The Oscars

My thoughts on the Oscars:

Thanks to the Academy for giving Avatar exactly what it deserved: some technical and artistic awards and that's all. As my friend Tara said, "I liked Avatar a lot better the first time I saw it, when it was called Dances With Wolves." She's not alone in that opinion, either. Also, my faith in the Academy was restored by the simple fact that they didn't give the top honors to James Cameron just because he broke every single box office record. To do so would be demeaning to the art and science that is cinema.

I was disappointed to see Up In The Air get completely shut out. Sure, some of that is because most of it was filmed right here in St. Louis, but also, I think if we were to pick one movie to sum up our society in 2009, Up In The Air would be it.

The Hurt Locker was clearly the year's biggest winner. While I have not seen it (yet) all reports are that it is an incredible movie, and given the subject matter, notably non-political. It must be good, since it received a Tomatometer rating of 97%.

Things I liked about the show: not much, really. Although the tribute to John Hughes was kind of touching. Oh, and Neil Patrick Harris. He should open every awards show.

Things I didn't like: where to begin? I guess I'll start with the Best Actor/Actress introductions. I don't care about what great people these performers are. They're being honored for pretending to be others. Just read their names, show some clips, and be done with it. Or do it the same way as the Best Picture, with each nominee getting his or her own short highlight reel throughout the show. Also, what was up with that stupid dance number during the Best Score category? Lame. That whole category should get, at most, two minutes. We don't need a whole freaking dance troupe performing their interpretation of the scores. Oh, and the In Memoriam segment was botched yet again. Every year they screw this up. They cut off the first couple of people by showing the musician or the audience or whatever, and the only people who end up getting to see every single person in that slideshow are the people right there in the theater. So yeah, Academy, stop it.

I guess that's all I have to say.

Oh, and The Dude abides.