2009 Oscar Nominations a Curious Case

Leading the way for the 2009 Oscar nominations is "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" which led all Academy Awards contenders Thursday with 13 nominations. Brad Pitt was included in the Best Actor category while the movie itself is up for Best Picture. Button director David Fincher is also nominated in the Best Director category. Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category as well as Josh Brolin (Milk), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) and Robert Downey Jr. for the comedy "Tropic Thunder". While Ledger has the nomination it was a dark day otherwise for Dark Knight. The movie failed to be included in either the Best Picture or Best Director nominees. This year Heath Ledger may become only the second actor to win the award posthumously, as he already has won the Golden Globe for his portrayal of Batman's arch-nemesis, The Joker. Rounding out the Best Picture category are "Milk", "Frost/Nixon", "Slumdog Millionaire", and "The Reader". Slumdog was second in the nominations to Benjamin Button with 10. According to Newsday.com, Brad Pitt and partner Angelina Jolie will be attending the awards ceremony both as nominees this year. Jolie has been nominated for best-actress in "Changeling", a story of a missing child.

No Country vs. American Gangster

Two recent movies which are all about greed, The American Dream and drug dealer's money are "American Gangster" and "No Country for Old Men". The similarities of these movies basically is they both star Josh Brolin and both feature the greed and ruthless nature of drug dealers as they kill, plunder and ruin lives to pursue wealth. Both movies take us into the world of drug dealers who will move forward at all costs, killing everyone in their way. "American Gangster" stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. It depicts Frank Lucas (Denzel) who started out as a driver for the notorious gangster named "Bumpy". Frank was with Bumpy everyday and learned his mentor's gangster ways. When Bumpy passed one day, Frank took over the operations and decided to expand. He became very business-minded and money hungry. Capitalizing on the Vietnam War and the increasing use of marijuana, heroin and opium, he began to ship product in from overseas with the military. The product was called "Blue Magic" which was 100% pure and Frank's brand. Frank quickly became the biggest name in Harlem, and one of the most ruthless. He still had to deal with crooked cops and rival gangsters, as well as the realization that a dream built illegally can come crashing down. Crowe plays the detective tracking Frank and trying to bring him in, while also trying to mend his own broken life. The movie served as Jay-Z's inspiration for the great album of the same title as the movie. While I didn't find this movie any more impressive than other mobster movies such as Goodfellas, Bronx Tale or Scarface, it definitely serves an important purpose and has relevance as it depicts how our society has evolved. "No Country for Old Men" stars Tommy Lee Jones and Woody Harrelson as well as Javier Bardem, the winner of this year's Best Supporting Actor award for playing a seriously crazy serial killer. The movie itself won best picture, so it's worth seeing. Without giving away too much of it, it tells the tale of a Cowboy (Brolin) who is out hunting in the vast country fields of Texas. He stumbles upon a gruesome drug deal gone bad, with dead bodies strewn everywhere. Not far off from the crime scene, is another dead man with a suitcase full of money. The cowboy decides to take the rich prize, which includes a tracking device in it. Of course, the drug dealers want their money back and the man quickly becomes the target for the craziest of the drug dealers, a serial killer who stalks him, and his family. Tommy Lee Jones serves as an older law enforcement agent in the area trying to track the seriously whacked out killer down. The movie was entertaining and kept you wondering what would happen as the killer pursued the man who stole his money. The ending may be a let down for some but provide relevance to others. Give this one a try and see what you think of the latest "Best Picture" Oscar winner. If nothing else it does include some great acting performances from not only the serial killer but also Tommy Lee Jones and a swimming drug dealer's dog. While both movies are set in different times with different characters, they both serve to show that the drug trade as well as greed in our country will almost always lead to the destruction of many lives and families. Not only that, but money made illegally will almost always catch up to the person who made it. (Also of note, American Gangster stars several rappers: TI, Common and RZA from Wu-Tang Clan.) No Country for Old Men available on DVD at Amazon.com. American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition) available on DVD at Amazon.com.

80th Oscar Observations

It was an interesting night for the 80th annual Oscar Awards show. The night saw everything from crazy man Gary Busey kissing Jennifer Garner's neck on the red carpet to John Stewart playing Nintendo Wii up on the huge screen backdrop on the show's stage. Stewart has made for a great host of the show in recent years as he uses a great mix of sarcastic political, social and entertainment humor. He mixed jokes about presidential candidates with the writer's strike and typical amusing quips about Hollywood stars. There was even a new award unveiled when Stewart presented "The Baby" to Angelina Jolie. The contenders had been Jessica Alba, Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman, all of whom are pregnant. Stewart joked that Angelina could not be present because it's hard to find babysitting for 17 kids. A new favorite actress could easily be Marion Cotillard (pictured above). The beautiful French actress who performed as a musical star en "La Vie en Rose" was clearly overwhelmed with emotions. She even sang backstage as the press interview her, to show how overjoyed she was at winning the Best Supporting Actress award. "No Country for Old Men" turned out to be the big winner Sunday night as it took home 4 awards including "Best Picture". Other award winners included "Juno", "Bourne Ultimatum" for its impressively edited sound, Daniel Day Lewis from "There Will Be Blood", and actress Tilda Swinton from "Michael Clayton". The movie "Enchanted" had a 3 out of 5 chance to score the Best Song award but fell to a male/female team from the movie "Once" who claimed they filmed their movie on 2 handicams. The song they performed was beautiful, called Falling. The male of the duo remarked how great it was to be in America making music and movies. His female partner added afterwards that it shows how far people can go if they don't give up hope. Read more about the 80th annual Oscars at USA Today's coverage of the show. Also see info about the upcoming Oscars 2012 date and time

Oscars Served with Style

Enjoy tonight's 80th Oscar awards on ABC with a great drink. The music of tonight's ceremony will be provided by a flavorful band known as Pink Martini. They provide a jazzy sound and describe their invite to the big show as a "dream come true". The group is best known for their song and album, both named Sympathique which came out in 1997. The Portland, Oregon group started out in 1994 playing at campaign events, civil rights rallies and other political functions. They bring forth a combination of jazz, swing, lounge and classical and find their inspiration in movies made in Hollywood way back in the late 1930's all the way through 1964. Basically the group is like an old fashioned Hollywood Movie, "Sunset Boulevard" or "Breakfast at Tiffany's". The head of the group is Harvard alumni, Thomas Lauderdale who took piano lessons at age six, and says he found disco records many years ago like YMCA to be "horrific". Tonight, Lauderdale and his 12 member band will look to set the backdrop for a swingin' 80th Oscar Awards show. (SOURCE) Read more at the Pink Martini Wikipedia entry. See the Pink Martini official website. See Pink Martini's album Sympathique at Amazon.com.