Academy Awards @ MindSay

Especially not at some cheesy ass, bullshit awards show that aired on the SPIKE channel.
I wonder if Academy Awards can be revoked?

5. Halle Berry (Best Actress for MONSTER'S BALL)


She won for allowing Billy Bob Thornton to climb her back and live out his jungle fever fantasies on film. Honestly can anyone remember anything about Monster's Ball aside from that sex scene? So Halle snuck a fast one by the Academy and what does she do? She takes her little naked golden man statue and signs on to play Catwoman in a movie that had nothing to do with Catwoman and seemed to be written by a mentally challenged chimp. Then she follows that disaster up with a string of forgettable roles that probably deserved to go straight to DVD (Gothika, Perfect Strangers) while fitting in a couple of bad acting showcases in the X-Men sequels just for shits and giggles. Its not often that a person can lay claim to being an Oscar winner as well as a Razzie winner but Halle broke that barrier, she should be oh so proud.



4. Nicolas Cage (Best Actor for LEAVING LAS VEGAS)


Look at Cage's post-Oscar rap sheet: Snake Eyes, Face/Off, Gone In Sixty Seconds, Next, Bangkok Dangerous, Ghost Rider, and the creme de le creme of movies that are so bad they are funny...The Wicker Man. Its like he let's his dog pick his scripts.


3. Lou Gossett Jr (Best Supporting ACTOR FOR AN OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN)


Gossett delivered a great scenery chewing performance to win his Oscar and then once he had the cache to get the types of roles that were probably denied him before decided that his next picture would be Jaws 3-D. Crickets. Crickets. And he has been spiraling down the Hollywood ladder ever since. The last thing I remember Lou starring in was an episode of the crappy sci-fi series Stargate. Hattie McDaniel must have rolled over in her grave.


2. Cher (Best Actress for MOONSTRUCK)


Cher was on a role for a while in the 80's. She wracked up a pretty stellar list of great performances in really good movies (Silkwood, Mask, The Witches of Eastwick) so when she won for Moonstruck it was expected that she'd go on to make more quality films and probably get a couple more nominations. Instead she started hawking skin cream in super cheesy infomercials.


1. Cuba Gooding Jr. (Best Supporting Actor for JERRY MAGUIRE)


Cuba Gooding must be a compulsive gambler with massive debts owed to some deadly mobsters. Its the only thing that can explain how he went from red hot young Oscar winner to the punchline of way too many bad career decision jokes. There was a slight glimmer of hope for a career rejuvenation after he made Shadowboxer but he shot that all to hell by following it up with Daddy Day Camp. That movie made Boat Trip look like Citizen Kane.

We won’t bother to list out the Academy Award winners since you’ve probably seen them already (if you care …), but one controversy stemming from the event is that actor Brad Renfro, who died in January, was left out of the Oscar’s “in memoriam” segment, where the Academy pays tribute to those in the industry that have passed.

While hardly a household name, the actor appeared in several popular movies including The Client and Sleepers, and, the Academy isn’t exactly over-selective in deciding who it features in the segment, paying tribute to more than 50 people last night.  Of course, Renfro has the advantage of being a younger star that more people were aware of, versus actors that starred in movies decades ago. 

Anyways, what do you think, should Renfro have been included?

Andreux and I pretty much watched the Oscars together and IM'd each other back and forth.  Here are some of the highlights from the night.  Does anyone else have their favorite Oscar moment?

• Jon Stewart was hillarious.  I loved the Wii scene and how he brought the co-writer of "Once", the Song of the Year, back on stage after she was rudely cut off by the music.
• The demigoddess yelled out, "Transformers was robbed when it lost in the category of Best Visual Effects"
• Helen Miren's dress was my favorite dress of the night. My second favorite was Jennifer Garner's dress. I also liked Kathrine Heigel's dress. Red seemed to be the color of the night.
• Worst hair of the night -- Cameron Diaz.  Did she pay someone to put her hair in a messy ponytail? 
• Tila Swinton's dress was the worst dress of the night followed by Daniel Day Lewis' wife's dress.  She is a beautiful woman. I just didn't care for the dress.
• Although the kiddo and I loved the movie Enchanted, I did like the winner for Best Original Song. I've never heard it before and I never even heard of the movie that it came from.
• Snow, a Siberian ballroom dancer from Season One of  So You Think You Can Dance, was one of the dancers in the performance of "How Do You Know", a song from Enchanted that was nominated for Best Original Song. She was one of the brides.
• Kudos for Diablo Coty winning Best Screenplay for Juno.
• Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson looked fantastic and he didn't seem nervous at all.
• Did Miley Cyrus almost slip? She looked great though.
• No Country for Old Men Won best picture.  

BEST PICTURE
Will Win: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Of all the pictures that are nominated (and I have seen them all) this one was the most cohesive throughout and aside from one story point that I totally disagree with was the most enjoyable filmgoing experience
Should Win: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
This movie cannot be denied
Got Robbed: INTO THE WILD
A great movie from top to bottom (script, directing and acting) that received almost universal critical acclaim yet got snubbed by the Oscars for some odd reason. Maybe they hate Sean Penn.

BEST DIRECTOR
Will Win: Joel & Ethan Coen (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN)
After having to basically flip a coin to see who gets credit for waht on their fiolms, the brothers are finally nominated as a duo and they truly deserve to win for making a truly great film.
Should Win: Joel & Ethan Coen (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN)
See above.
Got Robbed: Sidney Lumet (BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD)
Lumet showed just how awesome a director he still is with this movie and just how much so many of today's directors can learn from him. If you haven't seen this movie you are doing yourself a disservice. Besides how many more chances will there be to recognize Lumet's genius? The man is a billion years old!

BEST ACTOR
Will Win: Daniel Day-Lewis (THERE WILL BE BLOOD)
I hated There Will Be Blood, I hated it with a passion but there is no denying Day-Lewis' performance. It is the single most intense performance by any actor since...well since Day-Lewis' last role.
Should Win: Daniel Day-Lewis (THERE WILL BE BLOOD)
What did ya think I was kidding about how good he was?
Got Robbed: Denzel Washington (AMERICAN GANGSTER)
The movie was astoundingly uneven but Washington gave a great performance, bringing a level of understated malevolence that I didn't think Denzel had in him.

BEST ACTRESS
Will Win: Ellen Page (JUNO)
The Academy loves to think of themselves as "discoverers of talent" and what better way to show that then by giving a big award to a little snot nosed punk? Now I loved Juno and though Page was wonderful in it but if we are being honest it wasn't an Oscar worthy performance. If they wanted to give Page some credit they should have nominated her for Hard Candy; now that was a great performance!
Should Win: Laura Linney (THE SAVAGES)
Linney is one of the most underrated actresses in Hollywood and this was a part that seemed to be tailor made for her talents.
Got Robbed: Angelina Jolie (A MIGHTY HEART) & Keri Russell (WAITRESS)
A Mighty Heart wasn't very good but Jolie gave a strong performance that deserved recognition and should have been given the nom over Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
Russell was a revelation in Waitress and if the Academy wanted to give the lead actress in a small independent comedy-drama a nomination then Russell was the one who deserved it.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Will Win: Javier Bardem (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN)
Bardem transformed himself into the years best villain as well as one of the best bad guys in film history. And he did it all while sporting one of the most ridiculous looking hair styles in the world.
Should Win: Javier Bardem (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN)
Javier Bardem ftw.
Got Robbed: Ben Foster (3:10 TO YUMA)
Foster's deranged sidekick with distinctly homo-erotic undertones was was the best thing about this movie

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Will Win: Ruby Dee (AMERICAN GANGSTER)
At 83 this is Dee's first nomination and it will likely be her last so I see her being the beneficiary of the "recognize 'em before they die" award that would have gone to Hal Holbrooke if he wasn't competing with Javier Bardem.
Should Win: Amy Ryan (GONE BABY GONE)
Ryan kicked massive amounts of ass as the lousy mother of an abducted child and was the best of this bunch of nominees.
Got Robbed: Can't think of any other performances this year that were deserving.

BEST ANIMATED MOVIE
Will Win: RATATOUILLE
Like all of Pixar's movies this is really good but not the best of the year or even of the nominees.
Should Win: PERSEPOLIS
Based on a really cool graphic novel, watching Persepolis is like having the comic come to life. It is an amazing film.
Got Robbed: THE SIMPSON'S MOVIE
How the hell does Surf's Up get nominated but the Simpson's Movie doesn't? Did the Academy think they were nominating Happy Feet or something? And why is this category only allowing three nominees while all the others have four? This is just dumb.

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Will Win: WAR DANCE
Of all the nominees this is the most hopeful so I can see the Academy wanting to reward that.
Should Win: NO END IN SIGHT
This movie makes my blood boil and should be required viewing for every US citizen. It's been years since I've had as visceral a reaction to a film like I had for this one.
Got Robbed: KING OF KONG
My favorite movie of 2007 and deserving of as many accolades as it can possibly get. The Academy really fucked up by not nominating this movie.