Better Than the Superbowl

This Sunday one of my favorite events of the year will be proudly displayed on television for the world to see. That’s right ladies and gentlemen; it’s the 81st Annual Academy Awards, also known as the 2009 Oscars! Don’t even try to pretend you’re not excited for this glorious event, because I know you all are.

This year there are 50 movies nominated for the 24 different categories. That of course means that some movies (like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire) were nominated for more than one category and if you count up all the nominations given there are 111 total. So far, I have seen 37 of the 50 films nominated or 96 of the 111 nominations (keep in mind that seeing a film like The Dark Knight counts as one film but 8 nominations). Tonight I will be watching Changeling so my movie count will be up to 38 and nomination count will be up to 99. There are 12 movies that remain but only 2 are even possible to see, The Class (which is released to a local theater on Friday) and Hellboy II (nominated for it’s make-up). I am planning to see The Class on Friday afternoon and I refuse to see Hellboy II – stupid.

I am excited to be closer to my goal of seeing all the movies this year. Last year I was only able to see 49 of the 59 movies and 103 of the 114 nominations. It’s always the Documentary Short films, Foreign Films, and Documentary Features that hold up my list. It’s nearly impossible for the average person to see these movies before the event happens and even afterwards, there’s never a guarantee that it’ll play in a theater or come out on DVD – especially the Documentary Shorts.

To celebrate the Oscars I am headed off to Portland on Saturday night to visit my friends and prepare for our “superbowl.” I will be arriving late Saturday night since I have a wedding to attend in Seattle that afternoon. Sunday morning I will be going to church with my brother and afterwards my friends and I will be visiting a grocery store to stock up for our day of festivities. We will prepare a feast of wonderful and delicious foods while we discuss our predictions and thoughts about each of the various films and make our official ballot predictions that must be finalized before the show begins.

We will watch the red carpet and make fun of the stars we don’t like (Branjelina), ooh and ahh over our favorites (Kate Winslet), and mourn the loss of those who should be there (Heath). The show will begin and we will be giddy with excitement. There is a possibility that this year our party might be a black tie affair – but this has not yet been decided. All eyes will be on the screen and once announcements are made we will furiously check our ballots to see if we were correct in our predictions. As the show ends we will applaud the person with the most accurate predictions and tease the person with the most failures. A good time will be had by all and we will go to bed happily content, finally knowing who the triumphant winners are.

On Monday I will return to Seattle and resume my normal life and will probably take a break from movies for awhile. It’s nice that there aren’t any good movies released in March so I can allow myself a little break from the silver screen. Don’t worry though, the bug will bite me again next fall and I will be just as excited about next year’s class of films as I am about this years’. Happy Oscar watching everyone!

For those of you who are curious, here is a list of all the movies nominated this year. The x's indicate movies I've seen or will have seen by Sunday.


xAuf der Strecke (On the Line); Live Action Short
xAustralia; Costume Design
xBolt; Animated Feature
xChangeling; Actress, Art Direction, and Cinematography
xDefiance; Score
Departures; Foreign Film
xDoubt; Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor, and 2 Supporting Actress'
xEncounters at the End of the World; Documentary
xFrost/Nixon; Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Director, Film Editing, Picture
xFrozen River; Actress and Original Screenplay
xHappy-Go-Lucky; Original Screenplay
Hellboy II: The Golden Army; Makeup
xIn Bruges; Original Screenplay
xIron Man; Sound Editing and Visual Effects
xKung Fu Panda; Animated Feature
xLa Maison en Petits Cubes; Animated Short
xLevatory - Lovestory; Animated Short
xMan on Wire; Documentary
xManon on the Asphalt; Live Action Short
xMilk; Actor, Costume Design, Director, Film Editing, Original Screenplay, Picture, Score, and Supporting Actor
xNew Boy; Live Action Short
xOktapodi; Animated Short
xPresto; Animated Short
xRachel Getting Married; Actress
Revanche; Foreign Film
xRevolutionary Road; Art Direction, Costume Design, and Supporting Actor
xSlumdog Millionaire; Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Director, Film Editing, Picture, Score, 2 Songs, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing
Smile Pinki; Documentary Short
xSpielzeugland (Toyland); Live Action Short
The Baader Meinhof Complex; Foreign Film
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon); Documentary
xThe Class; Foreign Film
The Conscience of Nhem En; Documentary Short
xThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Director, Film Editing, Makeup, Picture, Score, Sound Mixing, Supporting Actress, and Visual Effects
xThe Dark Knight; Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Supporting Actor, andVisual Effects
xThe Duchess; Art Direction and Costume Design
The Final Inch; Documentary Short
The Garden; Documentary
xThe Pig; Live Action Short
xThe Reader; Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Director, and Picture
xThe Visitor; Actor
The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306; Documentary Short
xThe Wrestler; Actor, Supporting Actress
xThis Way Up; Animated Short
xTropic Thunder; Supporting Actor
Trouble the Water; Documentary
xVicky Christina Barcelona; Supporting Actress
xWall-E; Animated Feature, Original Screenplay, Score, Song, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing
xWaltz with Bashir; Foreign Film
xWanted; Sound Editing and Sound Mixing