Academy Awards Snap Recap
The 80th Annual Academy Awards are over and it’s time to rip everyone to shreds. Well, maybe not everyone. Jon Stewart surprised me and did a half way decent monologue. His best line of the night? “Normally when you see a black man or woman president, an asteroid is about to hit the Statue of Liberty.” Heh.
He then pretty much disappeared for the rest of the evening and that was just fine with me. Though kudos to him for inviting Best Song winner Marketa Irglova back on stage to give her acceptance speech after the orchestra played her off before the break.
As far as the fashions, all the women got the “red memo.” I don’t remember the last time I saw so many red dresses on the red carpet. And most of them were not bad either.
Best Dressed: Katherine Heigl in glorious scarlet, Hilary Swank with a classy upswept hairdo and a lovely black dress, my girl Helen Mirren, also in red, but with a creamy lace shrug.
Worst dressed: Alexandra Byrne who won the Oscar for Best Costume Design for “Elizabeth: The Golden Age.” If she had stolen one of her designs from the movie, she would have looked so much better than in that strange concoction she was wearing. With the crazy glasses and the earrings, my friend thought she looked like Mrs. Wiggins from “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Tilda Swinton was quite charming when she won Best Supporting Actress for “Michael Clayton,” but God, what she had on! It looked like she went to the local fabric store, asked for the cheapest black velvet fabric she could find, and threw it over shoulder. Julie Christie looked like she dyed those white pleated funeral curtains red and wore that.
Diablo Cody in the silk leopard print combined with the jet black hair and red lipstick wasn’t doing anything for me, but I was happy to see her win Best Original Screenplay for “Juno.”
Message to Daniel Day Lewis: Sweetie, I love ya, but dye the hair, and run a comb through it next time. His wife Rebecca Miller was wearing an okay black gown except she had a huge flower on the front that my friend thought looked like a clown prop that could squirt water.
That was a great reaction from Marion Colliard when she won Best Actress for “La Vie En Rose.” It was refreshingly sincere. I loved her, but her mermaid inspired gown by Jean Paul Gaultier? Not so much.
Other thoughts: A note to the powers that be about 11 year old Jamia Simone Nash who with The Choir from The Impact Repertory Theatre of Harlem sang “Raise It Up” from “August Rush.” Somebody put this girl through school and then give her a recording contract.
I guess I’ll get around to seeing Best Picture winner “No Country For Old Men,” but there’s a bunch of other stuff I’d rather see first.
The TV show itself was okay and didn’t feel too long, but I think we benefited from all those prepared film clips that were put together in case the writers strike was still on. Especially the nice montage of all the Best Picture winners juxtaposed with their original movie posters.
Any Oscar show that ends with Denzel Washington is a good Oscar show.