Here’s the last draw of awards for this season of movies. Let’s see if perennial favorite “Slumdog Millionaire” will take its victory to an Oscar finish.
81st ACADEMY AWARDS
For the past few weeks, “Slumdog Millionaire” haters are multiplying. Surely, the backlash can be felt by the world over. The Danny Boyle-directed film is criticized for being a ‘fairy tale’, conveniently bailing its way out of its storyline conflicts by surrendering itself to an infallible element that is called ‘destiny’. Well, there are many other criticisms that have arisen lately that are like roadblocks to the film’s Oscar aspirations. But it did not stop our underdog-turned-frontrunner from bagging the top plum. Come Oscar night, “Slumdog Millionaire” came home with 8 trophies out of its 10 nominations. What a sweep!
81st ACADEMY AWARDS
For the past few weeks, “Slumdog Millionaire” haters are multiplying. Surely, the backlash can be felt by the world over. The Danny Boyle-directed film is criticized for being a ‘fairy tale’, conveniently bailing its way out of its storyline conflicts by surrendering itself to an infallible element that is called ‘destiny’. Well, there are many other criticisms that have arisen lately that are like roadblocks to the film’s Oscar aspirations. But it did not stop our underdog-turned-frontrunner from bagging the top plum. Come Oscar night, “Slumdog Millionaire” came home with 8 trophies out of its 10 nominations. What a sweep!
Best Picture – Slumdog MillionaireBest Director – Danny Boyle
Best Adapted Screenplay – Simon Beaufoy
Best Sound Mixing
Best Original Score
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
If you know how to count, that is 7 awards right there. The other one is for Best Original Song for “Jai Ho”. I love the Bollywood-inspired dance number at the end of “Slumdog Millioanire” and the song sure is catchy. But Oscar-worthy? I’m not digging that immensely. I would go for Peter Gabriel’s “Down to Earth” (from “Wall-E”) on any given Sunday.
Best Original Song – Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire)
The 81st Academy Awards did not have a lot surprise victors this year. The winners were more or less what everyone has predicted, except for the Best Actor. Not undermining Sean Penn’s performance as Harvey Milk (hands down, he was great and he is my bet), everyone thought the comeback of Mickey Rourke wouldn’t be complete without a golden statue. So everyone, including Penn himself, was surprised when Rourke’s name was not called as the Best Actor.
Best Actor – Sean Penn (Milk)
I read an article saying that Kate Winslet made a joke after receiving her award backstage that she has perfected the ‘losing face’ in case she will not be named Best Actress this year. She added that she got better with it in time. Imagine five nods and no win. Well, not anymore. Winslet turned herself from an Academy Award ‘multi-nominee’ to an Academy Award winner. Ah, finally!
Best Actress – Kate Winslet (The Reader)Best Supporting Actress and Actor, predictable. All you need is psychosis and you’ll be marching out with an Oscar on one hand.
Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)Best Supporting Actress – Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
I think “Wall-E” deserves more recognition than just being named as the Best Animated Feature. Imagine the ingenuity behind it. The Chaplin-esque 15-minute intro, the robot love story, the satire on technology, and many more. It is nothing short of brilliant. I believe it deserves a Best Picture nomination (kick “The Reader” out of the list) and a Best Original Screenplay award.
Best Animated Feature Film – Wall-E
Best Original Screenplay – Dustin Lance Black (Milk)
Of all the five nominees in the Best Foreign Language Film category, only one did not make as much noise as the other four and only one do not have a Tomatometer rating in Rotten Tomatoes. So it comes as a surprise that Austria’s “Revanche”, Germany’s “The Baader Meinhof Complex”, France’s “The Class” (Cannes Palme d’Or winner), and Israel’s “Waltz With Bashir” (everyone’s bet) did not take home the prize.
Best Foreign Language Film – Departures (Japan)
And here’s the rest of the winners:
Best Sound Editing – The Dark Knight
Best Make-up – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Visual Effects – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Art Direction – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Costume Design – The Duchess
Best Documentary Feature – Man on Wire
For the complete list of nominees, visit:
http://failed.multiply.com/journal/item/148
29th ANNUAL RAZZIE AWARDS
I don’t think I need to waste my precious time doing commentaries on bad films. It’s bad enough that I have to mention them (I don’t know why I’m doing this), so just browse through the list of winners. And suck it up!
Worst Picture – The Love Guru
Worst Actor – Mike Myers (The Love Guru )
Worst Actress – Paris Hilton (The Hottie and the Nottie)
Worst Supporting Actor – Pierce Brosnan (Mamma Mia!)
Worst Supporting Actress – Paris Hilton (Repo! The Genetic Opera)
Worst Screen Couple – Paris Hilton and either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore (The Hottie and the Nottie)Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off, or Sequel – Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull
Worst Director – Uwe Boll (1968: Tunnel Rats, In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, and Postal)
Worst Screenplay –Mike Myers & Graham Gordy (The Love Guru)
Worst Career Achievement – Uwe Boll
For the complete list of nominees, visit:
http://failed.multiply.com/journal/item/147
