81st Academy Awards - Winners

The 81st Academy Awards were held on February 22, 2009. The winners are noted in red.

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet – The Reader

Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin – Milk
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Best Director
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire

Foreign Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

Adapted Screenplay
Eric Roth and Robin Swicord – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley – Doubt
Peter Morgan – Frost/Nixon
David Hare – The Reader
Simon Beaufoy – Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay
Courtney Hunt – Frozen River
Mike Leigh – Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh – In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black – Milk
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Peter Docter – WALL-E

Animated Feature Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Art Direction
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Cinematography
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Original Score
Alexandre Desplat - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
James Newton Howard – Defiance
Danny Elfman – Milk
A.R. Rahman – Slumdog Millionaire
Thomas Newman – WALL-E

Original Song
Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman - "Down to Earth" from WALL-E
A.R. Rahman and Gulzar - "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire
A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam - "O Saya" from Slumdog Millionaire

Costume
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

Documentary Feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (Oscar statuette) Jerry Lewis

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

Opened November 7, 2008
Runtime: 1 hour, 29 minutes
Genres: Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild crude humor
Cast: Voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin, Sherri Shepherd, Will i Am, Elisa Gabrielli, Tom McGrath
Directors: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
Screenwriters: Etan Cohen
Music: Hans Zimmer
Production Co.: DreamWorks Animation

Synopses:

• The sequel to 2005's "Madagascar", in which New York Zoo animals, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo, still stranded on Madagascar, start to leave the island. All of a sudden, they land in the wilderness of Africa, where Alex meets the rest of his family, but has trouble communicating with them after spending so much time at the Central Park Zoo.
• In the highly-anticipated sequel to 'Madagascar,' Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien, Maurice and the penguins and the chimps find themselves marooned on the distant shores of Madagascar. In the face of this obstacle, the New Yorkers have hatched a plan so crazy it just might work. With military precision, the penguins have repaired an old crashed plane--sort of. Once aloft, this unlikely crew stays airborne just long enough to make it to the wildest place of all--the vast plains of Africa, where the members of our zoo-raised crew encounter species of their own kind for the very first time. Africa seems like a great place...but is it better than their Central Park home?

The official website for Madagascar has multiple categories to look through including about the film. Click on the following links for more resources and information on the movie as well as reviews: Internet movie databata (imdb), Yahoo! movies, Rotten Tomatoes, About.com, NY Times, Houston Chronicle, Roger Ebert, Fandango, Moviefone, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Rolling Stone, Variety

Trivia:

• Bernie Mac's last animated feature. This movie was dedicated to him.
• The sequel Madagascar 3 (2012) was confirmed months before this one came out.
  'Moto Moto' means 'Hot Hot' in Swahili.
• The line the English penguin delivers in his safety speech on the plane is the same safety tip that the rat gives the chickens in the Aardman film, Chicken Run (2000).
• The song from this movie, "Time 2 Move It/I Like To Move It", was used in a 2008 Chrysler car commercial.
• A specially-made segment featuring Julien and Private was used as part of a 2008 Comcast Digital Voice commercial.
• A specially-made segment featuring Alex, Gloria, Melman, Marty, and the penguins was used as part of a 2008 McDonald's restaurant commercial.
• Alex's family birth-mark is shaped like the continent of Africa, including the island of Madagascar.
• When the airplane takes flight, Alex look out the window, and sees Mort on the wing, messing with the engine, this is an homage to the classic Twilight Zone episode _"The Twilight Zone" Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963)_ featuring a young William Shatner.
• The aircraft used in the escape attempt is based on a Lockheed L-10 Electra, similar to one used by Amelia Earhart.
• When the head penguin asks to kiss the head monkey the monkey replies, "Alright, but you're so darned ugly" is a direct reference to Planet of the Apes (1968). In one scene Taylor (Charlton Heston) says to Zira (Kim Hunter) I'd like to kiss you Zira. Zira replies, "Alright, but you're so damned ugly".

Reel Thoughts entertainment rating: 4/5

Reel Thoughts award-worthy rating: 3/5

BAFTA Film Winners (2009)

On February 8, 2009, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) , a British charity, hosted their annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation. They are often cited as a British equivalent to the Oscars. The full list of Winners can be seen by going to the BAFTA website. Below are the highlights with the winners in red:

BEST FILM

Slumdog Millionaire

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

Man on Wire

Hunger

In Bruges

Mamma Mia!

Slumdog Millionaire

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film

Steve McQueen (Hunger)

Simon Chinn (Man on Wire)

Judy Craymer (Mamma Mia!)

Garth Jennings (Son of Rambow)

Solon Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter (Of Time And The City)

DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)

Clint Eastwood (Changeling)

David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)

Stephen Daldry (The Reader)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Martin McDonagh (In Bruges)

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (Burn After Reading)

Joe Michael Straczynski (Changeling)

Philippe Claude (I've Loved You So Long)

Dustin Lance Black (Milk

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)

Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon)

David Hare (The Reader)

Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
I've Loved You So Long

The Baader Meinhof Complex

Gomorrah

Persepolis

Waltz With Bashir

ANIMATED FILM
Wall•E

Persepolis

Waltz with Bashir

LEADING ACTOR

Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)

Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)

Sean Penn (Milk)

Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

LEADING ACTRESS

Kate Winslet (The Reader)

Angelina Jolie (Changeling)

Kristin Scott Thomas (I've Loved You So Long)

Meryl Streep (Doubt)

Revolutionary Road (Kate Winslet)

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)

Robert Downey, Jr. (Tropic Thunder)

Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)

Brad Pitt (Burn After Reading)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Amy Adams (Doubt)

Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire)

Tilda Swinton (Burn After Reading)

Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)

MUSIC

A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire)

Alexandre Desplat (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard (The Dark Knight)

Benny Andersson andBjörn Ulvaeus (Mamma Mia!)

Thomas Newman (Wall•E)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire)

Tom Stern (Changeling)

Claudio Miranda (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight)

Chris Menges and Roger Deakins (The Reader)

COSTUME DESIGN
Michael O'Connor (The Duchess)

Deborah Hopper (Changeling)

Jacqueline West (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Lindy Hemming (The Dark Knight)

Albert Wolsky (Revolutionary Road)

ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD
Noel Clark

Michael Cera

Michael Fassbender

Rebecca Hall

Toby Kebbell

ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP
Terry Gilliam

Glory Road

Opened January 13, 2006

Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes

Genres: Drama, Sport

MPAA Rating: PG for racial issues including violence and epithets, and mild language

Cast: Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Austin Nichols, Evan Jones, Mehcad Brooks, Emily Deschanel, Sam Jones III, Schin A.S. Kerr, Alphonso McAuley, Damaine Radcliff, Tatyana Ali, Sharon Warren, Jon Voight, Al Shearer, Red West, Kip Weeks, Mitch Eakins, Alejandro D. Hernandez, James Olivard, Wilbur T. Fitzgerald (II)

Director: James Gartner

Screenwriters: Chris Cleveland, Bettina Gilois

Music: Trevor Rabin

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Production Co.: Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Distributors: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Synopses:

• In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
• 40 years ago, Don Haskins went on the recruiting trail to find the best talent in the land, black or white. 7 blacks and 5 whites made up the legendary 1965-66 Texas Western Miners. They were mocked and ridiculed for their showboating and flaunting of black players on the court. Yet, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, Haskins and his Miners came together as a team united to reach the National Championship game against powerhouse Kentucky.
• For Don Haskins, the dream was always about winning: winning with guts, heart and grit; winning with self-respect; and winning even when the odds were completely stacked against you. What Haskins didn't know in 1966--when he was just a small-town family man trying to make an indelible mark in his first job as a collegiate basketball coach--is that his underdog team's incredible victory would transcend sport and change not only his life and the lives of his players, but the country itself. Haskins and his scrappy Texas Western Miners were unwittingly about to revolutionize basketball and the American landscape. It was still a time of innocence in the United States, yet the country was on the verge of major social changes when Haskins decided to play an all-African-American opening lineup at the NCAA championships against the all-white juggernaut of the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Haskins did it to win. But his bold decision would help break down barriers of segregation that affected every segment of society and set a new course for the future as his team did the one thing they could to prove themselves to a watching world: the played their hearts out.

The official website for Glory Road has multiple categories to look through including about the film. Click on the following links for more resources and information on the movie as well as reviews: Wikipedia, Internet movie databata (imdb), Yahoo! movies, Rotten Tomatoes, NY Times, Houston Chronicle, Roger Ebert, Fandango, Moviefone, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Rolling Stone, Variety

Trivia:

• Ben Affleck was originally set to play Don Haskins, but pulled out of the project due to scheduling conflicts.
• Josh Lucas gained forty-three pounds to play Coach Don Haskins.
• Former coach Don Haskins was cast as an extra in the film as the gas station attendant.
• Chicago Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich was offered a part in the movie, but had to turn it down due to schedule conflicts.
• One of the sequences in the "historical" footage at the beginning of the movie is a computer generated shot made for Apollo 13.
• The technical adviser for the basketball scenes was USC head coach Tim Floyd, who was chosen because of his closeness to the film's subject, Don Haskins. During the 1980s, Floyd was Haskins' top assistant coach at UTEP (formerly Texas Western). His father, Lee Floyd, was a longtime coach and also a former Texas Western basketball player.
• Cameo: Don Haskins playing a gas station attendant on the recruiting trip.
  Prosthetic ears, cheeks, and nose was added to Jon Voight to make his angular face more rounded like Coach Rupp.
• The photo shown at the end of the movie is a photo of the real 1965-66 Texas Western team, rather than of the actors playing those parts in the film.

Reel Thoughts entertainment rating: 4/5
Reel Thoughts award-worthy rating: 3.5/5

AFI's Top 10 Movies of 2008

The following movies are AFI's top 10 movies of 2008:

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. The Dark Knight
3. Frost/Nixon
4. Frozen River
5. Gran Torino
6. Iron Man
7. Milk
8. Wall*E
9. Wendy and Lucy
10. The Wrestler

Time Magazine's Top 10 Best Movies of 2008

The following is Time Magazine's list of the top 10 best movies of 2008:

1. WALL-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. My Winnipeg
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
5. Milk
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Iron Man
9. Speed Racer
10. Encounters at the End of the World.

Roger Ebert's Top 20 Movies of 2008

Roger Ebert has released his Best of the Year column, listing off his top 20 films of 2008. Unfortunately Ebert took the cowards way out and didn’t list the movies in any specific order. You can go to RogerEbert.com to read his full column on his best of 2008.

1. Ballast
2. The Band’s Visit
3. Che
4. Chop Shop
5. The Dark Knight
6. Doubt
7. The Fall
8. Frost/Nixon
9. Frozen Friver
10. Happy-Go-Lucky
11. Iron Man
12. Milk
13. Rachel Getting Married
14. The Reader
15. Revolutionary Road
16. Shotgun Stories
17. Slumdog Millionaire
18. Synecdoche, New York
19. W.
20. Wall-E