Sunday Blessings - Jason Statham

Just a guick write-up for today's edition of Sunday Blessings featuring Jason Statham. Jason's newest film, Transporter 3 just opened this weekend, and if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm probably never going to see it. I have yet to see the second one, but did watch the first one a number of times on TV, and that's the main reason I'm devoting a posting to him. The movie was blatently homoerotic. Seriously, the entire scene where he strips off his shirt, covers himself with grease/oil and then fights with a bunch of guys, had no other point then to show off his body, and what a body it is! Damn that man has a fine chest! I'm just saying. Praise Jesus!

In Defense of Nicole Kidman

With Australia set to only make around 20 million for the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend, people are already sinking their teeth into Nicole Kidman, blaming her for the film's "failure"and calling her box-office poison because of a string of bombs at the box-office. I find this incredibly unfair, as it lays the blame of any disappointing film gross solely on her feet, it diminishes the actual talent she possesses, and if one actally analyzes the box-office grosses of her films over the last few years, it's not true. Let's go through each of the films Nicole's made since becoming a big star, after having been in Moulin Rouge! and The Others, exluding voice work (Happy Feet) and any small, indie film which wasn't meant for blockbuster status (Dogville, Birth, Margot at the Wedding, Fur).

The Hours Budget: 25 million Gross: 108 million
The Human Stain Budget: 30 million Gross: 24 million
Cold Mountain Budget: 79 million Gross: 173 million
The Stepford Wives Budget: 90 million Gross: 102 million
The Interpreter Budget: 80 million Gross: 162 million
Bewitched Budget: 85 million Gross: 131 million
The Invasion Budget: 80 million Gross: 40 million
The Golden Compass Budget: 180 million Gross: 372 million

Looking at those figures, there's only one outright bomb, The Invasion, two disappointments, The Human Stain and The Stepford Wives, and one could-have-been-a-hit-if-the-studio-wasn't-retarded-and-sold-off-the international-distribution-rights, The Golden Compass. Kidman's films might not do well domestically, but she's a huge draw internationally, particularly in Europe and her home country of Australia, so it's ridiculous to brush her off as being unbankable. As for the films that didn't do well, their failures cannot be attributed to her. The Stepford Wives was a crap movie, The Human Stain needed good word of mouth and awards attention, neither of which it got, in order to catch on, and as for The Golden Compass, who thought a film based on a controversial, anti-religious book aimed at kids and young adults would do well in the U.S? Seriously! That movie was going to make it's money over-seas, and the studio was idiotic to sell its international distribution rights, erasing any profit it could have made.
Putting all of this aside, the problem of criticizing Kidman's box-office numbers is that it measures success not by talent, but by money earned. Yes, I get the fact that it is a business, but acting is an artform, and it should be judged on how well one can create a character that works within the film. Kidman's salary for large studio pictures can openly be scrutinized, Maybe it is too big, though I think she brings international success and pedigree to a film, which makes her worth her asking price, but I don't think she should have to suffer the criticism of being called box-office poison and told to quit acting. She is a talented and adventurous actress willing to take huge paycuts in order to work with up-and-coming indie directors and foreign auteurs. The two most bankable actresses currently working in Hollywood are probably Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon, and while I like both of them, at their best, they are nowhere near close to Kidman's best.

New Oscar Predictions

Picture:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Director:
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sam Mendes - Revolutionary Road
Chris Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant - Milk

Actor:
Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road
Clint Eastwood - Gran Turino
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Actress:
Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Kristin Scott Thomas - I've Loved You So Long
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actor:
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actress:
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Rosemarie Dewitt - Rachel Getting Married
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Adapted Screenplay:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay:
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Christina Barcelona
WALL-E
The Wrestler

Cinematography:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benajmin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Revolutionary Road

Editing:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Art Direction:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Changeling
The Reader
Revolutionary Road

Costume Design:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Make Up:
Hellboy 2
The Reader
Synechdoche New York

Original Score:
Defiance
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Milk
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Sound Mixing:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Iron Man
WALL-E

Sound Editing:
The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Visual Effects:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man

Animated Film:
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Happy Thanksgiving - Home for the Holidays

Well it's Thanksgiving tomorrow, so eveyone should be watching Home for the Holidays tonight. I know I will, although I still have to watch Pushing Daisies, and I kind of want to watch Rosie's gaytastic variety show, which comes on at the same time. What to do, what to do? Anyway, Home for the Holidays has become a tradition for me. I love the movie, even though I realize it has its flaws. The emotional interactions between the characters are realistic, for the most part, rather than being overblown for laughs or sentimentality, and Robert Downey Jr. and Holly Hunter both give great performances. Downey would actually be my personnal winner for Best Supporting Actor for 1995. Jodie Foster, who directed the film, should really direct another film. I think she showed promise, and if Jodie honed her skills a little more, she could become a great director. I don't understand why female actors don't go into directing as much as their male couterparts. Perhaps they aren't given the opportunity male studio heads feeling it would be too much of a risk. A vagina might make them unstable or something. Ha. So in conclusion, Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a Reminder...

Hugh Jackman is still the sexiest man alive. I repeat, Hugh Jackman is still the sexiest man alive. This is just a reminder. That is all.

Sunday Blessings - Gerard Butler

Today's eye candy is Gerard Butler, star of a bunch of films I have no desire of seeing. Seriously. Lara Croft Tombraider: The Cradle of Life - no thanks, The Phantom of the Opera -god no, PS, I Love You - a rom-com with Hilary Swank, yeesh, 300 - even with all the half-naked men, I still don't want to watch it. The only films I've actually seen him in are Mrs. Brown and Reign of Fire, one good and one bad. So why am I doing a posting on him? It doesn't have anything to do with his choice in films or acting talent, which I actually think he does have. Butler has the right charisma for a movie star, it just hasn't been put to good use as of yet, or at least I haven't yet seen a movie featuring it. RocknRolla was recently released and recieved good reviews, but it was a Guy Richie film, so I had no interest in paying to see it in theatres. Maybe I'll watch it when it comes out on video. Getting back to the eye candy, the most important aspect of Mr. Butler, afterall, what is it about Scottish men? Butler, McGregor, McAvoy, McKidd - are all guys from Scotland that hot, or is it that all the hot ones become actors. Perhaps unbelievably sexy men are the nation's greatest exports. You're doing a hell of a job, Scotland. Keep up the good work! Let's all hope Butler gets the right role in the right film, and that role features a lot of nudity. Amen. Praise Jesus!

WALL-E & Pixar on the Brain

With WALL-E coming out on DVD this past week, I finally got to see the film a few nights ago. It was a great film and it continues a pretty great track record for Pixar. All of their films, with the exception of one, have been at least good. The one exception being Cars which I had issues with, mainly because its notion of a world in which all living things were vehicles, including cows and flies, didn't quite work, but also because its the only Pixar film which seemed to be purposefully commercialized. All the other movies seemed to be focused on telling an interesting story with interesting characters. With Cars it was as if the creators thought, "We could have tie-ins with NASCAR, and make a bunch of toy cars for boys, and place the character of McQueen on everything else. Money, money, money!" Also the film featured the voice of Larry the Cable Guy, which just makes me shudder thinking about it. Eech. Anyway here's my ranking of the Pixar films:

1. Ratatouille
2. Toy Story
3. WALL-E
4. The Incredibles
5. Finding Nemo
6. Monster's Inc.
7. Toy Story 2
8. A Bug's Life
9. Cars

ABC, Pushing Daisies, Life on Mars

Well that's it. ABC has decided not to renew Pushing Daisies, with the thirteenth episode of the season being its final. Initially there were reports that the show might have a shortened season of 13 episodes, but get renewed for a third season and relaunched in the fall. Apparently that's not going to happen. Damn it! Pushing Daisies was a great show, and the only reason it faltered in the ratings was because ABC handled it poorly. During its first season, the series averaged around 8 to 9 million viewers. When the writers strike happened, the network decided to take it off the air and not bring it back until the start of the new season, which was idiotic since how could the series build interest and discussion if it's not on the air for eight months. Then the network decided to keep its Wednesday Night lineup exactly the same, with Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money, even though all had been new shows the previous season, none of them became breakout hits, and none of them aired episodes after the writers strike. Duh! ABC you make me so mad!

While I'm talking about ABC, let me talk about another great show on ABC, with ratings troubles of its own, Life on Mars. I'm watching it last night, and its coming to the end of the episode and it goes off into this weird, almost Lynchian direction, where Sam is led to a cabin/shack, a phone rings and the person on the other end tells him to go into the basement. Then it just ends and I'm thinking, I can't wait until next week to see what happens, but a commercial comes on saying the next episode won't air until the end of January, after the season premiere of Lost. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo! Why do I have to wait so long! At least ABC realized the show would be better matched with Lost than Grey's Anatomy. Hopefully it will have higher ratings, get renewed and finish its story, even if it's only in two seasons.

Hugh Jackman: Sexiest Man Alive

People Magazine named Hugh Jackman their Sexiest Man Alive, and all I can say is - Damn Straight! Finally, the rest of the world is starting to agree with me. Now if only they could remove the small inset picture of Zac Efron from the cover, it would be perfect.

Updated Oscar Predictions

Picture:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Revolutionary Road
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Director:
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sam Mendes - Revolutionary Road
Chris Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant - Milk

Actor:
Leonardo Dicaprio - Revolutionary Road
CLint Eastwood - Gran Turino
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Actress:
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Kristin Scott Thomas - I've Loved You So Long
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actor:
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
James Franco - Milk
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actress:
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Rosemarie Dewitt - Rachel Getting Married
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Adapted Screenplay:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay:
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Christina Barcelona
WALL-E

Cinematography:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road

Editing:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire

Art Direction:
Australia
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader

Costume Design:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Makeup:
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Reader
Synechdoche New York

Original Score:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Milk
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Sound Mixing:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
WALL-E

Sound Editing:
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
WALL-E

Visual Effects:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man

Animated Film:
Kung Fu Panda
The Tale of Despereaux
WALL-E

Wanda Sykes Comes Out

OMG blog

Wanda Sykes came out of the closet while at a protest against Prop 8. Being perfectly honest, at no point did I ever think she was a lesbian, and I'm usually good at this. I mean I could tell Ellen and Rosie and Neil Partick Harris were all gay before they ever came out. There's also those that haven't come out yet, but I can definitely tell are gay, like Queen Latifah, Kevin Spacey, and Secretary of State Condie Rice. When La Lohan started palling around with a girlfriend and everyone else started freaking out about it, I really wasn't surprised, since I kind of thought she was. So what am I saying? Um, I'm surprised I didn't suspect it. But anyway, congratulations to Wanda for coming out. I kind of love her more for doing so and for protesting the ridiculousness that is Prop 8.

Sunday Blessings - Paul Rudd

Today's edition of Sunday Blessings features the eternally adorable Paul Rudd. I think we all first took notice of him in the 1995 teen flick Clueless, in which Alicia Silverstone took almost the entire length of the movie to realize he was hot. Meanwhile, us viewers, or at least I, figured that out the moment he appeared on screen. Since that film, Rudd has become a talented and successful comedic film actor, appearing in Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Becoming part of the Judd Apatow crew has definitely helped his career. He's also starring in the just released Role Models, alongside last week's Sunday Blessings object, Seann William Scott. It's kind of hard to pick which of the two is hotter, although I can break it down by saying Scott is the guy you'd have a one night stand with, while Rudd is the one you'd have a relationship with. He has the whole dorky, white guy thing going for him, which I find adorable. Did anyone see his dancing on The Daily Show the other week? Adorable! It's also kind of ridiculous that the guy is almost 40, and he doesn't even look like he's out of his twenties. Those are some good genes he has going for him. So anyway, to wrap it up, let's praise Jesus for Paul Rudd and his adorably cute butt. Amen. Adorable!

RDJ Named EW's Entertainer of the Year

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly features their list of the top 25 entertainers of the year, with Robert Downey Jr. being named #1. I can't really argue with their choice. He gave an energizing performance in a summer blockbuster, turning him into an A-list action star after having already spent over two decades in the business, and followed it up with well recieved performance in a comedy. The rest of EW's list, however, is kind of all over the place.

2. Tina Fey - yes definitely!
3. The Cast and Crew of The Dark Knight - of course

4. The Gossip Girls (Blake Lively & Leighton Meester) - kind of high?

5. Stephenie Meyer - enough with Twilight pimping!

6. Lil Wayne - I guess...I don't know?

7. Rock Band - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I don't understand the popularity.

8. Sex and the City Women - sure, though the movie was a let down quality-wise

9. Jonas Brothers - shouldn't talent and not just popularity be taken into account

10. TV's Talking Heads/Political Pundits - yeah to Maddow, Behar, Matthews

11. Meryl Streep - always!

12. Stars of the Bravo Network - sure, especially Tim Gunn

13. James Franco - interesting pick

14. WALL-E - adorable, should have been paired with Po from Kung Fu Panda

15. Coldplay - eh, really? I like them, but still...eh?

16. Elizabeth Banks - this pick makes me happy

17. Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim - I love the two of them, but I find it odd

18. Kid Rock - yawn

19. Jon Hamm - should be a lot higher, especially after SNL

20. Facebook - I'm on it, but I still find it annoying

21. Katy Perry - fine, whatever

22. Richard Jenkins - I love the fact he's finally getting attention

23. Boring Ogre Face - go away already!

24. Leona Lewis - over Estelle, Adele, and Duffy....I think not!

25. Neil Patrick Harris - this pick also makes me happy, now give him an Emmy

Get Jennifer Aniston a Sitcom

After watching last night's episode of 30 Rock, I remembered why I previously liked Jennifer Aniston. Her comic timing is spot on, she does sarcasm well, and when she plays manic it can be hilarious. All this was shown to great effect on Friends, but it hasn't been displayed in any of her film roles. Instead, she is often religated to the straight man role of the wife or girlfriend of the leading comedic actor. It's kind of annoying that Jennifer's wasting her talents in such mediocre roles. While last night's episode of 30 Rock wasn't perfect, nor was her character, at least it played to her strengths as an actress. And why did it? Because it was a sitcom and she's a sitcom actress! She's a very talented one, but still she's a TV star and not a movie star. Someone please give this woman a well written sitcom so she doesn't have to make a bunch of crap films while trying to reach film star status. Please.

Out Magazine's Out 100: No Rachel Maddow on the Cover?

Out Magazine's current issue features their 14th annual Out 100 List, essentiallly a listing of 100 gay or gay-friendly personalities in pop culture, the arts, and politics who helped shape the year. Now I got a problem with the cover. It features out director Gus Van Sant, out stage actor and hottie Cheyenne Jackson, out singer Sam Sparro, and... Kate Perry? Why is Kate Perry on the cover? Sure she sung a hit song about kissing another girl, but she's not gay. The song isn't even gay! It's a flirtatious, quasi-bi-curious, but not really, song in which the girl still worries what her boyfriend thinks. I mean come on! They couldn't get a lesbian to appear on the cover? How about Portia de Rossi or Ellen DeGeneres, who just got married to each other this past year, or how about Rachel Maddow, who's new talk/news show on MSNBC became an instant hit when it debuted? Maddow would have looked just as dapper in a suit as Gus, Cheyenne and Sam do. She would have fit right in. Come on! Anyway here's pics of two of those featured in the list, cover-stud Cheyenne Jackson and tv/stage actor John Barrowman, since you know they're both hot.

Updated Oscar Predictions

Picture:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Director:
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Baz Luhrmann - Australia
Chris Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus van Sant - Milk

Actor:
Clint Eastwood - Gran Turino
Hugh Jackman - Australia
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Actress:
Anne Hathway - Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actor:
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
James Franco - Milk
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actress:
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt - Rachel Getting Married
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Adapted Screenplay:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay:
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Christina Barcelona
WALL-E

Cinematography:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road

Editing:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire

Art Direction:
Australia
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader

Costume Design:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Makeup:
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Reader
Synechdoche New York

Original Score:
Defiance
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Milk
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Sound Mixing:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
WALL-E

Sound Editing:
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
WALL-E

Visual Effects:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man

Animated Film:
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir

Where's Scotty?

I think it should be my new catch phrase.

Sunday Blessings - Seann William Scott

For this edition of Sunday Blessings, we are giving thanks to Jesus for Seann William Scott. Ok, yes I know you're probably thinking, "Seann William Scott, what is this 2001?" I picked Scott because he's in the just released comedy Role Models, alongside Paul Rudd, who I could have just as easily written about. Rudd is just as adorable and more talented than Scott, but there's something more compelling about the idea of Seann William Scott. I think he is representative of a new approach to male "stars," that has emerged in the last ten years, in which male actors/celebrities gain additional fame by willingly objectifying themselves, something which had only previously been done by women, i.e. Pamela Anderson, Tawny Kitaen, even going back to Jane Fonda starring in Barbarella. Men are now willing to pose in provocative photo shoots, shirtless, with pants almost low enough to reveal something. We see this in Chris Evans, who gained a lot of recognition after his Flaunt Magazine photo shoot, or David Beckham whose popularity in the US has been partially fueled by his revealing underwear advertisements, and Mario Lopez who got a gig on the entertainment show Extra, after doing beefcake photo spreads in a number of magazines. With Scott, I don't think the various shirtless shots in movies and magazines or appearing in his underwear on stage at the MTV Movie Awards has helped him that much in his career. He still seems to be typecast as the hot, dumb guy with the goofy smile, and maybe he is just a hot, dumb guy with a goofy smile, but in the end what's most important about that desciption is hot. Scott is hot, and that's all that matters, really. Praise Jesus!

Nine Cast Picture

EEEEEEEEEEEE! I'm so excited for this upcoming movie!

Screw You ABC and Grey's Anatomy!

Last night was Brooke Smith's final episode of Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Erica Hahn, as she was essentially fired from the show after pressure from the network. Damn you ABC! The burgeoning romance between Smith's character, Hahn, and Sara Ramirez's Dr. Callie Torres, was the best part of the show, but apparently the network wasn't digging it and forced creator/producer Shonda Rhimes to write her off the show. Now here's what really ticks me off. The network says that the character wasn't written off because she was a lesbian, but because they didn't think the relationship between Hahn and Callie could not be sustained. B.S. Later this month Melissa George will join the cast as a new intern, and former friend of Meredith Grey, who is bisexual. Huh. So they got rid of the realistic lesbian character to replace her with a man's fantasy version of a bisexual woman. The network is fine with women making out with each other, just as long they are highly attractive and wind up back with men in the end. Melissa George's character better be hooking up with Callie, and not just flirt with her and then go around sleeping with every guy in the cast. Screw you ABC. Letting Brooke Smith go after that wonderfully acted scene were she realizes she's a lesbian. Damn it, there was so much potential there! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Election Day Is Here! Top 10 Political Films

Election day is finally here, and everyone should be voting today, hopefully for Obama, so I decided to do a brief posting on my Top 10 political films. Now with some of these I may be stretching the idea of what a political film is, but I do associate all of them with American politics. I did, however, decide not to include any documentaries.

1. Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
2. The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962)
3. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
4. Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
5. Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981)
6. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939)
7. Primary Colors (Mike Nichols, 1998)
8. Election (Alexander Payne, 1999)
9. All the President's Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976)
10. Wag the Dog (Barry Levinson, 1997)

Remember to VOTE today!

Sarah Palin in 2012? Dear God Help Us All!

With the presidential election finally coming to close tomorrow, and Barack Obama seemingly on the verge of victory (crosses fingers), there is a ton of speculation that Sarah Palin will run for president in 2012. Now I don't doubt that if she loses this election (crosses fingers again) she will try for the Republican nomination in the next go around, but I highly doubt she will get it. The majority of her support comes from what is considered to be the base of the party, ultra-conservative, white, rural, evangelical Christians, but as evidenced in this past primary season, the Republican party is a fractious group trying to find its identity. McCain had won the nomination only by default. The media, being friends with McCain, essentially spun it as the party deciding it was now his time, that he paid his dues and now deserves their support. When he won the South Carolina primary, the media claimed the state's Republicans felt they owed McCain, after the vicious 2000 primary when they passed him over for Bush, but in reality he got about the same percentage of the vote this year as he did in 2000. McCain only won it because the rest of the vote was fractured between Huckabee and Romney, rather than coalesced behind one candidate. The party was essentially divided into two camps, a populist, grassroots evangelical christian group who supported Huckabee, and the traditional fiscal conservatives and party elders who grouped around Romney. Huckabees people wouldn't support Romney because he was Mormon, and Romney's people wouldn't support Huckabee because he was a populist who felt government should do more to help the poor. It was a fracture of the coalition Reagan assembled in the late 70s and early 80s which led to his presidency, and I'm actually surprised that it took this long for the fracture to occur, because from a historical perspective, these were two groups that were always in opposition to each other with two separate goals. The Republican party, however, managed to join them together by creating a social identity for themselves. They were the pro-America party, the small town values party, the Christian party - basically the party who would protect America from liberals and their causes. The party elders and fiscal conservatives would placate evangelical Christians by saying how they would bring God back into government, they would bring back school prayer, overturn Roe vs. Wade, and make schools teach Creationism/Intelligent Design, none of which they actually did, while convincing them that what they wanted was small government, i.e. tax cuts for corporations, the repeal of the estate tax, deregulation of banking and insurance institutions, which hey, they actually did. By merging these two groups and their separate values, I think the Republican party actually created another group, which serves as its actual base and its reason for winning multiple elections - AWMs, angry white males. These were men who were convinced they were somehow losing out. Even though they actually support a larger government, since they stilll want their Social Security and Medicaid once they get old, they want the federal government to fix their roads and bridges, and when a disaster happens they want aid from the government to rebuild, AWMs are dramatically opposed to big government, because what big government represents is hard-working middle class white people being overtaxed, in order for the government to give free money out to poor black people so they don't have to work. Republicans have convinced AWMs this is why they pay so much in taxes, and not because they are being screwed over by large corporations who get tax reductions and in turn still pay their workers minimally. So where was I going with this? AWMs who make up the base of the party aren't going to support Sarah Palin. Sure they supported her this go around, but that's only because she was for vice-president, and really it was more that she was running for first lady, since many in the party weren't too warm to Cindy McCain, who can come off as elitist. Palin can rally the base to support another candidate, she can be the attack dog, being a voice for the odd concerns and fears of the AWMs, but in the end, I really don't think they'd line up in support of a woman at the top of the ticket, which is why I believe she won't be the nominee, God willing.

Sunday Blessings - Mike Rowe

Last week's edition of Sunday Blessings featured Bear Grylls of the Discovery Channel's Man vs. Wild, and I thought I'd follow up with a post devoted to another sexy host of a Discovery program, Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs. Ok, yes I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but i find the guy incredibly hot. Mike's kind of got the whole daddy thing going for him, which again is not for everyone, but I can certainly appreciate an attractive man who's approaching middle-age. You have to at least give him props for being comfortable enough with his body, and it is a good body, particulary his chest, to appear shirtless in a number of episodes. The show features Mike performing various jobs, predominately ones that involve him being covered in some kind of filth, which is why it's called Dirty Jobs, but even after seeing him covered in ash, mud, animal manure or worse, I think all he needs is a shower and then I'd still hit it. Hell, if it's just mud he's covered with, I wouldn't even wait for him to take a shower, because sometimes being dirty can be fun. Anyway, the funniest thing I ever saw on his show was an episode in which he was working at a reptile or alligator farm/zoo, and one of the zoo's workers had to jump atop an alligator so they could drag it out of the water. The worker told Mike to take his shirt off and then jump on top of him, once he's on top of the alligator. So the guy jumps on the gator, and Mike takes off his shirt and jumps onto the guy's back. At this point Mike and any viewer realized there was absolutely no reason for him to take his shirt off. It was as if this zoo worker had some repressed homoerotic crush on Mike and thought this was a way to trick Mike into getting on top of him half-naked. Although, really who could blame him. I want Mike shirtless on top of me, though pantless would be better. Praise Jesus!

New Oscar Predictions

How I currently see the race going.

Picture:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Director:
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjmain Button
Baz Luhrman - Australia
Chris Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus van Sant - Milk

Actor:
Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road
Clint Eastwood - Gran Turino
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Actress:
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkings - Happy-Go-Lucky
Kristin Scott thomas - I've Loved You So Long
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actor:
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
james Franco - Milk
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire

Supporting Actress:
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Adapted Screenplay:
Doubt
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay:
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Christina Barcelona
WALL-E

Cinematography:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Revolutionary Road

Film Editing:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjmain Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire

Art Direction:
Australia
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader

Costume Design:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Reader
Revolutionary Road

Make-Up:
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Synechdoche New York

Original Score:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Milk
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Sound Mixing:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
WALL-E

Sound Editing:
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
WALL-E

Visual Effects:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man

Animated Films:
Kung Fu Panda
The Tale of Despereaux
WALL-E