I don't usually follow the Oscars in great depth. I'll read information about them and make plagiarized guesses on who'll win, but I never put myself to watch the 4-hour routine. However, having seen some of the movies in contention beforehand, an unusual jolt of excitement made me want to watch this year's festivities live. It wasn't generated from a tight-locked battleground between nominees, for the pre-Oscar atmosphere was pretty-clear cut: Slumdog Millionaire would reign supreme. On the other hand, it was also this amazing story that became the sole catalyst in pumping me up for the Oscars. I liked the flick so much, from it's classic rags-to-riches theme, to it's little moments of shocking cruelty, to it's vibrant colors and sounds, and mostly, to it's feverish feel-good factor , all mixed into Danny Boyle's masterful masala of a movie. It had a certain brand of magic, the type of movie that appeals both to the critics and masses alike. It made me want to cheer for it to take all honors, although I haven't seen movies like Frost/Nixon, The Reader, and Milk. It made me believe that winning Best Picture was it's destiny, as I think almost everyone who watched the movie believed.
I was up a bit late, and then found out that there were not any live airings on the tivo, so I had to find a stream on the net. Luckily, I found one and it ran pretty smoothly. Some awards like best supporting actress and best animated picture were already handed out, so I had to do with Hugh Jackman, Zack Efron, and Beyonce performing cabaret in a tribute to the musical genre.
The other tab I opened was at the homepage of E!, where facebook status updates from people around the world watching the Oscars were flickering by the second. Every single moment brought a change to someones shoutout. And I thought: Hey, Why I shouldn't I do this?
Ranaditya is streaming the Oscars.
And so I did.
Ranaditya isn't sure what to say about the tribute to the musical...
Yup, I didn't really know what to make of it. It wasn't bad, but probably I wasn't just in the right set of mind to hear a medley that included Lady Marmalade and Summer Nights. But one thing was sure. Hugh Jackman is one hell of a stage performer. He totally fit the bill to host.
Ranaditya likes the way the nominees are announced this year.
This was a really, really neat twist. By having five previous winners of an acting category each read a praise toward one nominee, it made the whole thing really feel like a peer to peer recognition of merit. You could feel as if a bond was created by the legends on stage presenting with the select nominees waiting for the call of triumph.
Ranaditya is seeing Heath Ledger's final tribute.
The Joker's last laugh was a shoe in, but it was touching nevertheless to see Heath's family accept the award.
Ranaditya thinks that Benjamin won by a country mile for visual effects...
With a playing field including the well-done Iron Man and the realistic Dark Knight, it was there all along for Benjamin Button to win best VFX with it's seamless use of CGI to portray it's aging (and more importantly, backward-aging) characters.
Ranaditya : Slumdog is on a roll! Not bad, Chai-Wallah!!!
Not bad indeed. By this moment, Slumdog had already collected 4, adding the little gold men for sound-mixing and editing.
Ranaditya : nice medley! Define Dancing + Latika's theme!
Wondrous. Both songs have already been on this blog's music player for quite a while hehe...
Ranaditya : A.R. Rahman's work is genius! "A.R. Rahman's work on the soundtrack is diamond. Every note of music (including the use of contemporary songs) blends in and enchances the emotions throughout every second of the film. Magical".
Ranaditya : A.R. Rahman's is performing AND winning at the same time.
He just won best soundtrack and performed with John Legend on a medley of "Down To Earth" (OST Wall-E), O..Saya (feat vocals from M.I.A.), and Jai Ho. Was it Deja Vu when he immediately won best song for Jai Ho?
Ranaditya hmm... I must watch this 'Departures' from Japan. Funny speech!
Winning best foreign language film, the cast & crew receiving the award courageously spoke in broken English on stage. Did he take cues from the governator on the end?
Ranaditya : it was Danny Boyle's destiny.
From start to end. And so for his magnum opus (though some may argue). Only he could bring the energy needed to lift Slumdog to its heights.
Ranaditya thinks that best actress Kate is hot, but Marion from last year is even hotter.
For this night only, I thought she looked way hotter. Congratulations to Kate for finally winning it after 6 tries.
Ranaditya :A gay politician may have cost me a month's worth of free tickets at Blitz.
On a Blitz Megaplex Oscar sweepstakes quiz on the net, I shamelessly followed comingsoon.net's final picks for the winner in each category except best lead actor. The Oscar Warrior went with the tailor-made (biopic, gay), while I defected and went with the sentimental Golden Globe winner. My only original choice turned out to be costly, as it was the only one wrong choice I made. Sean Penn edged Mickey Rourke in the battle between the reborn 80's badboys. And I should stop pretending to be know-it when it comes to movies hehe...
Ranaditya : The Best Picture nomination montage is haunting.
The more I think about it, the more this year's Oscars seems to look like hall of fame acceptance show. You really get a sense that each winner is etching their name in history.
Ranaditya : Slumdog is finally crowned a millionaire. Best Picture.
Finally, the obvious moment I had waited so long to see. Destiny fulfilled.
One last goodie:
All in all, an improvement from last year!
Good Night, and Good Oscars!
-R
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