Oscar Night

I'm typing as I watch but am not going to recap the whole show because it lasts for hours.

Hugh Jackman's opening number included tribute's the movies through song and dance. He's so talented and great to look at!

The lead-in to supporting actress has a vignette of past winners and some snippets of their acceptance speeches. Neat! Eva Marie Saint (Viola Davis), Whoopi Goldberg (Amy Adams), Tilda Swinton (Marisa Tomei), Goldie Hawn (Taraji P. Henson), and Anjelica Huston (Penelope Cruz) each talked about one of the five nominees and her role! I really like this. It adds a personal touch. Penelope Cruz won and has been winning this award all over the place this year and did it again. I didn't see that movie but guess she must have done well in the role. Did any of you see it?

Steve Martin and Tina Fey presented the Oscar for orginal screenplay and were hilarious (of course). Then I cried when Dustin Lance Black accepted his award for Milk. Wow! How touching. Best speech of the night!



The camera panned to Angelina Jolie laughing at their schtick when Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black presented the Oscar for animation. That's all. What did they think would happen?

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick were there together, which I hope means their marriage is still going on. Some of us thought he looked uncomf0rtable. She didn't.

I'm doing pretty well with the ones I thought would win and should have placed some bets. I probably wouldn't have won much since the odds were accurate. I spoke too soon. Should have gone with the period piece for costumes.

Everyone is doing an impersonation of Joaquin Phoenix. Tonight Ben Stiller did it. I don't know who that was on the Independent Spirit Awards. Is Joaquin serious about this or is it an act? This routine didn't work.

Previous supporting actor winners Alan Arkin (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Joel Grey (Josh Brolin), Kevin Kline (Heath Ledger), Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Robert Downey, Jr.), and Christopher Walkin (Michael Shannon) introduced the nominees in parentheses. The award was presented to Heath Ledger's family (parents and sister) who made such a beautiful speech and accepted the award for his daughter Matilda. I cried again and so did the audience. It was touching and just right.

Bill Maher presented the award for documentary since he made Religulous which I plan to see now that it's on DVD. The Frenchman who walked between the Twin Towers on a tightwire balanced the Oscar on his chin and did some magic. He was on Studio 360 this morning on NPR talking about when he did that.

During the In Memory part, there are always some I didn't realize who had died during the year. It's sad to see those who left us too soon and some we hoped would stay with us forever.

How does Sophia Loren look so glamorous? Shirley MacLaine (Anne Hathaway), Halle Berry (Melissa Leo), Sophia Loren (Meryl Streep), Marion Cotilliard (Kate Winslet), and Nicole Kidman (Angelina Jolie) all gave wonderfully touching and supportive introductions of the nominees for best actress.

The past winners Robert DeNiro (Sean Penn), Sir Ben Kingsley (Mickey Rourke), Adrian Brody (Richard Jenkins), Anthony Hopkins (Brad Pitt), and Michael Douglas (Frank Langella) introduced the nominees with compassion, sincerity, and humor. Sean Penn gave a gracious speech. How about that? He won!



This has been the best Oscar show I can remember. That was partly because it's the first time I've seen most of the movies in quite a few years, but it really seemed better than it has for a while. It was entertaining, touching, funny, glamorous, and fun.

Anything you want to see, click here. It's the official Oscar website and has backstage interviews, thank-you speeches, and all kinds of things.