Monday, February 25, 2008

The 80th Oscars

Last night was kind of a big night last night in the world of movies. It was also the first big show since the end of the writers strike, and I gotta say movie world, where was the effort? With the exception of Javier Bardem and a slightly insane Daniel Day Lewis, everyone else didn't really realize the Oscars were occurring.

What I really missed from this years' Oscars were those awesome people from last year that made all those sweet shadow images:

While stupid at the time, I really appreciate the work done by those shadow artists, especially in comparison to the montages of this year. Even though it was the Oscars, it just didn't have that usual Oscar feeling. It basically felt they were just trying to get everything over with as soon as possible. I am glad for the Coen brothers though. Their movie basically wrecked the Oscars, especially in the later categories. Javier Bardem was byfar the most excited to win an Oscar, I mean look at that face:
He was the one guy who truly seemed ecstatic to win an Oscar, or maybe he was just excited he didn't have that old sexy head of hair anymore. I am sad that Michael Clayton only received one award, although I did think Tilda Swinton deserved the award. That was until I saw Tilda Swinton in some sort of cut up bed sheet made from a velvet/plastic material looking like some sort of alien. I'm not sure what to make of that.

What I was more excited for was the nomination for Best Actor. I had seen There Will Be Blood the day before the Oscars, and laughed. A lot. I could not take anything Daniel Day Lewis said seriously in that movie since he sentence he spoke sounded as if it were his last after a lifetime of hatred for the world. Which I guess wasn't too far off. Anyway I was fairly certain this movie had caused him to go somewhat insane, and my instincts were correct when he won and proceeded to kneel to accept the Oscar:
The best was Helen Mirren's confusion, when she then decided the best thing to do in this situation was attempt to knight Daniel. When i thought this was Daniel was at his peak insanity, he then blew me away by thanking the academy for "whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town." He also addressed his wife as Mrs. Planview and wished he could share the stage with his fictional son HW. I'm fairly certain he left the Oscars with a band of gypsies and went on to cause mischief throughout the land.

While I'm fairly sure this was only my second year watching the Oscars in its entirety, I don't plan on losing all hope for the future Oscars based on one sub par year. By next year the lingering effects of the writers strike will be over, and they should probably just give Daniel Day Lewis the hosting job, and the insanity will inevitably continue.