Best buds face off in top Oscar acting categories

Viola versus Meryl. George versus Brad. It’s the battle of the best buds in this year’s top acting categories at the Academy Awards, airing tomorrow night. Who will trump the other? Let's break it down and see where these fine actors stand.

LADIES FIRST

How Viola knows Meryl: Both starred in the 2008 film “Doubt,” which earned each of them numerous award nominations. But before that, Streep was always an idol of Davis’. These days, Streep doesn’t simply recognize Davis as a fan, but as an equal. Both admire each other and their craft, so much that throughout this award season the ladies have each given shout outs to the other in acceptance speeches, and fawned over the other’s ability.

Viola Davis
Age: 46

2012 nominated role: Davis plays Aibileen Clark, the central character of “The Help.” Clark is a black maid in Mississippi during the1960s, who decides to work with an up-and-coming journalist to tell her story — along with many other maids to follow — to the world.

Previous experience: Davis is known primarily for her acting chops on the stage, but she has also had parts in such films as “Doubt,” “Antwone Fisher” and “Traffic.”

Previous award recognition: Davis has been nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award for her role in “Doubt.” She also has been nominated three times for a Tony, and won two of those.

So far this year: Davis was nominated for all three of the big awards this year: Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG award. She took home the SAG award, but lost the Globe to Streep.

Meryl Steep
Age: 62

2012 nominated role: Streep takes on the task of portraying the longest serving Prime Minister of the U.K., Margaret Thatcher, in “The Iron Lady.”

Previous experience: Streep is received as one of the most respected actresses of her generation. She has been in over 50 films including “The Deer Hunter,” “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Mamma Mia!” and “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Previous award recognition: Streep has a record-breaking 17 Academy Award nominations and 26 Golden Globe nominations. Of those, she has won two Academy Awards for her roles in 1979’s “Kramer vs. Kramer” and 1982’s “Sophie’s Choice.” She has won eight of her Golden Globe nominations.

Streep has also won two Emmys, two SAG awards, five Grammys, one Tony, and the coveted AFI Life Achievement Award in 2004, to say the least.

So far this year: Streep has been nominated, just as Davis, for all three of the big awards. She is tied with Davis, 1-1, having taken the win at the Golden Globes.

Who will come out on top: This is a tough call. Both women transformed themselves greatly for their roles. Davis put on 25 pounds to play Aibileen, while Streep donned quite a bit of prosthetics and a fake set of teeth to encompass the iron lady.

While Streep may have the better acting chops here, I think the Academy is going to favor Davis, simply because “The Help” was a movie people actually saw. It grossed $206 million at the box office, while only $60 million was made from “The Iron Lady.” Critics, alike, also have said that Steep was the only good part of “The Iron Lady,” while the entire cast of “The Help” is what made it such a superb overall film.

MEN WILL BE MEN

How George knows Brad: Aside from both men being named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” — twice — the two hunky heartthrobs first starred together in 2001’s “Ocean’s Eleven” remake. This followed by two more Ocean’s movies in 2004 and 2007, respectively. To mix things up, Clooney and Pitt starred in another film together in 2008, the Coen brother’s “Burn After Reading,” that showcased the kookie side of both of them.

As Streep and Davis offer overwhelming praise for each other at this year’s award ceremonies, Clooney and Pitt have been giving each other little jabs — all respectful, of course — while at the podium. For instance, at this year’s Golden Globes, Pitt showed up with a cane after tearing his ACL. To poke fun while Clooney introduced Pitt's “Moneyball” — a Best Picture nominee — Clooney walked on stage with Pitt’s cane, stating “I have to give it back to him or he can't make it to the bar otherwise.”

George Clooney
Age: 50

2012 nominated role: Clooney portrays Matt King in Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants.” King tries to reconnect with his daughters after he find out that his wife — currently in a coma from a boating accident — has been cheating on him.

Previous experience: Clooney first started out on television with a successful run on “E.R.” He quickly made the jump to the big screen with such films as “Out of Sight” and “From Dusk till Dawn” to “The Perfect Storm” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Clooney has also stepped in the director’s chair on numerous occasions, first with 2002’s “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” followed by three others — the most recent being “The Ides of March,” in which he also starred.

Previous award recognition: Clooney has been nominated seven times for an Academy Award, winning one of those for 2005’s “Syriana.” He also has nine Golden Globe nominations, with three of those being wins, and four SAG awards under his belt.

So far this year: Clooney has won great acclaim for his role, yet — of the big three — he has only picked up the Golden Globe win.

Brad Pitt
Age: 48

2012 nominated role: Pitt brought to life the general manager of the Oakland A’s — Billy Beane — who decided to take baseball to a whole other level by drafting players by a computer-generated analysis, rather than by the typical notions.

Previous experience: As with Clooney, Pitt also started out on TV. He quickly gained fame from a standout role in 1991‘s “Thelma & Louise.” Following, he starred in a slew of films that showcased his wide range and depth, including “Interview with the Vampire,” “Seven,” “Fight Club” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

Previous award recognition: Pitt has been nominated for three Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, five SAG awards and one Emmy for a one-episode role on “Friends.”
Yet, just as with Clooney, despite the many nominations, he has only taken home one solo award — that being a Golden Globe for “12 Monkeys.” He also was part of the “Inglourious Basterds” cast win in 2009 at the SAG awards.

So far this year: No wins for Pitt, as of yet.

Who will come out on top: Unfortunately, Pitt isn’t Clooney’s toughest competition in the Best Actor race. That honor goes to Jean Dujardin of “The Artist.” Unlike the Golden Globes, where Best Actors are separated into Comedy and Drama categories, the Academy doesn’t divvy up its categories, leaving Clooney and Dujardin to be pit (see what I did there) against each other.

"Moneyball" did well in theaters, and just as good when it was released on DVD, but, sorry to say, Pitt doesn’t have a chance really. So it looks like Clooney takes the cake here even if he loses to Dujardin in the end. But hey, at least Pitt had the pleasure of being in good company with his buddy Clooney. It’s made for an amusing awards season, and showed us just how great a true bromance can really be.

Grammys triumph, tradegy

There are always going to be ups and downs when it comes to the Grammys — especially when it comes to the performances. But this year there was one particular up and one particular down that loomed over the entire show.

The down being the death of diva Whitney Houston the night before. As host LL Cool J opened the show with a prayer, he reminded the audience that “this night is about the music,” and that despite the devastating event that occurred so close to home, the show will go on. With shout outs from Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars, Rhianna, among others, and an emotional performance of “I Will Always Love You,” by powerhouse singer Jennifer Hudson, Whitney’s memory was not forgotten throughout the entire night.

On the up side was the force that is Adele. Her accomplishments throughout the night included taking home six awards (tying with Beyonce for the most wins in one night by a female artist); joining the ranks of such performers as Paul Simon, Eric Clapton and the Dixie Chicks in having won the three biggest awards in one night (Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year, respectively); and performing the hit that started it all, “Rolling in the Deep,” after having recently recovered from throat surgery. She put on the most powerful and real performance of the night, that garnered her a lasting — and well-deserved — standing ovation. The girl’s got pipes — and a presence — that can’t be ignored, and the Grammys made sure of that.

Aside from the above — in terms of the actual awards given out — the Foo Fighters added another Best Rock Album Grammy to their trophy case, accomplishing the feat of winning seven Best Rock Albums for each of their seven albums. During the night, the band also took home four others including Best Rock Song for “Walk.”

Also, no-show Kanye West garnered four awards, and Bon Iver took home two including the coveted Best New Artist Grammy.

But we all know the Grammys aren’t all about the awards — only nine were actually given out on air. The Grammys are all about the three-and-a-half hours of performances, which this year made for a somewhat sluggish show. Only a select few really held my attention. Here’s who and why.

Katy Perry — Starting off with Kanye-collaborated hit “E.T.”, Perry emerged in full force. Quickly switching gears, she poured her heart out on stage in what sounded like a big F-you to ex-husband Russell Brand with “Part of Me.”

It was a very strong performance — filled with a lot of angst — but one that showed true emotion. Bravo to Katy for putting away the girly, Candyland-like set pieces and bringing out a warrior-like performance that showed us just exactly how she was feeling.

The Band Perry, Blake Shelton and Glen Campbell — The legendary Campbell — soon to be retired due to Alzheimer’s — joined The Band Perry and Shelton in a fitting tribute to himself, with performances of “Gentle on My Mind,” “Southern Nights” and, of course, “Rhinestone Cowboy.” It was all very touching, and all three acts sounded simply superb.

Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt — The soul songstress and country superstar payed tribute to the late great Etta James with a stripped-down rendition of “I Want A Sunday Kind of Love.” Keys and Raitt kept it short and sweet, but it had quite a beautiful, lasting impression.

The Civil Wars and Taylor Swift — The folk duo The Civil Wars have had a pretty good year. Their debut album “Baton Harlow” made it onto many a year-end lists, and at the Grammys they managed to take home a few wins as well, including the award for Best Country Duo and Best Folk Album. Thankfully, they were able to show off the skills that helped them win all the recent praise with a short performance as the “opener” to Swift. It may have only been for a minute, but it deserved so much more.

Swift followed suit with a performance of “Mean” — in which she rocked the banjo and seemed to be having the most fun of any of the performers on stage. It wasn’t elaborately choreographed, or filled with intense light shows, but it was — despite her tendencies to cross over
the pop line — a fun, country performance.

The Beach Boys with Maroon 5 and Foster the People — Adam Levine and Mark Foster’s voices were made for Beach Boys’ songs. Performing with their respective groups — Maroon 5 and newbies Foster the People — Levine sang a sweet “Little Surfer Girl,” while Foster tackled “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” Both groups seemed to be having fun with it, and after joined the legendary group on stage for a performance of “Good Vibrations.”

Despite the fatigue-sounding vocals of the Beach Boys, the group — reuniting for a 50th anniversary performance — had the audience dancing and singing along just fine. I was hoping for a bit more — as I’ve seen them live and they are truly a lot of fun — but I give them credit for managing to get Brian Wilson and Mike Love on the same stage one last time.

Paul McCartney — He performed an acoustic “My Valentine” during the middle of the show off his newest “Kisses on the Bottom” album, which was simple and sweet. But McCartney came back with a vengeance as the closing act, along with Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen, Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray and the Eagles’ Joe Walsh for a guitar-filled rendition of the Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers/Carry Your Weight.” It was fun to see so many talented rock musicians all on the same stage, and it was a great way to close out a somewhat-dull show overall.

'Smash' works on a number of levels

“Smash.” If you’ve been watching any network television at all, it’s the only show you’ve been hearing about for the last two months. Following the Super Bowl and the premier of the second season of “The Voice,” “Smash” made its debut Monday night on NBC. And so, despite my assumption that the show would simply be another “Glee,” I caved and decided to see what all the fuss was about. (Looks like NBC’s advertising ploy worked on at least one person.) And I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

“Smash” — produced by the one-and-only Steven Spielberg — follows Karen Cartwright (“American Idol’s” season five runner-up, Katherine McPhee), a 24-year-old from Iowa who is trying to make it in the big city as a Broadway star. After much rejection, she finds herself auditioning among a group of look-alike Marilyn Monroe’s for the lead in a soon-to-be hit new musical from the likes of acclaimed songwriting duo Julia (“Will and Grace’s” Debra Messing) and Tom (Christian Borie). A brunette with little sex appeal, Karen’s voice captivates the panel, and she soon finds herself pit up against blond bombshell, Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty), a triple threat who seems to have it all, including the drive and desire to break away as the next big star. With two completely different personalities, it’s all up to the girls to woo the likes of Julia, Tom, producer Eileen (Angelica Houston) and egotistical director, Derek (“Pirates of the Caribbean’s” Jack Davenport).

What makes “Smash” so magical is the realism of it all (that, and the beautiful production quality, courtesy of Spielberg, I’m sure). With “Smash” we are shown the inner workings of putting on a successful Broadway musical, from start to finish, with all the key players and with all the backstage drama that comes with the territory. “Smash” shows us that it’s not as easy as it looks, especially when you’re trying to balance a home life, as is with Julia and her husband, who are looking to adopt a child, despite Julia’s reluctancy to turn down any new work project. The writers have successfully made us care about the characters from one episode and they make it easy for the audience to connect to them.

Many of the actors on “Smash” have been on Broadway and have plenty of experience, including Hilty, who was in acclaimed hits “Wicked” and “9 to 5: The Musical.” But if this bares anything about where the story line of the show will go, the real standout is newcomer McPhee. Despite her only previous major acting credit being the comedy “The House Bunny,” McPhee holds her own among a cast of veteran actors. She really gives us her all in “Smash,” and she has such a presence, just as she did on the “American Idol” stage back in 2006. Her voice is gorgeous, as in when she sings “Over the Rainbow” and “Beautiful” in the premier, and she simply has the “star quality” that could take her to the next level.

It’s a musical drama that seamlessly interweaves the two genres. The pacing of the story line is dead on — we don’t get bored as we get to know the characters — and “Smash” manages to transition to musical numbers effortlessly. Everything just fits — even the baseball number. Nothing is random — there aren’t any kids busting into song in the hallways of their school. It’s just solid, fun, entertainment that works. As Monroe would say, “Smash” just wants to be loved by you, and I suggest you give it a shot.

Football films that score big

Are you ready for some football? Movies... that is. Can’t say I’m as pumped as most for Super Bowl Sunday. One, I’ll be working. Two, I’ve never been much of a football fan. But I am proud that New England’s own has made it to the coveted bowl for the seventh time in the team’s history, and for that I’ve asked the seven members of our newsroom staff — myself included — to tell me what their favorite football films are. After all, a film can pack in as much blood, sweat and tears as a real game can, if not a bit more comic relief.

So after the Super Bowl, when you’re not quite ready to push football aside and welcome in the baseball season, go out and rent a couple of these somewhat surprising choices — you’ll have just as much fun watching them as you would cheering on the Patriots. Go team!

“Little Giants” (1994)

So basically, I don’t do movies. But when I did, back in 1994, I was pretty into “Little Giants” staring Rick Moranis. That’s right, the dude from “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” The movie had it all. A 9-year-old named Spike who could carry a fridge on his back, a cheerleader turned running back, and a little guy who knocked himself out cold when he ran straight into the field-goal post after scoring a touchdown . Oh, and Al Bundy was in it too.

— Michael Pezone, Sport Editor

“Lucas” (1986)

I don’t care for football movies but I do have a special place in my heart for “Lucas” starring the late Corey Haim. This movie is almost painful for me to watch because high school is depicted so accurately with the cruel bullying, the intense crushes and embarrassments and the best friends you’ll ever make.

— Amy Cotton, Social Editor

“The Replacements” (2000)

“Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole.” That’s what you’ll have stuck in your head after watching “The Replacements.”

After a pro football team goes on strike, the owners are forced to find substitute players to finish out the season. Gene Hackman and Keanu Reeves are at the helm of the movie, but to me it’s all about the supporting players.

A chain-smoking soccer player from Whales with a bad gambling habit is recruited as kicker. A former defensive back who is now is prison for assaulting a police officer is allowed to play with the permission of the governor. A sumo wrestler from Japan is recruited to play offensive tackle. A SWAT team leader with an anger management problem, played by Jon Favreau, does his best as linebacker. And Orlando Jones as a convenience store clerk, with the quickest legs, but who can’t catch, is chosen as the wide receiver. Throw in two security guards brothers to come on as, you guessed it, guards, and you’ve got yourself a team.

With “The Replacements” it’s not just about the game, but the camaraderie that goes along with it. And you’ll get a whole lot of laughs out of it too, especially when they start recruiting for the cheerleading positions.

— Laura Kennedy, Assistant Editor

“Necessary Roughness” (1991)

While it didn’t win any Oscars and it’s certainly not going to be added to the National Film Registry any time soon, I still felt that “Necessary Roughness” — which stars Scott Bakula, Sinbad and Kathy Ireland — ought to be considered as one of the best football movies. Granted, I haven’t actually seen the movie but after two of my co-workers gave it a resounding endorsement, I decided to watch some clips. After I watched a few scenes — which included Wally’s pep talk and one called Samurai football — I decided it wasn’t as terrible as I thought and figured it deserved to be a part of this list. Go Armadillos.

— Craig Lyons, Staff Reporter

“Rudy” (1993)

It’s an obvious choice to any Notre Dame football fan such as myself, but even those non-Irish lovers recognize the triumph of the human spirit in this story.

“Rudy” represents the essence of Notre Dame football; it is not an affection grown from mere school affiliation, but a deep-seated love that is passed down from generations, just as it is from Rudy and his father and it was with my parents to me. When he finally gets to play in a game, sacks the quarterback from Georgia Tech on the final play (no Hollywood there, that really happened), and is carried off the field on his teammates’ shoulders, I get misty eyed.

“Rudy” is more than a football movie, it’s a testament to the triumph of the underdog, the accomplishment of a dream and the fulfillment of a destiny.

— Monica Hogan, Sports Writer

“The Longest Yard” (1974)

“The Longest Yard” is my favorite — the one with Burt Reynolds, not Adam Sandler. It was a movie that most definitely did not need to be remade.

It’s a hilarious mixture of off-color comedy, drama and surprisingly good football scenes facilitated by roles from such NFL greats as Ray Nitschke and Joe Kapp, who each played in Super Bowls.

I thought it was Burt Reynolds’ finest role, and I also loved Bernadette Peters as the warden’s secretary with the beehive hairdo, which begat the Reynolds line: “Nice hair. Ever find any spiders in it?”

— Roger Carroll, Editor

“Remember the Titans” (2000)

“Remember the Titans” juxtaposes a feel-good football story with an important historical and cultural message. Who could expect anything less from Disney?

An all-star cast drives the story of an early ’70s Virginia high school football team that represents one of the first integrated squads in the country. Denzel Washington leads the way as the hard-nosed coach, and the roster is filled up by several recognizable actors before their primes, including Ryan Gosling, “Scrubs’s” Donald Faison, and “The Wire’s” Wood Harris, among others.

Besides some excellent football scenes, the movie is rounded out by an exceptional soundtrack, drawing on some timely tunes from James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Marvin Gaye, to name a few.

— Ian Lord, Staff Writer