Monday, February 26, 2007

1:03 PM | And the Waiting Has Ended

I promised myself, after the debacle of Brokeback Mountain losing out to the Crash trash last year, I will never ever get myself so emotionally involved with the lottery called the Oscars again. But I didn't reckon on Jennifer Hudson tearing the screen apart with her presence in Dreamgirls. And so I conceded. And so I secretly hoped. And when George Clooney announced her name out of the envelope this morning, that was my great emotional finish. Wow. Jennifer Hudson as Effie White, best supporting actress. Oscar winner.

And Martin Scorsese! The best director alive -- responsible for such immortal classics as Mean Streets, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, and The Age of Innocence -- has finally won his much-deserved Oscar! And got it from his 70's cinematic geniuses of a kabarkada Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg, too!



To sum up: I was a little shocked by Dreamgirls' Eddie Murphy's loss for supporting actor. His loss proved two theories: (1) comedy actors don't get much respect, even in dramatic roles, and (2) veterans like Alan Arkin, who was, umm, okay in Little Miss Sunshine, eventually gets the trophy. Still, Mr. Murphy is not exactly a gentle kitten when it comes to marketing his chances. And his new movie Norbit -- critically-panned, although it won the box office when it opened -- may have hurt his chances for the trophy. I knew An Inconvenient Truth's and Helen Mirren's wins were locks -- so I did not break sweat before the envelopes were opened. Still, I was praying so hard: please, please... let anything win Best Picture. Just not that pesky Little Miss Sunshine. I liked the movie, but I never thought it was Best Picture material. If the Academy had to award the Oscar for a small film, I'd take the elegance of The Queen any time. But The Departed won. And I'm happy. Although I hated the fact that Venus's Peter O'Toole got snubbed for the eighth time for Forest Whitaker's glorified minor role in The Last King of Scotland, I'm still ecstatic over the general results, even Ellen DeGeneres's on-off stint as host. Pan's Labyrinth's many wins was grand, too. But what's with the general antipathy towards Bill Condon's Dreamgirls? It did not come up with nominations for Best Picture and Director first of all, which shocked many. Still, it was the most nominated film, and it had three nominations alone for Best Song, and An Incovenient Truth's Melissa Etheridge -- singing a forgettable eco-song for a documentary -- wins? Strange one, this.

For complete coverage, click here.

Now back to real life.

Labels: film, oscar

[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich

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