It's Oscar time. The Academy Awards are Sunday night at 8:30PM. I've been a fan of the Oscars since Chariots of Fire won in 1982. I never really understood that movie at the time, but remember watching the awards show for it's win. I think my memories of the film come from the theme song that was incredibly popular that year (#1 for a week in 1982). The first time I remember seeing a winner was 1984's Amadeus. That movie still ranks as one of my all time favorites (even bought the soundtrack on cassette tape). I remember being very happy that it had won. [IMDb.com & Wikipedia & YouTube]
Since then, there have been ones I had seen and was happy for, like Unforgiven and Rain Man. There are others that I wasn't so happy seeing win over the one I thought deserved it, like Forrest Gump over Shawshank Redemption (or even Pulp Fiction). 1994 was a great fivesome for Best Picture, I've seen them all. Then others, like The English Patient, that I wish I'd never seen, nominated or not! Hated that movie. [Wikipedia & InfoPlease]
Like most years, I've seen one of the nominated movies for Best Picture. Last week we got out to see Slumdog Millionaire, and I'm glad we did. I think it will easily win the Oscar for Best Picture and a few more as well. I'd still like to see Frost/Nixon for it's historical perspective, but maybe not in the theaters. At almost 3 hours long, I'm passing on Benjamin Button unless it's on HBO some time I have nothing to do. I know how Milk ended in real life, and don't need to see it played out on screen and The Reader's holocaust setting leaves me a bit unsettled. Of course, the Academy Awards are for more than just the picture, they're for the acting and cinematography and sound and writing. So I'm sure there's plenty of good performances I'd be missing for skipping those films or not even seeing something like Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. [IMDb.com & Wikipedia]
We did get out to see some pretty good flicks that are up for some of the 'minor' awards like The Dark Knight in art, cinematography, sound and effects, WALL*E in animation, story and music, Iron Man in effects, Hellboy 2 in makeup. As a matter of fact, let's just say that The Reader should have been replaced by The Dark Knight in Best Picture. Down the line, more noms for The Dark Knight than The Reader. Guess the superhero aspect isn't worth of Best Picture...has pretty much the same odds as seeing a comedy up there. [IMDb.com & official movie sites]
You can join the pick 'em game I play with Brooke if you want. You can download the Oscar ballot here to make your own picks...like I promised week's ago, here are my picks. [Popdose]
Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke
Best Actress: Kate Winslet
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger
Best Supporting Actress: Taraji P. Henson
Best Director: Danny Boyle
Best Original Screenplay: WALL*E
Best Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Animated Film: WALL*E
Best Art Direction: The Dark Knight
Best Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Costume Design: Benjamin Button
Best Documentary Feature: Man on Wire
Best Original Song: "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Score: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Makeup: Benjamin Button
Best Visual Effects: The Dark Knight
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz with Bashir
Best Sound Editing: The Dark Knight
Best Sound Mixing: The Dark Knight
Best Live Action Short Film: Manon on the Asphalt
Best Animated Short Film: La Maison en Petits Cubes
Best Documentary Short Film: The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306
Lots of good Oscar links as you can imagine for this week. I've included a lot of them below...of course we start with...
This week's News Quiz. A bit harder this week, but congrats to Grandma Brenda on her perfect score last week! Put that kind of info in the comments section. Click the comments link at the bottom of the post online and make your comments known. [Chicago Tribune]
An expert picks the winners on his blog from the New York Times.
The five Best Picture nominated films in one crazy day at the movies. [Chicago Tribune]
The Godfather Wars, how the great films were made. [Vanity Fair]
Five good Oscar questions and answers for this year's films. [Chicago Tribune]
Hollywood party crashers, including last year's Oscars. [LA Times]
If you don't want your Oscar, then sell it back to the Academy for $1. They have over 100 that have been returned one way or another. [Atlanta Journal Constitution]
All the Slumdog Millionaire kids will be at the ceremony this Sunday. [Chicago Tribune]
Mickey Rourke is this year's award season fashion plate...will he take home the big prize? [LA Times]
Harder to sell the ad time for this year's Oscar telecast. GM and L'Oreal will not be buying this year. [Mediaweek]
Bittersweet week for the Pacer's Danny Granger. Plays in first All Star game on Sunday and tears a tendon in his foot on Wednesday, out 2-3 weeks. This article is about where he's from, it's pretty good. [NY Times]
Depune's contribution this week, US presidential rankings according to 65 historians and professional observers of the presidency surveyed by the cable channel C-SPAN. [AP]
Have a Golden Weekend!
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