Reaction to the Oscars (with updates)

(Live-blogging below!)

Back when I was the film critic for The Tufts Daily, back when I used to go more frequently to the movies, from high school through to a couple of years ago, I cared about the Academy Awards. I despised them, of course, but I nonetheless took an avid interest.

And now? Not so much.

Why the loathing? Well, my contempt is directed largely at the movie industry's narcissistic self-congratulation, at Hollywood's pretentious, self-important Philistinism, at the culture's general love of all things celebrity, the trends of fleeting fashion, at the elevation of entertainment over art even as the entertainers cozy up to the artists. It's all quite revolting.

Yet -- I'll be watching tonight. Why?

Because of Jon Stewart. And because, well, you just have to watch, don't you? I may derive greater satisfaction from the films of The Criterion Collection than from the hyped-up nominees, but ignoring the Oscars essentially means ignoring the current stream of popularity in a world that is increasingly dominated by American "culture". I may not like it, but it behooves me not to ignore it.

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Which brings me to this: I'm really not all that negative, preceding rant notwithstanding. I do like many mainstream films, and there were some really good ones last year. My pick for the best film of 2005 (and one of the best American films of recent years):

Syriana.

Truly brilliant.

Enjoy the Oscars, folks. They're about to begin...

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Highlights:

-- The opening bit, ending with Jon Stewart and George Clooney in bed together, is hilarious. But Stewart's opening monologue falls a bit flat (and he seems really nervous at the start -- can you blame him?). As with David Letterman, but not quite to that degree, the audience doesn't really know what to make of him -- all those Hollywood bigshots surely wonder if he's crossing the forbidden line that separates sucking up from acute cultural criticism by making too much fun at their expense, by exposing their self-glorification and ultimate mediocrity. He's too much of an outsider, which is why Billy Crystal, the consummate insider and suck up, is always so well liked as host.

-- George Clooney just won for Best Supporting Actor in Syriana. He's one of today's true movie stars, and his performance is excellent, perhaps the best of his career.

-- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won for Best Animated Feature. Very good. It's a wonderful film.

-- Rachel Weisz won for Best Supporting Actress in The Constant Gardener. A solid performance. Plus, it's nice to see John le Carre, one of my favourite novelists (and a highly underrated one), get some recognition, if just through a film adaptation -- speaking of which, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, with Richard Burton, is excellent, and The Russia House, with Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, is pretty good -- but, best of all, see the BBC's George Smiley series with Alec Guinness.

(I haven't seen any of the Best Documentary Short Subject nominees. I'm sure they're good, but -- has anyone?)

-- Best Documentary: March of the Penguins. No surprise. It's a fine film. By the way, did you know that some of the money behind Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room came from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban? Yup, he was the executive producer. (He also co-executive produced Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck.)

(Is John Williams nominated every year?)

This year's Honorary Oscar goes to Robert Altman. Several times nominated, several times snubbed. I don't like all of his work (the awful Short Cuts, for example), but some of his films are brilliant, especially MASH, Nashville, and Gosford Park. Indeed, I'd put Nashville in my list of the 20-25 or so greatest films of all time -- perhaps no other film captures the essence of America so completely.

(It's great to hear Stephen Colbert and Rob Corddry at the Oscars, eh? Their Daily Show-style clips are hilarious.)

How hard is it out there for a pimp?

I haven't seen any of the Best Foreign Language Film nominees. Alas.

(Isn't it rather odd that some of recently deceased get louder applause than others during the in memoriam tribute? Shouldn't there be silence, then general applause?)

And the Best Actor Oscar goes to... Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote. Also no surprise. I haven't seen it yet, but he's been great in pretty much everything he's ever done: Magnolia, Almost Famous, Cold Mountain, etc. Still, I was sort of rooting for David Strathairn in Good Night, and Good Luck (a mesmerizing performance).

And the Best Actress Oscar goes to... Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line. Also no surprise. And, no, I haven't seen it yet. But she was great in Election, one of the funniest movies ever. From Legally Blonde to this. What a crazy world. (But she's a bit too cute and her acceptance speech is really, really annoying...)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Brokeback Mountain. After this, the deluge... (I mean, it'll win Best Picture and Best Director, right?)

I almost always root for Woody Allen in this next category, but I'm hoping for Syriana this year. Best Original Screenplay: Crash -- no, not the one about car accident fetishism by Canadian David Cronenberg, the one about racism by Paul Haggis, another Canadian.

(Could someone please explain to me how Stephen Gaghan wasn't nominated for Best Director for Syriana? A complete and utter injustice.)

Tom Hanks announces the Best Director nominees. The winner: Ang Lee, right? Right. Hoo-wah.

And, finally... the Best Picture of 2005, as announced by Jack Nicholson: Brokeback Mountain, right? Wrong. It's Crash. Something of a surprise, though there seemed to be a lot of momentum behind it.

And so it goes. Jon Stewart did a fine job -- funny, but nothing terribly memorable. It was all rather predictable and the show, on the whole, was rather flat. And that brings our Oscar live-blogging to an end.

Good night, everyone, and... well, you know the rest.