Donny Osmond, brother of Marie Osmond could not control his tears during his last prayer recital. However, the remembrance speech by seven year old Abigail, daughter of Marie Osmond, was filled with the innocent emotions generated from the loss of a lifetime. She characterized her brother as funny and said that he used to make her laugh. As a sevenyear old child, her memory of her brother consists of the games that they used to play in the pool and said that she will miss them. Abigail said that her brother had written a song for her which showed his love for her.
Michael Blosil who left behind a suicide note, has mentioned the cause of his death to be the constant depression from which he suffered.
It’s the movie that reminded voters of the time when studios were in the business of making smart, exciting, character-driven films intended primarily for a grown-up audience.
Everyone wants the chance to dream, and if Sunday night’s Oscar results are any indication, the people who work in the dream factory most of all.
It takes away nothing from “The Hurt Locker,” which really was the best film of the year, or the exceptional directing job done by Kathryn Bigelow, to speculate that more than the acknowledgment of excellence was behind that film’s triumph in the hotly contested best picture race.
It seems fair to say that an almost subconscious yearning in part motivated the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to vote the way they did. A yearning for a Hollywood that once existed but doesn’t anymore, a Hollywood where films like “The Hurt Locker” were business as usual and not something that was such an aberration, so outside of current norms, that it very nearly didn’t get made at all.
But if you voted for “The Hurt Locker,” you could pretend that wasn’t so. You could vote for a dream of a better world where these films lived long and prospered. And if the film actually won, it would be so much easier to make believe that that traditional Hollywood is still here when the reality is that it’s gone, gone, gone.
For though it was made with very modern skills, technologies and attitudes, “The Hurt Locker” at its core is a throwback to a time as far back as 1944, when “Casablanca” was the best of the 10-movie field, and the major studios were in the day-in day-out business of making smart, exciting, character-driven films intended primarily for a grown-up audience.
But after having been beaten down by studio neglect and disappointed by halfhearted efforts, that audience is now so gun-shy that it even stayed away from this film, making it the lowest-grossing of modern best picture winners.
Equally unusual in this day and age, “The Hurt Locker” can be said to owe at least part of its Oscar success to the united front put up by critics. It achieved a rare trifecta, taking the top prize from the Los Angeles and New York critics as well as the National Society, and that sweep likely persuaded some academy members, who may have been as reluctant as the rest of adult America, to give the film a try.
“Avatar,” by contrast, needed no such help. A splendid, well-reviewed film in its own right and one that will be enormously influential on the future of moviegoing, this 3-D epic turned out to have a drawback in the best-picture race.
For all the new ground it broke, “Avatar,” which cost more than $300 million to make and has become the highest-grossing film of all time, having taken in more than $2.6 billion worldwide, may have seemed to voters to be too tied to the movie business as it does exist, the movie business that many people who work in it would prefer to forget about, if only for one night. Which is why “The Hurt Locker” not only won best picture and director, it won five of the seven head-to-head clashes between the two films, with “Avatar” winning only cinematography and “Up” walking off with best score.
That current business, in case you’ve forgotten, values everything that “The Hurt Locker” is not. It’s a business that is about toys and sequels more than drama and character, a business where the high-tech special effects and low raunchy humor favored by a youthful demographic are the twin touchstones of box-office success.
It is also the kind of business where an audience-friendly adult entertainment like “Crazy Heart,” a film that won two Oscars, including best actor for Jeff Bridges, was abandoned by the studio that made it and nearly went, in the words of writer-director Scott Cooper, “straight to radio.” Only the savvy team at Fox Searchlight, who performed a similar search and rescue mission with last year’s big winner, “Slumdog Millionaire,” recognized “Crazy Heart” for what it is. Is it any wonder that this is an industry that many academy members, who gave exactly zero nominations to “The Hangover,” would prefer to forget they are in?
Yet one of the many paradoxes of the “The Hurt Locker” situation is that the film not only survived major studio neglect, it thrived. Without the often heavy hand of studio interference, the filmmakers were free to make their film their way. This was, as Oscar-winning editor Bob Murawski put it in the evening’s most pointed acceptance speech, “a movie made without compromise. We didn’t have any preview screenings or focus groups or studio notes. Everybody made the movie we wanted to make and it turned out great.” No wonder everyone wanted to vote for it.
Yet though this film was turned down for financing all over town and acquired out of the Toronto Film Festival back in 2008 for a minimal $1.5 million by the shrewd folks at Summit Entertainment, now that it has won six Oscars, its creators will be flooded with praise by the very people who said there was no room at the inn.
The star and grieving mother, Marie Osmond, unexpectedly and emotionally made some remarks in front of the hundreds of other mourners attending her son, Michael Bryan’s funeral this Monday. Reports from PopEater, say that Osmond stood as the service was near closing and spoke to the other attendees in Provo, Utah at the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Chapel. “I’m proud of my son and I honor his birth mother who’s here today who gave me the greatest gift,” Osmond said. “Thank you for those beautiful 18 years.” Marie also spoke on her other seven surviving children saying, “I’m so proud of each and every one of you.”
Osmond wrapped up the mourning by joining up with her brother, Donny, to sing the hymn, “God Be with You Till We Meet Again.” Donny Osmond spoke about his sister and her loss, which was his nephew, “Bless my sister. Bless my sister and her family. May she feel my love and comfort.” A private internment was held at a local cemetery after the funeral.
Is there a My Life as Liz Season 2? Will a My Life as Liz Season 2 air, was it fake, and was the finale tonight … the series finale or just season finale?
My Life as Liz’s finale aired this evening on MTV. It’s leaving many questions unanswered. And if the net is any indication, the answers may not be good.
Tonight’s finale “The End of the Beginning” featured Liz considering moving to New York. Tonight was episode 9 of 9 for season 1 and got deemed the finale. But is it the season finale or series finale?
IMDB, Wikipedia and MTV do not list a season 2. IMDB generally lists upcoming seasons in production. No such season 2 in production is listed for My Life as Liz. So by all indications, tonight is the series finale. There is no season 2.
And is My Life as Liz fake?
IMDB lists the show as a “comedy”, not as a reality show, and says it is a “A pseudo-mockumentary focusing on sardonic 18 year old Liz Lee and her attempts to deal with life in her Texas town.”
Insiders say it was never completely real. Just people playing themselves in situations that were staged. So is it completely real? No. Completely fake? No.
MTV reportedly said of the show that “We don’t look at it as just a reality show — that doesn’t capture it. We weren’t going to call it a sitcom, because it’s not.”
LOSING DIRECTOR TAKES IT WELL AFTER EX-WIFE GETS BEST PICTURE OSCAR
Talk about a gripping night at the Oscars… James Cameron looks like he’s about to throttle ex-wife and movie rival Kathryn Bigelow.
But then his £152million 3-D blockbuster Avatar had just been trounced by her £7.2million Iraq War film The Hurt Locker.
She became the first woman to scoop Best Director, and the movie picked up six gongs, including Best Picture.
The 58-year-old dedicated the movie to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. She said: “It’s the moment of a lifetime.”
Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bridges and Mo’Nique were among the winners. But the Brits fared badly. Colin Firth, Helen Mirren and Carey Mulligan all missed out. Sandy Powell saved the day with her Young Victoria costumes.
Avatar only got three Oscars, including Best Visual Effects. But James, 55, was clearly pleased for his ex. As she went up, he mouthed “Yes, oh yes!” Phew, it was just a little choke…
THE BIG WINNERS
Best Picture The Hurt Locker; BEST DIRECTOR Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker; BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side; BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart; BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds; BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Mo’Nique in Precious; BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY The Hurt Locker; BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Precious; BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM Up; ART DIRECTION Avatar; CINEMATOGRAPHY Avatar; COSTUME DESIGN The Young Victoria; MAKE-UP Star Trek; SOUND EDITING The Hurt Locker; SOUND MIXING The Hurt Locker; VISUAL EFFECTS Avatar; FILM EDITING The Hurt Locker