Now that I've had some time to digest the Oscar nominations, I'm not as angry as I was Thursday morning. I was mostly annoyed by the fact that The Dark Knight was knocked out of the big awards by a Nazi pedophilia flick, The Reader . But all is well, because of this glorious man:
Famed Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman, seen above with his majestic hair, was nominated for three Oscars. Most notably, he was recognized for his work in Slumdog Millionaire . P Diddy's magic must have rubbed of on the diminutive Indian when they hugged at the Golden Globes (1:45 below). On top of that, Rahman won two out of the three nominations for Best Original Song. Both "Jai Ho" and "O Saya" are competing for the Oscar. Yes, that means we are going to see M.I.A. and Sukhwinder Singh perform songs in Hindi at the Oscars. Tell your friends.
Here are some other interesting things about the 2009 nominees:
This movie gashed my otherwise kick-ass Oscar Predictions (all of which you can see here)
1) Kate Winslet was nominated for Best Actress for this picture, not Supporting Actress as I (and everyone else) thought.
2) The Dark Knight was axed in favor of this film in three categories: Best Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay. Picture I understand, but Christopher Nolan is a maestro and orchestrated some pretty amazing action sequences.
3) The categories I actually thought The Reader would be nominated for, it wasn't (Art Direction and Costumes). However, it was nominated for Cinematography.
4) If not for this movie, my picks for Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography would have been perfect.
As one can see, my vendetta against this movie is justified.
I was pretty sure that the old guy would pull off another Best Picture nomination and especially one for Best Actor. After all, this was rumored to be Clint Eastwood's last performance. Instead the Gran Torino was completely shut out. Is this karmic payback for offending me so deeply? I'd like to think so.
Last year's Oscar presentation was the least watched ever, when No Country for Old Men took home the big prize. The voters had a chance to demolish ratings records this year, if only they would have nominated The Dark Knight for the prestige awards. It was only the second highest grossing movie in American history. The highest? Titanic . Which, coincidentally, provided the most-watched Oscar telecast the year it won Best Picture.
Instead the Academy threw in Frost/Nixon and The Reader . I don't know a single person that watched either of those movies. Milk wasn't a huge hit either. The only bonafide blockbuster was Benjamin Button , but it doesn't have the rabid following Batman would have brought to the ceremony. Everyone and their uncle knows that Slumdog Millionaire is going to win Best Picture, and it's filled with unknown Indian actors. One could argue that its presence would bring it lots of international viewers, but Indians don't seem to like it too much.
1)I was all over that Original Screenplay nomination for In Bruges
2)I got all the nominations for three categories right: Editing, Makeup, and Visual Effects. It's a start.
3)The two Original Song nominations for Slumdog , as I predicted. I knew "O Saya" was too good to pass up.
Overall, I was pleased with the Oscar nominations. Were you?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Oscar Night to be Dominated by Short Indian Men
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2 comments:
I didn't think Gran Torino was worth a best picture nomination, which I told you. I also don't think Eastwood was good enough for a best actor nomination.
Don't worry Kavi, eventually you will become good at predicting. Maybe somebody will even buy you a dinner! (I just need Franken to officially take office and I can cash in my winnings)
A.R. Rahman looked up into the stars and he ______ in his pants. Yes, I finally watched that video.
Seriously, that picture of him is interesting.
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