The 81st Academy Awards are almost here. I came across an
Oscar's Trivia Quiz of 17 questions related to historical wins, the best actors and actresses of the past and today.
I took the quiz, and unfortunately only got 11/17 right. I guess I need to study my Oscar history a little more! Feel free to let me know how you did.
A lot of people have said the Academy has been out of touch with public opinion for awhile. Case in point: no best picture nomination for either "The Dark Knight," or "WALL-E."
I still have not seen "The Reader
," so I guess I can't accurately judge, but I don't think it should be nominated. I didn't find the book all that interesting, and was surprised to learn they actually had enough appealing material to make a movie adaptation. Apparently Kate Winslet will win for Best Actress for her acting, so it must not be all that bad.
I do have
Chicago Tribune writer,
Mark Caro, in support though:
"The folks behind “The Dark Knight” can’t be pleased right now, and best actress non-nominee Sally Hawkins may be riding the bum train, but one party’s
Oscar nominations announcement losses tower above everybody else’s: ABC-TV.
How many millions of viewers and advertising dollars did the network lose Thursday morning? The best rated shows have been the ones in which a very popular movie cleans up, such as “Titanic” (1997) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003).
“The Dark Knight” probably wouldn’t have won best picture, but it was far and away the year’s most popular film (
$531 million domestically, second only to “Titanic”) as well as one of the most acclaimed. “The Dark Knight” tallied
94 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to
60 percent for “The Reader,” which has grossed a total of
$7.9 million to date.
Yet “The Reader” is a best picture (and director) nominee, and “The Dark Knight” is not. Yes, the highbrow Holocaust film with lukewarm reviews is in the game!"
It's unfortunate, especially considering they don't really have a category to honor action/thriller films. "The Dark Knight" was one of the best I've seen in a long time.
As I was reviewing the Oscar award categories, I considered how I never have the opportunity to watch any of the nominated short films. On February 19, the Animation Blog posted a rare Oscar-nominated short film called "Guard Dog." The full version is now available online, even though it was made in 2004.
Please Note: It's pretty violent.
Either the Academy Awards seem to be going more international, or America has less top talent in Hollywood. Sean Penn, sans accent, was the only U.S. winner for one of the top five big awards. He was born in Burbank, California. The others?
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