By now all of you that really follow awards know about last night winners either because you saw the show or for the worldwide extensive coverage. In general I liked the show, with some accepting speeches more interesting than others and on the funny side loved Tina Fey while on the serious and very surprised loved both Kate Winslet speeches.For me Kate’s two wins was a total surprise, I do believe she deserves the award for Revolutionary Road and now I understand why they nominated her as supporting actress when she had a lead role in The Reader, so she can get both awards! Haven’t been able to see The Reader but obviously is a must be seen for me even before her awards and now more than before. To me she was genuinely surprised the first time and more the second time which is nice to see from such an accomplished actress. Also since the red carpet I got the impression that Kate and Leonardo DiCaprio are really good friends in real life and to be honest, that also is nice to watch in an industry where “acting” friendly seems to be the norm.
Most TV and written press commentators mention that Mickey Rourke winning was no surprise. To me it was sort of a surprise as if you read again (as I just did) winners in most critics’ awards (the foreign press are also movie critics’, remember?) most named Sean Penn and in second place or as a tie, Mickey Rourke. Obviously I enjoyed more Milk than The Wrestler, but I recognize that Rourke did a great job in that movie; still, I’m surprised that he got the award and now I’m really thinking that he has possibilities in the Academy Awards, but honestly I feel that Sean Penn and Frank Langella had better performances than him.
Slumdog Millionaire wins are getting to me. What I mean is that the movie is the underdog among huge Hollywood productions and somehow I’m starting to be glad that a smaller production is getting all the awards for what is nominated. Think that what Steven Spielberg mentioned in his quite nice acceptance speech, applies to this movie now more than ever; he mentioned that nowadays they (Hollywood) is doing (too) many wide audiences movies and he recalled all that movies are also made for individuals. My interpretation is that absolutely movies are for individuals, but once in a while appears a movie that is made for individuals and totally appeals to wider audiences as Slumdog Millionaire is doing. That’s why I’m warming to this movie as even when I still think that there are Bollywood movies with greater production values, none of them have moved world audiences –and particularly American audiences- as this movie is doing. So as many morning news/programs commentators are saying today when they interview Danny Boyle, Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto: “see you at the Academy Awards”.
The most pleasant surprise of the night was Vicky Cristina Barcelona winning Best Picture Comedy/Musical. This is really unexpected in Hollywood, but then this is the Foreign Press so I should have known that had possibilities. I have already mention that Hollywood does not like Woody anymore, so its not surprising if he hasn’t get any recognition in the past ten years or so. But I’m really glad the movie won, as I really loved this movie.
Waltz with Bashir winning is no surprise and somehow I’m glad that won over Gomorrah as absolutely amazes me that animation is getting recognition over “live” performances; but since Persepolis I’m very impressed what filmmakers/storytellers can achieve with the technique and with what I call “adult” stories. Haven’t seen Waltz with Bashir, but I will soon and I have huge expectations even if is a war story.
That’s all I feel like saying about these awards and here are the winners for the Motion Picture categories and if you want to check the TV categories go here.
Best Motion Picture Drama: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Motion Picture Comedy/Musical: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Animated Feature Film: WALL-E
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz With Bashir
Best Director: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actress Drama: Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road
Best Actress Comedy/Musical: Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet in The Reader
Best Actor Drama: Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler
Best Actor Comedy/Musical: Colin Farrell in In Bruges
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
Best Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Score: R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Song: Bruce Springsteen for The Wrestler
Cecil B. DeMille Award: Steve Spielberg
That’s it for this award that is just the first major award in the current season. Next we have the Guilds awards announcements with the TV Show for the SAG’s in about two weeks.
but before Sundance...starting the 15th...
ReplyDeleteAlthough what I like is foreign/independent films I would like to comment a couple of things:
ReplyDelete1. Winslet well deserved her two awards. Let me know if you aren't agree after wathcing The Reader.
2. Although I haven't seen The Wrestler, Penn was just superb! (I'll let you know what I think IF I see this film)
3. Im not very sure that this year's best film will be Slumdog Millioner (over The Reader) although it's a good film.
4. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is NO WAY better than In Bruges or Burn After Reading... NO WAY!!!
and 5. You wrote: "...since Persepolis..." Haven't you seen The Triplets of Belleville??!! Do Not Miss it!!! If you like Persepolis, The Triplets is a must for you!!
http://lauchuvafilm.blogspot.com/2008/11/les-triplettes-de-belleville.html
Hi Claudia,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I was browsing your blog and you have some very interesting movies in there!!! I will try to see some ASAP.
Yes I have seen The Triplets of Belleville and I do own the DVD as I believe it's a good animation movie, but somehow I find it more traditional than the newest wave of animation that's coming from Europe and other countries. There is one that I'm looking forward to see $9.99 from Israel/Australia.
Humor is such a personal matter than makes harder to agree with the like of comedies. In general I do not enjoy American humor, I like dark (very dark) humor and the best comedies I have seen are from UK. In Bruges was OK, entertaining; but definitively I loved Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which by the way is NO comedy, this is a light drama that only Woody Allen could "imagine"; but whoever classifies movies for awards most of the time do weird classifications.
I'm a huge fan of Kate Winslet, so of course I think that she deserved both awards and you have no idea of how much I do want to see The Reader!!! Hope I see it soon.
About The Wrestler I would not recommend watching it unless you like wrestling (which I don't).
In general I love World cinema more than American cinema (mainstream or indie), but during the award season I like to watch whatever is nominated as a mean to enjoy the awards shows more as is the only way to know what they're talking about... lol! So, more often than not, I end up watching "terrible" movies but is okay once a year!
I thank you for visiting the blog and for all your comments that I'll try to answer all.
Keep up the very good work with your blog and be sure that I'll visit often! :)
ok ok... I promise this will be my last today's comments! I need to do something with my life apart of keep looking at your blog!!!
ReplyDeleteSo,
1. yes, The triplets it's more traditional but what a like is that presents a "new" animation format (don't really know how new!). At least it was the first film (that I can remember easly) that make the animation out of the hand made drawings! I loved that!
2. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is not a comedy... totally agree! But what can you expect from a people that think that "Lost in Translation" is a comedy!!!!!(GG, 2004)
3. Yes, I like this time of the year when Hollywood take out all the good films...Last year was the best selection in a long time!!There were sooo many great films!! This year is not as good as last one but...woth watching.
It's annoying that some films are forgotten for being released early in the year, for example: Elegy.
now, I'll do something with my life today!
As I mentioned in my first answer today, please take it easy! lol! I appreciate your comments and all are most welcome... but the blog and me are going nowhere, tomorrow and hopefully for a long while, we will be here lol!
ReplyDeleteYeah I believe that the Triplets was the first to be available to western audiences... but definitively it was not the first! Check Japan animation.
Yep, good example, Lost in Translation absolutely is not a comedy... think many awards just want to include honors to movies no matter how and two recent examples are Kate Winslet as supporting actress in The Reader, and Tilda Swinton for Burn After Reading when she was really OUTSTANDING in Julia!!!
Elegy got some nominations in the current awards season, but you're right not many in the major (or better known awards).
;)
Ok, I won't comment too much on this as I would like to research a bit about animations films now!
ReplyDeleteBut yes... Manga animation is quite old and of course Les Triplettes is not new but somehow I can't compare them with... Heidi for example! or Candi, Candi!!! hahahhaa!!! and all of them were seen in "western" countries...
Maybe I think that I said its a "new" format just for the fact that I am totally in love with film...
As you have more time to browse the blog you'll discover that I'm no fan of animation... especially American animated movies. Somewhere I even mentioned that will be more easier for me to learn Japanese than to like Manga, Anime, Yuri, etc. (lol!).
ReplyDeleteSo, really I do not know much about this genre... but what I call the "new wave" of animated movies with adult stories are definitively grabbing my attention and I'm starting to learn about technical specs animators are using.
So you could say that I'm still learning... :)