The 81st Annual Academy Awards

[MacGuffin]

maybe it was leaked by the same jerk that said hathaway was going win the globe..

It's bogus because the ballots were due Tuesday. They're still counting.

Mac, who's getting the honorary award this year?

Jerry Lewis will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 81st Academy Awards, report the trades. The actor and comedian will receive the honorary Oscar statuette at the February 22 ceremony. Lewis, who made his screen debut with nightclub-act partner Dean Martin in 1949's My Friend Irma, began making local and national televised appeals on behalf of the newly founded Muscular Dystrophy Association during the early 1950s. He has been the organization's national chairman since 1952 and has spearheaded the annual Jerry Lewis Mda Labor Day Telethon, which has raised more than $2 billion, since 1966. Lewis starred alongside Martin in 16 films before establishing a solo career as a screen performer, director and producer with such films as The Bellboy, The Nutty Professor, The Disorderly Orderly and Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy.

[MacGuffin]

REMINDER: Our chat room is the place for the best catty talk!

[©brad]

REMINDER: Our chat room is the place for the best catty talk!

hells yeah! i'll try and be on.

[Sleepless]

It has been said time and again by myself and countless others that The Dark Knight being shut out of the Best Picture race this year is an absolute crime. When people look back to 2008 in the future, The Dark Knight is the film which will be remembered. Not any of these contenders, no matter who wins. In fact, this is the first year in recent memory where I hadn't seen the majority of the nominees. Only the spectacularly underwhelming Benjamin Button. So yesterday I went to AMC's annual Best Picture Showcase and got myself caught up on the other nominees. Let me tell you; it's a mixed bag.

First up was Milk - Gus Van Sant's biopic of gay politician Harvey Milk in 1970s San Francisco. At the time the nominees were announced I predicted this could be the one to steal the prize. Having actually now seen it, I still believe it could win. It should win. It was undeniably my favorite of the five. The story of someone coming up so much prejudice and overcoming it, being accepted and yet somehow not becoming a part of the vilified establishment - that's quiet an achievement. Any yet perhaps a tad timely perhaps? This film really touched me, brought me to the verge of tears. Despite the assassination which ends the film, for the most part this film is a feel-good even when tackling such tricky subject matter. I loved this movie. I really, really hope it wins. Incidentally, Milk is nominated for eight nominees in total including one for Sean Penn as lead actor. It is also my prediction that he will win that one too, stealing from favorite Mickey Rourke.

The second film in AMC's program was The Reader. This is the film which took people most by surprised by being included as a nominee, and largely believed therefor to be the reason Dark Knight was not included on the list. The story deals with a teenager in post-WWII Germany who has an affair with an older woman (Kate Winslet). Later, it turns out the woman was a guard at Auchwitz and she is put on trial for her crimes. Honestly, there's nothing special about this movie. I don't dislike it at all, but it's only okay. My main complaint is that the initial start of the affair seems really forced and unbelievable - a huge fucking problem when that's what the rest of the film hangs on. However, Winslet more than earns her nod as a Leading (rather than Supporting) Actress. In total it is nominated for 5 awards. This ranks as my number 3 of the 5.

The middle film to be shown was The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. I had absolutely no desire to sit through this mess a second time. I hate this movie. So instead, I went out for lunch. A lovely plate a liver and onions. Gorgeous glass of wine. Benjamin Button ranks as my number 5. Unbelievably, it is nominated for 13 awards in total. It is my prediction that it will go home empty handed.

Returning from a nice few hours out of the cinemas, I settled in to watch reigning favorite Slumdog Millionaire. I didn't really like it. It didn't hang together so well for me. I can't really explain it. Sure, the kids were cute, but it didn't affect me in the same way Milk did, despite the parallels in story. Plus Milk is based on a true story. And we all know the Academy voters love their true stories. Everyone knows Slumdog has already won pretty much every major award going, but I think it could suffer from voter fatigue come tonight. It's nominated for 10 awards in total. I think it will win roughly half of them, especially the bigger categories it's included in. But not Best Picture. Of the 5 nominees, this ranks as my number 4.

The final film to be nominated is Frost/Nixon. Like Benjamin Button, this is one film I had been looking forward to for a long time, and again was disappointing. But nowhere near as much. Frank Langella gives a larger than life performance as disgraced ex-President Nixon, but the true shining star of this movie is screenwriter Peter Morgan (The Queen), adapting from his own stage play. There are some great lines, and the film really does present the interviews as a series of boxing matches. I can honestly say this is the one nominee which truly kept me (and a large portion of my fellow audience) on the edge of my seat. This is my second favorite of the 5. It's nominated for 5 awards, but the outlook is not good. Fingers crossed it might take Adapted Screenplay if anything.

My ranking:
1.Milk
2.Frost/Nixon
3.The Reader
4.Slumdog Millionaire
5.The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

[modage]

REMINDER: Our chat room is the place for the best catty talk!

ready when you are.

[Gamblour.]

Mickey got fucking robbed!

This is the best I've ever done at guessing, however.

[MacGuffin]

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Christian Colson

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Winner: Sean Penn for Milk (2008/I)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Winner: Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008)

Best Achievement in Directing
Winner: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Winner: Okuribito (2008)(Japan)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - A.R. Rahman, Sampooran Singh Gulzar("Jai Ho")

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - A.R. Rahman

Best Achievement in Editing
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Chris Dickens

Best Achievement in Sound
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Winner: The Dark Knight (2008) - Richard King

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) - Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Winner: Smile Pinki (2008) - Megan Mylan

Best Documentary, Features
Winner: Man on Wire (2008) - James Marsh, Simon Chinn

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)

Best Short Film, Live Action
Winner: Spielzeugland (2007) - Jochen Alexander Freydank

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Anthony Dod Mantle

Best Achievement in Makeup
Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) - Greg Cannom

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Winner: The Duchess (2008) - Michael O'Connor

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) - Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo

Best Short Film, Animated
Winner: Maison en petits cubes, La (2008) - Kunio Katô

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Winner: WALL·E (2008) - Andrew Stanton

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Simon Beaufoy

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Winner: Milk (2008/I) - Dustin Lance Black

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Winner: Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

[Kal]

Mac, where the hell were you? So much for promoting the chat and not showing up!

I'm very pleased with most results, except for Mickey. He fucking deserved it and Sean Penn is an ass. He was brilliant as Milk, but whatever.

[MacGuffin]

Mac, where the hell were you? So much for promoting the chat and not showing up!

Friends showed up and had to play host. Sorry.

[picolas]

as much as i wanted to see mickey win, penn really deserved it so much as well and gave a great speech. the speeches were easily the best part of the night. probably because they were the only thing not created by the producers, who made so. many. terrible decisions. jackman did his job but there was really no personality there. just script. apatow barely tried with his video. the decision to cut the acting clips (which i've always enjoyed because they try to represent those defining moments) and replace them with boring, tedious speeches by other actors describing their performances (aside from de niro and a couple other exceptions) clinched it. worst oscar ceremony i've ever seen.

[Bethie]

Can I just mention Danny Boyle's facial expressions when shown on camera? the man looked like a child molester

[MacGuffin]

Can I just mention Danny Boyle's facial expressions when shown on camera? the man looked like a child molester

[Bethie]

HAHHAH! Proof!!!

[Sleepless]

Why the fuck was the camera floating around during the In Memoriam bit so you couldn't fucking see who was being honored? And having Queen Latifa sing over it all?! What the fuck!

[MacGuffin]

Couple questions:

Was Seymore Philip Hoffman going to rob a bank afterwards?




When did they announce The Pianist Part II?: