Quoted from NiK And Phil I said The Joker, because HE played the Joker if he will win the Oscar he will win because he played that character, you don't win it because you play yourself.

I think referring to Ledger as the Joker implies a very strong fanboy fascination from some people.  That's all.


Phil

There's no point arguing about which actor or actress was the best. The choice is 100% subjective.

One of my personal favourite perfomances of the year was Brolin as Bush in W. At one point I even forgot he wasn't the real Bush, even though he doesn't really lok anything like him.

Quoted from James McClung I've always been hypocritical when it comes to the Oscars. It seems like every year, I watch my favorite movies lose to the overhyped stuff and vow never to watch again, only to have the same thing happen the next year (last year was not the case). Anyway, I figured I'd drop all that and start a thread with a more hopeful attitude toward this year's Oscar season. Personally, I think it's going to be one of the best seasons they've ever had. I'm predicting Slumdog Millionare cleans out the place, leaving the usual Oscar shoo-ins (e.g. Clint Eastwood) getting the shaft. I've also got my fingers crossed that Heath Ledger actually gets nominated (he won a Golden Globe posthumously; that's a start). A lotta good films rumored this year. I'd still like to catch a couple more (The Wrestler, Gran Torino) before the ceremony. Anyone care to speculate?

Re: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

You know how people might take a questionnaire about their favorite color. Their favorite song? And people can't answer because "It's all good."

My husband drags me to movies. He's the movie watcher, not me. Strange, right?

But he chose this one particular movie with me in mind. He said, "I thought of you and I knew you'd like it."

Wow.

Was he ever right!!!!!!

I came out of the theater and proclaimed: "This was the best movie I've ever seen!!!!"

I didn't know about my husband's reasons for picking this particular film. I didn't know anything about it at all. I was like a blind man recovering vision and going to see my first show.

I won't mention some of the details that we experienced. That will remain private for now, but suffice  it to say: this film completely swept us away.

My youngest daughter does not have the same feelings at all. She watched it at a different time and place and does not feel thrilled by it at all.

It goes to show you how we all perceive things in such a different way.

Right now I'm just very thankful that I had the opportunity to watch this movie and to know; It wasn't even my decision-- on the outside anyways.

Sandra

So that's that! The Oscar 2009 winners are...

Best picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader  

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

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

Best actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader
Also nominated: Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married; Angelina Jolie - Changeling; Melissa Leo - Frozen River; Meryl Streep - Doubt

Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Also nominated: Josh Brolin - Milk; Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder; Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt; Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Best supporting actress: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Also nominated: Amy Adams - Doubt; Viola Davis - Doubt; Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

Best original screenplay: Milk
Also nominated: Happy-Go-Lucky; Wall-E; In Bruges; Frozen River

Best adapted screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Doubt; Frost/Nixon; The Reader

Best animated feature film: Wall-E
Also nominated: Bolt; Kung Fu Panda

Best animated short film: La Maison en Petits Cubes
Also nominated: Lavatory - Lovestory; Oktapodi; Presto; This Way Up

Best foreign language film: Departures - Japan
Also nominated: Revanche - Austria; The Class - France; The Baader Meinhof Complex - Germany; Waltz With Bashir - Israel

Best documentary feature: Man on Wire
Also nominated: The Betrayal; Encounters at the End of the World; The Garden; Trouble The Water

Best documentary short subject: Smile Pinki
Also nominated: The Conscience of Nhem En; The Final Inch; The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306

Art direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Also nominated: Changeling; The Dark Knight; The Duchess; Revolutionary Road

Costume design: The Duchess
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Australia; Milk; Revolutionary Road

Make-up: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Also nominated: The Dark Knight; Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Changeling; The Dark Knight; The Reader

Best live action short film: Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Also nominated: Auf der Strecke (On The Line); Manon on the Asphalt; New Boy; The Pig

Visual effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Also nominated: The Dark Knight; Iron Man

Sound editing: The Dark Knight
Also nominated: Iron Man; Wanted; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E

Sound mixing: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Wanted; Wall-E

Film editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Frost/Nixon; Milk

Best original score: Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Defiance; Milk; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E

Best original song: Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire
Also nominated: Down To Earth - Wall-E; O Saya - Slumdog Millionaire

Only one real surprise there...Mickey Rourke NOT winning for The Wrestler! Still, Sean Penn is a damn good actor. Slumdog won eight, Benjamin Button got three, and The Dark Knight got two (including Ledger's).

Quoted from JonnyBoy Only one real surprise there...Mickey Rourke NOT winning for The Wrestler!

My only surprise was that he was even nominated. I thought both his performance and the movie as a whole was good but nothing memorable - at all. His performance in Angel Heart was much better.

You know I find myself very surprisingly pleased with Kate Winslet's award for Best Actress. Only on my wife's insistence was it that we went to watch The Reader on Saturday night, but to be honest she was fantastic, easily the best performance of the year and richly deserved. I know that the film has got a real panning from the critics, but to be I have no idea why, I thought it was actually a really decent film.

No doubt the British press will rip her to shreds for again letting her emotions get to her during her speech but that is the press for you. I thought it was brilliant

One thing though, Why did she not thank Ricky Gervais?

It should also go without saying how pleased I am with Slumdog winning just about everything,  I loved that film from the minute I saw it and I think it definitely was a much better film than anything else this year, richly deserved.

Seems that YouTube is busy deleting videos tonight (that site is becoming so 2008!), so instead of the official slumdog dance here is Mr Sad and Mrs even sadder to celebrate instead...

Quoted from JonnyBoy Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight Also nominated: Josh Brolin - Milk; Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder; Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt; Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Why is Robert Downey Jr even nominated? And for Tropic Thunder of all films.

I have nothing to say about the winner as I said it elsewhere and find it to be despicable and pathetic that he won given the circumstances. Alive, he isn't even nominated. End of story.

My opinion of course.

I stopped thinking of the Oscars as important after Crash won Best Picture. I'm not surprised Sean Penn won. It's typical.

Sean Penn makes a socially important movie and the academy gushes over him. I liked Milk as a movie, but his performance paled in comparison to Mickey Rourke's and even he knew it.