A Slumdog Sweep

Well, then. I did not do as well on my Oscar predictions as I thought I would. Sure enough, I got Best Picture and Best Director right, thanks to the Academy's love for Slumdog Millionaire. However, I was denied the feel-good story of the year since Sean Penn beat out Mickey Rourke for Best Actor. Kate Winslet, as predicted, took home the statuette for Best Actress. The most poignant moment of the evening came when Heath Ledger's mother, father, and sister accepted his Best Supporting Actor award on his and his daughter Matilda's behalf. I had tears in my eyes. I was surprised that the Japanese film Departures beat out Waltz with Bashir, but that's the nature of the Best Foreign Film category. I was even more surprised when Pan's Labyrinth lost a few years ago. Wall-E of course took home best animated feature, while Milk won for adapted screenplay even though I was hoping for an In Bruges victory. The ever-popular Slumdog Millionaire won for best original screenplay. Penelope Cruz won for Best Supporting Actress, beating out my longshot prediction of Viola Davis for Doubt. You can't win 'em all!

I thought the Oscars were enjoyable but nothing spectacular. This could be due to the fact that my cable has been on the fritz recently, but still, I was not that impressed with Hugh Jackman as host. I thought he did well, and carried off the night with no huge missteps. However, his musical numbers seemed somewhat phoned in and awkward at times, even though I enjoyed the fact that he made fun of how no one saw The Reader. Why the heck was that thing nominated? Give me The Dark Knight any day. Also, the In Memorium segment was disappointing since the cinmatographer kept cutting away from the screen and the name of the deceased was barely recognizable. I would have liked to see the dearly departed much better represented.

Anyway, there were some bright spots to the Oscars. I liked the format where the five former winners introduced the nominees and eventually presented the award to them. The intimate nature of award ceremony was great and made it seem like everyone was involved with the action. Jerry Lewis delivered a short but poignant speech and the Ledger family was grief-stricken yet strong. When the winner of the best animated short movie stated "Domo, arrigato, Mr. Roboto," I started cracking up. Now here is a guy who knows how to make fun of himself, have a good time, and still sound gracious.

Overall the evening with the Oscars proved enjoyable, although I would have liked to see less Benjamin Button awards and more given to The Dark Knight. Maybe the Academy will grow a brain and nominate the real best films next year.