2011 Academy Award Predictions

It's 6pm, the evening before the 2011 Oscars, and I'm finally done watching all the Oscar nominated films & docs (except 4 of the 5 foreign films). I wish I could get an invite to become a member of the Academy and vote. It's sad to know that many who can vote don't even watch all the films before voting. Before I give you my picks, do you know how the best film is chosen? Ok, let me try to explain.

So, after the whole The Dark Knight-not-getting-a-nomination debacle, something had to be done. That something resulted to 10 film best feature film nominations in the proceeding years. However, It's no longer who get's the most votes but rather who is higher on everyone's preference.

So, let's say 10 of us vote. Each person lists the best picture in order of preference. For me it's

The Social Network
The Fighter
Inception
Black Swan
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Kids Are Alright
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Now, for a film to win, it has to garner 50% of the votes. So if the Social Network is not voted by 5 out of 10 of us, one film that ranks at the bottom needs to get the boot. So if Winter's Bone is ranked lowest on most of the 10 ballots, it get's booted and its votes redistributed based on popularity. So, if The Social Network, Inception and The Fighter was ranked highly amongst the remaining 9 ballots, then they'll get most of the redistributed votes. This continues until we arrive at the final film. So, it's possible that although I rank the Social Network highly on my ballot, it may get surpassed in number of votes if the other ballots don't rank it as highly. So, you can find the King's Speech or Inception beating it come Oscar night. Hope that makes sense.

As for the rest of my picks, they are as follows:

Best Director:
It's hard to pick which way the Academy will go. Tom Hooper won the Director's Guild Award for directing The King's Speech. However, The Social Network is also a strong contender thus so is David Fincher. I'm going with Tom Hooper.

Best Actress:
Natalie Portman in Black Swan. I love Annette Bening. However, Natalie owns the role and you just get lost in her. Unless the Academy wishes to overlook this and award Annette for losing to Hilary Swank twice, it's Natalie Portman's statuette to lose.

Best Actor:
This was tough for me. Jesse Eisenberg truly annoyed the sh*t out of me as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. James Franco also made 127 Hours truly riveting to watch as the only cast member for most of the film. However, Colin Firth in The King's Speech has the edge this year. And I dare ANYONE to say otherwise!

Best Supporting Actress:
This is hard. It really can go either way between Melissa Leo in The Fighter or Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit. The Academy does love kid actors and first time nominees in best supporting female categories tend to win. See Ana Paquin, Tatum O'neil, Jennifer Hudson and Marlee Matlin to name a few. But, despite history, I give this one to Melissa Leo.

Best Supporting Actor:
There's no competition here - Christian Bale in The Fighter - moving on.

Animated Feature Film:
This is a tie between Toy Story 3 and The Illusionist. The Academy loves Pixar film and Sylvain Chomet (the Illusionist) won this category the last time he was nominated for The Triplets of Belleville (I loved it!). But I'm going with Toy Story 3.

Best Documentary:
I've only watched 4 out of the 5 due to availability. My sister and I truly feel Restrepo should win. However, I think the Academy will go with Exit Through The Gift Shop.

Adapted Screenplay:
The Social Network will edge out Toy Story 3

Original Screenplay:
Inception should and will win.

What are your picks? Make sure you tune in to ABC come Oscar night, Sunday February 27th at 8pm EST.

The Oscars Are Coming!

Ah, what a wonderful way to get back to this blog. The Oscars were announced this morning and if you ask me, yes you did!, The Town and Ben Affleck were ROBBED! Here's a few of the nominations

Best Picture
127 Hours
Inception
Winter's Bone
Black Swan
The Fighter - Yay Mark Wahlberg!!!!!!
The Kids Are Alright
The King's Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3 - Overrated in my opinion
True Grit

Best Actor
James Franco - 127 Hrs
Javier Bardem - Biutiful - I knew it! I just knew it! There was no way he would be left out.
Jeff Bridges - True Grit - Oscar loves to invite winners back
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network - Still have no desire to watch this film....don't know why
Colin Firth - The King's Speech - Swoon!

Best Supporting Actor
Jeremy Renner - The Town - much deserved
Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are Alright
Geoffrey Rush -The King's Speech
John Hawkes - Winter's Bone
Christian Bale - The Fighter - this could be his year unless Oscar remembers previous winner Mr. Rush

Best Actress
Annette Bening - The Kids Are Alright - can she finally get her Oscar. Natalie Portman may be her Hilary Swank this year...But no Julianne Moore...my bff
Natalie Portman - The Swan
Nicole Kidman- Rabbit Hole - The face moved...it moved!!!
Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine -Yay! This makes up for Ryan Gosling
Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone

Best Supporting Actress
Melissa Leo - The Fighter - welcome back!
Amy Adams - The Fighter - welcome back!
Helena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech
Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom - apparently, I need to watch this movie
Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit

Best Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 3 - I say if you are in Best picture, you cannot be in this category!
How To Train Your Dragon - I don't get it
The Illusionist - must have taken the place of DESPICABLE ME!!!!!

Best Director
Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky
True Grit - Joel and Ethan Coen - took the place of Christopher Nolan for Inception.
The King's Speech - Tom Hooper
The Social Network - David Fincher
The Fighter - David O. Russell

Best Documentary
Restrepo - My fave...just heart breaking!
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Inside Job
Gasland
Waste Land

Best Foreign Language Film
Biutiful - Mexico
Incedies - Yah Canuck! (That's Canada eh)
In a Better World - Denmark
Dogtooth - Greece
Outside the Law - Yay Algeria!

Best Original Screenplay
The King's Speech
Inception
The Kid's Are Alright
Another Year
The Fighter

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Fun tidbit - Dido can now be known as an Oscar Nominee - Best Original Song for 127 Hours!

You can view the remaining categories here. Tune in to ABC on Sunday February 27th at 8pm EST. Good luck to all the nominees!

Run and Tell Dat Homeboy!

They're raping err body out here! We looking for you...we gon find you! Antoine Dodson fell into some fame accidentally. Someone broke into his family home and tried to rape his sister. The news crew run a report about it and obviously Antoine and his sister had something say about it. The rest of it, well, he took it to the bank with the Bed Intruder Song. And then to BET Hip Hop Awards last night. He's made so much money he was able to move his mom out of the projects. What can I do to move myself out of my current situation and pursue this entertainment writing thing full time? Pointers? Suggestions?

Watch the original newscast, then the video for the song, then his appearance on BET's Hip Hop Awards. PRICELESS!

There Is No Emmy god

As we all know, you can't always get what you want and at this years Emmys, I sure walked away with a lot less than I wanted. However, I was pleased to see a lot of newcomers get recognized this year. The show also made me think that I may finally have to watch Breaking Bad on AMC. Really?! Three times in a row for Bryan Cranston?! But there are so many tv shows on my plate! Ricky Gervais should host every awards show on tv. I love that guy! The non-alcoholic beer was a great touch! Then again, I am biased when it comes to the British.


I have to get something off my chest though; well a few things. First, we are in a recession but I don't think the Emmys, or better yet, AMPAS got that memo. Wow, everything was just...shiny...for lack of a better word. All I could think of was "That's $50,000 spent on showing full size shots of the nominees, on tv screens, on stage. I could use that to send my siblings to college." I sure hope many folks were employed.

Lastly, every year I gripe about this, and I know next year, I'll be back at it again. Why are some great tv personalities omitted every year from the farewell tribute? Some are such glaring omissions you can't use the usual "not enough time in the program/in error" excuse. David Mills and Alaina Reed Hall. How do you miss these two? For The Wire alone, David Mills should have been included. He also produced/wrote for The Corner and NYPD Blue, to name a few more. Who did not watch Sesame Street growing up? How do you not include Alaina Reed Hall. She was great in 227 as Rose.

Check out the full list of winners here.

Emmys This Weekend

It's a great weekend for fellow television lovers. Primetime Emmy Awards air tomorrow night. As usual, I have picked those that I think should win. Here are my votes:

• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series - Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper on the Big Bang Theory
• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine "Old Christine" Campbell on The New Adventures of Old Christine
• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - this is a hard one but I'm picking Matthew Fox as Dr. Jack Shepard on Lost over Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House on House M.D. 
• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series - Glenn Close as Patty Hewes on Damages
• Outstanding Comedy Series -  As much as I love Glee, I give this one to Modern Family
• Outstanding Drama Series - There'll be another year for True Blood, I give this one to the spectacular final season of Lost
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Jon Cryer as Alan Harper on Two and a Half Men
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - Martin Short as Leonard Winstone on Damages
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester on Glee
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - Rose Byrne as Ellen Parsons on Damages

2010 Emmy Nominations

Today morning, the 2010 Emmy nominations were announced. The show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, will air on Sunday August 29th at 8pm EST. You can view the full list here.

Thoughts on the nominations:

• Didn't know there was a category for Outstanding Choreography. Go ahead with your bad self Derek Hough!
• Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit from How I Met Your Mother was nominated. LOVE IT!
• So happy that Matthew Fox finally got nominated. He definitely put in his best work during the last season of Lost. The complete collection is $150 (Amazon) and available on August 24th; you can pre-order now. Yeah, I'm saving up for that one!
• Maybe it's time I start watching Friday Night Lights....ah, who am I kidding...can't be bothered.
• Would have been a shame if Michael Sheen didn't get nominated for playing Tony Blair...again. But he's safe.
• Community was ROBBED!!! It should have replaced Modern Family. I have watched the first three episode of Modern Family and I just couldn't get into it.
• Jon Cryer is awesome in Two and a Half Men. So glad he got nominated and I hope he repeats a win like last year.
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama series looks real tough this year. But Martin Short stands out to me. He was brilliant in Damages. But then there's Michael Emerson as Ben Linus on Lost. I just can't decide. 
• Kristin Chenoweth, the Tony's may have forgotten you but the Emmys have you covered.
• Please let Lost win for Outstanding Drama!
• Yay! True Blood was nominated for Outstanding Drama!!
• And the best revenge for Conan O'Brien; get nominated for an Emmy while Jay Leno gets zilch...SWEET!

Good luck to all the nominees!

2010 VH1 Hip Honors - Some Things Don't Add Up

I finally got around to watching HHH Dirty South edition. Man, Uncle Luke had me busting a move like it was 1995. "Cap d coming, Cap d coming, Cap d coming....doodoo brown!" I had forgotten Trick Daddy was in Scarred. Now that is hip hop!!

2010 VH1 Hip Hop Honors |Hip Hop Rally Machine |Hip Hop Honors Video

The other stand out of the night was Timbaland's tribute. Timbo has some serious classics under his belt. Every song I heard was a banger then and now. What would have put the icing on the cake is Jay Z spitting one verse of Big pimpin with Bun B. But it's alright, it's okay, we have Missy Elliot. I for one am eagerly awaiting her new cd.

2010 VH1 Hip Hop Honors |Hip Hop Rally Machine |Hip Hop Honors Video

Few thoughts that ran through my mind:

• As much as I love Timbo, since when is Virginia part of the Dirty South?
• Man, Mystikal is hype!
• Why wasn't I in college in the early 90's so I could attend freaknik?
• Asher Roth needs to hire a stylist. Not a good look Mr. Roth!
• Why were Cash Money Millionaires not included?
• Where was the rest of Goodie Mob during the Organized Noize tribute and Outkast?
• Aren't there Southern female rappers who could have been honored e.g. Gangsta Boo?

VH1 Hip Honors

2010 VH1 Hip Hop Honors |Hip Hop Rally Machine |Hip Hop Honors Video

Check out this year's installment of VH1 Hip Hop Honors: The Dirty South. The show will be airing tonight, Monday June 7th, at 9pm EST. Honorees include J. Prince, 2 Live Crew, Timbaland, Uncle Luke, Organized Noise, Master P and Jermaine Dupri. Come back here Wednesday for my review.