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March 05, 2006

Oscarblogging 2006 VII

It seems like there are some better commercials later in the festivities, but I realize now that now is when the big awards are given away, so that shouldn't surprise me. It's late in the evening, but this is probably when more people tune in to catch the awards people actually remember.

Out comes Dustin Hoffman for the screenplay awards. He has a cute opening monologue, and a nice little nod to those who didn't win. "Brokeback Mountain," unsurprisingly, takes the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Presumably the rest of the night will be a brokeback night. Hey, and finally a pair that understands that ladies first is a good tradition. McMurtry thanks his lawyers...interesting. And an homage to books, a rarity in Hollywood.

Best Original Screenplay, possibly the last non-Brokeback category. Presumably "Crash" will walk away with this. Yep, no surprise there, and a film based in a fictional Los Angeles gets some more recognition. A hammer to shape society art is according to Gaegin (sp?). That's the problem with too many artists, for my money, and apparently a lot of other filmgoers feel the same way based on Hollywood's receipts this last year. Sheesh, and the other guy doesn't even get to say a word.

Some good liveblogging going on over at Kaedrin tonight, too.

Hanks notes that all five directing nominees had social causes in their movies. I'd argue that was more of a bug than a feature, but what can you do? Nice to see Ang Lee finally win an Oscar. A pretty good speech from Lee, and if a social cause had to win tonight (which it obviously did) then Hollywood at least deserves credit for picking love, homosexual or not.

And now the big one, Best Picture, which will be a surprise only if "Brokeback Mountain" doesn't win. Nicholson seems a bit off thise evening. Maybe he can't read the teleprompter well through his sunglasses. And it is a surprise, as "Crash" picks up the win. And a woman almost comes out of her top on national TV. Interesting choice, given that Lee won for Director. Wow, and a film about truth. Don't get me started. And the speech goes on so long the music swells and the camera cuts to commericial. I guess producers don't get the latitude actors get.

Am I the only one who has a hard time associating J.C. Penny with "Bang A Gong"?

Less than 3 1/2 hours, which is nice off the top. I enjoyed Stewart, and while I'd like to see Billy Crystal return as host again, Stewart did a fine job and I wouldn't mind seeing him do it again as well. One thing I particularly enjoyed was that, in general, they kept politics out of things and just stuck with the films themselves. Granted, many of those were political, but there's no stopping that. At least we weren't treated to speeches about occupied America or something. Actually, of course, those fears are way overrated, as I don't recall anything really egregious in any of the Oscar ceremonies I've covered. I think it's more an assumption based on the politics of the actors. In any case, I enjoyed myself and I hope you did as well. Thanks for stopping by.