First of all, I can't really comment on the night's big winner - Slumdog Millionaire - as I still have not seen it. However, most reports from others who have indicate that it is very good and it is therefore premature for me to have considered it a little movie (this year's Little Miss Sunshine). So I'll definitely aim to see it before it leaves theatres.
I was greatly anticipating this year's show, with Hugh Jackman as host and the "new" format involving a narrative presentation. I thought it started out well, and I enjoyed the way they put the categories together, and used the same host(s) for multiple awards, essentially creating "super-award" categories - pre-production, writing, music, technical production. I also really liked the use of the 5 previous award winners to introduce the 5 nominees in the acting category - although I was initially worried that it would take more time and make the show too long - and I hope they continue this approach in the future. It made the phrase "it's an honour to be nominated" a truth instead of a platitude, and it was very moving - seeing Shirley Maclaine congratulating Anne Hathaway was wonderful.
I also really liked the projecting stage, bringing the main nominees in the front rows right up to the action. I wonder what the view was like for them - the front row like that is not always good - but it was great for those of us watching.
Despite all these things that I liked, I felt overall that the show lacked the usual surprise and emotion that we often get to see, and although it was a big show, it felt slow. Few of the speeches were especially moving and there was nothing the producers could do about Slumdog being the repeated winner and having people up there to say "thanks...again", but there was a distinct lack of spontaneity in the acceptance speeches. I do hope they stick with this type of show overall, and with Hugh as host, but also hope there is something they can do to spice it up a bit.
Other things:
- There seemed to be some disorganization with the presenters - some walking off stage without realizing they had another award to do, the foreign language film nominees not being listed. Ben Stiller was just weird - I had to read elsewhere that he was mocking Joaquin Phoenix, as I just didn't get it. Hugh Jackman seemed to be missing for much of the show, so much so that Will Smith (the most entertaining presenter of the evening) commented that he must be napping.
- The big musical number - liked it, Hugh was great, but it was also a bit all over the place and a bit pointless. It was not Mamma Mia! that signalled the return of the musical, it was Chicago and Moulin Rouge! that did that. And I REALLY could have done without seeing Beyonce with her shameless promotion of her own upcoming and overexposed portrayal of Etta James later this year.
- In Memorium - this was well done, and Queen Latifah's rendition of "I'll Be Seeing You" was awesome. However, there were two significant oversights in this - Heath Ledger and Brad Renfro. While Brad may not have had enough clout to merit mention, Heath Ledger's death and subsequent glory as The Joker was one of the most memorable stories of the year and his absence in the memorial tribute was obvious. Yes, he did win the Supporting Actor award and the moving tribute from his family did him justice. But what if by some miracle he HADN'T won that? Would they have run to the editing room to add his footage in to the memorial film?
- The memorial film also suffered from something that plagued other presentations - while it looked great to have multiple scenes playing on multiple screens on stage, the show producers seemed to forget the viewing audience - it was sometimes impossible to see what was going on, as the camera was showing the presenter or the audience and not what was on the presentation screen. Similarly, we never got a really good look at any of the background sets for the presentations, and so those were a bit wasted.
No Oscar review would be complete without some fashion commentary. For me, best dressed were Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz, and, um, that's about it. Too much in the way of white or off-white this year. Most horrid were Whoopi Goldberg, Tilda Swinton (although better than last year) and Beyonce - for whom, it seems, that all outfits must hug her hips so she knows where to put her hands in her signature pose. This website has some great pics of the fashions. www.dose.ca/photos/celeb/oscarfashion09.
Best speeches were from Kate Winslet and Sean Penn. I was so happy that Kate won (even though I think The Reader was not as strong a performance as Revolutionary Road, it was still excellent) and Sean was humble, witty, charming and strong in his speech.
Notable absences from the show - Jack Nicholson, Leonardo diCaprio, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington and many of last year's winners including Javier Bardem, Daniel Day Lewis, The Coens, and Diablo Cody. So it did seem like a much smaller affair.
All in all, a slow-feeling show but one with potential. They might make this formula work with some fine tuning. And please, no more Beyonce...
