mmtv now

In light of the changes made by the Academy this year over the eligibility and number of nominees in the “Best Picture” category at the Oscars, they have announced how the new rules will be in effect for the upcoming Academy Awards in 2010.

As previously reported, this year 10 films will be nominated in the “Best Picture” category. Before, the winner was decided based on votes from the Academy members on what their selection for the Best Picture of the year was and those votes were counted. Now, with 10 possible nominees, the winner by that method could win with a paltry 11% of the vote! So now, the Academy has said they will not only ask their members which one of the 10 nominees is their favorite, they’ll have to rank them in order from 1st to 10th place.

The vote count will go like this: all members will submit their list ranked from 1 through 10 based on the 10 nominated films only once. The first round of counting will take into account the ones selected as their #1 film, at the end of the count if no film has a 50% majority, the film with the lowest score will be eliminated, all the members ballots who put that last-place film as their #1 will be re-counted with their #2 film being the highest, and again the film with the lowest score will be eliminated, all the ones that had that film as their #2 will then be counted again taking their 3rd choice as the best, and so on, until one film has an absolute majority. Kind of twisted, but way more effective than a film with only 11% of the vote winning as the Best Picture of the year.

AND WE WON AN OSCAR!!! WOOHOO!!!

Anyways…. yea, we won! uh, yea!

other than that I haven’t really seen that many movies… revolutionary road… it’s ok, not great, but it’s not American Beauty. changeling is good, intreaguing, i watched it during a blackout which made it more memorable, and gran torino is awesome! the story is great, the ending is somewhat predictable but truly inspiring, and made me think even more that i hate people who take advantage of their family members and just take them for granted.

oh, and nick & norah’s infinite playlist is really good, i liked it a lot, it’s funny when it needs to be, sweet when the moment needs it, and a fun ride through one night of looking for fluffy in NYC.

So, for the first time ever, not even a week after the Oscar nominations, I’ve seen all 5 Best Picture Nominees, even 2 more of the heavy acting-nominees, and can now say that I’m more prepared for the Academy Awards than ever before. Lets start off with the Nominees:

Best Picture.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. So I’m somewhat biased on this one because I worked on it. The visual effects (my team) are nominated, the story is great, the production values are exquisite. By far one of the 2 main contenders to win it this year. My Grade: A-
Slumdog Millionaire. The underdog that’s winning everything this year. It’s the “Juno” or “Little Miss Sunshine” of 2008′s films, but I feel it’s getting more attention now because of the Mumbai attacks and because Juno and Little Miss Sunshine should’ve won in their respective years. Still, I loved the film, great story of a kid from the slums of Mumbai, that becomes a Millionaire because he learned all the answers to the tough “who wants to be a millionaire” questions the hard way throughout his life, and follows true love along the way. My Grade: A-
The other 3…
Frost/Nixon. Very good film, very engaging and suspenseful. My Grade: B+
Milk. The timing of this film couldn’t have been better, gay rights being fought, amazing performances by Sean Penn & James Franco, but not quite the emotion that I expected. My Grade: B
The Reader. First half, interesting and good. Second half, boring and uninspired. My Grade: C

And there were 2 more films that garnered great acting praise.

Doubt. Amazing performances, incredible story of a nun who suspects a priest had an inapropriate relationship with an altar boy. Never fully proving it, never without doubt. Filmwise, it was very “theater-ish” for my taste. My Grade: B
The Wrestler. Awesome story, great acting. You really feel what Mickey Rourke is portraying. Great film. My Grade: B+

Now, my picks for who I feel should win it:
BEST PICTURE – Slumdog Millionaire
BEST DIRECTOR – David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
LEAD ACTOR – Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
LEAD ACTRESS – Merryl Streep, Doubt
SUPPORTING ACTOR – Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
SUPPORTING ACTRESS – Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY – Milk
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY – Slumdog Millionaire
ANIMATED FEATURE – Wall-E
ART DIRECTION – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
CINEMATOGRAPHY – Slumdog Millionaire
COSTUME DESIGN – Milk
FILM EDITING – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
MAKE-UP – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
MUSICAL SCORE – Slumdog Millionaire
SOUND EDITING – The Dark Knight
SOUND MIXING – The Dark Knight
VISUAL EFFECTS – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
all others n/a