An intriguing year at the Oscars, that's for sure. I still haven't seen the Aviator, so for now I must say that I was very pleased. Although on the prediction end I had my worst year ever (winning 15, well below my record of 20 from last year), The big awards all went exactly as I felt they should.
Interestingly, The Aviator won more awards (5) than MDB, but only one acting prize, and the rest 'technical'. As far as the Best Director win for Eastwood goes, I'm satisfied. I've read many places that this shouldn't be the one that finally won it for Scorcese and Clint certainly deserved it.
The biggest complaint I have as far as winners goes is that Passion got shut out, not winning the deserved Cinematography award or the much more deserved Makeup award.
Here's what I REALLY hated: Awards from the audience and awards with all nominees on stage. Fortunately, they only did it for the fringe awards, but c'mon, that just cheapened the whole experience.
And what about Chris Rock? Personally, I feel he played it too save. The Monologue was great, and bashed a ton of people, and then for the rest of the night, he really didn't offend anyone.
I'm a big fan of American Idol, but one pet peeve I've had since the beginning has come to the forefront this year. America isn't given equal coverage of all 24 semifinalists, and it negatively effects the vote during this round. The producers pick their favorites from early on and focus on only a handful of potential finalists throughout the process, showing background documentaries and playing every single audition performance.
Yesterday, Melinda Lira pointed out the fact that she wasn't shown at all virtually all the way through the process and therefore, American isn't invested in her the way they already were in everyone else. Granted, Lira sucked and I'm glad she's gone, but the other female who was booted, Sarah Mather, was felled by a similar fate and she didn't deserve to go. I had her name written down as one of my favorites from the original audition. Then she went MIA, never being mentioned on screen again until this round.
I just think it sucks and I hope a talent like Aloha Mischeaux (who caused us to say, "WHO?" when the announced her as a semifinalist) can stick around long enough for us to get to know.
Who am I rooting for? Constantine and Carrie Underwood.
