Oscar 75: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

THE GOOD: The Pianist doing so well ... once it won Best Actor, Director, and Adapted Screenplay, I almost expected it to upset Chicago. Great to see them give so many honors to a film currently struggling at the boxoffice and one that should really be seen by more people.

THE BAD: Gangs of New York getting the complete shaft. I figured at least a deserving win for Art Direction and Scorsese of course ... but wow, it got 10 nominations and no wins, putting it among a small group of films to get that many nominations and not take home a single Oscar. The Gangs of New York people probably didn't party too much last Sunday. It's too bad too ... I thought it was a lot better than some make it out to be (it was my 3rd best film of the year), and Scorsese's win would have made for a great moment.

THE GOOD: Before presenting the four acting awards, they showed historical clips of all the past winners in that category, which was a moving reminder of some truly incredible film history.

THE BAD: But they completely cut out showing a film clip of each nominee's performance, which has been a tradition for a long time. Instead the presenter just announced the names and showed the nominee in their sites, a la the Golden Globes tradition. That was probably one of the worst decisions producer Gil Cates made ... it's always nice to see a brief clip of a nominee's performance at the moment the winner is announced.

THE GOOD: The historical footage, especially the opening montage of diamonds floating up the screen with various film clips. I also liked the film package that had Oscar winners reflecting on the moment they won the Oscar, and where their Oscars are now.

THE BAD: Believe it or not, I ended up feeling like they didn't quite have enough Oscar history footage. I really wanted more. And the one I was most disappointed in was a showing of footage from past Academy Presidents at the Oscars ... was that one really necessary except for the small club of Academy Presidents?

THE GOOD: The "truncated" red carpet did help keep the focus on the Oscars and the films, but programs and news outlets did still find ways to comment on the fashions and film the arrivals. About 99% of the journalists who interview people on the red carpet ask the most mundane questions, and some don't even know what they're talking about (I won't mention any names) ... I certainly didn't miss that. But for the 1% (like Roger Ebert) who actually ask thoughtful questions on Oscar Night, the arrivals sequences were missed.