No Real Surprises at SAG Awards

Watching the Screen Actors Guild Awards tonight was like watching a repeat of this year's Golden Globe Awards. Same nominees. Same winners. About the only thing different was the absence of The Hangover, which inexplicably did well at the Globes.

There were a few standout moments, though, especially Betty White's acceptance speech for her Life Achievement Award (and George Clooney's response to one of her comments).

After ignoring awards season for many years, I find myself paying closer attention this time around. Not much has changed, though. While there will always be the odd exception, the speeches still sound like laundry lists. The "losers" still grit their teeth and applaud.

And we still know who's going to win before the seal is broken.

Tobey or Not Tobey?

Fans of the Spider-Man movie franchise will be disappointed to learn that Tobey Maguire will no longer be playing the iconic character.

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According to E-Online, Spider-Man 4 was shelved just days after script problems led to the film's scheduled released being pushed back to May 2011.

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New plans call for a franchise reboot featuring a teenaged Peter Parker (that's Spider-Man's real name, for the uninitiated)--but not until Summer 2012!

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As a result, we'll be seeing a new slate of actors in the now familiar roles of Parker, Mary Jane Watson et al. Goodbye, Tobey (so perfectly cast as Peter "even when I win, I lose" Parker). Goodbye, Kirsten Dunst. And goodbye to director Sam Raimi.

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Given the success of the first three Spider-Man films, we can only hope that franchise 2.0 measures up--and that we haven't actually heard the last from our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.