February 2011 Archives

It looks like we will NEVER have to put up with James Franco and Anne Hathaway as hosts ever again.

Ratings for the 83rd Oscars telecast are coming in, and Franco and Hathaway were not very popular, even among the younger demographic they were supposed to deliver. 

The audience declined about 10% from last year, with 37.6 million tuning in to see The King's Speech reign supreme, compared to 41.3 million for those geezers Mr. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

Among those 18 - 49 years old, ratings are down about 12%. 

The Academy will be crowing about the ratings for those 18 - 34 years old only dropping about 5%, but that's not the biggest sliver of this pie.  Plus, the youngest viewers who should have been most compelled to see Hathaway and Franco turned out more for Martin and Baldwin.

This year's Oscars telecast is the fourth lowest of this century.   

Will this be the lowest rated Oscars telecast in the history of the Oscars?  We'll know more about that later in the week, but I do know it was the most snooze inducing telecast in my memory.  As we talk about this year's Oscars, the word unremarkable will come up again and again.  

On the positive side, the show almost ended on time.  I guess that's what happens when you don't have to pause for laughter.

Franco and Hathaway proved to be non-factor hosts, and I guess that's the way The Academy wanted it.  Instead of choosing a host who might ruffle feathers (and make us at home laugh), they went with people who would read the bland, uninteresting lines given to them.  It was a very safe show that will be utterly forgotten by Tuesday.   

Hathaway tried liked crazy to get some energy going in the theater (overdelivering her material to make up for how bad it was, like when she is on Saturday Night Live), but Franco stood there like a stone all night long (or, is that stood there stoned all night long?  I won't accuse him of using drugs, because I have no proof of that, but weren't we all wondering?). 

All of the big categories were very predictable, while Kirk Douglas and Justin Timberlake stole the show, Billy Crystal was called in like the cavalry, Melissa Leo should have her mouth washed out with soap (and made the only history this show will lay claim to in years to come), and the writers didn't make the presenters read horrible, unfunny dialogue this year (mostly).  They gave all of those lines to hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco. 

Where did Hathaway get that see through dress she wore at the end of the show?  Is going naked her move now?

By the way, who let Gwyneth Paltrow sing live?!?!?!?

I don't know what is more pathetic about Hall Pass.  Is it how they repeatedly try to cram this catch phrase down our throats, or the fact they stole this idea from Larry David and Curb Your Enthusiasm?  Somebody call the Hollywood Police Department's Division on Plagiarism!  

Owen Wilson plays Rick and Jason Sudeikis plays Fred - two married guys who long for their wild and crazy single days.  Fed up with hearing all about it, their wives, Maggie (Jenna Fisher) and Grace (Christina Applegate), give them permission to take a break from marriage for 1 week.  They can do anything ... and anybody they want.

Will Rick and Fred be God's gift to ladies all over town?

Do they have any game after being married for so long?

Did they ever have game?

Sometimes, you make a prediction early in the season, and start to regret it every day until the Oscars are handed out.

That's how I feel about Best Picture. 

I'll be a man and stick by the prediction, but I know I will be wrong.

We have taken a look at Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, so now we focus on Best Actor. 

Will Colin Firth be The King on Sunday night?  Is an upset in the making?

Will Javier Bardem have enough mojo as a sexy, smoldering Spanish dude to win over voters?

The predictions continue today with a look at Best Supporting Actress. 

Will young Hailee Steinfeld walk away with the golden bald guy, or does vet Melissa Leo have the big momentum?

Yesterday, we predicted Best Actress. Now, on to Best Supporting Actor.

It's a battle between Batman, Captain Barbossa and The Hulk. 

All week long as we plan and plot for the big show on Sunday (and plan our amazing Oscar parties on Sunday night), I will be reminding you of my Oscar Predictions!   

Today, let's talk about Best Actress!

Oh My God!  We have a good movie this week!  

You can never count out Liam Neeson.  He even made The A-Team semi-watchable.  Now, in Unknown he's Martin Harris - a well respected academic in Germany for a big scientific conference with his beautiful wife, Liz (January "I'm here to look beautiful" Jones).  While rushing back to the airport to retrieve a briefcase he left behind, the taxi gets into a horrible accident, and Martin slips into a coma for four days.  

Upon waking, the doctor tells him it may take some time for his memory to come back, and he might suffer from fractured or mixed up memories.  Of course, once Martin starts to remember why he is in Germany, the man leaves the hospital against his doctor's will and rushes back to the hotel to find his wife.  

However, Liz doesn't recognize him, and shows the hotel the man she knows as her husband, Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn).  

Who is the real Martin Harris?

What is going on here?

Alex Pettyfer stars as Number Four - an alien hiding out on Earth after another, more aggressive alien race, The Mogadorians, attacked his planet and killed all but a few special kids with very special powers, who are scattered across the world (our world is so special). 

After a close call in Florida, and finding out Numbers 1, 2 and 3 have all been killed, Number Four's protector, Henri (Timothy "The Guy Who Looks Like a Tougher and Meaner Ryan Seacrest" Olyphant), decides they need to head off to Ohio, and gives Number Four the identity of John.  

John is supposed to keep a low profile, but soon starts dating the school's provocative and prolific photographer, Sarah (Dianna Agron), and becomes enemies with the football team.  That won't attract any attention, right?

As John's profile grows, will The Mogadorians find him?  

Is it possible for him to find true love with Sarah, or is this some Romeo and Juliet situation where our star crossed lovers are destined for pain and agony?

February 23 - 27, The National Archives Experience and the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences present the Oscar nominees for Best Documentary, and it's FREE!!!!

DC50tv's Willie Waffle will host each night as dedicated Oscar fans and documentary lovers gather for this annual event. 

See the nominees on the big screen in the William G. McGowan Theater, and check out a real Oscar statue, the first Oscar awarded to director Charles Guggenheim for his film, Nine From Little Rock. 

Tickets are first come first served.  To learn how to get free tickets, click here.

Screening Schedule

Wednesday, February 23, at 7 p.m.
Waste Land
Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
(98 minutes; unrated)

Thursday, February 24 at 7 p.m.
Gasland
Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
(107 minutes; unrated)

Friday, February 25, at 7 p.m.
Restrepo
Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
(93 minutes; rated R)

Saturday, February 26, at 7 p.m.
Inside Job
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
(108 minutes; rated PG-13)

Sunday, February 27, at 4 p.m.
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Banksy and Jaime D'Cruz
(87 minutes; rated R)

It's Adam Sandler in the same movie as Jennifer Aniston.  I believe Nostradamus predicted this as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Sandler stars as Danny - a successful plastic surgeon who once got his heart broken, so he spends his life picking up women in bars for one night stands by pretending to be a married guy.  Of course, this plan appears to backfire when he meets the sweetest, most beautiful woman in the world, Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), and she is aghast to think he might be married.  

Now, Danny has to spin a web of lies to convince Palmer he is getting divorced.  Who plays the ex-wife-to-be?  No, not Rob Schneider.  It's Danny's loyal assistant, Katherine (Aniston). 

Can Danny and Katherine pull off this massive deceit?

Is Palmer the woman for Danny?

Can a woman named Palmer be sexy when it reminds you of Jim Palmer and those ads in his underwear?

It's swords, sandals, Channing Tatum, his abs of steel and the attempt at a Roman warrior accent.  Let the mocking begin!

Tatum stars as Marcus Aquila - a Roman commander in 140 AD who is trying to restore his family's honor.   His father led a legendary group of soldiers into battle in Scotland, only to disappear and lose an honored golden eagle statue as well.  Now, Marcus wants to go back to the scene of the battle to retrieve the eagle, only joined by a British slave he saves from certain death, Esca (Jamie Bell).

Can Marcus trust Esca?

Will he find the eagle?

Ed Helms stars as Tim Lippe - an unassuming insurance salesman from Wisconsin about to embark on the biggest challenge of his life.  The agency has won a prestigious award for the past several years due to the efforts of a showy, charismatic co-worker, but Tim has to go to the insurance convention this year, and no one is sure he can pull it off, especially Tim.

Will his company win the Two Diamond Award?  

Can Tim stay out of trouble?

For Colored Girls has one of the finest, most powerful ensemble casts you will ever find, and almost every one of them finds some moment to shock and captivate you.

However, Tyler Perry seems torn between putting on a movie and staging the play.

Read more about For Colored Girls.
















Only Sigourney Weaver saves her reputation and kept me awake during her portrayal of Joanna's Aunt Mona, who has a strained past with Marni's mom, Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis).  While everyone else, especially Kristen Bell, is stuck pratfalling their way to anonymity. 

Read more about You Again.

In a movie, when a group of cave divers are exploring caverns no one has ever reached and they are underwater, you just know disaster is around the corner, like when a guy in a horror film says, " I'll be right back," or you just bought a ticket to an Adam Sandler movie.  

Rhys Wakefield stars as Josh - a kid working on a big time cave diving expedition led by his legendary father, Frank (Richard Roxburgh), and financed by egocentric multi-millionaire Carl (Ioan Gruffudd).  Of course, while they are down deep in the cave, a storm rumbles in too quickly, leaving them, along with Carl's smoking hot girlfriend, Victoria (Alice Parkinson), and the goofy tech guy, George (Dan Wyllie), trapped beneath the surface.  Their only hope for escape?  Go deeper into the series of caves to follow them to the ocean.

Who will live?

Who will die?

Can the audience take a vote?

Writer/director Matt Reeves wants to make Let Me In a moody, sullen shocker with a touch of romance tossed in, but boring is a better term for it all.

Set in 1983 (it was a very good year), Kodi Smit-McPhee stars as Owen - a 12-year old lonely boy who is bullied at school and faces divorcing parents at home.  A new 12-year old girl, Abby (Chloe "Hit Girl" Moretz), has moved in next door, and the two of them hit it off, but, because Owen is one of those kids who just doesn't have any good luck in his life, it turns out the little girl is a vampire!

Read more about Let Me In here.







Based on a true story set in the early 1980's (but lacking the awesome Harold Faltermeyer synthesizer riffs we all desire), Sam Rockwell stars as Kenny Waters - a charming rogue with a mean streak and temper that often draws the ire of the local police force.

One night, a neighbor is found murdered, and Kenny is convicted of the crime.  Believing in his innocence when no one else does, his loving, dedicated sister, Betty Anne (Hilary Swank), decides to put herself through school to become his lawyer.

Read more about Conviction here.