81st Academy Awards nominations

The Electoral College process is a diffucult and complex thing to grasp but it isnt the half of what the Academy Awards have become. With the thousands or so votes tallied the nominations are in and "The Curious Case of Benjermin Button" has scored big with 13 nominations including the Best Picture and i have yet to see it. Dont know why but I havent. A intersting point to note is the last 20 years the Film with the most nominations wins the Best Picture award but history may be changing with only 2 films in the last 5 years to do so. There were some small suprise I thought and a few major snubs.

Now I have only been paying close attention for the past few years to Award season and i have learned a few things, like Comedies get NO Love and Neither do Anamated films no matter how well they did in the box office. On that note the one suprise to me was Robert Downey Jr. receiving a nodd in the Best Supporting Lead Role in the comedy Tropic Thunder another film that i need to get out to see. Rest asured that I have only missed a few films on these list and i will be seeing everyone before Feb 22 show.

In what i thought was the biggest snub of the year was the the great Clint Eastwood didnt receive any nominations for his acting in the great movie Gran Torino nor did it receive any nominations for anything. I thought that it was a shoe in for a Best Picture nod for sure. But i have been known to be wrong in the past. Eastwood's film the Changling which is another excellent film received only one nomination for Best Actress for Angelina Jolie in which i feel she will be the clear winner in that one.

Here is the complet list of all the Awards with an * designating my pick for the winner.

And the nominees are:

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Frost/Nixon(Universal)
Milk (Focus Features) A
The Reader(The Weinstein Company)
***Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" (Overture Films)
Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)
***Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

This next catagory is a tough
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin in "Milk" (Focus Features)
Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder" (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" (Miramax)
**Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)
**Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married" (Sony Pictures Classics)
***Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)
Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Meryl Streep in "Doubt" (Miramax)
Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams in "Doubt" (Miramax)
***Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company)
Viola Davis in "Doubt" (Miramax)
Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
(Paramount and Warner Bros.) Screenplay by Eric Roth; Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
Doubt (Miramax) Written by John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon(Universal) Screenplay by Peter Morgan
The Reader(The Weinstein Company) Screenplay by David Hare
***Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics); Written by Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky (Miramax); Written by Mike Leigh
In Bruges(Focus Features); Written by Martin McDonagh
***Milk (Focus Features); Written by Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E (Walt Disney); Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon; Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Bolt(Walt Disney)
***Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount)
WALL-E (Walt Disney)

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) David Fincher
Frost/Nixon (Universal) Ron Howard
Milk(Focus Features) Gus Van Sant
The Reader (The Weinstein Company) Stephen Daldry
***Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Danny Boyle

Go Slumdog Millionaire !!!!!!

Awesome !

For the first time the whole world stop ed for twenty minutes today at 10am MST. They were all tuned in to what I be live to be the most watched program in the history of T.V. They watched as Chief Justice John Roberts swore in The 44th President of the United States of America Barack Obama.

Goose bumbs creep ed along my skin as I watched the festivities take place and my eyes grew teary as I listened to the historic 18 minute speech given by the New President. He has already made good strides with us the "Everyday Americans" I myself have been effected personally along with the rest of the world have never wanted to hear another man speak so bad in my entire life, I want to hear every word that ever comes out of his mouth

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin the work of remaking America."

A New Dawn

I woke up this morning and thought, This is it. This is the day that the a New Dawn will crest the horizon and smile down upon us. There is a an amazing crowd gathered where only 300 short years ago, people gathered to sell there slaves but today they are there to see the start of Change. For the first time in a long time. Today I am Proud to be an American :)

News, News and more News

Good morning there's a lot to talk about today.. The Weather Man, The Broncos hire a new head coach, The Golden Globes and some news that read like a movie script....


When i went to bed last night the very beautiful Kathy Sabine who is the weather girl on the local NBC news cast said dont worry there might be just a inch of snow and it wont start till around 10 not to effect the morning drive. Damn she was wrong. I woke turned on the same morning news cast ans there she was doing the morning weather report standing outside covered in four inches of snow!!!How does that happen. The only profession that you can be totally wrong and your audience will tune in the next day for more of the same wrong info. I'm not saying that they don't try it has to be a very hard job but damn people.



The long awaited decision has been handed down by Pat Bowlen to the millions of loyal Bronco fans World Wide of who there new head coach will be and the winner is 32 year old Offensive Coordinator from the New England Patriots Josh McDaniel. I think that this was the correct choice for the job. He is a young brilliant football mind and in three years he will be one of the top 3 coach's in the League. Bravo Denver Bravo.

The Awards Season got underway last night with the Golden Globes kicking of the New Year last night with some obvious winners and some shockers. 30 Rock clean up on the television side while the instant classic Slumdog Millionaire cleaned up on the movie side.30 Rock won for Best Television Series Musical Or Comedy, Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series Musical Or Comedy,Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series Musical Or Comedy. The office was my pick for the winner in at least two of the three categories, best comedy and best actor in Steve Carrol with the clear winner still being Tina Fey still as the Best Actress in a comedy. The Bollywood Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner last night with four awards. Best Director Motion Picture, Best Screenplay Motion Picture and Best Original Score - Motion Picture and Best Motion Picture Drama. If you havent seen this movie please stop what you are doing and go.. Right Now don't finish reading this and just go. I wont mind and when you see this film you wont either.

And last but not least some World News that seems like it was ripped from the big screen for our viewing pleasure but this was real

HEADLINES READ...
Prisoner sprung from secure van by armed men in West London
A prisoner is on the run today after being sprung from a secure van on the way to court with the help of two armed men in balaclavas.

Wayne Joseph Connor, 20,
was being transported to Woolwich Crown Court in South London where he was to stand trial for armed burglary and racially aggravated assault when he was set free in a violent ambush.

Two men approached the vehicle in Feltham, West London, and smashed the driver's side window before threatening the security guards with a shotgun and demanding the release of Mr Connor, who was driven away from the scene in a dark blue vehicle.

Filed under Fu@k That !

Subway officer shots unarmed man in back!

A New Year's Day shooting in which a subway police officer fired a deadly shot into the back of an unarmed man has the San Francisco Bay Area demanding answers as authorities claim "It could have been
accidentally. It does not show much according to police department. It does show people standing around. It does not show the discharge of the weapon," said BART Chief Spokesman Linton Johnson.

22 year old Oscar Grant was a father of a four old little girl when he was gunned down on the subway by a B.A.R.T employee while he was running away. The scene where his friends were already in hand-cuffs. Surevalance videos shows the boys that are arested and it shows one of them run away but it doesnt show the acutall shooting. Another fine instance of the city providing idiots with deadly weapons. When will they ever learn.

Film Review: Defiance

An excellent story that played out well on the BIG SCREEN. In 1941 the Nazi's were storming though eastern Europe with nothing standing in there way. Three country brothers go into hiding in the thick forest after the women of the town are raped, there parents killed and there town burned. Daniel Craig plays the commander of the at first small group Jews who will not go out quietly.

The movie reminded me a little like the 80's movie i loved when i was growing up "Red Dawn" with Patrick Swazye who was the leader of a small group who also lived in the woods and fought off the invaders with guerrilla like tactics.

Film Review : Gran Torino

Happy New Year. I'm a little late I wish i could say that I have been busy but that would just be lying to you. Whomever you are. I started the New Year with a sneak peek at one of my nominations for the movie of the year!!!!

Clint Eastwood does a masterful job as he directs and plays Walt Kowalski, a old bitter Korean War Vet and recent widower. He isn't what you would call a people person. He has no need for his own children or grandchildren as they for him. He has no friends except for his dog Daisy. His past haunts him and has for over fifty years, causing him to be a sometimes a funny pigheaded racist bigot to everyone.

Late one night Grumpy ol' Walt is awakened to find someone snooping around in his garage separate from his house. He grabs his military issue rifle which has 14 kills attached to it and heads outside, only to find that it his skinny young Asian neighbor. A kid named Thao played by newcomer Bee Vang. Vang does a excellent job in playing a young boy who is lost and looking for his own way in his world which is filled with drugs and gangs. After Walt trips over junk in his garage Thao barley escapes with his life.

A few days later a disgraced Thao is forced into repaying Walt. He must help with whatever Walt needs in order to repay him for attempting to steal the only thing that Walt has left in this world a mint condition 1972 Gran Torino. Walt himself put the steering column in when he was a Ford factory worker where he worked till after he left the Army. Walt is true do-it-yourselfer and he thinks he needs no help but with a quick look around his neighborhood that is falling apart he puts Thao to work cleaning out gutters and painting. All this time Thao cousin is a punk thug who is constantly trying to recruit Thao. He wants him to join his gang and become a young Thug in the making but Thao doesn't want that way of life.

Without giving away any more than I already have Walt takes the boy under his wing. The movie is great with awesome dialogue and should be a big winner come award time.