And the winner was…
Let me start off by saying that I’m the kind of guy who feels he needs to give a shoutout every now and then: when the system works.
Last Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony marked the first time in eight years that I paid any attention to the Oscars. After all, we think the whole thing is a political sham, someone nudging our societal values in their direction. If so, the best way for some hypothetically-manipulative power to reach people like me is with a gimmick!
Enter: The Host of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart.
Now I’ll admit the only reason I watched this year’s glamour parade was because I knew Jon would take the opportunity to let his audience, Hollywood, know how he was feeling. And I wasn’t disappointed. At the same time, I actually sat through some of the non-Jon garbage. The first hour I watched everything except the montages (there. were. montages…), but around the beginning of the second hour I had to skip through the dull awards and the presenters I didn’t like, and the victory speeches by people I didn’t care about and my, my how the president of the Academy didn’t stand a chance. By the third hour I was just watching the whole thing on fast-forward. (Oh, did I mention I didn’t watch it on television? I downloaded it so ABC wouldn’t get the rating points.)
What was my point?
Oh, right. Some of the winners actually weren’t bad: March of the Penguins, Wallace and Gromit, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck, etc. And because I haven’t seen all of the nominees, I’ve started finding them out; some of them are actually good. At least someone in the business is dedicated to creating meaningful work. If a means of guiding society’s values is embedded in such an art form, I’m going to make my peace with it. (Drink Coke™)
Didn’t catch it? Here’s a cynically honest review.
Tags: Academy Awards, good things, movies