Beyonce and Hugh may have flopped big time, but last night’s Oscar ceremony wasn’t a total wash.
With so many of the big awards decided before the telecast even started, there wasn’t too much in the way of suspense at last night’s 2009 Academy Awards. As expected, Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture, along with seven other Oscars; Kate Winslet finally got her Best Actress trophy; and the show once again ran past its scheduled 11:30 curtain by about 20 minutes. The biggest question mark was how the telecast’s new producing team–which included Dreamgirls director Bill Condon–would reinvent the tired Oscar format. For the most part, they ran a smooth ship, without too many dead spots or snooze-inducing montages. That said, some of their choices–most notably the way the acting awards were presented–fell completely flat and that Beyonce/Hugh Jackman musical number…well, we’ll get to that later.
Now that all of the Academy’s envelopes have been opened, it’s my turn to hand out awards for the 2009 Oscars. Oh and by the way, I went 17-for-24 in my predictions this year, which is up from last year. My biggest mistake was picking the two underdogs in the lead acting categories–I went for Rourke and Leo and Penn and Winslet wound up winning as everyone else in the world but me predicted. Just goes to show you that sometimes it’s better to play it safe…
Best Success Story: Slumdog Millionaire won seven out of the eight trophies it was nominated for, losing the Sound Editing category to The Dark Knight. I’ve said before that I’m not a huge fan of the movie, but everyone involved in Slumdog–from director Danny Boyle to composer A.R. Rahman to cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle–delivered humble and appealing acceptance speeches and there is something cool about the fact that a film that was essentially disowned by its original studio (Warner Brothers) wound up striking Oscar gold. And how cute were those little kid actors too?
Biggest Flop: Once seen as a major contender, Frost/Nixon went home empty-handed last night, failing to pick up a single award. Director Ron Howard managed to smile through it all, but you could tell that his producer Brian Grazer was pissed off.
Sorest Loser: Was it just me or did David Fincher look like he wanted to go all Zodiac on Danny Boyle when the latter won the Best Director prize? Don’t worry man, you’ll be back someday. Hopefully with a better movie than Benjamin Button.
Most Gracious Winner: Sean Penn’s shout-out to old pal Mickey Rourke was the highlight of a classy acceptance speech, that also included a pointed message to anti-gay rights protesters who were apparently picketing outside the Kodak Theater. As he himself joked, Penn isn’t the easiest guy to get along with, but he’s clearly as committed to his craft as he is to his politics.
Biggest Upset: The Japanese film Departures beat out favorites The Class and Waltz with Bashir for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. This might have been easier to predict, of course, had the general public actually been able to see Departures, but as of now, it still hasn’t played in wide or even limited release. But hey, the Oscar win should be a great thing to advertise on the DVD packaging.
Best Presenter: Ben Stiller graciously allowed Robert Downey Jr. to steal Tropic Thunder away from him, but he scored last night’s biggest laughs when he showed up with Joaquin Phoenix’s gigantic beard and drugged-out demeanor. Natalie Portman played a delightful straight girl as well. Someone cast them together in a comedy, stat!
Worst Presenter: So this is what being Justin Timberlake’s girlfriend does to you–you dress up in a curtain and forget the ability to read. And she wonders why she fights against prejudice every day.
Biggest Waste of Time: It’s nice that the musical is back and everything, but surely the Academy could have found a better way to honor this genre than a slapdash production number that crammed the Mamma Mia! and High School Musical kids onstage opposite a slumming Beyonce and an overly earnest Hugh Jackman. Badly choreographed and awkwardly sung, this clumsy stage show would have been laughed out of any Broadway theater. Jackman’s opening song-and-dance routine wasn’t any better. The guy’s a natural born showman, but this material didn’t put his skills to great use. Oh and Beyonce, please stop singing “At Last.” You’re just begging Etta James to come after you at his point.
Best Telecast Change: Convincing Academy head Sid Ganis not to deliver another boring speech. The wave and smile was all we needed.
Worst Telecast Change: Dragging five previous award winners onstage to talk directly to each of the five nominees in the acting categories. Not only did these monologues all sound the same (“You’re great! I mean really, really great!”), there were also a number of weird match-ups. Even Frank Langella looked confused about why Michael Douglas was praising him and Marion Cotillard seemed like she wanted to leap into Kate Winslet’s arms and start making out with her. Now that would have been good television.
Most Deserving Winners: Wall-E for Animated Feature; Sean Penn for Best Actor; Heath Ledger for Supporting Actor; Penelope Cruz for Supporting Actress; Slumdog Millionaire for Original Score and Song; Benjamin Button for Art Direction.
