Oscar Night

Well this year’s gala affair snuck up on me. And apparently it snuck up on a lot of other people, it was the least watched Oscars in years. I think it was a lot earlier this year, I always remember it being in March, so that could’ve had something to do with the fact that a lot of people didn’t to watch. Also it was a down year for movies. The two big movies that were vying for Best Picture, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, were indy movies, and while they were great, they definitely weren’t household names like The Departed was last year. Also the two Actor awards were foregone conclusion; I don’t know anyone who didn’t predict wins for Javier Bardem and Daniel Day-Lewis. Quick note, all of the acting awards went to foreign actors, which I think is a commentary on something, either positive or negative, not sure. Day-Lewis by the way is a real actor, so many of our supposed great actors essentially play the same role in every movie they just change the character's name (I'm talking about you Denzel) But it's refreshing when you look at the career of someone like Day-Lewis and find it hard to believe that the guy from Last of the Mohicans was the same guy who played Bill the Butcher. The feel good stories of the night, for me, were the two people winning for that song from Once and the former stripper Diablo Cody winning for best original screenplay for Juno. Has anyone figured out if this was her birth name, or is it her old stage name? I know this is a clichéd joke, but if you name your child Diablo aren’t you basically paving the way for her to become a stripper? Anyway, I’m happy for her as an individual and I guess it was nice for a comedy like Juno to get some nominations and even an award, but why do critics go nuts over quirky comedies like Juno when movies like Knocked Up or Superbad were so much more successful at their goal of making the audience laugh? The closest thing those movies will ever get to receiving an Oscar was the honor of Jonah hill and Seth Rogen presenting an award and doing a little shtick about which one of them was more like Halle Berry. By the way, it would’ve been totally genius for whoever won that award, (and the actually category slips my mind) to lay a big kiss on Jonah Hill a la Adrien Brody on the real Halle Berry a couple years back after she presented him for the best actor award. Anyway, that would’ve been the greatest Oscar moment ever.

Some disappointments from the show, those three songs from Enchanted sucked. Are you telling me that none of Eddie Vedder’s songs from Into the Wild were better than that crap? Also, speaking of Into the Wild, I personally wanted Hal Holbrook to win best supporting actor. Granted Javier Bardem did a great job playing a badass, but I can say unequivocally that Holbrook’s performance affected me much more. And here is my biggest gripe of the night, every year I enjoy the montage tribute to all of those in the film industry who passed away in the last year, it really is a highlight for me. I personally was hoping that they’d have Tab Thacker as part of the tribute; he played Finch in Wildcats and House in the Police Academy movies. And I do understand that you can’t include everyone, the list would be endless and someone is going to be forgotten or ignored, but not only was my guy left of, they also ignored Brad Renfro, who was a pretty famous kid, and died way before his time. They should definitely make this segment longer, more people deserve one final tribute, and perhaps they could’ve taken out one of their crappy self congratulatory montages of “Great Oscars Moments.” I don’t know, in some ways the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth, it’s like a final kick to these people almost to say, “no, you weren’t good enough for a final tribute.”

All in all the Oscars were enjoyable, I really like Jon Stewart and I thought he was funny, but somehow it didn't feel like the event that it is meant to be. I don;t even mind that a bunch of danged foreigners won all the acting awards.

So That's all I got about the Oscars, I'll be back soon with some sports stuff, NBA trades, and of course I'll be giving my opinions on America's great democratic process, also known as American Idol

Brief Hiatus

I'm back to do a little recap of the last week. I've been in mourning since Eddie Murphy was snubbed at the Oscars last week. That whole best supporting actor category was full of great candidates, I would've been somewhat happy with any decision so long as Mark Walberg didn't get the nod. I always end up rooting for the person who is least likely to be back for a second chance, such as Bill Murray a couple years ago in Lost in Translation. This year both Eddie Murphy and Jackie Earle Haley fit the bill, I don;t think anyone could've imagined Murphy or Haley ever getting a nomination, in fact most people didn't even know that the former Kelly Leak was still acting. Anyway, seeing Alan Arkin win the Oscar was a little disappointing even though I like him and he seemingly got the edge because he's been pretty great for a long time and this was in some ways a lifetime achievement award. I enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine and I enjoy the idea of a comedy getting a nomination, but Little Miss Sunshine didn't seem best picture worthy to me, and it somehow became one of the more overrated comedies in recent history.

I just have to comment on American Idol, in case you were worried I'm still completely hung up on the show even though the shows came and went without a comment so far. Well there's so much still on my mind three full days later. First off, Kelly Pickler still looks phenomenal, she may look a little different, switching to a more traditional country look and filling out in some areas, but she was filling out that blue dress better than the designer had ever imagined. On to the eliminations. I was pissed to see Leslie Hunt sent packing, she sang well enough and she had a quiet unassuming nature, I'm just thinking that her lack of self promotion and ego in addition to that awful song did her in. I had never heard that song before, but from now on I'm going to remember it as the stupid song that eliminated two contestants in one week. Poor AJ Tabaldo was done in by that song, and perhaps the whole, "is he gay?" thing. As for Nick and Alaina, they didn't really impress me, despite the fact that Nick was a local kid, he was still my least favorite, and alaina was probably going to go only as far as her looks could take her. My last note on the show was that Sanjaya completely over-acted the shocked reaction that he wasn;t going home. He probably really did think he deserved to go home, but he wanted to make sure that even the least perceptive viewers could tell that was his thinking. It was the level of acting you might see in one of those awful Skinemax movies, not the great ones that featured Shannon Tweed or Lisa Boyle/Cassandra Leigh, I'm talking about the really low budget ones like the new one with Tanya from the Real World. But I digress, I'll give Sanjaya a pass because he's young, my predictions for next weeks eliminations are Sanjaya, Jared Cotter, (both of which will have Paula near tears) for the men, and Haley and Jordin for the women, proving that people will continue to vote for Antonella for all the wrong reasons. By the way, Paula won't shed a tear for any woman eliminated.

A few quick TV notes, the season finales of both Monk and Psych aired on Friday. Do yourself a favor and add both of these shows to your Tivo, they are similar quirky mystery/comedy shows which I enjoy greatly. On Psych there's great chemistry within the cast and Dule Hill seems a lot more suited to this comedic sidekick role than being a bit player in a vastly overrated White house drama. And if you don;t know about Monk by now, you really should, it was always a good show but it really kicked it up to the next level when Traylor Howard joined the cast, she really should be this generation's Meg Ryan, I don;t understand why she hasn't done more movies.

Speaking of that overrated White House drama, I completely gave up on Studio 60. It was a great idea for a show, but the execution hasn't quite done it for me. They should have spent more time figuring out how to write funny jokes, and less time on the "who cares" romance between Matthew Perry and that blonde Christian character. The Black Donnellys, which is currently airing in Studio 60's spot was surprisingly good, to the point where I'll be watching the next few episodes in hopes of it being the next great show.

Thats all I'm gonna get into for now, I'll be back soon to update all my sports thoughts, there's been a lot going on especially in College Basketball. but for now...

-Bender Out