The Oscars liven dull film season

For the past few years, I’ve been hearing that Hollywood’s been running out of ideas for… For the past few years, I’ve been hearing that Hollywood’s been running out of ideas for movies. Given the steady stream of trite Martin Lawrence comedies and “Meet the Spartans,” I had to agree that maybe Tinsel Town was breaking through the bottom of the barrel and digging through rocks.

But then something happened – I tuned in to the Oscars and my faith was restored. Hollywood isn’t running out of ideas, it’s just that the real gold nuggets are so few and far between that it’s easy to construe lack of quantity to lack of quality.

Taking advantage of the fact that the writers’ strike is over, the Oscars was presented in all its star-studded, 180-minute glory, complete with jokes (thanks in part to the hilarious Jon Stewart), touching tributes (especially to Heath Ledger – RIP) and acceptance speeches that had to be cut short by the obligatory orchestral “shut the hell up.”

Compared to the Golden Globes, which suffered from the aforementioned strike and had to be cut down to a bare-basics, hour-long broadcast, the Oscars really got to shine through as a celebration of the best in cinematic achievements for the year.

However, one question that I’m sure many people have asked is why does the Oscars need a four-hour time slot? Couldn’t we have sufficed with the extended news coverage of the nominees and a Foreign Press News Association’s announcement of the winners?

I myself have complained about the length. In fact, this recent Academy Awards show is the first one where I’ve stayed up for the entire broadcast. I didn’t even stay up to see if “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” won best picture at the 2003 awards, and I’m a diehard fan of the movies.

Well, after watching this year’s show, I have to say that maybe the length is justified. I mean, how many quality films are produced for every five “Larry the Cable Guy” movies?

The fact is that when the show is done right, it is a thrill to watch. There are disappointments when the films you root for don’t take home the gold, but half the time that’s the fun – the anticipation. Ask most baseball fans. Sure, some of it can be predictable (like Daniel Day-Lewis taking home “Best Actor”), but that’s because they deserve the recognition.

What I would consider the main strength for this year was how the “Best Original Song” category was handled. Rather than having all five performed in a row, which can lead to more glazed eyes than an overly long acceptance speech, they were spread out over the course of the ceremony, which kept the category interesting. It was also a fun shock to see that the three nominated songs from “Enchanted” lost out to “Falling Slowly” from “Once.”

And it’s kind of fun to see so many celebrities act as themselves, however scripted their time to shine may be. Thank god that Paris Hilton didn’t attend the show because she gets more press coverage than all the nominated performers combined.

To sum it up, yes, the 80th Academy Awards show was four hours long, but people have to admit that it was an entertaining four hours. Thanks, in part, to Jon Stewart cracking jokes left and right and some creative presenters (Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen fighting over who’s more Halle Berry-ish for the sound achievement Oscars), the length is justified as a celebration of Hollywood not running out of ideas, but not producing enough quality ones. The Oscars has restored my faith in Tinsel Town and hopefully has done the same for you. If nothing else, everyone now knows what the hot films are to order from Netflix.