"You commie, homo-loving sons of guns"

I loved the Oscars! I was hoping for Sean Penn (quoted above) for Best Actor, as you know, Slumdog Millionaire for Best Picture and Penelope Cruz for Best Supporting Actress. I was torn between Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet for Best Actress, and held out for Meryl, all the time knowing it would be Kate. If you want to see Hugh Jackman and Beyonce Knowles putting on their tophats again: YouTube - Beyonce Knowles performs with Hugh Jackman at OSCARS 2009. It was the best Oscars show: I loved the Oscar winners introducing and honoring the nominees...this way everyone goes home with something special.

Dustin Lance Black won for original screenplay for Milk...and some of the writing was good, but alot of it wasn't: his mythic-hero focus on Harvey prevented him from being able to tell the story of all the women in the movement...and his portrayal of Harvey's lover Jack is just downright racist and unforgiveable! His acceptance speech was almost better than the screenplay, referring to his 13-year-old self living in Mormon country, and making a plea for gay rights and same-sex marriage. Turns out he put himself in the movie: he was that 13-year-old kid who called Harvey, asking for help about being an isolated, lonely gay boy in the middle of nowhere.

Sean Penn's acceptance speech stayed exclusively on the civil rights theme, as did his press conferences, which I admire.


Even if the film "Milk" didn't live up to all my expectations, the speeches at the Oscars put the issue on the world screen, which may be even better.

If you haven't seen the film, Frozen River I strongly recommend it. It stars Melissa Leo, who won both the Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress for it, as a poor mother living in upstate New York near the Mohawk reservation. Through her financial desperation she encounters Lila, a native woman also in desperate straits, and together they smuggle illegal immigrants across the 'nonexistant' Canadian border, driving over a frozen river. These illegal and immoral issues are juxtapposed with the supremely moral acts that they do for each other. This movie is so emotional in its presentation, but always keeps the issues of poverty, racism and sexism in the forefront. See it.

If the weather is getting you down and you need to put together your own film festival, here is my list: Amazon.com: "My Top Films of All Time". Enjoy.