"Oscar Night America"

At the beginning of each near year, everyone is always pondering and preparing for the next Super Bowl. While most of the world is obsessing over that, I am anxiously awaiting the Oscars which are my own personal super bowl. Of all the plethora of award shows on TV these days, this still remains my all time favorite as I love movies and the art of film. The Tampa Theatre holds an annual Oscar Party every year which is one of only 46 “Oscar Night America” events across the country that is sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I have always wanted to attend one of these and as luck would have it I finally had the opportunity Sunday night. It was absolutely wonderful and I had so much fun and met some really interesting people. This black tie event is a mini-version of the actual Oscar ceremonies with all the effort, bells and whistles of Hollywood that you almost feel as if you were attending the ceremonies “live”. Courtesy limousines were provided so that when you arrived, you walk to the passenger loading area, enter your limo, and circle the block and then the car pulls up to the red carpet whereupon you exit to enter the theatre as if you are a “star” with all the pomp and circumstance. You are then greeted by cheers from the other attendees, camera flashing and somewhat of a Joan Rivers look-a-like who was the master of ceremonies. I attended with a lovely lady of whom I have been dating for a couple of weeks and her best friend. One posed as Eva Longoria, the other as Jennifer Aniston and I was a nameless incognito producer who was considering them for my next film.

Upon entering the theatre there were wall to wall evening gowns and black ties in this lovely old restored theatre. I brought the camera in to take a few shots of our party. I always find it amusing that when people see me with this professional Nikon camera, they automatically assume I am with the press or the event itself and I had two or three requests from people to “please take our picture”. Not wanting to be unkind or put a damper on their fun, I acquiesced but feel a bit guilty because they will probably be edited out since I don’t know them and they are most likely looking for their picture in the newspaper right about now wondering why they can’t find it. The ladies and I ordered some wine and took our seats near the VIP area and when the “VIPs” never showed up, our sticky fingers seized the complimentary “Oscar” book as a memento. Slowly and to my disappointment, half of the crowd had dispersed about midway through the show. It was Sunday evening and we all have jobs to go to on Monday, but me being the purist that I am stayed to the very end with maybe two dozen other people. (Of course I am feeling the effects this morning surviving on about 4 hours sleep!)

Now for the awards ceremony. I have seen approximately half of the films nominated and made myself familiar with the others which I hope to see in the near future. For the most part, I am pleased and agree with all of the award recipients with the exception of two. The first is Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line and the award for best Actress in a Leading Role. I think Ms. Witherspoon is a fine actress and I don’t want to take anything away from her portrayal of June Carter Cash. After all she did her own singing and if I remember correctly, learned to play the guitar for this role. However, in my opinion, the award should have gone to Felicity Huffman for her portrayal of a transgender man who wants to be a woman in Transamerica. It takes some serious acting chops for a woman to portray a man who wants to be a woman. The other is Best Makeup for The Chronicles of Narnia. While this film is one of my personal favorites, I think Star Wars: Episode III deserved this award. Compare the makeup effects in both and you will see SW: III is much more elaborate, detailed and labor intensive. These are just my personal opinions of course.

It was good to see George Clooney finally get an award for Syriana but that was a tough call as well for me. I think Paul Giamatti is a fine actor and would have been as equally pleased if he had won for Cinderella Man as Actor in a Supporting Role. The other difficult toss up decision for me was the Actor in a Leading Role between Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote and Terrence Howard in Hustle & Flow. I have not watched either of these films yet but have seen snippets of each and am a big fan of both of these fine actors. Hoffman is one of those truly talented male artists and I have watched Howard progressively get better and better roles since he first impressed me in The Best Man (1999). I literally tossed a coin on this one and was pleased that Hoffman did win but wish they could have given two awards, one for Terrence.

Finally, the reviews this morning for Jon Stewart as host have not been all that flattering and I totally disagree. I think he did a fine job and I personally laughed at every joke because I “got it”. He and his writer’s brand of humor is what make the Daily Show so popular and he is a logical choice. Let’s face it; some folks don’t “get it”. I hope he is asked back to host again as it was a refreshing change. I may be making the Oscar Party at Tampa Theatre an annual event from now on. It was such a good time and I don’t think watching them at home on the tube will ever compare going forward. I had an awesome weekend and hope you did as well!