...and for the second year in a row I won't be able to watch the Oscars, due to them only being shown on Sky Movies which we don't happen to have. Not that I'm complaining, because I have loads to do today and it's my birthday tomorow, so all of my family are coming over this evening and I wouldn't have the time to watch it anyway. I'm not really as excited as I was last year though - in comparison to 2008, 2009 was such a boring year for film.
I haven't seen many of the films nominated. I haven't seen Avatar, purely because there's always been something else I'd rather see. Due to complete lack of updates to this blog recently, I think I've seen three films since:
Precious - I saw this yesterday, after reading the book it's based upon all in one day last week. It was such a good adaptation and piece of directing - it really drew out how I imagined Precious' character from the book. Although it was a bit slower than I imagined, it was still really good. All the acting performances were great, especially Gabourey Sidibe in the title role, and Mo'nique as her mother. I also quite enjoyed Mariah Carey's role, having never seen her act before.
The Lovely Bones - Another adaptation from a book, which was so disapointing. Jackson left out so many significant elements from the book, such as the development of Ruth's character and the mother's affair. It's not as if he is shy about making long films, after all he did direct all three of the Lord of the Rings films, so it was a mystery why he did this. Other than that, the performances were all good, but not really enough to save the film.
Invictus - I really admire Clint Eastwood, and this film was no excpetion. Although it's probably my least favourite of his films that I've watched so far, it was still a really good, informative piece that drew two true stories together really well. Morgan Freeman gave such a good performance, and Matt Damon's performance was enjoyable, even though it's a little bit weak for an Oscar nomination.
So, other than that the only Oscar-type films for this year I've seen so far are Up, An Education, Julie and Julia, Coco Before Chanel and Cheri, the latter two which haven't received any awards attention, but which definitely should have done. So here are my basic winners so far:
Best Picture - Up
Best Actor - Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Best Actress - Michelle Pfeiffer - Cheri
Best Supporting Actor - Alfred Molina - An Education
Best Supporting Actress - Rosamund Pike - An Education
Best Director - Lee Daniels - Precious
Best Adapted Screenplay - An Education
Best Original Screenplay - Up
Quite an original line up, I think... Of course, all will become aparent tonight at the ceremony. On a side note, I'm really looking forward to Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosting!
