I think it goes without saying that last night's ceremony was full of all the usual Oscar trappings. There were the expected winners, the tiresome time fillers, there were the sublime moments pulled off by the sassy ceremony host, and (shockingly enough) there came a moment that I wasn't expecting: I had no idea what was to happen next. So to sum it all up for my dear, dear readers is my experience watching the grandaddy of award shows...enjoy.
To start off there was Ellen. As a comedian (and even as a lesbian) she is unmatched. Mixing though her deft, sensible humor with last year's acerbic and brilliant performance pulled off by John Stewart was no easy task and yet she managed to pull it off. She tripped up only once with a church-choir like dance number that went almost as quickly as she introduced it. To counterpoint that there were comic bits that were pure, 100% Ellen: her interview with the famous directors in the audience (Clint Eastwood + MySpace = Hilarious!), her last-minute vacuum sketch and her general unflappery as a genuine, talented screen presence. Here's to you Ellen, you're officially America's favorite new lesbian comedian!
Yet, I ask you: where would a host be without her material (and by that I mean the nominees)? Nowhere. So shuffle in all you talented actors, writers, directors, and the thousand other technical wizards that concoct glorious screen experience...you're being paged. In unusual fashion, the Oscars handled most of the technical stuff (from which they changed "Best..." to "Achievement in...") in the first 2 hours and started handing out the meat-and-potatoes awards in the last 2 hours. Pan's Labyrinth started off strong in it's several techincal nods but failed on it's two big fronts (Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay). Still, foreign cinema had a great night. They first recieved a film tribute and then, throughout the night, every other winner it seemed had only the best to say about the genius of Guillermo Del Toro (all of it true, mind you). As for the other technical nominees (Apocalypto, The Prestige, etc.), they didn't have the greatest run.
On the other front there was the expected (Jennifer Hudson anyone?), and the unexpected (Alan Arkin over Eddie Murphy?!). For the latter I was quite thankful as it changed up the night and it gave me reason to literally wring my hands with worry as Jack Nicholson called the Best Picture winner with Diane Keaton. The Departed here's to you; you managed to come from behind and destroy that predicted frontrunner monolith known as Babel (to who I apologize wholeheartedly...you deserved a better go, buddy)!
As for the other Oscar nonsense, the dancers "film poster interpretations" were quite entertaining. The sound effect choir was a quirky treat. The speechs never veered too far into irritation or camp. Oh and who can forget the Dreamgirls once again performing (Live! Bill Condon!) thier 3 nominated Best Songs? It was rapturous and fun...just like the film itself. Speaking of music, Melissa Etheridge pulled off a win for her An Inconvenient Truth song, and her blusey showing on the stage was none too shabby either. Speaking of Al Gore, that guy was everywhere and after 4 hours the jokes started to grate. Still, if one is going to represent a Vice-President over and over at the entertainment world's biggest night I'd rather it be Gore than Cheney. All in all I'd have to say that this year was a pretty solid mix of the engaging and the expected and as I drifted off to dreamland somewhere near 1 o'clock in the morning, I'd have to say that was just fine with me.
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