2009 Academy Award Winners: You're Thoughts

[Jim H]

A group of mostly anonymous people vote for what movies they like.  I can't imagine why this should interest me, or anyone, in the slightest.  I can look at user ratings at the IMDb, I can read user reviews there or at Amazon, I can read critics' opinions on dozens and dozens of websites, or look at the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes.  Yet some group of somebodies gives their opinion, and it's a big deal. 

Totally incomprehensible.

Well, on certain specific awards, it's a little more interesting than that, since they're voted by people in the field.  For instance, visual effects technicians vote on the visual effects awards.  That's why Button won over far more epically spectacular effects movies.  The guys who make the effects know it is more difficult and impressive to make a CG person completely believable for large chunks of film time, especially in closeups (as Benjamin Button for a very large chunk of its runtime) than it is to make, say, a robotic suit flying look believable.  That's just the way it is.  It's why The Two Towers was a shoe-in for Visual Effects - not for its massive CG battles and world creation, but more particularly for a fully CG character who was still completely believable on a human (sort of) level. 

[BoyScoutKevin]

After "Happy Feet" beat out "Cars" for the Oscar for Best Animated Film, nothing surprises me about the Oscars.

[The Burgomaster]

I finally saw SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE last night . . . bought the DVD yesterday on my way home from work.  I think it's an excellent movie.  I was a bit surprised thoug . . . many people heralded it as an uplifting, feel good move . . . which it is . . . but you need to wade through 2 hours of sometimes disturbing, depressing, violent moments before the whole exhausting experience is over.  I was expecting more of a rags-to-riches fantasy like ROCKY, rather than a stark look at orphans, poverty, and crime in India.  My wife doesn't like watching violence and I thought she would leave the room a few times, but she ended up watching it right to the end.