Cinetalk's Oscar Wrap Up

Well the big night came and went. I tuned in starting at 4pm with the preshow activities and watched until they announced the winner for best picture…and although I did enjoy the occasional highlight, I would not rate this year’s Oscars as one of my favs. I like Ryan Seacrest on the carpet and I enjoy seeing what some of the actresses consider classy and appropriate for their big moment. On the other hand, I am occasionally mortified. Some dresses were interesting to say the least. Hello Zoe….are you still dressing for Star Trek? Hey Sarah Jessica Parker, no mirrors in the house? I thought there were a few who got it right though, like Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Lopez and Sandra Bullock, to name a few.

As for hosting? Let’s face it, like him or not, the bar had been set so high by Billy Crystal that no one has been able to fill the role adequately since. He was simply the best MC and everyone else has paled by comparison. However, I still thought Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin had some good moments. It must be hard to follow that atrocious opening number by Neil Patrick Harris. What were they thinking?

As far as the winners are concerned there were not a lot of surprises for me, as per my prediction sheet. I really wanted to see Quentin get his Oscar and I was not disappointed to see Geoffrey

Fletcher win for his adaptation of “Precious”. One beef I had was the fact that they didn’t let the winners of the documentary “The Cove” say enough about their very important cause. They

started the music so quickly and actually shut the mic off before Louie Psihoyos (collaborator) could offer his thanks. Boo to the Academy. And double boo for not acknowledging Farah Fawcett in the annual tribute to those who have passed this year. Okay, she didn’t have a big movie career but neither did Michael Jackson. I was also disappointed that they did not have the performances of the songs of the year. Lastly, could the movie of the year presentation have been more anti-climactic? No build up, no suspense, just a matter of factish blurt and then goodnight. If someone told me after I saw “Avatar” that it would only win three awards I would have responded with “Did you just see the same film I did”?

I will continue to review the films I see and post my cine-blog so if you’re interested in my take, keep checking in. Thanks for letting me share. I remain, John