Academy Awards - The Oscars

The vampire blockbuster took the lead with seven nominations and the Oscar-winning Indian romance received six, MTV announced Monday. Both popular movies were nominated for best film. This year's MTV Movie Awards will be between Twilight and Slumdog Millionaire.

"Slumdog" star Dev Patel and "Twilight" vampire Robert Pattinson are both nominated for the male breakthrough performance award. The other contenders are Ben Barnes ("The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"), Bobb'e J. Thompson ("Role Models") and Pattinson's "Twilight" co-star Taylor Lautner.

Mark Burnett, who produces the freewheeling ceremony, said either film has a great chance of winning best picture.

"Twilight" has "certainly touched a part of America and young girls are totally in love with what the movie stands for and (with) romance," Burnett said in an interview. "On the other hand, I have to say, all of my kids loved `Slumdog Millionaire.' There's just something so uplifting about what that movie stands for."

Other nominated movies include "Iron Man," "The Dark Knight" and "High School Musical 3: Senior Year."

Kate Winslet, who won an Oscar for her dramatic role in "The Reader," is up for best female performance, along with Angelina Jolie ("Wanted"), Anne Hathaway ("Bride Wars"), Kristen Stewart ("Twilight") and Taraji P. Henson ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button").

Nominees for best male performance are Christian Bale ("The Dark Knight"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Iron Man"), Shia LaBeouf ("Eagle Eye"), Vin Diesel ("Fast & Furious") and "High School Musical" heartthrob Zac Efron.

Efron's co-star (and girlfriend) Vanessa Hudgens will challenge Miley Cyrus for the breakthrough performance female award. Their competition includes "Slumdog" beauty Freida Pinto and Ashley Tisdale, another "HSM" star.

The golden popcorn trophy for best kiss _ one of the event's signature unconventional categories _ could be handed to one of six big-screen duos, including Efron and Hudgens, Pinto and Patel, Stewart and Pattinson, or Sean Penn and James Franco, who co-starred in "Milk."

Ledger, who won a posthumous Oscar for his menacing performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight," is also nominated in the best villain category.

MTV usually introduces a new category or two each year: This year, a golden popcorn will be awarded to the "best song from a movie." The nominees are Cyrus' "The Climb" (from the new "Hannah Montana" film); the "Twilight" song "Decode" by Paramore; the "Slumdog" anthem "Jai Ho"; and the Bruce Springsteen ballad "The Wrestler" from the movie starring Mickey Rourke.

Votes can be cast online at MTV's Web site through May 27 for all categories except best movie. MTV said voting in that category remains open until May 31, when the show will air live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif. "Saturday Night Live" star Andy Samberg is the host.

Burnett said the key to a successful movie-awards show is to let awkward moments pan out. Among last year's highlights: Franco and Seth Rogen pulled out a bag of fake marijuana on stage.

"I will tell you right now _ there are three big things" that are part of the show, Burnett said. "I would say personally in my three years of producing the MTV Movie Awards live, the biggest thing that I can think of is going to be happening this year."


source: http://www.MovieAwards.MTV.com

Slumdog Millionaire wins Oscar for Best Picture during the 81st Annual Academy Awards - The Oscars Awards 2009. Heald at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, February 22, 2009.

Maybe it was the adorable smile on that "Slumdog Millionaire" kid in his pint-sized tuxedo.

Or best director winner Danny Boyle bouncing in silly tribute to Tigger of "Winnie the Pooh."

The grinning, top-hatted dad of best actress winner Kate Winslet, whistling like a champion to get his daughter's attention.

Or an entire crowd standing together in remembrance of Heath Ledger.

This year's Oscar telecast was striking for its many feel-good themes and moments -- and perhaps exactly what we needed from a recession-era awards show.

Certainly, it was a notable contrast to last year, when darkness and cynicism ruled the nominated films, capped by best picture winner "No Country for Old Men," about a homicidal sociopath. The collective subject matter was so bleak that host Jon Stewart was inspired to say of "Juno," the one comedy: "Thank goodness for teen pregnancy!"

This year's host, Hugh Jackman, had no such trouble. He presided over a show filled with Cinderella themes both fictional and real-life. And none was more poignant than that of the night's big winner, "Slumdog Millionaire," with its story of love triumphing over desperate poverty, criminality and pure evil.

Lost on no one at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, of course, was the Cinderella-like story of the movie itself, which nearly became a victim of the tanking economy and was headed for a direct-to-DVD release before News Corp.'s Fox Searchlight stepped in to distribute it.

And there were the many personal stories of those involved in the film. As the cast stood onstage after winning the best picture award, the cameras focused briefly on a beatifically smiling Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, one of the children who'd been whisked to the Oscars from a desperately poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Mumbai, where he lives in a lean-to made of plastic tarpaulins and blankets. One can only imagine how the moment must have felt for his friends and family back home.

It fell to Simon Beaufoy, who won for the film's adapted screenplay, to make the link between our troubled times and the film's appeal.

"It's come out at a time when the value of money, which has been raised to this extraordinary height, is suddenly being shown to be a kind of very shallow thing," Beaufoy said. "The financial markets are crashing around the world, and a film comes out which is ostensibly about being a millionaire. Actually ... it's a film that says there's more important things than money: love, faith and family."

It was a different family -- that of the late Heath Ledger -- that brought tears to many eyes in the most emotional moment of the ceremony, no less affecting because it was expected: Ledger's posthumous Oscar for his diabolical Joker in "The Dark Knight."

The entire theater rose along with Ledger's relatives to pay tribute to this deeply talented actor who died last year at age 28, of an accidental prescription drug overdose. They heard his father express how much Ledger would have wanted to be there.

"This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by all you here tonight, his peers within an industry he so loved," said Kim Ledger, Heath Ledger's father.

The moment was lacking only one thing: A look back at Ledger's stunning work as the Joker. The new format for the acting awards, with five former winners paying tribute to nominees in short speeches, may have added some touching moments -- Shirley MacLaine telling Anne Hathaway that she had a great future was one of them -- but it took away the film clips, an omission some found glaring.

"You've got all these wonderful images -- so let's see this stuff on screen!" said Jonathan Kuntz, a historian at UCLA's film school. "They could have done a better job selling their films by actually showing them. Not everyone has seen these movies."

The ratings support that view -- bigger and more mainstream movies always draw higher Oscar ratings, and though viewership was up by more than 4 million this year, at 36.3 million, there are still only two Oscar telecasts on record with fewer viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Last year, when "No Country For Old Men" won best picture, the telecast was seen by 32 million people, the lowest on record. The 2003 telecast, with "Chicago" as the best picture winner, was seen by 33 million.

But back to the sweet moments, which came in some unexpected places. Certainly there was no Cinderella story in "The Reader," the tale of an unrepentant Nazi guard played by Kate Winslet.

But Winslet's win was touching nonetheless -- the popular British actress had been nominated five times previously with no success.

Thanking her parents for their faith in her, she called out, "Dad, whistle or something 'cause then I'll know where you are." And Roger Winslet whistled back -- heartily, for the world to hear.

Unlike the genial Winslet, Sean Penn is known for a somewhat prickly presence. But in keeping with the night, the best actor winner for "Milk" seemed a little, well, softer around the edges, virtually apologizing for some of his trademark brashness.

"I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often," Penn said, to laughter. He went on to make a passionate plea for legalization of same-sex marriages.

Penn's portrayal of slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk was striking partly because the character was so much sweeter -- and full of smiles -- than many he's played before. His performance was so convincing that it gave Penn's friend, Robert DeNiro, one of the night's best comic lines.

"How did he do it?" DeNiro asked as he introduced Penn in the best actor category. "How for so many years did Sean Penn get all those jobs playing straight men?"

But for lines that epitomized the feel-good nature of the 81st Academy Awards, one could do no better than 43-year-old Indian composer A.R. Rahman, who won Oscars for both original soundtrack and original song from "Slumdog Millionaire."

source: oscar.com

Alicia Keys The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Amanda Seyfried The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Amy Adams The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Angelina Jolie The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Anne Hathaway The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Beyonce Knowles The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Evan Rachel Wood The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Heidi Klum The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Jessica Biel The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Kate Winslet The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Leslie Mann The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Marion Cotillard The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Marisa Tomei The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Melissa George The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Miley Cyrus The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Natalie Portman The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Penelope Cruz The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Phoebe Cates The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Ryoko Hirosue The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Sarah Jessica Parker The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Vanessa Hudgens The Oscars Awards 2009 Red Carpet Photo

Watch 81st Annual Academy Awards 2009 - The Oscars Replay Video, the most prestigious and biggest awards this year honoring all the best films of 2008.

The Oscars ceremony was held again at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood last Sunday, February 22, 2009 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, which started at exactly at 5PT/8ET. Hosted by none other than Hugh Jackman and televised live on ABC. Together with Beyonce Knowles, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Amanda Seyfield , Dominic Cooper on there Musical Performance Mama Mia Stage Skit Medley Broadway.

Watch 81st Annual Academy Awards 2009 - Musical is Back video:

Complete list of nominees for this year's 81st Academy Awards 2009 - The Oscars Ceremony. Awarding of nominations/nominees will be live on Sunday, February 22, 2009, 5 p.m. , at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. You may watch via ABC in the Unites States.


Best Actress / Female Performance in a Leading Role
Kate Winslet - The Reader
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married

Best Actor / Male Performance in a Leading Role
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Sean Penn - Milk

Best Supporting Actress / Female Performance in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams - Doubt
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Viola Davis - Doubt

Best Supporting Actor / Male Performance in a Supporting Role
Josh Brolin - Milk
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder


Best Picture
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Reader

Best Director / Achievement in Directing
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Stephen Daldry - The Reader
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Gus Van Sant - Milk

Best Foreign Language Film
Waltz With Bashir - Israel
Revanche - Austria
The Class - France
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex - Germany
Departures - Japan

Best Adapted Screenplay
Doubt - John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgan
Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Roth, Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
The Reader - David Hare

Best Original Screenplay
Frozen River - Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky - Mike Leigh
In Bruges - Martin McDonagh
Milk - Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E - Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter

Best Cinematography
Changeling - Tom Stern
Slumdog Millionaire - Anthony Dod Mantle
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight - Wally Pfister
The Reader - Chris Menges, Roger Deakins

Best Editing
Frost/Nixon - Mike Hill, Dan Hanley
Milk - Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire - Chris Dickens
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
The Dark Knight - Lee Smith

Best Original Score
Defiance - James Newton Howard
Milk - Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
WALL-E - Thomas Newman

Best Art Direction / Achievement in Art Direction
Changeling
Revolutionary Road
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess

Best Costume Design
Australia - Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Jacqueline West
The Duchess - Michael O’Connor
Milk - Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road - Albert Wolsky

Best Original Song
Down to Earth from WALL-E - Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman, Gulzar
O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam

Best Animated Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Best Documentary
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water
The Betrayal
Encounters at the End of the World

Best Makeup / Achievement in Make-Up
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight - John Caglione, Jr., Conor O’Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Mike Elizalde, Thom Floutz

Best Short Animation / Animated Short
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory - Lovestory

Best Live Action Short
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Auf der Strecke
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy

Best Sound Editing / Achievement in Sound
Slumdog Millionaire - Tom Sayers
Iron Man - Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes
The Dark Knight - Richard King
WALL-E - Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
Wanted - Wylie Stateman

Best Visual Effects
The Dark Knight - Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
Iron Man - John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick, Shane Mahan


The acting categories are always hotly contested and this year is no different. Both in the actors and actresses categories, no one has emerged as the clear favorite this year. Not only because of their equally good performances but also because the different award giving organizations have proclaimed different winners in the past month or so. But expect the names of Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie to be read from the 2009 Oscar nominations list later today. The same goes for Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke. I am also expecting a nomination for Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight.

Watch The 81st Annual Academy Awards Ceremony Live on Sunday, February 22, 2009, 5 pm , at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. It will be televised in the United States on ABC. Oscars ceremony is the 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony will honor its selection of the best films of 2008. The Oscars, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself, were conceived by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio boss, Louis B. Mayer. The awards are presented is one of the most prominent film award ceremonies in the world.

The 81st Annual Academy Awards Ceremony 2009 Live.

Academy Awards are given for best motion picture; foreign-language film; performances by male and female actors in both leading and supporting roles; achievement in direction; screenplays, both original and adapted from previously produced or published material; and scores and songs composed for films. Other award categories include live-action short subject, animated short subject, documentary feature, and documentary short feature. Excellence in technical disciplines is also recognized, including art direction, cinematography, costume design, makeup, film editing, sound and sound effects editing, and visual effects. In addition, special or honorary awards are given for distinguished careers or humanitarian achievement.

prizes given annually in the United States by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for excellence in the creation and production of motion pictures. First presented in 1929 for films shown in 1927 and 1928, the Academy Awards, commonly known as Oscars, are among the film industry’s most coveted prizes.

The entire academy membership participates in voting for the annual awards. In most award categories, a maximum of five entrants are first nominated by the academy members who work in that particular field (that is, actors select actors, directors select directors, and so on). From among these nominees all academy members select the winners by secret ballot. The winners are publicly announced at a formal ceremony each spring. One hour of the 1929 awards ceremony was broadcast on the radio, and from 1944 through 1969 the entire ceremony was broadcast. Television broadcasts began in 1953 and today attract a worldwide audience. Various people claim to have given the name Oscar to the symbolic statuette presented to winners, including actor Bette Davis, academy librarian Margaret Herrick, and columnist Sidney Skolsky. But the origin of the name has never been definitively determined. The gold-plated bronze human figure, which is 34.3 cm (13.5 in) high and weighs 3.9 kg (8.5 lb), was created by American sculptor George Stanley based on sketches made by American motion-picture art director Cedric Gibbons.

Awards are given for best motion picture; foreign-language film; performances by male and female actors in both leading and supporting roles; achievement in direction; screenplays, both original and adapted from previously produced or published material; and scores and songs composed for films. Other award categories include live-action short subject, animated short subject, documentary feature, and documentary short feature. Excellence in technical disciplines is also recognized, including art direction, cinematography, costume design, makeup, film editing, sound and sound effects editing, and visual effects. In addition, special or honorary awards are given for distinguished careers or humanitarian achievement.

source: encarta