Oscar 2007

The Oscars this year were very international, and most of the presenters were youngsters. I think they're holding back on the oldies for next year (the 80th oscars).
* Was good to see Alan Arkin win for best supporting actor in Little Miss Sunshine. The guy's in his 70's now, and he's been giving good acting for years. Eddie Murphy had been the favourite (for no good reason), and he didn't take losing well. He left shortly afterwards and so wasn't there when Jennifer Hudson won an award for the same film. Not very classy of Eddie, but at least it was an honest emotional response, which always makes for a nice change in Hollywood.
* Why did they have to do the obvious thing and give Jennifer Hudson an award? Aside from the singing scenes, there was nothing special about her in Dreamgirls. Is she going to be like a lot of other youngsters who get given oscars early in their careers for one showy role, sometimes in their first or second film, and then never give another above-average performance (Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Cuba Gooding Jnr...)? Sometimes they choose wisely (Hilary Swank proved to be more than a one-hit wonder), but why do Halle Berry and Angelina Jolie have oscars, while Kate Winslet, Johnny Depp, Judy Davis and Naomi Watts have none??
* Nobody warned me Celine Dion would be singing. I thought she was safely locked away in Las Vegas?
* Martin Scorcese was teary-eyed when his long-time editor Thelma Schoonmaker won. And it was good to see Martin win best director. Over the years, 20 performances in his films have been nominated for oscars, so even though I think the guy's a bit over-rated, it was about time he got his own. Martin always seems very humble at these events, though I can't imagine him being too humble on a film set. Myself, I think the director of United 93 deserved to win, but that wasn't going to happen. And wasn't it a bit unkind to have Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis F Coppolla announce the winner? The other nominees would have known Hollywood had no interest in them winning when that trio walked out on stage. They were there for Marty.
* I read that Melissa Etheridge thanked her 'wife' when she picked up her best song award. I missed that bit. As is usual with oscar-winning songs these days, it wasn't that great.
* Naomi Watts showed off her pregnant tummy for the first time. Good for her.
* I always stay watching for the credits, to check if Princess Leia is still employed as one of the show's joke writers. She is.
* After The Departed, the brilliant Spanish film Pan's Labyrinth won the most awards (3), but it didn't win best foreign language film! Pathetic. The voters have such bad taste in foreign films, always have - or maybe it's just that they let politics get in the way.
* This is the second year in a row that the top 2 acting awards went to people playing real life personalities. And as well as those four, biographical roles also worked in the last few years for Jamie Foxx (Ray Charles), Cate Blanchett (Katherine Hepburn), Charlize Theron (the Monster woman) and Nicole Kidman (Virginia Woolf). Obviously this is now the easiest way for an actor to win an oscar.
* And poor Peter O'Toole. Nominated 8 times, and no prize. They should have given him one for Lawrence of Arabia when they had the chance all those years ago! Peter should have stormed out with Eddie, AND thrown his chair at Forest Whitaker (even though I was happy for Forest to win - he's always good and has been around so long - remember him way back in The Crying Game?).
* The media went on about what people wore, but as usual it was boring. Cate Blanchett did look cool though - like a glamorous female Sir Lancelot. And Nicky Kidman was her usual glam red-carpet self. I never got to see how she managed to sit down in that dress. Looked like it would be difficult.