Screen Actors Guild Awards

The SAG awards results (held on Jan 25th). They give awards only to actors (the award is called The Actor®) - and the word "actress" is prohibited. They also give awards for ensemble acting, and for both film and tv. Can't you just hear the kids at home: "Hey, mommy won The Actor" - "Wow! Is it Tom Cruise?" 2009 SAG Winners (career totals shown) Film Ensemble Cast: Slumdog Millionaire Lead Actress: Meryl Streep (Doubt, 2nd, but 1st for film) Lead Actor: Sean Penn (Milk, 1st) Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet (The Reader, 2nd) Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (Dark Knight, 1st) Stunt Ensemble, film: The Dark Knight TV Ensemble Cast, Comedy: 30 Rock Lead Actress, Comedy: Tina Fey (30 Rock) - Tina Fey – 2nd and 3rd awards Lead Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) - Alec Baldwin – 3rd and 4th awards Ensemble Cast, Drama: Mad Men Lead Actor, Drama: Hugh Laurie (House, 2nd) Lead Actress, Drama: Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters, 1st) Actress, Movie or Miniseries: Laura Linney (John Adams, 1st) Actor, Movie or Miniseries: Paul Giamatti (John Adams, 1st) Stunt Ensemble, tv: Heroes Lifetime Achievement: James Earl Jones (who has NO Oscars, while Denzel Washington has two, and Forrest Whitaker, Morgan Freeman, and Halle Berry one each; is there no justice in Oscar-ville? That's the greatest voice in film history we're talking about, and the 2nd greatest, John Houseman, also has an Oscar) Quotes “I can’t decide if I want to make out with Tony Hopkins or Diane Lane. Doesn’t Tony look great?” – Alec Baldwin “My daughter puts on makeup and says ‘I look like Barack Obama’ – I don’t know where she got the idea that it’s cool to look like a politician. One day she’s gonna see 30 Rock on YouTube and ask ‘what do you mean, no residuals?’” – Tina Fey “My dad was a stuntman, and I think you just saw some of his work underneath the horses.” – Sally Field (after a montage of great film stunts) "Thanks for this ensemble award - some of these folks we just picked up off the street" - Jane Krakowski (30 Rock) “In Genesis, it says that God shaped man from the dust of the earth and breathed life into his nostril; I don’t mean to embarrass any of you, but an actor does the same thing with a role.” – James Earl Jones “I would just like to add, Paul Newman, somebody down here likes you.” – James Earl Jones (a reference to Newman’s first big film, “Somebody Up There Likes Me”) “Something happened to me making this film, and I now notice that these statues have nice packages.” – Sean Penn The official SAG site nominations and winners: Screen Actors Guild My Comments: I discovered 30 Rock on dvd, and love it. The beauty of the dvd's is 8 episodes per disk (about 3 hrs) with no commercials! Excellent writing, and Alec Baldwin is perfect, he's a terrific comic actor. Best thing on network tv right now, which isn't saying much at all unless you like amateur singing, amateur dancing, amateur's surviving, or people losing weight as a contest. How LOW have we sunk? I read Bernard Schlink's book "The Reader" and liked it a lot. I like the SciFi premise of Benjamin Button, if done right these stories can be enchanting. My favorite so far is Wall-E, sadly, it's destined to win nothing but animation awards. I haven't seen Slumdog yet, but I look forward to it. Too late for wagering! -- the Jman, El Presidenté

Slumdog Millionaire wins Critics Choice Award

Director Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire won the Critic's Choice award as Best Picture, Boyle won director and the film won five awards overall at Thursday nights Critic's Choics awards for 2008 films. Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire Best Action Picture: The Dark Knight Best Comedy Picture: Tropic Thunder Best Animated Picture: Wall-E Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk Best Actress: (tie) Meryl Streep, Doubt; Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married Supp. Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight Supp. Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader Best Documentary: Man on Wire Best Foreign Film: Waltz with Bashir - this animated film about Palestine took four years to complete and the director had three kids while working on it! Best TV Movie: John Adams - before presenting this award, Sarah Silverman said "because we all know the best films are being made for tv" Here's a link to all nominations and winners: 2009 Critics Choice Awards Note: When Dustin Hoffman went to announce Best Picture, he first said "it's a three-way tie!" -- then "Just kidding...." Heath Ledger may become the second posthumous Oscar winner for acting, after Peter Finch (Network - "I'm mad a hell!") Here is his first award; personally, I prefer Jack Nicholson, the Joker was a joker, remember, not a morbid sadistic psycho; Ledger was better in Brokeback Mountain, imo, even though that's my least favorite Larry McMurtry (Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, Lonesome Dove, Comanche Moon) screenplay.