First Academy Awards 1929

The First Academy Awards are an interesting in a lot of ways.
One of the most interesting is that there were two awards for Best Picture. One for Best Production and one for Best Unique and Artistic Picture.
Wings won for best Production which when most lists are created of best picture winners that's the one that will be on the list. And Sunrise: A Tale of Two Humans won for Best Unique and Artistic Picture. What is interesting to me is that while Wings is considered the first movie to win Best Picture, it is hard to find. It is not available on DVD and while I did see it once thanks to the fact that Middle Country Public Library in New York has a large collection of old movies on VHS, I can not find it here in Wisconsin. You would think that an historic fact like being the first to win best picture would be enough to get a release on DVD but I guess not. On the other hand I just read that Sunrise was the first silent film to be released on Blu-Ray.
Not being able to see Wings, I rented Sunrise from Netflix since it is hard to find old movies like that anyplace else but online rental stores. It actually was a very good movie. A story about a man and wife and the girl from the city that tries to tear them apart(have to love old silent movies where characters didn't have names). The girl from the city convinces the man to sell his farm, kill his wife, then move to the big city where they can party all the time. She comes up with the elaborate scheme where the man takes his wife into the lake overturns the boat and his wife will drown "accidentally" while he escapes. The movie turns out to be a love story when the man takes he wife out on to the lake but cant bring himself to kill his wife. He ends up apologizing and the you watch them fall back in love. The movie is eye opening to me because it goes against what I usually believe to be typical movies of that time. Movies like Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton types of feel good silly comedies.
While Sunrise ends up being a love story with a happy ending it has a dark middle to it. Which I guess should be to surprising since it was directed by F. W. Murnau the German director of Nosferatu. One of the first vampire movies ever made. And even watching this movie I still picture him as John Malkovich who played Murnau in Shadow of the Vampire(a must see movie).
Other interesting Facts about the First academy awards.
The only time a silent film has won best Picture
The only time Best Title Card Writing was a category.
While The Jazz Singer the first "talkie" had come out it was not nominated for best picture only best writing, but did win an Honorary Award for revolutionizing film(maybe this is the award Avatar should have won).
And in my opinion we should go back to the two categories for best picture instead of doing 10 nominees. I think it will be more interesting that way.

Academy Awards 2010

Had a good night last night. The Acadamy Awards were pretty good this year, while I wasnt happy with all the winners I was glad that Avatar didnt win alot of the awards it was nominated for. Alec and Steve were pretty good hosts and kept the show moving well, only ran half an hour over. While I wish they had performances of the nominated best songs it was probably better they didnt because it would have been longer and the songs werent that good.
Well time to keep an eye out for movies that will be nominated next year.

The Hurt Locker

Just watched The Hurt Locker again. First time since I first saw it over the summer. Forgot how intense the movie was. Really keeps you on the edge of your seat. Never a dull moment. I really hope it beats Avatar for best picture, director and editing. The editing is what keeps the intensity up. While Avatar has great effects and will win all of the technical awards it hard for me to say it was a great movie. I really think that once people see it on DVD and without the 3-D effects it will appear as just another so-so sci-fi movie, groundbreaking yes but great no. Whereas the Hurt Locker no matter if you watch it on screen or TV its still intense and gripping. And to me thats what makes a movie Best Picture material.

Oscar Prediction 2010

Well the Oscars are here and time for some predictions.

Best Picture-With 10 nominees there are really only 2 front runners. The battle of the big vs small, ex husband vs ex wife, big budget vs small budget. Of course I am talking about the battle between Avatar and The Hurtlocker. Avatar the highest grossing movie of all time(helped by higher ticket prices for 3-D and IMAX shows) and The Hurtlocker if it wins would become the lowest grossing movie to win best picture in history.
Who will win. I am going with The Hurtlocker
Who Should Win-I personally liked Precious the best of the 10

Best Director-Basically the same race as best picture. Can Kathryn Bigelow beat her ex husband James Cameron. If she does she will become the first women ever to win best director. She is only the 3rd women nominated. Also not getting as much attention is the fact the Lee Daniels the director of Precious is only the Second African American to be nominated for best director.
Who Will Win-Kathryn Bigelow
Who Should Win-Kathryn Bigelow

Best Original Screenplay-This race comes down to Mark Boal for The Hurtlocker and Quintin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds. Both movies are really good. Tarantino had previously won for Pulp Fiction almost 15 years ago, but the momentum is with The Hurtlocker
Who Will Win-Mark Boal
Who Should Win-Quintin Tarantino

Best Adapted Screenplay- The clear front runner here is Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for Up in the Air. While Precious might get some votes I don't think it will have enough to beat it.
Plus Up in the Air has one of the best quotes in a movie this year "How do you feel about Wisconsin in February"
Who Will Win-Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Who Should Win-Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Best Actor-Seems like a slam dunk for Jeff Bridges. Seems more because he has never won before. The category has a lot of strong performances from George Clooney, Morgan Freeman and Jeremy Renner but all the buzz is about Jeff Bridges.
Who Will Win-Jeff Bridges
Who should win-haven't seen all the nominees but out of the three I saw I like George Clooney for Up in the Air

Best Actress-The most tightly contested race. Meryl Streep vs Sandra Bullock both playing a real person. Meryl Streep has the most nominations ever for an actor or actress with 16 nominations but only has 2 wins. The last time she won was in 1983 for Sophies Choice. She has been nominated 11 times since then. Sandra Bullock nominated for the first time and similar to Julia Roberts for Erin Brochovich getting high praise for doing something completely different then what she has done before.
Who Will Win-Sandra Bullock has the most momentum and Meryl will probably have to wait a little longer for her third win.
Who Should Win-Gabourey Sidibe for Precious. The most interesting and complex character.

First Post and Best of 2009

Welcome to my new blog. I have never done this before but figured would give it a try. My goal is to watch all the movies that have won best picture from the first to the latest. I have seen most of them before but it will be fun to see the ones I haven't seen in a long time. Trying to do this while working is a challenge and my wife isn't sure this is a great idea but I will try to make updates every other week. I will also review other movies I see and share whatever other thoughts that rattle around my head.
To start off I thought I would let you know what kind of movies I like by sharing what I thought were the best movies of 2009.

1. Precious-One of those movies that make you saw WOW after watching it. Such a powerful story. Really takes you into the mind of a troubled teen and her dysfunctional family.

2. The Hangover -The funniest movie of the year.

3. District 9-a movie that felled completely fresh even though alien invasion movies have been around for a long time. Made a social statement while keeping you entertained.

4. (500) Days of Summer-Very original romantic comedy. Wish it would have got some love from the Academy Awards

5. Paranormal Activity-Definitely the scariest movie of the year. Very suspenseful and creepy.

6. The Hurtlocker-Intense look at life of soldiers on a bomb squad in Iraq. Movie about a war without making a political statement. Very tough to do.

7. Taking Chance-was never released in theatres but saw it at Sundance was a great movie. Did get picked up and and shown by HBO. Great movie if anyone gets a chance to see it.

8. The Lovely Bones-Was really surprised how good it was. Did get the best reviews but I really liked it. Very good movie.

9. Inglourious Basterds-Quentin Tarantino at his best. Action, violence, suspense. What more do you need.

10. The Fantastic Mr. Fox-Another movie that I wasn't expecting to like. But it was a fun little
movie.