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February 27, 2005

Oscars 2005 IV

I never saw Carson, either as host of the Oscars or on The Tonight Show. The Oscars retrospective of Carson points out just how much I missed. As with so many things in life, you only realize too late just what you had.

Out comes Leo to present Best Documentary Feature. Not that I can bring myself to feel sorry for him, but tell me DiCaprio isn't too pretty to get as much credit as he deserves for his acting. Nice speech from the Documentary winners.

The Aviator is just killing me tonight. Looks like it's Scorsese's night, although I suppose it could sweep the lesser awards and still go home a loser if it doesn't take Best Picture and Best Director.

Mike Myers introduces the Oscar-nominated song from Shrek 2 with a cute juxtaposition of quotes from French philosophers and his personal favorite scene from Shrek 2. And while I generally enjoy Counting Crows, thus far the evidence suggests that Best Original Song might not be a category we need to keep around any longer.

Chris Rock as Catherine Zeta-Jones is cute, although they may have run the joke out a little too far. The announcer notes that Alexander Payne is also nominated tonight for his directing work on Sideways, but is kind enough not to note that he's better not waste time clearing additional space on his mantle.

Interesting that they aren't presenting both Screenplay awards at the same time. It is nice to see Spider-Man 2 get at least one award tonight. I'd have had it in the Best Picture category alongside The Incredibles, but what do I know? Cute dig at Lord of the Rings from Dykstra. This year's speeches, much like last year's, have been quite good, suggesting that cutting acceptance speeches for time isn't the greatest of ideas.

Things you learn at the Oscars: it's Lumet with a hard T, not Lumee. Go figure. I also learned that I don't think I've ever seen a Lumet movie. I should probably remedy that someday. The retrospective certainly looked impressive enough. Marvelous speech by Lumet. A perfect reminder of why we watch the Oscars: because occasionally they remind us of what the movies can do.