her. Weird); Gwyneth Paltrow, The Talented Mr. Ripley (of course, Blandshit gets all the attention for a 2-minute, nothing part); Sarah Polley, Go; Mena Suvari, American Beauty (way better than Birch)

2000
Best Actor - Billy Crudup, Jesus' Son; John Cusack, High Fidelity; Dan Futterman, Urbania; Jared Leto, Requiem for a Dream; Forest Whitaker, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Best Actress - Gillian Anderson, The House of Mirth; Cate Blanchett, The Gift; Michelle Pfeiffer, What Lies Beneath; Michelle Rodriguez, Girlfight; Michelle Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (yay for...Michelles)
Best Supporting Actor - Jack Black, High Fidelity; Rory Culkin, You Can Count on Me; Bill Murray, Hamlet; Brad Pitt, Snatch.; Jeffrey Wright, Shaft
Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Deneuve, Dancer in the Dark; Laura Linney, The House of Mirth; Lupe Ontiveros, Chuck and Buck; Rebecca Pidgeon, State and Main; Parker Posey, Best in Show

2001
Best Actor - Eric Bana, Chopper; Anthony LaPaglia, Lantana; William H. Macy, Panic; Ben Stiller, Zoolander; Ray Winstone, Sexy Beast
Best Actress - Kirsten Dunst, crazy/beautiful; Lena Endre, Faithless; Piper Perabo, Lost and Delirious; Franka Potente, The Princess and the Warrior; Brooke Smith, Series 7: The Contenders
Best Supporting Actor - Brian Cox, L.I.E.; Will Ferrell, Zoolander; Colin Firth, Bridget Jones' Diary; Justin Theroux, Mulholland Dr.; Luke Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums
Best Supporting Actress - Kerry Armstrong, Lantana; Rachael Blake, Lantana; Frances O'Connor, AI: Artificial Intelligence; Miriam Shor, Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Uma Thurman, Tape

2002
Best Actor - Javier Camara, Talk to Her; Greg Kinnear, Auto Focus; James Nesbitt, Bloody Sunday; Campbell Scott, Roger Dodger; Nasseeruddin Shah, Monsoon Wedding
Best Actress - except Samantha Morton Morvern Callar, who was easily the best of the year (owns both Nicole and Julianne's behinds) there is nobody without very wide acclaim and awards support.
Best Supporting Actor - Alan Arkin, Thirteen Conversations...; Ray Liotta, Narc; Benoit Magimel, The Piano Teacher; Barry Pepper, 25th Hour; Philip Seymour Hoffman, 25th Hour
Best Supporting Actress - Amy Adams, Catch Me If You Can; Rosario Dawson, 25th Hour; Kathleen McDermott, Morvern Callar; Emily Mortimer, Lovely and Amazing; Miranda Richardson, Spider

2003
Best Actor - Jack Black, School of Rock; Patty Considine, In America; Robert Downey Jr., The Singing Detective; Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dirty Pretty Things; Kevin Spacey, The Life of David Gale
Best Actress - Cate Blanchett, Veronica Guerin; Zooey Deschanel, All the Real Girls; Gwyneth Paltrow, Sylvia; Meg Ryan, In the Cut; Renee Zellweger, Down with Love
Best Supporting Actor - Bobby Cannavale, The Station Agent; Colin Firth, Love Actually; Hugh Grant, Love Actually; Bill Nighy, Love Actually; Geoffrey Rush, Pirates of the Carribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Best Supporting Actress - Laura Linney, The Life of David Gale; Laura Linney, Love Actually; Lucy Liu, Kill Bill, Vol. 1; Frances McDormand, Laurel Canyon; Natalie Portman, Cold Mountain

2004
Best Actor - Christian Bale, The Machinist; Billy Crudup, Stage Beauty; Jude Law, Alfie; Tobey Maguire, Spider-Man 2; Sean Penn, The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Best Actress - Laura Dern, We Don't Live Here Any More; Jennifer Garner, 13 Going on 30; Scarlett Johansson, A Love Song for Bobby Long; Julia Roberts, Closer; Reese Witherspoon, Vanity Fair
Best Supporting Actor - Antonio Banderas, Shrek 2; Steve Carell, Anchorman; Ben Gazzarra, Dogville; Topher Grace, In Good Company; Jude Law, I Heart Huckabees
Best Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett, Coffee and Cigarettes (worlds better than in The Aviator); Kirsten Dunst, Eternal Sunshine...; Sandra Oh, Sideways; Kyra Sedgwick, The Woodsman; Lily Tomlin, I Heart Huckabees

2005
Best Actor - Christian Bale, Batman Begins; Steve Carell, The 40-Year-Old Virgin; Jake Gyllenhaal, Jarhead (though it seems kinda odd to be calling Jake underrated. Oh well. At least 2 Cate Blanchett performances got mentioned, so yeah.); Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Match Point; Vince Vaughn, Wedding Crashers
Best Actress - Claire Danes, Shopgirl; Embeth Davidtz, Junebug; Q'Orianka Kilcher, The New World; Rachel McAdams, Red Eye; Nathalie Press, My Summer of Love
Best Supporting Actor - George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck. (much better than in Syriana); Liam Neeson, Breakfast on Pluto; Edward Norton, Kingdom of Heaven; Michael Pena, Crash; Peter Sarsgaard, Jarhead
Best Supporting Actress - Rosario Dawson, Rent; Isla Fisher, Wedding Crashers; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Happy Endings; Gong Li, Memoirs of a Geisha; Emily Mortimer, Match Point

2006
Best Actor - Christian Bale, The Prestige; Joshua Jackson, Aurora Borealis; Heath Ledger, Candy; William H. Macy, Edmond; Edward Norton, Down in the Valley
Best Actress - Scarlett Johansson, Scoop; Nicole Kidman, Fur; Beyonce Knowles, Dreamgirls (seriously NOT THAT BAD); Melinda Page Hamilton, Sleeping Dogs Lie (I'm not sure this is so much underrated as just .04 people saw it, and well, it was never gonna get a wide distribution now was it); Rachel Weisz, The Fountain
Best Supporting Actor - Woody Allen, Scoop; David Bowie, The Prestige; Doug Jones, Pan's Labyrinth; Ian McKellen, The Da Vinci Code; Kevin Spacey, Superman Returns
Best Supporting Actress - Jessica Biel, The Illusionist; Jill Clayburgh, Running with Scissors; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stranger than Fiction; Frances McDormand, Friends with Money; Kate Winslet, Romance and Cigarettes

Yeah, some of my choices might look wonky to you (Woody Allen in Scoop comes to mind). But, give these performances some love! Or at least check 'em out.

The Devil Wears Praaaaaaahhhhh-da on HBO tonight!

Okay, I might like to rag on some of its stars a little (a little?), and on repeat viewings it's not as good (read: when it's not summer 2006 and the choice of movies to see isn't between this and the second Pirates, which makes virtually any movie look brilliant in comparison), but it's still popcorn entertainment at its very best and the movie channels seem to be showing only really crappy movies in the past three days or so (usually they're playing something good). Prada is approximately three billion times better than the book, too, and the costumes are absolutely to die for. If I went shopping today and picked up Anne's entire outfit and Meryl's shoes, I would cry in joy.

...this was random. But watch it!

mama, don't let your babies grow up to be theater kids...

I am hideously bored, so my choices in some major categories at the Tonys from 2000-2007. A * means they actually won.

Best Musical
2000: The Wild Party
2001: The Producers *
2002: Urinetown (best new musical of the 2000s)
2003: Hairspray *
2004: Avenue Q *
2005: hard to call. Spamalot *
2006: Jersey Boys *
2007: Spring Awakening * I guess. They all kinda suck

Best Director of a Musical
2000: Susan Stroman, Contact
2001: Susan Stroman, The Producers *
2002: John Rando, Urinetown *
2003: Baz Luhrmann, La Boheme (yay Baz)
2004: Joe Mantello, Assassins *
2005: Mike Nichols, Spamalot * (maybe?)
2006: John Doyle, Sweeney Todd *
2007: John Doyle, Company

Best Revival of a Musical
2000: Kiss Me Kate *
2001: 42nd Street *
2002: not sure. Neither was very good. Oklahoma! because it's much lesser material.
2003: Nine *
2004: Assassins *
2005: Sweet Charity
2006: Sweeney Todd
2007: Company *

Best Lead Actor in a Musical
2000: Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kiss Me Kate *
2001: Nathan Lane, The Producers *
2002: John Lithgow, Sweet Smell of Success * (or maybe John Cullum in Urinetown. Jeff McCarthy and Hunter Foster in Urinetown were better than both of these, though.)
2003: Brian Stokes Mitchell, Man of La Mancha
2004: Hugh Jackman, The Boy from Oz *
2005: Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels *
2006: Michael Cerveris, Sweeney Todd
2007: Raul Esparza, Company

Best Lead Actress in a Musical
2000: Audra McDonald, Marie Christine
2001: Blythe Danner, Follies
2002: Sutton Foster, Thoroughly Modern Millie *
2003: Bernadette Peters, Gypsy
2004: Donna Murphy, Wonderful Town
2005: Victoria Clark, The Light in the Piazza *
2006: Patti LuPone, Sweeney Todd
2007: possibly Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens * and possibly Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade

Best Featured Actor in a Musical
2000: I think Stephen Spinella, James Joyce's the Dead
2001: Gary Beach, The Producers *
2002: Shuler Hensley, Oklahoma! *
2003: Dick Latessa, Hairspray *
2004: Michael Cerveris, Assassins *
2005: Matthew Morrison, The Light in the Piazza (MUCH better than all the nominees but pretty blatantly lead, and Christian Borle in Spamalot and Michael Benjamin Washington in La Cage aux Folles [I think it was him, anyway.] were better than all the other nominees)
2006: Manoel Feliciano, Sweeney Todd
2007: John Gallagher Jr., Spring Awakening *

Best Featured Actress in a Musical
2000: Eartha Kitt, The Wild Party
2001: Cady Huffman, The Producers (I think) *
2002: Laura Benanti, Into the Woods
2003: Jane Krakowski, Nine *
2004: possibly Anika Noni Rose, Caroline, or Change *
2005: Sara Ramirez, Spamalot * (thank God Kelli O'Hara didn't win. Totally a lead, and a flat-out bad performance)
2006: Beth Leavel, The Drowsy Chaperone *
2007: Orfeh, Legally Blonde (oh yes...)

That was...pointless. Yay.

Movies I'm totally not watching right now

Cruel Intentions 2, starring Academy Award nominee (!!!) Amy Adams (isn't she adorable? I covet her dress and hair in this picture. I think she's somewheat overrated in Junebug, but she's still good and she's a good actress. She also does a hilarious Sarah Michelle Gellar impersonation, though she's not really dangerous/slightly unhinged enough to pull it off). Cruel Intentions is one of the most hilarious guilty-pleasure movies ever (along with, fittingly, most movies Reese Witherspoon is in). This, though, is pretty crap - and tons of lines of dialogue are lifted right from the original. Duh-duh-duh-dumb.

Still more enjoyable than any Von Trier save Dogville

Ryan Gosling

Yes, he's talented. Yes, he's lovely. However, I've found about at least 5 random blog entries over the past month or so raving about how he is the BEST actor and the MOST HANDSOME man ever. Please stop it, everyone, or else I will grow tired of Ryan Gosling and dislike him for no reason of his own.

For the record: I, too, think he is extremely talented (he's got my Oscar for 2006) and pretty hot, when he's not rocking some questionable facial hair. And him and Rachel McAdams are like, the cutest celebrity couple ever, other than Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner...

One of my favorite scenes ever.

Embedding YouTube videos never works for me, so:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UykfuV5i7F0

Hysterical. Dustin Hoffman is awesome and Bill Murray's reaction is one of the best line readings ever.

Shia LaBeouf...

Who are you, and how much did you whore yourself out to get this goddamn much publicity out of nowhere?

Still. You're cute. It's forgiveable.

"Fanboy!"

"Fanboy" is a stupid word, used mainly by people who cannot stand that movies, directors, or actors they don't like have fans.

That's all.

Happy birthday America.

That's not sarcasm either. Yes, a lot of things about our country suck right now. But, I've been an American all my life. I was born here and save a few weeks here and there, I've never been out of it for any major amount of time yet. And I love my country. So, happy birthday America. Here's to many, many, many, many, many more.

sigh, boredom.

here's a random picture of Edward Norton, because he's cute, and this entry is a lot of text, and he's on here. Somewhere.

So I went back to the Screen Directory and found their lists of both classic and contemporary actors and actresses. And then, I listed both their best performances and best movies (that they appeared in at all - even as cameos or really minor parts before they were known). Really exciting, I know. And I copied and pasted this, so it's not capitalized or anything.

actors - classic.

cary grant
p: north by northwest
m: bringing up baby

marlon brando
p: last tango in paris
m: the godfather

james stewart
p: mr. smith goes to washington
m: vertigo

laurence olivier
p: hamlet
m: marathon man?

alec guinness
p: bridge on the river kwai
m: great expectations

robert de niro
p: raging bull
m: raging bull

jack nicholson
p: one flew over the cuckoo's nest
m: one flew over the cuckoo's nest

al pacino
p: the godfather, part 2
m: angels in america

peter sellers
p: dr. strangelove, or...
m: lolita

clint eastwood
p: unforgiven
m: unforgiven (or mystic river, if we can count directing only)

harrison ford
p: witness
m: raiders of the lost ark

jack lemmon
p: glengarry glen ross
m: some like it hot

clark gable
p: gone with the wind (he is better than leigh)
m: it happened one night

kirk douglas (holy shit, i looked him up on imdb and he is old)
p: to be honest, i have no idea. i really haven't seen much of his early work in a while. paths of glory?
m: see above.

henry fonda
p: 12 angry men
m: 12 angry men


actresses - classic.

katharine hepburn
p: the lion in winter
m: also probably the lion in winter. but there's a lot to choose from.

bette davis
p: all about eve
m: all about eve

ingrid bergman
p: autumn sonata
m: casablanca

greta garbo
p: honestly, i haven't watched ANYTHING she's in, except grand hotel which was terrible.
m: see above

elizabeth taylor
p: who's afraid of virginia woolf?
m: who's afraid of virginia woolf?

judi dench
p: notes on a scandal
m: shakespeare in love

lauren bacall
p: to have and have not
m: dogville. AND I'M NOT KIDDING!

audrey hepburn
p: breakfast at tiffany's
m: roman holiday

vivien leigh
p: a streetcar named desire
m: a streetcar named desire

deborah kerr
p: black narcissus
m: from here to eternity

vanessa redgrave
p: blow-up
m: evening. j/k, blow-up.

meryl streep
p: sophie's choice
m: angels in america (or manhattan. please help me make a decision.)

susan hayward
p: i want to live!
m: i want to live! (please note: i've only seen that and i'll cry tomorrow as far as movies she's in.)

shirley maclaine
p: irma la douce
m: the apartment

norma shearer
huh? who are you? (yes, i know who she is. i've just never seen any of her movies, except the women and romeo and juliet, and i haven't seen that last one in a while, and i didn't really find her terribly good in the women.


actors - contemporary.

philip seymour hoffman
p: magnolia
m: magnolia

edward norton
p: american history x
m: 25th hour

sean penn
p: dead man walking
m: mystic river

christian bale
p: american psycho
m: newsies (shh)

leonardo dicaprio
p: the departed
m: the departed

johnny depp
p: ed wood
m: ed wood

russell crowe
p: the insider
m: l.a. confidential

denzel washington
p: malcolm x
m: inside man

jack nicholson
p: one flew over the cuckoo's nest (90s and on only: about schmidt)
m: one flew over the cuckoo's nest (90s and on only: the departed)

joaquin phoenix
p: walk the line
m: gladiator

kevin spacey
p: american beauty
m: american beauty

ralph fiennes
p: schindler's list
m: schindler's list

tom hanks
p: forrest gump
m: toy story

geoffrey rush
p: the life and death of peter sellers
m: shakespeare in love

paul giamatti
p: sideways
m: the truman show


actresses - contemporary.

cate blanchett
p: elizabeth
m: the talented mr. ripley

nicole kidman
p: dogville
m: moulin rouge!

kate winslet
p: eternal sunshine...
m: eternal sunshine...

hilary swank
p: boys don't cry
m: million dollar baby

reese witherspoon
p: election
m: election

renee zellweger
p: bridget jones' diary
m: chicago

juliette binoche
p: three colors blue
m: three colors blue

jennifer connelly
p: requiem for a dream
m: requiem for a dream

rachel weisz
p: the constant gardener
m: the fountain

maggie gyllenhaal
p: secretary
m: adaptation.

charlize theron
p: monster
m: that thing you do! (okay you know what. i really like that movie. probably just because the song IS AWESOME.)

rachel mcadams
p: mean girls
m: mean girls

julianne moore
p: safe
m: magnolia

toni collette
p: muriel's wedding
m: muriel's wedding

naomi watts
p: mulholland dr.
m: the painted veil

HAHAHAHA

http://pulpfictionedited.ytmnd.com/
"This poop doesn't just happen."

Thirteen years later (Pulp Fiction's a teenager! It's gonna get cranky and horomonal!), what are people still talking about? Martin Landau in Ed Wood or Samuel L. Jackson in the above film? Yeah I thought so.

omigawd Revolutionary Road

"I'll never let go, Jack. I'll never let go."

and another...

Happy birthday to Patrick Wilson, who is farking hot. It looks like he's gonna be in more movies from now on, so YAY (though I hope he keeps up his stage work as well). Serious problem (among many, many, many others) in Running with Scissors: having Patrick Wilson in your cast and then having him on screen for .03 seconds.

happy birthday to...

...yup. Tom Cruise. I'm the only one that'll be wishing him a happy birthday, I'm sure. And that picture above certainly makes him look like Crazy Tom Cruise. Why do I still like Tom Cruise? I try to separate actors' and directors' personal lives from their work (sometimes it doesn't always work), and Tom Cruise is seriously a good actor, or at least a decent actor with some very impressive performances under his belt (his performance in Magnolia is one of the best of all time, and I'm not kidding. He's also super in Born on the Fourth of July, Collateral, Jerry Maguire, Minority Report, and Rain Man. In Rain Man, he's actually better than Dustin Hoffman. Though I've seen him be very bland, I've never seen him be terrible.). His religious convictions and smugness are annoying, but like I said, I try to separate the actor from the person (errr. Make sense of that.). Happy birthday Tom!

my favorite strange couples.

Because who doesn't like pointless posts: Not one, but two couples consisting of talented but fairly ugly directors (Darren is way more attractive though) & incredibly beautiful and talented British actresses whose last names start with W...


Darren Aronofsky & Rachel Weisz.

I have a disturbingly large girlcrush on Rachel Weisz. She doesn't even really look like herself there, and she's still gorgeous. They both totally deserve Oscars, though.


Sam Mendes & Kate Winslet.

I'm fairly convinced Kate sometimes goes down to the basement, or wherever Sam keeps his Oscar, and says, like, "dammit, Sam. The one time you deserve the Oscar, you actually got it. I'm still freaking waiting, dammit."

Dear Jake Gyllenhaal,

I must have you immediately.

Love,
Me.

PS. Chloe, you know I'm not your biggest fan. But you look totally gorgeous here, and I'm soooo jealous. :(

happy birthday lindsay lohan!

Please tell me you are taking it easy in rehab even on this, your 21st birthday (um, it's really weird that you're less than six months older than I am). I'm still a fan, for reasons including...basically just Mean Girls at this point, but seriously I'll like you forever because of that.

I actually saw 3 movies this weekend.

Evening is...ewww. It's basically a Lifetime movie, with about the same level of technical achievement and acting. Seriously, you look at the cast, and then...the only person who's really good (and even then, not like she's Oscar-worthy) is Meryl, who is in it for about five minutes. The movie made me hate Toni Collette, for chrissakes! I'm hardly the biggest fan of The Hours but compared to Evening, the former is a masterpiece in its transitions between the years and whatnot. Yikes. D

Once is good but not half as good as I was hearing. It's Lost in Translation without the amazing acting, on a $17 budget. Oh my God the camera was so fucking annoying. It's a totally sweet story, though, and the music is actually great. B-/B

Ratatouille is an animated masterpiece. Cars wasn't great, and I think The Incredibles is extremely overrated, but this is a return to form after Pixar's mini-"slump." LOVE IT. A

another great part of The Screen Directory...

...is this list.

Ranking the list as it is now:
1. Christian Bale
2. Jake Gyllenhaal
3. George Clooney
4. Hugh Jackman
5. Ryan Phillippe
6. Jude Law
7. Leonardo DiCaprio
8. Viggo Mortensen
9. Brad Pitt
10. Orlando Bloom
11. Russell Crowe
12. Johnny Depp
13. Keanu Reeves
14. Joaquin Phoenix
15. Will Smith

There's also a top 15 of sexiest classic film actors, but that list is total bullshit as Paul Newman is only #7...