The only disappointment is that with the show moving as fast as it did, we really didn't get any lasting Oscar memories, but I have three. I think the moment when Julia Roberts gave her acceptance speech for her Oscar is going to be one of the long remembered great Oscar moments. She showed such raw emotion, particularly in expressing how truly happy she was to be up on that stage winning her first Academy Award. It was truly a great moment, and a lot of fun as well, particularly with her admonishment of Bill Conti, anointing him "stick man", and continually asking him to not play her off with music as happens to most nominees who get too long with their acceptance speeches.
One of my other favorite moments was when Ernest Lehman accepted his honorary Oscar, and was bold enough to make a statement for the ongoing fights going on by writers for recognition and participation (that's what this upcoming strike business is all about!).
And thirdly, I was so thrilled that finally, they simply played portions of the instrumental scores nominated for Best Original Score, without having ridiculous dance numbers to go with the music. They did it in an incredibly classy way, having two outstanding musicians -- Itzhak Perlman and celloist Yo-Yo Ma -- performing together portions of the nominated musical scores. A very classy moment, and one I hope is repeated in future Oscar ceremonies.
The official Academy pre-show was nothing special, and I was disappointed that they didn't provide more inside shots of the auditorium with the stars milling around. Instead, it mostly focused on arrival interviews, nothing better than any of the other Oscar pre-shows out there. One highlight of the pre-show was the announcing of the results of the oscar.com poll for all time favorite Oscar memory. While I felt the original list they offered missed out on some truly great moments, I was even more surprised by the one the majority of people chose ... of course, the infamous streaker moment from 1973 was voted the favorite Oscar memory, and I'm thinking ... WHAT??? Over such moments as Sidney Poitier's historic Best Actor win, or John Wayne's final public appearance at the Oscars? I mean the streaker was a funny moment, but when we're thinking greatest Oscar memory, there's so many more memorable choices to make.
I don't usually make any comments about the fashions (there are others much more qualified and willing to do so), but I have to say ... Jennifer Lopez ... very nice ... she was nicely on display during the pre-show interview, but when she arrived on stage to present, cameras made sure to only film her from the neck up!
