Academy Awards February 22, 2009

[Aerie]

Want to talk about your choice? Not your favorite - but who do you think did the best job.

Best motion picture of the year
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” - Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Frost/Nixon” - Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
“Milk” - Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
“The Reader” - Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris, Producers
“Slumdog Millionaire” - Christian Colson, Producer

Achievement in directing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” - David Fincher
“Frost/Nixon” - Ron Howard
“Milk” - Gus Van Sant
“The Reader” - Stephen Daldry
“Slumdog Millionaire” - Danny Boyle

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn in “Milk”
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in “Doubt”
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis in “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Josh Brolin in “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”

Best animated feature film of the year
“Bolt” (Walt Disney),
“Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount),
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney),

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance” - James Newton Howard
“Milk” - Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire” - A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E” - Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” - Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” - Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam


Okay, Mr.Clark – take it away. ;D





All those quotation marks make me crazy but I just copied and pasted from a web site. I'm way too lazy to remove them.

[Aerie]

For supporting actor I liked Robert Downey's role the best but I think Josh Brolin deserves the Oscar.


The music is the only category I really care about. This is the first time in years that I have disliked so many of the movies, and the characters, nominated. Bah!



Please spare me from Philip Semen Hoffmour winning anything.
They throw his name in every year.

[dzero]

Feb 17, 2009 14:08:39 GMT -5 Aerie said:

For supporting actor I liked Robert Downey's role the best but I think Josh Brolin deserves the Oscar.

Heath Ledger FTW

This is the first time in years that I have disliked so many of the movies, and the characters, nominated. Bah!

Yeah I was just reading in the "Have you seen any new movies thread" about all the recent movies you have disliked.


Does the sarcasm come through OK over the internet? Or do I need to use a


I have only seen Slumdog Millionaire and Frost vs Nixon both were good though neither was great. Kind of an off year for films IMO.

[Mr.Clark]

Yea Heath Ledger has Best Supporting Actor in the proverbial bag. I think Slumdog's going to be the big winner. Personally I really want Benjamin Button to win at least one of the Big Two (Best Picture/Director). David Fincher is amazing and I really think this is probably the closest he'll ever come to getting one since his films brilliant tho they may be always seem a bit too much on the fringe to appeal to the academy. Benjamin Button was for me the best film of the year, yes it was slow and tragic but it was amazingly beautiful from a story telling perspective. I might do a fuller break down later on my picks but NCIS is about to start so I'll get back to this later.

[Aerie]

Jennifer Hudson just won a Grammy for shrieking a few songs. She had the sympathy vote. I suppose Ledger will win. All the actors were A+ in Milk and I really think Josh Brolin deserves the Oscar.

AP
Associated Press
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. If Heath Ledger is named best supporting actor at Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony, his daughter, 3-year-old Matilda Rose Ledger, will become the owner of the Oscar statuette.

Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road is nominated in that category and I swear to the Blue Lady I don't even know who he is. Revolutionary Road @*%&^$ unpleasant movie

I hated Mickey Rourke, thought Sean Penn will never be better and Richard Jenkins in The Visitor did an awesome job. If Brad Pitt wins I'll be very surprised. He has tough opponents this year.

Frank Langella
Sean Penn
Brad Pitt
Mickey Rourke

When there's not a buncha money to throw at the actor/movie for advertising he doesn't stand much of a chance.


Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

I think Angelina Jolie deserves the Oscar for her role but it'll probably be Streep or Winslet.

Winslet's movie was drab and depressing (bah) and Streep is always great - same ol' - same ol'

The funnest thing would be for Pitt and Jolie to both win. What a hoot.

Yeah I was just reading in the "Have you seen any new movies thread" about all the recent movies you have disliked

Does the sarcasm come through OK over the internet? Or do I need to use a

Yeah I got it. I've seen almost all the nominated movies since Christmas. Since that time I've been a little busy and haven't been able to post. I was here everyday to read what's going on but lack of time prevented me from having internet fun.

[dzero]

Feb 18, 2009 15:02:02 GMT -5 Aerie said:

Yeah I got it. I've seen almost all the nominated movies since Christmas. Since that time I've been a little busy and haven't been able to post. I was here everyday to read what's going on but lack of time prevented me from having internet fun.

;D ;D ;D ;D

Touch a nerve?

Actually was referring to this being a annual tradition here on DAR. You start an Academy Awards post saying how bad the movies were and then when other join the discussion you then you mention the few movies/performances you did like. None of which you mentioned until the Oscars come up. Seriously check the achieves. ;D

[Aerie]

So - you don't like tradition or what ?

[dzero]

Feb 18, 2009 21:09:33 GMT -5 Aerie said:

So - you don't like tradition or what ?

No I do like the tradition.

See the for proof

Think it's funny because aside from Mr Clark you probably see the most movies and yet never write about them. This I find funny and endearing. I have a strange sense of humor, as you know.

[ML Fan]

After six Oscar nominations, I think that Kate Wislet is due to win an Oscar and I think that in Angelina and Brad's case that they have done a lot to help people who are less fourtunate, but, I would surprised if either of them won Oscars, because, they seem to be everywhere all the time.

[Aerie]

After six Oscar nominations, I think that Kate Wislet is due to win an Oscar and I think that in Angelina and Brad's case that they have done a lot to help people who are less fourtunate, but, I would surprised if either of them won Oscars, because, they seem to be everywhere all the time.

Piffle - that would be a popularity contest. That is the People's Choice Awards not the Academy Awards.

Kate Winslet is a wonderful actress, even though I hated her two movies this year. Dreary stuff.

Because Jolie and Pitt are seen everywhere they shouldn't win Oscars ? Holy mackerel Batman, who knew.

I know quite a few people, okay - only seven, that are members and are eligible to vote. We talk about it often (nightly) at this time of the year and none of them use that criteria.

It's not supposed to be popularity - it's acting in that particular film.

Melissa Leo in Frozen River was amazing in that film but without publicity how could she possibly win. Probably half the members didn't even see it. She was better that Kate Winslet.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

I thought Iron Man and Wall-E were better movies than The Reader and Slumdog, even tho Slumdog was good.


Even though Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, a two dimensional role, won the Oscar back in 1988 or 1989, I thought Gene Hackman was tons better in Mississippi Burning. Piffle and bah!


I was a little kid but even I knew that wasn't right. And my opinion holds up today.

[Mr.Clark]

OK I loved Iron Man, I'll even go so far as to say its one of my favorite comic book films of all time. I don't think it even comes close to Best Film of the title. IMO Benjamin Button was the best film I saw all year.

Wall-E was fantastic and really should be in the conversation for Best Film of the year. Wall-E and The Dark Knight are the two best examples of films that really went above and beyond the realm of there particular genres.

Frost/Nixon was a very very good film as well but the thing that bugged about it was that the first 2/3s of it were above average and the final 3rd was just brilliant. Had it been more impressive the hole way through I'd have rated it higher.

[Aerie]

I often feel differently about a film when I see it for the second time.

Watching Iron Man for the 2nd time was more enjoyable than the first. I could really get into that movie and was never distracted. I liked every character.

Wall-E had a better love story than The Notebook ;D ;D

[shywriter]

Feb 20, 2009 19:45:42 GMT -5 Aerie said:

Because Jolie and Pitt are seen everywhere they shouldn't win Oscars ? Holy mackerel Batman, who knew.

I know quite a few people, okay - only seven, that are members and are eligible to vote. We talk about it often (nightly) at this time of the year and none of them use that criteria.

Wow. Really? Would have thought they'd use the "out and about-o-meter" in their consideration.

Must be pretty cool to be privvy to all that Hollywood Insider sort of info -- how do you keep your head from spinning with it all?

[dzero]

Finally saw Benjamin Button. I really liked the 5 minute WWII sequence and especially the 30 second battle scene. The rest of the 168 minute movie bored me to tears.

It would be worth it to me though if this inspires David Fincher to make a war movie.

[dzero]

Feb 20, 2009 19:45:42 GMT -5 Aerie said:

Melissa Leo in Frozen River was amazing in that film but without publicity how could she possibly win. Probably half the members didn't even see it. She was better that Kate Winslet.

Melissa Leo was on Homicide www.imdb.com/title/tt0106028/ so she gets my vote for best actress even though I haven't seen the film. In fact haven't seen any of the films with best actress nominees.