Academy Awards Report 2009

Believe it or not, Gummi Popcorn has not died. It's only been lurking in the shadows for a bit. Due to a massive upheaval of lifestyle and relocations and other drama, it's been rudely shoved to the back burner until the dust settles (which will hopefully be soon!). Rest assured though, new blood will eventually return to inflate the oh-so-critical veins of this here website and the sarcasm and snark will fly once again. So, just to prove we haven't been sleeping (and in case you have been), here's the GP recap of last night's award ceremony.

This year, our host was Hugh Jackman. While it's always difficult not to drool like a maniac when Hugh is in sight, I did feel a little embarrassed for him. It seems that someone at The Academy thought it would be cute to have Wolverhottie prance around and do a few musical numbers. I guess it's a case of Hollywood being jealous of Jackman's time on Broadway. It's not that the man is a terrible singer, but the numbers were poorly planned and even more badly choreographed. Is this The Academy Awards or Saturday Night Live? Have a little class for chrissakes. Even poor Hugh looked like he was thinking of shooting his agent.

Despite a loud, rude and obnoxious crowd at the Oscar party I went to, I miraculously managed to hear snippets of who won what and which hot little hands golden statues went into. Sadly, I haven't managed to get to the theater for most of the nominees this year and Slumdog was at the top of my "must see" list, along with The Wrestler. Predictably, Slumdog Millionaire swept the scene - much like it did at the Golden Globes - and walked away with a total of eight awards (Best Picture, Directing, Music (song & score), Editing, Sound Mixing, Cinematography, and Adapted Screenplay). I love to see small foreign films win big in general. It shows that the industry has an appreciation for culture. What I don't love, is hearing "Thank you, come again" every time someone with an Indian accent stepped up to the podium. That joke was old, I dunno, at least 10 years ago. The same racist jackasses making that comment last night were spreading rumors that Bollywood was moving to Detroit, or some such nonsense. I can't even begin to tell you what's wrong with that statement.

Equally as predictable as the winner of Best Picture, was the winner of Best Supporting Actor; Heath Ledger. While I don't mean to belittle the man's acting skills, it seems that the quickest way to an Academy Award these days is through the grave. Movies like The Dark Knight almost never make it to the awards, just because of the genre. Ledger was great as The Joker, but had he still been alive, there's no way he would have the Oscar for it. The award for Best Actor was achieved by Sean Penn for his role in Milk. His acceptance speech was, by far, the best one of the night. He managed to touch on the gay rights issue, Barak Obama, and get his point across without being long-winded or preachy. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I agreed with everything he said.

The winner for Best Supporting Actress was Penelope Cruz for her role in Vicky Christina Barcelona, which I haven't seen and have no idea if she deserves. Her speech was tearful and heartfelt and it always chokes me up when the award winners seem sincere. I will have to add VCB to my list of must sees. Best Actress in a Leading Role went to Kate Winslet for The Reader. The actress was nearly hyperventilating and who can blame her?

For both the Actor and Actress in a Supporting Role, winners from years past appeared on stage to introduce this year's nominees. It was a nice touch. Two of these presenters were Brodie and DeNiro - two of my ultimate faves!

Of course, one can't discuss The Academy Awards without discussing fashion to some extent. The guys always look the same. It's just suit after suit after suit year after year. I'd love for one actor to wear a kilt or an outfit in any other color than black. I'd settle for charcoal grey even! Snore. The ladies are who everyone focuses on anyhow. What was with the alarming trend of wearing one's drapes as a gown? Jessica Biel had perhaps the most hideous display of this disturbing fashion, but Mary Hart, Heidi Klum, Tilda Swinton and a handful of no-name girlfriends pitched in to. My personal favorite, as far as classy gowns go, was Kate Winslet's dress. It was original, but not tacky.

So, despite being intensely irritated by the company I had during the ceremony, the awards went smoothly. There weren't any horribly flubbed lines, political incorrectness and scandalous wardrobe malfunctions. I went home sober and popped The Fountain into my DVD player, just to get some more Hugh Jackman in before bedtime.

Editorial: DVD vs. TV

We are lucky, in this day and age, to have so many movie formats at our disposal. We can view our favorite flicks on VHS, DVD, Blue Ray, television, On Demand cable, theater and the internet. There was even a short-lived laserdisc phase. VHS was nice while it lasted, but it's quickly on the outs in favor of more durable digital formats. I think the most common ways to see a movie lately, have been DVD or television. So, here's our verdict on which way to go.

Pros TV: The convenience of movies on television is definitely a bonus. Making a special trip to the store, incurring late fees and even awaiting your next DVD via post can be a drag. Several channels, such as AMC and IFC offer uninterrupted viewing, eliminating the need to mute those pesky commercials. If cable is an option, On Demand offers a variety of films that can easily be rewound, paused and fast forwarded, just like a DVD. The list of free movies changes frequently and new releases can be purchased, often for a lower cost than at the video store.

Pros DVD: The invention of the DVD was an absolute improvement over VHS. Not only do they not wear out and streatch like magnetic tape will, the picture quality and chapter-to-chapter scrolling make this format superb (not to mention the elimination of the need to rewind). DVDs usually include subtitles in several languages, extra features, behind the scenes peeks and commentaries that were never available before. Plus, if you've got the time, DVDs can be watched over and over again without incurring extra cost. DVDs are frequently available in widescreen format as well, which allows you to see the entire screen shot.

Cons TV: Watching a movie on television has its share of drawbacks. If you elect to see a film this way, you must put up with a number of detriments. First, there are commercials. Even if you can avoid those, networks almost always edit your films for time, content and the dreaded "formatted to fit your screen". You see, when filmmakers set up camera, they usually intend for what they're shooting to end up on a movie theater sized screen. Notice the rectangular shape of a theater screen. Now, notice the shape of your TV at home (unless you've got a fancy wide-screen version). It's square, isn't it? That means, when a movie is formatted, each end of the picture must be severed to account for the change in size and shape. That's what is often referred to as "pan and scan". So, not only are you missing part of the original picture, you must rely on the editors to focus on the most important bits of the shot. They don't always do a great job of this. If you have children watching, it might be important to you to have some of the dialogue edited so as not to offend their delicate ears. But, being the purist that I am, I enjoy viewing a film in the most original format possible. And, if English isn't your first language or if it isn't the original language of the film, the availability of subtitled versions is limited. Even On Demand is flawed. The newest releases are around $5 and you can only review the movie for 24 hours without paying again. The selection of free movies is terribly lacking and even something as recent as Top Gun is off the list. Normally, you will find yourself settling for a B grade horror flick that never even made it to theaters.

Cons DVD: Unless you have Netflix or something similar, renting a DVD comes with the inconvineince of running back to the store or paying an extra charge for returning your selection late. The discs can get lost or broken or arrive so scratched up that they're unreadable. Then, there's the financial factor. Are you willing to shell out the charges to keep a movie for a few measly days? I'm often surprised at the bill from my local video store.

While either option carries its advantages and disadvantages, I overwhelmingly recommend DVDs. The selection is usually broader, the movies are available unedited, and the special features often shed some light into the movie that one may not gather otherwise. But take my advice and always, always rent the widescreen version!

Update

Often times, we here at GP get the urge to expand on a topic that reaches outside of the scope of one film. Often, it centers around a particular director, or a perceived problem about the industry in general.

At the end of each post, you will find a list of tags or labels. Follow these links to find all of the posts tagged with that particular word or phrase. For instance, if you look at the review for Premonition, you will find 6 links at the bottom. These links are the first letter of the movie title (P), the name of the director (Yapo), the year the film was released (2007), the genre (Drama), the format in which the movie was viewed (DVD) and, since Premonition was nominated for an award, the phrase (gummi awards). Clicking on any one of these links will take you to a list of all the posts that share that link. So, every movie at GP that begins with the letter P can be reached by clicking the P at the bottom of the post.

To satisfy our need to explore broad topics here at GP, we've decided to add a new category - Editorials. The editorials will be titled as such and be tagged as well. There will also be a link added to the left nav bar that leads to all of the editorials. We hope you will enjoy reading these posts as much as you enjoy reading our reviews! Editorials in the works - Movies vs. Television, The Problem with Theaters, To Sub or To Dub, and What To Look For When Renting.