Reflections on the Globes

So, once again I find myself caught up in the always bittersweet movie
awards season with the Golden Globes. Like watching the third Godfather
in that it really isn't that good, but it's just good enough to watch.
However, though I did predictions and researched info about every movie
nominated for anything, I didn't even really feel like watching it. In fact, I
didn't see the whole thing because I felt it more interesting to watch
Billy Jack starring Tom Laughlin on DVD at the time - by the way it's
the most screwed up movie possibly of all-time if you're curious.
But I did catch everything from Marty winning best director on so I
think I'm in good shape to do a recap of the surprises.


Surprises: Babel winning best picture, drama. This shocker was
delivered by the Governator on crutches, an odd touch considering
almost all of the other presenters are actually good at acting,
writing, directing or something else relating to movies. The only
role that Ahnold (err, Arnold) was ever good at was portraying a
machine who talked monotone. Everything seemed to be about The
Departed and The Queen and after Scorsese won for best director, well
I almost went back to watching Ken Griffey Jr. dominate in Little Big
League (Yes, I know it's sad that watching this very bad movie is one
of the few lasting images of how good Griffey was back in the day, but
that is neither here nor there). But does this mean that it can
contend for best picture at the Oscars? At this time, I would like to
thank Regal Cinemas for not having Babel playing at any of the three
Regal locations within driving distance of me, as well as only having
Blood Diamond and Little Children left out of the other movies up for
various awards.

Cohen winning best actor in a comedy/musical. I was very surprised to
see Cohen win as Best Actor in a comedy/musical and while it isn't a gaurantee that he'll get an Oscar nomination because of it, I think
his chances are very good. Also, while I really was hoping to see him to be in character the whole time, he probably made the right choice by delivering his speech straight and found his speech pretty clever, even if it was mostly about starring down a 300 pound man's cavity.

Eddie Murphy winning best supporting actor. This was the biggest
surprise of the night, for me anyway, as I just assumed it would go
Nicholson for The Departed. With Murphy and Hudson winning alongside Dreamgirls winning Best musical/comedy, apparently Dreamgirls really will be a force in the other major movie awards ceremonies.


Worst prediction: Johnny Depp over Cohen. I picked Depp to win even though Cohen won a few city best actor awards (San Francisco and L.A.). I'm not even sure why I did this – I blame the vending machine being out of caffeinated beverages. Or maybe it was the office jackass talking way too much on the morning I was doing my predictions, causing me to be tilted towards supreme pessimism, which would explain me picking Depp in what I thought was a terrible movie winning over Cohen in a movie that was even funnier than the steep anticipation. Or maybe I'm actually the office jackass.

Coming soon: Why Little Children was almost a really good movie.

Golden Globes part 2: To the faithful Departed

Well, I'm giving out an early hint with the title of this that there might be a few picks for The Departed. And why not - Leo proved once again that he act; Nicholson was Nicholson; the screenplay was sophisticated yet badass and, oh yeah, it was directed by Martin Scorsese. But remember, I'm very skeptical of awards season in general, like rumors that the Buffalo Bills will be good next season, but still feel it's worthy of writing two blog entries with just Globes predictions. What can I say, awards season is just the season I hate that I like - like Mean Girls, The Notebook or reruns of Full House. Here are my predictions and picks for the drama portion of the Golden Globes.

Best screenplay:
a. GUILLERMO ARRIAGA — BABEL
b. TODD FIELD & TOM PERROTTA — LITTLE CHILDREN
c. PATRICK MARBER — NOTES ON A SCANDAL
d. WILLIAM MONAHAN — THE DEPARTED
e. PETER MORGAN — THE QUEEN

Prediction: Look for Patrick Marber to win for Notes on a Scandal.
My pick: Many will give credit to Scorsese and DiCaprio, or even
Nicholson, for making The Departed what it is, which is a movie
claimed as the best movie of the year by many critics circle, but it
all starts with the smart and ballsy screenplay by Monahan.

Best director:
a. CLINT EASTWOOD — FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
b. CLINT EASTWOOD — LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
c. STEPHEN FREARS — THE QUEEN
d. ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU — BABEL
e. MARTIN SCORSESE — THE DEPARTED

Prediction: Martin Scorsese for The Departed. What a stacked director
category there is this year. Once again you have Eastwood and
Scorsese squaring off. Inarritu announced himself and Stephen Frears,
who did High Fidelity and Dirty Pretty Things, announced himself to
the more mainstream. So strong is t his category that Guillermo del
Toro didn't even get nominated for the critic darling Pan's Labryinth.
Eastwood will split votes, but if he only gets nominated for Letters
in the Oscars, who knows if Marty will get his Oscar then either.
My pick: Only getting to see Flags of our Fathers and not Letters,
it's tough to pick Letters over Scorsese's The Departed. However,
after getting named the best film of the year by the national board of review and being soundly claimed as the best of the two movies
Eastwood was nominated for, Letters looks like it could win. Even
though I'm a huge Eastwood supporter - my favorite movie is Unforgiven despite not really being a Western guy – I have to go with Scorsese on this one.

Best actor in a drama:
a. LEONARDO DICAPRIO — BLOOD DIAMOND
b. LEONARDO DICAPRIO — THE DEPARTED
c. PETER O'TOOLE — VENUS
d. WILL SMITH — THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
e. FOREST WHITAKER — THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Prediction: Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland. Maybe even
more competitive than best director. DiCaprio changed my mind this
year about his acting talent, Will Smith seemed an obvious choice for
best actor as soon as the trailer came out for Pursuit of Happyness
and Peter O'Toole has been talked about with Whitaker since the
beginning of the awards season. For the Oscars, it's the Whitaker and
O'Toole show and if O'Toole is going to win best actor, it will be in
the Oscars and not the Globes. He poses the only threat for Whitaker
who seems like this year's Phillip Seymour Hoffman. For the Globes
though, don't be TOO surprised to see DiCaprio or even Smith win.
This category is much more wide open for the Globes than for the
Oscars.
My pick: It's about time Whitaker announced how good he is.

Best actress in a drama:
a. PENELOPE CRUZ — VOLVER
b. JUDI DENCH — NOTES ON A SCANDAL
c. MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL — SHERRYBABY
d. HELEN MIRREN — THE QUEEN
e. KATE WINSLET — LITTLE CHILDREN

Prediction: Helen Mirren for The Queen. Another competitive category
but this is Mirren's category for both the Globes and the Oscars.
Dench keeps the streak of getting nominated for what seems like every
single movie she makes. How again did the Bond franchise get her
onboard?
My pick: I have no problems with Mirren winning – and she will.

Best foreign language film:
a. APOCALYPTO (USA)
Touchstone Pictures/Icon Productions; Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
b. LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (USA/JAPAN)
Warner Bros. Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures
c. THE LIVES OF OTHERS (GERMANY)
Wiedemann & Berg/ Bayerischer Rundfunk / ARTE / Creado Film; Sony
Pictures Classics
d. PAN'S LABYRINTH (MEXICO)
Estudios Picasso/Tequila Gang/Esperanto; Picturehouse
e. VOLVER (SPAIN)
El Deseo; Sony Pictures Classics

Prediction: Pan's Labyrinth and Letters from Iwo Jima seem to be the
frontrunners but I expect Letters to win.
Best picture, Drama.
a. BABEL
Anonymous Content Production/Una Produccion De Zeta Film/Central Film
Production; Paramount Pictures/Paramount Vantage
b. BOBBY
A Michel Litvak Production/Bold Films; MGM/The Weinstein Company
c. THE DEPARTED
Warner Bros. Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures
d. LITTLE CHILDREN
New Line Cinema; New Line Cinema
e. THE QUEEN
A Granada Production; Miramax Films

Prediction: The Departed. The Queen is a one woman show, Babel
doesn't have the "buzz" and mass appeal that The Departed does and I'm
surprised to see Little Children and Bobby get nominated in the first
place.
My pick: Has to go to my favorite movie of the year, The Departed.

The Golden Globes: "It is what it is"

The Ricky Jay character's quote in "Boogie Nights" is a perfect explanation to
me of how I look at the movie awards season. For me, the awards
season is bittersweet because on one hand, everyone knows politics
plays such a huge role that the best movies of the year don't
necessarily get the props that they deserve. It often becomes a race
to gather "momentum," which I always found intriguing because the
films being voted on were finished months prior to them gaining
"momentum." It's not like a sports team who played well, beat an
opponent and rode "momentum" into the next game. Basically this just
means that "momentum" goes to the most well known good movies of the
year, which sometimes is the best movie, but most of the time is
simply a means to a popularity contest. On the other hand, for movie
lovers who can't fly around to Cannes, Sundance and Toronto for real
celebrations of film, awards season is all we have. We watch on the
couch The less serious major awards show, the Globes (January 15th),
usually are a prelude to the Oscars, so in the spirit of the awards
season, here are my predictions and hopes of the major categories of
the Globes divided into two parts (one for the musical/comedy category
and one for the drama category)

The supporting categories are combined into one for drama and musical/comedy.

Best Supporting Actress:
a. ADRIANA BARRAZA — BABEL
b. CATE BLANCHETT — NOTES ON A SCANDAL
c. EMILY BLUNT — THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
d. JENNIFER HUDSON — DREAMGIRLS
e. RINKO KIKUCHI — BABEL

Prediction: I expect this one to go to Jennifer Hudson of Bill
Condon's Dreamgirls as The Devil Wears Prada was stolen by Meryl
Street, Babel's two candidates will split and Hudson has more "buzz"
than Blanchett does. Blanchett was also in two other noteworthy films
of 2006, The Good German and Babel, so she may not stand out as well
as Hudson does.
My pick: Cate Blanchett has always been a favorite of mine and I
wouldn't mind seeing her win.

Best Supporting Actor:
a. BEN AFFLECK — HOLLYWOODLAND
b. EDDIE MURPHY — DREAMGIRLS
c. JACK NICHOLSON — THE DEPARTED
d. BRAD PITT — BABEL
e. MARK WAHLBERG — THE DEPARTED

Prediction: Jack Nicholson for The Departed. He has a huge advantage
over Wahlberg because he's in the movie so much more. Brat Pitt also
isn't in Babel as much and who's going to pick Ben Affleck over Jack.
Eddie Murphy could also pull it off with rave reviews about his acting
from Dreamgirls.
My pick: It's tough to go against Nicholson here.

Best actor in musical or comedy:
a. SACHA BARON COHEN — BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE
BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
b. JOHNNY DEPP — PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
c. AARON ECKHART — THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
d. CHIWETEL EJIOFOR — KINKY BOOTS
e. WILL FERRELL — STRANGER THAN FICTION

Prediction: Johnny Depp edging out Aaron Eckhart. Cohen will get
stronger consideration than I previously anticipated but I just don't
see him winning despite a very weak category. Will Ferrell? Come on.
Johnny Depp was equally as good as in the first Pirates, but
My pick: Cohen for Borat. I like Johnny Depp and wouldn't be upset of
Eckhart won, but Cohen is single-handedly responsible for the most
surprising movie of the year. Cohen's movie was so funny that masses
loved it and even the critics had to stand up and cheer for it. Very
simple – he makes the movie what it is. Johnny Depp was equally as
good as in the first Pirates, but I felt the movie was garbage and
can't vote for him here.

Best actress in a comedy or musical:
a. ANNETTE BENING — RUNNING WITH SCISSORS
b. TONI COLLETTE — LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
c. BEYONCE KNOWLES — DREAMGIRLS
d. MERYL STREEP — THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
e. RENEE ZELLWEGER — MISS POTTER

Prediction: Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada. Award voters
never seem to tire of her, Beyonce was outshined by Hudson and I don't
see Bening winning for Running With Scissors. Renee Zellweger could
win for Miss Potter, but The Devil Wears Prada had more massive
appeal.
My pick: Toni Collette for Little Miss Sunshine. She was very good in
one of my favorite movies of the year and though I like Streep a
little more after Adaptation, I'd like to see Collette win.

Best picture comedy or musical:
a. BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS
NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
One America; Twentieth Century Fox
b. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Twentieth Century Fox; Twentieth Century Fox
c. DREAMGIRLS
DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures; DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures
d. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Big Beach/Bonafide Productions; Fox Searchlight Pictures
e. THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
Room 9 Entertainment/David O. Sacks Production/Content Film; Fox
Searchlight Pictures

Prediction: Dreamgirls in a very strong category. Little Miss
Sunshine and Borat will get their share of votes, but Dreamgirls has
had the best picture Oscar nomination buzz since before it came out.
My pick: Little Miss Sunshine. If the category was funniest motion
picture of the year, I'd choose Borat, but Little Miss Sunshine was
good on so many levels it has to be my choice here.

Indiana Jones 4 FINALLY has a shoot date

So, I was planning on writing about the next three months of my
adventures of trying to circumvent the horrible ideas for movies in
2007. But then I found out that Indy 4 was not only back in the topic
of conversation for movie geeks but that Spielberg, Lucas and Ford
have all agreed on a script and found time to make it.

The Indiana Jones triology was a staple of my childhood. My mother
once had to drag me away when I was 8 or 9 because I was watching
Temple of Doom over and over again - which is strange because it's my
least favorite of the three. And even today, I can watch them as pure
entertainment and still never even come close to getting sick of them.
When I first heard that they would be making a new Indy, about four
years ago it must have been now, I was thrilled. Considering that
Harrison Ford hadn't made a good movie since....when was The Fugitive
made? I was thrilled to see him in a role I know he could excel at. I
heard that Spielberg and Lucas were dialing in on a script and that
Connery had even signed on already.

However, people were already worried about Ford being too old. Then
time passed. Then it became common knowledge that the next one would
be set in the Cold War era. Everyone calmed down. Then time passed.
Spielberg finally said he would be able to fit shooting into his
schedule. Then Lucas started getting script advise from George
Steinbrenner. Then time passed. The already slippery slope that the
fourth installment of Indy has become seemed to be finally heading
straight down. Indiana Jones 4 - TBA became the verdict. Then came
the announcement the other day that Lucas, Spielberg and Ford all
finally agreed on a script and more importantly, seemed to have
figured out when they were going to make the damn thing. Right now,
Indy 4 is slated for a June shoot and should be ready for May 2008.
Of course, euphoria trickled into me when I read that everything was
set to finally begin production. However, I'm beginning to have some
second thoughts about it – maybe I'm just worried that it'll suck.





The original trilogy ended with, in my opinion, the best of the
trilogy as it celebrated the adventure genre as the characters rode
out into the sunset. If anyone could make it work, it would, of
course, be Lucas and Spielberg, but the longer it goes the less the
chance that anything they could produce could possibly hold up to the
original three. And there is still another thing that disturbs me
more than repeat viewings of White Chicks on F/X: There is still a
rumor that Lucas wants to make Indiana Jones using digital filmmaking
instead of true film, as Spielberg prefers. If this happens, which I
severely doubt it will, I might stop watching movies; that's how
horrible it would be to see Indy in digital. Just imagine Marcus
Brody riding a digital camel into the digital sunset just to make me
nauseous. Please George, for the love of everything that is holy…use
original film. Don't make me use the title for a blog entry next May
entitled "He chose….poorly."

Night at the Museum still box office champ and other signs of the apocalypse

Here's the thing. I don't even really hate Ben Stiller. Yeah, I left
watching Zoolander with a bunch of my college buddies to smash my head
against the wall for a couple hours. True, I only thought Meet the
Fockers was funny for about ten minutes. But I didn't really start
ragging on Stiller until I saw the trailer to Night at the Museum.
Now, trailers aren't always a good representation of what a movie is
going to be like. However, when I see a trailer to a movie as
ridiculous and uninteresting as Night at the Museum and then watch it
dominate the box office, I begin to get that Johnny Ola feeling. You
know, that feeling that Michael Corleone gets in Havana in GF 2 after
he realizes that Fredo knows Johnny Ola, which means that Fredo must
be the traitor. The reason I get this feeling is because for every
Night of the Museum that comes out, three more equally bad ideas for a
movie are greenlit – if not more. I also get this feeling because for
every baffled head rub and snicker I had while watching the trailer,
many, many other people said, "hey, let's go see that." This leads me
to think that some sort of global catastrophe is certainly on the way
and because Ben Stiller is the poster child, I'm blaming him. So, the
eternal optimist that I'm not leads me to believe that in 2007 we will
be bombarded with similar movies. But, in the spirit of the New Year,
I spent the last hour or so doing research looking through the
scheduled release dates for movies that shouldn't give me that Johnny
Ola feeling in 2007. Here's some of how the research went:

JANUARY

The Good German – I know I've already mentioned it, showed a picture
and mentioned it again, but it finally goes nationwide January 19th.
George Clooney has SHOCKINGLY become one of my favorite actors and it
just looks like a cool idea for a movie being set in post WWII
Germany.

Must move the mouse past Code Name: The Cleaner starring Cedric the
Entertainer.

Freedom Writers: I barely eluded Code Name: The Cleaner and clicked on
this one that has Hillary Swank and Imelda Staunton (from Vera Drake).
Based on a book written by one high school teacher and 150 of her
students, it's about a group of students who struggle to make sense of
the world they live in and find out who the true heroes are/have been.
Seems like a natural fit for an inspiring, loosely based on real life
Hollywood movie.

Alpha Dog: This one was inevitable ever since rap was
popularized in the suburbs. Set in suburban LA, privileged teenagers
with too much money and too time on their hands run wild imitating the
thuggish behavior from the music the idolize. Could have just as
easily been set in my hometown of Clarence, New York – a rural suburb
of Buffalo. Has the potential to be a provocative film if it manages
to stick mainly with realism and avoid coming off as too preachy.
Maybe director Nick Cassavetes got a little direction from the recent
film Thirteen, which was about a mother dealing with her
thirteen-year-old daughter as she begins to get exposed to more and
more adult type themes before the mother is ready. Thirteen managed
to bring some issues to light without preaching and I'm hoping for the
same out of Alpha Dog. Then again, Cassavetes did make John Q.


FEBRUARY

Hannibal Rising – So I don't really know how to feel about this one.
It's about the dark path that led Hannibal Lector to become one of the
most terrifying characters in movie history. Starring Gaspard Ulliel
instead of Anthony Hopkins, (I guess they realized that Hopkins
wouldn't work as a young Hannibal) this is another in the line of "how
did the famous character become that way." But it worked very well
for Batman and even better for James Bond with Casino Royale, so I'm
willing to give it a shot.

I clicked on Code Name: The Cleaner. It's only 84 minutes and stars Cedric the Entertainer. Somehow, a "mild-mannered cleaner with amnesia" got tangled in a supposed government conspiracy which inevitably will lead to the action and comedy labels that are listed under genre. I know it was you, Fredo. I need to take a walk.


Reno 911 – Anyone who thinks this movie will be dumb should watch a couple of episodes of the show. Add an R rating and the melting of
limitations to what they can portray, it could be very, very funny.



MARCH

Reign over me – I promise there are almost no sarcastic undertones in
this one and it even stars Adam Sandler. I clicked on this one having
no idea what it was about and was more than pleasantly surprised.
Sandler plays a man trying to cope with family deaths during 9/11 and
begins rekindling a friendship with an old college friend (Don
Cheadle). Directed by The Upside of Anger director Mike Binder, this
looks like another attempt at a real character from Sandler, who
proved he's not a bad actor in the right role with Punch Drunk Love.
The Upside of Anger was one of the most surprising movies I've
ever seen. After only renting it because I was outvoted by the two
girls I was with at Blockbuster, I liked it far more than either of
them. Looking forward to this one, too.



Sunshine – Director Danny Boyle, who recently made the very good
Millions, steps into the science fiction genre. Set 50 years in the
future, it centers on a crew sent to
Re-ignite a part of the sun that is dying. A few years before this
mission, another crew was beset with the same mission but was never
heard of again. For me, sci-fi is very hit or miss, but the ones that
hit usually hit very hard. Seems like a creative idea – I hope it
works.

Zodiac – Director David Fincher once again takes on material dealing
with serial killers, like he did with Se7en. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal
and Robert Downey, Jr., this one chronicles the infamous Zodiac Killer
as he terrorizes a San Francisco Bay community. Fincher is perfect
for this type of dark material and Gyllenhaal has shown recently with
Jarhead and Brokeback Mountain that he has a lot of character range.
When not in prison, Downey can act, too.

Coming soon: Part 2 looking at the 2007 release schedule has
collaborations between Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and
Jamie Foxx with Chris Cooper, Anthony Hopkins returning to portraying
a killer evading law enforcement and another run with the Shrek
franchise.

Why sequels are ruining movies

"Everytime we needed money we robbed the airport. For us it was
better than CitiBank." It seems that movie executives have taken a
line from Henry Hill of Goodfellas and every time they have no good
ideas for a new film, they just dust off an old franchise and make a
sequel.

As punishment for Saw III, The Ring 2, Scary Movie 4, Bad Boys 2,
Rocky Balboa, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (I know some people actually
liked it), Jaws The Revenge, the thought that Battlefield Earth 2 was
a good idea (lucky it was panned) and most things sequel, I propose
that Hollywood has to go through one full year of not making anything
that resembles a sequel. That means: no continuing stories, no
traditional sequels, no "reimaginings" or anything else that really
just means another movie with the same title.

Now I'm not even completely anti-sequel. I've liked the Indiana Jones series, the Die Hard series and even films as recently as Spiderman 2 and Batman: Begins. But the sequel train has gotten far too long and now it seems that if there isn't at least the POTENTIAL for a sequel(s), then there is very little chance at getting a movie made. Here are a list of sequels currently in various stages of production: Blue Streak 2, Back to the Future 4, Alien 5, American Psycho 2, Superman Whatever, The Dark Knight (Batman), Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Rambo 4, Predator 3, Jurassic Park 4, Indiana Jones 4, the 93rd Harry Potter, Zoolander 2, Hostel 2, Star Trek, Big Momma's House 2, Caddyshack 3 (no, seriously), Gladiator 2, Daredevil
2, Men in Black 3, Romancing the Stone 3, Rush Hour 3, Terminator 4,
Sin City 2, True Lies 2, Under Siege 3 and more on their way - trust
me.

I have less of a problem with movies like Harry Potter because they
are based upon books that have many different parts to them, so making
a movie isn't a stretch at all. However, movies like Predator 3,
Rambo, Rocky Balboa and Under Siege 3 were all movie franchises that
were dusted off after years of being finished just because sequels
have somewhat of a built-in audience and are relatively predictable
assets for the bean-counters of Hollywood. Once in a while you'll get
lucky and a sequel will be very good, but compared with the drudgery
of the rest of the sequels that make it to multiplexes, sequels as a
whole are horrible – think David Caruso, in CSI: Miami. Movie sequels
need to be stopped – or at least minimized before Gigli 2 hits
theaters.

Maybe an Oscar nomination for Borat?

The biggest surprise of the year has to be the sensation of Borat.
For those who have liked the character for a while, maybe it shouldn't
come as that much of a surprise, but a recent announcement that the LA
and San Francisco critics both picked Sacha Baron Cohen as the best
actor of 2006 absolutely shocked me. With major critics from major
markets giving props to Cohen, there is now buzz that he might even
have an outside chance at getting nominated for an Oscar. Let me
repeat that. AN OSCAR. Though it's starting to look like Forrest
Whitaker might be able to start polishing the golden statuette for his
portrayal of a Ugandan dictator in "The Last King of Scotland," just
getting Cohen nominated would be unbelievable. Imagine what Cohen
could do with this. I can envision him stumbling over members of the
audience, showing pictures of his sister (the number four prostitute
in Kazakhstan) to people in tuxedos and Gucci dresses, muttering
anti-Semitic remarks to all the wrong people – the potential is
endless.

Borat would have a red carpet full of actors and actresses, who know
what game he's playing, yet because of the cameras that will be on
them, will be almost forced to comment. Of course, he could always
just show up not in character, but how could Cohen nix such an
opportunity? Unfortunately, the Academy Awards has become nothing
more than a display of vanity from personalities who've been
systematically trained to spit out dialogue that seems to have been
siphoned through a public relations firm first. Borat would have a
field day.

If those who pull together the Oscars are smart at all, they should
even have him give out an award or introduce a special segment. He
could probably make Sound Editing the most entertaining and
interesting part of the night fairly easily. And just imagine the
kind of conversation he could have with Sean Penn.