Francois Begaudeau in ‘The Class.’By Hap Erstein Just days after the Academy Awards, a film called The Class arrives, and this little Oscar-worthy gem is a class act. France’s foreign language film nominee, it is a perfect antidote to all those wildly inspiring Hollywood movies where a cares-too-much teacher breaks through to an unruly group of students, turning them into … [Read more...]
2009 Oscars: A ‘Slumdog’ triumph, but revamped telecast had mixed results
Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire.By Hap ErsteinCall it Slumdog Snowball.The sweet -- well, except for the terror scenes -- film about a lower-caste tea boy who triumphs on a Mumbai game show, rolled over the competition at Sunday night’s new-look Oscars ceremony. Slumdog Millionaire won eight of the 10 Academy Awards for which it was nominated, losing only for … [Read more...]
Oscar predictions: Ledger, Cruz, Langella, Winslet, ‘Slumdog’
By Hap ErsteinProbably the most important thing to keep in mind when handicapping the Academy Awards tonight (8 p.m., ABC) is that quality -- in films, performances and other skills -- is usually a secondary consideration in the voting.Oscar victories have a lot more to do with rectifying past snubs, nominees’ personal comeback stories, voters’ opinions of the people up for the … [Read more...]
Commentary: Let the grousing begin over Oscar nominations
The late Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight.By Hap ErsteinThe Academy Awards went largely for dark dramas in its Best Picture nominations, announced this morning, but not dark enough to include 2008 box office champ The Dark Knight.Christopher Nolan’s somber, slam-bang latest installment in the Batman series had to settle for a few nods in the technical categories and … [Read more...]