Academy Award Marathon

Saturday was the third annual Best Picture Showcase, featuring the five movies nominated for this year's Best Picture Award. Sitting through five movies is very difficult, especially for the final film. Last year, they played No Country For Old Men, and I dozed off during a critical part and I was lost for the final twenty minutes of the film.

Not wanting to repeat the same thing this year, I packed up some "No-Doze" to help me make it through.

With the exception of Benjamin Buttons, I had very little idea of what the films were about. I posted the films that I liked the best on my Facebook page when I got home, and I wanted to address that here.

Milk - It was the first film of the day, and it was the one that I was looking forward to watching the least. It was the subject matter - an openly gay man running for office. What I found was a movie that was more about civil rights than homosexuality (however, there was plenty of men kissing men in the film, so be warned). It was good. And Bravo to Sean Penn.

The Reader - This started off weird...an older woman and a fifteen year old boy having an affair of sex and reading. It was obvious that she could neither read nor write. But her secret was much more than that. There was a scene early on where she was crying in a church. Was she crying because of the beautiful children singing, or was she remembering something else.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons - I liked the film. But, I found myself melancholy afterwards. The idea of two lovers passing each other in age saddened me. Excellent flick - beautifully filmed. Wonderful soundtrack.

Slumdog Millionaire - Excellent story telling convention. Possibly right up there with Momento - a bit of the story is unveiled a little bit at a time. I think I wanted to dance with them at the end.

Frost/Nixon - I won a poster for this movie for just showing up. I was worried about making it through this film, as it was the last one on the billet. Frank Langella was su-perb as Nixon. There was an audible gasp in the theater when Frost got Nixon to say "it was illegal." After the taping, Nixon is leaving out of the house, his vision all blurred until he focuses on a small dog. All the weight in the world rising off his shoulders.

I did not watch the Oscar's this year. I was very happy with the outcome, especially for Heath.