Oscar Nominations and Winners

Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire
o The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
o Frost/Nixon
o Milk
o The Reader

Best Director - Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
o David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
o Stephen Daldry – The Reader
o Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
o Gus Van Sant – Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay - Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy
o The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
o Doubt – John Patrick Shanley
o Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan
o The Reader – David Hare

Best Foreign Language Film - Departures (Japan) in Japanese – Yojiro Takita
o Waltz with Bashir (Israel) in Hebrew – Ari Folman
o Revanche (Austria) in German – Götz Spielmann
o The Class (France) in French – Laurent Cantet
o The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) in German – Uli Edel

Best Actor - Sean Penn – Milk
o Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
o Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
o Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
o Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
o Josh Brolin – Milk
o Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder
o Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
o Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

Best Actress - Kate Winslet – The Reader
o Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
o Angelina Jolie – Changeling
o Melissa Leo – Frozen River
o Meryl Streep – Doubt

Best Supporting Actress - Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
o Amy Adams – Doubt
o Viola Davis – Doubt
o Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
o Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Best Original Screenplay Milk – Dustin Lance Black
o WALL-E – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter
o Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh
o Frozen River – Courtney Hunt
o In Bruges – Martin McDonagh

Best Animated Feature WALL-E – Andrew Stanton
o Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard
o Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson

The Oscars

So I have DSTV now. This means that I was able to watch the Oscars.



Been a while since…

It has probably been about 10 years since I last watched the Oscars. I use to be obsessed with award shows. One of my best memories I have of Varsity Res is Oscar evening. Any award shows actually tended to be quite an event for me. Some people love watching sports, my spectator sport was award shows. And yes, I would swear and shout just as baldly as a sports fan whose team is losing or winning, and I would shed a tear for moments like when Tom Hanks won for Forrest Gump or when Forrest Whitaker was nominated for the Crying Game.

It had been a while and I think maybe I needed that break to grow up a little and get excited about things a little closer to home.

Award shows…

One of the main reasons for getting DTSV was for the Award shows. It was a pity that the first that I got to see was the Golden Globes. What a waste. What an utter waste of time. I could only stand about 20 minutes of it. They had no interest in entertaining, it felt like they thought that if start were announcing the winners, that would be enough entertainment. Wrong. I also could not watch the Grammy’s because I don’t know 90% of the people performing or giving awards. I don’t care if this makes me sound old and bitter about not keeping up with what’s hot. The sound is also horrible, I mean they had Stevie Wonder singing with some boys and he really sounded excruciatingly horrible.

So I had lost interest in award shows and started questioning whether I should pay the subscription fees for the stupid DSTV for the next months. I watch DVD’s most of the time. The only other thing I watch religiously is Top Gear. …and the BBC Lifestyle Channel and BBC Knowledge. …Torchwood. … Dr who. …

An evening to remember…

I was watching disk 4 of Queer as Folk (third time) when I realized that it was Oscar night. Kicked myself for missing about 40 minutes of the show after 2 minutes of switching over.

As I said, I have not been watching the previous year’s shows but with this one, 2 minutes into it, I started feeling the same joy (yes, joy) I use to feel. The same excitement, I was emotionally invested, it had me at: ‘ and the Oscar goes to…’.

This is a different kind of ceremony from the others. Hugh Jackman, WOLVERINE was the host. What happened to David Letterman, or Whoopi or Billy Chrystal or Jon Stewart. I don’t know, but it was not a bad move to not have a comedian. It may have been a stroke of genius. We already know that Hollywood can make fun of itself and it is usually same jokes different targets every year (except for Goerge Bush maybe). So it was kind of a breath of fresh air to Hugh present, and the guy can sing and dance too! Oh Wolverine!

I think part of the fun of the Oscars is to see the stars up there on a beautiful stage wearing beautiful gowns and just looking brilliant. A huge part of the fun is actually laughing your ass off to find out that these guys actually cannot read. You wonder how the fuck do they get through scripts and make movies. James Bond cannot read, Sophia Loren should have worn her reading binoculars the woman must be 90, Robert Fucking De Niro (Are you talking to me?) can’t read. It was fun to watch and to know hey, they have disabilities, speech impediments and learning issues too! Ha!

A flame rekindled…

But I loved the Oscars. These Oscars in particular and not because they seemed like the Bollywood awards (big up India!), were really great. It was a beautiful production. It was an amazing production.

One of the moments that I shamefully look forward to at the Oscars is when they show the dead guys. Queen Latifah has always been cool. But that was a beautiful song she sang. And it was beautiful when she said that to most of us the dead guys are just movie stars but to her and her colleagues, they are friends and mothers and sisters etc. I felt a little bit ashamed of myself there. She sang so sweetly. But I wondered why they did not show Heath Ledger, is it too soon? Did I miss him?

So yes the production was brilliant. I was feeling very down about what had been coming out of tinsel town of late. Watching the Oscars, I was tempted to call in sick and spend the day at the movies watching one after another, like I use to do. The first one would be Milk, then Slumdog, then Benjamin Button, then the Reader, then the Wrestler, then… actually all of the movies nominated for direction, male and female lead, film, and script. I will begin my adventure this weekend.

Previous winners honouring nominated ones was an especially special touch I thought!

The thing about Mickey Rourke…

So Heartwarmer, the thing about Mickey Rourke is that he did 9½ weeks about 20 year ago. One of the most erotic movies of that time, he was gorgeous, he was the it guy, he had it all. And then, he developed the Michael Jackson Syndrome I think. Is it called Body dysmorphic disorder? The guy has had so much plastic surgery that it is very difficult to look at him. He has a look like a puza face that has been stretched to its maximum. I need to see this wrestler. But it looks very difficult to watch. He is just freaky.

But when is the dvd release date?

I hate that I missed 40 minutes. Do video shops carry award shows? I’ve never seen them, will have to talk to my video store. I am already having a vision of renting out the shows from 10 years ago, that would be a magical weekend.

Seven Pounds

The only thing I can really say about this movie, which stars Will Smith, is that it is probably the most depressing movie I have EVER seen in my entire life.
You know sometimes you go to a movie and its sad, and you find yourself with tears rolling down your face. That's not this movie. This movie made me sob. As in, "heeeeeeeeeee, heeeeeeeee." It was so sad, I cried all the way home from the cinema.
Seriously!
I didn't have a clue what the movie was about. Just kinda picked it because it starred Will Smith, and its something both the lover and I agreed we'd like to see. Perhaps it is because I didn't know what it was about that I found it so heartbreaking. So I'm not going to give you a synopsis on it. Just go see it if you are in the mood for a good cry. Bring lots and lots of tissues with you.
2 spoons

Beauty and the beast

2009, SA, and the only character for a black man in a fairy tale is Lefur, Gaston’s monkey. This put a sour taste in my mouth and ruined the show for me. Do not see it.