monday evening oscars

Every time I stare at Jeff Bridges I could only see the Dude? It's like any moment I expect him to blurt out, I'm not Mr. Lebowski, man, I'm the Dude. One thing that I realized upon viewing the Oscars is that I have to watch the films that took my fancy; The Hurt Locker, The Blind Side, Precious Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Crazy Heart, Up in the Air, A Serious Man, In the Loop, Up. Janette was talking about paying Julie and Julia a visit the year before but it couldn’t capture my imagination. I’m wondering the hesitation on my part as Amy Adams has multiple Oscar nominations and I’m totally mad about Junebug. Every year Meryl Streep gets to be nominated any way. She doesn’t win but the winners never fail to refer to the stunning achievement on just being nominated with her.

The best part of the of the 2010 Oscar ceremonies was the tribute to John Hughes and I have to reconcile myself with the older version of Anthony Michael Hall. I really couldn’t, he’ll always be this teenage geek in The Breakfast Club and 16 Candles. I love those films. I still see them on occasions when I want to forget I’m nearing my scary age and my self-esteem gets battered day after day.

The awards night was a tad longer than usual. I always say that every year. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. In the 80’s, Steve Martin was already Steve Martin, the star of Roxanne, The Three Amigos, Parenthood and my babe’s favorite, The Man with Two Brains while Alec Baldwin was in the cast of Knots Landing, one of my juvenile cravings. He jumped into a building and I was muttering to my twelve year old self, would he be still alive in the next episode? He was such a good looking dude. Those were the years when it took like two or three seasons for an American series to be shown on Philippine shores. But now Alec Baldwin is a comic while Steve Martin is still Steve Martin, funny, especially in the ad libs, "I wrote that speech for him," that cracked me up.

I had the feeling that The Hurt Locker would win both in Best Picture and Director. It’s about time a woman should win in directing. Kathryn Bigelow is stunning at her age. Avatar is a cinematic achievement, a box office behemoth but The Hurt Locker feels real. The acting categories were all no-brainers. There are no elements of surprise like Sean Penn’s win in Milk. I was so ready for Mickey Rourke’s applause last year when boom, Madonna’s ex got to have it. Sandra Bullock’s films are romantic comedies and all that crap. She’s popular, so memorable in Demolition Man and made me forget my afflictions when I saw Legally Blonde. Personally I prefer Gabourey Sidibe, but Sandra Bullock makes me smile. As for the Meryl Streep fan clubs who are fuming, the trend was there for everyone to see. The Baftas may have gone off with patriotic choices in the lead roles but all others are into the Bullock machine. The Academy may nominate La Meryl a lot of times, another actress may take the nod every time but she is a by-word of excellence.