Oscars

I agree with this morning's reviews of the Academy Awards. John Stewart is a wonderful entertainer but he didn't do much for me last night.

I loved Ellen Degeneres last year. Remember how she went into the audience and asked Stephen King if he'd read her manuscript - then asked Steven Spielberg to take their picture with her little camera - then instructed him on how to hold the camera?

And the best part was that he did it.

I wasn't thrilled with the wins last night. Neither "No Country for Old Men" nor "There Will be Blood" has an ending. It's like, when the movies' over you say,

"Huh?"

The only other conclusion is that evil wins out - big time.

What would I have chosen? I would have picked "In the Valley of Elah" for best movie and Tommy Lee Jones, its star, for best actor. (Actually he could have won it for "No Country..." as well.)

In "The Valley of Elah" Tommy Lee Jones' son is due home from Iraq but he turns up missing. The movie's about a bad war and what it (and every war) does to our young men and women. It's real, raw - and it has an ending.

The title is taken from the Bible (I Samuel:17.) The Israelites are camping out in the Valley of Elah and getting ready to fight the Philistines. Nobody can beat this giant of a warrior, Goliath until they send out the kid, David.

After seeing the movie I read the Bible story a couple of times very carefully trying to find more clues about why this name was chosen.

For best actress (last night on the Oscars) I would have picked that young actress who stars in "Juno."



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