Oscars

I did something I have never done before the other night (Sunday). I watched the Oscars.

I know what you're thinking. Ibid! You love movies, and you've never watch the Oscars? Well yes, the answer is that I have not watch the Oscars before Sunday night.

But now I have. One more check off the "TO DO" list. One more thing to say I've done, and lived to tell about it.

Here is my telling.

It was a fairly entertaining show. Hugh Jackman did a fine job hosting. He showcased his talents (literally dancing and singing, all while wearing a full tux!) and did what he had to do to win the hearts of the audience. They did something kinda cool this year, with older winners of the acting categories presenting the awards to this year's winners. For example, in the Best Actor category, past winners of the Best Actor category said some words to the nominees, and then they announced the winner. It was kinda cool, just looking at the history behind the movies. Also cool was the way they set up most of the awards. They presented the awards in the creative order that a movie goes through, i. e., starting with a screenplay, moving to cinematography, sets and costumes, special effects, and then ending up with the final categories: Actor, Actress, and Picture. It was neat; a bit odd, but neat.

Good Parts

1. Slumdog Millionaire pretty much sweeped the show, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, as well as a bunch of other ones. It's always nice when smaller, independent films beat up the "Made for Oscar" movies like Milk or The Reader. Plus it looks like the movie has heart, which is always a good thing to have in a Best Picture winner.
   
2. Heath Ledger won for The Dark Knight. If he had not won, I might have given up the movie award system for the rets of my life. He literally kicked butt in his role (as everyone knows, his last big one before his death) and well deserved his reward. Few performances this year could top his transformation.
   
3. Man on Wire won for best documentary. Despite its random sex scene, this was not only the most interesting documentary movie I think I've ever seen, it was one of the more facinating movies I saw this year.
   

Bad Parts

1. Sean Penn won for Milk. Now, I'm sure Milk is a good movie, and I'm even more sure that Sean Penn did an award worthy job playing the title character. The problems were thus: When you have an actor who took a role not because it was a great character, but because he wants to prove a point, you inevitably get an acceptance speech that is part sermon. Sean Penn is a classic Hollywood liberal. Remember, this is one of the people who went down to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to bash Bush. His acceptance speech at the Oscars was no different. After thanking some friends ("you commie, homo-loving sons of guns"), etc, he proceeded to speak to those who voted against Proposition 8 in the most recent election. (Proposition 8, for those who don't know, was the chance for the voters of California to vote on whether or not they wanted marriage between homosexuals to be legal. The result of the election proved that the majority of Californians do not support gay marriage, much to the shock and horrification of Hollywood. End of digression.) Shame on you, he told the voting public of California, for your hatred and bigotry. It was not the time or the place for such a speech, and not just myself but many fans of films are offended not as much with the content, but with the arrogance that Mr. Penn demonstrated.
   

Other than that, I enjoyed the show. Hope its good next year too.