80th Annual Academy Awards

One word:

BORING

I suppose that's because I really don't care.

It's not that I don't love movies. I do.

I don't enjoy these awards shows anymore.

Red carpet, red shmarpet.

Most of the women were wearing black or red dresses. So many of the dresses were strapless that it's as if there was a "no straps" dress code in place. The men were wearing bow ties instead of straight. So what? I don't care what the stars wear.

Jon Stewart did a good job, I guess. Nothing special.

About ten years ago, I grew tired of seeing Jack Nicholson wearing those sunglasses, smirking, and sitting in the front row for no good reason.

Many of the winners, both in the acting and technical awards, weren't Americans. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just an observation.

At about 9:15 CT, after returning from a commercial break, Jon Stewart was playing Wii tennis. Not quite as bad as David Letterman doing a Stupid Pet Tricks segment on the Oscars, but close.

At 10:10 CT, Tom Hanks introduced a group of soldiers currently serving in Iraq. From Baghdad, they announced the nominees and awarded the Oscar for best documentary short subject. The winner: Freeheld

Was that supposed to show that Hollywood supports the troops?

Back to Tom Hanks to announce the nominees for best documentary feature--

Three of the documentary nominees dealt with war and torture.

Thank God Michael Moore and SiCKO didn't win. That's the highlight of the night for me.

The winner was Taxi to the Dark Side, the torture documentary. In his acceptance speech, Alex Gibney was the first of the night to get overtly political, mentioning Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

He said, "Let's hope we can turn this country around. Move away from the dark side."

Riiiight.

At three hours, the awards for best actor, director, and picture were still to come.

I was happy that Daniel Day-Lewis won. He gave a nice acceptance speech, thanking his grandfather, father, and his three sons.

I want to thank the Academy for not giving George Clooney the Oscar and sparing the audience his self-important drivel.

None of the acting awards went to an American. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

As last year's winner for The Departed, Martin Scorsese awarded the best director Oscar. Joel and Ethan Coen won for No Country for Old Men.

No Country for Old Men also won best picture.

OK.

I began to be turned off by the Oscars when Kevin Costner won best director for Dances with Wolves and Martin Scorsese wasn't recognized for GoodFellas. It was bad enough when Scorsese didn't win an Oscar for Raging Bull, losing out to Robert Redford. The Costner thing was too much.

Clearly, the best don't always win.

My favorite part of this year's show was the clips of past Oscar broadcasts.

I enjoyed watching the few seconds of Bette Davis awarding the best actor Oscar to Marlon Brando for On the Waterfront more than any of the show's live moments.

The show ended at 10:47. Three hours and seventeen minutes was relatively short but it seemed like one of the longest shows ever.

Dull, dull, dull.

That said, as always, I expect to be watching next year.