Post-Academy Awards Wrap-Up

As expected, the 79th Annual Academy Awards presentation from Los Angeles honoring accomplishment in film and in acting and the creative and production process therein provided excitement and enjoyment.

The major six awards went largely as expected. The Departed took the Best Picture Award, evidently edging out Little Miss Sunshine. Martin Scorsese finally got the Best Director Award after having come close so many times before. Forest Whitaker took the Best Actor Award for The Last King of Scotland, but I would have preferred that Peter O'Toole would have won as he has never taken the award in over 50 years of professional work. Best Actress went to Helen Mirren for her standout performance in the role as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen. Best Supporting Actress as expected went to newcomer Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls. The one award that might have been called an upset was for Best Supporting Actor, going to longtime actor Alan Arkin for his role in Little Miss Sunshine. I wanted Mark Wahlberg to win for his gutsy role in The Departed, and many thought Eddie Murphy would win for his performance in Dreamgirls.

Other than awards themselves, there were some good points and then some that were not. Ellen DeGeneres was mediocre at best as the emcee and most of her antics were boring. The lack of a podium on the awards stage was disconcerting as award winners had to set their trophies on the stage floor to read their notes of appreciation, gratitude, and tribute. And this made it look very awkward as well. The hype for An Inconvenient Truth was a little too much; Melissa Etheridge thoroughly embarrassed herself; and Clint Eastwood stumbled through his lines during the tribute to Ennio Morricone. On the plus side, Meryl Streep rocked when interacting with Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt; the three directors presenting Martin Scorsese with his Oscar was full of warmth and humor; and the stirring performance by Celine Dion debuting a new song ," I Knew I Loved You", during the tribute to Ennio Morricone touched the heart of everybody. Most of actresses looked striking in their gowns with styles that was very alluring and eyegrabbing. And as always the tributes to the members of the profession that had passed away in the last year and what some of their most noteworthy contributions and roles were is one of the highlights of the production year in and year out.

Overall, a great entertaining way to spend almost four hours on a bitterly cold Sunday night in February.