Oscar Winning Documentary 'The Cove' Faces Serious Protests

The Cove, an Oscar-winning documentary dealing with the slaughter of dolphins in Japan, is creating serious fuss as it finally secures a release in Japan

Protests by fisherman from the town of Taji, Wakayama, Japan, the location of the annual dolphin cull, dissuaded Japanese distributors from releasing the film into cinemas. In an attempt to tackle the protesters , Unplugged Pictures, which took on the doc, agreed to pixel-out fishermen’s faces in the Japanese version, but the temper has only increased as the June 26th release date approaches. Street protests as well as  sabotage threats have insisted two theatres to cancel bookings of the film.

The rage has now intensified to right-wing activists, who say the film is unpatriotic. The Society to Seek the Restoration of Sovereignty stated that the work deliberately distorts Japanese people’s food culture, and depicting this will hurt countless people’s feelings.

Ric O’Barry,a former dolphin trainer on the TV show Flipper, whose crusade against the cull encouraged The Cove ,is reasonably disturbed. He stated that its not right that a minority of extremists could take this right away from them.Also doing so is an apparent threat to democracy.

Also,the protest has now encouraged a counter campaign by 50 film directors and journalists.Well..looks like the publicity is not likely to damage The Cove’s commercial prospects.

The Best Oscar Speeches for 2010

Just like the Oscar Awards, the Oscar speeches are the ones that everyone looks forward to while receiving the awards.Inspiring and true oscar speeches are the ones that actually move the audience while watching the academy awards.

Here are the some of the Best and Splendid Oscar Speeches made this year by the winners:

Screenwriter Mark Boal Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Picture for The Hurt Locker:
"We had this fantasy of making our film our way with the talent that we hoped to have, and hopefully, we would find a distributor and somebody might even like the movie.So to be standing here, this was really, truly, honestly never part of anything we ever imagined in our wildest dreams."

Sandra Bullock Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Actress for the Blind Side:

"Did I really earn this, or did I just wear ya'll down?What this film was about for me, which are the moms that take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from.I thank my Mother for not letting me ride in cars with boys until I was 18, because she was right I would have done what she said I was gonna do."

Jeff Bridges Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Actor for Crazy Heart:

"Thank you,Mom and Dad.They loved show biz so much and I feel an extension of them. You know, this, this is honoring them as much as it is me."

Pete Docter Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature Film for Up:

"Boy, never did I dream that making a flip book out of my third grade math book would lead to this.Thanks so much to Disney and to Pixar Animation Studios for believing in this oddball film."

Kathryn Bigelow Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Director for The Hurt Locker:

"I would not be standing here if it wasn’t for Mark Boal, who risked his life for the words on the pageand wrote such a courageous screenplay that I was fortunate enough to have an extraordinary cast bring that screenplay to life. I’d just like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. And may they come home safe."

Elinor Burkett Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for Music by Prudence:
"In a world in which most of us are told and tell ourselves that we can’t.Liyana, the band behind this film, teaches us that we’re wrong. Against all odds they did, so we can."

Mo’Nique Receiving the Oscar Award Best Supporting Actress for Precious:

"First, I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics.Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey because you touched it, the whole world saw it."

Juan José Campanella Receiving the Award for Best Foreign Language Film for The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos):
"I want to thank the Academy for not considering Na’vi [the language in Avatar] a foreign language, first of all.And for letting us spend three great days in the company of incredible filmmakers."

Christoph Waltz Receiving the Award for Best Supporting Actor in Inglourious Basterds:
"Oscar and Penélope that’s an uber bingo".

Mo’Nique Receiving the Award for Best Supporting Actress for Precious:

"First, I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics.Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey because you touched it, the whole world saw it."

Best Documentary:The Cove

The Cove is a 2009 American documentary film that is written by Mark Monroe and directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos.It is based on the yearly killing of dolphins in a National Park at Taiji,Wakayama, in Japan from the point of view of anti-dolphin-hunting campaigner.

The film focuses the fact that the number of dolphins killed in the Taiji dolphin hunting drive is many times superior than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic.Also research has revealed that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan each year in the country's whaling industry. The migrating dolphins are herded into a hidden cove where they are netted and killed by using spears as well as knives over the side of small fishing boats.Portions of the film were filmed clandestinely during 2007 using underwater microphones and high-definition cameras disguised as rocks.

In addition to winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film, the documentary also won the U.S. Audience Award at the 25th annual Sundance Film Festival in Jan 2009.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role : Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

The tag line for the movie 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire' is "Life is hard. Life is short. Life is painful. Life is rich. Life is....Precious."

Many a movies come and go. But an infrequent few arrive like gifts, sent by some cosmic messenger to stir the senses, arouse compassion and send viewers into a world made radically new by refreshed attentiveness and empathy. Such is the movie 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire' which surely qualifies as the most aching, poetic and incredibly beautiful film of the year.

Mo’Nique’s performance in this movie has been much appreciated that she went on to receive the Best Actress in a Supporting Role.In this movie, Mo’Nique plays the mother to an overweight, uneducated, black 16-year-old Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe).The dysfunctional family lives in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem.

For her performance, she has won several awards including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)Award. She is the sixteenth African American actress to be given a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,and the fourth to win.

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart

Jeff Bridges won the Oscars this year for the Best Actor Award in a Leading Role for his role in ‘Crazy Heart’. In the movie , he portrays Bad Blake, a washed-up country-western singer whose encounter  with a young journalist helps him to turn his life around.He was nominated nearly 4 times previously for the Academy Awards and it’s the first  he has won the honors. His first nomination at the Oscars was for 'The Last Picture Show' ,way back in 1971.

The 60-year-old veteran is one of Hollywood's most identifiable and constantly bankable actors as well as an  element of an acting dynasty that includes his parents Dorothy and Lloyd as well as brother Beau.For Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges once again confirmed his skill as a musician to play the alcoholic Bad Blake, a man struggling against his interior demons as he battles to bring back his glory days.

It is said that Bridges, who remarkably played a pianist in 1989 in The Fabulous Baker Boys, initially passed on the script for Crazy Heart after realising that there was no music attached to it.But the participation of musician T-Bone Burnett developed  his interest in the project and he rapidly signed on for the role. Many of Burnett's songs performed by Bridges were written with the actor in mind.

Burnett also helped Bridges flesh out his character by teaching him in the sort of music Bad would have listened to at some stage in his formative years. In a latest interview Bridges said that Burnett did a really fantastic thing by giving him  a breakdown of the music Bad might  have listened to growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, where T-Bone also grew up.

Lately, Bridges has appeared in several successful films, including the Oscar-nominated Seabiscuit and 2008's hit Iron Man. He will next be visible in Disney's Tron Legacy, a sequel to the 1982 film in which he also acted.Bridges is also preparing to reunite with the Coen brothers for a remake of the western True Grit, where he will enact the character  of  Rooster Cogburn, the role made popular by John Wayne in the 1969 original.

In his acceptance speech,Bridges said "I thank my wonderful director for his ability to instill self-confidence in his actors. Thank you my wonderful team that kept me together. I also want to thank my gorgeous wife (Susan Geston) with whom I have spent more than 33 years and also my three girls without whom I wouldn't be where I am."

And the winners of the 82nd Academy Awards....

	Best Writing:(Original Screenplay)
	The Hurt Locker Written by Mark Boal

	Best Writing:(Adapted Screenplay)
	Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher

	Best Short Film(Animated)
	Logorama
	Nicolas Schmerkin

	Best Short Film(Live Action)
	The New Tenants
	Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

	Best Visual Effects
	Avatar
	Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones

	Best Sound Editing
	The Hurt Locker
	Paul N.J. Ottosson

	Best Sound Mixing
	The Hurt Locker
	Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett

2010 Oscars to be hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will co-host the 82nd Academy Awards this year. The announcement was made lately by the Oscar's telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman. Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman stated that the team of Steve and Alec are the ideal pair of hosts for the Academy Awards. Schankman also conveyed that with the Martin-Baldwin casting, they intend to restore some energy into a night that's usually thought of as serious,but serious isn't all the time the most entertaining too. Steve will display the experience of having hosted the show in the past and Alec will be a completely fresh celebrity for this event.

Martin and Baldwin are thoroughly excited to co-host the Oscars this year. Martin had the privilege of hosting the 73rd and 75th Academy Awards shows.He has also served as an anchor on the show a number of times, most lately at the ceremony in February. He is presently touring with the bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers in promotion of his latest album, "The Crow: New Songs for the Five String Banjo." Steve Martin won Grammys for Best Comedy Recording, in both 1977 and 1978 . He also won a third Grammy in 2001 in the Best Country Instrumental Performance category.

Baldwin was nominated for the Oscars in 2003 for a supporting role in "The Cooler".Presently Baldwin stars as Jack Donaghy on the comedy "30 Rock", a character for which he won two Emmys in the year 2008 and 2009. He was also nominated for the Tony Awards in 1992 for his performance in “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

The Oscars will be held on March 7th at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

AR Rahman's song set for the Oscars

Indian music maestro A.R Rahman's song Tamil "Na Na" from the film "Couples Retreat" has been nominated in Original Song category for the 82nd Academy Awards, that will be held on March 7th in Hollywood, California

This song will be competing with 62 songs from other nominated feature-length motion pictures .The final nominations will be announced on Feb 2.

"Na Na" is written by double Oscar winner A.R Rahman along with Blaaze and Vivian Chaix.Its is a very special song for AR Rehman as this is his son Alim’s debut song.Also, this is the first time Rahman has composed music for a Hollywood film.

"Couples Retreat" is directed by Emmy nominated Peter Billingsley and stars Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman and Kristin Davis. The story revolves around four couples who go to a tropical-island resort for a vacation.

Nominees for Visual effects Oscar

Fifteen films have been selected by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences under Visual effects category for 82nd Academy Awards. In January, this list will be narrowed down to seven. Then finally three films will be selected to compete for VFX Oscar.

Fifteen films competing for VFX award (in alphabetical order):

* Angels and Demons
* Avatar
* Coraline
* A Christmas Carol
* District 9
* G-Force
* GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
* Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
* Sherlock Holmes
* Star Trek
* Terminator Salvation
* Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
* 2012
* Watchmen
* Where the Wild Things Are

82nd Academy Awards

The 82nd Academy Awards will take place on March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Show will be hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.

Nominees for 82nd Academy Awards will be announced live on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:38 a.m. at Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California by Tom Sherak, president of Academy of Motion Picture Arts