81st Academy Awards

We were promised some surprises last night for the 81st edition of the oscars and for the most part, they were pleasant ones to boot.Knowing full well that Hugh Jackman isnt exactly known for his sense of humour,I was a tad nervous for him, yet eager to see what he had in store.From the opening number with its toned down theme, the audience collectively breathed a sigh of relief and we knew it would be o.k.
For all intents and purposes, the show went according to plan and everyone that won an award was forcasted to do so.The presentation of the awards was actually what had everybody talking.Five previous winners in each of the major acting categories presented the awards after each singing the praises of the individual nominees.This, I hope, becomes tradition.
Now onto the jokes.Ben Stiller steals the show and does so effortlessly with his bang on impression of Joaquin Phoenix.My only problem with this is that I am a gigantic Phoenix fan and although I guaranty that he was not watching last night,it will no doubt have gotten back to him and I felt kinda bad for enjoying it so much.Cuba Gooding was on point as well last night when he was addressing Robert Downey and suddenly turned angry and yelled "what the hell were you thinking?" in regards to Downeys portrayal of a black man in Tropic Thunder.Not to be outdone was the incomparable Sean Penn who upon winning the Oscar for lead actor,called the audience a bunch of commie homo loving sons of guns.His speech rang true and was the real deal as is he.Penn admitted his faults and thanked his supporters and championed human rights and in the most unselfish act, thanked but one fellow actor then called him his brother.The actor was Mickey Rourke.Harley Davidson himself would have been proud.
Now onto the one and only black eye of the evening and it had nothing to do with the ceremony itself but rather the media before the show even began.On cable pulse 24, a local news ticker channel in Ontario, 3 hours before the show began, this channel leaked the fact that Slumdog was the big winner of the evening.At first I didnt know what to think, but they kept running the spot on the ticker and it even said that Slumdog takes the suspense out of the oscars as the headline story.The story ran once more then was taken off.For shame if this were true.
And now on a funnier preshow note.The red carpet show on the E channel(CTV)was an absolute disaster hosted by Ben Mulroney.This disingenuous prick had absolutely no business being on the red carpet interviewing celebrities.In one stunning piece of nonsense he interviews Josh Brolin and Diane Lane and proceeds to ask Diane if there are any tips that she can impart to her hubby on what to do that night as she herself has been to the oscars before as a nominee.Folks, the funny part is that Brolin was a nominee just last year for No Country for old men.Strike one Ben.The follow up to that ignorance was Mulroney then completely fabricating a story about Brolin and telling him that he knew Brolin desperately wanted to be in the movie Milk and was bothering the director so much that it almost seemed like he was stalking him.Ben is saying this right to Brolins face and kinda chuckling with a shit eating grin on his face because Brolin was kinda smirking as well and Brolin simply shakes his head in disbelief at this idiot and takes to the mic and tells Ben that that simply wasnt the case and that the director called him personally to offer him the role.Strike two Ben.We all know how he got this job, but Ben Mulroney, you sir are no Justin Trudeau.Stick to that garbage singing show clone and leave the in depth reporting to people that have a clue.
All in all the night was a success and hopefully continues on this path.We havent had a relaxed and playful evening since before 9/11 when the red carpet was taken away and people were afraid to have fun.It took the U.S a awhile to bounce back and hopefully we can maintain.