Read Part II

2007 Oscar Orgy — This Year's Academy Awards A Royal Event, Celebrating A King, A Queen, And A Little Princess —

• Jennifer Hudson, America's Sweetheart
• Did "Norbit" Controversy Doom Eddie Murphy's Chance For Gold?
• The Party After The After Party
• Why Aren't The Oscars Shown In Theatres?
• Mia: Akilah And The Bee

Although not at the level of the landmark 2002 Academy Awards, this year was almost another Black Thang as awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting went to the home team. Last year saw an award for Jamie Foxx for Best Actor for the musical biopic "Ray." This year the award went to Forest Whitaker after there was an early buildup for Will Smith that faded in the stretch, while Jennifer Hudson won her first time out.

Ellen DeGeneres, the Louisiana born hostess of the evening had her first time emceeing the 79th Academy of Arts And Sciences awards, following a growing tradition with other comics such as Billy Crystal, Chris Rock, and Whoopi Goldberg. She recycled some of her Oscar nite and its buildup for her syndicated show as have Oprah and others, especially those affiliated with the ABC network which carried the awards show.

DeGeneres said about the diversity of the nominees and Hollywood itself "I have to put it out there and just say that if there weren't any Blacks, Jews and Gays, then there would be no Oscars."

"Dreamgirls" fulfilled a dream to win a rare first time gold for the homey homegirl Jennifer Hudson of Chicago. She thanked the influence of her late grandmother, also a singer who had her own dreams too, but wasn't able to see the least of them come true.

JENNIFER HUDSON, AMERICAN SWEETHEART; THICKNESS IS CELEBRATED IN TINSELTOWN – FOR A HOT SECOND

"I have to take this moment to thank my grandmother…if only my grandma could be here… she was my greatest inspiration. She was a singer, but she never had the opportunity…omigod… She's probably in Heaven shouting right now… she made me what I am," Hudson said in her heartfelt Oscar acceptance speech for best supporting actress in "Dreamgirls."

"Look what God can do!" she said tearfully.

Hudson, in the backstage mockup they instituted so the stars can go on and on for the media without getting the musical hook before the live TV cameras, also graciously thanked the original "Dreamgirls," thereby going farther than the films producers. Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Loretta Divine were cited for their contributions.

Divine ("Crash"," Waiting To Exhale") has a cameo inspired by a subplot concerning her character from the "Dreamgirls" play. Holliday the original rejected Effie Whit, has been vocal about her being shut out entirely from the movie version.

Hudson has an infectious down to earth-ness and genuine big-eyed gratitude at even being at the party. Wholesome and talented, very pretty with her healthy normal girl next door shape, glistening lips and flawless skin – and looking good like a great many regular women do, by the way– Hudson is a welcome change indeed from some other public celebrities with their near-suicidal antics, and some that have gone all the way over.

Earlier in the broadcast she did a song with her "Dreamgirl's" co-star Beyoncé Knowles, who has been graceful in hiding her disappointment at being shut out in all the love being showered on Hudson. Stopping just short of sounding sour grape-ish, in an interview the thickish songstress said if she had been allowed to gain 40 pounds instead of lose twenty pounds for the starring role of Deena, she could have gone for Effie's coveted role!

Sara Ramirez, the thick beauty on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" introduced the winner of an online homemade commercial by Dove soap and cosmetic company celebrating real beauty that was run for the first time during the show. The great Hollywood culture diversity march continues!

Simon Cowell of course managed to find a cloud around Hudson's silver lining Sunday night as the show's producer and one of the 3 judges snarked "its going to be a bit of a problem because now when we kick somebody off 'American Idol' they'll think they can go off and win an Oscar."

IDOLATORS AIN'T SCURRED OF NO SIMON!

It’s a fortunate fact that with millions voting for you, you don't necessarily have to win at "American Idol" to be one, which was established long before Hudson's buildup. The so-called biggest losers to whims of a capricious American public as well as the technical call-in FUBARs and pranksters trying to throw the contest have gone on to craft several best selling albums, as by Chris Daughtry and last year's second place female finisher Katherine McPhee. Kellie Pickler, Carrie Underwood, and the other Idolators are all doing quite well.

The Pilobus Dance Theatre did their silhouette thing from the car commercials at the ceremonies, which was a classy cut above some of the other antics of the annual Oscar. There was no need for fancy production numbers like a modern day Busby Berkeley musical, just talent intelligently applied.

There was an absence of mega blockbusters this year among the contenders as even the action films such as "Blood Diamonds" had a social message. "Pan's Labyrinth" was like the four-statue winner and Best Film "The Departed" a multi-awardee, but for technical and art things for the stunning fantasmogorical film.

Ironically –or perhaps tellingly– Fox News television and radio pundit Bill O'Reilly called the Friday before all of the major awards and the best animated feature award right on the head by using his theory that Hollywood uses an equation involving Political Correctness, Ecological Propaganda, and a Liberal Agenda to push their values onto an American public. Thus, with his formula in hand on Friday, on his shows O'Reilly predicted correctly all of the big winners Sunday night:

BEST ACTOR – FOREST WHITAKER, "LAST KING OF SCOTLAND"

BEST ACTRESS – HELEN MIRREN, "THE QUEEN"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – JENNIFER HUDSON, "DREAMGIRLS"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – ALAN ARKIN, "LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE"

BEST DIRECTOR – MARTIN SCORSESE, "THE DEPARTED"

BEST FILM – "THE DEPARTED"

BEST DOCUMENTARY – "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH"

BEST SONG" – I Need To Wake Up" by MELISSA ETHERIDGE from "An Inconvenient Truth"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE– "HAPPY FEET"

BEST SCORE – "BABEL"

[A full listing, including technical award winners follows at the end of the article] __________________________

MIA: KEKE PALMER AND "AKILAH AND THE BEE"

There are some actors and movies that ought not to be forgot. Keke Palmer in "Akilah and the Bee" was another Feel Good movie that could have had a shot for its star. But here as in many things in life Timing Is Everything. The young protagonist was being talked up, but her sweet little movie couldn't overcome the calendar and people's short memories. "Akilah and the Bee" was about a girl in South Central Los Angeles who finds out she has a talent for spelling that takes her to the nationals against upper class preppy contestants with high-powered coaches.

Under the tutelage of Larry Fishburne as a tweedy college professor and spelling Bee veteran coach she blossoms and he finds his way back to opening up his heart again. Sort of like "Finding Forrester," which was like "The Karate Kid," and so forth. Since good actors can switch personas for roles, Palmer was also the rude-mouthed adolescent in Tyler Perry's "Diary of a Mad Black Woman."

WHY AREN'T THE OSCARS SHOWN IN THEATRES?

I always found it odd that the Oscars are always shown on TV rather than in theatres like they used to do with athletic events like boxing before there was cable, and how some theaters do with sports events. Here in Wisconsin, the Green Bay Packer games are shown on some Sundays for free in the Marcus theatres which have a lot of screens, so they can spare a few on a slow Sunday afternoon. Besides, they'll more than make it up in concession sales.

This is much like cable channel MTV whose awards also are shown on Broadcast TV. That 's what you do when you want people to watch them. But its a little like a restaurateur who doesn't eat in her own place. It seems sorta wrong, you know?

LITTLE QUIRKY MOVIES MAKING THEIR PRESENCE FELT, AS AUDIENCES HUNGER FOR MORE THAN ACTION SEQUELS

There are the second stringers who can make a movie come to critical and public attention such as the young Black female student in "Half Nelson" who is the saviour of her crack addicted self destructive high school teacher that she nevertheless looks up to, played by Best Actor nominee Ryan Gosling.

SHAREEKA EPPS in "Half Nelson" plays a promising student who becomes both pupil and counselor to Gosling's inspiring but flawed teacher. Ryan Fleck earned two Indie nominations for his "Half Nelson," for best director and first screenplay, co-written with Anna Boden. The Indies are the Independent Spirit awards for smaller films. They are increasingly making their presence felt both at the box office and the awards show as the moviegoing public acts like its tired of the movie industry grinding out of endless sequels. At least until this summer until "Spider Man 3", "Fantastic 4 Two, " and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3"!!

Although it wasn't a small budget film, Best Score Winner "Babel" with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchette was another welcome sign that the movies are starting to break through the cookie cutter feature of releases. The movie about cross-cultural clashes and the human interconnectedness was rife with subtitles, and at times I could almost swear I could smell the spices and feel the dust and automobile fumes. Or maybe I was having Travel Griot flashbacks from trips to the Middle East.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: WINNER ALAN ARKIN

Alan Arkin has a long movie history, from the original "The In-Laws" with Peter Falk ("Columbo"); to a similar blue collar regular guy and struggling family patriarch in "Slums of Beverly Hills."

The small project film shepherded by a husband and wife team hovered like a spectre over the ceremonies, since it was seen as largely responsible for knocking out "Dreamgirls" for a nomination for Best Picture. It was expected from all the pre-Academy Awards gifts the finally filmed Broadway play received, such as all the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild SAG Awards attention that all started a month ago.

The problem was all the people who believed their own hype. They forgot that media people, and especially the print critic foreigners such as those who are the Golden Globes, don't have a say in Best Picture which all members of the 7,200 member Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood get to vote on. The media goes and on with their faves, but it doesn't move the people necessarily.

Arkin who was the original bumbling Inspector Clouseau in the pre-Pink Panther "A Shot In The Dark," beat out the rehabilitated Eddie Murphy for Best Supporting Actor. Arkin starred as the addled grandpa in the little road trip film "Little Miss Sunshine," which saw his young co star Abigail Breslin nominated for Best Actress. You may have seen her in the photo printer commercials. In the movie a regular girl who aspires to being a beauty contestant gets the chance – if their beat-up Volkswagen bus can make the trip.

AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM

Fifth grader, movie star, and Best Actress nominee is some resume for a child actor! Breslin was trying to follow Anna Paquin ("The X-Men's" Rogue) as the youngest actress ever to win an Academy Award, for "The Piano." Although she went home without one for the star "Little Miss Sunshine," Breslin is set to go on to continued acting success.

That's if she can avoid the Curse Of The Child Actor that has claimed many talented. A few who have escaped include yearly film fave Drew Barrymore (one of "Charlie's Angels," and the little girl in "ET"). This ceremony also saw Best Actor nominee Jackie Earle Haley, a child actor ("Bad News Bears", Losing It") who left the business sorta then returned, and received a Best Actor nomination as a child molester seeking redemption in the Kate Winslet film "Little Children," which also had her nominated for Best Actress.

JADEN SMITH was enthusiastic at being in the Oscars and the collection of stars that even other stars want to meet. "He's looking for Sara Michelle Gellar," said his mother Jada Pinkett Smith. (Speaking for most men, as for wanting to meet the lovely star of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," aren't we all?)

Mrs. Will Smith's li'l man almost himself was nominated in a year that saw some of the youngest actors get some notice for their talents instead of their antics. He played the son of Smith's character in "The Pursuit of Happyness," who was remarkable as a father with a child in the homeless shelters. The story is true-based, on the life of a Milwaukee man named Chris Gardner who now has his own stock brokerage firm in Chicago. He comes through here from time to time. He's fairly easy to spot with that cool slate-grey Bentley.

DID "NORBIT" CONTROVERSY DOOM EDDIE MURPHY'S CHANCE FOR GOLD?

There was some late concern that Murphy was done in for Oscar gold for Best Supporting Actor for his James Brown inspired role as James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls" when his execrable comedy "Norbit" caused an uproar among some circles for its portrayal of Black women when it was released towards the end of the voting period.

Under the Walker 2 Film Theory it just may have worked against Murphy. I first espoused it on Access Hollywood host SHAUN ROBINSON'S old TV show here in Milwaukee, when she inherited the coveted timeslot after the noon news broadcast. I said during her pre-Oscar show then that the votes were being influenced by the cumulative effect of films released within a calendar year.

People have memories, which is why they release the serious egghead films about historical figures, foreign flicks, or with subtitles after September so memories are still fresh and nowadays the DVDs will be in hand when the ballots are passed out so they can refresh their memories. We critics are often sent the DVDs and tapes for smaller films so they won't be lost to the hearts and minds of men. (And I never peddle mines on e-Bay. Besides, they're encoded and tagged).

BEST ACTORS IN CONTENTION

WILL SMITH was being talked up for a statue early out of the gate for "The Pursuit of Happyness." He was up against stiff competition in the Best Actor category for his role as Chris Gardner, the Milwaukee man who went west, but became homeless with his young son and then a millionaire stockbroker in one of the most energetic and enervating Feel Good movies of the season.

PETER O'TOOLE, nominated for "Venus" remains statue-less until and unless Hollywood gives him one for his body of work, much as they have for others who weren't rewarded until late in their lifetime. Then there are those such as the still active in films Sidney Poitier, who added to the African Awards pileup in 2002 when he received an Achievement award after already winning an Oscar decades before in 1963 for "Lillies In The Field."

DJIMON HOUNSOU for Best Actor was up against his co-star DiCaprio in "Blood Diamond," who was also competing against himself in a fashion because he was in two categories for his two films, the one with Hounsou and "The Departed." Hounsou has come far since he was a model and music video Man Candy for Janet Jackson, starring in the anti-slavery legal epic "The Amistad."

WHITAKER HAS VARIED FILMOGRAPHY

FOREST WHITAKER was born in East Texas and raised in South Central LA, although he has honed his East Coast accent with his language facility that he utilized as a pioneering cosmetic surgeon on O'Rourke in "Johnny Handsome"; and as a captured British soldier in "The Crying Game."

The film "Panic room" with Jodie Foster again saw Whitaker as a master criminal as his team is trying to get into a secure home protective vault shielding Jodie Foster and her daughter. Except what they want is in their room!

He has portrayed doctors and other professionals, even a fashion designer in "Prêt a Porter" ["Ready To Wear"]. He has crossed genres such as the empath psi warrior for the government in "Species," an alien with fellow Scientology pal John Travolta in "Battlefield Earth" and again in "Phenomena" where he unknowingly recited a Portuguese love poem; and was a meek accountant drawn into the bullet-flying world of a femme fatale played by Robin Givens in Bill Duke's period piece "A Rage In Harlem."

Whitaker used his South Central persona in "Ghost Dog," the near-cultish crime drama built upon the Code of the Samurai warrior used by a hit man who finds himself being hunted.

In one of his first roles Whitaker was the football player in "Fast Times At Ridgemont High." The alumna from that film have gone on to much success, such as Matt McConaughey, Sean Penn and others.

WHITAKER'S IDI AMIN ESCAPES HISTORICAL HEX THAT MAY HAVE PINCHED DENZEL

Whitaker through his skill and force of will has escaped the hex of playing controversial historical characters. It is a gamble, one that may have cost Denzel a third Oscar for his portrayal of convict Ruben Carter in "The Hurricane."

The voting audience seems willing to take out their anger on an actor or director rather than the scriptwriters, but that's like the English taking issue with Mel Gibson's portrayal of Scots hero William Wallace in "Braveheart." To them he was a treasonous rebel and beneath contempt, while our Benedict Arnold the Betrayer of West Point is held up as an enlightened individual who tried to right the wrong of the colonists turning away from their benevolent rule after so much had been provided for them. But I digress.

The increasing levels of people up for awards and the breadth of their work and the ones already in the pipeline augers well for the continued success for years to come. Even the losers, or rather those who didn't take home a bald statuette this time, can take pride and the prospect of a fatter paycheck from the boost that Academy awards bring to all nominated movies. Just look at your newspaper listings and the new ads with Oscar statuettes on them.

Some movies will even be brought back out to theatres although several have already been issued on DVD, such as "Babel" the globetrotting multilingual six degrees film with Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt that won for Best Film Score.

BEST DIRECTOR/ BEST FILM:

"The Departed" won four Academy awards in all, and enjoyed critical and commercial success. It was noted for its proper use of new young stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon combined with veteran actors such as Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin, in one of his stage polished verbal heavy walk-ons as in "Glengarry GlenRoss"

MARTIN SCORSESE'S win of a Best Director statuette for has long been overdue, and he has been called the "Susan Lucci of Hollywood" for the number of years he has gone without official ratification for his work, after the daytime diva of network soap operas.

He's been nominated for six awards over 26 years of his filmmaking career, although he is a New York based director which isn't looked upon too well on the West Coast. Ask SPIKE LEE about that. Scorsese even made the long Oscar drought a part of his acceptance speech.

"Could you check the envelope again?" he joked, just to make sure it wasn't a mistake. He didn't even get one for "Gangs of New York" with his "Departed" star Leornardo DiCaprio, who by rights should have gotten one a long while back for his mentally retarded little brother of JOHNNY DEPP in the most excellent "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."

CLINT EASTWOOD'S WWII OPUS TWO PACK COULDN'T WIN OVER OSCAR VOTERS

Scorsese beat out reconstituted Hollywood favourite Clint Eastwood for his WWII epic duo "Letters From Iwo Jima" for the Japanese perspective of the battle for the strategic pacific island; and the earlier "Flags of Our Fathers" about the wartime exploitation of those servicemen who were in the iconic picture of the flag raising that revived flagging public support for the pacific war against Imperial Japan.

Eastwood, who was long ago reviled for the spirit of his "Dirty Harry" films for their Right-Wing and Conservative law and order slants found much love in these latter years for the most excellent western "Unforgiven" which is given credit for finally reviving the once lucrative American genre which has been adopted by cultures overseas. (In a demonstration of cultural cross fertilization, the Japanese saga "Seven Samurai" was really inspired by Westerns that famed director Akira Kurosawa loved. It was then remade by Hollywood into "The Magnificent Seven," the Yul Brenner/Robert Vaughn epic and sequels ).

But Clint has also been long known for his behind the camera activism for crafting his own affirmative action program for black actors, for which he received a NAACP award by the Los Angeles branch in the 1980s. Those Black thugs he gunned down were LA area actors and stuntmen he made sure had plenty of work in his movies, although he had to switch some of them into cops and such over the years which was sometimes confusing.

Eastwood placed many Brothas behind the cameras too, in an exposition of true Affirmative Action and as his character said in "Every Which Way But Loose": "A handout is what you get from the Government, a hand up is what you get from a Friend." Clint Eastwood has been a true friend.

BEST DOCUMENTARY:

AL GORE'S "An Inconvenient Truth" is his filmed slideshow on his Globaloney about worldwide climate change caused by Humanity that won the category in the reinvigorated format that an increasing number of propagandists are using to get their point across. Gore's ecological alarum is also being talked up as a possible way for him to reenter the political sphere if the top two Democrat candidates for President fall, as in Obama Hussein Baraka and Hillary Rodham Clinton. He even used this speculation to make a jape while at the podium earlier:

"With a billion people watching its a good a time as any" Gore deadpans, as he reaches inside of his jacket pocket for a folded sheet of paper.

"I want to take this opportunity to…" the stage hook music plays right on cue, although some news people seem not to have gotten the jape. IT WAS A JOKE Y'ALL! Lighten up. Geez.

The increasing use of film as powering agendas was seen a couple of years ago in the most lucrative documentary produced, the vehemently anti-Bush 911 doc by Michigan favourite son MICHAEL MOORE which was unwisely pulled from the Best Documentary category and ran for Best Picture. This decision shut itself out and will become a footnote for political and cinema historians. But this still has a political dimension as Moore has announced he is going to use his fame and fortune to win back the Minnesota senate seat lost with the death of Sen. Wellstone.

Those close to the former Bill Clinton era Vice President and onetime presidential candidate have remarked that if Gore only let his joking nature out more in publicly as he does in private his public persona would only benefit. Instead, we have the popular and false idea of the wooden and boring Al Gore which is not his reality. His Oscar night joke was given credence because the nattering nabobs were trying to say that there might be a "Draft Al Gore For President" Movement by those who don't think Hillary Rodham can win in a stand-up fight because of her high negatives among the American people. But we'll save those for The Word NetPaper Politics articles in this political season.

BEST INSIGHTFUL QUIP:

MELISSA ETHERIDGE won a statuette for her theme song for Al Gore's movie. She came out as a Lesbian years ago and celebrated her low-key self outing with the album titled "Yes I Am" and made one of the best quips. At an after party she said "this is the only time a naked man would be in my bedroom," as the big lezzy admired her bald statuette.

BEST LIFESTYLE AND GRACE:

Hudson is a shining example of what people really want in their public figures and celebrities, even as we watch them self-destruct with the same attitude that makes us slow down around accidents for a peek.

Those who weren’t Hudson fans already became so when in the same week of bad news of the antics of Lindsay, Anna, Britney and Paris, the non-drinking and non-club hopping Hudson held a Prayer and Praise Party for similar young people in the midst of other Oscar parties which were more like Bacchanals. For her acceptance speech she thanked God, and has been unapologetic about her faith. There is a message there for the Hollywood Heathens, but they ain't trying to hear her, tho.

When contrasted with the self destruction we're witnessing of the Blonde Brigade and others who can hold neither their liquor nor their panties, Hudson is a breath of fresh air from the foul stench that too often issues forth from the world of Hollywood celebrities.

Read Part II

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