Oscar night's become a favourite. So I dragged myself out of bed at 5am to watch the telecast of the show on this side of the world. I watch it for two reasons. I like knowing what I missed, and it's like an entertaining documentary on how films are adjudged.
Plus, there's the red carpet. Last year was quite the year of fashionistas and fashion faux pas galore. This year, I just felt bored by them. Nothing extraordinarily good or bad. Maybe with the exception of Zoe Saldanha's puff pastry gown in ugly hues of purple and black. The winner that night was the pale lemon Chanel worn by Sarah Jessica Parker. Polar opposite opinions have been voiced on that choice, but frankly, I loved that beautiful silk lemon sheath graciously falling under the steel rosette crown. However many ways she claims to be different from Carrie Bradshaw, SJP is high-profile fashion personified. In all ways good. I also loved Sandra Bullock's Marchesa gown, Maggie Gyllenhaal in Dries Van Noten, Rachel McAdam's Elie Saab, and the enchanting Meryl Streep in the Grecian white Chris March with the lovely shoulders.
I was minutely pleased that Avatar only stole a few gold men this time. In my book, the only good things about the movie were the art and the cinematography. It seemed hackneyed to me. This coming from a student of ecology with multitudinous dedications to the cause of the planet's health. I watched it twice, and the second time was a painfully long experience with a pair of glasses denting my nose. I knew James Cameron shouldn't win Best Director either. I was just glad the members of the academy agreed.
And now, The Hurt Locker has zoomed to the very top of my must-watch list. Sound, screenplay, direction and picture are some mighty wins. And the out-of-breath speeches by the winners and others involved in the movie, and talk of not imagining such a reception from moviegoers and Academy members and the difficulties of finding distributors and the like, all reminded me of the Slumdog Millionaire story from last year's Oscars. Now I'm all too curious, and hopefully I'll have that review up as soon as the movie comes out here or in good print online. Whichever comes first.
The So You Think You Can Dance performance from Season 6 was my introduction to the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, and I was more impressed by their work on that show than at the Oscars. But their performance on the soundtracks from Up and Avatar were beautiful. The moment they started on Up, I felt tears and my head started swinging to the piano notes. They performed on the portion right at the beginning of the movie, as we watch the lives of two adventurous youngsters culminate into a marriage and then old age loneliness after the death of one. A whole story in those few minutes, and the Legion's breakdancers moved aptly to the single key notes. I was ecstatic when Up won original score.
Just as ecstatic as I was when Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side. "Did I really earn this or did I just wear you down?", she asked. (I'll be watching this one soon enough!) I always think of one interview during the Speed days where she runs up to Keanu Reeves and hugs or kisses him. The video might still be up on YouTube. I always think of her as that tomboyish person, no thanks to Miss Congeniality. I admire a woman with both grace and wit, for only Sandra Bullock can tearfully thank her mother and her "lover Meryl Streep" with equal seriousness in the Kodak Theatre. I saw All about Steve, the one for which she was awarded the Razzy, and honestly, I loved her in that movie as well. It was a silly movie overall, but I liked the silly woman she portrayed.
The acting awards made me realize just how many of the good things in Hollywood I'd succeeded in missing last year. Invictus, An Education, Precious, The Hurt Locker, A Single Man (Colin Firth/Julianne Moore), Crazy Heart (Jeff Brodges and his best actor Oscar), The Blind Side, The Last Station (Helen Mirren), District 9. I guess Alice is going to take a hike for now, because there's a lot of catching up to do.
