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What Do You Think About the Best Actress?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:41:13 -0800

Kate Winslet just won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in The Reader! She'd been nominated five times before this year, and this is her first win. Her fellow nominees included Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Melissa Leo, and Meryl Streep. How do you feel about this win?

Vote on all of my Oscar Winners Polls here!

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What Do You Think About the Best Actress?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:19:20 -0800

Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. Her fellow nominees included Cate Blanchett, Julie Christie, Laura Linney and Ellen Page, and her speech was absolutely adorable ("You rocked my life!"). How do you feel about this win?

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What Do You Think About the Best Actress?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 20:57:01 -0800

The gracious, composed Helen Mirren won for Best Actress; no big shocker there! How do you feel about this win?

Oscar Polls: Pick the Winners!

BuzzSugar — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:37:16 -0800

For the past week leading up to this Sunday's Oscars, I've been posting polls asking what actors and movies you think are most deserving of the major awards.

Of course, you can submit an Oscar ballot with your predictions, but who we think will win isn't necessarily the same as who we want to win. If you haven't already, cast your vote and tell me your preferred winners in these categories:

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Oscar Poll: Who Should Win Best Actress?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:23:16 -0800

The 2007 Oscars feature a truly great roster of women in leading roles. Though most everyone expects Helen Mirren to win for The Queen, all five nominees turned out outstanding performances. Who do you think deserves the award?

Link Time! ABC Pulls the Plug on Kelsey Grammer's Hank

BuzzSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:30:57 -0800

It's just no Frasier: ABC cancels Hank - Ausiello Files
In a quick turn of events, Steven Tyler announces that he is not quitting Aerosmith - E! Online
Did you watch The City last night? Test your knowledge with this tech quiz - GeekSugar
Celebrate Veterans Day with these classic war movies! - MTV Movies Blog
The Tony Awards better get ready: Denzel Washington is coming to Broadway in a revival of August Wilson's Fences - Culture Monster
Winona Ryder signs on as the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie. - Movieline
Check out this list of John Cusack's 10 best movies - Rotten Tomatoes
Get to know the actress behind Anna on TV's V - TV.com

Buzz Interview With the Cast of Precious, Part 3: Gabourey Sidibe

BuzzSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:30:00 -0800

Precious begins rolling out in theaters this Friday, and we'll finally see if it lives up to its Oscar hype. One performance that the Academy will definitely be talking about comes from newcomer Gabby Sidibe, who carries the film as the title character.

Playing an abused, pregnant teen is the sort of responsibility and heavy subject matter that could make even pros crack under pressure - so how is she coping with her big screen debut? I've already showed you my interviews with Paula Patton and director Lee Daniels, but for this third installment in my Precious series, check out my chat with the actress who already has Oprah and the rest of Hollywood buzzing.

On landing the role: "When I got hired, I was pretty sure it was just a joke. I wasn't an actress - I was a receptionist before this. I was like, there's no way they're interested in me. Since then, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, but this joke has gone pretty far!"
On how she handled the first-time pressure: "I was sure I would look like a complete novice, like I didn't belong there, or that I didn't fit in, but once I got there and saw all the people involved - grips, electric, camera operators - I thought, okay, there are a lot of people whose paychecks are on my back, so I can't spaz out. So immediately all of my nervousness fell away from me, and I had a job to do."

To hear more from Gabby (including her thoughts on Mariah Carey and the Best Actress gossip), read more.

On the award buzz: "It's weird, because I have no idea what it is to be a part of an Oscar-winning film or any kind of accolade-winning film, because this is my first go-around. So I just take every day as a gift! I'm thankful that anyone sees the film and feels something - and if the awards come, they come, or if they don't, they don't. But what I've done so far, I'm absolutely proud of myself."
On working with Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz: "It was insane. They're all people that I absolutely idolize. The first time Lenny Kravitz came on set, I was standing very, very still, and I knew he was around, and I couldn't wait for him to come upstairs. Then he did, and it was like, well, there is Lenny Kravitz. There was nothing to be scared about, because he was very cool. And Mariah, I met her the night before we started shooting. She was like the last to be hired, so we had done most of the movie. I kind of felt like a veteran - Mariah is stepping on to my turf. [laughs]"

On her next project: "It's a Sundance Lab Film [Yelling to the Sky], and it stars Zoe Kravitz. I play a girl who is really loud and obnoxious, the queen of the school. It's really fun because it's so far from Precious - I like playing the bad girl! And the film has a first-time director, Victoria Mahoney, who's a lady. The DP is a female, the camera operator is female, so it's all females. It's empowering in a weird way. I've never been all super feminist, but it's really cool."
On her new career: "It's so weird to have a 'Hollywood career.' I just want to do things that make me happy. There are so many people that I look up to as far as actresses go, but I just want to go as far as I can."

Love her! I'll be keeping a close eye on Gabby when the film opens, especially once award nominations start flowing in. Will you be checking out Precious?

Photos courtesy of Lionsgate and Source

Do You Agree With This Week's Project Runway Winner and Loser?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:30:22 -0700

Michael Kors disappeared from the judges panel on this week's Project Runway, so season two alum Nick Verreos and actress Kerry Washington took his place. The challenge was to craft a companion look for each contestant's best look (not winning look, sadly, because Logan hadn't won a challenge). The winner and loser didn't necessarily surprise me, but the whininess of Althea and Irina irritated me to no end. I was glad that Nick noted how easy it was to cull inspiration from each other in the small group. Either way, do you think the winner deserved the win and the loser deserved the booting?

Note: to avoid spoilers, the pictured looks aren't necessarily the winning and losing looks.

Photos courtesy of Lifetime

Forbes Reveals Its Top 10 Best Actresses For the Buck

BuzzSugar — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:30:55 -0700

We know that some actresses in Hollywood have hefty paychecks, but which A-listers bring in the most money for the studios? Forbes just revealed its top 10, and the list includes several unexpected choices.

At No. 1 is Naomi Watts. Are you surprised by the pick? Seems kind of odd - why not the biggest earner of all, Angelina Jolie? - but keep in mind that these are the women who make the best financial investment. (Read: Lower paychecks, higher-grossing movies like King Kong.)

I'm actually glad to see Watts in the lead. She's an underrated actress, and she somehow always manages to stay out of the Hollywood limelight, so it's nice to see her get some recognition.

Who else made the list? A few more of my favorites, so check out the full rundown, and then tell me if you agree with Forbes when you read more.

1. Naomi Watts
2. Jennifer Connelly
3. Rachel McAdams
4. Natalie Portman
5. Meryl Streep
6. Jennifer Aniston
7. Halle Berry
8. Cate Blanchett
9. Anne Hathaway
10. Hilary Swank

Whip It: A Rollicking Good Time

BuzzSugar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:30:56 -0700

Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, roller derby comedy Whip It, is not unlike the actress's persona: cute, fun, and with a whole lot going on.

Ellen Page stars as quiet 17-year-old Bliss Cavendar, whose mother (Marcia Gay Harden) wants to make her the queen of small-town Texas beauty pageants. Bliss meekly goes along with the idea, her voice too small to tell her mom she hates the contests. But one chance visit to nearby big city Austin and everything changes. Bliss admires some intimidating derby girls, and after sneaking off to a match, decides to try out. What follows is a fast-paced, highly entertaining girl-power anthem.

To read more about what I did and didn't like about the movie, just read more.

The movie is perfectly cast; Page plays a shy teen easily, never giving up her sweetness even after she adopts the moniker "Babe Ruthless" and gets repeatedly knocked into the rink sidelines. The team who welcomes her, the Hurl Scouts, is a motley crew: Eve and Zoe Bell don't become much more than background players, Barrymore is an ebullient if minor supporter ("Smashley Simpson"), but team captain Kristen Wiig is one of the hearts of the movie. With a part bigger than the trailer implies, Wiig (I never get tired of the derby names: "Maggie Mayhem") emerges as a mother figure when Bliss's relationship with her own mom is strained. It's nice to see her playing straight for once, and besides Page, Wiig is really the only multi-faceted derby girl.

That's not to say that the derby girls aren't anything special. Beautiful, tough, and impossibly cool, maybe you wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley, but you'd definitely want to be invited to their party. Juliette Lewis looks every part the queen bee - aggressive and sexy, she'll push you in a locker before you know what hit you. And naturally, there's a love interest, musician Landon Pigg - but he's kind of an afterthought, which I liked. By not giving in to the cliche that a girl gets everything she wants when she finds her passion, it strengthens the movie's pervasive girl power idea.

The movie isn't just about derby; it's a coming-of-age tale too, and Bliss didn't come from a shaky foundation. Alia Shawkat (yay, Maeby!) plays the hilarious and supportive BFF who doesn't exist just to cheer Bliss on from the sidelines. She's got her own thing, and is too confident to be left behind when Bliss gets wrapped up in her new life - a refreshing departure from the typical best friend character. And Harden isn't merely a strict parent caricature; she may want something completely different for her daughter, but her caring nature shines through.

It's not all success on skates, though. Sometimes the portrayal of the derby world gets to be an overzealous glorification. Sure, it's an amazing outlet for a lot of people and one of the few contact sports that really belongs to women, but the movie pushes the sexualization of the players a little too far. It's already sexy that the women play such a powerful sport, so it's not really necessary to do close-ups of the actresses' bare flesh to show the bruises.

There are a few things you could criticize about Barrymore's direction; for instance, Shauna Cross's screenplay is really quite funny, but some of the actors' lines fall flat. Also, the roller derby scenes have such potential to be exciting, and they could have been even more epic. Then again, this is Barrymore's first outing as a director, and it's still what you would expect from her: a fun-loving, freewheeling confection of a movie with a killer soundtrack.

Photos courtesy of Fox Searchlight