Best Sign from the Annual March For Life

'Nuff said!

Where's the Recognition for Chloe Moretz, Chris Nolan, and 'Superman'??

The list of 2010's Oscar nominations has been released, and it looks pretty good. But there's always something to complain about, so here I go!

Problem 1: No Chris Nolan for Best Director? Did 'Inception' look easier to direct than 'The Fighter' or 'The Social Network'? (No offense to either films, of course)

Problem 2: No respect for a&$-kicking breakout performances. Not only did Chloe Moretz deliver two of the most solid performances of the year in the action/comedy 'Kick-Ass' and the excellent horror drama 'Let Me In,', but she did so in such a way that displayed a truly impressive range. Hailee Steinfeld ('True Grit') deserved her nomination, but so did Ms. Moretz.

Problem 3: Best SUPPORTING Actress? As anyone who saw 'True Grit' will tell you, the main character of the film was NOT Jeff Bridges, but Ms. Hailee Steinfeld. As such, if the two of them were to be nominated for any award, Mr. Bridges would receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Ms. Steinfeld would be nominated for Best Actress. As you can see from the list below, the reverse is the case.

Problem 4: Where. Is. 'Waiting For Superman'????? This omission is criminal... Just criminal.

And they wonder why the ratings keep going down.

On the bright side... 'Toy Story 3' for Best Picture!

And in case you missed the list of this year's Oscar nominees, have a look:

Best Actor

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Javier Bardem, Biutiful

Best Actress

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, The Fighter

Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Jeremy Renner, The Town

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Best Supporting Actress

Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech

Amy Adams, The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Picture

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The King’s Speech

The Kids Are All Right

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

Toy Story 3

The Social Network

127 Hours

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

David Fincher, The Social Network

Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

David O. Russell, The Fighter

Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, True Grit

'The King's Speech'

Wonderful movie. I'm not sure how historically accurate it is, but the performances are excellent, and the film itself is wholly enjoyable. Colin Firth is great as the stammering King George VI, and Geoffrey Rush ('Pirates of the Caribbean') is just a joy to behold, no matter his role.

As for the speech in question (the radio broadcast marking George VI's first wartime message to his subjects), I found myself absolutely anxiety-stricken for Colin Firth's character as he stepped up to the microphone. Public speaking is scary stuff, dude. I hope the man gets an Oscar for playing the part so well.

For those interested, here's the audio from the actual speech given by George VI at the outbreak of WWII:

'True Grit' (2010)

The newest film by the Coen Brothers offers a spiritual viewpoint that we don't get to see too often in Hollywood these days. Father Robert Barron (who also reviewed the Coen films ‘Fargo’ and ‘No Country For Old Men’) offers his insight.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead!

There's another decent review of the film in the National Catholic Register.

Personally, I think the Coen Brothers deserve every penny of the $111,145,321 that 'True Grit' has made thus far, and more.

To Life: Vanessa's Wedding Surprise

If this doesn't lift your spirits, nothing will!

In wake of Arizona tragedy, leftist pundits spew hate

In the wake of the monstrous crime perpetrated in Arizona, one of the few sane voices in the ensuing media firestorm has been that of nine-year-old victim Christina Taylor Green's grief-stricken father.

Our thoughts and prayers are with him and all the families that have been affected by this horror.

Watch and listen:

Via Big Hollywood:

"Anyone who’s studied the left for any period of time knew that before the blood had even dried on the sidewalks of Arizona Saturday, that the mainstream media would force us into a terrible choice. After the assassin’s monstrous attack, the decent thing to do would’ve been to come together as a nation to mourn the dead and pray for the survivors. Politics, and most especially political opportunism, should be the last thing on anyone’s mind. But the left, unfortunately, isn’t just anyone. They are who they are and that they would feast on the fresh corpses of the innocent in order to win a couple of political news cycles was obvious. And so those of us who would’ve preferred to go nowhere near the arena of politics when it came to this appalling attack on our country and our democracy, were forced to make sure 1995 didn’t repeat itself, the year President Clinton used the Oklahoma City bombing for partisan gain against his own political enemies.

"Joining in on this feast with the likes of Andrew Sullivan, Salon’s Joan Walsh, George Soros’ Eric Boehlert, the very Sheriff charged with protecting Rep. Giffords, Paul Krugman, Markos Moulitsas, and their allies in the media were, naturally, the dregs of the entertainment industry’s humanity barrel, who could barely contain their excitement over an opportunity to to attack the right, Sarah Palin, and call for – as they always do when given the opportunity – restrictions on speech."

- Big Hollywood's John Nolte

Via City Journal:

"...the Left’s sudden talk about incendiary political rhetoric in the wake of the Arizona shooting isn’t really about political rhetoric at all. It’s about the real-world failure of leftist policies everywhere—the bankrupting of nations and states by greedy unions and unfundable social programs, the destruction of inner cities by identity politics, and the appeasement of Muslim extremists in the face of worldwide jihad, not to mention the frequently fatal effects of delirious environmentalism. Europe is in debt and on fire. American citizens are in political revolt. Even the most left-wing president ever is making desperate overtures to his right.

"But all that might be tolerable to leftists if they weren’t starting to lose control of the one weapon in which they have the most faith: the narrative. The narrative is what leftists believe in instead of the truth. If they can blame George W. Bush for the economic crisis, if they can make Sarah Palin out to be an idiot, if they can call the Tea Party racist until you think it must be true, they might yet retain power in spite of the international disgrace of their ideas. And though they still mostly dominate the narrative on the three broadcast networks, most cable stations, most newspapers, and much of Hollywood, nonetheless Fox News, talk radio, the Internet, and the Wall Street Journal have begun to respond in ways they can’t ignore.

"That’s the hateful rhetoric they’re talking about: conservatives interrupting the stream of leftist invective in order to dismantle their arguments with the facts. As for leftists’ reaction to the Arizona shooting, call it Narrative Hysteria: a frantic attempt to capitalize on calamity by casting their opponents, not merely as racist or sexist or Islamophobic this time, but as somehow responsible for an act of madness and evil. Shame on them."

- Andrew Klavan

Word On Fire's 'Catholicism' - Series Highlights

'Flipped'

I had the pleasure of watching 'Flipped' with my family without any knowledge whatsoever of the source material. I did, however, go into it well aware of director Rob Reiner's past work, such as 'Stand By Me,' one of my personal favorite films.

'Flipped' doesn't live up to the director's best work. The characters are likable enough, even if Bryce (played by Callan McAuliffe) is one of the more annoying male characters I've ever seen in a movie. In addition, the story itself is just a bit too squeaky-clean, which may open it up to unintentional comedy in certain scenes (like a Lifetime movie, just not as bad).

The strongest scenes come to us courtesy of Juli Baker, played in down-to-earth fashion by Madeline Carroll. In a film that seems full of characters that might as well have been taken from a cheesy Hallmark card, Juli is completely realistic, and she absolutely shines. I would have liked the film to focus on her rather than cut back to the lame Bryce for half the time.

While it has it's weaknesses, this is still a better "love story" than most of the awful romantic comedies you're likely to come across these days.

For the life of me, I can't understand why it wasn't given a wider distribution in U.S. theaters.

Age and wisdom

To paraphrase Christian Toto, with age comes wisdom... but not always.

Chilling: Forty-one percent of New York City pregnancies end in abortion

As one blogger put it, "Safe, legal, and anything but rare."

The New York Post reports:

Forty-one percent of New York City pregnancies end in abortion -- or twice the national average, abortion foes said yesterday, citing government figures.

City Health Department numbers for 2009 showed that of all viable pregnancies here, 87,273 were terminated, compared with 126,774 live births.

Excluding miscarriages, 48 percent of Bronx pregnancies, were aborted, compared with 39 percent in Brooklyn and Queens, 38 percent in Manhattan and 32 percent on Staten Island. The most recent national figure: 19 percent.

Calling the stats "downright chilling," Archbishop Timothy Dolan said, "New York does not deserve the gravestone 'Abortion capital of the world.' Our boast is the Statue of Liberty, not the Grim Reaper."