Brief Oscar Thoughts...

Don't have much time this afternoon, but here are a few quick reactions to the Oscars...

-Marty snubbed again, arrgh, but at least he lost to a worthy contender. But how long must our greatest living filmmaker go without a statue? Heck, even if "Aviator" had won Best Picture, he wouldn't have gotten one, as he wasn't a producer on the film...

-Rock was funny, quick-witted, and looked right at home. I'm not sure he'll be back, as many of the Hollywood-type apparently don't have a sense of humor (nothing but love for Sean Penn, but there was no need to defend Jude Law from Rock's comments. It was a JOKE).

-Much quicker ceremony than in past years, probably because of a streamlined presentation that included having some awards presented OFF OF THE STAGE while they set up a production number or something. Poor production designers have to accept their Oscar in the audience? Reminds me of Letterman's classic line from his Oscarcast, introducing the Scientific and Technical Award ceremony clips: "Nominees were treated to a choice of roast beef or snapper. Also live music and a cash bar. All this was the Academy's way of saying, 'You people are too dull to be on the real show!'"

-No complaints with any of the four acting winners - my "should win" won in every major category save Director (arrgh). Big ups to Jamie Foxx for giving one of the most emotional and memorable acceptance speeches in a long time.

-Not so good at my picks this year - batted .500, if that. But hey, in most cases, I was happy to be wrong.

-Personal favorite winner: Charlie Kaufman FINALLY taking one home for "Eternal Sunshine." I've never been happier for a writing winner in my life (save for maybe Tarantino for "Pulp Fiction"), and his acceptance speech was everything you would expect of a Charlie Kaufman acceptance speech - after his initial thanks, he simply started counting down the number of second he had left on the prompter. Classic.

-The Johnny tribute was very nice, but why was Whoopi the only person we heard from? I'm sure there were a ton of other hosts who could have contributed their thoughts...

-And the memorial to lost moviemakers was, as always, very touching, and the roar from the audience for some of the people mentioned (Brando in particular) couldn't help but get ya, as it always does. One of my all-time favorite Oscar moments was just after Raul Julia's tragic passing, and when his picture came up at the end of the tribute, one of the loudest ovations I've ever heard at the Oscars followed, and continued through the end of the video and through to the commercial break.

-And "Million Dollar Baby" rightly claims its place as Best Picture, controversy from all sides of the political aisle be damned. Bravo to the Academy. I can't help but wonder how many of the people who are taking such a righteous stand against this movie have not even bothered to see it, to understand its whole story and the characters involved, to experience the whole of the enterprise before condemning it? Again, I say, no matter what you've heard from ANY source, see the movie and judge for yourself before you jump on any political bandwagon regarding it. (And a note to Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Medved - if you're so convinced that the movie's "message" is hidden covertly in order to subvert the moral stance of your right-slanted audience, you are holding your audience in really low esteem, in my opinion. Imagine - you honestly feel that your listeners/viewers have such a tenuous grip on their values that the last 15-20 minutes of a movie could make them change their minds? Doesn't speak very highly of your opinion of their intelligence and/or moral conviction, does it? Morons.)