Sia Plays Dress Up (Sort Of) On “This Is Acting”

Sia Furler was a major force in the world of pop music long before she exploded onto the scene with 2014’s mega-hit “Chandelier.” Before the now iconic blonde bob, before the music video featuring Maddie Ziegler, Sia was cranking out hits for artists like Rihanna, Flo Rida, David Guetta. So much of her image has been crafted around the woman behind the music, that when she thrust herself onto the main stage, one wondered if she had what it took to become a lasting presence and not just a flash in the pan. Her brilliant sixth album, 1000 Forms of Fear was recorded and released to simply release her from her recording soundtrack, and put an end to any idea that she was going to be one of the major pop girls. The rest is history.

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“ANTi” Is Finally Here: Review

It’s hard to talk about Rihanna’s latest album without discussing the long, seemingly never-ending, rollout that preceded it. I can’t remember an album campaign this confusing, or frustratingly drawn out as this one in my lifetime. And whether you want to believe all of the rumors concerning the singer’s dissatisfaction with various versions of the album or her search for songs to actually put on the album, is entirely up to you.

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Academy Award Nominations: Another Year Of #OscarsSoWhite

I expected a few upsets with this morning’s Academy Award nominations. But more than anything, I’m just disappointed. This was such a groundbreaking year for film. You had Mad Max: Fury Road, Carol, Sicario, Tangerine… the list goes on. And while Mad Max: Fury Road was one of the nomination leaders, there was less to be excited about over in a lot of the other categories.

For starters, let’s talk about the most glaring offense. After The Academy had controversially nominated all white actors in the leading and supporting categories last year, they followed the same trend this year; There’s not a person of color to be found among your 20 acting nominees. And while many will say that contenders such as Michael B. Jordan from Creed and Mya Taylor from Tangerine were long shots, I say that’s not an excuse. There were more than a dozen surprises this morning from the various categories that included many names we didn’t expect to hear this morning. Lenny Abrahamson scored a Best Director nomination over Ridley Scott, who had more support from the various precursors and guilds. Mark Ruffalo, despite not receiving an individual Screen Actors Guild nomination, or really any important precursor awards, landed a nomination in Best Supporting Actor over one of the presumed frontrunners, Idris Elba from the fantastic Beasts of No Nation. Oscar Isaac, one of this year’s breakout stars, was fantastic in Ex Machina, Benicio del Toro delivered one of the best performances of the year in Sicario and Straight Outta Compton found no love in either the acting or Best Picture categories, despite having support from the guilds.

They clearly vote for what they like, and what they like is becoming increasingly evident with each year. Jennifer Lawrence for JOY, REALLY? As someone who is a die hard film buff, and has grown up watching the Oscars, this is something that matters to me. In hindsight, The Academy Awards are not the most important thing in the world. But as our world, and our film industry, grows to be more diverse, so should the awards. We hear all the time that they’re constantly adding new members and trying to diversify their membership, but where is that reflected in the awards? Though I was not so high on the film itself, I’m glad Alejandro G. Iñárritu, last year’s winner, found his way into Best Director, but that was about the only major nomination landed by a person of color this year.

Some more glaring omissions to discuss: Carol, easily one of the best films of the year, was omitted from Best Picture. Rooney Mara from Carol and Alicia Vikander from The Danish Girl were both nominated in Supporting Actress, despite the high profile backlash (and just common sense) that both are the leads of their films. Vikander’s nomination comes especially as a shock, because she had a perfectly great supporting performance from Ex Machina they could have rewarded, one that was picking up steam in recent weeks.

All I’m saying, is that The Academy is very clearly out of touch and has turned into a dog and pony show. This is far from news, excuse me trying to make sense of this mess.

The full list of nominations are below. The winners of the Academy Awards will be announced February 28th.

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“The Revenant” Wins Big At A Dull Golden Globes Ceremony

If there’s anything we learned at last night’s Golden Globes, it’s that we still have no idea who the front runner for the Oscars are this year.

That being said, the Golden Globes aren’t really related to the Oscars in any way besides being awards, but they do indicate where the passion is for the films in contention. Though, I’m not really sure what the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association were smoking when they filled out their ballots.

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Who Will, Could And Should Win At The Golden Globes?

The annual Golden Globe Awards are tomorrow night. We’ve heard from the critics, and received nominations from the various guilds, but this is the first major awards body that is anointing winners.

It’s important to note that the HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) does not vote on the Oscars, and wins here have little indication as to who is going to win with the guilds or the Academy. What the Globes do, however, is indicate where the heat/buzz is in the race. Sometimes they can be an indicator of which films have the most passionate support, and that can be useful when looking at the Oscars.

Also important: Winners here can make an impression on voters with really memorable speeches. I’m not saying it has everything to do with winning an Oscar, but it has something.

So, who will win it all tomorrow night? Who could win? And more importantly, who should win? And who was snubbed? Let’s take a look at all of the nominees from the film and television categories.

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