They really should give up trying to make the Oscars into a comedy/variety show. Neil Patrick Harris might’ve been persuasive playing a doctor on Doogie Howser, but he must have embarrassed gay men everywhere with that wooden song-and-dance opening, Broadwayesque number.
And Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin hosting together weren’t half as good as Billy Crystal hosting by himself….
[A] three-hour show – only six minutes of which anyone really cares about (i.e., the time it takes to present Oscars for best supporting actor and actress, best actor and actress, best director and best picture). And, remarkably enough, the host comedians do little to relieve the boredom of the interludes between these carefully spread-out moments.
[2008 Oscars, TIJ, February 25, 2008]
Enough said.
So, with due respect to all, here are the winners for the only Oscar categories anybody was interested in last night. (But damn the producers for awarding only two of them during the first three hours; and then jamming the last four in the last half hour of this insufferably long show – when most of us had to have been too bored to care, if we were still awake….)
Anyway, in each case here, the naming of the actual winner is followed by my pick and the accompanying notes I made in my original commentary, which was published on Saturday morning:
Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges
My pick: JEFF BRIDGES in Crazy Heart – Not necessarily because I think he was the best; for that distinction goes to Colin Firth in A Single Man – under the noteworthy direction of designer Tom Ford.
Instead, I believe Bridges will get the nod for the same sentimental reasons Mickey Rourke almost won last year for The Wrestler: he has been around a very long time, has a personal story that could rival any script, and the Academy loves welcoming prodigal actors back into the fold with Oscar’s seal of approval.
(Incidentally, the only reason Mickey didn’t win is that he was up against Sean Penn who, as we all know, is the poster boy for this kind antic sentimentality. Hang in there Mickey….)
Original Song: The Weary Kind
My pick: Ryan Bingham should win in the Original Song category for this movie’s theme song, The Weary Kind.
Actor in a Supporting Role (and Best Acceptance Speech): Christoph Waltz
My pick: CHRISTOPH WALTZ in Inglourious Basterds – As Ralph Fiennes demonstrated in Schindler’s List, it takes real talent to make a Nazi bastard seem endearing. Waltz does the same in this movie.
Beyond this, though, there’s something very appealing about a brilliant actor like Waltz – who can explain the method of his acting with engaging clarity (as he did during a recent interview on Charlie Rose); as opposed to a peer like Daniel Day Lewis – whose annoying inscrutability in this respect is legend.
Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock
My pick: SANDRA BULLOCK in The Blind Side – With Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren in this category, it should be self-evident that I’m not picking Bullock because of her talent.
Instead, I suspect the Academy will reward her for proving at long last that a leading woman can headline a bona fide Hollywood blockbuster.
And despite its atavistic, white-civilizing-black storyline, the fact that this movie is based on a true story gives her that Erin Brokovich (Julia Roberts), Norma Rae (Sally Field) winning appeal.
Never mind that to make Bullock’s character even more of a white heroine, the movie made it seem as though she had to teach the big black boy not only the ABCs of learning, but the ABCs of football as well. In reality, the boy (Michael Oher) was already a pretty good player before his white family “saved” him.
That said, let me hasten to note that if more rich, white families want to adopt big black boys and make professional sports stars out of them, great! Better that than to have them grow up on the streets, with all that portends for them … and us.
Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo’Nique
My pick: MO’NIQUE in Precious – Ironically, just as racial stereotypes will help Bullock win, they will help Mo’nique win.
In fact, one could be forgiven for thinking that the producers of this film, Oprah and Tyler Perry, figured that Mo’nique’s Mammy look would increase her chances of winning the Oscar – just as it did for the first black woman to win, Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind.
And let’s face it, the black women who have won all played very similar, stereotypical black roles; namely, Whoopi in Ghost, Halle Berry in Monster’s Ball, and Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls (on an admittedly more sophisticated and redeeming level).
Directing: Kathryn Bigelow
My pick: KATHRYN BIGELOW for The Hurt Locker – Not least because I love her name. But just as Bullock will be rewarded for breaking the glass ceiling on blockbusters, Bigelow will be for integrating the all boys club of Oscar-winning directors. And that she did it with a film of such griping suspense and insidious violence dispels all kinds of sexist stereotypes.
Of course, there’s also the undeniable intrigue of not only competing in this category against her ex-husband, James Cameron for that movie hegemon, Avatar, but also having him declare (in an unwittingly chauvinistic, she’s-still-my-woman way) that she should win for directing and he for best picture.
Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
My pick: THE HURT LOCKER – Avatar seems to be a lock, and for very legitimate reasons. But, in most cases, I think the person who wins for best directing should see the film he/she directed win for best picture too. That should be the case this year.
This result would also celebrate the redeeming value of having the least expensive as well as least profitable film of the year (with The Hurt Locker costing $14 million and grossing only $19 million) beat out the most expensive as well as most profitable one (with Avatar costing over $200 million and grossing over $2.5 billion).
NOTE: This means that I was 6 out of 6 in my picks … I know.
But who knew the two winners of the short documentary film for Prudence would provide the most exciting moment of the evening when one of them pulled a Kanye by cutting off the other in mid-sentence to go on a completely incomprehensible rave about her film.
Meanwhile, is it just me or did Zoe Saldana look like she was still wearing her Na’vi makeup from Avatar…? And I hope that, with all the praise people are heaping of Gabourey Sidebe for her performance in Precious, someone cares enough to warn her that parts are limited enough for black women in Hollywood who look like Halle Berry and Angela Bassett. But that for black women who look like her, they are once in a lifetime … and that she just had hers.
Related commentaries:
2009 Oscars…
2008 Oscars…
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