Monday, February 9, 2009

Awards Season: BAFTA 2009

So awards show season rolls on, and no, I’m not talking about the Grammys, because come on – Coldplay? Seriously? Viva La Vida is such crap. This awesome Obama/Christian Bale mashup is so much better than anything that’s been nominated for a Grammy this year. No, I’m talking about the BAFTAs, the British version of the Academy Awards.

I didn’t watch the whole thing – I spend about eight hours a day watching television at my job, which means I don’t have the attention span to watch much at home. I haven’t even made it through the premier of Lost, fercrapsakes. But the parts of the BAFTAs I did catch made me happy. Namely, Slumdog Millionaire sweeping the hell out of the night. That movie deserves every award heaped upon it and more.

Mickey Rourke won for The Wrestler, and this time he didn’t thank his dogs. Will this give him the Oscar edge? Sean Penn snagged the SAG, but Rourke got the Globe and the BAFTA. I still think it’s the category to watch, it could go to Richard Jenkins or Frank Langella in an upset. But at this point, smart money does point towards Rourke. You can see the rest of the BAFTA winners here.

All this awards madness does remind me what a wasteland the beginning of the year is for movies. Sure, next week we get the Michael Bay Friday the 13th, which may be terribly awesome or awesomely terrible. But what else? Even if I had enough free time to go to the movies right now, there’s not much I’d want to see. Confessions of a Shopaholic looks harmless enough, but it’s gonna tank because no one wants to see a generic romcom about overspending and credit card crises in this economy. And He’s Just Not That Into You has a stellar cast, but there are too many characters to balance screentime that I can’t imagine it’s that coherent a film. So if Watchmen doesn’t keep its March 6th release date, then I don’t foresee anything aside from Friday the 13th and The Reader dragging me out to the theatre any time soon.

But hey, if you’re feeling left out of the awards buzz because you didn’t see any of the nominated films, and if you have an ass of steel and can sit for twelve straight hours, then AMC theatres will give you the chance to see the five Best Picture nominees all in one day. Five movies for $30 is a pretty good deal, though your post-marathon chiropractic co-pay might null out the savings.

2 comments:

richgoldstein13 said...

My brother did that last year. I stayed home and did it for free. Still not worth it. Why can't the best pictures be twenty minutes, like a sitcom? Most of the movie is just filler anyway.

smd said...

See, I can see doing it at home because you can pause the movie, get up, stretch, but wouldn't you go mad trapped in a theatre for five movies? By the end I'd start to feel like I'd stumbled into A Clockwork Orange.

And hey, there's always the best short films category! It was made for us ADDled folks!