No Surprises at 81st Annual Academy Awards

I can't say that I didn't see this coming, but to me, this was a disappointing night. Can someone please explain to my why the best movie of the year was not even nominated for Best Picture, Director, or Screenplay? As the second highest grossing movie of all time, The Dark Knight was clearly snubbed this year at the Oscars and it was just sad to see.

Slumdog Millionaire? Wait did you say Slumdog Millionaire? Are you serious? The more awards this film wins, and the more I hear people hailing at it's greatness, the more I hate this movie. Don't get me wrong, when I first saw this movie I liked it. I thought it was well directed but I just felt like the screenplay was a little out there. I thought the musical rendition summed up this film very well, CHEESY. Some say that Slumdog Millionaire is inspirational but I believe that in order to be inspiring a film needs to believable.

Slumdog Millionaire walked away with 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. I think that writing is one of the most important, and maybe the most important part of film making. There is no way that Slumdog Millionaire had a better screenplay than The Dark Knight. Each character in The Dark Knight faced moral dilemma in decisions that had to be made. I did not see as much depth in the characters from Slumdog Millionaire and it didn't look as though much thought was put into the ending. Yay, its so perfect, he got the money and the girl...Come on.

I did end up seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I wasn't a huge fan but I want to give it another viewing when it comes to DVD. I also never got around to see The Reader, The Wrestler, or Frost/Nixon but for what I did see here is the way I thought the night should have gone. Out of what was nominated and what I saw I definitely think that Milk should have won Best Picture over Slumdog Millionaire. Milk is a truly inspirational film and it hard for me to understand how anyone, who saw them both, could think that Slumdog Millionaire was the better film. Milk was a harder film to distribute in America despite the fact that it is an American Film, with big name actors, and a big name director. Milk never received a wide release and I think this is due to the homophobia that sadly still exists in our society.

Sean Penn won best Actor for his performance in Milk. I was happy with this award but I didn't get to see The Wrestler and I hear that this film would not be what it was if it wasn't for a tremendous performance by Mickey Rourke. Personally I think that Clint Eastwood should have been nominated for Gran Torino, at least over Brad Pitt's performance in Benjamin Button. I don't think Brad Pitt's performance was bad I just liked Eastwood's better. Sean Penn gave a great speech, one of the highlights of the night, in which he gave Mickey Rourke props, and he also addressed proposition 8.

Kate Winslet won Best Actress for her performance in The Reader. I was happy about this even though I have not seen the Film. Kate Winslet has been one of the top actresses for a few years now and it was her time to win. I thought she was amazing in Revolutionary Road and maybe this Oscar is for the two great performances this year, The Reader and Revolutionary Road. Anne Hathaway was brilliant in Rachel Getting Married but I'm sure she will be back at the Oscars very soon.

Danny Boyle won Best Director for Slumdog Millionaire. Personally, out of what I saw and what was nominated, I would have voted for Gus Van Sant for Milk but I think Danny Boyle was a worthy recipient. Slumdog Millionaire was beautifully directed. I had more of a problem with the writing. I feel like I could go on about the Oscars forever but for a full recap click here.

Paths of Glory

Written and Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Paths of Glory dipped into an aspect of war that is not too often explored. This anti-war film is set in 1916 and loosely based on the Battle of Verdun, for a French stronghold; but the film really centers around the dysfunction within the French army. Stanley Kubrick was only 28 years old, with a minimal budget of less than $1 million, when he created his first masterpiece in Paths of Glory.

Paths of Glory takes place during WW1 and begins in the French trenches as they prepare to charge and conquer the "Ant Hill", an impossible mission that is destined for failure. There was a very important scene at the beginning of the film that set the tone for the entire film. When General Mireau tells Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) he must lead his men in this suicidal mission, with no support, Colonel Dax inquires about how many casualties the General anticipates. The General responds "5% killed by our own barrage, 10% going through no man's land, 20% going through the wire, and 25% in actually taking the ant hill."

The German gunfire was just too heavy and the French end up retreating, despite the Generals orders. As you can imagine the General was not happy with this result, so he ends making 3 men stand trial, under penalty of death, for cowardice. He wants to set an example for the whole battalion, but Colonel Dax defends his men and is willing to do anything he can to make sure that this does not happen.

I think it is ironic that the General, who was not in the line of fire, is accusing his own men, who were risking their lives, of cowardice. Instead of being concerned with the Germans, they were spending their time sending their own men to trial, and possibly execution. It was absurd to me that the only person who seemed to be thinking logically was Colonel Dax.

I absolutely loved the ending of this movie, with a German woman singing in a pub. You have to see it to know what I mean but it really brings out the fact that there is value in every life, a human aspect that can so often be forgotten in war, and was definitely forgotten by General Mireau.

Paths of Glory was well written and beautifully directed. Because of the critical assessment and the shame this film brought on the French military, it was banned in France and Switzerland for almost 20 years (until the mid 70's). This film is a work of art and Kirk Douglas delivers a superb performance as Colonel Dax. Definitely one of the top 5 war films of all time and one of Kubrick's best.

Christian Bale Sounds Off

Christian Bale snapped and tore Shane Hurlbut, the Director of Photography, a new one on the set of Terminator Salvation. This incident occurred in July of last year but an audio clip of the incident just recently surfaced. The main point I want to make is that this should have never leaked to the press, although as a blogger I am glad it did. I believe that things like this probably happen often and that it should remain the business of the professionals on set, and I think that usually is the case.

I really like Christian Bale as an actor but after I heard this I thought of this man as a conceited little brat. One of higher paid individuals on set who thinks he is more important to the film than anyone else. Personally I don't understand how one can attack someone so ferociously for something that is seemingly unimportant in the big scope of things. There is no excuse for his little tirade and at first I lost all my respect for him.

However recently Christian Bale came out on KROQ's radio program with Kevin and Dean to apologize (click here). After listening to this seemingly sincere apology I am back on the Christian Bale band wagon. I have no problem with the graphic language, just the way in which the words were directed. People make mistakes and I think that this apology was sincere and that he should be forgiven. According to Bale, Shane Hurlbut has forgiven him and they have let bygones be bygones and so should we.

Christian Bale is a great actor because he cares about the work he is doing and he expects perfection. Terminator Salvation looks like it will be an awesome film and I can't wait to see. First listen to his rant and then listen to his apology and please don't let this stop you from seeing the film. It's going to be a good one. And Christian you're still my boy.