The Oscar 2009 Wrap-up: The Academy loves the chic-flick and says "The Musical is back!"

For all of you who want the chic-flick back, I promise that this is my Academy wrap-up. Please feel free to give me your opinions about what you enjoyed and didn't enjoy or if you even considered watching it, in the comments section.

4.5/5 BABY!: How excited was I, that all my predictions were spot on, if you count my half prediction for Sean Penn. Even if you don't, it is still pretty good. Now that I look back on it, I really should have known. The Academy loves the minorities and I'm sure wanted to express their support for gay marriage. I really wanted to kick myself after. Though, I will say that this was a fairly easy year to predict, so I'm a little lucky. Congratulations to all the winners!

Best Dressed: Shockingly enough, Miley Cyrus. There were some incredible dresses all round but she had great hair and jewelery to match. I was way impressed! Also some shout outs to Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Taraji P. Henson who all looked stunning.

Shock moment: No, it wasn't Ben Stiller as a certain "retired" actor during Cinematography (way inappropriate) or Jack Black's dig at DreamWorks (bitter much?) or even the amount of times they showed James Franco and Sean Penn making out (yes, we get it, you homo-loving sons of guns), it was the In Memoriam montage that featured greats like Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack and one of my favourites, Paul Newman, but didn't feature one of the night's winners. Where was Heath Ledger's picture? Where was his chance to, yes for a second time, to get an applause and be recognized not only for his work as the Joker but for other roles? Shocking, indeed.'
note: I realized after this post that they featured Ledger in the 2008 award show because he died in January of that year. This year featured people who died from March 2008-February 2009, I'm assuming. I am still mad about it though!

Tribute to the Musical: Once again, luck is on my side. I think it's fate that I recently decided to dedicate a post to, as, host, Hugh Jackman sang, "The Musical is back!". But I known people will complain because The Oscars is not The Tonys and maybe they shouldn't have tried to be. What do you really expect though? Jackman is a many-time Tony host and a theatre-man so really, what else could he have done other than sing and dance? Make fun of Brangelina so more? I loved the show as a whole: the pacing was better than usual, the performances were interesting and the sets were a feast for the eyes. I was also really impressed by the organization; the process of making a film gave the awards and presenters a new twist and the genre montages were so much fun. Everyone must watch The Comedy Montage, it may have been the best, non-award winning, moment of the night. Also check out MSN Movies version of the night's best and worst moments.

Chic-Flick Moment: What a personal, heart-warming and chick flick like way to present awards to the nominated actors! My mom and I were gushing about it the whole night. Shirley MacClaine made Anne Hathaway cry, Kevin Kline saluted the late Heath Ledger and Sir Ben Kingsley gave a Oscar-worthy tribute to Mickey Rourke. What a great year to be nominated!
Not only was Edward Cullen...uhmm, sorry I mean, Robert Pattinson a presenter, but he introduced the chic-flick moment of the night along with musical-girl Amanda Seyfried: The Romance Montage. This moment inspired the wrap-up post because, take a breath everyone, The Academy is acknowledging chic-flicks. I say chic-flicks and not chick flicks because, if you saw it you would notice the quality of the films that were chosen (mostly Oscar winners or nominees and then promotion for other 2008 and 2009 movies). It may have been my favourite moment of the night.

Do Chic-Flicks get nominated?: Obviously not all. But take a look at this year's nominees and winners: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a love story that spans over time and is made to touch the hearts of us all. Plus you cry your eyes out and isn't that what skeptics say girly movies are? Or even The Reader, which at first seems like a basic World War II film, but essentially tells the story of love affair between two unlikely people and the effects of it afterwards. You can also look at the big winner, Slumdog Millionaire; a movie about a kid who really only wants to see the girl he loves again. I say the rules are about the same as any other genre; comedies and action flicks are just not going to cut it (Dark Knight, anyone?), no matter what kind, and if there is enough drama to call it a Drama that it just might have a chance. Throw in a heavyweight director and similar actors and you might just have yourself a winner!

FUN FIND: For those wondering about The Academy Rules, there is definitely more. I, myself, came up with two or three more just watching last night's show. For another take, check out the gallery-accompanied, How to Win an Oscar from MSN.

And the Oscar goes to...not exactly who you might think

This is not exactly in the chick flick area but the night of the 81st Academy Awards is the most important movie night of the year, so I think dedicating a post or two to it makes sense. Expect some of my Oscar predictions in the next post, but I thought the reasoning behind my predictions might be better understood if I explained my understanding of the Academy. I'm no expert but I do have some strong opinions, facts and tidbits to share about what I think these awards are really about.

The Academy Rules:

1. Just because a actor should win doesn't mean that he or she will win. The Oscars are all based on politics. Shocking, I know. This is the reason for the "Who should win versus Who will win" list that is used by many a reviewer and critic.


2. It is unlikely for an actor to win an award with his or her first nomination. For example, Johnny Depp was nominated for Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) and did possibly the most incredible performance of his career. Instead it went to Sean Penn in Mystic River (2003), one of the most amazing actors of this age, but he also had three nominations under his belt. It was just not Johnny's time to win and now that he has three nominations under his belt, his time may be coming. It may also had to do with the fact that it was a Disney film where he played a comedic character, which does not gain points with the ever-so-serious loving academy. It wasn't that Penn's performance wasn't good enough to win; it was, but it is not all that counts in the votes.

3. It is unlikely for an actor to win if they have won the previous year. One of the most heartbreaking examples that had me, at 15, screaming in shock at the television was when Russell Crowe was robbed by Denzel Washington. This is difficult for me to talk about because it is a definite rant topic. Russel Crowe didn't win for his mind-blowing performance in A Beautiful Mind (2001), because he had won the year before for Gladiator (2000). This brings me to my next rule.

4. When an actor has been nominated many times, they like to eventually give them an award even if someone else deserves it more. Denzel Washington had been nominated four times before and because he is such a loved actor, people believed he was jipped by the Academy. He had previously won for Supporting Actor in Glory (1989) but the two categories do not seem to overlap. This also leads to the next thing I know.

5. There is known to be certain themes in the kinds of recipients that recieve the awards in a certain year or in general. The year Denzel won, so did Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, the first African-American woman to win for Best Leading Actress, as well as being the year that Sidney Portier won the Honourary Award. These people are incredible actors but it seems like the Academy was trying to make a statement more so than celebrate great work. It is also known that the Academy seems to award beautiful women who make themselves uglier: Halle Berry in Moster's Ball (2001), Nicole Kidman in The Hours (2002), and Charlize Theron in Monster (2003).

6. It is less likely that someone will will for a lone nomination. Basically, someone is less likely to win if they are the only good thing about the film and if it is not-so good and you just happen to be fantastic in it, it still makes you look bad by association. I think this might have also happened to Depp in 2003.

7. The Academy usually likes to surprise the audience with an unlikely winner just to shake up the show. So many predictions are made by reviewers and critics that it seems that just to make the show interesting they have to give the audience something unexpected. Some may think this is cruel to say but you can just wait and see. People thought that last year's Best Actress winner was going to be Ellen Page in Juno, which would have been well deserved, but she suffered from rule #2. Instead Marion Cotillard was the shocker for La Vie en Rose. There are a few possibilities for those this year as well.

All of this being said, I have stayed up to watch them every year since I fell in love with movies and will continue to do so until something catastrophic happens and my brain is rewired to change the way I am.

Coming up next are the Oscar predictions...