fuck a movie*

Well. I've had that title sitting in the draft box for a few days, anticipating another Oscar night that would throw me into a three-day depression (as did the winning nights for at least three of the last six years). But whaddya know, I kind of had a good time watching the show last night (the bottle of zinfandel perhaps helping things along).

Before I get into things, however, I've got to preface by saying that I'm not after talkin' too much pop culture here (and despite what certain pompous old shut-in nannies might think, the Oscars are pop culture), but this does bring me to another reason for starting a blog- I was inundated with 'what did you think' emails this morning, and it was my pleasure to refer those people here- please don't think me lazy or unfeeling; I feel in the end I'll be communicating many things better this way.

On to the show-seems they've tightened up the proceedings quite a bit- it may have seemed slow to some of you, but I popped in a tape of the 2004 ceremony over breakfast this morning (the only ceremony I haven't seen live since 1986, I think), and this one had the pace of a CSI episode compared to even three years ago.
I actually wept a bit during the foreign-language films montage (again-zinfandel)- I didn't realize how many of those fantastic films actually won Oscars, and how many of them I had actually seen- seemed like most of the fifty they went through. And the montage about writers- I wept at this as well, but they were horrified tears of recognition. I love a montage, though Michael Mann's was preposterous.

And, happily, I lost the pool this year- Scorcese actually won. I realized I may have been a bit too cynical in thinking that the academy would remain freaked-out by his violence; what I didn't realize is that he's been making films for nearly forty years- the average length of time it takes for them to accept a cultural norm.
Forest Whitaker had the best acceptance speech ever. Ever in the history of anything.
The constant commentary about how 'diverse' the nominees were was, to me, a little off-putting. I long for the far-off day when things are all Star Trek-y and we don't even have to draw attention to this.
Jerry Seinfeld was a straight-up asshole when he introduced the documentaries as 'five incredibly depressing movies' or whatever he said.

So, not bad for a year of largely uninteresting movies- I couldn't even come up with ten for my 2006 year-end roundup- The Devil and Daniel Johnston
- Half Nelson -The Departed
- L'Enfant - Casino Royale
- Art School Confidential
- Clerks II -Winter Passing

And only one of those would make it in a good year.
For more half-assed Oscar thoughts check out Harry Knowles' psychotic, as-it-happened coverage

* today's title is a line in 'Where are all the Guards?', a deleted scene from 'Trailer Park Boys: The Movie", spoken by Eugene Clark, who by my reckoning gives the funniest performance committed to Canadian film in 2006 in this scene alone.