Mark Johnson Presents

   Watch the new trailer first… then I want to know what you all think of this one?  Going to be good?  Going to be ridiculous?  Somewhere in between?  Discuss.

   Fifteen years ago, the Academy Awards failed to properly recognize what has been called one of the greatest films of that decade, the documentary Hoop Dreams.  The amazing, true life story of two boys singled out for their basketball skills at a young age and groomed for what seemed to be long careers in the pro ranks, was recently named by the International Documentary Association as the best documentary in film history.  Film critic Roger Ebert named the movie the best film of 1994 — ahead of such landmarks as Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, and The Shawshank Redemption — and later named it the greatest film of the decade.  Certainly, a film with such high praise would have been nominated for Best Documentary, even though it didn’t win, right?  Sadly, that was not the case; Hoop Dreams was not even nominated for Best Documentary.

Read more after the jump…
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   Yesterday, I gave you the bad news first with my Top 10 Worst Dressed list from this year’s Oscars and today we have the 10 ladies who got it right.  Again, almost all of my ‘Best’ choices can be found on other‘s ‘Worst’ lists, further highlighting just how subjective fashion can be – unless you‘re wearing a swan dress, in which case everyone can agree you failed.

   And now, keeping in line with the short and sweet theme, the winners of Best Dressed are…

   See Chelsea’s 10 Best Dressed after the jump…
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Per foxnews.com:

The 1980s child star Corey Haim has been found dead in Los Angeles, Fox News confirms.

The actor was 38.

The LAPD said his death appeared to be an accidental drug overdose, and an investigation is underway.

Haim is most famous for his roles in the 1980s films “License To Drive” and “The Lost Boys.” Haim and actor Corey Feldman starred in several popular films together, including “License To Drive” and “Dream a Little Dream,” and became one of the hottest actor teams in Hollywood.

Haim’s drug abuse took over his life and helped ruin his career.

He made a comeback in 2006 in the reality series “The Two Coreys” with Corey Feldman. The successful show lasted two seasons, but Feldman said he refused to do a third season because of Haim’s continued drug use.

   I think one of my favorite parts from Sunday night’s show was Tom Hanks’ quick and to-the-point presentation of the Best Picture award.  So, in keeping with that tradition, I will get right to my Top 10 Worst Dressed picks from the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.  And, as always, I would love to know what you think.

   The good news is that it was actually pretty hard to find 10 dresses to deem the worst of the night.  I think that just further adds to my feeling that this decade will continue to make up for the last 20+ years of fashion.  In fact, every dress I have on the Worst list can be found on quite a few Best lists out there.  It seems people were split across the board.

   See Chelsea’s Top 10 Worst Dresses after the jump…
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   Out today are two of the most acclaimed films of the year. 

   At one point, many considered Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air (George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and Anna Kendrick) the film to beat for Oscar’s Best Picture.  However, the clever comedy/drama seemed to fade during the award season.  It remained the favorite to win Best Adapted Screenplay, yet ironically lost to the other film out today: Precious, and went home from the Oscars empty handed.

   Director Lee Daniels’ Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire is a dark tale of an inner city teenage African American girl who is brutally abused by both parents.  This is NOT a film for everyone, as it is extremely disturbing in subject nature.  That being said, it was one of the best movies of the year.  Mo’nique gives what I would call the best performance of 2009 (male or female, lead or supporting) and won the Oscar for best supporting actress.  She received a standing ovation in her well deserved moment of triumph.  New-comer Gabourey Sidibe (nominated for Lead Actress) is absolutely brilliant as the title character.  It becomes even more apparent how amazing she was once you have seen an interview with the bubbly, energetic Sidibe.  Such a contrast to the character she plays in the film.

   I highly recommend both of these Best Picture nominees.

   Also out on video today are Boondock Saints II:  All Saint’s Day, Old Dogs, and Planet 51.

   Just in case you wanted to see it again:

The results are in… There were 38 total entries with 35 qualifying for the contest.  Mark and I were not eligible of course but I will include our scores so you can see where the top 5 entries compared. So as Mark likes to say ‘without further ado’…

Judy Slabach had the score of 103, with 19 out of 24 correct.
Congratulations Judy, you are the first Award Contenders Oscar Predictions Champ! She will receive her choice of dvd from the Best Picture Nominees.

Here is how the top five (including Award Contender’s picks) played out:

*Mark 104 points 19/24 correct
Judy 103 points 19/24 correct
Roman 100 points 18/24 correct
Thomas 99 points 18/24 correct
Brian Bedard 98 points 18/24 correct
*Bianca 96 points 17/24 correct
Bradley Badder 94 points 17/24 correct
 

We want to thank everyone who participated and hope this added a little bit more fun to your Oscar season. See you next year for the 83rd Oscars!

   Overall I think the presentatiation was best said as average.  The opening song number with Neil Patrick Harris was silly, but Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin did a great job to pick the show back up with their opening routine. 

   Unfortunately we didn’t get enough entertainment from the presenters as I hoped for, save one.  Ben Stiller’s Na’vi impression was hilarious!

   As mentioned in my live blogcast (see below), I was most displeased by the fact that they removed the Best Original Song performances in favor of that whole ridiculous interpretive dance to the Original Scores nonsense.  Just plain stupid in my opinion.

   However, there were a few moments of excellence that should be recognized:  Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to ever win Best Director for The Hurt Locker;  Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious) became the first African-American to ever win a Screenplay Oscar (AND provide us with the biggest upset of the night!); and, of course, Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) is now an Oscar winner.

   In the end, The Hurt Locker became the true Goliath, dominating the 2009 awards season and ending up with 6 total Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing, and both Sound categories.  Avatar took only three: Visual Effects, Art Direction and Cinematography. 

   How did I do?  If it weren’t for those damn short films, right?!?   I went 19-21 in the non-short categories, missing only Adapted Screenplay (but who saw that coming??) and Sound Editing.  Then I went 0-3 on the Shorts.  So 19-24 overall.  Not too bad. 

   This is how I feel about the short films right about now:

   How hilarious is that picture though??  It goes to show that Cameron was a good sport on the whole thing afterall.  So hopefully people will stop hating on this brilliant film maker. 

   One thing I find very exciting about these Oscars is the potential behind many nominees/winners!  Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sidibe, Jeremy Renner, Jason Reitman, Lee Daniels… the list goes on and on with so much great young talent!  Should be very exciting to keep an eye on what they all do next.

   So let’s put this baby to bed!  2009 was a great year, led by three distinctly brilliant films: The Hurt Locker, Avatar, and Inglourious Basterds.  Let’s see what 2010 can do to top it!

   Thank you everyone for joining us for the BIGGEST night of the year!  We all have spent so much time in the theatres and online trying to make sense of the madness that was the 2009 Oscar season.  There were plenty of great movies, incredible sub-plots (Cameron vs. ex-wife Bigelow) and ugly controversies (The Hurt Locker producer’s email scandal;  Harvey Weinstein doing what Harvey Weinstein does, etc.).

   In the end, I stand by the fact that this was the hardest to predict Oscar season of the decade.  I think going to ten movies for Best Picture added a lot of intrigue to the race, but it was the preferential voting system that has everyone scratching their heads over who will win.  Will it be the GIANT that is Avatar?  Will it be The Hurt Locker, the little-indie-that-could who swept the awards season?  Or will it be the film that SO many are saying was their favorite film of the year (including myself) with Inglourious Basterds?

   We’re about to find out!  So kick back, relax, and enjoy the show!!  You… you’ve earned it!  Make sure to refresh your browser after each award to get my up to the minute thoughts. 

   Ceremony Notes: 

   Anyone else find it interesting that they saved Streep for last with the introduction of the Lead Actor/Actress nominees?  I smell an upset!!

   Opening speeches by Baldwin and Martin were HILARIOUS!!

   Touching tribute to John Hughes.  Save Ferris.

   Stiller rocks!

   Worst speech of the night:  The Costume Design winning Bitch who won THREE Oscars now.  In case you didn’t know.

   Paranormal Activity spoof… fantastic!

   Major Oscar Fail of the Night:  NOT playing the Original Song Nominees… and then doing that ridiculous segment of the dancers to the Original Score nominees.  WTF?!?!?  It was literally laugh out loud bad. 

   Best Picture: (My prediction: The Hurt Locker)  Actual Winner:  The Hurt Locker  After such a dominating season, it caps off its amazing run with the award of all awards!  Congrats to the entire The Hurt Locker cast and crew!
   Best Director: (My prediction: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker)  Actual Winner:  Kathryn Bigelow  That’s history folks!  And well deserved.
   Best Actor in a Leading Role: (My prediction:  Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart)  Actual Winner:  Jeff Bridges  The Dude abides!!!!  Moment of the night?  …until Bigelow maybe.
   Best Actress in a Leading Role: (My prediction:  Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side)  Actual Winner:  Sandra Bullock  It is what is is.  She is a doll though.  Regardless of anything else, she is extremely likable.  Which is probably how she won.
   Best Supporting Actor: (My prediction:  Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds)  Actual Winner:  Christoph Waltz IT’S A BINGO!!!
   Best Supporting Actress: (My prediction:  Mo’Nique, Precious)  Actual Winner:  Mo’Nique  The sweep is complete!
   Best Adapted Screenplay: (My prediction:  Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air)  Actual Winner:  Precious WOW!!!  The first major upset of the night!!!   Reitman’s/Turner’s script had won almost everything leading into the Oscars.  Could more than just Screenplay and Supporting Actress be in store for Precious??
   Best Original Screenplay: (My prediction:  Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker)  Actual Winner:  The Hurt Locker  I’ve never been so sad to be right.  I still heart you Quentin.  This might be a VERY large hint as to who wins Best Picture…
   Best Animated Feature: (My prediction:  Up)  Actual Winner:  Up  This won the Oscar, and all of us, in the opening montage.
   Best Documentary Feature: (My prediction:  The Cove)  Actual Winner:  The Cove  The only Documentary that made my top 100 films of the decade list.  Incredible and inspiring film.  See it!!!
   Best Foreign Language Film: (My prediction:  The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina))  Actual Winner:  The Secret in Their Eyes  UPSET SPECIAL!!!  CALLED IT!!!
   Best Original Score: (My prediction:  Michael Giacchino, Up)  Actual Winner:  Up  Again, credit that fantastic opening montage, where the beautiful music drives the scene.  Congrats to my boy who does the music from Lost!
   Best Original Song: (My prediction:  “The Weary Kind,” Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett, Crazy Heart)  Actual Winner:  ”The Weary Kind”  And it damn well better have been.
   Best Cinematography: (My prediction:  Avatar)  Actual Winner:  Avatar  Damn.  The two awards I wanted The Hurt Locker to win were this and director.  Bigelow is still a lock though!  
   Best Art Direction: (My prediction:  Avatar)  Actual Winner:  Avatar  Hard to argue with this.
   Best Costume Design: (My prediction:  The Young Victoria)  Actual Winner:  The Young Victoria  Never bet against those big period pieces when it comes to Costumes!
   Best Makeup: (My prediction:  Star Trek)  Actual Winner:  Star Trek  I am glad to see this film recognized.  Great year for sci-fi!
   Best Film Editing: (My prediction:  The Hurt Locker)  Actual Winner:  The Hurt Locker  Get your brooms out.
   Best Visual Effects: (My prediction:  Avatar)  Actual Winner:  Avatar  Anything else would be uncivilized.
   Best Sound Editing: (My prediction:  Avatar)  Actual Winner:  The Hurt Locker  Pretty cool how they explained the difference.  Yet… still confused by it!
   Best Sound Mixing: (My prediction:  The Hurt Locker)  Actual Winner:  The Hurt Locker  The sweep for The Hurt Locker is on!
   Best Animated Short Film: (My prediction:  Wallace and Gromit A Matter of Loaf and Death)  Actual Winner:  Logorama I never liked Wallace OR Gromit.
   Best Live Action Short Film: (My prediction:  The Door)  Actual Winner:  The New Tenants  God damn the shorts.  0-3! 
   Best Documentary Short Film: (My prediction:  The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant)  Actual Winner:  Music By Prudence  I heard this was a touching film.  The Shorts are so hard to call.

The results for the Award Contenders Oscar Predictions are in.

 Click on the link in the right sidebar (82nd Oscars:Predictions Chart) or here.

Stay tuned for the Oscars and the winner of the 1st Annual Award Contenders Oscar Contest.

Earlier this week, I introduced you to Kandee, a talented makeup artist who is on the rise. To help celebrate Oscar Day, I wanted to share her Avatar Tutorial. This is the first she does with airbrush, so I don’t think it’s an everybody can do application. Anyway, it’s still entertaining to watch.

   The Razzies are to the Oscars what, say, the devil is to God.  One you really want… the other you desperately avoid.   Unless, of course, you are the charming and courageous Sandra Bullock.  In that case, you can possibly have both! 

   Sandra followed up on her promise to attend the Razzies if she were to win the Worst Actress award, and she more than lived up to her vow!  Check out the hilarious acceptance speech:

   One thing is certain, Sandy makes it hard for you to not like her!

   See the rest of the Razzie winners after the jump…

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   Ok, you get to list any three categories with the winner you would LOVE to see win!  You can pick something that is a favorite to win, a longshot to win, or has no chance at the win.  I’d love to hear what three things you would love to see happen the most on Oscar night! 

  My wish list:

                   1.  Inglourious Basterds wins Best Picture

                   2.  “The Weary Kind” wins Best Song

                   3.  Gabourey Sidibe wins Best Actress