And The Oscar Goes To . . .

I've just spent the last thirty minutes watching the acceptance speeches for this year's Oscars on it's official website. By all accounts, it looks like it was a grand night with its fair share of embarrassing speeches, co-ordinated close ups and poignant moments. In particular, the announcement of Heath Ledger as Best Actor brought genuine tears to the house.

How did I fare? Not too bad, but I missed out on the big prize, Best Movie and Director. Slumdog Millionaire was an obvious favourite and picked up many awards; congrats goes out to Danny Boyle and his crew for their wonderfully colourful movie.

Four for four in the actor categories, so I am happy with that. Kate Winslet would have been a close call with Angelina Jolie but it was a much deserved win. Heath Ledger was an absolute shoe in if there ever was one and Penelope Cruz was a favourite and her acceptance speech enjoyable to watch. Sean Penn's win would have split a few opinions, other people thinking that Brad Pitt or Mickey Rourke should have taken the Oscar, but my opinion remains that his performance in Milk was the best of a very good bunch.

Special mention goes out to Wall E for Best Animated Feature; I can picture the little guy adding the gold statue to his collection of odds and sods.

As for the Oscar poll, the group did well with six for six - well done to those of you who got them all.

Well that's it! An enjoyable, at times draining, three weeks of Oscar movie watching and reviewing. I hear the music starting up so I best be on my way.

Congratulations to all!!

MY OSCAR TIPS

Tonight the winners will be announced and the Oscars handed out. I've spent the last two weeks or so watching all the nominations in the top six categories, determined to view the entire field in order to make an informed decision as to what and who I believe should win. Barring one movie, Frozen River, I have managed to cover all nominations.

The reasons for my nominations are evident in my blog posts, in the movie reviews, so I will not repeat them here, unless I have something more to say.

So without further preamble, here are my Oscar tips:

Performance by an actor in a leading role

SEAN PENN in MILK

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

HEATH LEDGER in THE DARK KNIGHT

Performance by an actress in a leading role

KATE WINSLET in THE READER

(This was by far the toughest choice - honorable mention to Angelina Jolie)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

PENELOPE CRUZ in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Achievement in directing

DAVID FINCHER for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Best motion picture of the year

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

So there they are and I will know by the morning how close I got. Of course, conflicting with the Academy's ultimate choices is not such a bad thing, but I know that these were the performances that impressed me the most over the past month and I wish them good luck. Good luck also to Wall E, which deserves every award it is nominated for.

Originally, I was going to "watch" the Oscars on the web, however, it starts at 1 a.m. and finishes at 5 a.m.; I'm not that dedicated.

Look out for a recap of the winners first thing tomorrow morning and keep voting on the right hand side.

I'd like to thank so many people . . .

27: VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA (OSCAR SERIES)

Eye on which Oscar?

Performance by an actress in a supporting role - Penélope Cruz

Where?

Wandsworth, 620pm (hmmm, what can I have to eat? Oh sod it, Nandos it is!)

Comments?

So we come to the end, the final nomination out of the six main categories. It's a little bit sad but also a relief as well. I've managed to watch all nominations except one before the Oscar winners are announced, starting in just under six hours time - a bit of an effort if I do say so myself.

What a nice, breezy, humorous movie to end the Oscar marathon with. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a very enjoyable romp about relationships, both long lasting and fleeting, and the need to live life to its fullest, a consistent theme amongst many of the nominated movies. This one does it best though, with Woody Allen's dry humour, great performances from the four leads - Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall and Penélope Cruz - and the beautiful summer images of Barcelona.

The four main characters, Vicky, Cristina, Juan, and Maria Elena, get caught up in a tangled web of love, sex, longing, romance, passion and artistry. The movie is funny in a light hearted way, with Vicky (Rebecca Hall) assuming the Woody Allen type character, a newly engaged neurotic who is reluctant to throw caution to the wind and do anything spontaneous. Cristina (Johansson), her friend, is the complete opposite, always wanting to try different things, always looking for something; she doesn't know what she wants but she knows what she doesn't want, which doesn't really help her. They end up spending a weekend with Juan (Bardem), a Casanova type Spanish painter who seduces both women, an expression of his desire to grasp the moment. Things are going quite well, albeit in a complicated fashion, when Juan's ex wife (Cruz) returns to Barcelona after a cry for help via an attempt to kill herself. She once stabbed Juan with a knife in the heat of an argument, is obviously completely round the bed and she is none too pleased with the current romantic arrangements. Comedy ensues.


Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a very enjoyable movie with tasteful sexual encounters, intricate relationship threads and a funny script by Mr Allen. His he back to his best? Hard to tell, but taken in isolation, this movie is great fun and should be re-released in the summer, just to set the mood.

Oscar Glory?

Penélope Cruz plays the psychotic ex-wife, Maria Elena, a woman who is very passionate in everything she does, whether it's painting, arguing, lovemaking or stabbing her ex-husband. Cruz is excellent, very entertaining, and she gives the movie a bit of extra sexy Spanish spark. The arguments between her and Juan, both in Spanish and English, are hilarious.

I actually like her for the Oscar, ahead of Amy Adams, mainly because Cruz takes the role and makes it her own, without having to rely on the drama of the situation to dictate it. And she is a joy to watch. After Revolutionary Road, this movie was a god send, a feel good movie. Sure, it's light and breezy and can be forgotten soon after, but it's enjoyable while you watch it and Cruz is a big part of that.

Rating?

7.5 out of 10

Post Movie Quote:

"That's me done."

Paying For It - Number 3 (Oscar Edition)

When the nominations for this year's Academy Awards were announced, Changeling, a Clint Eastwood movie set in the 1930s about a mother who loses her child and is used by the Los Angeles Police Department to further their own crusade to resurrect a flailing public image, was on its last legs at the box office. After a few more sessions here and there followed by a final screening on a Sunday at Cineworld Trocadero, it disappeared from the screens.

At this point in time, I had resigned myself to the fact that I had missed it, just one of two instances in my attempt to see all nominated movies for Oscars 2009. The other was The River, which I don't think has ever been screened in the UK.

To my delight, the National Film Theatre decided to present a short run of Changeling in their Studio cinema, a five row, 35 seat cube set in the theatre's foyer. I managed to acquire the final seat for last Friday's session and, although I was pretty close to the screen, I enjoyed the film immensely.

It's a harrowing tale and a frustrating one. To think that, in the 1930s, a stricken mother, searching for a lost son, can be subject to ridicule, slander and incarceration by the very police she hopes will find her son is heartbreaking. Angelina Jolie is amazing as Christine Collins, the distraught mother who finds her son missing when she comes back late from work one day. What happens over the next five years is almost unbelievable if it wasn't true.

In a nutshell, the LAPD forces Collins to accept that the boy that they find 5 months after her son's disappearance is her son, even though the boy is 3 inches shorter and is circumcised. It is definitely not her son, but the more she protests, the more frustrated the authorities get, eventually throwing her into a psychiatric ward for women. Christine Collins has a saviour though, in the guise of Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich) whose determination and support brings hope.

Jolie puts in a fine performance and currently, with the movie still fresh in my mind, I am unsure as to whether she will win the Oscar for Best Actress over Kate Winslet or not. This will be a decision made at the final hour.

The other actors, Malkovich, Jefferey Jones (as Juvenile Department captain), Michael Kelly (as the detective who discovers horror at a farm in Southern California) and Jason Butler Harner all put in fine performances and Eastwood's direction is as good as ever.

A fine film and one that I am glad to have seen before the Oscar ceremony begins.

26: REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (OSCAR SERIES)

Eye on which Oscar?

Performance by an actor in a supporting role - Michael Shannon

Where?

Wandsworth, 6pm (no time for Nandos this time, straight from work and into the cinema).

Comments?

Revolutionary Road is about a quite depressing little topic - the claustrophobic confines of a set life, whether it be the day to day repetition of a dead end job that does not excite or a marriage that is going through the motions, suppressing any urge to break free and live a fulfilling life.

Frank and April Wheeler were once a happy couple, full of promise and vigour, enchanting each other with free flowing minds and ideas of travel and wonder. Something changed over the course of their marriage: they had kids; Frank settled down in his now deceased father's job in marketing, hating the tedious working life; April is shackled to her home, cleaning and looking after the kids, totally devoid of inspiration, regularly sensing the lost magic and potential her marriage once had. The tension brought about the Wheeler's situation is tangible and many arguments occur. Infidelity seems to be the only way for them to feel anything. One day, April proposes that they do what they always wanted to do, go to Paris, allowing Frank to find out what he really wants to do with his life. For a brief moment, one that you wish would last, they set in motion plans to uproot their family and go for it, enjoying a sense of freedom that they had long thought impossible. Inevitably, things take a turn for the worse.

Although Revolutionary Road is set in 1950s America, it can easily be transferable to the current day and any location. Many people are in a similar situation to the Wheelers, but whether you are or not, the movie brings about feelings of the inadequacies of one's life to the surface. It's not an entertaining movie to say the least. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are both outstanding but that is the problem: they are too convincing and the arguments and choices they have to make hits close to the bone. I left the movie a little depressed, although there was an overwhelming urge to do more with my life.

Definitely not a date movie. And definitely not one to take your spouse to. If you want to express the point of this movie to someone you love, i.e. you can't allow life to remain stagnant, do it over a bottle of wine in the park and do it positively.

Oscar worthy?

Here's another very small supporting role up for an Oscar. Michael Shannon appears in three scenes in this movie, maybe totalling fifteen minutes at a stretch. That said, you do wish for more. His portrayal of a slightly crazed mathematician brought to visit the Wheelers by his elderly parents is engrossing. His frank comments hit home for Frank and April, both positively when they are glowing from their announcement to move to Paris and negatively when things go a little tits up. Very well handled indeed.

Will he snare the Oscar ahead of Heath Ledger? No. However, if his role had more screen time, it might have been a close call.

(I've mentioned this before, but it seems the Academy has been scraping the bottom of the barrel for nominations in some respects (and this isn't directed at Shannon's role at all). I checked last year's nominations for Supporting actors and actresses and all of them have meaty roles and plenty of screen time - think Ben Affleck in Jesse James, Jaiver Bardem in No Country for Old Men and Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone. This year, we've got at least three nominations for bit parts. Surely, Oscar, with a little bit more digging, there were better supporting roles out there? Or was it a case of production companies being a bit lazy in putting forward roles for consideration? Food for thought. Apologies to Shannon for hijacking his moment.)

Rating?

6 out of 10

Post Movie Quote:

"I'm depressed."

25: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (OSCAR SERIES)

Eye on which Oscar?

Achievement in directing - Danny Boyle

Best motion picture of the year

Where?

Haymarket, 6pm (probably the worst cinema I've been to out of the Cineworld chain; the screen wasn't centered, there was a huge wide gap in the seating so that you couldn't sit anywhere near the middle, and there was a slope in the floor and seats, which after two hours, gave me a numb ass).

Comments?

Slumdog Millionaire is quite a clever movie; it's also funny, moving and charming. It is also the hot tip for Best Movie, the "slumdog" of the nominated movies beating all odds to win the major prize, not unlike the movie's main character, Jamal Malik, who gets to within one question of the million pounds (20 million rupees). However, it is doubtful that Danny Boyle's movie will be pulled at the last minute for cheating, as what happens in Slumdog Millionaire.

The structure of the film, on the face of it, is quite ingenious. Jamal is sitting in the hot seat on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the Indian version. Across from him is the host Prem Kumar (brilliantly played by Anil Kapoor), who encourages Jamal and digs at him throughout. Why wouldn't he? Jamal is a slumdog, part of the lower class and his only achievement thus far, monetary wise, is to secure a job as an assistant at a telephone call centre.

Despite all this, he answers the penultimate question correctly and his hauled straight to jail on charges of fraud and cheating before even getting the chance at the big prize. What follows is a question by question account of how Jamal knows the answers, based on his experiences in the slum (luckily the answers-slumdog life links are in chronological order). Within the flashbacks of his life, we discover that he fell in love with a childhood sweetheart and that, before coming on the show, he had lost her forever.

It's a good movie, no doubt about it. Danny Boyle's direction is very good, as always, and he brings all the feel good elements together nicely, with added authenticity by using Indian actors and locations.

Whether or not the numb ass or the stupid idiots in the audience who insisted on talking throughout (obviously at a high pitch tone so that no one else seemed to notice, if their willingness to suffer silently was any indication), but I couldn't really connect with this movie. Sure, it was funny, and the scenery and images are wonderful, but I found myself not really caring whether Jamal got the girl or the millions. When things turn tragic and there is a race against time at the end, I found myself not feeling much at all.

The Millionaire quiz show scenes are a double edged sword: they are probably the most entertaining to watch, but end up bisecting the movie, almost as a distraction to the Slumdog's tale. To me, the movie became focused on "what happened in his life that allowed him to answer the next question" and this little trick became a bit tiring for me.

If I was able to buy into it a bit more, felt closer to the characters, then these little annoyances would have passed me by. A lot of other people loved the movie and it's bound to win the Oscar, so I guess I just have to blame my disinterest on the numb bum and the chatterbox in the audience.

Oscar worthy?

I suppose I've said my piece about the movie already. It will probably win the Oscar, but for me, it wasn't engaging enough and I felt more of an emotional tie to the likes of Milk, The Reader and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Danny Boyle's directing is always good though. He always does something different and is quite an artistic filmmaker. But I can't base my Oscar choice on his previous films and I still think Fincher did a better job this time around.

Rating?

7 out of 10

Post Movie Quote:

"Not much to say really but tut tut, sigh loudly, scoff and hope the person sitting next to me gets the thinly veiled point and stops talking throughout the movie. God forbid I'd politely ask them to shut up. Hmmm, guess what my pet hate is?"

24: THE WRESTLER (OSCAR SERIES)

Eye on which Oscar?

Performance by an actor in a leading role - Mickey Rourke


Performance by an actress in a supporting role - Marisa Tomei

Where?

Wandsworth, 8.15pm (Nandos again).
Comments?

The Wrestler suffers from too much hype. My expectations of this movie were pretty high, especially in regard to Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei's "comeback" roles. Not to say that the movie isn't any good or that their acting performances aren't top notch; they just don't live up to the hype.


Director Darren Aronofsky follows Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke), usually from behind, as the once top billed wrestler (his hey day was 20 years ago) continues a fading career at smaller just-above-amateur contests where he is still respected. These early scenes are good for giving the audience a little bit of insight into what happens backstage, bringing humour to the fact that the whole show is staged and highlighting the importance of the wrestler's performance to the sport's success.


The Ram takes every chance he can get and he moves to bigger wrestling exhibitions that use broken bottles, chairs and a staple gun to bring in the crowds. He hasn't exactly stooped to an all time low, but he is not exactly living the high life. He has an estranged daughter, he has no partner, he has been evicted from his caravan, and he puts his body through the wringer in these sickening contests.


After one too many staple gun punches to the head, a health scare puts Randy on a course to put his life back on track. He finds a real job, he discovers love with an ageing stripper (Marisa Tomei) and he attempts reconciliation with his daughter. Ultimately, he steps back into the ring, a place where he knows he is something, he is someone, he is The Ram.





It's a sad tale that is often used in sporting movies. The body gives out, too many knocks to the head takes its toll and, in some instances, the sporting heroes are left with nothing, not even their dignity. The Wrestler takes this often used premise and gives it a different slant through an engaging film that just misses out on meeting expectations.


Oscar worthy?


Both Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei are very good in The Wrestler. Rourke, in particular, puts his heart and soul into his character and it is no doubt his best acting role. The sadness and inevitability of his demise, especially in the climatic final scene, is expressed with skill in The Ram's eyes. You can not help but feel sympathy and pity for the ageing wrestler, testimony to Rourke. Tomei is good too, putting on a brave performance as Pam, Randy's love interest, personifying the life that could've been.

As with the film itself, their performances are great and skillfully delivered, but my high expectations of their comeback roles raised the bar, putting it just out of reach of Oscar glory. That said, Rourke does deserve all his other awards; I just think that there is another out there who will take the golden boy home.

Rating?

7.5 out of 10

Post Movie Quote:

"Maybe it will win an Oscar; The Boss has written a song for it!"