Ahhh-scar

A fun year. A few surprises. Strong contests with many fine performances and interesting films (I saw many nominees this year, more than in any recent year).

LOVED the way the acting awards were introduced with sincere praise by past winners. There were so many brimming eyes, including mine. Really affecting.

However, I was disappointed that the Best Actor presenters were all white - I guess Forest Whitaker, Jaime Fox, and Denzel were all unavailable. And I guess Daniel Day Lewis (last year's winner) was not available, but shame on him for breaking a great tradition.

I thought Kate Winslet deserved her award, but I read quite a bit suggesting that her performance in Revolutionary Road was better than The Reader (I saw the latter but not yet the former). I also heard that Harvey Weinstein pushed The Reader hard after changing the release date from 2009 to 2008, and that it was all very political. Apparently there were some hard feelings because all the maneuvering left Sam Mendes without a Best Director nod. But he'll have more chances certainly. As will others who were overlooked.

Speaking of which, for our Oscar pool, I chose Sean Penn for Best Actor (based on his SAG win), but I was honestly sorry to be right. I really wanted Mickey Rourke to win. He's gotten other acknowledgement, but you can't top "Oscar Winner."

Loved Sean Penn's speech, of course, but did he forget to thank his wife? (Maybe she's his "best friend" - mentioned first - I hope so!) I found most of the speeches heart felt and well said.

I was a bit surprised at the way Slumdog Millionaire became the early front runner - it was a good movie, but I thought there were other strong contenders. And it's a foreign-made movie with no known stars. Yes, you'd expect it to win at Cannes, but not necessarily the Academy Award. Is this the start of trend???

LOVED Queen Latifah singing "At Last" during the In Memorium segment - lovely and appropriate.

Liked some of the tribute videos - comedies, romance, action pictures - but the live tribute to musicals was overly long and excessive.

I thought Hugh Jackman was o.k., but not great. Kinda boring - not funny and not all that charismatic either. Definitely did not live up to the hype. Bring back Jon Stewart or Billy Crystal.

And why did Reese Witherspoon give the Best Director award? Totally incongruous and she did not strike the right notes, IMO.

Neither did Bill Maher, who presented the documentary awards. He came across as rather shrill, which is odd, because in general, he's funny as hell. Not in his element, clearly.

And while I'm complaining, I'll say that I resented Will Smith's remarks about action movies being the only ones that have fans. That really annoys me. I'm a huge movie fan - just because I don't pay to see the same movie 7 or 8 times, I still deserve to be acknowledged!

As for the dresses - I was happy to see some color this year after the last couple of years with too much beige. And very glamorous.

Favorites:
Natalie Portman in pink
Alicia Keyes in purple
Kate Winslet (what would you call that color?)
Meryl Streep in grey
Amy Adams in red
Bridget Fonda in red
Virginia Madsen in red
Rachel Evan Wood in cream
Jennifer Grey in black
Diane Lane in black
Robin Wright Penn in black
Angelina Jolie in black (though the earrings were a bit much)
Viola Davis in gold
Freida Pinto (from SDM) in blue
Queen Latifah in blue (the one she arrived in)

Hated these:
Marisa Tomei in cream excess
Jessica Biel in cream weirdness
Sophia Loren in gold excess
Whoopie Goldberg in animal print
Vanessa Hudgens in black excess
Phoebe Cates in unflattering red
Queen Latifah in blue (the one she performed in)
Sarah Jessica Parker (not sure what to call that, and too much boob)
Myley Cyrus (not sure what to call that)
Amanda Seyfried in red (I was never a fan of big bows)

Can't decide:
Melissa Leo in brown - a pretty dress but it didn't seem to suit her perfectly
Penelope Cruz in white that was on the border of too much
Marion Cotillard in black & blue that bordered on too much
Reese Witherspoon in black & blue that bordered on too much
Taraji Henson in cream that bordered on too much
Beyonce in black and gold that bordered on too much
Tilda Swinton was on the border of too weird
Heidi Klum in red that wasn't especially flattering
Anne Hathaway in silver - flattering but on the border of too much