Oscar Recap 2009

On the whole this years Oscar's ceremony was mostly entertaining, mercifully short and mostly predictable. The only real upset, if one could call it that, was Micky Rourke loosing the best actor oscar to Sean Penn. Despite Rourke being the sentimental favourite, all reports are that Penn was outstanding in "Milk", and was a well deserved winner (it's next on my list of films to see after "The Reader").

Hugh Jackman was a pretty good host, the charming film and Broadway star making a few good gags ("Everything is being downsized because of the recession, next year, I'll be starring in a movie called New Zealand"), and doing well with the fun song and dance numbers. On the broadcast at least, he hardly seemed to be in it at all, most of the show being presented by the stars with various degrees of humour and awkwardness. Reportedly Steven Martin and Tina Fey were hilarious, but Australian's watching in prime time wouldn't know it, since they edited the broadcast from four to just over two and a half hours, apparently cutting the funniest presenters in the process. We did however see Jack Black's self-deprecation about his starring in Dreamworks animation when Pixar always wins the awards, which was amusing.

Both Sean Penn and Kate Winslet's speeches were quite listenable. Honest and heartfelt without being unwatchably gushing. It wasn't a great surprise that Slumdog Millionare won best film, and Danny Boyle has won himself a new fan (ie. me) from sounding pretty normal and interesting, not to mention having directed two other very good films (Sunshine and 28 Days Later).

/fanboy on

I also though it was cool that Spielberg presented Best Picture. Since you know, he's my hero.

/fanboy off

A.R Rahman won best score (and best song) for Slumdog, which given the Academy's track record for best score candidates recently is not that surprising. They always seem to go for the more commercial and popular scores (that often overlap with the Best Picture winner, funny that), rather than the best score in of itself. The other four nominees were great scores by the usual suspects (Elfman, Newton-Howard, Desplat and Thomas Newman's charming score for Wall-E), but much more in the traditional orchestral vein. Oh well. I enjoy the Slumdog soundtrack as much as anyone, and it is perfect - and very dominant - in the film, but it would be nice if once in a while the academy would acknowledge something a bit more subtle.

On the whole, the revamped ceremony was pretty entertaining and the new format - and host - a success.

Although it is a still a crime that The Dark Knight wasn't nominated for Best Picture.