Sunday, February 25, 2007

Blogging Oscar, 11:16 pm

A satisfying rush to conclusion. Forest Whitaker obviously heeded all the snippy critics who complained about his rambling remarks at other awards events, and brought along a very moving scripted acceptance speech to deliver when he was named Best Actor for The Last King of Scotland. (It was a bit sad, however, to note Peter O'Toole's expression -- as though the poor guy thought, "Oh, bloody Christ! Not again!" -- when he realized he was an eight-time loser.) Funny bandying among Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas as they prepared to give Martin Scorsese his long-overdue Oscar for Best Director. And just a few minutes later, it was hard not to laugh at Scorsese's unabashedly incredulous expression -- Spielberg looked like he had to snap him out of a shocked daze -- when The Departed was announced as Best Picture.

I can't really complain about any of the Academy's choices. But damn! Why did it take such a long time to dole out the gold?

I suspect some cynics will dis Ellen DeGeneres' turn as Oscarcast host. But, truth to tell, I thought she was swell. And one more An Inconvenient Truth comment: Is this the first time the Best Documentary also copped the prize for Best Song?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Answer, yes: though More from Mondo Cane was nominated in 1964, it lost out to Call Me Irresponsible from Papa's Delicate Condition (who knew?). At least the theme from It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World didn't win.