It was a Slumdog Millionnaire kind of night and it was nice to see the totally unprepared Kate Winslet pick up matching statuettes -- but the behind the scenes players were also the big winners of the night. The first that comes to mind as an afterthought from the ones mentioned and underlined in some of those acceptance speeches is Peter Rice.
Both Marley & Me and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button set records this Christmas. The latter’s one-day tally of $12 million would become the second biggest Christmas day opening of all time. That said, the one with the dog made $14.7 million that same day and you know what that means. It means that people like Jennifer Aniston better than they like Brad Pitt.
Today’s announcement comes with little surprise, but I’m glad to see that Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon are leveling the playing field sort of speak. While Doubt picked up 4 nominations it couldn’t crack the top 5 noms for Best Dramatic Feature and Milk was almost totally taken off the score card – only Sean Penn got a nod.
Cut down from 24 down to 16 and with less studio content means more films up for sale. Let the buzz begin. Among the must sees: the sombre debut from scribe Oren Moverman (The Messenger), the long awaited debut of Gregor Jordan's The Informers and you'll be surprised by what Killer Films' Katherine Dieckmann's Motherhood might have in store.