Silly Little Country

I Think I Saw the Whole Thing!

For the first time in many years, I managed to stay awake through the whole Oscar show! It started off slowly, and DeGeneres' fanhood started to wear a bit thin, but then it got a new rhythm, and I must say I enjoyed it.
DeGeneres was wonderful as she poked around in the audience; for me the high moment was making Spielberg frame his digital photograph of her and Eastwood better with a second shot. Inspired. The later vacuuming in front of the rather long dresses was cute as well.
Now I had seen only two of the movies, but that really does not matter; the outcomes have little to do with this year's films.
So from my point of view it was nice to see Forest Whitaker get the Oscar he deserved for 'The Crying Game', Scorsese his for 'Goodfellas', movies I have seen.
The whole shtick around the Scorsese award was lovely, and it was nice to be drawn back through the careers of Coppola, Spielberg, and Lucas (I never cared much for any Star Wars film, but 'American Graffiti' was wonderful), and particularly of Scorsese. Scorsese's emotional reaction to the Oscar for his editor was simply sweet.
At my ever more advanced age, I truly appreciate the section honouring those who died during the year; I have nice memories of what they gave me as I have grown up (still working on it).
I also liked the presence and success of so many international forces. This was trumpeted as something new, but this seemed simply silly to me. Maybe there have not recently been so many Mexicans and Spaniards, but where do they think Luise Rainer, Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings, Josef von Sternberg, and so many others came from at the very beginnings of this enterprise? The forgetfulness and arrogance of youth at any stage in life remains stunning to me. Or maybe it is just laziness, not bothering even to remember where your craft came from.
And someone had the good sense to observe something I partly agree with, "Without blacks, Jews, and gays, we would not have the Oscars today."
Al Gore showed some minor acting skills. My guess is his movie is a pretty good movie if lousy science and lousy public policy. But one day I may well watch it and be surprised; or perhaps Lake Ontario will rise 100 metres and I will be flooded away (but wait - the models say Lake Ontario will drop).
The Oscars are a great show of groupthink and a sort of nepotism of the unrelated. But the principals are so talented and provide me so much pleasure, for which I have willingly paid over the years, that I find it hard to be very peevish.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 7:07 PM