Sunday, February 22, 2009

My Whocaresies (aka Oscar Night 2009)

So, the 2009 Oscars are done, and I almost missed them because I forgot that they were this weekend. Whoops.

Overall, it was an adequate awards show. There weren't any shockers when it came to the winners, but the show itself was entertaining despite being long and a bit over done. The biggest change that I really enjoyed was how they had five former winners in each of the acting categories name the nominees and winners. It was like they were welcoming new members into the brother/sisterhood, and it was a better approach than having last year's winners present the opposite award (e.g. Best Actor presenting Best Actress). I could have done without some of the musical numbers, but the comedy was sharp, and I had a good time watching.

Hugh Jackman was OK as the host. He was a little more topical and broad compared to Jon Stewart and Chris Rock, but he was more of a showman which made it slightly more lively.

Outside of the actual production, nothing else really shocked me. I predicted that Mickey Rourke was going to win for The Wrestler, but I was far from surprised when Sean Penn took the prize for Milk. Slumdog Millionaire's dominance just completed the film's clean sweep this awards season, so nothing out of the ordinary there. I guess the biggest surprise was Waltz with Bashir not winning Best Foreign Film, but that was about it.

So, it was a fun although bloated night for the Academy Awards, and I'm excited for 2010 after seeing the closing montage of upcoming releases.

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