Overlooked: The Top 10 Best Performances of 2008 that you may not have heard about!

The Academy Awards for 2008 have been handed out, and the “popular kids” have Oscars on their mantles, but the dirty little secret about winning awards is that you’ve gotta campaign for them. Thousands of dollars were spent by the distributors and filmmakers behind Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Milk (Focus Features), The Reader (Weinstein) and other assorted winners and nominees, but not all performances received that sort of big money backing.

I am an unabashed lover of the acting craft. I see virtually every movie, large and small, that passes through the US marketplace, and, taking nothing away from Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz and Heath Ledger, not all of 2008’s best performances have been recognized. I’m not going to be obvious here. Clint Eastwood was snubbed for Gran Torino, but he received lots of acclaim for the role including being named Best Actor by the National Board of Review. My goal is to highlight 10 performances from last year that have received virtually no acclaim in the US. Many of these roles can be found in hardly-seen, under-appreciated movies that came and went without much notice. Each and every one of these movies deserve a spot in your Netflix (or Blockbuster) cue. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: "Traitor", 2008, academy awards, acting, alan rickman
Posted Mar 1st 2009 at 2:10 pm in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story | 7013043 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/03/01/performances/Overlooked%3A+The+Top+10+Best+Performances+of+2008+that+you+may+not+have+heard+about%212009-03-01+22%3A10%3A58Steve+Mason

Final Oscar Predix: SLUMDOG, Rourke, Streep, Ledger, Cruz; BEN BUTTON could win just 2 of 13!

I am forecasting a coronation for Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) at Sunday’s Academy Awards. My final predictions call for Slumdog wins in 8 of the 9 categories it is competing in including Best Picture and Best Director: Danny Boyle. The only place I think it will fail is in the Sound Mixing category where The Dark Knight (Warner Bros) may trump it.

Slumdog Millionaire is about to win the Hollywood's Grand Prize

The “Battle Royale” of the night is Mickey Rouke from The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight) vs. Sean Penn in Milk (Focus) in the Best Actor category. There have been two ties in major categories in Academy Award history. The first was in 1932 when Frederic March in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde shared Best Actor with Wallace Beery for The Champ. (March had one more vote, but in that era, any finish within 3 votes was rules a tie.) Then in 1968, Katherine Hepburn for The Lion In Winter and Barbara Streisand for Funny Girl tied for Best Actress. If there was any justice, Rourke and Penn would share the award. In any other year, either of them would be a lock. Forced to make a pick, I’m going with Rourke.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: a.r. rahman, academy awards, Amy Adams, andrew stanton, anne hathaway
Posted Feb 22nd 2009 at 1:01 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 5711436 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/22/final-oscar-pix/Final+Oscar+Predix%3A+SLUMDOG%2C+Rourke%2C+Streep%2C+Ledger%2C+Cruz%3B+BEN+BUTTON+could+win+just+2+of+13%212009-02-22+09%3A01%3A24Steve+Mason

Oscar odds: SLUMDOG, Rourke, Winslet, Cruz are favorites, but Penn, Streep and Tomei are live underdogs!

On Sunday, the Academy Awards will be handed out at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, and there are some clear favorites. Slumdog Millionaire, the feel-good Danny Boyle Mumbai opus made for just $14M, is a heavy favorite to win Best Picture. It’s hard to imagine Slumdog missing out on Hollywood’s biggest prize, having won the Golden Globe, the BAFTA Award and just about everything in between.

But, in the world of gambling, you always want to look for value. What are the films and performances with longer odds that would be worth a wager on Sunday? My purpose here is to establish a betting line for each of the six major categories, and then find the value bet in each category.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: academy awards, alexandre desplat, Amy Adams, amy ryan, angelina jolie
Posted Feb 15th 2009 at 6:29 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 5191848 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/15/oscar-odds/Oscar+odds%3A+SLUMDOG%2C+Rourke%2C+Winslet%2C+Cruz+are+favorites%2C+but+Penn%2C+Streep+and+Tomei+are+live+underdogs%212009-02-16+02%3A29%3A27Steve+Mason

And The Victim Goes To:

Year after year, Hollywood continues to make films that objectify the image of women in the name of art. This sends a dangerous message to young girls in this country and around the world at a time when they need healthy role models outside their mothers. Kids need healthy role models from Hollywood because it’s fun for kids to fantasize about the limitless possibilities of living in a free society.

If I told you the tales I know of, of what some actresses have gone through to get a job in Hollywood, your head would spin. You’d think The National Organization for Woman would be up in arms over the misogyny that is the underbelly of Tinseltown. But they aren’t, because feminism in Hollywood is now only liberalism. Hollywood and the media proved that in this last election with the treatment of Sarah Palin.  When liberal Hollywood gives an award to an actress they don’t tell you what she went through to get that part, they only show you what she played to get that award. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: academy award, best actress, oscar, rachel getting married
Posted Jan 22nd 2009 at 3:34 pm in Celebrity News, Media Criticism | 2740548 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jlindsey/2009/01/22/and-the-victim-goes-too/And+The+Victim+Goes+To%3A2009-01-22+23%3A34%3A42Joseph+Lindsey