The 81st Annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, Academy President Sid Ganis announced today.

The ceremony will again take place at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.

Key dates announced:

Monday, December 1, 2008: Official Screen Credits forms due
Friday, December 26, 2008: Nominations ballots mailed
Monday, January 12, 2009: Nominations polls close 5 p.m. PT
Thursday, January 22, 2009: Nominations announced 5:30 a.m. PT, Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Wednesday, January 28, 2009: Final ballots mailed
Monday, February 2, 2009: Nominees Luncheon
Saturday, February 7, 2009: Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards presentation
Tuesday, February 17, 2009: Final polls close 5 p.m. PT
Sunday, February 22, 2009: 81st Annual Academy Awards presentation

From AwardsDaily:

“The dates are in keeping with those of recent years, since the presentation date was moved from March to February. However, one notable change for the 81st Awards is the move of the Nominations Announcement from the traditional Tuesday to a Thursday. The switch was made to avoid a conflict with the 2009 Presidential Inauguration.”

This is just the beginning of what I hope to be another great Oscar season like last year, I am so excited already!

An article by Anne Thompson for Variety has yet again brought my attention the shaky future many print critics in the US face today. It sucks, it really does, but that is the future. In SA, print critics were never really all that influential anyway, with the exception of a few house hold names, like Barry Ronge who I never stop talking about. I should stop though; it is not like he needs more publicity anyway. You can read Thompson’s article here, and I will turn the focus on me, like I do so well.

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You could look at the following one of two ways, either, a bunch of crap written by a bored kid on a Sunday night who should be studying or think how much fun it would be to participate in an Oscar Forecast type debate thing. The later may only appeal to people who have no lives outside of film, so I am in.

These “predictions” that I sucked out of my thumb (imdb helped…) are not to be taken too seriously, I urge you to take them with about ten pinches of salt. These are up with a not-so-complete list of films to look out for in 2008 on the Oscar Corridor 2008 page. These predictions are not rigid and will probably change on a weekly basis, and these are only predictions for the major categories, with a full write-up coming soon enough.

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
Milk

Best Director:

David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*
Joe Wright - The Soloist
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes - Revolutionary Road
Gus Van Sant - Milk

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Diablo Cody on the morning after her Oscar win, in bed with her, um, little Bald Golden Man, isn’t this priceless?
Here’s what she has to say about her recent success:   

“As I’ve said in the past, they can dress me up, they can give me awards, they can coach me on the right responses, and they can sand the callouses off my giant fucking feet, but I will always be me. And I will never be ashamed.”

I cannot say “Congrats!” enough…she so deserved this win! But I think I should keep the noise down so as to not disturb her, she deserves all the rest she can get, after her, I am sure, hectic night of partying, now followed by more than a few ZzZzZzzZz’s in her hotel room. Some people just know how to get all the attention…granted I am one of those attention givers! Love this girl.

The Acting Oscar Winners 2008 - Bravo!

As far as Oscar broadcasts go, last night’s was surprisingly great. As far as predictions go, I correctly predicted 17/24 categories, same as last year. I scored the highest number of correct picks over at Living In Cinema, where I also predicted the most correct nominees. I know what you are thinking, two flukes in a row - an you’d be right. I was totally screwed over by the Bourne Ultimatum sweep and the Transformers snub - but all is good in Fataculture land today. The busy year of the Oscar blogger has come to an end, and all has ended well. There were hiccups (i.e. the writer’s strike) but none of that matters anymore. The film world is, even if just for a few days at the very least, in peace. I am floating on a cloud, so excuse my unnatural positivity and optimism.

The Oscars have just been re-broadcast on South African TV, and I was completely happy to sit through the entire show again, which is rare. There were magical moments tonight that I will find hard to forget. Almost every film blogger out there has spoke of Marketa Irglova’s magnificent almost-didn’t-happen speech, but I am going to do it again anyway. “Hope” connects us all she said, and her film, Once, deserved to win Best Original Song. The little film that could, is the little film that did and won’t be forgotten anytime soon - bravo Glen and Marketa!

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Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Best Original Song - Once

Glen Hansard:

“Tanks! This is amazing. What are we doing here? This is mad. We made this film two years ago. We shot on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we would come into a room like this and be in front of you people. It’s been an amazing thing. Thanks for taking this film seriously, all of you. It means a lot to us. Thanks to the Academy, thanks to all the people who’ve helped us, they know who they are, we don’t need to say them. This is amazing. Make art. Make art. Tanks.”

Marketa Irglova - Who Almost Didn’t get A Chance To Say Her Speech!

“Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we’re standing here tonight, the fact that we’re able to hold this, it’s just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it’s possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don’t give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way. Thank you.”

Joel and Ethan Coen - Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture - No Country For Old Men

On Accepting Best Adapted Screenplay:

Joel Coen:
“Thank you very much for this. Thank you, Scott Rudin for bringing us this novel and giving us the opportunity to make the movie. I think whatever success we’ve had in this area has been entirely attributable to how selective we are. We’ve only adapted Homer and Cormac McCarthy, so thank you.”

Ethan Coen:
“We, uh… Thank you very much.”

On Accepting Best Director:

Ethan Coen:
“I don’t have a lot to add to what I said earlier. Thank you. “

Joel Coen:
“Ethan and I have been making stories with movie cameras since we were kids. In the late ’60s when Ethan was 11 or 12, he got a suit and a briefcase and we went to the Minneapolis International Airport with a Super 8 camera and made a movie about shuttle diplomacy called “Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go.” And honestly, what we do now doesn’t feel that much different from what we were doing then. There are too many people to thank for this. We’re really thrilled to have received it, and we’re very thankful to all of you out there for letting us continue to play in our corner of the sandbox, so thank you very much.”

On Accepting Best Picture:

Scott Rudin:
“This is an unbelievable honor and a complete surprise. So many people have a part of this, chief among them Cormac McCarthy, who wrote a wonderful book that it was an honor to make into a movie. The three men sitting down front, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee JOnes, Javier Bardem, without them there would be no movie. These two gentlemen [to Joel and Ethan Coen], I can’t think of anybody I would rather be standing here with than the two of you. Thank you so much for this. Everybody at Vantage and Miramax who financed the movie together. The entire team at Miramax who did a brilliant, brilliant job selling it. Thank you to all of them. I want to thank Mark Roybal, It’s a pleasure to work with Him every day. I want to thank my friend, Sydney Pollack, who taught me that with the responsibility — with the opportunity to make movies comes the responsibility of making them good. This for him. This is also for my partner John Barlow. Without you, honey, this would be hardware. Thank you so much. Thank you.”

 Tilda Swinton - Best Supporting Actress - Michael Clayton

“ Oh, no. Happy birthday, man. I have an American agent who is the spitting image of this. Really truly the same shape head and, it has to be said, the buttocks.  And I’m giving this to him because there’s no way I would be in America at all ever on a plane, if it wasn’t for him. So, Brian Swardstrom, I’m giving this to you. And Tony Gilroy walks on water, it’s entirely official as far as I’m concerned, and Jen Fox and Steve Samuels, our incredible producers.
And Sydney Pollack, and George Clooney, you know, the seriousness and the dedication to your art, seeing you climb into that rubber bat suit from “Batman & Robin,” the one with the nipples, every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside-down at lunch, you rock, man. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Javier Bardem - Best Supporting Actor - No Country For Old Men

“Wow. Alright, this is very amazing. It’s a great honor for me to have this. I want to& I have to speak fast here, man. Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think that I could do that and put one of the most horrible haircuts in history over my head. Thank you for really proving my work. I want to share this with the cast, with the great Tommy Lee Jones, with the great Josh Brolin, with the great Kelly MacDonald. And I want to dedicate this to my mother, and I have to say this in Spanish, and I’m sorry… Mama esto es para ti. Esto es para tus abuelos, para tus padres, Rafael y Matilde. Esto es para los comicos de Espana que han traido la dignidad y el orgullo a nuestro oficio. Esto es para Espana. Y esto es para todos vosotros. Thank you very much!”

“Oh — thank you so much. Olivier, what you did to me, Maestro Olivier Dahan, you rocked my life. You truly rocked my life. Thank you so much to Picturehouse for your passion, members of the Academy, thank you so, so much. And — wow. Well, I’m speechless now. I — I — well, I — thank you life, thank you love, and it is true, there is some angels in this city. Thank you so, so much.”