03.10.10 Amitabh Bachchan:The Coolest Movie Star You’ve Probably Never Seen
Those of us who consider ourselves die-hard movie fans (not to be confused with fans of the Die Hard movies) might like to think that we'd do anything to meet our screen heroes. That bar was raised considerably in 2008's Slumdog Millionaire, when title protagonist Jamal remembers how, as a boy growing up in impoverished Mumbai, he once escaped from a locked outhouse by diving down into and wading through piles of...well, what they build outhouses for, so that he could see and get the autograph of Bollywood film star Amitabh Bachchan. That, dear readers, is dedication, and while Bachchan didn't play himself in Slumdog, it gave American audiences a glimpse of the fervent devotion the actor known as "the Big B" has built up in his native India, across South Asia, and around the world in his 40-plus-year body of work. Everywhere, that is, except here.
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In last week's 
Yes, it’s time once again for the Academy Awards. The Oscars will hold their 82nd annual event on Sunday, March 7, and one can’t help but wonder what amazing film or performance won’t get the recognition it deserves. After all, throughout Oscar history, it has happened many times. Too often, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has bestowed their golden trophy upon someone who perhaps did not quite deserve the honor over one of their fellow nominees. A few such examples will be illustrated here. Now, in the interest of narrowing down many of the illustrious Academy’s various snubs over the years, I will concentrate solely on acting categories. Additionally, only roles that were actually nominated for the award will have a case made for them. 
If you are looking to improve your chances in the office Oscar pool, you now have the chance to see some very clever and creative shorts. (And they don't belong to Senator Scott Brown!) The Academy Award nominees for Best Short Film, Animated and Best Short Film, Live Action are currently playing in select theatres around the country. I recently saw the five nominees in each and was blown away. Now a category I was never really interested in will become a "must see" each year.
Last fall, on this very web site, I wrote a pair of articles detailing the various cinematic and TV depictions of The Wizard of Oz over the past 100 years or so (take a look for yourself, they're still there: 
Quick: You’re about to be stranded on a desert island…and you can only take 10 movies with you. What movies are making your cut? Will they be your “Top 10” favorites? Will they be movies that you feel best represent “you”? Will you be bringing any movies along for the family? Let’s assume all other creature comforts are normal, so you don’t have to worry about going into Stephen King-style, “Survivor Type” mode. You can go alone, or bring your friends and family. But only 10 movies can come with you. It’s time to make your Dewar’s Profile, take your Rorschach test, call it whatever you will.
“One thing for sure, love stinks,” says the J. Geils Band, and they couldn’t be more right. Tinseltown has certainly made its fair share of films that are the antithesis of romance over the years, from the Academy Award-winning Kramer vs. Kramer to the comedy favorite The War of the Roses. While scores of consumers will be out and about on February 14, celebrating the forced love trap and completely invented retail holiday known as Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be fun to laud an Anti-Valentine’s Day movement. It’s with that in mind that I present this smattering of favorites (spanning both comedic and dramatic genres, excluding any film that involves murder however, because that would just be cheating) that basically conveys that when it comes to love, sometimes it’s just better to be alone. 
gleek (noun): a person obsessed with the TV show 
In the spirit of the new year, let's take a moment to think about actors and their first film roles. While it is certainly an accomplishment to win over an audience right out of the gate--the way that, say, Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not, Burt Lancaster in The Killers, Kathleen Turner in Body Heat, or Cameron Diaz in The Mask did--it's an even more impressive feat to have a notable Hollywood career when your "big break" came with a, shall we say, not well-received turn. This is not to suggest that any of the ten performances that follow were necessarily bad (but, let's face it, some of them were), just that any filmgoer might have had a hard time imagining the mighty oaks that eventually grew from these cinematic acorns.