I was interested in Mr Moore's phrase made during his acceptance speech, "Shame on you, Mr Bush. Shame on you."
I don't think that's something a British satirist or political activist would say. It sounded strangely inclusive, treating Mr Bush as an equal and a fellow American who has merely strayed from the path. If, say, Mr Tatchell were given an Oscar (for Best Citizen's Arrest Attempt?), I'm sure he too would mention the much-alleged illegality of both the War and Mr Bush's own elected status, but the phrase "shame on you" would sound very odd indeed. If you have utter contempt for someone, wishing shame on them seems strangely tame and polite. Yet on Mr Moore's lips, and while holding an Oscar, the phrase sounded a powerful, shocking indictment.
Mr Farrell is supernaturally good-looking in real life, despite the beard. Which surprised me as I'd only previously seen him in DareDevil as an evil bald villain, and couldn't understand what the fuss over him was all about. I now have an inkling.
Mr Martin is clearly still an extremely funny man. Why he can't make films as funny as "The Man With Two Brains" or "LA Story" anymore is therefore even more perplexing.
Such a shame that the entries for the Best Song category have to be original works written for a recent movie. So, rather than all those excellent Kander & Ebb 70s compositions from "Chicago" like "All That Jazz", "Razzle-dazzle 'Em", and "They Both Reached For The Gun", we get their comparatively forgettable "I Move On", just because it's new.
Mr O'Toole was rather wary of his Lifetime Achievement Award, seeing it as the Oscars' way of tidying you into the grave, their equivalent of placing a coin on the lips of a corpse. Still, if it makes people investigate "Lawrence Of Arabia" , "The Ruling Class", or "The Stunt Man", for the first time, it can only be a good thing.
One protracted part of the ceremony, being as it was the awards' 75th year, featured an onstage seated display of as many previous winners of Best Actors as the organisers could presumably rustle up. As the commentator moved from uneasy, fixed-smiling actor to uneasy, fixed-smiling actor, naming each one plus the films they won the award or awards for, one could hear the whispers across the world:
"Oh, I didn't know they got an Oscar for THAT film."
"Never seen that film."
"Never heard of that film."
"Where's Katharine Hepburn?"
"I thought she'd won more Oscars than that"
"Is she STILL alive?"
"Look at the state of her!"
"Who?"
I was tickled to see that one of the winners was "This Charming Man". Not the Smiths song, but a Danish live-action short film whose director was presumably a bit of a Morrissey fan. A suspicion which was confirmed during the "Other Awards In Brief" section of the highlights programme I watched, which showed a still of the 30-year old director at the podium, displaying an admirably Morrissey-esque haircut. I wonder if he thanked Mr M in his speech for the idea of the title?
No sign anywhere of my two favourite films of last year "24 Hour Party People", and "Kissing Jessica Stein."
