Mild Surprises at the Oscars

Well, another year in film has come and gone, and courtesy of the end of the writer’s strike, the televised Oscar ceremony aired as scheduled.

The list of winners yielded a few surprises, but nothing really in the shock category. Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem were both anticipated and deserving victors in their Actor and Supporting Actor categories. The women winners however, were a bit unexpected. As noted in an earlier blog, the Connoisseur had penned in Julie Christie for her work in Away From Her to bring home the Best Actress Oscar. French Actess Marion Cotillard proved me wrong, and was a very gracious and seemingly shocked winner.

As for the other main categories, the Coen brothers getting the Director nod was as expected, but their film No Country For Old Men winning the Best Motion Picture category caught me a bit off guard. With the buzz surrounding Atonement the past few weeks, I thought for sure it was the proverbial lock to take home the statue.

While the ceremony itself wasn’t spectacular, we feel John Stewart was a bright spot. His dry and sarcastic humor is the perfect counterpoint for this occasionally ponderous event and we hope to see him return next year.

OK, enough of the red carpet stuff. Now it’s time to eat another year’s worth of popcorn and see what films will be worthy for the Oscar in 2009!