My Oscar Picks

The Oscars are this Sunday!!!  (or as ABC is calling it this year "Oscar"...very weird to me.  'Tune in to Oscar this Sunday!'...just doesn't flow.  What ever happened to promoting it as "The Academy Awards"? It sounds better...anyway, this parenthetical rant is over.)

In a previous post, I listed my favorite films of 2010.  (If you missed it, you can find it here).  So this post is about my picks for the Oscars.  I will be posting my Prediction (what/who I think will win), the darkhorse prediction (who could end up taking it, and spoil it for the predicted winner), and then my Pick (what/who I would prefer to win).  Enjoy.

Best Picture
Prediction: The King's Speech
Dark Horse: The Social Network
My Pick: The Social Network

Best Actor
Prediction: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Dark Horse: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
My Pick: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress
Prediction: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Dark Horse: Annette Benning, The Kids Are All Right
My Pick: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor
Prediction: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Dark Horse: Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech
My Pick: Andrew Garfield*, The Social Network
*(note: Garfield was not even nominated...which is ridiculous, since he was nominated in all other awards shows)

Best Supporting Actress
Prediction: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Dark Horse: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
My Pick: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Best Director
Prediction: David Fincher, The Social Network
Dark Horse: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
My Pick: Christopher Nolan*, Inception
*(note: Christopher Nolan somehow didn't get nominated...and I still can't pick my jaw up off the floor)

Best Original Screenplay
Prediction: Chritopher Nolan, Inception
Dark Horse: David Seidler, The King's Speech
My Pick: Christopher Nolan, Inception

Best Adapted Screenplay
Prediction: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Dark Horse: There is none...this is Sorkin's.
My Pick: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

And while I'm at it, I'll go ahead and throw Roger Deakins out there for winning Cinematography for True Grit; and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross winning Best Original Score for The Social Network (although it could go to Hans Zimmer's genius Inception score).

Alright, there ya have it.  Enjoy the Oscars, folks!

Original Song

In last week's episode of Glee, they teased us with the idea that Rachel (Lea Michele) will be writing an original song for the group to sing at Nationals. This excites me, because so far the show has only done cover songs, never an original. I remember last season there were rumors that there might be an episode way down the line with all original songs, but that rumor went away. The rumor started up again after last week's episode, and now various websites have confirmed that it is true!

Glee will be debuting two original songs in the March 15 episode of the show.  The songs will be on sale on March 8, as part of the Glee: The Music, Volume 5 album.  The titles are "Loser Like Me" and "Get It Right".  "Loser Like Me" will be an ensemble piece, which (according to Entertainment Weekly) was co-written by Max Martin, who has written for pop artists such as Britney Spears, Pink, and the Backstreet Boys.  "Get It Right" will be a solo ballad, which will be sung by Rachel (Lea Michele).  The episode will fittingly be called "Original Song". 

I have a feeling that this will either be a major success, or a major failure.  Only time will tell.

There is a new episode tonight, called "Blame It On The Alcohol", and it should have some interesting developments.  I plan on reviewing it later this week. Happy Glee Day!

Top 10 Films of 2010

I've done a lot of TV talk on this blog...but it's supposed to be about TV and Film. So, movie lovers rejoice...here is a movie post!! 

This is the worst time of the year for movies.  That post-Oscar-films time of the year where only (mostly) terrible movies are coming out. Things won't improve until (hopefully) the summer. When fall rolls around, we'll have another round of great films.

In preparation of the Oscars (which are February 27th), here is my list of My Favorite Films of 2010, in case you missed them on Facebook.  This list was made based off of the 45 films that I saw that were released in 2010. Remember, this list is only my opinion.

10.  Toy Story 3

9.  127 Hours

8.  The Figher

7.  Blue Valentine

6.  The Kids Are All Right

5.  Rabbit Hole

4.  The King's Speech

3.  Black Swan

2.  Inception
1.  The Social Network


And now what I believe were the worst films of the year:
5.  Dinner for Schmucks
4.  The Back-up Plan
3.  The Tourist
2.  Knight & Day
1.  When In Rome

There were plenty of good movies that didn't make the cut. But...I'm not going to make a Top 20...that would just be silly.

Next week at some point, I'll write a blog with my picks and predictions for the Oscars. Stay tuned!!

Tuesday Tidbits

I love Tuesday night television (you might have learned this about me by now). It's almost better than Thursday night television to me (and that's saying something considering I watch 6 shows on Thursdays).  Tonight we have Glee, The Good Wife, and Parenthood.  Here are some tidbits about these shows, and what we have to look forward to. Spoiler Alert!!

Glee: I don't know much about this episode, but I do know that it will feature 2 Justin Bieber songs. This concerns me. I absolutely cannot deal with Justin Bieber. Fortunately..with Glee, context is everything.  And the context seems to be okay on this Bieber thing.  Sam (Chord Overstreet) will be singing the songs. It fits his story right now, and it fits his hair...so it might be okay. We'll see. This episode also features the return of Emma (Jayma Mays...who is Jayma-mazing!). Cannot wait. Finally, this episode will feature a diva-off between Rachael and Mercedes singing one of my favorite songs from Rent "Take Me Or Leave Me". Should be terrific.

The Good Wife:  Words cannot describe how much I love this show. The amount of story, drama, humor, and character development they cram in every episode is unbelievable. Tonight, Alicia finally confronts Will about the voicemail he left her at the end of Season 1. Will she leave her husband for Will, or will she remain the good wife? My guess is it'll be a lot more complicated than we're expecting. Cannot wait. 

Parenthood: This show leaves me very pleased and very frustrated after every episode. There are so many characters and stories that it is impossible to be pleased with everyone all the time.  Haddie (TV's biggest brat) returned to live with her parents last week (it's about time...but wasn't happy about how her parents essentially rolled over on her decision to not let her see her "boyfriend" Alex).  How will things continue to go in this relationship? How will her parents react? We'll see.  Also, John Corbett is currently guest starring as the ex-husband of Sarah, father to Drew and Amber. I'm excited to see where this story goes.  Sarah/Drew/Amber are easily my favorite family on this show. They're all terrific actors, the kids get great stories to tell, and Lauren Graham is pretty perfect as mother-in-progress Sarah. The thing I am most excited about tonight's episode is the return of Emmy winner Michael Emerson ("LOST") to TV!! Emerson will be guest starring in tonight's episode as the owner of a bug-shop who has Aspergers (the same affliction, and obsession, that Max has). With the right writing, Emerson could easily bring home his 3rd Emmy for tonight's guest appearance. Here's hoping. 

One final tidbit: Aaron Sorkin (writer: "Sports Night", "The West Wing", "Studio 60", and most recently "The Social Network") will be appear in an episode of 30 Rock later this season. I believe he is playing himself.  I really, really, really hope Thomas Schlamme can direct the episode and we can get some great walk-and-talk scenes through the halls of 30 Rock with some snappy Sorkin dialogue. *crossing fingers*

That's all for now, folks. Enjoy tonight's shows.

The Miley Cyrus Show...It's Pretty Cool

NBC has announced that Miley Cyrus will be hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time on the March 5th show. Normally, I would shutter at the idea of this, but this season's greatest recurring sketch has come from featured player Vanessa Bayer, and her "Miley Cyrus Show" sketch...it's..pretty cool! Very excited to see how they take advantage of this. Fortunately for all of us, Cyrus will not be the musical guest for the show.

Speaking of Saturday Night Live...my favorite musical performance of the past few years (which also happens to be Seth Meyer's favorite musical performance), was from Lady Gaga.  Well, she has a new single out today, and an album coming soon. Hopefully they'll get her back by the end of the season.

Mr. Sunshine

Last night, after a hilarious new Modern Family (Clive returns!!), Matthew Perry's brand new comedy "Mr. Sunshine" debuted...and I loved the pilot.  Yes, Perry's newest character, Ben, is a little Chandler-esque, but only in his mannerisms. You see...the title is ironic! He's not a happy person at all! (Who didn't see that coming? okay we all did? yeah).  The only thing that excites me more about Perry being back on TV, is that it is also Allison Janney's return to television!! Thank goodness she's doing a comedy, because we all know she's funny, but with her last show being a drama (although she was quite funny at times, on The West Wing), this show, if it lasts, will really let her flex those comedy muscles. Last night's introduction of her character Crystal was a great start. She has a son (played by Perry's Studio 60 co-star Nate Torrence), who she has lost touch with and doesn't seem to care. Ben (Perry) now has to find him a job at the arena, to keep Crystal happy.  Crystal is quasi-racist, and while that's generally not funny...Janney makes it funny. Several funny moments included her song (ooohh, the whites, and the blacks, and the asians...), and using an asian kid as a shield to keep the clowns with axes away from her. All of it was so funny to me. I look forward to see what else Crystal has in store. Along with Matthew Perry and Allison Janney, there is a terrific supporting cast including Andrea Anders, who was great on Better Off Ted, and James Lesure, from Las Vegas. I liked the pilot a lot, and it got great ratings, so I'm hoping it continues to do well. I want Perry to be successful again since Studio 60 was canned pre-maturely.  Plus...they should TOTALLY pair Mr. Sunshine with Cougar Town and create a Chandler and Monica block!!!

Glee: Silly Love Songs

Last night was Glee's Valentine's episode, and as I blogged about, it was supposed to be one of the best episodes they've done.  While it was a solid episode, hilarious, and plot developing, I wouldn't call it one of the best. Two of my favorites this season have been "Grilled Cheesus" and "Duets".  Anyway, allow me to talk about the episode.

It opened with a teaser (tv term for that short segment that comes before the opening titles) that completely surprised me. I knew Puck was getting a love interest, but I had NO idea that it was going to turn out to be Lauren (played perfectly by Ashley Fink). A character who when first showed up I thought was just a throw away character and kept appearing in episodes randomly, in the course of about a 2 minute teaser was turned into a power house, hilarious, tough as nails love interest for Puck, who is going to give him a run for his money.  I was instantly sold on the character, and we hadn't even gotten to the one sided catfight between her and Santana (which, by the way, was one of the funniest scenes they've ever done). Only one question remains...can Ashley Fink sing?  Only time will tell, but I'm sure she can, and I hope she's around a good long while.  One of my favorite things they do on Glee is take a song, and then turn it on its head. Perfect example was when Puck sang a "love song" to Lauren (who is over weight, and not typically Puck's type) and that love song turned out to be Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girl". Oh..my..gosh. I was laughing so hard. I was waiting with worried anticipation through the entire song to see what Lauren's response would be, and it was perfect: "That was the first time anyone has sang a love song to me, and it made me feel like crap". Great writing, great delivery, great scene.

This episode was also the continuation of the love pentagon between Rachel/Finn/Quinn/Sam/Santana. Was anyone else uneasy with Quinn's behavior in this episode? As far as we've known (until the Super Bowl episode), Quinn and Sam were perfect together, and perfectly happy together.  Then all of a sudden she's kissing Finn...then kissing him some more...and giving each other Mono (perfectly planned and executed by Santana)...and not breaking up with Sam.  It strikes me as not very Quinn-like, after the lessons she learned during baby-gate last season. Things are about to get more complicated though. Did you see the look Sam and Santana gave each other at the end of the episode during the Warbler's version of "Silly Love Songs"? Yeah...me too. Verrry interesting.

Speaking of the Warblers. I'm done with them.  I like Kurt. I like Blaine. I liked this storyline in the beginning, but that was when I thought the Warblers part of the story would be like a 3-4 episode arc, and now it's turning into the entire season.  The only performance I've truly enjoyed by them was "Bills, Bills, Bills" during the Super Bowl episode. And why must Blaine get all the solos? Do they not realize that Kurt can sing? Did Kurt lose his voice? What gives?!  Kurt needs to go back to McKinley pronto.

A few final thoughts:

Lea Michele sings Katy Perry songs better than Katy Perry sings Katy Perry songs. She actually made "Firework" tolerable. But please Ryan Murphy...make the Perry stop!!!  You've done all her current hits, so please give it a rest.

Also: I ALWAYS notice and always care when there is no Emma or Sue in an episode. This episode had neither of them...and for the first time, it didn't really bother me. Emma and Sue are still two of my favorite characters, but this episode was so well written and paced, that it was barely obvious that they were even missing from the episode!

That's all for now.  Hope you all enjoyed the episode, too. Next week should be good: Sue joins New Directions.

Leaving The Practice

Sad, but not surprising news broke late last night that Audra McDonald, who plays Naomi Bennett on ABC's Private Practice, is leaving the show at the end of the current (4th) season.  Naomi is one of my favorite characters, and McDonald (who, by the way is a 4 time Tony winner) is one of the most solid, stand-out actresses on this show, which is already full of extremely talented actors. McDonald, who has been commuting to LA from New York during the show's 4 year run, has been written out of several long stretches of episodes in the past 2 years, so the actress can spend more time back in NYC with her family.  Private Practice (and Grey's Anatomy) show runner Shonda Rhimes says the split is amicable, and there are plans for her to return to the show in future years in a guest star capacity. Please make it so!!! Love this character.  This exit comes just as Addison (Kate Walsh) and Naomi (McDonald) have finally become bff's again, after Addison started seeing Naomi's ex-husband, Sam (Taye Diggs). Looks like Addison will be looking for a new best friend. Sad face. But, for now, I will enjoy the last of the time we have with McDonald/Naomi.

A Gleeful Night

Finally...tonight, Glee is back in it's regular Tuesday night time slot. Aside from this past Sunday's Super Bowl episode (which, btw, was terrific), we haven't had a new Glee since the Christmas episode. The whole month of January with no Glee. *Tears*.  Good news though, I've read all over the internet that tonight's episode is supposed to be one of the best they've ever done. Titled "Silly Love Songs", this is a Valentine's Day episode that is going to play musical-love-chairs with our favorite singing teens.  We sort of saw this coming after the Super Bowl episode ended with a scandalous kiss between Quinn (currently dating Sam) and Finn (who is currently "on a break" from Rachel).  And am I wrong, or was Quinn looking rather longingly at Puck during the Puck/Rachel duet of  Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now"?! Oy, this is getting confusing. And *Spoiler Alert* when you mix in a new gal for Puck (debuting tonight), and add Santana into the Finn/Rachel/Puck/Quinn/Sam mess...things are going to get even more complicated. I don't know everything that is going to happen, but I'm sure I'll have lots to say about it tomorrow. 

In other Glee news (spoilers here, obviously), tvline.com's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Gwyneth Paltrow will be returning for 1 (and maybe 2) more episode(s), starting on March 8. She will get more involved with Matthew Morrison's Will Schuester, and the two of them will sing a duet of Prince's "Kiss". Cannot. Wait.

Also, the Glee tour dates have been announced for this summer's tour. They're not coming to the south, but here are the dates for all who are interested:
May 21/Las Vegas, NV/Mandalay Bay Event Center
May 22/Sacramento, CA/Arco Arena
May 24/San Jose, CA/HP Pavilion
May 27/Anaheim, CAHonda Center
May 28/Los Angeles, CA/Staples Center
May 29/San Diego, CA/ Valley View Casino Center
June 1/Minneapolis, MN/Target Center
June 2/Indianapolis, IN/Conseco Fieldhouse
June 3 /Chicago, IL/Allstate Arena
June 6/Boston, MA/TD Garden
June 8/Philadelphia, PA/Wells Fargo Center
June 11/Toronto, Canada/Air Canada Centre
June 13/Detroit, MI/Palace of Auburn Hills
June 14/Cleveland, OH/Quicken Loans Arena
June 16/East Rutherford, NJ/Izod Center
June 18/Uniondale, NY/Nassau Colliseum

Castmembers on the tour will be: Lea Michele (Rachel), Cory Monteith (Finn), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Chris Colfer (Kurt), Kevin McHale (Artie), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina), Mark Salling (Puck), Dianna Agron (Quinn), Naya Rivera (Santana), Heather Morris (Brittany), Harry Shum, Jr. (Mike), as well as recurring cast members Chord Overstreet (Sam) and Darren Criss (Blaine).

Alright, that's all the Glee talk for now.

But, let's not forget the other awesome shows that come on Tuesdays. We also have The Good Wife, and Parenthood.  I am obsessed with The Good Wife. If you all are not watching this show, you should be.  The cast is superb, and the number of story lines they're able to squeeze into an hour show is amazing. It's a very captivating show, and extremely well written and acted. Plus, tonight marks the return of Michael J. Fox, which will for sure lock in his guest star Emmy nomination for this year.

I'll post my thoughts on Glee on Wednesday, and I'll try to do a review of The Good Wife and Parenthood, too, but I won't make any promises. Still trying to get into my routine on this blog.

Thanks folks. Talk soon.
Happy watching!

Welcome To My Blog

Hi everyone! Most of you know me, but if you don't, my name is Andrew, and I am a television and film junkie.  I decided to start this blog so I had a place to put my thoughts about tv and movies out into the universe for those who care.  If you are a junkie like me, and want yet another place to read about tv shows and movies, then this is the place for you!  As the line below my blog title says, I'll be posting random thoughts, reviews, news, and analysis of various tv shows and movies.  I might even throw in some spoilers that I stumble across and find interesting, or type up some recaps of the previous night's shows.  I haven't really figured out what my "thing" on here will be yet.  It's a work in progress.  To prevent confusion or extra work for me, I will not give a "spoiler alert" if the show has already aired...I will only do that if it is a true spoiler about something that has not aired yet.  So...if it's Wednesday, and you haven't seen last night's (insert Tuesday night show title here), you might want to avoid that blog entry until you've seen the show. Anyway, at the bottom of this first blog entry I'm going to list the shows that I'm currently watching, so you can get an idea of what types of things will be on here.  Feel free to "follow" this blog, suggest it to friends, make fun of it, whatever you want to do! 

My current shows (in no particular "favorite" order)
The Good Wife
Glee
Parenthood
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practice
Modern Family
The Big Bang Theory
How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM)
The Office
Parks and Recreation (P-Rex)
30 Rock
Desperate Housewives
Harry's Law
Saturday Night Live