Telly Vision

My favorite shows of the moment include Season 3 of "Burn Notice" on iTunes; Season 5 of "Nip/Tuck," on DVD and iTunes; "True Blood," on HBO and "How I Met Your Mother" on CBS.

What's your favorite show of the moment? Mine change week to week.

Official Watchmen Trailer 

Third trailer and bonus content

Meet the cast:

Link: http://tinyurl.com/avcqcy

Earlier this week, a memo was leaked which had all the names of the Oscar winners. Those winners included Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, Kate Winslet for Best Actress, Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor and Amy Adams for Best Supporting Actress. Is the memo legitimate? Is it bogus? Tune in tonight.

What makes tonight's 81st Academy Awards so exciting for me is that I actually was able to see all of the Best Picture nominees and actor/actress nominees in Spartanburg, Greenville and Asheville, N.C. theaters. I watched The Visitor, Man on Wire, WALL-E and Frozen River on DVD. I usually do see almost every nominee but it takes a lot of work to see everything. This year, I could drive to WestGate Mall to see all five Best Picture nominees. That never happens and I hope it's a trend that continues. If you haven't seen these nominated films, I highly recommend them all. There is not one bad picture in the bunch.

I wish there could be a three-way tie for Best Actor between Sean Penn for "Milk," Mickey Rourke for "The Wrestler," and Frank Langella for "Frost/Nixon." Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" would be my runner-up.

I wish there could be a four-way tie for Best Actress between Kate Winslet in "The Reader," Meryl Streep for "Doubt," Anne Hathaway for "Rachel Getting Married," and Melissa Leo for "Frozen River."

Unfortunately, there will only be one winner for each category. But isn't it wonderful that we have so many good choices.

Here are my Oscar picks.

Best Actor

Pick: Sean Penn for "Milk"

Second choice: Mickey Rourke for "The Wrestler"

Prediction: Sean Penn for "Milk"

Best Actress

Pick: Kate Winslet for "The Reader"

Second choice: Melissa Leo for "Frozen River"

Prediction: Kate Winslet for "The Reader"

Best Supporting Actor

Pick: Heath Ledger for "The Dark Knight"

Second choice: Michael Shannon for "Revolutionary Road"

Prediction: Heath Ledger

Best Supporting Actress

Pick: Marisa Tomei for "The Wrestler"

Second choice: Viola Davis for "Doubt"

Prediction: Penelope Cruz for "Vicky Christina Barcelona"

Best Director

Pick: Danny Boyle for "Slumdog Millionaire"

Second choice: Gus Van Sant for "Milk"

Prediction: Danny Boyle for "Slumdog Millionaire"

Best Picture

Pick: "Slumdog Millionaire"

Second choice: "Milk"

Prediction: "Slumdog Millionaire"

Other picks....

Best Original Song -- "Jai Ho" for "Slumdog Millionaire"

Best Foreign Language Film -- "Waltz with Bashir"

Best Original Screenplay -- "Milk"

Best Adaptation for Screen -- "Slumdog Millionaire"

Best Documentary Feature -- "Man on Wire"

Best Costume Design -- "Australia"

Best Animated Film -- "WALL-E"

Best Visual Effects -- "Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Best Cinematography -- "Slumdog Millionaire"

Live red carpet coverage starts at 6 p.m. on E! and the TV Guide Channel. A Barbara Walters special will be presented right before the Oscars show.

The Oscars start at 8 p.m. and I will live Twittering the Oscars starting around 6 p.m. Go to GoUpstate.com to follow along. Or follow me on Twitter at Twitter.com/FrancoJose

Website WB.com has Valentine's Day episodes of "Smallville," "Gilmore Girls," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Everwood," "Veronica Mars," and "The O.C." The site also has the first five episodes of "Pushing Daisies." The Valentine's Day and relationship theme episodes will be up until Feb. 17.  

"Twilight" sucks, bites and every other vampire cliche I can think of.

Based on the best-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer, in director Catherine Hardwicke's hands, "Twilight" has been drained its blood, essentially its reason for being.

The story focuses on Bella (a miscast Kristen Stewart), who is described as "emotionally lost" but who somehow meets and makes a lot of cool kid, newspaper staff friends as soon as she arrives at her new high school in Forks, Wash. We know she is emotionally lost because she dresses like a skater kid and always has her iPod to her ears. I wonder what she's listening to? Probably music for emotionally lost kids.

Bella has moved to live with her police officer dad while her mom travels with her new husband who is a minor league baseball player. Mom and daughter seem to have a good relationship since they always talk to one another on the phone. The director makes a point of this and I'm not sure why. Bella actually seems to have two good parents. Bella is more like her dad, who also keeps to himself a lot and doesn't realize his daughter is about to meet the man of her dreams.

The guys at school are definitely interested in Bella but she's curious about the Cullen family -- who all look like very pale Abercrombie & Fitch models. Who knew vampires cared so much for hair care? That's a lot of hair gel that family uses so I guess they don't care how they are hurting the ozone layer which shields them from that hot sun.....

It's love at first sight between Edward and Bella. He gives her the creepy stare and also appears to get sick to his stomach when he first sees her. She starts to smell her hair making sure she doesn't smell or something.

He hides out for awhile and then reappears ready to make conversation. The audience has to endure this awkward dance for about an hour into the movie.

Then Edward saves Bella when a driver loses control of his vehicle and almost plows into Bella. He flies to her rescue leaving a big dent in the out-of-control vehicle. The very same thing happened on an episode of "Smallville." Is he Superman or a vampire?

Bella doesn't understand how he came to her aid so quickly and how he left a huge dent in the vehicle. How does he read people's minds? Why is his skin so cold? His face so pale? Why do his eyes change colors? Why, why, why? And why is she the only one asking these questions in this town? Are all of these kids clueless?

And why do all of the high school age children in the Cullen family appear more like couples than brothers and sisters? And why do they all look old enough to be the school's teachers rather than fellow students? And how do they get out of school when the sun is shining?

Finally, Edward spills all his secrets to Bella, who doesn't bat an eye. He calls himself a killer, a monster, plus he can move at the speed of light or The Flash. Still she doesn't flinch. He also said he wanted to drain her blood but stopped himself. Still, she thinks he's oh so cool.

In town, and in the surrounding counties, people are dying from what is believed to be an animal.

But the movie sticks to the "modern-day love story" and we see Bella going to have dinner with Edward's family. Finally, my interest picked up. The Cullen characters had some personality but unfortunately they are given short shrift.

Finally, we get to see who is doing all of the killing. It's a band of bad vampires. Unfortunately, these characters are also drawn thinly. What's their backstory? Why so hungry for blood? Why are vampires so interested in baseball?

I left this movie thinking there must be more to this than what I just saw on the big screen. I had more questions than answers. What about the bad blood between the Cullen family and the Native American characters? It's all in Stephenie Meyer's books. At least that's what I've been told. 

Well, at least, the movie has given me the desire to read the books. Because yes there will be a sequel. Blood thirsty fans will demand it.    

Twilight is rated PG-13 for adult situations and violence. Locally, the film can be seen at Spartan 16, Carmike 7, Hollyood 20.