Michael Yada/EPA) @ TimesOnline
thoughts from this year's surprisingly breezy (by usual standards) Oscars telecast:
for all the talk about toning it down in the face of the recession, the ceremony lost no luster at all. Though it seems the producers went for timeless class rather than gaudiness, the moon-sized chandelier setting spoke louder than any speeches about "the times we live in".
despite Slumdog Millionaire being a good movie, winning this many awards seems destined to push it into "overrated" territory. More diversity in the nominations on a regular basis would be nice, instead of having one "little indie that could" become a juggernaut simply because it's likable enough. For all its flaws, The Wrestler should have had a nod, and The Dark Knight definitely should have too.
despite a frenzied movie-viewing slate in the past few weeks that had me feeling at times I was watching The Curious Case of Slumdog/Nixon Getting Married, I didn't get around to catching a few of the front-runners like Milk or The Reader. With the releases for so many of these movies jammed up together in a couple of months, it would be nice if they moved the show back to March, like it used to be.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to make my 14th cup of tea of the morning.
while Winslet's performance does justice to the Oscar she was awarded on Sunday, her character's story often seems way too unconscionable. Perhaps the book goes into things more, but there's a form of heartlessness here that had me more than a little uncomfortable (not the good kind), to the point it affected my opinion of the whole movie.
Michael Yada/EPA) @ TimesOnline
Though the subject (a man loses his job but does not tell his family) was tackled in the excellent L'Emploi Du Temps by Laurent Cantet a few years back, this film is praiseworthy in its own right, commenting about social success and the role of each within the family with a mix of violence and restraint. Inowaki Kai, who plays the youngest son, is a true revelation, and helps make some difficult scenes into an unqualified success. 
Featuring no less than four stellar acting performances (of which only Anne Hathaway got an Oscar nod), this delightful little movie doesn't do much, except show what family can be like. Which is in many ways one of the hardest things to do well. This will bore many people, but if you're into that sort of material, dive right in.
though Fincher proves here that he is one of the top directors working today (also, the movie is absolutely gorgeous, to the nth degree), he must've forgot to schedule some time for the editing room, as this feels too long by at least 20mins. Still there are some knockout scenes, and a mesmerizing last 1/2 hour, that justify at least some of the hype that's been bestowed on this potential Best Picture winner.
supremely satisfying effort from Ron Howard, helped by some truly standout performances. The fake-real interview portions are a bit gimmicky, but they're short enough for that not to matter, and you won't find a better example of ensemble acting this year. Even knowing the ending to the story shouldn't deter from enjoying the experience, proving once more that good movies are about so much more than getting from point A to point B.
