Random Notes on the 2008 Oscars

• Though I prefer the song "When Your Mind's Made Up" from the film Once, the Academy voters chose right with "Falling Slowly" as the year's Best Song. It's the first time the pair sing together in the movie, shows them working through the song and is really the core of the film as their relationship takes off from there. It would have been great to see "When Your Mind's Made Up" nominated (especially in place of that awful ballad from Enchanted), but I guess I can live with things the way they are...
  
  
• What I didn't like so much was the way the song was arranged for the Oscars - with sweetened strings and other accompaniment. It plays so much better and emotional as a duet. IMO the proof is here:
  
  
  
  
• The two other songs from Enchanted (ie. non-crappy ballads) were also pretty good. My wife (who saw the film) mentioned that Amy Adams made them a great deal of fun in the film and that they came across better than on stage at the Oscars. I'm not quite sure why Adams only sang one of the songs at the awards, but the songs both had memorable tunes to them. Along with the fine performance of the tune from August Rush, that made it 4 out of 5 decent songs nominated. That must be a record...
  
  
• Tilda Swinton's acceptance speech may have been my favourite moment of the night. She was genuinely surprised, thankful and yet still very funny. I loved her comments about Clooney being really dedicated to the Batman costume...
  
  
• Jon Stewart was a bit flat last time out as host, but seemed more relaxed and even spontaneous this time around (about Glen Hansard - "Boy, that guy was arrogant").
  
  
• I'm a bit bummed about Madame Tutli-Putli not winning the Best Short Animated film, but I haven't seen any of the others, so I suppose it wouldn't be fair to comment. But...Those clips from Peter The Wolf just didn't seem to come close. And why did they have to pick a story that's been done a hundred times already? Oh well, I'm sure the winner is quite deserving...
  
  
• Marion Cotillard was stunning. Wowza.
  
  
• And I have to say that I'm even curious to see La Vie En Rose now. I didn't have a whole lot of interest previously (the length of the film, the lukewarm reviews and likely way too much music by Edith Piaf - sorry, not my fave singer).
  
  
• The spoofs on the montages were pretty funny, in particular the bee one that included The Swarm. I mean, did you ever expect to see a clip from The Swarm at The Oscars?
  
  
  
  
  
• I missed the roll call of the dead - maybe I can find the video on Youtube. I can't say I "enjoy" it every year, but it's a nice reminder of those that have passed away. For the broadcast though, they should really just mute the audience and play recorded music over it - even if you tell people to hold their applause, they usually can't.
  
  
• "Henry Kissinger - Man On The Go".
  
  
• That slippery spot that almost wiped out both Colin Farrell and John Travolta.
  
  
• Daniel Day-Lewis kneeling before Helen Mirren - something all mortal men should indeed do. She too was pretty damn stunning.
  
  
• I liked the montages of the previous winners, but there wasn't a great deal of focus on the Best Picture nominees.
  
  
• Marion Cotillard really was gorgeous...
  
  
• I still think Steve Carrell is one of the funniest people around.
  
  
• The audience really seemed to approve of the win by "Falling Slowly" - that was probably the biggest round of applause of the night.
  
  
• I'm not exactly a fan of Hannah Montana, but Miley Cyrus sure carried herself well and was very composed.
  
  
• Not only were all the acting awards won by Europeans, it seemed most of the other awards were too.
  
  

Did I mention Marion Cotillard is really good-looking?