The envelope please ...

Even before foot No. 1 has stepped onto this year's red carpet I already suspect I'll wind up disappointed in the Academy Awards tomorrow night.

Whatever movie wins best picture will be a rip, since three of my tops of the year -- "Revolutionary Road," "The Wrestler" and "Synecdoche, New York" -- aren't even nominated. The smart money for the best picture Oscar is on "Slumdog Millionaire," the feel-good love story set in Mumbai, India, and told through the lens of a popular TV game show. That's fine, I guess. Michelle and I just saw "Slumdog" last week, and while neither of us felt it deserved all the hype I certainly get why people like it. In down times like these, it feels good to feel good.

Other overrated films getting a lot of attention, in my view: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (gimmicky storytelling, OK popcorn flick, but not all that), and "Doubt" (great performances, but stillborn cinematically as a play that didn't quite make the turn). We didn't see "Frost/Nixon" as a movie, but did catch it on Broadway with the original cast -- superb! -- and I was afraid the hamfisted director Ron Howard would ruin the memory for me.

"The Wrestler" should definitely be nominated for best picture, but since it's not I hope the star Mickey Rourke wins best actor. He deserves it. Another favorite performance (and film) around here was Sean Penn in "Milk," a movie that I found strangely uplifting, strangely being that it's a true story about bigotry and assassination.

I'm not as invested in the Oscars this year as I somtimes am, at least not financially. At work I always participated in the office Oscar pool -- won it the last year I was still at the P-I, in fact, scoring some free movie tickets and popcorn certificates -- but I haven't been tracking all the odds and prognostication this year.

One of these days I expect Michelle and I will be in the Kodak Theater on Oscar night, waiting for her name to be called in the original screenplay category. Or maybe to watch Gina grab a statue for best director, or Franny for best actress.

Whatever the outcome this year, we always enjoy watching the Oscars around here and I'm sure we'll be tuned in tomorrow, with the Tivo set as a backup. I'm also hoping to check in at The Cooler, where Jason will be live-blogging the show and, as a bonus, signed up his friend Allison, of the riotously entertaining blog Tales From LaLa Land, to cover the red carpet pre-show. Check it out.

Will you be watching? What are your picks for the big categories? Let the bickering begin!

Something to get the argument started: the trailer for "Synecdoche," which no one seemed to like but the Matassalosis.

President of Goofing Off

For Presidents Day today I took the day off, as usual, while Michelle went to work as usual. (I don't blame her; these holidays are good for getting some work done, and then you can save the day for another time.)

It was a pretty day here in West Seattle, and I was just getting ready to take the underused bike out for a spin when she called and suggested meeting at Than Bros. in the Junction for a bowl of pho. Yum, sounded good. I hopped on the ol' Giant, rode up the street and just beat her there by a couple of minutes.


Afterward, I coasted down California to Cupcake Royale, the girls' favorite hang, to see if they were around. I ran into Franny and Gina's friend Katy. They told me Gina had just left to walk down to the beach. They didn't feel like walking but were about to take the bus and meet her there.


By the way, Gina showed us a rough cut last weekend of "Stella," the not-quite-finished movie that she and Katy wrote and directed and that stars Katy, Franny and a bunch of their friends. Very impressive -- even better than I expected, and I figured it would be pretty good. Amazing the quality you can get with a regular video camera and the editing software that everyone seems to have now.

I can't wait for the final cut.

Coolerversary

What with our job hunts, health concerns, ennui about the dying newspaper business and the stolen attention of Michelle's new journo-training blog, Print to Online, it's been awhile since we've given more than a passing glance at M&M. Both of our readers have pointed this out. It's too bad too, since there is actually stuff to talk about here sometimes. I vow to be a more regular visitor to this site.

For now though, I just want to send a quick shout out to my friend Jason Bellamy over at The Cooler, my favorite film site, which this week celebrated its one-year anniversary.

In his birthday post the other day Jason gave me a smidge of credit for encouraging him to launch The Cooler. That's nice of him, but having read his ink-on-paper film criticism I thought Jason and blogging were a no-brainer combo. As I said in a comment over there I'm not surprised he has turned out to be such a good blogger, but really The Cooler is better than I thought it would be. In addition to regularly and insightfully reviewing new releases -- check out his takes on "Revolutionary Road" and "The Wrestler," two recent 4-glioma flicks on my scale -- Jason has found interesting ways to develop and engage an audience. He discusses filmmaking with other critics, invites readers to debate and help solve mysteries like "Where's Chigurgh?" and, during down periods at the multiplex, recommends DVD rentals in an ongoing feature called "Queue it Up."

All great stuff. Along with The Night Note -- updated almost as sparingly these days as M&M -- it's one of the few personal blogs on my must-read list.

If you haven't already, I encourage you to check it out. Congratulations, Cooler!

Best movies, A to Z

In another nod to The Cooler (and because I feel guilty about not participating in the awesome Politics & Movies Blogathon), I recommend checking out Jason's latest meme, a list of favorite movies, by letters of the alphabet.

It's tougher than it sounds. Forces some difficult choices.

Here are mine. Feel free to add yours here or over at The Cooler. Or both.

Annie Hall
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Chinatown
The Deer Hunter
Easy Rider
Fargo
The Godfather
Heat
It's a Wonderful Life
Jaws
The King of Comedy
Lawrence of Arabia
Magnolia
North by Northwest
On the Waterfront
Pulp Fiction
Quiz Show
Raging Bull
Singin' in the Rain
Taxi Driver
Unforgiven
Vertigo
The Wizard of Oz
X, Malcolm (a cheat, I know, but I'm thinking of the poster)
Y Y tu Mama Tambien
Zodiac

And a bonus, beginning with a number:
2001: A Space Odyssey

Politics & Movies Blogathon

Over at The Cooler, my favorite film site, Jason and Co. are five days into an awesome six-day blogathon on the subject of politics and movies.

Jason conceived this as a post-election release, to fill the empty space he imagined in all our lives with the end of nonstop campaign commercials and cable-news punditry. Instead, Cooler readers could write about movies and politics, quenching the election jones and hitting the blog's target topic all at one time.

He came up with the idea a month ago, and I've been remiss in not promoting it here earlier. With only a day-plus now left in the blogathon it's getting late, but there's still time to participate. The rules are pretty simple and inviting. The subject of your post doesn't have to be a political movie, such as Robert Redford's "The Candidate," pictured above, but it can be. Or it can be about any other film subject that tangentially touches politics. So far, in addition to explicitly political movies including "JFK," "Nixon" and "W.," there are nice essays on assassination films, Godard, movie posters and much more.

As Jason says in his original blogathon announcement, "The parameters are these: Your post must deal with politics and movies. Simple as that."

He has details there about how to participate. I've been meaning to write something for the blogathon myself but haven't gotten around to it. I hope you'll join the fray, or at least check it out. There's some good reading and fun conversations going on over there.

Blog on!

Silly Movie of the Week

A man in flames goes flying down the elevator shaft.

"Jesus Christ! It's one of our men!"

"Oh God!"

The dialog is very cheesy. The effects are cheesy.

"It's pretty bad," Mark says.

"It's an inferno. It's a towering inferno."

'Our Times'

Highlight of the weekend, following Kaye and Val's departure, was our excursion yesterday afternoon to see my friend Denny Heck's play, "Our Times."

The play is a reflection on Washington state history from 1975 to 2005, a period that includes my years as a newspaper reporter covering state government and politics, so I was very interested from the get-go. One nice touch: Playing me onstage was Brad Pitt. (I guess Denzel was booked.)

OK, that last part isn't exactly true. In fact it's a one-man play, with Denny playing an older version of himself, 30 years in the future, and looking back on his time in Olympia. Although I don't make an appearance as a character in "Our Times," I felt like I could have been there. A lot of the people and big issues Denny recalled -- Linda Smith, Booth Gardner, the Initiative 601 budget restriction, the rise of women in state politics -- were also my reporting subjects. As personal work history alone, it was a fun trip down memory lane.

The pleasant surprise for me, though, was how well the show worked as a show. Denny's wife Paula, who is credited as producer and director, made a short speech before the play began thanking the audience and reminding us that Denny is neither a professional actor nor playwright. She needn't have apologized. The writing was tight and engaging; and Denny -- dressed, made-up and acting like an old guy -- made for a very effective storyteller and a totally believable version of himself.

"Our Times" uses a very simple set -- a couch where Denny does most of his reminiscing, and a screen for nicely coordinated yet unobtrusive slides -- and a simple, straightforward structure: The old Denny receives a letter from a college student doing research, and the memories start flowing. There's just enough humor and light moments to keep the material from sounding like a classroom lecture, yet none of it is tarted up or exaggerated to stroke egos (including Denny's) or to settle old political scores. It feels true.

I was struck again by how involved Denny has been in so much of the state's late-century story, by how many people he knows so well and, as Michelle pointed out afterward, by what a modern Renaissance man he is. Government, politics, public television, journalism, the tech boom, fiction writing and now play writing and acting; he's a guy with wide interests who seemingly just decides to do something and then goes out and does it. Very cool.

There were a couple of funny moments in the performance we saw in Tacoma, which is likely to be the show's last. One of the politicians singled out for special praise in "Our Times" is Norm Dicks, a longtime congressman and truly one of the state's political giants. Dicks is a big man -- famously a former Univeristy of Washington linebacker, which helped launch his political career -- so it was impossible not to notice him in the audience, a head taller than his neighbors, as Denny talked about him and his picture appeared on the big screen.

I'll bet he never misses a performance, I said to Michelle.

The other cool thing is that this play has been solely a benefit for various charitable causes, including a fund established by the Hecks to help Olympia school principals buy basic supplies for their students (I believe Paula is a middle-school principal there). So far the play has raised $26,000 for charity.

Yesterday's wrap-up performance was a benefit for the Obama presidential campaign. As working and semi-retired (but maybe not forever) journalists, Michelle and I didn't feel like making a political contribution, so we wrote our check instead to the Olympia school fund, and we were happy to do so. If either of us ever winds up covering the Oly school district we'll remember to declare our conflict of interest.

Thank you to Denny for a wonderful afternoon and for many years of rewarding friendship.

(Above photo from photographer Bill Cawley, via Denny's official "Our Times" site.)

Sunday news meeting, comedy edition

For the second week in a row, the opening of "Saturday Night Live" last night was an all-time keeper featuring Tina Fey's dead-on impression of Sarah Palin. This one, recreating Palin's interview last week with Katie Couric, is funny not just for the impersonation and the jokes, but also because, if you saw the Couric interview, it's only barely an exaggeration.

Pretty good trick when you can make the news funny without even changing anything. Check them both out here.





We also watched Chris Rock's new HBO special last night, "Kill the Messenger." Rock's in-your-face, politically incorrect and often X-rated humor might not be for everybody, but he totally cracks me up. In this concert film, culled from appearances in New York, London and Johannesburg, Rock hits a lot of his favorite topics -- racism, relationships, politics, music -- always with sharp points that everyone else somehow seems to have missed.

Barack Obama, he said, "is so calm and cool sometimes I think he doesn't even realize he's the black candidate. Like he thinks he's gonna win this thing fair and square! Like he thinks having the most votes is gonna mean something!"

And: "Is America ready for a black president? We should be. We just had a retarded one."

Rock snuck in a bit of his concert material last week on David Letterman's show, when he followed an appearance by Bill Clinton and hilariously made the point that many others have noticed: Clinton's support for Obama seems pretty soft.

Check that out here.

All in all, a good week for political comedy. The late-night shows had a field day, with highlights captured here on Huffington Post.

A cool hand

Presidential debates come and go, but there will be only one Paul Newman. I find his death to be far bigger news today than the snoozefest that was last night's McCain-Obama matchup or (espeically) any of the post-debate analysis.

There are a lot of good Newman remembrances out there already. I especially like Manohla Dargis' slide show at the New York Times, and I'll point you also to my friend Jason Bellamy's nice look back at The Cooler.

As long as the spirit of debate is still in the air: What is your favorite Newman film, or what do you consider his best role? I hope you'll answer in the comments, M&M'ers. Here's Newman's IMDb page for reference.

Jason's already on record at his site with "Hud," from 1963. A good one, for sure. I noticed an online poll at the L.A. Times that, when I last saw the results, had "Too many good choices to pick one" with a sizable lead over "Cool Hand Luke" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." (The above picture is from a scene in "The Sting.")

I like all of those, but I think Michelle and I will probably kick off our Newman retrospective film festival tonight with "Cool Hand Luke," which we happen to own on DVD. "Butch Cassidy" is also queued up on the Tivo so that will get a viewing soon too. And I'm always ready to pair up "The Hustler" and "The Color of Money." But what I'm really looking forward to is going back to see three of his middle-to-late period movies again that are among my favorites. I really appreciate Newman from about the late 1970s on, because his looks have faded from godlike to merely extraordinarily handsome, and so he's forced to rely a bit more on his great charm and intelligence and other skills. I can relate.

And so, in this period I recommend "The Verdict" (1982), his incredible portrayal of a washed-up lawyer hoping to salvage some self-respect; "Absence of Malice" (1981), one of the better newspaper movies and maybe the only one that can make me root against the reporter (Sally Field); and "Nobody's Fool" (1994), which might be Newman's most subtle, affecting performance as an actor.

As for a verdict in the presidential debate, most of the commentary last night and this morning ran along predictable lines, with conservatives praising McCain's toughness and confidence on foreign policy, and liberals touting Obama's cool presidentialness and relaxed intelligence. Fine, but to declare a "winner" in a tit-for-tat talking points exchange seems silly to me.

Going by Judd Legum's guide to scoring the debate, which I linked to yesterday, it's hard to claim the meter moved toward either candidate. Call this one a draw and get back to me, candidates, when you've got an idea about fixing the economy.

This list is so money

Or, anyway, that's how they might put in "Swingers" (No. 14), if the characters in that Jon Favreau/Vince Vaughn classic were discussing today's Los Angeles Times compilation of "The 25 best L.A. films of the last 25 years."

What makes a movie an L.A. movie? My fave, "Chinatown," isn't listed but that's only because it's older than the arbitrary 25-year cutoff. So what else would you look for: cars, beaches, babes, mystery, defining neighborhoods? You'll find a little bit of all of that in this excellent list.

Yes, the Oscar-winner "Crash" is here, but only ranked 25th of 25. And Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann and Paul Thomas Anderson all show up too, but probably not for the films you'd expect. There are surprises aplenty here alongside predictably deserving SoCal scene-setters.

"Mulholland Drive," "Boyz N the Hood" and "L.A. Confidential," sure. But "Friday"? "Valley Girl"? "Fletch"?

Check out the list, if nothing else, for a handy guide next time you're in the video store or managing your Netflix queue.

(Photo credit: Bruce W. Talamon, from "Devil in a Blue Dress," via Los Angeles Times)

Skuller and Muldy

That's what Mark was thinking the lead characters in X-Files are called, until he bowed to the pressure and went with me to see the new XFiles movie. Now he knows better, but his review was not the best:

"Lucky for them this came out in the same year as The Happening. (beat) At least this isn't the worst movie of the year."

That's the review of a guy who never watched the show once. I, on the other hand, faithfully watched the show from seasons 1 - 3. I don't know how long it went on after that, like most shows, it lost its essence after three years.

So as an old-school X-Files fan (fan boy, Mark sarchastically calls me), here's my review: Good thing it came out the same year as the Happening.

I'm not going to ruin anything here for people planning on seeing it, in terms of story line, but I will say this: silly wooden dialog, shallow and unengaging secondary story line, primary story line not all that either, Gillian way flat, Duchovney, I don't know -- something about both of them just seems to fit better on the TV than on the big screen. I don't need to know that much about their pores.

Final take: The movie was both skuller and muldy. Xfans and non fans alike will probably be disappointed.

Gliomas: 0

Idol Across America

Who needs Tivo? Turns out we can keep up with the latest Idol updates on Youtube. We heard already, of course, that Tattoo Girl was kicked off the show this past week. Tonite after the fabu dinner at Kay and Val's, we loaded our bloated bellies into the bed and cozied up to the computer to see the performances that were behind the vote.

The internets are both cool and convenient.

How funny

I noticed in the Live Traffic Feed in the left sidebar that someone from Indiana came to our blog directly on the the post Hot naked chicks ...," about Rosanne Olson's new body-image book. So I checked Google: Sure enough, we're the No. 8 result for the search "hot naked chicks," behind one science fiction story and a bunch of porn.

Yay for M&M! SEO rocks!

Sorry, Mr. Indiana. But pick up a copy of Rosanne's book.

She was on "Good Morning America" today, by the way. I watched, thanks to Tivo; you'll never see me awake at 7 a.m. on a Sunday. Short, sweet segment with Rosanne and several subjects of her book. Nice plug, and everyone looked and sounded great on TV.

'I've got that going for me ...'

The big news around here today is that the Dalai Lama is in town, part of a five-day visit about compassion. Cool. Free Tibet!, "See Yourself as You Really Are," and all that, but me, I'm celebrating by re-enjoying this classic scene from "Caddyshack" and one of the world's truly great spiritual leaders, Bill Murray. (Thanks to Michelle for sending the clip.)

Dick move of the week

We stopped watching Jon Stewart during the writers' strike, when "The Daily Show" returned early and, we determined, wasn't quite ready for not-quite prime time. He just sort of seemed to have lost it.

But based on this funny segment, which I caught thanks to the Huffington Post, I might be ready to give him another try.



(I just had trouble getting this embedded video to play here. If it doesn't work for you, try the HuffPost link above; you can see it there.)

Obama is no Jesus

The other day I was playing cards and glanced up at the TV to see some sportscasters laughing at what looked to be a clip of Barack Obama bowling. I checked it out later and, sure enough, stumping for votes in Pennsylvania Obama had the bright idea to establish his blue-collar cred with a trip to the lanes.

He should have taken a minute to think about whether he could bowl. Or at least asked if the lanes had those bumpers like they use for 5-year-olds' birthday parties.

Gutter ball after gutter ball. Check it out. Pathetic.



Hillary Clinton, no dummy, jumped right on the opportunity, challenging Obama to a "bowl-off" for the nomination, even offering, as Maureen Dowd points out in this excellent op-ed piece, to spot him two frames.

I don't know if Hillary can bowl either, or McCain. And I'm not sure settling the presidency in the alley is the way to go anyway. If it were, I guess my candidate would be Jesus -- no, the other Jesus, from one of the great movies of all time, "The Big Lebowski."

Now here's how to bowl:

Don't get the popcorn wet

The 3-D effects of the new IMAX movie "Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk" are so extreme that when a raft slaps through rapids on the Colorado River you're sure the big splash is going to land in your lap. I found myself instinctively guarding the popcorn bag from the spray flying at us.

Thanks to a water-crazy editor at the P-I, the four us went yesterday to an exclusive, pre-opening screening of the new film. I didn't get the details, but it sounded like Editorial Page Editor Mark Trahant won the group screening, with free tickets for all, by finishing first in a quiz about water policy, which happens to be one of his specialties. Despite a couple of shortcomings, the movie offers spectacular, awe-inspiring vistas of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, and it psyched Michelle and me to reprise our visit to the area on our upcoming Pie in the Sky road trip. (The above photo is a publicity still from the movie.)

Beyond its 3D and IMAX effects, "Grand Canyon Adventure" is equal parts nature tour, history lesson and conservation sermon. Robert Redford narrates (giveaway No. 1 that preaching will be involved) as a small group rafts and kayaks down the river, noting the water loss in two big dam-created lakes, exploring the changing features of the canyon riverbed and, of course, thrillingly running the rapids.

Unfortunately, given that this is how they're marketing the film, the 3D aspect is the least impressive part of the experience. As in most 3D movies, the filmmakers overuse the gimmick, and once you've jumped out of the way of a water drop or two, or a kayak oar swinging at your head, the whole thing gets old and distracting. And anyway, the jutting props can't compete with the natural grandeur of the canyon and the river, especially in the giant IMAX format, which truly is impressive.

Based on those "regular" IMAX scenes alone, I'd recommend the movie, although none of us could muster much more than 2 gliomas for the picture as a whole.

Semi-coincidentally, last night after dinner we put on "Into the Wild," last year's Oscar-nominated movie about the college-age kid ("Alexander Supertramp") who drops out of society and heads off to live by his wits in Alaska, with many excellent adventures along the way. Among his journeys is a kayak trip down the same stretch of the Colorado that we experienced in the afternoon. Michelle and I loved this Sean Penn-directed movie when it came out last year -- her review is here -- and the girls both enjoyed it last night.

I don't know if we'll be lucky enough to get in the river on our trip, but we'll surely visit it, with pics and stories to come.

I'm such a slug

With Franny over at Lacaia's last night for a birthday party and sleepover, Gina, Michelle and I went out to watch "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," one of the big critically acclaimed movies from late last year that we didn't get a chance to see before the Oscars. Man, what an incredible film of determination, art and identity. We all three loved it, and we weren't back in the car yet before Gina declared she wanted to see it again. (And I don't think she even knew Johnny Depp was originally set to play the lead before dropping out to shoot the latest "Pirates" flick.)

The movie tells the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the 43-year-old French editor of Elle magazine, who emerges from a stroke to learn he has a rare condition called "locked-in syndrome": He's almost completely paralyzed, although his sight, hearing, memory and thought process are all working normally; he's able to think but, unable to speak or move, is "locked in" his own body.

Almost completely paralyzed, but not completely. It turns out Bauby can blink his left eye. With that little crumb, along with the patience and love of his therapists and family and his own amazing will, Jean-Do, as his friends call him, learns to communicate.

The terrifically effective insight of the director Julian Schnabel was to open the film and to portray its first act from the point of view of Jean-Do, just coming out of it in the hospital. That is, the audience sees and hears only what Jean-Do does, complete with the frustration of hearing his own thoughts but realizing that no one else does. Eventually, he, and we, catch the first reflected glimpse of Jean-Do's paralyzed, disfigured self, and only after that does the film flash back on his handsome-playboy life and open up to imagine a new, unparalyzed life.

Meanwhile, he determines to shed his initial self-pity and expand his ability to communicate. He starts with a single blink for yes, two blinks for no, but he and his therapist soon improvise a new technique: She slowly recites the alphabet; when Jean-Do hears the letter he wants he blinks, and she writes down the letter and begins again. Amazingly, using that painstaking technique, Bauby recites his story, and an entire book, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," is published.

It makes you wonder. If a guy can write a book with his left eyelid, what's my excuse? In that sense the move is incredibly uplifting, despite its tough and essentially sad subject.

Around these parts "The Diving Bell" never made it to the multiplex. We finally saw it at the Varsity, an art house in the University District, and I think it's about to leave town. Watch for it on DVD, or if it shows up where you live, M&M (&G) recommend it highly. 4 gliomas.

Time for the Bellamy -- um, Academy -- Awards

For 11 years now my friend Jason Bellamy, a fellow fantasy baseball nerd and a generous member of last year's "Team Mark" poker backers, has been putting an incredible amount of work into his other avocation, the movies.

I'd venture that Jason sees more flicks than most readers of M&M combined, and in a decidedly un-lucrative labor of love he has closed out every year by compiling a booklet of his thoughts on the year's films, including his picks for best picture and a number of other categories. These he dispenses by mail, complete with sealed envelopes containing the winners, as the "Bellamy Awards."

A few weeks ago, prompted he says by the encouragement of his friends, Jason launched a film blog, The Cooler Cinema, that I can tell will be one of my favorite movie sites. We don't always agree -- he liked "Juno" more than I did; I liked and he disliked the ending of "Atonement" -- but he's a thoughtful, engaging critic and I often find myself reassessing a picture after reading his take.

The blog's off to a good start, inviting participation from a small contingent of readers, and this week, in advance of Sunday's Oscars telecast, Jason reprinted his 2007 reviews of the best-picture nominees: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood."

Unlike a lot of film sites, The Cooler doesn't attempt to predict the Oscar winners, or even lobby for his favorites (although readers of the January Bellamy Awards booklet know where he stands). He just offers his thoughts and invites discussion. Coolio.

In a bit of Oscar preparation here, I took the girls tonight to see "Juno." (Michelle was working; she and I saw it together already.) All four of us enjoyed it: endearing characters, tremendous acting, quirky and memorable writing. We're also thinking about seeing "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" this weekend. And my ex, Greta, a member of the Screen Actors Guild, loaned me her screener-copy DVDs of several nominated films, so I may still get to see "Away from Her," with Julie Christie's Oscar-nominated performance, before Sunday night. Very nice.

We all love the Oscars around here. Our big plan is a family pizza-making and award-watching party Sunday evening.

Before the movie tonight I asked the girls their picks for the big awards. They weren't identical, but they were all combinations of "Sweeney Todd," "Atonement" and "Across the Universe" in every category.

We'll see.

For a professional's predictions, check out "The Carpetbagger," the New York Times' correspondent David Carr, who seems pretty plugged in.

Your thoughts?

Frozen in time

This is very cool.