Monthly Wallpaper - March 2009: Biopics

For the month of March, the Movie Dearest Calendar Wallpaper celebrates life on film ... biopics, that is.

From the Queen of England to the Queen of Country Music, this month has it all: a mad millionaire, a schizophrenic math genius, a bisexual artist, a gorilla expert, a couple of gay authors, a feisty legal clerk, a pair or WWII heroes and several icons from the world of music. Oh, and let's not forget Gandhi.

Just click on the picture above to enlarge it to its 1024 x 768 size, then right click your mouse and select "Set as Background", and you're all set. If you want, you can also save it to your computer and set it up from there, or modify the size in your own photo-editing program if needed.

Out in Film: Rupert Everett

Idol worship: Rupert Everett, actor.

- His screen debut was in the Academy Award-winning short film A Shocking Accident, followed by roles in such television productions as Princess Daisy, The Far Pavilions and Arthur the King.

- He burst onto the international scene with his acclaimed performance of Guy Bennett, an openly gay English public school student, in the stage and screen versions of Another Country. A string of smaller films — Dance with a Stranger, Duet for One, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The Comfort of Strangers, Inside Monkey Zetterland — followed, capped off by the Bob Dylan flop Hearts of Fire.

- After supporting roles in Prêt-à-Porter (a.k.a. Ready to Wear) and The Madness of King George, he received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for his witty portrayal of Julia Roberts' gay pal George in My Best Friend's Wedding. He next played Christopher Marlowe in Shakespeare in Love and got another Globe nod for An Ideal Husband.

- Other film roles include Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the villain in Inspector Gadget, Madonna's baby daddy in The Next Best Thing, Algy Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest and King Charles II in Stage Beauty on film and Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses and the title sleuth in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking on television. He has also lent his vocal talents to the animated films The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, as well as voicing the fox in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

- Returning to the stage, he makes his Broadway debut this week in the revival of the classic Noël Coward comedy Blithe Spirit. His next film project will be the action comedy Wild Target.

Film Fan Fridays for Friday February 27, 2009!

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday February 27, 2009! Quiet week for releases this week with only 4 new films gracing theatres today. Take your pick from 2 French Canadians films which were selected for Canada's Top Ten 2008, a concert 'experience' or video game rebootin'. Psst... go for Canadian!

Speaking of, both our limited releases this are Canadian and films that explore very different family situations in Quebec. C'est pas moi, je le jure! / It's Not Me, I Swear!, based on the memoir by Bruno Hébert follows a trouble 10 year old as his family deals with change in 1968. Lost Song shows the strange and powerful journey of new motherhood and identity.

In wide release this week we have Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li based on the Street Fighter video games and starring Kristin Kreuk. Our last release of the week is Jonas Brothers: The 3D Experience concert film.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Festival Watch

Canadian Art Reel Artists Film Festival
6th Annual film festival celebrating film about visual art and artists
Continues until - March 1, 2009 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Caribbean Tales Youth Film Festival
Continues until - 27, 2009 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto Human Rights Watch
Continues until - March 5 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

World of Comedy Film Festival
February 27 - March 1 at Innis Town Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Special Screening

Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz double bill
Presented by director Edgar Wright on Saturday February 28, 2009 at The Bloor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Almost Advance Screening

The much anticipated graphic novel adaptation, Watchmen will be released next Friday March 6, 2009 but various theatres have screenings Thursday March 5, 2009 just before, on or after 12midnight.

Friday February 27, 2009 Releases

C'est pas moi, je le jure! / It's Not Me, I Swear!
Dir: Philippe Falardeau (Congorama)
Cast: Antoine L'Écuyer, Suzanne Clément, Daniel Brière, Gabriel Maillé, Catherine Faucher
Canada
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
Dir: Bruce Hendricks (Hanna Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour)
Concert film featuring the Jonas Brothers
USA
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

Lost Song
Writer/Dir: Rodrigue Jean (Yellowknife, Full Blast)
Cast: Suzie LeBlanc, Patrick Goyette, Marilou Longpré Pilon, Ginette Morin
Canada
Limited Release
More info at: Telefilm Canada website, Domino Film, IMDb Page

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Dir: Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom, Romeo Must Die)
Cast: Kristin Kreuk, Chris Klein, Michael Clarke Duncan, Josie Ho, Neal McDonough, Robin Shou, Moon Bloodgood, Pei-pei Cheng
Canada/India/USA/Japan
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of February 27, 2009**

From Screen to Stage: Spidey, Shrek, Slumdog and More

A certain wall-crawler's Broadway bow leads off the latest round of all things From Screen to Stage:

- Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark is the official title (really) of the comic page to stage adaptation that will spin its first web on the Great White Way starting February 18, 2010.

- The next month will see the Big Apple premiere of The Addams Family musical as well, with performances starting March 5, 2010.

- Damn Yankees is returning to the silver screen, with Jim Carrey as Applegate (a.k.a. the devil) and Jake Gyllenhaal (!) as Shoeless Joe (from Hannibal, MO). Now who will play Lola? We say Catherine Zeta-Jones.

- The screen adaptation of the Tony Award winning musical Nine (which now features six Academy Award winners following Penélope Cruz's victory on Sunday) now has an official opening date: November 25.

- The original Broadway cast recording of Shrek the Musical, which will be released on March 24, is now available for pre-orderfrom Amazon.com.

- Universal Studios wants Billy Elliot to dance back on the big screen as a movie musical.

- Having won every film award in site, Slumdog Millionaire is now setting its sites on the stage. Another recent Oscar winner, A.R. Rahman, will pen more songs for the potential new tuner.

- And finally: it looks like our idea for a sequel to Mamma Mia! may actually happen.

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Dir: George Mihalka (Les Boys IV, Pinball Summer)
Cast: Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck, Keith Knight, Cynthia Dale, Don Francks, Peter Cowper
Canada, 1981

Seen: Jan 25, 2009 (original version) & Feb 21, 2009 (with deleted scenes)

Reason to see: It was one of the picks for February for the Final Girl Film Club. I chose it over the newly released with 9 or so extra seconds edition of Friday the 13th (1980).

I have no idea what compelled me to watch the original film instead of just going for the straight up uncut version. Perhaps because it is a film I likely would have seen in its original version, but hadn't, so thought original than uncut would be a more authentic experience.

The film is a lot of fun, I think what I appreciated the most about it was how Canadian it felt. Not in an artsy fartsy way, but how it felt like regular folk at their regular jobs who have fun after work and plan for parties on holidays. Yes, I'm sure this happens worldwide but there was certainly a homey quality that made it extra charming. That is until all hell breaks loose! It is a slasher movie after all, and it has all the classic elements required: creepy backstory, young people messing around, a 'nice town' and of course a menacing baddie in a crazy outfit and claustrophobic location. Seriously, whoever thought of using a mine as a location is a genius. And the miner mask? Jeepers, gives me the creeps!

The effects ranged from a few "what is that?" to "ewwwwwwww I know what that is!" but were always impressive, especially considering it's from 1981. The uncut version certainly gave you 'more'. More blood, more guts, more effect, more impaling, more everything for any scene that ended in someones demise. My only beef with that was watching it on DVD the quality of the image from the regular to the delete scenes was extremely obvious as it when from crystal clear to grainy. But! It made it clear to tell it was the extra footage and that it was going to get beyond bloody.

It was my intention to see this at the January screening at the Bloor which would have been a 35mm print uncut for the very first time presented by Rue Morgue, and even had director George Mihalka in attendance! I was so excited. But, as it turns out it was a freaking cold day (January in Toronto can be like that), so I decided to call it quits. A blessing in disguise as that night the entire West End of the city fell under a blackout, including the theatre. So, I snagged the DVD from Best Buy of all places and watched from the comfort of home. Twice.

Warnings: Not for the faint of heart.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'd watch it again
I'd recommend for fans of classic slasher films

Return to Film Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2009

Reverend's Reviews: Putting on The Ring in LA

Glowing hands and eyeballs, neon sabers, a giant overcoat that would suit a pimp and, oh yeah, the music of Richard Wagner have taken over the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. LA Opera's and Achim Freyer's adventurous staging of Das Rheingold (now playing through March 15), the first chapter of Wagner's famed Der Ring des Nibelungen, may upset purists but truly shouldn't be missed.

Freyer brings a decidedly avant-garde sensibility to the work. One may be tempted to term it futuristic, especially with the incorporation of Star Wars-esque weaponry, but the production can't be classified so easily.

The Ring saga kicks off here with the Nibelung (a race of dwarves) Alberich's theft of a stash of cursed gold from the Rhine River's protective maidens. Alberich (well played and sung by Gordon Hawkins, despite the challenges of an oversized mask and a raked stage) is quickly consumed by a lust for power and gifted with magical abilities courtesy of the Rhinegold.

This puts Alberich and the Nibelungen in opposition to Wotan, king of the gods, and his family. Wotan is having the final touches put on his dream palace, Valhalla, which has been constructed by giants who have been promised Wotan's beautiful sister-in-law, Freia, as payment. Of course, Fricka, Wotan's wife, isn't happy with this arrangement.

Wotan convinces the giants to accept a payment of Rhinegold instead. With the help of the conniving fire god, Loge, and the aforementioned pimp coat (complete with oversized fedora), Wotan sets out to steal the gold from Alberich and the Nibelungen.


Musically and vocally, LA Opera's Das Rheingold is assured and, even with the orchestra concealed by Freyer, a powerful testament to Wagner's classic composition. Vitalij Kowaljow sings the role of Wotan beautifully, with Arnold Bezuyen (as Loge), Michelle DeYoung (as Fricka) and Ellie Dehn (as Freia) also excellent.

But it is the visuals that make this production most noteworthy. Imaginative and often hallucinatory, Freyer's designs (with an assist by his daughter, Amanda) will likely remain in viewers' minds — and perhaps their dreams — long after his Ring cycle for Los Angeles closes in 2010.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Women We Love: Keri Russell

Object of our affection: Keri Russell, actress.

- She got her start (along with a few other famous names) on the 90's version of The Mickey Mouse Club. Other early works include the Disney movie Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (her big screen debut), the primetime soap Malibu Shores and the TV movie The Babysitter's Seduction.

- It was her angsty performance as the title character in Felicity that shot her to stardom and won her a Golden Globe.

- During the run of Felicity, she also appeared in the films Eight Days a Week, The Curve, Mad About Mambo and We Were Soldiers.

- Post-Felicity, she has starred in the films The Upside of Anger, Mission: Impossible III, Waitress, August Rush, Bedtime Stories and the television mini-series Into the West.

- Next week, she'll be heard as the voice of Wonder Woman in a new DVDmovie. Her future projects include the crime thriller Leaves of Grass and the based-on-a-true story drama Crowley.

Different Strokes All Around: Canadian, North American & UK Box Office February 20, 2009 weekend

It's a week of surprizes at the box office with different #1 Films here in Canada (Slumdog Millionaire), North America (Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail) and the UK (Bolt - for the second week). Also Canada has it's quietest number 1 at $1.10 million and North America has it's strongest at $42.12 million. Very few other films with a debut this week made high marks on the charts, Fired Up! popped on the charts around the 8/9 mark in Canada and North America and although Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail was number one in North America, it ranked 18th here in Canada. There definitely are a strong number of Oscar films still in the mix, it will be interesting to see the numbers next week since now the awards have been presented.

Top 20 Movies in Canada for the February 20, 2009 weekend
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. He's Just Not That Into You
3. Confessions of a Shopaholic
4. Taken
5. Coraline
6. Friday the 13th
7. Paul Blart: Mall Cop
8. Fired Up *
9. The International
10. The Pink Panther 2
11. Push
12. The Reader
13. Hotel For Dogs
14. Gran Torino
15. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
16. The Wrestler
17. Jag Jeondeyan De Mele *
18. Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail *
19. Polytechnique
20. Milk

Top 20 Movies in North American for the February 20, 2009 weekend
1. Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail *
2. Taken
3. Coraline
4. He's Just Not That Into You
5. Slumdog Millionaire
6. Friday the 13th
7. Confessions of a Shopaholic
8. Paul Blart: Mall Cop
9. Fired Up *
10. The International
11. The Pink Panther 2
12. Gran Torino
13. Push
14. The Reader
15. Hotel For Dogs
16. The Wrestler
17. The Uninvited
18. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
19. Milk
20. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Top 10 Movies in the UK for the February 20, 2009 weekend
1. Bolt
2. Confessions of a Shopaholic *
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Hotel for Dogs
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6. He's Just Not That Into You
7. Push *
8. The Pink Panther 2
9. Notorious
10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona

* indicates opening weekend in noted location

Source: Canada & North America info, UK info

Awards Watch: Oscars Post Mortem and the 2008 Yearly Round Up

Now that all the (gold) dust has settled on this year's Oscars, it's time to take one last look at the movie award season just past. But before we get to our yearly round up of what movies won the most prizes overall, there's one more bit of 2008 business to attend to: how about that show the other night?

Having watched every single Academy Award ceremony since at least 1977, I have to say that this year's was by far the best. As expected, Hugh Jackman was as charming and classy a host as we have seen in a long time, and his marathon musical numbers proved to the world that he is not just Wolverine. I especially enjoyed his mega-movie musical salute (staged by Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann) with Dreamgirl Beyoncé Knowles, High School Musical cuties Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens and Mamma Mia! lovebirds Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper.


Further kudos go out to the ceremony's producers, Laurence Marks and Bill Condon, who took some chances with the format and succeeded in shaking things up in a positive way. From the grandiose yet intimate set to the unique presentation of the acting awards, the show finally did what it is supposed to do: celebrate the year in film (and not just those chosen few that were nominated too). Here's my vote that this dream team reunites for next year's Oscars.


All right, onto our annual look at the top award winners. As I stated last year, I have tallied up the total trophies handed out by the top 26 organizations, critics groups and industry guilds so as to get a clearer picture of what is indeed the Best Picture (et al) of the year; the results can sometimes be surprising. (Only categories with at least two wins are included.)

Picture of the Year: Slumdog Millionaire, 7 wins.
Actor of the Year: Sean Penn in Milk, 6 wins.
Actress of the Year: Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky, 5 wins.
Supporting Actor of the Year: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, 7 wins.
Supporting Actress of the Year: Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 6 wins.
Director of the Year: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, 7 wins.
Adapted Screenplay of the Year: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire, 6 wins.
Original Screenplay of the Year: Dustin Lance Black for Milk, 3 wins.
Cinematography of the Year: Slumdog Millionaire, 5 wins.
Art Direction of the Year: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 3 wins.
Costume Design of the Year: The Duchess, 4 wins. Original Score of the Year: Slumdog Millionaire, 6 wins.
Original Song of the Year: "The Wrestler" from The Wrestler, 2 wins.
Film Editing of the Year: Slumdog Millionaire, 3 wins.
Sound Mixing & Editing of the Year: The Dark Knight and Slumdog Millionaire, 4 wins each.
Visual Effects of the Year: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 6 wins.
Makeup Design of the Year: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2 wins.
Animated Feature of the Year: WALL-E, 9 wins.
Foreign Film of the Year: Waltz with Bashir, 2 wins.
Documentary Feature of the Year: Man on Wire, 10 wins.
New Director of the Year: Courtney Hunt for Frozen River and Steve McQueen for Hunger, 2 wins each.

The top winner was (no big surprise) Slumdog Millionaire, with wins in 7 categories, while the documentary Man on Wire won the most awards in any category, with 10 total. It is also worth noting that Kate Winslet won a total of 5 awards for her performance in The Reader, 2 for Best Actress and 3 for Best Supporting Actress.

See the comments section below for the list of the 26 groups tracked.

Spirit Awards

26th Annual Spirit Awards (2010 Films)
26th Annual Spirit Awards Winners
26th Annual Spirit Awards Nominations

25th Annual Spirit Awards (2009 Films)
25th Annual Spirit Awards Winners
25th Annual Spirit Awards Nominations

24th Annual Spirit Awards (2008 Films)
24th Annual Spirit Awards Winners
24th Annual Spirit Awards Nominations

See more at the Spirit Awards Website

Poll Results: The Oscars are this Sunday. Where will you be?

Over 90% of us were watching the Oscar last night, the majority of us were at home (42%) or at a party or Oscar event (28%) or even the host of the event (7%). Only 14% decided to check in periodically and 7% were not going to watch.

There certainly was a different vibe this year and overall seemed to be received well. I was thrilled only 1 time did the music swell someone out of a speech (where there were 3 winners). Hugh Jackman was a great host but other than the musical numbers it felt like it ran without a host. My only big beef was that the 'In Memory' montage the camera was swerving all over the place on the montage. It's a montage - let the images speak for themselves and keep the camera static.

42% - Watching at Home
28% - At an Oscar Party/Event
14% - Checking in Periodically
7% - Hosting an Oscar Party/Event
7% - I'm Not Watching the Oscars

Thanks for voting!

Cinematic Crush: Matthew Goode

Crush object: Matthew Goode, actor.

- Following his screen debut in Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, he appeared in such UK television productions as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and He Knew He Was Right.

- His breakthrough role was as Mandy Moore's love interest in the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty.

- He has also co-starred in Match Point, Imagine Me & You, Copying Beethoven and The Lookout.

- Last year, he starred as Charles Ryder in the big screen remake of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, and his highest profile role to date will be as the enigmatic Ozymandias in next week's superhero epic Watchmen.

- Future films include A Single Man, directed by Tom Ford from the Christopher Isherwood novel, and Leap Year, opposite Amy Adams.

81st Academy Awards (for films in 2008)

81st Academy Awards for films released in 2008 just came to a close and the overall the tally speaks to a sweep: Slumdog Millionaire 8, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 3, Milk 2, The Dark Knight 2 all other films that won were for 1 category. Many predictions people are happy but we certainly had a few surprizes. The winners themselves are certainly from various prediction polls but the main difference was the format of the show which included musical numbers and new montages for romance and action films.

The word on the street was that they were appealing to the younger crowd which explains the Zac Efron and Robert Pattison appearances. They also had a huge infusion of appreciation of non-nominated films. The biggest change I felt was to the introduction to acting awards, all the supporting and lead acting noms are introduced by previous winners who honour the nominees by describing their role in the film as well as film as a whole. It was also refreshing to see so few speeches cut off. A.R. Rahman winning right before performing and doing both so well!

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Sean Penn in Milk

Performance by an actor in a Supporting Role
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Kate Winslet in The Reader

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
WALL-E Andrew Stanton

Achievement in Art Direction
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo

Achievement in Cinematography
Slumdog Millionaire , Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in Costume Design
The Duchess, Michael O’Connor

Achievement in Directing
Slumdog Millionaire , Danny Boyle

Best Documentary Feature
Man on Wire, James Marsh and Simon Chinn

Best Documentary Short Subject
Smile Pinki A Principe Production, Megan Mylan

Achievement in Film Editing
Slumdog Millionaire , Chris Dickens

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Departures, Japan

Achievement in Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , Greg Cannom

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Score)
Slumdog Millionaire , A.R. Rahman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Song)
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire , Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Slumdog Millionaire, Christian Colson, Producer

Best Animated Short Film
La Maison en Petits Cubes, Kunio Kato

Best Live Action Short Film
Spielzeugland, Jochen Alexander Freydank

Achievement in Sound Editing
The Dark Knight , Richard King

Achievement in Sound Mixing
Slumdog Millionaire , Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty

Achievement in Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron

Adapted Screenplay
Slumdog Millionaire , Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original Screenplay
Milk, Written by Dustin Lance Black

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Jerry Lewis

Oscars 2008: Best Picture

Slumdog Millionaire

Oscars 2008: Best Actor

Sean Penn in Milk

Oscars 2008: Best Actress

Kate Winslet in The Reader

Oscars 2008: Best Director

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Oscars 2008: Best Foreign Language Film

Departures

Oscars 2008: Best Original Song

"Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire

Oscars 2008: Best Original Score

Slumdog Millionaire

Oscars 2008: Best Film Editing

Slumdog Millionaire

Oscars 2008: Best Sound Mixing

Slumdog Millionaire

Oscars 2008: Best Sound Editing

The Dark Knight

Oscars 2008: Best Visual Effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Oscars 2008: Best Documentary Short

Smile Pinki

Oscars 2008: Best Documentary Feature

Man on Wire

Oscars 2008: Best Supporting Actor

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Oscars 2008: Best Live Action Short

Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Oscars 2008: Best Cinematography

Slumdog Millionaire

Oscars 2008: Best Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Oscars 2008: Best Costume Design

The Duchess

Oscars 2008: Best Art Direction

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Oscars 2008: Best Animated Short

La Maison en Petits Cubes

Oscars 2008: Best Animated Feature

WALL-E

Oscars 2008: Best Adapted Screenplay

Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

Oscars 2008: Best Original Screenplay

Dustin Lance Black for Milk

Oscars 2008: Best Supporting Actress

Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Awards Watch: "Love" Stinks

On the eve of Hollywood's biggest salute to the best in film 2008, the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation singled out the worst of the worst of the year with their 29th Annual Razzie Awards. And it was not a good night for Mike Myers, Paris Hilton or Uwe Boll.

Myers' critically maligned box office bomb The Love Guru was named Worst Picture, while Myers himself was awarded for both his acting and writing on the would-be comedy. Hilton swept the actress "honors", as Worst Actress for The Hottie and the Nottie and Worst Supporting Actress for Repo! The Genetic Opera, plus a third Razzie as part of the Worst Screen Couple for Hottie. And Boll was not only singled out as Worst Director (duh) for his trash trifecta of In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, 1968: Tunnel Rats and Postal, but he was also "honored" with a Worst Career Achievement citation.

But it wasn't just flops that were Razzie'ed. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was named Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel, and poor tone deaf Pierce Brosnan "won" Worst Supporting Actor for Mamma Mia!

Awards Watch: Sound and Fury '08

The last of the pre-Oscar award groups have spoken in two separate ceremonies last night:

The Visual Effects Society showed some love — in the form of four trophies — to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, while The Dark Knight and WALL-E nabbed three each. Changeling also picked up two prizes, but the big news is that Iron Man, which had the most nominations going in, went home empty-handed.

Elsewhere, the Motion Picture Sound Editors bestowed two of its Golden Reel Awards upon The Dark Knight. Button and WALL-E also won, as well as Mamma Mia! and Slumdog Millionaire.

Tonight is the Night! Twittering through the Academy Awards

I'll be live tweeting through the the Academy Awards as of 8pm EST tonight. Feel free to login or join Twitter and to join the fun or you can see the Movie Moxie Twitter stream and just hit F5 for a refresher. I will also be dropping by the chat over at Row Three and chatting with the gang over there.

If you need to refresh your memory for whose is looking to hold that Oscar statue tonight, you can browse through nominee lists here.

The Academy Awards will begin tonight, Sunday February 22, 2009 starting at 8pm EST on ABC. They've noted the first half hour to Red Carpet and the Awards from 8:30-11:30 but it has been known to go to midnight.

24th Annual Spirit Awards Winners

There was a lot of love for The Wrestler at the Spirit Awards, picking up best picture, male lead (Mickey Rourke) and cinematography. Seeing the truncated version on the AMC repeat of the awards almost all awards were shown and of them the most touching acceptance speech had to have been Melissa Leo for best female lead for her performance in Frozen River. The big surprize was how few surprizes there were, as the awards for the majority went to the favourites and wider distributed of the independant films. But, with such fine films to choose from I don't think anyone could complain with the results.

And the winners are....

Best Feature
The Wrestler

Best Director
Tom McCarthy - The Visitor

Best First Feature
Charlie Kaufman, Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Sidney Kimmel - Synecdoche, New York

John Cassavetes Award
In Search of a Midnight Kiss

Best Screenplay
Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best First Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black - Milk

Best Female Lead
Melissa Leo - Frozen River

Best Male Lead
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Best Supporting Female
Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Supporting Male
James Franco - Milk

Best Foreign Film
The Class / Entre les murs

Best Documentary
Man on Wire

Best Cinematography
The Wrestler

Robert Altman Award
Synecdoche, New York
Charlie Kaufman (Director), Jeanne McCarthy (Casting Director), Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams

Piaget Producers Award
Heather Rae - Frozen River

Acura Someone to Watch Award
Lynn Shelton - My Effortless Brilliance

Lacoste Truer Than Fiction Award
Margaret Brown - The Order of Myths

Movie Dearest's Fearless Oscar Predictions - 2008

At first, it seemed that this award season was going to be a little more exciting and unpredictable than usual, what with a masked superhero and a cartoon robot unexpectedly in the mix. But, as you know, that didn't happen. Then a feel good sleeper about abject poverty, child prostitution and drug dealers snuck in under the radar and won every award in sight.

And that's not hyperbole, Slumdog Millionaire really has won every award in sight, some dubiously so (again, costume design ... really?). (Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Slumdog, but I have a feeling once it hits DVD, there is going to be a lot of "is that it?" chatter.) Needless to say, Slumdog is poised to take the lion's share of tomorrow night's trophies, including Best Picture, Director (Danny Boyle), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing and Original Score. For the rest of Movie Dearest's Fearless Oscar Predictions, see below.


Actor: This race would be a lot closer if Sean Penn (Milk) hadn't won it just five years ago. But he did, so comeback kid Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) will win.
Actress: Kate Winslet (The Reader) is long overdue.
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) is the surest bet of the evening, and rightly so.
Supporting Actress: This category is always good for a surprise, and I have a hunch that Viola Davis (Doubt) will upset front runner Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona).
Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black's script is Milk's best chance at a win.
Art Direction, Visual Effects and Makeup: With a leading 13 nominations, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button should triumph in these so-called "lesser" categories.
Costume Design: Opulence is the key here, and The Duchess has the prize all but sewn up.
Original Song: Slumdog's "Jai Ho" could dance off with the prize, but I'm sticking with my original prediction for WALL-E's "Down to Earth".
Sound Mixing: Another possibility for a Slumdog sweep, but I expect the bombastic The Dark Knight to be triumphant here, leaving ...
Sound Editing: ... to Animated Feature victor WALL-E.
Foreign Language Film: This one is between Israel's Waltz with Bashir and France's The Class, with the latter, more traditional film winning.
Documentary Feature: Man on Wire seems unbeatable.
Animated Short and Live Action Short: Will turn to Chris' picks on these two — La Maison en Petits Cubes and Spielzeugland (Toyland), respectively.
Documentary Short: The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306 (about the MLK assassination) seems to be the consensus.

Well, there they are ... we'll see how well we do tomorrow night. Don't forget, Movie Dearest will be live blogging all the Oscar winners as they happen. See you then!

UPDATE: Movie Dearest scored about what we usually do, with 17 out of 24 correct predictions. The categories we missed: Actor, Supporting Actress, Foreign Language Film, Original Song, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Documentary Short.

Indie Spirit Awards '08: Best Feature

The Wrestler

Indie Spirit Awards '08: Best Director

Tom McCarthy for The Visitor

Indie Spirit Awards '08: Best Male Lead

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Indie Spirit Awards '08: Robert Altman Award

Synecdoche, New York

Indie Spirit Awards '08: Best Cinematography

Maryse Alberti for The Wrestler

Indie Spirit Awards '08: Best Foreign Film

The Class