Has anyone actually seen these movies? (Academy Awards (Oscars))

Member Name: thedevilinme

Product:	Academy Awards (Oscars)
Date:	02/02/09 (249 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bit of raz in winter

Disadvantages: Bias awards

After Kate Winslet shamefully 'blubbed' her way to an Oscar nomination at the Golden Globes for 'The Reader', the tale of a love affair between a female SS officer and her underage Jewish lover, one cant help recall her cheeky appearance on Ricky Gervais brilliant sardonic sitcom 'Extras'. There, of course, she was dressed as a nun, quipping that 'if you want to go for an Oscar just play a 'Holocaust Jew or a mental'. Well she did the former last year and has the nomination in the best actress in a leading role category, ironically going up against Jewish golden girl Mel Streep who plays a nun in 'Doubt'.

I think it is fair to say that Holocaust related movies do rather well at the Oscars and that type of film is deliberately released in the awards season, this period also clashing with World Holocaust Week in January where the Jews are quite rightfully and honourably remembered around the world, and some say why they got away with attacking Gaza in the same month. Hollywood and the entertainment business is dominated by Jewish people and so no surprise their particular large voting block in the Academy use it to 'Big Up' their own sometimes. It's your town and you make the rules. When in Rome! Its rumoured that closet gay men also pull a lot of strings in Hollywood and so films about gay men also seem to feature in the nominations when a big actor takes on that type of role, this time Sean Penn up for 'Milk' for best actor in a leading role category, the biopic of San Francisco first openly gay mayor likely to get that particular cities branch of the Academies block vote. For me Brokeback Mountain and those nice boys in cowboy hats was like some sort of Hollywood Executives gay fantasy being played out. LOL. An example of films for me that won Oscars because of that bias would be The Pianist and Philadelphia, two very average and typically sprawling award targeted movies.

As we all know the best movie of the year rarely wins the Oscar and the films that do hardly anybody has seen them as they are released so near the big awards, the Academy the ones who decided, they heavily influenced by lobbying, trinkets and freebies. Three or four years ago some members were receiving goody bags at the big January parties of up to ten grand!

If an arty or laborious film gets a nomination, like the tedious Juno did last year, its grosses will shoot up, of course, just as bands record sales would if it wins a Brit Award. Again no one believes the best films win the big prizes but if you can lobby hard enough like Danny Boyle and Slumdog have done this year you can squeeze out hyped movies and get yours noticed.

The interesting aspect this year has been how you got nominated in the various categories, Kate Winslet managing to squeeze in twice at the Golden Globes for the same category. That isn't allowed at the Oscars in the acting categories and so her performance in Revolutionary Road has missed out. In the other awards like the Globes and BAFTAS you can get away with getting a best actress performance into a best supporting actress nomination and so win more awards, again the case at the Globes. The various big award ceremonies have different rules of nomination and so you need to lobby different.

-The nominations-

*Best Picture*

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

All five films were released in January and so no surprise there. The glamour is Brad Pitt for what looks like Forest Gump 2 whilst Hollywood bad boy Penn is due an Oscar. It's great that Slumdog is in there, a rare event because it's effectively a foreign language film with an unknown cast in the top category. Frost/Nixon has every chance, being American and political in this momentous year for the United States, British actor Michael Sheen playing his Alan B`stard again. But for me the winner will be The Curious Case, just because it will have the most lobbying and resources thrown at it to win.

*Best Director*

David Fincher for 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

Ron Howard for 'Frost/Nixon'

Gus Van Zant for 'Milk'

Stephen Daldry for 'The Reader'

Danny Boyle for 'Slumdog Millionaire'

I would love to see Danny win it as he's my favorite home grown director but I just can't see Hollywood wanting what they will see as a foreign language movie to do well as it will tank in American multiplexes. I suspect Fincher will win it for the complex Benjamin Button movie to back up its best picture award.

*Best Actor*

Richard Jenkins,' The Visitor'

Frank Langella, 'Frost /Nixon'

Sean Penn, 'Milk'

Bradd Pitt, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

Mickey Rourke, 'The Wrestler'

Although the temptation is for a glamorous 'Brangelina' double with The Changeling and Benjamin Button I think Mickey Rourke is the winner here. Sean Penn tends to chase Oscars and sometimes it's too obvious, his performance rather hammy, as it was in I Am Sam and as it seems to be the case in Milk as he tries to do 'gay' on screen. I haven't seen The Wrestler but the momentum is for him for some reason. Maybe he has too many secrets from those wild parties with Academy members that the golden statue here will delay the autobiography some. LOL.

*Best Actress*

Anne Hathaway, 'Rachael Getting Married'

Angelina Jolie, 'Challenging'

Melissa Leo, 'Frozen River'

Meryl Streep, 'Doubt'

Kate Winslet, 'The Reader'


This is the most contested one for me, our Kate going up against Hollywood's golden girl, Meryl Streep. The Holocaust themes are the main reasons this film has been nominated for me and for that reason alone it will win. The world is political and 'Doubt', a film about pedophilia and abuse in the Catholic Church will have even stronger forces working against it winning. The surprise nomination here is Kate Hat-Stand for 'Rachael is getting Married', a serial romcom offender and currently making the world cringe with Bride Wars and the like.

* Best Supporting Actor*

Josh Brolin, 'Milk'

Robert Downey Junior, 'Tropical Thunder'

Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt'

Heath Ledger, 'The Dark Knight'

Michael Shannon, 'Revolutionary Road'

The bizarre nomination for Rob Downey Junior 'blacking up' for Tropical Thunder got the biggest murmur at the nominations announcements but its Heath Ledger for the first posthumous Oscar for along time who's favorite. But Hollywood isn't going to go for that and although the pedophilic priest should win, PSH brilliantly seedy in everything he does, I think this will strategically be awarded by avoiding those two and maybe go for Josh Brolin, a roughneck actor Hollywood needs right now.


* Best Supporting Actress*

Amy Adams,' Doubt'

Penelope Cruz, Vicky, 'Cristina Barcelona'

Viola Davis, 'Doubt'

Taraji P.Henson, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

Marisa Tomei, 'The Wrestler'

This years ethnic 'noms' have been dumped in this category and so chance for some glamour up on stage. Marisa Tomei got a bizarre Oscar for playing a similar character as she played in The Wrestler in 'My Cousin Vinny', so we can rule her out, and as Benjamin Button has the most nominations this year, 13, I will go with Henson. When a film gets that many nominations then the Hollywood money machine wants it to win.

*MY PICKS*

Best Picture: Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Director: David Fincher for 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, 'The Wrestler'
Best Actress: Kate Winslet, 'The Reader'
Michael Shannon, 'Revolutionary Road'
Taraji P.Henson, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

Summary: The movie biz.