Archive for the '2009 Awards' Category

Awards Season | The Oscars - Who did win!

Published
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Jason Best
on February 23, 2009
in 2009 Awards
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 Slumdog Millionaire - Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning movie

So Slumdog Millionaire triumphed at the Oscars. As we predicted (and, yes, so did almost everyone else), Danny Boyle’s mutt of a movie was top dog in Hollywood last night, winning Best Film, Best Director and six other gongs – adding up to eight of its ten nominations, including Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Song and Best Score.

Here at Movie Talk we singled out Slumdog for attention last October, when it was chosen as the closing night film of the London Film Festival, and we chose the film as our first free preview screening back in December, which allows us to pretend that we have a tiny bit of a stake in the victory of this low-budget, British-funded movie.

And Kate triumphed too confounding my last-minute fears that Meryl would overhaul her at the last minute. Clearly, I needn’t have worried. Kate herself had it all sussed when she appeared in Ricky Gervais’s Extras: “If you do a film about the Holocaust,” she confided, “you’re guaranteed an Oscar.” Turns out she didn’t even need the nun’s habit. (Didn’t work for Meryl, did it?)

Sean Penn beat bookies’ favourite Mickey Rourke to carry off the award for his performance as murdered gay rights activist Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s biopic Milk.

As expected, Heath Ledger won the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight – only the second time in history that an actor has won posthumously (Peter Finch was the first, winning Best Actor for Network in 1976).

And Penélope Cruz, again as forecast, scooped Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Here are the awards in full:

Best film: 
Slumdog Millionaire
Best director
: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best actor: 
Sean Penn, Milk
Best actress
: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best supporting actor: 
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best supporting actress: 
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best adapted screenplay: 
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Best original screenplay
: Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Best cinematography
: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best song
: Jai Ho, by AR Rahman and Gulzar, Slumdog Millionaire
Best original score: 
AR Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Best makeup: 
Greg Cannom, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best costume design
: Michael O’Connor, The Duchess
Best art direction: 
Donald Graham Burt and Victor J Zolfo, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best animated short
: Kunio Kato, La Maison en Petits Cubes
Best animated feature: 
Andrew Stanton, WALL-E
Best documentary short: 
Megan Mylan, Smile Pinki
Best documentary feature
: James Marsh and Simon Chinn, Man On Wire
Best live-action short
: Jochen Alexander Freydank, Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Best foreign language film
: Departures, Yojiro Takita (Japan)
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award: 
Jerry Lewis

Awards Season | Celebrating the worst at the Razzies

Published
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Adele
on February 21, 2009
in 2009 Awards and News
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While the Academy Awards celebrate the good, each year since 1981 on the day before Oscar night (that’s tonight folks!), The Golden Raspberry Awards ceremoniously laud the bad and the downright ugly of the film industry.

The awards are voted for by members of GRAF (Golden Raspberry Award Foundation), which is open to the public.

Not so surprisingly only three people have ever turned up on the night to accept their awards in person - a plastic US$4.89 raspberry on a reel of film.

Halle Berry

Halle Berry collected hers in 2004 for Catwoman, director Paul Verhoeven got his in 1995 for Showgirls, and in 2002 Tom Green showed up (with his own length of red carpet) to accept five(!) awards and was promptly dragged off stage when his ’speech’, consisting of a musical piece on the harmonica, just wouldn’t end.

My question is: why isn’t this show televised worldwide?

Here are the nominees:

Worst Picture
Disaster Movie & Meet the Spartans
The Happening
The Hottie and the Nottie
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
The Love Guru

Worst director
Uwe Boll - 1968: Tunnel Rats & In the Name of the King & Postal
Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer - Disaster Movie & Meet the Spartans
Tom Putnam - The Hottie and the Nottie
Marco Schnabel - The Love Guru
M Night Shyamalan - The Happening

Worst actor
Larry The Cable Guy - Witless Protection
Eddie Murphy - Meet Dave
Mike Myers - The Love Guru
Al Pacino - 88 Minutes & Righteous Kill
Mark Wahlberg - The Happening & Max Payne

Mike Myers

Worst actress
Jessica Alba - The Eye & The Love Guru
Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Meg Ryan - The Women
Cameron Diaz - What Happens in Vegas
Paris Hilton - The Hottie and the Nottie
Kate Hudson - Fool’s Gold & My Best Friend’s Girl

The Women

Worst screen couple
Uwe Boll & any actor/camera/screenplay
Cameron Diaz & Ashton Kutcher - What Happens in Vegas
Paris Hilton & Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore - The Hottie and the Nottie
Larry the Cable Guy & Jenny McCarthy - Witless Protection
Eddie Murphy IN Eddie Murphy - Meet Dave

Worst career achievement (Special category!)
Uwe Boll - Germany’s answer to Ed Wood

Uwe Boll

For a full list of those suspected of heinous crimes against celluloid, click here! And if you decide to watch any of these movies, you have been warned….

Awards Season | The Oscars - Who will win? Who should win?

Published
by
Jason Best
on February 20, 2009
in 2009 Awards
. 2 Comments


So do you reckon Slumdog Millionaire is a shoo-in for this year’s Best Film Oscar? Is Heath Ledger a dead cert for a posthumous gong? And are you convinced Kate is already polishing her Best Actress acceptance speech? Or do you think Meryl is going to pip her at the post?

There are a couple of days remaining before Sunday night’s ceremony, but we’re going to predict the night’s big winners, the big upsets … and the films and stars who should win if we had our way.

Best Film

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button heads the field at this year’s Oscars with 13 nominations… but it will probably miss out on the major awards. The Academy voters may be impressed by the movie’s technical wizardry and visual dazzle, if they managed to stay awake for the two-and-three-quarter hour running time, and they may decide to be patriotic and reward an American film, but I reckon Danny Boyle’s plucky underdog is a winner all the way.

Will win: Slumdog Millionaire
Should win: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director

Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Stephen Daldry (The Reader)
David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)
Gus Van Sant (Milk)

Ron Howard did sterling work turning Peter Morgan’s acclaimed Frost/Nixon stage play into a compelling film, Gus Van Sant has his cheerleaders, and David Fincher has won kudos in some quarters, but you can expect this category to go the way of the Golden Globes and Baftas – another triumph for Danny Boyle and Slumdog Millionaire.

Will win: Danny Boyle
Should win: Danny Boyle

Best Actor

Richard Jenkins (The Visitor)
Sean Penn (Milk)
Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)
Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

Best Actor looks to be a neck and neck race between Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn, with their nearest rival, Frank Langella, trailing some way behind. Rourke’s comeback-against-the-odds story should appeal to Oscar voters, and he has Bafta and Golden Globe form, but The Wrestler’s trailer-trash setting and grisly violence may put off some of the more squeamish Academy members. Sean Penn, in the role of a modern-day secular saint in Milk, could spoil Rourke’s show.

Will win: Sean Penn
Should win: Mickey Rourke

Best Actress

Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Angelina Jolie (Changeling)
Melissa Leo (Frozen River)
Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Kate Winslet (The Reader)

Again, this appears to be a two-horse race. Having already picked up a Golden Globe and a Bafta, Kate should be a racing cert for this category, but the Oscar voters may feel queasy at the idea of giving the award to someone playing the part of a Nazi – indeed, a campaign has got underway to convince the Academy to spurn The Reader, which some see as ‘Holocaust revisionism’ and an apology for Nazism. The backlash may have arrived too late to damage Kate’s chances, but the Academy has a history of shunning controversial topics (remember what happened to Brokeback Mountain – surprisingly defeated by Crash in 2006). I hope Kate clinches it (if only to see her speech), and it will be a travesty if she doesn’t, but I fear that Streep - for one of the weaker performances of her career - may just edge her out on the night.

Will win: Meryl Streep
Should win: Kate Winslet

Best Supporting Actor

Josh Brolin (Milk)
Robert Downey Jr (Tropic Thunder)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Josh Brolin is impressive as Milk’s troubled assassin, Robert Downey Jr is a hoot in Tropic Thunder, Philip Seymour Hoffman is on good form in Doubt (but he’s in the wrong category; he should be a Best Actor contender), and Michael Shannon is brilliant in a few scenes in Revolutionary Road. None of them, though, need bother writing an acceptance speech; this Oscar already has Heath Ledger’s name on it.

Will win: Heath Ledger
Should win: Heath Ledger

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams (Doubt)
Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Viola Davis (Doubt)
Taraji P Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)

Viola Davis blew Meryl Streep off the screen in her couple of scenes in Doubt, but she can’t compete with the whirlwind that is Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Will win: Penélope Cruz
Should win: Penélope Cruz

Awards Season: The 2009 BAFTA winners

Published
by
Beth
on February 8, 2009
in 2009 Awards and Couch Potato
. 1 Comment

Well, I’ve been feeling very excited today about the BAFTAs, not simply because awards galas are always exciting events, but also because one of my friends was nominated for one of the awards.

There was no escaping the build-up either. I visited my local hairdressing salon this lunchtime to pick up a new pot of the styling wax I can’t live without and was drawn into an exchange between the salon owner and a woman who’d just had her ‘do’ styled ready for the BAFTAs this evening. Lucky cow.

And that got me thinking - there’s actually a lot of work involved in preparing for one of these awards ceremonies. It’s not just the hairdo and the grooming and the clothes and the acceptance speech that those BAFTA nominees have to think about.  There’s also the ‘I don’t care that I didn’t win’ face. I wonder how many mirrors reflected versions of that today…

Anyway, these are the lucky winners who didn’t need to use it (and one who is sadly no longer with us):

Christian Colson: Best Film, Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle: Director, Slumdog Millionaire

Leading Actor: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Leading Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader

Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

For the complete list of winners, click here. My friend sadly didn’t win in his category, so was probably glad he’d taken the time to rehearse that face. Oh well, I’m sure he had a great night anyway.

Awards Season | If you could meet any Oscar-winner from history who would it be?

Published
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Beth
on February 8, 2009
in 2009 Awards, Couch Potato and Films on TV
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Oscar statuette

It’s the BAFTAs tonight. I’m very excited. I love the awards season, and this British awards events is guaranteed to get me geared up for the film event of the year in two weeks time, the Academy Awards.

And speaking of awards, and the Oscars in particular, here’s a question:

It’s your fantasy - you’ve been nominated for an Oscar for your great acting/screenwriting/directing/animation/songwriting/make-up (fill in your ideal film industry job here) skills. You’ve already walked the red carpet and you’re now sitting nervously, trussed up in your designer gear, awaiting the announcement of your category.

Now, I’ll let you into a secret, you’re going to win! So, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be called up on stage to give your acceptance speech. Now, here’s the bit of your fantasy I’d love to hear about:

If you could be presented your trophy by any Oscar-winner from the event’s 80 year history, who would it be and why?

Oscar statuette

If you’re having trouble thinking about that, then click here for a complete list of the winning movies. Alternatively you could check out Sky Movies Drama/HD which will be showing 90 Oscar-winning movies this month.

The big Academy Awards event itself is broadcasting live on Sky Movies Premiere/HD on 22nd February, but in the meantime, you can catch the BAFTA awards ceremony on BBC2 at 8pm tonight, followed by the climax of the gala on BBC1 at 9pm.

Awards Season | Top 5 Emotional Award Acceptance Speeches

Published
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Gina Baksa
on February 8, 2009
in 2009 Awards
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Acceptance speeches – love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re just as important as getting the gong in the first place. And can sometimes be a deal breaker for public opinion.  A case in point, Kate Winslet’s gushing blubfest at January’s Golden Globes received derisory column inches here in the UK. Especially noteworthy was her memory loss on fellow best actress nominee Angelina Jolie: “Oh my God, who’s the other one?” Doh!

Could it be the British stiff upper? Perhaps we prefer our thesps to keep their emotion for the screen. Nor do we like to feel there’s an element of oozing, luvvy insincerity lurking in those tear ducts. [personally I think Winslet’s outpouring was completely genuine]. In a ‘note to self’, the uber-talented actress has told reporters that she’ll be writing a speech for the BAFTAs tonight. Good thinking, Kate.

So here, in no particular order, are my top 5 emotional gong fest acceptance speeches:

Kate Winslet: 2009 Golden Globes
A true Brit classic. Kate, we salute you.

Sally Field: 1985 Oscars
Sally etched her place in Oscar history with her acceptance speech for Places in the Heart with the immortal: “I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!”

Gwyneth Paltrow: 1999 Oscars
To be fair, Gwynnie’s grandfather was seriously ill at the time. So she’s excused. But this tearjerker certainly went down in gong-fest history. Mysteriously the original You Tube clip has disappeared. So this is a rough version cobbled together by a fan.

Halle Berry: 2002 Oscars
Halle clearly knew the historical precedent she was setting here: the first black woman to win a Best Actress Oscar (for Monster’s Ball). Go girl!

Cher: 1998 Oscars
Winning Best Actress for Moonstruck was a career peak for Cher. Until she forgot to thank her director (Norman Jewison) and co-stars – focusing instead on her hair and make-up people. She clearly wasn’t bothered about working with Norm again.

Awards Season | And the RAFA goes to…

Published
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Jason Best
on January 29, 2009
in 2009 Awards
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Slumdog Millionaire - Dev Patel & Freida Pinto

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire has just gathered another clutch of awards, picking up a trio of  highly coveted RAFAs. What on earth are RAFAs, you ask. Well, not to be confused with Razzies, or, indeed, a Spanish tennis player, these are the Richard Attenborough Film Awards, voted for by UK regional film critics, and Slumdog has walked away with the gongs for Film of the year, Filmmaker of the year for Boyle and Rising Star for Dev Patel.

The full list of RAFAs, announced today, goes like this:

Film of the year    Slumdog Millionaire
Filmmaker of the year    Danny Boyle, director, Slumdog Millionaire
Rising Star of the year    Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire
Actress of the year    Kate Winslet for The Reader
Actor of the year    Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler
Screenwriter of the year    Martin McDonagh for In Bruges

This year, the public also got in on the act, awarding a pair of people’s choice awards to The Dark Knight, one to Mamma Mia!, and yet another, for British Breakthrough Star of the year, to Dev Patel.

Boyle, who introduced his film to the UK press last October at Cinema Days, a trade event for regional journalists held on this occasion, coincidentally, in Dickie Attenborough’s childhood home of Leicester , was chuffed with his brace of RAFAs: “This is a delight and an honour to be recognised for Slumdog Millionaire. My only regret is it doesn’t happen for every film!”

Could an Oscar (or two) be next?

Awards Season | 2009 Oscar nominations announced

Published
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Adele
on January 22, 2009
in 2009 Awards and News
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                                            Oscar

A moment ago in LA, Forest Whitaker took to the stage in the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre and announced the nominations for the 81st annual Academy Awards.

There were few surprises and, as usual, only a handful of films competing for the big awards. Here’s the list (in no particular order):

Best Film
Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
The Reader
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon

Best Director
Gus Van Sant - Milk
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Stephen Daldry - The Reader

Best Actor
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sean Penn - Milk
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Kate Winslet - The Reader
Meryl Streep - Doubt

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - Doubt
Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

Best Animated Film
WALL-E
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda

To see the complete list of nominations, click here.

I’d love to have an Oscar. Emma Thompson reportedly kept her two statues in the bathroom, that is until her husband told her to move them out of the way to make room for their daughter’s artwork. I think I’d use mine as a door stop or a jewellery stand…

The Oscars will be broadcast live from Los Angeles on 22 February. Here in the UK, you can catch the show on Sky 1  with all the pre-show red carpet glitz showing on E!.

Awards Season | Slumdog Millionaire & Benjamin Button lead the field at the Baftas

Published
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Jason Best
on January 15, 2009
in 2009 Awards
. 2 Comments

Slumdog Millionaire - Danny Boyle’s film is a Bafta favourite

Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are the frontrunners in the race for this year’s Bafta awards, whose nominations were announced today. Slumdog, Danny Boyle’s tale of a Mumbai street kid, and Benjamin Button, David Fincher’s eccentric fable in which a heavily made-up Brad Pitt lives his life backwards, get 11 nominations apiece, while The Dark Knight (nine nominations), Clint Eastwood’s Changeling (eight), Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon (six) and The Reader (five) also feature prominently.

Kate Winslet with co-star Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road

Following her triumph at the Golden Globes, Kate Winslet may get a chance for another gushing acceptance speech with another two nominations for her performances in The Reader and Revolutionary Road. This time, though, she’ll be competing against herself (as well as Kristin, Meryl and… Angelina) as both her nominations are for Best Actress (why the Globes ever considered her part in The Reader a supporting role is beyond me).

The Wrestler - Mickey Rourke
Globe winner Mickey Rourke, meanwhile, will slug it out for Best Actor with Brad Pitt, Slumdog star Dev Patel, Frank Langella (for his portrayal of Richard Nixon) and Sean Penn (for his Harvey Milk). Jonathan Ross, back from banishment, hosts the awards in London on 8th February, which will be screened live on BBC1.
Here’s a list of nominees in the leading Bafta categories. You’ll find the list of nominations in full on Bafta’s own website.

Best Film
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director
Changeling – Clint Eastwood
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button – David Fincher
Frost/Nixon – Ron Howard
The Reader – Stephen Daldry
Slumdog Millionaire – Danny Boyle

Best Actor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Dev Patel – Slumdog Millionaire
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Best Actress
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Kristin Scott Thomas – I’ve Loved You So Long
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Winslet – The Reader
Kate Winslet – Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Brendan Gleeson – In Bruges
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Brad Pitt – Burn After Reading

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Freida Pinto – Slumdog Millionaire
Tilda Swinton – Burn After Reading
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Awards Season | Brits win big at 2009 Golden Globes

Published
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Jason Best
on January 12, 2009
in 2009 Awards
. 0 Comments

So, that tiny little star next to Anne Hathaway’s name on the Golden Globes website last week didn’t amount to anything after all. It was good old Kate, for years the bridesmaid at awards ceremonies (losing five times as a nominee at both the Globes and the Oscars), who struck gold last night, pipping Anne, Meryl, Kristin and oh, God, who’s the other one, Angelina to claim the Best Actress prize for Revolutionary Road. And she took home the gong for Best Supporting Actress for The Reader as well.

Last night also saw a string of other triumphs for Brits. Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire confirmed its status as this year’s Oscar frontrunner by claiming Best Film and Best Director, plus awards for Best Screenplay and Best Original Score, while Sally Hawkins won Best Actress (Comedy/Musical) for her sparky turn as an irrepressibly cheerful north London primary school teacher in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky.

As predicted, Heath Ledger won a posthumous Best Supporting Actor award for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight, but the evening’s most popular award was the Best Actor prize claimed by Mickey Rourke for his astonishing comeback performance as a washed-up professional wrestler - a role that has poignant echoes with Rourke’s own turbulent life, as he acknowledged in his acceptance speech, saying “It’s been a very long road back for me.”

The Wrestler - Mickey Rourke

Here’s a full list of last night’s Golden Globe film awards:

FILM:

Best Picture, Drama: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Picture, Musical or Comedy: Vicky Christina Barcelona
Best Actor, Drama: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Actress, Drama: Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Colin Farrell, In Bruges
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best Animated Film: Wall·E
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz With Bashir
Best Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Score: AR Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Song: “The Wrestler” (performed and written by Bruce Springsteen), The Wrestler

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