Top 5 Tuesday

Let the pop culture parade continue! For this week's Top 5 list, I have decided to focus on the best moments from the 81st Annual Academy Awards. It's an oft-criticized, monumentally long television event each year, but this time, I think it was a grand success. Great films were nominated, the sets and bits were extremely well-done, and Hugh Jackman was appealing but not too over the top. It doesn't hurt, I might add, that I was viewing it all for the first time on the West Coast, which meant that it was over before 9 o'clock. No staying up for that last Best Picture announcement at midnight! There were many highlights, but I'll just include my favorites here:



5. The Hugh Jackman/Beyonce musical number. I know MANY people abhor musicals, my SH included, but I really loved this little production, which honored many classic musicals, including Grease, Chicago, and even The Sound of Music. There was something so grand and old-fashioned about the whole thing. I couldn't help smiling while I watched.



4. Steve Martin and Tina Fey take the stage to present the screenplay awards. I loved this whole bit, from the typed page on screen to the melodramatic entrance. Not only was it great to have awards presented by two of the best comedians in the business, but the tidbits from the films and screenplay added a great touch.



3. Ben Stiller channels Joaquin Phoenix while presenting the award for Cinematography. In case you didn't know, Joaquin Phoenix (two-time nominee, by the way) has apparently gone off the proverbial deep end. While Natalie Portman gamely played along, Ben Stiller gave a pitch-perfect impression of the celebrated actor's recent disastrous appearance on David Letterman. In bad taste? Undoubtedly. Hilarious? Most certainly!






2. Robert Pattinson introduces the Romance in 2008 montage. Do I really need to say more? I was nervous for the dashing new star, but he did a lovely job. Not a single flub. I must also note that one of my top 5 Coldplay songs, Lovers in Japan, provided the soundtrack for the montage.



1. Slumdog Millionaire wins Best Picture. I was thrilled to see the whole cast and crew crowd onto the stage for this one. It's so wonderful to know that a film like Slumdog, so genuinely human and REAL and good, is recognized and appreciated by so many. An especially touching moment during the acceptance was seeing the film's main star, Dev Patel, towards the back of the crowded cast, holding the youngest Latika.

Next week, I aspire to a list more intelligent and thought-provoking, literary rather than small screen, deep instead of shallow. In my defense, however, the Oscars only come around once a year!