Own the rights?
Another year comes round and we find ourselves facing down the barrel of a long night of clapping and awards. However with Sky yet again buying the rights and sticking it on a subscription only channel, all I had was a two hour highlights show which I suppose is not too bad as it is long enough to get it all in but not so long that there will be loads of dead time to content with. We open with some time "interviewing" the stars on the red carpet and we get to see how out of her depth Fern Cotton is – she can do silly things for the BBC but surrounded by the stars she just seems like a little girl all dressed up.Anyway, we move into the show proper and I can only assume that Ellen DeGeneres was terrible because Sky cut it back to nothing. Regardless though, what little of her I did see left me pretty unimpressed and I didn't think she was that suited to this big event and was not particularly funny. The musical numbers were a bit too long but they were a welcome addition compared to the dance interpretations of various films – my god they were cringe worthy (and what bad taste to have a "devil" dancer following the "in memoriam" section). As usual some of the presenters are given terrible lines to deliver and some of them can do nothing with it – those presenting with someone else seem to struggle the most as they deliver unfunny "routines" with barely a touch of chemistry.The winners themselves were a rather mixed bunch but nothing really too contentious. The main awards mostly fell as predicted. Did anyone on Earth doubt that Mirren would take it, but her acceptance speech was a bit weird. Meanwhile Whitaker deserved it for a great turn. I'm not so sure about Hudson but I have not seen any of the films in the "supporting actress" category so I cannot really comment. Arkin is always a class act and I'm glad he picked one up for Little Miss Sunshine – also giving that film exposure. Although I wasn't all that taken by The Departed, it was a solid "best picture" and was a good opportunity to give Scorsese his Oscar – he deserves it more for other films but he deserves one, full stop. Talking of legends, the Honorary Award for Morricone was a good one and well deserved when you think back over how memorable his work has been down the years. Of course I say this without actually having seen his award because, along with about 12 other awards, Sky neglected to show the presentation or even give a quick recap of "other" awards. Why they chose to not even spare 60 seconds for these I cannot say but it was shoddy and yet another reason I regret them being able to bully their way into every series or event they chose. A more cynical reviewer may suggest that the halfassed way they have covered the Oscars in recent years might be because they only bought it to prevent others having it, but luckily I am not cynical (although their childish spat with the equally childish Virgin in the UK at the moment might change that for me).Overall then a solid show with mostly good winners. Personally I think The Departed was flattered a little but otherwise the best people did win the big awards and, although it wasn't particularly tense or surprising, it did make for an OK year.
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