Dark Knight is one of those films some have seen multiple times. if you relate to it; if it's like a living space you feel comfortable with; you're probably drawn to say it's Oscar worthy: Best film then equals, most powerful/imprinting movie experience, which, I suppose, it needn't be.

Cheers to you,

patrick

Thanks.

Harvey Dent was a distraction for me and I agree with your criticism of that.

You argue well, by the way, but I've told you that in the past, haven't I?

I loved the Joker. I loved the twitchiness and the oddness and the wickedness. I expect that you're right, that Ledger's death and the Joker role are tangled, in some measure, even if it's unconscious, and so we delight at the crossover.

And I also get what you say about countering the profusion of praise.

Nope, don't agree -- penn is still a prick of the highest degree.

And yeah, I'll get right on that and change my name to ... buckshot. Oh so much better (rolls eyes).

Dang! Once again I am relegated to Letter Siberia.

Once an hour or so of the show had been tivo-ed, I began to play it back. I knew so little about the "ceremony," I didn't even know who the host was. (I even got held up on Hollywood Blvd. FOREVER because I didn't even know the Oscars were this week.)

So, imagine my surprise to find Hugh Jackman, smiling his best "I'm not really not Wolverine" smile. Y'know, I liked him as Wolverine; but as a musical comedy star in Oklahoma, meh, not so much.

Ok, HJ's opening joke about being an un-nominated Ozzie wasn't really all that lame. But, then, omigod, backyard sets and the neigborhood wannabes as the opening number? I mean, W . . .T . . . F!

Thirty seconds into that, I not only shut the replay down, I deleted it entirely. This was so not the Oscars i wanted to see. I wanna see wisenheimers reaching for jokes and getting huge yuks. And, I wanna see them overreaching and getting groans. I wanna see em bomb big time in front of people whom they desparately want to call peers. In other words, I want some Spontenaity - or however you spell it.

I mean, c'mon! Those emcee guys have writers backstage writing one-liners on the cuff! That is one high wire act that is fun to watch.

Man, I want to see those guys who'll never be nominated, and who'll never achieve movie stardom raking all the swells over the coals for their egos and tall hair and shiny outfits and dangling jewels. Next year, please, bring back Johnny S. or David L. or Steve m. or Billy C. Please, please, oh, please.

Here we have a new prez who is just letting it all hang out, painting a bull's eye on his front, back and wherever; in other words, a risk-take non-pareil. And then you have the producers of the Oscars so risk averse, they have a second tier movie actor with zero hosting creds doing backyard musicals?

Well, no, maybe that was a huge - make that Hugh - risk. Now that I think about it, please God, make Obama's outcome better than Hugh's.

I so wanted a really snarky, Schadenfreuden-ish article from Heather. And then I read that she's bottoming out on her Kleenex box. I like a good cry, too. Maybe I got too impatient too soon.

Oh well.

I'm really with you, actually.

I liked The Dark Knight fine, but the more people went on and ON and ONanONanON! about its fabulousness, the less it shone. It was a fun, dark, thoughtful action blockbuster, but it was way overrated to a point that it ruined it's dark, thoughtful action-ness.

I liked Heath Ledger's Joker, but if he had not died, the nomination would have been like Johnny Depp's nomination for Captain Jack Sparrow. The media would have given it some novelty points but the Academy would have passed, on the theory that Ledger was young and would have plenty of opportunity to top that performance in other, better films.

Anyone who wants to diss on acceptance speeches should check out the segment on that subject from Robin William's appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio.

Give Jackman credit, he worked his ass off trying to to put some life into some fairly lame material. Jon Stewart remains the Best. Host. Ever.

Winslet was excellent in "The Reader", but if you didn't think she was good in "Quills", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", or "Finding Neverland", then you probably wouldn't have thought much of "The Reader" either.

The 'stoner' segment confirmed for me that I have made the correct decision avoiding every Rogen or Apatow movie like the proverbial plague.

Where the hell was Jack Nicholson?

I think she is underrated as an actress. I agree with Stephanie Zacharek's article that called Marley and Me "a moving look at marriage and loss." I thought Jennifer gave a subtle, near-perfect and nuanced performance in that film. I'm not saying she should have beat Winslet and Hathaway, but I absolutely think she should have been nominated for an academy award.

In some ways it was wonderful that Kate Winslet won--she has deserved to win so many times. But I think Anne Hathaway should have gone home with last night's prize. There is nothing that girl can't do.

This is a joke right? Annistan couldn't act her way out of a recycled paper bag

I don't think its a huge blunder to forget to thank one's pouse when you're up on stage - your spouse lived w/ you during the entire tiem of ilming and the press junkets and award season and on and on - the spouses have been thanked 1,000x before in private I'm sure. Running up on stage with the lights and a billion things in your head and the emotion (or even lack of emotion caused by burnout w/ award season and whatever more pressing things may be going on in their lives/careers) and you forget to thank your partner. Big whoops.

I thought Robin grabbing his chin and giving Sean a kiss was actually touching and quite real - like when my wife gives me a kiss as I'm frantically running out the door to catch a train - I'm NOT thinking about my wife at that moment, but that in no way means I don not cherish her as much as ever.

@ROSENKAVALIER - the brilliance of Heath Ledger's Joker for me was in the numerous tiny little moments when the character was still or alone - the Joker's very theatrical when there's a crowd about (villains and cops).

But Ledger would go very quiet when the Joker wasn't being observed and he'd let you see both the intelligence and pure malevolance that was at work. Loud scary Joker w/ the exploding ferries and rocket launcher is a Bond movie villain (a good one), but it's the quiet moments when you'd realized that the Joker would fit in a Scorcese/Michael Mann ruthless killer role that was more terrifying.

It's just for a few seconds but the scene of the Joker sarcastically clapping at the police precint is perfection - a completely humorless mocking of the authorities, it's a pure stripped down "fuck you" to the cops and Gotham and every man and woman in the world. He hates all of us so much that he can't even take pleasure in watching us burn, that's how twisted he is by hate and insanity.

My $0.02.