First of all, Ellen rocked. Best. Oscar. Host. Ever. I loved her in the show: "The Oscar would not exist if it weren't for the gays, blacks and Jews." Awesome.
Now, here are the winners (and my commentary) in the six main categories of this year's Academy Awards:
Maybe next time: Jackie Earle Haley (for Little Children); Dijimon Hounsou (for Blood Diamond); Eddie Murphy (for Dreamgirls); and Mark Wahlberg (for The Departed).
QB Comment: Alan did a great job in one of the few movies with good gay content in this year's Oscars: Little Miss Sunshine. Alan's Oscar is well deserved. I am glad Mark Wahlberg didn't get it. I don't really think Mark sucks, he did well in Boogie Nights, but he just didn't deserve to be in this category for The Departed (a movie with lots of homophobic slurs, by the way -- even sadder, Mark may still be a homophobe himself). I was also happy Eddie Murphy didn't get it, his performance was mostly annoying. I would have been happy if Jackie Earle or Dijimou would have taken it home too.
Maybe next time: Adriana Barraza (for Babel); Cate Blanchett (for Notes on a Scandal); Abigail Breslin (for Little Miss Sunshine); and Rinko Kikuchi (for Babel).
QB Comment: I think J. Hud deserved it. She may pull a Halle Berry on us and only star in crappy movies from now on, but bitch deserved the Oscar. I actually thought she was going to be nominated in the Best Actress category (but there, she would have had no chance against Helen Mirren, so, she should be glad she got the award in the supporting category).
This was probably the toughest category this year, every single one of the nominees deserved to win (even Abigail Breslin was pretty good, although she was clearly the underdog). Adriana Barraza was superb as a Mexican nanny in Babel; Cate Blanchett was superb as a criminally desperate housewife in Notes on a Scandal; and Rinko Kikuchi rocked as a deaf daddy's girl in Babel.
Maybe next time: Leo DiCaprio (for Blood Diamond); Ryan Gosling (for Half Nelson); Peter O'Toole (for Venus); and Will Smith (for The Pursuit of Happyness).
QB Comment: this is the category I can talk about the least: I haven't seen Venus and The Pursuit of Happyness. I can say that Forest Whitaker did a great job as Idi Amin (my review for The Last King of Scotland is coming soon). I can also say that Forest was better than DiCaprio (who didn't even deserve to be nominated for Blood Diamond) and Ryan Gosling (he was very good as a junkie-teacher in Half Nelson -- my review for that is also coming soon).
Maybe next time: Penelope Cruz (for Volver); Judi Dench (for Notes on a Scandal); Meryl Streep (for The Devil Wears Prada); and Kate Winslet (for Little Children).
QB Comment: surprise, surprise...I still wish Penelope would have won, but I am happy with Helen taking it home.
Maybe next time: Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu (for Babel); Clint Eastwood (for Letters from Iwo Jima); Stephen Frears (for The Queen); and Paul Greengrass (for United 93).
QB Comment: I think Scorsese is overrated, and so is The Departed, and I am not even considering the homophobia in The Departed into the equation. I think either Stephen Frears or Paul Greengrass should have won, but whatever.
These movies didn't take it home: Babel; Letter from Iwo Jima; Little Miss Sunshine; and The Queen.
QB Comment: The Departed is good, but way overrated; I think the movie didn't even deserve to be nominated, much less to win. If you think that Brokeback not getting the Oscar last year reflected Hollywood's homophobia, just think about the many homophobic slurs in The Departed this year. Maybe the academy thinks that inviting Ellen DeGeneres to host may have given them the right to praise homophobia without being homophobic, but I am not buying it. And even if you can get past The Departed's overrated-ness or if you think the movie was that good, it is just unacceptable for a movie as homophobic as The Departed to win.
Anyway, I think Little Miss Sunshine was the best of the five movies nominated, followed closely by The Queen. I wish Notes on a Scandal and Little Children were in this category (the two should have taken the place occupied by The Departed and Letters from Iwo Jima).
On a positive note: Melissa Etheridge got an Oscar for her song "I Need to Wake Up" from the documentary An Inconvenient Truth (which also got an Oscar and will soon be reviewed here). Melissa kissed her wife in front of one billion people, and thanked her wife (not friend, not partner: wife) in front of one billion people.
I also liked that Little Miss Sunshine got an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
You can check the other winners at the official site of the Oscars.
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