I must admit, I was pretty excited about the Oscars this year. There were a lot of good films made in 2009, and for the first time, I had seen quite a few of the ones that were nominated. I was also looking forward to the hosting team of Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, each hilarious in their own right, and put together, would undoubtedly prove to be comedic plutoneum.
Of course, before the Academy Awards could begin, they have to do the whole red carpet thing, which is an awards ceremony in itself. It seemed quite scaled down this year, no fans on the bleachers, less interviews, perhaps owing to the whole thing being held under a tent due to the rain. Anyway, instead of 'And the Oscar goes to...' it's 'Who are you wearing?'. Apparently, there is a lot of attention placed on 'who is wearing who' and they are an endless number of television shows (ET, eTalk, Extra!, The Insider, etc) that mercilessly dissect and rate these outfits. It makes me want to cringe.
The Oscars finally began at 8:30, with a song and dance number by Neil Patrick Harris. By far, one of my favourite actors, from his debut as the very young doctor on Doogie Howser M.D., to his current ironic role as the womanizing Barney on How I Met Your Mother. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin took the stage next and they totally owned it. Calling out to celebrities in the audience and showing them no mercy. Saying to Woody Harrelson that he is "so high", staring down George Clooney, and picking on Meryl Streep and her record 16 Oscar nominations, or as they put it, the biggest loser in Academy Awards history. Also noteworthy was their comment that those wishing to obtain an official transcript of the evening should "Get a life". Click
here to see the full video.
The awards then proceeded as they usually do. They get a pair of presenters up there, most of which have nothing in common, they set up the clips with some scripted banter, after which they announce the winner, the winner comes up to the stage from the audience to much cheer and applause, everyone else in their category tries to take the bad news with some form of humility, and the winner's speech is cut off by exit music after about 10 seconds.
The big winner of the night was 'The Hurt Locker' with film editing, sound editing, sound mixing, original screenplay, best director, and best picture. I agree with the Academy on this one. This film was ridiculously good. 'Avatar' picked up art direction, cinematography, and visual effects. This movie is basically just a big budget orgasm for your eyes. I was very happy that Christoph Waltz won best supporting actor for his role as Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. His performance was bone chillingly awesome. The best villain ever. Truly a guy you love to hate.
And Sandra Bullock won best actress for The Blind Side. I couldn't believe it. I thought that it was a mistake by the Academy. She was up against Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep! How could she win?!? No, I did not see the movie, based on the preview alone, and also on principle that I've seen this kind of movie before. One person doing their best to help out / inspire someone / a group of people that are struggling / have been cast aside without being given a chance. Wildcats, Dangerous Minds, Dead Poets Society, Coach Carter, Lean On Me, The Emperor's Club, Mr. Holland's Opus, Dance With Me,... the list goes on and on.
Go
here for a complete list of all the nominees and winners.
On Saturday night, Karen and I finally went to go see U23D at the Museum of Civilizations. I say finally because Karen had initially suggested it 3 weeks ago. I have never been to see U2 in concert and I thought that this was probably the only chance that I would ever have to see them 'in concert'.
