By ThisGirl’s Jezza (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Safe to assume you’ve seen Twilight: New Moon already? Then it’s time you check out Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” By Sapphire. I’ve heard some people say, “I don’t want to go to see that; it’ll bring me down” — but the truth is, thanks to its titular teen protagonist, the film is more hopeful than hopeless. The second excuse I’ve heard from Oscar pundits is that it’s too black a movie for white America. Wrong again: No place in the U.S. is immune to the kind of extreme domestic abuse that Precious endures. A third: It is neary impossible for the uber-hyped Precious to live up to the buzz brought by “presenters” Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry (that’s how they are credited) and director Lee Daniels. While that may be true, I liked this film. Here, six reasons why:

1. The thing I like most is that, while the title character has been beaten down by life and at one point even scribbles, “Why me?” on a piece of paper (I burst out in tears), Gabourey Sidibe’s Precious is never presented as a complete victim. At times, even with her monster of a mother (Mo’Nique), daughter gives as good as she gets. She’s a teen who is resilient despite having had the misfortune of being handed a bunch of really sour lemons.

Pre-Butterfly Carey is one to watch.

2. Mariah Carey did a nice job in a very small role as a welfare social worker. But I couldn’t help but wonder what Helen Mirren, who was director Lee Daniels’ first choice, would have done with the part.

Kravitz with “Precious” Sidibe

3. At 45 and playing a nurse’s aide, Lenny Kravitz is still sexy as hell.

4. Sidibe does a fine job peeling away the character’s various layers over the course of the movie. But I wonder how much of her growing acclaim (she’s now a possible spoiler in Meryl Streep’s bid for Oscar No. 2) is due to the fact that the actress is so elegant and poised in real life, quite different from the character she plays in the movie. I guess it is a good thing that people are seeing this. The name of the game is acting, and the more people see who Gabourey really is, the more people see that this was a performance and not an unknown simply playing herself.

5. And then there’s Mo’Nique. What a force of nature! Or the devil herself! Everyone’s talking about her monologue near the end of the movie, but to me the scene that should guarantee her an invitation to the Oscars is the one when Precious returns home after giving birth. From the sweet way she greets Precious before asking to hold the newborn, you can see the fire inside. Mo’Nique, playing way against type or image (see above, left), handles the scene flawlessly, exhibiting an entire movie’s worth of emotions in just a few minutes. By the time she’s hurling a television set over a balcony railing at Precious and her baby, it’s obvious that you’ve just witnessed a soon-to-be-legendary climactic scene for the ages.

6. Just before Mo’Nique’s epic monologue, there is a small scene with Precious, her young neighbor and the neighbor’s mother. It would have been a throwaway sequence were it not for the little girl’s black eye and her mother’s rotten, impatient attitude. Precious, who has spent the entire movie disregarding the girl and at one point even physically pushes her, seems to finally get the message. She gives the girl her scarf as a present. It’s a nice touch that says a lot about Precious’s year-long journey to self-determination.

The doctor was on: But was Doogie “Neil Patrick Harris” Howser’s hosting job enough to save the show from going to cable next year?

By ThisGirl’s Jezza

I know I’m not supposed to admit to watching (and liking) Two And A Half Men, but I am thrilled that Jon Cryer won Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. And how annoyed did Kevin Dillon look? I’m not sure what makes Jon “supporting when the show is as much about his character as it is about Charlie Sheen’s, but I’ll take what I can get (so, apparently, will Jon).

I already have to see Justin Timberlake at the Grammys, the VMAs and the American Music Awards. Now that he’s an Emmy winner, am I going to have to see him every year at one more awards show? He looks really cute in those glasses, though.

Toni Collette, Best Actress in a Comedy Series!!!!! Need I say more than I already did with five exclamation marks?!

Doogie Howser’s sore-loser running gag is kind of cute, but I can tell it’s not going to age well. Give it a rest now, Neil.

Why are they showing clips of the Best Actor in a Comedy Series nominees but none of the others? Oh well, I’ll say it again: I’ll take what I can get.

Ugh! Reality TV! I hate reality TV, but at least they’re playing Britney’s “Circus.”

Mmm, Jeff Probst. I remember once when I was an editor at Entertainment Weekly, Jeff Probst wandered into my office by accident. He blinded me with science. Yum! I still don’t care about the reality TV awards.

Tracy Morgan looks weird…. Is The Amazing Race still on the air?

Shohreh Aghdashloo! I’ve never heard of the movie, but I’ve loved her since she lost the Oscar to Rene Zellwegger. When you have actresses like her, Cicely Tyson, Janet McTeer and Marcia Gay Harden in a category, why rush through the reading of the nominees? Let’s see some clips, please.

The nominees in the supporting categories are so random. I haven’t thought about some of them in years. So this is what actors like Tom Courtenay are up to now that the film roles have dried up.

Ken Howard. Nice. He’s been around forever, and it’s nice that he’s still working hard. I had no idea about the kidney thing. By the way, Bob Newhart looks really old.

Jessica Lange. Drew Barrymore. Shirley MacLaine. Sigourney Weaver. And no clips? Shame! I thought Drew would win. Looking at Jessica Lange makes me acutely aware of how many years have passed since Tootsie. She seems genuinely thrilled and kind of surprised that her award-winning days aren’t over yet.

I’m bored. Wake me when we get to the dramatic acting categories.

So many long clips in the variety categories, and nothing of all the film stars in the movies and miniseries categories. Makes no sense to me.

Sarah McLachlan looks gorgeous. I’m ready for a new album.

I had no idea that Dom DeLuise died…. I think clapping for dead celebrities and turning In Memoriam into a sort of post-mortem popularity contest is kind of icky, but why so little applause for Farrah Fawcett?

Glenn Close again? Yes!!! She’s gotta be the sexiest sixtysomething this side of Helen Mirren. For most of the ’80s (up until I discovered Juliette Binoche in the early ’90s), she was my favorite actress. Now I just wish some smart director would hand her a movie role that would finally get her the Oscar she deserved for Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attraction and Reversal Of Fortune.

Bryan Cranston again? Hmm… I thought John Hamm had it in the bag. But when they aren’t giving Emmy after Emmy to Helen Hunt, Candice Bergen, Michael J. Fox and Kelsey Grammer, the Emmys can be the least predictable of the major award shows — at least in the acting categories. I watched an episode of Breaking Bad once, and Bryan made a stronger impression than he ever did on Malcolm In The Middle.

30 Rock, Best Comedy Series. Yawn.

Unlike Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver seems to have stopped the hands of time. ¡Increible!

Sometime before next year’s Emmys I’m going to have to finally check out Mad Men. One could do a lot worse than spending an hour looking at John Hamm.

That’s it. Game over. Doogie, I mean Neil Patrick Harris, was a serviceable host, and he managed to keep the show to a taut three hours, but next year I think they should hire Ricky Gervais and Steve Carrell to cohost. If that doesn’t make the Emmys must-see TV, nothing will.