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photo courtesy of telegraph.co.uk

From the opening performance by host Hugh Jackman to the success of the underdog yet beloved Slumdog Millionaire, the many other unusual displays in last night’s Oscars, this year’s show was perhaps the best of all the ones I’ve ever seen.   Albeit I’ve only seen about five or six previous ones, and I have little recollection of them,  perhaps due to their mediocrity. I must say, Hugh Jackman was more entertaining than I expected. Since he is an actor and not a comedian, like the past hosts, I had lower expectations and did not expect Jackman to impress, sorry. In the end, he sure did and his dancing was indeed the highlight for me. His good looks and lovely Australian accent, ability to charm the whole crowd and good comedic timing were all reasons he made such a good and endearing host.

Slumdog Millionaire, the come-from-behind and heartwarming film of 2008 made us all realize the beauty of international cinematic excellence. Hopefully, there is more to come. From the success of Danny Boyle to A.R. Rahman, the film boasted a total of eight Oscars! The performance by Rahman, background performers and the dancers were brilliant and lively; although I must say John Legend’s bit half-way through the Jai Ho performance was rather awkward and unnecessary.  It was nice to see the other child actors on stage as the film won Best Picture, but one must think of the future these children now hold in the face such success, as some of them still living in the slums. Questions now arise of India’s other poor families and children in the wake of such a ground-breaking film.

Wins by Penelope Cruz (Best Supporting Actress), Heath Ledger (Best Supporting Actor, Posthumous), Kate Winslet (Best Actress) and Sean Penn (Best Actor) weren’t very surprising, except maybe for Sean Penn, who seemed set to lose to Mickey Rourke. Most expected, of course, was Heath Ledger’s win - and deservedly so. His family’s speech and dedication was short but sweet and he now becomes only the second actor to win an Oscar posthumously (the first being Peter Finch for the 1976 “Network”). The speeches weren’t particularly entertaining (as usual) but some highlights, like Kate Winslet’s dad’s whistle and Sean Penn’s equal rights comment are worth mentioning. A nice added touch was having previous winners come out and give personal praises to each nominated actor before presenting the acting Oscars. 

All in all, this year’s oscars was brilliant - if at times awkward - and wildly entertaining.  Other notable highlights included Ben Stiller’s Joaquin Phoenix impersonation, Steve Martin and Tiny Fey, Seth Rogen’s reaction to James Franco’s butchering of a German name and many more.  It was nice to see change; I hope such change (for the good) will reflect what can happen in these tough economic times.

For more highlights and history of past Academy Award shows go to their website.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 10:31 am and is filed under Entertainment, Film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.