Failing Miserably with My Oscar Picks

Watched the 47-hour Oscar telecast last night. Why is it when it seems as though the show's producers are sincerely making attempts to trim the program's time, it seems even longer?

The good: Kate Winslet winning her first Oscar, Winslet's father loudly whistling so she could locate him in the crowd, Tina Fey & Steve Martin cracking up the place, Ben Stiller doing a spot-on Joaquin Phoenix and those cute-as-a-button Slumdog Millionaire kids who were collecting stars' autographs.

The so-so: Enough with the camera shots of Bragelina (particularly when Jennifer Aniston was on stage, steps away from them . . . just tacky), the too-long dance number (even though the HSM duo was very earnest) and, while I loved the individual speeches to the actor/actress nominees -- it was like giving each actor, most of whom would go home without a statue, a thoughtful, touching, individualized gift -- it tacked on too much time. The Academy Awards ended after midnight. My DVR stopped recording just when they were making the mini-speeches about the Best Actress nominees, so I was lucky to be able to switch over to live TV so as not to miss too much.

As for my own personal Oscar picks? Per usual, I stunk at predicting the winners, while my husband -- a casual pop culture observer who I force-march through countless films, particularly of the indie ilk -- thoroughly trounced me. I'd selected the top nine categories and out of those, I successfully identified four winners. The husband? He got seven of the winners.

Among those I accurately predicted: Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire; Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (though you'd have to have been a moron to bet against a Ledger win); Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Best Animated Feature, WALL-E.

I know what you're thinking . . . how could such a self-professed Winslet fan have bet against her to win for The Reader? Well, I thought that perhaps the Academy voters didn't want to go with the "sure thing." Plus Winslet's on the cover of this week's Time Magazine (printed BEFORE the Oscars were aired) under the headline, "Best Actress." I thought it seemed TOO predictable. I decided to be wild and pick Meryl Streep for Best Actress for Doubt. My bad.

I also thought that while Sean Penn collected raves for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, that voters would go for the feel-good comeback story that is Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Wrong-o. As for picking the WALL-E Original Screenplay and The Reader Adapted Screenplay, incorrect on both counts.

Oh well. So I'm not very good at prognosticating when it comes to contests like this, which is why I always fare so poorly with my brackets during the NCAA men's basketball tournament. I tend to overthink all my choices, then allow my own personal biases to seep in. Bet you want me in your basketball pool, don't ya?

Image credit: Time Magazine.

'Mad Men' & 'Revolutionary Road:' A Sisterhood of Suburban Misery?

I walked into the film Revolutionary Road (starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio) with the notion in my head that it would be very similar to Mad Men. When it wasn't -- tones were vastly different, characters motivated by different things, etc. -- I thought that my frame of reference was off, that I shouldn't be comparing the film and the TV program.

But once I started watching Mad Men's first season again on DVD, it smacked me in the face: The two female leads, Kate Winslet's April Wheeler and January Jones' Betty Draper, had comparable, soul-crushing experiences. Both were college educated, had lived in cities, had careers and then . . . the melancholy settled in. My weekly Pop Culture & Politics column over on Mommy Track'd compares the two characters.

Image credits: Long Island Press and AMC.

Weekend in Pop Culture: Super Bowl, 'Revolutionary Road,' 'Big Love' & 'Friday Night Lights'

Yes, like many Americans, I too watched the Super Bowl. Kind of. I was at least in the room when it was on. (I had no rooting interest in either team so I was disinterested.) Thought the ads were horrendous. The Doritos spot really ticked me off, especially when my sons and daughter were watching as a guy crunched on a Dorito chip and a woman's clothes magically came off revealing a black bra and panties. Fabulous. Thank you NBC. Even the 3-D ad -- we were all wearing our special glasses -- didn't wow me. What, did all the Don Drapers take vacations?

Super Bowl aside, I also dabbled in other pop culture offerings . . .

Revolutionary Road
Went to see Revolutionary Road with my husband. It, um, well, it wasn't what I expected it would be, and I'm speaking as a huge fan of Kate Winslet. As I was exiting the theater I heard people laughing at the film, and not in a good way. My husband declared it awful but I wasn't willing to go that far. I didn't buy Leonardo DiCaprio in his role -- too much of a babyface to sell the character -- but I thought Winslet was good. (My husband thought she overacted.) After all the articles I've read comparing Revolutionary Road to Mad Men, I came to the conclusion that they're nothing alike.

Big Love
Finally caught up on the new Big Love episodes and, for the most part, thought they were well done, though the third episode was too jam-packed for my taste. Sometimes I think the Big Love writers occasionally tackle too many subjects and overload an episode.

Likes thus far: Sarah Henrickson -- the bright-eyed teenaged daughter who's appalled and repulsed by her parents' polygamy -- wants to flee Utah and attend college in Arizona but now finds herself pregnant with her ex-boyfriend's baby. Margene Henrickson, the naive third wife, is taking a shining to her family's gaming business but may have been thrown off-kilter by the death of her alcoholic mother. The intertwining of the stories of the underaged girls from the Juniper Creek compound who were forced to marry creepy, gross old men, and the Henricksons.
Dislikes: Wanda, Bill Henrickson's psychotic sister-in-law. Lois and Frank Henrickson's twisted, violent relationship. Rhonda Volmer, the schemer. Whenever these characters come on screen, I start getting antsy for the focus to go back to the Henricksons.

I'm on the fence about the whole adding-a-fourth-wife story. In season two, I admired how Barb Henrickson stood up to Bill and told him he manipulated her when she was life-threateningly ill with cancer into becoming a polygamist. Her recent health scare aside, I don't see how or why she's suddenly on board with adding another wife.

Friday Night Lights
The new season of Friday Night Lights is just getting going and I'm riveted by the dramatically altered power dynamic between the two central characters, Tami and Eric Taylor. Now that Tami Taylor's the high school principal and wields a great deal of clout -- which included her bid to reallocate funds intended for a jumbotron screen for the football stadium and instead give the money to academics -- her husband Eric's power status as the high school football coach is diminished, at least in the Taylor household.

Image credit: HBO.

SAG Awards, A Lot Like the Golden Globes

If you wanted to predict who'd win the Screen Actors Guild Awards last night, all you needed to do was to look at the list of winners from the Golden Globes and put the bulk of your money on the Globe winners, the glaring exceptions being for the leading actor/actress categories.

In the film category, Slumdog Millionaire was again crowned king. (Still haven't seen it yet, but the incessant drum beat of critical and awards acclaim is going to prompt me to do so. Only hope that the massive hype doesn't lead to disappointment.) Kate Winslet and Heath Ledger each won awards for their supporting work in the films The Reader and The Dark Knight, respectively.

In TV land, 30 Rock won for best comedy, while my beloved Mad Men won again for best drama. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin collected more statues as the best comedic actors on TV. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, who played John and Abigail Adams in HBO's fabulous miniseries John Adams, won for best actors in the TV movie/miniseries categories.

However it was in the lead actor/actress categories where the actors' votes differed from those of the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Meryl Streep won a SAG award for playing a nun in Doubt, while Sean Penn was victorious for playing gay activist Harvey Milk in Milk. (Golden Globes for actors in a dramatic film went to Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler and Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road.)

The awards for best actors in TV dramas went to two network actors Hugh Laurie, who's a great curmudgeon as Dr. Gregory House on House, and Sally Field, who plays the matriarch on Brothers & Sisters. (The Golden Globes went to two HBO shows, Gabriel Byrne for In Treatment and Anna Paquin for True Blood.)

Live Blogging the Golden Globe Awards

After being canceled last year due to the writers' strike and replaced by a wretched press conference that was about as exciting as watching C-SPAN, the Golden Globes are back baby.

I've spent the last hour-plus watching the insipid arrival shows (flipping back and forth between E! -- the network that is so exciting it requires punctuation -- and the TV Guide Channel).

Best moment I witnessed: Alec Baldwin hijacking the mike from Carson Daly and doing an Andy Rooney impersonation asking if anyone else found it irritating when they're asked irritating questions by E! reporters. My 10-year-old cheered when Miss Miley arrived with her Cyrus parents, when the Jonas trio and their ample hair set foot on the red carpet, as well as when she saw a slick-haired Zac Efron. (I must admit to laughing aloud when Carson tried to mug Bragelina with a mike on the red carpet and they blew him off.)

Once the Golden Globe show starts, I'll live blog my own Daly-esque commentary.

-- Best Supporting Actress, Drama, Film: Oh my God! What was presenter J. Lo. thinking with that dress? Was it a riff on her famous barely-there dress from years ago, the one Matt Lauer spoofed on the Today Show? ("Mama talkin'" J. Lo. told the overly chatty crowd. Maybe I should try that line at home and see if everyone shuts up.)

Kate Winslet won for supporting actress in The Reader. I adore her. Can't wait to see this film. She's so classy . . . We here in my house are taking bets on whether she drops the statue onto the floor while she tries to catch her breath . . . Good for her, she didn't drop the golden paper weight AND they didn't cut off her uninspiring speech.

-- Best Original Song, Motion Picture: What was up with Sting looking like a mountain man? . . . Bruce won for his original son for The Wrestler. My 7-year-old who's a Boss fan applauded. My 10-year-old daughter who worships Miley (up for her Bolt song) is irate.

-- Best Supporting Actor, TV: I'm hoping for Tom Wilkinson or Blair Underwood (In Treatment), the award went to Tom for John Adams, actually for playing Ben Franklin in John Adams not for playing Adams himself, a great HBO miniseries I highly recommend it.

-- Best Supporting Actress, TV: Loaded category here. I have many, many favorites. I can't decide who I want to win . . . the Golden Globe voters chose Laura Dern for HBO's Recount, a movie about the 2000 presidential election Florida gridlock.

-- Best Actor in TV, Drama: Jon Hamm . . . Jon Hamm. (Of Mad Men, don't you know . . . Though I wouldn't be crushed if Hugh Laurie of House won.) . . . Wow. Gabriel Byrne from HBO's In Treatment walked away with the award, symbolically, as he wasn't there in person. He WAS pretty solid and intriguing, definitely worthy, but I was rooting for Don Draper.

-- Best Actress in TV, Drama: I don't do vampire (otherwise known as Anna Paquin from True Blood who snagged this trophy). I wanted January Jones who killed this season in Mad Men as Betty Draper, to win. The Drapers better not go home empty-handed.

-- This presenter, Ricky Gervais cracks me up. He's so dry -- even though he showed up to the mike with a beer and drank it on stage -- I'm talkin' as dry comedically as Bob Newhart. He started off by chastizing the overly-chatty crowd for not shutting up: "Shh! How rude are you lot? Just because you're film stars. Shh! I'm not in charge. I'm not even nominated, which is kind of annoying . . . I'm like staff . . . Winslet, I told you, do a Holocaust movie and the awards come." (A reference to an episode of his HBO show Extras where his character had a conversation with Winslet about the propensity of Holocaust movies to be awards magnets.) I'm going to have to find this bit on YouTube and post it here later.

-- Best Animated Film: (Jonas fever from my gal; the boys are the presenters. Wonder what their voices will sound like in a few years . . .) Wall-E, winner. Unlike the rest of the world, I wasn't overwhelmed by this movie. My kids loved it though.

-- Best Actress, Film, Comedy/Musical: Could presenter Johnny Depp sound more bored (or stoned) by the way? Can you say Mamm. . . whaat? No Meryl? Who the heck is this chick, Sally Hawkins, from Happy-Go-Lucky? What IS Happy-Go-Lucky? Never heard of it. Nobody expected her to win, apparently, as she was seated in the theater's annex and took about 47 minutes to get to the stage . . . Emma Thompson was such a good sport for, even after losing in this category, cheering on the unknown actress. (Who were those people who were briefly on camera directly in front of the stage who were talking during the unknown actress' clipped, rambling speech chatting? Rude.)

-- Best Miniseries/TV Movie: I cannot speak highly enough of John Adams. Come to think of this, I need to watch it again. Note to self: Check "On Demand" or Netflix it.

-- Best Supporting Actor, Film: Heath Ledger for Dark Knight. This is so sad. The film's director, Chris Nolan was very respectful in his acceptance speech on Ledger's behalf.

-- NBC's Tom Brokaw announcing Frost/Nixon's best picture, drama, nomination. Hmm. Interesting choice. Grew up watching him. This is another film on my list.

-- Best Actress Miniseries/TV Movie: John Adams fevah. Laura Linney for her great performance as Abigail Adams.

-- Let's hear it for da writahs! The folks whose imaginations create all this good stuff. Best Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire. I've gotta see why everyone is talking about this movie. I don't even know what it's about.

-- Best Actor TV, Comedy: Alec "He Who Hath Stolen the Mike From Carson Daly" Baldwin from 30 Rock. "I feel so old. I remember when I used to bring Rumer Willis a juice box on the set of a movie," Baldwin said, referring to the Golden presenter Gal (Demi & Bruce's eldest daughter). Well deserved.

-- Best Actor Miniseries/TV Movie: It's a John Adams sweep my friends. (Paul Giamatti was fabulous, in his wretched teeth, or lack thereof.) Read your history kids. Or just watch it on HBO.
-- Best TV Series, Comedy: 30 Rock: 'tis the Divine Miss Fey's year. She be rockin' the Golden Globes house in her deeply V-cut dress (wonder what the folks who wrote that piece on the glamorization of Fey think of it). She, however, passed the award statue to co-star Tracy Morgan who was very, very funny, challenging Cate Blanchett and proclaiming himself the new face of "post-racial America." (Wonder if her gesture was a nod toward the notion that she's in danger of being overexposed?)

-- Best Actress TV, Comedy: Teee-na. Teee-na. . . 30 Rock. "I really love the Hollywood Foreign Press. As a kid I had all the Hollywood Foreign Press action figures," she said. ". . . If you're ever feeling too good about yourself they have this thing called the Internet" where you can find people who don't like you. Goin' after the haters. Like it.

-- Best Director, Film: Tough category. But it's a Slumdog kinda night. That's three awards thus far.

-- Best Actor, Film, Comedy: Colin Farrell, In Bruges. "They must've done the counting in Florida, an absolute shock, really," Farrell said.

-- Best Film, Comedy/Musical: Vicky Christina Barcelona. Wow. Guess they don't like Abba or Meryl Streep this year at the Hollywood Foreign Press. I was highly expecting Meryl's band of dancers and singers to box step their way to the win.

-- Best Actress, Film, Drama: Brilliant! Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road. I love how authentically excited she was to win this award. "Oh please wrap up? You have no idea how much I am not wrapping up! Gather," Winslet said. (Note to self: Incorporate the phrase, "Gather" into my daily vocabulary when in a tight spot.) ". . . My God, thank you so much."

-- Best TV Series, Drama: Made my night. Mad Men. The Drapers did NOT go home empty-handed after all. The best (or tied for best with Lost) show on TV right now got more deserved props. The second season of Mad Men was just as good as the first. . . So this means, by my calculations, that 30 Rock -- for Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and best comedy series -- was the only big three network show to win anything. All other TV awards went to cable shows.

-- Best Actor, Film, Drama: Shocker of the night (at least to me) . . . next to the Happy-Go-Lucky winner. Mickey Rourke won for The Wrestler, he and his sparkly scarf. (I recently read a review of this film in Entertainment Weekly recently. They loved this.) Rourke hiked up his pants when he stepped behind the microphone but didn't remove his shades. Interesting.

-- Best Film, Drama: Okay, you folks from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. You've convinced me. I'll see Slumdog Millionaire, but I wanna see Winslet in Revolutionary Road first, then we'll talk.

Thoughts on the award winners? The broadcast? Please feel free to chime in below.

Image credit: Getty Images/Canada.com.

My Awards-Bait Movie Wish List: Films I Want to See Right Now

Around this time of year, I start getting movie lust. As all the awards' bait is released, I begin making lists of films I want to see, knowing that, I likely won't get the chance to see most of them.

Why? Because I don't get to go out as frequently as I'd like to with The Spouse as finding babysitting for three kids is oftentimes tough, particularly in the holiday season, plus it's expensive.

I wind up making lists in my head after the Golden Globe and Oscar award nominations are released and get all psyched about seeing the movies, but by the time they're finally released on DVD months later when it's springtime and I'm in the middle of my kids' crazy spring sports schedules, they feel dated and my excitement has waned.

However while working on a column about Golden Globe nominations last week, I decided that this year will be different. Before the Oscar awards ceremony, I'm hoping to see:



-- Revolutionary Road with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as a disillusioned couple in the 'burbs in the 1950s (seeming very Mad Men-ish if you go by the trailer).
-- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in a fantastical tail involving a man aging backwards.
-- The Reader with Winslet starring as a former Nazi guard who had an affair with a much younger man.
-- Nothing but the Truth with Kate Beckinsale who plays a journalist who's jailed for protecting her sources.
-- Doubt with Meryl Streep coping with a scandal in a Catholic school where her character's a nun and headmistress.
-- Frost/Nixon with Frank Langella, about the famous Nixon TV interviews.

After reading about the films, I've also grown interested in reading the books from which they were adapted such as Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I read The Reader by Bernhard Schlink many years ago after it became an Oprah book club selection. However those books are going to have to take their places behind some of the Mad Men-inspired books I've wanted to peruse, like Frank O'Hara's Meditations in an Emergency and The Best of Everything.

Any of the new movies coming out at the end of the year that you really want to see?