Oscar 2009

As a self-proclaim fan of cinema, though I've not seen as many movies as I want to, I do pay attention to the 81st Academy Award this year. My favorite is the Benjamin Button movie, cos that's the only one that I got to see. Any, as the internet is such a convenient way to find out the results, so I just didn't catch the show live till rerun.

I didn't watch the whole show as I was engaged in other things, for the part that I saw, I think posthumous Oscar for supporting actor that went to Heath Ledger for his performance in The Dark Knight really make me think that the Academy finally made some wise and right choices in picking winners. Heath deserves it. Period.

Sean Penn for best actor is fine for such a good actor. Though I don't like all his movies, but he really shows that he is a serious actor in movies like the Game, U-Turn, Mystic River, etc, that I saw. Kate Winslet is a great actress, at least she deserves to win much more than some ex-winners like Harry Barry, Julia Roberts, etc. Brangelia are good looking couple that deserves award someday, not now - that's fine with me. Cos, they got compensated with fame and money for now. Don't get me wrong that I think that they can't act, on the contrary, they are very good actor/actress. They just need a bit more time to do good works on their resume, particularly Brad Pitt.

Other than the above, I don't remember much about the show except it was very nice to see Natalie Portman in that pink gown, so elegant.

As an afterthought, will Heath Ledger's daughter be an actress when she grows up? Her situation is kinda remind me of Kurt Cobain's daughter. However, my latest search of her on Wiki showing that she is not really into playing music, so I guess that's it for her for now. Honestly, the kids of great artists usually can't outperform their parents. So, sometimes, it is wise to take of 'don't even wanna try' approach in terms of career selection.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Slumdog. I will check this movie out if I've time. Indians are very pump-up that this movie won big. Pounding their chest saying 'We are the kings of the world' or something. From my point of view, they are fine to be happy. However, if you look at the history of Oscar award, the 'Last Emperor' and 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' come to mind. The movies exploit eastern culture and all that. The Chinese won some technical awards, like the Indian did this time. But, neither naive actor/actress were nominated. So, the Academy simply made that up to give the actor/actress the chance to present awards, like the Indian did this time. At the end of the day, the Academy is always about American. Other cultures will have their moments, but it won't be a trend or integrated part of Hollywood.

Here it go of my two cents in comment.