It was only a matter of time before someone entrusted the man with a movie camera. This is his first feature film and it’s called “Ted”.

Rather than lending his very unique voice to cartoon characters, MacFarlane is the voice of Ted, a stuffed teddy bear that comes to life thanks to a Christmas wish, and is now the best friend/roommate of John (Mark Wahlberg). After 25 years together, John is ready to settle down with luscious Lori (Mila Kunis) who wants the talking Teddy Bear to move out. This isn’t going to win any high brow praise but it could touch a comedic nerve. Take a look at this Red Band clip of “Ted”. The movie comes out the middle of July.

The two are set to work together again, but this time, it’s Turturro who wrote the script and will be directing the film. Woody has signed on for a pivotal supporting role in the independent film, “Fading Gigolo”. TV sex siren, Sofia Vergara is also in the cast as is the ever lovely Sharon Stone , who had been attached to the project from the start.

The plot sounds a bit like HBO’s recently departed, “Hung”.  Turturro’s character is broke and with the help of his best friend, (Allen) he gets into the gigolo business. (Actually sounds more like a Jewish “Midnight Cowboy” or a high-brow “Duece Bigalow”.) Allen’s character, named Bongo, pimps out Turturro who eventually falls for a yet to be cast Jewish widow. (Where’s Fran Drescher when you need her? ) Sharon Stone will play Allen’s dermatologist/client. Vergara apparently is another wealthy client who wants to have a threeway with Turturro and Stone. Ahem.

They start filming next month. This is already interesting.

The great equalizer is a sense of humor.  We know these stars probably have a sense of humor, but it’s fun to see for ourselves.

Jimmy Kimmel has secured a Post-Oscar special the past few years and each year he creates a short film that incorporates a few A-listers behaving wacky.

This year he presents a true blockbuster. A fantastic array of stars…in what looks to be the disaster/love story/adventure we all need to see.

Today, we’ll stray from the norm…and see how we did.

Best Picture went to The Artist. This felt like a foregone conclusion, but the appeal of this movie is confounding. Perhaps the Academy wanted to celebrate the unique nature of the film and felt the need for a story to be secondary or not important at all.  This movie won at the Golden Globes, and that made more sense. We didn’t get this one.

The Best Actor award went to Jean Dujardin. We didn’t know who to expect, but aside from some excellent dancing and that’s just with his eye brows, it was hard to imagine this guy getting the big prize.  It was reasonable to expect that Clooney would have won so everyone in attendance could soak up a bit of his charm in what would have been a delightful acceptance speech. Not the case. Consider this another wrong pick.

The Best Actress award goes to Meryl Streep.   Viola Davis was clearly a sentimental favorite and was expected to win this one.  Streep however was given her third Best Actress award and it’s hard to cry foul. The movie, The Iron Lady, was unique in that it was particularly unflattering to it’s subject, but for an actress there was a good amount of material to work with. We got this one right.

The Best Supporting Actor award went to Christopher Plummer. This one seemed easy. The guy is only two years younger than the  Oscars themselves. He played against type (a man in his 70′s coming out of the closet), and the role was truly fantastic.  The movie was called, “Beginners” and it’s due to be out in DVD soon. It’s something you should be seeing.

The Best Supporting Actress award went to  Octavia Spencer, for “The Help”.  This proved to be the emotional victory that we expected for the Best Actress award. The acceptance speech was heartfelt and emotional which is certainly what the Academy likes to see here. We thought McTeer would get something for a very daring performance, but Ms Spencer was clearly a favorite and likely to enjoy some meaty roles over the next year. Roles that passed her by up until now.  Definitely got that one wrong.

Michel Hazanavicius won the Best Director award for his film, “The Artist”.  The victory here confirms what was pretty clear from the start…”The Artist” was a much more popular film than we thought. Though the film felt like a film student’s uninspired final project, it’s now part of motion picture history. It is worth noting that Hazanavicius won the Director’s Guild award as well and that tends to forecast the inevitable winner.  That being the case, look at who he beat. Woody Allen, Terrance Malick, Alexander Payne and Martin Scorsese.

The Best Animated Film was Rango. The best thing about this truly entertaining and visually stunning film is that it won’t likely have a sequel or turn up in a McDonalds Happy Meal. Got this right.

The Make Up award went to Iron Lady. Meryl’s favorite make up guy who’s been working on that face since Sophie’s Choice (’82),  not only got a statue but was given some props by the lady herself in her acceptance speech.As we mentioned in our forecast, the transformation of Streep to Thatcher was pivotal to the success of the performance.

The Best Original Score went to “The Artist”.   As the evening seemed to celebrate this film’s firm grasp of the mundane, it only makes sense that “The Artist” would win. Not our choice.

Best Cleavage for the evening is always a close race. This year the most buzz on decolletage concerned Jennifer Lopez and the hint of areola that made her one of the favorite presenters of the evening. Only Angelina’s right leg got more attention.

In the end, it was much ado about not much. If there was a shadow of anything…it was good old double sided tape.

Best Picture

The Artist  (We just don’t understand the appeal. Old story, boringly conveyed. )
The Descendants  (Clooney did better elsewhere)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Met anyone who liked this? We neither)
The Help (Possible surprise winner here)
Hugo ( Let Nickelodeon give it an award)
Midnight in Paris (Most entertaining of the bunch. Won’t win)
Moneyball (Any other year and it wouldn’t be here)
The Tree of Life (An Oscar goes to the person who understood this.)
War Horse (More schmaltz than in any ten butcher shops)

Actor in a Leading Role

Demian Bichir – A Better Life (Apparently he couldn’t believe he was nominated either!)
George Clooney – The Descendants (See above, then see Ides of March)
Jean Dujardin – The Artist (If there were an award for Best Use of Eyebrows)
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Best in the crowd, won’t win)
Brad Pitt – Moneyball (Any other year, he wouldn’t be here)

Actress in a Leading Role 

Viola Davis – The Help (If it wasn’t for Meryl, this is your winner)
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs (Not enough people saw this, plus the Meryl thing)
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Deserves some praise)
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady (Like watching a slugger during batting practice)
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn (Deserves some praise, some will find it more compelling to impersonate Thatcher than Marilyn)

Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn (More like a cameo role)
Jonah Hill – Moneyball (Any other year he wouldn’t be here. Perhaps his last film at over 200 lbs)
Nick Nolte – Warrior (As in HBO’s Luck, it’s Nolte’s world-weary face that deserves some sort of award).
Christopher Plummer – Beginners  (This is one of the rare times the guy who should win…can).
Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close  (The folks in the silent movie, The Artist, had more lines. A great actor getting some props)

Actress in a Supporting Role 

Berenice Bejo – The Artist (Best use of a mole. Very pretty, can’t wait until she’s in something entertaining)
Jessica Chastain – The Help (Busiest actress in the world. Should get some attention but not for this)
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs (Outside chance to win due to late PR push. She was every bit as convincing as a man as Close, if not more so.)
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids (She won’t win, but if she did, it would be fabulous. Whatever the case, she’s the breakout movie comedy star of the year)
Octavia Spencer – The Help (Will split votes with Chastain)

Directing 

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist (A win here sends the wrong message)
Alexander Payne – The Descendants (The Academy loves this guy for his smarts)
Martin Scorsese – Hugo (This would send the wrong message to Mr. Scorsese)
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris (This would be nice, but doubtful).
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life (The fact that no one understood the movie should hurt. Got great performances out of Chastain and Pitt)

Animated Feature Film 

A Cat in Paris (not familiar)
Chico & Rita (not familiar)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (too familiar)
Puss in Boots  (Is this the only way we’re going to get Banderas? How much money do you suppose Mike Myers gets every time one of these things gets spit out?)
Rango (Best thing Johnny Depp has been involved with in a while. Great animation with a fair story. Of all the movies on this list, it’s the most likely to have any DVD shelf-life)

Make up  (Strong year for this! Note that the horrendous make up used on DiCaprio for J.Edger didn’t even warrant a nomination).

Albert Nobbs (Validates the “less is more” camp)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (consistently good)
The Iron Lady (The winner. Hard to deny the impact of the make up on the movie)

Music (Original Score)

The Adventures of Tintin (Should be part of the Indiana Jones collection)
The Artist (Nothing you couldn’t hear in an elevator)
Hugo  (Likely to win. Not as forgettable as Tin Tin or War Horse)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Unlikely to win anything but this is definitely a soundtrack you’ll want to buy. Lovely 60′s tunes)

Recently picked to be the cover model for Sports Illustrated coveted swimsuit edition, the young woman is definitely not afraid of over-exposure. She’s the featured “Woman We Love” in this month’s Esquire magazine and in major motion pictures like the Farrelly Brother’s reprise of The Three Stooges. She plays a nun named Bernice and though the trailer for the film is a nightmare, it does have Kate modeling another swimsuit.

Check out the latest ad for MLB 2K12 (which launches in early March). Kate schools big league stars, Justin Verlander, David Price, Jay Bruce and wide-eyed C.J. Wilson.

In the right hands, they can be very entertaining, providing compelling back stories for characters we thought we knew well. It can be said that some of the more compelling aspects of the first Godfather film were those scenes with Robert DeNiro playing a younger Vito Corleone.

Casting and pre-production is finally underway for a “prequel” to  Tarantino gem, “Jackie Brown”. The movie will be “Switch”, the same name as the Elmore Leonard novel upon which it’s based.

John Hawkes and Mos Def will play Louis Gara and Ordell Robbie,  infamous criminal types made famous by De Niro and Samuel L. Jackson. “Switch” takes places 15 years before the Tarantino film (itself an adaptation of Leonard’s novel “Rum Punch”) and finds Louis and Ordell  kidnapping the wife of a slimey real estate broker.

We’ll likely meet the boys in prison where they first become buddies.  They plan their big score once they’re on the outside, snatching a wealthy Detroit developer’s wife for ransom. Much to their surprise, the husband isn’t all that upset nor does he want her back.   Plan B in Elmore Leonard novels tend to be outrageous and particularly violent.

The story sounds interesting, but also a bit familiar. There was a terrible comedy in the mid-80′s starring Danny DeVito and Bette Midler that had the same premise. “Ruthless People“.

De Niro and Jackson were fantastic together and compelling enough to warrant a prequel. Here’s hoping the new cast and script enhances their infamy.

Written by adult star Lorelei Lee and edgy author Stephen Elliot, (who also directs)”Cherry” is thick with gritty realism, insights and experiences of real people from within the adult industry.

What also makes this movie about porn worth a close look is that it has some genuine star power too. Heather Graham (“Boogie Nights”, “The Hangover”), James Franco (“Milk”, “127 Hours”), Lili Taylor (“Mystic Pizza“, “High Fidelity” and Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire“) all have credited, legitimate roles. This means that as the release date approaches, you’re going to hear a lot about “Cherry”.

The story isn’t the most original, but still interesting. Angelina, (played by Ashley Hinshaw), is an 18-year-old girl with a dysfunctional family looking for a way out. One morning her boyfriend (Jonny Weston) suggests she model nude for money. After a bit of coaxing she eventually does the photo shoot, using the money to run-off with her best friend (Dev Patel) to San Francisco.

In San Francisco, while a waitress in a strip club, Angelina meets Frances (James Franco), a charismatic lawyer-type who offers to introduce her to a few friends…open up a few doors. Despite the glitz, the debauchery isn’t as ideal as it seemed and Frances the Lawyer proves to be damaged as well.

Angelina, now known as “Cherry”, and delves deeper into the San Francisco porn industry under the wing of Margaret (Heather Graham) a former performer who is now on the other side of the camera. Hard to tell if this one is a cautionary tale. The trailer certainly looks promising.

*It’s interesting to note that this isn’t Franco’s only adult film foray. He’s currently filming, “Lovelace“, playing Hugh Hefner in the story of “Deep Throat”. He and Lorelei Lee are also students at NYU’s grad school.

Here’s a taste of Cherry…

Best Picture

“The Artist” (It’s hard to understand why this is so popular!)
“Bridesmaids”
“The Descendants”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris” (Loved this!)
“Moneyball”
“War Horse” (This was a parody of Spielberg, by Spielberg)

This year the list of nominees could balloon to ten movies, but that doesn’t matter this year. “Ides of March” and “Drive” could also end up here but the winner is likely to be the unbelievably dull silent movie. In a perfect world, Brad Bird would get some recognition for raising the “Mission Impossible” franchise from the dead.

Best Actor
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “J. Edgar”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Ryan Gosling, “The Ides of March”
Brad Pitt, “Moneybal”l

Anyone who saw “The Descendants” knows that Clooney phoned this one in. DiCaprio is burdened by bad make up despite the fact the Academy loves biographies. Moneyball was enjoyable, but Pitt is not going to win. Ryan Gosling could actually get a nomination for “Drive”, though he shows more range in “Ides”. Personally, we’d have prefer seeing Gary Oldman here from “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”.

Best Actress
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Meryl Streep,” The Iron Lady” (Even if Ms Streep didn’t have a movie out, you would still have to expect her to garner a nomination)
Charlize Theron, “Young Adult”
Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Glen Close has been working at getting this movie made for more than ten years. That guarantees a nomination. Michelle Williams is very hot these days and so she could be considered a lock for a nomination and a wild-card among winners. The DailyHelping would love to see Charlize Theron nominated for her incredibly unpleasant character in “Young Adult”. Her performance was pitch perfect and nasty enough that she may actually turn off voters. That’s saying something for a woman who actually won an Oscar for portraying a monstrous serial killer a good number of years ago.

Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn”
Albert Brooks, “Drive” (It’s great to see this!)
Patton Oswald, “Young Adult”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Viggo Mortensen, “A Dangerous Method” (A DailyHelping favorite!)

Christopher Plummer is a slam dunk to win this category. Jonah Hill may slip in here as a nominee for “Moneyball” and Viggo makes our list because he was the best part of a dreary film. Patton Oswald deserves to be nominated for a heartfelt performance that has not gotten the acclaim that it was due.

Best Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

This is the same list of nominees that you saw at the Golden Globe.
Berenice Bejo could make a case for getting a Best Actress nomination, but DailyHelping believes she belongs here. “The Help” will suck the air out of the room and Octavia Spencer is a slam dunk winner.

Best Director

Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
David Fincher, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist “(He’ll be there, and probably win if his movie doesn’t take best picture).
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants” (The Academy loves this guy!)
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo” (Don’t reward the man for making a 3D movie)

Terrance Malick could get a nomination for “Tree of Life” but the fact no one  understand what his movie was about, may prove his undoing. Clooney could get a nomination for “Ides of March” and DailyHelping favorite, Woody Allen is a dark horse but more likely to get the screenplay award.

Best Screenplay, Adapted

Alexander Payne, Jim Rash, Nat Faxon – “The Descendants”
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon – “The Ides of March”
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian – “Moneyball” (DailyHelping loves Aaron Sorkin!)
Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan – “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
(A smarter script you will not find)

The Tinker Tailor script challenged some viewers, but hopefully that won’t be a problem. There are other nominees for this category, but we can’t imagine what they’ll be.

Best Screenplay, Original

Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist” (This nomination should be a joke, but it isn’t).
Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig – “Bridesmaids” (Wouldn’t you love to see Wiig up there getting an Oscar?)
Woody Allen – “Midnight in Paris”
Thomas McCarthy – “Win Win”
Diablo Cody – “Young Adult”

About 20 people saw “Win Win” and that’s a crime. It was wonderful and hopefully it sneaks a win here. Woody or Diablo (sounds like a pair of wranglers, doesn’t it?) both deserve some recognition for two of the smartest scripts on screen all year.