Oscar Live Tweets

  • Hugh Jackman did an amazingly fluid opening sequence.  He'll be setting a new benchmark in hosting, I hope.
  • Slumdog opens its account with an Oscar for adapted screenplay.  I'm afraid this undeserving movie is going to sweep the top categories.
  • I'm hoping to witness at least one interesting Oscar speech.  Three speeches so far, and all have been flat.
  • Wall-E wins best animation.  I thought the animation (the Earth part) was extraordinarily brilliant.  But I found the screenplay sugary-preachy.
  • Production Design goes to Benjamin Button.  The streets and cars and street lights and beer bottles looked authentic in this movie.  The movie didn't have a heart, but had a great body.
  • Make-up to Benjamin Button.  Really, I didn't know what was computer generated and what was prosthetic.  I think this movie will score a lot more in the technical achievements section.
  • Oh boy, doesn't anybody have anything interesting to say upon accepting the trophy.
  • Wally Pfister didn't get it for his cinematography for 'Dark Knight'.  I thought the sweeping epic tone was very much imparted by his magnificent eye.  I don't know if I'm sad that he didn't get the Oscar for his work or Mantle won for Slumdog.
  • The 4 living actors nominated for a best supporting actor are unlucky - the members of the academy just wanted to see Heath Ledger's family on stage as their thank you note before they forget.  Ledger was chillingly brilliant in 'Dark Knight'.  But did you see 'Tropic Thunder'?  You'll understand why Robert Downey Jr is a magnificent actor.  Any other year, hands down, he would have won.
  • Bill Maher, my favorite observational comedian, presented the best documentary.  But he went on a shameless self-promotion of his own documentary 'Religulous'. 'Man of Wire', a documentary about a man who walked between the two towers in the 70s won in this category.  It had a great buzz even before it was nominated.  And it's on Netflix Instant Play.
  • Rahman wins.  Wow, I still vividly remember being blown away by his 'Vellai Mazhai'.  Though his score for 'Slumdog Millionaire' is not his best this is a long overdue recognition.
  • Rahman wins again for 'Jai Ho'.  He caught the eyeballs of film producers all over the world tonight.  I wish he had hired a speech writer. Both speeches were a bit clumsy.
  • Two talented actors take the top acting prizes - Kate Winslet for 'Reader' and Sean Penn for 'Milk'.  Kate Winslet said 'I can't believe we're competing with Meryl Streep' - well, Kate is very nicely maturing into the next Meryl in terms of depth & range.
  • Best picture, anybody's guess.  What can I say, these are economically bad times and the members of the academy just love to see an underdog win a million.

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