Oscar Thoughts

First of all, I didn't do too bad on my predictions that I made back in January. I got 5 out of 6 on the major categories. (I missed Best Picture, picking 'Milk' as opposed to 'Slumdog Millionaire'. In my defense, I made my picks back in January before it became clear that 'Slumdog' would be the winner.)

What did you think of the revamped ceremony? Hugh Jackman did an admirable job hosting, he neither blew me away nor made me cringe. He sold his two musical numbers.

I'm not sure that I like the new format for the four acting awards. If you missed it, they got five former winners to come out, and each person gives a short summary of each nominee's performance and career. This brings the self-congratulations of Hollywood to new heights. It took too long and was somewhat awkward as, for instance, Ben Kingsley told Mickey Rourke how brilliant he was. It became almost like little lectures and somewhat condescending, even as it was essentially one actor kissing another actor's ass. I say bring back the film clips. I'd much rather just see those.

On the other hand, I dug the more thematic approach to presenting the awards. They were presented and explained, more or less, in the natural flow of creating a film.

I was happy for Sean Penn, but I really wanted to see what Mickey Rourke would say at the podium. That could have been some great TV.


ABOVE: What hilarity would have ensued had Mickey Rourke won Best Actor? We will never know. By the way, he deserved to win.

The funniest bits: Steve Martin and Tina Fey were perfectly paired. And Ben Stiller doing his Joaquin Phoenix routine was spot on. Oh, and how about the Short Animation winner, the Japanese dude who ended his acceptance speech with "Domo morigato, Mr. Roboto." That was both funny and very strange.

Other noteworthy moments/questions:

* Why didn't Peter Gabriel perform his nominated song "Down To Earth"? He was at the ceremony. John Legend didn't do the tune justice.

* My favorite part is usually the In Memorium. I was irritated that they did not keep the camera on the screens showing the dearly departed, instead panning over to Queen Latifa singing her song. I couldn't even read some of the names. My man Roy Scheider got some nice applause. I was surprised that Charlton Heston got a muted response. He was a real giant. I bet it was because of his political views. They should have done a bit more to remember Paul Newman.

* Kate Winslet looked beautiful