Kris Rasmussen: February 2008 Archives

To be quite honest, sometimes I find it a little difficult to distinguish between one pretty, young, new contemporary Christian female artist and another. I miss the days of Leslie Phillips, Jennifer Knapp, and Maggie Becker at her best. So I was a little surprised when I listened to the first track of Christian pop songstress Natalie Grant, and it actually sounded almost rock and roll. In fact, as a whole, "Relentless" as a whole has more maturity and variety than what I have heard of her previous efforts.

The Oscar broadcast last night was okay. Too many montages and a few upsets in my predictions (rats!). Stewart was funny, but it wasn't his "A" game (The best line being "'Atonement'. Finally a movie that captures the raw passion of Yom Kippur.") And in fact, after watching a joyful celebration of film over at the Independent Spirit Awards—televised on AMC and IFC the night before Oscar—there was no way Oscar could come close in style and substance to these more laid back awards.

The Independent Film Awards were better because:

1. They had a worthy tribute to Heath Ledger that moved everyone to tears. The Oscars did nothing.

2. Rainn Wilson's ("The Office") comedy bits were funny enough to possibly make him the host of next year's Oscar.

Blogger and fantasy author extraordinaire, Jeffrey Overstreet, came up with a brilliant joke last night as he blogged the Oscars. If only he could have IM'd it to John Stewart so he could have used it.

Jeffrey, in referencing "Wicked" star and Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth's performance in an "Enchanted" number suggested this for a great intro: "And now, in the role of Kristen Chenoweth… Sarah Paulson!"

Okay, only former "Studio 60" fans would get the joke, but it would have been a well-deserved shot at "Studio 60's" Aaron Sorkin--Chenoweth's ex-boyfriend--for the way exploited her life on that show.

I'll be honest. The whole Miley Cyrus phenomenon makes me a little nervous. Not even Hilary Duff at the height of her "Lizzie Maguire" fame was invited to present at the Oscars and do a sit down with Barbara Walters, but the "Hannah Montana" star was--to the chagrin of some critics. Yes,the adorable, smiley Miley seems all too aware that at least half of Hollywood is waiting for her to follow the path of Lohan, Spears, and all the other falling starlets in her peer group. It is assumed it is a matter of time before Cyrus' good girl image unravels. Which is why I can't help but root for her to stay the course, especially after watching her talk with Walters on Walters' perennial Oscar special.

The movie geek in me loves the idea of posting my Oscar predictions every year here at Idol Chatter, so that I have the opportunity to feel either smug or chagrined over my prognosticating prowess. However, this year I feel like it is pretty pointless to give virtual ink to predictions when I can sum up the Oscars for you in one sentence: Everyone who won at the SAG Awards a few weeks ago is going to pick up the Oscar as well. (I have now just saved you four hours of your life that you can now use to do something else.)

That's right. While there is a slight possibility that "There Will Be Blood" has gained enough momentum to pull an upset over "No Country For Old Men," I doubt it. I predict there will be no surprises, and due to the truncated schedule to prepare for the Oscars because of the Writers' Strike, I am guessing there will be very few humorous bits between awards as well.

Still, making my annual predictions still gives me an opportunity to rant--as well as rave--about my picks, so here they are.

The only movie I haven't been able to cross off my Oscar nominated must-see list has been the dark, sweeping, would-be epic, "There will be Blood." I've had plenty of opportunities to listen to the rave reviews as well as...

As a singleton who recently survived one of my least favorite holidays, I know this list is going to sound incredibly jaded. But I am not bashing all romantic comedies.There is nothing wrong with an occasional harmless diversion into that...

Yes, it is official that the Writers Guild of America has reached an agreement with Hollywood producers to go back to work, and while I join my fellow blogger Donna in celebrating that the writers' received at least some of...

It is a trend of many Christian music groups these days to find a niche in the mainstream market and distinguish themselves with an edge that helps distance them from that dreaded Contemporary Christian Music label. Pop rockers Sanctus Real...

A few weeks ago here at Idol Chatter we posted about Anonymous, a group of internet-based folks dedicated to exposing the lies of Scientology. Well, Saturday was declared an official day for protesting Scientology and according to reports by the...

I don't usual watch the Grammys but something about this year's nominees and the promise of some legendary match-ups on stage (Aretha and BeBe Winans, Beyonce and Tina Turner) made me want to tune in. And while I am sure...

There are very few Westerns that I have been able to sit through, much less actually enjoy, and at two-plus hours I didn’t think I would really make it all the way through the latest adaptation of the life of...

Television's crankiest yet most lovable doctor, Gregory House, has finally returned with fresh episodes, and last night's storyline proved that the doc is an equal opportunity religious offender. House has mocked Christians many times for faith in a God who,...

It was only two years ago that federal courts ordered two DVD rental companies that specialized in distributing "scrubbed" versions of movies (in other words, movies that have had all offensive content such as profanity and nudity removed) to cease...