Post Oscar Wrap-Up

With a (slight) increase in ratings, The Academy achieved its objective of a livelier show. Some of that can be attributed to first-time host, Hugh Jackman. Jackman wasn’t flashy or overly funny but he was charming and engaging. He is definitely a man with a lot of talent and it showed during the telecast with several noteworthy song and dance numbers. I could see him hosting again as he didn’t do anything to embarrass himself.



One change to the show that I did like was the order in which the awards were given. The show producers were trying to deliver a show with a narrative and they succeeded to some degree. The technical awards were awarded in order of how a movie is made—the pitch, pre-production, production and post-production. Instead of having a presenter for each technical award they had one (and sometimes two) people presenting the awards for each technical grouping. I thought that was an efficient idea and it greatly helped the flow of the show.



What didn’t help the flow of the show was the past Oscar winners presenting the acting awards. It’s always nice to see former Oscar winners at the ceremony and I understand how The Academy likes to honor its history but the presentation of the four acting categories took too much time. It was pretty cool to see past winners talk personally to the specific nominees but besides taking too long it also provided for some awkward moments—Cuba Gooding Jr. comes to mind.



As far as our predictions went--Andy went five for six in the major categories and I went six for six. In essence there weren’t any major surprises. But sometimes that isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the people who deserve to win did win.



I'm hardly alone in this assessment but the most poignant moment during the ceremony came when Heath Ledger won for Best Supporting Actor for his iconic portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight. Alan Arkin, who announced the winner, was visibly shaking when tearing open the envelope. The anticipation of him winning was almost overwhelming. I don't believe there was many a dry eye either at the Kodak Theatre or at television viewers' homes.



It should be pointed out that out of the three major artistic awards that are televised--the Emmys, the Grammys and the Oscars—that the Oscar award holds the most weight. But winning an Oscar isn't absolute. The Academy still shouldn't be let off the hook for nominating a Best Picture grouping that was hands-down the weakest in years. AO Scott, the respected film critic of The New York Times, recently stated, in reference to this year's nominees, that, “The Oscars are an odd phenomenon because what they are about is the American film industry image of itself.” The Best Picture nominees aren't the five best films of the years but an expression of what Hollywood sees in the mirror. I'm not sure if it is as grave as an artistic situation as Scott says but it does shed a lot of light on the biases against genre movies and films that are popular at the Box-Office. If a genre picture like The Dark Knight or an animated feature like Wall-E can't crack the Best Picture mark in a year with relatively weak dramatic movie fare then I'm not sure when they will. I'm not suggesting that a Best Picture nominee has to gross X-amount of dollars to be nominated—that would be ridiculous—but The Academy is slowly gravitating toward an island of self-importance that shouldn't be desirable especially when the success of your industry depends on the general population.



All in all the 81st Oscar telecast was a step in the right direction. The telecast was more accessible to the general audience while also appealing to film geeks out there like me.