I may not have seen all of this year's Oscar-nominated movies, but I did see all the films that won the in major categories (I just barely squeaked by with a 1:35 p.m. showing of Milk on Sunday afternoon). How did you fare in your quest to see as many Academy-approved movies as possible before the ceremony (if you even had one)? If you skipped the telecast altogether, it's okay -- Enter the Fray is here to help. Read on for the week's most commented-on posts (spoiler alert: Our Oscar liveblog comes in at No. 1).
10. Another week, another intimate detail about Jeff Probst that we weren't sure we wanted to know (dude's into blindfolds).
9. Foodies converged upon Margaret Lyons' Top Chef finale post to profess their like (or dislike) for Wednesday's newly crowned season 5 champ.
8. After the impressive performances of bright-eyed teenagers Allison Iraheta and Mishavonna Henson on Wednesday's American Idol semifinal show, Michael Slezak apologized for omitting them from this week's Power List.
7. Speaking of that Power List, Matt Giraud topped it this week. That was before his baffling performance of ''Viva La Vida'' -- just sayin'.
6. I'm sure we can all agree with this statement from Adam B. Vary: There is absolutely no need for another movie based on the Hasbro board game Clue.
5. In case watching pretty people wearing pretty dresses walk down a red carpet wasn't enough to hold your attention (but it's so interesting!), EW added a little humor to the process with our Oscars pre-show liveblog.
4. Michael Slezak and Kristen Baldwin shared their frustration with Danny Gokey in the first half of this week's Idolatry.
3. What did you think about Sunday night's Hollywood love-fest (also known as the Academy Awards)? You shared your opinions here.
2. Chris Harrison assures us that although ''The Bachelor producers have scripted and are responsible for certain events: the first moon landing, the end of the cold war, Astro-turf, and the Internet (sorry, Al Gore, it was us), we are not responsible for, nor have we ever scripted, the ending of this show.''
1. Mandi Bierly and Thom Geier liveblogged all three-plus hours of the Oscar ceremony. Thanks to their hilarious commentary, I didn't actually fall asleep during the ceremony.
Danny Boyle has just won an Oscar for Best Director, and his movie, Slumdog Millionaire, was just named Best Picture. Missing the real significance of that statement? Okay, let me try this: Danny Boyle -- the independent auteur who splashed across the international radar in 1996 with Trainspotting, a movie about heroin-addled Scottish junkies who dive into cruddy toilets to fish out opium suppositories...to the music of Bizet's Carmen! -- has just earned Hollywood's highest honor.
I mean, wow, how cool is that?! What an endorsement of someone who, in my mind, is one of the most original filmmakers in the world today -- someone who has never truly gotten the props he has long deserved. It's hard to think of another current director whose work so seamlessly spans genres, from thriller (Shallow Grave, which he made before Trainspotting), to dramatic fantasy (Millions), to horror (28 Days Later), to sci-fi (Sunshine), to Bollywood (Slumdog Millionaire). Even though I've always been baffled by his weird, misguided big-studio followups to Trainspotting -- A Life Less Ordinary and The Beach -- I've always taken comfort in knowing that I'd go to a Danny Boyle film and get to watch something new and exciting. For him, the label "independent" has always been more than a mere state of finance.
Of course, until the smash success of Slumdog Millionaire, I wasn't sure many folks necessarily agreed with me. Boyle's movies have never been box-office magnets: Before Slumdog came along, the zombie saga 28 Days Later was his top domestic grosser, with just $45.1 mil, and my nominee for his best film to date, Millions, banked a paltry $6.6 mil in 2005. And we've heard plenty about how Slumdog Millionaire was sat on, passed around, and almost sent straight to video before Fox Searchlight picked it up.
So I wonder: Can Oscar success mean even better things for Boyle? Will this independent-minded director finally garner some mainstream respect, even after the Oscar glimmer has faded? And what should he do next? Maybe not a James Bond or Narnia film, but certainly there's a lot of big-budget fare that could benefit from his creative juice. Oh, and what's your favorite Danny Boyle movie? Let the love-in commence...er, continue!
Feb 23, 2009, 07:30 PM | by Margaret Lyons
Categories: Oscars 2009
Who cleaned up big in his or her Oscar pool last night? Well, Stephen Colbert, for one.
Freaky! Also cleaning up? Our very own Dave Karger, who got both screenplay picks right, too (among others). In a blow to our benevolent geek overlords, though, Nate Silver only went 4/6, which means we have way more time before the robots take over, so we can all relax a tiny bit. Silver had picked Taraji P. Henson for Best Supporting Actress and Mickey Rourke for Best Actor (join the club!); he writes that he should have tweaked the model for supporting actress to account for the fact that Winslet had been nominated in the supporting category for other awards. As for Penn's win, well, no amount of tweaking can really predict the whims of the Academy.
Et tu, PopWatchmen?
Aha! Kate Winslet knew exactly what she was doing.... [Via Waxy]
Icons are supposed to be born on the Oscars red carpet, right? But all I could think watching the fashions from last night's event was meh. But I knew the producers had supposedly reengineered the mechanics of the carpet, so I held out hope for what we might see from inside the Kodak. But instead of being surprised with an all-time best, I was shocked by an all-time worst, and from a truly surprising source: Reese Witherspoon.
The former Best Actress has delivered some of the most stunning looks to ever walk down a red carpet (remember her flawless Nina Ricci run of 2007, and that one canary yellow gem?) so when she walked onto the stage I was ready to gasp. And I did. But not in a good way.
The gown by Rodarte was, ahem, fashion forward enough with its black and blue color blocking, the swaths of toilet paper for straps, the randomly placed glitter, and the not quite invisible bra underneath -- but then she decided to take the extra step and wear matching makeup. Two words: haute mess. So it’s with a heavy heart that I say move over Cameron and Gwyneth, and make room for Reese in the Oscar Fashion Catastrophe Hall of Fame.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Does Reese deserve a lump of coal in her spanx this year? Are there other looks from Oscars 2009 you think will go down in fashion history?
More Oscars coverage:
Fashion: The best and worst on the red carpet
Oscars '09 Readers Poll: What did you think?
Dave Karger's OscarWatch: The morning after
Missy Schwartz's picks the night's 13 best/worst moments
EW reports from the Kodak Theatre, parties... and bathrooms!
Ken Tucker's take on the telecast
Adam B. Vary's report from backstage
Whitney Pastorek on the scene at Prince's Oscar night house party
Complete list of winners
EW live blogs the Oscars telecast
EW live blogs the red carpet shows
EW's Oscars Central (Dave Karger's video interviews, photo galleries, and more)
Feb 23, 2009, 12:03 PM | by Thom Geier
Categories: Oscars 2009
Who wants to be a Slumdog Millionaire? Just about anyone right now. So what did you think of last night's Oscar telecast, from the scaled-back red carpet to the cabaret-ific hosting of Hugh Jackman? We want your opinion in our Oscar Reader's Poll. Be sure to go to the jump for the rest of our questions -- and then weigh in on what you liked and disliked about the show.
More Oscar content:
Oscars: The best/worst moments
Oscars: Best/worst fashion
Oscars: The view from backstage
Oscars telecast: Ken Tucker's take
There are very few artists for whom your Aunt Whittlz will wait in a chilly parking lot for two hours, PopWatchers, but Prince is one of them. To borrow a phrase from the Airborne Toxic Event -- one of the few acts the Purple One didn't cover during tonight's public house party -- it was sometime around midnight when those of us assembled outside Hollywood club Avalon were let in from the cold, and my feet, tortured by high heels since sometime around noon, had lost their will to live. Though I'd later be given a handwritten list that included names like Eliza Dushku, Taye Diggs, Alicia Keys, and Queen Latifah, the only celeb in sight at this lonesome hour was Baron Davis, who plays basketball. And yet I waited, patiently, to be summoned inside. For he is Prince. And he operates on his own time, a time that my colleagues estimated at approximately two hours later than hip-hop time, which means approximately four hours later than the time you and I are expected to maintain. Which is fine. Because he is Prince, and I think he actually might be able to buy the Greenwich Mean if he wants.
Follow me after the jump for the rundown on the funkiest Oscar party of the night, sponsored by LotusFlow3r.com, a new website named for one of the three albums Prince is expected to release this year. Along with his own time zone, Prince is also operating in his own music industry these days, and LotusFlow3r -- note also the paisley-riffic spelling-- will be your home for all things purple in the days to come.
We've braved the red carpet shows, and we have the ringing in our ears from when Giuliana Rancic spotted nominees Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie -- and squealed -- to prove it. Can EW senior editor Thom Geier and I match that level of professionalism in our live blog of the 81st Annual Academy Awards? Considering I saw Oscar host Hugh Jackman on Broadway in The Boy From Oz three times, I'm going to say yes! Join us at 8:30 p.m. ET.
(8:27)
Thom: Hey, Mandi, I'm settling in for a loooong night of Oscar glamour and awkward "What, I didn't win?" reaction shots. And who are you wearing this fine Oscar evening?
Mandi: I'm wearing Pajamas That Don't Even Match. And you?
Thom: I'm wearing a vintage Snuggie from Valentino. Can't wait to see what Hugh Jackman is wearing.
Mandi: I hope it's that muscle shirt he was wearing in that rehearsal footage that popped up on YouTube. LIGHTS!!!
Thom: Camera! Action! It's started.
Thom: Catcalls from Diane Lane. So cute.
(8:31)
Mandi: Catcalls from a girl sitting on her couch in Pajamas That Don't Even Match, not cute.
Thom: You're adorable. But Hugh's self-deprecating Australia joke didn't exactly kill.
Thom: Boy, they really didn't spend money on sets or props, did they?
Mandi: The Craigslist dancers save the show!
Thom: Is this the Tony Awards?
Mandi: I like the idea, but the lyrics aren't clever. Oh wait, I just heard "pubic hair."
Thom: At least Brad likes it.
Thom: This may be Anne's best performance this year.
Thom: Wow, after that note, that really was Anne's best performance of the year.
Feb 22, 2009, 05:55 PM | by Margaret Lyons
Categories: Oscars 2009
The annual celebrity parade of red carpet amazingness is just getting underway. The ceremony might not start until 8:30, but we all know the show starts now.
Margaret Lyons: Who are you most looking forward to seeing tonight?
Lindsay Soll: Well, since we won't be seeing the presenters on the carpet, I'm exited to see Kate Winslet (hopefully not in black) and Freida Pinto.
Lindsay: Those two choices are mostly due to fashion reasons.
Margaret: I'm really curious about what Anne Hathaway is going to wear.
Margaret: And really curious about what Mickey Rourke is going to say.
Lindsay: Same! I'm sure Rachel Zoe and her minions picked out something fab
Margaret: Here's Ryan! Explaining how walking works!
Lindsay: Well you know, it's quite difficult to walk for those in Hollywood.
Lindsay: I saw recent pics of Mickey and he had a necklace with a pic of his dog on. aww!
Margaret: He ... uh ... dazzled audiences at the Independent Spirit Awards last night. Homeboy has a potty mouth.
Lindsay: Ooh, I like Giuliana's red dress.
Margaret: I don't think the top fits very well.
Lindsay: That's probably because she doesn't eat. Unlike me -- I'm anxiously awaiting food delivery.
Lindsay: Shocker! Someone's pregnant in Hollywood!
Feb 22, 2009, 05:00 PM | by Margaret Lyons
Categories: Oscars 2009
It's a wonderful night for Oscar, but Lindsay Soll and I are just as jazzed
for the red carpet as we are for the main event. The gowns! The gossip!
The...Seacrest! PopWatchers, we're all in for a treat. We'll be tuning
into E!'s coverage of the arrivals from 6–8 p.m. Eastern, and then we'll be
switching over to ABC's official preshow from 8–8:30 p.m. So learn how
to tie that bow-tie already, and finish memorizing your acceptance
speech. We'll see you 6.
Click here for the live blog.
