...And the naked gold statue goes to...

Not that the Academy cares, but today I cast my votes for the 2011 Oscars.

While I haven’t seen all the movies nominated, I do feel that I’ve made some clever predictions on who will sweep and who will slump.

Best Picture

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech
127 Hours

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

-This category is tricky. It’s important to remember 3 things when voting in this category. 1) Remember who has won in this category at prior award shows this season. 2) You can’t pick simply based on one great performance by one actor. You are voting on the total package. 3) Don’t vote for it just because YOU liked it. Vote for it because it really made a great impact on cinema. I doubt “Inception” will see any praise during the rest of the night, but I do think the overall concept, look and feel of the movie was executed well and the Academy will recognize that.

Best Director

“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell

“The King’s Speech” Tom Hooper

“The Social Network” David Fincher

“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

-“Black Swan” will probably take this category. The movie has too much tension, which is something that can only be created by great direction.

Best Actor

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”

Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”

Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”

Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”

-While it would be funny to see James Franco both host and win at the Oscars, I don’t think this is his night. This award has Colin Firth and Javier Bardem written all over it. I think this was a long time coming for Colin Firth. He has finally smartened up and started picking the sort of scripts that are going to make people remember him for something either than Mr. Darcy.

Best Actress
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”

Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone”

Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”

Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

-Is this even disputable?

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams in “The Fighter”

Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech”

Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”

Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”

Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

-I actually haven’t seen any of these movies, so for me this is a shot in the dark. Melissa Leo got some early award season loving for her Supporting Role in “The Figther”, so I’m putting my money on seeing a repeat win.

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale in “The Fighter”

John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone”

Jeremy Renner in “The Town”

Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”

Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”

-I would love to see this go to Mark Ruffalo, because he has that adorably hopeless look going on but I gotta take my feelings out of the equation. This will probably go to Geoffrey Rush, simply because he hasn’t seen much pre-Oscar wins, so I think the academy will buck up and send him home with a win. If there is one thing the Academy loves, it’s old guys.

Best Animated Feature Film

“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet

“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

-This is so hard, I almost don’t want to pick. “Toy Story 3” was great but rarely do prequels and sequels see any Oscar love. That’s why “How to Train Your Dragon” may have a foot up and a possible win their corner.

Best Original Screenplay

“Another Year”

“The Fighter”

“Inception”

“The Kids Are All Right”

“The King’s Speech”

-Yet again, the pickings get tricky. With the exception of “Another Year,” all of these movies have been favored highly amongst voters. And despite how badly I want to see Christopher Nolan win big at the Oscars, I think “The King’s Speech” will once again reign over the rest.

Best Adapted Screenplay

“127 Hours”

“The Social Network”

“Toy Story 3”

“True Grit”

“Winter’s Bone”

-I think this may be where we will see a surprise. The Coen brothers are ready for another win and I think this is when they’ll get it.

Now that I've rambled on about who I think will rock the Oscars, I want to hear your feedback. Shoot me your ideas or list of predicted winners in the comment box.

Also, don't forget to watch the Oscars on February 27th on ABC.

2011 BAFTA Red Carpet Recap

Unfortunately, here in Cheeseburger-a-Go-Go Land we do not get to see the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts aka the British Oscars), but we do get to see fab photos from the night's red carpet.

Let's review, in short, the night's best and worst looks.

The FABULOUS

1. Emma Watson-Wouldn't take a night off from wowing us in this lacy Valentino dress.

2. Thandie Newton-Went bold in this Monique Lhuillier flower print.

3. Jessica Alba-Blue us away in this well-fitted Versace crowd pleaser.

The HEARTBREAKINGLY BAD

Neve Campbell-We all love Neve Campbell and what she has done for 90's pop culture, but it seems that she made more enemies than friends in the 90's, because no one seemed to tell her what a poor decision she was making in choosing this Roberto Cavalli snoozer.

The DISAPPOINTER...MAYBE

Emma Stone-I hesitate to say that this was a disappointer. I don't think I'm seeing all the dress, but if this was the total package, then I can't say I'm too happy with this Lanvin selection. I doubt she was trying to be funny when she picked out this 70's inspired red alert. 

2011 Grammy Highlights and Hilarities

In past the past couple of years the Grammy's have failed to impress or excite even the most engaged of music fans, yet this year yielded several noteworthy performances and an incubating Lady Gaga.

Music's most eccentric didn't fail on giving us lots to talk about even while off the stage. Here's a rundown of the night's highlights:

-Adorable Willow Smith came dressed in her usual unique apparel, yet her colorful hair pieces may be something to rethink. We all know what it looks like if you OD on hair extensions. You wake up looking like a drunk walrus with a 3 year-old as your hairstylist.

-Smiley Bruno Mars sung live alongside Janelle Monae and B.o.B, but when it came down to his solo act, he seemed to be hitting all the wrong notes.

-Janelle Monae wowed the Grammy audience into a standing ovation after singing, dancing, jamming and stage diving, all while keeping her perfect pouf in tack. Bravo!

-Lady GaGa danced and sung (to a pre-recorded track) her new song "Born This Way" (which is obviously a total rip on Madonna's "Express Yourself." SOME OF US WEREN'T BORN YESTERDAY GAGA!).

After "hatching" from an egg she got her dance on in costumes created from what had to be surgical gloves.
Doctors everywhere are looking for their surgical gloves, only to find out they're clinging to Lady GaGa's body like...everything else that seems to go on her body.

-Bob Dylan made a performance appearance although I'm pretty sure he didn't know where he was until he was 3 lines into the song.

-Cee-Lo dressed as a Muppet in a Vegas cabaret show (hence the weird head thing and extravagant feathers) for his performance of "F*** You." Unfortunately, somebody has told Gweneth Paltrow to quit her day job and get to singing, because she came out singing and rolling all over Cee-Lo's piano like her next paycheck depended on it. In either her's or the network's dire attempts to get us interested in Gwen's singing talents, she came off looking even more ridiculous than a man in a Muppet costume from Vegas.

-Who the heck is Esperanza Spalding?

-My roommate and I have narrowed down a sure fire way to tell if you have The Bieber Fever:

You have The Bieber Fever if you go from talking about how much you love that song, "Baby Baby Baby" to talking about how adorable his dimples are.

-What are you Mick Jagger? Cause if my eyes served me correctly, you move as good as Usher. In fact, if half of the audience wasn't completely taken with The Bieber Fever, they could have switched out J. Biebs with Mick Jagger (or his robot impersonator) and nobody would have noticed.

-When did Usher become a member of the Starship Enterprise?

-Arcade Fire really showed the Grammy audience why they totally deserved Album of the Year, but their performance totally set you up for an epileptic seizure. If you didn't have seizures before, you probably will now. Please note, stay away from funhouses, Lady GaGa shows, and places that hand out glo sticks at the door.



Winter Uprising

I usually don't mind the winter loving NYC gets this time of the year, but this has been a rather torrential season for my sunny southern outlook.

Luckily, I got some fun pics out of it.