- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
I'm sorry but where does Cintra get the idea that Jon Stewart bombed? He did a very good job in a venue that is usually comedy death. He fared far far better than previous hosts Chris Rock or David Letterman, and I found him much funnier than anything Billy Crystal has ever done. He started out slow, and I could see that he was a bit nervous when his first couple jokes bombed, but he picked up momentum halfway through the opening monolouge, and scored some very funny jokes. (Capote: smashing the sterotype that all gay men are rugged virile cowboys, and showing that some are actually effete New York intellectuals, Munich: trilogy!) He got better as the show progressed, the "hetro" western montage was quite funny as was the Colbert voiced attack ads for "best actress." Overall I enjoyed the Oscars this year, they're always too long and pretentious, but for what it was I thought it was fine. This was the first time since I can remember that all five of the best picture nominees could stand on their own as legitimately good films worthy of their recognition, and there were no real muggings in any of the big catergories. Personally I would have given Best Supporting Actor to William Hurt, for what I thought was a really tricky performance that could have been campy and over the top, but was a pitch perfect mix of humor and pure menace. However, Clooney saying that he was "proud to be out of touch" was worth him getting it, especially in light of all the repeated "heartland vs. hollywood" posturing on TV news last week. For my money, Capote was the best of the five.
