OSCARS 2007

Its been quite some time since Hollywood rolled out the red carpets & I've been since then trying to find something that I lost during that time.. what was it, I keep forgetting?... ah yes, my respect for the 'Academy'!
Hope I stumble upon it next year.

I haven't seen 'The Departed' but I did see 'The Aviator' & 'Gangs of New York' & to give Martin Scorsese the Best Director award for a film he least deserves is a blatant insult if you ask me..

But in the end, to see Marty on stage was like a wish fulfilled. I had hoped he would win it for Gangs in 2002 but Roman 'sex offender' Polanski had swooped in with 'The Pianist' & spoilt the party.

But for die hard Marty fans, it was a day of reckoning.. watching him receive the award from the BIG 3 (Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas) gave tremendous joy. I just hope he'll keep creating cinematic magic year after year with his new found protege - Leo DiCaprio.. award or no award. But who doesn't lurve the fame & glory and peer recognition that comes with it.

Best Film:

Of all the movies, I could only check out 'Babel'.. Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, who is another master craftsman is a part of another BIG 3 (Inarritu + Alfonso Cuaron + Guillermo del Toro) & completes the triumvirate from Spain.
Before the Golden Globes & the Screen Actors Guild awards, I almost 'knew' that Babel would walk away with the best film award.. Critics probably gave it a thumbs down since it did not have enough follow through. The film spans multiple geographies & ethnicities & the central theme of miscommunication in a modern electronic age is typical Oscar material.The biggest upset this year was the absence of 'Dreamgirls' from the 'Best Film' category. It had garnered enough hype to be at least there in contention.
'Little Miss Sunshine' is basically an 'on-the-road-dysfunctional-family' indie flick. From the trailers, it seems Abigail breslin is the new 'young' talent in town. She was also nominated in the 'best supporting actress category' alongside Jennifer Hudson & Cate Blanchett.
In the end it was a choice between 'Babel' & 'The Departed'.

Best Actor:

Forrest Whitaker - Haven't even seen the trailer of 'The LastKing Of Scotland' but it is a global concensus that giving the award to anybody else would have been a crime against the art of acting.

Best Actress:

Royalty for Hollywood is like Hollywood for Bollywood.. In case that sentence did not make much sense, the basic point that I'm trying to make is that Hollywood could give away the top prizes every year to films on the British royalty provided they get made every year.Those Americans can never get enough of a stiffer upper lip. Helen Mirren has apparently given a fine, subtle performance playing the role of Queen Elizabeth. I guess the script & screenplay should be equally appreciated as the role IMHO was a bit complex to pull off with conviction.

I'm also betting my cards on Shekhar Kapur's 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' to take home at least a couple of the top awards in next years Oscars.

Eagerly waiting for 'Pan's Labyrinth' to hit the screens here.

Killing Me Softly

The logic behind the title of the post is that i'm in a very romantic mood today & 'Killing Me Softly' by Perry Como is one of my favourite romantic ballads.
Haven't been able to download a decent web-based aggregator. But the search is on..

It rained today & the weather was really chilly all day, really romantic i must add.

Anyways, saw 'Finding Neverland' today & it was a brilliant film. The moment i think Johnny Depp has run out of roles, he comes out with a brilliant performance & manages to surprise me.
Last time he did that with 'Pirates Of The Carribean' which was an unlikely contender for the oscars last year considering the academy does not have a very high regard for films with comedic leading roles or for period costume dramas for that matter.
Some of my fave Johnny Depp movies are - Edward Scissorhands, Arizona Dream, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Nick Of Time, Finding Neverland.

Kate Winslet was ok but she couldn't pull off what she did in 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind'. The story is about the early 20th century playwright J.M Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, who finds inspiration from a bunch of children he comes across in a chance meeting & their mother(Winslet).
I've always had a special thing for period dramas in cinema. I feel filmmakers who can paint a picture on the canvas of a bygone era are artists in the truest sense of the word.

Did i mention the weather was really romantic today.

Musique: "Fair" By Remy Zero (OST 'Garden State')