Every year, when the Oscar nominations are announced, I’m left scratching my head. I swear, I don’t think the committee actually watches all of the movies. How Gran Torino could not be nominated for best movie is absolutely ridiculous. Not only was it one of the best 3 movies of the year, it’s one of the best ever.

I’m also pretty sure they didn’t even watch Eagle Eye, or Shia LaBeouf would have gotten a nod.

The biggest surprise of all, though, is the fact that Clint Eastwood wasn’t nominated for his outstanding performance in Gran Torino. This was this Hollywood legend’s best performance ever and to snub him is so pathetic I’m at a loss for words.

Below is the list of the nominees (in bold is my personal pick and in parentheses are my beefs…for what they’re worth! If there are no words in bold, it only means I don’t much care either way.):

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
(Gran Torino should have been nominated.)

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
(Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino, should have been nominated and should have won.)

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Winslet – The Reader

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin – Milk
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road
(Shia LaBeouf, Eagle Eye, and Bee Vang, Gran Torino, should have been nominated)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
(Ahney Her from Gran Torino should have been nominated and should have won – she was exquisite!)

DIRECTOR
David Fincher
Ron Howard
Gus Van Sant
Stephen Daldry
Danny Boyle
(Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino AND Changeling should have been nominated and should have won)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Courtney Hunt – Frozen River
Mike Leigh – Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin – In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black – Milk
Andrew Stanton – WALL-E

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Roth and Robin Swicord – Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley – Doubt
Peter Morgan – Frost/Nixon
David Hare – The Reader
Simon Beaufoy – Slumdog Millionaire

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz with Bashir

ANIMATED
Bolt
Kung Fun Panda
WALL-E

The Oscars will be held on February 22nd and will be hosted by Hugh Jackman.

The picture at the top of the post are from the Berlin premiere of Benjamin Button. To see more, click HERE.

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“I knew little about the world and I was completely self-absorbed. It was only when I came out of my shell and started taking care of others that I found the real Angelina” - Angelina Jolie

One of my favorite actresses, Angelina Jolie, is also one of the people I most respect. I love that she gave her own life a make-over of sorts. What’s truly amazing is that, in doing so, she has helped, is helping, and will help countless people along the way.

I have nothing but respect for someone who not only attempts to save the world but fully believes they can do it – and Heaven help the person who tries to stand in their way!

Angelina Jolie travelled to the Middle East last week in her role as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency. She met refugees who have returned home after fleeing the country following the downfall of the Taliban regime in 2001, and also visited projects run by Afghan Hands, an organisation which helps women and children.

The thing Angelina wanted to do most after her trip to Afghanistan was to hug her 6 children. And she did. She was so emotionally drained following her visit to the war torn country that she couldn’t wait to see her family again.

When asked what she did when she returned home, Angelina replied: “Hug the kids.”

Angelina said: “After seeing real suffering, you never complain anymore.”

She recently revealed she thinks people take her politics “less seriously” because she is an actress: “I don’t necessarily think that’s a natural role for an actor. Sometimes acting and politics make a very bad combination. I think that sometimes people take me less seriously in my work for the UN because I appear in movies.”

Click the link for more pictures of Angelina Jolie.

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It doesn’t get much better than this. One of my favorite-ist actors and directors, Clint Eastwood directed one of my favorite-ist actresses ever, Angelina Jolie, in Changeling. It opens tomorrow in theaters and if I had a tent I’d probably go camp out just to be near them when they hit town.

I have a feeling the performances, settings, clothes, story – everything – is going to be remarkable.

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There are artistically talented people, then there are people like Noel Cruz, the man who created the Angelina doll that recently sold on eBay (for a price that was almost as impressive as the doll, itself): £2,000!

The artist took an ordinary doll, removed the factory paint, then re-touched the face with acrylics to capture Miss Jolie’s features. Perfectly.

Ken’s getting pretty worked up, so Barbie’s lining up a series of short-term relationships and embarassing interviews. Just in case.

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There’s nothing wrong with having strong political opinions. There’s nothing wrong with supporting a certain politician. But when you come across as a ranting mad woman and hurl venom on people who don’t deserve it, it’s time to take a long vacation.

Here’s what Roseanne Barr said on her blog:
“Jon Voight is a frightened little girl in a pink ballet tutu… your evil spawn Angelina Jolie and her vacuous hubby Brad Pitt make about forty million dollars a year in violent psychopathic movies and give away three of it to starving children trying to look as if they give a crap about humanity as they spit out more dunces that will consume more than their fair share and wreck the earth even more. (Just sayin’).

“Also Miss Jolie says she likes McCain too and hasn’t decided who to endorse….huh? Aren’t you supposed to be somewhat enlightened, or do you not know that the African daughter you hold in every picture had parents who suffered and died because of the republican party’s worldwide economic assault on Africa over the last few decades since Reagan? Whaaaa…??????!!!! (For that matter, the thai and vietnamese sons you are photo’d with weekly too!!!? Who’s [sic] pictures you sell to raise money to help the poor? … We want to save not lose our souls thank you. Now go back to making your movies about women who love to handle big guns that shoot hundreds of people to death. Ps….it might be good for your Asian and African children’s self-esteem to know you support a brown man for the leader of the free world.)”

Evil Spawn? Vacuous? …support a “brown man?” (I think the man that’ll probably be our next President deserves more respect than to be treated like a crayon – it’s like preschool, “I want the blue crayon…now the brown one…”)

I’d always been a fan of Roseanne Barr’s – I applauded her strength as a person. Strength to overcome adversities in her life and to, essentially, be the last one standing. She made me laugh so much my sides ached. I’m always a fan of people who do that. But none of this is funny. It’s actually kind of nasty.

But in all fairness, a lot of people are really passionate about the election this year – especially about the war. Passion’s a good thing – it just gets out of hand sometimes.

I’m completely shocked, and disappointed, that she’d go off on innocent people like this. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt do more charitiable work than any celebrity you can think of. They care about the world and, more importantly, the people in it.

I think Roseanne got bent out of shape because when asked who she supported in the election, Angelina (intelligently) said she hadn’t decided yet – that she was waiting to hear their opinions on different issues that were dear to her.

That’s just what an intelligent person sounds like. They’re fond of thinking!

I really hope that she’ll look at the words she wrote and realize that she went way, way, way too far. Hopefully she’ll even have enough character to say she’s sorry. That’d be cool. I think that underneath the anger and passion, she’s a cool lady – so I’m certain an apology is forthcoming.

She rolls like that. I’m betting on it.

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The 2008 MTV Movie Awards will air, LIVE, on Sunday night, June 1. You can go to MTV.com to vote for your favorites.

The Nominees for the “2008 MTV Movie Awards” are below, with my personal picks in bold. It’s been such an AMAZING year for movies and performances that I had to tie quite a few times. As with any awards show, so many movies, actresses, actors were overlooked. Sweeney Todd, Ocean’s 13, Fractured, 3:18 to Yuma, and Live Free or Die Hard should have been considered for movie. Johnny Depp and George Clooney, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd), Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, and Ryan Gosling all gave amazing performances.

BEST MOVIE
– Juno
– Transformers
– Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
– I Am Legend
– Superbad
– National Treasure: Book of Secrets

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE
– Will Smith — I Am Legend
– Shia LaBeouf — Transformers
– Denzel Washington — American Gangster
– Matt Damon — The Bourne Ultimatum
– Michael Cera — Juno

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE
– Ellen Page — Juno
– Keira Knightley — Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
– Katherine Heigl — Knocked Up
– Amy Adams — Enchanted
– Jessica Biel — I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

BEST VILLAIN
– Johnny Depp — Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
– Denzel Washington — American Gangster
– Angelina Jolie — Beowulf
– Topher Grace — Spider-Man 3
– Javier Bardem — No Country For Old Men

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE
– Johnny Depp — Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
– Adam Sandler — I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
– Jonah Hill — Superbad
– Seth Rogen — Knocked Up
– Amy Adams — Enchanted

BEST FIGHT
– Matt Damon vs. Joey Ansah — The Bourne Ultimatum
– Tobey Maguire vs. James Franco — Spider-Man 3
– Hayden Christensen vs. Jamie Bell — Jumper
– Sean Faris vs. Cam Gigandet — Never Back Down
– Chris Tucker & Jackie Chan vs. Sun Ming Ming — Rush Hour 3
– Alien vs. Predator- Aliens vs. Predator — Requiem

BEST KISS
– Shia LaBeouf and Sarah Roemer — Disturbia
– Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey — Enchanted
– Daniel Radcliffe and Katie Leung — Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix
– Ellen Page and Michael Cera — Juno
– Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman — Step Up 2 The Streets

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
– Zac Efron — Hairspray
– Seth Rogen — Knocked Up
– Jonah Hill — Superbad
– Michael Cera — Superbad
– Chris Brown — This Christmas
– Nikki Blonsky — Hairspray
– Megan Fox — Transformers
– Christopher Mintz-Plasse — Superbad

BEST SUMMER MOVIE SO FAR
– Iron Man (If you haven’t seen this incredible movie, do so. I’ve seen it twice!)
– Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
– Sex and the City: The Movie
– Speed Racer
– The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Be sure to vote for your favorites.  Then take your mom, wife, and/or girlfriend to dinner.  With Mother’s Day coming up, she won’t be expecting an early “bonus” treat!  Then?  The best part… Take her to see Iron Man.  GREAT MOVIE.

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The Oscar Nominations came out today and there were a few big, fat surprises. Mainly, the fact that neither Keira Knightley or Angelina Jolie were nominated for lead actress. They were amazing in their heartwrenching roles!

I’m also amazed that Sweeney Todd wasn’t nominated for best movie – it was, in my opinion, one of the best of the year. Another of the best, Juno, did get a nom…as did the very young actress, Ellen Page. Deservedly so! Johnny Depp was nominated for lead actor and (imo) it’ll come down between him and George Clooney (Michael Clayton – another favorite).

To see the full list of Oscar nominees, click HERE

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