Oscar Hangover

I've never really gave my two cents after the Academy Awards since starting this blog, but at the request of my fellow film fanatics, here it goes. This year's ceremony was predictable and enjoyable at the same time. Billy Crystal rehashes the same gags with dry wit as he had done the eight previous times he's hosted the awards, which is a relief from the asinine ceremony last year when James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted.

In terms of the award highlights, I was taken by Christopher Plummer's acceptance speech for best supporting actor when the 82 year old legend gazed at the award and said, "You're two years older than me, where have you been all my life?"

The second highlight of the evening was Asghar Farhadi's film A Separation winning best foreign language film. The Iranian filmmaker emphasized the importance of the country's culture in the midst of political rumblings between the West and Iran; "They (the Iranian people) are happy not just because of an important award or a film or a filmmaker, but because at the time when talk of war, intimidation and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture."

The sighs of disappointment came during the handout of the Best Actor and Best Actress awards when Meryl Streep won her third Oscar for her performance as Margaret Thatcher over Viola Davis' stunning performance in The Help. As for Best Actor, I was content to see Jean Dujardin win for his silent role in The Artist, yet I was secretly hoping Gary Oldman finally received the gold for his chilling portrayal of George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

The peak of the evening was when The Artist won Best Picture, being the first silent film winning the high accolade since the first Oscar ceremony in 1929. In particular, Michel Hazanavicius' acceptance speech included three people in his life "Billy Wilder, Billy Wilder, and Billy Wilder", which was an homage to Orson Welles responding to who were his favorite filmmakers when he remarked "John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford".

After the gold and backslapping season, the 2012 film season looks bright. This summer, I look forward to seeing Terrence Malick's next two films, Voyage of Time and his untitled romance starring Jessica Chastain and Rachel McAdams. On top of that, Wes Anderson returns to the screen with his summer camp film Moonrise Kingdom starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, and Bill Murray (who else?). The highly anticipated film at the top of my list is Paul Thomas Anderson's new film The Master, which is based around religion in 1950s California. Will it be bigger than There Will Be Blood? Time will only tell.