The 81st Annual Academy Awards Archives - The Playlist

Was Beyoncé Lip-Synching At Oscars More Evidence Of The Musical Problems?

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:27:00 +0000

There was some brouhaha that we reported about the musical aspect of the Oscar ceremonies that some of our readers didn’t like at all and found highly specious. Basically it was rumored that Oscar show conductor composer Michael Giacchino was a little out of his element. We had no way to back this up other than a source who wrote us and an odd blogspot that popped up seemingly out of nowhere in a smear campaign against Giacchino.

Continue reading Was Beyoncé Lip-Synching At Oscars More Evidence Of The Musical Problems? at The Playlist.

The Oscar 2009 Movie Preview – ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ ‘Public Enemies,’ ‘Funny People,’ ‘Terminator Salvation’ & More

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:07:00 +0000

As promised, during the conclusion, the Oscar show producers used the credit section — which nobody reads anyhow — as a way to get viewers to tune in for three or four minutes more (gotta get those Nielsen families) and debuted never-before seen clips from new movies like “Sherlock Holmes,” Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies,” “Funny People,” Woody Allen’s “Whatever Works,” Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” “Terminator Salvation” and many, many more, mostly studio-guided movies. The summer blockbuster-centric clips were kinda underwhelming frankly as each film got about eight seconds of footage on screen, but for people dying to see anything, well, it’s something… It was nice to see something not-so tentpole-ish/mainstream film like “An Education” make the cut too.

Continue reading The Oscar 2009 Movie Preview – ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ ‘Public Enemies,’ ‘Funny People,’ ‘Terminator Salvation’ & More at The Playlist.

Fave Oscar Moment #3 Sank You My Pencil.. Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:53:00 +0000

“So heavy. Sank you very much. Sank you, my supporters. Sank you, all my staff. Sank you, my pencil. Sank you, Academy. Sank you, animation. Sank you my company, Robot. [pause] … Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto. Sank you very much.” – Knowing he didn’t really speak a lick of English, Best Animated Short director Kunio Kato (winner for “La Maison en Petits Cubes”) dropped a hilariously self-aware and self-effacing joke at the end of his acceptance speech.

Continue reading Fave Oscar Moment #3 Sank You My Pencil.. Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto at The Playlist.

Fave Oscar Moment #2: Judd Apatow’s Comedy Short Film With The ‘Pineapple’ Boys &… Cinematog Janusz Kaminski?

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Firstshowing got their hands on the Judd Apatow directed, “Pineapple Express”-centered Comedy tribute Oscar short, and man, this was pretty much the highlight of the night. While there was no outward evidence of pot, Seth Rogen and James Franco sitting on a couch watching highlights of this year’s Best Picture nominees was very stoner-humor inspired. The bit where they watched very serious moments of “The Reader” were hysterical and the “Milk” segment which obviously includes Franco was pretty damn funny too.

Continue reading Fave Oscar Moment #2: Judd Apatow’s Comedy Short Film With The ‘Pineapple’ Boys &… Cinematog Janusz Kaminski? at The Playlist.

Fave Oscar Moment #1 – Philippe Petit And ‘Man On Wire’s Win For Best Documentary

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:45:00 +0000

“The shortest speech in Oscar history, yes! But I always break my own rules,” said the irrepressible “Man on Wire” subject Philippe Petit, when James Marsh won the Oscar for Best Documentary. Petit balanced an Oscar on his nose, gave a shout out to Werner Herzog and did a magic trick. That crazy bastard is the best.

Continue reading Fave Oscar Moment #1 – Philippe Petit And ‘Man On Wire’s Win For Best Documentary at The Playlist.

Hugh Jackman’s Oscar Opening Digs At ‘The Reader’

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:01:00 +0000

Song and dance turned out to be not so bad when it turned out to have a good dose of humor. Again, “The Reader” robot song that Jackman sung in this opening where he monotoned, “I haven’t seen ‘The Reader!’ got a boatload of laughs. It’s at about the 6:14 mark in this clip. Jackman even cracks up during the song, he realizes like all of us that it’s totally random and ridiculous. “I’m Wol-ver-ine!” was pretty fucking funny too.

Continue reading Hugh Jackman’s Oscar Opening Digs At ‘The Reader’ at The Playlist.

Amusing Oscar Award Presentations

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:01:00 +0000

Steve Martin and Tina Fey present the Screeplay awards

Jack Black and Jennifer Aniston present the Animation Awards

Continue reading Amusing Oscar Award Presentations at The Playlist.

The 81st Oscar Recap – The Good, The Bad, The Not So Ugly

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:25:00 +0000

As we said in our previous post, hey, not bad Oscar show producers. In fact, take a bow and hats off. The 2008 Oscar awards this year were fairly preordained as we’ve been saying for months from an awards perspective, however the show was — for the most part — very entertaining. The risks paid off for the viewer, that’s for sure and even though it did run over 30 minutes, it wasn’t anywhere near as boring, tedious or painful as it was in past years or generally can be.

Continue reading The 81st Oscar Recap – The Good, The Bad, The Not So Ugly at The Playlist.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Sweeps The 81st Oscar Awards With 8 Awards

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:24:00 +0000

They 81st annual Academy Awards were predictable, sure, but still, the new format was definitely engaging and entertaining.

As expected “Slumdog Millionaire” was the night’s big winner taking eight of its ten nominations including Best Picture, and Best Director for Danny Boyle. In what was considered an upset to some Sean Penn, not Mickey Rourke took the Best Actor prize for his lead role in “Milk.” Kate Winslet took her early lifetime achievement award for her role in the unremarkable “The Reader” (as many have already griped, the award should have went for her turn in “Revolutionary Road”) and Penelope Cruz took the Best Supporting Actress trophy for her role in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Another non-shocker, but very deserving award went to Heath Ledger for his spectacular turn in “The Dark Knight” as the chaotic Joker.

Continue reading ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Sweeps The 81st Oscar Awards With 8 Awards at The Playlist.

Updated: The Playlist’s Slightly Less Half-Hearted 2008 Predictions

Rodrigo Perez — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:08:00 +0000

Yeah, we said we lost interest in the Oscar race, and we did, but in typical Playlist fashion, we got a little obsessed, took the conventional wisdom temperature and did a little bit of research. Here’s our updated predix. *denotes a major change pick from last time. Upsetters have been added.

Do you really need Oscar predictions from The Playlist or anyone for that matter? Yes and no, and yes. The Oscar season has been rather boring because most of the winners seemed pre-ordained.

Continue reading Updated: The Playlist’s Slightly Less Half-Hearted 2008 Predictions at The Playlist.

Anonymous Oscar Presenters Back Out; Head Writer Bruce Villanch Reveals More Show Secrets: Expect A Vaudevillian Cabaret Feel

Rodrigo Perez — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:48:00 +0000

“It’s time to shake it up a little bit, isn’t it?” Academy show co-producer Laurence Mark told USA Today.

Rating were at an all time low last year and obviously the show is attempting to go out on a limb boldly, but it could all backfire. So far almost no stars have been announced as presenters and the cloak of secrecy is the way they hope to draw in people, but will people respond?

Continue reading Anonymous Oscar Presenters Back Out; Head Writer Bruce Villanch Reveals More Show Secrets: Expect A Vaudevillian Cabaret Feel at The Playlist.

Oscar Show Producers Evidently Fucking Terrible At Keeping Secrets

Rodrigo Perez — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:54:00 +0000

Apparently they’ll be more than just Hugh Jackman singing at the 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony. Much like “Twilight”s Robert Pattinson — who couldn’t get nominated for an Oscar if he was run over by a burning school bus transporting the statuettes, but will present at the show regardless — other nobodies that have no business being in attendance, but provide vacuous star wattage for the clueless tourists who tune into movie culture once a year, like Beyoncé and Zac Efron, will also make appearances.

Continue reading Oscar Show Producers Evidently Fucking Terrible At Keeping Secrets at The Playlist.

M.I.A. To Perform ‘Slumdog’ Oscar Song From The Comfort Of Her Bed?

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. just had a baby boy over the weekend, mazel tov! But wait, does that mean she won’t be performing her “Slumdog Millionaire” song, “O…Saya” with composer A.R. Rahman? Would seem so, no?

Not so fast. With Peter Gabriel just having dropped out of his “Wall-E” Oscar performance, the Academy Award show producers are just a little bit desperate. Oscar producer Laurence Mark will haul out a bed for her if he has to.

Continue reading M.I.A. To Perform ‘Slumdog’ Oscar Song From The Comfort Of Her Bed? at The Playlist.

Peter Gabriel Tries To Derail The New ‘Wacky’ Oscars; Drops Out Of Show

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:16:00 +0000

Try new things! Zing! Zam! Pow! Not everyone’s down with the new “wacky and wild” Academy Awards Show format. In fact, some people like “Wall-E” songwriter Peter Gabriel are so annoyed and convinced musicians are getting short thrift, he’s decided to pull out of performing for the event according to Deadline Hollywood.

It’s been a minute since we gave a shit about the Oscars — Academy-blog prognosticators having annoyed us to death having examined every minuscule media fart and sniffed, “Does this smell like it’s shifted the collective thinking 4.5% due south?” — but isn’t Gabriel kind of the frontrunner here since Bruce Springsteen didn’t garner a nomination?

Continue reading Peter Gabriel Tries To Derail The New ‘Wacky’ Oscars; Drops Out Of Show at The Playlist.

The Oscar “In Memoriam” Segment: Now With 100% More Queen Latifah Singing

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Everyone loves the Oscar “In Memoriam” section of the evening where a clip reel is shown of all the actors, filmmakers and talent that have died in the last year, right? In provides a lot of sighs, “I didn’t know he died!” exclamations and teary, “man, she was the best,” proclamations.

But Oscar is switching it up this year, right? All of it is fresh and new and exciting? Well, yikes, this year, the Academy “in memoriam” section is going to be accompanied by a Queen Latifah sing-along.

Continue reading The Oscar “In Memoriam” Segment: Now With 100% More Queen Latifah Singing at The Playlist.

Judd Apatow Making Short “Comedy Tribute” Film For Oscar Awards, More Secrets Out Of The Bag

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:40:00 +0000

David Poland was just bemoaning that recent Academy Awards secrets were let out of the bag (he likes the surprises and is keeping stuff under his hat too), so he’s probably going to be even more annoyed with today’s news that Judd Apatow has made a short film that will play out during the awards ceremony.
“We’re thrilled to say that our contemporary comedy master Judd Apatow is contributing both a film and live material to that part of the show,” show producers said late yesterday.

Continue reading Judd Apatow Making Short “Comedy Tribute” Film For Oscar Awards, More Secrets Out Of The Bag at The Playlist.

81st Annual Oscar Ceremony Set To Be Even More Wet, Wild And Unpredictable Than Usual; New Films To Be Sneak Peeked

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:41:00 +0000

In a bid to interest those that generally tune out halfway through and adult ‘Dark Knight’ whiners still in mourning, Sid Ganis and the Oscars keep claiming, “watch out, there’s going to be lots of surprises!” at this year’s 81st annual Academy Awards ceremony. Let’s see Hugh Jackman singing and dancing, telling flat jokes about the international success of “Australia,” nodding and pointing out Nicole Kidman and Baz Luhrmann, along with the requisite, “hey, it’s Jack!” throw?

Continue reading 81st Annual Oscar Ceremony Set To Be Even More Wet, Wild And Unpredictable Than Usual; New Films To Be Sneak Peeked at The Playlist.

Why So Serious? ‘The Dark Knight’ Oscar Outrage Begins

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:47:00 +0000

When Oscar goes black (“There Will Be Blood,” “No Country For Old Men”) or young (“Juno”) people are cool with it, but when Oscar fails to recognize super heroes, genre films and or old people remember to vote again this year, well hell, the shit hits the fan. Especially with the uber-popular ‘Dark Knight’ and its obsessive and scary fans. You’ll remember ‘TDK’ fans practically put a hit on New York Magazine’s David Edelstein for having the temerity to give the crime caper a “negative” review even though none of them had even seen the film yet (funny that).

Continue reading Why So Serious? ‘The Dark Knight’ Oscar Outrage Begins at The Playlist.