Well, those were the only movies I cared about among the nominees, so the evening was a total washout for me.

When Christopher Rouse won for Best Editing (THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM), he told us that his father won an Oscar 48 years ago. It would have been nice if he’d told us who his father was. So I dug out the book which has such info and looked up Oscar winners for 1959 (who would have been awarded their Oscars in 1960—48 years ago) and—lo and behold!—his father was, I presume, writer Russell Rouse, whose Oscar was for co-writing the story for PILLOW TALK. I also know Rouse as the director of THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE, a good western with Glenn Ford; NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL, a good Mafia crime thriller with Richard Conte and Anne Bancroft; and HOUSE OF NUMBERS, a clever prison thriller in which Jack Palance plays twin brothers, one a con and one who sneaks into prison to take his brother’s place and help him escape. He also co-wrote the screenplays for those films as well as that of D.O.A. (1949).

Watching the montage of BEST PICTURE winners since 1927, I noticed that only one color movie (GONE WITH THE WIND) won before 1951. I also noticed that before SCHINDLER’S LIST won for 1993, the last black-and-white movie to win Best Picture was THE APARTMENT (1960). I also realized how few Best Picture winners from the 1980s I’ve seen. I still haven’t seen ORDINARY PEOPLE, CHARIOTS OF FIRE, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, AMADEUS, OUT OF AFRICA, or DRIVING MISS DAISY.

As for Jon Stewart’s lines, all I could assume was that the writers were all still on strike.

[ADDENDUM: It turns out that BROADWAY MELODY, Best Picture for 1929, did have some two-strip Technicolor scenes, if there are any nit-pickers out there, but it still doesn't count as a color movie.]

I noticed how out of touch the Academy was during the '80s. How many of those Best Picture winners does anybody even remember 20 years later? ORDINARY PEOPLE over RAGING BULL and THE ELEPHANT MAN? CHARIOTS OF FIRE over REDS and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK? GANDHI over TOOTSIE, THE VERDICT, MISSING and E.T.--good grief, it's the fifth best film in that group! AMADEUS over THE KILLING FIELDS? THE LAST EMPEROR over BROADCAST NEWS? OUT OF AFRICA over...well, just, OUT OF AFRICA?

I guess the Academy hasn't really changed that much, though I won't argue strongly against NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, which is unquestionably the best Best Picture of the 21st century to date.

I liked MULLHOLLAND DRIVE, MYSTERIOUS SKIN, 12 AND HOLDING, and BUG a lot more than NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN myself.

Hell, I haven't seen THERE WILL BE BLOOD yet, but I even liked the quirky PUNCH DRUNK LOVE a lot more than NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

Vincent

ORDINARY PEOPLE and TERMS OF ENDEARMENT are actually really good films. Now granted, they might not have deserved to win the Oscars in their respective years against some of their competitors, but they are still really good films in their own right IMO.

Vincent

Many, many moons ago, they did a tribute to the films that were nominated for best picture and lost - set to Sinatra's "Here's to the Losers". Raiders, E.T., et al were given their due - I'll never forget the collective gasp when it ended with a clip from Citizen Kane, a movie that people just assumed must have won

How green was my what?!?

Yeah, he's no Rush Limbaugh.

I said the best Best Picture, not the best picture.

CITIZEN KANE it may not be, but John Ford's HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY is a terrific film in its own right, and a worthy winner.

I got into a minor fracas when I suggested that Marion Cotillard was one of the most deserving winners for a bad film. And I'm sticking to it: LA VIE EN ROSE is a total mess without her, and the fractured storytelling never lets her performance build in the film itself. JUNO is a much better showcase for its lead in that regard, though I was wrong to go with Ellen Page her as my choice to win. :angry:

Amy Ryan wuz robbed, not that I don't like the quirky Tilda Swinton (the other Cate Blanchett). The good news: Three of the four winners won for original performances, not biopic recreations. (All were non-Americans, for the first time since 1964 I hear. Give us your tired, huddled actors, etc.)

I equalled my worst-ever score, getting just 14-24 right, and the tally only started climbing in the third hour.

No major bones to pick, except that the ENCHANTED songs, played more for gentle satire in the actual film, were deadly served up straight. Rule change: The same song writer(s) be eligible for just one nomination.

I like Stewart as a host, and if it was his call to give ONCE's co-winner a chance to speak he's a gentleman as well. Travolta's sod-like hair and Hank's receding eyeballs concern me.

And, oh: THE GOLDEN COMPASS really does have splendid visual effects. I thought TRANSFORMERS was a lock in that category, but the better picture really did win.

Brad Renfro and Roy Scheider got shafted in the In Memoriam spot, though, with Scheider, they did note that February 1 was the cutoff date. Why that arbitrary date, who knows?

Did anyone else notice that the show cut from Owen Wilson's Best Short Film presentation to a clip of someone lying in a hospital bed with taped wrists? Classy.

I assume they have to get the clips together and edited. Renfro was too bad but it seemed a more eclectic assemblage of the deceased than in years past.

Russell Rouse sure didn't win anything for co-writing WICKED WOMAN but my undying awe. Where, tell me, did that come from?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060801/maindetails

I completely forgot to include a Rouse credit that's particularly germane to this thread. He directed the famous "Golden Turkey" award winner, THE OSCAR (1966), with a once-in-a-lifetime cast (check out the IMDB link above), including Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra as themselves, and including Tony Bennett in his only major acting role (as Hymie Kelly!), and co-written by Harlan Ellison! Wouldn't it have been great if Christopher Rouse had mentioned this film and then they'd shown a clip from it?! That would have happened if I ran the Oscars. :lol:

The BAFTAs did a better job with their in memoriam clip a few weeks ago. And they didn't overlook Brad Renfro. But TCM mops the floor with both of them every year. I wonder if someone has uploaded last year's TCM memorial segment to youtube since I missed it in December.

Update: You can find the last five years of TCM's year end memorial segments on youtube. Here's 2007. Lots of people there I didn't see in the Oscar telecast but some of them may have been covered the year before due to the different cutoff dates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFvXPTZ9B6g

Yes, that would be my choice.

I need to see Chariots of Fire.

It's been ages since I've seen Gandhi, so maybe I'm remembering it with rose colored glasses, but it would be my pick.

That would be my pick, although I'd be happy enough with either choice.

Ok, I'm with ya on this one.

Well, yeah, but look at the competition.

I've grown to admire OUT OF AFRICA, but much preferred PRIZZI'S HONOR that year. I've never gotten the appeal of CHARIOTS OF FIRE.

I guess I'm against both of you on this one. :)

Let the throwdown begin! :D

I was shocked last year when they ignored Adrienne Shelly.

Vincent