The Wheel Turns

Britney is back. The new album is out soon, the new song is No. 1 in the US and it looks like the bad days are forgotten. Who could have thought just a year ago that this would happen? Britney tried to make a comeback at 2007 VMAs, but her performance there only made things worse and the album flopped. But at this year's VMAs she unexpectedly won 3 awards for a so-so video and suddenly everybody loves Britney again.
The new video for "Womanizer" is sizzling hot and Britney is obviously naked in it, having fun as if she never was bald. Forget the rehab, the emotional breakdown, loser ex-husband, lost kids, horny sister and wearing short skirts in cars. Just keep those catchy addictive tunes coming and spice them up with steamy videos. The machine is back on track and life is good for Britney.
While we are all so happy for Britney getting her fame back, things don't look so good for the Queen. Madonna, the grandma of pop, is in trouble going through an ugly divorce with the British director Guy Ritchie who failed to make a single good movie while being married to her. It is still unknown who will get the kids and especially the African baby. Maybe Angelina will adopt him.

Part Time

Last night I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie for the second time, in order to stabilize my opinion about it without any pressure, excitement, nervousness, anticipation and huge expectations as they were on the first viewing.
The final conclusion is as following: it's good, but not Indiana Jones good and very close to being a disappointment. The movie is still pure fun and shows all the wannabes (National Treasure, Tomb Raider, The Mummy) how adventure movies should be made. If this is what came out after 15 years of preparations, I don't want another Indie movie to be made ever again.
Obviously, George Lucas is the man to blame for all the flaws of the movie. Nobody can ruin movie franchises like this guy. Ridiculous features like a refrigerator that survives a nuclear explosion, CGI hamsters, monkeys that attack the bad guys and Tarzan greaser make the movie look like a joke. Good thing there's Steven Spielberg to patch things up with witty one-liners and great actions scenes.
Since the last Indiana Jones movie 15 years ago, Harrison Ford became a very gloomy and grumpy actor and made some very bad role choices. Here he is young and happy once again and his Indy still kicks ass. He is joined by the rising meteor Shia LaBeouf as his perfect sidekick that might take over the series in the future (George, don't do it!!!). But the biggest star of the movie (and the best working actress in Hollywood right now) is Cate Blanchett as the devilish Russian Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko that wants all the treasures for herself and never blinks with those big beautiful blue eyes.

While Hollywood recovers from the writers strike and there's nothing on TV but the new and terrible Lost season, the Academy was able to give out the Oscars as planned. Surprisingly, the ceremony itself was really good and not boring. Too many good movies came out this year, so it was really hard for the Academy to screw this up and choose winners that aren't good. And still, they managed to rob Cate Blanchett of the Oscar she deserved.

Everyone's been giving out awards lately, and I thought - why not me?
So here's the list of best and worst of 2007, my version:

Worst Movie: Rush Hour 3
Worst Actor: Johnny Depp - Pirates Of The Carribean 3 & Sweeney Todd
Worst Actress: Megan Fox - Transformers
Worst Supporting Actor: Jerry Stiller - The Heartbreak Kid
Worst Supporting Actress: Angelina Jolie - Beowulf
Worst Director: Michael Bay - Transformers
Worst Animated Movie: Shrek 3

Best Movies:
1. Atonement
2. The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
3. There Will Be Blood
4. No Country For Old Men

Best Actors:
1. Daniel Day Lewis – There Will Be Blood
2. Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
3. Gordon Pinsent - Away From Her

Best Actresses:
1. Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
2. Julie Christie - Away From Her

Best Supporting Actors:
1. Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men
2. Casey Affleck - Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
3. Paul Dano - There Will Be Blood
4. Jason Bateman - Juno

Best Supporting Actresses:
1. Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There
2. Romola Garai - Atonement
3. Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
4. Jennifer Garner - Juno
5. Emily Mortimer - Lars And The Real Girl

Best Soundtrack: Dario Marianelli - Atonement

Best Song: Falling Slowly - Once

Best Original Screenplay: Juno

Best Adapted Screenplay: Atonement

Best Cinematography: Atonement

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood

Best Animated Movie: Ratatouille

Best Foreign Language Movie: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days