Sunday Blessings - Chris Messina

This week's edition of Sunday Blessings is devoted to character actor Chris Messina. Now, you're probably wondering who the hell Chris Messina is. Well, damn it I'll you. He might be familiar to you after popping up in a number of indie features including Towelhead, Ira and Abby, Vicky Christina Barcelona, and the recently released Away We Go. He will also be featured next month in the Meryl Streep film Julie & Julia, playing Amy Adams' husband. I, however, will always think of him as Claire's boyfirend Ted, from the final season of HBO's Six Feet Under. How could you not fall in love with that character? Sigh... I miss that show. So why exactly did Chris Messina all of a sudden come to mind when deciding whom to center this post on? Yesterday, I watched the Patrick Dempsey rom-com Made of Honor, which is such a irritatingly crappy film, and in the film Messina has the thankless role of Dempsey's jerky friend (though really all the roles in the film are thankless). While sitting though the horror, I had to focus on something positive, and, of course, male eye candy won out. Since I had previously posted about co-star Kevin McKidd, and Patrick Dempsey takes some hits from me for being the star of the picture, though I did appreciate the scene in which he wore a way-too-short kilt, Messina gets the post devoted to him. Let's just hope he never appears in a film this bad again. Amen.

Happy Birthday Meryl Streep

Sixty years ago today, the greatest film actress who ever lived (at least in my opinion) was born in my home state of New Jersey, and I think it's worthy of some celebration. So here's to Meryl Streep for gifting us with her presense in the cinema for over thirty years now. In honor of her birthday why don't you take a look at Silkwood, Out of Africa, The Bridges of Madison County, Adaptation, or Sophie's Choice (it's a crap film, but she's brilliant in it).

Screen Goddess Top 5 - Meryl Streep

A new weekly feature to this blog, Screen Goddess Top 5 will list what I consider the five best performances of a particular actress. To start this off, I'll begin with whom I consider to be the greatest living actress, and perhaps my favorite actress of all time, Meryl Streep.

1. Sophie's Choice (Alan J. Pakula, 1982)
2. Silkwood (Mike Nichols, 1983)
3. The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, 1995)
4. Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002)
5. The French Lieutenant's Woman (Karel Reisz, 1981)

SAG Awards - "I Didn't Even Buy a Dress!"

Oh Meryl, you make everything more entertaining! By far the best thing about last night's Screen Actors Guild Awards was Meryl Streep's acceptance speech. Wit, sarcasm, over-the-top enthusiasm - it was all there. I particularly loved her shout out to co-star Viola Davis. "My God, would someone giver he a movie!" You gotta love Streep. The rest of the winners were predictable Heath Ledger wins Supporting Actor, Kate Winslet wins Supporting Actress, and Sean Penn wins Lead Actor. The big award of the night, Best Ensemble, went to... Slumdog Millionaire? Really? Ok seriously, no one should refer to this movie as an underdog ever again. It's a giant awards juggernaut! It will win the Oscar for Best Picture and probably have a decent sized sweep of the other categories. This awards season has become quite boring. Although I suppose the acting categories still have some excitement. With Kate Winslet out of the picture, who will win Supporting Actress? I really could see either Davis, Cruz, or Tomei winning the prize. Will they give the Best Actress to Winslet, or will Streep be the upset? Is Best Actor going to Rourke or Penn, or as I think Langella? Supporting Actor is the one acting category that seems like a complete lock, with Ledger winning, but if there's one awards group that would snub his performance, it's the Academy. If that happens, I'll feel really bad for the actor who does win it.

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