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Arts & Entertainment

PJ Does the Oscars

PJ offers his opinion on last night's Academy Awards whilst flipping over to check on the Knicks game.

The Red Carpet.

The first face on the screen is Russell Brand. He was great in Get Him to the Greek. Rent it. Crude, but brilliant.

Hailie Steinfeld appeared next. She conducted her fourteen-year-old self with grace. PJ thought she delivered the best line in True Grit when she was taken prisoner by the bad guys. She had shot people, was in Indian Territory on her own, was hunting down her father’s killer, but when she was offered coffee by her captors, she said, “I do not drink coffee, I am only fourteen years old.” Good stuff.

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The Academy Awards show in recent years is hosted at The Kodak Theater in Hollywood. From 1949 to 1959 it was held at the grand old Art Deco style Pantages Theater on Hollywood and Vine. Howard Hughes owned the Pantages, and his office was upstairs. PJ is proud to have an incredible stained glass exit sign from the Pantages. He collects them.

Amy Adams appeared next. She is one fine actress. Julie and Julia, Doubt, Sunshine Cleaning, and now Charlene from The Fighter. All different. All believable.

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The Beatty/Bening tandem then strolled onto the TV screen. It is surprising, PJ thinks, that Warren Beatty has devolved into Anette Bening’s spouse and escort.

And while on the subject of Annete, why was Julianne Moore ignored? Wasn’t her character every bit as important and well-acted as Ms. Bening’s? PJ just does not understand the politics and or dynamics of the nominating process.

The opening sequence of the Awards show wherein Anne Hathaway and James Franco traveled through dreams of contending movies was entertaining. Maybe even more so than some of the actual movies depicted.

But then, their opening monologue turned instantly lame, stilted, and not funny.  We could have sure used Johnny Carson. Or Billy Crystal. At least, Anne and James didn’t “Gervaise” anybody. Nice is nice for a change.

Kirk Douglas displayed dignity, humor, guts. And class. Noticeably absent, however, was Michael. Uh, Oh. Hope he’s ok.

PJ was pleased to see Melissa Leo win for the mother in The Fighter. She was deserving, but so was Amy Adams for Mark Wahlberg’s girlfriend. A tie would have been nice.

PJ was happy when the award for best animated short came on, because this provided a moment to flip to the Knicks/Heat game. Knicks are down by 13. Ouch.

James Brolin made a delicious faux pas when presenting the screenwriter’s award.  He claimed that screenwriters make us stink. He meant to say make us think. Or did he?

At the next commercial break PJ discovered that the Knicks went on a 16-0 run and took a one point half-time lead. Now, this is news.

Back to the show for the best chemistry of the night: Helen Mirren and Russell Brand as presenters. He’s a rip. So is she.

PJ is now thinking something may be wrong. It is one and a half hours into the show and no George Clooney sightings.

Did you notice the gorgeous multi-colored splotchy back wall drop in Geoffrey Rush’s studio in The King’s Speech? Great set. Great work of art. Way better than anything Jackson Pollack ever did.

While Inception was winning best noise, er, sound, it was upsetting to learn that the Knicks were down again. By 7.

PJ was not surprised that True Grit didn’t win for best costumes. He thought they were a bit too burlappy for an Oscar.

A quick flip back to the Knicks during a commercial break. Darn, what could be worse than encountering a commercial on their end?

Meanwhile, back at the Oscars, PJ notices that makers of Documentaries almost always make political statements. He guesses this is only logical.

OMG! With only 12 seconds left, the Knicks are up by 1. There’s no flipping back to the Oscars now. LeBron “takes his talents” to the hoop. Amar’e rejects him. 6.7 seconds left. Finally some real suspense this evening... LeBron shoots from behind the arc for three to tie. HE MISSES! YES. KNICKS WIN. THE KNICKS WIN.

Back to the show...

The camera rests its eyes on a couple in the audience. What an acting team. Javier Bardem just may be the finest actor out there. And, he’s married to Penelope Cruz, the best actress on the planet. Except maybe for Dame Judy Dench.

Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock did a lovely job of speaking directly, with warmth and admiration, to the contenders for best actor and actress. Nice is nice.

PJ admits there was a bit of suspense at the end. He was wondering if The Social Network would pull off an upset? He didn’t book this movie this week. However, the Facebook flick also missed from behind the three point line. The King’s Speech won. Some suspense, but, of course, nothing like the Knick’s game.

By the way, The King’s Speech and The Fighter, the big winners,  are still playing at . Good booking, huh? Come on down and see them.

And let’s go Knicks. It’s been a lot of years.

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