Oscar Night! (Obligatory Oscar Post)

The Oscars begin in about two hours, so I'm gonna quickly talk about some of the nominated films I've seen. And yes, the Academy Awards are ridiculous and overblown, and are chosen by a group of out-of-touch elderly white men. But it's also 'Hollywood's Biggest Night!', so let's do this fuckin' shit and let God sort 'em out!

Milk - Really solid film, I'm glad to see Gus Van Sant return to mainstream film making. He really hit this one out of the park, and Sean Penn turns in a great performance as Harvey Milk, the slain gay politician who helped lead a movement. James Franco continues his hot streak and proves he's got range to spare, even amidst a great ensemble such as this one. I'd almost say Penn's a lock for the Best Actor trophy if not for...

The Wrestler - The return of this generation's Brando. Mickey Rourke comes roaring back into the limelight with the role of a lifetime in Aronofsky's visceral masterpiece. 'Gritty, real, affecting,' - these adjectives all apply, and are also cliches, but I'm two drinks in so whatever. Forget the hype and just see this movie. Aronofsky probably should've gotten a Best Director nod, as he rebounds from the critical and commercial failure that was The Fountain (I liked it by the way, and respected its ambition).

Slumdog Millionaire - I love Danny Boyle, and love the fact that this movie's doing so well. I'm not sure it deserves all the accolades it's been receiving throughout the award season, but it is pretty great in its own right. The run-and-gun style of shooting lends the film an immediacy that draws you right in, and allows you to almost smell the streets of Mumbai. The heartwarming story is just the type of film the Academy likes to reward, and it's nice to see a subtitled, India-set film with no real stars become such an Oscar front runner. I'm rooting for Boyle and his film tonight; it'll be nice to see one of the most diverse directors working today get his due.

Wall*E - Fuck the 'Best Animated Feature' category. This should've been a Best Picture nominee. Another masterpiece from the unstoppable Pixar. The best love story of the year. And it stars robots. Weird, huh?

The Dark Knight - Heath will win, and kudos to him. The Joker was an inspired, lunatic fever dream of a creation that will live on for years to come. It would've been nice to see the film itself get more recognition; Oscar's reticence to reward it is a testament to their insular choices and lack of vision. Or maybe I'm just a fanboy who wants to see Batman get his due. I heard Christian Bale will personally berate any Academy member that doesn't vote for Heath for four straight minutes.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - I love David Fincher, and Brad Pitt can (and will) make any straight man go gay through sheer dreaminess, but I fell asleep halfway through this. By fell asleep, I mean passed out drunk. Look for an incoherent, rambling, overtly homoerotic review of this film in the near future.

Frost/Nixon - A solid film from the perennially Oscar-grabbing director Ron Howard. The two lead performances were great, and in a different year Frank Langella would probably have won Best Actor for his chillingly accurate Richard Nixon. A little too pedestrian to take away Best Director or Best Picture, although the Academy loves to award mediocrity, and have in the past for other Ron Howard efforts (*cough* A Beautiful Mind *cough*).

The Rest - See my earlier post for my thoughts on Rachel Getting Married and Anne Hathaway's Oscar chances (she's a lock, unless they give it to Kate Winslet for snubbing her for so many years). Man on Wire looks like the best documentary of the year that I haven't seen. Waltz With Bashir also looks amazing; I'll definitely have to catch up with that on DVD as well.

Anyway, hopefully some stars get drunk and make asses of themselves (Jack Nicholson, I'm looking at you), and hopefully there's a least a few unexpected winners. The pomp and circumstance is about to get underway, and I'm gonna need a lot more vodka to make it through four hours of insanely rich Hollywood insiders jerking off each other's penises. Happy Oscar night! And remember, you can be anything you set your mind to - except successful. You definitely won't ever be successful. At least not like the motherfuckers you're about to see walk the red carpet in Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana. Now, I need to go work on my screenplay. I'm looking at Eric Roberts for the lead.

Cheers,
Filmspurt.