(4).jpg) By Johnny Firecloud | The 80th annual Academy Awards ceremony took place last night, and to honor the occasion producers made the show as drab and forgettable as, well, every other year. Jon Stewart was barely present as host, popping up with a backhanded joke every once in a while. |
Much as I like Jon Stewart, it would seem that the Academy can't even find a host who can pretend that the occasion is memorable or remarkable. On second thought, nevermind. If it's Seacrest or Stewart, I'll take the wisecrackin' Jewish guy any day.
The winners list shaped up pretty much how we predicted it would, with the exception of the Best Actress award. A beautiful, sobbing Marion Cotillard took the honors for her role in La Vie En Rose, truly shocked to be chosen over the other nominees (Julie Christie, Cate Blanchette, Laura Linney and Ellen Page). "Thank you, life, thank you, love," she said, choking back tears. "It is true there are some angels in this city."
We called the Daniel Day-Lewis Best Actor win, but a blind chimpanzee could have picked that one. The man is a genius, pure and simple, and his take on Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood is acting at its raging, conniving finest. "I've abandoned my boy!" will soon be the new "Show me the money!" Just you watch.
No Country For Old Men directors/writers (well, adapters - the incredible Cormac McCarthy wrote the book) the Coen brothers may as well have pulled up a seat onstage after their Adapted Screenplay win. The two became part of an elite list of filmmakers to win three Oscars in a single night, joining past winners Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron and Billy Wilder. They missed out on a chance to make Oscar history, however, when they lost what would have been a record fourth Oscar for Best Editing, which they were nominated for under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes. The Bourne Ultimatum won the editing award and swept all three categories in which it was nominated, including sound editing and sound mixing.
Nevertheless, No Country dominated the night with four awards, including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor, which Javier Bardem won for his role as assassin Anton Chigurh.
In other news, newcomer Diablo Cody took the best Original Screenplay award for Juno. Hey look, I don't care if she's an ex-stripper, but did she have to dress up like one for the show? The whorish Cleopatra look doesn't really work. I'm all for showing a little leg, but I could see next Wednesday in the slit in that dress. And what's with the hateful scowl while walking offstage?
When are the Academy Awards people going to wise up and put George Clooney in charge of things? He'd have everybody shitfaced drunk by showtime, do away with the cue cards, and see to it that the whole spectacle dissolved into a shimmering orgy of Hollywood's finest by night's end. Now that's something I'd watch.
Go to the next page for a list of winners.
Full list of winners:
Best Motion Picture: No Country for Old Men
Lead Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Lead Actress: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Foreign Language Film: The Counterfeiters, Austria.
Adapted Screenplay: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, Juno
Animated Feature Film: Ratatouille
Art Direction: Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Cinematography: There Will Be Blood
Sound Mixing: The Bourne Ultimatum
Sound Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum
Original Score: Atonement - Dario Marianelli.
Original Song: "Falling Slowly" from Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.
Costume: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Documentary Feature: Taxi to the Dark Side
Documentary Short Subject: Freeheld
Film Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum
Makeup: La Vie en Rose
Animated Short Film: Peter & the Wolf
Live Action Short Film: Le Mozart des Pickpockets
Visual Effects: The Golden Compass
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