Once again the (now undeservedly) biggest night for film has come and gone. I figured I would give my thoughts on the event.

Let’s start with Hugh Jackman. I actually thought Hugh Jackman was a pretty good host, he was much better than I thought he would be and he was definitely much better than Jon Stewart or Chris Rock. He brought  a decent change of pace. I do hope to see Steve Martin or Billy Crystal return soon though.

Something that I have to comment on was the fact that they did not show any clips of the movies or performances of any of the nominees. Instead they just had various winners of the awards past come out and talk about the nominees. Was this the “big change” the Oscars promised us? I’m sorry but this whole concept was just kind of stupid (to put it bluntly). It just doesn’t make any sense: “Let’s celebrate film and great performances, but not show why we nominate them in the first place.” Who in the world thought this would be a good idea? They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so a picture with words is probably worth a whole lot more still. It just made everything seem anti-climactic.

In the case of some awards they showed a video montage of movies in any particular category that was released in 2008, but these videos seemed kind of cluttered and they all seemed accompanied by terribly annoying music. Even Wall-E’s best animated feature victory seemed slightly bogged down by an exceptionally annoying montage before hand.

Speaking of the best animated feature Oscar, I have to say while it may be one of the only awards I still have respect for, I fear it is merely becoming a token award to whatever highly acclaimed animated film is released in the year. For example, people made a big deal that Wall-E was nominated for six academy awards, tying with Beauty and the Beast for the most nominations for an animated film. But it really didn’t matter because the only major award it had a hope of winning was best animated feature. I’m sorry but the whole “it’s an honor just to be nominated” thing only goes so far. Why even nominate Wall-E for best original screenplay if it has no chance of winning due to a personal bias? Forget the fact that Wall-E was more acclaimed than any of the films nominated for best picture, if it wins its token award it’s getting its due…ugghh..

One highlight of the night shockingly came from the winners of the best documentary categories. It was great to see documentaries like Man on Wire  and Smile Pinki win, they both seem like they have a meaningful purposes and aren’t just about some political loudmouth making a one-sided point.

On the subject of politics, I thought the show was going okay in that department for a while…Then Sean Penn won best actor…I swear that man is completely insane. So anyone that doesn’t agree with him should be ashamed of themselves? And their children should be ashamed? And their children’s children? That’s just wrong. You know what, movies are an art form. Politics are corrupt. If you bring politics into the picture, then you are corrupting art. Sean Penn may as well spit on the Mona Lisa, because it would be no different than what he’s doing now.

I was also somewhat surprised that Mickey Rourke didn’t win best actor. I mean I’m not all that familiar with his work, but he was the favorite to win and has won pretty much every other best actor award out there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t win because he may have participated at Wrestlemania (because you know the academy looks down on any form of entertainment that isn’t pretentious). I find it ridiculous if that were to hurt his chances, what’s so bad about someone capitalizing on their fame from something they have received so much praise for?

It was also good to see Japan win two Oscars before the night was done (best foreign language film and best animated short film). Japan’s win for best animated short film is also only the second Japanese animation to win an academy award (after Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away), and I especially liked the director’s clever remark of “Domo arigato Mr. Roboto”.

Some of my favorite moments of Oscar night were the clever one-liners from the likes of Jack Black and Will Smith. I found Jack Black’s joke about Pixar’s dominance in the animation division to be quite funny. Will Smith gave me the most memorable moment of the night when he said ” with all due respect to the other types of movies, I love action movies. I love movies with car chases, explosions and what else..oh yeah FANS.” That really made my day. I applaud Will Smith for giving a much deserve slap to the face to all the pretentious snobs of Hollywood. Thank you Will Smith, thank you! I miss the old days when films like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Marry Poppins could be nominated for best picture, but now the academy awards would never even consider doing such a thing. They no longer care about artfulness, they only care for their false perception of being “artsy”. Art should be recognized as a successful product of one’s imagination, yet the most imaginative films are treated as some kind of side show. Thank heavens for the likes of Will Smith, who aren’t afraid to tell the truth to the pretentious snoots of Hollywood.

No matter how low the academy sets its “standards”, I always give my respect to the in Memoriam part of the show. It was truly sad to see a clip of Paul Newman at the end of the video, he really was one of a kind.

Slumdog Millionaire as best picture was a great move given the nominees. If they couldn’t throw their bias aside for movies like Wall-E and The Dark Knight, it was good to see a film like Slumdog win.

The other award worth any mention was, of course, the late Heath Ledger’s best supporting actor win. It wasn’t a pity Oscar in any way (like Martin Scorsese’s best director Oscar a few years ago), he truly deserved it. It is only a shame that his victory wasn’t as impactful as it could have been due to them not showing a clip of his performance. Whoever thought that talking about the nominees was a good idea should start looking for a new job if you ask me.

So all around for a show that promised “big changes” it seemed like a lot more of the same to me. The movies nominated for most of the awards were the same kinds of films that always get nominated. Some of the most acclaimed films were snubbed of their dues. We had an idiot try to spread a message of hate against all those that don’t agree with him. There were a few good moments (and I mean a few), but what was good was completely eclipsed by the predictable nature of the snobs of Hollywood. The few “changes” that were present just took away from the show instead of adding to it. Hollywood is going to have to really “change” its ways if they expect people to give a care. Because if you ask me, the Oscars just don’t shine like they once did.