Sunday night marked the 84th annual Academy Awards. I was so pleasantly pleased by the return of a classy affair, hosted by the delightful, and tasteful Billy Crystal. The whole evening hearkened back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, from the sets, which shone with a technicolor brilliance, to the glamorous gowns, to the lack of bleeps blocking out bad language, to the types of pictures that walked away with the majority of Oscars.
Having Billy Crystal back as the MC, with his Bob Hopeian presence, felt like the return of an old friend. I loved his movie montage at the start of the program, especially,for some reason, his rendition of Tin Tin. (He looked like one of the lollipop kids!) Funny, clever and professional he was; disrespectful, crude and crass he wasn't. What a breath of fresh air. I'm tried of watching hosts make unbelievably rude, shocking and embarrassing jokes and remarks about the guests we're trying to honor. Leave that to the Grammy's and the MTV Music Awards, which are entertaining in their own right, but not the right tone for the Oscars.
An old Hollywood feel was evident at every turn. From the richly colored velvet curtain, to the sparkly crystal backdrop to the old style movie marquee, the Golden Age of Hollywood was ever present. Even the guests seemed to be in period attire. No meat dresses here... just glamorous, dazzling and classy elegance. There were a few moments of inelegance and awkwardness...while Angelina, Cameron and Jennifer are the personification of Hollywood glam, their respective strange poses didn't come off well. Angelina's emaciated leg sticking out of the slit in her dress was startling and a far cry from sexy. Was it meant to be funny? and Jennifer and Cameron with their junior high antics of turning around to show off their posteriors was downright embarrassing. I half expected them to pull out their Iphones and take a picture to post to instagram. It was the kind of thing you would expect to see on those other shows...here it just seemed in bad taste. But those scenes were the exception and out of place on this rare night of tasteful revelry.
Even the pictures being honored were reminiscent of old Hollywood. Black and white silent movie, The Artist, is obviously a tribute to the past, with the lead being played by the darling Gene Kelly protege, Jean Dujardin (George Valentin), who stole the night winning best actor. Tap dancing Hollywood hunk? From Gene to Jean...it works for me. Midnight in Paris, War Horse, The Iron Lady, The Help and Hugo all paid homage to the past and used very little or no vulgar language. Is the pendulum swinging back a little a bit? I think so.  |
| Gene Kelly |
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| Jean Dujardin and Bereniece Bejo |
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| Precious! |
The two best speeches of the night were given by Hollywood standbys, Best Actress recipient, Meryl Streep and Best Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer, who represented the old guard and added more class and dignity to the whole affair.
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| Penelope Cruz looking very Grace Kelly |
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