And the Oscar goes to...

The Academy Awards are a big favorite for me. Nominations are fun. The Oscar Roundtable that Newsweek does every year is a highlight. The show itself is an event unto itself, which is treated with reverence and respect. I watch the show with the same intensity that my little Polish Babci used to watch the Pope say mass on Christmas Eve. (It's sacrilegious, but it's also true.) The 81st Annual Academy Awards were particularly meaningful for me because I took movie watching to a new level this year.

The Upside of the Oscars this year:

• Personal tributes for acting awards brought a lovely sense of occasion.
• Kate Winslet winning. Not only was it a well deserved win, but a great acceptance speech. Maybe the sweetest moment in Oscar history, when she found her mom and dad in the audience.
• Steve Martin and Tina Fey is what happens when comic genius gets dressed up and meets in the middle of a stage.
• Sean Penn winning and then being Sean Penn and calling the Academy members " you Commie homo-loving sons of guns."
• Heath Ledger was the finest Joker that ever was and now Matilda has an Oscar to prove it.

What goes up, must come down:

• While Penelope Cruz was blissful in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, she shouldn't have won. Viola Davis showed a broader depth of emotion in less than 10 minutes of screen time than than Al Gore did during the entirety of the 2000 presidential campaign.
• Frost/Nixon should have won something. Not sure what, but I feel unfulfilled that they didn't win.
• The Jennifer Aniston/ Jack Black award presentation just felt awkward. It's bad enough knowing that your incredibly gorgeous, socially conscious, do-gooder ex is with someone equally as gorgeous and even more alluring than you, but to be forced to do bad comedy in front of them while the world watches...yikes.
• Ben Stiller took away from the award he was presenting.

Happy movie watching.