I hate the Emmys. Always have and very likely always will. They never cease to amaze me in their bizarre misrepresentation of good television, and are often an extremely boring telecast to boot. But, like any true awards geek, I still pay attention as they lead up, probably because they are the one major awards show that happens way outside the "awards season" box and thus have all said geek-related attention to themselves.

In a failed attempt at mixing things up and producing better nominees, the Emmys have recently adopted a new system.. They have a popular vote to determined the top ten finalists in the major categories, those finalists submit an episode for judgement that is watched at an Academy-produced screening, and from that the final votes are cast. Most of the top ten lists for this year are out and I'll post here thanks to GoldDerby, and I'll post predictions/preferences closer to nomination day (July 17th).. But I'll briefly comment on the top ten lists before posting.

Its not all bad, surprisingly. I had been a pretty absent TV viewer this season but recently did some major catching up during two recent weeks of slothing, and there was a lot of good to be praised. And Emmy did a bit of that. Major Mad Men and 30 Rock love, though expected, is welcome. But inclusions of The Wire, Family Guy and Flight on the Conchords in series finalist lists are wonderfully uncharacteristic. As are a few of the acting finalists: Mary McDonnell, Bryan Cranston, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, Justin Kirk... But there's still a lot of the usual blah: No Wire actors, no Connie Britton, the inclusion of anything to do with Two and a Half Men, 'Til Death, and Boston Legal, the bizarre ignoring of Desperate Housewives great fourth season in series and Dana Delaney, as well as (mostly) Brothers & Sisters, no January Jones despite serious Mad Men love, no Mia Wasikowa or Yujin Kim love, etc, etc, etc.

Check the lists after the jump.

For whatever, reason the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has the actual ballots for the upcoming Emmy nominations posted online. As I not-so-eagerly anticipate a giant list of disappointments when the nominations come out, some already are clear on the ballot, which lists all submitted performers. Though there are some interesting brightspots: the SNL performers are being considered in acting categories this year (meaning Amy Poehler could be nominated alongside Vanessa Williams or Jenna Fischer in the supporting actress category), and its nice to see no one wasted any money submitting Jim Belushi for best actor in According To Jim. One other notable non-entry was Katherine Heigl, who removed herself from consideration after winning last year so that her co-workers could have better shots (you weren't gonna win anyway, so nice PR move). But though this isn't Emmys fault - its likely HBO or even the show itself that decided this - how come so few Wire folk are in the running? I see Dominic West, Wendell Pierce, Michael K. Williams and Andre Royo on the list, arguably the season's MVPs, but only a small percentage of the deserving cast members? But why is Domenick Lombardozzi (Herc) in there and not Sonja Sohn or Lance Reddick or Aiden Gillen? None of them will get a nod anyway, as The Wire has never received nods for series or acting, which goes in line with the Emmys complete ignorance of most shows I ever really love. Of the "10 most personally influential series" I listed here last week, one three (Sex and the City, Arrested Development and Seinfeld), ever won a series award, and of my top 5, only one was even nominated.

Nat Rogers at The Film Experience has posted his annual "April Fool's" Oscar predictions, and I suggest you check them out. Last year, he managed to get three of the five best picture nominations at this time (Atonement, Clayton, Blood) as well as a variety of equally impressive stats (4 of the 5 art direction nominees! Thats more than I got the day before the nominations). So if history repeats itself, three of: Doubt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Blindess and Australia are headed for the shortlist. Either way, its a fun twenty minutes of time-killing (and its nicely formatted). One thing I'd have to disagree with, though: actress and supporting actress nods for Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange in Grey Gardens? I thought this film was straight to HBO? I have very little faith in it. My prediction is Gardens will be ruining something great, specifically by horrible miscasting the of leads, particularly Barrymore in a role that should be played by someone whose age is a little more like, well, Jessica Lange's.

While Jason Reitman was somewhere in California prepping for his next film with fellow "Canadian" Jim Carrey, Sandra Oh hosted the 28th annual Genie Awards in Toronto. Rightfully, the very Canadian and very good "Away From Her" swept the major categories, including best picture, director, screenplay acting awards for Gordon Pinset, Julie Christie and Kristen Thomson. Winning 7 awards overall, the film tied David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises in its haul. "Promises" won a slew of technical awards as well as best original screenplay and best supporting actor Armin Mueller-Stahl. Francophone films were almost entirely left out of the winners for the first time pretty much ever.

And while the Genies are generally a bit of a snooze fest that obviously fail largely in comparison to American counterpart Oscar's production or entertainment values... We have officially kicked Oscar's ass in one regard: When did a female-directed picture ever sweep your awards?

If this is true, at least. Reuters had a really misguided article running a few days back that exclaimed "Genie awards show ignores "Juno"!" Yes, of course it did, because Juno is not Canadian. It is American produced in its entirety. But Jason Reitman didn't seem to get that. He said:

It's a Canadian director, Canadian stars, Canadian cast, Canadian crew, shot in Canada - how are we not eligible for a Genie when David Cronenberg's film about Russians living in London shot in England with a British crew and British cast is eligible? I'm sorry, but somebody is going to have to explain that to me; I don't get it," he said, with proud father Ivan Reitman at his side.

Well, lots of movies are shot in Canada, Jason, and some of them star the likes of Rachel McAdams, Seth Rogen and Mike Myers. But they are not Canadian. Take Titanic, for instance. Canadian director, Canadian crew, shot in Canada. But the Genies gave all the awards to The Sweet Hereafter that year. And you didn't see James Cameron yelling "Blasphemy!"

Eastern Promises, on the other hand, may have dealt with a British setting and plot, but it was, in fact, a Canada-Britain co-production, thus being eligible. L.A.-based Mandate Pictures developed and financed Juno and Fox Searchlight released it. Is that so hard to understand?

Anyway.. what makes Jason's comments all the more idiotic is the statement the Genies released in regard to Jason's comments:

Thanks so much for your coverage of the Genie Awards but I would like to clear up the confusion surrounding the movie Juno. The movie wasn't snubbed by the Genies because it was never submitted to the Genie Awards. I have provided below a quote from our CEO, Sara Morton that will hopefully clarify the situation.

Ultimately, it's up to the filmmaker to decide whether to seek Canadian certification. It would not be appropriate for me to speculate about the reasons for a filmmaker's decision, or why they may or may not qualify.

Even though it wouldn't have qualified in the end anyway, if Mr. Reitman wanted it so bad, he should have actually submitted the film. And while I'd be all for our country taking responsibility for "Juno", I fear if we start doing stuff like that, we'll have to start taking responsibility for stuff like this:

Notice how the commentator says "coming to America"? I must have forgot that the Toronto Maple Leafs played in Arizona now. Seriously though, that movie somehow looks even worse that I had intially imagined.

To get this totally out of my system and move on to a blog-identity crisis, I'm posting my year in advance just for fun Oscar predictions. Which, well it may seem silly, you usually end up getting a few right (last year, Im sure Day-Lewis, Christie, Blanchett, Clooney, Swinton, Bardem, etc were on a lot of these lists; "Juno" however, would be nowhere to be seen).

This year offers a ton of really promising upcoming films from a slew of directors, both recent winners and time-for-their-dues: Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"; Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon"; Sam Mendes' "Revolutionary Road"; Steven Soderbergh's "The Argentine"; Joel and Ethan Coen's "Burn After Reading"; Joe Wright's "The Soloist"; Stephen Daldry's "The Reader"; Ridley Scott's "Body of Lies"; Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna"; Gus Van Sant's "Milk": David Fincher's "Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Fernando Meirelles' "Blindness."; Baz Luhrman's "Australia."

This is just a small list, excluding any out-of-nowheres for obvious reasons.

Personally, I'm thinking "Australia" is most-likely of them to be the bust, and that "Burn After Reading might be too comic for anything outside a screenplay or acting nod. A lot of the ones I seem to leaning toward are adapted from very well-renowned novels and I shouldn't be so naive as to think great source material equals great film, but the pedigrees of "Blindness"; "Benjamin Button"; "The Reader" and "Revolutionary Road". Some bigger question marks are play-to-screen adaptations, like "Frost/Nixon" (which Im thinking will get acting nods but not much else) and "Doubt" (which has an undeniably brilliant source material and a cast that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, but is directed by the unproven director - but Oscar winning screenwriter - John Patrick Shanley). Original screenplays like Charlie Kauffman's directorial debut "Synecdoche, New York" is even more questionable (in regard to Oscar, not my own anticipation) but its absolutely astounding group of cast members (Michelle Williams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Watson, Catherine Keener, Hope Davis, Diane Wiest, Samantha Morton) is really incredible.

I could go on endlessly speculating from nothing but pre-buzz and pedigree, and I won't. But before I go on to list predictions (after the jump), take a look at the possible actress contenders:

Kate Winslet in TWO meating December releases; Cate Blanchett in a David Fincher movie; Laura Linney in a Richard Eyre movie, Julianne Moore in a really intense (even for her) role adapted from a breathtaking novel; Meryl Streep in "Doubt"...

Imagine a Winslet, Linney, Blanchett, Streep, Moore lineup? That would truly be as good as it gets for me. I'm not gonna go quite as far.. see my ridiculous predictions after the jump.

Wait. Is something missing? Oh yeah.. That part where Rudin thanked his boyfriend John Barlow. Watch the speech here:

I hate to be all gay conspiracy theorist, but come on...

UPDATE:
As a result of complaints, they changed the transcript to include Rudin's shout out.

Before they take it off:

Too drunk to write anything last night, too hungover this morning, and too busy this afternoon, I feel like I might have missed the post-Oscar blogging boat. I don't really have anything to offer beyond what the overwhelming interweb offerings already have: Sasha Stone's top-notch coverage on Awards Daily; Dave Carr at New York Times' Carpetbagger; Kris Tapley's wrap up for Variety; and Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere, who offered "11 Oscar Observations," most of which I wholeheartedly agree with, and you should check out as a make-up for my own shortcomings.

But briefly.. I enjoyed myself. Granted, I always do. But the winners were hardly something to complain about, especially considering history. I would have preferred Christie over Cotillard, but that might just be my Canadian bias wanting a big shout out to Ms. Polley. In all honesty, I havent been this happy with the acting winners in a very long while. Seriously, just look at that above photo: what a classy quartet. I was particularly happy about Tilda.. because a) I really, truly love her and b) I gambled $50 at 13-1 odds on her on some online gambling site and dragged my hungover ass through a bunch of stores today to spend my $650 payout (you shouldn't be responsible with gambling money, student loans be damned). Her speech was also my second favourite (after the Once duo, whose win - outside of personal material gains - was my highlight of the night.)

Jon Stewart was fine, the pace was great (though I actually never mind a long night), but overall I felt underwhelmed, not for any specific reason (except maybe the lame selection of presenters; safe fashions; and the presence of the Bee from Bee Movie). But that might just be the mass amount of expectation I personally put on this event every year. And my hostility toward it when its over because I have to go back to facing reality and not putting all my energy into excitement regarding a big gay night of oscar pools and wine and screaming at your television. And 20 hours after the fact, I'm feeling less negative about the night as a whole, and will probably look back on this fondly when next year rolls around.

Anyway... I'll close off the season with the overwhelming and five-glasses-of-wine induced reaction shot of me and some pals when Tilda gets her gold and I get my dollars. Greed is good:

Keeping it old school for Oscar pool tallyation (thanks Guntar for the pic):

Anyways.. Alls over and congrats to winners of the 17th Annual "Friends & Family of Peter" Oscar Pool:

Mark Harris, Mike Rudolph, Alex Knegt, Kiel Storms, Audrey Wood, Jess Smith, Greg Atkins & Kim Thompson.. you were the only ones to get 3 of 4 acting winners (nobody got 4).

Kim Thompson & Greg Atkins.. the ONLY winners for best actress

As for the bonus questions...

Guessing Best Actress' dress colour was White.. myself, Kelly Thompson and Isabella S. were the only ones to get it.

No Canadian won.. myself & Alex Knegt only ones to guess that. Way to betray national pride for money!

George Clooney was in 7 shots.. Alexis Ronse, Dan Allman, Audrey Wood & Alex Knegt all got that

Coens won 3.. myself, Mike Rudolph, Laura Thompson, Martin deGroot, Audrey Wood, Kelly Thompson & Alex Knegt all got it.

Jon Stewart said strike 3 times... Michael Gorman & Lisa Clapperton got that.

As for the overall rankings... Here be the top 4:

Out of 64 points:

1. Peter Knegt, Kelly Thompson: 44 points
2. Brian Fauteux: 43 points
3. Audrey Wood: 38 points
4. Mike Rudolph, Alex Knegt, Martin deGroot, Kiel Storms: 37 points

And a special shout out to my father, who on his birthday, took a ballsy shot at a Juno/Jason Reitman/Laura Linney/Philip Seymour Hoffman upset-o-ganza and unfortunately ended up dead last as a result. Happy Birthday, Dad! Next year's your year!

Final Oscar predictions and some commentary is up on the main indieWIRE website. My "if i could choose who i want to win" are included here after the jump.

I fear this blog might be facing a bit of an identity crisis once this weekend's over...

Good Morning America announced the line-up for the 27th Annual Barbara Walters Oscar Special:

Ellen Page
Harrison Ford
Miley Cyrus
Vanessa Williams

Remember when it used to be mostly nominees and maybe the host? So I very slightly "get" Cyrus (at least her context here) as she was just in that concert movie that made all that money and is presenting at the Oscars. But Vanessa Williams? Save for Page (and depending on who you are, Ford - I personally don't enjoy the man), this is somehow a lamer list that the Oscar presenters themselves.

You'd think Barbara would know better. Or, as Ryan at AwardsDaily.com put it: Dear Barbara: Hope you find your Rolodex soon.

ONTD posted this, which is apparently not a joke (but is also one at the same time):

February 21, 2008

Gregg Dedrick
President of KFC

Just stop for a minute and picture Daniel Day-Lewis or Javier Bardem (for extra hilarity, imagine them as their Blood & Country characters) walking into a KFC and ordering a toasted wrap.

And, seriously, $5,000? Up the ante, Col. Sanders. You probably make that daily at any Mississippi location.

Cinematical channels Mr. B to see who might win Sunday.

"Borgnine" on why he voted for Clooney:

Oh, I know Daniel Day-Lewis has all the momentum -- but Jesus, what was that movie about? It scared me! His mustache scared me! And what the hell is he talking about milkshakes for if he's an oilman? I liked Johnny Depp as Sweeney Razorhands -- oh, no, wait, different movie -- and I turned Eastern Promises off after the second cut throat, so good luck Viggo Mortensen. I love Tommy Lee, but who the hell saw that movie? Heck, who can pronounce it? And Clooney is a real old-school movie star; heck, he must be good if they named the movie after his character!

Says The Envelope:

Report: Travolta will waltz around the Oscars
"John Travolta may be putting on his dancing shoes for the Oscars," reports Marc Malkin at E! Online. "I hear awards-show director Gil Cates wants the Hairspray star to do a bit of performing when he presents Best Original Song Sunday night at the Kodak Theatre. While he isn't likely to be busting out any of his signature "Saturday Night Fever" or "Pulp Fiction" moves, Travolta, if all goes the way I'm hearing, will be doing a waltz.

Oh, my, Marc Malkin.. A waltz!!! Im definitely tuning in now!

Seriously, who would find John Travolta doing a waltz entertaining other than in a ha-look-at-his-hairpiece kinda way? I think it may be time for Gil Cates to pass on his crumbling torch.

Care of Awardsdaily, five clips from five best picture nominees. Take a look now and then use the time when they each is shown on Oscar night (these ones are probably better anyway) as an opportunity for urinating, refilling, Oscar-related conversation, or The Wire (new episode on opposite Oscar).

Mine in a day or two... But take a looksee at the guesswork of The Gurus, Kris Tapley, The Oscar Eye, And The Winner Is, Film Jerk, Entertainment Weekly, and Lou Lumenick.

Consensus is almost crystal clear: No Country for pic, director, Bardem and adapted screenplay (the Gurus predict a whopping 8 wins for the film); Day-Lewis and Christie for lead acting; Diablo for original screenplay. A few strays here and there (particularly in best actress), but other than that, 7 of the top 8 categories seem like easy money.

Supporting actress, however, is one of the most nail-biting races in many, many years. Support for Ruby Dee, Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett and Amy Ryan can be found almost evenly (while Lou Lumenick didnt even bother predicting it). When was the last true four-way acting race? I can't think of one, in all honesty.

I'm not a betting man, but a family day-induced coma at work (I supervise a student "learning centre" one day a week, and maybe 6 people came in during my entire shift) led me down the wrong path... Two hours of mindless websurfing led me to discover something I'd somehow managed to miss all these years (or is it new?): Online Oscar Gambling. I'm not giving out which site I used as to not endorse my behavior (but its easy enough to find), but $200 later and I have more at stake in Oscar night than I ever have.

Mind you, most of it was spent on super safe bets (I threw $50 at both Bardem and Day-Lewis, which will make me a whopping $4 if - and when - they win) and I threw a few dollars to long shots here and there... but the possibility of a free month's rent lies in the hands of one woman:

Please, Tilda! I promise the first thing I'll do with the is go buy copies of The Beach and Constantine. Please...

Academy Awards producer Gil Cates and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis announced the presenters and performers of this year's February 24th telecast today... and they are a predictable mix of genuine stars, has-beens and rising-but-not-quite risen:

Included are all four of last year's acting winners, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Hudson, Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker, as well as a long list of others including Amy Adams, Jessica Alba, Cate Blanchett, Josh Brolin, Steve Carell, George Clooney, Penelope Cruz, Miley Cyrus, Patrick Dempsey, Cameron Diaz, Colin Farrell, Harrison Ford, Jennifer Garner, Tom Hanks, Anne Hathaway, Katherine Heigl, Jonah Hill, Dwayne Johnson, Nicole Kidman, James McAvoy, Queen Latifah, Seth Rogen, Martin Scorsese, Hilary Swank, John Travolta, Denzel Washington and Renee Zellweger.

Alright so... 2 Grey's Anatomy stars (though I get it, they make movies now), Miley Cyrus (that 3-D thing was not a real movie), Jessica Alba (um... I know they always take a "rising" young starlet but why not chose someone who can act or is actually enjoyed by the general public?), the Rock???

Jonah Hill's kinda fun and Im always up for looking at James McAvoy, but I hoped this isn't the full list. Some ideas to fill it up? How about some actors you failed to recognize? Michael Cera, Paul Dano, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly MacDonald, Robert Downey Jr, Emile Hirsch... And give Nikki Blonsky the opportunity to get on that stage instead of the closet case Hairspray duo that Im sure will be presenting together.

And what about some actual legends (sorry, Harrison Ford) or world cinema representatives (Penelope Cruz can't do it all)... Vanessa Redgrave? Meryl Streep? Jack Nicholson? Peter O'Toole? Sophia Loren? Catherine Deneuve?

Anamaria Marinca and Vlad Ivanov presenting a clip from Juno??? (I'd forgive them for everything if that somehow happened)

In better news, Amy Adams will perform the song "Happy Working Song" from Enchanted, showing grace despite her snub and doing what most actresses tend to throw to others in fear of looking like someone that can't sing.. And in what will likely be my favourite moment of the show.. Glen & Marketa have confirmed their performance of "Falling Slowly"...

So not all is bad.

But seriously, I know they had short notice to organize this but c'mon, guys, its your 80th! Go nuts! Distinguish yourself as the definitive award show you say and think you are... Miley, Alba, The Rock.. those are Grammy presenters. You're the Oscars!

Even though I predicted it in the last entry, it probably won't happen, so join me in basking in the BAFTA glory that is La Tilda's acceptance speech.

P.S. That Cuba was all over London last night... He scurried from giving a BAFTA to one of my faves to introducing another at the satellite station of Amy Winehouse's Grammy performance.

With the writers strike only a memory and the final major precursors (WGAs and BAFTAs) handed out, the spotlight is now officially on the Academy Awards as 13 days of lead up commences... So I figure I might as well throw out some predictions, as nothing is likely to change between then and now.

Overall, the "race" is a lot more boring than it looked like it was going to be. All of the major categories have definite frontrunners, and all the safe money is on the following outcome: No Country takes picture, director, screenplay and supporting actor for Javier Bardem while Juno takes original screenplay and Daniel Day-Lewis, Julie Christie and Cate Blanchett take the other acting awards. This kind of certainty makes one start rooting for anyone that can make the night a bit of a surprise (except of course, for me, if that "surprise" is Ruby Dee, whose 5 minutes does not an Oscar make, especially with Tilda Swinton and Blanchett in the race), and there are a few spots where its possible, but generally unlikely. Oddly enough, if the outcome is the predicted eight winners I just suggested, the Oscars would have rarely gone with pretty much the critic's consensus in every major category (except maybe original screenplay, which The Savages probably got the most critic's love from).

But, anyway.. My detailed take on it all, including not-quite-final predictions in every category, after the jump.

I'm not watching the Grammys.. mainly because I dont have a TV in an effort to write my thesis (though the internet seems to have just doubled in use as a result) but also because they are usually a boring 3 hours with a few small moments of entertainment. However, I did take a look see at the grammy's website to see what has won in those seemingly thousands of categories they don't announce during the telecast. Besides some welcome Amy Winehouse love, one notable category popped out:

Category 79

Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself
Alan Alda
[Random House Audio]

Barack beat two former presidents (including his wife's first lady rival), Hawkeye and freakin' Maya Angelou. If that ain't momentum..

Two octogenarians - Marcia & Lorenzo - take on the Oscar nominees in two hilarious, adorable and occasionally insightful clips. Their picks are spotty (they are apparently Oscar voters), though I wonder if their double pick of Tilda Swinton is on to something... But their bickering and rants are more than worth your time.. Lorenzo refuses to vote for the screenplay category because you "can't judge a screenplay from looking at a movie." Best is when Lorenzo rants about Into The Wild, calling it a "remake of Easy Rider for this generation": "Shot by a redneck or eaten by a bear, what's the difference?" And kudos to Marcia for her rant about how she still hasn't gotten over when Raging Bull lost to the "perfectly nice" Ordinary People.

Check out all their clips, which include reviews of Superbad and There Will Be Blood, and you'll probably agree with me: Roeper & Friends ain't got nothing on these two.

Since it is looking more and more likely (or not.. maybe we should once and for all learn to not trust the mouse and his past or present henchmen) that the strike is over and sixteen days from now we can all enjoy the Academy Awards as planned.

To get the ball rolling, Epicurious has a very ambitious potential selection of menus laid out for those who like to host on Oscar night:

While we cant guarantee the Oscars will be as regal as in years past, we can promise one thing: Whatever the outcome, there will be food! In honor of this year's awards, we've created five movie-themed menus, each loosely representing one of the Best Picture nominees.

Stick with one menu, or pick and choose dishes from any or all of them for an Oscar party worthy of rave reviews.

Blood's menu includes "Warm Goat Cheese Salad with Pears and Walnuts," while Atonement's suggests "Beef Wellingtons with Gorgonzola".

Personally, I don't think have the time, energy, or - honestly - the culinary abilities to pull any of that off, and I have a feeling I'm not in the minority there. So I suggest a menu that's lame and obvious (just like the Oscars themselves!), because nobody really goes to Oscar parties for gourmet meals.

Start off with the most ambitious: an appetizer of ratatouille (whatever that is). Then for the main course just make some hamburgers and stick some old phone cords in them (Juno, duh). For a side dish, get a big brown bag of baguettes, and serve them right out of the bag with a good crazy look on your face (a la Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton). And for desert, make every milkshakes but then go around and slurp them all up angrily before anyone gets a chance to drink them. Do it all wearing a green dress and make sure you call everyone "friendo" and you've served a quick, easy and hilarious meal that covers all five best picture nominees and an animated film to boot. Take that, Epicurious.

This extremely annoying Variety article popped into my inbox yesterday.. via "Variety Headlines". Entitled "Foreign Stars Cash In On Oscar Noms," writer David Mermelstein's thesis is simple: If a "foreigner" gets an Oscar nom, they are likely to get a shot at American roles and American money. The article is framed around Marion Cotillard, as if to say: "Hey Marion, a group of American film people have nominated you to be a member of their exclusive and shiny superclub! Abandon your language, country and past! You've won the film world lottery!"

Vanity Fair's Oscar blog had a hilarious award derby of its own: "Ultimate Badass" of 2007:

There are three main contenders: Bardem's Chigurh, in No Country for Old Men; Daniel Day-Lewis's Daniel Plainview, in There Will Be Blood; and Johnny Depp's titular Sweeney Todd. But how to determine who is the most diabolical of this unholy trinity? Fortunately, I've devised a handy point system that rates each evildoer's actions in a variety of categories: 20 points for the most badass, 15 for the second most, and 10 for the third most. This requires - SPOILER ALERT! - divulging many, many major plot details. So if you've seen all three movies and desire a highly unscientific accounting of comparative badassitude, read on; if not, consider yourself warned.

Check out the results after the jump:

Dave Carr is reporting that Once's "Falling Slowly" will remain an Oscar nominee:

At the 11th hour, members of the executive committee of the music branch of the Academy met and decided that in spite of some questions about the validity of "Falling Slowly," a nominee for best song from the movie "Once", the song was eligible and would be on ballots that shipped tomorrow morning. Charles Bernstein, chairman of the music branch executive committee, speaking to the Bagger by phone, read part of the committee's statement on the matter:

The Academy's music branch executive committee has met and endorsed the validity of "Falling Slowly" as a nominated achievement. The committee relied on written assurances and detailed chronologies provided by songwriter of "Falling Slowly," the writer-director of "Once" and Fox Searchlight.

Didn't you already decide this months ago? Did Eddie Vedder put them up to this?

Either way, rare Academy justice has been served.

So tonight I get to spend my final night in Park City (as long as this impending snow storm doesn't leave me here for another night) doing something everyones been totally deprived of this year: watching an awards show in all its ceremonial glory. I usually don't really get excited about the SAG awards, but my award show celibacy this year has given it a boost, and it will be a nice, quiet, sober way to end 13 nights of madness.

Some last minute predictions:

Film:
Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis (duh)
Actress - Marion Cotillard (shaking things up?)
Supporting Actor - Hal Holbrook (but Bardems still Oscar bound)
Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett (Ruby Dee wouldnt shock me though)
Ensemble - Hairspray (they gave it to The Birdcage...)

TV:
Drama Actor - James Gandolfini
Drama Actress - Glenn Close
Comedy Actor - Alec Baldwin
Comedy Actress - Tina Fey
Drama Ensemble - The Sopranos
Comedy Ensemble - Ugly Betty

UPDATE: My predictions sucked .

Joel and Ethan Coen. Yawn. Its looking more and more like a No Country Oscar night, but I'm still holding out for some Blood dark horsery.

New York Times' Dave Carr has an article that suggests the Academy Awards might deem "Falling Slowly", the beautiful song from Once, ineligible:

The original song category for the Oscars has already hit its share of clanky notes, what with none of Eddie Vedder's breathtaking songs for "Into the Wild" making the cut. And now comes quiet word that "Falling Slowly," the achingly pretty song from "Once" written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, may be ruled ineligible. The Bagger has been making some calls and there are indications that that the song, which is up against three, count 'em three, songs from "Enchanted" in addition to "Raise It Up" from "August Rush," may have some problems with eligibility requirements. Post nominations, this tempest could set the teapot to boiling.

It is unclear how "Falling Slowly" may have run afoul of those rules, but the music branch of the Academy branch will be looking into the matter on Monday with a decision to follow soon after.

Considering that: a) "Slowly" is by far the most deserving song nominated, and an absolute gem of a song in any consideration; b) The Acadatards already deemed Jonny Greenwood's score ineligible last week to may boos; c) Doing this so late in the game is a mind-boggling "why didn't they fucking decide this months ago" decision, and actually skews voting (How many people voted for Greenwood and what else would have been nominated had people actually had the opportunity to vote for eligible films?)

I strongly advise the Academy to keep "Slowly" in on Monday for those reasons, and because after 4 Months, Persepolis and Greenwood, I wonder if many can take much more organized douchebaggery.

image from indiewire.com

Check out my early, early morning commentary and full nominee list here.

But briefly, and more specifically:

The good:

-Sarah Polley for screenplay!
-Laura Linney for actress!
-"Falling Slowly" for best original song!
-American Gangster's lack of nominations
-5 nominations for Ratatouille
-No Country and Blood's deserving leading of the nominees
-Four women nominated for screenwriting
-Canadians! Two nominations in animated short for deserving I Met The Walrus and Madame Tutli-Putli; Polley Ellen Page; Jason Reitman; lead acting mominees from two Canadian productions
-Kevin O'Connell gets a 20th shot at Oscar glory for sound mixing Transformers

The bad:

-Cate Blanchett for lead actress
-Ruby Dee for supporting actress
-Amy Adams snub
-Paul Dano snub
-The little to no nominations for 4 Months; Before The Devil; I'm Not There; Zodiac
-The over the top love for Enchanted in the song category at the expense of Eddie Vedder
-Sweeney Todd's shut out of deserving technical achievements
-The already-known tragedy of the foreign film and documentary shortlists

The ugly:
Surf's Up over The Simpsons

Jonny Greenwood's score deemed ineligible!

Says Sasha Stone of Awardsdaily.com:

That's the long and short of it. I got the news a while back but had to get confirmation. And yup, they aren't letting the score in. It was a last minute decision. Enchanted is apparently out as well. And Into the Wild.

Here is what I know. The film's score, apparently, referenced other music so that it was considered "diluted." Although it's strange because the movie's end credits is really where the referenced music is, apparently. But the Academy has a long history of doing this sort of thing, particularly where "rock stars" are concerned. It isn't that much of a shock. What is a shock is that the news broke so late in the game. They are a prickly group and they don't seem to really care what other people think about their choices. Many great scores have been deemed ineligible over the years. This doesn't speak to the quality of Greenwood's groundbreaking score, obviously. It will stand on its own and probably go down as one of the all time greats.

Bullshit! Between this and the doc and foreign language shortlists, the Academy is not earning much sympathy from me.

Its obvious things have come along way from the times reflected at the Julien/LaBruce/Araki/Kalin affair. The nominees for best film in wide release at the GLAAD media awards are:

Across The Universe
The Jane Austen Book Club
Stardust

I'm surprised they weren't forced to nominate I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Though this year's stellar queer lineup at Sundance suggests a change of pace, 2007 was obviously a horrific year for GLBT cinema. Even the limited nominees are nothing to phone home about:

The Bubble
Dirty Laundry
Itty Bitty Titty Committee
Nina's Heavenly Delights
Whole New Thing

Though I'm pleased to see the cute and Canadian Thing get nominated, I was not a fan of The Bubble or Nina's Heavenly Delights. Though I haven't seen the other two, I can't imagine either of them compare to queer works of 1992 or 1993, or even 2005 for that matter. Not surprisingly, the television nominees showed once again where the queer side of the entertainment industry is leaning:

Drama Series
Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Degrassi: The Next Generation (The N)
Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)
Greek (ABC Family)
The L Word (Showtime)

Comedy Series
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Exes and Ohs (Logo)
The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
The War at Home (Fox)

ABC obviously led the pack. And though there are certainly a nice variety of queer TV out there, I think some of the proclamations of its positive programming is a little unwarranted. I can't think of any queer content on CBS and NBC.. Even the days of the token queer supporting character seemed to have waived. Cable is obviously where its at, but the departure of Six Feet Under, Queer as Folk, etc, have left some serious holes to fill... holes I don't think Greek and The Sarah Silverman Program are capable of filling.

But yeah, go Degrassi.

Alright, so its about 24 hours from showtime (and since I'm in Utah, the already horrible 8:30am wakeup call has now become 6:30am), and I'm ready to give my last shot at predicting glory. I tried to be as ballsy as possible (which actually was somewhat easy considering the 8 for 5 best picture blowout), and this is most demonstrated in my likely-wrong Michael Clayton best picture snub and my Amy Adams for best actress risk.. I'm going with Blood as the big leader. So in all its questionable glory, my predictions after the jump (supplemented with own personal choices).

This is the poster for the 80th annual Academy Awards, which will happen, though in what form is still unknown...

From Awardswatch.com:

Variety's Anne Thompson and Dave McNary break the story that Gil Cates is planning on two Oscar telecasts, or ceremonies, in case the strike isn't settled by February. Other than the fact that it's a BIG DRAG, the telecast itself doesn't concern we Oscar watchers, we just care about who gets nominated and who wins. The ceremony has always been something to make fun of to enjoy. It seems a shame to punish the award recipients and millions of fans worldwide but what can you do. No pain, no gain and if the AMPTP isn’t going to budge we must focus our anger and hatred on them. What else can we do? We support the writers. At this point, though, I gotta say, my own patience is wearing thin. Please let it end. Please let it end.

My thoughts exactly.

indieWIRE has them listed here.

I watched the NBC telecast for the first 20 minutes, horrified by Billy Bush's unnecessary commentary (who gives a shit if you think Amy Ryan should have won? did you just call Damages a great movie?) and devastated by the full realization that this is what it had come to. Then switched to CNN, where I could watch the actual announcement (NBC did their "own", which was truly garbage). While it wasn't much better (couldn't they get some actual celebs? Mary fucking Hart is the biggest one they had), it at least was done in order (fuck you, NBC, for making me find out Ellen Page lost on a website). I kept picturing speeches and moments as the lamecast whizzed by (Tina Fey's speech!). Anyway... whatever, its done. And theres nothing I or we or anyone can do.

The winners were not too shocking (though my predictions blew, especially in TV.. see two posts back). Atonemen