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entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
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by rick grant
rickgrant01@comcast.net
Ellen DeGeneres pulled the rabbit out of the hat with her confident demeanor and funny material as host of the 2007 Academy Awards. Ellen looked right at home in front of the many celebrities, many of whom she has interviewed on her daily talk show. Her best line was, “If there weren’t blacks, Jews, and gays there would be no Oscars. Or, anyone named Oscar, when you think about that.”
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Not long after Ellen’s monologue, the boredom set in as a parade of Hollywood royalty came up to get their slap on the back and blabber their lame remarks. By now, with ratings plummeting for this overblown thank-a-thon, the producers could have come up with a new format. My recommendation: Just have a live show with televised highlights on Access Hollywood.
There were some noteworthy moments that perked up the slumbering beast of a show, like Al Gore’s fake “announcement” which got drowned out by the orchestra. Helen Mirren’s acceptance speech for winning and Oscar for The Queen, in which she paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth. “For 50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty, and her hairstyle,” Mirren said. Then she held up Oscar and saluted the Queen.
Finally, it was Martin Scorsese’s night. He won best director and best picture for The Departed. He quipped, “Could you double-check the envelope?” It was about time Scorsese won. His body of work is Oscar worthy in toto. His first nomination was in 1981 for Raging Bull, and then The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, and Gangs of New York. Scorsese paid tribute to Leonardo DiCaprio for his stellar acting in a slew of his films. Wow, for DiCaprio to receive such praise from this filmmaking icon was better than winning an Oscar. Scorsese considers DiCaprio his collaborator on the films they have done together.
Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role as Effie in Dream girls. Not only was she dissed by Simon but it was her first film. Somewhere out there, Simon was eating crow. She and her co-stars in Dreamgirls performed songs from the musical, further proving she has the pipes and charisma to justify her Oscar. Now maybe she’ll get over herself.
My pick and favorite to win best actor was Forest Whitaker, who took home a statue for his remarkable portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. Whitaker gave a short but poignant acceptance speech.
Al Gore’s “slide show” about the dangers of global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, shot by Davis Guggenheim, won for best documentary. Of course, the film’s director was the honoree, but Gore’s presentation hammered home the substantiated facts that unequivocally prove the trapped carbon dioxide from pollution in the atmosphere is causing the “green house effect,” wreaking havoc on the planet. When asked how it felt to be a rock star, Gore replied, “William Hung (the American Idol reject) is a rock star, I just had a slide show.” Yeah, but Gore has loved every minute of all the attention.
Melissa Etheridge’s song, I Need to Wake Up for Gore’s documentary won an Oscar for best song. Etheridge thanked her wife and praised Gore for teaching people about this threat to humanity. It was a sweet victory for Etheridge who battled beat cancer and beat it.
In her opening monologue, DeGeneres talked about the international theme of this Academy Awards show. “Spain is in the house. Japan is representing. I think I see a few Americans as well, of course, I’m talking about the seat fillers,” she joked.
The foreign actors nominated for awards included Adriana Barraba from Mexico and Rinko Kikuchi from Japan who were in Babel. Aussie, Cate Blanchett was nominated for her role in Notes on A Scandal. From Spain, Penelope Cruz was nominated for Volver. Fourteen people saw this film and they were all critics. DeGeneres recognized Daimon Hounsou for Blood Diamond. Of course, the British were well represented by Helen Mirren for The Queen, Judi Dench for Notes on A Scandal, and Kate Winslet for Little Children.
The big upset of the evening was Alan Arkin winning best supporting actor for Little Miss Sunshine, beating out Eddie Murphy for his stand out performance in Dreamgirls. Arkin was my choice on my SEFCA ballot. His heroin addicted, foul-mouthed grandfather was a pivotal character in that wonderful movie.
By the time this hurray-for-me marathon ended, most people were asleep. DeGeneres did a great job as host. Her colorful costume changes and clever jokes livened up the lead weighted snoozer. Please, no more award shows unless producers make everyone appear naked. Now that would keep even me awake. Well, maybe not.
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