Slumdog Millionaire Wins Best Pic, 8 Oscars®

2009 Oscar® Winner Count: Slumdog 8, Benjamin Button 3, Milk 2, Dark Knight 2 Picture: Slumdog Millionaire Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) Actress: Kate Winslet (The Reader) Actor: Sean Penn (Milk) Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz (Vicky Christina Barcelona) Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (Dark Knight) Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black (Milk) Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire Art Direction: Benjamin Button Costume Design: The Dutchess Music Score: Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman) Song: "Jai Ho" (Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman/Gulzar) Special Visual Effects: Benjamin Button Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire Sound Editing: Dark Knight Makeup: Benjamin Button Foreign Language Film: Departures (Japan) Documentary, feature: Man on Wire (James Marsh) Documentary, short: Smile Pinki (Megan Mylan) Animated feature: Wall-E (Andrew Stanton) Animated short: la maison en petit cubes Live action short: Spielzeugland (Toyland), Germany Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Jerry Lewis (whom, we were told, also holds a patent for a camera assist device) Highlights of the night: 1 - The subject of documentary winner Man on Wire balanced the director's Oscar on his chin after making a lucky coin from German director Werner Herzog 'disappear' 2 - Kate Winslet's dad whistling in the audience so she'd know his location, and he was a cool dude in a wide brimmed Hendrix looking felt hat! POLL RESULTS: Slumdog easily won our Oscar poll, while Dark Knight won 'should have been nominated'. Interesting to me, since Wall-E has won 36 awards this year, and should have been up for best.

2009 Oscar® Nominations

On Jan. 22, the Oscar® nominations were announced for films released in 2008, with the awards to be presented on live tv on February 22, at 8pm est. Leading the way was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with 13, the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald's, starring Brad Pitt, about a man born old who grows younger over time. Eric Roth adapted the screenplay, who also adapted Forrest Gump and won an Oscar®. Here's the official Academy Awards® Site 2009 Oscar® Nominees I'm disappointed that Wall-E wasn't nominated for Best Picture (but has won 35 awards already), my favorite so far. Slumdog Millionaire has won every major award up to the AA's, appears to be a lock. My Predictions for the Major Awards (partial list, just biggies) Picture: Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, *Slumdog Millionaire* [Prediction: Slumdog – My Choice: Wall-E] Directing: Benjamin Button (David Fincher), Frost/Nixon (Ron Howard), Milk, The Reader (Sam Mendes), *Slumdog Millionaire* - Danny Boyle [Prediction: Danny Boyle – My Choice: David Fincher, long overdue] Actor: Richard Jenkins (Visitor), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), *Sean Penn* (Milk), Brad Pitt (Benjamin Button), Mickey Rourke (Wrestler) [Prediction: Mickey Rourke – My Choice: now Mickey after finding out his dog Loki just died, so add yet another sentimental factor; but I've always liked Richard Jenkins, who played the dead father in Six Feet Under] Actress: Meryl Streep (Doubt), Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Melissa Leo (Frozen River), *Kate Winslet* (The Reader) [Prediction & Choice: Kate Winslet] Supp Actor: Josh Brolin (Milk), Robert Downey Jr (Tropic Thunder), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), *Heath Ledger* (Dark Knight), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Rd) [Prediction & Choice: Heath Ledger] Supp Actress: Amy Adams (Doubt), *Penelope Cruz* (Vicky Christina Barcelona), Viola Davis (Doubt), Taraji P. Henson (Benjamin Button), Marisa Tomei (Wrestler) [Prediction: Taraji P. Henson – My Choice: Penelope Cruz, yum; not only was she terrific but acted in two languages] Animated Feature: Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, *Wall-E* [Prediction & Choice: Wall-E] Adapted Screenplay: Benjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, *Slumdog Millionaire* [Prediction: Slumdog – My Choice: The Reader; cuz I loved the book] Original Screenplay: Frozen River, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges, *Milk*, Wall-E [Prediction: In Bruges – My Choice: Wall-E] ...as always, no wagering - the Jman® ...

The Wrestler Wins Best Picture at the Indy Spirit Awards

The Wrestler won the big awards at tonight's Indy Spirit awards, picture and actor for Mickey O'Rourke. The main awards: Picture: The Wrestler (dir. by Daniel Aranofsky) Director: Tom McCarthy (The Visitor) Lead Actor: Mickey O'Rourke (The Wrestler) Lead Actress: Melissa Leo (Frozen River) Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz (Vicky Christina Barcelona) Supporting Actor: James Franco (Milk) Screenplay: Woody Allen (Vicky Christina Barcelona) First Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black (Milk) Documentary: James Marsh for Man on Wire Here's the story: 2009 Independent Awards

To Wear is Human at Muze

Just got a couple of shirts from one of our affiliates, Muze Clothing, and they are excellent quality - extremely soft and well-designed. Muze puts classic film quotes on short-sleeve t's and long-sleeve thermals, each quote in a unique design. Some examples are: "Sell Crazy Someplace Else... we're all stocked up here" (the first part is large, the second is a small afterthought underneath the big design) - As Good As It Gets "Ever Dance With the Devil in the Pale Moon Light?" - Batman "Never Leave Your Wingman" - Top Gun "You Talkin to Me?" - Taxi Driver "It's Not a Motorcycle Baby, It's a Chopper" - Pulp Fiction There's also a nice Muze logo shirt with "To Wear Is Human" on the sleeves. Many athletes and celebrities have been seen in these, Muze has photos of these people wearing their shirts (among many others): Matt Damon, Ryan Seacrest, Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, Martin Sheen, Paula Abdul, Kevin Nealon, Jason Kidd, Wayne Gretzky, Jerry Rice... As they say... "you're in great company". Check them out at: Muze Clothing

Slumdog Millionaire Ready to Complete the Awards Sweep

Frida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire This year's feel good film, Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, is set to complete a sweep of this year's major film awards on Sunday, Feb. 22nd at the Oscars® ("no wagering"). Here's the new link for Slumdog Millionaire at the Internet Movie Database: Slumdog Millionaire at IMDB (Frida Pinto, rt., gets my vote for whatever she's got) So far this year, Slumdog has won these best film awards:

• BAFTA (British Acad.) (won 7 of 11 nominations)
• Director's Guild Award
• Producer's Guild Award
• Golden Globe Award
• Screen Actor's Guild Ensemble Acting Award
• Critic's Choice Award
• National Board of Review

Meanwhile, non-nominee for picture Wall-E has won 35 awards so far this year, most for animated feature, but a few for best picture and song (Peter Gabriel's "Down to Earth"). Here's a link to all its awards at IMDB: Wall-E Awards

New Reviews at 1000 DVDs to See

We recently added these to the DVD's reviewed at "1000 DVDs to See" (Updated: 2/22/09)

30 Rock (2006) American History X (1998) An American Werewolf in London (1981) The Avengers (1964-67) tv The Barbarian Invasions (2003) Canada, tv Born Yesterday (1950) bw Burn After Reading (2007) Bye Bye Birdie (1963) Frequency (2000) Gloomy Sunday (1999) Germany The Golden Compass (2007) Gone With the Wind (1939) Germany Grumpy Old Men (1993) Hard Eight (1997) How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) In Cold Blood (1967) bw Jodhaa Akbar (2007) India The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) Mongol (2007) Russia Monsoon Wedding (2000) India The More the Merrier (1943) bw Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) bw Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983) tv Requiem for a Dream (2000) *10* Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.. and Spring (2003) Korea The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Canada There Will Be Blood (2007) Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) The Twilight Samurai (2002) Japan The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) Wall-E (2008) *10*

Riff Trax Remakes the Modern Classics

These guys are nuts.. always liked MST3k, these are even crazier. So if you like movie parodies.. They've done Harry Potter, Dark Knight, Star Wars, Indiana Jones/Skull, Iron Man, Night of the Living Dead and other classic horror films, and keep churning them out as fast as Hollywood can make action movies. Just click one of their ads if you're crazy enough

Your Vote for Best Picture

(Freida Pinto of Slumdog Millionaire, photo by: Janet Gough/Celebrity Photo)

We have two Academy Awards® polls on the right side: 1. Which film should win Best Picture? 2. Which snubbed film should be nominated? (and the fans of Wall-E and Dark Knight come out of the woodwork!) Polls close at 8pm, Feb. 22nd, Oscar® Night

2009 Director’s Guild Awards - Slumdog Wins

The little indie film that nearly went straight to dvd won yet another best of the year award on Feb. 1 - thanks to Fox Searchlight, the popular and uplifting film actually got distributed worldwide. [Film] Director: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire Documentary: Ari Folman for Waltz With Bashir Honorary Lifetime Membership: film critic Roger Ebert [TV] TV Drama Series: Dan Attias for The Wire TV Film: Jay Roach for Recount (dir. of Austin Powers and Meet the Parents) TV Comedy or Musical Series: Paul Feig for The Office Reality Programming: Tony Kroll for America’s Next Top Model Children’s: Amy Schatz for The Poetry Show Normally the winner of the DGA award for director wins the Oscar – it only differed six times, ironically each time the DGA really had the better one, I thought

IMDB 250 - Alphabetical

[Internet Movie Database 250 - Alphabetical List] Voted by Site Regulars, rankings/voted removed (updated 1/25/09) I used the English film title for foreign films like The Seven Samurai, City of God, Cinema Paradiso,The Bicycle Thief, unless the film was released with its foreign title like La Dolce Vita, Rashomon, or anime films. You can see the IMDB 250 list ranked by ratings averages at their site here: Internet Movie Database Top 250 I highlighted those from my Top 100 (78 so far) 12 Angry Men (1957) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 8½ (1963) A Clockwork Orange (1971) A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Ace in the Hole (1951) Alien (1979) Aliens (1986) All About Eve (1950) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Amadeus (1984) American Beauty (1999) American History X (1998) Amores perros (2000) Anatomy of a Murder (1959) Annie Hall (1977) Apocalypse Now (1979) Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Back to the Future (1985) Batman Begins (2005) Beauty and the Beast (1946) Ben-Hur (1959) Big Fish (2003) Blade Runner (1982) Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Braveheart (1995) Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Brief Encounter (1945) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) Casablanca (1942) Casino (1995) Children of Men (2006) Chinatown (1974) Cinema Paradiso (1988) Citizen Kane (1941) City Lights (1931) City of God (2002) Cool Hand Luke (1967) Crash (2004/I) Crazy Class Wakes Up (1976) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Das Boot (1981) Diaboliques, Les (1955) Dial M for Murder (1954) Die Hard (1988) Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Dolce vita, La (1960) Donnie Darko (2001) Double Indemnity (1944) Downfall (2004) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Duck Soup (1933) Ed Wood (1994) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) – anime Fargo (1996) Fight Club (1999) Finding Nemo (2003) For a Few Dollars More (1965) Forrest Gump (1994) Frankenstein (1931) Frost/Nixon (2008) Full Metal Jacket (1987) Gandhi (1982) Gladiator (2000) Glory (1989) Gone with the Wind (1939) Goodfellas (1990) Gran Torino (2008) Grave of the Fireflies (1988) - animated Great Expectations (1946) Groundhog Day (1993) Harold and Maude (1971) Harvey (1950) Heat (1995) High Noon (1952) His Girl Friday (1940) Hotel Rwanda (2004) In Bruges (2008) In the Heat of the Night (1967) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Into the Wild (2007) It Happened One Night (1934) It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Jaws (1975) Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) King Kong (1933) L.A. Confidential (1997) Laura (1944) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Léon (1994) Let the Right One In (2008) Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) Life is Beautiful (1997) Life of Brian (1979) Little Miss Sunshine (2006) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) M (1931) Magnolia (1999) Manhattan (1979) Memento (2000) Metropolis (1927) Milk (2008) Million Dollar Baby (2004) Modern Times (1936) Mononoke-hime (1997) - anime Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Mystic River (2003) Network (1976) Nights of Cabiria (1957) No Country for Old Men (2007) North by Northwest (1959) Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) Notorious (1946) Oldboy (2003) On the Waterfront (1954) Once Upon a Time in America (1984) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) Paths of Glory (1957) Patton (1970) Planet of the Apes (1968) Platoon (1986) Psycho (1960) Pulp Fiction (1994) Raging Bull (1980) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Ran (1985) Rashômon (1950) Ratatouille (2007) Rear Window (1954) Rebecca (1940) Requiem for a Dream (2000) Reservoir Dogs (1992) Rocky (1976) Roman Holiday (1953) Rope (1948) Rosemary's Baby (1968) Safety Last! (1923) Saving Private Ryan (1998) Scarface (1983) Schindler's List (1993) Se7en (1995) Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) -anime Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Sin City (2005) Singin' in the Rain (1952) Sleuth (1972) Slumdog Millionaire (2008) Snatch (2000) Some Like It Hot (1959) Spartacus (1960) Stalag 17 (1953) Stand by Me (1986) Star Wars (1977) Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Strada, La (1954) Strangers on a Train (1951) Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) Sunset Boulevard (1950) Sweet Smell of Success (1957) Taxi Driver (1976) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) The African Queen (1951) The Apartment (1960) The Battle of Algiers (1966) The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) The Bicycle Thief (1948) The Big Lebowski (1998) The Big Sleep (1946) The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) The Conversation (1974) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) The Dark Knight (2008) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) The Deer Hunter (1978) The Departed (2006) The Elephant Man (1980) The Exorcist (1973) The General (1927) The Godfather (1972) The Godfather: Part II (1974) The Gold Rush (1925) The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966) The Graduate (1967) The Grapes of Wrath (1940) The Great Dictator (1940) The Great Escape (1963) The Green Mile (1999) The Hustler (1961) The Incredibles (2004) The Kid (1921) The Killing (1956) The Lady Vanishes (1938) The Lion King (1994) The Lives of Others (2006) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) The Lost Weekend (1945) The Maltese Falcon (1941) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) The Manchurian Candidate (1962) The Matrix (1999) The Night of the Hunter (1955) The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) The Philadelphia Story (1940) The Pianist (2002) The Prestige (2006) The Princess Bride (1987) The Seven Samurai (1954) The Seventh Seal (1957) The Shawshank Redemption (1994) The Shining (1980) The Silence of the Lambs (1991) The Sixth Sense (1999) The Sting (1973) The Terminator (1984) The Thing (1982) The Third Man (1949) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) The Usual Suspects (1994) The Wages of Fear (1953) The Wild Bunch (1969) The Wizard of Oz (1939) The Wrestler (2008) There Will Be Blood (2007) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Touch of Evil (1958) Toy Story (1995) Trainspotting (1996) Twelve Monkeys (1995) Umberto D. (1952) Unforgiven (1992) V for Vendetta (2005) Vertigo (1958) WALL·E (2008) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Wild Strawberries (1957) Witness for the Prosecution (1957) Yojimbo (1961) [Notable Omissions: E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, My Fair Lady, Open Range, Babe, Hannah and Her Sisters, Parenthood, The Last Emperor, The King and I, Auntie Mame, Ronin, Winged Migration, Fly Away Home, Never Cry Wolf, Beauty and the Beast (animated, 91), In Cold Blood, The Game, Dances With Wolves, Field of Dreams, House of Games, The Grifters, Chicago, Out of the Past, Traffic Notable Foreign Omissions: The Conformist, Yimou's 'Hero' (China), Chungking Express/Fallen Angels (Hong Kong), Diva (France), Fitzcarraldo (Germany), Run Lola Run (Germany), To Live (China), The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Italy) C'mon, really, people! r.u. kidding? Life of Brian, Rosemary's Baby, Snatch, Exorcist, The Shining, Pan's Labyrinth, Magnolia, Heat, The Big Lebowski, The Green Mile, Elephant Man, Nights of Cabiria, For a Few Dollars More, Once Upon a Time in the West, Crash (04), The Thing remake ?? (Life of Brian, Snatch, and The Thing are better than Traffic?) When I checked, Hero's avg would have it tied for 185th-250th but it was ranked just below those decimally. A few 10 votes and it'll be on the list. Babe as well, best children's film ever.