Well by now everyone knows the results for the Oscars 2009. Predictable of course but as usual to make it seem slightly interesting they choose one category to surprise. Sean Penn receives Best Actor. I'm livid. Mickey Rourke wins all the build up awards but Oscar are too scared because he might be controversial and actually give an exciting speech. Penn has to be the most insufferable actor working in Hollywood. Typically horrendous speech concerning equality and what an amazing man he is and how he struggles. Oh get over yourself Penn. Well done Oscar for showing your understanding and your sympathy for gay rights by giving this award...note my sarcasm...Rourke has been a breath of fresh air in awards season. Great speeches with no care political correctness or what people think. Here is a legendary actor who completely lost himself and found himself in the best movie of the award nominees by a country mile. I'm so disappointed for him but also for the film as a whole. No awards. Not even a best picture nomination. No director nomination for Aronofsky. What is happening? Aronofsky is like what Rourke said at the Spirit awards, a rarity and unique (Mickey used a few more expletives!). Requiem For A Dream, The Fountain and now this (I still need to watch Pi) are just phenomenal films looking at themes with such brutal reality that they stand out like a sore thumb. I mean all his movies retain a emotional core but vary wildly in character development. For me all three of his movies have destroyed me emotionally and lived me since the day I saw them. That is the sign of a truly great movie, one that digs beyond the surface and nestles in your head waiting to be picked apart and seen again and again. Rewatching The Wrestler is on my priority lisr right now.
The Wrestler is a much better movie than The Curious Case...and I'm not surprised it won nothing. Congrats to Danny Boyle who deserved his best director win, not so sure about the movie but there wasn't alot of competition.
Oscar loves to give hyped films awards. Crash beat Brokeback Mountain preposterously in 06, Shawshank lost out to laughably to Forrest Gump in 94 and now we have this. In all fairness to Slumdog, it is the best of the noms but that is not saying much. Looking back on years gone by the noms have been exceptionally strong. I mean in 05 for example we had Million Dollar Baby, Sideays, Ray and Aviator. This year we have a bunch of half decent movies all released around award season. If it really is an analysis of movies over a year then it should be a reflection of that but all we ahve in the noms are films released around Oscar season.
Penelope Cruz finally wins an Oscar. That's her career peak. Oscar really shocked everyone by awarding Ledger a posthumous award...not. Maybe I'm cynical but would he have got it if he was alive today? I loved Ledger and his loss is devastating but it just feels so obvious to award him it because he has gone. Where was his recognition for Brokeback?
Couple of other notable awards were Departures winning best foreign film. Personally wanted Waltz With Bashir but I'll be interested to see this Japanese effort. Still unsure about when the exceptional Pans Labyrinth lost to the equally outstanding Lives of Others. It is a tough category.
WALL-E got the obvious best animation and Slumdog deservedly got the best song.
Still feels a slight let down though. Such a dull outcome and noms. The independent awards are so much more enthralling. As a Brit I should be delgihted that Britain succeeded but Winslet is awful when she is in public situations and Slumdog is not the greatest example of Boyle's career let alone British cinema. But well done nonetheless.
To finish I'll add the winners in a list which is probably more exciting than the ceremony itself...no speeches! To conclude on a more positive note I've just rewatched A Clockwork Orange and watched The Fly for the first time. Both amazing films and I'm quite shocked by my reaction to Cronenberg's classic. I felt pretty sad at the end, it really connected. I must be really messed up...
www.bbc.co.uk thankyou for saving the bother of typing this up meticulously...
Best picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader
Best director: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: Stephen Daldry - The Reader; David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon; Gus Van Sant - Milk
Best actor: Sean Penn - Milk
Also nominated: Richard Jenkins - The Visitor; Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon; Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Best actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader
Also nominated: Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married; Angelina Jolie - Changeling; Melissa Leo - Frozen River; Meryl Streep - Doubt
Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Also nominated: Josh Brolin - Milk; Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder; Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt; Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road
Best supporting actress: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Also nominated: Amy Adams - Doubt; Viola Davis - Doubt; Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Best original screenplay: Milk
Also nominated: Happy-Go-Lucky; Wall-E; In Bruges; Frozen River
Best adapted screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Doubt; Frost/Nixon; The Reader
Best animated feature film: Wall-E
Also nominated: Bolt; Kung Fu Panda
Best animated short film: La Maison en Petits Cubes
Also nominated: Lavatory - Lovestory; Oktapodi; Presto; This Way Up
Best foreign language film: Departures - Japan
Also nominated: Revanche - Austria; The Class - France; The Baader Meinhof Complex - Germany; Waltz With Bashir - Israel
Best documentary feature: Man on Wire
Also nominated: The Betrayal; Encounters at the End of the World; The Garden; Trouble The Water
Best documentary short subject: Smile Pinki
Also nominated: The Conscience of Nhem En; The Final Inch; The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306
Art direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Also nominated: Changeling; The Dark Knight; The Duchess; Revolutionary Road
Costume design: The Duchess
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Australia; Milk; Revolutionary Road
Make-up: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Also nominated: The Dark Knight; Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Changeling; The Dark Knight; The Reader
Best live action short film: Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Also nominated: Auf der Strecke (On The Line); Manon on the Asphalt; New Boy; The Pig
Visual effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Also nominated: The Dark Knight; Iron Man
Sound editing: The Dark Knight
Also nominated: Iron Man; Wanted; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E
Sound mixing: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Wanted; Wall-E
Film editing:Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Frost/Nixon; Milk
Best original score: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Defiance; Milk; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E
Best original song: Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: Down To Earth - Wall-E; O Saya - Slumdog Millionaire
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