Random Thoughts on the Oscars

"NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN" V. "THERE WILL BE BLOOD"

I'm not going to lie to you; I was rooting for "There will be Blood" to win the major awards, but if it was going to lose to anything I'm glad that it was to the Coen's incredible film. Both films were important works of art made by master filmmakers each taking their craft to a whole new level.
Also, I couldn't be more pleased with the awards which Javier Bardem and Daniel Day-Lewis won for acting.

FALLEN IDOL

How does anyone expect us to still take Harrison Ford seriously as an action hero when he can barely keep himself awake enough to read from a teleprompter?

FATHER'S NIGHTMARE

We allowed our five year old daughter to watch part of the ceremony with us and during the opening monologue, as they were showing audience reaction shots, she kept talking about someone being really handsome. We were asking her whom she was talking about, when there was another cut to the audience and she said, "Him! He's so handsome! I'm going to marry him." Yes, my daughter is in love with Johnny Depp.

BEST MOMENT

Considering how much ego was in the Kodak theatre, it was really refreshing to have Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard express such sincere gratitude and humility for their (justly deserved) best original song award.
After Hansard said a few words, the orchestra cut off Irglova, just as she was starting to speak. This was quite tasteless and really upset my wife (who loves "Once" even more than I do, if possible). How classy was it then, when Jon Stewart brought Irglova back on stage and gave her the chance to say what she wanted to say? That was an act of pure class and may well be my favorite Oscar moment ever.

For those of you who missed it, here are the (low-fi) highlights of that ordeal:



And here (while it lasts) is the video of Irglova and Hansard performing the Oscar winning song, "Falling Slowly":



And if you have not seen "Once" yet, do so as soon as you can. It was one of the best movies of last year and one which is appropriate for almost any audience.