Kate Winslet's Oscar Acceptance Speech Clip
John Harlow in The [London] Sunday Times:
"The favourite for best actress was Kate Winslet, for her role in the controversial film The Reader. Though Winslet has been attacked for appearing in a film that arguably commits the unthinkable and humanises a Nazi, it has brought her a sixth Oscar nomination.
"She may be defeated only by the fear of her making a winner’s speech as incoherent as her emotional ramble at the Baftas."
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Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times:
"Aside from my house, where the Oscars remain must-see programming, the one place where the Academy Awards continue to mean a great deal is within the movie business. In fact, the prizes, especially the one for best picture, seem to mean more this year than ever.
"I say that because it's been another bitter awards, with partisans of the five contenders eager to bad-mouth whomever they saw as competition. When Entertainment Weekly wrote about the race in the Feb. 13 issue, the cover line got right to the point: 'Battle For Oscar: Now It's Getting Ugly.'"
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The Associated Press' Josh L. Dickey on the tidbits leaked out about the secretive 2009 Oscar ceremomy:
"SONG-AND-DANCE (JACK)MAN: "Hugh (Jackman, the host) is going to come out and say a few things, but he's not going to do a 10-minute monologue … He's going to be doing a lot of musical stuff, so that will have a different feel to it." — [Oscar writer Bruce] Vilanch, in an interview with The Associated Press.
"NEED A MONTAGE: The original song nominees will be presented together in a medley-style performance, rather than sprinkled throughout the show and played in their entirety. — Nominee Peter Gabriel, who announced in a video blog on his Web site that he was declining to perform "Down To Earth" from WALL-E to protest the one-minute limit for his part."