Sunday, February 24, 2008

Oscar: Always worth a few good moments



On my posting regarding the Grammy awards, I mentioned that it was still worth watching because of a handful of good moments. The same goes for the Oscar telecast. It is long, self-serving, and can feel like a time sink, but in the midst of the thank you speeches to agents and producers and family members, there always are a few good moments and surprises. And the fact that it is a large, often unwieldy enterprise that is broadcast live opens it up for some memorable moments. Among a few worth noting.

The Host
We are admirers here of Jon Stewart at La Casa Pam and Bob. We watch most all of the two hours put out each week of the Daily Show with the exception when intolerable right wing nut jobs like Bill Kristol come on as guests. The natural delivery of Jon is always a wonder to behold and he does a good job at the Oscars, obviously having a good time and apparently not concerned that the whole world is watching.

Honorary Oscar to Robert F. Boyle
A few minutes of tribute to the 98 year old Art Director for Hitchcock, Norman Jewison and many others. How cool was that! I hope the AFI will release a DVD of him at his master class. His love of architecture, of set design and the movies was very apparent in the script and his lovely acceptance speech.

Glen and Marketa
I told Pam earlier tonight that I figured they would muck up the simple and lovely Falling Slowly with a bunch of strings. Despite the slushy arrangement and the incongruous hanging of guitars on the set to represent the scene in Once that takes place in the music store it still came across. But there is no excuse for the dearth of closeups of Marketa during the song. One would have hoped that Jon Stewart was indeed responsible for Marketa coming back to do her acceptance speech: "fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are." Gulp.

Share the Wealth
I noticed that every Best Picture nominated was represented by at least one award. Some years it just feels like a fixed sweep, so that was kind of cool.

Upsets by Foreign Actresses
It was very cool to see Tilda Swinton win as the meanest corporate ice bitch I can recall. And also for Marion Cotillard for her transformative performance as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. If any one got both of those on an Oscar pool, they were basing it fully on luck or performance and not on expectations and politics. Surprises like these are what keeps watching the Oscars interesting.

But if this Buffet was in charge
There would have been room for more nominations for The Black Book, The Assassination of Jesse James, He's Not There, When the Devil Knows Your Dead, Across the Universe, and 3:10 to Yuma among others.

Enough. I don't even have energy to bitch about the egregious flashbacks by the likes of Streisand and Speilberg. Time for bed.
posted by well-executed buffet at 6:19 PM
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