Decision ‘08

Oscar Musings

Okay, no liveblog this year - I’m just not motivated enough…but I do want to open a thread for various odds and ends…starting with my delight that Pan’s Labyrinth won the night’s first award for art direction. I loved the movie (it was one of my three favorites this year, along with United 93 and Children of Men)…

UPDATE 7:59 p.m.: How about that? Two awards announced, and two for Pan’s Labyrinth…this time for makeup…

UPDATE 8:24 p.m.: Cool, Alan Arkin wins Best Supporting Actor…I love Arkin…

UPDATE 8:55 p.m.: Alright, The Departed gets one - Best Adapted Screenplay…The Departed was my fourth favorite film of the year…and considering Casino Royale rounded out the top five, I consider that a pretty damn good year at the flicks…

UPDATE 9:16 p.m.: Well, well, well - quite a night for Pan’s Labyrinth, which just picked up number three - this time for Best Cinematography…

UPDATE 9:33 p.m.: Kind of a letdown there - Best Foreign Film does NOT go to Pan’s Labyrinth…

UPDATE 10:18 p.m.: Okay, admittedly, I’m wearing my biases here - but Little Miss Sunshine a better original screenplay than Pan’s Labyrinth? Um, I don’t think so…

UPDATE 10:27 p.m.: Okay, well, I was looking forward to hearing some of the Dreamgirls score, but what a letdown. Songs and singers that mistake histrionics for feeling. I tell you, as a Sinatra fan, that the man could put more feeling into a simple whisper than will ever be found in all the overblown shouting on display in the history of Broadway…

UPDATE 10:44 p.m.: A well-deserved Oscar for the brilliant Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese’s longtime editing colleague…

UPDATE 11:11 p.m.: To say Martin Scorsese was a popular Best Director choice is a vast understatement - he deserved it far more for other films, but this one was a well-deserved makeup pick…

UPDATE 11:15 p.m.: Wow, what a shocker! The Departed - Best Picture…I didn’t think it had a chance…

5 Responses to “Oscar Musings”

1 Fargus Says:
February 26th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I didn’t see all of the nominees for Best Picture (only two, actually), but of those two, I thought The Departed most deserved it. Probably the best movie I’ve seen all year. Exquisitely paced, skillfully acted, incredibly written, just the whole package. And it makes me happy that a “genre” film can be named Best Picture. That having been said, I’d still like to see Babel, The Queen and Letters from Iwo Jima.

What did you think of Ellen DeGeneres hosting? Personally, I really enjoyed her, and always have. She just looks so joyful doing what she’s doing.

And as for your prediction about cheap shots at Bush, I didn’t count any.
2 Mark Says:
February 26th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Nah, you’re right, there was maybe one dig at Bush (I can’t remember exactly who), but for the most part, the politics was the usual feel-good self-congratulatory stuff that Hollywood loves. DeGeneres was okay - I wasn’t blown away but she did a decent job, all things considered - it’s a pretty thankless task…
3 Fargus Says:
February 26th, 2007 at 9:43 am
I don’t mind the self-congratulatory stuff. That’s what the evening’s about. If I minded it, I wouldn’t watch the show at all.

I enjoyed the Will Ferrell/Jack Black/John C. Reilly bit (Helen Mirren and an Oscar are coming home with me tonight), and the part where Ellen had Steven Spielberg take a picture of her with Clint Eastwood for Myspace.
4 Dennis Says:
February 26th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
I was amused by the standing ovations for Al Gore, the talk about how important his movie is, the serious head-nodding from the big-time Hollywood celebs — all followed by them getting into their individual gas-guzzling limousines to go home to their oversized, energy-inefficient mansions.
5 Fargus Says:
February 26th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Actually, each winner and presenter was given 100,000 lbs. in CO2 reductions from TerraPass.

http://www.terrapass.com/terrablog/posts/2007/02/terrapass-cleans-up-at-the-oscars.html