Post-Oscars Reaction

As movie years go, 2007's crop of hopefuls aren't going to remembered with some of Oscar's best over the years.

I watched last night's broadcast, rushed because of the strike, with some trepidation, especially knowing it was going to be a big night for the awful "No Country For Old Men," and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

Jon Stewart did a very capable job with short prep time, and the pace of the show was fairly brisk, though I found the segments celebrating 80 years of Oscars with past clips to be redundant after a while. At least Michael Moore didn't win, so we were spared a controversial acceptance speech.

A few highlights:

NICEST MOMENT: (Tie) The troops in Iraq presenting an award (Best Short? I'm drawing a blank) and host Jon Stewart bringing back best song winner Marketa Irglova to say a few words after the orchestra cut her off when her partner, Glen Hansard, ran a few seconds long.

MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE: Tilda Swinton. I figured the Academy would go with Ruby Dee in Best Supporting Actress as a sort of lifetime achievement award even though Dee only appeared for about 10 minutes in "American Gangster." The always-terrific Swinton was phenomenal in "Michael Clayton," and it was nice to see her recognized.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Speaking of lifetime achievement awards, I find it remarkable that Hal Holbrook only got his first-ever nomination for "Into The Wild," and having just turned 83, he might not get too many more chances to win. He was much more the supporting actor than Javier Bardem, who was basically the lead in "No Country For Old Men."

BEST PRESENTERS: Jonah Hill and Seth Rogan, and their "I'm Halle Berry" bit. Fortunately, neither of them gave any of the award winners an Adrien Brody-type kiss.

WORST DECISION: The Academy's choice to honor "No Country For Old Men" with four Oscars, including Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor. This is one of the most overrated movies in recent memory, and pretty forgettable I thought. It had no ending and the inciting incident to get the ball rolling was one of the most insipid in movie history. I admit I've never read the Cormac McCarthy novella, so I don't know how true it was to the source material, but as a movie, it just plained sucked.

BEST DECISION: Diablo Cody's win for Original Screenplay with "Juno." My gal Diablo (OK, I met her for 30 seconds, but still) has become a rock star among screenwriters.

What were some of your notable Oscar moments?

After the broadcast, I caught some of Jimmy Kimmel. Normally, I'm not a huge Kimmel fan, but this running "feud" with Matt Damon has been hilarious. First, Kimmel's girlfriend Sarah Silverman said they were "breaking up" because she was now with Damon. You can catch the brilliant music video on YouTube. So Kimmel retaliated last night by announcing he was now with Ben Affleck, complete with a "We Are The World" type video with the likes of Harrison Ford, Don Cheadle, Josh Groban, Robin Williams and others. It was insanely funny.

MONDAY'S BEST BETS: The Lorraine Hansberry classic play "A Raisin In the Sun" (ABC, 8 p.m.) has drawn about as much critical praise as anything I've seen this year. The TV movie version reunites the Tony Award-winning cast, including Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald, while Sean "Puffy" Combs has met with a lot of success in a role originated by the great Sidney Poitier. The play deals with a struggling black family in the 1950s that suddenly comes into some money from a life insurance policy, then debates how to spend it to improve their lives.

On "Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles," (Fox, 9 p.m.), the good cyborg (Summer Glau) takes a ballet class. I'd like to see Arnold Schwarzeneggar do that. Seriously, I would.

CBS has new episodes of "Welcome To The Captain" at 8:30 p.m. and the terrific "Old Christine" at 9:30 p.m. On NBC, "Medium" is new at 10 p.m.

On cable, both "Kyle XY" and "Wildfire" are new on ABC Family.

Finally, the coolest program of the night may be the season premiere of "Top Gear" (BBC America, 8 p.m.), which has Oscar winner Helen Mirren as its guest driver.

MAGA, Ma-Con, Et. al.

This is one of those uncommon weekends here in Macon, Ga. where there is actually quite a bit to do around town, so with mostly reruns still on, you might want to get out of the house for your entertainment options.

The Macon Film & Video Festival (MAGA) continues tonight through Sunday at the Cox Capitol Theatre. Highlights include "Talladega Nights" tonight, the independent films "Little Chicago" and "Blood Car" on Saturday, and the documentary "Please Call Home: The Big House Documentary" on Sunday. I've been looking forward to "Blood Car" ever since hearing about it at the Austin Film Festival, and it has won a bunch of awards. It's a parody of horror films in which a person begins using blood as fuel in the wake of high gas prices.

That's in addition to hours of independent submissions from filmmakers all over the country. You can also catch the work of Bibb County school students Saturday morning. For a complete listing of events, check out www.maconfilmfestival.com.

If that weren't enough, the Museum of Arts & Sciences is hosting "Ma-Con" this Saturday. In conjuction with its exhibit featuring the work of Tony Harris, Ray Snyder and Craig Hamilton - all local artists who work on some of the top comic book titles in the industry - other award winning artists and writers will be in town. There will also be a series of seminars on Saturday:

11 a.m. – Comic Writing
12 p.m. – Comic Penciling
2 p.m. – Comic Inking
3 p.m. – Comic Coloring
4 p.m. – The Art of Ex Machina
5 p.m. – The Art of Southern Comics
10:30 a.m., 1:30, & 5:30 p.m. – Curator Tours of The Art of Macon Comics exhibition

If you haven't caught the exhibit yet, now is a perfect opportunity.

WEEKEND'S BEST BETS: Of course, if you are on this blog, you probably want to know what there is to watch on TV, especially if you don't live in Macon. Fair enough.

"Monk" (USA, 9 p.m.) wraps up its two-part season finale with Monk (Tony Shalhoub) a fugitive from justice. Don't worry, folks - the show has been renewed for next season.

The new game show "Amnesia" (NBC, 9 p.m.), hosted by Dennis Miller, pits contestants against their own memories as they try to remember the intricate details of their past.

"Torchwood" (BBC America, Sat., 9 p.m.) is all-new as an alien infiltrates the group's HQ. Also, "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, Sat., 11:30 p.m.) returns after the strike with host Tina Fey and musical guest Carrie Underwood.

On Sunday, there's a little thing called the Academy Awards (ABC, Sun., 7 p.m.) Hopefully, you've caught the predictions that the Reel Fanatic, Keith Demko, and I did last week. If not, scroll down for the video.

I'm told I'd be remiss in not mentioning "Masterpiece," which continues its Jane Austen run (PBS, 9 p.m.), while one of the best new shows of 2008, "Breaking Bad" (AMC, 10 p.m.) is also new. You can also continue to catch on "Dexter" (CBS, 10 p.m.) if you don't subscribe to Showtime.