John Calley was too ill to attend the ceremony. Steven Spielberg accepted the Oscar for Calley.
Roger Corman, Lauren Bacall and Gordon Willis and John Calley were awarded Oscars this weekend at a special presentation at Hollywood & Highland Center called Governors’ Awards. The affair was a nostalgic celebration with attendees referring to the good old days when Oscars were handed out in such casual affairs without time limits, where recipients’ acceptance speeches were not based on a two-minute stopwatch. Although the ceremony was not televised, highlights of the toasts and acceptance speeches are available at the Academy’s website.
I highly recommend visiting the site and taking the time to view each clip. It’s truly a celebrated time where each recipient deserves recognition from their esteemed colleagues.
This was a point advanced in Cinema Blend that I just about dropped my jaw when reading. See, I had forgotten that, way back in the long long ago, the brothers Weinstein owned Miramax, but they sold it to Disney back when it was doing a lot better. Now that Miramax is bleeding cash like a stuck piggy bank, are the Weinsteins plotting to buy the name off Disney’s hands?
There’s no doubt they’d get a bargain for it–with Miramax putting out just a handful of titles a year and generating precious little revenue for Disney, a cash infusion would probably be welcome there. And if the Weinsteins want it–and it’s been suggested that they definitely DO want it–now would be the prime time to get it back for a song.
Does that mean they’d make it better? Well, considering that it’s currently been hobbled and is only putting out slim numbers to begin with, chances are the Weinsteins would crank it to full production again, and considering some of the awesome pieces it’s come out with since they sold it to Disney, they might be able to get something good out of it again.
No song and dance man — Hugh Jackman will not host the Oscars a second year in a row.
The actor, who’s starring on Broadway with Daniel Craig in the drama “A Steady Rain,” quietly turned down the job sometime during the past few weeks.
I liked Jackman as the song and dance man of the Oscars. He drew praise from others as well. He says he’ll host the Oscar show again in the future, but is not certain.
After his Broadway run, Jackman plans to take time off and prepare for The Real Steel, the Shawn Levy-directed DreamWorks drama that starts production in the spring.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science announced this week the return to ten best picture nominations for 2009 82nd Academy Awards. In the official press release President Sid Ganis states the Academy’s reasons for going back to more than five nominations:
“After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year,” said Ganis. “The final outcome, of course, will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009.
“Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” commented Ganis. “I can’t wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February.”
I don’t think this decision will affect the general movie goers and those who watch the Oscars for sheer viewing pleasure. And those who are privy to the behind-the-scenes decision making process, I am sure the Academy has made concessions for members who want to see their movies showcased even more, generating more dollars in the bank.
The Oscars proved last night that Hugh Jackman can sing, dance and handle spontaneity like a true professional of Broadway Theater. He kept pace with the award show moving rapidly and smoothly with a few technical glitches, which were not his fault.
My favorite parts of the telecast were the actor awards presentations where former recipients introduced the nominees and presented the awards. I thought, Shirley Maclaine’s presentation to Anne Hathaway stood out among the other almost equally worthwhile presenters.
Best moments of the telecast:
My favorite winner and most deserving was Kate Winslet for Best Actress in The Reader. Penelope Cruz is a talented and inspiring woman who lovingly accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. And I loved Danny Boyle’s impersonation of Tigger as he accepted his Oscar for Best Director for Slumdog Millionaire.
It can’t go without mention of Ben Stiller’s parody on Joaquin Phoenix recent escapades in the media and talk shows.
Variety shares some of the back stage moments here, which is worth a quick visit to get a feel for the overall celebration of film at the Oscars.
With the 81st Academy Award Ceremony on tonight, it’s time to put our movie knowledge to the test, and guess who will win what this year.
But the one prediction that everyone agrees on is not who will win, but that the ceremony will lose. Despite the organisers attempting to liven up the ceremony by getting Hugh Jackman, a song-and-dance man, to host, the choice of films up for Best Picture only highlight the growing chasm between the choices of the Academy and the choices of the public. Out of the Best Picture nominees, only The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has broken 100mil domestic. Slumdog Millionaire is on its way there, but lagging behind are the remaining three nominees, none of which even made it beyond 30 mil in the US.
And if that isn’t reason enough, there’s the even curiouser case of the absence of The Dark Knight. It’s rare to see a film that is so popular (it just broke a billion dollars worldwide) and so critically acclaimed that isn’t acknowledged by an award ceremony (besides technical awards and Heath Ledger’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor, which can be argued is only there due to the actor’s tragic death). Even Titanic swept the Oscars and won Best Picture. While many dismiss comic book films as fluff, The Dark Knight displayed the capability of a blockbuster dealing with serious issues (indeed, it shares many themes with No Country for Old Men). And this lack of understanding of the masses will result in only further public disillusionment towards the ceremony.
The biggest night in Hollywood is right around the corner, and who better to make winner predictions than “Inside the Actors Studio” host James Lipton!? Bravo put together a photo gallery of the biggest nominations with James Lipton’s favorite picks. If it were up to him, Slumdog Millionaire would win an Oscar for Innovation — who knows maybe it will come home with the consolation prize of Best Picture.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button nabbed the most Oscar nominations by scoring 13 total nominations for the 81st Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Other best picture nominations are Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire.
Nominations for the 81st Oscars were announced early this morning. My favorites are Kate Winslet, leading role for The Reader, Penelope Cruz, supporting role for Vicky Cristina Barcelonaand Josh Brolin, supporting role for Milk.
Awards will be presented February 22, 2009 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and will be hosted by Hugh Jackman and air live on ABC-TV.
For a complete list of winners go to Oscars and the taping of the announcement this morning go announcement.
Making a drastic change from all previous hosts of the Oscars, the new host for next year’s award ceremony will be Hugh Jackman. Rather than rely on a comedian/ comic actor/ chat show host, which has been the norm for decades, this decision seems to be an attempt to reboot the award ceremony, which saw lagging ratings last year.
Jackman has agreed to host the ceremony on the grounds that it will be “different”, which probably means less joke monologues (and not even the great Jon Stewart could make them work). While this may seem like an odd decision, as most know the actor as Wolverine (the prequel telling the origin of that very character is out next summer). Jackman’s talent go beyond blockbusters, though, as he has performed in many acclaimed musicals. Will this ensure that the Oscars will now be a song-and-dance show, with Jackman doing a big number at the end? We’ll see on February 22nd, with the nominations coming out in January.
This was a point advanced in Cinema Blend that I just about dropped my jaw when reading. See, I had forgotten that, way back in the long long ago, the brothers Weinstein owned 
No song and dance man — Hugh 
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science announced this week the return to ten best picture nominations for 2009 82nd Academy Awards. In the official 
With the 81st Academy Award Ceremony on tonight, it’s time to put our movie knowledge to the test, and guess who will win what this year.
81st Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Making a drastic change from all previous hosts of the Oscars, the new host for next year’s award ceremony will be Hugh Jackman. Rather than rely on a comedian/ comic actor/ chat show host, which has been the norm for decades, this decision seems to be an attempt to reboot the award ceremony, which saw lagging ratings last year.