The Marvel Cinematic Universe Phases 1 & 2 Edition

Welcome back to another addition of The Entertainment Guru News & Views.

A few weeks back, Marvel announced a huge slate of films for their Cinematic Universe's Phase 3 including Guardians Of the Galaxy 2, Avengers 3 & 4, Thor 3, Captain America 3 & Doctor Strange just to name a few. But it got me thinking about Phases 1 and 2. I ranked them in my personal preference to present to you here on the blog. But then I decided to up the ante! So I opened the question up to a few of my friends on Facebook. I want to thank Jay and Jeremy for joining us for the first time. And I would like to welcome back Lori and Jason as well.

I took every one's ranking and assigned points for each. So if a movie was ranked # 1, it got ten points. A # 2 ranking got 9 points and so on and so on. The ten movies in question were Iron Man (1,2,3), Thor (1,2), Captain America (1,2), Hulk (Edward Norton Version), Avengers and the latest addition to the Marvel Universe Guardians Of The Galaxy.

So here we go with the countdown. In at # 10 earning a total of 12 points is Hulk. Both Lori and Jason had it in at # 10 and here is why. "The best part of it was the Tony Stark cameo, all 15 seconds of it." Lori told me. And Jason thought . "It didn't have the right feel, and wasn't fun or exciting."

Number 9 in the rankings goes to Iron Man 2. It earned 16 points in the countdown. It's highest ranking was 6th place, in both my ranking and Jason's. I thoroughly enjoyed Sam Rockwell's performance, but the rest of the movie fell a little flat for me.

Iron Man 3 comes in at Number 8, earning 17 points. "The way they used the Mandarin was classic.  It was going to be a hard character to pull off realistically, but Marvel did it" Said Jeremy. A lot of people were disappointed by the way Mandarin was portrayed, definitely not Jeremy!

The original Thor comes in at Number 7 racking up 19 points along the way. "This brought us Loki. And it showed the sarcastic wit of Kat Dennings to the world. And it was directed by Kenneth Branagh" added Lori.

Not far behind Thor comes Thor: The Dark World collecting 24 points.  It averaged a 6th place finish in our polls. Which is why it is number six on our list.

At the half way point of the countdown comes Captain America: The First Avenger. Captain America thawed out with 27 points in our list. I felt like this movie was good in parts, had a decent villain but really was kind of boring. Now granted, I felt the same way about Thor on the first viewing and enjoyed it the second time. So maybe I will give this a second viewing as well.

Speaking of Captain America, The Winter Soldier comes in at Number 4 on the list. The Winter Soldier earned 29 points in total, edging out the first one by a mere two points. "The Winter Soldier’s story is so compelling that when the movie ends, you want to know more about this tragic character." said Jeremy.

And here we are going into the top 3 with the movie that started it all. In at Number 3 with a total of 35 points is Iron Man. "This was such a great movie to kick everything off and I loved Jeff Bridges as the villain who I didn't actually know was Jeff Bridges until after the fact. Also, this was pre-ScarJo, which just makes everything better." was Lori's thoughts on it.

And now on to Number 1... wait? What? We were just at 3. How could we be at 1? Well ladies and gentlemen, there is a tie! So in the words of Harvey Two Face Dent, I flipped a coin to see who would be last because it is the only true justice. They both earned 47 points total. All that is left and earning dueling top spots is Avengers and the Guardians Of The Galaxy.

Avengers became my all time favorite movie. I just enjoyed all the wit and sarcasm and Loki. Granted, there may have been a little too much pop culture references for the masses, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Jeremy's favorite part was "What makes the movie so amazing is the interactions between The Hulk and Loki. Mark Ruffalo does the green guy proud with his performance in this movie."

And while Avengers became my favorite movie, for Jason his new favorite movie is about a talking tree, a talking raccoon with an attitude and this guy who I met at a book signing years ago:

When asked why it was his favorite movie of all time, here's what Jason had to say "because of the characters, story and most of all humor. It wasn't a super hero movie... I hate when people say its a super hero movie. It is very Star Warish....Oh, it also has a pretty good soundtrack but in GotG 2 it better have a Foghat song!"

So there you have it. Feel free to contact me with your rankings and maybe I will post a few update with them! Thanks for stopping by!

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The Force Awakens Edition

Good morning and welcome back to the Entertainment Guru News & Views.

I thought that I would relaunch my blog with a promise. Next year (2015) will be the biggest year for my 3 blogs than any other year prior. I know what you are saying. Three blogs? Recently I launched a third blog about all sports. So feel free to visit my other two blogs as they will be updated in the upcoming days as well. I hope to have guest writers (aka my friends) come in and contribute as well. If you would like to contribute to a future blog, feel free to contact me. I believe the next blog here will have contributions.

My wrestling blog can be found at: http://insidethewrestlingring.blogspot.com/ and my new sports blog can be found at: http://nowenteringthesportszone.blogspot.com/

A few weeks ago it was announced that the official subtitle for the new Star Wars film would be the Force Awakens. Chris O'Mealy (of Club Kayfabe) said  "I like it, althought I know there's going to be a massive amount of bitching." Chris was right. Just a visit to the IMDB boards for the movie confirm that. There are quite a bit of threads where people bitch about the title or come up with what they think will be a better title, without actually seeing the movie first. Because the one thing I have learned is that the fans are always right. Right?

My first thought on the the new subtitle is it is better than then prequel subtitles, that's for sure. That isn't necessarily saying much. I think we can agree that "Attack Of The Clones" is the worst subtitle of the seven. The only other title that would have been worse is if they named Episode 2 "Send in the Clones".

I think the subtitle for Episode 7 leaves a little mystery to it, which I like. As usual, people on the internet are confused by the title. I saw someone on the IMDB board ask "how could the force awake, it doesn't sleep. It's not a living being".

The rumors are we will see at least a teaser trailer for the film in December. I am doing my best to avoid any spoilers leading up to the release of the trailer. I just hope that J.J. Abrams is more careful with his trailer than Joss Whedon was. If you thought what Hydra did to the Avengers 2 trailer, just imagine what kind of leaks the Sith will do?

I will say this about the cast. It is a very diverse cast. I also like that it brings the old "Hamil, Ford and Fisher" with the new "Oscar Issac, Adam Driver, and Lupita Nyong'o etc"

What are your thoughts on the new subtitle?

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The Lauren Bacall Edition

Welcome back to another Edition of the Entertainment Guru News and Views.

Much like with the case of Farrah Fawcett's death being overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson, I feel that the death of Lauren Bacall is being overshadowed by the death of Robin Williams. Yes, they died a day apart but still. No one seems to really be talking about Bacall. Maybe it's because she was much older. Maybe it's because she wasn't in the lime light anymore as opposed to Williams who was still making movies, but I think attention needs to be paid to her as well.

Bacall died on August 12, 2014 at the age of 89 of a stroke.

There isn't much Bacall hadn't done in her career. She is a two time Tony winner, Kennedy Center Honors, Golden Globe winner, and an Academy Honorary Award winner as well. She won a National Book award as well.

Her co-stars include Kirk Douglas, Humphrey Bogart, Rock Hudson, Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, Gary Cooper and Marilyn Monroe. That is a fairly impressive list if you ask me. Comedy and drama, she could do it all.

She represented a time of glamour. She was Old Hollywood, in the best sense of the word.

I admit however, that I have never seen any of her movies. I know that is a terrible thing to say, but it is true. My field of expertise as an Entertainment Guru really starts in 1985. And while she was still acting at that point, I am afraid I didn't see anything she was in. And her last role was in the most unlikely of places, providing a voice on "Family Guy".

RIP Lauren Bacall.

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The Robin Williams Edition

Welcome back to the Entertainment Guru News and Views for this week in August, 2014. I wish I could be coming here with great news. Instead, I come with the death of a great comedian, actor and writer.

I walked in the door on Monday evening.. I was dealing with a pseudo-emergency in my head when I looked at my wife on the couch. She had opened her computer and was immediately met with bad news. By now you all know I am talking about Robin Williams.

Monday afternoon, Williams died of an apparent suicide. Williams was 63 at the time of his death. He had a well known battle with drugs and alcohol through his life. He also suffered from depression. He had checked in himself into rehab earlier this year in an attempt to fight his disease. As of this writing we don't if he was doing drugs or drinking at the time that he ended it all.

What we do know is the joy that Robin Williams brought into each and one's lives. There are some actors that are known for one thing or another that doesn't touch every single person's life. That doesn't take away from the talent that they have. But I highly doubt there is a person that has not enjoyed something from Robin Williams' tremendous career. From his turn as a teacher in an all boys' school in "Dead Poets' Society" to being a Genie in Disney's "Aladdin" to being Teddy Roosevelt coming back to life in the three "Night At The Museum" movies. That doesn't even include his Oscar winning performance as a teacher to a troubled genius in the film "Good Will Hunting". And that is just a small handful of his memorable movie roles. But he did so much more than that.

He recently starred in a CBS comedy called "The Crazy Ones" where he was the head of an advertising company along with his on screen daughter Sarah Michelle Gellar. But an older generation he was Mork, the lovable able in the 1978 comedy "Mork and Mindy".

Along side fellow comedians Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg, he co-hosted the "Comic Relief"
telethon which benefited the homeless in America. The event ran for several years and featured famous and up and coming comedians such as Dana Carvey, Jim Carrey, Bobcat Goldthwait, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock just to name a few.

The list of comedians that he helped inspired would be long enough to fill a blog. His frantic style of comedy was one of a kind, just like the man himself.

We will never know what his mind frame was as he decided to end it all. Whatever it is, his demons got the best of him. And because of that the world lost an inspiration. Robin Williams was a genius, a dark genius but a genius none the less. It also goes to show that you could be world famous and it isn't enough to make you happy.

My hope in all this is that we shine a light on depression. It's not something you can "just get over". For people struggling with depression it is a daily fight. Some days are easy to cope, with aren't. There doesn't even need to be a cause to trigger one's depression. It just happens.

Entertainment Guru News and Views would like to offer our condolences to his family. We all lost someone, but it's nothing compared to your loss. To his friends, count your blessings that you had someone in your life as amazing as Robin Williams. And to his fans, your comedy and legacy will live on. Thank you for the memories, Mr. Williams.

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Four Trailers Edition

Welcome back to the Entertainment Guru News & Views blog with our not so fancy but still new logo. I hope that you enjoy it!

There are some very interesting looking movies coming out, so I thought I would show you some trailers and give my opinions on them. Sure, I could look at the Guardians Of The Galaxy trailer, or something big like that. But let's face it, everyone will be looking at that. Instead, I want to shine a light on some of the smaller movies that will be coming out soon. First we are going to take a look at not one but two new Aubrey Plaza movies. First, here is "Life After Beth"

In what is the third romantic/zombie movie we have seen (Behind Shaun Of The Dead and Warm Bodies), Dane Dehaan stars as a man who lost his girlfriend, Beth. But it turns out that Beth didn't die. She is now a zombie. He tries to maintain a relationship with her, until she goes a little crazy trying to eat brains. I mean if anything is a deal breaker, I would think that would be it. It looks very strange, but funny at the same time. I had never really seen anything of DeHaan until The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  But I think they would make a cute on-screen couple in a very unusual but cool sounding movie. I mean zombies are cool now, so why not take it in direction you would not expect a zombie movie to go.

Plaza returns in a bit of a dramatic role for her in the drama "About Alex". A group of college friends reunite after Alex (played by Jason Ritter) attempts suicide. The friends are played by Max Greenfield, Jane Levy,  Maggie Grace, Max Minghella and Nate Parker. It seems that no matter how long these friends are apart, they fall back into their old habits and friendship. I have a serious weakness for movies about reunions. It looks funny at times and very depressing at times. But it does look well acted by the entire cast. It's refreshing to see movies like this are still getting made in the face of all the super hero movies we see.

Another drama with a touch of comedy is "The Skeleton Twins". Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig play twins (though really they look nothing a like) who both have near death incidents on the same day. They are estranged from each other, having not seen each other in ten years. I like to see actors play against their strengths. Both Hader and Wiig are comedic actors, having spent so much time on Saturday Night Live. But here they get to stretch their acting skills just a little bit.

And speaking of actors totally stepping out their comfort zones, I offer you this. It is a romantic comedy starring The Boy Who Lived, Daniel Radcliffe. Radcliffe, to this point, has only done Harry Potter movies, a horror movie (The Woman In Black) and a dramatic performance in "Kill Your Darlings". But now, he shows a funny side in "What If". It looks so different for him, but he seems to be very comfortable in his role. I enjoyed the trailer and I know I will enjoy the movie.

There you have it. Four trailers for your consideration. I hope that you will see these movies along side the big action movies the next time you are looking for a flick to see.

Thanks to IMDB for providing the trailers.



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The Letterman Colbert Edition

Welcome back to another edition of Entertainment Guru News and Views.

 

It truly is the end of an era coming next year. The old guard is officially dead and the dawning of the new is upon us.

 

He has been on national television since 1982, but next year he is retiring. I am, of course, talking about David Letterman. He survived the fiasco of The Tonight Show. He recently survived a sex scandal. He has interviewed 1000s of people. He did a show in his theater with no electricity. The man even survived a fight with Oprah and can tell the tale. But next year, he is hanging up his Top 10 list.

 

Think about all the talk shows that have come and most of whom have gone in that time. We have seen some real bombs like Chevy Chase or Magic Johnson. In that time we have seen people have multiple late night talk shows like Arsenio Hall. We have seen The Craigs (Kilborn and Ferguson) and the Jimmys (Fallon and Kimmel). Even the man of a thousand shows, Carson Daly had one. And now Seth Myers has a show too. Let's not forget Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. Really that's just a small sampling of the late show talk shows.

I was lucky enough to see a Letterman taping back in 1999. My college offered a trip to New York for communication majors so I went. I even got to see one of my favorite actors on the show. John Cusack was there to promote a movie called "Pushing Tin." There was no musical guest that day because Jack Hanna was there with his wonderful animals. It was a lot of fun!

 

It was announced last Thursday that Stephen Colbert will now host The Late Show, leaving his comfy desk at The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. As Lori and I both said, we hope we get to see the real Colbert and not Pseudo News Man that we have seen before. But I think that it is a good choice. I can't think of anyone else who would have been better. He is a well-known personality who was universally liked until the recent scandal and proceeding “Cancel Colbert” movement.

I am sure there will be people who won't be happy about Colbert taking over. Was what he did wrong? Yes; but worse things have been said. It was a joke that people failed to get. Was it funny? I don't think so. Everyone who is put in a comedic position has said something that has been deemed offensive by someone. Does that make Colbert a bad person? I don't think so.

Time will tell how well he will actually do in the role, but I think that he will fit in nicely.

Special thanks as always to my wonderful editor who is also my wonderful fiancée for all her work!

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Rip Mickey Rooney and More Edition

Welcome to another edition of Entertainment News and Views. We lost a few big names in the last few weeks, so I wanted to take this moment to salute their careers.

You might not know the name James Rebhorn, but you knew the man. He was once of "those guys" that was never the star of anything but was always around. He appeared in 125 different roles, with a lot of that being television work. He appeared in such shows as "White Collar," "The Good Wife," and "Homeland" just to name a few. Movie-wise he was in "Independence Day," "Meet The Fockers," and "Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" among others.

We also lost stand up comedian John Pinette at age 50. Honestly, I don't remember a single bit of his. But I remember watching him and thinking he was funny. He was a large man, and a lot of his comedy was based on his weight. You have to admire a man who laughed at himself before the world laughed at him.

Peaches Geldof died at the age of 25. She was a British model and television personality. She is also the daughter of musician Bob Geldof who helped create Live Aid in 1985. For being so young, she accomplished a lot in her life, most notably being the mother of two small children.

And then there is Mickey Rooney. I've said it before and I will say it again. The word legend gets tossed around a lot, especially in Hollywood, but in my eyes only a few people deserve the title. Mickey Rooney deserves the title. Very few people in Hollywood have worked as consistently as Rooney did. In my lifetime, he has appeared in at least one television show or movie in 36 of my 37 years alive on this planet. Show me anyone else with that kind of consistency. It will be hard to. Not to mention the quality of great movies that he was a part of in his younger days. Like "National Velvet" with Elizabeth Taylor, "Breakfast At Tiffany's" with Audrey Hepburn and "Babes in Arms" with Judy Garland. For a much younger audience he appeared in "A Night At The Museum" with Ben Stiller and gave his voice in Disney's "Fox and The Hound."

Our thoughts go out to the families and friends that lost these talented people. Thank you for the great memories you have provided over the years.

Another thanks to my wonderful editor for helping me edit this week's blogs.

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The How I Met Your Mother Edition

 

 

I remember watching a show when it first debuted nine years ago. I saw two familiar faces from other things I had seen in the past, and three new faces that at that point I didn't think I had ever seen before (turns out that I have, but that's another story).

I remember after the first episode thinking, "This is a good show, I hope they don't cancel it." It was a very unique show.

Every season after that, I still kept waiting for them to cancel it, but they never did. Ultimately it lasted eight seasons before they said this would be the last season and now we are down to the final hour-long episode.

I am, of course, talking about "How I Met Your Mother" (as if you didn't know that, just from the name of this week's blog). And tonight we will witness the final new "How I Met Your Mother" of all time.

My absolute favorite thing about the show is the fact that the smallest detail that seemed like a throwaway joke somehow came back three seasons later and had an entire episode written about it. We have gotten the answer to every question, except for one. That being the Pineapple Incident. But according to the spotless narration by Future Ted (Bob Saget) even he doesn't know the answer to that.

While this hasn't been the best season, it has provided a lot of great moments. I think it was hindered when it was announced that the final season would take place over two days. They had to draw it out with a lot of filler episodes, which a lot of people didn't like. I can understand the point. But it was a unique way to end a very unique show.
 

But this got me thinking about something. There are only four shows I can say that I have watched from start to finish in my entire life, without missing a season. Two of the shows were sitcoms and they are often compared to each other. One show is, of course, "How I Met Your Mother," the other show is "Friends." The other two shows are polar opposite drama shows. One was teen -based, one is adult-based. I am referring to "Dawson's Creek" and "White Collar."

It also got me thinking about what other shows people have watched. So I turned to my Facebook friends and sent them that exact question. I was surprised by the number of responses. There were a lot of varied responses, from comedies to dramas and a few animated shows as well. For example, Steven from New Jersey has watched everything from sitcoms like "Everybody Loves Raymond" to "Big Bang Theory" with a splattering of zombie blood and the "Walking Dead." Lauren in Florida is a fan of shows like "Sex and The City," "Game Of Thrones," and "Charmed." Lori, also in New Jersey, watched every season of "House, M.D." Kevin in Nevada has watched "Friends," "Family Guy," "Supernatural," and "Hell’s Kitchen." It seems that "Walking Dead" is the most watched show of all my friends (except Lori, who just doesn't do zombies).

Thank you to 22 friends that answered the question for me. I think there will be more questions asked on Facebook for the purpose of the blog, so look for that in the future. Also if there is something you want me to discuss, feel free to contact me. That goes to anyone, not just my friends on Facebook!

Also special thanks to my wonderful editor for proof reading this and contributing to the blog as well.

 

In closing I would like to say thank you to Ted, Barney, Robin, Lily, and Marshall for nine legend... wait for it... dary seasons.

 

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The Adele Dazeem Edition

Welcome to another edition of the Entertainment Guru, the Post-Oscars edition. It would be so easy to have called it that, but how could I after the events of that night. But there is more to come on that shortly.

Let's see how well I did with my predictions for the night. I said that Jared Leto would win Best Supporting Actor, and the winner was indeed Jared Leto. I had picked Jennifer Lawrence to win Best Supporting Actress. I was wrong this time as Lupita Nyong’o won this year. I picked Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett to win Best Actor and Best Actress respectively. I was correct on both, bringing my total for the year to 3-1. In the writing categories, I predicted correctly again with "12 Years a Slave" and "Her." I was also right with my prediction that "Frozen" would win Best Animated Movie. So now I am 6-1. I would call that a good year for me! But that's where the good news ends. I picked Steve McQueen to win Best Director, but the director of Gravity Alfonso Cuaron won. I also mis-predicted the movie that would win Best Picture. I said it would be "American Hustle" taking the trophy, but it was "12 Years a Slave" instead. So I finished the night picking 6-3. Still, not a bad total.

I thought that Ellen DeGeneres was, for the most part, a good host for the Oscars again. I think they went with a safe bet after last year's host Seth MacFarlane got a pretty mixed reaction from the fans. I thought the Selfie moment was cute and it did what they set out to do. It was indeed the most retweeted picture in the history of Twitter. Just the star power in that picture alone was incredible.

But not every bit in the Oscars worked for me. People wonder why the Oscars are the longest award show of the year. I can sum it up in one word from this year's ceremony. Pizza. I am not sure what that was supposed to accomplish. I laughed once, but I thought the whole skit was pointless, really.

And then there was the John Travolta flub. I don't know if he was nervous or what. But how one goes from Idina Menzel to Adele Dazeem is beyond me. For a guy that has been in Hollywood for almost forty years to not pronounce someone's name is just plain embarrassing.

My final thoughts on the Oscars 2014 are about the names missing from the In Memoriam section. I don't know how names like Cory Monteith, James Avery, Jonathan Winters, Tom Clancy and Dennis Farina were not included. I know the Oscars are about movies, but all of them have been involved in movies in someway or another. Monteith, Winters, Avery and Farina are more known for their work on television than in movies, but they have appeared in movies as well. And without Tom Clancy's novels we would have never gotten Jack Ryan. They were included in the web version of In Memoriam. Maybe if we took some parts out of the pizza bit, we would have been able to honor ALL who passed this year.

Special thanks as always to my wonderful editor and fiancée for once again re-reading my work so I can bring it to you.

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The Winners of the second and a half EGNVies, Oscars and RIP Edition

Welcome back to a jam-packed edition of the Entertainment Guru News and Views. We have a lot to talk about this time, but we will get started with some sad news.

This past week we mourned the death of actor/director/writer Harold Ramis. He will forever be remembered as Egon Spengler. There are very few great projects from the 1980s and 1990s that Ramis was not involved in. From Ghost Busters to Stripes to Animal House to a movie that I think is vastly underrated, Back To School. He has been busy into the new millennium as well, showing up in Knocked Up as Seth Rogen's father as well. He was brilliant no matter what he chose to do. From everything that I have read about him, he was highly regarded as a nice guy. The term Renaissance Man gets thrown around a lot, but clearly Ramis fit the description. He was involved in so many different aspects of movie production. I could probably do a whole blog just about the cultural impact this man had, especially on my childhood, but instead, we will just sit back and remember one of his greatest moments in Ghostbusters. I give you, the Twinkie.

There has been talk about doing Ghostbusters 3 for years now. I know that Bill Murray had said he would not be involved with the film. And now that Ramis has passed, I think they should not make the movie. As big of a fan as I am of the movies (Yes, I even enjoy Ghostbusters 2, but not nearly as much as the original) it would lack something when half of the main actors are not involved. I think the time had passed for them to have made the movie, but now just let us move on. It would only ruin another great movie with another sequel not worthy of it.

Later tonight marks the biggest night in Hollywood, it's the Oscars with your host Ellen DeGeneres. I will admit that I have not seen any of the movies up for awards this year, but I thought I would go ahead and attempt to pick the winners. We will check next week to see how well I did with them. For Best Supporting actor, I predict that Jared Leto will win for "Dallas Buyers Club." I think this is the closest category, which is why I started here. I am hoping for an upset though. I think there is a chance (albeit a small one) that Barkhad Abdi will win for "Captain Phillips." For Best Supporting Actress, I say Jennifer Lawrence will win for "American Hustle." For Best Actor, my prediction is Matthew McConaughey will also win for "Dallas Buyers Club." The Academy tends to like true stories, and this one tugs at the heart. For Best Actress, I pick Cate Blanchett for "Blue Jasmine." For Best Director, I predict Steve McQueen for "12 Year's A Slave." For Best Original Screenplay, I am going to say that Spike Jonze will win for "Her." What are my picks for Best Adapted Screenplay? Why, I am glad you asked! John Ridley will win for "12 Year's A Slave." But I am hoping that "Philomena" wins it for Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope. For Best Animated Feature, it has to be "Frozen." Mostly since it's the only movie I saw that's up for anything this year. Plus it was just that good! And finally for Best Picture I say that "American Hustle" will win. Check back next week and see how many I got right. Or most likely in this case, wrong.

But now we will move to the awards that everyone is talking about, the EGNVies for this year. Last week I gave you the nominees. For those of you new to the blog, these are the awards for the movies that I actually saw. So we will get started with Best Ensemble. This year I give the award to "Fast And Furious 6." For Best Female Comedic Performance, the winner is Sandra Bullock in "The Heat." For Best Male Comedic Performance, the EGNVie goes to Alan Arkin in "Grudge Match," because quite frankly Alan Arkin is awesome. The Winner for Best Actor in an Action Movie goes to Tom Hiddleston for "Thor: The Dark World." Why? Because Tom Hiddleston is awesome too! The winner of Villain Of the Year goes to Donald Sutherland's performance as evil President Snow in "Hunger Games: Catching Fire." Speaking of "Catching Fire" let's also congratulate his co-star Jennifer Lawrence, winner of Best Actress in an Action Film. And the winner of EGNVie Picture of the Year, Congratulations "Frozen."

What did you think of my picks? What would you change? What categories do you want me to add for next year? Let me know! See you next week!

Special thanks as always to my wonderful and beautiful editor for helping me with this week's blog.

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The Second EGNVies Nominations Edition

Welcome back to the Second Entertainment Guru News and Views Movie Awards. This should be the third EGNVies but for some strange reason, I didn't do it last year. Which is a real shame. While Lori and I saw some great movies this year, we didn't see nearly as many as we did the year before. But we saw some quality movies that deserve some recognition. Only movies that we saw from 2/8/2013 until today are eligible for nominations. The movie also had to come out between that time as well. I hope that you will agree with my choices. So here we go with the nominees. Last time I gave you the nominees and the winners at the same time, but I thought this year I would divide it up. I mean the Oscars don't nominate and award at the same time, so I won't either.

Nominees for Ensemble Cast of the year: The Last Vegas, Grudge Match, Fast & Furious 6, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and Saving Mr. Banks.

Best Female Comedic Performance: Melissa McCarthy in The Heat, Sandra Bullock in The Heat, Teresa Palmer in Warm Bodies, and Tina Fey in Admission.

The nominees for Best Male in an Action Movie are: Tom Hiddleston in Thor, The Dark World, Dwayne Johnson in Fast & Furious 6, Chris Hemsworth in Thor, The Dark World, Josh Hutcherson in Catching Fire, and Paul Walker in Fast & Furious 6.

Now it's the Best Male Comedic Performance. Your nominees are: Josh Gad in Frozen, Steve Carell in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Alan Arkin in Grudge Match, and Nicholas Hoult in Warm Bodies.

It's time for the nominees for Villain of the Year. Today we nominate Donald Sutherland as President Snow in Catching Fire, Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks, Robert DeNiro as Billy 'The Kid' McDonnen in Grudge Match, Dave Franco as Perry in Warm Bodies, and Luke Evans as Shaw in Fast & Furious 6. I know most people wouldn't consider Emma Thompson the villain of the movie, but she was just so negative it's kind of hard for me not to.

Nominees for Best Female in an Action Movie only has two nominations as well this time around. Last time it was Paula Patton vs Jennifer Lawrence. J-Law returns, this time as Katniss Everdeen. She will face Michelle Rodriguez from Fast & Furious 6.

You will notice that there isn't going to be either best actor or actress in a drama because we really didn't see any movies with serious drama in it. So congratulations to Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson for winning Best Actor in a Drama and Best Actress in a Drama for Saving Mr. Banks.

And finally the nominees for EGNVies Movie of the Year are: Frozen, Warm Bodies, The Heat, Fast & Furious 6, and Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Check back next week when we announce the winners!

Earlier today the leads were announced in the reboot for Fantastic Four. If you missed it, Miles Teller will be Reed Richards, Kate Mara will be Sue Storm, Michael B. Jordan will be Johnny Storm and Jamie Bell will be Ben Grimm. Quite honestly I am trying to tell which had more of a fan outrage, this casting or Batfleck. Again, there has been casting that has been booed upon announcing that worked out. So I will reserve judgment on both cases until I see them in action.

Speaking of action and comic book movies I was doubting. I watched the trailer for "Guardians Of The Galaxy" yesterday. I will admit that I have not read any of the comics, so I will be going into it differently than I have any of the other comic book movies I’ve watched. But for this, I wasn't looking forward to it. It just sounded strange. But after watching the first trailer, I am definitely looking forward to it now.

As always a special thanks goes to my editor and fiancée Lori who makes this readable

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The More RIP Editions

And I am back! A lot has happened since my last blog, and not all of it is good. So I thought I would start off with some negative before my regular posts begin again.

Two actors died long before their time was up since I last blogged so I wanted to give my thoughts on them. They lived very different lives, but both fell due to excesses in their lives. I enjoyed both through their careers. I am, of course, talking about Paul Walker and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Paul Walker died on November 30th, 2013. Sadly, he died doing what he loved doing, quite frankly what he was best known for. It's more than just ironic when an actor known for "Fast and Furious" movies died while allegedly speeding down the road. Walker wasn't driving, according to police reports. The good news (if there is any good news in this situation) was there were no drugs or alcohol involved.

The same cannot be said about Oscar winning actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who battled drug addiction for twenty-plus years. Reports surfaced that when he was found dead, the heroin needle was still stuck in his arm. Again, police reports I read said that 50 bags of heroin were found in his apartment that day.

The two of them really couldn't have been any different, yet they had something in common. While both were movie stars, they primarily lived their lives out of the spotlight. Neither of them seemed to enjoy the spotlight that came with success, especially Walker. He avoided the press as easily as his character in the Fast movies avoided the police. Hoffman didn't seem to enjoy it much either, but I feel he was much more comfortable than Walker was. Maybe it's from the years of Broadway experience Hoffman had. I don't know.

Their movies couldn't have been any different either. Like I said, Paul Walker was known for his action movies like the Fast movies or Into the Blue. Hoffman was known for more dramatic roles like The Master or the role that won him an Oscar, Capote. Hoffman did dip into action for one role, that of a Mission:Impossible movie. Because of how different their styles of movies were, I think it would be very difficult to play Six Degrees of Separation between the two of them.

Another thing they have in common was leaving franchises waiting for their actors to return. Paul Walker was filming another Fast movie, The Fast and Furious 7. That movie was due out this summer, but will now be delayed until next year while they work on reshoots. Brian O'Connor (Walker's character) will not die, according to internet reports. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was seven days a way from finishing his role as Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. That movie will not be delayed.

Everyone has their favorite movies of certain actors’. While I enjoyed The Fast and Furious, my favorite Paul Walker movie was one of his first movies, Varsity Blues. He has a supporting role in the film as the hot shot quarterback Lance Harbor who gets injured and James Vanderbeek comes in to save the day. It's cheesy at times, but it made me regret not playing high school football. Not that it would have ended well for me if I did. But that's another story. Phillip Seymour Hoffman has a very small role in one of my all time favorite movies though. I believe he is only in three or four scenes (if even that) but he plays a huge part in the main character’s life, and really helps the story get going. So if you haven't seen Almost Famous, I highly recommend it!

Special thanks as always to my wonderful editor. Thank you for all your hard work to make my words right.

Oh yeah, before I let you go. I said it would be difficult, but I didn't say it couldn't be done. Paul Walker was in Fast and Furious Five with The Rock. The Rock co-starred in Journey 2 with Josh Hutcherson. And of course Josh Hutcherson was in Catching Fire with Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

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