Slumdog Millioanire has become the biggest winner in this year’s OSCAR and it truly is a slumdog to riches story for the cast and crew of the Independent movie. Winner of 8 awards of the 10 nomination which include the technical Like sound missing, Cinematography , editing and both song and score and adapted screenplay, of course not to forget the Best Director and Best Picture honors. The ceremony as usual is done in KodakTheatre. With a swarovsky curtain surrounding the stage it’s made the stage much smaller, more intimate and more old glamor. Bravo to the new production team, that this year’s Oscar is a great great success and much better than a lot of the previous year. This year the nominee of the actor category award is celebrated and honored by their own pears and 5 previous winners and great legend standing on stage to announce and congratulate the nominee. Everyone is so honored and moved that the ladies literally fall into tears before the award is announces.
With a new show comes and new style and a new host. Though I must say it is very similar to the Tony, maybe it’s Hugh Jackman. Everyone rumored that there will not be an opening but Hugh just gotta do it and to tell the truth it is as great as Billy Crystal is not better. Well done to the sexiest man of the year. Hugh did a run through of all the movies and some extra nominations usual and also did a pre-rehearsed stint with Anne Hathaway on Frost/ Nixon.
It’s a big year for the musical with Cadillac Records and Mamma Mia and High School Musical in the cinema, of course and with a Tony Winner as a host, you bet that there will be a performance on Musical. That includes Dominic and Amanda and Zac and Venessa.
While presenting the actor awards, Whoopi did a reflection joke on the nun character nominee by Amy Adams, and the Cube Gooding Jr. did one on Robert Downey Jr. on his Tropic Thunder character who is an Australia who gone through plastic surgery to be an African American in the movie both Amy and Robert is beaten to the award by Penelope Cruz (a surprise for a romantic comedy actress to take home the award.) and of course Heath Ledger of the Dark Knight, who family presented a moving thank you speech
Benjamin Button with the most nominees however takes home Best Make Up and Art Direction and Visual Effects as expected. The only disappointment that I have is the winning by the Duchess for Best Costume. Not that they are not deserving, and I know that Victorian costume are totally hard to do but this is probably the 7th out of the last decade that win the award already and the predictability is just becoming more boring.
I must say that I was totally surprise when Milk got the Best Original Screenplay and also proud that Dustin Lance Black got the award. It is an amazing script and it is totally honorable and for the first time in so many year openly gay people can finally stand tall on the world stage, in the Olympics and in the film industry right now and I thought that an Art industry should be more acceptable and the reality is as it is that now only it seems that equality is reached this year. In his speech, Dustin thanks his family for having the courage and love to move him from the conservative Mormon community to the California because of his sexuality and his hope of one day that equality for homosexual people of federal rights.
Surely it is the war of predator and the aliens on the Best Actor Nominee, though that Benjamin Button’s Brad Pitt is a very covered actor on the nomination but it is widely thought that it is after all a fight between Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke. Both with a dark personal past in the media and rise above the ashes, So in the end Sean with the more notable and longer calming period takes home the award, but not without being joke on how he handle the photog and how his humanitarian work is applaud. In his speech he shamed those who vote prop 8 and resonance with Dustin Lance Black speech that he wish that equality in achievable in the very near future for everyone.
Other less interesting award, with some of the best jokes from t he presenter like Jack Black and Jennifer Aniston and also Seth Rogen and James Franco, are also awarded to Best Animation Wall-E of course, Best Animated short for La Maison En Petite Cubes. Documentary taken home by the most watched feature of the year, Man on Wire and Documentary shot by Smile Pinky.
The memoriam Feature has left me reminded that we have lost a lot of the best artist for the industry this year, from Bernie Mac to Michael Crichton, to Anthony Mingella, Sidney Pollack, Charlton Haston to Paul Newman. And the highest honor of the night is given to a great humanitarian and one of the best known faces on movies, Jerry Lewis is the recipient for the Gene Hershaw award.
Of course besides taking home the Supporting Actor award, The Dark Knight also take home Sound Editing. But in my mind it should take home Cinematography for having the courage to take the revolutionary high detail IMAX camera to make the film and also Visual Effects….. I mean it’s an action movie with some of the most amazing car chase and bat mobile and all. That should counted for something. But I guess in the end this year they are focusing more of computer generated visual effects.
Foreign movie goes to the Japan’s Departure rather than the Isreali realistically animated war movie.
John Legends Wall –E original song is weaved between the other 2 nomination of Slumdog Millionaire A. R Rahman when the performed the songs and it is totally mesmerizing.
And at last the most most waited award of the year, Best Actress is taken home by Kate Winslet. Finally, the one person that should have been awarded long before this is totally deserving this year to take home the statue for her fifth nomination in the same category. Of course the presentation of the winner is not without the funny moving introduction of the nominee by past winners.
Our congratulation on the Slumdog wins and Kate and Sean and Dustin and A. R. Rahman and Danny Boyle and Heath and Penelope and the Benjamin Button Team and Wall – E, you all are the inspiration of everyone’s and film maker and writers’ life. And the 81st Oscar is totally a night to remember.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment