Other observations from the 3-hour and 33-minute broadcast:
• Was it just me or did Charlize Theron’s bow on the shoulder of her dress look to be getting bigger as the evening went on?
• It's starting to feel like only the host of the show gets more screen time than Jack Nicholson these days. I mean, he hasn't even been in a movie since 2003. And was that just coincidental seating, or was Keira Knightley Jack's date?
• It’s good to encourage award winners to keep their acceptance speeches short, but having the band practically playing the people off the stage the moment they got up there seemed a bit rash. Not to mention it had to be a bit distracting for the winners.
• Two categories that were weakened for their lack of nominees were best visual effects (where was Star Wars: Episode III?) and best makeup (how does Sin City miss out here?). For that matter, Star Wars only got one nomination total, while Sin City was shut out entirely. Regardless of what you thought of those films’ overall quality, they were pretty amazing on the technical level.
• George Clooney’s acceptance speech that mentions his pride at being a part of the Academy seemed to be a bit self-congratulatory – especially for mentioning the 1939 Oscar going to Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind. He referenced how bold that was of the Academy, as blacks were still forced to sit in the back at the time.
Yeah, but George, how long did it take for the Academy to honor a black woman for best actress? Answer: 2002, when Halle Berry won. That’s pretty slow progress. To my knowledge, no black woman has even been nominated in that category since then.
Don’t get me wrong – I like George Clooney. But let’s face it: The Academy has a long ways to go to seem truly progressive. Maybe finding a way to break up the predictability of the annual broadcast would be a good step. Then again, giving an Oscar for a song about a pimp doesn’t happen every year.
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