Oscar notes...

Yes, I watched the whole thing and asked myself why? on more than one occasion. Anyway...

Ellen’s opening gig wasn’t as impressive as I thought it could be, but I was impressed for the first five minutes when there was no jab at the White House. I don’t think the administration or President Bush is no-joke territory, but I would like to see, once and for all, a Hollywood that can celebrate itself without making a jab at the right. However, I will be the first to admit it; the American political landscape is some of the best real estate for comedians and laughs all-around.

In the beginning of the show there was a lot of talk about the international flavor of these Oscars. There were nominees from Spain, Germany, Mexico, and Djibouti, okay not the latter, but that would have been cool. The host, guests, and a few presenters were eager to celebrate Mexico’s presence at the ceremony. I mistakenly pinned this as an ongoing theme throughout the night; Hollywood’s show of support for Mexico and immigrant rights. The international presence faded to the background and global warming moved to the forefront. Of course it would. With the former Veep in the house, and An Inconvenient Truth a nominee, how could it not be Hollywood’s issue this year? The highlight of Al Gore’s appearance was when the writers actually made the man funny. He was going to announce a very serious something about his future but the music was queued, and off the stage he went.

Alan Arkin might have received the first pity award of the night for Little Miss Sunshine—at least that is what I thought. He was great in it, and I didn’t see all the other nominees’ performances, but it just had that feeling of this guy is old, great, and has never won before, let’s give him the Oscar. Wrong or not, I was a little worried that this meant Forest Whitaker wasn’t going to take the Oscar home for "Best Actor", and instead the Academy was going to give it to Peter O’Toole who looked like he was about to croak at any moment and slump out of his chair. The man doesn’t look healthy.

I haven’t heard any of the songs that were nominated from Dreamgirls, but there were three, and they all lost to a song from Gore’s movie. I just don’t know. Did the Academy really award the best song, or was it just another tip of the hat to Gore? I will say that Melissa Etheridge does look better with hair.

My favorite performance of the night was when Will Ferrell and Jack Black sang a tune on stage about how comedians never get honored for their work. The rest of the nearly 4 hour-long ceremony was pretty boring, but I thought it ended well. The best actor and actress awards were given to the most deserving people.

The roar of the night came when Martin Scorsese won for “Best Director”. He deserved an Oscar more than anyone there, even if The Departed wasn’t his best movie. I love The Departed, it is quintessential Scorsese, so I was happy it won. Plus, that the movie with the most explicit language, homosexual insults, sex, and violence, won, is a testament to America’s return to a goodhearted, wholesome, innocent culture that we all like to pretend we had in the good old days.