Film Recommendations

[Sweder]

Being a saddo I was one of the few bothered to sit up for the 'live' revelations from the Kodak Theatre last night. Frankly the whole shebang is a gross waste of time & money, yet I find myself drawn to the spectacle of celluloid celebs getting up themselves.

Clooney watch: Gorgeous George waltzed off with Best Supporting Actor and made possibly the best (unscripted) speech of the night. Worth watching the lowlights tonight for that alone, I'd say. I'm firmly in the thumbs up for Clooney camp (enough already), and he did nothing to dissuade me despite being the butt of a good deal of the jokes for the night. His award was a weak Academy sweetner for the inevitable snub to Good Night & Good Luck, deemed by those in the know to carry far too much political weight to scoop any major awards.

Yet Crash, a difficult, (relatively) low budget movie dealing with racial conflicts in Los Angeles, stole the Big One, much to the dismay of thousands of Cowboys twirling their pink neckerchiefs outside. This has been a pretty good year for 'thoughtful' films in the mainstream, yet the only nailed-on shoe-ins for a gong had to be Nick Park (Wallace & Gromit), winning for the first time in the full animated feature slot, and the wonderful March of the Penguins (Documentary), the heart rending story of Emperor Penguins fighting brutal weather conditions simply to continue the species.

Best gag of the night?
The host (Jon Stewart, mostly unknown this side of the pond):
"Bjork could not be here - she was trying on her Oscar dress and Dick Cheney shot her."

Best acceptance speech (possibly not of the entire night - I bailed at 3 am) apart from GC?
March of the Penguins film-maker Yves Darondeau, accepting his best documentary feature award:
"Looking out on these tuxedos tonight, it's like seeing the movie again. Thank you for this homage."

I'm off for some Optrex.