The Oscars

This year I actually watched the Oscar ceremony. The whole thing. All three hours and twenty minutes of it. Not too bad in the overall scheme of things. I was impressed by the winners’ ability to give short and sweet versions of acceptance speeches. I only remember two or three people who ended up getting played off by the orchestra. I was also impressed that every winner was in attendance. And, as far as I could tell, every nominee (with, perhaps, the exception of categories like sound editing) was there as well. This is a far cry from some years where the presenter would pause for a second and then accept the statue in place of the winner. I don’t know if this means the Oscar has taken on a renewed importance or if everyone was just so happy to be having the ceremony at all that they went all out.

The show itself was surprisingly quite watchable. There weren’t long stretches of boring filler and it moved at a good pace with no obvious blunders or distractions. Jon Stewart was quirky and used his time well, dividing his wit among various celebrities in attendance (and some who were not) and the required political satire he is known for. Speaking of which, given that pretty much all of the documentary nominees were politically motivated, I was pleased to see that the winner went with the gracious route rather than the spewing of political opinions as has happened in the past. Iraq was definitely mentioned, but the point was not belabored. It was nice to see the community of movie making professionals get together and celebrate what the awards show was meant to celebrate.

I didn’t really have any vested interest in most of the categories. This year’s nominees all tended to swing toward the serious, depressing, and violent genres which I am likely to avoid watching. I did have high hopes for Juno, but those were dashed pretty early on. I found it interesting that although Alan Menken had snatched up three of the five song nominations he still lost to the virtually unknown independent film musicians. Let’s hear it for the little guys. I enjoyed the ridiculous production numbers for Enchanted’s songs though. I love Kristin Chenowith and could watch her all day.

I question some wardrobe choices and was surprised at how nervous and robotic some of the presenters were. I wonder what the deal is with Miley Cyrus. I just don’t get it. Nicole Kidman is pregnant? Really? I wish the Italian lady who won for set design would have shaved her pits before waving her arms in the air onstage. Anyway, it was a late night, I’m kind of tired this morning, but I think it was worth it.