Well I missed 6. I was going to say it was fairly boring as the big upset was in Documentary Short Film, but then at the end, Crash beat Brokeback Mountain. I'm thrilled.
Jon Stewart I thought did a good job. I didn't love his opening too much though he did have a good line about the films this year that were about journalists and a relentless pursuit of the truth were both period pieces. I also liked him saying "Bjork couldn't be here, she was trying on her oscar dress, and Dick Cheney shot her." He was better throughout the show, having very good lines as things unfolded. He nailed it when he said "Martin Scorcese zero oscars, Three 6 Mafia one". "Itzhak Perlman was finger synching." They also did some funny fake commercials that were lobbying for the nominated films and stars.
I thought Clooney had the best acceptance speech. He started out funny saying that winning meant it would follow him. "Oscar winner, 1997 sexiest man alive, Batman, George Clooney died today in a freak accident." He then commented how he was happy to be a part of a Hollywood that was out of touch of the mainstream. Sometimes that's good to bring up difficult issues. Hollywood gave Hattie McDaniel an oscar while blacks had to sit in the back of theater. It's a good point, and he was a class act. Reese Witherspoon was also good, being very happy and charming.
The show was ok. They only had 3 songs to perform so that was better than usual. Though they did change "bitches" to "witches" in the winning song. But they also did 5 retrospectives: biographies, film noir, issue films, epics, and of course those that died this year. Jon Stewart joked that he's waiting for oscars salute to the montage. The best presenters were Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep who did a tour de'force of overlapping ramblng dialog while presenting Robert Altman with his honorary Oscar.
Until next year.
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