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With half a box of Chardonnay
Thank goodness they don’t have to give Martin Scorsese an honorary Oscar. Now that he’s won one of his own (and on merit, not sentiment), he’s left the ranks of those who haven’t been recognized for their contributions while they were still working in movies, like Alfred Hitchcock and Peter O’Toole. With that being said, I was hoping for Babel to win Best Picture. I saw The Departed and loved it, but Babel is the one movie this year that was everything a movie should be. It was emotional and entertaining and enlightening. It was the most cinematic movie I saw all year. I know there are critics who question its merit, but I thought it was an incredible achievement, and the one movie of 2006 that advanced the art form.

I’d be hard pressed to say what the biggest shock of the night was. Most of the major awards went as expected, except for Alan Arkin winning Best Supporting Actor instead of Eddie Murphy. But how could Cars not have been the Best Animated Feature? How could Pan’s Labyrinth win three awards, but not Best Foreign Language Film? And was Jennifer Hudson really better than Adriana Barraza? Was anybody?

Of all the movies that won awards tonight, I have to admit that the only ones I actually saw were The Departed, Babel, Little Miss Sunshine and An Inconvenient Truth. The only Best Actor nominee I saw was Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson, and the only Best Actress was Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, and I knew neither was going to win. The only sure thing of the night (and it’s a good thing I’m not a betting man) was Cars, and it lost to Happy Feet, which I haven’t seen. I liked Monster House, too. I was pretty confident in that category.

The show itself was entertaining enough, even though it ran almost an hour long. I liked Ellen DeGeneres as the host, because I felt confident that she wouldn’t dishonor the occasion. I love film montages, but this year’s were not the best I’ve ever seen, just good enough. The dance troupe behind the curtain did an amazing job, and the musical number featuring Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly was surprisingly entertaining. I just wish Babel had won more. And Cars. I can’t quite get over that one.

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