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The Academy Award for Best Picture goes to Slumdog Millionaire. The film wins eight Oscars for the night including Best Director, Danny Boyle.

The film nearly got lost in the shuffle as Warner Bros. folded its arthouse banner, Warner Independent, which had been slated to distribute “Slumdog Millionaire.” It was rescued from the direct-to-video scrap heap when Fox Searchlight stepped in to release the film. The independent film overcame odds just to earn an American release has become a rags to riches story itself. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is set among the poverty-stricken districts of Mumbai, India with one-third of the film in subtitles. Its success was dubious, but producer Christian Colson said surrounded by the members of the film’s cast and crew:

“Most of all we had passion and we had belief, and our film shows if you have those two things, you have everything.”

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The Academy Award for Best Actor goes to Sean Penn for his moving performance as Harvey Milk in the film ‘Milk.’ See photos and video and read more below.

Penn earned a standing ovation from the Academy Award audience as his wife, Robin Wright Penn, tearfully looked on as he accepted his award.

“You commie, homo-loving sons of guns,” Penn began. “I did not expect this and I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me often.”

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The Academy Award for Best Actress goes to Kate Winslet for her performance as Hanna in ‘The Reader.’ See photos and video and read more below.

Winslet, 33, was nominated five times in the past 13 years for the best actress Academy Award, but never won. Her best actress Oscar can be added to her two Golden Globes, a Screen Actors Guild award, a British BAFTA that Winslet has won this year.

Winslet was presented the award by Halle Berry, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, and Shirley MacLaine, five previous Oscar winners in that category.

“To the academy, thank you so much,” she said after accepting her award. Winslet gave credit to her fellow best actress nominees: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, and Melissa Leo calling them “goddesses.”

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The Academy Award for Best Director goes to Danny Boyle for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Danny Boyle first gained prominence making such cult films as ‘Shallow Grave’ and ‘Trainspotting.’ See photos and video and read more below.

Boyle, 52, had never before been nominated for an Oscar but won over David Fincher for ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,’ Ron Howard for ‘Frost/Nixon,’ Gus Van Sant for ‘Milk,’ and Stephen Daldry ‘The Reader.’ While working on Slumdog, Boyle and his crew braved such obstacles as pythons, stifling heat, and the Indian bureaucracy during their three-month shoot.

“I want to thank my dad, my sisters and my wife… one person we haven’t thanked is the choreographer who directed the last song in the film - Longines. I want to thank him too,” said Boyle after receiving his award.

Boyle offered warm gratitude to the people of Mumbai, saying they “dwarf even this guy” as he held up his Oscar statue.

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Slumdog Millionaire wins Best Song Academy Award for “Jai Ho.” The song is written by celebrated Indian composer A. R. Rahman with lyrics by Gulzar. Slumdog Millionaire also wins the Best Score Academy Award. See the video for “Jai Ho” below.

“Jai Ho” features vocals by Tanvi Shah, Mahalakshmi Iyer and Sukhwinder Singh. It is sung in both Hindi and Spanish. “Jai Ho” is a cry of jubilation that roughly translates as ‘Hallelujah’ in English. The song plays during the closing credits as the movie’s cast dance.

Hugely popular in India, A. R. Rahman has composed the soundtracks for more than 50 Bollywood movies and has sold more than 100 million records. He is known as the ‘Mozart of Madras.’ Previously unknown to much of the world, he has received three Academy Awards nominations, both for the ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ soundtrack and two Best Song nominations, ‘Jai Ho,’ and ‘O Saya.’ The soundtrack features various artists including Sri Lanka rapper M.I.A., Sonu Nigam, Mahalaxmi Lyer and Alisha Chinoi.

See the video here.

Heath Ledger won the Best Supporting-actor Academy Award for his warped take on Batman villain the Joker in ‘The Dark Knight.’ See photos and video and read more below.

Ledger’s Academy Award win comes 13 months after his death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs on Oscar nominations day last year. His Oscar was accepted by his parents and sister.

“I have to say this is ever so humbling, just being amongst such wonderful people in such a wonderful industry,” said his father, Kim Ledger. “We’d like to thank the academy for recognizing our son’s amazing work, Warner Bros., and Christopher Nolan in particular for allowing Heath the creative license to develop and explore this crazy Joker character.”

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Penelope Cruz won the first Academy Award of the night, taking Best Supporting-Actress as a sultry artist in Woody Allen’s ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona.’

Penelope Cruz

Fresh off her win Saturday at the Spirit Awards, Cruz is having a great weekend. ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ features Cruz as a volatile Spaniard in a steamy three-way affair with her ex-husband and an American woman. After winning the Academy Award, Cruz said:

“Has anybody ever fainted here? Because I might be the first one,” Cruz said, who went on with warm thanks to Allen. “Thank you, Woody, for trusting me with this beautiful character. Thank you for having written all these years some of the greatest characters for women.”

The Academy Award was presented by five past supporting-actress winners, including last year’s, Tilda Swinton, plus Eva Marie Saint, Anjelica Huston, Whoopi Goldberg and Goldie Hawn.

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Meet the five outstanding actors nominated for the 2009 Best Actor Oscar; Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Frank Langella, and Richard Jenkins. See photos and videos of the nominees and find out more about each of these talented contenders for one of acting’s most prestigious awards.

The 81st Academy Awards take place on February 22, 2009 and only one of the five goes home a winner and that was…Sean Penn! Read about him and all of the nominees below.

Sean Penn portrays Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s ‘Milk’, the true story of the trailblazing activist for gay rights in San Francisco who became the first ever openly gay elected official. This is Penn’s fifth Best Actor nomination and, if he wins, his second Best Actor Oscar. He previously won the award in 2003 for his role in ‘Mystic River’ in 2003. Earlier this year he won the 2009 SAG award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. His portrayal has been widely praised by film critics and he has won numerous critics’ awards.

The Sean Penn Oscar acceptance speech video is below along with a trailer for the movie which highlights his outstanding and emotionally gripping performance.

Brad Pitt is the title character of ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story of the same name; it chronicles the life of a man who is born elderly and ages backwards. The story is set in New Orleans and begins in 1918 and ends in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina. as a guy who ages backwards. In total, the movie has 13 Oscar nominations, the most of any, (with hot contender Slumdog Millionaire second with 10 nods). The actor was received BAFTA, SAG, and Golden Globe Best Actor nods, but did not win. This is his second Academy Award nomination. Previously he received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for his role in ‘Twelve Monkeys’.

Mickey Rourke stars in Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Wrestler’ delivering an edgy, powerful comeback performance as an aging, washed up wrestler. The storyline bears some similarities to his own life story as he left acting and had a brief stint as a professional boxer. His comeback performance has given him a treasure chest of awards, including the BAFTA and Golden Globe Best Actor awards. Despite standout performances in the 1980s, in ‘Angel Heart’ and other movies, this is his first Academy Award nomination.

Frank Langella gave a nuanced and heartrending portrayal of the disgraced President Richard Nixon in ‘Frost/Nixon’. The movie is directed by Ron Howard and based on the critically acclaimed stage play Peter Morgan by of the same name which chronicled the former President’s 1977 interviews with British TV journalist and presenter David Frost. Frank Langella won a Tony Award for his performance as Nixon in the Broadway production of Frost/Nixon. The veteran stage and screen actor, who first became well-known for his portrayal of Dracula both on stage and screen, is also a first time Oscar nominee at age 71.

Richard Jenkins stars in ‘The Visitor’ as a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City. It is a breakthrough for the veteran actor who has had supporting roles for more than 30 years. Although best known as the dead patriarch on HBO’s ‘Six Feet Under’, he has worked with many top directors–Clint Eastwood, Sydney Pollack, Mike Nichols, George Miller–and top actors, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Sir Ben Kingsley and others. His standout performance has received numerous nominations including the SAG awards, the Independent Spirit Awards and several film critic associations.

Check out photos and videos of all five 2009 Academy Award Best Actor nominees below.

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The Independent Spirit Awards were held today and Mickey Rourke and the movie, The Wrestler won big. Rourke’s acceptance speech was as entertaining and profanity ridden as you might expect from him. Read about it below. We also have some photos from today’s awards and a NSFW video from the movie below.

Mickey Rourke

The Independent Spirit Awards were held in Santa Monica, California earlier today. Mickey Rourke and The Wrestler took top honors. I wonder if that is an indication of how the Academy Awards are going to go tomorrow!

The Independent Spirit Awards are held annually on the eve of the Oscars. This year, Rourke won best actor and The Wrestler won best picture in the award ceremony. It looks like his come back is is off to a strong start. Well, he always was a good actor, even when he was young and awfully handsome.

Mickey Rourke is 56-years-old. He has just recently come back into show business after a long 14 year hiatus in which he spent 5 years boxing professionally. His first attempt at a comeback has given him renewed popularity and one honor and award after the other. The Wrestler, directed by Darren Aronofsky, seems to have been the perfect venue for Rourke.

Tonight at the awards, Rourke gave an entertaining and profanity laced acceptance speech thanking Aronofsky and his dog, Loki, that died last week. His co-star, Marisa Tomei, played his stripper girlfriend in the movie. He commented that she certain knows ‘how to climb the pole’. Ha! Check out the video below and you will see what he means!

Other winners tonight include Melissa Leo for best actress for her performance in ‘Frozen River’. Tom McCarthy for best director for ‘The Visitor’. Penelope Cruz won best supporting actress for her role in ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ and James Franco won best supporting actor for his performance in ‘Milk’.

Mary-Kate Olsen took home the award for the most talked about should pads on the red carpet.

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Its time for the 2009 Academy Awards. Here is the information on the best original song nominees and winners. We have the videos of the songs nominated for best song and photos below.

Slumdog Millionaire - Best Song?

There are three songs up for Best Original Song in this year’s Oscar nominations. Two of the best song nominations are from Slumdog Millionaire, the Bollywood hit that’s taken Hollywood by storm. The two Bollywood songs are ‘Jai Ho‘ and ‘O Saya‘. The third song is ‘Down to Earth‘ from the Disney hit ‘Wall-E‘.

Obviously, Slumdog Millionaire is a favorite this year with 10 nominations, 2 for best song.

‘O Saya’ was composed and performed by Indian composer A. R. Rahman. Sri Lankan-British rapper M.I.A. is featured. ‘Jai Ho’ was also written by A. R. Rhaman. The lyrics are by Gulzar and vocals by Tanvi Shah, Mahalakshmi Iyer and Sukhwinder Singh. The name translates into ‘Hallelujah’ in English. ‘Down to Earth‘ was written, produced and performed by Peter Gabriel and features The Soweto Gospel Choir.

All three of these songs are great. I hope you will take a moment to listen to the videos we provide for you. Some people feel its a little unfair for Slumdog Millionaire to get two nominations in a category that only has 3 nominations. Still, you listen to them and be the judge of whether you think they deserved the nominations.

The videos of the nominated songs are below.

Here are the Videos

The 2009 Oscars are here and we have all the latest information on the “Best Actress” category. Read more about the nominees and winners and see photos along with video here!

Kate Winslet “Best Actress”

I am so excited about the “Best Actress” category this year. The 2009 Oscars have some of the best nominations yet. My favorite nom, Kate Winslet is up for her role in The Reader. The other leading ladies are: Anne Hathaway for Rachel getting Married, Angelina Jolie for The Changeling, Melissa Leo for Frozen River, and Meryl Streep for Doubt. That is quite an impressive list of ladies who have perfected their craft.

Melissa Leo stands out in this category, as she is much less known than the other Best Actress nominees. Her performance in Frozen River is said to be phenomenal, and the nomination well deserved.

My favorite is Kate Winslet. After six nominations she has yet to take anything home, and I am hoping this is her year. Hopefully the odds are in her favor. There was a bit of disappointment that she was not nominated for her role in Revolutionary Road along side Leonardo DiCaprio, but she did win a Best Actress award for it at this year’s Golden Globes. The Reader seems to be her best shot, as the beautiful and talented Kate won a Best Supporting Actress award, took home an SAG Award, as well as a British Academy Film Award.

However, as I said the list of nominees is amazing, there is no telling who will be the Best Actress Oscar winner of 2009. Meryl Streep is commonly referred to as the best living actress, while ex co-star Anne Hathaway has proved again and again just why she has quickly become a favorite. And there is no touching Angelina Jolie, she was blessed with talent, beauty, and a seemingly good heart. Our list of 2009 Oscar winners will be updated here, so be sure to check out the list and join us for our live blogging event as well!

Pictures as well as videos of each Best Actress nominee below.

Photos and Video

The 81st Academy Awards take place on February 22, 2009. See photos and trailers for all five nominees for Best Picture and find out more about each of these hot contenders for the highly coveted award!

The five nominees for the 2009 Best Picture Oscar are Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Frost/Nixon, and The Reader.

Taking home the Oscar…Slumdog Millionaire.

The movie was directed by British director Danny Boyce from a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy is a runaway favorite. The movie has received a total of 10 Academy Award nominations and has been critically acclaimed, already winning several 2009 Golden Globe Awards and seven British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA). The movie chronicles events that unfold when the 18-year-old orphan, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) wins the jackpot on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Subsequently, he is arrested on suspicion of cheating, and is forced to disclose his past. In his recollections of growing up in the slums of Mumbai, he reveals how his memories helped him answer the questions on the show. The movie also stars Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Tanay Hemant Chheda, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, and Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala.

Find out more about the contenders…..

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, has received 13 Academy Award nominations including Best Director. The movie co-stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and is directed by David Fincher, also stars Cate Blanchett as Benjamin Button’s love interest. The movie is based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald story of the same title, is set in New Orleans and chronicles the life of a man (Pitt) who is born an elderly man in 1918 and ages backwards until he becomes a child, begins in 1918 and concludes in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina. In the movie, Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), who is unable to have children of her own, adopts the child who has the appearance of an elderly man. Blanchett portrays his love interest, Daisy, who uses Benjamin’s diary to reveals his life story to her daughter.

Milk has received eight Academy Award nominations. The movie, based on a true story, is directed by Gus Van Sant. Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk, a trailblazing activist in San Francisco who became a vocal and high profile advocate for the city’s gay community in the 1970s. He became the first openly gay man to run for elected office in the city. He was unswerving in his commitment and outspokenness until his untimely death in 1978; he and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated. The movie also stars Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, Denis O’Hare, Diego Luna, Ashlee Temple, Alison Pill, Lucas Grabeel, Stephen Spinella, Joseph Cross and Jeff Koons.

Frost/Nixon was nominated for five Oscars. The movie is directed by Ron Howard and based upon the play of the same name by Peter Morgan and focuses on the famous interviews that U.S. President Richard Nixon gave to British TV journalist and presenter David Frost in 1977, several years after resigned in disgrace from the Presidency in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. Frank Langella received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his stellar performance as the beleaguered former President. The movie also stars Michael Sheen as David Frost, with Kevin Bacon, Patty McCormack and Oliver Platt rounding out the cast.

The Reader, has also received five Oscar nods. The movie is based on German author Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 internationally bestselling novel of the same title. It is directed by Stephen Daldry from a screenplay by by British playwright Sir David Hare. It chronicles the life story of Michael Berg in post World War II Germany. Ralph Fiennes plays the adult Michael Berg and newcomer German actor David Kross plays the teenage Michael. The young Michael Berg becomes ill on his way home, and is helped by a 38-year-old tram conductor, Hanna, portrayed by Kate Winslet. She cares for the teen until he has recovered. When he later visits her to thank her, the two find themselves quickly drawn into a passionate and secret affair which is intensified when Michael learns that Hanna enjoys when he reads classic literature to her. She vanishes from his life, but eight years later, the two are reunited under shocking circumstances.

Check out photos and videos of all five 2009 Academy Award Best Picture nominees below.

Photos and Video

So who are the winners and losers of the 2009 Academy Awards? Watch the Oscars on the web with us and you will find out from the list of nominees below. No secrets can be revealed until that time, but you will be the first to know the Oscars winners list.

Academy Awards Winners and Nominees!

It’s time for the Oscars winners to be known, and we at Right Cinema want to make 2009 the best possible! Watch us LIVE for a live-blogging web event during the big show with a full screen web-feed of all the day’s events, including red-carpet photos, Oscars winners and losers, and the best dressed and worst dressed of the Academy Awards. Read all the details below!

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Julia Roberts is back in ‘Duplicity,’ the story of two corporate spies who share a steamy past hook up to pull off the ultimate con job on their bosses. See photos, video, and read more below.

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‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ movie trailers have been everywhere. Marvel fans will have to wait until May 1 to see this next installment of the block-buster comic series. See photos, video, and read more below.

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