plus que ca change...

So, I guess I called everything. You would think I would be happy about that, but it's sort of a hollow victory because it means the show was much less exciting than I had anticipated. There was no long march to victory like Lord of the Rings's last year, though. When you think about it, it really is weird that The Aviator won in so many technical categories but was shut out of the big ones. I guess my analysis was correct: people recognized that Aviator is a very accomplished film, but they couldn't love it, whereas M$B had heart.

Here are some thoughts:

• Chris Rock was the best thing about the broadcast. Two of his showpiece bits were priceless: contrasting George Bush's job performance with an employee at The Gap and the video segment where he interviewed black moviegoers at a downtown L.A. theater. What was so refreshing about material like that was the way that it provocatively, but entertainingly, called our attention to the great divorce between the Academy and the world outside, the gulf between white and black culture, etc. On the money, socially relevant but never preachy. The Bush jokes were great becuase the comparison itself spoke so much about American unfairness. Why isn't the President of the United States held to the same standards as an entry-level retail employee? It's the Bush economy that forces people into those jobs anyway. Rock was great, too, for smaller bits, like the bold way in which he would announce the presenters ("The only woman in Hollywood to breastfeed an Apple--Gwyneth Paltrow" etc.) Bring him back again!
• I was prepared to be angry at Gil Cates for forcing people to accept awards in the aisles and to stand like fools on the stage as the winner was announced, but somehow my ire was never raised. Maybe because the nominees themselves didn't seem to mind. Yes, it made the show a bit shorter (when I looked at my watch after Best Picture had been announced it was a good 30-40 minutes earlier than usual) but the show didn't necessarily feel shorter. Even though all that time had been shaved off, some things still seemed interminable -- like the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award presentation. And why did they have Scarlett Johansen and the Technical fogeys up in the balcony? Those guys had already recieved their awards earlier in the week -- and still they weren't allowed on the stage? Call me a traditionalist (often!), but it just didn't seem like Oscar Night to see Cate Blanchett striding through the theater and stopping halfway down the aisle to deliver her remarks. It made the presenters look out of place. Find some other way to make it shorter.
• Speaking of Ms. Blanchett I'm glad she's receiving the recognition she so definitely deserves but I'm a bit sad that her first Oscar is a supporting one and that it's for a stunt performance (albeit a great stunt). Her acceptance speech? I'd give it a B -- she had poise, but none of Emma Thompson's well polished wit and wisdom. I know some people find ET's style precious but I love a well-prepared speech and Cate kind of dropped the ball. If, though, as she wished for, her career can have anything like the 'longevity' of Hepburn's, we should see her up on the stage (and hopefully not in the aisle) again.
• Jamie Foxx, on the other hand won me over. I'm was pretty much unfamiliar with his acting, but his speech was great (and he's sexy). The singing bit at the beginning, but most of all the Poitier impression, which was both a big risk and incredibly precise. What a "gay" thing (and I mean that in the best possible sense) for a straight black actor to do when winning an Oscar! (That would be like me doing my Emma impression when I win. Sort of.) Yeah, he fell back on the traditional black-actor-thanks-God-and-his-Mama schtick but it was good. Overall, I loved how the ascendency of black people at this year's awards was woven into the fabric of the ceremony rather than commented upon every few minutes (as it was when Denzel and Halle won). A sign, I hope, that black nominees and winners will become much more common (assuming that they keep getting good roles).
• God, Sean Penn must be a really tiresome person to be around! He looked all rebellious without a tie but his little "yeah, you wanna fight?" remark to Chris Rock about his gentle mockery of Jude Law was reminscent of old school Hollywood thuggery of the kind once practiced by arch-conservatives like Sinatra. (I'm thinking of when Frank and Bob Hope almost challenged the anti-Vietnam documenary winners to a fistfight in the 70s). As far as on-stage verbal dissing goes, Penn's remarks were pretty lame. Gone are the days of Paddy Chayevsky's public putdown of Vannessa Redgrave. Alas.
• The Best Song nominees were an incredibly eclectic bunch, which made the overproduced numbers somewhat more tolerable. I left like Beyonce's three-songs-in-three-different-outfits routine was like an audition for a leading role in a new movie musical, and I'd love to see her do it. Somebody (other than Andrew Lloyd Weber) write it for her, please!
• As most of attendees of my Oscar parties know, my favorite part of any Oscar show is the "necrology" (better known as the Dead-person-montage) and this year they tried the highbrow route with a live cello performance by Yo-Yo Ma. Sorry, but the bathos of that only works if they play tear-jerker Hollywood music (Terms of Endearment works best, but I'll settle for, say, Legends of the Fall). And for those who questioned why Marlon Brando didn't get his own montage? Well, Oscar voters are old and they have long memories. Most of last night's viewers might not remember Sacheen Littlefeather but you can bet that Gil Cates and crew do. (In fact, weren't you amazed that one of the prodcuers of M$B, Al Ruddy, had also produced The Godfather? There are a lot of old people out there in Hollywood. Esther Williams, we love you!). You spurn Oscar and it does not go unpunished. Which is why Marty will definitely receive an honorary award someday. He has trotted himself out there too many times to pay tribute to people like Stanley Donen or that film preservation guy to be completely shut out. He's too well-behaved to never get nothin.' (As, for snubs, how about no mention of Arthur Miller in the montage? True none of his plays was ever made into a successful movie, but he did write The Misfits and he got a nomination for the screenplay of The Crucible. Attention was not paid.)
• What would I have preferred? To tell you the truth, I would have loved more old-fogey bullshit like Oscar's Family Album from the 2002 Awards (which still get my vote for the most entertaining telecast in recent memory). I have contradictory tastes: I want to see Chris Rock again but I also want to see Julie Andrews and Olivia DeHavilland. Maybe they could all host it together. As Olivia might say, "Oh, why not!"

As usual, Oscar Night was most memorable for the wonderful (and plentiful) guests who came over for bean dip, quips and fellowship. I love you all -- and I love my far-flung friends in California, Oregon, Arkansas, Denver, Paris and England who were with me in spirit. Maybe some year I could devise some kind of a simulcast system and we could all feel a little bit closer (like Natalie Portman and Clive Owen).

It turned out that I, by guessing every major category correctly, won my own Oscar pool (a whopping $23), which may seem a little tacky, but what can I say? Everybody else got one wrong! I'll give the money to charity (maybe I'll use it to promote film preservation and then I can someday win the Jean Hersholt Award). I love the collective mania that comes over the party as we watch the awards, I love explaining references to treasured telecasts in the past ("Tonight, my Golden Boy, you got your wish!"). There was very little on the TV screen this year that will enter into the lore (Barbra calling out for her reading glasses was about as close as it came), but I don't think I'll ever forget the vision of the Menno House living room filled to the brim with people from every different sphere of my life (cue Terms of Endearment). There are fewer and fewer people around who appreciate the old stars and the old stuff (the honorary awards will soon be going to 70s directors like Altman and Scorsese). Times change and so do awards show formats, but some things never fade. See you next year!