Oscar Glamorama

To gear us up for the 81st Annual Academy Awards on Sunday night, let’s take a trip down memory lane and check out all the best of the best glamorous and blinged up ladies working it majorly on the red carpet over the years at the Oscars.

You will notice some of their faces have changed over time but hey, its Hollywood and a girl’s got to be able to give good red carpet if they want to survive and be noticed because let’s face it a successful gown is all one needs these days to get noticed by a top director.

These are some of our faves:

Julianne Moore (Oscars 03) - Four time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore wears gorgeous emerald YSL on the red carpet perfectly complimenting her auburn hair. Our absolute favourite.

Michelle Williams (Oscars 06) – This saffron yellow Vera Wang gown looks superb on Michelle matched with bright red lips. A dazzling look but she gets away with it.

Reese Witherspoon (Oscars 07) - Reese Witherspoon is just stunning in aubergine layered Nina Ricci by Olivier Theyskens.

Angelina Jolie (Oscars 04) - Angelina Jolie in sexy white satin Marc Bouwer, say no more.

Cate Blanchett (Oscars 99) - Cate turns up not once but twice in our gallery and we could have gone for a third. John Galliano’s back-embroidered butterfly-decorated gown is just amazing and Cate has consistently been a true style leader over the years.

Gwyneth Paltrow (Oscars 07) – With straight ironed locks and beautifully pleated apricot tulle-and-chiffon Zac Posen gown, we can forgive Gwyneth for past misdemeanours.

Bjork (Oscars 01) – Dead swan dress obliterates the compettion. Nuff said.

Looking forward to bitching about all the new gowns and faces on the red carpet Sunday night.

Check back for a recap.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Not So Curious Really

cocobytes Review
Though you are curious as to the manner of how Benjamin Button develops throughout his life, (i.e. he ages backwards),once you get past this fact, the rest of the story is a fairly rudimentary yet busy tale about two beautiful people who love each other.

David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is based on a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald about a man who ages backwards from beginning his life as an eighty year old to dying as a newborn while all around him everyone ages in the conventional sense.

Button stars Brad Pitt playing the lead character of Benjamin Button, Cate Blanchett playing his love interest, Daisy and a standout performance by Taraji P. Henson, who plays Benjamin’s mother.

The story begins when Benjamin is born “under unusual circumstances” in 1918 in New Orleans as a wrinkly, old man. His mother dies just after his birth and upon seeing the child, frightened and shocked father, Thomas, (Jason Flemying) abandons the child on the steps of a nursing home owned by Queenie (Taraji P.Henson). Queenie takes pity on Benjamin and adopts the child as her own.

Little, wrinkly Benjamin seems to fit in rather well with the other residents of the nursing home who take on his appearance as an unfortunate illness. Nobody including Benjamin, expects him to last long due to his delicate health but he continues to grow, get stronger and younger as he ages.

At 12 years old and looking ancient, he meets 7 year old Daisy and is instantly smitten, likewise for Daisy. They hang out together late at night which seems a bit weird and creepy to watch but over time, Daisy becomes his soul mate and destiny keeps bringing them together throughout their lives as Daisy grows older and Benjamin gets younger.

Over the rest of the duration of the almost three hour film, everything but the kitchen sink is thrown in with numerous supplementary characters brought in to confuse the viewer. Major events that occur in Button’s life are shown including getting a job on a boat led by Captain Mike (Jared Harris), fighting at sea in World War II and having an affair with aristocrat, Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton) whom he meets along his travels.

Sidelining these key events is his relationship with Daisy who becomes a famous ballerina. As their ages are now more closely aligned, their love for each other deepens though is tinged with sadness as they both know they won’t be able to grow old gracefully together due to Button’s “illness” and they cherish the remaining time they have together.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has many strong points. Ten stars go to the fantastic CGI and prosthetic effects which are subtly done although at one stage when Brad Pitt was supposed to be about sixteen years old, his smooth skin and young features made me laugh out loud as he looked like he had just come from the set of “Thelma & Louise." Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are strong in their roles, but neither are particularly moving or affecting to the viewer.

The movie is appealing but perhaps something has got lost in translation from the book to the film as it lacks any real dynamism to make it outstanding. The themes are sober, the underpinning score is heavy and the duration of the movie keeps the tone serious.

By the end of the nearly three hours, I was relieved and my curiosity was well and truly sated for another day.

Angelina's Curious Case of Amusement at the Button Premiere

Angelina Jolie decided to change strategy at The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s Los Angeles premiere on Monday night.

Ambling down the red carpet with partner and “Button” star, Brad Pitt, something seemed terribly funny and I don’t think it was the movie. She laughed at nobody in particular, played hide & seek with other attendees, tried to affectionately ingratiate herself with Brad’s parents and generally looked over the moon about life.

Brad didn’t seem nearly as happy and kept that sexy smouldering look on his face at all times allowing a small smile to creep out every now and then.

This was a big change for Angelina, usually she sexes it up in her moody big lipped way but this was a new side we were witnessing. Could she have been trying hard to promote Brad and her chances at Oscar glory? Or was she just trying to show Brad’s parents she can be all warm and fuzzy?

Not sure we are buying it.

She had this to say about Brad’s performance in the movie:

"I'm very, very proud. Mainly, I have seen every day he went to work just how hard he worked, how hard the director worked, and Cate -- and just how dedicated they were. It's been a big process; it's a very trying film. So, I am just so happy that it came out so beautifully and their work is going to be recognized. . . I cried, it's so beautiful. It's so touching. It's lovely; it's just a wonderful picture."

Ok we get it. It’s a good movie.

The premiere was also attended by a bevy of celebrities including Button’s other star Cate Blanchett wearing some bizarre glittery bell outfit as well as Tilda Swinton, a hot looking Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria and Gary Oldman.

Curious to see how “Button” performs award wise.

Cate Blanchett – No Added Preservatives

God it’s reassuring to see a celebrity who is real. Well as real as you can be when you’re standing on the very unreal Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Here’s Cate Blanchett, finally being honoured with her much overdue Hollywood Star looking chic and classy with her simply elegant forties style outfit of black striped smoking jacked teamed with crisp white pants and Louboutin pumps.

Cate’s style and classic looks are so beautiful and appropriate for someone of 39 years old. I’ve never seen someone try less to impress.

She is one of those rare finds in Hollywood who doesn’t over try, doesn’t pimp her celebrity, doesn’t play the famewhore game. She’s isn’t in the press every second giving bad sound bytes – Nicole Kidman take note. As it is she seems quite shy and a little embarrassed here as if the whole star ceremony is ridiculous, which ofcourse it is.

Cate is one of those consistently good actresses who delivers time after time and has been favoured by Oscar for a few years now. We are hoping that she gets another Oscar nomination for her role in The Curious Case of Benjamin.

Let’s hear it for one of the genuine ones – there’s still a few left.