The 85th Academy Awards

The Best Picture category isn't the only thing that bulked up.

The 85th Annual Academy Awards Live Chat, Hosted by the Dog From Family Guy

Update: Well, now we have an extra hour and a half of the red carpet! Talk amongst yourselves!

What is it about the Academy Awards? Intellectually, it’s hard to muster up that much enthusiasm about who “wore it best” (Ang Lee) or how modest Katniss will be in her acceptance speech, hopefully avoiding a First Wives’ Club reference that sounded like she was hating on Meryl Streep this time. And yet … we still feel compelled to watch. Maybe it’s because secretly, deep down, we still find it fascinating that the guy who does the voice of Stewie looks like the host of a reality game show about finding true love by having a dance-off on a stripper pole.

Or maybe it’s because we’re just suckers, who deep down believe that Beasts of the Southern Wild might still possibly have a chance against Argo or Lincoln.

Come join us, will you, on this the most magical of evenings for producers, people who are married to movie stars, and dress designers? We’ll be hosting a live chat below. Just click the big countdown button and you’re all set. Got it?

Great. Read More

Academy Awards

9 Photos

oscar predictions

Leo and Tigers and Ben Affleck, (Arg)O My!: Who Will Be the Sorest Loser at Tonight’s Academy Awards?

Tonight is the 85th Academy Awards, and for all intents and purposes it should be a good one. Look at all those serious films, and the one movie by Quentin Tarantino! And with big snubs for Best Director for both Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, does that mean one of them will be be sweeping up the Best Picture Award as a consolation prize? And most importantly, is it too late to write in a ballot for Javier Bardem in Skyfall? Because he was great. Read More

Oscar Season

Christoph Waltz on Between Two Ferns

Zach Galifianakis Gets Oscar-Excited With Nominees in Between Two Ferns (Video)

We’re sure that Seth MacFarlane will do a serviceable job hosting the 85th Academy Awards in two weeks, but come on. Wouldn’t you much rather watch comedian Zach Galifianakis put his faux-awkward interview technique to good use and grill Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams for two hours instead? We don’t even need to root for winners when watching the latest installment of Between Two Ferns…the losers are a funnier lot anyway. Read More

Shindigger

Adelina Wong Ettelson, Cora Cahan, Fiona Howe Rudin and Sarah Jessica Parker at the New Victory Theater Council for the Arts.
(JONATHAN ZIEGLER/PatrickMcMullan.com)
==

The Land of Oz: Sarah Jessica Parker, Naomi Watts and Isaac Mizrahi Salute Acrobatic Aussies at The New Vic

It’s quite something to behold a bare-chested man jumping around in a cherry red kangaroo suit. As we entered the youthful domain of the New Victory Theater’s gala honoring the Australia Council for the Arts, there he was.

A hodgepodge of theater philanthropists and celebrities entered slowly behind us, passing not only kangaroo-man but an assembly of cast members from Melbourne’s Circus Oz, the current holiday show at the venue. Read More

movies

DiCaprio as Hoover.

J. Edgar, the Man, Was as Pissy as J. Edgar, the Film, Is Passionless and Plot-Starved

In spite of a fusillade of P.R. overkill about what a brave, risk-taking actor he is, and how he spent five hours a day in a makeup chair squirming, Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrait of a balding, sweaty, gristle-chewing, half-mad J. Edgar Hoover is gimmicky play acting. J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood’s exhausting chronicle of power obsession about the enigmatic, self-serving egomaniac who, as director of the F.B.I., kept America trembling with terror for half a century under the phony guise of patriotism, is a long, tedious and hollow disappointment. Read More

service

ELLE's 18th Annual Women in Hollywood Tribute - Arrivals

Know Your Naomis! An Occupy Wall Street Guide

The name of an Old Testament matriarch, Naomi means “my pleasant one” in Hebrew. But since it was the 401st most popular baby name in 1970, keeping all the prominent forty-something Naomis straight is anything but pleasant. Become an OWS authority with this guide to the thinkers and writers involved in the movement. Plus, a couple of red herring Naomis to watch out for! Read More

Party Circuit

6 Photos

Dylan Lauren

New York City Ballet's Fall Gala

Last night the star-studded New York City Ballet Gala was held at Lincoln Center. The entertainment elite turned out in full force, with guests including Jon and Dorthea Bon Jovi, Naomi Watts, Sarah Jessica Parker, Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell, Liv Tyler and Alec Baldwin. New York’s society set didn’t disappoint, however, with Hilary and Read More