The coming and going of the yearly Academy Awards always signals a new phase for me. The film awards season, which lasts from early December to last Sunday, is a flurry of activity and lots of work, keeping track of trends and predicting the Academy Awards. Once the Oscars arrive, it is, in many ways, an enjoyable relief to finally sit back and celebrate that one night unlike any other in the world of entertainment. So now I finally present my reflection back on the Academy Awards, as an official closure to the 2001 film awards season.
The Academy's official coverage began with their half hour arrivals segment, and I have to say unfortunately that this was the worst one they ever produced. For one thing, the interviews and arrivals were all taped, whereas in past years the official half hour countdown show was always live. It created a huge technical gaffe when Nicole Kidman's interview was skipped entirely at the beginning, and just made things seem very awkward. But also, we didn't get the wonderful glimpses inside the theater at stars milling about and talking before the show, like we did in the last two Oscar pre-shows. This year's pre-show didn't even offer any interesting interviews. If the Academy wishes to continue their half hour countdown pre-show, I hope they at least go back to a live show, and give us some glimpses of things we can't see on any other pre-show, and give us more Oscar history or Oscar facts.
Finally, the Academy Awards did get underway. The opening this year was way too simple and bland ... the camera simply going around the crowd, announcing certain stars and their nominations this year. I must say here that this new venue for the Academy Awards is absolutely incredible, and I hope it remains the Academy's permanent home. The Kodak Theater is so incredibly gorgeous, a real old fashioned kind of theater feel to it, and much more intimate. The theater immediately gave the Academy Awards a much different, and even more opulent, feel to them.
