Birthdays and Oscars

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - first to my nephew Elliott... he's getting old already! And also to Claire who is WAY old! An important day for the birthday tracking webpages out there!

Laptop harddrive has been reloaded and seems much happier. Problem is that downloading large applications from US to Taiwan takes longer so the process is more painful. That plus I have an install disc in Rochester for a program I use some of the time. I may have to try to download it and use my serial number, etc to "trick" it....

The Academy Awards are this Sunday (US time) and I have watched all the movies that I'm going to watch in order to prepare for the ceremony. Here are my thoughts and who I want to see the awards:

Movie of the Year:

• Benjamin Button - the reason for the LONG delay in releasing The Time Traveler's Wife. The movie was interesting and pretty well done, but I don't think it'll win. Mainly because I was a bigger fan of the book The Time Traveler's Wife.
• Frost/Nixon - Better than I anticipated. Another movie that you more fully appreciate if you do a search on Wikipedia for the history of the plot and then follow along.
• Milk - More boring than I expected. "Based on a true story" type movies aren't my favorite though sometimes.... I seriously did not think this movie was "MOVIE OF THE YEAR" material.
• The Reader - A surprisingly decent movie
• Slumdog Millionaire - A VERY good movie and my pick to win. A believable and very well written story line. If you haven't seen it yet, go see it cause it will win.

Best Actor:

• Brad Pitt - besides being his usual self that acts by not saying anything (very similar to his Joe Black character), the performance was just ok.
• Frank Langella (Nixon) - Probably the one I would like to see win
• Sean Penn - A good job playing the role, but I still did not enjoy the movie
• Richard Jenkins - I admit, I haven't watched The Visitor yet
• Mickey Rourke - seriously, I could have played the same role with about the same effect

Best Actress: Only one I watched was The Reader and I didn't think Kate Winslet's performance warranted a nomination. So anyone else would be fine.

Supporting Actor: NOT Robert Downey Jr please!!! I have a feeling this one is an easy one for Heath Ledger... and probably well deserved ALTHOUGH I thought David Kross should have been nominated for his role in The Reader... not Kate Winslet.

Supporting Actress: NOT Marisa Tomei - seriously, that was a HORRIBLE performance. I actually liked the movie, but the acting was very sub-par including her just walking around naked (which seems to be the theme to get nominated this year) on film. I did appreciate the role played by Taraji Henson in Benjamin Button but I would be surprised if she wins.

Best Director: Give it to Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Animated Feature Film.... KUNG FU PANDA!!!!

That's all I have to say about