Okay dokay, TS2. After all, I live by the Joker’s mantra: “Whhyy… so… serious… uh!” 
Rachel pretty much said whatever I believed in, that the Oscar has degenerated from a special occasion paying tribute the best in film (and not which is the most ‘intelligent’ by critics’ standards) into a media circus that honours the flavour of the year. This is getting increasingly worse each year as more ‘Oscar-bait’ movies start getting churned out towards the end of the year, and as superlatives by adoring critics start getting tossed around.
This year in particular was probably a desperate bid to be seen as hip by the Academy. “Look how we don’t take ourselves so seriously! We have Mr Jackman doing a shoestring cabaret as the introduction. What a brilliant satire on the current world economy! Eh? Eh? And see how nice we are to be giving kudos to foreign-made film about an unlikely chaiwalah who beats the odds? Isn’t it wonderful how life reflects art? Let’s give 'em as many awards as we can get away with, while giving a few consolation prizes to the rest for trying.”
If I had it my way, I would have given “Best Directing” and “Best Writing: Adapted Screenplay” to Slumdog, “Best Original Screenplay”, “Best Sound Mixing”, “Best Music (Score)” and “Best Music (Song)” to Wall-E, “Best Cinematography” to Dark Knight or Benjamin Button (I haven’t seen the film, but some of the shots from the trailer impressed me more than any I saw in the entirety of Slumdog’s) and Best Pic a toss-up between Dark Knight and Wall-E.
The fact that an animated film has been nominated for so many categories shows that people are willing to accept it for being more than just a cartoon and being on the level of a live-action film. And the Academy could have capitalised on this and made history. Unfortunately they didn’t, and we’ll probably not see this happen again for a long time.
I haven’'t and couldn’t watch Milk, not during its theatrical release anyway. Singapore gave it an R21 for the gay love-making opening, though I don’t understand why one scene of intimacy between two human beings meant the entire film is off-limits to below-21s, while Friday the 13th, a gory slashfest about a violent serial killer got away with an M18.
But censorship inconsistencies aside, I’m still quite disappointed Mickey Rourke didn’t quite make the comeback we were hoping for. Again, the Academy were big fat chickens for giving Sean Penn, who has won an Oscar before, another golden statue. Again I can’t be credible since I have watched neither films, but I’m still bitter about how Mr Rourke didn’t quite get his ‘fairytale’ ending.
Once more, I hope I’m not stepping on anyone’s toes here. I love Slumdog, it very much deserved Best Director and Best Script. And I’m pleased Milk got Best Original Screenplay, just to generate a little publicity on a pertinent civil rights issue in the U.S. Although I think Wall-E should have been more deserving since it wasn’t “based on a true story.”
I don’t mean to sound like a ‘two-cents machine’ (“Here’s my two-cents. Geddit?”), but I think it would be interesting for you to check Slumdog out, Rachel, however much overrated we may both think it to be. It’s still worth a look, and the element of ‘true love against great adversities’ is reflected as much in Slumdog as Wall-E too, so maybe you’ll find something to like about it. And TS2, although you may be anti-homosexual, it may help to see the argument from the ‘other people’s’ side of view. Even if you ignore the political commentaries, there’s apparently a lot of the usual drama and pathos about the risk he takes to stand up for the rights of a marginalised community.
Aside from that, I’m not looking forward much to the 82nd Oscars, judging by the lack of groundbreaking films this year, and how I’m pretty much convinced they’re probably going to shoehorn Up, 9, and Princess and the Frog into the Best Animated Slum Category again.
He deserved it. 
Is anyone going to respond maturely to my comments? 