Media Mondays

A Christmas picture with Pluto at Disneyland for the holidays. 

It's Christmas Eve, but it's still Media Mondays and I here to help you with your holiday movie choices.  If you are headed with the movies with your parents, you have 3 family holiday movie choices this year and I've seen them all!  Here is the order you should see these in:

My 1st Choice:  The Guilt Trip

Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen have great mother/son chemistry and the crazy scenarios they get into during their cross-country trip are exactly the same situations you get into with your own mother.  They nag, they love, and they always have a solution to every problem.  I was lucky enough to bring my own mom to the press junket.  See our interview with Barbra and Seth for iVillage.   

My 2nd Choice:  Parental Guidance

Well, I am currently embargoed until Christmas Day from talking about this, but here is what I will say...Billy Crystal and Bette Midler are great together in this family comedy.

My 3rd Choice:  This is 40 

Sigh.  I wanted to love this movie, but I couldn't.  It's long, it's shrill, and I feel like Judd Apatow is getting a little lazy in his filmmaking.  I love, love, love Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd has been a favorite of mine since Clueless.  I just wish this was a better movie.  You've been warned.

I did interview Paul and Leslie and this was a pretty hilarious moment...Paul tells me, "At 40, you are one day closer to death."  Okay, thanks for the uplifting advice!    Watch the interview here.

SheKnows: My 3 favorite articles from last week--
Rebel Wilson To Host the MTV Movie Awards--I just love her.
Danielle Fishel Graduates from College at 31--I love her too! Long live Topanga
David Letterman F-bombs Tom Cruise--If you didn't see this video, you must.  It makes Tom Cruise look relaxed and fun too.

Don't forget to enter my Holiday Gift Basket Giveaway, you have until midnight on Christmas Day PST!  

Or you can help me find a dress for Oscar Nominations.  Find a dress online that you think will look good on me and if I wear the winning dress, you get a $25 gift certificate to the store of your choice.  It's that easy.  Find all of the details here.  

Merry Christmas!

My Full Oscar Nominations Coverage-2012

Phew!  What a day it was.  I was so amped up, that I stayed up from my 2:15AM alarm until about 8:30PM last night.  There was so much to do from interviews to writing articles to getting all of the videos shot and ready to go.  Instead of sending you all over the internet, you can find all of my coverage here:

Let's start with Starpulse:
My full article on what happened in the theatre is here along with a fun interview with Tom Sherak, President of the Academy.  He was pretty forthcoming about the diversity of this year's nominees and the new rules set in place to keep the playing field as level as possible during the voting period.
Starpulse highlight video with Tom Sherak: Click Here.
Starpulse FULL interview with Tom Sherak: Click Here.

For Red Carpet Report:
Here is my Oscar insider thoughts on yesterday morning's nominations:


And I get to pick legendary film critic, Leonard Maltin's brain about the surprises and omissions on this year's list.


Finally, I will be doing Oscar updates each week between now and February 26th for a bunch of media outlets.  Here is my Nominations update for Forces of Geek in front of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.  (I told you it was a busy day!)

I am also interested in hearing your thoughts on the nominations.  I was pleasantly surprised because, for once, the awards don't seem predetermined to a specific film or actor.  I feel that almost every category is up for grabs.  Now, it's up to Billy Crystal and show producers, Brian Grazer and Don Mischer, to make this show entertaining.

All photos property of Mingle Media TV and Kristyn Burtt.  They may not be used without permission. Thank you.

An Academy Tribute to Sophia Loren

Last night was one of those evenings where you pinch yourself and think "How the heck did I get here?" I ran into actresses Debi Mazar and Eva Mendes on the way to the restroom to kick off the night, but didn't sink in until Tom Hanks said to the audience in a taped message, "How lucky are you to be in the same room as Sophia Loren?".  The word lucky doesn't even begin to describe it.  Sophia was being honored last night by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her 50-year contribution to the film industry.  At 76 years of age, the woman looks spectacular.  Her body is still to die for and that stunning face is unparalleled.  In fact, a gentleman behind me on the way out of the theatre, and close to Sophia's age, said to his wife, "The breasts are good."  Yes, sir, they are, enviably good.
 

The evening was hosted by the man everyone wishes would come back to the Academy Award telecast, Billy Crystal.  Before director/choreographer, Rob Marshall, gave his tribute to Sophia, he yelled over to Billy how fantastic he was and then asked him, "Where were you this year?  You know what I mean."  Wow, that was ballsy to say in the House of Oscar.  Remember, these are the people who vote for the Academy Awards and put on the show, but honestly, Marshall was exactly right.  Crystal came out of the gate with an Osama bin Laden joke about his last words being, "I can't believe I am going to miss Wednesday night."  That is how coveted the tickets were to last night's sold out event. On my way in, a woman asked me if I had an extra ticket.  When I mentioned I was a guest of someone at the Academy, she replied, "You are going to have quite an evening."

With wonderful appreciations coming from Roberto Benigni via video message and in person from John Travolta and her son, Edoardo Ponti, Loren was visibly moved and downright soft-spoken during her acknowledgements.  The fun really began when she sat down to chat with Crystal because the banter back and forth was quick and hilarious.  Loren had personally chosen "Beee-lly" to be the host of the evening, and boy, did she pick well.  There is great affection between the two and only Crystal would lead off a series of questions with, "Where do you get a slice in LA?"  Classic.  Yep, the pizza in LA sure does not compare to that of Italy.

The evening was punctuated with incredible film clips from her career from her Oscar-winning performance in Two Women to her famous striptease scene in Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow to her lovely role in 2009's Nine.  I will list the movies selected for the tribute below because I think her films are a must for your summer Netflix queue.  Also, be sure to watch one of my favorite Oscar moments from 1999 when Loren presented Roberto Benigni with his Academy Award.  Her yell and wave with the announcement makes me smile every time.  

Many thanks to Tarrah Curtis for the ticket to last night's event.  It was such an incredible program, so I appreciate you letting me share in the experience.

Sophia Loren Films Selected for the Tribute:

Marriage Italian Style
The Gold of Naples
Too Bad She's Bad
Desire Under the Elms
Housebout
Two Women
El Cid
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Arabesque
Sunflower
Man of La Mancha
A Special Day
Between Strangers
Nine
Ready to Wear (Prêt-a-Porter)




Photos 1, 2:  Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S.
Photos 3, 5:  Richard Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S.