Feb 22
Last night was, of course, the 81st Academy Award ceremony in Los Angeles. Naturally, being quite a few time-zones ahead of LA, coupled with the late starting time, I was unable to watch the ceremony live. I did however check the coverage first thing this morning to learn, surprise, surprise, that 'Slumdog Millionaire' had swept the board winning all the categories it was nominated for except 'sound editing'.
Having watched the British Academy of Film and Television Awards a week or two back this was not entirely surprising as I believe that with very few exceptions the winners were very much aligned between the two groups.
Unfortunately, and to my eternal shame, I must say that I have not seen any of the films that were nominated, apart from Wall-E which got best animated feature. But for those of you who have seen these films I would ask 'Is Slumdog as good as all that?' What is it about such an unlikely movie that tickled the fancy of the Academy(s)?
I suppose I shall have to watch it and find out.
Heath Ledger now joins Peter Finch as only the second person in history to win a posthumous Academy Award, for his portrayal of 'The Joker' in "The Dark Knight'. This is interesting because traditionally the academy do not recognise 'comic book' characters in their awards, tending to nominate people playing 'serious' roles. Indeed while it was nominated in 8 categories the only award it received was for Ledger's performance. Many people had campaigned for the gong to go to Ledger after his death last year both as a memorial to him and as recognition of his acting abilities in that film.
Now here's your thought for the day: Would Heath Ledger have won the gong for Best Supporting Actor if he had been still been alive?
