Academy Awards

Forget worthiness. The Oscars are as much about politics, payback and persuasion than talent and if there’s one town where money it talks, it’s Hollywood. So it’s worth looking at what the money has been saying in the last few weeks about the 84th Annual Academy Awards.

Best Animated
A controversial category as two of the contenders – A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita - never managed major releases while Spielberg’s Adventures of Tin Tin featured eye-popping animation and didn’t win a nomination. I would have chosen Puss In Boots but the dark and highly referential Rango is the raging hot favourite. Great visuals but this animated version of Chinatown meets Clint Eastwood lacks any originality.

Ah Hollywood, you’ve blown it again. Winner: Rango.

Continue reading "All the tears, trash and talent of the Oscars" »

Don’t be fooled. The end is coming, and it’s coming on Monday morning. At exactly 10am, Australian Eastern Daylight Time, The Internet will explode. Fact.

In a cruel confluence of major events, the Labor leadership ballot will clash with the Oscars, and Australia’s mass consumption of digital media will cause the webz to buckle under the weight of its own Wi-Fi. Or something.

And as the internet slips into oblivion, so too will human existence. Why? Because South Park said so. Plus hyperbole is fun. The Mayans have long predicted the crumbling of civilisation will transpire on December 12, 2012, which was confirmed by the 2009 documentary 2012.

Continue reading "Roll out the red carpet for a ruddy e-pocalypse" »

Whether you love or loathe the Academy Awards, there’s no doubt that winning one of those heavy gold statuettes can be a career-changing experience for those in the movie industry.

It’s not surprising then that the announcement that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has lifted the number of nominations for Best Picture from 5 to 10 for 2010 has drawn interesting responses from fans and critics alike.

Some film professionals are delighted that the pool of competitors is being deepened, declaring that this decision will allow more cinematic contenders to vie for what’s undoubtedly the most prestigious prize of the night. Hope for the Australian film industry has even been expressed – but apart from this year’s winner of Canne’s best film, Warwick Thornton’s Sampson and Delilah, that wish is more akin to chasing rainbows.

Continue reading "Double the chance of nomination for an Oscar" »