OSCARS 2022: 'The Power of the Dog' Cast Almost Sweep My Acting Votes

For this year's acting awards in the Oscar race, the powerhouse cast of The Power of the Dog could have easily won the ensemble acting award in the Screen Actors Guild, if the decision were up to me.  The four main characters in the movie all get nominated in their respective categories, and all deservedly so.

However, my favorite category this year is the Best Actress with Kristen Stewart as my vote as she essays the role of Princess Diana during a particularly stressful time in her life.  I think she completely dissolves into the role and shows what Diana had to deal with in that prison of a bubble.

Kodi Smits-McPhee is hard to miss in The Power of the Dog and he is the character I get to sympathize with, being gay myself, and a victim of relentless gay bullying growing up.  But just like Kodi's character, I don't really stand for anyone's shite and like Kodi, we have found ways to temper the 'enemy' or whoever is putting us down.  Also, we use our creativity as a weapon in disarming the 'enemy'. 

I am so excited for Kirsten Dunst!  Finally, an Oscar nomination.  I felt she should have been nominated for Interview with a Vampire.  But anyhow, I am glad the Academy did not overlook her this time in The Power of the Dog.  It is hard to root for her character though as she appears fragile and relentlessly bullied by Benedict Cumberbatch's character.  But she holds her own finding love in the brother of Cumberbatch's character, her husband in real life - Jesse Plemons.  

I was rooting for Jesse Plemons to get nominated and I am glad the Academy voted for him.  I have seen him in other great movies and I was hoping he would finally be noticed with this one, although the role is quite understated and has a quiet gravity to it.  I especially love that scene where he professes his love for Kirsten Dunst's character.  The wide empty windy plains served as a beautiful backdrop for his profession of love.

Finally, I thought I have seen all the layers of Benedict Cumberbatch.  I was wrong.  He is so vile and irritating and hateful here in The Power of the Dog, it is impossible to feel any love or support for his character.  However, as you discover more about his character, you will discover why he is like that - and we gay men know very well why he has decided to act like that.  It is so tough to be gay especially in such a macho environment like a farm full of cowboys.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

MALE EYE CANDY FOR 2022: Park Solomon

 Park Solomon appears in the Korean zombie Netflix series 'All of Us Are Dead' and he plays Lee Su-hyeok, one of the student protagonists that try to survive a zombie apocalypse which suddenly hits their city.  I am still on the fifth episode but it is impossible NOT to notice Park with his chiseled features as he plays one of the two leading men in the series, trying to find ways to survive and to outwit the zombies. 

If I were a zombie, I would zoom in only on Park Solomon types lol - that would make my harem look yum yum - harem talaga.....me and my sick thoughts....anyway, I hope to see this guy in future shows considering how very crowded Korean TV and movies are with male eye candy.

I am writing this blog entry so that I can remember the good-looking but new actors who have appeared in the TV series or movies that I am watching

FABE OPM TOP 10 COUNTDOWN: Bandang Lapis - Kabilang Buhay

 

Bandang Lapis gets their very first number one song this week as 'Kabilang Buhay' rises to the top.  

Here are my ten favorite songs by Filipino artists for the week ending March 11, 2022 -

#1 Kabilang Buhay (#2)

      Bandang Lapis

#2  Bazinga (#3)

      SB19

#3 Puydi Ba (#4)

     Fin and Fil

#4 Matag Piraso (#5)

     Ferdinand Aragon

#5 Pagsamo (#6)

     Arthur Nery

#6 Iba (#7)

     Zack Tabudlo / Moira dela Torre

#7 Good Old Days (#8)

     Quest

#8 Di Magdahom (#10)

     Brian Pepito

#9 Ikaw, Ako Ug Siya (NEW)

     Arn dela Cruz

#10 Isa Ka Saad (NEW)

       Eliza Maturan

MY FABE MUSIC INTERNATIONAL TOP 10 COUNTDOWN - February 25, 2022

Scotty McReery gets his very first #1 song in my FABE International Top 10 countdown this week as Why You Gotta Be Like That moves to the top spot this week.

Here are my favorite top 10 songs by international artists for the week ending February 25, 2022 -

#1 Why You Gotta Be Like That (2)

      Scotty McReery

#2 Little Did I Know (3)

      Julia Michaels

#3 The Last Living Rose (4)

       PJ Harvey

#4 Concrete (5)

       Poppy

#5 People Break (9)

      Eric Church

#6 Still Trappin' (7)

      Lil Durk / King Von

#7 Natural Light (8)

       Gregory Douglass

#8 He Said She Said (NEW)

       Chvrches

#9 Distance (NEW)

       OneRepublic

#10 I'm In Love with the Love of My Life (NEW)

        Jennifer Lopez

 

MALE EYE CANDY FOR 2022 (1): Ferdia Walsh-Peelo

CODA is a delightful movie and it was such a treat to see Ferdia Walsh-Peelo there playing Miles, the 'boyfriend' of Emilia Jones.  I love it that the director asked Ferdia to shed off his shirt and more as there were skinny dipping scenes with Emilia.  He's hot especially his luscious pits lol

Hope to see more of him in other movies.  Definitely a hunk to watch!

 

MOVIE REVIEW: 'Death on the Nile' Fails to Make Us Care

Kenneth Branagh is on a high these days as his movie 'Belfast' is omnipresent in all the major awards and even if he does not win any of them, at least his nominations as well as that of the movie's secure his place in filmography even more, adding to an already impressive list of top quality movies.

So it is a pity that his work on 'Death on the Nile' arrives stale and boring.  I was very excited to watch this movie, enthralled as I was with 'Death on the Orient Express'!  I thought I would be getting another exciting caper, this time, in the exotic region of the Egyptian Nile.

The stellar cast was also another plus point - or so I thought - with Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer - and my favorites - Eddy of Absolutely Fabulous and French Saunders.  They both get intriguing parts in the movie but none of the characters really stuck with me and as the movie unfolded, I became to care less about what happens to each one of them and I promptly slept through part of it.

Even Laura, my niece, whom I watched the movie with was beside herself in boredom.

Somebody dies in the movie and it has something to do with getting the inheritance and destroying a long-held friendship.  But I was just bored by the dialogue I tuned out.

However, I love love love the costume design and how graceful the characters moved in their fabulous clothes as their boat brought them to different places in the Nile.

Other than that, I think the special effects were too obvious and the characters failed to click with the audience, including me, which is fatal in a murder story.  Since I did not care about what happens to anyone, it was easy to drift away from the movie.

Well, I will leave it to you if you want to watch this movie, especially if you are a Hercule Poirot fan or an Agatha Christie fan.  Just be warned that it may bore you - so take coffee before watching it, otherwise, you may doze off like me.

 

MOVIE REVIEW: 'Marry Me' is the First Movie of 2022 which I Truly Enjoyed

 

I grew up in a generation which watched many Hollywood rom-coms which may seem silly on the outside and which does not really represent my culture (as almost all of the romantic pairs are white) but I didn't mind because love crosses all races and we all knew deep inside that this was just fluff and all for fun!

So for almost two decades, mainly in the 90s, Hollywood churned out many memorable rom-coms from all-time favorites like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill to a slew of Jennifer Lopez starred rom-coms like Maid in Manhattan and Monster-in-Law.

So it was with great delight that I learned that J-Lo returned to the genre with Marry Me - a rom-com musical starring a lead character who is very much like J.Lo in real life - a worldwide superstar performer who then 'marries' a man on the street.  

It's like Notting Hill mixed with a J. Lo concert and putting in the irrepressible Owen Wilson in the mix.  Yes, that adorable Wilson brother with a 'strange' nose.

I had to re-watch Midnight in Paris because of this movie lol just to see the younger Owen.

As for the movie, I loved it a lot!!  The performance sequences of J. Lo were great!  I love all her costumes and the story was light and breezy - a little less funny than Notting Hill - but the singing parts all but made up for it.

Maluma is hot!!  How can one possibly hate him.  He's a lust machine lol

As for Owen and J. Lo, they just play someone which are quite close to who they seem to be in real life so I am sure this was not so much of a stretch for them.  And I think they looked good together, a hot Latina mama and a dorky blonde nerdy teacher.

Too bad the movie disappeared quickly from Manila theaters, but in this digital world, that should not be a problem.