FILM NOTES: From GLADIATOR to THE BATMAN: PART II & More

77th Annual Academy Awards... Natalie Portman lost!! Bah!! Oh well... Cate Blanchett may have taken the Oscar away from the late and broken-hearted Queen Amidala (oh wait, I hope I didn't spoil one part of Episode 3 for you! Heheh), but at least Million Dollar Baby, which I haven't seen yet, pulled an upset on The Aviator by winning Best Picture. Sideways (which, along with Finding Neverland, are the only Best Picture nominees I've seen as of this writing. Or typing) won for Best Adapted Screenplay, which was really awesome. That film rocked. Great story and characterization, it had. And Chris Rock was hilarious. Those interviews at that Magic Johnson theater cracked me up, and one of the jokes I found humorous was the one about Michael Moore doing Super Size Me instead of Fahrenheit 9/11...since Moore was already "super-sized." Not an exact quote by Rock, but still hi-larious nonetheless. Oh, and I'm not surprised that Spider-Man 2 won for Best Visual Effects. That train sequence between Spidey and Doc Ock owned! But here's hoping Industrial Light & Magic wins Best Visual Effects next year...for either War of the Worlds or Revenge of the Sith. I'm rootin' for the latter.