What the Oscars got right this year were the very very very deserving acting winners including my gal Marion Cotillard, who delivered the performance of the decade thus far in my opinion.
She shocked pundits and viewers alike by trumping highly favored Julie Christie. Android Tilda Swinton also pulled off a major surprise in the Supporting Actress category seriously affecting office Oscar polls around the world. Ruby "1924" Dee, Cate Blanchett, and Amy Ryan all could have won, but the Academy needed to show their support for Michael Clayton and Swinton was the ultimate winner in this situation. Frontrunners since October Javier Bardem (or Havierre Bardim according to Jhud) and Daniel Day Lewis expectedly and deservedly won their awards. It was a great year to be a foreign actor who played evil, psychopathic or Edith Piaf. I can only imagine middle America's confusion with the four foreign winners. I mean who the hell is Cotillard, what the hell is Swinton, and where the hell was Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?
Critic favorite No Country for Old Men proved unstoppable in Picture, Director and Screenplay. The clock did strick gold for Hollywood Cinderella story of the year Diablo Cody. The former stripper was boss with her win in Best Original Screenplay. And the glorious Falling Slowly from Once picked up Best Song.
Top Five Highlights
5. Marketa Irglova's speech.
Her microphone was turned off right before she was to speak after winning the Best Song Oscar (obviously we had to go to commerical break so we could witness Jennifer Garner mug her way through her 800th neutrogena commercial of the telecast). Classy Jon Stewart invited her back to the stage to have her Oscar moment. She was eloquent and inspiring and we were all thankful she got to speak.4. The nominee clips
In 2002 all twenty nominees were robbed of their nominated performances being showcased because producers decided against showing clips of their performances. Last year, producers showed the most ludricrous second long displays of the nominated performances. This year, they got it right by showing extended scenes that gave us a real glimpse of why these actors (most who are unknown to the average movie viewer) deserved to be there. Even if they didn't choose Cotillard's Marcel scene from La Vie En Rose.
3. Gary Busey on the red carpet.
Sean Young has nothing on Gary Busey who was loving Ryan Seacrest and half raping Jennifer Garner on the Red Carpet. Have another drink.2. Great montages (In Memoriam included)
In fear that the entire ceremony would have to be scrapped the academy put together some great montages of previous winners in the major categories. As well as some hilarious film montages like famous film nightmares. In Memorian was touching as always, even with the Brad Renfro omission.
1. Cotillard WINS!
The most deserved win in recent years. She was gracious, looked stunning and became the first foreign language Best Actress to win since Sophia Loren.Top Five Lowlights
5. Lack of preparation
The show was dull at times and that is because it was put together in a mere 9 days. But it did show in the lack of solid presenter banter and overall Oscar grandure.
4. Too many crowd shots of Jennifer Garner/Kathryn Heigl's Make Up.
They needed to ease off on Jennifer Garner appreciation shots and Heigl needed to ease of the make up you would find on a French whore porcelin doll.3. Amy Ryan Losing.
Now I was actually very pleased to see Tilda Swinton win in Supporting Actress, but Amy Ryan was astonishing in Gone Baby Gone. She became that character and I feel had she been a bit more well known, she would have picked up the award.
2. Ratings
The ratings for this year's Oscars sucked. They were the worst in 20 years. I think it can be argued that there are very few films that middle or rural America have seen (besides Juno) and therefore there was very little (films and performances) to be invested in.
1. Enchanted Musical Numbers.
These numbers were not subpar. They were not adequate. They were really bad. Amy Adams is a goddess. But could they have done a little more with her number then just place her centre stage in a cocktail dress with a Casino Rama headset microphone. Kristin Chenoweth was bland as fuck during the huge production number of That's How You Know. And that dude that sang the song So Close was borderline outsider music fare.Now that Oscar race 2007 has been put to bed it's time to look forward to 2008. First official prediction are on their way.
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