Hollywood’s movie awards season got seriously underway with the Golden Globe nominations on Thursday. But have those who pick the best movies and actors of the year got it right?

Some pundits are already crying foul over the absence of Australian actress Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt’s co-star in ”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”,  from the Golden Globe contenders, not to mention the fact that the San Francisco gay drama “Milk” got just one nomination, for actor Sean Penn.

And how about “The Dark Knight” –  the biggest box office success of the year — which picked up a single nomination for the late, beloved actor Heath Ledger but came away empty-handed otherwise?.

Since several of the movies, including “Benjamin Button” and “Revolutionary Road” haven’t been released in theaters yet (awards voters get sneak previews of those arriving at the end of the year), it’s hard for regular movie goers to make a fair assessment at this stage of the game.

This year’s list of Golden Globe nominees is top-heavy with A-list stars. Everyone from Brad and Angelina to Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway will likely be walking the red carpet when the awards are handed out on January 11.

But who do you think got unfairly shut out,  and which nominations were most surprising? Most importantly who deserves to win the top Golden Globes, or Oscars, for 2008?

(writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

In recent weeks as he has been promoting his new film, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Brad Pitt has professed nothing but disdain for the paparazzi, and now the actor has told Rolling Stone magazine it was constant hounding by celebrity photographers that forced him and partner Angelina Jolie to move their family to France, where she gave birth to twins earlier this year.

In an interview released on Wednesday, Pitt said he often is trailed by a dozen paparazzi cars and several motorbikes, and he and his family have been “run out of every major city” by the paparazzi.

We found this anecdote particularly surprising: “One guy bought out a hospital room above us, in France, and was trying to poke through the ceiling. That’s illegal, of course, but he paid,” Pitt told the magazine.

When Jolie, 33, gave birth in July at a hospital in southern France, the paparazzi jockeyed to be the first to catch a multi-million dollar picture of the babies. They failed, and in the end, People magazine won North American rights and British gossip magazine Hello! got all other territories.

Pitt told Rolling Stone they sold the pictures – giving the money to charity – to “kill that bounty” which he said was placed on images of the children.

Pitt and others have called for laws protecting celebrities from the paparazzi, but the paps claim any restrictions put on them would take away their U.S. constitutional rights. But c’mon, cutting a hole through the floor in a hospital? That seems extreme to us here on the Fan Fare blog. Others of you may think differently.

Doing what new moms do — but usually in private –  Angelina Jolie appears to be shown breast feeding on the cover of the November issue of W magazine, in a photo taken by her partner Brad Pitt.
    
The black-and-white cover shot, which circulated on the Internet on Thursday, is apparently one of a group of photos of Jolie taken by Pitt  — and more pics are promised inside. 
      
With Hollywood undergoing a baby boom in the past few years, many a celebrity mom is talking openly about the joys of breastfeeding their newborns.

But few of them allow photographs of them doing so to make their way to the front pages of national magazines.

The cover photo shows Jolie, 33, smiling with her hair over her shoulder and her blouse open at her left breast. One can just about make out a tiny hand — presumably one of Jolie’s infant twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, who were born on July 12 in Nice, France. 
   
  Jolie told People magazine in August that she was trying to breastfeed both the twins — then three weeks old –  at the same time. “We try to get them to eat simultaneously for the sake of management but it gets a little crowded at the bar,” she told the magazine.

Actress Demi Moore smashed the taboo about public pregnancy photos back in 1991 when she was pictured nude and seven months pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine.

Is Jolie starting a new trend for breastfeeding stars?

(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Six,  apparently, is not enough for Angelina Jolie.

Jolie, 33,  is planning on expanding her family of assorted adopted and biological children – possibly with an addition from Haiti.

Asked at the premiere in New York of her new movie “The Changeling” whether she planned more children, Jolie was quoted as telling In Touch Weekly magazine eagerly; “Yes. We’re going to have more kids one way or another!.”

An unidentified friend of Jolie and Pitt told the magazine the couple could adopt as soon as February.

“Haiti is a favorite right now,” the pal explains.  ”Angie and Brad were touched by the plight of the children they met when they were in the country a couple of years ago. They want a girl who’s a little younger than Zahara.”

er… Wouldn’t that be daughter Shiloh, 2.  Or Vivienne Marcheline,  born three months ago?   How big is the Jolie-Pitt brood going to get before they call it a day — and a complete  family?

Brad Pitt has donated $100,000 to fight California voters’ attempt to eliminate the rights of gay couples to marry.

Pitt’s donation to the No on Prop 8  campaign is the largest single donation so far by a celebrity to the bid to defeat the anti-gay marriage California ballot measure in November, organizers said.

“Because no one has the right to deny another their life even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another, and because discrimination has no place in America,  my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8,” Pitt said in a statement.

The California Supreme Court struck down a ban on marriage in May but state voters will decide in a voter referendum in November whether to abolish those new rights.

Chad Griffin, political strategist for the No on 8 campaign, said he hoped Pitt’s contribution would encourage other celebrities to put their hands in their pockets. “The entertainment industry should view this contribution as a challenge,” Griffin said.

Many lesbian and gay couples marrying in Califronia have asked friends and relatives to donate to the campaign instead of buying wedding gifts.

Chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi married in Beverly Hills in August and former “Star Trek” crew member George Takei married his long time partner Brad Altman in September.   

Dabble with Brad Pitt in cyberspace if you dare.

The Hollywood hearthrob Brad Pitt has overtaken Paris Hilton as the most dangerous celebrity to search for in cyberpace, according to the second annual study of by Internet security company McAfee.

The company found Web users searching for “Brad Pitt,” “Brad Pitt downloads,” and Brad Pitt wallpaper, screen savers and pictures had an 18 percent chance of having their computer infected with online threats, such as spyware, spam, phishing, adware, viruses and other malware.

A spokesman for McAfee said in a statement that cybercriminals were using A-list names and images, like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake, to lure people surfing for the latest gossip, screen savers and ringtones to “fake” Web sites.

Pitt and Justin Timberlake were found to be the most dangerous men to seek on the Internet, while Beyonce and Heidi Montag from “The Hills” topped the list for women. Paris Hilton, who topped 2007’s list of the most dangerous celebrity searches, was missing from this year’s list as was pop star Britney Spears who came fourth last year.

(Reporting by Cameron French) 

The Coen Bros., Joel and Ethan, are well-known for their clever scripting and directing of films like “Barton Fink”, “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men”.

But as smart as they seem to be, the brothers have a lot of fun creating characters that don’t quite measure up to their own abilities. In a word, the people they write about are dumb.

“We’ve all got an inner knucklehead, and it’s good fodder for stories,” Ethan said at a press conference in Toronto, where their newest film, “Burn After Reading,”  had its North American premiere.

The movie stars Brad Pitt as a “Gatorade-swilling dumbbell” of a gym instructor trying to blackmail a former CIA agent, played by John Malkovich. Tilda Swinton is the CIA spy’s wife, who is having an affair with a “shockingly dumb” federal marshall portrayed by George  Clooney.

Added Pitt at the same news conference: “It’s much more fun to play the guys who make the wrong choices.”

Pitt has been positively mobbed by fans in his visit to Toronto, and most likely due to that, the press conference was held under unusual circumstances for the festival. Rather than being open to all accredited press, the event was by invitation only, held at a separate location from other press conferences and few photographers were taking photos.

At the post-premiere party for “Burn After Reading” that went into the small hours of the morning, the Hollywood star was similarly fronted by security and press spokespeople as he sat in a back corner booth with friends – laughing and drinking and seeming to have a good time.

So, one can only conclude that while he might find it fun to play guys who make the wrong choices, judging by the things going on around him at Toronto, Brad’s no knucklehead.

When some reporters come face to face with A-list celebrities, their brains turn to mush.

Take this morning’s press conference at the Venice film festival. George Clooney and Brad Pitt were among the stars taking questions following the first screening of their latest movie “Burn After Reading”, directed by the Coen brothers.

Inevitably, the questions were personal as well as professional.

“I have a question, it’s very important,” said one male reporter from Brazil: “What do you think it’s (sic) better … to win an Oscar or to fall in love with a beautiful woman here in Venice?”

“Brad, don’t answer that,” Clooney said, trying to maintain a happy atmosphere despite the generally dire standard of questions.

Then came a female reporter from a Hong Kong TV channel: “I want to know how the twins are doing — are they looking more and more like you and Angie?” She was, of course, referring to Pitt’s newborn twins with Angelina Jolie.

Clooney again tried to come to the rescue: “The twins are fine.”

A British journalist enters the fray, asking Pitt: ”I’m just wondering whether you have plans for any more (children) and how many is enough?” and to Clooney: ”Any plans to settle down and have children yourself, if that’s not too personal a question?”

Clooney replied: “I am so surprised to hear that question. That is honestly the first time I’ve been asked that question. I am getting married and having children today. Brad?”

Pitt: ”And until then I’ll be sharing mine with him. I’ll have two more by next year.”

And finally, and it was really painful to watch, came a female reporter from Spain (and excuse the English):

“This is a question for Brad. Can I get closer? I am wearing like this because I want to sign up for your gym. What do I have to do to sign up for your gym like in the film, Brad? And if I sign up, would you be running after me? Both of you.”

Pitt: ”It’s a movie and I have no answer.”

Question: “If I sign up will you be running after me, George?”

Clooney: “I’m afraid, from the looks of it, we might be running from you.”

Hear, hear, George.

Comic actress Roseanne Barr makes fun of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt on her Web site blog, but its not your garden variety celebrity sniping. The so-called “Domestic Goddess” Barr tries to make political points, and in the process calls Jolie the “evil spawn” of her father Jon Voight and calls Brad Pitt “vacuous.”
    
Barr, who starred in the sitcom “Roseanne” from 1988-97, started off her blog post slamming actor Voight for his conservative politics. But the so-called “Domestic Goddess” soon veered off and turned her attention to Brangelina.
    
Barr said Pitt and Jolie make about $40 million a year starring in “violent psychopathic movies” and give away $3 million to “starving children trying to look as if they give a crap about humanity as they spit out more dunces that will consume more than their fair share and wreck the earth even more.”
    
In the blog, which Barr posted on Friday, the 55-year-old actress also mocked Jolie’s adoption of children from countries in the developing world, including daughter Zahara from Ethiopia.
    
“… do you know that the African daughter you hold in every picture had parents who suffered and died because of the Republican party’s worldwide economic assault on Africa over the last few decades since Reagan?” Barr wrote.
    
That statement puts her somewhat at odds with Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate she supports. At a widely viewed forum on Saturday, Obama praised President George W. Bush, a Republican, for his President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an initiative to fight AIDS and other diseases in Africa and around the world. Bush signed a bill last month authorizing up to $48 billion to be spent under PEPFAR. 
     
A spokeswoman for Pitt could not immediately be reached for comment on Barr’s blog post.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Banking on readers’ hungry appetite for all things Brangelina — and the general spike in interest in Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie generated by the birth of their twins (call it the Brangelina baby bounce) – People and Hello! magazines have shelled out big bucks for their baby pics. Some reports have $11 million and others go as high as $14 million.

Whatever the price, is it really worth it?

In a quick round of lunchtime interviews outside Reuters’ bureau in celebrity-savvy Los Angeles, many people said they cannot wait to see the pictures, while others yawned at the thought. Just about everyone had an opinion.
    
“Exploit those kids from the beginning, I think it’s awesome,” said attorney Michael Gonzales, 30. “Why not? This is America, squeeze a dollar out of anything.” 

Sarah Bates, 23, an auditor, had a far more blase attitude. She said celebrity magazines are only good to read while traveling, although she might look for photos of the twins on a supermarket shelf.  “I would just look to see, but I wouldn’t buy it,” she said. 

Douglas Lee, 40, an information technology professional, said his wife subscribes to People but he doesn’t read it. He took a supply-and-demand view to the money paid for the pictures.  “It’s silly that they get that value, because it’s by demand, because the public wants to see it,” Lee said. “The amount is driven by the public.”
    
Attorney Lauren Brock, 30, who was eating with attorney Gonzalez, said she would take millions of dollars for her baby’s picture — and she gave her view on why Brangelina can command so much interest.  ”They a live a global lifestyle in the public eye and do it looking so great,” Brock said.
    
“They’re a unique family,” she added. “They’re American but they live around the world, they adopt children from all around the world, they make a ton of movies and not for working very many hours. Then, they give away a lot of it.”

Gonzales piped-up: “And she’s hot,” he said, about Angelina.