Sunday, February 24, 2008

Live Blogging: 80th Annual Academy Awards [Hour 1]

The show is opening with computer graphic montage of images from various movies throughout history. Many of the images come from movies that were probably never up for Oscars, except maybe the technical ones. Lots of sci-fi images.

And, with no fanfare or buildup, here's Jon Stewart. He brings up the Writer's Strike first. "Welcome to the make-up sex," he says.

Jon comments about the focus on killers in several of the nominations this year. "Thank goodness for teenage pregnancy," he says, referring to Juno.

Dang, who is that with George Clooney. Is that his wife, his girlfriend, his cousin? Whoever she is, she's quite, quite nice looking.

Jon awkwardly throw in an Iraq War reference. Then he jokes about John McCain's age.

Jennifer Garner is presenting the first award. Nice dress; slightly weird hair-do. Best Costume Design. I only saw Atonement. The designer for Elizabeth: The Golden Age won. Although I didn't see it, I could tell from clips & previews that it's a pretty deserving movie for this category.

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George Clooney is up to... talk about something, I think the history of the Oscars. He looks less grey right now. I wonder if colors his hair in movies or in real life. Wow, these clips of past Oscars make me wish the more recent Oscars were more interesting.

Anne Hathaway and Steve Carrell are up to present Best Animated Film. Steve was "thinking" he was presenting Best Documentary. Anne corrected him. Did Steve Carrell just say, "Shit"? My vote goes for Ratatouille, but just barely. I think it was good but over-rated. Truthfully, I didn't see Surf's Up, and I wouldn't want to see Persepolis. Ratatouille won. Whatever.

Katherine Heigl is up to present Best Make-Up. She looks pretty nice. She apologizes, saying she's not very good at this and incredibly nervous. I thought she was joking, but maybe not. She pretty much just presents the nominees, and she does look & sound genuinely nervous. La Vie En Rose won for Best Make-Up. Ehh, whatever. This was not a compelling category this year.

Amy Adams is up to sing a nominated song from Enchanted. I like Amy Adams. She was about the only thing I liked about the movie Junebug, and she also played a nice yet under-used character in Charlie Wilson's War. I've heard good things about Enchanted, even from a few male critics, but I haven't brought myself to see it yet. Maybe I'll break down and rent it one day.

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Dwayne Johnson is up to present Best Visual Effects. Noms: Golden Compasss, Pirates 3, Transformers. My picks is Golden Compass. And, it wins. Whoa. I was a little worried it would go to Transformers. Granted, Golden Compass wasn't a great movie (neither is Transformers), but specifically in terms of visuals, I had more problems with Transformers.

Cate Blanchett is up to present Best Art Direction. Noms: American Gangster (probably should have caught that one), Atonement, Golden Compass, Sweeney Todd, and There Will Be Blood. My pick is Golden Compass again. Ugh. Sweeney Todd got it. I didn't see that movie, but I could tell just by looking at it that I wouldn't want to.

Jon is joking about the wide acting range of Cate Blanchett, saying that the pitbull in No Country for Old Men was even played by Cate Blanchett. He then says that even he, right now, is being played by Cate Blanchett.

Jennifer Hudson is up to present Best Supporting Actor. Noms: Casey Affleck, Javier Barden (he'll probably win and is deserving), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (my personal pick), Hal Holbrook, and Tom Wilkinson (good but not super). The winner is: Javier Bardem. No big surprise. Is it just me or does Javier Barden look a lot like Jeffrey Dean Morgan (I think that's the right name of the actor who played Denny in Grey's Anatomy)?

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