Well the 81st Academy Awards have come and gone as you may have seen from our list of winners from yesterday's ceremony. But with the show taking on a new face and having so many changes throughout, I only thought it appropriate to go through some of my favorite highlights of the night. Overall it wasn't a spectacular ceremony as the Oscars are always a bit dull, but it could've been way worse without a comedian at the helm.

I must say though that while Hugh Jackman put on some spectacular musical performances and really showed his theatrical chops, what really was annoying was his constant reference that "The musical is back!" It's always back at least once a year. Along with that, I have to say that he didn't really do much hosting. Will Smith was practically on the stage longer for the technical awards presentation. These new additions and formatting didn't really revamp the show (it was still slow and mostly boring even for a movie buff) but that doesn't mean there weren't things to enjoy from the ceremony

Before I go on with the list of pros from the show, I have to comment on the actual awards themselves. Basically there were no real surprises. After all, I had 10 correct predictions out of the 11 I made on here (Damn you Best Foreign Film).

But the one award that there's a lot of backlash and seemingly unnecessarily so, is that Mickey Rourke didn't get Best Actor. Let me just say that I had all my eggs in the Mickey Rourke basket for a long time, but changed my tune after I saw Milk. Sean Penn's performance was one for the books. In speaking with some friends, I slowly came to change my mind in that Rourke's performance, while stirring, isn't too much of a departure from his real life. He had a lot of inspiration to pull from in his own life for those emotions on screen. That's not to discredit his performance because putting that much heart-wrenching drama into a character is not easy. But Sean Penn's portrayal of Harvey Milk was just a complete departure from anything he's done before. I was pleased with this outcome, and don't think that the Penn-Hate-Train has any steam,.

Anyway, here's some of the stuff I really dug from the ceremony:

• The opening musical number was really fun. The stage pieces and progression through each film was like watching Michel Gondry tackle the Academy Awards with his patented "Sweded" production quality straight from Be Kind Rewind. It was great to see Jackman comment on The Dark Knight for fanboys, especially as a star of comic book movies himself
  
  
• The 2008 Film Yearbook montages were edited together so meticulously. I can't imagine going through the hours of films and coming out with those montages which so brilliant play off one another. Each cut made the films interact with each other and it was just fantastic. There are some low quality captures of these montages for the Action and Romance movies of 2008 here and here (one is mislabeled on YouTube but it's the correct video). Comedy received a special treatment we'll highlight below.
  
  
• Very cool presentation method for the acting nominations. Having a previously awarded actor or actress prepare a personalized nomination sort of speech was slightly long winded, but was also a personal touch to the usually borning nomination reels. You can see the nominations presented by 20 other actors for Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporitng Actor/Actress right here
  
  
• Tina Fey and Steve Martin presenting the awards for adapted and original screenplays had some of the greatest laughs of the night. Also I always love seeing the clips with the script content superimposed over them like they were subtitles.
  
  
• This commercial for Jimmy Kimmel's show featuring Tom Cruise. It's not Oscar related. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?
  
  
• Will Smith screwing up reading the teleprompter and making a reference to Boom Goes the Dynamite. Oh to be Internet famous!

Finally my most favorite part of the entire ceremony is the video I've embedded below that highlights the comedy films of 2008...sort of. It's an original short by Judd Apatow featuring Seth Rogen and James Franco as their characters from Pineapple Express. All I have to say is Janusz Kaminski needs to do more comedy...you'll see what I mean.

What did you guys think of all the changes and new approach to the show?

Labels: 81st Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Awards, Hugh Jackman, James Franco, Judd Apatow, Oscars, Seth Rogen, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Will Smith

Here we are updating live with the winners of the 81st Academy Awards! Reactions and ceremony review will be up shortly after! Stay Tuned!

Best Supporting Actress - Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Original Screenplay - Dustin Lance Black for Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay - Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Animated Feature Film - WALL-E

Best Animated Short Film - La Maison en Petits Cubes

Art Direction - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Costume Design - The Duchess

Makeup - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Cinematography - Slumdog Millionaire

Short Film - Spielzeulgland (Toyland)

Best Supporting Actor- Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight

Documentary Feature Film - Man on Wire

Documentary Short Film - Smile Pinki

Visual Effects - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Sound Editing - The Dark Knight

Sound Mixing - Slumdog Millionaire

Film Editing - Slumdog Millionaire

Original Score - A.R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire

Original Song - "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Language Film - Departures (Japan)

Best Director - Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actress - Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Actor - Sean Penn for Milk

Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire

And that's it for our live coverage of the winners of the 81st Academy Awards. Tomorrow we'll have a review of the revamped ceremony and some reactions to the surprises (or mostly lack thereof) .

Labels: 81st Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Awards, Danny Boyle, Heath Ledger, Kate Winslet, Man on Wire, Milk, Oscars, Penelope Cruz, Sean Penn, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL-E

And so the 81st Academy Awards are upon us airing live tomorrow night on ABC at 8pm EST. While wardrobes are being finalized, performances rehearsed and nerves racked, those of us not involved with the telecast other than as observers are simply making predictions and waiting for what has been dubbed Hollywood's biggest night.

Below I've included my predictions for the major awards (including Best Foreign Film and Best Animated Film). I've included additional comments as far as who I think should win if it is contrary to my actual predictions. Feel free to sound off in the comments with any disagreements or with a full list of your own predictions.

Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire

• But I wouldn't be upset to see Milk take home the big prize

Best Actor - Sean Penn for Milk

• Sean Penn took home the SAG award which is a pretty good indicator, and the more I think about it, the more impressive his role as Harvey Milk was. Rourke gave an excellent performance but really had a lot of personal hard times to inspire his rough around the edges, emotionally collapsing character portrayal in The Wrestler.
  

Best Actress - Kate Winslet for The Reader

• If I had my way, I honestly would probably go with Meryl Streep for Doubt. Her performance struck me more, but that might only be because The Reader wasn't wholly remarkable as a film. But Winslet seems like the favorite.

Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight

• This is pretty much as close to a guarantee as you can get. The late Heath Ledger has the most buzz and has received all the right praise and awards to have this one in the bag.

Best Supporting Actress - Penelope Cruz for Vicky Christina Barcelona

• While she didn't get the SAG or Golden Globes, she certainly seems like the choice to win. My personal choice is Viola Davis for her brief role in Doubt. While her screen time was minimal, hers was a very powerful performance that really struck a chord.

Best Director - Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

• Same with picture, Gus Van Sant could easily snag this award for his directing Milk and I wouldn't be disappointed.

Best Original Screenplay - Dustin Lance Black for Milk

• With Slumdog Millionaire being an adapted screenplay I think that Black is almost as close of a shoe-in for this award as Ledger for Supporting Actor

Best Adapted Screenplay - Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

• This is also almost a lock-in since Milk is an original screenplay and out of competition with Beaufoy

Best Animated Feature - WALL-E

• This was most assuredly the best animated feature from last year and if it doesn't get it then for shame.

Best Foreign Feature - Waltz with Bashir

• I am not prepared to actually comment on any of the foreign film nominees this year, but this is getting all sorts of acclaim and thus it's my pick.

Best Documentary Feature - Man on Wire

• Truly a hidden gem in the world of documentary films, this is a heavy favorite, and I really enjoyed seeing its narrative come to life thanks to the wonders of Netflix Instant Viewing.
  

Labels: 81st Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Danny Boyle, Heath Ledger, Kate Winslet, Man on Wire, Milk, Oscars, Penelope Cruz, Sean Penn, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL-E, Waltz with Bashir

It's been a slow news week, and Cinematical found just the thing to help pass the time. The industry is all abuzz with Oscar talk after the nominations were announced a little while back. With the Oscars just over two weeks away, nominated pictures that were in limited release are maaking their way to wide releases. But what if you don't have the time to become familiar with the nominees by catching all these flicks?

Here we have a very simple YouTube based game similar to the childhood Sesame Street segments asking us to figure out which thing doesn't belong? The video will tell you an Academy Award nominee, and then show you a set of two pictures. The left picture is the original still, and the right picture has something changed within. The modified picture is divided into nine segments allowing you to click where you think the change is, and progressing you through the game via YouTube. It's a clever little game and it's easy at first (as you can see below), but then becomes a mind numbingly tedious process of noticing every minute detail of the still. There are thirty levels. We've embedded the first below. Good night, and good luck.

Labels: Academy Awards, Fun, Game, Oscars

The nominations for the 81st Academy Awards were announced this morning honoring achievement in filmmaking for the year 2008.

There were certainly a number of shockers that people were caught off guard by (and some that I wouldn't really consider shocking). Here's what's surprising people:

• The Dark Knight receives no nominations for Best Picture or Best Director, Christopher Nolan (Personally I was not counting on this happening, and definitely think there are plenty of better films that kept it out of the running. While Nolan did a superb job directing, with his lack of digital effects for such a large motion picture, and his use of IMAX cameras to enhance the movie-going experience, he certainly was up against some stiff competition.)
• Revolutionary Road received significantly less recognition as it was not nominated for Best Picture and both Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio do not receive nominations. Also, director Sam Mendes did not receive a nomination either. (This too is not entirely a shocker to me. While Revolutionary Road interests me, it feels like a retread of American Beauty just set in a different time. I'm surprised no one has done a trailer mash-up like The Curious Case of Forrest Gump)
• The Wrestler wasn't nominated for Best Picture, and Darren Aronofsky was not nominated for Best Director
• No Best Actor nod for Clint Eastwood's performance in Gran Torino, but even more interesting, Gran Torino gets snubbed for any nominations, including Jamie Cullum's original song crafted for the movie, which I actually liked more than the song Bruce Springsteen wrote for The Wrestler (which was also not nominated for Best Original Song)
  
• Richard Jenkins gets some well deserved attention in the form of a Best Actor nomination for The Visitor

Check out the list for the major awards below, and for the full list you can check out the official website of the Academy Awards.

Best Motion Picture of the Year
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (2008)
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008/I)
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams for Doubt (2008/I)
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Viola Davis for Doubt (2008/I)
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler (2008)

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

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Courtney Hunt Frozen River
Mike Leigh Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black Milk
Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter Wall E

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Eric Roth, Robin Swicord The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley Doubt
Peter Morgan Frost/Nixon
David Hare The Reader
Simon Beaufoy Slumdog Millionaire

The 81st Acaedmy Awards will be hosted by Hugh Jackman and broadcast live on February 22 at 8pm EST on ABC.

Labels: 81st Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Nominations, Oscars