Academy Awards

SOMEDAY WE WILL ALL KNOW HOW TO PRONOUNCE SAOIRSE RONAN’S NAME

Saoirse Ronan arrived at a morning show in London to discuss her movie Little Women, and she’s appropriately attired in pajamas. (Even SHE pronounces her name in several ways – depending who she’s talking to) She’s only 25, but Saoirse has already been nominated for THREE Oscars and she won Best Actress for Brooklyn (which we LOVED) a few years ago. Little Women got her a Golden Globe nomination this year, but Renee Zellweger will be hard to beat. People are already calling Saoirse the next Meryl Streep , and we have to agree.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

By Janet / December 17, 2019

3 Comments

Academy Awards The Room Tommy Wiseau

TOMMY WISEAU REALLY WANTED TO GO TO THE ACADEMY AWARDS

The Room creator and subject of The Disaster Artist,Tommy Wiseau, was more than happy to attend the Independent Film Awards on Saturday. Up to the last minute he tried to score a ticket to the Oscars but failed. He asked Mark Hamill if he could help him get a ticket but Mark said he couldn’t even get his kids tickets. It’s too bad for Tommy that James Franco got himself caught up in the “Me Too” movement and it cast a pall on The Disaster Artist. If Tommy fails to get a seat at the Oscars, we bet he’ll finagle his way into a few parties – without Franco.

Photo: Tommy arriving at Independent Film Awards- look at those belts!

By Janet / March 4, 2018

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Academy Awards Faye Dunaway Warren Beatty

WARREN BEATTY: BLAME PRICE WATERHOUSE FOR THAT OSCAR DEBACLE – NOT ME!

Whatever you do, don’t blame Warren Beatty for the Best Picture Oscar debacle on TV last night. The real culprit is Price Waterhouse Cooper – the company responsible for calculating the Oscar results and keeping the winners a secret. The Price company was on talk shows all last week bragging about their super security – they said they have TWO complete sets of winning envelopes delivered to the award show to make SURE the envelopes arrive safely. THAT explains why Emma Stone still had her winning envelope while Warren was handed the duplicate for Best Actress INSTEAD OF Best Picture. Upon opening it, Warren was visibly puzzled and showed it to Faye, probably hoping she would agree to stop the proceedings and ask for the RIGHT envelope. But she paid NO attention and blithely announced La LA Land as winner, leaving him up the creek. Too bad (or maybe not!) La La Land people were already into their speeches when the correction for Moonlight was made. Sam Rubin was among those careless reporters who scornfully speculated that Warren and Faye’s AGE had something to do with the error. (Ageism?) No, it was Price Waterhouse Cooper’s error and we don’t blame Warren for being insulted and carrying around that wrong envelope all night to prove it. However, this mistake DID provide a slam-bang ending for the show!

Photo Credit: AKM-GSI

By Janet / February 27, 2017

8 Comments

Academy Awards Morgan Freeman Stacey Dash

NOT EVERYBODY DISAGREES WITH STACEY DASH

It IS funny how Stacey Dash’s comments about the Oscars are so reviled, but Morgan Freeman would probably say the same thing. The “Clueless” actress, who now appears on the Fox channel, is AGAINST separate award shows like the NAACP Image Awards for blacks and says “If we don’t want segregation, we have to get rid of the BET channel and Black History Month.” Morgan Freeman agrees – he wants to be known as an actor, not a BLACK actor. They have a point. But the Oscars are driven by Hollywood studios run by those good ol’ white boys in their baseball caps (who consider themselves to be very liberal.) These guys just don’t often THINK about women or people of color when it comes to movies. Sex and sports, yes, but movies, no. Boycotting the Oscars is not the answer – take it from a woman.

Photo: Fox

By Janet / January 21, 2016

12 Comments

Academy Awards American Hustle Hair! Hairdresser Kathrine Gordon

AMERICAN HUSTLE DESERVES AN OSCAR FOR HAIRSTYLING

One of the things we liked best about American Hustle was the HAIR. In particular, the men’s 1970’s hair. Christian Bale’s character’s comb-over was an instant classic and gave the movie its hilarious opening scene. Jeremy Renner’s pompadour was perfect for his smarmy mayor character. And who can forget Bradley Cooper’s headful of perm curlers? The women’s hair was also great, but in this case men’s hair dominated the movie and made it funnier. Kathrine Gordon was the head hair stylist responsible for the magnificent coiffures and of course, she SHOULD get an Oscar for it but probably won’t. Why? Because the sometimes backward Academy gives ONE award for ”Best Makeup and Hairstyling.” Imagine combining the two very separate skills! Consequently the award usually goes to someone who does prosthetic makeup for a fantasy movie. It’s a shame that hair people aren’t appreciated like they should be.

By Janet / January 6, 2014

2 Comments

Academy Awards Red Carpet Ryan Seacrest Sacha Baron Cohen The Dictator

IN DEFENSE OF SACHA BARON COHEN’S RED CARPET JOKE ON RYAN SEACREST

We feel obliged to come to the defense of Sacha Baron Cohen’s red carpet hijinks. Far too many humorless people were actually HORRIFIED by Cohen’s stunt with Ryan Seacrest. Unfortunately for Sacha, it was not clear to E! TV viewers (or Ryan) what the gold urn carried by The Dictator was all about. The fact that it was supposed to contain the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il’s “ashes” was NOT clarified in advance to the ashes being “spilled” on Seacrest. So it wasn’t as funny as it COULD have been. As security dragged Cohen away, he shouted that when people ask Seacrest who he’s wearing he should say “Kim Jong-Il.” Viewers also missed that part. Ryan was annoyed, but regained his composure and described the powder as “Bisquick” although it appeared that the substance could easily be brushed off his jacket. (Ryan shouldn’t be a martyr – he ought to be flattered that Cohen selected HIM for the stunt.) An unnamed “A-list presenter” was later quoted as saying “It’s the Oscars, for God’s sake. It’s just not the time or the place!” HELLO – this is an award show for MOVIES, not a military funeral! More fun – related to movies – is what the show desperately needs, not more reverential worship of overpaid movie stars! Nice try, Sacha!

By Janet / February 28, 2012

19 Comments

Academy Awards Albert Nobbs Alec Baldwin Billy Crystal Jane Eyre Oscars Steve Martin

IF WE RAN THE OSCARS….

We have two major complaints about the Oscars. First of all, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and ”Hugo” had no business being nominated for Best Picture. “Extremely Loud” was ordinary, manipulative, and annoying. “Hugo” was totally rejected by its target audience -children— simply because kids don’t care about film preservation. (The movie made a paltry 69 million and cost close to 170 million to make.) Albert Nobbs and Jane Eyre should have been nominated for Best Picture. Nobbs was a highly original story about WOMEN and Jane Eyre (also about a WOMAN) was the best version of this story we’ve ever seen. Both were gorgeously photographed and technically superior. (Too many mature white male voters in the Academy, perhaps?) One more comment – Billy Crystal was not as entertaining as Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin...

By Janet / February 26, 2012

37 Comments

Academy Awards Hilary Swank Oscars Sacha Baron Cohen The Dictator

SACHA BARON COHEN’S DICTATOR WILL ATTEND THE OSCARS – WITHOUT HILARY SWANK!

Oscars producer Brian Grazer doesn’t want to look like an old fuddy duddy with no sense of humor, so he changed his mind about allowing Sacha Baron Cohen to walk the red carpet as his character from “The Dictator.” Cohen is thoroughly enjoying all this publicity but when he was banned earlier he made a hilarious remark: Speaking as his character Admiral General Aladeen, he blasted the Academy and complained “On top of this I paid Hilary Swank two million dollars to be my date and she will not refund a penny!” He was, of course, referring to Hilary’s appalling decision to attend a genuine bloodthirsty dictator’s birthday party not long ago for a huge payday. Something to look forward to on the red carpet!

By Janet / February 26, 2012

7 Comments

Academy Awards Edith Head Oscars Shirley MacLaine

SHIRLEY MACLAINE WAS DRESSED BY EDITH HEAD FOR THE OSCARS IN 1959

Photo via: Hollywood Reporter

This is how a movie star got ready for the Oscars in 1959. This great photo is of Shirley MacLaine when she was 24 and nominated for Best Actress in “Some Came Running” with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Edith Head designed a brown satin gown for Shirley to wear on the red carpet that was fitted within an inch of her life. Shirley liked Edith – she said the legendary designer “could intimidate all the producers when she walked into an office.” She’s been nominated six times but this year Shirley will be watching the awards on TV – she’s busy filming “Downton Abbey.”

By Janet / February 23, 2012

13 Comments

Academy Awards Brett Ratner Crimes and Misdemeanors Gay

THE ACADEMY NEEDED AN EXCUSE TO GET RID OF BRETT RATNER AND EDDIE MURPHY

There’s more to this Brett Ratner story than meets the eye. We don’t happen to be big fans of his, but we were shocked when he was caught saying “Rehearsal is for fags” and immediately forced to resign from producing the Oscars, despite the fact that he apologized profusely. Certainly, Ratner was 100% wrong, but women have been used in the same type of offhand negative insults for decades (“He runs like a GIRL”) with no backlash, much less loss of a job. There will always be ignorant men like Ratner, but an immediate and sincere apology should put an end to the matter. We suspect the Academy was getting nervous about hiring Ratner to produce the show when he insisted his buddy Eddie Murphy do the hosting. They wanted an excuse to get rid of Brett and the unpredictable Eddie along with him. The Academy got what they wanted AND they look like heroes to the gays.

By Janet / November 9, 2011

25 Comments