Every movie blog I read has been offering thoughts, thoughts, and more thoughts on the AMPAS’ announcement of the hosts for the 83rd Academy Awards. But in case my blog is the closest you get to movie news, let me fill you in on a little secret: James Franco and Anne Hathaway were tapped to host.
In my opinion, this is something to celebrate. Both are dramatic actors with incredibly potent comedic talent (as evidenced by their “Saturday Night Live” appearances), and they have an exuberant youthful charm that makes them incredible winning figures. I think they will light up the Oscar stage, and if anyone has any doubts, see Anne Hathaway’s song-and-dance number with Hugh Jackman from two years ago.
It’s a curious choice indeed with the hosts having performances in play for big awards, but I think if we leave the politics out of it (which many Oscar analysts won’t), it will be an inspired show. The pairing of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin worked last year, and the 2010 variation on the buddy host scheme is meant to appeal to a younger crowd. This generation (hem, my generation) has not traditionally shown an interest in the show, and Franco and Hathaway will certainly be a draw.
All I can say is: I’m still waiting for someone to top Whoopi Goldberg’s “African Queen” moment from 1999, which is one of the main reason why I’m obsessed with the Oscars. (Read more about it in Random Factoid #221.)
Yesterday, I finished David Sedaris’ “When You Are Engulfed in Flames,” well over a year after I first picked it up. For some strange reason, last week I just had this insatiable mental impetus to devour a book. I found Sedaris’ collection of hilarious essays nestled in my bookcase and decided to start over and bask in his humor once again.
Today, November 26, 2010, I achieved an important milestone.
I’ll go there again – another moviegoing pet peeve that I think I may have just realized bothers me.
The directors of the new and already forgotten movie “Skyline,” the Strause Brothers, were quite outspoken about the movie’s visual effects. They worked on movies like “Titanic,” “300,” and “Avatar” but decided to make their own movie on a sort of DIY scale. The movie’s release certainly made them feel entitled to call out in 
Welcome back to the random factoid column, which I should really just rename “Dumb Stuff Jessica Alba Says.” As you may remember, she made the news last week for Elle interview in which she claimed that 
This is totally random, out there, and will probably be discarded as one of those “too personal” posts that probably have no use to the average reader. But if you made it past that first long sentence, then clearly you give some sort of a care about what I’m writing, so I’ll write it anyways.
I 
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new pairing of legendary director and actor to make every pundit go “Oscar winner in 2 years.” Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood for “Invictus” was an example of just such a pairing.
I have to admit, I’ve always wondered if I would ever walk into a theater thinking I was seeing one movie and then see another. I get particularly suspicious when the trailers before the movie don’t seem to match in tone with the movie I’m about to see. What I could only imagine became a reality for some audiences this week. According to 
Well, there goes Redbox as being a great deal for consumers.
Dear Jean-Luc Godard,
I talk a lot about the moviegoing experience, particularly all the things that can go wrong with it. In fact, I think this is the second time that I said I’ve stopped linking to other factoids simply because I’ve said so much. Nonetheless, I have a new entry to the “things that bother me when I go see a movie.”
Marshall and the Movies 
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