The Dictator

Sacha Baron Cohen is in this again. After brilliant comedy Borat and absolutely terrible Bruno, he brings another comedy, where he plays Aladeen – the head of small Arab country, who opposes any kind of democracy and will never let anything looking like freedom to sneak into his kingdom.

Cohen got an absolutely unique niche in the entertainment industry. His characters become something more than just fiction. Borat was outstanding in some sense; the jokes from the movie were quickly learnt and quoted by almost everyone who bothered to watch the movie (despite the notorious quality of the jokes, which exploited practically only a couple of topics). Bruno, on the other hand, failed badly. Partly because of the high expectations, partly because of the poor plot, but the movie failed to amuse in the same shocking and provocative way. This is why I was a bit worried about the Dictator – the movie could have gone in both directions.

The Oscars 2012

Couple of words about the Oscars 2012. Overall, I think this was the fairest distribution of the prizes on my memory. The Artist and Hugo were my favourites, and I am glad they were both given considerable amount of Oscars. The Artist got the important ones, whereas Hugo got the technical ones, but this is perfectly justified. And this dog, Uggie, is now a legend!

I am also glad that the Descendants won almost nothing - it was well below the level of the other movies nominated. And yes, Muppets got the Oscar as well! Nevermind it is for the best original song only, it is still such an achievement for generally not-for-oscars movie.

Rango was also my clear favorite to win the best animation, especially considering the other nominees.

So, overall, that was a very good, and, in my opinion, just ceremony. I can only hope that the tradition of giving the Oscars to the movies that can be understood by wider audience is going to be continued in the future.

P.S. Sacha Baron Cohen was as provocative as usual.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Dictator

After being banned from attending the Oscars ceremony as the Dictator character, Sacha Baron Cohen filmed this awesome reply - worth watching, he makes sure we don't question his sense of humour.


P.S. "Planet of the Rapes" - how does he manage to come up with these jokes?!