Great Night for The Coen Brothers

The 80th Annual Academy Awards became The Coen Brothers show by the end of the evening, as Joel and Ethan Coen and their picture No Country for Old Men were the big winners of the night.

The men who brought us The Big Lebowski and Fargo collected golden statuettes for Best Adapted Screenplay (got that one right), Best Director (got that one wrong) and Best Picture (wrong again), while Javier Bardem took home the Best Supporting Actor award (bingo!) for his portrayal of criminally coiffed Anton Chigurh in The Coens' flick.

Before diving into the rest of the awards recap, a quick round of applause for Jon Stewart. This could become a standing gig for him, along the same lines as Billy Crystal's extended run in the 80's. He's quick and witty without overpowering the show like some people have tried and failed at... * cough* David Letterman *cough*...

Beyond that though, I don't know if it was his idea or what, but bringing the Czech musician from Once back on stage after she wasn't given a chance to say anything after winning for Best Original Song was brilliant. I actually started clapping here in the apartment as if anyone besides Sarah could hear me.

Anywho, the winners.

I ended up batting .500 from the predictions I laid out Saturday - .666 if you count my naming Ratatouille Best Animated Feature.

I know she's all different and free and indie and blah blah blah blah blah, but couldn't someone have told Diablo Cody that she looked awful? What the fuck was she wearing. It looked like a leopard print mumu with a giant rip up the front of it. For chrissakes woman it's the Oscars and you're getting an award. Just once can't you be a little normal?

Marion Cotillard took home Best Actress in one of the non-surprising surprises of the night. Not that she wasn't surprised, but you could see her winning.

On the other hand, there is Best Supporting Actress winner Tilda Swinton. Loved her speech, poking fun at George Clooney and all, but this one stumped me. She was good in Michael Clayton, playing the nervous chief litigator from the big bad company really well. It's just, well, she isn't around for very long. She's got maybe twenty minutes of screen time. She has a crucial scene at the end with Clooney, but other than that you see her rehearsing her speech while getting dressed, standing on the street talking to a couple dudes once or twice and that's about it. Watch the flick, tell me if you agree.

As for the grand prizes of the night - Directing and Picture - the two, as per usual, went hand in hand and I can't really say I have any beef with this. One because I haven't yet seen No Country, but also because I'm a huge Coen Brothers fan and think they have been deserving for some time.

We'll close on a curious note:

How come there was no "farewell" to Brad Renfro during the "People Who Died This Year" montage? Just thought that was kind of shitty...