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
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Live Blogging the Oscar Nominations
8:28 am: Yes, in fact, I did wake up this early just to watch the telecast of the Oscar nominations. I'm kind of in a panic right now because I can't find it anywhere.
8:30 am: Ok, I found it on Fox News, but I'd rather watch it on an entertainment channel.
8:31 am: Did you get the joke? Because Fox News is entertainment. It's ok, I suck at writing this early.
8:35 am: Hooray, it's playing on E!
8:38 am: Idi Amin himself is here to assist the Academy president with the announcements.
8:39 am: I think I just missed the nominations for Best Supporting Actress. I'm really tired.
8:39 am: Dev Patel didn't get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. It's ok, I always thought he was kind of overrated. RDJ my man did though for Tropic Thunder.
8:40 am: Mellisa Leo? Who the hell is that? And why is she nominated for Best Actress? Seriously, has anyone ever heard of this woman?
8:41 am: Kate Winslet did get nominated for Best Actress. But for The Reader. Not Revolutionary Road. Pay attention, aspiring actors. Holocaust movies are gold mines.
8:41 am: Go Richard Jenkins. Best Actor for The Visitor. Did I call that? Yes, I did.
41: Best Director is crap. Where art thou Christopher Nolan? Stephen Daldry can go to hell. Nobody watched your pathetic little film, The Reader. The Dark Knight made like a billion dollars and was superbly directed.
41: In Bruges for Best Original Screenplay bitches! I called that shit. My mood can only be described as a mix of exhaustion and exhilaration.
41: I think I was perfect on Adapted Screenplay...no wait I wasn't. The Reader foiled The Dark Knight yet again.
42: 3/5 for Foreign Language. Not bad for not having seen a single one of these films.
42: Too bad for Wall E. It just got Best Animated Feature, so it won't get a Best Pic now.
42: Alright Best Picture time...If I don't see The Dark Knight I'm going to destroy something.
43: Benjamin...expected. Frost/Nixon? C'mon people. Milk...deserving.The Reader? Goddammit. And then Slumdog. No Batman. I have just ripped up a piece of paper. Did you actually think I was going to break my computer?
44: Well, that was it. I seriously got up at 8:30 just to see 15 minutes worth of nonsense. Now I am sleepy and pissed off. I'm pretty much going to boycott The Reader for ruining everything. The Dark Knight owned and should have been recognized. Instead, we get stuck with another movie about Nazis, this time with lots of sex. They didn't even go through the technical categories. Now I'll have to scour the internet for those. But now I'm going back to sleep.