And the Oscar Goes To..

The 2012 Oscars were on last night and I have to say I didn't enjoy the show as much as I usually do.  It was good to see Billy Crystal host again but his performance was pretty uneven with really no memorable one liners.  I thought Christopher Guest's focus group sketch was painfully unfunny.  The Cirque du Soleil performance seemed out of place.

Angelina Jolie's presentation of the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay provided some entertainment as she struck a pose with her right leg flashing which prompted one of the winners to copy her move. 

Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer were widely expected to win and I'm happy for both of them.  I haven't seen Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady but I did see Viola Davis in The Help and was expecting her to win.  But I was happy for Meryl and she did give a good acceptance speech.  I was also pleased that Woody Allen won for Best Original Screenplay for Midnight in Paris even though he wasn't there to pick up his Oscar.  I haven't seen The Artist or The Descendants yet.

As far as fashion goes, one of my favorite gowns was worn by Jessica Chastain (black with gold embroidery).  Gwyneth Paltrow also wore a unique white gown with a cape that she wore on the red carpet.  Penelope Cruz wore a beautiful blue dress but one of my favorites was Viola Davis who wore a gorgeous emerald green Vera Wang with her hair short and natural in a reddish shade.  Natalie Portman also looked great in a red polka dot gown as did Michelle Williams in a bright coral number and darling short haircut.

As for those gowns that didn't shine as much, Rooney Mara's was a misstep and her severe hairstyle didn't help.  Bérénice Bejo also was not a favorite of mine and Meryl Streep's dress although pretty, didn't seem like it fit really well on top. 

Well, another Oscar season has come and gone and I still have plenty of nominated movies to catch up on.  I can't help but wonder how Eddie Murphy would have been as the host.  Maybe they'll ask him again someday.

Mad Men news

Hope everyone is looking forward to the fifth season of Mad Men, starting with a 2 hour episode on March 25th.  Here's a teaser -

http://www.amctv.com/mad-men/videos/on-air-trailer-don-is-back-mad-men

Sad news

It has recently been revealed that British actress Dame Judi Dench is going blind.  Here is an article about it from the UK Mirror -

Dame Judi Dench, the British actress perhaps best known as M from the James Bond series, granted an interview to the Mirror in which she spoke of being diagnosed with macular degeneration and admitted she even struggles to read her scripts or make out the faces of people standing right in front of her. At one point she even told her interviewer, "I can’t see your face at all now, but I can see your outline." The actress, currently working on her seventh James Bond pic, Skyfall, set to release later this year, has learned to cope though. "You get used to it," she says, mentioning how her daughter often helps her memorize her lines, adding that, "I’ve got lenses and glasses and things and very bright light helps. I can do a crossword if it’s bright sunshine but if a cloud comes out the next minute I can’t see anything." So for the sake of Judi Dench, we think cloudy days should be phased out.

What a shame.  I wish her the best.

Downton Abbey spoof

Hopefully, you've been enjoying the wonderful PBS series Downton Abbey, currently in the middle of the second season.  You know you've made it big when Saturday Night Life does a spoof of it.  Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdA3EZ9sdXE&feature=colike

By the way, season one is on DVD already.  Also, some casting news - Shirley MacLaine will join the cast in the third season as Lady Cora's American mother.

Two is One Too Many

Here is an interesting article about movie sequels that thankfully were never made:

Two is One Too Many
 Sequels that thankfully never happened.

Some of the worst films ever made are, in fact, sequels to some of the best films ever made. While some have gotten it right (Godfather II, anyone?), many more have left people longing for the originals. Luckily, some studio executives had the wherewithal to put the kibosh on these prospective sequels.

Just a few short weeks after the release of the smash hit E.T., director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Melissa Mathison reunited to write a treatment for a proposed sequel. It sounded like a good idea, until you read the treatment. Seems the duo planned to turn the heartwarming family classic into a total fear fest. The proposed story called for a new breed of evil aliens to come crashing down to earth and abduct the film’s main child protagonists, and charged poor little E.T. with their rescue. Yikes.

According to the film, if you say the name “Beetlejuice” three times, he will appear. But judging by the script for the proposed sequel, America would have been begging for him to disappear had the film ever come to fruition. Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian – yes, you read that right, Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian – was the working title of the Warner Brothers follow-up that was in pre-production for some 10 years before someone finally realized what a bad idea it was. Calling for Beetlejuice to help the Deets family as they opened a tropical resort, that just so happened to be built on an old burial ground, and also win some sort of surfing competition, was all a bit convoluted. Let’s just say the film was ready for the discount bin before it was even fully written.

Although many people have likely repressed the memory of George Clooney as Batman, before the epic box-office failure that was Batman & Robin, Joel Schumacher had planned the third film in the trilogy to be titled Batman Triumphant. Although it was Irish actor Cillian Murphy who took on the role of Scarecrow in the first two films, Schumacher’s choice for the role in the proposed third was none other than Jeff Goldblum. There were also some regrettable plans for the return of Jack Nicholson’s Joker in hallucination sequences and a vengeance subplot featuring the Joker’s daughter Harley-Quinn. All in all, the ideas were anything but triumphant and the film was nixed by studio bosses.

Gladiator was arguably the best film of 2000, winning the Best Picture Oscar and introducing America to the mega-talent and mega-temper of Russell Crowe, so it comes as no surprise that a sequel was in the works. However (SPOILER ALERT), when the lead character dies in the first movie, how does that character get featured in a sequel? Answer: Set it in the afterlife, naturally. The plan was to have the ghost of Maximus fight Roman Gods. Luckily, a very smart studio exec realized that some things – and characters – are better left dead.

Following both the critical and commercial success of Forrest Gump, the studio optioned a script based on the follow-up book. Seeing everyone’s favorite bow-legged Southerner trek through notable events of the 1980s and 90s, Forrest Gump 2: Gump & Co. was scrapped by none other than Tom Hanks himself. Hanks felt the film would be nothing but an unnecessary repeat of the original, and that just might be why Tom Hanks is America’s favorite actor.

Perhaps it was Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise,or Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, but it seems studios have finally learned that filmmaking might not be rocket science, but great films are like lightning – rarely do they strike twice.

 

 

Some cute photos

Here are some animal photos I think are very cute: