Battle of the Year

Mr. Y and I were watching So You Think You Can Dance tonight, and saw a preview for Battle of of the Year.  As Mr. Y put it, it's like they took a typical martial arts or sports movie with all the cliches (underdogs triumphing, individuals learning how to become a team, down-on-his-luck coach getting a second chance, etc.), and applied it to the subject of dance.

The movie has a few familiar faces.  My first reaction was wondering what Josh Holloway is doing in this movie.  Definitely not an obvious choice for a dance movie.  Some of the dancers also looked familiar, like Chris Brown (yes, THAT Chris Brown), SYTYCD dancers Dominic Sandoval and Jonathan "Legacy" Perez, and a bunch of dancers from LXD (the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) like Luis Rosado, Ivan "Flipz" Perez, and Caity Lotz.

Trailer below:

Little Boy Meets the Avengers

The photograph below was going around the internet for awhile of a little boy carrying a Captain America shield sitting on the shoulders of Tom Hiddleston in full Loki outfit from The Avengers. 

The boy's name is Edison, and his dad wrote an amazing story about how the photograph happened.  It's definitely worth a read.  A short summary: Edison and his mom, Jill, saw The Avengers filming in Central Park, and were able to meet and get pictures with many of the cast members, including his favorite, Captain America (played by Chris Evans).  Edison had been carrying around his Captain America shield ever since he saw the movie, and he was lucky enough to have had it with him that day. 

There is also a cute update.  Lisa Evans, Chris's mom, who was helpful in getting Edison a picture with Chris at Central Park, was also able to get Chris to sign Edison's shield as well as the picture and a new shield.  Now all three items are hanging proudly in Edison's bedroom.

I know my son, who's around the same age, would have freaked if he gets to meet his superheroes.  Lucky Edison!

Celebrity Sightings

I have seen quite a few celebrities in the streets of New York the past two days.

Yesterday I saw Tony Shalhoub exiting a limo and entering Carnegie Hall for the CBS upfronts.  The upfronts are where the networks present their fall schedule and shows to the advertisers and press, and they usually bring in the big stars.  Tony Shalhoub is starring in one of CBS's new comedies with Jerry O'Connell, "We Are Men."  This is CBS's official description of the show:

WE ARE MEN is a single-camera comedy about four single guys living in a short-term apartment complex who unexpectedly find camaraderie over their many missteps in love. Carter (Chris Smith), the youngest and most recent addition to the group, moved in after being ditched at the altar mid-ceremony, and is now eager to re-enter the dating scene and get on with his life with some guidance from his “band of brothers”: Frank Russo (Golden Globe and multiple Emmy Award winner Tony Shalhoub), a successful middle-aged clothing manufacturer and four-time divorcée who still fancies himself a ladies man; Gil Bartis (Kal Penn), a small business owner who was caught having the world’s worst affair; and Stuart Strickland (Jerry O’Connell), a speedo-wearing OB/GYN who’s hiding his assets until his second divorce is settled.
Jill (Rebecca Breeds) is Frank’s charming and attractive daughter, who stands as the one positive remnant from his failed relationships. Armed with a hot tub, pool-side barbeque and plenty of questionable advice, these losers in the marriage department take Carter under their wing to impart their own brand of wisdom about the opposite sex.

Emmy Award winner Rob Greenberg, Eric Tannenbaum and Kim Tannenbaum are executive producers for CBS Television Studios. Rob Greenberg directed the pilot.

I also saw Emma Stone and Edward Norton in Times Square filming the new movie Birdman, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu.  The movie also stars Michael Keaton, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis.  Stone and Norton were talking by a crafts table in front of a Broadway theatre that had fake billboards up.  I was looking at the billboards first and was thinking that the guy looked a lot like Michael Keaton, but with a different name, and then saw Norton and Stone.  Then I realize they were filming a movie and the billboards were fake.  The dark comedy is about a former actor (Keaton) who once played a superhero and stages a Broadway play based on a short story by Raymond Carver to become famous again.  His plan was threatened to be derailed by his egotistical lead actor (Norton).  Stone plays Keaton's daughter/assistant who is just out of rehab, Watts is Norton's co-star in the play, and Galifianakis plays the producer.

Lastly, I saw Matthew Morrison walking with his girlfriend, Renee Puente.  I actually noticed her first, because even in just shorts and a casual shirt she walked like a model.  Matthew was talking on the phone about his cooking skills.  It was a funny, random conversation to overhear. 

Michigan Basketball Coach and His Connection to Saving Private Ryan

Michigan is going the the Final Four for the first time since the Fab Five played in the national championship game 20 years ago.  A lot of their success can be attributed to their coach, John Beilein, currently in his sixth season.

Yahoo! Sports' Dan Wetzel wrote an incredible story about John Beilein's family, who inspired the book "Band of Brothers" that became the movie "Saving Private Ryan."  Beilein's mother, Josephine, was the cousin of the Niland brothers, and all of them grew up close to each other in the working class town of Tonawanda, New York. 

Four of the Niland brothers went to fight in World War II.  One of them, Ed, was a pilot, and his plane went down in the Pacific Theater a few weeks before D-Day and he was presumed dead.  Two other brothers, Bobby and Preston, were sent to storm the beach on D-Day and were killed in action.  The military had decided that it was not right for one mother to lose all her sons in combat, so the last brother, Fritz, was found and sent home.  Fritz had also been at Normandy, but had been dropped behind enemy lines as part of the gliders along with his cousin Tommy, Josephine's brother.  He was the real-life inspiration for the character of Private James Ryan, Matt Damon's character in the movie.  Fritz later became an oral surgeon and lived until 1983, and Tommy also survived and lived a pretty long life.  Ed Niland was later found in a Japanese POW camp in Burman and was sent back to Tonawanda and lived until he was 72 years old. 

Catching Fire - Katniss's Dress

New posters were released of the second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy - Catching Fire, featuring portraits of the different characters.  The costumes are pretty eye-catching, especially Katniss's and Peeta's wedding outfits.  Katniss's wedding dress, which many thought was designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen, was actually designed by 28-year-old Tex Tex Saverio, an Indonesian designer who had previously dressed Lady Gaga in the May 2011 issue of Harper's Bazaar and Kim Kardashian in the March 2013 issue of Elle.

Catching Fire's costume designer, Trish Summerville, told the Hollywood Reporter that she and Saverio worked together over Skype to design the dress, which was based in this amazing creation from Saverio's fashion line.  The bodice of the dress has an organza corset under a metal cage covered with Swarovski crystals, with metal pieces rising up that represent fire and flame.  The skirt is made from organza and chiffon.  There are laser-cut feathers on the shoulders and waist that hint at Katniss's eventual transformation into the Mockingjay.

Wall Street Journal's Scene Asia blog did an article on Saverio after the Lady Gaga picture where he talked about being humbled by the comparison to Alexander McQueen, and how he created his clothes to fit the more conservative society in Asia while still delivering flare and drama.  He lives in North Jakarta with his ethnic Chinese parents, with his design studio adjacent to them home and his studio on the ground floor.

Looking forward to seeing more from this very talented designer.

Nicholas Hoult

GQ has released cool photos featuring Nicholas Hoult in its March 2013 issue, and he looks so different from his usual casual, laid-back style.  It's a nice change for the up-and-coming actor. 

Nicholas became famous playing Marcus in the film adaptation of About a Boy, co-starring Hugh Grant, and was one of the stars of the controversial British teen series Skins.  He also played the younger Beast/Hank McCoy in X-Men: First Class, and will reprise his role in the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past.  He stars in two movies coming out within weeks of each other this year, the zombie movie Warm Bodies, which took in $20 million and first place when it came out a few weeks ago, and Jack the Giant Slayer, coming out on March 1, 2013.

Nicholas dated newly-minted Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence for about two years, until they broke up earlier this year.  They met on the set of X-Men: First Class, where Jennifer played Mystique/Raven Darkholme.  It appeared that the break-up was pretty amicable, and Nicholas was quoted as being very excited for his ex-girlfriend's Oscar success.  They seemed very cute and grounded together, so maybe this is not the end of the road for the two of them. 

Oscars Review and Fashion

The Oscars are now over, and it's like waking up for a long hangover that is the awards season.  I thought Seth McFarlane did an OK job.  A lot of his jokes were dumb and misogynistic, but some bits did make me out laugh.

I was right in six out of the 10 categories where I made predictions.  I was wrong in Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director.

Best Parts

- The dance numbers with Channing Tatum, Charlize Theron, Daniel Radcliffe, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were weird and awesome at the same time.

- I like the musical numbers for the most part.  Jennifer Hudson knocked it out of the park with her rendition of "And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going," and the Les Miserables cast did a great job with the medley of songs.  Russell Crowe was the only sour note from the Les Miserables number - his voice did not fit the songs at all.

- The Sound of Music tribute/joke was made even funnier by Christopher Plummer's grouchy response

- I wish Shirley Bassey and Adele did a duet, but individually they sound great, too.

- All the guys with long hair

- Daniel Day-Lewis's speech - who knew he was such a comedian?  

Worst Parts

- William Shatner stuffed into the Starfleet uniform and the over-long from-the-future joke

- Quentin Tarantino's speech

- The Jaws theme cutting off the visual effects winners

Best Dressed

- Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck - The prom king and queen of the Oscars.  I love Jennifer's custom Gucci gown and Neil Lane jewels, and Ben Affleck looked very handsome in his Gucci tuxedo, despite his beard.

- Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness - I love this couple, and how in love they are.  I also love how Deborra-Lee eschews a traditional dress for the tuxedo outfit.  

- Sandra Bullock - She looks amazing in the cap-sleeve gown with lace panels from Elie Saab.  

- Queen Latifah - The Queen looks very regal in her white Badgley Mischka dress.  

- Jennifer Aniston - The Valentino red dress was a nice change on the red carpet, and her hair looks great as usual.

- Naomi Watts - At first I couldn't decide whether the dress was great or too sparkly, but Naomi Watts' inner elegance really carries this Armani Prive gown.  

- Charlize Theron - Only Charlize Theron can pull off this Dior Haute Couture and with that short haircut she has been spotting for the new Mad Max movie.  

- Catherine Zeta-Jones - The golden embroidered dress was straight off Zuhair Murad's 2013 Couture runway, and she looks amazing in it.  

- Jennifer Lawrence - Beautiful pale pink Dior Haute Couture gown.  I like the long Chopard necklace draped down her back.  

- Kerry Washington - The Miu Miu dress looks so easy-breezy on Kerry Washington, and I love the shade.  

- Jessica Chastain - I wish the shade was a little more distinctive from her skin, but the fit of the Armani Prive gown is perfect.

- Halle Berry - Halle Berry made the comment that she chose this Versace dress to bring out her inner Bond girl, and it definitely works.

Worst Dressed

- Helena Bonham Carter - She actually looks more put together than usual, but the Vivienne Westwood is still messy and her hair is unkempt.   

- Marcia Gay Harden - This David Meister dress was ill-fitting and the embroidered sleeves don't look like they belong to the dress.  

- Melissa McCarthy - Oh, Melissa.  There are so many things wrong with this dress, especially the color and the draping.  

- Olivia Munn - There's too much material to this Marchesa dress, although the color is beautiful.  

- Zoe Saldana - She has never been afraid to take risks, but this Alexis Mabille Couture dress is too much.

- Fan Bingbing - Her Marchesa dress has too much volume and the color does not look good on her.  

Best Picture Nominees Special Edition Posters

The Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences worked with Gallery1988 (the gallery responsible for the Lost Underground Art Show) to release nine posters, one for each Best Picture nominee, created by an international group of artists.

EW.com has all nine, and they are pretty cool.  My favorites are the ones for Beasts of Southern Wild and Life of Pi. 

According to EW.com, the posters will be on display from February 14-17 at Gallery1988's Melrose Avenue location in Los Angeles.  People can't buy the posters, but fans can get screen prints of the posters through giveaway opportunities that will be announced on the Twitter and Facebook pages for Gallery1988 and the Academy. 

I'm Back and Movies on the Plane

Hello!  I'm back from vacation and finally have time to catch up on everything.  I kept up with some entertainment and celebrity news over the vacation, but definitely missed some things.  Our DVR didn't record the SAGs so I missed that show, but we did catch the Grammys this past weekend. 

Mr. Y and I watched Argo on the plane, and we both thought it was an excellent movie.  I'm excited that it is getting great momentum going into the Oscars.  I didn't even mind the cinematic embellishments because the basic true story is so exciting.  I thought Ben Affleck did a great job as a director and as the lead. 

Another movie that Mr. Y and I watched on the plane was Pitch Perfect.  It was a great movie for a plane ride - lightweight and funny.  The singing sequences were great, particularly the riff-off and the final performances.  I didn't know Anna Kendrick could sing like that, and Skylar Astin really should be a bigger star than he is.  I found out later that he was on Spring Awakening with Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff, and that Lea Michele originally wanted him on Glee to play Brody, but his schedule was too busy.  Anna Camp was also believable as the controlling leader of the Barden Bellas, the all-female a cappella group.  Other supporting players were also very funny, particularly Rebel Wilson as another Bella.  The whole movie was just the right amount of sweet and silly, and the chemistry between the actors was believable.  We even bought the movie on Blu-ray when we got back so we can enjoy it on a bigger screen, and it came with a funny Line-O-Rama extra.

Oscar Nominations Are Out!

The 2013 Oscar nominations were announced this morning by Emma Stone and Seth McFarlane, and although most of the nominations follow predictable paths, there were some surprises.  The most notable omission was Ben Affleck as Best Director for Argo.  He has been nominated in every other award so far, so his exclusion is quite a surprise. 

Lincoln leads the way with 12 nominations, followed by Life of Pi with eleven (a surprisingly strong showing) and Les Miserables and Silver Lining Playbook with eight.  Silver Linings Playbook got nominations in all four acting categories, the first movie to do so since Reds in 1982.  Argo scores seven, and Zero Dark Thirty scores five.  The Master, which some people thought may be dead in the water, got nominations in three out of the four acting categories.

I'm also excited that "Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare" got nominated for Best Short Film. 

A full list of nominations can be found here.  Below are the nominees for the major categories:

Best PictureAmour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

The new rules by the Academy mean that there can be anywhere from five to ten Best Picture nominees, and this year there are nine.  There are no real surprises in this category, except perhaps the addition of Amour.  Amour is the kind of movie that Academy voters love - a quieter, foreign drama about an elderly couple struggling with the wife's illness and starring respected actors.  There were some hopes that Moonrise Kingdom, Skyfall, or The Dark Knight Rises might make it in, but they are left off the list. 

Best ActorBradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Joaquin Phoenix's inclusion is a bit of a surprise considering that The Master has been losing momentum and he has openly mocked the award season.  The snubs here are John Hawkes for The Sessions and Richard Gere for Arbitrage.

Best ActressJessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Many thought Marion Cotillard was a shoo-in here for Rust & Bone, but the Academy voters went with Emanuelle Riva and Naomi Watts instead.  Rachel Weisz was also another possibility here for The Deep Blue Sea.  Riva is the oldest nominee in this category in Oscar history at 85 years old, and Wallis is the youngest in history at 9 years old. 

Best Supporting ActorAlan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

The surprise here is that Christoph Waltz gets the nomination here over Leonardo DiCaprio for Django Unchained.  There will be grumbles that Waltz's performance is actually a leading one, not supporting, but the campaign to place him as a supporting actor apparently works.  Poor DiCaprio - what does this guy have to do to get a nomination, let alone win?  He's going to be one of those actors like Pacino, who will get an Oscar later for a role where he doesn't deserve one, but more as a lifetime achievement award. 

Best Supporting ActressAmy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

The predictions have skewed towards Nicole Kidman getting a nomination for The Paperboy after her SAG and Golden Globe nominations, but Jacki Weaver squeaks in instead.  It doesn't matter - Anne Hathaway is walking away with this one. 

Best DirectorMichael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Other than Ben Affleck, the other big snubs here are Tom Hooper for Les Miserables and Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty, and to a lesser extent, Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained.  The inclusions of Benh Zeitlin and Michael Haneke are definitely surprises here.

Best Original ScreenplayAmour, Michael Hanake
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Flight, John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Best Adapted ScreenplayArgo, Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin,
Life of Pi, David Magee
Lincoln, Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was a favorite prediction for this category, but did not score a nomination. 

Skyfall

Mr. Y and I watched Skyfall over the holidays, and definitely one of my favorite Bond movies. 

SPOILER ALERT

Skyfall was a big improvement over Quantum of Solace, and definitely deserves to be the first Bond movie to reach $1 billion.  The story was straightforward and as personal as a Bond film can get.  Javier Barden is a great villain as a former MI6 Agent who has a personal vendetta against M for abandoning him when he was an agent.  The scene when he removed his teeth and his face sank in was so creepy.  The chase and fight scenes were appropriately explosive, but I also enjoy the quieter moments, especially between M (Judi Dench) and Bond (Daniel Craig).  The ending was staged at Skyfall, the home estate of Bond's parents in Scotland, and Albert Finney showed up as the cantakerous groundskeeper for the estate. 

I do wish they gave the Bond girls more to do.  Berenice Lim Marlohe was sultry and beautiful, but I was not clear what her purpose was.  Naomi Harris turned out to be the modern Moneypenny and we'll be seeing her in future Bond movies, although I quite enjoyed her as a field agent.  I did enjoy the shout-outs to previous Bond movies, like the exploding pen and the Aston Martin.  Ben Whishaw as a young Q is also appropriate, and a nice contrast to the cranky, older Bond. 

I am sad that Judi Dench's M died at the end, but excited about Ralph Fiennes being the new M.  Every time Fiennes and Craig are in the scene together it's like the battle of the intense blue eyes. 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Sorry for the long delay in new posts!  I was away for the holidays, and did not get a chance to post.

Mr. Y and I did manage to see the Hobbit over the holidays, and we both enjoyed it.  I am actually not a big fan of the book, and I was skeptical as to how they would stretch this book into three movies, but after seeing the first one, I like how Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens fleshed out some of the scenes in the book and added stuff from the appendices to fill in some blanks. 

SPOILER ALERT!

The Hobbit definitely brought the fans back to Lord of the Rings land, and it was a welcome return.  The movie is set 60 years before the events in LOTR, and it is bittersweet to know what was going to happen in the future.  The movie started with Ian Holm reprising his role as old Bilbo, and writing his memoirs on the day of his 111th birthday party.  Elijah Wood also came back as Frodo and this movie talked about him surprising Gandalf on the road before the party, which was the start of the Fellowship of the Ring. 

I thought Martin Freeman did an excellent job playing a younger Bilbo.  He really got the mannerisms and hobbit-isms down.  Ian McKellen was amusing as usual as Gandalf, and glad he came back.

The dwarfs were a bit hard to keep track of, but Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield definitely stood above the rest.  He is a very good looking man in real life and all the hair and drawf makeup didn't mask that.  Plus he really brings a sense of power and nobility to the character.

I enjoy the White Council scene between Gandalf, Saruman, Elrond, and Galadriel.  They were discussing the threat of the Necromancer, which will turn out to be Sauron in LOTR, and as a foreshadowing of the events in LOTR, it was clear that Saruman was dismissive of the threat while Elrond and Galadriel took it more seriously. 

The best scenes were between Gollum and Bilbo.  The technology has definitely improved since LOTR, and Gollum is so much more lifelike.  You can really see Andy Serkis's acting choices, and it's a shame people won't recognize what a great acting achievement this is.  You can't help but feel sorry for Gollum, and you understand why Bilbo didn't kill him.

I am definitely excited for the next installment, especially Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug's voice. 

SAG and Golden Globe Nominations

The Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes announced their nominations yesterday and today.  A lot of the usual suspects, with some surprises. 

SAG Nominations

Movies
- No Zero Dark Thirty for Best Cast in the Motion Picture, but the cast of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was nominated.  Zero Dark Thirty has been one of the buzzed about movies this award season, and no one had talked about the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at all, so this was definitely a surprise.  According to one Awards Daily blogger Sasha Stone, the screeners for Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained didn't arrive in time for the SAG nominations, but Jessica Chastain did get nominated for her role in Zero Dark Thirty. 

- Javier Bardem got nominated for Skyfall over a slew of other candidates, such as Russell Crowe and Eddie Redmayne for Les Miserables, Leonardo DiCaprio for Django Unchained, Matthew McConaughey for Magic Mike, and Ewan McGregor for The Impossible.

- Joaquin Phoenix was not nominated for his role in The Master, when he was considered a lock a couple of months ago.  Maybe Phoenix's comments about how the Oscars are "bulls**t" hurt his chances. 

- Nicole Kidman's nomination for the Paperboy was also a surprise.  The movie did not get good reviews, and was not widely seen.  According to Anthony Breznican at EW.com, "when awards screeners went out only her name was suggested on the package for consideration."

- Beasts of the Southern Wild was not eligible for SAG consideration because it was not a union production, including the lead actress, Quvenzhane Wallis.  Her exclusion from the SAG awards probably helped Helen Mirren land a SAG nomination for Hitchcock. 

Television

- The television categories did not have as many obvious snubs or surprises as the movie categories.  A lot of the usual suspects are there, such as Modern Family, Homeland, and Breaking Bad.  In the drama categories, cable series tend to dominate, while networks still dominate the comedy categories. 

- Jessica Lange from American Horror Story: Asylum was nominated for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series.  Her nomination isn't the surprise - it's the inclusion in the drama series category.  American Horror Story's creators and FX have insisted that the show is a miniseries, not a drama series, and last year it was entered in the Emmy race under this category.  But the SAG apparently disagreed. 

- It is a bit of a surprise that The Office as nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, especially over buzzed-about series such as Girls and Veep.

- Homeland was ignored last year by the SAGs, but the cast and the two leads, Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, were nominated this year.

- No nomination for Game of Thrones, which will disappoint Mr. Y. 

Golden Globes Nominations

Movies

- Three nominations for Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: Best Musical/Comedy, Best Lead Actor for Ewan McGregor, and Best Lead Actress for Emily Blunt.  This is a surprise because the movie didn't really make an impact when it was out, and no one had talked about it being in the running for any awards.  At least we will get to see the fabulous Ms. Blunt in the red carpet, hopefully along with her handsome hubby John Krasinski. 

- Despite having the best shot because of the separation between Drama and Comedy/Musical, The Master was not nominated for Best Drama.  Same with The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Beasts of the Southern Wild.

- Quvenzhane Wallis of Beasts of the Southern Wild was not nominated for Best Lead Actress, despite great buzz about her performance.  This might hurt her Oscar chances. 

- Robert de Niro was nominated for a SAG award for Silver Linings Playbook, but not a Golden Globe.  Same with Javier Bardem and Skyfall, although de Niro is probably a more serious Oscar contender.  Russell Crowe and Eddie Redmayne were again not nominated.

- No Best Director nomination for Tom Hooper for Les Miserables or David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook, despite their movies getting a lot of attention. 

Television

- Surprise about Smash's nomination in the Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical category, and yet Glee was not nominated.

- Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, and Game of Thrones were not nominated for Best Television Series - Drama, but Aaron Sorkin's polarizing The Newsroom was included?

- Sherlock was not nominated for Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television, but at least Benedict Cumberbatch got a nod.

- Yay for Max Greenfield being nominated for New Girl, and for Connie Britton from Nashville.  I don't watch Nashville, but I love Connie Britton, so anything that shines a spotlight on her is OK with me. 

Star Trek Into Darkness Teaser

The teaser for Star Trek Into Darkness was released last Thursday, and the first nine minutes was shown before IMAX showings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey last Friday.  The voiceover for the teaser trailer was done by Benedict Cumberbatch, playing a villain named "John Harrison."  He ominously stated, "You think your world is safe.  It is an illusion, a comforting lie told to protect you. Enjoy these final moments of peace. For I have returned. To have. My. Vengeance.”  There is rampant speculation that he is playing Khan, but no official confirmation.  There is some more clues in the Japanese version of the teaser, which includes additional scenes not seen in the U.S. teaser.

The other theory is that he is playing Gary Mitchell, a good friend of Kirk's and a one-time student at the Starfleet Academy.  Mitchell gained a whole bunch of powers and became more cruel and convinced that he was above humanity.  Kirk ended up battling and burying him in a grave that Mitchell had meant for Kirk. 

Definitely looking forward to this movie. 

Janeane Garofalo Didn't Know She Was Married

Comedienne Janeane Garofalo was dating television producer Rob Cohen in the 1990s when they drunkenly decided to get married in Las Vegas.  They thought it was a joke and wasn't legal, until recently when Rob Cohen was looking to get married to his fiancee, and his lawyer found the earlier marriage.  The divorce came through last Saturday, the same day they attended a reunion for the Ben Stiller Show at the New York Comedy Festival, where Garofalo was a cast member and Cohen was a writer. 

In the New York Post article, Garofalo stated, “Rob and I got married, for real, which we had to have a notary dissolve not 30 minutes before we got here tonight.  We were married for 20 years until this evening. We got married drunk in Vegas . . . We dated for a year, and we got married at a drive-through chapel in a cab. [We thought] you have to go down to the courthouse and sign papers and stuff, so who knew? We were married, and apparently now that [Rob] is getting married for real, his lawyer dug up something.”

Iron Man 3 Trailer

The trailer for Iron Man 3 is out, and it looks really good, although not for Tony Star.  There are a lot of destruction and explosions, and Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) definitely looks to be in trouble.  Poor Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is kidnapped, and Tony's beautiful seaside house is also destroyed. 

Ben Kingsley shows up briefly as the main villain in the movie, the Mandarin.  The Mandarin owns ten Rings of Power that he recovered from a crashed alien spaceship.  He's supposed to be half-Chinese and half-English.  In the trailer he has a chilling voiceover: "“Ladies, children, sheep.  Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher. Lesson No. 1: Heroes. There is no such thing.”

Hugh Jackman Does Gangnam Style

Now this is a great picture - Hugh Jackman the Gangnam Style dance with Psy, complete with Wolverine blades. 

Jackman also posted another picture in his Twitter feed of the two of them laughing together. 

Argo

Mr. Y and I have wanted to see Argo ever since we first heard about it.  It's the movie about a CIA operative, Tony Mendez, who had to get six Americans out of Iran during the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis.  The six Americans were hiding out in the home of the Canadian ambassador, but risked discovery at any moment.  The cover story Mendez concocted was that the six Americans were part of a film crew scouting locations for a fake science-fiction movie called Argo.  He set up a fake movie production company with a real Hollywood producer and a real Hollywood makeup artist who had helped him in the past.

The movie was based on a Wired story "How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran", which is a fascinating read.  It has all the elements of a ready-made Hollywood movie - suspense, thriller, comedy, drama.  No wonder producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov snapped it up.  Ben Affleck directed the movie, and he also starred in it as Tony Mendez.  The cast included Alan Arkin as Hollywood producer Lester Siegel, John Goodman as Hollywood makeup artist John Chambers, Victor Garber as Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor, and Bryan Cranston as Mendez's CIA supervisor Jack O'Donnell. 

Good American Accents

TV Guide has an interesting photo gallery of current TV actors who are not Americans, but play Americans convincingly. 

I remember the one I was most taken aback by was Ed Westwick from Gossip Girl.  I had no idea he was British until I saw him interviewed on a talk show.  He hid his accent very well. 

Hugh Laurie is not on the list since House has ended, but I think he has one of the best American accents I've ever heard.

Among the movie actors, Christian Bale is the one that constantly surprised people.  When I hear his real voice, I still think that his Welsh accent sounds like the fake one. 

The Princess Bride - 25th Anniversary

I absolutely love the Princess Bride, and it's one of my favorite movies.  This year is the 25th Anniversary of the Princess Bride, and as part of the celebration, director Rob Reiner, screenwriter William Goldman, and cast members Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Billy Crystal, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Carol Kane, and Wallace Shawn gathered at New York's Alice Tully Hall for a special screening and a panel discussion with the lucky fans who got tickets to the New York Film Festival event. 

Entertainment Weekly has a great recap of the event, and ABC News has a fun slideshow comparing the cast now and then. 

Mr. Y, our friends, and I quote the Princess Bride all the time.  My favorite quotes:

- "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

- "As you wish"

- "INCONCEIVABLE"  "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
- "Have fun storming the castle!"

- "You can't hurt me. Westley and I are joined by the bonds of love. And you cannot track that, not with a thousand bloodhounds, and you cannot break it, not with a thousand swords."

- "Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday."