Steve Carell: Award-winning plagiarist

Steve Carell won the Golden Globe last week for his role on “The Office,” and gave a funny speech he said had been written by his wife, which scolded him for sundry selfish behaviors. Carell’s also up for a Writers Guild Award for his screenplay (with Judd Apatow) for “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” So, who’s writing that acceptance speech for him?
“I found that online,” Carell joked during a Television Critics Association winter press tour event.
“I didn’t think I’d win, honestly,” he continued. “So I wrote it just so I’d have a piece of paper with names on it and so I wouldn’t forget anybody. I ran it by my wife the night before and she gave it a thumbs-up. I thought she played it great. When the camera kept cutting back to her, it was perfect.”
“The Office” is also up for Writers Guild trophies, as is “My Name is Earl,” which won a People’s Choice Award but came up short at the Globes. “Earl” star Jason Lee was a no-show at press tour — he’s been diagnosed with chickenpox. But “Earl” creator Greg Garcia notes, “We think it’s chickenpox. I saw him shake Charlie Sheen’s hand at the Golden Globes, and the next morning he woke up with bumps all over him, so it could be anything.”

Off topic (again): A Million Little Examples of Inaccuracy

People have been attacking James Frey whom Oprahs Book Club (which, remember, for our purposes here, is an award unto itself) made a gazillioinaire for making up his alleged memoir, A Million Little Pieces,? as he went along. But, being the crack investigative reporter that I am, Ive been scouring the New York Times non-fiction best-seller lists, and have discovered a number of books that have played fast and loose with the facts. And Im, as they said in Casablanca,? shocked, I tell you, shocked. (Full disclosure: Thats a grievously inaccurate replication of that line.) Herewith, ostensibly nonfiction books that get it all wrong:
“Are Men Necessary?”, by Maureen Dowd: She doesn’t define her terms: Is it “necessary (adj.): that cannot be dispensed with; essential; indispensable” or “necessary (Dial.): a privy or toilet”?

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Oscars: Third consecutive posting with a “can’t quit you” reference

On Tuesday and Wednesday, according to estimations by boxofficemojo.com, “Brokeback Mountain” was the No. 1 film in America, despite the fact that it was playing in fewer than a third as many theaters as the No. 2 film, which had just opened last weekend. It’s already earned twice its budget here in the States, something “King Kong” can’t claim (though, yes, “Kong’s” made scads more money). At any rate, can we all finally put to rest the notion that American filmgoers are too limited by ideology to embrace a good movie and focus on something that’s really important, such as whether Harrison Ford has found his way home yet after the Golden Globes and if Angelina Jolie has outsourced her womb to Cambodia?

Oscar, I wish I knew how to quit you

Alonso Duralde recently joked to me that this year will offer the spectacle of the gayest Oscar race in history, and he should know hes the author of the new book “101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men (Advocate Books, $14.95). Though Ive known Alonso for almost two decades (a fact dropped to make both of us feel old), as a straight guy, Im not allowed to use puns like i-5aecb51acb538ca4a6e30b1a25558b7e-oscar.jpg Oscar, is that a sword in your hands, or are you just GLAAD to see me?? So Ill just let Alonso talk us through this years Oscar race.
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LAFCA: Can’t quit the big green guy

So Ang Lee was rolling along at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association dinner Tuesday in Century City, making what must have been his 587th or so award acceptance speech this year for directing “Brokeback Mountain.” He thanked these writers, those producers, the studio executives who kept the faith in his gay cowboy movie, yadda yadda yadda. But then, suddenly . . .
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LAFCA: Oscar’s loss

German director Werner Herzog, in accepting his award for the documentary “Grizzly Man” at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association dinner Tuesday night, shrugged off the fact that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences failed to include his widely acclaimed film on its short list of nominees for this year’s documentary Oscar.
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LAFCA: It’s a girl!

Those who follow such things know that the Los Angeles Film Critics Association gave their best actress award to little-known Vera Farmiga for the seen-by-12-people drug addict drama “Down to the Bone.”
Well, the actress was so thrilled about the recognition that when she accepted her plaque at Tuesday night’s awards dinner in Century City, she promised . . .

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Golden Globes: And the Oscar race comes to an end…?

Sorry, technical difficulties. Final thoughts on the 63rd annual Golden Globes:
Dont you hate it when the Oscar horserace is finished before the ballots are even in? Brokeback Mountain? was considered the Best Picture frontrunner; it won big tonight (besides Best Picture/Drama, Ang Lee took home the Best Director trophy and it also won for Best Screenplay, wins likely to be repeated come Oscar night, as well as Best Song). Capotes? Philip Seymour Hoffman and Walk the Lines? Reese Witherspoon were prior favorites for the Best Actor and Actress Oscars: Done, and done. Outside of a quirky upset, don’t expect major deviations in all the upcoming awards ceremonies, which will seem increasingly redundant as the season unfolds.
The only major Oscars that might deviate from the Globes tonight are the supporting acting categories; George Clooney and Rachel Weisz appeared in films that the Motion Picture Academy might have trouble warming up to.
That said, Brokeback Mountain? certainly is the Zeitgeist movie of the moment. Films like Good Night, and Good Luck.?, Syriana? and Munich? all cried out to be vociferously debated on the nations op-ed pages they all, to different extents, comment on current political travails. But Ive seen more op-ed pieces on Brokeback Mountain? than those three films combined.
Perhaps those movies wore their agendas on their sleeves too much. Brokeback Mountain? was intent merely to tell its heartbreaking story, without editorial commentary. And the fact that, despite what some pundits may have suggested, the film is being embraced in places it could have been eschewed is a testament to the power of its filmmakers.

Oscars: Where’s the ABBB?

That would be Anything But BrokeBack.
With both the vast majority of legitimate critics and now the starstruck moron groups (Broadcast Critics, Hollywood Foreign Press Association) declaring the gay western 2005’s best movie, academy members have an extremely limited pool of pictures to choose from if they want to maintain the illusion that they’re not influenced by organizations that are either smarter or dumber than they are.
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