Bad news, guys. That Oscar telecast two Sundays ago -- that was completely devoid of any excitement, controversial gay kisses or host charm -- could have been a disaster, of the interesting variety, if Charlie Sheen had executed the Academy Award takeover plan he outlined to an NBC producer.
Modern-day impresario Tyler Perry won big at last night's NAACP Image Awards, as his various television and films took home a combined six awards, including Best Picture for For Colored Girls and best television comedy for Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Check out the full list of film and TV winners after Tyler Perry's break.
The folks at Rotten Tomatoes have tabulated their annual Best of the Best list, inserting Tom Hooper's 2011 Best Picture winner The King's Speech into the annals of Oscar history. But comparing great films to other great films has always been something of an apples to oranges situation; how can you measure, say, The Godfather Part II against An American in Paris -- two very different films that occupy adjoining slots on the list and have the same Tomatometer ranking (98 percent)? With a carefully calculated algorithm, that's how! Still... why does The King's Speech not quite feel right sitting so high above other bona fide classics?
The Great Oscar Host Debacle of 2011 remains an open wound today at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, from which Academy president Tom Sherak ruminated about the efficacy (or lack thereof) of James Franco, Anne Hathaway, and/or any comics who might have assumed their places. But the real fun starts, however, with the told-you-so moment supplied by an anonymous, "high-ranking Academy member."
As if on cue, openly gay Oscarcast co-producer Bruce Cohen is facing the ultimate Web sanction for that censored Javier Bardem-Josh Brolin smooch from Sunday night: an attacked Wikipedia bio calling him a "liar" and homophobe in cahoots with ABC. Slow clap, Internet, slow clap.
This year's Academy Awards telecast was difficult to sit through. So it wouldn't be surprising if you missed (translation: were asleep during) the awkwardly extended cut-away to Penélope Cruz during Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin's impromptu presenter dance bit. If you did notice the strange editing choice though and suspected that something was amiss in the editing booth, you were right.
The world has used this week to get their licks in on James Franco following his sleepy performance as Oscar co-host, but not Donald Glover. "It was pretty funny to watch somebody as high as Franco [host the Oscars]," the Community star joked to Vulture. "Was he not? Was he not high? Can you watch and be like, 'That dude was totally sober!' When they called his name out he literally gave the thumbs-up." Whether Franco was addled or not -- absolutely not, according to his reps -- Glover plans on following in his perceived footsteps as host of the mtvU Woodie Awards at SXSW later this month. "If I'm not high [at the Woodies], it'll be a problem." [Vulture]
New York Times critic Manohla Dargis today flings a lifesaver into the tsunami of bile otherwise known as the Oscar Aftermath, suggesting to readers that maybe you just had to be there for the show to have any real significance. She was, after all, attending her first Oscars ever -- walking the red carpet, hitting the Governors Ball, the whole deal. And despite the preordained showing of The King's Speech and James Franco's half-assed hosting (perceptible even from the cheap seats, Dargis affirms), there is cause for optimism about this most beaten of dead horses.
If you're like Corey Feldman -- or Movieline's own Mike Ryan -- the chances are good that you were fairly outraged when '80s icon Corey Haim was not included in the Academy Awards' In Memoriam segment on Sunday night. While rumors circulated that the snub occurred because of the circumstances surrounding Haim's death -- which was ruled as pneumonia, and not drug-related -- the Academy stated that it was actually a time issue: "Whatever the length of the sequence, there will always be fans and family members of those not included who will be disappointed by their omission. The Academy extends its understanding and its apologies to those who missed seeing a favorite face in this year's feature." Is that cool with you, Feldz?
Stars: they will never be just like us. Different day jobs, different tax brackets, different policies on screen nudity -- there is a chasm between us and them as wide as the one that reportedly exists between James Franco and Anne Hathaway. Yet it appears we can all come together on one point: The Oscars were pretty awful this year. Click through to read a few blind critiques of Hathaway and Franco's sub-par hosting abilities from some of Hollywood's elite.
Here at Movieline HQ, we've thrown haymakers of blame at James Franco (and poor Anne Hathaway) for what was the worst Oscars ever. Apparently, though, our outrage was misplaced. According to Bravo senior vice president of original programming and development Andy Cohen, the fault for the unbearable ceremony on Sunday night rests squarely on the tiny shoulders of adorable singing children.
I've always enjoyed the antics of James Franco. He has shown himself to be interesting and committed to going about his work in different ways, which is all you can really ask for when you're in the profession I'm in. There are only so many studio press releases and "It's an honor just to be here" company lines a person can listen to in a given day without getting bored, and James Franco has never been boring. And to the extent his efforts are calculated to look as much as possible as "doing things his way," at least he was doing them. As Paul Brittain said while parodying him on SNL, "I like doing things!" And that's great! It's cute! At least, it was cute until he decided that he wanted to host the Oscars and waste three and a half hours of my life.
The final dispatch from Movieline's station at the Independent Spirit Awards features AnnaSophia Robb, whose new film Soul Surfer features the actress as Bethany Hamilton -- the real-life surfing prodigy who, in 2003, lost her arm in a near-fatal shark attack only to return to her board months later. Our own Carly Steel talked to Robb about hitting the water and getting the hang of the sport herself -- sea predators be damned.
Following their disastrous co-hosting performance at the Academy Awards on Sunday, it appears that Anne Hathaway and James Franco parted ways on bad terms. "[They grew] to hate each other," an unnamed source told Us Weekly about the Francaway relationship during rehearsals. "She had to provide all the energy -- he was just phoning it in." As if that wasn't bad enough, another source claimed "producers were pissed" at Franco during the telecast. Join the club, folks. Reps for the two stars deny the accusations. [Us]
And now we find Thomas Ian Nicholas among the many attendees Movieline caught up with at last weekend's Independent Spirit Awards, where the American Pie actor (and touring musician) hesitated to confirm his involvement with the franchise's fourth film -- but admitted seriously considering the prospects, especially if he gets to work some of his songs into the mix. Don't worry, Pie devotees -- it's not what it might sound like. Let him explain in the video after the jump.
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