Oscars 2009: The Curious Case Of Hugh Jackman
Like many of you, I watched the Oscars last night. Good show, I thought Hugh Jackman did a great job. The opening song was really good, although I still don't know why we make the host sing to start the show when we only have a movie musical about every three years. I blame Billy Crystal.Anyway, Jackman was good. He can sing, dance, act, and he's Wolverine. He's got across-the-board credentials for Broadway, Hollywood, and comic book geeks everywhere.
I did notice within the first five minutes we got shots of Robert Downey Jr. and Mickey Rourke in the crowd. That's a good way to remind everyone of who's on their final career comeback, and that they're safe and sound and in their seats.
A weird work schedule and a generally short attention span means I don't get out to the theatres much, so for the ninth straight year I hadn't seen any of the Best Picture nominees. I was shocked to discover that "Saw V" wasn't nominated for any of the major categories, though.
That's the problem a lot of people have, actually. More people watched the Friday the 13th remake in it's opening weekend than saw three of the Best Picture nominees combined. "Milk," "The Reader," and "Frost/Nixon" weren't as popular as, say, "Transporter 3."I live in East Texas, so some of those movies didn't even play around here. I really wanted to see "Frost/Nixon," but my local theatre wasn't carrying it. Instead, they were taking up the entire evening showing Larry the Cable Guy in "Witless Protection," then turning up the house lights for a roundtable discussion.
Here's the actual top ten movies of the year, and what stands out about them to me:
(#1) The Dark Knight - Made a billion dollars, and Heath Ledger won the Oscar for best supporting actor.
(#2) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I can't find anyone who admits to liking it, it was the victim of the most savage South Parking ever. And rightfully so, I might add.(#3) Kung Fu Panda - Firmly established Jack Black as not quite so annoying in cute cartoon form.
(#4) Hancock - First super-hero movie since 1978 not to have action figures (see #6 below).
(#5) Mamma Mia! - Movie musicals aimed at women, gay men, and disco holdouts are a good idea sometimes.
(#6) Iron Man - Sold a whole bunch of toys, some of which went to me.
(#7) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - Proved very popular with people who like to move it, move it.
(#8) Quantum of Solace - Made lots of money in spite of having a title that made no sense.
(#9) WALL-E - If the movie business were the NYSE, I couldn't afford Pixar stock.
(#10) The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - This movie was made from a series of books I never read, thus putting it in the same category with the Lord of the Rings movies, Gone With The Wind, and anything based on a book published before 1990.
