The Spielster » Things I love

Happy 50th Morrissey!!!!!!!

admin — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:16:48 +0000

Holy schnickeys man. Its pretty hard to believe the man who could easily assisted me through my terrible teens, many a sad night, many a happy night and was nearly omnipresent through any important event in my life is 50 YEARS OLD TODAY!!!! Steven Patrick Morrissey, born in Lancashire, England on May 22nd, 1959 is celebrating his fiftieth birthday today. The man who continues to kick more and more ass each time I see him perform live, including his NYC jaunt few months ago, will forever be one of the most influential humans on my life.

So please accept this small little tribute from me and your other million fans. Without you on my side, who knows where I would have ended up. So raise a glass, punch out a meat eater tonight and bask in the beautifulness that is Morrissey. Happy Birthday you Charming Man!

I Want To Go To There….and other things Tina Fey taught me.

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:12:07 +0000

Lord with the amount of posts on this blog devoted to Jimmy Fallon and his new show, you would think I was being personally comped by NBC. Well I’m not, but I am definitely open to suggestions Mr. Silverman! Anyways, Tina Fey stopped by “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” last night to be the comedians first guest on his second night and I can say it went a lot better than the time spent with Robert DeNiro. Fallon, while still obviously nervous about his new gig, was a bit more poised last night, except for the constant giggling jags (which has always been a problem for Fallon on live TV). The hit last night was the always adorable Tina Fey. I don’t know how my girl crush on this woman triples every time I see her, but it does. She should be on every night of the week so I never get depressed.

Her and Fallon dished on how awkward black tie events are, how she isn’t aware of “Twilight” madness and how she couldn’t keep up with guest stat Salma Hayek during Oscar time. They did the trips down memory lane, which I think is working in Fallon’s favor, but he cant be best friends with everyone he brings to the couch. Fey had no problem embarrassing herself by dancing for Jon Bon Jovi, discussing being a mom and revisiting old hairstyles from her SNL days. But the most important thins we learned last night was where the phrase “I want to go to there!” from “30 Rock” came from. And its way better than you would have guessed. I personally can not wait until she starts working “I want to get a lot of sucks” into things. Here’s the clip….

Image courtesy of NBC

Woody Allen’s Return to NYC will begin at Tribeca!!!

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:03:59 +0000

My prediction that “Whatever Works” would premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival was quite accurate. It was announced today that Woody Allen’s latest film would premiere at the TFF’s opening night on April 22nd. It’s quite fitting that Allen’s return to New York on screen would be the same year he premiered a film at Tribeca Film Festival.

The details of the movie are sparse other than it will be a darker version of typical Woody. The film stars Larry David as the typical curmudgeon character, as well as Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Begley Jr. and Patricia Clarkson. Jane Rosenthal, the co-founder of the festival said “I fell in love with New York through Woody Allen’s movies and I am excited we are opening this year’s Festival”, with “Whatever Works”. The festival has been tweaking their format recently in order to compete for bragging rights with Sundance as a powerhouse within the independent and cinematic community. The full schedule for the festival has not yet been released yet and I will be covering the festival as events and schedules develop. I am excited about the partnership between Allen and the TFF. The pairing of the quintessential New Yorker with the ever expanding film festival is genius. I cannot wait to see this movie and think Larry David and Woody Allen together is what neurotic Jewish dreams are made of. Sony Pictures Classics has already picked up the film and it will be released nationwide on June 19th.

Arrested Development Full Length – It’s On.

admin — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:23:42 +0000

All of us “Arrested Development” fans can breath a sigh of relief with the announcement that the full length is a definite thing. Last week while being interviewed on the red carpet at the Oscars, executive producer Ron Howard confirmed that the movie is a go and in the early stages of production. For the past year, all the players, except for Michael Cera, have gone on and on about excited they were to return their hilarious Bluth family and bring the funny to the big screen. Cera has maintained his snarky responses and detached answers when probed about the possibility of a return to his role as George Michael Bluth. He even once joked that if presented with a script for a possible film he would sooner rip it up than read it. The stories of Cera’s angst towards what made him got so out of control there were “I hate Michael Cera” blogs, angry posts on film blogs and even comments from fellow cast mates, like Jeffrey Tambor who told Defamer that if necessary he would “make” Cera participate in the big screen adaptation. I can only assume from the latest news that Michael has decided to go forward with reprising his role is that he finally understood the backlash that would be upon him if he were to fuck with crazy nerdy fans, like “Arrested Development” has or he was just excited to be around such hysterically funny human beings again who weren’t discussing emo or pot. Whatever the reasons that brought him to the table, I am just glad that it seems this movie will finally hit theaters before my kids are off to college.

Remake of Absolutely Fabulous Might Actually Be Funny….

admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:24:00 +0000

Dang it. I know I might get skewered for this, possibly even by myself, but they confirmed the cast for Fox’s remake/revisioning of “Absolutely Fabulous” and it looks like it might actually…work. I know a few months ago when I heard the news I almost lit myself on fire in protest, but apparently whoever is casting this knows their stuff. See this is why you aren’t supposed to jump to conclusions. The American comedy will have Kristen Johnston star as the alcoholic cougar Patsy and her best friend, alcoholic frump Eddie, will be played by Kathryn Hahn. Zosia Mamet, playwright David Mamet’s daughter, will round out the cast as Eddie’s bookworm daughter Saffron. The show will have the same basic plot as the UK version, with Eddie as a publicist and Patsy as an editor within the fashion and entertainment world and their mishap adventures while reclaiming their youth and “glory days”. Um can we get Betty White to play Eddie’s hysterically disapproving mother? Pretty please Fox?? So yeah, with addition of very funny and unutilized Hahn to the cast, Im going to say it – this just might become my favorite show next year.

Could 2009 Get Any Better For Us Alterna Fans?

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:42:01 +0000

Oh happy day. I am not sure if 2009 can get any better tour wise, but I beg it to attempt to prove me wrong. Well at least if you grew up in the 80’s it is. First, Jane’s Addiction announced it would bring the original line up back together for a U.S. tour with Nine Inch Nails (YARGH!!!!). Then Depeche Mode had to one them up and announce a deluxe box set and a studio album. There is a confirmed Faith No More reunion tour in Europe and I can only pray that this will come to America, specifically NYC. And then Depeche Mode announced their own U.S. tour for this summer. Okay, I think the only way this could get any better is if Blur, Soundgarden and The Smiths all decided to go on tour together. Um Kim Thayil, you hear me????? I can only say that the 13 year old goth-alterna teen in me is way too excited for these upcoming shows.

Anyways, Jane’s Addiction is supposedly now playing a show at SXSW next month in Austin, along with Metallica, and there are still many rumors floating around about Coachella’s lineup being updated to a few “surprise” reunions: Mike Patton, Morrissey and Perry Farrell will be there – who is to say something won’t happen. To get yourself psyched even further, check out Depeche Mode’s new video “Wrong” from the upcoming album, Sounds Of The Universe, which hits the US shores on April 21st. Enjoy.

The Awards Shows are coming, the Awards Shows are coming!!!

admin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:08:34 +0000

Ahh…its that time of year again. I can feel it in the air. Binging, purging, spray tans, tequila and the slightest hint of phoniness must mean that this weekend is the big day in Los Angeles. Yep that’s right it’s Oscar time. I felt stiffed with the Best Picture category nominees, so its a bit hard to get jazzed up about it all. But that doesn’t mean I will not be celebrating with a little get together and live blogging/twittering the event.

I meant to discuss my picks for the winners a while back with the few big categories, but I have been completely side tracked and can’t believe this weekend is upon us already. Its almost pointless at this time to discuss proposed winners because nearly every category is sewn up. But for the big ones, I wanted to chat a bit about who I THINK should win.

Let’s get to the big one right away –
Best Picture:
Please don’t tomatoes at your screen when I say this, but I really don’t think Slumdog Millionaire deserves to win Best Picture. Don’t get me wrong, I really really liked the movie and wouldn’t mind seeing it again. The story was clever, the characters were touching and the film showed me a life I wasn’t familiar with. I think overall though, there were a few spots within the movie that fell flat, didn’t flow and I think the performances were a bit lacking. I know that these actors are all young and new to this, but I didn’t get a lot of the depth, specifically when they were older. The cinematography and editing was great and the story was refreshingly new with a wonderful destiny/hope ideal running it through it, but for me a movie to win the big one it needs to be special. It needs to have perfect performances and story that will resonate for years.
My personal fave this year was Wall-E and Doubt. I know there was no way in hell Wall-E would get a nod in that category, but I was incredibly surprised with the lack of Doubt in this category. This was a delicate adaptation of an award winning play and it made me feel. The performances across the board were shockingly good, with Viola Davis’ small amount of screen time made me breakdown within three minutes. The movie, which focused on a Catholic Church in NYC back in the 1960′s, brought forth the conversation of racism, sexism, pedophilia and fear, just to name a few. It was able to bridge its story to many facets and I believe it deserved a Best Picture nomination.

Best Actress:
This is very heavy group of women. First, we have Meryl Streep, for her role as Sister Aloysius in “Doubt”. The best actress award has been won by Streep more than a few times and her performance was breath taking, but I don’t believe it was the best. Second, we have Kate Winslet, who is always a bridesmaid, never a bride when it comes to the dang Oscars. This year, if previous awards are true indicators, that she will get her golden man. Winslet has delivered, time and time again, pitch perfect performances and has continuously lost out in this category. She is definitely due, but unfortunately I think this will be robbing the person who should be receiving the award – Anne Hathaway. Hathaway gives a shocking performance in “Rachel Getting Married”. The actress, who plays the black sheep, drug addict within a broken artist family, and she is magnificent. Her pain is palatable, her awkwardness makes you cringe. Its like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” meets suicide. Anne went above and beyond the typical next role with this indie and I can only hope the IFC Spirit Awards(more on those in a bit) will appreciate her departure and strength in this role.

Best Supporting Actor:
Heath Ledger will walk away with this, if only for the Academy to support what could have been one of the greatest actors of all time with an award. Josh Brolin though will be due for this within the next two years if he keeps up with past performances.

Best Supporting Actress:
Penelope Cruz will walk away with the honor, but Viola Davis was able to make the most significant impression on me out of all the films I saw with her twelve minutes on the screen. She will be a force to reckon with in the future.

Best Animated Film:
If Wall-E does not win this, Academy members take cover. Its one thing not to nominate it for Best Picture, but if this does not win against Bolt and Kung Fu Panda, bad things will happen.

For the other categories, I am pretty much on par for the assumed winners. I am curious (look at me go) about “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” possibly losing all thirteen awards they were nominated for.

Tomorrow, IFC will be presenting their annual Spirit Awards, which reward smaller films, with smaller budgets and actors who command smaller salaries. Last year’s winners were pretty identical to a lot of Oscar winners, but I don’t think that will be the case this year. Steve Coogan will be the host this go around for the zany little brother to the Oscars, so it should be a funny one. I will be Twittering during those, so check it out.

So to wrap up, I will be watching the Oscars, hosted by Sexiest Man of the Year Hugh Jackman. Its not a bad idea to have an attractive singing and dancing star up there, who has won a TONY and an Emmy for hosting the Tonys. These are not bad credentials and will definitely pull in the 35 – 55 year old female market they desperately need. I know that ratings expectations this year are low and I can only imagine the top level celebs they are bringing in to walk the carpet and hype it up. I will be live blogging the evening, beginning with red carpet and Barbra Walters special coverage. Don’t forget – Sunday, February 22nd at 8PM on ABC – The Oscars.

Who do you think got stiffed? Who do you think will win?

Oscar Nominees Announce Tomorrow Morning!

admin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:47:23 +0000

We will cover the announcement of the 81st Oscar Nomineess tomorrow morning, at around 8:30AM. Check back here tomorrow for the nominees and my thoughts on was rewarded and who got the big ol’ stiff!!!! I can only assume that there will be more than a few suprises tomorrow morning!

Here is an interesting post on some unlikely, yet worthy contenders and you can watch them live with me, when they are broadcast on E! at 8:30AM EST/5:30 AM PST!

Enjoy!