After reading over and over that the 80th Academy Awards show had the smallest television audience of any in its history, I wondered if I’d been the only person watching Sunday night. Had there been another show competing for ratings? The season finale of Lost, perhaps? After some quick research on the Nielsen ratings website, I discovered something that the newspapers neglected to mention. It seems that whoever was watching television that night was watching The Oscars. It was the most watched program all week! Lost, incidentally, was in 8th place.
You can find the official Academy Awards report on the Oscar website. The results for the most sought-after “bests” are:
Best Supporting Actor – Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
Best Supporting Actress – Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
Best Actor in a Leading Role – Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Best Actress in a Leading Role – Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)
Best Picture – No Country for Old Men
Best Directing – Ethan and Joel Coen and Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men)
As you can see, No Country for Old Men swept The Awards. Incidentally, it was the only movie nominated that I actually had the fortune to see beforehand. You’ll have to wait for the review to find out what I thought of it. Although, I can say that I wasn’t surprised to see the movie win.
There were a few disappointments for me this year, chief among them being the award for Best Costume Design. The nominees were Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Across the Universe, Atonement, La Vie En Rose and Sweeny Todd. Not only was my personal pick, The Golden Compass, not chosen; it wasn’t even nominated! I remember one of the aspects of the movie that made the biggest impression on me was the beautiful wardrobe. Nicole Kidman’s dresses were beyond gorgeous and Lyra’s jacket was sublime, to name only a few examples. How much imagination did it take to come up with the costume design for Atonement? Oh Please. It never fails though. Design a wardrobe for any Elizabethan/Shakespearean picture and you’re bound to land a golden boy for Best Costume. At least The Golden Compass won Best Visual Effects.
I haven’t yet seen La Vie En Rose, but I was mildly shocked to see that Marion Cotillard walked away with Best Actress. After all of the hype surrounding the movie Juno and considering how wonderful I thought she was in Hard Candy, I could hardly believe that Ellen Page didn’t score the prize. I did have to run out the very next night to catch the late showing of Juno at the theater. That’s another review I’m going to make you wait on. (wait no longer)
Another surprise was the amount of success The Bourne Ultimatum achieved. It was nominated for Best Film Editing, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing and walked away with all three Oscars. Isn’t it unusual for an action film to get much attention from The Academy?
Not surprising, however, were the musical numbers during the show. To put it bluntly, they sucked. The only performance that was borderline tolerable was the “Happy Working Song” from Enchanted. Enchanted had 3 songs nominated for Best Music (Song). Not surprising, since it was one of very few musicals out during the year. The movie didn’t, however, win for any of them. I seem to recall the musical performances at the 2007 Awards being equally dismal. These moments are definitely the best opportunities for bathroom breaks and drink refreshing.
One of the best features of The Academy Awards each year is the chance to preview gobs of movies and short films. Fresh on my list to see are: The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood and a smattering of short film and animation.
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