The Oscars: Predictable and non-memorable

No real surprises at last night's Oscar ceremonies unless you count how excellent Anne Hathaway was a co-host and how uncomfortable James Franco came across as her partner. I could see someone mounting a revival of Cabaret on Broadway with Hathaway as Sally Bowles. She would be superb in that role.

I thought the opening sequence was kind of clever until it ran out of steam and I was glad the show seems to have finally done away with for all time the big-scale production numbers that used to grind it to a halt. I was one of the few who didn't like the five actors extolling the virtues of the acting nominees. But I didn't much like the way it was done this year either, with a Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock handing out the kudos. (Bullock seemed so much more at ease than Bridges and either she ad-libbed much of her bit or had far superior writers). Why not just show longer clips of each nominee from their respective films? The Grammys have got it right. That show knows it's a celebration of music and it features almost non-stop music, interrupted only briefly for the handing out of another award. And most of the Grammys are distributed before the telecast even takes place. The Oscars could take a lesson here and be more about showing us the movies.

I did think it was ironic that all the talk before the telecast was about appealing to a younger demographic and then here comes Kirk Douglas who steals the show.

I also thought best actor Colin Firth continued his string of outstanding acceptance speeches. “I have a feeling my career’s just peaked,” he said upon accepting his Oscar and then added he was “experiencing stirrings” somewhere in the upper abdominal region, “which are threatening to transform themselves into dance moves.” The man is a real class act.

It was also good to see Billy Crystal again, but, omigod that Botox!

As for the awards themselves, my only real disappointment was that Roger Deakins was cheated out of an Oscar for his superb True Grit cinematography. I knew before the ceremonies began that the best picture of the year, The Social Network, was not going to win the Oscar for best picture so I couldn't say I was disappointed when it didn't. I predicted Tom Hooper would win best director but I did hold out a slight hope that Network's David Fincher might pull off the upset. But it was not to be. I was mildly surprised to see that the support for The King's Speech did not run all that deep, not even as deep as the support for The Hurt Locker last year. Speech was nominated for 12 Oscars, but only won four, the same number as Inception. But that fact is tempered by the realization that the great The Godfather received 11 Oscar nominations, but only three trophies.

But there's also the realization that Raging Bull, Network, The Graduate, Citizen Kane and The Wizard of Oz didn't win a best picture Oscar either and their legacies as among the greatest American films ever made are not in question. Now we can add The Social Network to that list.