80th ACADEMY AWARDS REVIEW: Short time to prepare resulted in no pre-recorded gags, wild props or Billy Crystal style stunts as host Jon Stewart did his jokes and then for the most part got out of the way of the proceedings

By Alex Ben Block

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 2/24/2008 – The writer’s strike may have been a good thing for the 80th Academy Awards. It left no time for gimmicky tape packages to be developed by the writers, who only came aboard less than two weeks before the show. The long strike period did provide time to create some nicely done clip assemblages that used the history of the awards to set up this year’s winners in what turned out to be a classy, well-paced and sophisticated show.

As everyone on the planet expected and predicted, with the exception of producer Scott Rudin, the crime drama “No Country For Old Men” dominated the evening with wins as Best Picture, for Best Directing and for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor, Javier Bardem. When Rudin came up to accept, with filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen standing silently behind him, he called the win a “complete surprise.”

Since “Old Men” had been cited by numerous critics and won most of the major guild honors in advance of the Oscars, in fact it was the heavy favorite to do exactly what it did, and win the major awards. Rudin, known as one of the industry’s most demanding producers, seemed a lot more sincere when he thanked Sydney Pollack who he said “taught him that with the opportunity to make movies comes the responsibility to make them good.”

Other top contenders got an award or two that will give them some bragging rights. “There will Be Blood” won best actor honors for Daniel Day-Lewis as everyone on the planet expected. It was also honored for achievement in cinematography.

Another heavy favorite, “Michael Clayton” had to settle for a surprise best supporting actress win for Tilda Swinton, who beat out favorite double nominee and double loser Cate Blanchett and SAG winner Ruby Dee. George Clooney was highly visible as a nominee and presenter but went home empty handed.

Another surprise was the win by Marion Cotillard for the French language drama “La Vie en Rose,” which also won best make up. She beat out favorite Julie Christie. Her movie was highly praised by critics but little seen by U.S. audiences.

In the tech categories, the surprise was the strength of Universal Picture’s blockbuster “The Bourne Ultimatum,” which won for Film Editing and Sound Editing. In winning for Film Editing, it beat out Roderick Jaynes, the pseudonym for the Coen brothers. The loss in this category meant the Coen’s under any name failed to become the first to ever win four Oscars in one night; although the other three high profile wins surely more than made up for that to them.

In their acceptances, the Coen brothers were incredibly inarticulate. ”I think whatever success we’ve had in this area has been entirely attributable to how selective we are,” said Joel Coen in their most coherent statement of the evening. “We’ve only adapted Homer and Cormac McCarthy.”

When his turn to speak came, Ethan Coen mumbled, acted confused and then just said, “We, uh and thank you very much.”

After they won as Best Directors, as they had done at the Directors Guild Awards, Ethan Coen, now showing sly wit, said only: “I don’t have a lot to add to what I said earlier. Thank you.”

Joel Coen said: “Ethan and I have been making stories with movie cameras since we were kids. In the late ’60s when Ethan was 11 or 12, he got a suit and a briefcase and we went to the Minneapolis International Airport with a Super 8 camera and made a movie about shuttle diplomacy called “Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go.” And honestly, what we do now doesn’t feel that much different from what we were doing then.”

Joel Coen added a bit more seriously: “We’re very thankful to all of you out there for letting us continue to play in our corner of the sandbox.”

That was a reference to the fact that despite their bursts of success on movies like “Fargo” and now “No Country For Old Men,” their work is far from the mainstream. Their pride in being outsiders and working only on projects of passion which they control was in tune with the Oscars this year, which were all about independent, often outrageous, sometimes violent movies. Those same qualities are what makes this year’s show a tough sell to a general audience, many of whom have never seen most of the nominated and honored movies because they never made it to the local movie palace, where only big grossing blockbusters get playing time.

The lack of widely popular movies is expected to hurt the TV ratings, which will be revealed tomorrow. Historically when the movies have not been widely seen, the show does not draw big numbers.

Easily the most successful box office attractions of the year among movies that won honors was Disney’s “Ratatouille,” which won best animated feature as expected; and “Juno,” the little indie movie that has sold over $100 million worth of tickets in the U.S., making it the only one of the best picture nominees to do so before or after the nominations were announced. The other big hit to win honors was “Bourne Identity,” which was a summer blockbuster, but only won technical honors.

“Juno” continued the Spirit Awards curse. Since the Indie Spirit Awards started in 1985, only one of their best picture winners which was also an Oscar best picture nominee has won, and that was for “Platoon” way back in 1986. Since then even heavy favorites have won the Spirit award on Saturday and then lost the Oscar on Sunday or Monday.

Although Jon Stewart is little known outside the U.S., the rest of the show had a strong international flavor. Not only was the best actress French, and the best supporting actor accepted in part in Spanish, but winners in the shorts, documentary, costume, music and other categories all accepted with foreign accents.

Here is how the strike actually helped this show. Short of time to develop elaborate routines, film bits and pre-edited gags, host Jon Stewart did an opening that depended only on his ability to deliver some clever lines and a few fairly funny gags not that different from what he does on his own “Daily Show.” That monologue turned out to the a high point for Stewart , who for much of the show seemed to fade into the background, although he did stop by occasionally to provide a sharp observation and was apparently the architect of one of the nicest, most genuine moments on the show.

That moment came when Stewart, after a commercial break, ushered back out the co-winner with Glen Hansard of the best song award, 19-year-old Czech musician, Marketa Irglova, a surprise winner for the song “Falling Slowly” from the low budget indie movie “Once.”

“This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we’re standing here tonight, the fact that we’re able to hold this, it’s just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it’s possible,” said Irglova. “And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don’t give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way.”

Stewart made only a few political references, and only once at the very top of the show, referred directly to the writers’ strike when he said “I’m happy to say the fight is over. Tonight we come to the makeup sex.”

Five minutes into the show Stewart made his first and one of his few political jokes when describing the movie for which Julie Christie had been nominated, “Away From Her,” about a man coping with the institutionalization of his wife because of Alzheimer’s disease, who sees her transfer her affections to another man.” Stewart joked, “Hillary Clinton called it the feel good movie of the year.”

Stewart also got off one zinger when he noted the movie “Norbit” had a nomination which he said was good because “too often the Academy ignores movies that aren’t good.” Norbit, starring Eddie Murphy, was a Razzie Award winner earlier in the weekend.

However unlike the last time he hosted, Stewart did not take a lot of swipes at the industry. It was as if he had figured out that the insider jokes didn’t work with the crowd at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and mostly went over the head of the worldwide TV audience.

One of the most touching moments of the evening came when 98 year old art director Robert Boyle was given an honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievements. “Since I’ve been around here for almost a century, I’ve noted a lot of conflicts, but there was one bright image in this whole life of ours, and that was the arts, and particularly the art of the moviemakers, of the moving image that we all love,” said Boyle. “So I have, I have had the good fortune to be a part of this and I thank you all for being there for me.

Another memorable moment came when Diablo Cody, a former exotic dancer, completed her transition to Hollywood writer by winning the Oscar for best original screenplay for “Juno.”

“What is happening? This is for the writers, and I want to thank all the writers,” said Cody. “I especially want to thank my fellow nominees because I worship you guys and I’m learning from you every day, so thank you very much…And most of all, I want to thank my family for loving me exactly the way I am.”

Considering the pressure he was under, and the fact he didn’t know if he would have the show he wanted until two weeks ago, producer Gil Cates once again pulled off a near miracle. The show was star studded, classy and while it ran over three hours, did not drag. The use of clips, many apparently prepared in case the strike was not over, was smart, and celebrated 80 years of Oscar.

There were few over the top moments in which presenters or honorees made gaffes or got overly political. And there were genuine moments, which helped make it a pleasant evening for movie fans, even if many of the movies were as foreign to the general audience in the U.S. as foreign films.