Top 25 "That Guys" (and girls)

"That guy" refers to those Character Actors that make every movie they appear in better. Every time you see one of them on screen you immediately go: "look, it's that guy from ...", and then proceed to name every movie they've made better with their presence. Many of Hollywood's A-List actors start out as "that guys" and then graduate to leading man status, eventually receiving Academy Award nominations and, in some cases, that coveted Oscar trophy. Some recent examples include: Paul Giamatti, Robert Downey Jr., 2013 Best Actor Nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, and maybe the greatest Character Actor ever, the recently departed Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. The problem is that most of the time these Character Actors don't receive the recognition they deserve and they remain in "that guy" status for their entire careers. In most cases the casual movie-goer doesn't even know their names.
This was the case with "that guy" James Rebhorn, who died on sunday at age 65 after a career full of excellent supporting roles in movies such as Scent of a Woman, Independence Day, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Meet the Parents. In order to recognize Mr. Rebhorn, and other great actors like him who've never received their due, I've created a list of my 25 Favorite Character Actors, or "that guys". The only criteria I utilized was that none of the actors on the list could have been nominated for an Academy Award. This eliminated many great Character Actors such as: Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper, Catherine Keener, Patricia Clarkson, and others, but left more room for those truly under-aprecciated supporting stars. Without further ado, here are my Top 25 "That guys" (and girls). Enjoy!

25) Margo Martindale

"That girl" from: Million Dollar Baby, Paris, Je T'aime, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, August: Osage County, The Savages, The Hours, Dead Man Walking, Win Win, 28 Days, Practical Magic

24) John Leguizamo

"That guy" from: Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet, Ice Age Franchise, Spawn, The Fan, The Lincoln Lawyer, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Carlito's Way, Executive Decision, Chef

23) Dan Hedaya

"That guy" from: Clueless, The Usual Suspects, The First Wives Club, Dick, A Night at the Roxbury, Rookie of the Year, Mulholland Dr., In & Out, Ransom, Daylight, To Die For, The Addams Family, Blood Simple

*Love him as Cher's dad in Clueless. "Cher, get in here" "Get out of my chair!"

22) Judy Greer

"That girl" from: 13 Going on 30, The Descendants, The Wedding Planner, Adaptation, Love & Other Drugs, The Village, What Women Want, 27 Dresses, Love Happens, Carrie, Three Kings, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

*The ultimate BFF. She can play shy girls, nice girls, and mean girls equally well.

21) Joe Pantoliano

"That guy" from: Bad Boys 1 & 2, The Matrix, Memento, The Fugitive, U.S. Marshalls, The Goonies, Daredevil, Congo, Baby's Day Out, Midnight Run, Empire of the Sun, La Bamba

20) J.T. Walsh (1943-1998)

"That guy" from: Breakdown, The Negotiator, A Few Good Men, Good Morning Vietnam, Sling Blade, Executive Decision, Nixon, Outbreak, Miracle on 34th Street, The Client, Blue Chips, Backdraft

*The villain of the 90's. The perfect man to prosecute Santa Claus. That look of his was terrifying!

19) Jane Lynch

"That girl" from: The 40-Year Old Virgin, Wreck-it Ralph, Role Models, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Julie & Julia, For Your Consideration, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, Paul

*Perfect comedic sidekick. A regular in the Christopher Guest movies.

18) Brian Cox

"That guy" from: Troy, Her, Adaptation, Zodiac, X2: X-Men United, Manhunter, RED, The Ring, The Ringer, The Campaign, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 25th Hour, Match Point, Fantastic Mr. Fox

*The original Hannibal Lecter. Excellent at playing any intellectual. Also makes a great bad guy.

17) Hank Azaria

"That guy" from: The Birdcage, Along Came Polly, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Godzilla, The Smurfs, The Simpsons Movie, Love & Other Drugs, Anastasia, Year One, Mystery Men, Heat

*Tremendous voice actor. Love him in The Birdcage and Along Came Polly. "Happy like hippo"

16) Christine Baranski

"That girl" from: The Birdcage, Mamma Mia!, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Chicago, Cruel Intentions, Bowfinger, Addams Family Values

15) Luis Guzmán

"That guy" from: Traffic, Boogie Nights, Carlito's Way, Punch-Drunk Love, Waiting..., Anger Management, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Maldeamores, Turbo, Yes Man

*A P.T. Anderson favorite. Great comedic actor. And he's Puerto Rican, just like me.

14) Wallace Shawn

"That guy" from: Clueless, Toy Story Trilogy, Manhattan, The Princess Bride, The Incredibles, Admission, My Favorite Martian, My Dinner with Andre, House Arrest, Vegas Vacation, Duplex

*The voice of "Rex" in the Toy Story Trilogy, one of my favorite movies of all time.

13) Stephen Root

"That guy" from: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Office Space, No Country for Old Men, Finding Nemo, Cedar Rapids, The Lone Ranger, Just Friends, The Company You Keep, J. Edgar

12) Gary Cole

"That guy" from: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Office Space, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Pineapple Express, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, The Brady Bunch 1 & 2, The Gift, I Spy, Hop

*There's even a TV movie in his filmography from 2006 titled "That Guy", playing a character named Gary. Oh, the irony! Love him as Ricky Bobby's dad in Talladega Nights.

11) Bruno Kirby (1949-2006)

"That guy" from: When Harry met Sally, The Godfather: Part II, City Slickers, Donnie Brasco, Stuart Little, Good Morning Vietnam, The Basketball Diaries, This is Spinal Tap, Hoffa, Sleepers

*Loved him as "Jess" in When Harry met Sally, one of my favorite films.

10) Kathryn Hahn

"That girl" from: Bad Moms, Captain Fantastic, We're the Millers, Wanderlust, Our Idiot Brother, Revolutionary Road, Step Brothers, A Lot Like Love, Anchorman, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

9) M. Emmet Walsh

"That guy" from: Blade Runner, Blood Simple, My Best Friend's Wedding, Serpico, Slap Shot, The Jerk, Ordinary People, Silkwood, Fletch, Back to School, A Time to Kill, Calvary, The Iron Giant

8) William Fichtner

"That guy" from: The Dark Knight, Heat, Black Hawk Down, Armageddon, The Longest Yard, The Lone Ranger, Elysium, Date Night, Blades of Glory, Crash, The Perfect Storm, Pearl Harbor

*Who needs Batman? When you need a tough "that guy" you call Mr. Fichtner. He almost singlehandedly saves Gotham City from the Joker's mayhem in the opening scene of The Dark Knight.

7) James Rebhorn (1948-2014)

"That guy" from: Meet the Parents, My Cousin Vinny, Independence Day, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Scent of a Woman, Silkwood, Regarding Henry, Blank Check, The Game, Far From Heaven

*"I'ts only a game Focker!" I love this line. One of the funniest moments in a very funny film.

6) David Morse

"That guy" from: The Negotiator, Disturbia, The Green Mile, Contact, The Hurt Locker, The Rock, World War Z, 16 Blocks, Proof of Life, Hounddog, Dancer in the Dark, 12 Monkeys, The Good Son

5) Harry Dean Stanton (1926-2017)

"That guy" from: Alien, The Avengers, Paris Texas, The Green Mile, The Last Temptation of Christ, Pretty in Pink, Escape From New York, Private Benjamin, Down Periscope, Rango, Lucky, Repo Man

4) John Turturro

"That guy" from: The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Transformers, Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, Mr. Deeds, Secret Window, The Taking of Pelham 123, Quiz Show, Jungle Fever

*A Coen brothers favorite. Simply one of the best!

3) Steve Buscemi

"That guy" from: Fargo, Con Air, Ghost World, Armageddon, Reservoir Dogs, Monster's Inc., Monster House, Mr.Deeds, The Big Lebowski, Rampart, The Messenger, Pulp Fiction, Billy Madison

*"I'm glad I called that guy." - This is what "Billy Madison"(Adam Sandler) says after Buscemi's character saves his life. It's also what every director probably says after having worked with Steve Buscemi.

2) John Carroll Lynch

"That guy" from: Zodiac, Crazy Stupid Love, Shutter Island, Face/Off, Volcano, Gran Torino, Paul, Love Happens, Things we Lost in the Fire, Gothika, The Good Girl, Gone in 60 Seconds, Fargo

*I believe he deserved an Oscar Nomination for the 3-minute interrogation scene in Zodiac. Chilling! Of course, he couldn't be more lovable in Fargo. He's basically the perfect husband. I love this guy!

1) John Cazale (1935-1978)

"That guy" from: The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter

*The ultimate "that guy". He only acted in 5 feature films, and all 5 were nominated for Best Picture, 3 of those winning the top prize. But poor Fredo, always being passed over, never received any love from the Academy.

For the First Time in Forever: Frozen Review

For the first time in what seems like forever(19 years actually), Disney Animation Studios has created another classic motion picture with Frozen. Not since 1994's The Lion King had the studio produced a movie with such a high quality of visuals, animation, original songs & score, story, and vocal performances, all in one package. From the opening hymn and the first song("Frozen Heart"), the mood is set for an epic tale involving two things: lots of love and lots of ice. It's close to the feeling you get during the "Circle of Life" sequence in The Lion King.

The ice is provided by "Elsa"(Idina Menzel), the eldest of two sister princesses of the nordic kingdom of Arendelle(beautiful name for a beautiful kingdom). "Elsa" was born with the power to create snow and ice whenever she pleases(like a mix between "Storm" and "Iceman" from the X-Men movies). This gift becomes a curse when "Elsa" accidentally hurts her younger sister "Anna"(Kristen Bell) during a game of winter wonderland fun inside the palace. Anna is cured by some nearby trolls, but her memory of the  incident is erased. Their parents decide to separate the girls and instruct "Elsa" to hide her powers from "Anna" and the rest of the world, sealing the gates to the kingdom in the process. Where's Professor Xavier when you need him?

The years pass with "Anna" trying, unsuccessfully, to get "Elsa" to come out and play on multiple occasions, her feelings expressed beautifully with the song "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?". Anyone who's had a younger or older sibling will relate to these sisters. Jennifer Lee, who co-wrote 2012's wonderful Wreck-it Ralph, gets the sole writing credit for Frozen, and with this screenplay she does for sisterhood what The Lion King did for father & son relationships. An integral part of the storytelling comes from the unforgettable original songs written by the husband & wife team of EGOT Member Robert Lopez(that's part of his name now) & Kristen Anderson-Lopez. You'll be singing these songs long after watching the movie(I know I have).

One of those unforgettable original songs is the bouncy and uplifting "For the First Time in Forever", which comes at the moment the gates of Arendelle are opened for Elsa's coronation ceremony. The song highlights Anna's optimism at finding love, and Elsa's fears of not being able to control her powers, and her desire to hide those powers from the world. Elsa's fears are realized during the celebration, when she loses control of her powers and curses Arendelle to an eternal winter. Elsa flees the kingdom and Anna pledges to find her and bring her back because she believes her sister can undo what she has done.

Elsa is finally free to be who she really is, and, in the movie's show-stopping moment, she builds herself an Ice Palace in the mountains while she sings about finally releasing the storm inside in the Oscar-winning "Let it Go". Elsa shuts the door, literally, to the outside world , a sharp contrast to Anna's previous song, "Love is an Open Door", where she gets engaged in a duet with "Prince Hans"(Santino Fontana), who she just met earlier that day.

The movie shifts to Anna's quest up the mountains to find Elsa, where she meets "Kristoff"(Jonathan Groff), a mountain man who has "conversations" with his reindeer "Sven". Kristoff immediately questions Anna's judgment when she tells him that she is engaged to Prince Hans, schooling her in the ways of modern day fairy tales. Notwithstanding her judgment, he decides to help her up the mountains, having been convinced by his "talkative" reindeer. Together, they meet "Olaf"(Josh Gad), a scene-stealing snowman created by Elsa who provides comic relief while dreaming of warmer days in a delightful melody, "In Summer".

The four of them arrive at Elsa's Ice Palace. Anna goes inside and the two sisters go back and forth in an epic reprise of "For the First Time in Forever" that I can't wait to watch live on Broadway! I really can't think of any moment quite like it in all 52 previous Disney Animated Feature Films(I won't spoil it here). Come to think of it, Frozen is a truly unique entry into the Disney canon. Just know that the resolution to the movie deals with the theme of true love, but not in the traditional way you'd expect. Before the film's climax, we get one more upbeat song, "Fixer Upper", about learning to love others, flaws and all, and of the love & support we all need from our family members.

This is the essence of "Frozen", a story of two sisters who learn that there is no more powerful force in the world than true love. We also get some of the traditional fairy tale highlights, such as two love interests for Anna, a villainous plot to take over the kingdom(just not from who you'd expect), fast-paced action scenes for the boys, and some funny supporting characters to keep us laughing throughout the film. More importantly, we learn that when it comes to love, we should always start by loving ourselves, flaws and all. This will open the door for others, especially those closest to us, to do the same. It's those things that make us different that truly define us, and when we permit that part of ourselves to shine through, then love will surely find its way to us.

For those of you who still haven't seen the film ... 

What are you waiting for???

Frozen is available on Blu-Ray and DVD today!!!

The Movie Porti Hall of Fame

I love sports just as much as I love movies! Throughout the month of March I'll be writing a couple of posts about sports and movies, starting with this one. March is the best month of the year for sports, for me at least. It brings the NCAA basketball tournament, or March Madness, as it's famously known, and, more importantly, it brings the start of the Baseball season. Baseball is my favorite sport, and one of the things I love most about it is debating which players are worthy of enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York(bucket list trip!).

In order to gain eligibility for the Hall, a player has to wait 5 years after he has played his last game in the Major Leagues. The Baseball Hall is famous for its exclusivity. A player has to receive over 75% of the votes from over 500 ballots cast by the Baseball Writers' Association of America(BBWAA) to get in. In the 75-year history of the Hall, the BBWAA has elected only 115 candidates, for an average of 1.53 inductees per year. I am a firm supporter of this stance! The Hall of Fame is meant for the very best, not just for anyone who was very good, but not great.

With that in mind, I have created The Movie Porti Hall of Fame

I believe that a 5-year waiting period would be the best way for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences(AMPAS) to elect its winners each year. Most years, the Academy voters get swept up in the awards season campaigning. This has resulted in a number of unforgivable mistakes made by the Academy throughout the years(I could do a whole month of posts on those). Now, I'm not gonna hand out the Oscars all over again(I would if I could), but what I'm gonna do is select the movies and performances that, 5 years later, are worthy of receiving 75% of my imaginary votes, and therefore, would enter The Movie Porti Hall of Fame.

1st Year Eligibles: 2008   /   5-Year Waiting Period: 2009-2013

Recap

My Top 5 Movies of 2008

1. "The Dark Knight" (dir. Christopher Nolan)

2. "The Wrestler" (dir. Darren Aronofsky)

3. "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (dir. Woody Allen)

4. "Milk" (dir. Gus Van Sant)

5. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (dir. David Fincher)

*Note: My Top 3 movies of the year were not nominated for Best Picture

My Top 5 Performances of 2008

1. Heath Ledger as "The Joker" in "The Dark Knight"

2. Mickey Rourke as "Randy "the Ram" Robinson" in "The Wrestler"

3. Penelope Cruz as "Maria Elena" in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

4. Sean Penn as "Harvey Milk" in "Milk"

5. Kate Winslet as "Hannah Schmitz" in "The Reader"

*Note: In contrast with my movie Top 5, all 4 Oscar winners are in this Top 5, plus Mickey Rourke.

Best Performance by an Ensemble in 2008

The cast of "Doubt": Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis

*Note: All four were nominated for an Academy Award

Acting MVPs of 2008

Male: (tie) Philip Seymour Hoffman("Doubt" and "Synecdoche, New York") and Robert Downey Jr.("Iron Man" and "Tropic Thunder")

Female: Kate Winslet ("The Reader" and "Revolutionary Road")

*Note: Robert Downey Jr. received a rare Academy Award nomination for a comedic performance.

"Gravity" Achievement Award for Visual Effects

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - For marvelously aging Brad Pitt in reverse.

*Note: Of course, "Benjamin Button" won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

How the Academy voted / How I would've voted (I couldn't resist)

Best Picture: Academy - "Slumdog Millionaire" / MP - "The Dark Knight"

Best Director: Academy - Danny Boyle("Slumdog") / MP - Christopher Nolan("The Dark Knight")

Best Actor: Academy - Sean Penn("Milk") / MP - Mickey Rourke("The Wrestler")

Best Actress: Academy - Kate Winslet("The Reader") / MP - same

Best Supporting Actor: Academy - Heath Ledger("The Dark Knight") / MP - same

Best Supporting Actress: Academy - Penelope Cruz("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") / MP - same

Best Original Screenplay: Academy - "Milk" / MP - same

Best Adapted Screenplay: Academy - "Slumdog Millionaire" / MP - "Doubt"

Best Film Editing: Academy - "Slumdog Millionaire" / MP - "The Dark Knight"

Best Animated Feature: Academy - "WALL-E" / MP - "Kung Fu Panda"

Most Overrated Movies of 2008

1. "Slumdog Millionaire" - won 8 Oscars out of a total 10 nominations, including Best Picture, making it the film with the most Oscar wins in the last 10 years. This film isn't even in my Top 10 for 2008, forget about it being the best movie of the past 10 years.

2. "WALL-E" - received 6 Academy Award nominations, tying it with "Beauty and the Beast" for the most ever by an animated movie. I enjoyed this movie and I admired the risk the filmmakers took in making the first half an animated silent film, but the second half of WALL-E is way too heavy handed for my taste. That second half ruined any chance the film had of becoming a classic. 

I love animated movies, and I particularly love Pixar animated movies, but, for some erroneous reason, many critics decided to tab WALL-E as Pixar's Masterpiece and even named it as one of their Top 10 movies of the first decade of the new millenium. In my opinion, Pixar's true Masterpiece of "the aughts" came one year earlier, with Brad Bird's "Ratatouille", not to mention their other excellent work on the decade, plus their hands-down Masterpiece: the "Toy Story" trilogy. "WALL-E" wasn't even the best animated film of 2008 for me. I liked "Kung Fu Panda" better.

Just Missed Induction: "The Wrestler"

If you're one of those people that consider pro wrestling a real sport(I'm one of those), then Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" is one of the greatest sports movies in recent memory. Aronofsky presents the heartbreaking story of Randy "the Ram" Robinson(Mickey Rourke in a career reviving performance), a man who simply doesn't have anything else in his life besides wrestling. As his body keeps breaking down, Randy considers retirement while trying to make ends meet and also make amends with his estranged daughter(Evan Rachel Wood), with some help from a stripper friend of his(Marisa Tomei in an Academy Award nominated performance). There's nothing fancy here(aside from the in-ring sequences), but Aronofsky's unique style still shines through the film and he deftly manages to make us care for all these characters, especially Randy. Aronofsky was definitely snubbed by the Academy in 2008. This movie belongs to him. He would receive his first career nomination 3 years later for "Black Swan". Aside from the nominations for Rourke(who also just missed induction for his performance) and Tomei, the Academy completely ignored "The Wrestler", something that looks even worse 5 years later.

Movie Porti Hall of Fame Inductee: "The Dark Knight"

This movie is what Summer Blockbusters are all about! I can still remember the excitement I felt watching it for the first time in theaters on its release date. I still felt that same excitement 2 months later, on my 5th viewing of the film, in an IMAX theater in New York City. "The Dark Knight" was the first feature film ever to utilize IMAX cameras, using them for six of its major action sequences. From the first scene to the last, the pace never lets up. Immediately, you can tell that the Gotham City in this film resembles more of a modern-day city than in previous Batman films. This was also the first Batman film that didn't use the word "Batman" in its title, so we should have expected something unique just from that. The filmmakers, led by director Christopher Nolan, wanted to bring Batman into the modern world, and they succeeded in a way that would change comic book movies forever. 

"The Dark Knight" received 8 Oscar nominations, but was somehow snubbed for Best Director and Best Picture, making it the film with the 2nd most nominations ever without a Best Picture nomination(2008 was the last year with just 5 Best Picture nominees). The ensemble cast, including Maggie Gyllenhall, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, and Christian Bale as "Batman/Bruce Wayne", is excellent, but the film truly becomes a timeless classic thanks to Heath Ledger's iconic portrayal of "The Joker", his last complete career performance, for which he would win a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. "The Dark Knight" also received a 2nd Oscar for Best Sound Editing. I just watched it again yesterday, and its themes of modern-day heroism are as relevant today as they were five years ago. I don't think we'll ever see another movie quite like "The Dark Knight", and for that reason I consider it one of the Greatest Movies of All Time, and a slam-dunk(sports reference!) inductee into the Movie Porti Hall of Fame.

Movie Porti Hall of Fame Inductee: Heath Ledger as "The Joker" in "The Dark Knight"

The excitement I had for watching "The Dark Knight" began when Heath Ledger was announced as "The Joker" on July 31st, 2006. Incredibly, many people were initially against this decision, but I was a big fan from the start. After seeing Ledger's performance as "Ennis Del Mar" in "Brokeback Mountain", I knew he could do anything. The excitement continued to build when I went to see Warner Bros' "I am Legend" in theaters during the 2007 holiday season. The best thing about that moviegoing experience was that the first "Dark Knight" teaser trailer was premiered. Once I got a glimpse of Heath Ledger's "Joker", my excitement level went through the roof! The hype surrounding this movie was like nothing I had experienced before.

That hype got magnified, sadly, on January 22nd, 2008, with the tragic news of Heath Ledger's death due to an accidental drug overdose. I was crushed. This guy was on his way to becoming one of my Top 5 Favorite Actors Ever, and he was just 28 when he died. The expectations placed on the film after this were unbelievable, but the film, and Ledger in particular, delivered. "The Dark Knight" would become the 2nd Highest Grossing Film of All Time at the Box Office, later the 3rd highest after "Avatar's" release one year later. This was due in large part to Ledger's transcendent performance as "The Joker". Some people have said that the praise for his performance was due to the fact that he had passed away, but I say that those people are CRAZY! If Ledger would've been alive, he would've gladly walked up on stage to accept the Oscar that was rightfully his. Simply put, Ledger created one of the Greatest Villains in Film History, with one of the Greatest Quotes in Film History("Why so serious?"), and overall, his performance is one of the Greatest Performances of All Time. For all those reasons, Heath Ledger's performance as "The Joker" is an inductee in the Movie Porti Hall of Fame.

P. S.

Starting next week, I will present my Top 100 (10 at a time) for the 4 categories that I mentioned that "The Dark Knight" belongs to: Greatest Movies of All Time, Greatest Performances of All Time, Greatest Heroes & Villains of All Time, and Greatest Quotes of All Time. In some instances, some of the films and performances on these lists would not be in the Movie Porti Hall of Fame, but, obviously, all films and performances in the Hall will appear on these lists. So stay tuned!

Jumping for Joy: Recapping The Oscars

Well, just like I thought, the 86th Annual Academy Awards definitely delivered! Thankfully, my worst fear didn't come true, because if Jennifer Lawrence had won for Best Supporting Actress we would have been deprived of Lupita Nyong'o's genuinely shocked! reaction and her heartfelt speech after winning, which was, for me, 

the Moment of the Night. 

Because J-Law didn't win, and "American Hustle" didn't win in any of its other 9 nominated categories, as I correctly predicted, it is now tied with 2 other films for the 2nd most nominations without a win in Oscars history. Speaking of my predictions, I only missed two of the categories for which I saw at least one of the nominated films(I didn't predict for Foreign Language Film, Documentary, Documentary Short, or Live Action Short). I mistakenly predicted that Mickey Mouse's 72-year Oscar drought would end, as "Get a Horse" lost in Animated Short Film to "Mr. Hublot"(You know the one). I was basically guessing on that one since I hadn't seen any of the other nominated shorts. Also, because I believed that "12 Years a Slave" deserved more than 3 total wins, I went with my heart and picked it over "The Great Gatsby" for Costume Design, assuming that it would lose Best Actor and that this would be its 4th Oscar. At least I correctly identified "Gatsby" as the favorite here, and it ended up winning, so ... Do I get half a point at least??? That was the toughest pick of the night for me, as I mentioned in my Viewer's Guide.

Enough about the misses. My heart served me well in the end as I was able to correctly predict "12 Years a Slave" for Best Picture over "Gravity". Even my go-to movie source, Entertainment Weekly, got it wrong. It was that close folks. I felt on top of the world yesterday! I believed that even if "Slave" ended up with only 3 wins, the historical and cultural significance of this film would catapult it over another historically significant film with 7 total wins. Ellen Degeneres put it best, in one of her few edgy jokes of the night: "Possibility #1, 12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture. Possibility #2, you're all racists!" It just had to win. The Academy can tolerate being called homophobic(cough...Crash...cough). But racist? Never! With "Gravity's" loss there's still only been 2 films winning Best Picture without a Screenplay nomination in the last 65 years, and only 7 total in Oscars history. The end result reminded me of two films from the 1970's that are in my Top 5 Favorite Films of All Time. In 1977, "Star Wars" won 7 total Oscars(same as Gravity), but lost Best Picture to "Annie Hall"(not in my Top 5, but still an All-Time Great). In 1972, "The Godfather" won Best Picture with 3 total wins, losing Best Director to the film with the most wins of the night(Cabaret), same as "12 Years a Slave". At least Francis Ford Coppola got his much deserved Best Director Oscar 2 years later for "The Godfather: Part II". Let's see if Steve McQueen can come up with a sequel to "12 Years a Slave"(kidding, of course). Now, how in the world did Al Pacino not win an Oscar for what might be the greatest screen performance I've ever seen, TWICE?!?

Last night we didn't have any such catastrophic mistakes. The only category that didn't go how I would've voted was McConaughey over Ejiofor for Best Actor. But that was a very close race and McConaughey was very deserving(he also gave a great speech). Up until 2 nights before I posted my Viewer's Guide, I was gonna pick Ejiofor for Best Actor. That day I read an anonymous poll of 5 Academy members on how they were voting in the major categories, and all 5 had McConaughey for Best Actor. That's 5 for 5, or 100% for the non-finance majors out there. That changed my mind pretty quickly. Aside from McConaughey, I also predicted Dallas Buyers Club's 2 other wins for Jared Leto in Supporting Actor and for Hair & Makeup, where Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa had a serious chance at an upset.

Another tough call I correctly predicted was "The Great Gatsby" winning for Production Design over "Gravity", the only technical category it didn't win. "Gravity" faced some tough contenders in Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, and both Sound categories, but I correctly predicted it would win each one. The Visual Effects category, however, was the easiest pick to make of the 24 awards handed out last night. "Gravity" was in a different orbit, pun intended(1st time!), from the other 4 nominees. The Academy should rename this the 'Gravity Achievement Award for Visual Effects'. Alfonso Cuarón, the genius behind "Gravity", had already won for Best Editing when he also won for Best Director, becoming the first Hispanic to win the award in its 85-year history(my favorite fun fact of the night). I liked that he mentioned Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro in his speech. Plus, the joke about the "wise guys" at Warner Bros. was pretty funny too. Cuarón tied with "Gatsby's" Catherine Martin for the most wins of the night with 2. "The Great Gatsby" turned out to be the only summer movie from 2013 to win an Oscar. 

Other categories I correctly predicted were Cate Blanchett for Best Actress, both Screenplay categories(Spike Jonze gets an Oscar at last), and both "Frozen" wins for Animated Feature and Best Original Song, which made songwriter Robert Lopez just the 12th person ever to join the prestigious EGOT club(my 2nd favorite fun fact of the night). Now, I didn't like Mr. Lopez's speech one bit, Frozen 2? Seriously?? Have you seen Cars 2??? but once you enter a club of entertainment royalty you can basically do whatever you want.

Aside from all the night's big winners, the show was full of many unforgettable moments, some good and some bad. Here is a rundown of the night's events.

2nd Best Moment of the Night ...
Bill Murray pays tribute to Harold Ramis by mentioning the timeless classics for which he was never nominated. Shame on you Academy!

2 Worst Moments of the Night ...

-Kim Novak, yeeeshhh! If you've never seen "Vertigo", I definitely don't want to spoil it. Let's just say it has something to do with the undead walking amongst us and Mrs. Novak reprised her role perfectly. After this moment, Mr. McConaughey definitely deserved to win something, anything.

-And the 'Kim Novak Award for Facial Paralisis' goes to ... John Travolta! WTF?!?

Great Musical Performances ...
The 4 Best Original Song nominees all gave excellent performances, but they were outdone by Pink's beautiful rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for "The Wizard of Oz's" 75th anniversary tribute. That dress!

Not-so Great Musical Performance ...

Bette Midler singing "Wind Beneath my Wings" 25 years too late at the Academy Awards. The sight of Bette flapping her "wings" immediately after the In Memorian segment totally shifted the focus from the artists we lost, to her. Plus, she gets a full song, and we get a chopped up version of "Let it Go" that Idina Menzel(or Adele Dazeem as Mr. John Travolta knows her) had to speed through?! Come on Academy!

3 Best Ellen Moments ... 

   1) The Selfie - Instant Classic. Even Lupita's brother managed to get in there.

   2) On Jonah Hill: "You showed something in that film that I haven't seen for a very, very long time."

   3) "Amy Adams, you went to college, right?" ... "No" ... "Ok, never mind."

3 Worst Ellen Moments ... 

   1) Liza Minelli joke - Who knew Ellen could channel Ricky Gervais so easily? Poor Liza, on a night 

       her mother's most iconic film was being honored.

   2) June Squibb is old - Ha ha ... NOT! This sounds like a joke I would make, and no, I'm not a 

      professional comedian.

   3) The Hunger Games joke - Totally fell flat. Even the audience at the Dolby Theatre is tired of 

      Jennifer Lawrence. Which leads us to ...

Jennifer Lawrence Fatigue Section - Part II ...

-She fell again. Shocker! Forget about Gravity for Visual Effects, I should've made this my sure-thing prediction of the night. 

-When she got on stage to present Best Actor she seemed upset at someone in the audience, plus her face looked like an unnatural shade of red. Bad tan, bad makeup, what was that? I'm gonna have to see the new X-Men film this summer to regain some love for J-Law because right now I'm all out.

The Montages ...

For some reason, the Academy decided to honor "Heroes" this year by giving us the worst montages imaginable. They were already honoring the "Heroes" who made 2013 an incredible year for movies, so why did we even need these montages? Each montage was worse than the one before. At least for the first one on Animated Heroes we got Jim Carrey as a presenter and you can never go wrong with that. Do you know how many Animated movies have been nominated for Best Picture in Oscars history? Only 3. Frozen was snubbed this year, in my opinion. 

And now a quote from one of my All-Time Favorites, Ratatouille, also a Best Picture snub in 2007: 

"I hate false modesty. It's just another way to lie." After this we got another montage on "ordinary, everyday heroes" like Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Abraham Lincoln. What?!? Who came up with this concept?

That's it for my recap. I hope you enjoyed my Oscars coverage. Let's hope 2014 gets somewhere close to the fantastic year in movies that was 2013. That's probably wishful thinking, but I guess the only way to find out is to watch as many movies as possible this year, right?

The Oscars: A Viewer's Guide

It's coming down to the wire! 

In what is one of the closest races in Oscars history, we have a two-way battle for Best Picture at tomorrow night's 86th Annual Academy Awards between "Gravity" and "12 Years a Slave", with 10 and 9 nominations, respectively. The rest of the Best Picture nominees, in order of nominations, are: "American Hustle", also with 10 nominations, "Captain Phillips", "Dallas Buyers Club", and "Nebraska" with 6 nominations, "Her" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" with 5 nominations, and "Philomena" with 4 nominations. The last 4 movies mentioned didn't receive an Editing nomination, so they're basically eliminated. The last film to win Best Picture without an Editing nomination was "Ordinary People" 33 years ago(how it won over "Raging Bull", we'll never know). Plus, "Her" didn't receive any Acting nominations either which gives it the double "Michael Corleone Kiss of Death" since only 11 films have ever won Best Picture without an Acting nomination. 5th and 4th place goes to "Captain Phillips" and "Dallas Buyers Club". "Captain Phillips" is a strong contender in the Editing and Sound categories and "Dallas Buyers Club" is the front-runner in 3 categories: Hair & Makeup, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Actor. However, both films were notably snubbed for Best Director, and we all know that the last film to win Best Picture without a nomination for its Director was "Argo" way back in ... wait a minute here ... I guess they still have a chance then!

In 3rd place we have "American Hustle", tied with "Gravity" for most nominations of the night with 10. I'll be paying attention to this one, but for a different reason. It has a chance to tie "Gangs of New York" and "True Grit" for the 2nd highest number of nominations without a win(2 other films share the record at 11 nominations without a win). It could've had 11 nominations, but, for some reason, it wasn't nominated for Hair & Makeup, which was probably the best thing about that movie. I mean, after the opening scene with Christian Bale and his hairpiece it all goes downhill pretty fast. Speaking of Bale, I enjoyed his performance, but in a very strong year for the Best Actor category(more later), I believe he wasn't among the 5 best of the year(Joaquin Phoenix, Tom Hanks, or Michael B. Jordan could've taken that spot). Now, because he was nominated, and the other 3 lead actors were too, "American Hustle" becomes only the 15th film ever to receive nominations in all 4 Acting categories, and the 2nd straight David O. Russell film to do so. Before last year's "Silver Linings Playbook", the last film to accomplish this feat was Warren Beatty's "Reds" way back in 1981.

David O. Russell is on quite a roll! This is his 3rd Best Director nomination in the last 4 years. Only one other director since 1960(Clint Eastwood) has accomplished this feat. One of "Hustle's" co-producers, Megan Ellison(who also co-produced "Her"), became only the 4th producer, and 1st woman, to score 2 Best Picture nominations in the same year. That's one of the perks of being the daughter of the 3rd richest man in America, Oracle co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison, you get to produce any movie you want. I predict that both Ellison and O. Russell will be very disappointed though, at the end of the night. "American Hustle" is a contender in 3 or 4 categories, but I believe it only has a realistic shot at winning one of those(more on that later).

Now it gets fun ... 

The first of the co-favorites, "Gravity", became only the 5th film ever to receive nominations in all 7 technical categories: Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. The first film to accomplish this feat, "Titanic", went on to win Best Picture even though it didn't receive a Screenplay nomination(something "Gravity" will try to replicate). It won't be easy, since the only other film to win Best Picture without a Screenplay nomination in the past 58 years was "The Sound of Music" way back in 1965. Again, as "Argo" proved last year, anything can happen.

The other co-favorite to take home the top prize is "12 Years a Slave". Right now, the problem for "Slave" is that it only looks like a lock in 2 categories: Lupita Nyong'o for Best Supporting Actress and John Ridley for Best Adapted Screenplay. It's also up for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Costume Design, Best Director, Editing, and Production Design. In those last 3 categories it's up directly against "Gravity", so those are definitely ones to watch for before the big prize. In the Actor & Supporting Actor categories, Ejiofor & Fassbender face tough competition from the boys of "Dallas Buyers Club": Leto & McConaughey. Leto is a Slam Dunk, having won all major precursor awards, but McConaughey has also appeared to pull ahead of the pack in a very, very tight Best Actor race. This category could turn out to be the most important of the night. Ejiofor is currently a very close 2nd(with DiCaprio also in the hunt), and if he can pull off the win, which I think he deserves, it would probably guarantee a Best Picture victory for "12 Years a Slave". If Ejiofor wins he would also become just the 5th black man ever to win Best Actor. If McConaughey takes the trophy, then the final award of the night will be totally up for grabs between "Gravity" and "12 Years a Slave".

Another important category for "12 Years a Slave" will be Best Costume Design. It is one category where it doesn't compete directly with "Gravity", but it faces two other tough challengers in "The Great Gatsby" and "American Hustle". I'm totally torn on who to pick in this one. Support for "12 Years a Slave" would bolster its chances for Best Picture, so my heart tells me it will win here. The problem is that "The Great Gatsby" looks like the favorite and also that this could be "American Hustle's" best chance at a win, so the voters might want to reward it here(the costumes are actually one of the few bright spots in the film).

Moving on ... 

Alfonso Cuarón is pretty much a lock for Best Director for his transcendent work on "Gravity". He would become the first hispanic to win the award in its 85-year history(Finally!). Cuarón also received an Editing nomination and a Best Picture nomination for producing"Gravity", tying him with Spike Jonze from "Her" for the most individual nominations of the year with 3. Jonze got nominations for Best Picture, Original Screenplay(for which he's favored to win), and Original Song, but was snubbed for Best Director, which I believe he deserved and would've given him an incredible 4 nominations for the night. "Her" competes directly with "Gravity" in 2 technical categories: Best Production Design and Best Original Score. "The Great Gatsby's" incredible party sets are actually favored in Production Design but "Gravity" is still favored for its Original Score. It is also the favorite or co-favorite in the other technical categories for which it's nominated.

It's quite possible that going into the final award of the night, "Gravity" could have 7 wins and "12 Years a Slave" could only have 2. If this scenario occurs, then "Gravity" will most likely win Best Picture. If the voters split the awards between more films in order to honor "Captain Phillips", "American Hustle", or even an underdog like "Philomena" for its Original Score or "Nebraska" for its black and white Cinematography, then "12 Years a Slave" will most likely win Best Picture. Plus, there's a chance that "Slave" wins for Costume Design, Production Design, or, more importantly, Best Actor. After a lot of thought, I'm going with my heart instead of my head on this one and I'm predicting that "12 Years a Slave" will win Best Picture, even if it only ends up with 3 total wins for the night(remember that "Argo" won Best Picture last year with only 3 total wins). I certainly wouldn't have any problem with "Gravity" winning the top prize, but I predict it will fall just short, ending up with the consolation of the most awards at the end of the night with 7 total wins. Pretty fun indeed!

Other things I'm keeping an eye on ... 

"Frozen" is looking to become Disney Animation Studio's 1st winner in the Best Animated Feature category(shocking, right?). Even though it's the favorite, it's competing against Hayao Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises". With this film, Miyazaki becomes the most nominated person in the category's short history with his 3rd nomination. "Frozen's" showstopper, "Let it Go", is also the favorite for Best Original Song(It's a shame that the academy snubbed the beautiful "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"). If it wins, songwriter Robert Lopez will become just the 12th person ever to complete the entertainment Grand Slam, the EGOT: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Mr. Lopez just turned 39 last week, so he could probably complete another Grand Slam if he wanted to. Incredible! It's not the easiest year for the category, with popular nominees like Pharell and U2, but I predict that "Let it Go" and Mr. Lopez will take home the prize.

*EGOT winner Rita Moreno

Speaking of music ... 

John Williams received his 49th nomination for the Original Score to "The Book Thief". That sounds unbelievable until you learn that he is still a full 10 nominations behind Walt Disney for the most nominations for an individual in Oscars history. Mr. Disney would roll over in his grave if he found out it took his Animation Studio 13 years to get its first win for Best Animated Feature(if it weren't for Mr. Disney the category wouldn't even exist). I predict that drought ends tomorrow night with a "Frozen" win. Disney Animation Studios is also the favorite in the category that gave Mr. Disney 12 of his record 22 competitive Oscars: Best Animated Short Film, with "Get a Horse", the Mickey Mouse cartoon that preceded "Frozen" in theaters. It would become just the 2nd Animated Short starring Mickey Mouse, and the 1st since 1941, to win the award. I predict Mickey's 72-year wait ends tomorrow night, simply because this might be the only Animated Short Film that most voters saw.

One more Disney-related fun fact ... 

Thomas Newman's nomination for the Original Score of Walt Disney Studio's "Saving Mr. Banks" is the 88th career nomination for the Newman Family. That's one talented family!

Scorsese fun fact ...

Martin Scorsese has now directed the most Best Picture nominated films(8) among living directors.  Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg are now tied for 2nd place with 7.

Old-timers section ... 

-If they both somehow win(highly unlikely), June Squibb and Bruce Dern from "Nebraska" would become the oldest winners in their respective category's histories.

-This is 79-year old Judi Dench's 7th career nomination. Amazingly, all of them have come after she turned 63! The closest runner-ups for over-60 nominations are all tied with 3 nominations(and they're all dead too). When someone tells you you're too old to do something, just remember Dame Judi.

Jennifer Lawrence Fatigue section ... 

-She becomes the youngest person ever to receive 3 Acting nominations(she's just 23)

-She's now on pace to break Kate Winslet's record of 6 nominations by the age of 33

-If she wins(I sure hope she doesn't) she would become the youngest person to win 2 Acting Oscars

-If she wins(that would be the worst possible outcome of the night for me) she would become just the

 6th person ever to win consecutive Acting Oscars, and the first since Tom Hanks in '93/'94 for 

 "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump"(With his snub, he's still without a nomination since 2001)

Multiple Oscar-nominated Actors section ... 

-Jonah Hill receives his 2nd career nomination in the past 3 years. Who knew the kid with the boots in

 the Ebay store would be this good this fast? I sure didn't.

-Bradley Cooper receives his 2nd straight nomination, both for David O. Russell films: Lead Actor in 

 "Silver Linings Playbook" last year, and Supporting Actor for "American Hustle" this year. Raise 

 your hand if you thought that only 4 years after "All About Steve", Bradley Cooper and Sandra 

 Bullock would each have 2 Oscar nominations. Ok, now put your hand down, liar!

-Christian Bale receives only his 2nd career nomination(also for David O. Russell films in the past 4

 years). It's a shame that after an extraordinary 25-year career that began with Steven Spielberg's

 "Empire of the Sun" he has the same number of career nominations as ... 

-Sandra Bullock receives her 2nd career nomination for a solid performance in "Gravity"(let's not talk

 about "The Blind Side"). As Jennifer Lawrence knows, being named America's Sweetheart guarantees

 you at least 2 Oscar nominations. Speaking of America's Sweethearts ...

-Julia Roberts receives her 4th Oscar nomination, her first since her Oscar-winning turn as

 Erin Brockovich in 2001. From America's Sweethearts to America's Heartthrob, also with 4 noms ...

-Leonardo DiCaprio receives his 4th career Acting nomination, and he's still just 39! As I wrote in my list of the best performances of the year: "seems like he's been around forever, but his performances,

 just like his looks, keep getting better with age". Speaking of age-39 multiple Oscar nominees ...

-Amy Adams receives her 5th career nomination, her first in the Best Actress category. She is the only 

 one in her category who hasn't won an Oscar previously. Kate Winslet won on her 6th try, so hang in 

 there Amy!

Speaking of previous Oscar winners in the Best Actress category ...

-Cate Blanchett receives her 6th career nomination for her fabulous performance in "Blue Jasmine"(the movie with the most nominations, with 3, for a non-Best Picture nominee) and she's pretty much a lock to win her 2nd Oscar, her first in the Best Actress category. A long overdue honor for one of the greatest of her generation.

 From the greatest of her generation, to the greatest of any generation ... 

-Meryl Streep receives her 18th career nomination. Yes, you read that right. 18 career nominations. 

 She's still going strong and just keeps putting this record out of reach. The runner-ups for most career 

 nominations are Jack Nicholson and Katherine Hepburn with 12 apiece. Even with Jennifer Lawrence

 becoming the youngest ever to 3 nominations, she would still need 15 more nominations just to tie 

 Mrs. Streep, and that's assuming Meryl decides to retire tomorrow, because you know that if she keeps

 acting she is most likely to receive a couple more nominations. She still needs one more win to tie 

 Hepburn's record of 4 Acting Oscars, so you know she's not quitting anytime soon.

One more thing to look for ... 

Ellen Degeneres is hosting the Oscars tomorrow night for the 2nd time in her career(the first time was in 2007). She certainly brings a different style from last year's host, Seth McFarlane(who I enjoyed quite a bit). Ellen's family friendly brand of humor will definitely not offend anyone, but it can sometimes lack some of the sharp punchlines I tend to enjoy on these broadcasts. I hope she studied the tape from Amy Poehler and Tina Fey's last 2 years hosting the Golden Gobes, because those ladies have managed to find the perfect middle ground between Ricky Gervais and Ellen Degeneres from the 2007 Oscars. Whatever happens, I'm just rooting for a great show. In a year full of so much intrigue for some of the biggest awards of the night, including Best Picture, I'm pretty confident that the 86th Annual Academy Awards will deliver! Unless Jennifer Lawrence wins, that would totally ruin it ... just kidding.

I hope this Viewer's Guide helps you enjoy the show. Feel free to post your own predictions and to let me know where you disagree with mine in the comments section.

And the Oscar goes to ...