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With this year’s Oscars just days away, in the media and around the water cooler we engage in the recurring debate about which films deserve to win, and which, in fact, will.

The set-up is straight out of the “classic horror” pagebook: six highly fit, attractive women cave-diving in Appalachia, when something goes wrong. It wouldn’t be much of a movie if nothing did. (Although in my own cave-dives, nothing seems to happen. Sigh.) 

Another strange truth about the movie biz: sometimes, a great idea will take decades to become a feature film. Case in point, Walt Disney’s much beloved “Lady And The Tramp.”

First, let’s take a moment to celebrate Spencer Tracy’s 104th birthday. And though he died back in 1967, his success and skill as an actor is still impressive today. If you don’t know him, you should. He’s our favorite pre-Method screen actor, a man with an astonishing and natural talent. He was also a raging alcoholic, the unabashed kind who’d disappear with a case of bourbon and ask you to check back in a week. The self-described Irish potato gave MGM publicists ulcers galore. But this was one hot potato – a man who’d command a scene, and usually nail it in one take.   Today he’s best remembered for his later rom-com offerings with real-life partner Katharine Hepburn, about as unlikely a match as Jesse Jackson and Sarah Palin. But together on-screen, they made beautiful music.

We're sad to report that legendary character actor Bob Hoskins passed away last night at the age of 71. Though he became a household name playing gumshoe Eddie Valiant in the ultimate "Odd Pair" film, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", Hoskins's original breakout role was in the tightly wound British Crime thriller, "The Long Good Friday."   "Friday" was a perfect role for the undersized British Bulldog. His delivery on lines like "Shut up, you long streak of paralyzed piss!" in the film's final monologue made that role unforgettable. Ever since, he's been stealing scenes in dozens of movies, turning smaller, flatter roles (often villains) into memorable, well-rounded characters using his trademark growl and receded hairline.  In 1986, he was nominated for an Oscar (winning a BAFTA and Golden Globe) for his role in the noir mystery "Mona Lisa" (which we've belatedly slated for the site!), but it was his gruff-and-tough role in "Roger Rabbit" that launched him into Hollywood's upper-echelon of go-to character actors. Since then, he's appeared in everything from "Mermaids" alongside Cher to the beautifully crafted "Paris, Je T'Aime." 

Ever wonder why so many films are set in New York City? In addition to its size, and reputation for being the cultural and financial center of America (if not the world), there are the not-insignificant tax breaks our local government offers to attract penny-pinching studios, City Hall’s willingness to accommodate film crews (completely shutting down entire neighborhoods for location shoots), and a nice bonus in that 99% of stars and directors have home-away-from-penthouse spreads in the Big Apple. But there’s so much more to New York than the touristy scrum of Times Square, the hip Chelsea scene, the tony Upper East Side, or the high rise canyons of the Financial District. There are five boroughs that make up New York City, after all, and among them, Brooklyn. Part of Brooklyn’s glory is that it stubbornly defies stereotypes. Even with the current crop of twenty-something “trustafarians” overrunning the borough, the place is too big, too old, and too rich in history to erase the centuries of cultural roots hiding in plain sight.

You should know you resemble my wife, which is a compliment. You may assume I’m biased, but trust me. On request, I can send you a photo to prove it. You’re both lovely, of course, but you also have faces with character. Your smiles project decency and intelligence.

If you’re a fellow jazz lover, you probably look on Duke Ellington, born 115 years ago today, with awe. With a career spanning over half a century, Duke’s impact on jazz was incalculable. He not only played the piano with the deceptive ease and fluency Astaire brought to dancing, he led the best band in the business. He was a genius, and impossibly cool to boot. How so? Beyond the music, Duke was elegance personified in a still highly segregated world. He was his generation’s Marvin Gaye, exuding a powerful sexual charisma that made him irresistible to women, regardless of race. His personal life was predictably chaotic as a result, but it seems as though everyone in Duke’s life understood: it was all about the music. By the 1950s, his popularity was flagging a bit stateside. Most big band acts were folding, making way for “hipper” musicians like Miles Davis and Chet Baker. That all changed with his performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, when the Duke Ellington Orchestra caught fire and created something as close to perfection as you’re likely to hear. The lucky crowd was so enthralled that thousands of people “spontaneously started jitterbugging… hundreds of fans climbed on their seats [to cheer].” When their set ended, the crowd refused to disperse, screaming until Duke returned to the stage to placate the mob with more music. It’s a night that no one wanted to end.

In his final years, Marlon Brando was not a beloved figure. After his death in 2004, the prevailing sentiment was that Brando was selfish and arrogant, that he squandered his talent for money. Some critics sounded downright miffed, as if a good kick in Brando’s increasingly ample rear-end might have shocked him back to a full appreciation of what he owed his audience.   Though you can’t deny the prevailing sense of waste in Brando’s career, the simple fact remains: no other actor can touch the best of his work. After he exploded onto the Hollywood scene with 1951's "A Streetcar Named Desire," he cemented his status as a cinema legend by painfully mourning "I coulda had class, I coulda been a contender!" in "On the Waterfront" (1954), and despite later missteps, has remained an icon ever since.  It’s Marlon Brando’s 90th birthday today. Here are three ways to celebrate like the big man himself.