A young protagonist emerges from an improbable background to outwit and overcome ruthless adversaries on the road to fame and fortune. It's hard to tell where the narrative that swept our current commander-in-chief into office begins and the Cinderella story of this year's feel good escapism tale, Slumdog Millionaire ends. You could easily leave the theater squealing "yes we can!" as the credits roll.

The irony of Hollywood's award season avalanche of accolades to Mumbai populism with a fairytale ending amid the climate of righteous anger towards anyone in the upper tax bracket is a wry punchline to real-life tragicomedy. In spite of the juxtaposition of laughing to keep from crying, I'm always good for getting my crystal ball on in the name of a side hustle. In case you need to sneak a peek at a ballot before finalizing picks for the office pool, my choices are as follows...

Best Picture:

Should win: Slumdog Millionaire
Will win: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor:

Should win: Sean Penn, Milk
Will win: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress:

Should win: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Will win: Kate Winslet, The Reader

Best Supporting Actor:

Should win: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Will win: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress:

Should win: Viola Davis, Doubt
Will win: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Director:

Should win: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Will win: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay:

Should win: Milk
Will win: Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Should win: Slumdog Millionaire
Will win: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Animated Feature:

Should win: Kung Fu Panda
Will win: Wall-E

Best Documentary Feature:

Should win: Trouble The Water
Will win: Man On Wire

Foreign Language Film:

Should win: Waltz With Bashir
Will win: Waltz With Bashir

Best Costume Design:

Should win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Will win: The Duchess

Best Original Song:

Should win: Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire
Will win: Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire

Labels: award shows, movies, Oscars

"I've been married to my wife for 10 years. But if she came up here, you wouldn't laugh." - Chris Rock

If at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and cry again. Or claim to have found your voice after 35 years of public service only to leave the heavy lifting to your attack dog of a husband who also happens to be the 42nd President of the United States. Make your running platform a nod to experience and competence when you're clearly lacking in both areas. Anyone who claims politics isn't one helluva tragicomedy clearly hasn't been paying attention to the Democratic race for the Oval Office.

This whole process felt like déjà vu to me, as if I'd seen the trailer for this long before. The gratingly annoying overachiever who felt as if her coronation was inevitable only to see the popular jock riding a surging momentum wave into what was thought to be an insurmountable lead. And alas, I had. Slate has put forward the most hilarious and comprehensive screenplay of where the parallels are coming from. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Hillary Rodham Clinton is Tracy Flick. If you haven't seen Election, do yourselves a huge favor and make it a Blockbuster night immediately. Or better yet, check out the ingenious mashup below.

Labels: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Indecision '08, movies, politics

"Everybody comes to Hollywood
They wanna make it in the neighborhood
They like the smell of it in Hollywood
How could it hurt you when it looks so good..." - Madonna

The Academy Awards are the pièce de résistance of the awards season, where everyone involved in the film industry sits in a big room, pretends to be interested in riveting categories like Best Sound Editing and wonders how many Santeria offerings does it take to keep Jennifer Lopez perpetually RSVP'd. All in the name of a bedraggled golden gigolo who's banged any and every sleaze that's had money, given out countless, totally undeserved mercy fucks, and occasionally rubbed elbows with the truly worthy. The time has finally arrived for eager Oscar hopefuls to be roused from slumber, groggy from the remnants of coke still caked around their nostrils and hold their breath for that annual slice of 5:30 AM Pacific Time magic. The chosen few spend the rest of the day fielding carefully rehearsed reaction from press scribes far too willing to keep the golden shower of congratulations going, while the snubbed valiantly try to save face through gritted teeth since the Plan B excuse of "it's an honor just to be nominated" in the humble pie handbook need not apply.

Here's how out of control the shameless studio campaigning has spiraled into. Dreamgirls was practically anointed as the film to beat long before curtains rose on the NY/LA/San Fran $25 preview circuit and it wound up not even in striking distance of any of the A-list categories. Diana Ross is breathing a sigh of relief that the check paid to AMPAS cleared in the nick of time.

The former frontrunners at Paramount & DreamWorks find themselves oddly juxtaposed between euphoria and being brutally rebuffed at the For Your Consideration roundtable, becoming the only Best Picture shutout to ever receive the most nominations in its year. This supposed snub is, presumably, a result of the latent prejudice of Hollywood in general. Many of these racial snubs in the past reek of bullshit by the powers that be, but this time around? Let's pipe down the paranoia. How else to explain inclusions of Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, Djimon Hounsou, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Rinko Kikuchi & Alejandro González Iñárritu in the same year?

If there is a disappointment, it lies in the inevitable. The script forces the most exciting character offscreen for the sake of giving marquee attraction of Ms. Knowles more camera time. Once J-Hud goes away, most of the energy fizzles out of the picture. The bland-by-numbers Beyoncé just does not and cannot measure up. At least when Hitchcock bumped off Janet Leigh early on, he left us with Tony Perkins to take us the rest of the way home.

The Oscars, like most other big award shows are celebrations of commercial achievement, with the occasional nod to artistic merit. And the award for most pervasive promotional campaign goes to Fox Searchlight for hawking that yellow school bus for 6 months. Your prize is a Best Picture nod.

Best Picture: "Babel," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Queen."

Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond," Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson," Peter O'Toole, "Venus," Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness," Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland."

Actress: Penélope Cruz, "Volver," Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal," Helen Mirren, "The Queen," Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada," Kate Winslet, "Little Children."

Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine," Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children," Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond," Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls," Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed."

Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, "Babel," Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal," Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine," Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls," Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel."

Directing: Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Babel," Martin Scorsese, "The Departed," Clint Eastwood, "Letters From Iwo Jima," Stephen Frears, "The Queen," Paul Greengrass, "United 93."

Foreign Language Film: "After the Wedding," Denmark, "Days of Glory (Indigenes)," Algeria, "The Lives of Others," Germany, "Pan's Labyrinth," Mexico, "Water," Canada.

Adapted Screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, "Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, "Children of Men," William Monahan, "The Departed," Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, "Little Children," Patrick Marber, "Notes on a Scandal."

Original Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga, "Babel," Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, "Letters From Iwo Jima," Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine," Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth," Peter Morgan, "The Queen."

Animated Feature Film: "Cars," "Happy Feet," "Monster House."

Art Direction: "Dreamgirls," "The Good Shepherd," "Pan's Labyrinth," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "The Prestige."

Cinematography: "The Black Dahlia," "Children of Men," "The Illusionist," "Pan's Labyrinth," "The Prestige."

Sound Mixing: "Apocalypto," "Blood Diamond," "Dreamgirls," "Flags of Our Fathers," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

Sound Editing: "Apocalypto," "Blood Diamond," "Flags of Our Fathers," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

Original Score: "Babel," Gustavo Santaolalla, "The Good German," Thomas Newman, "Notes on a Scandal," Philip Glass, "Pan's Labyrinth," Javier Navarrete, "The Queen," Alexandre Desplat.

Original Song: "I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth," Melissa Etheridge, "Listen" from "Dreamgirls," Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven, "Love You I Do" from "Dreamgirls," Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett, "Our Town" from "Cars," Randy Newman, "Patience" from "Dreamgirls," Henry Krieger and Willie Reale.

Costume Design: "Curse of the Golden Flower," "The Devil Wears Prada," "Dreamgirls," "Marie Antoinette," "The Queen."

Documentary Feature: "Deliver Us From Evil," "An Inconvenient Truth," "Iraq in Fragments," "Jesus Camp," "My Country, My Country."

Documentary (Short Subject): "The Blood of Yingzhou District," "Recycled Life," "Rehearsing a Dream," "Two Hands."

Film Editing: "Babel," "Blood Diamond," "Children of Men," "The Departed," "United 93."

Makeup: "Apocalypto," "Click," "Pan's Labyrinth."

Animated Short Film: "The Danish Poet," "Lifted," "The Little Matchgirl," "Maestro," "No Time for Nuts."

Live Action Short Film: "Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)," "Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)," "Helmer & Son," "The Saviour," "West Bank Story."

Visual Effects: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "Poseidon," "Superman Returns."

Labels: award shows, Hollywood, movies, nominations, Oscars

They say three times a charm and the cliché is an applicable one when it comes to bringing the life of a beloved singer to a cineplex near you. The Molotov cocktail of drug abuse, poverty, blind ambition, rocky relationships and self-destruction rolled up into a juicy role has long proved to be an irresistible preposition. Last year marked the beginning of Jamie Foxx's breakthrough at the expense of pillaging Ray Charles' memory at every waking moment and the gold rush of awards season '06 sees the trend going swimmingly for Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in portraying Johnny Cash and June Carter to the tune of dual Oscar nods. Like it or not, there's more where that precedent of Oscar bait came from, so be prepared to see a whole lot of copycat musician-biopics in the next few years, as just about every star who ever battled demons will become fair game. Mary J. Blige has already announced that she's about to play Nina Simone. If Idlewild turns out to be halfway decent, it's goodbye juke joint, hello flower power in getting the long mentioned Hendrix project off the shelf for Andre 3000. And there's plenty more where that came from: Janis Joplin, Sam Cooke, Keith Moon, Eazy-E, the Milli Vanilli guy. VH-1 Classic should certainly see a spike in viewership for would-be screenwriters mining All Request Hour for inspiration. However, for every Lady Sings The Blues there lies a Beyond The Sea. Or Get Rich Or Die Tryin'. Or De-Lovely.

In spite of the littered boulevard of broken Behind The Music dreams, a feature film about the life of Marvin Gaye has been given a green light. Jesse L. Martin, star of NBC's "Law & Order" and the big-screen adaptation of "Rent," has been tapped to play the soul icon in the independently-financed film "Sexual Healing," due to begin production in May. The movie to be directed by Lauren Goodman, will focus on the years preceding his sudden shooting death at the hands of his father on April 1, 1984, one day before his 45th birthday. The film will include his self-imposed exile in Europe after years of battling drugs, domestic issues and label headaches. There through the help of businessman Freddy Cousaert who acted as promoter from his seaside home in Ostend, Belgium, began the retreat which spawned his biggest-selling album, "Midnight Love," supported by his comeback smash, "Sexual Healing."

"More than just being the voice of a generation, Marvin Gaye proved to be its very heartbeat," Goodman told the Hollywood Reporter. "As a filmmaker, I was drawn to tell the story of a human being who was never fully realized, one with faults and foibles and an uncommon grace expressed every time he picked up the microphone."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, producers have been trying for years to get a Marvin Gaye biopic off the ground. Originally, "Sexual Healing" was intended to cover a larger portion of his life but was restructured to focus on his final years due to ongoing disputes over his Motown-produced records.

In spite of Ms. Goodman's resume looking about as credible as a medical practitioner in Mexico, the right screenplay coupled with Jesse's formidable talent as both a singer and actor - this could go a long way in renewing interest into a career that seems almost tailor made for an adapted screenplay. Color me so excited, it makes me wanna holler and throw up both my hands!

Labels: biopic, Jesse L. Martin, Marvin Gaye, movies

Samuel L. Jackson took an awful lot of flack when he chastised entertainers who turn their attention to the silver screen in attempts to broaden their marketing appeal in more than one field. But when I read stories like this one, it's clear that he wasn't back on the crack pipe when venting those frustrations in the press.

In a move that will certainly make or break her future in box office vehicles to come, according to the Hollywood Reporter, the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige has signed on to headline an MTV Films biopic of... are you ready to keep a straight face after the "run that by me one mo' gin?" shock value marinates?

Nina Simone.

The MTV Films/Paramount Pictures project will chronicle Simone's ascent to stardom and her relationship with Paris-based manager Clifton Henderson.

Simone, known as the high priestess of soul, rose to fame in the '60s with signature jazz ballads and such powerful protest songs as "Mississippi Goddam" and "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," an anthem of the civil rights movement. In 1974, the chanteuse went into exile, eventually ending up in Paris, where she died in 2003. The film will be produced by Interscope Records Chairman Jimmy Iovine along with Lauren Lloyd, Gene Kirkwood and Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg. A director has not been named, but the screenplay will be penned by television writer Cynthia Mort ("Will & Grace," "Roseanne").

Since I have a pocket full of Nina stored on the Nano and already had the misfortune of seeing MJB's ill-fated debut in Prison Song (the god awful vanity piece starring Q-Tip and constantly rerun on BET as an example of "Black Star Power"), I'm truly disturbed at this piece of casting. A legend like this jazz diva personified deserves to have an actress with the chops to truly bring the essence of her story to life. One choice that immediately springs to mind is the criminally underrated Heather Headley. Not only does she look the part (and reps my T&T massive always!), but also has a Best Actress Tony to back up her impressive pipes. But Hollywood's lust for a marquee name over the lesser known but infinitely able strikes again. The prospects of having classics like Four Women and I Loves You Porgy reduced to lung shredding dramatics and a Bad Boy remix to House Of The Rising Sun as a bonus soundtrack cut makes me want to barf. If La Nina hadn't already passed on, I'm sure the news alone would be enough to resurrect her corpse and cause cognitive heart failure.

May the ghost of Ms. Simone cast a spell on the preproduction so this train wreck in the making never ventures past the cutting room floor.

Labels: Mary J. Blige, movies, Nina Simone