A Slumdog Sweep

Well, then. I did not do as well on my Oscar predictions as I thought I would. Sure enough, I got Best Picture and Best Director right, thanks to the Academy's love for Slumdog Millionaire. However, I was denied the feel-good story of the year since Sean Penn beat out Mickey Rourke for Best Actor. Kate Winslet, as predicted, took home the statuette for Best Actress. The most poignant moment of the evening came when Heath Ledger's mother, father, and sister accepted his Best Supporting Actor award on his and his daughter Matilda's behalf. I had tears in my eyes. I was surprised that the Japanese film Departures beat out Waltz with Bashir, but that's the nature of the Best Foreign Film category. I was even more surprised when Pan's Labyrinth lost a few years ago. Wall-E of course took home best animated feature, while Milk won for adapted screenplay even though I was hoping for an In Bruges victory. The ever-popular Slumdog Millionaire won for best original screenplay. Penelope Cruz won for Best Supporting Actress, beating out my longshot prediction of Viola Davis for Doubt. You can't win 'em all!

I thought the Oscars were enjoyable but nothing spectacular. This could be due to the fact that my cable has been on the fritz recently, but still, I was not that impressed with Hugh Jackman as host. I thought he did well, and carried off the night with no huge missteps. However, his musical numbers seemed somewhat phoned in and awkward at times, even though I enjoyed the fact that he made fun of how no one saw The Reader. Why the heck was that thing nominated? Give me The Dark Knight any day. Also, the In Memorium segment was disappointing since the cinmatographer kept cutting away from the screen and the name of the deceased was barely recognizable. I would have liked to see the dearly departed much better represented.

Anyway, there were some bright spots to the Oscars. I liked the format where the five former winners introduced the nominees and eventually presented the award to them. The intimate nature of award ceremony was great and made it seem like everyone was involved with the action. Jerry Lewis delivered a short but poignant speech and the Ledger family was grief-stricken yet strong. When the winner of the best animated short movie stated "Domo, arrigato, Mr. Roboto," I started cracking up. Now here is a guy who knows how to make fun of himself, have a good time, and still sound gracious.

Overall the evening with the Oscars proved enjoyable, although I would have liked to see less Benjamin Button awards and more given to The Dark Knight. Maybe the Academy will grow a brain and nominate the real best films next year.

The Oscars are Fast Approaching...

Oh, Oscar season. Always an exciting time for movie fans, as well as the fashion aficionados that love to watch the celebrities strut their stuff down the red carpet. I can't remember the last Oscar telecast that I missed, but this year is definitely the first one in awhile that I'm not eagerly anticipating.

Don't get me wrong, there are a few compelling reasons to tune in to the 81st Oscars this Sunday night. For one thing, Hugh Jackman will be the host and that is cause for celebration. Jackman is sure to bring his Aussie wit and charm to the production and is sure not to disappoint the Hollywood insiders the way recent host Jon Stewart apparently has. Personally, I enjoyed Stewart's hosting, although at times he got a little too political. But it's Jon Stewart, and you expect that. His humor was refreshing after Chris Rock and Ellen Degeneres' less than stellar performances. While I haven't caught any of the Tony's that Hugh has hosted three times in the past few years, he has received stellar reviews. I expect good things on this front.

In more sobering news, the main reason I will tune into the Oscars this year is to hopefully see the late, great Heath Ledger win a much-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the Joker in last summer's blockbuster, The Dark Knight. Ledger completely owned this role and in so doing, dominated the best film of 2008. I never really thought anyone could surpass Jack Nicholson's turn as the Joker in the original 1989 Tim Burton flick, but Heath rose to the occasion by bringing his all. As a passing fan of the Batman comics, he really brought a lot of the nuance and inner conflict that the Joker on the page possesses. This is the greatest portrayal of Batman's greatest villain, even better than Mark Hamill's amazing Joker from the '90s Batman Animated Series. The sad fact that Ledger has been taken away from us so young, when he had so much potential for other memorable roles, makes the Oscars a special night. Hopefully, the Academy will honor Heath with only the second posthumous Oscar in Academy history, after Peter Finch for his role in Network.

The rest of the Oscar movies and storylines are not nearly as compelling. Maybe this has to do with the fact that I have not watched any of the Best Picture nominees with the exception of Benjamin Button. I know, I know, this really discredits me as a movie blogger. However, the only one of those movies I really want to see is Slumdog Millionaire and I just haven't had the time to go to the theater lately. I think the Academy is out of touch with its audience, which shows since they did not include The Dark Knight among the nominees and instead stuck the Holocaust film The Reader in there. Of course, I'm not suggesting the Academy should "sell out" by elevating a non-deserving movie to Best Picture status, but The Dark Knight definitely belongs there. Maybe its stigma as a "comic-book movie" lost it points in Academy voters' eyes. However, I consider on par with Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King;; a genre movie that overcomes its genre's (relatively) low status in the view of serious movie fans. Well, here's hoping for a Slumdog win, and I'll catch all the movies when I have the time and can accurately report on which is the most deserving Best Picture nominee.

Still, even without seeing much of the movies, I'm going to offer some Oscar predictions. They are as follows:

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Viola Davis, Doubt
Animated Feature Film: Wall-E (Another movie which could have snagged a Best Picture spot)
Best Cinematography: The Dark Knight
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Martin McDonagh, In Bruges (Maybe I'm biased because I loved this one so much)
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz with Bashir,

And there you have it; my Oscar predictions. I'm not going to go into the "lesser" categories due to time and not really knowing enough about the nominated films. We'll see how my list stacks up to the winners on Sunday, February 22. I'm actually a little more excited to watch the Oscars now that I've written this. What do you think about my list? Anything you would change or am I completely off-base? Be sure to tune in Sunday night to find out!