Oscar Prelim, Swank Star,
Golden Globe Winners, and More!
February 2007 News
Oscar Nominees: I'll go into more detail in my Academy Award show review, but here is an abbreviated list of those movies and personalities nominated:
Best Picture: Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen
Actor, Leading: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Peter O'Toole, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker
Actress, Leading: Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet
Golden Globe Winners: Here's an abbreviated list of winners at the GG. That award ceremony was a bit looser, a bit more energetic than the Academy Awards. But I doubt the AA will change anytime soon.
Drama Picture: Babel
Musical/Comedy Picture: Dreamgirls
Animated Picture: Cars
Actor, Drama: Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland
Actress, Drama: Helen Mirren in The Queen
Actor, Musical/Comedy: Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat
Actress, Musical/Comedy: Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada
Director: Martin Scorsese for The Departed
Hilary Swank Really Is A Star!: Or at least now has one. She was honored early January with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The strong, charming actress had to climb up the ranks the hard way: she arrived with her mother in Hollywood with little money, but with drive and spirit, which in this case paid off. I always like to see that: I am a romantic at heart. Ms. Swank won her first Oscar as the unknown star of Boys Don't Cry in 2000. She is perhaps best known for her boxer in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby. This brings the total number of stars to 2,325. Trivia lovers take note.
Documentaries? We Got Them!: On every subject. Those fringe subjects beloved by a few but unknown to most take center stage in any number of small- to medium-sized documentaries, ranging from Scrabble championships to spelling bees, movie lovers to McDonald's exposures. Upcoming is a focus on... air guitarists. I kid you not. All this is ripe for skewering, and a recent mockumentary caught my attention. Unflinching Triumph: The Philip Rockhammer Story reports on the fascinating subject of... staring contests. Yes, indeedy! Sadly, if I had not known this was a parody I would believe that something like this could exist. The free download is located at http://www.unflinchingtriumph.com for the interested. Hmm... what next? Professional Paint Drying Watching?
Jolie and Pitt To Live In New Orleans: The famous actors have chosen New Orleans as the location of their fourth house, possibly their main abode for a while. The choice is no accident: they both are deeply involved in humanitarian programs. Mr. Pitt is already working with Global Green USA to construct around 20 environment-friendly homes in the region. "We love it there. The kids are going to go to school there. We're really looking forward to it," said Ms. Jolie.
Netflix Online Movies: The Web-based DVD rental company announced in January that they will begin offering on-line movies from a library of around a thousand movies and TV shows to their customer base for free. The number of hours that can be accessed is based on the customer's rental plan. The movies don't directly download to the person's PC: rather, the video is streamed from the Web. That means the customer must stay connected during the movie's running time. Netflix hopes to sign 20 million subscribers by the year 2012. This feature will unroll across the country over the next six or seven months.
