Uh Oh – I Think I’m Finally Catching the McPheever

I’ve never been a fan of American Idol; however, from time to time I have been won over by the show’s true stars.

Kelly Clarkson rocked my world backstage at the 2005 MTV VMAs, Jennifer Hudson made forget how disappointing – and long – Dreamgirls actually was, and I can totally see the appeal of Carrie Underwood.

Last night I was watching Monday’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which featured a musical performance by Katharine McPhee, and I gotta say I kind of enjoyed her and her song (“Over It”) – it was pop, modern, and even had a melody.

What more can you ask for, right?

Photo: KatharineMcPhee.com.

What You Waiting For?

The Confessions Tour – Live from London is out today as a CD/DVD.

Enough said.

Get. It. Now.

Photo: BN.com.

H-O-T, Harry!

As you can see, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is all grown up.

Photos have been released to promote Radcliffe’s latest project, the play Equus, in which he will star as a psychologically disturbed boy. Clearly, he will reveal a side of himself that we have never seen before.

But fret not, Potter fans. I'm guessing once the London play closes, Radcliffe will go on a promotional tour on behalf of his more usual fare – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will open in July.

Photo: DanRadcliffe.com.

Chandra Wilson Is My Hero

In a move that seemed to say, “Don't want to think about it / Don't want to talk about it / I'm just so sick about it,” Chandra Wilson of TV's Grey's Anatomy stole the spotlight at last Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, not only with her much-deserved win (for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series), but with her shout-out to embattled co-star Isaiah Washington.

Talk about putting things in perspective. (You can find a complete list of SAG Awards winners here, by the way.)

I know I haven’t written much about the controversy (and politics) surrounding the cast of the hit show – that is except for this brief mention – and that is because I just don’t have an opinion.

It’d be rather pointless to point out how disgusting it was for Washington to allegedly have called co-star T.R. Knight a “f----t,” or how disappointing it’s been to realize that show creator Shonda Rhimes seems to be missing a sensitivity chip.

But I admired Wilson’s fair expression of gratitude to all her co-stars because in the moment she said it, the work put into the show was all that really mattered. The rest is dirty laundry that I hope can be taken care of at home.

Photo: GreysAnatomyInsider.com.

Feeling the Sundance Beat

A bevy of stars – including Antonio Banderas, Steve Buscemi, John Cusack, Michael Douglas, Dakota Fanning, Josh Hartnett, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine Keener, Jared Leto, Laura Linney, Diego Luna, Sienna Miller, Mandy Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow, Parker Posey, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Reynolds, Christina Ricci, Keri Russell, Winona Ryder, Peter Sarsgaard, and Scott Speedman – made its way to the Sundance Film Festival to promote (and swag), indie style, their latest cinematic offerings.

I could be at Sundance in spirit only, but that didn’t stop from trying to keep up and compiling a list of the dozen films I am looking forward to the most this year; have a look-see when you can:

An American Crime, Black Snake Moan, Chapter 27, Dedication, The Good Night, Hounddog, Interview, The Nines, The Savages, The Ten, Waitress, and Weirdsville.

Photo: Paramount Classics (Black Snake Moan).

Can You Say Casting Coup?

A couple of days ago, TVGuide.com reported that former Everwood MVP Emily VanCamp has been tapped to play the role of Rebecca (Tom Skerritt and Patricia Wettig’s love daughter) on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters.

The news has yet to be confirmed by either the network or Touchstone, the company that produces the show, but VanCamp is said to be set to begin work tomorrow.

Now, I’ll admit I’m a fair-weather fan of Brothers & Sisters, but this news…this news makes me want to go home early, catch up with the episodes I have on my TiVo queue, and count the days until VanCamp is once again on my screen.

Photo: EverwoodOnline.com.

Love In the Time of Cholera

The Painted Veil, starring Naomi Watts and Edward Norton, tells of a love story set in the 1920s about a young English couple – a conservative bacteriologist and a restless society girl – who marry hastily, even though only one of them is in love with the other.

Their bond is put to the test when they relocate to Shanghai. There, they betray each other ever so willfully, yet find an unexpected chance at redemption and happiness while on a deadly journey into the heart of ancient China – into a cholera epidemic, no less.

As the trailer of this terrific film teased, sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people.

Although at first glance the distance that exists between Watts’ Kitty Fane and Norton’s Walter Fane may appear insurmountable, it soon becomes evident that the two are truly meant to be together – in spite of their objections.

Their transformative road toward love is made all the more mesmerizing to watch by the strong performances delivered by both past Academy Award nominees (she for 2003’s 21 Grams; he for 1996’s Primal Fear and 1998’s American History X), and by script that enviably balances affection with wickedness.

Do not let the distance between this Decemberist and you widen, for I’m sure that, if anything, you will enjoy the film’s gorgeous locations (The Painted Veil was allowed to shoot in China, something that doesn’t happen all that often due to that country’s strict filmmaking regulations), as well as Alexandre Desplat Golden Globe-winning score.

My Rating ****

Photo: Warner Independent Pictures.

The Decemberists

What do films like Children of Men, Factory Girl, and The Good Shepherd have in common?

Aside from drop dead gorgeous and ridiculously talented leads in Clive Owen, Sienna Miller, and Matt Damon, respectively, I mean.

These and several other films are what I am calling Decemberists – films that had exclusive screenings in December to be considered eligible for awards season, but have yet, or are just beginning to arrive in a theater near, well…near anyone who doesn’t participate in the awards process.

I noticed this season that, as a result, many titles have either been overlooked in major categories (Children of Men comes to mind, as do Ken Watanabe’s turn in Letters From Iwo Jima, and Naomi Watts’ in The Painted Veil) or simply missed. Factory Girl and Renée Zellweger’s Miss Potter had such a limited run prior to their wide releases – which are still a-comin’, for all I know – that they would have benefited from opening later this year instead.

Overcrowding the schedule only confuses audiences (and the people who shower films and performers with accolades, for that matter). Often, the Decemberists are rather worthy, but such a rush to the head at year’s end makes everyone forget about the fare of previous months – and pick wisely from what is being offered.

They make it harder to discover or remember the year’s hidden gems (like Half Nelson, Sherrybaby, which, granted, had come and gone by Christmas), easier to be confused by prestige projects that don’t quite cut it (Dreamgirls, The Good German), and much too late to appreciate en masse what few already have (Pan’s Labyrinth).

Photo: Picturehouse (Pan’s Labyrinth).

Making a Date with Oscar

Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and past Oscar nominee Salma Hayek (Frida) announced the nominees for the 79th Annual Academy Awards this morning, and, shockingly, The Queen's Helen Mirren was snubbed.

Aw – gotcha!

Actually, there were a few surprises – a Dreamgirls snub in the Best Picture category, the inclusion of Ryan Gosling and Abigail Breslin on the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress lists, respectively, and some Oscar love for Borat, after all) – but rest assured, Dame Mirren will definitely make it to the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland next month.

Here are a few of the categories announced earlier; you can find a complete list here:

For Best Picture: Babel, The Departed, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine (which won the Producers Guild of America Award over the weekend, by the way), and The Queen

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

For Best Actress: Penélope Cruz, Volver (which I did see and enjoyed, but didn't tell you about); Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal; Helen Mirren, The Queen; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada; and Kate Winslet, Little Children

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

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

For Best Director: Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima; Stephen Frears, The Queen; Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel; Paul Greengrass, United 93; and Martin Scorsese, The Departed

For Best Adapted Screenplay: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Children of Men, The Departed, Little Children, and Notes on a Scandal

For Best Original Screenplay: Babel, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Queen

The Oscars will air live on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 25, at 8:30 p.m. EST. Place your bets now, and remember that the surest bet of all is that it’ll be a funny, funny show (Ellen DeGeneres will host).

Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures (Little Miss Sunshine).

Never Leave Unsent

Every so often Hollywood offers us films that serve as “a celebration of the human spirit” – and no other film genre lends itself better to this feat than the war film genre.

Coming out on the heels of the gone-too-soon Flags of Our Fathers (which I, unfortunately, didn’t see last fall) – and serving as that film’s companion – Clint Eastwood’s Letters From Iwo Jima has got be one of the most beautiful war films I have seen recently, if not ever.

I know it sounds like a terrible cliché, but what can I say…the film moved me…and it stayed with me long after I left the movie theater. This is why I didn’t tell you about it last Friday.

With battle of Iwo Jima, between the United States and Japan during World War II, as a background, and told almost entirely from the Japanese point of view, Letters From Iwo Jima follows the stories of Lt. Gen. Kuribayashi (The Last Samurai’s Ken Watanabe), an outcast among his colleagues for his Western-influenced sensibilities, and Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a disillusioned soldier determined to get back home to his wife and unborn child.

Eastwood – working from a script by Iris Yamashita (who co-created the story with Million Dollar Baby’s Paul Haggis) – delivers a breathtakingly shot film that is sad yet dignified and pertinent to these times of ours.

Watching these characters, especially Saigo, go through what they do, was gut-wrenching, but it was inspiring to witness such valiant displays of honor and love.

War has no useful results, but celebrating the lessons one can learn from it does.

I just hope that, unlike the letters that the soldiers depicted in Letters From Iwo Jima penned, these lessons aren’t lost for many years to come.

My Rating ****

Photo: Warner Bros.

And Baby Makes Three

I don’t know who this Shane Deary character is, but he’s gone and gotten (fiancée) Keri Russell – gasp! – pregnant.

Not that you asked, but I kid, I kid. Really, I couldn’t be happier for the erstwhile fickle pickle-turned-butt-kicking babe.

I wonder what Russell will name the baby if it’s a boy: Ben or Noel…Noel or Ben?

Photo: Keri-Russell.info.

Simply Irresistible, Pt. 8

Move over, Jack and Karen. There’s a new pair of scene-stealers in town.

As the fashionably bitchy receptionist Amanda and the “curly haired, effete, sycophant” assistant (Wilhelmina Slater’s words, not mine) Marc on TV’s loveable Ugly Betty, Becki Newton and Michael Urie are the cat’s meow.

Sure, Golden Glober winner America Ferrera is the star of the show – and rightfully so – but Newton and Urie are definitely two of its MVPs. Not only do they bring a certain je ne sais quoi to their outlandish parts, they do so while ensuring that Amanda and Marc remain human…and loveable in their own special way.

And that’s rather, well…beautiful.

Photo: ABC.com.

Awards Season Is On - The BAFTAs

In all of the excitement of the season I forgot to tell you about the nominees for this year's Orange British Academy Film Awards – a.k.a. the British Oscars – which will be held on Sunday, Feb. 11, at the Royal Opera House in London.

With further ado, some of the nominees are:

For Film: Babel, The Departed, The Last King of Scotland, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen

For the David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction: Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu), The Departed (Martin Scorsese), Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris), The Queen (Stephen Frears), United 93 (Paul Greengrass)

For Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed), Richard Griffith (The History Boys), Peter O’Toole (Venus), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)

For Actress in a Leading Role: Penélope Cruz (Volver), Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal), Helen Mirren (The Queen), Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada), Kate Winslet (Little Children)

For Actor in a Supporting Role: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland), Jack Nicholson (The Departed), Leslie Phillips (Venus), Michael Sheen (The Queen)

For Actress in a Supporting Role: Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine), Frances de la Tour (The History Boys), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)

You can find a complete list of nominees here.

Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures (The Last King of Scotland).

Iron Man Gets a Gal

One of my all-time favorites, Gwyneth Paltrow, has been tapped to play Virginia "Pepper" Potts, the personal assistant to Iron Man's alter-ego, billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), in next year’s Iron Man.

Production on the Jon Favreau-directed project, which will co-star Terrence Howard, is scheduled to begin in March.

Now, I don’t know if the role will require that Paltrow be involved in any heroics or if she will play the damsel in distress, but just so you know, the actress can pull off both (sometimes at the same time) quite well.

See the criminally underrated Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow if you don’t believe me.

Well, what are you waiting for?

Photo: Style.com.

The End of the World As We Know It

The year is 2027…the world is in chaos…and humans can no longer procreate.

It is enough to make anyone say they don’t feel fine, and it is the basic plot of Alfonso Cuarón late-2006 release Children of Men – a film that has made several critics write addendums to their year-end Best of lists.

You know what, Children of Men should make anyone, including me, try to go back in time and try to amend certain choices. I’m not talking about silly lists anymore, but about the choices we make every day because they will be our undoing.

Yeah, it is that powerful a film.

Grim beyond the breaking point, the reality of this world is never quite fully explained (or, better yet, understood). Not that it matters greatly. Mysterious factors have rendered the Earth's population infertile – that’s all we need to be concerned with, really – and Great Britain is one of the few functioning countries left in the world, although it is being run with a totalitarian fist and foreign-born citizens are being deported without mercy.

The future, ironically enough, lies deep inside a refugee named Kee (fantastic newcomer Clare-Hope Ashitey), whom freedom fighter Julian (Julianne Moore) has entrusted old lover and former fellow fighter Theo (a phenomenal Clive Owen, whose brutish cynicism gives way to becoming heroism in a performance that shan’t be overlooked) to smuggle out of London to safety.

This miraculously pregnant woman is the key to a new tomorrow, and Theo is her gateway. And as heavy as the theme of the film might sound, Children of Men is key to our present’s film experience.

My Rating ****

Photo: Universal Pictures.

Starry, Starry Night

Well, last night’s Golden Globe Awards didn’t offer many a surprise in the film department (congrats, Helen Mirren; loved your speech, Meryl Streep), but you can always count on TV to throw everyone a little bit – and in very good ways at that.

Then again, leave it to the good ole TV folks – cough, cough, Grey’s Anatomy cast member, cough – to (momentarily, yet memorably) make things a bit awkward (backstage) as well.

Hullabaloo aside, the Globes were awarded as expected, although Babel pulled a little bit of an upset when it was named Best Motion Picture Drama over The Departed, if you ask me.

But, like I said, the biggest surprise of the night came from the TV side, thanks to Kyra Sedgwick’s win for Best Actress in a TV Drama (The Closer). Of all the times I’ve picked her to win anything, she hasn’t, and the day I don’t pick her, she does. Her triumph (pictured at right) was well deserved, though.

That, combined with Ugly Betty’s two-for-two score, really made me smile. You can find a (mostly complete) list of winners here.

As for the red carpet fashion, I can’t think of any real show-stoppers, although I did think that Penélope Cruz looked very glamorous, and that Beyoncé really should’ve left that dress (and this very Vegas pose) to the left, to the left.

And did Brangelina get matching highlights? (That Brad Pitt sure has a shtick. He and Jennifer Aniston got theirs for their wedding, I’ll have you know.)

Photo: IMDb.com.

Becks? Yes, please!

In a move that effectively hushed months of speculation and will undoubtedly raise soccer’s profile in the United States, David Beckham has agreed to a five-year deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy, for which he will leave the Real Madrid on June 30.

That’s right – Becks is a-comin’.

I bet wife Victoria, formerly known as Posh Spice, is rather pleased with the news. She will now be much closer to BFF Katie Holmes (she is said to have been house-hunting in TomKat’s neighborhood) and the Hollywood scene she so obviously wants to be a part of, but I cannot help but be saddened by the fact that the move will keep us from a Spice Girls reunion.

Photo: Men.Style.com.

My My, How Can I Resist You?

Here she goes again.

It's official: Meryl Streep will follow her musical turn in last summer’s A Prairie Home Companion with the starring role in the movie adaptation of Mamma Mia!, the popular ABBA musical. Production is expected to begin this summer.

Ever the audience and critical darling, Streep – whom I long resisted because she really is so good it’s annoying – is keeping busy these days.

Not only is she currently enjoying plenty of acclaim for her work in The Devil Wears Prada, she has several films slated to come out later this year, and is attached two a couple of high profile projects, like Lions for Lambs, alongside Tom Cruise and Robert Redford, and Dirty Tricks, alongside Annette Bening and Gwyneth Paltrow.

That’s (hardly) all.

Photo: 20th Century Fox (The Devil Wears Prada).

Avatar Rising

It was announced earlier this week that self-proclaimed “King of the World” James Cameron will begin principal photography on Avatar – his first feature effort since delivering the Academy Award-winning Titanic – this April for a summer 2009 release.

“Utilizing a blend of live-action photography and new virtual photorealistic production techniques invented by Cameron’s team” – how oh-so-enterprising, no? – “Avatar will offer audiences a unique cinematic experience.”

In other words, prepare to buy your $17.50 ticket (at the current rate that’s what tickets will cost in three years), and be blown away, kids.

A return to the action adventure sci-fi genre that made him famous, Cameron’s Avatar will be an emotional journey of redemption and revolution that will follow the story of Jake Sully, a wounded ex-marine (played by sizzling Aussie newcomer Sam Worthington, pictured at right), thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.

Alrighty then.

The Terminal’s Zoë Saldana will portray a local woman Jake first betrays, then loves. (Both actors have signed on for possible future installments as well, as Avatar is conceived as a potential franchise.)

Other casting will be announced soon.

Photo: IGN.com.

Awards Season Is (Still) On – The DGA & the PGA

The Directors Guild of America announced today the five nominees for the 59th Annual DGA Awards, which will reward Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2006.

Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), Stephen Frears (The Queen), and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel) all received their first DGA feature nods, while The Departed’s Martin Scorsese (pictured, at right, with that film’s Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon) was nominated for a seventh time

The winner will be named on Feb. 3 at a ceremony in Los Angeles.

The DGA nominations come a week after the Producers Guild of America announced its nominees in the Best Film of 2006 category. Babel, The Departed, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Queen all received nods (winners will be named on Jan. 20).

Not for nothing, but both lists have a lot of similarities to this one. And I have a sneaking suspicion that come Oscar Nom Morning (Jan. 23), the PGA’s list might sound very familiar.

I’m just sayin’.

Photo: Warner Bros. (The Departed).

I Heart Rome

HBO’s Rome may have fallen already (due to high production costs), but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the sudsy sandals-and-scandals drama’s second – and final – season, which will premiere on Sunday, Jan. 14, at 9 p.m. ET.

In order to prepare you for the grandiosity of this show’s second season (which will pick up after the death of Gaius Julius Caesar, played by Ciarán Hinds, at right), HBO will air a special encore of the first season, starting tonight at 8 p.m., and concluding on Sunday at 8 p.m.

Also returning to the tube next Sunday are Ricky Gervais’ Extras, also on HBO, at 10 p.m., with a season to feature such guest stars as Orlando Bloom, David Bowie, and Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe, and 24, on FOX, at 8 p.m., with the first half of its four-hour, two-night premiere.

Clearly, next Sunday night is going to be busy.

Photo: HBO.com (Rome).

This Year’s It Girl?

I know it is way too early in 2007 to think about singling out an It Girl for the year, but think about buying what I’m selling for a brief moment before you dismiss it.

Rose McGowan.

Of Scream fame (she played Neve Campbell’s best friend). Of Charmed fame (she replaced Shannen Doherty). Of I-dated-Marilyn Manson-and-lived-to-tell-the-story fame.

McGowan co-stars in April 6’s anticipated Grindhouse – a one-two punch of a movie that features her as a machine gun-legged badass (check out the trailer here).

Now tell me that ain’t It.

Photo: Dimension Films (Grindhouse).

Everyone Loves a Scandal

Whether we’re discussing Britney Spears’ “rocky moment,” or gossiping about Lance Bass and Reichen Lehmkuhl’s on-off-on (?) relationship, we all love it when the s--- hits the fan in Hollywood, when things get scandalous.

Who could forget, after all, the dawn of Brangelina? Or Mel Gibson’s summer of 2006? Or Michael Richards’ comedy routine gone wrong.

How apropos that this – the salaciousness of it all – is the theme of Notes on a Scandal, a 2006 film that is just now opening wide (after a limited release run for awards consideration last month, which only made me want to see it even more).

Exquisitely adapted for the screen – I can tell from the trailer alone – by Patrick Marber (Closer), Notes on a Scandal follows the, well…scandal that ensues after young, approachable Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) joins a lower-middle-class public school as the new art teacher, and older, intimidating Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) becomes the keeper of Sheba’s illicit affair with one of her students.

As the film’s tag line says, “One Woman's Mistake Is Another's Opportunity.”

Notes on a Scandal should prove to be our opportunity to enjoy the wickedness of a story well told.

Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Perhaps It’s the Weather

Lindsay Lohan is headed back to the hospital.

But wait. It seems this time it’s for something that doesn’t sound too – how shall I put this? – self-imposed, if you will.

La Lohan is getting her appendix removed.

The curious thing is the report comes a day after the Screen Actors Guild Award nominee (for Bobby) left Miami following almost a week of partying (she made the rounds pre-New Year’s Eve, hosted the Delano Hotel’s big bash along some other famous peeps, and kept on going on New Year’s Day, although she did get plenty of R&R – I know…I saw her), and exactly a year and a day after she was hospitalized in the Magic City to be treated for asthma (after – that’s right – her New Year’s celebration).

Perhaps, just perhaps, it is the weather out here. So, again, get well soon, Linds.

Photo: Style.com.

Awards Season Is On - The SAG Awards

Here are some of the nominees for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, announced today; you can find a complete list here:

For Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role:
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)

For Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role:
Penélope Cruz (Volver)
Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
Helen Mirren (The Queen)
Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
Kate Winslet (Little Children)

For Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role:
Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond)
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)

For Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role:
Adriana Barraza (Babel)
Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal)
Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)

For Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture:
The Cast of Babel
The Cast of Bobby
The Cast of The Departed
The Cast of Dreamgirls
The Cast of Little Miss Sunshine

For Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series:
James Gandolfini (The Sopranos)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
Hugh Laurie (House)
James Spader (Boston Legal)
Kiefer Sutherland (24)

For Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series:
Patricia Arquette (Medium)
Edie Falco (The Sopranos)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)
Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy)

For Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series:
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Steve Carell (The Office)
Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl)
Jeremy Piven (Entourage)
Tony Shalhoub (Monk)

For Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series:
America Ferrera (Ugly Betty)
Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine)
Megan Mullally (Will & Grace)
Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds)
Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl)

For Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series:
The Cast of 24
The Cast of Boston Legal
The Cast of Deadwood
The Cast of Grey’s Anatomy
The Cast of The Sopranos

For Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series:
The Cast of Desperate Housewives
The Cast of Entourage
The Cast of The Office
The Cast of Ugly Betty
The Cast of Weeds

This year the Screen Actors Guild Awards 43rd Annual Life Achievement Award will be presented to Julie Andrews. The SAGs will air live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 28, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Photos: Miramax Films (Venus); HBO.com (The Sopranos).

Nostalgia, Pt. 5

I totally forgot to tell you last week about my trip down memory lane, courtesy of YouTube.

I looked for clips of Thundercats and Transformers (I had the latter's theme song stuck in my head after I told about the new trailer of the movie adaptation that’s due out in the summer) – you know…because I could. It was so much fun.

I also found clips of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power, but by far the most fun snippets I found were those of Jem and the Holograms.

Wasn’t she just truly outrageous? Truly, truly, truly outrageous.

When is Hollywood going to remake this? On second thought, it better not. I'll settle for being able to find the DVDs, like, yesterday.

Photo: Images.Google.com (Jem and the Holograms).

Crack That Whip

It was reported today that George Lucas said Friday that production on the long-awaited fourth Indiana Jones movie will (finally) begin this year.

The fourth chapter of the saga, which will hit theaters in May 2008, has been in development for more than a decade. Lucas, a producer of the project, shares script approval with director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford; all three had to sign off on the same script, which has reportedly seen several drafts.

For his part, Ford, 64, said in a statement that he is ready for another turn as the globe-trotting archaeologist.

"I'm delighted to be back in business with my old friends [Lucas and Spielberg]," he said. "I don't know if the pants still fit, but I know the hat will."

I guess it’s time to dust off that whip now.

Photo: IMDb.com (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).