Hollywood,CA(Hollywood A to Z)—Glued to the television like most of the world I started as all with the talking heads on the Red Carpet. The afternoon began by sailing around the mega yacht parked Marina del Rey bay called Salene. Rumor has it that this 440 ft yacht owned by a very rich Russian of Vodka fame will host quite a party tonight. Back to the Oscars, I have my standouts for looks of course. The most beautiful is Michelle Williams. Brad for the guys.
Welcome back Billy Crystal. Greater than ever, he made his entrance in a short showing him as a character in many of the nominated films to the enjoyment of all. Still the supreme comedian and entertainer he thankfully sang a great medley of famous melodies making fun of all of the famous stars. Tom Hanks presented the first awards for Cinematography and Art Direction both going to Hugo. Well deserved.
Costume design presented by the delightful duo of Cameron Diaz and JLo went to the Artist and Mark Bridges. Best makeup went to The Iron Lady. I thought Hugo would win but the makeup for Meryl Streep was fabulous.
Best Foreign Language film went to Separation from Iran with bit of a political speech by the winner placing art above conflict. Well said and presented by Sandra Bullock. The first big award of Supporting Actress went absolutely to Octavia Spencer who was brilliant and presented by Christian Bale to her delight.
Tina Fey and Bradley Cooper presented the awards for Film Editing going to Girl with the Dragon Tatoo and Sound Editing to Hugo. Martin Scorcese’s film winning all of the technical awards so far. It is a gift to work with him. The sound Editing award went to Hugo also.
The Muppets Miss Piggy and Kermit instroduced the amazing Cirque du Solei who werer amazing. This was followed by Billy joking about the geriatric generation of actors. Bewn Stiller and Emma Stone were very funny hamming it up before giving the award for Visual Effects to Hugo.
Gwenneth Paltrow and Robert Downy Jr. had a very funny bit about documentary and presented the award to Undefeated. Chris Rock was great and presented the award for best Animation to Rango. I loved that film. Ben Stiller followed for Visual Effects going again to Hugo. Billy again with a funny bit about Harry Potter paying 14% income tax.
Melissa Leo gave the Best Supporting Actor award to Christopher Plummer who won at 82 years old setting the record. He gave a great acceptance speech. He is one of the living icons of cinema. Penelope Cruz and Owen Wilson gave the award for best Original Score to Ludovic Bource for the Artist. NO Surprise.
Hilarious Will Farrell and Zack entered from the pit with cymbals and presented the best Original song. Remember the old days when there were many performed by great singers. Now there are only two candidates. That is very sad. A big part of Oscar lost this year. Man or Muppet won the honors.
Gorgeous Angolina Jolie sporting a gorgeous leg gave the award for Adapted Screenplay to the Descendants. The winners made good fun of her leg. Ah, but what a leg that will be famous for eternity. Then the Best Original Screenplay went to my hero Woody Allen. The Shore won Best Live Action short presented hilariously by the Brides Maids. Best Documentary Short went to Saving Face a story of medical miracles in Pakistan . Best animated short went to Fantastic Flying Books to 2 Louisiana filmmakers . Warm thank you.
Michael Douglas presented the Best Director to The Artist and Michael Hazanavicius. Special Awards to James Earl Jones and Opera Winfrey and makeup artist Dick Smith
The music from What A Wonderful World was the background for the list of the fallen that included Whitney Houston, Peter Falk, Cliff Robertson, Jane Russell and Elizabeth Taylor among the many. Finally Natalie Portman last years winner presented the Best Actress Award to Meryl Streep who gave a moving acceptance speech worthy of the grand dame of cinema.
The Best Picture award went to The Artist, the grand winner of the evening and as stated the only film made entirely in Los Angeles, even by a French Production.
What do I think? The show was well done and Billy Crystal is Mr. Oscar and should always be there. I remember him on Soap and have admired him all of these years. I miss the musical numbers of past years when music played a dominant role on the show. Maybe it is time to introduce music and song again to the Oscars. All and all it was a great year in film with great performances and productions. With the innovations in technical advances, we can only imagine what the future of cinema will be. The dreams of Star Wars may soon be a reality.
