Movies 2006 to present day

2006Best Picture- The DepartedAnimated Feature Film- Happy

FeetActor- Forest Whitaker in The Last

King of ScotlandActress-Helen Mirren in The

Queen

Supporting Actor- Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine

Supporting Actress- Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls

Director- Martin Scorsese for The Departed

Other movies- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s

Cave X-Men: The Last Stand The Da Vinci Code Superman Returns Casino Royale Mission Impossible III Miami Vice Poseidon

The Departed- gritty tense cop suspense thriller and crime drama about a pair of Irish Bostonians, one an undercover cop (Leonardo DiCaprio) spying on the local organized crime family, the other a police plant (Matt Damon) hired by the same family

The Queen- “inside story” monarchy chronicle told about the week the Royal Family became reviled by the British public due to their silence following the death of the People’s Princess Lady Diana in 1997, and how newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair cajoled Queen Elizabeth II to acquiesce to the public’s demands

Letters From Iwo Jima- director Clint Eastwood, Japanese perspective during the bloody Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II

Little Miss Sunshine- quirky light comedy/road movie about the adventures of an oddball, dysfunctional New Mexico family driving cross country in a broken down Volkswagon van for their 7 year old daughter Olive’s Miss Sunshine beauty pageant in Redondo Beach, California

United 93- moving account of the real life events about the doomed United Flight 93 jet airliner, which was hijacked by terrorists during the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. who were overcome by passengers who self sacrificially crashed the plane rather allowing it to be used as a weapon

The Last King of Scotland- Forest Whitaker plays the brutal infamous Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, who was responsible for the genocide of over 500,000 Ugandans

The Pursuit of Happyness- Will Smith plays the real life single father and rags to riches success story of Chris Gardner, an unpaid Dean Witter intern and homeless father who supported himself and 8 year old son Christopher while living off the streets before rising to corporate prominence

An Inconvenient Truth- harrowing ecological disaster documentary film about the ravages of global warming lectured by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore

Dreamgirls- musical about a trio of soul singers- thinly veiled about Motown singing group The Supremes

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan- Sacha Baron Cohen plays a Kazahstani television reporter Borat Sagdiyev

2007

Best Picture- No Country For Old Men

Animated Feature Film- Ratatouille

Actor- Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood

Actress- Marion Cotillard- La Vie en Rose

Supporting Actor- Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men

Supporting Actress- Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton

Director- Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men

Atonement- story about lovers Cecilia Tallis and housekeeper’s son/childhood friend Robbie torn apart by false allegation from Cecilia’s over imaginative younger sister Briony

Juno- 16 year old girl’s unplanned pregnancy

Screenplay by ex stripper Diablo Cody

Ellen Page- played smug wise cracking precocious title character- took baby to term but gave up baby for adoption to childless yuppie couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman)

Michael Clayton- George Clooney played Clayton, a ruthless high powered former prosecutor turned troubled “fixer” corporate lawyer in New York

Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street- Johnny Depp played role of 19th century demonic vengeful and murderous barber Benjamin Barker (Sweeney Todd) who avenged his wife and daughter’s deaths by slitting perpetrator’s throats and making meat pies of the body- horror musical

Hairspray- girl named Tracy who racially integrated a 1960’s TV dance show through her participation- John Travolta (in drag) and Christopher Walken played her parents

2008Picture- Slumdog MillionaireAnimated Feature Film- WALL-EActor- Sean Penn in MilkActress- Kate Winslet in The

ReaderSupporting Actor- Heath Ledger in

The Dark Knight

Supporting Actress- Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Director- Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire- low budget film made for $15 million, had no American superstars, lots of foreign language dialogue- feel good theme and romantic sub plot, song/dance finale, exhibiting extreme poverty of India

Slumdog- about impoverished 18 year old orphaned slum thief Jamal Malik who is arrested for cheating when only one question away from winning the top prize of 20 million rupees in Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Milk- historical biography about California’s first openly gay, openly elected public official, mayoral aide Harvey Milk who was assassinated alongside San Francisco’s mayor George Moscone

The Reader- story of a young German teen and relationship with an illiterate train conductor/ex Nazi concentration camp guard Hanna Schmitz in the 1950’s, and dealing with her past decades later

Frost/Nixon- adaptation of the successful Tony winning Broadway drama about the famous series of interviews of Nixon conducted by British talk show host David Frost that aired on May 19, 1977 during which Frost memorably had Nixon admitting complicity in the Watergate scandal “When the President does it, it’s not illegal”

Wall-E : science fiction tale about a lonely garbage compacting robot Wall-E stranded on post apocalyptic trash laden Earth who encounters a sleek metallic female robot Eve who seeks plant life to signal a colony ship’s return after 700 years of exile

The Wrestler- Mickey Rourke played Randy “The Ram” Robinson- a broken down, formerly famous 80’s headliner pro wrestler who now fights in small circuit 20 years later

Rachel Getting Married- story of a recovering drug addict who is given a day pass from her rehabilitation clinic to attend her sister Rachel’s wedding

Changeling- Angelina Jolie plays real life Christine Collins, a desperate Los Angeles single mother during the Great Depression whose son vanishes, and is given another boy who is claimed to be the missing son by the corrupt police department

Frozen River- a struggling cash needy lower class single mother of two in upstate New York who becomes involved in a people smuggling ring across the US/Canadian border in an attempt to avoid losing her home

Doubt- Meryl Streep got 15th nomination (all time record) played role of Sister Aloysius Beauvier- the suspicious, domineering strict head of Bronx Catholic school in New York City in the 1960s who believes that progressive new priest Father Brendan Flynn is a pedophile

The Dark Knight- Heath Ledger played the wildly psychotic villain- The Joker

Tropic Thunder- Robert Downey Jr plays obsessive faux-black white Australian Method actor Kirk Lazarus who has medical surgery to transform himself into a black man to completely immerse himself in a dark horse role in a Vietnam war movie

Vicky Cristina Barcelona- Cruz plays Maria Elena- newly divorced crazy Spanish temptress from ex husband painter-