Oscars 2008: An Evening Of Stars, Statues & Surprises (Sort Of)
At the 80th annual Academy Awards last night, there were a few upsets: Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) was named Best Actress, taking the honor from the heavily favored Julie Christie (Away From Her); similarly, Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) took home Best Supporting Actress, despite conventional wisdom holding that the award belonged to Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone). Kudos to Swinton, it must be said, for managing to reference George Clooney’s hugely embarrassing, be-nippled turn as Batman in her acceptance speech.
Elsewhere, as expected, the Coen brothers took home Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for No Country For Old Men. Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor for his portrayal of Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Javier Bardem took Best Supporting Actor for his role as Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men. Overnight success-story Diablo Cody won Best Original Screenplay for Juno. And Daily Show host Jon Stewart kept the evening’s proceedings running smoothly, gently cracking wise at the audience’s expense.
There were very few stand-out moments, but our favorite had to be Stewart’s dissection of Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama’s name (Hussein recalling Saddam Hussein; Obama recalling Osama). When he referenced the ill-fated 1944 presidential campaign of Gaydolph Titler, we laughed. A lot.
