There is one word to describe this year’s Academy Awards — predictable. How predictable you ask? So predictable that not only were Badger Herald readers, ArtsEtc. writers and my picks for the winners in last night’s five major categories all the same, but we also all ended up achieving a perfect five-for-five, so congrats to us all.
While it cannot be said that “Slumdog Millionaire” coming out the night’s biggest winner was unexpected, watching this Mumbai love story’s amazing journey culminate in eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Director (the lovably humble, energetic Danny Boyle) and Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy), was truly rewarding. Even though last year was certainly not the best year for film, “Slumdog” was an exceptional movie that outshined the other Best Picture nominees as well as most films this year.
In the two-man race for Best Actor, Sean Penn (“Milk”) edged out Mickey Rourke (“The Wrestler”) on the way to winning his second Oscar. While Rourke’s moving return to the film industry is undoubtedly noteworthy, the award is meant to go to the best onscreen performance, and that was Penn’s spot-on portrayal of Harvey Milk. Notorious for being disliked by many people in Hollywood, Penn gave a heartfelt acceptance speech, urging the audience to support gay rights.
Finally becoming a winner after five unsuccessful attempts, Kate Winslet (“The Reader”) beat out Meryl Streep (“Doubt”) and Anne Hathaway (“Rachel Getting Married”) — the other two nominees were never really in the running — for Best Actress. Although Winslet was terrific in “The Reader” and led the film emotionally, her part in the film was really more of supporting role and should not have been in this category to begin with. Winslet’s win also means that 15-time nominee Meryl Streep has now gone 26 years without actually winning an Oscar.
As was expected, Heath Ledger picked up an Oscar for his unmatched supporting role as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Accepting the award on behalf of his 3-year-old daughter Matilda, Ledger’s parents and sister delivered a touching speech thanking the Academy for recognizing Ledger’s amazing work and director Christopher Nolan for giving Ledger the creative license to develop his own interpretation of Batman’s greatest nemesis.
Taking home the first statuette of the night for her work in “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” Penelope Cruz became the fifth performer to win a supporting role Oscar in a Woody Allen film. In what was the closest race among the four acting categories, it looks like Academy members ended up splitting votes between costars Amy Adams and Viola Davis (“Doubt”) after all, giving Cruz her first Academy Award.
Dustin Lance Black received a much deserved Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category for his work in “Milk.” In his first major picture screenplay, Black skillfully took a controversial subject and created a heartrending biopic about the late Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California.
Although Black’s win prevented “WALL-E” from becoming the first animated picture to win for best screenplay, the universally-acclaimed film became the fourth Pixar flick in six years to win for Best Animated Feature.
“Slumdog” also hit the right tone when it came to music, awarding the extremely talented composer/singer A.R. Rahman two Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (“Jai Ho”). Unfortunately, the Academy Award’s traditional musical spectacle featuring the nominated songs was rather downplayed and unappealing.
Rounding out the main awards were “Man on Wire” for Best Documentary Feature and Japan’s “Departures” for Best Foreign Language Film.
The title of biggest disappointment of the night has to go to “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which came in leading all films with 13 nominations but only won for Best Art Direction, Visual Effects and Makeup. This only proves that the true magic of “Button” was its visual aesthetic — that goes for Brad Pitt’s performance as well. However, three wins is still more than can be said for “Doubt” and “Frost/Nixon,” which each went 0-for-5.
As for the show itself, the producers’ decision to steer away from choosing a comedian to host the show proved to be a wise one. Host Hugh Jackman, who has hosted the Tony Awards multiple times in the past, was delightfully enjoyable, using a winning combination of swift, witty jokes and dazzling song and dance numbers.
The highlight of the night, though, was the video shown to showcase the comedy films of 2008. Featuring Seth Rogen and James Franco as their stoner characters from “Pineapple Express,” the clip had the two laughing and making hilarious comments about various comedies while high — this included laughing at “The Reader,” which contains serious Holocaust-related themes.
All in all, last night’s spectacle was a vast improvement from last year’s strike-affected show. Now if only the Academy would be willing to vote beyond the usual Oscar-fare, we would have a truly crowd-pleasing event. That is not to say that all of last night’s winners were undeserving or that voters should cater to TV viewers. Instead, it just means they should be more open to certain films like “The Dark Knight,” creating an overall less predictable Academy Awards.
Tony Lewis is a junior majoring in journalism and legal studies. If you have any questions, comments or would also like to brag about your perfect Oscar predictions, let him know at [email protected].
