Oscar Night
Well, the Academy Awards have come and gone, with the writer’s strike settled just in time for all the Red Carpet glamor. So, how did I do with my picks? 
In the major categories (the acting nods, screenplays, director and film), I did a more than respectable 6 of 8, missing on supporting actress (Tilda Swinton over Ruby Dee) and best actress (my preference, Marion Cotillard beat my prediction, Ellen Page). I wouldn’t call the Swinton and Cotillard wins upsets, since I figured the races would be tight. The biggest upset of the night was in the documentary category when No End In Sight and Michael Moore’s Sicko lost to Taxi to the Dark Side.
How was the show? I thought Jon Stewart was ok as the host but not outstanding. I do give him serious props, however, for making sure that songwriter Marketa Irglova was given a chance to make her heartfelt acceptance speech. Her co-star and co-writer from Once, Glen Hansard, went first and after he was done, they cut off her mic and went to a commercial. When the show returned Stewart reintroduced Irglova and she made her lovely speech.
My favorite win of the night was the expected victory for Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody. It is exceedingly rare that a writer wins an Oscar for a debut film, but she deserved the golden boy.
For a look at all the speeches, outfits and more go to the official site.
The Oscars will be presented this Sunday, and thanks to the settlement of the writers’ strike, the stars will be out. My Oscar predictions in the major categories are in this week’s AC Weekly, available on-line 
Even if the big show doesn’t take place because of the Writers Strike, you can still enjoy TCM’s annual “31 Days of Oscar” event, which kicks off Friday, Feb. 1. Turner Classic Movies will show 350 Oscar-winning movies during the month including daytime “theme” events. In primetime, Mondays will feature movies from the 1920s and 1930s; Tuesdays, flicks from the 1940s; Wednesdays, movies from the 1950s; Thursdays, movies from the 1960s; Fridays, movies from the tremendous 1970s; Saturdays, flicks from the 1980s and Sundays, movies from the 1990s on.
I did pretty well with my Oscar nomination predictions. I’m shocked and delighted that Jason Reitman was nominated for best director for Juno, and sorry that none of the supporting actors joined Ellen Page as nominees. Laura Linney’s nod for The Savages over Angelina Jolie was a welcome surprise. I was also surprised that Cate Blanchett was nominated for best actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Her nomination for supporting actress for I’m Not There was a given. I was correct on all five best picture nods and best supporting actor. You can check out my predictions elsewhere on this blog site. For the complete list of Academy Award nominations, go 
For my story go 
The Golden Globes and Independent Spirit nominations are out, launching the Academy Award season in full tilt mode. I was delighted that Juno is earning so much critical acclaim and is being pegged as the Little Miss Sunshine of this award season. It deserves all that and more. Ellen Page, in the title role, has been nominated for best actress—musical or comedy by the Globes and the movie is also up for best musical or comedy vs. Sweeney Todd, Across the Universe, Hairspray and Charlie Wilson’s War. Ellen’s co-nominees are Amy Adams (Enchanted), Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd), Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose). There are only five original screenplay nominees and Juno’s Diablo Cody snagged one of them.
Will Smith has a big ticket flick opening this week, I Am Legend, a last-man-on-earth sci-fi flick based on the novel by of the same name by Richard Matheson. While I’m looking forward to this film (Will Smith has been money when it comes to sci-fi flicks), I urge local Netflix or Blockbuster subscribers to check out the 1971 version of the same story, The Omega Man.
Due to being hit with the flu bug when I returned from Toronto, this final report about the Toronto International Film Festival was delayed.
I’m starting to get that feeling of excitement in the pit of my stomach. The Toronto International Film Festival is just 8 days away and the anticipation of seeing the best movies from around the globe — and some world-class movie stars hawking those flicks — is building. I’m also looking forward to my pal Jerry’s fabulous brisket sandwiches and cabbage borscht at Toronto’s New Yorker deli.
Through a combination of E-mails and Internet hunting, I have compiled a list of the celebs likely to show up at the Toronto Film Festival. Drum roll please:
Woody Allen is still making movies in London. His latest, another drama called Cassandra’s Dream stars Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor and will be a gala presentation at the Toronto Film Festival. Another interesting new addition is the musical Across the Universe by Julie Taymor. Set in the ’60s, Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with "Dr. Robert" (Bono) and "Mr. Kite" (Eddie Izzard) as their guides. Songs include “Hey Jude” and “All You Need Is Love.” Go here for the trippy coming 
It is only 36 days to the start of the Toronto International Film Festival.
I’ll be covering my 19th Toronto Film Festival this year (Sept. 6–15) and the first few movies have been announced. I’m psyched that George Clooney will probably be in town to promote his fall film Michael Clayton. Other possible celebs going to the Festival include Jodie Foster, with her suspense film The Brave One, directed by Neil Jordan, which also stars Terrence Howard, Lost’s Naveen Andrews, and Mary Steenburgen. Reigning Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon co-stars with Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard and Alan Arkin in Rendition, a thriller from Gavin Hood, director of the Academy Award-winning foreign language film Tsotsi. Helen Hunt makes her directorial debut and stars in Then She Found Me. Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello and Toni Collette star in the feature directorial debut from Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, Nothing Is Private.
With summer officially upon us, and inspired by the adorable surfing penguins in Surf’s Up, I’ve put together a quick list of my favorite surfing movies. They are:
In the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, Die Hard was named the best action movie of all time. What caught my eye was Bruce Willis’ interview in which he gave props to growing up in South Jersey for his performance. Although born in Germany (he was an army brat), he grew up in Penns Grove, NJ in Salem County. Explained Willis, 
My nephew Ryan looks a lot like Sean Rogan. I'm not the only one who thinks so. When the 40-Year-Old Virgin was first released, Ryan's friends and co-workers started calling him Cal, the character played by Rogan. Now that Rogan is starring as Ben in Knocked Up, I expect Ryan to have people start calling him Ben. The pictures (of Rogan, below, and Ryan, right) don't tell the entire story. 
Ryan talks a lot like the characters played by Rogan, has the same chunky build and has a similar goofy demeanor, not to mention that his love of Star Wars and video games also connects him to the characters played by Rogan.
Normally I don’t give a plug to an organization that rates movie not on artistic merit, but on how they offend Christian values. I’ve never quite understood how being a Christian means you have to be a right-winger, but somehow in most media outlets, that is how it plays out.
Forest Whitaker will win the Academy Award this year for his performance as Idi Amin. Amazingly, enough it is his first nomination. For some inexplicable reason, his first breakout performance, as Charlie “Bird” Parker in Clint Eastwood’s film Bird (1988) did not receive a nomination. I’m sure I was outraged at the time. Whitaker won the best actor prize that year at the Cannes Film Festival. For the record the five nominees for best actor in 1988 were Dustin Hoffman (winner) in Rain Man, Gene Hackman in Mississippi Burning, Tom Hanks in Big, Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver and Max von Sydow in Pelle the Conqueror. Whitaker deserved a nod ahead of Hackman and von Sydow.
This year’s Academy Award presentations will not include Oscar swag, those gift-laden thank-you bags given to Oscar attendees in years past that the IRS threatened to tax. The Academy decided it was better to lose the bags that get involved in an IRS nightmare.
Can you generate Oscar buzz with a movie that makes fun of Hollywood types who go nuts when the O-word is mentioned in regards to their work? I’m here to suggest that Catherine O’Hara, a long time member of the Christopher Guest repertoire company, and an SCTV alumnus, is Oscar-worthy as Marilyn Hack, an actress who lets Oscar talk swell her head, in Guest’s often hilarious spoof For Your Consideration. (To read my complete review, check out 
I took my nephew and his best friend to Vineland’s Delsea Drive-In last Saturday night for the holiday triple bill of Flushed Away, Happy Feet and Man of the Year. It was appropriate that one of the movies was set at the South Pole. My feet felt like they were incased in ice while watching Happy Feet as the temperature dropped to near freezing. 
The Haunting (1963) Don’t let that horrible remake a few years back, keep you from checking out one of the best—and best acted haunted house movies of all time, starring Claire Bloom and Julie Harris.
Bruno Kirby was a reliable character actor who worked a lot but never found the type of breakout role that would lead to major character star status ala Brian Dennehy. He came closest with his beautifully subtle performance as the young Clemenza in The Godfather Part II. When I learned that the 57-year-old actor had died, I thought of one of his earliest roles in one of my favorite movies, Cinderella Liberty (1973). It is an offbeat romance about a sailor (James Caan) stuck in dry dock who romances a hooker with lousy taste in men (Marsha Mason), Kirby was hilarious as the world’s most boring member of the Shore Patrol, fascinated by the sound of his own voice. Bad enough Caan is stuck playing cop for a night, but with this jerk in tow? You understand why he tells Mason’s troubled young son (Kirk Calloway) to join them on patrol, “Because I need some intelligent conversation.”
He has such a likable quality. When I heard of his death at ago 90, I didn’t think of a particular film role, but of the many films that used his quiet strength (especially the westerns) and his considerable skills as a light comedian. When a group of cowboys were asked once which Hollywood actor did the best job of representing them, it was not John Wayne they mentioned but Glenn Ford. His notable westerns include Cowboy, The Sheepman, The Fastest Gun Alive, 3:10 To Yuma and the comedy western The Rounders opposite Henry Fonda. He was also known as one of Rita Hayworth’s favorite co-stars including their most famous collaboration Gilda.
After seeing the best of world cinema (and a bit of the worst if truth be told), at the Toronto Film Festival, having to settle back into the routine of standard and sub-standard Hollywood movie fare is not an attractive proposition. Still I plan to go forth this weekend and check out a few of the movies I missed (Black Dahlia, Hollywoodland) and the Jet Li film Fearless.I'm a fan of classic martial arts films so the final one by Jet Li has to be a priority. 
Back from the Toronto Film Festival, I was in that particular fog that comes from driving 630 miles then returning to work 48 hours later. Now that my head has cleared somewhat, here is the final wrap-up of my 2006 Festival experience.