80 years without a highlight
As promised, my spoiler-free rundown of the Oscars ceremony. Tonight you will see a fairly smooth, if largely predictable, ceremony.There were no embarrassing speeches, but no highlights either.
The Daily Show's Jon Stewart brought his usual dry humour to the evening, with a few running gags about pregnant celebs, and a "what might have been" look at a strike affected Awards.
Some of the clips of previous ceremonies had some sentimental moments, but as an 80th celebration it was a little on the routine side.
The musical numbers (assuming they remain in the Nine package) were more Broadway than Hollywood, no doubt because three of them were from Enchanted.
The In Memoriam section as always was sad, finishing with one poignant loss in particular.
One acceptance speech winner, cut short by the music, was invited back after the break to have their moment. Another got lost for words and cued the music themselves!
One category is 'presented' via satellite from US soldiers in Baghdad. The most staggering part of this package was their youthful age. It reeked of America having sent its children to war -perhaps that was the intent?
Harrison Ford looked half-asleep giving his presentation. Jennifer Hudson was lousy. Best were Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen.
And boy were there a lot of television-stars-who-have-done-the-odd-movie as presenters.
Best frock: Helen Mirren.
The best pre-show fun was in watching Richard Wilkins fluff his lines on the red carpet during the live satellite feed, none of which will remain in the edited highlights tonight.
