The Academy Awards

Hollywood shows some taste

Like others who’ve grown tired with the overwrought nonsense of the whole thing, I TiVo’d the show and made it through in about an hour and twenty minutes, liberally using the fast-forward button. They all went pretty much as I thought, though I’ve got to give a big shout-out to my faves the Coen brothers. Also Javier Bardem and the lovely Marion Cotillard, two individuals for whom the word sexy is too small a complement. Their speeches were heartfelt, deeply human and lifted the whole evening up several notches. Same with the adorable couple from Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Special props to John Stewart (or whatever producer) for calling Ms. Irglova back out onto the stage and letting her have her moment (the gruesomely tacky Bill Conti and the orchestra he was “conducting” cruelly cut her off before she’d had a chance to say anything when the couple originally accepted their awards.) A nice moment of true class from a show not known for it in recent years.

Otherwise, Tilda Swinton gave a hilarious ribbing to Gorgeous George; Julie Christie looked smashing, befitting the cinematic royalty she is; and Ellen Page and Saoirse Ronan are born stars. Laura Linney (and, for that matter, Julianne Moore) should have at least two Oscars (each), and Daniel Day-Lewis’ fearless genius was in good company with Viggo Mortensen.

And, of course, then there’s the sublime force of nature that is Cate Blanchett, for whom I’d pay SuperBowl-ticket-level money to see merely sitting on a blank stage on a Saturday afternoon reading out loud various entries in the phone book.

Photo courtesy www.oscar.com