Oscar Night

For a bit of fun the three of us filled in the ballots just to see how often we agreed with the Academy. As it turns out, not often. I scored highest with 10 of 24 followed by Sub-Evil Boy with 5 and Phi with 3. Not a bad showing for me, I suppose, especially given the history of Oscar voting. Did they seriously think that Titanic was so much better than LA Confidential?

I watched the event time shifted an hour later using that wonderful invention TiVo. No need to watch the ads or boring lists of thank yous from people desperate for their next job.

Favourite acceptance speach – Jorge Drexler for Best Original Song. Al Otro Lado Del Rio. He sang a cappella. It was short. It was beautiful. He should have been asked to perform the song on stage during the preceedings instead of Bandaras and Santana!

Favourite winners – Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth for Best Original Screenplay for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. An amazing script that made you engage the old grey cells. Best Script seems to be becoming the award where the Academy says sorry to the film that should have won Best Picture.

Most disappointing miss – Kate Winslet for Best Actress for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Time after time she has turned in superb performances and yet doesn’t seem to get the credit she deserves from award shows like this.

Favourite Oscar show host – Billy Crystal. Chris Rock was a disappointment. If you’re going to employ someone with an edge you need to let him do his thing. I’m assuming he didn’t write most of the material used as it was pretty poor and he’s a huge talent., Perhaps his material is too adult for this show?

Unsung Hero – Sean Penn for replying to Chris Rock’s diatribe against Jude Law. No, you don’t wait for The Star to become available, you employ talented actors and actresses.

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