Screen God Top 5 - Gene Hackman

1. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

2. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)

3. The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971)

4. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)

5. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)

Sunday Blessings - Dave Salmoni

This week Sunday Blessings is devoted to Dave Salmoni, an animal trainer and host of multiple Animal Planet/Discovery Channel series and specials, including Living with Tigers, Rogue Nature, Into the Lion's Den, and Predator vs. Prey. His most recent series Into the Pride had him living with a pride of lions for six months in order to.... um.... prove something? Look, I'm sure there's a good reason for him living with these big cats, but I don't exactly know what that is, since it's not really the words coming out of his mouth that draw my attention. Let's face it, the reason Salmoni has been growing in popularity is his body, which is often on full display, and adorable nature of seeing this tough guy play around with the big kitties. Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel are fully aware of the beefcake aspect and have actually been promoting the series with videos of him showering with a bucket of water. Hey, it's a smart marketing strategy. It's also nice to know Salmoni is aware and appreciative of his gay fan base, remarking in an Advocate.com interview, "I feel like my gay fans are the most appreciative. I get lots of e-mails from them, and they're not shy. A young girl may say, 'Hey, I really like you, you're kinda cute,' whereas a gay guy will be like, 'Hey, take your shirt off more and you'll get better ratings.'"Amen.

"End" of the Week - Jason Statham

Taken from the films Crank and Crank: High Voltage. This will probably be my last "End" of the Week posting for a while.

"Don't Stop Believing!"

Oh, I can't wait until Glee premiers next Wednesday. I found myself watching the Director's Cut of the pilot episode last night, and I have to admit the slightly expanded episode had better pacing than the original. I'm not dissing the original pilot, which I though was great to begin with. It's just my biggest problem with it was its sometimes overly frantic pacing, and the Director's Cut seemed to lessen it, making the episode even better.

My Problem with Top Chef's Casting

Last night, Preeti was kicked off Top Chef, and deservedly so - why would you make a pasta salad on Top Chef? - but, she is now the third woman in a row to get kicked off, and it seems certain Laurine and Jesse will be gone soon as well, which makes me wonder about the casting decisions. There are definitely more "great" male chefs on the series than there are "great" female chefs. While I noticed it in previous seasons, the disparity in talent between the men and women is much greater this season. Out of the women, I only see Jen C. as a potential winner, while I can see several of the men potentially winning - Kevin, the Voltaggio brothers, Mattin, and to a lesser extent Mike and Eli. Yes, there is a bias in the industry and its harder for women to achieve high positions, but thousands of chefs audition for the show each year, so there is no reason why Top Chef can't choose an equal number of highly talented men and women to appear as contestants. It's not even as if the less talented women made it on the show because of entertaining personalities. Some I forget are even on the show - each episode I find myself asking, "Has Laurine been on since the beginning?" So then why exactly are they cast? I just don't get it.

More Ladies for SNL

Story at Zap2it. Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad are joining the cast of Saturday Night Live for its upcoming season, and hopefully these women can get some good material. In the last few seasons, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have left the show, leaving a huge void in the program for talented female cast members. Out of the women who replaced them, only Kristin Wiig has really broken out. I do put a lot of the blame on the writers, as there hasn't been as many memorable sketches centered around women, since Fey stopped being the show's headwriter. With regards to the two joining cast members, I'm particularly excited for Jenny Slate, whom I usually find funny. Just please let her get a memorable character.

A New Month = New Oscar Predictions

Since my last predictions, the release dates for a number of potential contenders (The Wolf Man, Shutter Island, The Tempest) were pushed back to 2010, and the releas date for Terrence Malick's new feature, The Tree of Life was moved forward to this year. In addition, Tarantino's latest effort, Inglourious Basterds, has become a hit. Will that translate into multiple nominations for the film? Maybe. So far the only two locks for nominations are Up for Animated Feature and Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia for Best Actress, but that won't stop me from trying to predict these things.

Picture:
Amelia
Bright Star
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Lovely Bones
Nine
Precious
Up in the Air

Director:
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Lee Daniels - Precious
Clint Eastwood - Invictus
Peter Jackson - The Lovely Bones
Rob Marshall - Nine

Actor:
Javier Bardem - Biutiful
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Daniel Day-Lewis - Nine
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station

Actress:
Abbie Cornish - Bright Star
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Saorise Ronan - The Lovely Bones
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Hilary Swank - Amelia

Supporting Actor:
Matt Damon - Invictus
Jude Law - Sherlock Holmes
Alfred Molina - An Education
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress:
Marion Cotillard - Nine
Judi Dench - Nine
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Mo'Nique - Precious
Susan Sarandon - The Lovely Bones

Adapted Screenplay:
An Education
Invictus
The Lovely Bones
Precious
Up in the Air

Original Screenplay:
Biutiful
Bright Star
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Up

Cinematography:
Amelia
The Hurt Locker
The Lovely Bones
Nine
The Tree of Life

Editing:
The Hurt Locker
Invictus
The Lovely Bones
Nine
Public Enemies

Art Direction:
Agora
Amelia
Invictus
Nine
Public Enemies

Costume Design:
Agora
Bright Star
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Make Up:
Inglouious Basterds
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek

Original Score:
Bright Star
Brothers
The Lovely Bones
Public Enemies
Up

Sound Mixing:
Avatar
A Christmas Carol
Nine
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Sound Editing:
Avatar
A Christmas Carol
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Up

Visual Effects:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Animated Feature:
Coraline
Ponyo
Up