LONDON, England (CNN) - History is littered with the detritus of terrible Oscar speeches. Gwyneth Paltrow anyone?

Gwyneth Paltrow lost her normal grace when delivering her Oscar acceptance speech.

Winners are inevitably overcome, talk far too long, sob too much and generally just make you want to hit the mute button before your brain melts.

That charismatic, dreamboat of a person you idolized becomes a make-up smudged shadow of their screen glory with all the appeal of a screaming banshee (men and women).

With the Oscars only weeks away and keeping the above in mind, I've decided to pen my own Oscar speech just in case the day ever comes...

"Oh God. WOW. This is LIKE soooo amazing. I am a WINNER, which makes you all LOSERS. Oops, sorry. It makes a lot of you losers. I mean, what I wanted so say, is that this is just, I think, like, probably, the best moment in my life - no offense to my wife – but she knows what I'm all about.

"And that's glory, and now I have it. Being a winner like me takes hard work, it has been back-breaking at times. I mean, some of you guys know what it's like, $15 million a picture doesn't spread that far these days. And working half the year in exotic locations is not what everyone imagines. And then there's the week of humanitarian work a year; God! Sick and hungry people are such a drain aren't they?

"Anyway, I digress, I'd like to thank everyone I've ever known though they've actually contributed nothing to my success - I got me here. I'm the one who does the acting.

"Some critics have called me the acting talent of my generation and, I have to say, I think they're on the money.

"Which is why you losers, sorry, I mean the other people I have been delighted to beat to the best actor nod, shouldn't be too downtrodden. You've done quite well actually. I'm not going to namecheck you all, because frankly, while I know your names, I can't be bothered and I don't really like you.

"I think I'll put old Oscar here on the mantle piece next to the picture of me with Barack Obama. Obviously he and I have a lot in common, like winning, and I like to feel we're on the same page when it comes to policy in the Middle East.

"Anyway, to cap off: I'm the winner here and fully expect to be back next year so don't even bother renting yourself a suit. By the way, do you like mine? Aren't you going to give me the obligatory standing ovation?"

What would you say in your Oscar speech? What is the worst Oscar speech you've seen?

NEW DELHI, India– The theater in New Delhi was packed. While "Slumdog Millionaire" has long since been released in the US, it opened here last weekend. The movie depicts the fate of three children who live in terribly difficult conditions in the slums of Mumbai. It follows them as love, violence and a television show changes their fate.

It is a very painful look at the lives of India's poor through the eyes of the poorest of the poor: children. Film critics here are mostly raving about the movie, but everyday Indians have reacted to the film with a range of emotions from happily entertained to fiercely angry.

There have been a couple of protests over the film since it opened. Some of the people who live in slums - and some who don't - felt the film was profiting off the suffering of others. Some were spitting mad that a foreign director took the liberty to show everything that is wrong in the country and not much that is right.

Even the name of the film itself has come under fire.

Protesters tore down movie posters in one of India's poorest states saying the use of the word "Slumdog" to describe people living in slums had again injured the poor. They say it is yet another hurtful name for those already struggling at the bottom.

Back in Delhi when I began asking the 20-something middle class Indians about their thoughts on the movie, they were frank: "That's India man, these are some of the realities of life here," one guy remarked.

Which is why some people said they just didn't want to see a film about the same sad stories they are faced with everyday. Watch more on "Slumdog Millionaire"

As the week progressed I revisited the theater where "Slumdog Millionaire" or "Slumdog Crorepati" (crorepati being the Hindi word for millionaire) was playing. During the week it was virtually empty.

The vast majority of people I've talked to were disturbed by the movie, saying it was both painful and uplifting. They pointed out faults but in the end recommended it, saying it was an interesting and entertaining film. Some, though, were pretty annoyed the world had seen a movie about India long before it was released where it was made.

The reaction here brings up a question that has long been debated: Do artists, this time filmmakers, have a responsibility to show balance, or should they be able to create their art freely even if it disturbs others?

What do you think?

LONDON, England - "The Screening Room" is taking a close look at the role critics play in the film industry this month.

Kevin Spacey says the Internet has changed the role of the film critic. Where do you get your reviews?

Reviewers have the power to influence audiences around the world, especially in this intensely competitive market.

At the same time, there are those films that have achieved box office success, despite being panned by critics. Remember "The Da Vinci Code," or more recently, "Mamma Mia?"  

In this month's show, we get the lowdown from actors, directors and meet the critics themselves.

We also want to hear from you. Do reviews influence the films you see? Do you think critics have too much power? Not enough?

How important do you think critics are? Leave your comments below. 

LONDON, England – The dust has settled after yesterday's Oscar nominations. We know everything in terms of the final five in each category - but for many of the awards we are only left with guesswork as to the likely winners come February 22. Oscar likes to surprise - only in hindsight, once the awards have been handed out, can we determine why the Academy voted as it did.

The Oscar nominations for best picture are announced in Beverly Hills Thursday.

Making Oscar predictions is a game for fools - but it's also lot of fun, something we need in the current climate. Give me your suggestions at the bottom of this post - and in the meantime I'd offer the following...

No movie will make a clean sweep. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," with 13 nominations, heads the field, with "Slumdog Millionaire" behind it on 10. This only reflects how "Curious" has acting nominations while "Slumdog" does not: these two are running close.

The certainty in the main categories is Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight") for best supporting actor  - not just for his performance or because he died but also because he would have won an Oscar eventually. The likeliest challenge? Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt"), who beat Ledger to a best actor Oscar in 2006. But it would be a major upset.

The best actor is Mickey Rourke's to lose for "The Wrestler." Oscar likes a comeback - Rourke's only hindrance is if the prize is taken for granted by everyone, in which case Oscar could choose someone else. Academy winner Sean Penn, who expands his range through the powerful and tender "Milk," is in the wings waiting for him to fall.

The biggest nomination shock is in best actress and the exclusion of Kate Winslet for "Revolutionary Road" (it lost out in best film and director too), for which she won a best actress drama Golden Globe.

Still, the five-time nominee will win her first Oscar for "The Reader," in which she was wrongly pushed for supporting actress. Strongest challenges come from two-time winner Meryl Streep ("Doubt") and Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married"), who between them have dominated critics' awards.

Best supporting actress is more open (although why no Rosemarie DeWitt for "Rachel?"). Amy Adams and Viola Davies (both "Doubt") will cancel each other out; and "The Wrestler's" Marisa Tomei may suffer due to Rourke's likely success. Expect Penelope Cruz to win for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Woody Allen's overly-mannered drama.

The best picture and best director usually go to the same movie. The tussle here is between Danny Boyle's colorfully kinetic "Slumdog" and David Fincher for "Curious." Trailing third is "Frost/Nixon," which feels more like a series of strong performances than the complete package.

Crowdpleaser "Slumdog" stands out in a season of autumnal features tinged with regret and loss. It's also hard to ignore the technical challenges faced by Boyle for the Mumbai shoot. Remember - less than six months ago "Slumdog" was bound for DVD in the United States.

Plans to shoot "Curious" have kicked around Hollywood for years - usually not a good sign. But Fincher, who usually deals in darker fare, does a strong job of sustaining the narrative for more than 150 minutes.

Actors are strongly represented in the Academy - and "Curious" is unlikely to win any acting awards. Will voters compensate this retool of Oscar-winner "Forrest Gump" elsewhere - maybe give it a director or picture plaudit and "Slumdog" the other? Don't rule it out.

Of course this is all conjecture. One, or all, of these tips, is plain wrong. Oscar is unpredictable - that's part of its appeal

But who do you think should win this year's Oscars - and who do you think has unjustly been left out?

LONDON, England - Hollywood has a new best friend - its wealthy Indian brother.

Akshay Kumar with co-stars Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan and the film's director Nikhil Advani at the premiere of 'Chandni Chowk to China.'

U.S. film stars and studio bosses are singing Bollywood's praises, perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the Mumbai-based film industry churns out over 1,000 motion pictures a year and controls nearly 95 percent of the Indian market, leaving foreign films with only a thin slice of the pie.

Will Smith is amongst the U.S. stars with the closest ties to Bollywood. Smith has a production deal with one of India's leading studios and aims to marry the two industries. At the London premiere of his latest film "Seven Pounds" earlier this week, Smith confessed his fondness for Bollywood films: "I love the flavour, I love the energy," Smith told CNN. "It's bright, it's colourful. It speaks to my spirit! That's how I see life."

Hollywood studios have been equally keen to get in on the action. Today, Warner Brothers Pictures give their first Bollywood production "Chandni Chowk to China," the biggest U.S. release of any Indian film to date, hoping it will emulate the success of Danny Boyle's Mumbai-based hit "Slumdog Millionaire."

"I think we have something to take from them and we have something to give back," said Nikhil Advani the director of "Chandni Chowk" at the film's London premiere. "What we can take from them is the template to get a little more organized, and as far as they are concerned, they have a huge market they can cater to."

A market of 1.2 billion to be exact, not to mention the enormous Indian diaspora spread across the globe - another potential goldmine. "It's a huge fan-base,” Indian superstar and "Chandni Chowk" protagonist Akshay Kumar said, "Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, and Afghans all over the world; they all enjoy Bollywood."

Judging by the turnout at Monday night's London premiere of the film, they're dedicated too - in spite of very poor early reviews for the movie. For hours, hundreds of expat Bollywood fans endured sub-zero temperatures merely to get a glimpse of their tartan-trousered hero Akshay Kumar. Given this sort of dedication, Hollywood's new friendship is bound to be a lucrative one... isn't it?

"Chandni Chowk to China" is released across UK and US cinemas today.

Do you think Hollywood and Bollywood will be a good movie-making team?

LONDON, England – The original "Karate Kid" movie is the Mona Lisa of its genre. Teenage boy moves to new town with mum after dad dies, develops heavy crush on pretty girl - Elisabeth Shue - only to be beaten into a pulp regularly by her karate practising ex-boyfriend and his mates.

Execs are in talks to remake 1980s martial arts coming of age movie 'Karate Kid'.

However, salvation is at hand in the form of his building's handyman - Pat Morita's noble and beautifully acted Mr Miyagi.

Miyagi knows a thing or two about karate and sets about teaching Daniel the proper way to use it by putting him to work waxing and painting things at his house.

Eventually all that "wax on, wax off" is revealed as a cunning ploy to get Ralph Macchio's Daniel using the moves he needs but without the anger and hatred of his enemy.

It also has the benefit of teaching him patience and understanding, which is of course a big hit with Shue's character.

It culminates with Daniel's famous crane-kick victory after the badass ex-boyfriend has unleased some more nasty karate taught by his equally nasty teacher.

It makes you want to leap with joy and punch the air just thinking about.

However someone needs to start crane kicking the execs at Columbia Pictures, who are apparently in talks with Jackie Chan to remake the movie.

According to reports, Chan will mentor Will Smith's son, Jaden, with the major difference being that the film will be set in Asia rather than California.

Cunningly the movie will be a co-production with state-run China Film Group, Variety reports, which would allow Columbia to bypass China's annual quota of 20 film imports on a revenue-sharing basis.

Doesn't sound at all cynical does it?

And therein lies the problem with just about every remake ever made: They're about prostituting out a once great movie to old fans who don't know better and a new generation who are barely old enough to tie their shoelaces let alone know there was an original.

Frankly, I'd rather burn my own eyes out with a hot poker than be duped into seeing another rubbish remake featuring a big-name star who is no patch on the original.

Just think Jude Law. He has been in two of the most nonsensical remakes ever, reprising Michael Caine's role in "Alfie" and helping sully the name of the original Oscar-winning "All the Kings Men." Moreover, he's soon to feature in Guy Ritchie's take on Sherlock Holmes - it's a combination that has turkey written all over it.

Mark Wahlberg has an equally bad reputation when it comes to remake horrors, joining Tim Burton to butcher "Planet of the Apes" and Charlize Theron and Donald Sutherland in "The Italian Job" (what is it about Caine's films?).

However, even they couldn't top Gus Van Sant's remake of "Psycho" with Vince Vaughan in the leading role. Vince Vaughan? Pass me that poker.

A "Karate Kid" remake can't possibly better the original - the sequels were bad enough.

It all - sorry about the terrible pun - makes no sensei.

What is the worst remake you've seen?

It was a night of near hyperventilation at the Golden Globes for actress Kate Winslet, who has "a habit of not winning things" - yet who walked away with Best Actress Drama ("Revolutionary Road") and Best Supporting Actress Drama ("The Reader").

British actress Kate Winslet celebrates her awards success.

When she finally recovered from the shock of being one of the few people to win Globes in both categories in one year, Winslet spent the rest of the evening with husband Sam Mendes, who directed her in "Revolutionary Road."

Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" also cleaned up, winning four awards including Best Picture Drama and Best Director, consolidating its position as a serious Oscar contender.

Mickey Rourke picked up Best Actor to huge cheers from the crowd, nonchalantly answering them with an almost Elvis-like "Thankyuh, baby," before confessing: "This has been a long road back for me." He also thanked Darren Aronofsky, who directed him in "The Wrestler,"calling him "one tough sonofabitch."

As expected, the late Heath Ledger was awarded the Best Supporting Actor award posthumously for his role as the Joker in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight." On the back of the Globes win, pundits are now tipping Ledger for Oscars success too.

The Golden Globes are seen as an important bellwether for films that could get the Oscars nod. A win at the Globes can give a film the all important extra momentum that makes the difference between a win and second place.

One of the main differences between the awards is that the Golden Globes are not decided by fellow actors, directors and talent (the Oscars are voted on by just under 6,000 Academy members) but by a much smaller group of journalists from around the world who make up the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA).

Some prestigious films which have enjoyed a sizeable marketing push didn't get a Globes nod, notably "Milk," "Frost/Nixon" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." But these films, which have more of an American sensibility to them than say "Slumdog," could see more success at the Oscars, as could perennial Academy favorite Clint Eastwood, who has two eligible films this year with "Changeling" and "Gran Torino."

During the past four years, the Globes have not necessarily given its Best Picture award to the movie that went on to win its equivalent at the Oscars (last year "No Country for Old Men" won the Best Picture Oscar while "Atonment" won the Golden Globe for Best Picture Drama). That said, more than half of all the films that win Best Picture at the Globes have gone on to win at the Oscars.

For now, what happens come Oscar night on February 22 is likely to be a mixture of near certainties (Ledger has to be a lock for an Oscar, while "Slumdog" is ahead for the Best Picture Oscar) and informed guesswork and speculation (Winslet may be pushed to repeat her Golden Globe sweep).

But which movies and talent are you backing for Oscars success?

LONDON, England - You would expect a dead film icon's house would hold some kind of special cachet; that a suitably wealthy fan would want to spend silly amounts of money to inhabit the ex-home of their favorite deceased film crush. After all, someone once spent $38,000 at auction to acquire a bible owned by Marilyn Monroe.

Kung fu legend Bruce Lee's ex-home will be turned into a museum filled with martial arts weaponry.

So, it comes as a bit of a surprise that late kung fu legend Bruce Lee's old house almost suffered the ignominious fate of becoming a "seedy love motel," according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Luckily, in the nick of time, a philanthropic Hong Kong tycoon (see above) has swooped in with a bid to turn the roundhousing marvel's house into a tourist attraction.

The fate of the the two-storey town house in the suburb of Kowloon hung in the balance for years, until real estate and hotel tycoon Yu Pang-lin, who owns it, decided to donate it to the city of Hong Kong. It will be turned into a museum and Lee's study and training hall will be recreated and filled with martial arts weaponry.

Lee was the star of kung fu classics like "Fist of Fury," "Game of Death" and "Enter the Dragon." He died in mysterious circumstances in 1973 at the age of 32.

Your say: What memorial would you create for your favorite movie icon from the past?

Despite his 'years in the wilderness,' Mickey Rourke is a pretty well-connected guy.

Throughout our conversation he is profane, very funny and casually drops in a "Francis Coppola" anecdote here, a "Sean Penn" story there.

Mickey Rourke called in a favor from old buddy Axl Rose of Guns N Roses for the soundtrack of 'The Wrestler.'

In fact, in the course of our 15 minutes together,  he also manages to throw in references to  Dennis Hopper, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, "Chris" Walken and Harvey Keitel (the last four being his fellow alumnus from legendary NYC acting school, Actors Studio).

His friends are not restricted to the movie world either. During the making of his latest movie, "The Wrestler," the former boxer pulled in a favour from old buddy Axl Rose of seminal 80s rockers  "Guns N Roses,"  who lent him one of the band's  songs "Sweet Child O' Mine"  for the soundtrack of the film.

"Axl Rose is a good friend of mine and actually, when I used to box, I used to come out to "Sweet Child O' Mine," but on our $5.5 million budget we couldn't afford that music so he gave it to me," said Rourke, "So that was something really special."

Rourke was probably pretty glad to be able to help out. Director Darren Aronofsky insisted on having Rourke in the lead in place of the bankable Nicolas Cage.  Rourke's previous bad boy antics on set meant he was almost unemployable in Hollywood for 15 years and Aronofsky's choice caused the film's budget to be slashed by more than $10 million.

But Rourke's help on the music front didn't stop at "Sweet Child O' Mine" - he asked another rock legend, Bruce Springsteen, to write a song for the movie.

"I wrote Bruce Springsteen a letter," Rourke said, "A very personal letter about my character and about me and about how the character and me maybe had some things in common and would you think about writing us a song.

"And he wrote us a very f**kin' beautiful f**kin' song."

As "The Wrestler" is tipped for success in the approaching awards season, it looks like the former bad boy is finally coming in from the cold.