This year's Oscars was hosted by Hugh Jackman. I found him to be quite entertaining, and sad that they didn't use him more. He was funny, he sang and danced....what more could you really want?
That answer is a quicker awards show and one that isn't afraid to keep things in the same order, despite the sentimental factor. This year, for the big awards like Best Supporting Actress, etc., they had five previous winners introduce the nominees. This in and of itself, doesn't seem like a problem. But instead of doing a clip from the movie, this year was a small personal tribute to each nominee. While that sounds great, it got a little long. I was just not a fan. It could have been done so much better.
Normally the first two awards of the evening go to Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Since one of the nominees for Best Supporting Actor was Heath Ledger, it seemed they (the Oscars creators) decided to keep the suspense going as long as possible and the sentiment as well. It just seemed so strange to me to have those awards separated by so much time and show. Maybe that's just me.
I was a big fan of The Dark Knight and very excited about it before it was released. While the death of Heath Ledger may have caused some curious viewers to see the film that would not have originally, I was not one of those. I think that Heath's performance in the movie was great and totally stole the show from Christian "I like to yell at people" Bale. I don't know if I saw any of the other movies with nominees (yeah, we don't get out much) but I still think that Heath's performance was strong enough that he should have gotten the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, which he did. I think his family handled everything very well and it's hard to completely understand the mixed emotions they must have felt as they stood upon that stage. The sad thing is that, even though Heath totally deserved the Oscar, there will be people that say he got it only on the sympathy vote. While we will never know what would have happened if Heath had been alive, it is clear that he deserved the Oscar and the acclaim that came with the part of the Joker.
I was disappointed by other aspects of the evening as well. I do not understand why there was a song and dance number that didn't include the songs for Best Original Song. It seemed to take up time and that's something that could have been cut. I also don't understand how Bruce Springsteen and his song for The Wrestler was not nominated. Oh, politics. You show your face in the least likely of places.
The other thing that really disappointed me was how they did the "In Memorium" section. You could barely see the people and couldn't read what the people did very easily. If you want us to remember people, at least let us know who they are.
One thing that I consistently do not like about the Oscars is how one movie often sweeps categories. This year it was Slumdog Millionaire. Rest assured that this opinion remains, even when I've seen and like the movie (remember when Return of the King won everything a few years ago? That was also annoying). It's like why even bother having a choice? Why not just say, here's a blank ballot and you fill in what you think is best, oh and we've only given you the option of one movie. Ridiculous.
Anyway, despite these annoyances, I will be back next year watching the Oscars. Hope that next year goes better than this one!
