Acting Royalty | Helen Mirren anoints Daniel Day-Lewis with his Best Actor Oscar for There Will Be Blood.
Aaron Dobbs, Out of Focus | “The only part of tonight’s show that I care to reflect on is No Country for Old Men taking Best Picture from There Will Be Blood. How perfect would it have been to see Martin Scorsese hand a Best Director statue to Paul Thomas Anderson. A passing of the mantle, maybe? But instead, I get the feeling that P.T. is going to find himself having a career much like Marty’s. When the lists are compiled for the best films of the first decade of the 21st century, There Will Be Blood will be on it—if not at the top, then very close to it. Will No Country? I doubt it.”
Bruce Handy, Vanity Fair Daily | “My favorite moment came during the announcement of the Best Actress nominees, when, after a clip of Cate Blanchett roaring away as Queen Elizabeth I, they cut to her in the audience looking amused and embarrassed, with a smile-grimace on her face that seemed to say, ‘Jesus, was I really that over the top?’ Classy, unpretentious, nonchalant—it was like she was auditioning for the role of girl George Clooney. My second favorite moment was a clip of Bette Davis announcing a Best Actor winner sometime in the late ’40s or early ’50s. She had some kind of shiny, beaded (I think) headdress in the shape of a Hershey’s Kiss that made her look like someone with a tinfoil hat trying to contact Mars. Remember this next time someone tries to tell you that Hollywood before 1967 was all Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy and Cary Grant’s shoulders in bespoke suits.”
David Edelstein, The Projectionist | “Helen Mirren (maybe the most stunning presenter—take that, Jessica Alba) fluffed a very bad joke in a very bad intro but then ushered in the best moment of the night: Daniel Day-Lewis accepting his Oscar by kneeling before her. Yes, she’d played The Queen, but the gesture went deeper than that: It was the sincere tribute of one brave acting soul to another—and it had a nice symmetry, since at the New York Film Critics Circle dinner, Day-Lewis presented an award to Javier Bardem, who got down on his knees and genuflected. If that doesn’t make your heart leap....”
“Mgmax,” reader comment on Hollywood Elsewhere | “You know, I gotta say, the one award I find it impossible to give a shit about is that somebody playing Edith Piaf won Best Actress. One, because I’m tired of showbiz-tragedy biopics anyway; two, because I suspect France makes an Edith Piaf movie every year or two; and three, because, c’mon, who’s the audience for this? Gay Francophiles with working 78 rpm turntables? I guess better that than the obligatory Alzheimer’s movie, but still.”
