2007 Oscars Show
Yup, that's right. No predictions this time. No reviews for any of the movies either.
But well that makes commenting on the awards ceremony (and later on, on the awards themselves) a whole easier - I won't risk contradicting any previous comment that I may have made on the movies :)
Jon Stewart's Daily Show is one of the few shows that I watch with regularity. I love his dry humor, his smirk when he finds a completely ridiculous quote from one of today's politicians. However, even at his 2nd time as presenter he seems a little disconnected with the audience - his jokes were really funny, but what would make a great Daily Show episode is not necessarily the perfect material for the Oscars.
Amy Adams interprets one of the three nominated songs from Enchanted. Now... the song is one of the most memorable in the movie as a sleuth of birds, rats, roaches line up and start helping her clean up the house. I kept watching for about a minute into the song waiting for something to happen, but I had to admit it: there will be no mice or birds or any kind of dancers mimicking them at the ceremony. Quite bizarre. I guess they went for classic interpretations this year rather than actual show numbers.
A brief showcasing of previous Supporting Actor winners reminds us of truly great actors. I can't help but noticing the gap when previous year's Supporting Actress winner comes to present the nominees. Thankfully, the list of this year's nominees included some great actors and brilliant performances: Tom Wilkinson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hal Holbrook. The winner though, was a foregone conclusion tonight: Javier Bardem is also a hallmark actor and his performance in No Country for Old Men left no doubt about the winner in a category where any of the other nominees could have easily won in another year.
Ratatouille. I can't remember when was the last time where the animated category had actually a race going on. Perhaps when Antz and Bug's Life came out in the same year? Persepolis was surely a better movie, but not what voters are looking for when it comes to the Animated category.
For many Tilda Swanton caused the first upset of the night taking home the Supporting Actress award. However, her speech totally made up for it. She can be funny and she did it all while being (or at least appearing) genuinely surprised.
Apparently The Bourne Ultimatum sounded great. Who knew. It got both awards for Sound Editing and for Sound Mixing.
Marion Cotillard was the most emotional winner so far and perhaps rightfully so as she made history being one of very few foreign actors to ever win an Oscar. Also, her win was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night, edging out Julie Christie.
A special moment was the performance of the song Falling Slowly from the little known movie Once. Once had the allure of a classic such as Love Story once was. More people would have to see it though to appreciate its simplicity and truthfulness.
Equally special was the acceptance of the honorary Oscar by 98 year old Richard Boyle. His eloquence is hard to match by many of the younger stars.
And we're back to Once. As the two stars of the movie and also composers Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova went on stage to accept the award, the loudest cheering of the whole evening erupted. The touching story not only from within the movie but also of the way the movie was made and filmed in only 17 days, with almost no budget, is one of those success stories that Hollywood loves to cheer for and this time they got the right story and the right people to cheer for.
Daniel Day Lewis's win was another foregone conclusion. I have to say though: as a great lover of stage (theater) performances, I find it very rare, especially in these days, to encounter a screen performance whose power and intensity transcends into the audience as if it was performed live, in front of the audience. Lewis's performance had that feeling to it and his win was never in question.
Finally, the Coen brothers collect the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay awards for No Country for Old Men. The Coen brothers movies are always special: they are not the darlings of the general public and box office, but they generate cult followings and leave a strong impact, encouraging repeated viewings. No Country seems to be one of the instant Coen classics like Fargo or Big Lebowski. For most viewers however, it will remain only "that bizarre movie that won the Oscar".
Posted on February 24, 2008 08:42 PM | TrackBack