February 26th, 2007
Notes on an Oscar
Lots n’ lots of surprises tonight - some good, some bad.
- Pan’s Labyrinth lost to The Lives of Others for best foreign film. Now I’m definitely watching it this week.
- In turn, Pan’s Labyrinth is on the winning side of an upset by beating Children of Men, and it was flat out highway robbery.
- Babel wins only one award, shame
- On the other hand, The Departed wins 4, yay. Oscar count: Infernal Affairs - 0, The Departed - 4. And Hong Kong actually submitted Infernal Affairs for its best foreign film pick, so which one’s better now?
(Why Hong Kong chose to submit The Banquet for its best picture over After This, Our Exile, I have no idea.
- In Asian films, Letters From Iwo Jima wins best sound editing. whoo…….
Now notes on the show. (in reverse order of the show)
-Way too many montages, even though I liked the Michael Mann one. And the popularity contest known as “In memoriam” is ridiculous. Hold your applause til the end, people.
- Brad Grey gets screwed over for The Departed producing credit, yikes. Will Brad Grey be this year’s Bob Yari?
- The original three amigos excuse for bringing out Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg to give the Oscar to Martin Scorsese was cute, but it kinda ruined the surprise.
- Alan Mak must be pissed, having been snubbed by Scorsese at least twice in his acceptance speeches.
- Since when does screaming equate to singing? I’m talking to you, Dreamgirls.
- Good job on getting the trailers guy to do the announcing. But why the hell is Infernal Affairs touted as a Japanese film? At least Monahan and Scorsese get it right.
- Best Ellen quote: “People say that the children are our future. This year, they’re our competition.”
- Great job by Ellen overall, including bringing Snakes on a Plane to the Oscars and the digital camera gag with Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg.
Very enjoyable ceremony overall, and well-deserved winners….well, mostly, but you can’t please everyone.
Tomorrow we have more news, Hong Kong box office (maybe UK numbers for Letters from Iwo Jima), and Japanese drama ratings.