A year’s worth of movies all lead up to one night and a little golden man. Yet, the Oscars are so much more than just the winners. From the dresses to the host, the presenters to the stage design, every little detail matters.
The show began with the grand march down the red carpet. As always some dresses were beautiful, while others were horrific. Some styles were classy, while others were downright clashing (ahem Mickey Rourke). Miley Cyrus promoted her upcoming Hannah Montana movie, even hinting that she could be one of the nominees next year. Yeah right.
Energetic, funny, and talented, Hugh Jackman was the right choice for host. Not to mention, he didn’t look too bad in a tux. Jackman kicked off the show with a musical montage of the Best Picture nominations, with a collection of “home-made” props, and even a duet with Anne Hathaway for Frost/Nixon. Along with the comical aspects of this routine, viewers got a look at Jackman’s relatively unknown singing skills from his days on Broadway.
From there, they went right into the first awards of the night. For awards such as Best (Supporting) Actress and Best (Supporting) Actor, five past winners of the award each spoke briefly about one of the nominee’s accomplishments. In general, this was a good idea because not only were the comments humorous, but they varied the style of presentation, which has been extremely mundane in past years.
Most of the awards were still presented in the traditional way with one or two celebrity presenters. This year, however, it looks as if the organizers actually made an attempt to choose funny, fairly well known individuals, which saved the viewers from the expected boredom.
Comedians Tina Fey and Steve Martin presented together acting as Scientologists, which was just the start of the witty presenters. Soon after, Natalie Portman and Ben Stiller presented the award for cinematography. Stiller’s impersonation of Joaquin Phoenix with his long scruffy beard and meandering walk around the stage, was just another great act of the presenters.
Finally Jack Black made an appearance on the show, leaving behind one memorable joke, "Each year I do one DreamWorks project, then I take the money to the Oscars and bet it on Pixar."
A Broadway- like melody of some of the greatest musicals was also sung by Jackman, Beyonce Knowles, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper. While the musical seemed like a good idea, in no universe should Efron, Hudgens, or Seyfried be allowed to sing on the same stage as Beyonce, or even Jackman. However, the song itself, while slightly random, was highly entertaining.
The three nominations for Best Song were performed live, and apart from the dreadful combination of “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire and “Down to Earth” from WALL-E, the dancing and singing was another new act that with a few alterations would be great for future shows.
The one truly unnecessary aspect of the Oscars was the lessons on Hollywood and the history of the Oscars, particularly on the set design. While it may interest some individuals, for most of us, it was just a waste of time.
Now to the main point of the Academy Awards: the winners. There were few unexpected winners this year, and there seemed to be a general consensus even before the awards began on the winners. As predicted, the recent sensation Slumdog Millionaire was one of the biggest winners of the night, winning eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Kate Winslet won Best Actress for her role in The Reader, while Sean Penn won Best Actor for his role in Milk. Heath Ledger won an emotional award for Best Supporting Actor in The Dark Knight. His award was accepted by his parents and sister, which will one day go to his daughter Matilda.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button also won a few awards, including Best Makeup and Best Art Direction, as did The Dark Knight for Sound Editing.
When it comes down to it, viewers have high expectations of the Awards and the show is almost as important as the winners.
Overall this year, the animated host and inventive new presenting techniques made up for the less-than-interesting history lessons, making for an enthralling Oscars that had viewers reminiscing about more than just the winners.
The Slumdog Millionaire cast celebrates their win. Photo courtesy of http://blog.oregonlive.com/
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