Best OSCAR Show Ever??

February 25, 2009 --

Yes! After watching every Oscar telecast since I can remember (ffg never reveals his age), I can say this show was the Best EVER!

Why? Two simple reasons:
1. No Louis J. Horvitz directing it -- and cutting off all spontaneity and life from the four-hour slog to Best Picture (stay home and polish your undeserved Emmy, cuz you ain't gettin' another one, Horvitz!);
2. NO BILL CONTI! You know him: the musical director who boorishly started playing-off every winner in mid-acceptance speech (as if we were going to miss a precious second of another Horvitz-directed mess). He's the guy whose last (and only) hit was "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky! That's Rocky I !! I defy you to listen to that song today all the way through without cringing.

The new blood the Academy injected for this show was spot-on: I cannot even criticize the bloated production number that brought the show to a halt halfway through -- because it was directed by Baz Luhrmann (props to Australia!)

Hugh Jackman was awesome. Anne Hathaway bravely took part in the opening number--and pulled it off...live! Steve Martin & Tina Fey killed! The five past acting winners paying homage to the new nominees was inspired and inspiring (but will it work next year?) The other presenters were, for the most part, brilliant. Exceptions: Zach Efron/Alicia Keys? Who and Why? Ben Stiller's riff on Joaquin Phoenix wasn't as funny as it could have been... and it was a rip-off from the previous night's Independent Spirit Awards! (That show teamed a comic Phoenix with a Christian Bale in an Adam West Batman get-up! Now that was funny!) Of course, the red carpet special was tortured and unnecessary (everybody watches E! nowadays, don't they?)

For the record, I scored 15 points, missing only the Best Actor of the Top 6 categories (I had a last-minute conversion to Mickey Roarke--his dog died!)
I miss you, too, Loki.
Biggest shock of the night: Best Foreign Film (Departures, Japan).

Lastly, my annual, totally-biased list of who looked and dressed the best! (No Renee Zellweger this year, and Amy Adams looked cute except for that coral reef attached to her neck, so I'll have to settle for the following):

7. In a nod to Milk, I start with Daniel Craig (the dude looks good in a tux!)
6. Marisa Tomei (for sentimental reasons)
5. (tie) Evan Rachel Wood / Freida Pinto
4. Penelope Cruz
3. Diane Lane (classy!)
2. Anne Hathaway

1. Natalie Portman

#2 (just like in the Best Actress race)

TOP TEN LIST

February 3, 2009 --

I don't know what meds Roger Ebert is taking these days, but when he proclaims 2008 to be such a good year that he had to make a Top 20 List -- and an alphabetical one at that (the ultimate critical cop-out) -- I have to wonder. It took me 13 months (and 3 days) to fill-out my Top Ten List this year, and even then it was a struggle. [Ebert's list contains the 'blink-and-you-missed-it' "The Fall", directed by Tarsem, hence my concern about his pharmaceuticals.]

More troubling is the fact that foreignfilmguy's Foreign Film List has been reduced to 3. Tres! Trois! (and tre, in a nod to two of the entries). So, without further griping (and no cop-outs), here are, in order ....

Top 3 Foreign Films of 2008

1. REPRISE (Norway)
2. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Sweden)
3. I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (France)

TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2008

1. MILK
2. THE READER
3. THE DARK KNIGHT
4. FROZEN RIVER
5. RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
6. FROST / NIXON

7. HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
8. VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA
9. TRANSSIBERIAN

10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*

Honorable mention:
Changeling
Slumdog Millionaire*

Tropic Thunder
U2: 3D
The Visitor
The Wrestler

"Saw & enjoyed"
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Choke
Doubt *
The Duchess
Funny Games (starring the lovely Naomi Watts, who can be seen in The International, opening February 13th!)
In Bruges

There you have it: now it's on to the Oscars, where none of what I just wrote matters one whit!

One-second movie reviews

(because I am lazy)

Doubt
(Dir: John Patrick Shanley)

Meryl Streep once again takes a chance! Meryl Streep once again misfires!

Instead of reprising the Anna Wintour-whisper she used in Prada, this time she goes in the opposite direction: using some kind of flat, Brooklyn housewife-accent to portray the nun at the center of Doubt. It doesn't help the movie or her co-stars, who all acquit themselves nicely, as if they had to act around her. Shanley's attempts to expand his play beyond the stage are transparent and ineffective.

Slumdog Millionaire
(Dir: Danny Boyle)

The soundtrack is the best thing in this movie, but trust me, Score, Song and Cinematography are the only Oscars this movie deserves. (I'll give it film editing, too). The screenplay is laughable. I've never liked how Danny Boyle portrays children (remember that awful movie "Millions"?) Subtlety is not in his vocabulary. Here again the kids are lying, cheating, thieving little rapscallions. (but oh so loveable--yeah, right!) And the Mumbai police have no greater crimes to deal with than cheating game-show contestants? Bad timing.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
(Dir: David Fincher)

Forget Forrest Gump (the movie this Eric Roth-penned marathon is most often compared to): this movie reminds me more of Titanic. First and foremost, the movie is anchored by a horribly aged old lady (the unrecognizable Cate Blanchett). Under all that make-up, though, Cate can still act. (That old lady in Titanic could neither act, nor wash off the age spots). Like Titanic, the movie is a triumph of production values, yet it is always teetering on the edge of sinking under a woefully inadequate script. Fincher may not be 'King of the World,' but he still can dazzle with some amazing set pieces. The Make-up, visual effects, and Sound Mixing are top-notch, Academy voters.