I think you nailed it - Penn, Fey, Winslett and Martin were the high points.
I liked the idea of having great actors make the case for each nominee.
Hugh Jackman made me absolutely cringe - what a truly horrid singer - I felt like I was at a bad high school musical - and when he was coupled with Beyonce or whoever that was (flawless female black singer from 2nd medley), it made Jackman's amateur hambone voice sound even more pathetic. I never thought anyone could make me miss Billy Cristal but at least Cristal knows how to properly execute all that silly tired old schtick. For my money Ellen DeGeneres is at least twice as good as the next best host and Jackman at least twice as bad as the previous worst.
Posted by obsessed at February 22, 2009 11:03 PMWhat are these Oscars you are talking about?
Posted by idiosynchronic at February 23, 2009 07:37 AMDeacon - so glad to see you posting so much!
I am so happy that Penn got it. He has long been one of the most underrated actors. He is fabulous and it is about time that he received the credit that he is due.
I loved his speech as well...it was truly beautiful.
Posted by Anjha at February 23, 2009 08:53 AMMartin and Fey were a highlight in an otherwise unengaging process. The memorials were a HUGE disappointment. Many came up on that small stage screen which was illegible on TV and cutting that into the full screen parts broke continuity. Overall it was not good that clips of the performances nominated were not shown. Who sees them all except for academy members? I won't be as big an Oscar fan if they continue with this format. As for the actual winners, meh.
Posted by Craig at February 23, 2009 09:09 AMhuh?
Posted by at February 23, 2009 08:17 PMSlumdog millionaire is not a bollywood production. It was a british production with largely british actors. Saying it was a shout out to bollywood is a bit like saying Lawrence of arabia was a bone to the Arab film industry.
As to Penn, he is an excellent actor and has deserved the oscar years ago. This year it was easy to predict that he would be winning it. At the risk of offending, there are three portrayals that are consistently oscar winners: TGL characters (see hanks in philidelphia, Swank in "boys Don't Cry", Hurt in kiss of spiderwoman, Hoffman in Capote, Theron in monster's ball, Nicole kidman in the Hours); any character in a holocoast film; and developmentally disabled characters (hanks in forest gump, hoffman in rainman, thornton in slingblade ) I will never believe thornton was best actor that year.
despite the fact i completely agreed with Penn's speech, i believed langella was the best performance of the year.
Posted by ltgesq at February 23, 2009 08:31 PM