Oscar reactions

Well if nothing else, this one will certainly keep the "conservative" pundits busy for a few days. From Chris Rock's monologue to several wins for not one but two films featuring euthanasia and zero wins for The Passion of the Christ (gee, I can't understand why).

Rock proved to be more feisty than I imagined he would and I enjoyed his monologue, packed with film geek friendly jokes on actors slumming it (take that Cuba Gooding) to actors who just work too much (yes, that's you Jude Law). It might have seemed mean if it all didn't come around to, wait for it, a round of self deprecation for Rock himself. Too bad Sean Penn had to display his complete lack of humor once again later on in the show by needlessly defending Law (no one should forget Gattaca, A.I. and The Talented Mr. Ripley but that doesn't excuse making Sky Captain, Alfie and Closer; and I don't think anyone who openly whines in print about Nicolas Cage's career choices should take offense at some jokes about Jude Law's lack of box office appeal).

Unfortunately, where I think Rock made a Letterman-style Paul-Newman-helps-with-stupid-pet-tricks mistake was in his too cool for school man on the street package. It would've made for a perfect skit on his old HBO show, and it nimbly demonstrated the gap between the films the Oscars celebrate and the movies a lot of regular people see and enjoy (this is why it's best to let the professionals and the film critics give out the awards, and why no one really cares about "people's choice" shows like the MTV Movie Awards, the Kids Choice Awards, the Blockbuster Awards and the People's Choice Awards). Since it was Rock the piece was centered around black folks, but the same points could've been made at any multiplex in the country. Unfortunately this only goes to remind the Oscar folks (and possibly some of the more philosophical viewers) how disconnected the general public is from award worthy filmmaking. This will remind them why their ratings are sinking and they won't be happy. I think Rock will only get a second chance if those ratings were better than expected, but in a way I hope he doesn't do it. Like Letterman he's really too good for the show.

But, back to those award worthy films. My predictions were spot on (yay me, but it really wasn't difficult this year) and I'm glad because the winners were all solid choices. They managed to reward a good number of great films from 2004: Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Sideways, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Incredibles and Finding Neverland.

My only quibble would be with the closest thing to a surprise winner for the evening: the win for The Motorcycle Diaries in the original song category. The competition was definitely lacking (why didn't they condense the performances into a medley when all the songs were so obviously lousy?) but I would've preferred the category's other foreign language entry.

Speech wise there wasn't anything amazing but I liked what Foxx and Swank did, even if they were variations on previous speeches from other award shows. I always find it moving to watch someone who has overcome many obstacles in their career win an Oscar. It was interesting to experience that same reaction in seeing someone win for a second time (that would be Hilary Swank of course).

Those much publicized changes in the presentation of many of the technical awards actually paid off by helping to slim the show down to a relatively manageable 3 1/4 hours. But did the nominees feel embarrassed doing it? Enough complaints could torpedo an innovative time saver.

Then I think some people are interested in fashion? Catalina Sandino Moreno looked very pretty, as did Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett. Ok, you too Beyonce. But Laura Linney didn't fair as well. Ugh, Natalie. And, as a guaranteed winner, Hilary Swank really should've picked a better dress.