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Careless Love Opening Night + Q&A
With director John Duigan ('The Year My Voice Broke') and cast Nammi Le and Peter O’Brien. THU 17 MAY – 7pm RITZ CINEMA, 45 St Pauls Street, Randwick NSW 2031 TICKETS ON-SALE – book now www.ritzcinema.com.au “Careless Love” tells the story of...
Film Producing with Metro Screen
Metro Screen, Paddington Town Hall, Sydney(NSW)
Winners of Australian Directors' Guild Awards Announced
(Nationwide)
Gold Coast Indie Film & Television Network Presents 'Getting Behind The News'
Gold Coast(QSL)
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Screen Australia Invests in 16 Features
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The two legendary gents look to be starring in this comedy centred around a Las Vegas bachelor party.
‘Housos’ Get Big Screen Outing
Writer/director/comedian Paul Fenech is set to make his debut feature.
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It's Oscar Time
Yumi Stynes gives us the rundown in the lead up to the Oscars, cinema's night of nights. Move over Richard Wilkins.
The countdown is truly on for the 2009 Academy Awards Ceremony. In Australia the Oscars will go to air Monday 22nd February on E! They're a great tradition for getting the best, most beautiful, important and high-achieving movie stars and filmmakers in the one room.
For the rest of us, a trip to the local cinema is the closest we get to Hollywood. If you've already seen Twilight and Slumdog Millionaire, my tip would be Ghost Town for the biggest cinema guffaws you'll have all year. Ricky Gervais is genius.
They're naff but I do love the Academy Awards, plus Hugh Jackman is hosting them this year. The films which scoop the nominations tend to be lame or just forgettable but who cares about detail?
Top 5 Lamest Films to Ever Win An Oscar:
Dances With Wolves
Lame! Unwatchable! Boring! Kevin Costner!
Shakespeare in Love
It just isn't a very good film. And Best Actress, Gwyneth Paltrow? Local equivalent: Kate DeAraugo winning Australian Idol.
Titanic
I can see it was tempting to get carried away with the hype. But "biggest movie" does not translate to "best movie" and Titanic was mostly crap. And it has stood the test of time about as well as Debbie Gibson.
The Last Emperor
Sorry, were you talking? I fell asleep. This film fits into the category of overblown biopic no one will ever watch after the year of release unless it somehow relates to an essay they're writing for year 11 history. (See also: JFK, Ghandi, Ali and dare I say Milk?) Don't be deceived: it's not deep just because it's in a different language.
The English Patient
Wow, like, SO boring. Elaine from Seinfeld was right.
The Oscars don't celebrate film so much as stars of film. The fun is in the ceremony, the red carpet, the fabulous outfits and the scary live broadcast where even the most jaded and weary actor can get visibly zapped by a jolt of fear and excitement. It's fun to see them lose it. When Cuba Gooding Jr won that Best Support Oscar, he didn't know it then, but that speech he gave was the best thing he's done in all the time since. And it's freakin' awesome to see to egos inflate to larger than that room before your very eyes. Yikes. Julia Roberts winning for Erin Brokovich was a woman at the peak of her powers. And she knew it. It was breathtaking. And then of course there are the unspoken traditions of the Oscars, like sucking up to Jack Nicholson, or pretending to like Tom Cruise, avoiding Nick Nolte's breath, and hugging Helen Mirren.
OSCARS PREDICTIONS:
BEST ACTOR:
This year the element of danger is going to be well-and-truly represented by bad-boy Mickey Rourke. He has been seen recently swigging champagne out of the bottle at the BAFTAs and is ‘rehabilitated' in career only. The one guy standing in the way of his Oscar is Sean Penn - ironically, Penn is also the only nominee who couldn't give a rat's arse about whether he wins. And Penn is probably the only man in that room who would stand up to Rourke's loose cannon alpha male act. Oh, for a barroom brawl at the Oscars...
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Heath Ledger will win Best Supporting Actor. His family would prefer to shove the Oscar if they could get their boy back and I hope the Academy doesn't get carried away into thinking this is sufficient consolation for their loss.
BEST ACTRESS:
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married. Why? The Academy loves giving statues to the young and beautiful. It makes them feel hip.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Kate Winslet should win for her performance in the year's most unforgettable film The Reader. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this film since I saw it more than a month ago. Winslet is a brilliant actor, but one reason she does so well in the film is because she's so well supported by 18-year-old German hottie David Kross, playing the young Michael Berg. He's the soul of the film. Like Emile Hirsch without baby cheeks. I hope her win encourages more people to go out and see this thoughtful, surprisingly sexy film.
BEST FILM:
Slumdog Millionaire. If it doesn't win, I will eat my hat. And it won't be the first time!
