80 Years of Oscar Award Winning Best Pictures...

And just so you can join in the fun, here is a montage of the 80 winners of the Best Picture Oscar...

(This is the very first time I've posted a video, so hope it works!)

How many have you seen?

I'm currently at thirty-four out of eighty...

It's 'All About Eve'...

So my quest to watch all the Oscar winning Best Pictures has begun. You can read the post that started this here.

The first film Quickflix sent me is the winner for 1950, All About Eve. From what I’ve read it’s supposed to be pretty good. It wasn’t just nominated for the Best Picture Oscar; it was nominated for fourteen Oscars! And it won seven of them! Impressive, I think.

Also this movie is consistently listed among the best films of all time, so it has a lot to live up to.

Now, I’m well aware that I’m no Margaret Pomeranz or David Stratton but I will do a PrincesseEmma style review of the movie...

Firstly, what is it about?

I guess the title explains some of that but there’s more. All About Eve is the story the aging Broadway star, Margo Channing, who meets a star struck (and almost obsessed) fan, Eve Harrington, hanging around outside the theatre. Margo and her friend Karen sort of adopt Eve. Eve moves in with Margo and becomes her assistant, friend, and confidante. Eve seems modest, innocent, wide-eyed and loyal, but it is all an act. Eve is desperate to become an actress, and wants to learn all she can from Margo. Margo discovers Eve is an aspiring actress who wants to have Margo's stardom, roles, friends and life. Eve goes about worming her way into Margo’s circle and trying to basically become her...

The actors in this movie are wonderful. Bette Davis plays the bitchy, cigarette brandishing Margo Channing who throws tantrums, gets intoxicated, and pushes people away when she needs them the most, and she definitely makes Margo a memorable character! It is often said that this is one of the greatest performances of Davis' career. Now I know why. Margo is the epitome of the strong, independent women who is on the verge of a midlife crisis, and Davis handles her ups and downs quite well. It may be called All About Eve, but Bette Davis is the star of this film.

The movie is also very well written. I guess all good movies are! But this one builds and flows well and you don’t realise how long it’s been going for. It runs for 2 hrs 19 mins, I always think a good way to judge a movie is whether it drags on and for me, this one didn’t, so that was good.

But I think what makes All About Eve a great movie is the fact that it isn’t just entertaining, it also raises significant issues, and if you think that Eve Harrington and her acting ambitions are the focus of the film you may have missed the point entirely. The subject of this film is more of a feminist issue -conflict in the lives of working women, an issue that is still relevant today; relationships verses career. Each of the three main female characters, Margo, Eve, and Karen, have formed a different view of this issue through their experiences:

Margo’s competition with Eve forces her to realistically look at the direction her career and her life are going and she comes to realise that she may need more than just her career to satisfy her needs.

Eve, on the other hand, has the opposite feeling. She is young and ambitious and she fantasises about how the applause of an audience will soon be all she needs to be fulfilled. The irony is that Margo probably thought this herself once.

Lastly however, there is Karen, the housewife. Karen was content to be a playwright's wife. Margo, in the twilight of her career, sees Karen as having the domestic bliss she hopes to get before it's too late. But Karen also begins to reconsider her life choice when Eve moves in on her playwright husband, then Karen suddenly finds herself trying to hold onto her marriage and the source of her fulfilment.

This issue, that appears to be timeless, gives the movie the same relevance now as when it was made.

I love great quotes from movies, this one has some great quotes (they’re more relevant if you’ve seen the movie though) my favourite were:

Margo: “Funny business, a woman's career, the things you drop on the way up the ladder so you can move faster. You forget you'll need them again when you get back to being a woman. It's one career all females have in common - being a woman. Sooner or later we've got to work at it no matter how many other careers we've had or wanted. And in the last analysis nothing is any good unless you can look up just before dinner or turn around in bed and there he is. Without that you're not a woman.”

Margo: "Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night!"

Margo: "I'll admit I may have seen better days, but I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut."

Margo: "You bought the new girdles a size smaller, I can feel it."

Birdie (Margo's dresser): "Something maybe grew a size larger."

Margo: "When we get home you're going to get into one of those girdles and act for two and a half hours."

Birdie: "I couldn't get into the girdle in two and a half hours"

Margo: "Birdie, you don't like Eve, do you?"

Birdie: "You looking for an answer or an argument?"

Margo: An answer."

Birdie: "No."

Margo: "Why not?"

Birdie: "Now you want an argument."

Bill Sampson: (Margo’s boyfriend): "We have to go to City Hall for the marriage license and blood test."

Margo: "I'd marry you if it turned out you had no blood at all"

So it was a good film and I’m pleased to have seen it. Here is my rating*, if you’re interested...

I’ve now seen thirty-four of the eighty films that have won the Best Picture Oscar. Still lots to go!

* My rating key -

When Two Become One...

So this is a girl called Evan Rachel Wood. She is an American actress who turns 21 this year. She was in ‘Practical Magic’ with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock when she was 11. Apart from that she hasn’t been in any movies I’ve seen. Have a look for yourself here.

But now she is Marilyn Manson’s girlfriend. And now she looks like this...

Why has she done this? I couldn’t say. But what confuses me is this; Marilyn Manson must have found her attractive as she originally looked, or they wouldn’t have started going out, right? So why did she need to become more like him?

This is her full transformation. I found it here. (In the second picture below they may be wearing the same lipstick, but I can't be sure)


Anyway enough about them. If I think about Marilyn Manson for too long I start to feel ill. So I’ll talk about Brad Pitt instead...

So Brad Pitt has had at least three high profile serious relationships. Firstly he was engaged to Gwyneth Paltrow. This is when they were happily engaged, notice the matching haircuts and hair colour (not to mention the matching outfits and matching expressions)...


Then he married Jennifer Aniston. This is just before they got hitched, notice the matching fake dreds (hers all over, his just the fringe)...

And this is more recently when he started a family with Angelina Jolie, notice the matching hair colour...
It’s interesting isn’t it, how he changes his look to match that of his fiancée/wife/partner? Does this mean he allows each woman to change him? Does this make him insecure? Does it mean he doesn’t know who he is? Or maybe he changes hairdressers when he changes girlfriends? I’m not sure. What do you think?

Also, is Brad a serial monogamist? Maybe... this is the definition of serial monogamy from Wikipedia: “Serial monogamy is characterized by a series of long- or short-term, exclusive sexual relationships entered into consecutively over the lifespan. In common usage the two partners need not be married, but may be involved in a serious relationship. This behavior is a variant of monogamy, in which a given individual has only one sexual partner throughout life.”

He certainly fits the description anyway.

Reckless or Romantic?

So we've all heard what Prince William did now. He flew his helicopter to visit his girlfriend, Kate Middleton at her parent’s house. Naughty, naughty William!

An ‘unnamed Royal insider’ has said he "obviously wanted to show off his skills to his girlfriend" because "there's nothing more macho than landing a helicopter in your girlfriend's back yard".

So was it just an impulsive romantic gesture? I couldn’t say.

But on The Morning Show today their UK correspondent said it’s not uncommon for the RAF to practice landing and taking off from the local farms. So maybe he was just practising and took the opportunity to visit his girlfriend, you know, two birds, one stone?

But then there’s the other news that Prince William had used another Royal Air Force helicopter to pick up his younger brother Prince Harry in London before flying to a buck's night on the Isle of Wight.

Not as romantic but is it a reckless use of RAF resources? In both cases Britain's Ministry of Defence has defended these flights as part of William’s training, like they said on The Morning Show.

But what sort of training requires going to a buck’s night in a helicopter? I’m thinking if William is ever required to serve he might be surprised at the sort of work he is required to do. Because I’m sure they wouldn’t send him to Iraq or Afghanistan to pick some blokes up for a night out or to take them to visit their girlfriends.

Oh well. I would guess that this will be used as another reason why Australia should become a republic. They'll say - why do we want a head of state that would do something so reckless with government resources? Because all the reasons are as sensible as that one is, really.

Read the story from my sources here and here. The image is from here.

Never Talk Politics or Religion...

So when Kevin Rudd got voted in as Prime Minister I was excited. So excited I could have been channelling the other Kevin; Big Kev. And it wasn’t just because he was so cool with his slogan Kevin '07, but he was a breath of fresh air that I was happy to have.

Sure, he's another nerdy guy with glasses but he does seem to have his eyebrows under control and was brave enough to go on Rove. Plus with him came all these amazing women. And let’s face it, women should be running the world, right?*

I remember Robin Williams said - "Women are beautiful creatures... if we had woman presidents, there would never be any war... NEVER NEVER! Just every 28 days some severe negotiations" So true Robin. I just hope for your sake that it isn’t close to day 28 when your divorce is going through...

Anyway, so Kevin ’07 brought with him lots of great women. First of which was Julia Gillard. I was so excited when Kevvy went on holidays and she became Australia’s first female acting Prime Minister that I sent her an email. I was even more excited when she wrote back! Have a look at it below (sorry for the big black smudges I put on it to preserve my anonymity, they’re ugly but necessary; also sorry for the size I can't seem to make it bigger). Then there’s Nicola Roxon, the Minister for Health and Aging. Jenny Macklin, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water. Tanya Plibersek, Minister for Housing; Minister for the Status of Women. And Kate Ellis, Minister for Youth and Sport. The list goes on!

And now we’re going to have a female Governor General! It’s taken 107 years to get one, but she’s coming!

As everyone knows by now her name is Ms. Quentin Bryce. I checked her out in her role as Governor or Qld here and Kevvy would be pleased to know I approve. But not just because she’s a woman. More because she seems like the best person for the job.

I liked this about her;

"She has made choices throughout her professional and community life that reflect her strong sense of responsibility to the community; her commitment to advancing human rights and equality, the rights of women and children, and the welfare of the family; and her willingness to share her skills and experiences to improve the lives of many. As a mother of five children, and now as a grandmother, these things rest close and dear to her heart."


Read more here. I know this is from her website so it’s probably supposed to be complimentary, but I do like her values.
I also liked reading this**:

"Monarchists say the appointment of a new Governor General is proof Australia doesn't need to become a republic...
Professor David Flint from Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy says our system is one of the best in the world. “I think it demonstrates that an outstanding Australian can become head of state under the existing system, there is no need to go through a major constitutional change to achieve something which can be achieved so simply under the present system.”

Well said Professor Flint! I would have just said ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!’ but he did explain it much better than that.

Speaking of the British monarchy I also read that they might be making some changes. I read...

“A British law forcing the daughter of a monarch to make way for a younger brother in the succession to the crown could be scrapped under new equality rules.”

I feel this is a case of ‘it is broken so fix it!’ The original law was made in 1701 and they are only now deciding that they might change it. It’s pretty lucky there’s a Queen anyway with the law as it stands, if she had any brothers at all they would have been promoted over her. I think it’s about time they changed that silly law, especially because the Queen has been doing such a good job for so long. Obviously a woman is capable so she should be able to take the job even if she has a younger brother. I know it won’t even be an issue until William has kiddies (changing in the law won’t change the current line of succession) but it’s still about time it was changed.

But what I wanted to say was this; as a woman it is very exciting to see so many other women appointed to such powerful positions, it’s good to see that the ‘glass ceiling’ is being broken through or being lifted or whatever. But what will be more exciting is seeing these women do their jobs well. And I do hope that is what happens. Because the fact that they are female does not guarantee that they will be great at it. I may sound disloyal to my sex by saying that, but I think I’m being sensible. I think the reason it’s illegal to advertise for a specific sex for a job is because it shouldn’t matter. What should matter is how well the person can do the job. I think we have to remember that sometimes it might be discriminatory to suggest there should be more women filling the roles that men currently are. Because, in reality, the man might be the best person for the job. Not just because he is a male, but because he has more experience or is more qualified or something crazy like that. Just like there are women who are the best person for the job because of their qualifications and experience. Not because they have more oestrogen in their system.

I think it could be more dangerous to have a token woman in a role than to have men doing everything. Having said that, I don’t believe the women I’ve listed above are ‘token women’.

But I am pleased that society is now accepting women in powerful roles; when they are the best person for the job.

Like Ms. Bryce said "what this day says to Australian women and Australian girls is that you can do anything, you can be anything, and it makes my heart sing to see women in so many diverse roles across our country in Australia."

* I think it's best if the people running the world are doing the right thing, whether they are men or women. I'm just pleased to see women are being considered for such roles.


** I wouldn't call myself a monarchist; nor would I call myself a republican. But just because I don’t want to be labelled either way doesn’t mean I’m a fence sitter. I don’t see any sensible reason for Australia to become a republic and if I were to pick a reason for being more pro monarchy (apart from the 'if it’s not broken, don’t fix it!’ reasoning) it would be because I don’t want Australia to have a new flag which would surely come with a republic.