Monday, February 25, 2008

Oscars 2007: A Post Mortem

Diablo Cody shows her appreciation

It's the day after the Oscars, so of course everyone is whining about how long it was. News flash, people: it's the Oscars. They are always long. Get over it.

Personally, I was impressed with the evening. Maybe they should wait until the last minute to do the show every year ... last night's telecast had just the right amount of sure things and surprise wins to make it interesting, and Jon Stewart kept the show moving along with just the right amount of mockery.

As for my predictions, I scored exactly 2/3rds correct, with 16 out of 24. I nailed the Tilda Swinton upset, but missed out on Marion Cotillard's (who had a great weekend, also picking up France's César Award). And I grossly underestimated the appeal of The Bourne Ultimatum in the tech categories; the hit movie also scored well at the Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Awards the night before. (In related news, it should come as no surprise that a fourth Bourne is in the planning stages now.)

Some random thoughts:
  • With the four wins by two Brits (Swinton, Daniel Day-Lewis), a French beauty (Cotillard) and a Spaniard (Javier Bardem), this was the first time since 1964's Oscars that every acting category went to a non-American.
  • Rob Marshall is a very happy man today: both Bardem and Cotillard are starring in his upcoming film adaptation of the musical Nine.
  • And one last thing about Bardem: if you weren't madly in love with him before, you are now. And he's such a nice son.
  • Poor Amy Adams looked lost on that huge stage without even a choreographed cockroach to interact with during "Happy Working Song" (she looked great later though).
  • As for the other Enchanted numbers: I wonder how long before Disney Theatricals gets the idea to make the movie into a stage musical?
  • Duane "The Rock" Johnson in a tux. 'Nuff said.
  • Uh, why the hell is the Jerry Seinfeld bee here? Bee Movie wasn't even nominated!
  • John Travolta looked like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
  • Where was Brad Renfro in the "In Memoriam" section? Not to mention Alice Ghostley, Michel Serrault and, most glaringly, Charles Lane?
  • Viggo Mortensen: awesome.
  • And finally: loved the gay shout outs from No Country for Old Men's Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin (maybe he's the head of the gay mafia?) and Freeheld's Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth.
So this brings this year's awards season to a close. And just think: only nine more months until it starts all over again ...

UPDATE: Others left out of "In Memoriam": Robert Goulet, Merv Griffin, Marcel Marceau, Tom Poston and Charles Nelson Reilly. And one more thing: do you think the Academy is regretting giving an Oscar to Jennifer Hudson yet? Girl can't even convincingly read a teleprompter ...

1 comment:

Kirby Holt said...

Here's the way to fix the IN MEMORIAM:

First, limit it to just Academy members and/or past Oscar winners/nominees ONLY. Every year, there is always some obvious omission, and this should limit that.

List them either alphabetically or chronologically by their time of death.

Cut the sound feed from the Kodak so that the whole thing isn't like some morbid popularity contest (who gets the most applause).

Or ... just eliminate it. If they can't do it right, don't do it at all. (But they'll never do that.)