Tuesday, February 10, 2009


Slate magazine's academy award coverage is nothing less than brainy. The sometimes controversial writers at Slate are direct, executing their ideas in humor rather than through frustration. The story, Batman Goes Bananas explains why Christian Bale’s latest freak-out may have permanently lost him his chance to be nominated for an Oscar. Chatting about The Oscars reveals why certain movies get nominated and uncovers what members of the committee actually look for when appointing a winner for the best picture.

Ron Rosenbaum is one of Slate's top writers covering the awards. His past critiques appeared in Vanity Fair and New York Times Magazine as well as doing movie reviews on NPR. Before this work, Rosenbaum spent ten years traveling and doing research on Hitler for his book "Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil." His analysis is honest as seen in his newest story "Don't Give an Oscar to The Reader." He writes, “The fact that it was recently nominated for a best picture Oscar offers stunning proof that Hollywood seems to believe that if it’s a “Holocaust film,” it must be worth of approbation, end of story."

Some articles are full of exhaustible colloquial banter, but they're backed up with expert opinion and solid analysis of what to expect from this year's Academy Awards.