Thoughts on last night's Oscar

I didn't watch the whole thing. I was playing with my computer, taking showers, and went out to dinner, so I skipped some parts. But here are my thoughts:

Ellen DeGenerees sucks as a host. She's lame and not really funny. Ellen made me miss Jon Stewart from last year and he wasn't even that great, but at least he's funny ("for those keeping score: three-six mafia 1, martin scorsese 0"). How come nobody thought of bringing Jon Stewart back especially when this year, Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth features prominently this year.

There are good commercials, but nothing memorable (Apple iPhone comes close). I missed last year's AmEx commercial by Shyamalan (before the lady in the water fiasco).

My prediction results: 11/20 = 55%. I don't know if it's good or bad. But I'm proud of predicting 2 things correctly: Eddie Murphy not winning The Oscar and The Departed for Best Picture.

I said it here before and I'll bring it up again. Eddie Murphy would not win an Oscar because he had that stinking joke called Norbit getting released before Oscar. I was surprised that Eddie Murphy didn't beg or do anything in his power to get that movie postponed after the oscar, I'd definitely do that if I was him. I think the academy is very kind enough to get him nominated (with his recent track records) and seeing Norbit released is like getting the finger from Murphy. I hope that Eddie will take this snub as a sign to make Better movies. Some actors can survive a bad movie or 2, but Eddie Murphy hasn't done anything good since Bowfinger in 1999 (I'm not counting Shrek since it's just voice work). Daddy Day Care? Pluto Nash? The Haunted Mansion? ewww... It's a wonder that the guy still has a career after a string of bad movies ... sigh. Eddie, please come back and make a good movie again.

However, Alan Arkin winning instead? I say it was undeserved. (SPOILER ALERT)
The dude died halfway through Little Miss Sunshine, before he could make a great impression. If there's anyone more deserving in that film, it's Steve Carell (and he didn't even get any mention). If this is a gesture to reward Arkin's career, I'd accept it. But I think the award should have gone to Mark Wahlberg (or Murphy, if he hasn't made Norbit). (END SPOILER ALERT)

On The Departed winning the best picture. This year's best picture oscar is a wide open race, unlike last 2 years. What made me pick The Departed is simple. It's the most seen movie of all the nominees (with the highest grossing box office). If the history of oscar has taught us, box office can make/break a best picture win: consider Titanic and Gladiator. Whereas in the past 2 years when Million $ Baby and Crash won, they didn't have any nominees with high box office. So I'm not surprised if The Departed won, even if it's undeserved. When you have the academy consisting of 5000+ voting members, don't you think the most seen film would win it hands down?

Somewhere along the show, somebody mentioned The Departed as a remake of JAPANESE film Infernal Affairs. I didn't catch it because I was taking shower then, but my sister, roommate and even a friend in Canada told me about it. Hello!! It's a Hong Kong film. Okay, I'd have to go asian film fanboy here. Everybody has their opinion. But IMHO, Infernal Affairs is a better film than The Departed and it didn't even get nominated for Best Foreign Film in 2002/2003. and finally they hand the best picture to the remake and called the original film a Japanese film? How ignorant. and the best adapted screenplay win? Come on, the screenplay copies a lot from the original and it only adds a lot of profanities and violence to it. I was upset for a short while about this Hollywood disrespect to Hong Kong film industry (No HK film ever get nominated for best foreign film). But then again, that's just the way Hollywood and Oscar works - just a popularity contest. If there's anything positive from this, it's that Martin Scorsese is classy enough to mention that Infernal Affairs is a Hong Kong film and thanks the "wonderful asian cinema". Scorsese, such a gentleman that everyone else in Hollywood should follow.

Scorsese finally won Best Director. I say good for him. I watched his win when I was in a restaurant having my dinner and I clapped my hand. Even if he had won it for the wrong film, it has been long overdue.

Lastly, Al Gore's clever stunt announcement really had me on the edge of my seat and it was the best and most memorable moment of the night.