NINE ON OPRAH!

The multi-Academy Award winning cast of Nine, the new musical by Rob Marshall, will be on Oprah on Wednesday!

Holy crap. This is so exciting- but before I go on, no mention of Sophia Loren, Judi Dench, or the man himself Rob Marshall was made in the commercial. Or Fergie.

No Sophia on Oprah !? Damn. That would've been pretty epic. However, Nicole Kidman is 50% of the allure of Nine. Unfortunately though in the preview there were some stupid tabloid "When did you meet A-Rod?" questions for Kate Hudz, but I'll stick through even that for Nine. Let's hope each star gets to show some of their singing talents like Penelope did on Leno.

By the way, Penelope's singing? I thought it was just okay, I mean she does not have the sexy/funny/enticing voice of Jane Krakowski, but who does? (30 Rock shout out! Problem Solvers!) Anyway, Penelope sounded a bit like Richard Gere in Chicago. I mean, not literally, but there's the question of "Why was she chosen over somebody with a better voice?" Also, will I listen to that again and again on my iPod (well, not I personally, of course I will! But what about other non-musical diehards?). Thoughts on this guy(s)?

Anyone else looking forward to this interview? Or just Nine itself? Or neither? Tell me in the comments!

Spread Eagles, Back Flips, Flip Flops, One Right After the Other

Oscar- Five Best Picture Predictions

I'm well aware that there will be ten nominees for Best Picture this year, but I've decided to tackle one half tonight (the definites), and the other half later (the could-be-maybe-nots).



THE DEFINITES
Nine- There is no, I repeat, NO, way this film cannot score a Best Picture nomination. When you add up Daniel Day-Lewis, a slew of Oscar hotties, Rob Marshall, and a faint Fellini memory, then you have struck Academy gold my friend!


WHOA! 6 OSCAR WINNERS


Up- It's inferior to WALL-E, sure, but it's one helluva flick. The Academy would not dare pass up Up after the outraged that they sparked when they failed to nominate its Pixar predecessor. And Up is one of Pixar's highest grossing films, further cementing its status as an Oscar heavyweight.


What's that I see! Is it a nomination?


Invictus- Clint Eastwood felt the snub of the Academy last year with "prestige drama" Changeling and "good old vintage Clint" Gran Torino managing to evade any nominations for the four time Oscar winner. He's back this year with a sort-of bio-pic with Morgan Freeman (Oscar loves them some Freeman) and Matt Damon (who, if things go smoothly, can have quite the impressive resumé by the time 2009 wraps).


"Matt, you better not screw this up for me like Angie."


The Road- Cormac McCarthy's next novel-to-movie film is missing the Coen Brothers, but a strong cast (Charlize Theron, Viggo Mortensen, Guy Pearce) and the anticipation of the movie's release should lead it down the red carpet on Oscar night. The one con is that it may suffer the same fate as another post-apocalyptic drama, Children of Men.


Crazy hair worked with McCarthy's
No Country For Old Men, so why not here?


The Lovely Bones- It's the same (albeit slightly altered) formula that Nine is using: a director Oscar is fond of (Jackson), Academy Award winners and nominees creating an ensemble to die for (Susan Sarandon, Mark Wahlberg, Saoirse Ronan, Rachel Weisz) and it is an adaptation of something that was adored, a best-selling novel.


Sarandon's longing for Oscar after
nearly 15 years of nothing.