THEY ARE COMING

Yes, the MAFFE awards (Michaels Academy of Feature Film Excellence) are almost here.

Since these awards are so much more important than the Oscars, so they of course come after them.

The Academy is comprised of me, Michael and a few other well respected people. Captain Howdy, Mr Ravioli, Fred (he drops dead a lot) and many more.

One thing to know about these awards. Unlike all the others, each category has six nominees. Also the top three are awards gold, silver and bronze stars. There is also a few new categories. Best Poster and Best Trailer (our cinematic year is all about the pre amble) Best Ensemble and Best Small Performance (male and female) because I just love acting so god damned much!

There will be a top 12 for best picture, but these will be broken down between two sections (top six and bottom six). Most of you already know who the winners will be in a few categories, but hopefully I will surprise you.
There is no Animated, Foreign, and Documentary categories simply because I do not believe in segregation.

Dear Gabby

Get ye to a comedy script PRONTO!



And just a little bit about her Spirit win, which for me is not so much about the awards, but her own Spirit. She won this award because of her performance, which is how it should be. However, I am convinced that her personality counted for something, mainly as a contrast to be able to appreciate the depth and complexity of her performance. With a personality like hers, she can over come anything.

Most of the press go on about how she is not 'Hollywood' enough (read too dark and big), yet here she is, doing the circuit and having a laugh. She worked the red carpets for all she i s worth and has been the most enjoyable presence in awards season. She didn't win the Oscar (Mo'Nique may have won for performance over politics, but Gabby certainly lost due to politics over performance) but she is fiercely determined to continue on acting, even shouting out Tina Fey as someone she wants to collaborate with. She is not playing by the rules and she is having fun for all it is worth.
What she is, is refreshing. That is something Hollywood certainly needs to embrace in order to survive.

Sean Penn and his "Actress"

When he came out at the Academy Awards and said

“I never became an official member of the Academy, but the Academy and I do have in common that we neglected to acknowledge the same actress in our own ways two years running. So, I’m going to start fresh with the Academy and acknowledge these wonderful actresses.”

most people were like ..."Huh...is he high?". But it all makes sense now. He forgot to thank his wife when he won for 'Milk' and they did not nominate her this year for 'The Private Lives of Pippa Lee'.

I love him and his controversial ways. Shame about the divorce though. I hear Madonna is free.....

Regrets

Nothing makes me wish I was there more than hearing news like this.
I would so be in the middle doing 'The Bump'

'It's a Wonderful Afterlife' Poster

My good friend Goldy front and centre! V. Proud!

The show

I am not going to comment too much on the various winners. Y'all know my thoughts on who I thought was the deserving, and once the MAFFE awards come around, those of you who do not know, will all see.

I just want to comment on what I honestly thought was the worst Oscar ceremony I have ever witness. It was a mess.

Here is what I didn't like:

Having the lead acting nominees lined up at the beginning was pointless. They look uncomfortable and it seriously took away from the running time. Were they trying to make it look like a beauty pageant ? "The 10 runner ups are...". Ugh.

What was with the opening number. I just did not really get what the point was. I love NPH but it just seemed silly and time consuming, and the following monologue from Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin was ok, had a few high points, but was over all a severe disappointment when compared to last years number.

The fact that they had people presenting awards for nominated films they were in, or had something to do with - Sigourney Weaver - Art Direction, Tyler Perry (very very funny) doing editing, Sam Worthington doing sound - it was tacky and awkward. Poor Sam having to read out that 'Avatar' lost the sound awards was just terrible. Who ever decided that should happen should be smacked.

I love the 5 acting nominees being presented by other actors/directors. I loved the fact that this year it was accompanied by film clips. However only for the lead categories. Supporting was just regulated to film clips. Are they saying that yes...the lead acting oscars are the only ones that deserve a special presentation?

The interpretive dance for Original Score. It went on for 4 years it seemed.

The way certain presenters (who were obviously instructed to) ran off the list of nominees so quickly before tearing that envelope open to get the winner up and off was just plain disrespectful to what they are there celebrating - excellence in film.
They should have just run down and handed them out to them, or shot them out of a cannon.

The way Tom Hanks announced Best Picture was horrendous. I do not really care about having 10 nominees. It would not have taken that much longer to read them out again (just cut the damn dance number, or shorted the John Hughes memorial).

Cutting off speeches. It is just plain rude. Seeing people up there panicking about being cut off is just bad manners. Yet Jeff and Sandra are allowed to go on an on. It makes it so obvious what they think the important awards are, and lets these poor winners know that they are not important.

"And the winner is..." HORRIBLE!!! They are not winners. Gabby, Meryl, Carey and Helen are definitely not losers. We all know that Bullock did not give the best performance of the year, which is why calling her the winner of the category 'Best Performance my and Actress in a leading role' is not true. 'And the Oscar goes to...' is accurate. This was by far the WORST decision of the night,

I would much rather have the 'Best Short' awards placed in a different ceremony to bring back the Life Time Achievement awards. I would obviously prefer a world where we would have both, but if it means I get to see Lauren Bacall be celebrated for her body of work, then so be it.

This is the last of it for my blog. I will not discuss it and instead look to the cinematic gems of 2010.

Someone once said that the awards should be given out a year later. When people have time to see all the films and sit and think about who they honestly want to win. The surrounding hoopla would have died down and voters would not be all caught up in media opinion.

I am sure the results for each year would be quite different.

Here are the best moments in Pictures (aside from Oprah presenting Gabourey Sidibe which was so moving and a nice way of letting her know that this is the reward)

Oscar winners

Best Picture: “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro
Best Director: “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”
Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique in “Precious”
Best Original Screenplay: “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
Best Adapted Screenplay: “Precious” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
Best Foreign Language: “The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)” Argentina
Best Animated Film: “Up” Pete Docter
Best Documentary: “The Cove” Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens
Best Cinematography: “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
Best Art Direction: Avatar” Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair
Best Costumes: “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell
Best Editing: “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
Best Score: “Up” Michael Giacchino
Best Song: “The Weary Kind”(Crazy Heart) Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Best Makeup: “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
Best Visual Effects: “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones
Best Sound Editing: “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
Best Sound Mixing: “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
Best Animated Short: “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
Best Live Action Short: “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
Best Documentary Short: “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor

Would comment on the ceremony, but I honestly thought is was horrendous.

Happy Holidays everyone!

2009 movie reviews

A 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire'
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A- 'A Single Man'
A- 'Avatar'
A- ‘Coraline’
A- 'Distict 9'
A- 'Fantastic Mr Fox'
A- ‘The Hurt Locker’
A- 'Inglourious Basterds
A- ‘Los Abrazos Rotos’
A- 'Mary and Max'
A- 'La Nana'
A- ‘The September Issue’
A- 'Up'
A- 'Whip It'
A- 'Das Weiße Band' (The White Ribbon)
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B+ '(500) Days of Summer'
B+ 'Amreeka'
B+ ‘Away We Go’
B+ 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs'
B+ 'Good Hair'
B+ 'The Hangover'
B+ ‘In The Loop’
B+ 'Un Prophète'
B+ 'Where the Wild Things are'
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B 'A Serious Man'
B 'Bright Star'
B 'Drag Me to Hell'
B ‘Duplicity'
B 'Food, Inc'
B 'Invictus'
B ‘Julie & Julia’
B 'The Lovely Bones'
B 'The Messenger'
B 'Moon'
B 'Paranormal Activity'
B ‘Star Trek’
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B- 'An Education'
B- ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’
B- 'I Love You, Man.''
B- 'Julia'
B- 'State of Play'
B- 'Sunshine Cleaning'
B- 'Zombieland'
B- ‘Up in the Air’
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C+ ‘Twilight’
C+ ‘Ice Age 3: Dan of the Dinosaurs’
C+ 'Funny People'
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C 'Brothers'
C 'Crazy Heart'
C 'It's Complicated'
C 'Public Enemies'
C ‘Watchmen’
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C- 'The Blind Side'
C- ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’
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D+ 'Monster vs Aliens'
D+ 'Nine'
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D ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’
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D- 'Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen'
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F '2012'